ã€ŠRebirth of an Idle Noblewomanã€‹


 Chapter 1 Rebirth

    In a pitch-ck room, a silhouette could be vaguely seen in the darkness, curled up in a corner.

    Suddenly the door was opened, letting a bright ray of light into the room. The girl that was tied up in a corner seemed to react to the light, lifting up her head in the direction of the door to show her porcin-skinned face. Her eyes squinted as if she were adjusting to the light, and her pillowy lips pursed slightly. Even though she was disheveled and her clothes were dirty, it still couldn¡¯t hide her beauty like a diamond in the rough.

    A split secondter, she lowered her gaze again, hiding the indifference in her gaze.

    The woman outside the door walked in, and her smile seemed extremely ominous under the lighting.

    This was the eldest daughter of the Gu family, Gu Xijin. She was known far and wide for having a keen intuition in finance, and every choice that she had made on the behalf of the Gu family would bring it up to another level. In the three years she had taken over as the head of the Gu family, she was hailed by everyone in the scene as a genius that brought her family to glory from a second-rate family to one of the best in the world.

    Not only that, her works of art were circted in the art world as ones that would go down in history. All of her oil paintings were all kept as treasures in international exhibitions, and even the most talented artist in Hua Xia was infatuated with her because of her talent... She was the perfect daughter of the Gu family that countless people fawned over!

    Thinking of this, Gu Xiqiao scoffed and started tough so hard that she almost cried.

    Thisdy in front of her was her sister from a different mother, and they were quite close... Well at least that¡¯s what she thought.

    The day she joined the Gu family, she knew that she was an illegitimate daughter. She didn¡¯t have Madam Gu¡¯s favor especially when she stood out, so Gu Xiqiao continued to lower her presence as she hid behind Gu Xijin, helping her older sister step onto the heights of life.

    The world only knew the eldest daughter of the Gu family, but none of them knew that all of her feats were sourced from the illegitimate daughter.

    In the eyes of the general public, Gu Xiqiao was just a stupid girl that wasn¡¯t talented in anything.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xijin was widely praised as the perfect sessor of the Gu family and a one-in-a-million genius.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t care about what the world thought of her. She was easily moved by acts of kindness towards her, and because Gu Xijin had always treated her well back when she first joined the family, she had always helped her sister without a singleint.

    She put in all of her blood, sweat, and tears into helping the Gu family reach the heights that it was at now, but now they were going to sacrifice her for the sake of Gu Xijin!

    She was thrown away like a disposable tool!

    Hrious... How hrious!

    "Why?" Gu Xiqiao suddenly stoppedughing and fixed Gu Xijin with a questioning gaze.

    Gu Xijin slowly crouched down and looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. Thetter originally had a pair of beautiful hands with lithe fingers, but were now twisted and mangled as a result of torture.

    "The Gu family has been taking care of you for such a long time, don¡¯t you think you should repay us?" Gu Xijin red at her, before covering her mouth with her hand as her expression turned mocking. "It¡¯s me and Xia¡¯s wedding day tomorrow, but I can¡¯t calm down unless I get rid of you first, see?"

    Perhaps it was because she thought that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have any chance to see the light of day ever again, Gu Xijin didn¡¯t even bother to hide her malicious intent.

    She had always been afraid that her cover might be blown, and that everything she had right now would not belong to her anymore. The world only knew how morous her life was on the surface, and not how she tossed and turned every night gued by nightmares, and the only way she could rest well was by getting rid of Gu Xiqiao!

    Not to mention thetter had prepared a proposal that was enough tost the Gu family another ten years!

    Now that the Gu family was already at the top of the country, Gu Xiqiao had lost her usefulness.

    "Don¡¯t you know that I hate this indifferent expression of yours? What is there to be so proud about, you¡¯re just a dog that our family picked up out of pity!" Gu Xijin lifted her leg and stomped on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand, trampling it mercilessly until her hand started to bleed again. "Our family doesn¡¯t keep any useless scum! You should see it as an honor to be seen by that person!"

    The door then closed heavily, and the room returned to darkness.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t make a single sound, and her expression hadn¡¯t changed at all.

    She looked out of the window that let in a minuscule ray of light for a moment, before smiling mockingly at herself. There weren¡¯t so many whys and hows, where there?

    It was purely because no one cared for her.

    She thought they did, but it was only a facade under Gu Xijin¡¯s meticulous nning.

    That night, the Gu family mansion was razed to the ground, and Gu Xiqiao was reported to be dead, and ording to the official reports, they couldn¡¯t even get her corpse. To this, everyone only looked on coldly, before returning their attention to the eldest daughter and the greatestdy in N City, Gu Xijin.

    What came next, however, was beyond everyone¡¯s expectations.

    The Gu family was suddenly involved in a severe financial crisis, and while the eldest miss of the Gu family tried to turn the tide, she ultimately lost to a smallpany without even putting up much of a fight.

    This was news that truly caused the discussion around the Gu family to grow even further, and at this point everyone had realized that something was wrong. Why did the eldest daughter of the Gu Family be useless as soon as the second daughter died? Did she feed all her genius and talent to some pigs?

    Soon after, proof that the eldest daughter of the Gu family had been smuggling illegal goods and bribing people in high ces and even more unspeakable acts, and was punished with life imprisonment.

    The once glorious Gu family was reduced to dust in such a short time that no one could react.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in the air as she looked at the scene before her, waving away the scene of the outer world that she saw reflected through the Void Mirror.

    She stood deep in thought in the void. She knew that she was dead for a fact because she was the one who set herself on fire, but she hadn¡¯t thought that she would retain her consciousness after death. Once she died, her soul was trapped in this endless void and she was unable to leave.

    Thinking of this, she waved her hands and made a wooden table and chair appear in front of her. A pile of books and ancient tomes were piled messily on the table, and she picked one out of the pile to read.

    There wasn¡¯t any night or day in the void, and just an endless supply of books and scrolls on many different topics. She didn¡¯t know how long she spent in this ce before one day, a cold voice rang in her head.

    [Conditions have been met. Now activating the system...]

    When she reopened her eyes, she saw a young and beautiful face looking back at her in the mirror.

    Her waxy and flowing hair cascaded down to her chest as her downcast eyshes fluttered. Further down was a perfectly angled chin and supple cherry lips. Her young age masked her overly lovely features somewhat, but the basics of a beauty were there.

    Gu Xiqiao closed the faucet and lifted her head slowly to show a pair of clear and untainted eyes, blinking slowly as she calmed her wave of emotion.

    [Wee back, Beauty Qiao!]

    "Yes, I¡¯m back, aren¡¯t I?" Gu Xiqiao pulled out a paper towel to dry her fingers one by one, her tone somehow sounding dry and hoarse despite her young age.

    The system turned into a human form, and propped its chin on its hand.

    [Beauty Qiao, are you going to unlock your missions?]

    "Yes."

    [Ding! Sessfully unlocked daily missions! Sessfully unlocked random missions! Sessfully unlocked hidden missions! Sessfully unlocked Level 0 System Shop! Congrattions to Beauty Qiao!]

    Gu Xiqiao kicked the flip-flops off of her legszily and chose a cotton skirt for herself, her pale, doll-like legs contrasting the bright colors of the carpet below her.

    A in cotton one-piece dress and a pair of simple canvas shoes suited her unexpectedly well, and as she stared at her reflection in the mirror the coldness in her gaze slowly receded.

    Today was the first of May on year 15, which was also the day of Gu Xijin¡¯s adult ceremony. Gu Xiqiao walked down the stairs slowly towards the party that was being held on the floor below.

    The crowd of young men and women all stopped in their tracks as the youngdy walked down the stairs, their gazes being attracted to her as the hall plunged into silence.

    Her head was tilted slightly as she made her way down, her hair covering her face so that it only showed a beautiful side profile and porcin skin. She only wore a simple cotton dress, but it only served to make her even more attractive, and for a moment, everyone had the image of flowers blooming along with her steps.

    Gu Xijin who had been the center of attention earlier frowned unnoticeably before putting on a well-practiced smiled and walking over to the younger girl, hooking their arms familiarly and introducing, "Everyone, this is my new younger sister Gu Xiqiao."

    The focus of that sentence was on the word ¡¯new¡¯.

    Once they heard Gu Xijin¡¯s introduction, the crowd had a collective moment of realization, their gazes changing from that of admiration to something moreplex.

    The news that the Gu family had received an illegitimate daughter with great fanfarest month had be theughing stock of the high society. They all looked at her like a wild hen that had barged into a group of phoenixes, andpared with the eldest daughter of the Gu family that was well educated and beautiful, she was like an ugly duckling.

    The people said that she was a real-life Cindere, but all she had was just a pretty face.

    How could she bepared with them, who had been taught and educated well ever since they had been born?

    Once they saw the real deal, quite a lot of them stepped forward to make small talk with her, but Gu Xiqiao only smiled and with a slight shake of the head to stop them from talking with her any further.

    A young woman at a side in white close saw this and scoffed, before tugging at Gu Xijin¡¯s clothes gently. "They¡¯re only talking with her because she¡¯s your little sister. She¡¯s just an illegitimate b*tch who doesn¡¯t have any worth other than helping you wear your shoes, how dare she be so high and mighty!"

    She didn¡¯t suppress her voice, so naturally everyone heard.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile didn¡¯t even waver as she held a cup of wine in her hand, and as she saw Gu Xijin walk towards her, the sound of the system rang in her mind.

    [Warning! The system has detected that Gu Xijin¡¯s affection towards you is -48.]

    [Affection level: Enemy]

    [The system has automatically marked this person as red, proceed with caution!]

    She lowered her head, her hair covering her expression momentarily as she smiled deviously for a moment.

    Her crystal clear eyes seemed to suddenly be clouded with aplex emotion, and she only squinted her eyes with a mock-smile as she raised her cup towards her half-sister. "Happy birthday, sister."

    After she said so, she put down her wine cup and left.

    Her tone was clear and gentle but filled with a frigid coldness, and was a far cry from her gloomy and depressed demeanor. Was this really that Gu Xiqiao?

    Gu Xijin hadn¡¯t reacted for a moment, and just let the younger girl walk out of the front door just like that.

    The white-clothed young woman whispered at the bunch of rich kids, and because it had been umon to see such a pretty and delicate girl they immediately followed after Gu Xiqiao. Strangely enough, no matter how they walked, they couldn¡¯t walk out of the main entrance.

    Was something supernatural happening to them? A chill ran up the spines of the rich kids.

 Chapter 2 Encounter

    "Huh, that¡¯s strange..." The bunch of rich kids shook their heads and only thought that they just had too much to drink, looking at the thin silhouette walk further and further away.

    To not be able to get to know such a beauty was quite a shame.

    Gu Xijin gripped on the wine cup until her knuckles became white as she looked at their collective expressions of disappointment. The day Gu Xiqiao was epted into their family, she already knew that this illegitimate younger sister of hers would be trouble. That being said, she only had a pretty face, and in this world, people like her could only be ythings.

    After thinking of this, Gu Xijin¡¯s loosened her grip on the cup, but the frost in her dark gaze remained.

    The young woman next to her couldn¡¯t help makingments on the situation. "Xijin, you¡¯re being too nice to that so-called younger sister of yours! Look at that vixen, who knows what Grandpa Gu thought when he brought her back..."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s origins weren¡¯t a secret, and a lot of the people that were at the party today knew about it. She was the daughter of a porn star and was raised in the countryside. She seemed like a country bumpkin who hadn¡¯t even learned the basics of the four arts¡ªMusic, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

    "There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of anyway, she¡¯s just a stupid girl from the countryside. We¡¯re going to let her know that N City ispletely different than that ditch she came out of!" The young woman continued.

    "..."

    Yes, N City waspletely different from what she imagined, and she had already learned that at the cost of her life. Gu Xiqiao smirked and looked back at the grand building with a mocking gaze, and the building was plunged into chaos.

    "Xijin, what¡¯s wrong with your clothes!"

    "Ahhh!!!" A piercing scream rang out from inside of the room.

    Gu Xiqiao stretchedzily and walked away with a cold expression. Making clothes tear telepathically was quite a handy skill to have if she said so herself.

    The servants that saw her knew that the family had epted an illegitimate daughter, and this young girl didn¡¯t seem to even have any gratitude toward them. She was either gloomy or depressed every day like her pet died! They stared at her with disgusted gazes as they quickly made their way into the room.

    How would they understand the difficulty of a child that appeared suddenly in a ce that she didn¡¯t belong at, and under the deliberate rejection of the family and having to deal with death threats all day, how strong would she have to be to maintain a sense of morality and survive?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t really mind the habit of the servants that sucked up to Gu Xijin and stepped on her because she was already used to it.

    And so, she calmly left the suffocating building.

    But still, it was unbelievable that she came back to this point in time when she first arrived at the Gu family, back when she was eighteen years old.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped in her steps and raised her hands without being able to wait any further, and looking at her beautiful and slightly callused hands. She was so ecstatic that her hands had been returned to their original state that she started chuckling softly. Not everyone was this lucky, after all.

    Suddenly, a piercingly bright ray of light shone in her direction.

    [Warning! Danger iing from three meters in front, please dodge in 0.01 seconds or use 1 point to buy a Dodge Card!]

    A long, skidding sound of wheels screeched in the dead of night.

    The driver rushed down from the car quickly, his heart raised to his throat seeing the girl on the street. He had been rushing to the airport, and he had chosen this road because this road was usually scarce with passersby. He didn¡¯t see anyone when he turned a corner, so when the girl suddenly appeared in his field of vision he was caught off guard. He stepped on the brakes as quickly as he could but the car still bumped into her.

    But he was sure that the car hadn¡¯t been fast enough to impact her so much, and he had his heamps turned on so brightly. She wasn¡¯t scamming him, was she?

    The driver was stunned and confused by the sudden turn of events.

    Gu Xiqiao came back to her senses and looked at the driver¡¯s gaze, not saying anything as she stood up slowly. If one only looked at her expression, they would have never known that she had just been in a car ident.

    She didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry at this system that was temporarily only good for acting cute. "Why did you only tell me that there was danger when the car was right in front of me? Are you sure you¡¯re not confusing me with some supernatural being that can dodge cars in a hundredth of a second?"

    [Mistress, I¡¯m still a weak Level 0 system! As long as Mistress does missions often and levels me up, something like this would never happen again!] The system pouted sadly as if she were disappointed with itself too.

    "What are you useful for then?"

    Gu Xiqiao squinted and looked at this car that appeared in front of her all of a sudden. Was she really that unlucky that she couldn¡¯t even dodge?

    The system that was being looked down upon: [...]

    Her back was ramrod straight and her long and pale legs were exposed in the air. Her knees had been injured and were still bleeding profusely, and in the wound, there seemed to be some small pieces of gravel and sand caught in her wound. Because of the contrast between her pale skin and the gashing wound, it seemed abnormally serious.

    The driver checked on her injuries with the help of the heamps, and he was shocked at how severe they looked.

    The girl looked like a ghostly apparition in the light, and her beautiful, delicate features only served to further enhance her unearthliness. Her piercing gaze brought with it a cold aura, and it made the driver pause from the intimidation.

    Then, he took a second look and saw how young the girl he bumped into was, and how clear and bright her eyes were, befitting of someone of her age.

    He rubbed his eyes and realized that this girl didn¡¯t seem like someone that would scam him like this. To scam another person in the rich district was a stupid thing to do in the first ce...

    After a series of thoughts, he walked back to the car and had a short discussion with the person sitting in the back seat, before deciding to bring this girl to the hospital.

    Gu Xiqiao tried to lift her legs, and with the slightest bit of force, an excruciating pain tore up her legs. She was a girl from the countryside that had lived a rough life, but her adoptive mother had never neglected her and had never made her too more work than was necessary either, even giving her the chance to learn skills from the old man that lived nearby. She was considered a spoiled child by the standards of the countryside, so she felt pain from being injured so suddenly too.

    But no matter how painful it was, it wouldn¡¯t be half as painful as having her fingers mangled and trampled upon.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze was still calm and collected as she calmly analyzed her current situation. This road that they were on belonged to the rich district, which meant that taxi drivers or suspicious vehicles wouldn¡¯t be let in, and so she didn¡¯t think much of getting in the car.

    The moment the door closed, a strong wave of mental power pulsed in her direction, and her face immediately went pale.

    She had been in the virtual space for a long time, and in her time reading the endless scrolls, she knew of some special martial arts that could hone such an ability. The mental power that attacked her at this moment was even stronger than hers that had been through two lives.

    At that moment, she could only feel an unprecedented impact and a pain that threatened to tear her head open!

    If this person used even one sliver more of mental power, she would definitely be an idiot from getting her mental energy damaged.

    The system spirit that was hiding in the virtual space widened its eyes incredulously, before finally reacting and raising its hands in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction, casting space istion on her quickly.

    As she felt the pressure on her recede like the tide, Gu Xiqiao rxed slightly, but still kept her guard up.

    The passenger on the back seat suddenly lifted his head, and his gaze seemed to pierce through the darkness towards Gu Xiqiao. The girl couldn¡¯t feel it because of the space istion that the system spirit cast on her.

    The car arrived at the hospital quickly, and Gu Xiqiao practically scrambled down from the car in cold sweat. She was still not used to this sort of near-death experience.

    The driver saw her wobble unsteadily towards the hospital, so he quickly went to help her.

    After they both left, the rear window of the car rolled down to reveal a lithe silhouette.

    The man was wearing a clean white shirt, his slightly upturned eyes glinting with a frigid coldness. It was hard to know what he was thinking just from his expression, but his lips were slightly pursed, and just from his side profile in the darkness, it was easy to see that he was quite handsome.

    With a smooth movement of his lithe fingers, he closed the book that he had on hisp and opened the car door, stepping into the night.

 Chapter 3 Friend Lis

    It was already night time, so the doctors from the outpatient department had mostly gone off duty. The driver Old Zhang quickly took out his phone and dialed a number, and in a few minutes, a team of doctors came rushing in.

    These doctors had always been proud and self-important since when were they at the beck and call of a mere driver?

    Gu Xiqiao watched calmly as the doctor picked out the gravel in her wound with a pair of tweezers, not thinking more about receiving help from these mysterious people. They were only passersby that would never be able to meet each other again after this, after all.

    But she didn¡¯t expect the driver to ask for a way to contact her family.

    Gu Xiqiao lifted her head and fixed Old Zhang with a clear gaze, her jet ck hair resting on her shoulder and making her seem meek and demure. "It¡¯s fine, just a small wound. I¡¯ll be able to get myself hometer."

    Call the Gu family? Su Wan¡¯er probably wanted to choke her to death, Gu Zuhui hadn¡¯t even looked her in the eye since she joined the family, and Gu Xijin acted like she cared, but wanted to get rid of her anyway. If they received the call, it would probably further serve the ¡¯Gu Xiqiao is a harbinger of misfortune¡¯ agenda that they had going on. They probably wouldn¡¯t even send a servant to help her out.

    Under the lights, the girl seemed especially pale and fragile like a porcin doll, and with how thin she was, she seemed quite sickly.

    Before Old Zhang could reply, the nurse that was helping to wash her wounds couldn¡¯t help but speak. "How could you not tell your parents after being hurt like this? You probably fought with your family didn¡¯t you, youngdy? I understand having a rebellious phase, but please go home and apologize alright? Parents are always like that, but you must know that they mean well. It¡¯s hard enough to work day in and day out, so don¡¯t worry them so much..."

    And so the nurse continued nagging on and on, to the point where Gu Xiqiao could feel a migraineing on.

    Were nurses nowadays all so passionate?

    "My mother is dead." Gu Xiqiao nced at the nurse. "My father doesn¡¯t have the time to deal with me, either."

    "Ah, I¡¯m sorry." The nurse paused in her nagging, realizing that she said something that she shouldn¡¯t have. As she made up the details of a familial soap opera in her head, she gave Gu Xiqiao a pitying look. "Then you..."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was as calm and collected as always, but she was silently organizing her thoughts. As soon as she came back to when she was eighteen, she was given an unreliable system and was hit by a car as soon as she stepped out...Was there something wrong with her luck?

    She was quite caught up on this and reached to massage her temples gently.

    The nurse thought for a bit and decided to continued speaking. She was a nurse in-training and still hadn¡¯t had much experience in dealing with patients, so she decided to advise this ¡¯lostmb¡¯ from her so-called justice.

    But didn¡¯t she know that her self centered sense of justice was the same as stabbing a knife into one¡¯s heart?

    Old Zhang couldn¡¯t keep watching anymore and decided to stop the young nurse from speaking.

    Before he could do anything, however, he heard a creaking from the entrance, and a lean, tall man made his way into the room. As he walked, the room itself seemed to freeze with an invisible pressure.

    The nurse felt a chill run up her spine, and she unconsciously mmed up and worked faster on cleaning the wound, before shivering and making a break for it.

    Only after the door was closed did she look up at the sculpture-like silhouette.

    He stood there silently, his aura so sharp that it seemed to be able to cut the air around him, giving off pressure to everyone that looked at him.

    From this angle, the man had sculpted features and was quite handsome. The elegant angle of his eyebrows seemed to melt away the frost in his demeanor, highlighting a warmth to his features that made him even more alluring.

    The young nurse was quite stunned, having never seen such a good-looking man in her life.

    Jiang Shuxuan saw that her wound had already been treated and checked on the report that the doctors wrote on her, his thick eyebrows furrowing slightly like a single ripple on a calmke. His gaze deep in thought but covered with ayer of frost, and even if he wasn¡¯t angry it was hard to maintain eye contact with him.

    After a while, he handed the report to Old Zhang and asked him to get the medicine from the dispensary.

    Old Zhang seemed to want to contact the girl¡¯s family because it wasn¡¯t proper to leave such a young woman at the hospital by herselfte at night, but she was quite stubborn and didn¡¯t give him any information.

    He had been worried about Mr. Jiang that had been waiting downstairs because it was his duty to send him to the airport, and it would have been hard for him to withstand the consequences of failing his mission. Now that Mr. Jiang came up by himself and didn¡¯t seem to me him in the slightest, he calmed down quite a bit and went to get the medicine for her.

    When there was no one else left in the room, Jiang Shuxuan looked at Gu Xiqiao with a frosty gaze.

    After a while, he asked, "Who are you?"

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze was piercing, and it seemed to have the power to see into a person¡¯s very soul.

    He knew that his car hit her, but it was never in his calctions. When he was in the car, he couldn¡¯t sense that anyone was in front of the car even with his strong sensory ability. This girl¡¯s mental power was quite raw and strong too, to the point where even he was wary of her.

    With the mental power that she had, she was leagues more talented than all of those children in his family. Perhaps those people knew that he was interested in such things, so they made this girl appear in front of him?

    It wasn¡¯t impossible, and so he couldn¡¯t help but start to observe her and size her up.

    When a cold voice rang out from above her, and Gu Xiqiao lifted her head and looked at the man that was asking her with a confused expression.

    Her gaze was as innocent as a newborn child, like a clear creek in the woods.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t know what to say all of a sudden, and coughed into his fist lightly to hide his sudden awkwardness. He felt a little guilty for suspecting a girl with such a pure gaze, and so his first impression of her was renewed. "I wanted to say that if you don¡¯t want to go home, you cane to stay at my ce for a few days."

    It was quitemon for children to fall out with their parents, but for such a meek and gentle child to choose to run away from her home, how terrible would it have had to been for her to make such a choice?

    Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows and was about to refuse, before feeling a shadow envelop her along with a loss of gravity.

    Before she could react, she had already been carried up princess-style easily by the man.

    She raised her head a little startled, but from her gaze, she could only see his well-defined jaw. This person must have been used to having his way that he didn¡¯t even give her a chance to refuse.

    That being said, the warmth hidden in his dark orbs spoke no lies.

    Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips slightly before lowering her head in defeat, hiding away her emotions.

    The person in his arms was practically a light as a feather, and even a rifle was denser than she was. Jiang Shuxuan frowned as he thought about the reports he saw earlier¡ªA weak constitution, anemia, a slight concussion, and serious wounds, wasn¡¯t that too severe for someone for her age?

    How was she treated at home?

    Gu Xiqiao was still spacing out before the system sounded out in her mind.

    [Ding! The system has detected that this man is a respectable young man with good intentions! He has been added into your Friend List by default.]

    A friend list? As soon as she got this new skill, she immediately closed her eyes and examined this new friend list that appeared in the system space.

 Chapter 4 Mission

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s ce was a temporary home, and even if it were just a ce for him to rest temporarily, the number of people that could afford to live here in N City could be counted on one hand.

    This was a grand manor in the heart of the city, and each building was worth billions by themselves. Most of these buildings had been booked and reserved by the rich, and even if someone wanted to buy one such building, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get their hands on it.

    Gu Xiqiao immediately recognized this housing area, but she wasn¡¯t all that surprised.

    She was brought into a guest room that had already been tidied up.

    As soon as she got herself settle down, a middle-aged woman brought her a fresh change of clothes.

    [Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Help cure Mrs. Zhang¡¯s legs]

    [Missionpletion reward: 5 points]

    Gu Xiqiao received a mission notification as soon as she epted the clothes.

    Gu Xiqiao immediately knew that the system wanted her to do this mission, but although she had seen her fair share of medical scrolls in the virtual space, she had never actually tried them out on a living person. Not wanting to mess up with her meager grasp of medicine, she asked the system: "What if I make it worse?"

    [The system can examine her health level, but it requires you to overdraft points in the system shop.]

    [Ding! Examinationplete!]

    Gu Xiqiao quickly checked the examination results of the system and checked on the medical scrolls she had read before. She immediately thought of a way to help her and reached out to grab Mrs. Zhang¡¯s wrist, checking on her pulse before muttering, "Forty-five grams of honeysuckle, forty-five grams of dandelion, forty-five grams of gypsum, thirty grams of radix gentianae, thirty grams of smx bra root, thirty grams of Japanese knotweed..."

    Seeing Mrs. Zhang¡¯s confused expression, Gu Xiqiao realized she was going too fast and went around the room to look for a pen and a piece of paper.

    As she wrote down the medicine list, she continued, "You¡¯re limping very slightly while you walk. It¡¯s not very noticeable, but it¡¯s there, and it¡¯s a side effect from giving birth. You probably tired yourself out after giving birth and touched water way too soon, and you didn¡¯t even take precautions to keep yourself warm neither. One month after that your joints on your legs and wrist started hurting, followed by a pain in your hips. You went to the doctor¡¯s after that and it became better, but your legs still hurt if you walk more than you should. Once the weather changes, it would probably hurt so much that you won¡¯t be able to walk. ording to your current situation, your lower body will be paralyzed in two years."

    She deduced the pathology of Mrs. Zhang¡¯s illness by herself, while the system¡¯s examination found her medical history.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ability and intellect along so many years in the virtual space weren¡¯t for show, after all. The system itself thought that she was being way too modest when she said she was worried that she would make things worse.

    As she talked, Mrs. Zhang¡¯s expression became more and more shocked. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that she was sure that they had never met before, she would have thought that the younger had checked on her medical history because it was exactly as she said it.

    "How...How did you know?"

    Gu Xiqiao finished prescribing the medicine and handed it to Mrs. Zhang after making sure there weren¡¯t any errors. "One is to be eaten, and the other is to be applied through fumigation, and the way to do it is written on there too. Listen to me, a woman has to treat herself well. When you should be strong, be strong, and when you should show weakness never force yourself. You must let others see your weakness so that they don¡¯t take you for granted."

    Her tone was gentle and she smiledzily, and it was like a warm ray of afternoon sun was shining on her. Her clear gaze didn¡¯t hide her worry and empathy towards the troubles of the older woman.

    Mrs. Zhang suddenly felt like she was going to cry. She knew her personality the best, after all, and back when she had just been married to her husband her mother-inw had pestered and nagged her endlessly. She was given the cold shoulder when she gave birth to a daughter instead of a son, and a mere three days after she gave birth she started doing family chores again. She had been thinking for her mother-inw and her husband and worked so hard that she became ill, and couldn¡¯t even get off her bed once it rained. Her husband had divorced her after that for this reason, and it wasn¡¯t hurt, but that she was used to giving and giving and giving to the point where she forgot how to think for herself. Ten years passed just like that, and for someone to worry for her like this...

    As if her grief had been discovered by someone, and that someone was thinking for her and supporting her.

    "No worries." Gu Xiqiao smiled, and to her, seeing Mrs. Zhang was like seeing herself.

    They were both too stubborn for their own good.

    [Mission aplished! Obtained five points and deducted one point for the examination.]

    [Ding! Forced Mission activated: Reach Master level for calligraphy.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 1000 Points.]

    [The system has detected that your writing is too ugly, so this mission has been activated. Please aplish it perfectly! If you don¡¯t, you shall receive a Level 3 punishment!]

    [Forced Daily Mission activated: Practice writing for an hour]

    [Missionpletion reward: 1 point]

    [Master? Beauty Qiao? Gu Xiqiao? Can you hear me?] The system spirit stood in the air with its hands on its hips and a defeated expression.

    "Is my handwriting ugly?" As Mrs. Zhang left, she raised her eyebrow and asked.

    She had learned writing from the old man that lived nearby when she was a child, and even though it couldn¡¯t bepared to professionals, it could still be considered quite neat and pretty. Her handwriting was much better than the majority of people, and the system called it ugly?

    Did the system know what it was iming?

    [After scanning through the databases of Earth, the system has decided that your words are too coarse. As the saying goes, a person¡¯s writing shows their character, so we will start by perfecting your calligraphy and handwriting. The system has spent quite a lot of energy to reincarnate you, so you must be more perfect to obtain more missions so that I can have more energy!] The system spirit sat down, puffing its cheeks.

    "Fine, fine. What¡¯s the level three punishment?" Gu Xiqiao asked. Perhaps she obtained that mission earlier because she had seen lots of medical books and scrolls before.

    [There are ten levels of punishment in total. The first level will make you go mute for ten days, the third level will electrocute you, and the tenth level will kill you!]

    Even though she had already died once, Gu Xiqiao was still shocked by the potential threat to her life. It wasn¡¯t a good feeling to have her life held in someone or something¡¯s hands like that. "I¡¯d need a lot of time to practice, can Iplete this mission in my lifetime?"

    [You can use your points to redeem time for the virtual space. One point is equal to one day in the virtual space, and this is also why I let you learn so much back then.]

    Gu Xiqiao remembered the void that she was trapped in after she had died, and it was probably the virtual space that the system talked about.

    Honestly, one point for one day in the virtual space wasn¡¯t expensive at all. Everyone knew that money can¡¯t buy time, and now she could exchange time with her points whenever she wanted. In another way, this was the greatest cheat she had been gifted with.

    Sighing softly, she walked around the room again before going downstairs to find water to drink.

    The lights downstairs were still on, and Jiang Shuxuan was standing by the door.

    His voice could be heard from her position on the stairs, and Gu Xiqiao realized that Jiang Shuxuan was there in the living room. She couldn¡¯t help but retract her steps slowly¡ªWas it toote to go back to her room?

    Honestly speaking, Gu Xiqiao was quite afraid of the person downstairs because he was too mysterious and unpredictable, even though his goodwill was very noticeable.

    Jiang Shuxuan hung up and lifted his head to see the person standing at the stairway.

    Her sky-blue floral skirt fit her demure aura well, and her skin seemed even paler because of it. In the light, she seemed to have a dim glow to her, and her ck hair contrasted her porcin skin well. Her head was tilted slightly, and her eyes were as clear as a spring of water. Even though she was still young, she already had the potential to make people fall for her at first sight.

 Chapter 5 Going Home

    Jiang Shuxuan had the skill of face reading, and so he promptly observed her face to check her fortune.

    Her brow bone was slightly raised and her forehead was wide, while her eyes and eyebrows were well proportioned. Her lips were plump and when she smiled it showed two shallow dimples. Normally, this sort of person would be righteous and have great fortune, and could be said as a child blessed by the heavens, but for some unknown reason, his face reading showed that her life woulde to an abrupt and horrible end.

    Jiang Shuxuan frowned as he contemted on why this was the case.

    He didn¡¯t bring her back because of a simple whim, but because of...

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know what Jiang Shuxuan was thinking about but replied to all the questions that he asked afterward honestly.

    Seeing how carefully she was replying to the questions and ncing at him from time to time to see his reaction, his heart immediately softened.

    ¡¯She is really a child,¡¯ he thought.

    And as she talked, thest bit of hesitation in her eyes disappeared.

    Gu Xiqiao was a likable girl¡ªGood looking, with a clear and intelligent demeanor along with a fresh air to her like a fairy that made her way into the human world. Mrs. Zhang had already been grateful to her for prescribing medicine for her, and now that they had interacted she liked this girl even more.

    In a mere two days, Mrs. Zhang had started regarding Gu Xiqiao as her daughter.

    Gu Xiqiao could finally have a good night¡¯s sleep, and the next day she was woken up by a bright light. Her long eyshes fluttered slightly before she opened her eyes, and as she saw her whereabouts she hid away the instinctive coldness in her gaze.

    The light hade from the curtains that Mrs. Zhang had drawn open, and the elder gave her a bright smile when she saw her stir. "Good morning Miss Gu, get yourself all cleaned up and downstairs for breakfast. Master Jiang has been waiting for you."

    Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows before finally reacting, saying good morning to Mrs. Zhang too.

    She hadn¡¯t had the chance to have such an uninterrupted sleep for such a long time that she almost forgot what it felt like. In thest moments of her past life, even sleep became a luxury for her while when she was in the virtual space, she didn¡¯t even need sleep. To be able to sleep in such an unguarded state was once unimaginable for her.

    Downstairs, Jiang Shuxuan was sitting by the table with aptop, and when he saw here down he asked his servant to bring them their breakfast.

    [Ding! Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Jiang Shuxuan has been bothered by hackers and has lost a piece of secret data. Help him reim it!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 10 Points]

    "This is out of my depth..." Gu Xiqiao stared down the bowl of noodles, before registering the system¡¯s voice in her head.

    Be a hacker? This was not her area of expertise.

    The system spirit made a proud expression. [This system is the strongest virtual system in the universe, and the technology of Earth is merely child¡¯s y in my eyes. All the strongest firewalls in the world are useless in front of me!]

    Suddenly, it thought of something that Gu Xiqiao would be interested in.

    [Beauty Qiao, look at this!]

    A semi-transparent screen appeared in front of Gu Xiqiao, and there was a Weibo web page on it with a bunch of densely packed words along with some pictures, and it scrolled itself too. Gu Xiqiao looked at it and realized that they were pictures of Gu Xijin¡¯s torn up clothes. The ones that posted about it were all well-known ounts, and there were a lot of heartlessments by the people that came by it.

    Gu Xiqiao only nced at the whole page cursorily before her mood was lifted greatly. She narrowed her eyeszily, but it still couldn¡¯t hide her mischievous smile.

    The pictures of the banquet had probably been leaked, and even though the faces of the people in the pictures were censored, there were quite a number of people that knew the truth nheless. Now that these pictures were leaked, Gu Xijin became theughing stock of everyone on the inte!

    The peacock was probably going mad with anger from getting her feathers plucked!

    Jiang Shuxuan looked up just in time to catch her smiling expression, and while he was confused about why she was so happy just from eating breakfast, this scene brightened up the simple act of eating breakfast itself.

    After finishing, Gu Xiqiao sessfully snuck into the study with the help of the system.

    She sneakily switched on theputer for the system to scan it, and the document was recovered quickly along with an easy ten points.

    After she finished, she went downstairs and started using the spareptop that Jiang Shuxuan had borrowed her to browse finance websites. Mrs. Zhang came closer and took a look, but she couldn¡¯t understand anything other than the reds and greens of the website.

    Jiang Shuxuan did the same, and he knew what she was trying to do. "Are you buying securities?"

    Once Gu Xiqiao heard his voice, she closed theptop and looked up at him. "Brother Jiang, I have to go home today."

    "Today?" Jiang Shuxuan had already sat down on a sofa with a magazine, and once he heard this he looked over at her with a cool gaze.

    "Yes, I have to go to school tomorrow..." She definitely had to return to the Gu family sometime or other, so she decided it was just the right time to go back.

    May the fifth was the day that the Xia family would visit the Gu family.

    Su Waner had always liked Xia Zijun, and so she would probably be too ecstatic at his arrival to care about Gu Xiqiao at all. Hence, she probably wouldn¡¯t do anything other than makingints to Gu Zuhui.

    If it were the past, Gu Xiqiao was still concerned about getting on their good graces in hopes of a sliver of familial love, shepletely threw away those concerns this time around.

    It was also the truth that she had to go to school tomorrow, and she would have to go home to get her textbooks anyway.

    After thinking over this for a while, there was no better time to go home.

    Jiang Shuxuan wanted to refuse when he saw her frail visage, but then again who could refuse her request to go home?

    He didn¡¯t try to stop her anymore and stood up to get a jacket and his car keys. "Alright."

    "Where do you live?" Jiang Shuxuan asked as he started up his car.

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a bit before replying, "Shanhe Manor Area, no. 16."

    This reply made Jiang Shuxuan raise his eyebrows in surprise. The Shanhe Manor Area was one of the most expensive areas in N City and was famous for housing some of the most influential people in the city. Even though he wasn¡¯t from N City, he knew this much, at least.

    Very quickly, they arrived at the destination.

    "I¡¯ve saved my number here, so if anything happens, call me okay?" When the car stopped, Jiang Shuxuan got out of the car and went over to help Gu Xiqiao open the car door on her side, before taking out an intricate small box. After staying with her for two days, he already knew that she was the type to refuse the goodwill of others, so he just stuffed the box into her hands without giving her a chance to refuse.

    The day before, he had asked her about her phone number, but she said that she had no phone of her own. Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t expected him to gift her one, and so quickly too.

    She spaced out a little as she looked at the pink box in her hands.

    Hey, did he think that she epted his goodwill because of his money?

    And so she felt another headacheing on and massaged her temples with her fingers as she gave Jiang Shuxuan a sidelong nce, the refusal in her eyes quite clear. She didn¡¯t buy a phone purely because she had no one to call with it, and not because she couldn¡¯t... But would it be rude to refuse it directly?

    Seeing her movements, Jiang Shuxuan knew that the girl was spacing out again. Smiling softly, he nodded encouragingly. "Take it, think of it as a meeting gift from me."

    Gu Xiqiao dumbly nodded and got down from the car, before looking up at the tall man.

    "Thank you, Brother Jiang."

    The girl¡¯s face seemed like a piece of luminous jade under the morning sunlight without even a single w. Her hair cascaded down the back of her head, swaying slightly with the breeze and entuating her already pale skin.

    After that, what attracted his attention next was her almost overly thin figure.

 Chapter 6 Sisters

    How could a person that lived in Shanhe Manor Area be so thin?

    Jiang Shuxuan held back the sudden urge to pat her on the head. "Go in first, the sun¡¯s quite bright now."

    "I¡¯ll be going now then." Gu Xiqiao bowed again before waving her hand and walking towards the gates of the manor.

    Even though every fiber of her being rejected going back to this ce, but she still did. Looking at the two words on the gate, she closed her eyes slowly, not knowing what to think.

    Meanwhile, Jiang Shuxuan leaned on the car and watched from a distance.

    After she pressed on the doorbell, she continued to stand at the gates in the hot, sweltering sun. It had almost been five minutes and the door had no sign of opening at all. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze darkened as he reached into his car to take out a packet of cigarettes, lighting one up.

    May in N City was quite hot and humid, and the afternoon sun was at its highest at two in the afternoon, the heat waves making anyone that dared to stand in their path to feel a blistering pain.

    After a while, Jiang Shuxuan threw away his half-smoked cigarette on the ground and stepped on it to snuff it out, before starting to make his way over to the gate with a frosty expression that almost cut through the heat of the sun.

    At this moment, the gate finally opened, but he didn¡¯t stop his steps. He looked like he was walking slowly, but he appeared at the gates in an instant. He looked up, and tworge words were emzoned in gold.

    Gu Residence!

    Gu Xiqiao walked from the entrance to the house slowly, and before she arrived at the doorstep she heardughs and giggles like tinkling bells. She stood there for a while before the devil on her shoulder reminded her that if she went it right now it would definitely destroy the atmosphere in there...

    Thinking of this, she quickly made her way over to the door and stepped in, and the house was plunged into an abrupt silence.

    Perhaps they hadn¡¯t expected Gu Xiqiao to appear at this point, and the lively conversation in the living room died down immediately. The smiles of the three people on the sofa slowly disappeared, and the living room was as silent as the grave.

    Even the servant could detect the unusual atmosphere in the room, and coldly took out a pair of indoor shoes, throwing them onto the floor with a ¡¯thwack¡¯.

    Gu Xiqiao stared at the pair of shoes without saying a word.

    The memories in her mind yed back like a movie in her mind¡¯s eye. The first time she had met her grandfather was at her adoptive mother¡¯s grave. The old man was standing in a suit and tie not far from her, and even though his hair was as white as snow, his gaze was quite energetic for his age. He stood there with a bunch of bodyguards in ck suits, and said, "I¡¯m your grandfather."

    She had thought that she had lost all of her family at that moment, and right then she was taken off guard, and so she agreed to let him bring her to the Gu family.

    When she was brought to the Gu family¡¯s manor, she was immediately stunned by the extravagant decor. She stood there in her bootleg crocs that were stained with mud, not knowing what to do.

    That day, one of the servants threw a pair of new shoes in front of her with a cold, disgusted gaze.

    Gu Xiqiao had always been smart, and from the first day she arrived at the Gu family, she could tell that something was wrong with how people treated her and deduced her current situation from the gossip of the servants. Her mother was a mistress that disrupted their rtionship and she was an illegitimate daughter, and so she started to hide and lower her presence in the home. Not only did she express multiple times that she would never fight with Gu Xijin for the family property, but she had also helped Gu Xijin multiple times in secret.

    As expected, her grandfather had thought that she was irredeemable andzy, and had given up on her after a while, and Su Wan¡¯er had stopped seeing her as an obstacle for Gu Xijin.

    ...

    Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes and stopped thinking about it, bending to change her shoes.

    Gu Xijin who was sitting on the couch was the one that reacted first, and she came over to Gu Xiqiao with a smile and hooking their arms together. "Little Sis, I¡¯ve been worried about you! Why did you go out like that without saying a word? Where did you go when you don¡¯t have friends here, you need to take care of your safety!"

    Gu Xiqiao only looked up at her without saying a single word.

    That gaze was too clear, bright and sharp, which was a great contrast from her once dim, self-conscious and gloomy. Seeing these pair of eyes, Gu Xijin didn¡¯t even know how to react.

    Gu Xiqiao retracted her gaze and started walking towards the stairs, replying with a light tone, "My deskmate invited me to her house."

    "Why did I hear news that you don¡¯t get along well with your ssmates..." Gu Xijin muttered with a slight furrow of the brow. Gu Xiqiao could be considered an invisible person in the ss, since when did she have any friends? She was definitely lying.

    "Ah Jin,e here!" Su Wan¡¯er mmed the teacup on the table andmanded with a strict tone.

    Fang Ziyi knew what the situation was after seeing this. She had already known that Gu Zuhui had an illegitimate daughter that was epted into the Gu family by her grandfather. Judging from Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s reaction, that girl was definitely the one. As a woman, she knew that Su Wan¡¯er was still angry about her husband cheating on her, so she quickly smiled and tried to change the topic.

    "Wan¡¯er, have the roses in your garden bloomed yet?"

    Su Wan¡¯er got up, and because she knew it wasn¡¯t good to re up when there were visitors over, she took this chance quickly. "Of course, let me show you."

    When they both got into the garden, Fang Ziyi tried to console her. "Don¡¯t let this dampen your mood, she¡¯s not even worth your time! I have no idea why you let her into your home in the first ce and even let her be so close with Xijin? Xijin is a good girl, but are you muddled too? She can¡¯t just treat her like her real sister out of the blue like that!"

    Su Wan¡¯er brought her to the middle of the garden where a table and chairs were set up, and sat them both down, telling a servant to bring them tea. "Sister Fang, you know I only have one daughter, and so grandfather said to bring the vixen back to make the house merrier. What else could I say? I¡¯ve already told Ah Jin to not get involved with this, but she didn¡¯t listen!"

    Fang Ziyi sighed softly and held Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s hands. She knew Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s bitterness, but she couldn¡¯t say anything as an outsider. "Ah Jin has always been a nice girl, you know that better than anyone. She has always been the type to pity stray dogs and cats and bring them in, so don¡¯t worry. That little shrimp can¡¯t start any waves, just get someone to keep an eye on her and marry her off to some chump when she¡¯s old enough! You can help Ah Jin get into high ces that way too, I don¡¯t think Mr. Gu will mind."

    Once she thought of the vixen, Su Wan¡¯er could feel her blood pressure rising. For every moment she saw Gu Xiqiao, she was continuously reminded of Gu Zuhui cheating on her, how could she not be angry?

    Thinking of that gloomy and dumb girl, Su Wan¡¯er felt a twisted sense of relief.

    ¡¯Father better see which daughter is most suited to be his sessor!¡¯

    "Let¡¯s not talk about this, where¡¯s Zijun?" Su Wan¡¯er rubbed her forehead and changed the topic.

    Xia Zijun was Fang Ziyi¡¯s son and the heir to the Xia family with talent and good looks. He had been betrothed to Gu Xijin ever since they were children, and the Gu family had always been satisfied with him. Once the topic changed to him, the two mothers quickly forgot about their troubles.

    An illegitimate daughter wasn¡¯t much to worry about in the first ce, just an eyesore.

    At the same time, Gu Xijin was still acting the part of a loving sister in the living room.

    "Little Sis, why haven¡¯t you been home for the past few days, are you still angry at me?" Gu Xijin asked, her gaze gentle andforting. Honestly, she had never seen this girl as her sister but only gave this sad illegitimate daughter some pity sometimes. "I¡¯ll tell Father tomorrow, so let¡¯s make you an even grander party when your birthdayes around, how about that?"

    Gu Xijin knew that girls of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s age had their fantasies, and she guessed that this girl was jealous of her because of her birthday.

    It wasn¡¯t difficult for her to think of this because most of her female friends were jealous of what she had too.

    Well.

    Other than the incident with her dress.

    Thinking of this, Gu Xijin¡¯s eyes became hazy.

 Chapter 7 Xia Zijun

    "Why would I be angry about that?" Gu Xiqiao stood up and started walking away.

    She had already taken her revenge for what Gu Xijin had done to her in herst life a long time ago, and even though the Gu Xijin of this world didn¡¯t like her in this life either, she hadn¡¯t done anything that bad to her yet.

    Now, she was giving her a second chance.

    It was the first time Gu Xijin didn¡¯t see envy nor admiration in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze, and so she didn¡¯t know how to act.

    "Does Little Sis not like me?" She turned around and looked at the servant that came out of the kitchen.

    In her impression, Gu Xiqiao was just a self-conscious and weak girl that didn¡¯t even dare to raise her head, since when did she have the courage to lock eyes with her? Remembering Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bright gaze and delicate features, Gu Xijin felt a weight on her chest.

    As the once only daughter of the Gu family, Gu Xijin had a sense of superiority. Back then, she didn¡¯t even think of Gu Xiqiao as a threat¡ªBecause how could a pile of mudpete with the moon? Somehow, Gu Xiqiao gave her a threatening feeling today, and she saw some servants peek at Gu Xiqiao from the corner of her eye.

    Her degree of good looks was rare, even in N City.

    Gu Xijin felt like she ate a fly. Why did such a pretty face grow on this little vixen!

    "Miss Xijin, don¡¯t get any closer with that star of disaster. Madam is waiting for you outside." One servant immediately came forward and helped Gu Xijin to the garden, but not before ring at Gu Xiqiao who was starting to walk upstairs. How could this lowly illegitimate daughter be spoken in the same breath as their young missy?

    Of course, this conversation didn¡¯t affect Gu Xiqiao in the slightest.

    She walked upstairs and locked her room to make sure no one would barge in suddenly.

    Her room was actually one of the guest rooms of the Gu family and didn¡¯t even have a proper set of furniturepared to Gu Xijin¡¯s princess room. Of course, Gu Xiqiao had never really desired these material things in the first ce.

    After spacing out on the bed for a bit, she opened the box which contained a white mobile phone. After staring at it for a while, she realized it was a renowned brand, and the memory cards had already been installed. Other than a few game applications, a few finance applications were also installed thoughtfully, and Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know what to say.

    In the contacts page, there was a number with the name ¡¯Jiang Shuxuan¡¯.

    She was quick at memorizing, and she could memorize something like a phone number in a few seconds, but today, she stared at the number for a long, long time.

    After she finished examining her phone, she went to her desk and started to flip open her textbook.

    The book she opened was a math textbook, and the trigonometric and conic diagrams on the pages were both familiar and unfamiliar to her. Math in high school wasn¡¯t easy in the first ce, and even though Gu Xiqiao was quite smart, but most of her past life was used to oil painting and battling inmerce she didn¡¯t really spend her time studying.

    Of course, she had studied these before and was quite smart, and if there was enough time she could relearn the curriculum quickly.

    Once the system spirit analyzed these thoughts of Gu Xiqiao, and immediately started promoting its ¡¯products¡¯. [Beauty Qiao, what you need right now is the virtual space! You can stretch one second into a day, are you sure you don¡¯t want to use it? Not to brag, but if you use it, you will be able to be a goddess in a sh!]

    "...Are you sure you¡¯re not bragging? Thank you for reminding me, but I don¡¯t need it at the moment." She had just exited the virtual space a few days ago, and she didn¡¯t want to go back to that boring life again just yet.

    No one knew how much it meant to her to be able to breathe fresh air and to be able to see bright and brilliant colors.

    Gu Xiqiao took out a pen and nibbled on the edge of the pen, writing out forms and using them ording to the mock questions she had. In an afternoon, she couldn¡¯t solve one particrly hard question, but her blurry memories became even clearer.

    The books and scrolls in the virtual space were mostly ancient and old, and so it didn¡¯t have any information on high-school math and science.

    High school math was too far away from her, and Gu Xiqiao massaged her temples tiredly from the toll.

    When dinner time came around, Gu Xijin came up and knocked on the door. "Little Sis, it¡¯s time to eat!"

    Her voice made a chill run up Gu Xiqiao¡¯s spine, and her instinctive chilly expression faded after a while.

    Gu Xijin had never called her to eat with the family before because she had no stance to sit down at the table that represented unity as a representation of the destruction of their family. She would only be called down sometimes if their grandfather came to visit.

    To her memory, her grandfather didn¡¯te home today.

    When she got downstairs, Gu Xiqiao finally knew why Gu Xijin called her for dinner¡ªXia Zijun was right there, sitting next to Su Wan¡¯er.

    The handsome young man was wearing a T-shirt and smiling gently. His features were elegant like the morning sunshine and attracted the attention of everyone in the room without even trying.

    Gu Xijin had always been arrogant, and whatever she had, she would always find a roundabout way to show it off in front of everyone until their gazes became envious and jealous. In her past life, she used what Gu Xiqiao gave her to attract the attention and love of everyone around her.

    Of course, what didn¡¯t belong to her would never belong to her.

    Gu Xijin sat down next to Xia Zijun and looked over to Gu Xiqiao. "Little Sis, why are you standing there for? Come sit!"

    Hearing Gu Xijin¡¯s voice, Xia Zijun nced over in her direction, seeing a thin silhouette in a floral dress.

    His hands that were holding a pair of chopsticks couldn¡¯t help but pause as he observed her. As the daughter of a porn star, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s looks could be considered perfect, and upon closer inspection, she was even more delicate and pretty than Gu Xijin. Even her temperament and aura were leagues greater than Gu Xijin as if she had gone through a lot of ups and downs that had polished her to a shine.

    Xia Zijun knew that this girl had been brought back from the countryside by Grandpa Gu, and such a girl could bepared to Gu Xijin that had been raised with a golden spoon?

    This made Xia Zijun nce at her a few more times.

    Gu Xiqiao sat at the end of the dinner table, and with so many people having dinner, she was sitting by her lonesome without saying a word.

    [The system has detected that Xia Zijun¡¯s affection towards you is 20. Do you want to add him as a friend?] The system spirit¡¯s voice suddenly popped up in her mind.

    Gu Xiqiao had never really liked Xia Zijun, so she refused, "No thanks."

    Gu Zuhui sat at the head of the table, and even if Su Wan¡¯er had anything that she wasn¡¯t satisfied with, she couldn¡¯t get mad because visitors were here. She didn¡¯t even have any intention of letting this illegitimate daughtere down for dinner. Why would she? Did she want to gross herself out?

    She was unwilling to me Gu Xijin, so she only patted her head and shot a withering re at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao only lowered her gaze slightly, trying to hide her disdain.

    She couldn¡¯t understand Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s logic of pushing all the me on other people, while Gu Zuhui was still cheating on her with those girls outside too!

    Gu Xijin only stuck out her tongue towards Su Wan¡¯er mischievously, before turning around and whispering to one of the servants.

    That servant took the te of ribs ced by Gu Xijin and walked over to Gu Xiqiao, practically throwing it onto the table in front of her with a resounding ng. The servants all didn¡¯t really like this illegitimate daughter¡ªHow dare she be so gloomy when Madam and Miss took her in, was she trying to make those outsiders say that she was being treated unfairly?

    The servant had no idea why Miss Xijin was treating this illegitimate daughter with ulterior motives so well.

 Chapter 8 Curiosity

    Fang Ziyi looked at Gu Xijin adoringly before picking up a meatball with her chopsticks and putting it in her bowl, jokingly berating her as she did, which got a pout from Gu Xijin in return.

    As a nice atmosphere emanated from one end of the dinner table, Gu Xiqiao continued to eat her dinner at the other end of the table without reacting at all.

    Everyone that was at the table had refined table manners¡ªNo slouching, no wolfing down food, back ramrod straight, but only the girl at the corner had none of these. She seemed like she was stuck to the table as she propped her chin with an arm, feeding herself slowly with another. She didn¡¯t care about her image in the least, but it seemed as if she was supposed to be that way, and she looked quitefortable with her current position.

    Xia Zijun couldn¡¯t help but send a few nces in her direction.

    He was one of the most outstanding young people of N City, and Gu Xiqiao remembered seeing a poster with his picture on it posted on the bulletin board at school. As the first-ce student of all the high school students in N City, and with his background, he had already been mythicized by the students in the school he had graduated from.

    "Brother Zijun, is university fun?" Gu Xijin had continued to converse with Xia Zijun, and even though there were a lot of rules in upper society on not talking during eating and bedtime, the same rules didn¡¯t quite apply to Gu Xijin. Who wouldn¡¯t be tolerant of such an innocent and cute girl even when she broke a few measly rules?

    "It¡¯s better than high school, naturally. Work hard on studying okay, Ah Jin?" Xia Zijun smiled gently and encouraged.

    "I¡¯m going to study well and try to get into the university that Brother Zijun is in!" Gu Xijin smiled brightly and looked over to the other end of the table. "You¡¯re going to study for the exams with me right, little sis?"

    With this question, the merry atmosphere over the dinner table seemed to freeze in ce. As Su Wan¡¯er red over at the girl that ruined this beautiful scene, the grudge in her gaze grew even more.

    Gu Xiqiao felt a bunch of gazes like knives, but it didn¡¯t affect her in the slightest. She put down her fork and smiled, saying, "I saw a certain photo on Weibo the other day..."

    "Little sis!" Gu Xijin suddenly raised her voice, and upon feeling the gazes shift to her again, she smiled. "Eat more ribs and stop spending all your time on the inte. Study well and read more books, and if you have any questions you cane ask me. Let¡¯s go to B University together!"

    Who wanted to go with her? Could she even get into that university with her pitifully low IQ?

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her head and didn¡¯t reply, hiding her mocking gaze.

    In their past life, Gu Xijin could only get into B City, but her test scores weren¡¯t enough to get into B University. She managed to get into the university after one of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s oil paintings that she released in her name was seen by one of the fellows of the university. Gu Xiqiao was quite curious about how she nned on getting into that university this time around with her help.

    Because Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, the atmosphere around the dinner table grew even colder.

    Xia Zijun was the one that resolved this situation.

    "Here, have a chicken drumstick." Xia Zijun smiled and ced one drumstick in Gu Xijin¡¯s bowl and turned over to Gu Zuhui. "My grandfather told me that the higher-ups were trying to build a national base in N City, has Uncle Gu heard any rumors about it?"

    The topic of the national base was a great chance to profit, and also a ssified secret that even Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t have any intel on. When he heard this he was quite surprised too and started conversing with Xia Zijun, and so the main topic on the dinner table was changed easily.

    Feeling the gazes on her retreat, Gu Xiqiao slowly raised her head and looked at Xia Zijun.

    She knew of Xia Zijun¡¯s glorious history, and even though she was quite impressed by him too, she didn¡¯t hold any admiration towards him. Xia Zijun was too perfect and was the dream lover of many young girls, but in her past life, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t even think of going near him because she thought that they weren¡¯t in the same league. In her current life, she didn¡¯t want to get involved with this person in the slightest because it would be too much trouble.

    Gu Xijin had been keeping an eye on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reaction, and upon seeing the younger continue eating without being affected by any of the events earlier, she was a little miffed.

    Gu Xijin was just a girl in herte teens after all, and even though she was raised in a rich family, she couldn¡¯t help but show off her superiority at whichever chance she got when she looked at Gu Xiqiao who couldn¡¯tpete with her in any aspect. Xia Zijun was a princely character that was admired by many for his politeness and humility, and a lot of people were jealous of her because he tended to take care of her whenever he could.

    This was also why she continued to check on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reaction as she continued to talk with him.

    Seeing how Gu Xiqiao seemed to not care in the slightest, she felt like she was punching on a bunch of cotton.

    How frustrating.

    When she saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reaction, she couldn¡¯t help but think back to the day when her dressed ripped all of a sudden on her banquet. She had the feeling that Gu Xiqiao was mocking her behind her back, but how dare she?!

    Gu Xijin grit her teeth unnoticeably as her grip on her chopsticks became tighter.

    On the entire dinner table, Gu Xiqiao was probably the only one that had afortable time eating.

    Su Wan¡¯er didn¡¯t like her, and she didn¡¯t like Su Wan¡¯er either, so she thought it was the best to just go back to her room and study. After finishing her food, she stood up and left for her room, but a gentle voice called out from behind her. "Is your leg okay?"

    Gu Xiqiao only frowned slightly, not paying him any attention.

    "Hey, wait." Seeing that she was going to leave, Xia Zijun grabbed her arm in a hurry, his palms heating up as they touched her smooth and supple skin. "It seems like your knee is hurt pretty badly, why don¡¯t I get you some medicine? The type that won¡¯t leave behind a scar, of course."

    His pale, handsome face was noticeably colored with a blush, but his first thought was that girls, especially a pretty one, would be concerned about leaving behind a scar.

    Her wound had already started to clot, but it was still bruised, and the greenish-red wound looked quite serious.

    Gu Xiqiao was quite surprised that Xia Zijun was the first person to realize that she was hurt. In her past life, he treated her neutrally¡ªNot looking down on her, but not particrly taking care of her either. Why was he so concerned for her this time around?

    "Thanks, but I¡¯ve already applied medicine to it," Gu Xiqiao replied without turning her head. Any girl of her age would probably talk to Xia Zijun bashfully like Gu Xijin did, but her expression was scarily cold without any ripples in her clear gaze.

    She shook off Xia Zijun¡¯s arm and started walking towards the stairs without even a hint of hesitation.

    They better stay uninvolved in this lifetime, either.

    "Brother Zijun!" Gu Xijin walked over from the dining hall and hugged Xia Zijun¡¯s arm as she shot a wary look at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s retreating silhouette. "What did you talk to little sis about?"

    "It¡¯s nothing, is she the little sister you¡¯ve talked about?" Xia Zijun shook his head.

    Gu Xijin lowered her gaze and fluttered her eyshes before looking up at Xia Zijun with a disheartened expression. "Yeah, but she doesn¡¯t seem to like me at all... I even gave her my precious teddy bear which was the first gift you gave me. She didn¡¯t have a nice life before, and I hope for her to be able to be happy...Brother Zijun, am I not doing well?"

    Xia Zijun listened quietly, before nodding and pressing his palm onto her head gently. "It¡¯s okay."

    Su Wan¡¯er called them back to the dining hall, so Gu Xijin quickly went back with Xia Zijun in tow.

    Xia Zijun had never been treated so coldly by anyone in his life that didn¡¯t even want to talk to him, and as he walked, he couldn¡¯t help but look back at the thin girl that was leaving.

    A fluffy and tiny dog was trying hard totch onto her, and even though she shook it off the dog would continue to go back to her. This back-and-forth continued a few times, and it actually seemed quite cute.

    Xia Zijun knew that this dog was a stray that Gu Xijin had picked up, but from the way it seemed to like Gu Xiqiao more, was something to think about.

    Gu Xiqiao was so bothered by the dog that she reached down and lifted it up by the scruff of its neck.

    Seeing this scene, Xia Zijun couldn¡¯t help butugh softly as his curiosity grew even more.

 Chapter 9 Phone Call

    "You¡¯re Gu Xijin¡¯s dog, don¡¯te near me." Gu Xiqiao ced the dog outside of her room and pointed at its nose.

    The dog was locked outside the room, but it didn¡¯t give up, instead starting to scratch at the door with its small ws.

    Gu Xiqiao sat on her bed for a while, and hearing that the dog didn¡¯t give up, she went over and opened the door with a chilly expression, and the dog immediately ran into the room.

    And so, the dog continued to y around by her legs as she studied for her exams, and the scene was quite harmonious.

    After a few hours, someone knocked on her door louder than necessary, and Gu Xiqiao impatiently put down her pen to open her door. Outside was a middle-aged female servant, and upon seeing Gu Xiqiao, the former threw a bunch of clothes onto her face and said, "Here are your clothes!"

    Gu Xiqiao tilted her head as she looked at the servant. This servant was an unimportant servant that was only in charge of simple chores that couldn¡¯t even hold a candle to the experienced servants of the Gu family, but even such a servant could raise her voice against her.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, and coupled with her clear gaze and pretty face, she looked positively innocently and harmless.

    Coming from a backwater countryside and settling into this bustling and advanced city was anxiety-inducing for Gu Xiqiao, and she took a long time to get used to life here. Thankfully, Su Wan¡¯er didn¡¯t mistreat her on the surface level.

    The outsiders all praised Su Wan¡¯er as the generous matriarch of the Gu family that even took an illegitimate daughter under her wing.

    In her past life, Gu Xiqiao thought so too. Su Wan¡¯er didn¡¯t treat her shabbily in terms of food and clothes, and she had once believed that if she worked hard enough, Su Wan¡¯er would ept her existence one day. She wasn¡¯t the one that destroyed their family directly after all, and so she always endured them silently.

    But these cold-hearted people never acknowledged her efforts, instead taking them for granted and saying that she should have done so in the first ce!

    She suddenly stopped smiling and leaned closer to the servant, whispering into her ear with a dismissive tone, "As low as my position may be, I¡¯m still a member of the Gu family that Grandfather brought back, while you¡¯re just a servant. If you don¡¯t want to work here anymore, I can go tell Grandfather. Let¡¯s see who gets kicked out!"

    After that, she stepped back and mmed the door in the servant¡¯s face.

    The servant was stunned by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s disy of defiance and was on the brink of shouting in anger.

    Who did she think she was?!

    Did she think she¡¯s afraid of her?

    But after that, she came to her senses, and her face paled considerably in fear.

    Servants lived on the good graces of their masters after all, and the person that was in charge of the Gu family at the end of the day was still Master Gu, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s grandfather. Su Wan¡¯er still had no right to control everything in the family, and the one that called the shots was still Master Gu. Gu Xiqiao was brought back personally by Master Gu, and even though she wasn¡¯t that likable, but no matter how much she didn¡¯t have the favor of the other members of the Gu family, a direct descendant epted by Master Gu wasn¡¯t someone that she couldpare to as a servant. Master Gu had always valued his blood rtions, and so he couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t leave Gu Xiqiao to the wolvespletely.

    After the servant thought all of this through, she patted her chest in fear and breathed deeply.

    She and the other servants had been misled by Lady Su¡¯s attitude towards Gu Xiqiao for these past few days and had been deluded into thinking that it was alright to take advantage of Gu Xiqiao.

    As the servant stared at the door that had been mmed in her face, she started reconsidering the rumors that the second daughter of the Gu family was foolish. Could she have been acting dumb all this time? If that were the case, this illegitimate daughter probably had a few tricks up her sleeve...

    The servant had seen her fair share of upper-society drama, and after thinking about all the twists and turns thoroughly, she shuddered and decided not to provoke Gu Xiqiao anymore.

    And so, the arrogant servant retreated to the servant¡¯s quarters with her tail tucked between her legs.

    Gu Xiqiao took out the school uniform she was going to wear the next day and arranged her textbooks, and then silentlyy on the bed after everything was arranged well.

    Meanwhile, the dogy down below her bed.

    As faint streaks of moonlight filtered in through the curtains, she opened her eyes. She didn¡¯t have any drowsiness and rolled around the bed futilely before reaching for the phone in her bedside cab. She slowly scrolled through it and stopped as she saw the finance applications that had been installed.

    For her, earning money wasn¡¯t a hard thing to do. In fact, she was undecided about what to do first.

    Buy stocks, futures or spots?

    Of course, she had no intention whatsoever of contending for the position of the heir to the Gu family with Gu Xijin. She didn¡¯t care about the meager bit of property that the Gu family had in the slightest, and instead of hoping for the Gu family¡¯s pity, she¡¯d rather spend her time raising a pet dog.

    The Gu family had be what it was in her past life because of her help, and she wanted to see who the Gu family was going to find to help them reach that degree of sess.

    The system analyzed her emotions and started to brag again. [If you do more missions and let me level up, it wouldn¡¯t be a dream to be a billionaire!]

    A raise of an eyebrow and a scoff. "You say that as if you can make money out of thin air."

    [...What are you nning to do then?]

    "I have my ns."

    Seeing as its mistress was hard to deceive, the system crouched in a corner of a room and drew circles on the ground.

    The phone screen that had darkened suddenly lit up and Gu Xiqiao squinted as she stared at the screen that said that Jiang Shuxuan had sent her a message.

    ¡¯Brother Jiang: Is it alright to call you right now?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao practically jumped up on the bed and read the message a few times, and after confirming that she wasn¡¯t seeing things she put on her indoor slippers and came to the window. After she pushed open the curtains, she pressed on the dial button after a slight hesitation.

    The person on the other end picked up the call in a few seconds.

    A low and attractive voice rung out from the phone, and even though the cold voice was purposefully suppressed and wasn¡¯t all that gentle, it calmed down Gu Xiqiao¡¯s irritated emotions instantaneously. She hung up and stood by the window for a short while, and the moment shey back on the bed, she immediately fell asleep.

    In another mansion, Jiang Shuxuan gracefully stood by the windowsill. The dim moonlight cast a silvery halo on him, and it made him seem ethereal.

    In his hand was an unfinished cigarette, and the flickering embers were especially noticeable in the dark.

    After a while, the mobile phone in his hand rang again and Jiang Shuxuan extinguished the cigarette in a ss ashtray as he looked at the person who called him. It was the eldest son of the Yin family, Yin Shaoyuan.

    "Brother Jiang, I thought you had already arrived at Imperial Capital! No wonder everyone told me you hadn¡¯t gone back yet." Yin Shaoyuan had always been fickle and somewhat impolite even when talking to his father, but that wasn¡¯t the case for when he talked with Jiang Shuxuan.

    He and Jiang Shuxuan were ssmates in university, and the way they met was quite dramatic.

    Yin Shaoyuan was known as the small tyrant in N City and was used to having his way. He couldn¡¯t shake away this habit even when he went to Jing Capital and got into trouble with another local rich kid, and he thought that no one would dare to hurt him because of his background. That night, he was stabbed through the gut in an alley and was saved by Jiang Shuxuan.

    More importantly, was the way that the bunch of snobby rich kids all turned into mice that dug themselves into the earth when they came face to face with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Because of that, Yin Shaoyuan blindly idolized Jiang Shuxuan.

    The scene of him defeating a dozen crooks at once immediately converted him into a die-hard fanboy of Jiang Shuxuan. Even his grandfather thought that he was way too lucky to be a friend of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s.

    "Do you have the info?"

    The cold voice made Yin Shaoyuan gulp slightly. "Honestly I didn¡¯t have to check, because there¡¯s only one Gu family that lives in the Shanhe Manor Area, but I still got my hands on some detailed data on them. I already sent them to your email, so check it out. It¡¯s only a small family, so if they¡¯ve offended you I have a hundred ways to make them have a bad time..."

    "Thanks."

    "No, it¡¯s my pleasure to work for you..."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t wait for him to finished his sentence and immediately hung up, walking up the stairs step by step.

    He saw the email that Yin Shaoyuan sent him and wanted to click it open, but his gaze swept over to a document that should have been lost on his desktop, and his pupils shrank slightly.

 Chapter 10 Senior Year

    The Labour Day holiday had already ended, and school reopened the next day. Gu Xiqiao looked at her reflection in the mirror of herself wearing a blue and white school uniform. Her hair was tied up in a simple ponytail, and she looked like an average high school student.

    She breathed deeply before pushing the door and exiting her room.

    She studied in the third year, or senior year of high school in N City¡¯s First City High, which was the same school that Gu Xijin studied at. Differently, Gu Xijin was in the rocket ss while Gu Xiqiao was in the parallel ss.

    From top to bottom, the sses in high school were the rocket ss, experiment ss, normal ss, and parallel ss. In terms of student and teacher quality, the parallel ss couldn¡¯tpare to any of the sses in front of it, especially the rocket ss. Most of the talented students in the city were concentrated in this ss, and so it had quite the reputation.

    Most of the students that came out from the rocket ss all got in prestigious universities.

    In contrast, the parallel ss was virtually forgotten by all of the directors of the school.

    There was only around a month until finals woulde around, and most of the students in ss were busy studying and brushing up on their academics, so they didn¡¯t pay attention to the new girl in ss that always had her head lowered and never talked to any of them.

    Maybe they would nce at her sometimes, but that was only because there weren¡¯t many people that could look so good in a school uniform.

    Unparalleled beauty without even putting on makeup, no wonder the boys from the other sses always came by to look at her.

    [The system has detected that Xiao Yun is an upstanding citizen and a righteous girl, do you want to add her to your friend list?] The system suddenly told her seriously.

    Gu Xiqiao heard the system spirit talk and looked up at Xiao Yun who was handing out math papers. This girl was her deskmate and the math representative of the parallel ss, and while she didn¡¯t get acquainted with her in her past life, she had heard the news of her entering the entertainment industry after she didn¡¯t do well in her finals.

    "No need," Gu Xiqiao quickly refused the system spirit¡¯s offer.

    [You must add her as a friend, Beauty Qiao! Xiao Yun is a determined girl with lots of potential, and you must make more friends so that you can have someone to lean on in the future! Most importantly, I scanned her family background and she is very! Very! Rich!]

    "Do I look like a poor person to you? Also, aren¡¯t you the strongest system? Why would I need any friends?"

    The system spirit didn¡¯t know how to reply to this mistress that didn¡¯t listen to its advice and decided to just be a mascot system.

    After the system spirit stopped talking, Gu Xiqiao looked at her exam results.

    Chinese, 122 points. Normal, too many points deducted because of the essay section.

    Maths, 140 points, average. Her math had always been decent. And she probably got a few questions wrong this time purely by ident.

    General sciences, 272 points. Pretty good, but she didn¡¯t manage to answer the harder questions.

    English, 72 points. She basically got all the fill-in-the-nks questions and reading questions wrong, while she left her listening sectionpletely nk.

    Gu Xiqiao quietly put down her test results. Her English was quite terrible back in the day, but she had managed to improve on itter on. She had also seen countless books in the virtual space, and there were many English books too, so a high school level exam was a breeze for her now.

    There was only a month left until her finals, and what she was worried about wasn¡¯t English, but mathematics. She had already returned all her math to Karl Marx, and she needed a lot of time to relearn all the systematic mathematics taught to her in high school. It seems that she had to resort to buying virtual space time with her points from the system.

    The system spirit knew what she was thinking and started bouncing around in the air again. [Your choice is correct! The time flow in the virtual space ispletely different than outside in the real world, and you can have all the time you need to revise!]

    "Hey, if you have a lot of spare time go check Weibo, won¡¯t you? Don¡¯t analyze me, do you have nothing better to do?"

    The system spirit: [...]

    The sses in high school made Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head hurt, so she decided to find math books in the virtual space.

    And so, in the eyes of her ssmates, the situation looked like this...

    In chemistry ss, Gu Xiqiao was sleeping.

    Innguage ss, Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t woken up.

    In biology ss, she was still sleeping as soundly as a baby!

    A lot of the teachers in First City High were quite irresponsible, in a way. They cared way more about good students, and so they didn¡¯t even care when they saw a student from the parallel ss sleep in ss.

    The teacher in charge of the parallel ss had gone by the window of the ss three times, and from his angle, he could see Gu Xiqiao sleeping very clearly. He went back to the teacher¡¯s lounge and checked on her exam results, and then he mmed his palm on the table.

    The fourth ss was math ss, and the teacher brought the exam results into the ss with a dark expression. He looked around at the entire ss, and the girl that sat by the window was still sleeping, as expected. He threw the exam results on the table and turned around, writing a coordinate geometry question on the ckboard with a flourish.

    "Gu Xiqiao,e solve this question!"

    [Someone is calling from the outer world, so the system will summon you back in three seconds. Please prepare to leave.]

    Gu Xiqiao sat in the nk white space with a stack of remedial books and practice questions, and after hearing the electronic-sounding voice in her head her ck pupils shed with confusion, beforeing back to her senses.

    "How long have I been in here?"

    [Beauty Qiao, you have used thirty points to exchange a month¡¯s worth of time in the virtual space, and eighteen of these points are overdrafted from the system. That being said, you must take care not to work too hard and have enough rest when you exit the virtual space. Staying in the virtual space for too long isn¡¯t good for you!]

    Xiao Yun reached over and prodded Gu Xiqiao a bit, and upon seeing her look up confusedly, she said, "The teacher wants you to solve that question on the board."

    Gu Xiqiao massaged her temple and nodded in thanks, before getting up and walking towards the ckboard.

    The question on the ckboard was adapted from the hardest question inst year¡¯s final exams. That question was created by an old man that researchedpetitive mathematics, and when it came out that year there were no more than five people that could solve the question in N City. The teacher picked this question with the intent of letting the students in ss settle down and not get too proud.

    With his back to Gu Xiqiao, he advised all the students in ss, "Life is a never-ending process of picking up and letting go. The high school finals are probably thest chance in your life to get noticed aside from your family background. The choice is yours, whether to take the chance or to evade and let go of it..."

    He was one of the more responsible teachers in the school, and even though he was in charge of the worst ss in First City High he never neglected them, always giving them advice whenever he could. Every sentence he said made the students in the ss lower their heads in thought.

    Seeing that the students were listening seriously to his words, the ss teacher couldn¡¯t help the swell of pride in his heart. He looked back at Gu Xiqiao, and continued, "Student Gu, I know your math is average, but you can¡¯t give up until thest moment in your final your, and it¡¯s alright to not know how to..."

    He had wanted to continue lecturing her, but his words were stuck in his throat.

    The girl that was facing the board was wearing a school uniform toorge for her frame, and while this school uniform made the average student look plump, it made this girl look even thinner. Those that looked at her could only see her pale and elegant neck, and even though she was just solving a simple math question, she gave off the aura of a leisure artist at work.

    Of course, this wasn¡¯t what made the ss teacher stop speaking.

    Gu Xiqiao checked on her answers thoroughly before putting down the chalk and turning around.

    The ss teacher came back to his senses and coughed softly, letting Gu Xiqiao sit down before pushing his sses up the bridge of his nose and checking on the answer she gave. He realized that Gu Xiqiao had not only answered properly, and the steps were even tidier and more concise than even the standard answer and nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. Student Gu has answered perfectly, so if anyone has any questions about math, you can ask her about them."

    This praise of his made everyone in ss look at Gu Xiqiao in shock.

    Most of them couldn¡¯t even understand how to start on the first small part of the question, and Gu Xiqiao not only solved all three sections, and got praise from the teacher that she did it perfectly.

    This made it hard for them to ept.

    The ss teacher rubbed away the questions on the board, and because this question was too hard to understand, it wasn¡¯t suitable for the parallel ss at least at this point. He nced over at a certain girl that was nodding off again and tapped the teacher¡¯s table with a piece of chalk in frustration. "Gu Xiqiao, you¡¯re the only one who got the easiest multiple-choice questions wrong, so sit up and listen!"

    Gu Xiqiao sat up straight and rubbed her eyes groggily, looking at the exam paper and trying to look for the question that the teacher was about to discuss.

    The ss ended quickly, and after everyone in the ss left Gu Xiqiao took out a lunch card with the school¡¯s front door printed on the front of the card.

    .......

    Two young men stood there with basketballs in hand in front of the canteen, attracting the gazes of the people that went by.

    One of them had closely cropped hair, and seeing a dainty girl walk over slowly, he tugged at the sleeve of the handsome, tall young man next to him. "Brother Wu, Brother Wu! Isn¡¯t that girl pretty? Isn¡¯t she the girl that wrote a love letter to you called... Gu Xiqiao, right? I saw her when I looked for Xiao Yun at their ss, she¡¯s quite the looker, ain¡¯t she?"

 Chapter 11 Rescue

    Wu Hongwen nced at the girl and raised his eyebrows slightly, before looking away disinterestedly. "Look all you want, I¡¯m going to go eat!"

    The other young man reluctantly looked away, then tugged at Wu Hongwen jealously. "If that love letter were written to me, there wouldn¡¯t be any of your business anymore! Talk about wasting your resources!"

    "Stop making a fool of yourself." Wu Hongwen rolled his eyes in exasperation and threw his basketball in the air as he walked away.

    The other boy mock gasped dramatically and followed after Wu Hongwen. "Hey, I thought you were my friend!"

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao finished eating her lunch and went back to ss, and listened attentively to the teachers in the lessons that came after.

    The ss teacher that had taken the time to check back on her nodded in satisfaction.

    After school let out in the evening, he requested Gu Xiqiao to stay behind for a discussion.

    "Which university do you want to apply for?" The ss teacher asked directly, holding the exam results from earlier. "Your mathematics is quite good, and I think your English still has a lot of potential to be improved. Math and sciences are connected in some ways too, and if you focus on your general sciences you can probably raise it by another ten points or so...With this degree of grades, you can probably get into a good university."

    Gu Xiqiao blinked, and replies honestly, "I¡¯ve never thought of it."

    She had never thought of this question before, but since she had attended B University in her past life, she had no intention of replicating any of her choices in this one.

    The ss teacher hadn¡¯t expected this answer. He had thought of many answers like S University, B University, or A University for example, but he had never thought that she would reply like that. "Young people should have their own goals so that they have the motivation to study! You¡¯re talented and smart enough, so don¡¯t waste your time!"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and nodded. "I¡¯ll decide ording to my results in the next exam."

    "Alright, but aim higher this time, and don¡¯t rx too much!" The ss teacher didn¡¯t ask anymore. "You can go home now, take care of your safety okay?"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, and as she turned away she nced at the paper filled with calctions on the table and smiled. "Teacher, you have to use likelihood functions, or else you won¡¯t be able to solve this question."

    The girl seemed like an elegant and impish elf as she said so, and the other teachers who were listening in on the conversation smiled with good intentions.

    The ss teacher blinked and seriously tried to solve the question with a likelihood function, and realized that Gu Xiqiao was correct. He was stunned for a few seconds before he smiled, his eyes turning into crescents in glee. "Smart."

    Likelihood functions was a calction method usually taught in universities, but it was taught in passing because the national finals had a reputation for including questions that weren¡¯t in the official sybus. For this girl to be able to use this method so quickly, it meant that she had spent a lot of time and effort in practice.

    The teacher next to him looked over jealously. "If her English were a little better, she would be able to join the rocket ss with no problems. Don¡¯t neglect her alright?"

    And so, the teachers started their conversation.

    It was already quitete when Gu Xiqiao stepped out of the school grounds, and there weren¡¯t many people left on the streets outside the school. Of course, the car that the Gu family sent to fetch Gu Xijin had already left.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t really care about it and put on her backpack, squinting as she looked around. The rays of sunset shone on her and created a long shadow on the lone pathway, and Gu Xiqiao walked towards a shortcut home.

    [Ding! Daily Good Deed Mission Activated: Rescue Wu Hongwen]

    [Mission reward: 10 points]

    The system that had been silent for an entire afternoon rang again and Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps. "Who is that, and how do I save him?"

    The system spirit waved its hand in the air, and a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her with a red arrow on it. [The system has detected that Wu Hongwen is on the alley to your left.]

    Gu Xiqiao looked in the direction of the arrow and saw a young man surrounded by a group of gangsters. Seeing the daggers and knives in their hands, she immediately wanted to escape. "Hey, I can¡¯t beat that!"

    [Please remember that the system is omnipotent! You can use two points to buy half an hour¡¯s worth of Martial Art Master status from the system.]

    "Two points? Let¡¯s not stick our noses into this matter..." A point could be used to exchange a day in the virtual space, and it was quite a waste to use it on this.

    [Don¡¯t forget that you still have a debt to the system! With two points deducted, you can still profit a whole eight points!] The system spirit reminded, a little angry at this mistress.[1]

    It had just praised that she was hardworking, but why did she be stingy?

    Wu Hongwen thought that he had been on an unlucky streaktely. He had been harassed endlessly by a girl from another school, and her suitors even brought theirckeys to beat him up when he was all alone. There were eight gangsters, while there was only one of him.

    They all had weapons like daggers and iron rods, and it was apparent that they had drawn blood before from their malicious aura.

    There were a few students that passed by, but most of them turned tail and walked the other way as quickly as they could. If they couldn¡¯t take a detour, they ducked their heads and ran by as fast as they could. Wu Hongwen even saw one of the girls that wrote him a love letter today flee as soon as she saw the scene.

    As he was backed against a wall literally and figuratively, he couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly at the reactions of the passersby.

    It was true that misfortune tested one¡¯s loyalty, in the end.

    The blonde gangster that led the gang looked up and down at Wu Hongwen with an arrogant stare. "You¡¯re a student from First City High, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯ve got the gall, touching my woman like that! The most handsome guy in First City High, are you? Let¡¯s see if that helps you in this situation!"

    After he finished his deration, theckeys all startedughing loudly.

    Wu Hongwen knew he had no chance of beating them all and getting away, and he started mocking and throwing insults at them in retaliation. The blond-haired gangster shook the cigarette in the air to shake away the ashes, and theckeys came closer as if that were a sign.

    Theseckeys were all from the vocational school nearby, and because the school authorities never paid any attention to them, they had a lot of experience in fighting and dabbling in the shadows of society. They¡¯ve experienced all sorts of gang battles, and have even gotten into a real gang, so they have been bing more and more arroganttely.

    Wu Hongwen quickly reacted and blocked his chest with his backpack to defend against attacks on his vitals.

    As a few iron rods swung in his direction, he managed to find a hole in the gangsters¡¯ formation, but as he was about to flee, a silhouette ran in their direction like a gust of wind. The silhouette jumped up and spun in the air andnding a kick on one of theckeys and grabbing the shoulder of another and dislocating it with a resounding crack in the silent alley.

    Gu Xiqiao grabbed Wu Hongwen¡¯s wrist while everyone was still stunned and started running away with him in tow.

    Wu Hongwen tried to look at the person that had grabbed his wrist, and all he could hear were the whistling sounds of the wind and the indignant shouts of the gangsters that faded as they ran, as well as the exmations of the people that they ran by on the way.

    But none of these sounds made it into his mind as it drew nks, and all he was thinking of was the person that he saw in front of him at this moment.

    From this angle, he could see her long and slightly curved eyshes as well as her delicate features. Even though they were in the middle of running, her expression was stillzily and unbothered like the moon in the night sky.

    He waspletely dazed.

    [1] for someone who¡¯s good at math now, you¡¯d think she¡¯d do a better job deciding whether to take on a mission or not xD

 Chapter 12 Love Letter

    [Ding! Wu Hongwen has sessfully been saved! 10 points rewarded!]

    When she heard the system notification, Gu Xiqiao started to slow down. This Master status was quite useful, and she felt like she could break a tree with a single swing of her fist. "Can you keep this status for me? I can probably earn a quick buck by performing on the streets, or something."

    [Permanent statuses are sold in the Level 3 system shop.]

    "How many points would I need?" Gu Xiqiao was quite curious. If she could even buy such a cheat-like status, wouldn¡¯t the system be too overpowered?

    The voice of the system spirit seemed to be serious all of a sudden. [2000 points, but I don¡¯t suggest that you buy it. Beauty Qiao, you can train yourself in the virtual space to achieve Master status. It isn¡¯t a good way to take shortcuts like this.]

    [Ding! The system has detected that Wu Hongwen¡¯s affection towards you is thirty-five points, do you want to add him to your friend list?]

    "Nope." Gu Xiqiao refused quickly without any hesitation. "It¡¯s alright, I was just curious. I don¡¯t want power that I didn¡¯t obtain through my effort, so I¡¯ll look for a martial arts scrollter."

    If she had learned a bunch of abilities back in her past life, she wouldn¡¯t have been so passive and let tragedy befall her.

    "Thank you, what¡¯s your name?" Wu Hongwen saw that Gu Xiqiao was about to leave and came back to his senses, reaching over to stop her from leaving.

    Gu Xiqiao who was in Master mode was more agile and had better reflexes, so she dodged him easily.

    "It¡¯s not for your sake, anyway."

    We Hongwen didn¡¯t quite believe in her and scratched at the back of his head with a slight blush on his face. He was still panting from running earlier, and his pale skin was covered with a fine sheen of sweat while his short-sleeved uniform was drenched. His eyes seemed to contain the stars themselves¡ªdark in color yet shone brightly.

    She saved him while everyone else ran away at the first chance they had, and no matter the reason, she was the one that defended him when no one else did. This was something that he wouldn¡¯t soon forget. "You¡¯re a good person."

    ¡¯Then you¡¯re really thinking too much.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao thought, not even wanting to talk with him anymore as she continued to look around.

    Weren¡¯t there any taxis around this time?

    Wu Hongwen suddenly stopped in his steps as a sh of recognition ran through his mind upon seeing the slender silhouette in front of him, his handsome face blushing brightly. "I remember, you¡¯re Gu Xiqiao aren¡¯t you? You even..."

    Before he met Gu Xiqiao, his only reaction to these three words was unquestionably...

    Disgust!

    But at this point, Wu Hongwen didn¡¯t know how to react.

    He had a deep impression of the love letter that the prettiest girl in ss sent her a while ago. The letter that had been written on a piece of pink paper and folded meticulously into a heart was snatched away by one of his ssmates, and the contents were read out loud for everyone to hear. He became theughing stock of the ss for an entire week, and that caused him to be filled with disgust when he heard the words ¡¯Gu Xiqiao¡¯.

    For a girl¡¯s love letter to be read out loud and to be the butt of an entire school¡¯s jokes, how much would that affect a girl in her teenage years? He didn¡¯t know, but if it were him, he wouldn¡¯t be able to take it.

    Thinking of this, Wu Hongwen was stunned.

    How much pressure did she have to go through?

    He stood there, suddenly feeling timid as he looked at the receding silhouette in front of it. He didn¡¯t know how to describe the regret in his heart, but it felt like someone was ripping it out of his chest.

    That silhouette was frail and feeble, and her face was small and pale like porcin. When she ran, her cheeks colored pale red, and her eyes were so clear that he could even see his reflection in them.

    Wu Hongwen felt quite regretful to be part of the pressure that was applied to this young girl.

    If he had known sooner...To think that would be too irresponsible of him.

    A love letter? Gu Xiqiao had no recollection of such a thing, so she didn¡¯t dwell on it any further.

    If she didn¡¯t remember any of it, then it meant that it wasn¡¯t all that important in the first ce.

    She stepped on a piece of stone on the pavement, and it was clear from her gaze that she was lost in her thoughts. Meanwhile, many taxis passed by, but none that stopped for her.

    Because this was the schooling area, so there were a lot of parents that hade to fetch their children, and most of them walked by expressionlessly, indifferent to everything that was happening around them.

    Gu Xiqiao looked in front of her, and there was an old couple that was holding each other as they walked on the pavement. Their hair was snow-white, and they hobbled as they walked, but no matter how cold the passersby were, they would smile at them politely and move out of their way.

    This scene made her look dazedly, until a car horn red out next to her, attracting her attention.

    The Bugatti had seemed to be parked there for quite a while, the ostentatious car attracting the attention of the people that passed by. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao hadpletely ignored him, Jiang Shuxuan could only press on the horn and roll down the window. "Come on."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t ask for her address this time and drove towards Gu Manor. When they came across a red traffic light, he turned over to look at the girl who was sitting there with her head lowered like a docile deer, but he knew that she was probably spacing out again. "Were you waiting for someone?"

    His tone was cold, and his thin lips were pursed slightly. His eyebrows were like a pair of unsheathed swords, and his gaze was dark and mysterious as if it held the secrets of the world.

    Cool and somewhat stiff, yet outstanding from the average Joe, most people wouldn¡¯t dare to go near him.

    It would probably be hard to be friends with him because he could be described as a ck hole that attracted attention from the ones beside him.

    "No, I was waiting for a taxi." Gu Xiqiao came back to her senses and pinched the edge of her clothes slightly. Jiang Shuxuan seemed quite idle, to always be able toe to help her in time like this.

    "Where are your family members, do they not fetch you home after school?" Jiang Shuxuan remembered the data that was still in his email inbox and frowned slightly.

    The Gu family was a was considered a noble family and part of upper society, and if they brought this girl back to their house in the first ce they should have treated her well. They put up a dignified and generous front in N City, but treated Gu Xiqiao like this? She was a girl after all, what did they think to let her wander outside like this?

    If he hadn¡¯t passed by coincidentally, how long would she have had to wait?

    It had already been a month since she had been brought back to the Gu family, was this their so-called magnanimity?

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s image of the Gu family was lowered to an extremely low point.

    "That¡¯s nothing, and don¡¯t I have you to fetch me?" Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly as if she werepletely alright with her current situation.

    Jiang Shuxuan squinted slightly as a haze shed through his dark eyes. He had always been like this regrly, and Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t see any difference in his demeanor.

    He held down his anger and continued driving, making his voice a little more gentle, but hints of anger still leaking out from the cracks. "I didn¡¯t give you that mobile phone as an essory."

    Why didn¡¯t she call him?

    Jiang Shuxuan used a free hand to massage his temples that had already started to hurt. He knew that she was carefully not trying to be a burden to anyone, but he couldn¡¯t say that it was alright to bother him, because he didn¡¯t have the grounds to do so. Who was he to her?

    The car arrived at the destination, and Gu Xiqiao waved cheerily before getting off the car.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t drive away immediately and only sat there to wait patiently, rolling down his car window and taking out a packet of cigarettes. He had never been a chronic smoker, and he had only touched cigarettes a few times in a single year, but for some reason, the amount he smoked ever since he met her could bepared with how much he would normally smoke in a year.

    His phone had rung many times while he was sitting there in wait but were all ignored by him.

    The gate was still shut after a few minutes of her standing in front of it, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands were ced on the steering wheel, his elegant features hidden by the wisps of smoke. His fingers twitched slightly and his gaze became darker, and a white glow appeared on his fingertips before disappearing.

    At the same time, the tightly shut metal gates opened up slowly.

    After seeing Gu Xiqiao enter the gates, he finally drove away.

 Chapter 13 Jiang Shuxuanâ€™s Affection?

    When Gu Xiqiao arrived at the Gu Manor, the family had already finished their dinner.

    The servant confusedly looked out towards the gate. She was sure that she had already locked the gates well, how did this girl get in here?

    Su Wan¡¯er was sitting in the living room, and upon seeing the girle in, the smile on her face was immediately reced with a frosty expression. She put down the ne that she was holding in her hands on the living room table. "Auntie Wong, go get Miss Gu a pair of indoor shoes. She doesn¡¯t know the correct manners, but could you not know after being in the Gu Manor for such a long time? The floors had just been wiped, and she doesn¡¯t even have themon sense to change a pair of shoesing in. People are going to say that I didn¡¯t teach her manners!"

    Miss Gu was a polite way to call her, but every servant knew that the Gu family was bound to end up in the hands of Gu Xijin. What use was the second daughter of the Gu family?

    The servant that was called by Su Wan¡¯er was going to get a pair of indoor shoes for Gu Xiqiao before she was stopped by an old man next to her, thetter hissing softly. "Don¡¯t do it, you¡¯re going to get on Lady Su¡¯s bad side."

    Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly and lowered her head, her peach-colored lips smirking mockingly slightly at her current situation. She only took off her shoes slowly and walked towards the stairs.

    She would leave the first chance she gets, even if they beg her to stay!

    Her back was straight, and her long hair blocked the expression on her face. Her skin was pale and somewhat sickly, and she was so thin that her joints could easily be seen.

    For some reason, this silhouette that had never drawn any attention before made everyone that looked at it feel a twinge of remorse and pity for her.

    Gu Zuhui who had never cared about her in the past couldn¡¯t continue looking at this scene any longer and put down the cup of tea in his hands. He waited until Gu Xiqiao disappeared in his field of vision before he furrowed his brows and looked at Su Wan¡¯er disapprovingly. "Gu Xiqiao¡¯s new here, so you just have to remind her on these little things from time to time, you didn¡¯t need to force her like that. She¡¯s my daughter after all, can¡¯t you be a little more tolerant with her?"

    "Gu Zuhui, has your conscience been eaten by a dog?! Father brought her back without discussing with me beforehand, and I¡¯ve only been feeding her and giving her a roof to live under, have I treated her badly? What, am I treating her badly by teaching her manners? I just don¡¯t want her to sully our family name when she goes out into society in the future! Who knows what she was doing,ing home at such ate time? What, are you worried about her? Am I a wicked stepmother who¡¯s going to be a viin and ruin her future? I should have expected this, she¡¯s that woman¡¯s daughter after all!" Su Wan¡¯er scoffed and went up the stairs, not giving Gu Zuhui a chance to reply.

    Gu Zuhui¡¯s expression froze in ce as his wife attacked him with a barrage of questions and nagged at him, immediately regretting his choice to speak up for Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s existence had always been one of the knots in their rtionship, and also a stain in his record that couldn¡¯t be erased. She didn¡¯t have any talent in managing apany in the first ce, and the only reason why they left her in the Gu family was only to make her grandfather happy.

    If he thought about it, what Su Wan¡¯er said did make sense in a way. If Gu Xiqiao were to stay, it would be important for her to learn manners andmon courtesy so that she doesn¡¯t bring shame to their family. There were only two daughters in the current generation of the Gu family, so for Gu Xiqiao to learn well was paramount for their family.

    Of course, she was just a child from the countryside, so it would be quite hard to teach her the proper manners, but Ah Jin¡¯s name couldn¡¯t be sullied by her sister! The Gu family won¡¯t support a useless girl, and if they taught her starting from now, perhaps she could at least be useful to them in the future.

    In short, Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t really care about Gu Xiqiao either, so this matter was quickly let go.

    Gu Xiqiao returned to her bedroom without talking with anyone. After her rebirth, she was already so disappointed with the Gu family that she didn¡¯t even bother to get angry with them. Let them see who would have thestugh!

    "System, how much is Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s affection towards me?"

    [Uhm...I can¡¯t detect it...]

    Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow. "That¡¯s strange, are there things that you can¡¯t analyze?"

    [He is quite strange and powerful, more than anyone that I have analyzed before...] The system was quite miffed. It was the first time that it had met someone like that, and it didn¡¯t know what made him special, either.

    "Then why did you say he was a respectable young man and made me add him as a friend?" Gu Xiqiao took out her clothes and entered the bathroom, opening the shower head to take a shower.

    The system spirit propped its chin up with a palm and blinked cutely. [I only said that so that you could add this person that even I can¡¯t analyze so that I have the chance to research him in the future...Speaking of which, why did you add him, but not Xia Zijun, Xiao Yun, and Wu Hongwen?]

    "That¡¯s none of your business," Gu Xiqiao replied slowly, her silhouette hidden by the mist from the shower.

    The system choked.

    After finishing the handouts that the teacher gave them, shey down on the bed and entered the virtual space. She first finished the daily mission of practicing her handwriting and calligraphy, before starting her revision.

    When she entered the virtual space earlier, she had stayed there for an entire month to relearn all of her high school level mathematics. She used ten points to buy an elementary library from the system, so she could find all the books she needed for high school level studies.

    There wasn¡¯t anything different in the virtual space and real life, other than the flow of time.

    It did consume her mental power whenever she stayed in there, however. After recovering her mental power in the few hours from the afternoon to evening, she entered the system space again.

    [Warning, the system has detected that your mental power is running out. You will be expelled to the real world forcibly in three seconds!]

    Gu Xiqiaoy on the bed, broken out in a cold sweat and her lips pale from fatigue. She held her hand to her forehead and sat up to lean on the headboard of the bed.

    [Beauty Qiao, your mental power is growing so quickly! You could only stay there for a month this morning, but you can stay there for one and a half months this time around, that¡¯s a great improvement! You have a lot of time left too, so you have no need to be so hardworking. It¡¯s great to be studious and diligent, but it¡¯s not good to exhaust yourself like this. You need to take care of your health so that you can live a long and healthy life, I¡¯m counting on you!] The system was quite worried about Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao felt its concern and nodded. "Alright, I understand."

    It was the first time that it had heard such a gentle tone from her, and the system was a little unused to it.

    The next day, the chauffeur waited outside dutifully, while Gu Xijin waved at her from the back seat.

    "Little sis, where were youst night? We were so worried!"

    Gu Xiqiao only nced at her wordlessly. Gu Xijin was a born actress that could act out any expression and gaze authentically. Gu Xiqiao was tricked by this concerned expression of hers back in the day and let down her guard, and if people only looked at this expression, who would have known that her affection towards Gu Xiqiao was -48?

    She couldn¡¯t even see that she was acting if she didn¡¯t have the system.

    "The teacher asked for me." Gu Xiqiao got onto the car and closed her eyes, not wanting to say more.

    Gu Xijin¡¯s was quite confused upon seeing her demeanor, knowing that something was wrong with Gu Xiqiao. She had always been a recluse but was still quite close to her as her older sister. She didn¡¯t know what happened, but everything about her changed ever since the day of her birthday party. Her aura and demeanor changed, and it even made her seem even more beautiful.

    Where did everything go wrong?

    Gu Xijin looked down, hiding the emotions in her gaze. Lately, Xia Zijun had been asking about Gu Xiqiao in passing when they talked, and this made him quite ufortable. She knew that Xia Zijun didn¡¯t mean anything, but she didn¡¯t like him talking about any other girl but herself.

 Chapter 14 New Mission

    The two sisters didn¡¯t talk anymore on the entire way to the school, and upon arriving, Gu Xiqiao got off the car without a second word, leaving Gu Xijin there.

    After getting off the car, Gu Xijin looked at the silhouette that had already made quite some way into the distance and scoffed. "Heh, you good-for-nothing Gu. Xi. Qiao."

    Was this dirty illegitimate daughter starting to put on the airs of the second daughter of the Gu family? Howughable.

    She could let her experience hell with a singlemand!

    The parallel ss was on the fifth floor, and when she got there there was a small crowd gathered at the entrance of the ss. Someone saw her, and shouted out, "Hey she¡¯s here,make way!"

    The root of this urrence was Wu Hongwen that was standing in the middle of the crowd.

    He couldn¡¯t sleep at allst night. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could think of was that delicate face, and the more he thought of it, the more he couldn¡¯t fall asleep.

    Gu Xiqiao saved him courageously while everyone else fled without a second thought, and if he told himself that he wasn¡¯t moved, it would be a lie.

    Meanwhile, he hurt her, albeit without meaning to do so, but that was the reality of the situation no matter how bad he felt.

    Because he couldn¡¯t fall asleep, he woke up and searched his shelves for quite some time before finally finding the love letter from earlier. Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t quite remember how this love letter was sent to him¡ªWould such a cold person send him a love letter in the first ce? As confused as he was, he still pondered on how to make it up to her.

    The most handsome guy in First City High was the topic of everyone¡¯s gossip, and so there were a lot of people that came to spectate. They were mostly students from the parallel sses that were on this floor, and they crowded the hallways and chattered so much that it was annoying.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental power hadn¡¯t recovered yet, and she was still going through a terrible migraine.

    She cursed lowly, and the system spirit quickly created a soundproof barrier around her. At the same time, someone from within the crowd shouted, "The discipline teacher ising!"

    The students of their age were all still quite afraid of disciplinary teachers, and the parallel sses had always been the subject of scrutiny by the disciplinarymittee of their school because they tended to act out sometimes whenpared with the other sses. Upon hearing that the disciplinary teacher wasing, the crowd quickly scattered like a bunch of well-trained soldiers.

    The only students that were left were the students of this ss. They didn¡¯t see the disciplinary teacher, but no one was thinking of looking for the person that shouted the false rm.

    Gu Xiqiao walked into the ss expressionlessly.

    Seeing her frosty expression, Wu Hongwen suddenly didn¡¯t know how to start talking with her, as if there were something chocked in his throat. He had thought of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reaction before he came here¡ªWould she be happy, or would she refuse him? Whichever one he thought of, things weren¡¯t going out as nned.

    She didn¡¯t react, and her long eyshes curtained her clear eyes while her expression was calm and collected. It was quite different with the gentleness that he had a glimpse of earlierst evening.

    [Beauty Qiao, Wu Hongwen¡¯s affection towards you is very high, but from my calctions, it seems like he isn¡¯t very lucky, something bad might happen to him.] After creating the barrier, the system spirit suddenly spoke up.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed softly. "Hey, can you change this bad habit of yours of analyzing people randomly?"

    [No, but you can help him!]

    "That¡¯s a matter forter."

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t give him any attention, Wu Hongwen was a little flustered. His eyes were ck yet bright, and the shape of his face and jaw were quite well proportioned. His eyshes were naturally curled and he had a high nose, and even though he was a student from the rocket ss, he always yed basketball with the students of the parallel ss. He looked more handsome and fit than the average high school student, and even though everyone wore the same school uniform, he made it look stylish and form-fitting.

    Someone saw the car that came fetch him once, and it was one of the most expensive ones on the market. After that, he became more popr in First City High, even bing almost as popr as Xia Zijun that graduated a year earlier.

    It was hard to get a hold on him usually, so now that he appeared in their ss, these students couldn¡¯t help but stare.

    "Gu..."

    "ss is going to start." Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and looked at him.

    "Oh..." Wu Hongwen put down the item that he was holding onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s desk before walking out of the door. Upon arriving back at his ss, he finally came back to his senses. When did hee back, and why didn¡¯t he have any memory of doing so?

    It was a little unbelievable, but he eventually found a reason for his spacing out. He... was bewitched by her looks?

    After he left, Gu Xiqiao startedmunicating with the system spirit.

    [The system has detected that Beauty Qiao¡¯s physical condition is too weak, so I have created a workout routine for you so that you can reach peak physical condition!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 1000 points.]

    [Mission failure punishment: Level Two Punishment, blindness for a week!]

    [Ding! Daily Forced Mission activated: Workout for one hour.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 1 point]

    A raise of an eyebrow. "The heck, didn¡¯t I beat up a bunch of gangsters yesterday?"

    The system spirit rolled its eyes. [Stop daydreaming, that was only after you had Master status.]

    Gu Xiqiao was speechless.

    The girl that sat behind Gu Xiqiao poked at her back after seeing that Wu Hongwen had left. "Hey ssmate, why did you ignore him?"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled gently and gave her the box of choctes that Wu Hongwen had ced on her desk. "Here, take this."

    "I..."

    "Take it."

    The girl blinked and nodded, blushing softly as she epted the metal box.

    After dealing with the girl, Gu Xiqiao took out her papers and resumed to revise. Xiao Yun saw this and remembered how the former solved the difficult question on the board a day ago without breaking a sweat. Xiao Yun took one of the math papers that were ced on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s desk, and the was solved as expected.

    "Uhm...Can I borrow your math papers?"

    A polite smile. "Of course."

    After looking over all of the math papers that Gu Xiqiao did, Xiao Yun had aplex expression on her face. She was the Mathematics representative of their ss and had even participated in several Mathematics Olympiads andpetitions in the two years prior, with excellent first-grade results that added twenty points onto her final results. She was only sent to the parallel ss because her Chinese was too weak.

    As the student that could be said to be the best at Mathematics in First City High, she was still stunned by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s papers.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s handwriting was delicate and nice to look at, while the way she solved the questions were concise and her steps were easy to follow. Even the papers that were filled with equations and densely packed were easy on the eyes. Most importantly, she had seen the answers to this paper, and she didn¡¯t get any of the questions wrong!

    Xiao Yun stared at the papers for a long time and examined it thoroughly, and concluded that this person¡¯s solutions could bepared with the ¡¯exam robot¡¯ Luo Weng.

    After looking over at the math papers, she took out her Chinese papers and facepalmed upon seeing her terrible 60 points.

    [Ding! Special Mission activated. Mission Details: Help Xiao Yun improve her Chinese before the national finalse around.]

    [Mission Reward: 100 points.]

    Gu Xiqiao put down her papers and looked over at Xiao Yun before her lips twitched slightly.

    Sixty?

    That was even lower than Gu Xiqiao¡¯s English marks, was she really a person from Hua Xia?

    "Isn¡¯t it too hard?" Gu Xiqiao could feel her headache again. Xiao Yun¡¯s Chinese grades were so bad that even their teacher had no idea how to help her, and even though the point rewards were very enticing, but it was practically hopeless. If the teachers hadn¡¯t given up on helping her, they wouldn¡¯t have let her enter the parallel ss in the first ce.

    The parallel ss was practically a free-range area that wasn¡¯t cared about by the teachers.

    [Beauty Qiao, please believe in yourself and you can do anything! You can use points to buy special medicine to increase her memorization ability and learning ability!]

    "How many points?"

    [9 Points per piece, and you can get a discount if you buy five!]

    "...It isn¡¯t good to take shortcuts, let¡¯s take it slow."

    [...] How could she be so stingy!

 Chapter 15 Discuss Life Choices

    The news of Wu Hongwen going to the parallel ss to see a girl had already spread through First City High like wildfire, and naturally, Gu Xijin had gotten wind of it too. During lunch break, she walked over to Wu Hongwen with her tray of food. "I heard you gave a girl in the parallel ss a love letter this morning?"

    One of Wu Hongwen¡¯s friends saw the prettiest girl in ssing over and immediately opened up space for her to sit.

    "It was nothing." Wu Hongwen looked down and ate his food quietly, evidently not wanting to dwell on this topic before he suddenly raised his head. "That letter of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, did she say anything when she asked you to hand it to me?"

    Gu Xijin¡¯s smile froze on her face, not expecting this matter to be brought up suddenly. "It has already been two weeks, I don¡¯t remember."

    Seeing that she replied so ambiguously, Wu Hongwen nced at her before finishing his food and leaving.

    Seeing him leave, Gu Xijin¡¯s hand that was hiding under the table gripped tightly, her nails digging into her palms.

    Why didn¡¯t anything work on this guy? She had already gotten everyone in the rocket ss to fall in love with her, but none of her schemes worked on Wu Hongwen, how infuriating!

    Gu Xiqiao ate lunch together with Xiao Yun. Xiao Yun had always been cold and aloof, not mingling much with the other students in their ss while Gu Xiqiao was practically an invisible person, and practically everyone¡¯s jaws dropped in shock when they saw the unlikely duo eat and even go to the toilet together.

    There were two hours of lunch break, and sses resumed at two in the afternoon. Gu Xiqiao had just returned to her seat and taken out her papers before one of the boys told her that Old Ban (the ss teacher) was looking for her.

    "Careful. Old Ban probably caught news of what happened this morning." Xiao Yun looked up from her revision books and reminded them.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded and pressed her papers down with her books. "I understand."

    Because it was still early, there weren¡¯t any teachers in the teacher¡¯s office.

    Old Ban put down the red pen in his hand and told her to close the door and sit on the chair opposite of him, before taking a leisurely sip of tea and asking, "You¡¯re the female protagonist of the news from this morning?"

    Gu Xiqiao blinked innocently. "Did anything happen this morning? I was too busy studying that I didn¡¯t notice it..."

    "Pff-!" Old Ban almost choked on his mouthful of tea and almost spit it out, the action making Gu Xiqiao look at him in concern.

    "Don¡¯t act coy, Student Gu. The ss teacher of the rocket ss even came to me earlier for this! I can¡¯t micromanage you young people, but there¡¯s only one month left until your exams. Don¡¯t think that thirty-one days is a long time, the days go by faster than you can blink! I won¡¯t control you, children, after you finish your exams." Old Ban rolled his eyes, making her know that he didn¡¯t believe in the bull she had spouted.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him solemnly, the very image of a good student as she listened to him attentively. Upon seeing her attitude, Old Ban sighed softly, losing any intention of chewing her out any further.

    He sat up straight and looked back at her seriously. "Do you know inversely proportional functions?"

    "Of course." She smiled.

    The inversely proportional functions graph were two curves centered on the origin point, and no matter how infinitely close the curves got to the x-axis and y-axis, they would never intercept.

    Hearing the answer he wanted, he nodded and waved her away. "Fine, go back to ss Student Gu."

    Seeing her leaving silhouette, Old Ban sighed softly as he had another sip of tea. He didn¡¯t have to care so much if it were anyone else, but Gu Xiqiao was different. She was smart and talented with a logical way of thinking, and other than English her grades were the cream of the crop that could even bepared with that robot from the rocket ss!

    Even if her English grades were zero, with her talent in Mathematics, B University would dly ept her even if she didn¡¯t meet their requirements. Why would such a girl be in the parallel ss?

    Old Ban was quite confused, but he was never one to give up on any of his students. He knew who Wu Hongwen was¡ªOne of the higher-ups in the school board mentioned him on a meeting and told the teachers not to cross him. Hence, now that something like this happened, the disciplinary teacher would definitely choose to pick on Gu Xiqiao instead of him.

    He wouldn¡¯t let anyone bully his students!

    When Gu Xiqiao returned to her ss, the gazes of everyone in ss fell onto her. She didn¡¯t mind, however, and went back to her seat with a calm expression.

    "Did he give you any trouble?" Xiao Yun looked over and whispered.

    Xiao Yun had always been an aloof person, so Gu Xiqiao reassured her that everything was okay upon getting the rare treatment of being cared for by the coldest person in the ss. Looking at her side profile, she knew that this girl was much less aloof and hard to mingle with as she seemed to be.

    Thinking of this, Gu Xiqiao started thinking about the former¡¯s Chinese grades. "System, there are so many people with bad grades in our school, why did you pick out Xiao Yun?"

    [Beauty Qiao, the system picks the missions issued to you seriously, ording to the degree of desires of the subject of the mission. The mission objective Xiao Yun has a great desire to be better at Chinese, and has already reached four stars! This is why her mission was picked out of everyone."]

    "What were those items that you talked about?"

    [You¡¯ve finally thought it through!]

    The system spirit was quite excited, and a virtual shop appeared in front of Gu Xiqiao with the words [Level Zero System Shop] written on the side. There were racks of items sold, attached with the names and uses of the items on them.

    [I have picked several items for you to choose: Focusing Pills, Memory Enhancing Pellets, Permanent Memory Enhancement, Nanotech Database, and other items, please pick one.]

    Gu Xiqiao scrolled through the prices...12 points, 9 points, 15 points, and nothing cheaper.

    ...

    "Let¡¯s discuss thister." She nodded to herself with a serious expression.

    [...] ¡¯Mistress is being cheap again!¡¯

    After school let outter in the afternoon, Gu Xiqiao saw Wu Hongwen waiting at the entrance of the ssroom again. The boys in ss made joking expressions and whistled at him before leaving.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiaopletely ignored him, walking around him and continuing her way out.

    Wu Hongwen blocked her easily with his long limbs.

    "Do you have any items that can make him run when he sees me?" Gu Xiqiao frowned. She had just saved him on a whim, but why did it feel like she had saved a nuisance?

    [Yes, but you would need to spend three points.] The system spirit rolled its eyes, already guessing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reaction.

    Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips and acted as if she never asked the question in the first ce, and looked at Wu Hongwen with an icy expression. Seeing her expression, Wu Hongwen didn¡¯t know how to react, neither how to exin, and so he started blushing in embarrassment.

    "Let me through."

    He scratched at the back of his head. "Hey, let me..."

    "I said, let. me. through."

    The one that saved Gu Xiqiao from this situation was Old Ban, who hade to the ss as quickly as he could upon getting a report from a student, seeing Wu Hongwen at the entrance of his ss.

    "Gu Xiqiao, you go home first." Old Ban pushed the sses up on the bridge of his nose, before smiling at Wu Hongwen. "Ah, if it isn¡¯t Student Wu from the rocket ss! Let¡¯s go have some tea and discuss your life choices..."

    Wu Hongwen hadn¡¯t expected Old Ban toe. He had asked some of his friends to keep a lookout for him, who reported to the teacher? He only blinked in shock, before reacting and going along with Old Ban, looking back at Gu Xiqiao. "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let you get in any trouble!"

    And so, the both of them walked away.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips twitched slightly. Was she supposed to be thankful for that?

    When Gu Xiqiao made her way to the entrance, the Gu family car had been long gone.

    Gu Xiqiao wanted to buy a teleportation item from the system, but she stopped on the thought that she would have to spend points.

 Chapter 16 Conscience Points

    Even though Gu Xijin had been making the chauffeur drive home quickly without waiting for her for the past few days, but Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t mind in the slightest. To her, these actions could be seen as the tantrums of a young child, and as long as she didn¡¯t do anything too terrible to her as she did in her past life, Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t do anything to her.

    But would such a haughty girl like Gu Xijin take this chance? Gu Xiqiaoughed to herself and bought a cup of banana-vored milk tea, sticking the straw into the cup and sipping arge mouthful before looking towards the road.

    On the street to her left, there was a boy that looked around five to six years old standing there. The boy had pale skin and a pair of bright eyes and was focusing on nibbling a lollipop. He was quite cute, and more pleasing on the eyes than Gu Xijin was.

    Looking to the right, a ck car appeared in the distance.

    [Daily Good Deed Mission ac-] The system spirit hadn¡¯t finished talking before Gu Xiqiao had already surged forward, and so it changed what it was going to do mid-sentence. [Beauty Qiao doesn¡¯t have sufficient ability to save the boy, so the system shall deduct one point to buy a Dodge Card!]

    Gu Xiqiao felt like she suddenly became lighter as if the pull of gravity on her had be weaker, while a warm pulse of strength flowed through her veins. She was as light as a feather as she ran over to the boy, and the passersby could only see a vague shadow before they saw a young girl carrying a little boy on the side of the road.

    [Ding! Congrattions onpleting the mission. The system has rewarded 30 points!]

    The car screeched to a halt, creating skid marks on the asphalt that were more than two meters long. Meanwhile, everyone that saw everything go down was discussing the magical scene.

    At the same time, a middle-aged woman ran out from the crowd with a ghastly expression and made her way over to the boy, tears streaking down her face as she held the boy close. Then, she looked around, realizing that the girl that saved her son had disappeared in a sh.

    Gu Xiqiao reappeared in a nearby alley. "I only asked you to mask my presence, why did you make me teleport?" Thankfully there weren¡¯t many people around, or else they would probably get heart attacks in shock.

    [No, it¡¯s just that the system detected a stray dog that required your loving help...]

    "What?!" Gu Xiqiao squinted dangerously and was about to refuse before the system yed its trump card.

    [Beauty Qiao, you will get a 2 point reward if you feed the stray dog. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to go?

    "You win..." Gu Xiqiao took out the piece of bacon that the girl that sat behind her gave her in thanks for the box of choctes from earlier out from her backpack.

    The stray dog in question had probably been searching through the dumpster for food, its body filthy and littered with small wounds. In the summer weather, everyone could smell a sour scent wafting off the dog, and most people would avoid it when they saw it.

    Gu Xiqiao crouched down with an expressionless face, but the dog was too scared to go near her.

    She crouched there for a while, staring at the pair of dim eyes in the grass, before taking out the piece of bacon and the container that held it, pushing it towards the dog before stepping back. The stray dog stood there in fear before darting out and biting the bacon back to the grass patch that it was hiding in.

    [The system has detected that Beauty Qiao¡¯s Conscience Points are quite high, please keep up the good work!]

    Gu Xiqiao smiled slightly before continuing on her way, her gaze dark. She had never been a good person...

    Meanwhile, the system spirit crossed its arms in front of its chest, staring at Gu Xiqiao in disdain. [Being tsundere is an illness, Beauty Qiao!]

    "..."

    There weren¡¯t many people on the road, and Gu Xiqiao had only walked a short distance before the ck car that almost got into an ident with the little boy drove up next to her. The car window on the backseat rolled down, showing a familiar, cold and pretty face. It was Xiao Yun, her deskmate.

    Perhaps it was because of what Gu Xiqiao did earlier, Xiao Yun was smiling slightly.

    Xiao Yun was the unreachable flower of First City High that could freeze boys a thousand miles away with her aloof and elegant aura. She didn¡¯t even have to say anything, only stare down at them with her signature cold gaze to make them retreat.

    It was quite unexpected for her to be so friendly towards Gu Xiqiao. The two of them didn¡¯t have any bonds in her past life, and she couldn¡¯t even remember how Xiao Yun looked like, and it seemed like something had changed.

    "Thank you for earlier." Xiao Yun nodded at Gu Xiqiao before keeping away her smile, bing the cold and aloof goddess of First City High again.

    Gu Xiqiao had guessed that the former was being so friendly because she had saved the little boy earlier. "It¡¯s fine, but tell mister driver over there to be more careful next time. There¡¯s a big turnabout over there, so its quite easy to get into idents. You were lucky that the little boy wasn¡¯t part of any ns to scam you."

    The driver blushed slightly and nodded. "Thank you for your reminder, I¡¯ll be more careful next time."

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they were in a rush today, the driver wouldn¡¯t have driven so quickly. Judging from his Miss¡¯ expression that had gone from rushed and worried to calm after this girl came onto the car, he already had a good impression of this unknown youngdy.

    He peeked at her through the rear mirror, seeing a silhouette wearing a First City High uniform that didn¡¯t have any wrinkles. The youngdy looked pale and pretty, and her actions were elegant and dignified. ording to her, she lived in the Shanhe Manor Area, so she was probably from a dignified family too.

    His Miss had never been one to socialize, so he was quite happy that she could get such a pretty and nice friend that was around her age.

    At the same time, Gu Xiqiao wasmunicating with the system again. "What use do you have other than giving me missions?"

    [Oh, I have a lot of uses! For example, your deskmate Xiao Yun¡¯s going to see her sick grandfather at the hospital!]

    "I told you, don¡¯t invade other peoples¡¯ privacy." Gu Xiqiao held her hand to her head to stop her migraine, wondering when the system would stop its bad habit of disregarding the privacy of other people.

    [Ah right, I forgot. Also, you should be careful when you get home. I have analyzed that your family is going to do something bad to you when you get back.] The system replied seriously. Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t ¡¯other people¡¯, right?

    "Should I have to buy some defensive items?" Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and scrolled through finance websites.

    [You don¡¯t have to use the system items to deal with regr people.] The system huffed in disdain at the very thought. It could block those attacks with a simple barrier!

    "When I have points in the future, I¡¯m going to spend as much as I can!" It was hard to go through the trials of daily life without using points. She wanted money back when she was poor, but now that she could earn money easily, she couldn¡¯t get any points with them.

    The car quickly arrived outside Shanhe Manor Area, and Gu Xiqiao alighted the car, waving goodbye to Xiao Yun. "Thank you!"

    "It was nothing. So, about your math papers..." Xiao Yun pursed her lips.

    Gu Xiqiao blinked, and she wanted tough for some reason. "Alright, I¡¯ll give them to you tomorrow after I finish them tonight."

    "Thank you." Xiao Yun saw Gu Xiqiao off before turning over to the driver and saying seriously: "Let¡¯s go to the hospital."

    The middle-aged man nodded, and replied happily, "Is that a new friend of yours, Miss? Master would definitely be d if he knows!"

    "No." Xiao Yun replied coldly, before turning her head to a side in true tsundere fashion.

    The driver was speechless.

    Would strangers copy each others¡¯ homework?

 Chapter 17 Clash!

    Gu Manor was dead silent.

    It wasn¡¯t thatte, but Gu Zuhui and Su Wan¡¯er sat in the living room, and upon seeing Gu Xiqiaoe in with a calm expression, Gu Zuhui threw his cup onto the floor in frustration. "Unfilial daughter, stand there!"

    Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps, feeling her head spin at the two words.

    Back in her past life, she would argue endlessly with Gu Zuhui if something like this happened, and she had fantasized that the people that had misunderstood her would realize that they were in the wrong and be guilty, and in turn, be good to her like they should be.

    But she never knew that these people had always thought that she came back to the Gu family for their riches, and of course, these people that were always biased against her, that never looked her in the eye, that never cared for her, and would never feel guilty towards her in the slightest!

    Gu Xiqiao tried her best to put on a straight face, looking over at Gu Zuhui and smiling softly. "Yes, what is it?"

    Her gaze was calm and collected, and her back was straight, the chandelier above masking her with a light halo.

    Gu Zuhui was stunned by this reaction of hers, while Su Wan¡¯er stood up with a mocking expression.

    "Gu Xiqiao, you need to understand that the Gu family has done all we could by epting you into our home! We didn¡¯t even ask you to contribute to the family, just learn your manners and stop to stop embarrassing the Gu family, but what have you done? I won¡¯t critique you for noting back for two days and two nights during the holidays, but you¡¯re in your final year of school! The exams areing up, and we¡¯re not even hoping for you to get into any good schools, just be a clean and chaste girl that won¡¯t shame our family!"

    After she said so, the living room returned to a deafening silence that made the servants want to flee back to their quarters.

    Gu Xiqiao chuckled softly before looking at Gu Zuhui. "I¡¯m not chaste? Is that what you think too...Father...?"

    Thest word was spoken so, so lightly, as if it were a flickering candle that could be blown out by the slightest breeze.

    This was the first time that Gu Xiqiao called this person in front of her ¡¯Father¡¯. He was her father, bonded by blood, the closest person to her in this entire world. All she wanted was for him to just.

    Look at her.

    But in the end, she was always, always shunned.

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s show of fragility, Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t know what to do either, so he just sat down and waved her away. "Go upstairs, and study well in the future. Our family is a family of merchants, but we are a clean family, too."

    Ah.

    So in his eyes, she had always been a stain in the Gu family¡¯s clean resume, and that had never changed.

    Why did she expect anything different?

    Gu Xiqiao looked up and breathed deeply, blinking down her tears. Without saying a word, she made her way to the home telephone and dialed Old Ban¡¯s phone number, which went through quickly.

    Then, she handed the phone to Gu Zuhui. "I just called my ss teacher, he will tell you why I have beente toe home for the past few days. You¡¯re my elder, so I respect you and listen to what you have to say, but... I hope you can be fair to me too. I came homete, so it must be my fault? I was doing dirty dealings outside? Am I such a person in your eyes?"

    She didn¡¯t even try to bring up the fact that the chauffeur left without her. If Gu Xijin did such a thing, she would have prepared an excuse for it. Now, she could only expect Old Ban to help her out.

    Gu Zuhui and Su Wan¡¯er evidently hadn¡¯t expected Gu Xiqiao to retort in such a way, and upon seeing her expression, Gu Zuhui¡¯s words of me were stuck in his throat.

    After that, Gu Zuhui picked up the phone and talked to the person on the other side. Quickly, his stiff expression melted into a somewhat pleased one, and after he hung up, he looked at Gu Xiqiao with a smile that could be described as ¡¯proud¡¯.

    He had always thought that Gu Xiqiao waszy and irredeemable, but it seems that she wasn¡¯t that bad after all.

    "Your ss teacher told me that you stay behind in ss every evening to ask questions about your studies and that your attitude in ss was extremely diligent with great progress in your studies. Not bad, this is what a Gu family member should be like. Even though you¡¯re not as good as your sister, but you are excellent too." Gu Zuhui praised her uncharacteristically. "Alright, go upstairs now."

    Gu Xiqiao slowly nodded and went towards the stairs, and even though she was out of trouble, her blood was running cold.

    Seeing this, Su Wan¡¯er looked at Gu Zuhui in disbelief before she swung a crystal ashtray blindly into the distance in anger.

    So in the end, nothing happened to Gu Xiqiao, it was just a farce!

    A farce!

    Su Wan¡¯er shook in anger as she pointed at Gu Zuhui. "Gu Zuhui, are you pissing me off on purpose for this dirty-blooded girl?! Do you want me to die from anger? What, am I an evil stepmother that can¡¯t even educate her?!"

    Cue Gu Zuhui¡¯s apologies.

    No one noticed that the ashtray had flown in the direction of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head. When it flew to her head, it stopped in the air for a few seconds as she continued to walk forwards slowly, before dropping onto the floor with a ¡¯ng¡¯.

    Returning to her room, Gu Xiqiao closed and locked the door.

    [We don¡¯t have to do missions today anymore, let¡¯s sleep, yeah?] The system spirit¡¯s concerned voice rung out next to her.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head and took out a clean spare of clothes before walking into the bathroom. "No need, I¡¯m still going to practice writing for two hours andpose some points for Chinese, but I won¡¯t be in the virtual space for too long."

    Even though she was used to this, but when she felt it again, Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but feel deste and forlorn.

    As expected, it was best to not have any expectations.

    After showering, she threw every bad thought to the back of her head and started studying in the virtual space.

    To distract her, the system spirit took out a scroll about ancient martial arts. [Beauty Qiao, I¡¯m going to teach you ancient martial arts every day to prevent you from ever getting bullied! How much you can learn depends on your potential!]

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao looked up and suddenly thought of a question. "System, how man points do you need to level up?"

    [100, is Mistress going to level me up?] The system was quite happy.

    "...Not now." She was still in debt!

    [Don¡¯t be like this, Mistress. I have a reward for you if you level me up! Once I get to Level One, you can get an inventory with 10 spaces, isn¡¯t that enticing?]

    "...No."

    [...]

    The next morning, Gu Xiqiao woke up on schedule.

    Su Wan¡¯er wasn¡¯t there at breakfast, definitely still having a fit over what happened the night before.

    Meanwhile, Gu Zuhui rarely started caring about Gu Xiqiao. "You¡¯re at the age when you¡¯re growing, you can¡¯t eat so little. Auntie Lee, get your Second Miss a cup of milk."

    Gu Xiqiao thanked him lightly, the change in attitude towards her not affecting her emotions in the slightest.

    Gu Xijin who was sitting at a side looked up at Gu Xiqiao, her gaze predatory, and when the former looked at her, she blinked and smiled. "Father is right! You¡¯re at the age where you¡¯re growing, little sis, so you must have enough nutrition!"

    Gu Xiqiao had just finished her breakfast, and she took over the boxed milk that the servant handed her along with her backpack, walking towards the entrance without a word.

    Gu Xijin drank her cup of milk, before taking her backpack and trailing after Gu Xiqiao with a few quick steps.

 Chapter 18 Handwriting

    These few days, Gu Xiqiao had been maintaining a precarious bnce of peace with the Gu family, and she was quite satisfied with the current state.

    The aloof deskmate Xiao Yun had be closer to her too, sometimes asking her maths questions humbly. The girl that sat behind her would give her bacon and biscuits from time to time, and even the other students in ss became more familiar with her.

    Gu Xiqiao yawned.

    The daily missions issued by the system were all simple and easy to too, and even though these missions were all very small and only earned her one or two points, she was satisfied with the slow pace of things.

    She had also had a burst of poprity in the ss from her excellent performance in ss, and the ss teacher put her in charge of exining questions that the others had trouble with, The more they asked, the more they realized that her temperament was impable¡ªShe always exined the questions slowly and steadily, and wouldn¡¯t get impatient no matter how many times she was asked to repeat, aplete contrast from the proud students from the rockets ss.

    And so, the affection of everyone in ss towards her increased exponentially, to a point where her status rivaled even Old Ban.

    Gu Xiqiao: "..."

    Once the bell rang, he leaned back on the podium and took out his teaching ns, starting revision smoothly and quickly.

    "Gu Xiqiao, do you have any other advice?" After writing down the solution for an analytical geometry question on the ckboard, he knocked on the table, waking up Gu Xiqiao who was going to fall asleep.

    Gu Xiqiao shook awake and stared at the ckboard for a short while, before starting, "Well, in my opinion, we can start with the Hesse Normal Form to prove the line QR, hence solving the first question. Then, we can find the equation of the line AF by using the point P which is on the same points. For thest question, does everyone remember the Lagrange Mean Value Theorem I talked about? We can just use it and substitute the two values in the question to find the answer."

    As Gu Xiqiao exined, Old Ban wrote out the solutions ording to what she had described.

    Using her method, they wouldn¡¯t have to find the equation for hyperb, so the solution was more concise, and didn¡¯t use a lot of space on the ckboard. The calctions involved were much less, so it would definitely save a lot of time if the students used it in their exams.

    Old Ban waved for Gu Xiqiao to sit down, before knocking on the table and telling the students to do the calctions for themselves. "Jot down the forms and theorems that Student Gu exins as they are all very useful. Don¡¯t think that you don¡¯t need to learn them because they¡¯re university-level equations. After all, once you learn how to apply them properly, the national finals are going to be a breeze. The method I used earlier was the model answer, but as everyone saw, it was long and had lots of calctions, so it¡¯s easy to mess up. In thisst period before the exams, Student Gu here is going to write down some useful equations every day, so take notes!"

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but hold her head. When did she agree to this again?

    And so, the daily task ofpiling the past year questions of the national exams and picking out useful equations from it was added to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s daily schedule.

    But other than that, she had spent her days leisurely.

    For the past few days, Wu Hongwen kept on visiting her ss, bringing her bottles of milk or choctes every day.

    Gu Xiqiaopletely ignored him, handing the food that he ced on her desk to the girl behind her.

    Wu Hongwen was at the age where he acted on his urges and couldn¡¯t stand being ignored or losing, so on Friday he finally got enough of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cold attitude, blocking her at the entrance again and ignoring Old Ban¡¯s reminders from earlier.

    The only people left in ss saw that it was Wu Hongwen and left the ss quickly, giving the two protagonists of the school gossip some space.

    "Look, this is the letter that you gave me a while ago. I know I did wrong, can you forgive me?" Wu Hongwen looked down at Gu Xiqiao earnestly.

    He was a head taller than Gu Xiqiao, so this angle was just right.

    In the evening sun, the girl¡¯s face seemed like the beautiful sunset, indescribable beauty and elegance that made her even more beautiful. She was slightly tilting her head up, showing her pale and slender neck and coupled with the calm aura of a tranquil summer¡¯s day, Wu Hongwen waspletely dazed.

    Because of their close proximity, Wu Hongwen could even get faint whiffs of a fresh, sweet scent, which made him blush so brightly that even his ears became red.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t notice this and reached for the pink letter that he held in his hands.

    This was a bold and corny love letter.

    The handwriting on the paper was neat, but on close scrutiny, it was clear that the writing was somewhat forced. It didn¡¯t seem like a love letter written down by a girl deep in love, but more like a rushed mimicry.

    With a single nce, Gu Xiqiao knew that this wasn¡¯t written by her.

    The handwriting on this letter was copied from her old way of writing, but after a long period of practice and training in the virtual space, her handwriting hadpletely changed.

    Gu Xiqiao had been learning Yan Script and the Lantingji Xu, the Preface of Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion which was a legendary piece of calligraphic work, and had started to have her distinct style of writing. Wang Xizhi¡¯s writing was elegant and fluent with a coherent spirit, and his force in writing imposed asting image in the reader¡¯s mind. Meanwhile, Yan Zhenqing was known as the calligraphy sage, his writing strong, bold, and grand, bringing with it a heavy aura along with liveliness and passion.

    Learning how to write calligraphy wasn¡¯t something that could be done in a short time, but Gu Xiqiao had her little sess in learning.

    Her words were neat but bold, strong but natural and reserved, learning the strong points of each master of calligraphy and integrating it into her style.

    Their Chinese teacher had praised her handwriting in front of the whole ss the other day, saying that with her handwriting, she would be able to get good marks on her essay section even if her essay waspletely off-topic.

    And now, her effort came into use once again.

    "Please stop this, you¡¯re giving me trouble, don¡¯t you understand? My teacher is going to nag at me, and I¡¯m probably going to get chewed out when I get home. You can throw that love letter into the trash since it¡¯s not written by me in the first ce." Gu Xiqiao took out a paper that she had just finished and handed it together with the love letter to Wu Hongwen. "Here, these are the papers that I finished earlier. Compare between them and you can tell that I can¡¯t and won¡¯t write such ugly handwriting."

    The handwriting on the papers was wless, and even if it were someone that waspletely blind to calligraphy, they would be able to tell that the person that wrote it had lots of practice under their belt. Meanwhile, the words on the love letter were dainty but somewhat forced, and theparison made the fact plenty clear.

    With a single nce, Wu Hongwen knew Gu Xiqiao was speaking the truth.

    Seeing him go mute, Gu Xiqiao took out the milk he gifted her and stuffed it into his arms. "I only saved you that day on a whim. I would have done it even if it weren¡¯t you and just a random beggar, so don¡¯t go thinking that you¡¯re special. Here, take this bottle of milk, and don¡¯te looking for me again. I forgive you, so let¡¯s not get involved any further. Anyints?"

    Wu Hongwen looked down at the ground, his eyshes fluttering slightly.

    Even though it was just a girl that he had just got to know, her words impaled him like a stake to the heart.

    Comints? Of course he hadints!

    When he opened his mouth, any words that he wanted to say were stuck in his throat, while his legs were rooted to the ssroom floor. It was only until the shadow in front of him disappeared could he finally breathe.

 Chapter 19 Oil Painting

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t walk out of the school gates, instead walking all the way down the tree boulevard.

    Because she was stopped by Wu Hongwen, she looked from the vantage point of her ss, seeing that the Gu family car had already driven away. Thankfully, it was Friday so sses ended earlier, and it wasn¡¯t all thatte yet.

    At the end of the boulevard was a small building where the art students of First City High studied drawing.

    One of the doors to the ssrooms on the lower floor was slightly ajar, and a bunch of canvases could be seen lying on the floor.

    Gu Xiqiao stood by the door for a long time, and it was clear that she was in low spirits for some reason. In the virtual space, the system spirit sped its hands over its mouth, not daring to interrupt her thoughts at this moment. A few momentster, she pushed the door open and stepped in.

    In the ssroom, there was a young man in a white shirt sitting by the window with a drawing canvas, and upon hearing noises he looked over to the door, stunned to see Gu Xiqiao before frowning in disgust. "Why are you here?!"

    Gu Xiqiao nced over at him and promptly ignored him, going to the farthest seat from him and sitting down. A pure white piece of cloth was covered over the canvas in front of her, and she reached over and caressed it gently, her lowered eyes hiding her emotions as a sense of nostalgia rose in her heart.

    In her past life, the Gu family had maimed her hands so that she would never be able to draw again, and her choice to burn together with the Gu family was also due to her great despair of not being able to take up a brush ever again.

    After that, even if her soul was trapped in the virtual space, she had never once picked up a brush to draw. The pain of losing her hands was still too fresh in her mind at the time for her to do so.

    Seeing her brush him off, Zhong Yongsi felt even angrier at her.

    He was quite well known in First City High for being talented in Chinese paintings and had gotten innumerable medals and rewards from N City¡¯s youth drawing contests. Before he even graduated from high school, he had already been epted by the Arts Faculty of A University.

    Gu Xijin was known to be talented in oil painting and her studies, so she was known as the most pretty and talented girl in school. Most importantly, she had a close rtionship with Zhong Yongsi in private.

    Personally, Zhong Yongsi didn¡¯t like Gu Xiqiao who joined the Gu family out of nowhere. To him, she was unfilial for abandoning her adoptive mother and disrespecting her birth father and was greedy, vain and jealous above that. He had always been an arrogant person that thought of himself as morally superior, so this was the type of person that he hated the most.

    "What, are you here to draw? But does a person such as you even know how to paint?" Zhong Yongsi was about to leave, but his steps paused as a thought shed through his mind.

    "Are you doing this because Ah Jin¡¯s work was nominated for N City¡¯s art exhibition? Do you have no shame? Art isn¡¯t child¡¯s y, you know!" Zhong Yongsi suddenly burst into anger as he walked over to Gu Xiqiao, his re like a burning torch. He was a ssic example of an artist with a weird temper, and to him, Gu Xiqiao was tainting this noble art by even thinking of using it for the sake of fame.

    For some reason, when he was three steps away from Gu Xiqiao, he couldn¡¯t take any more steps, as if he had bumped into an invisible wall.

    He wanted to take her canvas and throw it away, but he was unable to move, and it filled his heart with an ominous fear.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head and looked at Zhong Yongsi calmly. "Is it any of your business?"

    Gu Xiqiao almostughed out loud. The oil painting exhibition? If this person hadn¡¯t brought it up, she didn¡¯t even remember that there was such a thing. Learning how to paint because of Gu Xijin? Since when was she such a big deal?!

    That being said, she didn¡¯t want to exin anything to Zhong Yongsi. It was bound to be a useless effort anyway.

    [Forced Mission activated: Reach Master level of mastery in Chinese painting.]

    [Mission reward: 1000 points.]

    [The system has detected that your talent in art is quite high, so this mission has been activated, please aplish it perfectly! Failure punishment is level three!]

    [Ding! Forced Daily Mission activated: Practice painting for an hour each day.]

    [Missions reward: 1 point]

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand¡¯s paused in midair, and a hint of confusion in her eyes. "...Are you sure you didn¡¯t get anything wrong?"

    Wasn¡¯t it more rational to trigger an oil painting rted mission like this? What the heck was Chinese painting about!

    [Er Qiao, Chinese painting is the spirit of Hua Xia, so you must carry on this tradition and make it shine on the global stage! Your talent for oil painting is so high, so I believe that you would be able to do Chinese paintings well too. Hence, the missions that the system issues are always rational and scientific!]

    "..." She felt that the system became more and more unreliable with the day.

    That being said, she had no moreints about the system¡¯s decision. The system spirit¡¯s words impacted her quite a bit, and it was true that although art has no bounds, Chinese painting was what belonged to Hua Xia. With the help of the virtual space, she would never run out of time, and if she practiced it daily she would be able to get points too, so she had no reason to refuse.

    Right now, she had to focus on her own matters first.

    She closed her eyes and took up a brush, imagining her adoptive mother¡¯s smile in her mind¡¯s eye.

    In her past life, that painting was only half-finished, and it was one of her greatest regrets.

    Meanwhile, Zhong Yongsi stood at a distance as he looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s serious expression and movements as if she were a devout worshipper. When she took up a paintbrush, her entire aura changed in a split second.

    He was stunned for a moment before he made an even more disgusted expression. "People like you only know how to defile art and oil painting!"

    She waspletely iparable with Gu Xijin!

    And so, he left, mming the door behind him as he did and making the ss windows rattle from the force.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was still in her initial posture, not affected in the slightest by Zhong Yongsi¡¯s outbreak. Artists always had strange temperaments, and she was already beyond used to it.

    But he wanted to talk about art with her? He didn¡¯t even have the qualification to do so. Who knows where he was when her paintings obtained international awards in her past life?

    As the sky started to darken, the system spirit reminded Gu Xiqiao that it was about time to go home so that she didn¡¯t get picked on by the Gu family. It didn¡¯t want to see this scene happen, so it spoke up.

    "It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m not even in a hurry, so don¡¯t rush me." Gu Xiqiao slowly stopped her stroked on the canvas. There was only a vague silhouette on there, without even the outline of the subject of the drawing. After all, she hadn¡¯t painted in such a long time, so she didn¡¯t want to ruin the painting.

    Better go into the virtual space and practice, no rush.

    She took down the canvas. The weekends wereing and there were no extra sses, just a mock test, so Gu Xiqiao decided to bring the canvas back home to work on it even further.

    "System, can you hide the canvas so that the people from Gu Manor don¡¯t see it?"

    [Uhm, you can consider leveling me up, Beauty Qiao! Once I reach level one, you will be able to get a ten-space inventory that you can use to put in as many canvases as you like! I will be even more useful too!]

    "We can do that once we have the points for it, no rush."

    [...]

    Finally, the system spirit reluctantly agreed to cast a misdirection spell on it when they go back to Gu Manor.

    Gu Xiqiao took the canvas out of the school gates, and because it was quitete there weren¡¯t many people on the streets anymore. It waste anyway, so she was in no rush. Looking around, she decided to go back to Gu Manor through the small roads and alleys of the residential area.

    This road was quiet and there were no passersby at all. Coupled with the dim lights of the streetlights and high walls, it gave off a gloomy and creepy feeling.

    [Ding! The system has detected red danger level personnel in front of you, will you avoid them?]

 Chapter 20 Reunion

    "A dangerous person?" Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly.

    There weren¡¯t any people in the alley, but a cold and damp breeze blew from within, making the atmosphere of the dead quiet alley be even more bone-chilling and scary. Upon being reminded by the system, her heart went up to her throat, goosebumps popping up on her arm.

    [Ding! The system level isn¡¯t high enough, so I am unable to tell who it is!]

    The edge of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lip twitched slightly. "What use are you?"

    [Why do you always bully me, Gu Xiqiao! Huh, wait, your friend has appeared on the map, do you want to see?]

    Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t replied, but a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her with two moving dots on it. One of them was bright red, while the other one was fluorescent green. On the green dot was a name...

    Jiang Shuxuan.

    The red dot showed the dangerous person, while the green dot showed her friend, and the two dots were both in the alley next to her.

    Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t had enough time to check how far away the two dots were from her before the red dot suddenly disappeared and popped up on another alley! In a split second, it had bounced three streets away.

    Teleportation? Her jaw dropped in shock.

    "No one came to fetch you again?" A deep voice suddenly rang out next to her along with a warm breath, snapping Gu Xiqiao back to reality. Upon looking up, she saw a familiar sculpted face that glowed dimly in the darkness.

    When did hee here? Wasn¡¯t he in the alley next to her a second ago?

    He could teleport too?!

    Gu Xiqiao blinked for a second, hiding the horror in her expression as her face lit up with an appropriate shock. "Brother Jiang?"

    [You¡¯re good at acting, Beauty Qiao.]

    Jiang Shuxuan looked down at her and leaned in close, his eyebrows knit together and his lips pressed tightly together. He had always been a distant person, and coupled with this expression, he seemed even more aloof.

    Ever since she had the system, her five senses had been honed more than the average person. Now, she could very clearly feel the cold aura that shrouded him along with an indescribable pressure. Even though he seemed to be suppressing it as much as he could, it was still there.

    "Come with me." Without thinking for long, Jiang Shuxuan reached for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s backpack and carried it himself.

    There were a few books in the backpack, along with revision data and thick pikes of papers, which were quite heavy, but in his hands, the backpack seemed weightless.

    "It¡¯s not safe here." Jiang Shuxuan walked behind Gu Xiqiao as his cold gaze swept through the surroundings, walking slowly to amodate her speed. "Girls should go home as soon as school lets out, don¡¯t roam around town at this hour."

    His tone was somewhat reproaching, but Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t displeased in the slightest, replying with a soft, "Alright."

    The scene from earlier was still reying in her mind. Hm...That was teleportation, wasn¡¯t it?

    Jiang Shuxuan raised an eyebrow at the rare event of the girl not arguing with him.

    After they walked for a while, they saw Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s Bugatti parked at the entry of the alley, and a tall figure was leaning on the car slightly. Once he saw Jiang Shuxuan, he walked over quickly.

    "You..." Yin Shaoyuan had just opened his mouth to speak before spotting Gu Xiqiao, pausing what he was going to say and walking closer as if examining her. "Bro Jiang, you brought a girl back with you!"

    Jiang Shuxuan ignored him and looked down at Gu Xiqiao. "Go wait on the car for me for a bit, okay? I¡¯ll be back after I deal with some business."

    Gu Xiqiao took over her backpack and nodded.

    Jiang Shuxuan instructed Yin Shaoyuan to keep an eye on her, before turning around and entering the alley again.

    The lean figure quickly disappeared into the dark of night.

    Seeing that Jiang Shuxuan had left, Yin Shaoyuan turned around and looked at Gu Xiqiao, who was looking down at the ground, having kept her smile after Jiang Shuxuan had left. The streetlights weren¡¯t bright, so he could only see a delicate side profile with porcin skin, and he could tell that she was quite pretty.

    Such a pretty face was the type that he would be able to remember after seeing it once, so the young man squinted slightly, his phoenix eyes scanning her up and down before bonking his fist to his palm in realization. "Ah, are you the illegitimate daughter of the Gu family?"

    Gu Xiqiao froze in ce, her grip on the canvas tightened as she pursed her lips slightly, not replying to his question.

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t stop probing her, however, as he stepped closer with a somewhat mocking smile. "As an illegitimate daughter, why did you return to the Gu family? To fight with your older sister for the position of the family heir? No? Well even if you couldn¡¯t do that, you would be able to get a handy pile of money from nowhere to live a safe and secure life, yes?"

    Gu Xiqiao had heard manyments along the same vein in her past life, so his words didn¡¯t affect her in the slightest.

    She slowly raised her head and looked towards Yin Shaoyuan. "Is your surname Zhang?"

    After she asked so, she opened the car door and got onto the back seat.

    Yin Shaoyuan stood there for a while in thought, before finally getting what she meant. This girl was insulting him that his mouth was full of gossip like a long-tongued woman![1] He had the intention to tell her toe out to debate with her, but when he saw those clear apricot eyes, he suddenly couldn¡¯t move.

    He lit a cigarette and leaned on the front of the car again.

    Such a pure pair of eyes made it impossible for him to continue mocking her...

    Meanwhile, he thought of the rumors about the girl in high society recently.

    There weren¡¯t many young people in this generation of the Gu family, and the only pure-bred daughter was Gu Xijin. They had found an illegitimate child, but her attitude was terrible. ording to the rumors, she was vain and haughty and abandoned her adoptive mother.

    In addition to that, Jiang Shuxuan had him check on the Gu family for information about the second daughter a few days ago.

    Seeing her again, it was inevitable that he was confused.

    As the cigarette burned out, Jiang Shuxuan returned and opened the back door of the car.

    Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s hand that was held up in greeting hung there awkwardly, and he had no choice but to get on the driver¡¯s seat and start up the car, driving into the distance.

    "Go to the mansion." After the car started up, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t give Yin Shaoyuan any chance to speak.

    And so, Yin Shaoyuan drove back to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s temporary residence without being able to say a single word, and upon arriving he was left there outside the gates without even inviting him in. The poor young man could only watch as Jiang Shuxuan led Gu Xiqiao into the mansion, lost in thought.

    "Mrs. Zhang, cook some more dishes for dinner." Jiang Shuxuan instructed Mrs. Zhang who came up to meet them at the entrance.

    Mrs. Zhang took over Gu Xiqiao¡¯s things and looked up and down at her, nodding in relief when she saw that the younger girl was looking quite healthy. "Miss Gu, go and take a shower and change your clothes, dinner will be ready soon."

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiang Shuxuan, not moving a single step.

    Wasn¡¯t he supposed to send her back to Gu Manor?

    [1] ³¤ Zhang, literally long

 Chapter 21 Starting Poin

    Jiang Shuxuan wiped his hands and handed the towel to Mrs. Zhang, before turning towards Gu Xiqiao slowly. His eyebrows were very long and slightly curved upwards, and his cold gaze made it hard to maintain eye contact with him. At this moment, one could see the light of rippling water in his eyes that made his eyes even more alluring.

    "You go upstairs first and stay. No need to worry about your family." He knew this was somewhat inappropriate, but he was too worried about cing her in the hands of the Gu family again. She didn¡¯t have anyone to fetch her home after school, and for even servants to look at her with contempt, who knows how much she had suffered in the walls of the morous manor. To top everything off, this was continued acting like nothing was wrong.

    It was fine if he didn¡¯t see all of it, but he did, and not only once.

    Right now, the thin and frail girl was standing there in front of him. Did she even weigh seventy pounds?

    Jiang Shuxuan frowned unconsciously.

    Gu Xiqiao touched her nose sheepishly and seemed to want to speak up before she was stopped by Jiang Shuxuan. "Go ce your things upstairs, it¡¯s the same room. Mrs. Zhang has been cleaning it up daily."

    Ah, so she couldn¡¯t refuse? Gu Xiqiao rubbed her head gently as she walked upstairs.

    She ate a lot that night, but not because she had a great appetite, but because Mrs. Zhang cooked up a pot of nutritional soup just for her. Under Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s oppressive gaze, she drank three bowls of soup before she waspletely stuffed.

    She had a lot of daily missions to attend to¡ªPracticing her writing, working out, and even taking the time to learn Chinese painting and oil painting too.

    There was no difference between day and night in the virtual space.

    Gu Xiqiao sat there in the endless void with a rectangr wooden table in front of her. She held the calligraphy brush with three fingers and wrote slowly, not daring to ck off even if it were a simple horizontal stroke.

    Her brushstroke was extremely smooth and fluid, and when she pulled in the stroke she pressed brush down slightly, before lifting and retracting her stroke.

    Even though she wrote slowly, she never rested until the system spirit¡¯s voice rang out, putting down the calligraphy brush on the table and closing her eyes to get a moment¡¯s rest. Then, the calligraphy materials disappeared, reced by oil paints, an easel, and a canvas.

    "System, you don¡¯t need to remind me about the time. I want to practice my oil painting, it¡¯s been quite a while."

    [Alright, but please remember to rest.]

    The system had been worried that its host wouldn¡¯t be hardworking enough, but after a week of contact, it was worried that she was working too hard. It had told her to have enough rest, but she always held out until her mental power broke down from overuse.

    Every time she came out as pale as a sheet, it made the system spirit feel guilty, but if Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t work hard, how could she handle the final mission?

    So in the end, it didn¡¯t speak up.

    After she finished her daily missions, she rested for a while in the virtual space before flipping open an old, weathered book that the system had given her. The book started with a sentence that was difficult to understand: "No spouting from the three outer treasures (ears, eyes, mouth), inner three treasures are self-contained, and only then shall the heavenlyprehension begin. Xiantian inhales one strand of natural energy and absorbs it..."

    "I¡¯ve seen many old scrolls, but I¡¯ve never seen one that was so hard to understand." Gu Xiqiao threw the book to one side and rubbed her temples.

    [Beauty Qiao, I have a note here which you can use to understand the book, and I¡¯ve designed an exercise program for you too! You¡¯ve just started learning so you don¡¯t need to be fluid, just follow the movements that are shown. Sooner orter, they¡¯re going to be natural to you!]

    First, Gu Xiqiao followed the beginning movements of the Five Animal y, then started to examine the book of ancient martial arts.

    [Cooperate your mind with your breaths. When you inhale, feel the breath draw in through the Guan Yuan acupuncture point, then feel it pass from your left palm to your right, before extending to the sky above you for an infinite distance. When you exhale, feel the breathe down from the sky and through your right palm to your left, and down to your Guan Yuan acupuncture point again.]

    After following the schedule created by the system, Gu Xiqiao exited the virtual space andid on her bed for an hour before taking a shower.

    That night, she tried to meditate and sense her Chi.

    The next morning, she woke up with stiff and numb limbs from holding the lotus meditating pose for a whole night, and she didn¡¯t feel the warmth that the system described she would be able to feel. That being said, she looked quite energetic and well-rested, and Mrs. Zhang even praised her about it.

    Then, she changed into a tracksuit and ran outside for half an hour, before following the movements of the Five Animal y that the systemmented as urate but soulless.

    When she arrived back at the mansion, Jiang Shuxuan was already at the dining table.

    "Good morning, Brother Jiang."

    "Out for a run?" Jiang Shuxuan put down the newspaper in his hands and nced at her.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, then made her way upstairs to take a quick shower, and when she came back down, Mrs. Zhang had already set out the breakfast. She sat down at the dining table and started nibbling slowly at a piece of pancake.

    Breakfast wasn¡¯tplicated: Eggs, pancakes, porridge, and a few side dishes.

    There was a lot prepared, so Gu Xiqiao only ate a little because she didn¡¯t really have an appetite. She never ate a lot back in the Gu family either, so she didn¡¯t eat too much this time either.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her and furrowed his brows slightly, before telling Mrs. Zhang to get a bottle of milk for her.

    Gu Xiqiao took the milk over from Mrs. Zhang and nced at Jiang Shuxuan who was practically staring daggers at her, making her finish the bottle of milk in a few gulps.

    "Milk is good for growing taller." Seeing her finish the bottle of milk, Jiang Shuxuan focused back on his food while he exined, "Mrs. Zhang said you were malnourished, but I think it¡¯s not only that. You¡¯re eighteen years old, right? Why are you so short?"

    Gu Xiqiao coughed, almost choking from his usations. Did he say she was short? Simply intolerable!

    "I just haven¡¯t had my growth spurt yet!"

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped his chopsticks again and looked back at her with a faint smile. "My niece is middle school and she¡¯s 171 cm tall."

    171 cm at such a young age, did his niece have an early growth spurt?

    "You don¡¯t understand, my puberty cameter in my life." She had grown until 168 cm in her past life, so there was still space to grow.

    "I see." Jiang Shuxuan nced at her dubiously.

    Gu Xiqiao changed the topic upon seeing his reaction. "So...Have you gotten into any troubletely?"

    Jiang Shuxuan ced an egg that he peeled into her bowl. "No, I haven¡¯t."

    "Hey, don¡¯t underestimate me, I know more than you think! You should go back to Jing Capital now." As Gu Xiqiao nibbled on the egg, she tilted her head and looked at him, advising him seriously. ording to the system, the person that he was chasing after the night earlier had already escaped to Jing Capital.

    ¡¯Go to Jing Capital? Where did you get that from?" Jiang Shuxuan continued eating porridge slowly, unaffected by her words.

    "I can tell the future."

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her disinterestedly. "Eat."

    A certain Beauty Qiao was a little depressed at being brushed off like this, but then again it was only normal for him to do so. If a kid talked with her like that, she would probably p them.

 Chapter 22 Let Me Try

    After the two finished their breakfast, Mrs. Zhang came over to tidy up the table. Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s leftovers, she sighed worriedly. "Miss Gu has such a small appetite, no wonder she¡¯s so thin and frail. Putting aside her growth, it¡¯ll be very easy for her to get sick in the future if she continues like this. Why doesn¡¯t her family take care of her..."

    "Get her something to eatter at ten o¡¯clock." Jiang Shuxuan got up and cut her off, looking down at the watch on his wrist before looking back at Mrs. Zhang. "I have things to attend to, so I won¡¯t be back this afternoon."

    After breakfast, Gu Xiqiao took her canvas to continue her oil painting at the privateke of the mansion, and Mrs. Zhang also prepared treats for her while she painted.

    Jiang Shuxuan came back to the mansion in the evening and brought back a painting album for Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao epted the brand new painting album and stood there stunned for a while, which made Jiang Shuxuan nce at her. "I saw you bring a painting canvas backst night, so I got you this. Do you dislike it?"

    "No, I really like it!" Gu Xiqiao sniffled under her breath and smiled at him happily.

    She wore a pale yellow dress that Mrs. Zhang had prepared for her whichplemented herplexion well. Her corbones could faintly be seen, but because she was too thin and bony, the scene didn¡¯t give birth to any impure thoughts.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her and squinted slightly. "It¡¯s good that you like it. By the way,e over to my studyter, let¡¯s talk about how my document came back all of a sudden."

    His document?

    Gu Xiqiao blinked and whistled innocently. "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about..."

    The young manpletely ignored this show of hers and turned around to enter the house coldly.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in ce for a while, and after her smart brain came up with several perfect excuses to exin everything, she entered the mansion and made her way to the study, knocking on the door slowly.

    When she entered, Jiang Shuxuan was reading on the rocking chair next to the floor-to-ceiling window.

    Gu Xiqiao looked around the study curiously, and even though there weren¡¯t many books, but they were all arranged neatly. Most of them looked old and even somewhat ancient, and were almost close to falling apart.

    "I have things to do tomorrow, so stay here for a few days alright? I¡¯ve already dealt with things over with your family, so you can stay with no reservations, no need to worry." Jiang Shuxuan flipped a page of his book with his lithe fingers but didn¡¯t speak a word about the document.

    He didn¡¯t mind, and he had just wanted to tease her on a whim earlier. Suddenly, he thought of her advice to return to Jing Capital from earlier.

    So was it purely a coincidence, or did she know?

    Gu Xiqiao was deep in thought too. He was going to leave N City, to go to Jing Capital perhaps? She had guessed that he was going to leave, but not so soon.

    Now, what she had to think about was why he let her stay at his ce?

    The proposal was quite tempting for her because she had to find an isted and safe ce to enter the virtual space, and honestly, she didn¡¯t feel space to do so in Gu Estate. Every night, she would have the system set up multiple protective measures before she entered the virtual space, and it was good for her to stay at this ce.

    To move away from Gu Estate and find a ce to stay was a decision that she made a while ago.

    After a while, Gu Xiqiao took her leave after realizing that Jiang Shuxuan had nothing more to say, going back to her room and flipping through the painting album that Jiang Shuxuan had gifted her. The lines were fluid and the impact of the paintings was great, and just by looking at it, it was clear that it was quite precious, and probably limited edition.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her head and entered the virtual space to practice writing, painting, and exercising. After spending almost two months in the virtual space, her worries were gone too.

    The next day, she woke up early too. After she had her morning run, she came back to a sumptuous breakfast prepared by Mrs. Zhang.

    "Miss Gu, Master Jiang has already left, and he said that you would stay here for the time being. Hm, are you allergic to anything, or is there anything you don¡¯t like eating?" Mrs. Zhang spoke as she carefully carried a bowl of porridge to Gu Xiqiao. Then, she took out a small notebook to write down her answer, and if one looked at it they could see many notes from what Jiang Shuxuan had asked her to do before he left.

    "I¡¯m not a picky eater, so anything will do." Gu Xiqiao smiled, her clear eyes curving into crescents.

    She liked it here. No people from the Gu family, no plotting and traps waiting for her at every corner, no distractions and no annoyances. This atmosphere calmed her heart that was starting to get distorted and violent greatly.

    After finishing breakfast, Gu Xiqiao decided to go check out the stock exchange market. Mrs. Zhang had wanted to let their chauffeur send her there, but the offer was refused.

    Seeing her stubborn expression, Mrs. Zhang didn¡¯t insist any further, sighing softly as she watched the frail silhouette leave her field of vision. "Poor girl..." What kind of family would be so cruel to treat such a nice child so badly?

    There were many tall buildings and skyscrapers by the stock exchange market, and there were many people around the area too. When Gu Xiqiao came out from the stock exchange market, there was a crowd gathered at the fork in the road that was looking at something. As she nced over and promptly decided to take a detour, a system notification popped out in her head.

    [Ding! Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Save the old man!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 50 points]

    There were a lot of people that were discussing between one another and pointing at an old man that was lying prone on the ground. It was hard to see what he looked like, but he had a head of snow-white hair which contrasted with his clean ck suit, and he held a ck mobile phone in his hand.

    The onlookers were gossiping with one another, but none of them went over to help him.

    Gu Xiqiao made her way over, pushing her way through the crowd as the system scanned the old man¡¯s health, showing it to Gu Xiqiao on a semi-transparent screen.

    [Diagnosis: Acute cerebral hemorrhage. The subject has fainted, and could die at any moment!]

    [Analysisplete. Best treatment n activated. 5 points are needed to buy a set of silver needles, and 1 point to buy a treatment n, will you buy them?]

    A cold, electronic voice pulled her back to reality, and Gu Xiqiao nodded slightly. Immediately, a set of silver needles appeared in her hands, and a meridian diagram appeared on the old man¡¯s body in her eyes.

    "I¡¯m a nurse, please let me through!"

    A young nurse suddenly entered through the crowd, and when they heard that she was a nurse, the crowd made a wide berth for her to save the old man.

    First, the young nurse dialed an emergency number, and upon seeing Gu Xiqiao still crouched by the old man, she frowned slightly. "I told you to clear out, he¡¯s in extremely bad condition right now! I can¡¯t help him with you here!"

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t mind her somewhat rude attitude because she was here to save the old man too, but she knew that he couldn¡¯t hold out until the ambnce came. Waving the silver needle in her hand towards the nurse, she said, "I¡¯ve studied medicine from my family since I was little, so let me try."

    "You¡¯ve learned medicine? What do you know, youngdy?" The nurse scoffed, holding in her rage at Gu Xiqiao. "I¡¯m the nurse in charge of Master Xiao, and right now what he needs is CPR! You say you want to try, but do you know what vt termination is? Or how many bones there are in the body? At least I have years of experience at the city hospital, but what about you? Are you going to say that you can be exempted from responsibility if anything goes wrong because you¡¯re not an adult yet? Don¡¯t even try that hoax on me, youngdy!"

 Chapter 23 A Standard Genius

    "Yes, little missy, let Mrs. Nurse here help! Don¡¯t get into any trouble..."Some people advised her, while some even tried to pull her away.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother debating with them, making the system create a space istion to shut them out.

    She was young, so it was understandable that they were dubious, but couldn¡¯t they hear her out? ording to the old man¡¯s current condition, if the nurse performed CPR on him, he would probably die!

    Next to the old man, Gu Xiqiao started sticking silver needles fluidly into the Huan Tiao and Tai Chong acupuncture points on his lower limbs and the Shen Shu and Da Chang Shu acupuncture points on his hips. Amotion broke out in the crowd, and they stopped their actions to stop Gu Xiqiao upon seeing her calm and self-assured movements.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that it was an emergency and the old man couldn¡¯t wait until an ambnce came, she wouldn¡¯t have chosen to butt heads with the nurse anyway.

    His situation was quite severe and his body was quite weak, not even able to breathe properly, and if he had to wait for the ambnce or get the wrong treatment from the nurse, he would probably be beyond saving...

    The ambnce came in twenty minutes, and the young nurse came back to her senses, her expression turning foul after she saw the needles pricked into the old man. "I told you that I was a nurse, who do you think you are, Hua Tuo[1]? If anything happens to Master Xiao, I¡¯ll have you take responsibility!"

    "Wang, what¡¯s wrong?" A stretcher came down from the ambnce, followed by a doctor in a white coat.

    The nurse sent a cold re in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction, beforeining to the doctor. "Director, this person was performing acupuncture on Master Xiao on a whim!"

    "Alright, bring her back to the hospital with us so that we can exin to his family when theye." The doctor didn¡¯t have time to take care of other matters, sending the old man onto the ambnce after a short examination.

    Gu Xiqiao only smiled without exining more, pulling out the needles on the old man¡¯s body and following them onto the ambnce. The old man was sent to the ER, while Gu Xiqiao waited outside patiently. She knew that the old man was probably safe already, but she still couldn¡¯t leave because of the nurse keeping an eye on her.

    She probably wanted her to take responsibility if anything bad happened to the old man.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t frustrated either, sitting outside nonchntly as she flipped through the painting album that she took out from her bag.

    Her expression was calm as if everything that was happening had anything to do with her, and seeing this the nurse scoffed at her. "Just you wait, Young Master Xiao is going to let you have your just desserts! Don¡¯t y hero, youngdy, you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re messing with!"

    The old man hadn¡¯te out yet, and a young man in a suit rushed in with a solemn expression. He was moving as fast as he could and his lips were pressed into a thin line, and this suited elite attracted the gazes of everyone nearby.

    "Young Master Xiao!" That nurse that was called Wang immediately went over to him and started chattering, looking over in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction asionally.

    [Ding! Missionplete! You have obtained 50 points!] A system notification rang out suddenly.

    As she obtained the points, Gu Xiqiao huffed in relief.

    The young man¡¯s brow furrowed upon hearing the nurse¡¯s exnation, but he didn¡¯t me Gu Xiqiao and thanked her instead, which surprised her quite a lot.

    The light on the ER sign blinked out, and a doctor with white hair came out of the operation room. He pulled down his medical use mask and turned over to the suited young man. "Mr. Xiao, your grandfather is out of danger, and his current situation is quite good. Ah, it¡¯s thanks to this youngdy¡¯s first aid, or else Master Xiao would be in danger."

    The nurse that had been jeering at Gu Xiqiao finally reacted, flushing brightly as the doctor exined the old man¡¯s condition. If the old man really had symptoms of cerebral hemorrhage instead of a heart attack, then she was the one in the wrong. Thinking of how she evenined and ndered this young girl, she couldn¡¯t help but burrow into a hole and note out. Thankfully, everyone here was focused on Gu Xiqiao, and not her.

    When Xiao Sheng heard about someone had performed first aid without permission, and upon seeing that it was just a young girl had done so, his heart had gone cold. Once he heard what the doctor said, he turned over and bowed repeatedly to Gu Xiqiao, thanking her profusely as he did.

    Even though the person he was thanking was a girl who wasn¡¯t even out of school yet, his attitude was still earnest and polite.

    He must have been taught good manners growing up. "As long as he¡¯s safe. Ah, but don¡¯t let the elderly go out by themselves, it¡¯s not safe."

    After saying this, she turned around and left in the direction of the lift, and seeing her actions, she didn¡¯t have any thought of leaving behind a name or asking for any repayment.

    Xiao Sheng hadn¡¯t reacted fully, while the bespectacled assistant next to him quickly followed behind Gu Xiqiao, taking out a name card with golden font printed on it in her direction. "Miss, please wait! You haven¡¯t left behind a way for us to contact you yet, please take our boss¡¯ name card!"

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t even look back, and only waved her hand in the air dismissively, not nning to ept the name card.

    Suddenly, the door to the lift opened and a young girl came out of it in a rush, the two girls almost bumping into each other. That girl looked up and was about to apologize before her words were stuck in her throat upon seeing who the other girl was.

    Gu Xiqiao was a little surprised too. "Xiao Yun?"

    Xiao Yun panted softly, her expression anxious as she looked at Gu Xiqiao. "Yeah, I¡¯m here to see someone."

    Seeing that she wasn¡¯t in the mood to chat, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t ask anymore, smiling softly and walking into the lift.

    "You know her?" Xiao Sheng walked over.

    Xiao Yun stood there for a while to regain her breath before looking towards Xiao Sheng. "That¡¯s my ssmate. How is Grandfather? Where is he?"

    Xiao Sheng patted her back calmly. "It¡¯s fine, I already checked on him, and Gramps is doing quite well. Oh, thank goodness you know that girl from earlier, what¡¯s her name...? Don¡¯t look at me like that, she¡¯s the one that saved him."

    Xiao Sheng nced at her to see her reaction, before continuing, "So we need to thank that ssmate of yours. If she has nothing scheduled next week, invite her to our house okay?"

    From his expression, Xiao Yun didn¡¯t think that he was joking, and he looked over at the direction of the lift in awe.

    After all of this went down, it was already quitete, so Gu Xiqiao took a cab to get back to the mansion.

    On the road, she was focused on reading finance pages, and there were a few stocks had caught her eye. That being said, trading wasn¡¯t open during the weekends, so she had to wait until Monday to get started. She didn¡¯t have a lot of money on hand, so all the stocks she chose were small scale industries with decent development potential, out of the thousands of stocks avable on the market.

    Back in the day, she had bought a lot of books on finance to make money and hadter researched more about it in the virtual space.

    Gu Xiqiao was a standard genius that could develop the second rate Gu family into an international business, and she had a keen eye for stocks and trades. With only a few nces at the market price ratio, she could foresee the future development of the stock.

    [1] Ancient Chinese physician

 Chapter 24 Memory Enhancemen

    Back at the mansion, Mrs. Zhang started chattering as soon as she finished preparing dinner. "Miss. Gu, the medicine list you gave me is really useful! The pain in my legs has be better in the past few days, and I can even go buy things at the market without feeling any aches or pain!"

    Mrs. Zhang felt that it was truly amazing how well it worked. She couldn¡¯t fix this problem of hers after getting treatment from all thoserge scale hospitals, and Gu Xiqiao fixed it with a simple medicine list?

    Gu Xiqiao put down her bowl onto the table. "It¡¯s good that it¡¯s working. Also, you can just call me my name."

    She wasn¡¯t any nobledy in the first ce.

    The young girl was smiling softly, her expression shrouded with a halo of light under the ceiling lights and her clear gaze sparkling like s starry gxy. Mrs. Zhang couldn¡¯t refuse such a good girl and nodded in agreement. "Alright then, how does your family address you? I¡¯ll call you in the same way!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s grip on her chopsticks tightened slightly. "Qiao Qiao, just call me Qiao Qiao."

    Mrs. Zhang walked around happily and muttered the name to herself before she pped her hands together. "Ah, silly me! I was so happy that I forgot the soup that I made for you, Qiao Qiao, I¡¯ll go get it!"

    Seeing her so happy at a simple name, it lifted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s originally low spirits. She was a little put off by the soup that smelled like Chinese medicine, but she drank two bowls under Mrs. Zhang¡¯s earnest gaze.

    After her meal, Gu Xiqiao went upstairs to her room, standing there slightly stunned at what she saw when she opened the door. A corner of the room was converted into a simple art studio that was separated by a few pieces of frosted ss and wasplete with canvases, easels and everything she would possibly need. Two potted nts were even ced at a corner of the room to lighten things up.

    "This is one of the things that Master Jiang had ordered me to do before he left. It¡¯s not decorated as well as I would have liked because there wasn¡¯t a lot of time..." Mrs. Zhang¡¯s voice called out behind her.

    "Thank you, I really like it!"

    Gu Xiqiao walked into the room, and because the room itself was quiterge, the new addition to the room didn¡¯t affect it or make it seem narrower nor stifling. Instead, it gave the room a distinct artistic air.

    [Beauty Qiao, it¡¯s time to start learning~]

    Seeing that its mistress had been spacing out for almost an hour, the system spirit reminded her.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, going into the virtual space quietly and stood there in front of the wooden table with calligraphy materials on top of it for a long time, before reaching for the brush and writing a single "¾²" (Silence).

    [Ding! Your calligraphy has leveled up to Intermediate level! 50 points have been rewarded, may you continue working hard!] A system notification rung out at this moment.

    "Intermediate? What does that mean?" Gu Xiqiao stopped writing, curious about this notification that popped out suddenly. Looking down at what she wrote, it was true that her words seemed to look prettier, with generally better structure and technique behind it.

    [Oh I almost forgot, wait for me, Beauty Qiao!]

    Another screen appeared in front of Gu Xiqiao with her information in detail, as well as the exnations for the different levels of daily skills. The levels were separated as such: Starter Level, Intermediate Level, Advanced Level, Elite Level, Master Level, Grandmaster Level and finally God Level.

    [On this, most people have skills in the range of Starter Level, while a small amount is in the range of Intermediate Level, and a fraction has skills in Advanced Level. Of course, there are people with skills above that level, but I can¡¯t detect them because the current system level is still low. That boy you met at the art roomst time was Starter Level in painting, so you¡¯re better than him!]

    All of her missions that had to do with skill level had requested her to reach Master Level, so it seemed quite challenging.

    Meanwhile, as for ancient martial arts, it was leveled from Beginner, Chi Induction, Bone Refinement, Tendon Forging, Fleet Foot, Tongmai, Xiantian, Houtian, and finally Enlightenment.

    [I think that Jiang Shuxuan is probably above Fleet Foot, but that¡¯s only a simple guess because the system isn¡¯t high leveled enough. The system deducts that there aren¡¯t many people that are past the Bone Refinement level, but you still haven¡¯t even reached Beginner Level! Good luck, Beauty Qiao~]

    The weekend went by in a sh, and Gu Xiqiao had been in the virtual space for a long time already. After spending all that time brushing up on her oil painting, she had already picked her technique back up.

    sses resumed back on Monday as usual, and Gu Xiqiao was making her way to her ss as she normally did, but with a tag on that followed behind her.

    This tag on was no one other than Wu Hongwen who had been pestering Gu Xiqiaotely.

    When she arrived at school with a bus, she saw this young man standing at the school gates, thettering to her as soon as she saw her he started trailing behind her like a lost puppy. He seemed to have changed his demeanor from a warm-hearted boy with an artistic aura to apletely shameless boy.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want to beat him up when there were so many people here, but thankfully she saw the girl that sat behind her in ss and pulled her over to chat.

    Of course, it was more of this girl talking bashfully with Wu Hongwen.

    Wu Hongwen just let Gu Xiqiao do as she wished, trailing after her until she arrived at her ss before walking away slowly.

    These actions thoroughly shocked everyone that hadid witness to it.

    The people that were given the title of the most handsome in First City High were not only handsome but also had good grades and were normally quite high in the social hierarchy of the school. It waspletely inconceivable that such a usually unreachable person was acting like ackey to Gu Xiqiao. He continued this for a whole week, gifting her different types of choctes and milk every day without ever repeating, and the people that looked upon this were already numb.

    What was more puzzling was the fact that none of the teachers seemed to have any intention of interfering with this.

    Because of this, Gu Xiqiao became the topic of gossip of everyone in school, and her presence in the school had even overshadowed Gu Xijin¡¯s at one point.

    Arriving at her seat, she found that Xiao Yun was already sitting there in wait. Not only that, but the other girl had also been staring at her like a hawk from the second she stepped into the ssroom, so much so that Gu Xiqiao had goosebumps. Even though Xiao Yun was quite pretty, it was still quite strange to be stared at like that.

    "My brother said you were the one that saved my grandfather." Xiao Yun looked back down to the papers on her desk and said softly.

    Gu Xiqiao thought about it for a while before remembering that such a thing had indeed happened and smiled softly. "It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s everyone¡¯s responsibility to care for the elderly after all."

    She took out her maths papers and waved them in the air.

    Xiao Yun immediately snatched the papers over and looked at Gu Xiqiao seriously. "The doctors said that if it weren¡¯t for you, grandfather would have...In conclusion, our family is indebted to you, and my brother even said that I don¡¯t have toe home if I didn¡¯t seed inviting you toe back with me."

    Xiao Yun herself didn¡¯t understand why this girl that was the same age as she was had the ability to save her grandfather in a way that even had those renowned professors and doctors buzzing over her, but she knew that she was thankful.

    Her serious tone made Gu Xiqiao think back to her past life, and ording to her memory, Xiao Yun had failed to do well on her national finals because something happened to her family, causing her to give up her studies and get involved in the entertainment industry. She was probably impacted greatly because her grandfather died in her past life...

    "It¡¯s not hard to thank me, Xiao Yun." Gu Xiqiao took out a pen and a notebook and handed it to Xiao Yun under thetter¡¯s surprised gaze. "Here, memorize all the poems and verses in this notebook."

    This note waspiled by Gu Xiqiao in the virtual space and contained the poems and verses that mighte out in the exams.

    She didn¡¯t have to aplish all the missions issued by the system, and she could have chosen to refuse this difficult task, but now she wanted to help this girl out.

    "System, give her something to improve her memory."

    [Huh, when did you be so generous?] The system spirit used five points to exchange a Memory Enhancing Pellet from the system shop. [The Memory Enhancing Pellet is an ancient medicine that can only be bought freely from the system shop when it¡¯s Level 3, but I¡¯m giving you special privilege! This pellet can enhance the mission objective¡¯s memory within the uing month, so how she does on the exams is still dependent on her!]

    The national finals wereing up in exactly a month, so it was just the right time to do so.

    Meanwhile, Xiao Yun looked at this deskmate of hers that acted as if she was listening to the teacher but had been fiddling with her phone for the entire ss. Even though she did, she could answer perfectly whenever the teacher asked a question out of the blue.

    Was she a monster?

 Chapter 25 Such A Painting

    When lunch break came around, Gu Xiqiao took out her phone from the drawer.

    Xiao Yun looked over to see what she was ying on her phone, but she only saw a bunch of red and green numbers like the stocks that her brother looked at all the time. "What are you doing?"

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at her. "Enough about that, recite Teacher¡¯s Theory by Han Yu from memory for me please."

    Xiao Yun had wanted to say that she couldn¡¯t do that, but the moment she opened her mouth the words came out fluidly as if she hadmitted them to memory time and time again.

    On Teaching was the first verse that Gu Xiqiao had written down in the notebook that she gave her, and she had only seen it a few times before the teacher had entered the ss. How could she have memorized it in such a short time? How could she recite it so well, it was simply supernatural!

    "Confused...Confused..." Xiao Yun finally got stuck on a sentence, but she sighed in relief at things returning to normal.

    "Confused by a scripture, confused by a question; The former is consulted with a teacher, while thetter isn¡¯t. Why pay attention to trivial things and leave out what¡¯s important? I do not think that is wise." Gu Xiqiao looked away from her phone, her tone somewhat disapproving. "Why haven¡¯t you memorized it? Go home and copy this ten times."

    After saying so, she took out an exercise book from her bag and handed it to Xiao Yun.

    WTF? Xiao Yun opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something.

    Gu Xiqiao squinted. "Aren¡¯t you supposed to thank me?"

    Xiao Yun didn¡¯t know what to say, this girl bing more mysterious and strange in her eyes.

    At the canteen, Xiao Yun who had never gone down to the ground floor canteen not only went there but even helped Gu Xiqiao get her meal and soup and even saving a seat for her like ackey. The sight of the duo apanied by Wu Hongwen who had made his way over as soon as he saw them attracted the attention of everyone in the canteen.

    The three of them sat at a table that was closer inside the canteen, and right by their table was the bunch of students from the Rocket ss led by Gu Xijin.

    They were all chattering about how Gu Xijin had been invited to join an art exhibition, and how she was chosen by a renowned art academy in the city at her young age. This matter had be one of the main topics of the studentstely, and even the principal had praised her through the school broadcast.

    She had even been interviewed by reporters and for a time, the name Gu Xijin became the talk of the town.

    She was well known as a young woman that had great achievements at such a young age.

    The students in First City High could only respect and admire her, her achievements too high to even be jealous of her.

    Gu Xijin had been the center of attention, but as soon as the trio sat next to their table, their attention had been attracted over to them, and one of Wu Hongwen¡¯s friends even went over to sit at their table.

    Seeing this, Gu Xijin¡¯s expression became colder and colder, her grip on her chopsticks tightening until her knuckles became white.

    Since when was Gu Xiqiao so influential?

    Zhong Yongsi saw Gu Xijin¡¯s expression and followed her gaze to see Gu Xiqiao that was sitting at the next table. Immediately, his expression scrunched up as if he had seen something foul. "Since when did Wu Hongwen get involved with her?"

    His tone was very obviously disgusted, and even a little spiteful.

    Zhong Yongsi was quite popr in the Rocket ss too, and even though his influence wasn¡¯t as great as Wu Hongwen, he still had quite the following. When they saw his reaction to Gu Xiqiao, their curiosity was aroused.

    "Zhong, you don¡¯t like Gu Xiqiao?"

    "I¡¯ve seen her in the art studio before, and she doesn¡¯t even have talent! She probably went there to copy Jin who was nominated for an art exhibition. She¡¯s the type of person to chase fame and fortune shamelessly, who knows what she¡¯s thinking?"

    "Hey, maybe she has potential?" When she heard Zhong Yongsi¡¯s words, Gu Xijin¡¯s expression defrosted.

    She was the goddess of First City High that had been taken under Xia Zijun back in the day, so many of his followers saw her as their own. Her outwards personality was good, and she was from a decently rich family, so countless people idolized her. She was used to being the belle of the ball, and now that her attention had been taken away by someone else, she was naturally unhappily. Thankfully for her, Zhong Yongsi¡¯s words seemed to influence her image in the eyes of the other students.

    At most, rumors about her being shameless and fame-seeking would spread around First City High.

    "Speaking of which, both you and that girl have the same surname, Jin." One of the students observed.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name was quite well known in N City¡¯s upper society, but because the Gu family had never expressed that she was part of the Gu family, her documents in First City High still stated that she was an orphan. Gu Xijin herself didn¡¯t want to get involved with Gu Xiqiao, so there weren¡¯t many people that knew her true identity.

    No one had everpared thismon girl with the goddess of First City High because there was too much of a difference between them, and no one had ever bothered to do so.

    This was the first time that the two sisters were spoken of in the same conversation, and Gu Xijin was trying her hardest to keep the fake smile on her face from cracking.

    Zhong Yongsi was one of the few people that knew the rtionship between the two. "She brings shame to the Gu name."

    Seeing his reaction to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name being merely brought up in a conversation, everyone changed the subject to Gu Xijin¡¯s submission for the art exhibition.

    Gu Xiqiao had been practicing ancient martial artstely. Even though she couldn¡¯t be said to be proficient, but it still had its effects on her. Not only had her body be stronger and healthier, her hearing had be enhanced too, so she naturally heard everything that the next table had to say about her, but she didn¡¯t mind. She finished her meal quickly and returned to ss together with Xiao Yun, and the girl that sat behind her who was just about toe to sit with them sighed and went over to another corner upon seeing them leave.

    Lunch break still hadn¡¯t ended, so Gu Xiqiao rested on her head on the desk while Xiao Yun memorized poems and prose.

    It wasn¡¯t that Xiao Yun didn¡¯t want to ck off, but magically, every time she stopped memorizing and wanted to take out her maths papers, Gu Xiqiao would mutter a single word with her eyes still closed.

    "Continue."

    Foiled of her ns toze off, Xiao Yun could only continue memorizing because she was indebted to Gu Xiqiao. That being said, she wasn¡¯t sure if it was just a psychological effect of memorizing like this, but did her memory be better? She had spent all her earlier years in foreign countries, and so she didn¡¯t know Chinese all that well. She had always had a headache whenever she saw those ancient poems and prose, but somehow she felt somewhat interested this time.

    For the next few days, Xiao Yun continued to walk around with a notebook in hand, and even the way she spoke changed, bing more poetic.

    Seeing this change, even her Chinese teacher that didn¡¯t have any expectations of her renewed her hopes towards her, even praising her once in ss.

    Seeing Xiao Yun¡¯s smug look, Gu Xiqiao knocked on the table a few times. "Hey, don¡¯t look so aplished just from a single word of praise, just look at your handwriting! You have the ugliest handwriting in ss! Also, recite Encountering Sorrow for me."

    "You copied the entire poem, but the teacher said that we didn¡¯t need to be able to memorize the entire thing!"

    "As a Chinese, how can you not learn some poems? Do you really think you¡¯re a foreigner?" Gu Xiqiao packed up her bag and started walking towards the door as she looked at her phone. "You stay here and study more for a while, I¡¯ve told your driver to wait outside for you beforehand!"

    Xiao Yun¡¯s expression twitched slightly as she looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s receding figure, and looked back at her notebook, starting to read it with a straight face.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t leave for the school gates, but the art studio instead.

    There was no one there on that day.

    Gu Xiqiao looked around at the empty art studio, before taking out a canvas that had a half-finished painting on it.

    The painting was created using ultra-realistic techniques to construct the image of a simple and honest woman from the countryside with subtle and delicate strokes. There was a sharp contrast between warm and cold colors, and the contrast gave impact to the painting. The painting was dense yet elegant, the woman¡¯s face slightly wrinkled and her gaze cloudy from her age, but still filled with a glint of warmth that made people feel her kindness and simplicity. Details like the needle and thread in her hands coupled with the beads of sweat on her head were painted painstakingly realistic, and such a woman wasn¡¯t conventionally beautiful, but she seemed very real.

    Gu Xiqiao stared at it for a while, before taking out her brush toplete thest step.

    At this moment, the mobile phone in her bag rung, and she took it out. It was Xiao Yun.

    "Gu Xiqiao, you left your maths papers in ss, should I bring them home with me? You¡¯reing to my ce tomorrow anyways."

    Gu Xiqiao thought for a moment. "Where are you now?"

    "I just got down the stairs.

    "Then wait for me at the junction of Building F, I¡¯ll be there in a second." Gu Xiqiao put down her brush.

    It wasn¡¯t that far away, and Gu Xiqiao had just gotten the papers before the system spirit chimed out in her head.

    [Warning! Dangerous character Gu Xijin has appeared beside your painting!]

    "Did she do anything to the painting?" Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps.

    [She seems to be worshiping the painting, should I punish her?] The system spirit didn¡¯t like anyone from the Gu family at all, and once it talked about punishing Gu Xijin, its voice even became a little louder, obviously keen with the notion.

    "No need, that painting of mine isn¡¯t finished yet, so she wouldn¡¯t do anything." Gu Xiqiao was quite calm, even walking slowly to give Gu Xijin enough time to observe her painting.

    Gu Xijin was just curious about what Gu Xiqiao was doing that caused her to not return to Gu Manor for so many days so she stalked after her, but she hadn¡¯t expected her to enter the art studio.

    She had thought that Gu Xiqiao was an untalented and useless clown as Zhong Yongsi had described, but she had never expected to be so impacted by the painting in front of her.

    Art appreciation was based on feeling and emotion, and this painting of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s not only gave her visual shock but also gave her spirit an impact that was even greater than those renowned paintings that she saw in art exhibitions!

    How could this have been painted by Gu Xiqiao? How could such a person create an art piece like this!

    Gu Xijin¡¯s expression was twisted as she continued to look at the painting, and suddenly, a single thought popped up in her mind.

    Such a painting could only be painted by her, Gu Xijin!

    Once she thought this, her thoughts started spiraling out of control.

    Yeah, who wouldn¡¯t believe that this painting was hers?

 Chapter 26 Incoming Call

    [Hey, are you not going to do anything? She¡¯s definitely plotting something!]

    "If she¡¯s so determined to bring herself to an end, you can¡¯t stop her even if you tried." Gu Xiqiao stuck one hand into her pocket while the other held the papers that she had rolled up, walking slowly and calmly as if she didn¡¯t care about what happened to the oil painting in the slightest.

    Gu Xijin had used her paintings to be celebrated in the art scene in her past life, and damned if she let her do so again! If she did so...

    Hm, a phoenix that had its feathers plucked out came to mind.

    When she returned to the art studio, Gu Xijin had already left, leaving the art studio untouched as if no one had evere in. Seeing this, Gu Xiqiao smirked and packed up her art equipment to leave, when her phone rang again, and it was Jiang Shuxuan this time.

    "Brother Jiang?" Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯te back to the mansion after a whole week, so he had probably encountered something difficult to solve.

    Even the system couldn¡¯t scan who that person with a red danger level was, so they were hard to deal with and totally out of her depth. The only thing she could do was pray that Jiang Shuxuan could deal with it quickly and safely.

    Meanwhile, Jiang Shuxuan had been talking and quickly guessed that the other zoned out again, seeing as she wasn¡¯t responding to his words at all. He was somewhat angry but wanted tough at the same time, and she was the only person that dared to space out while they were talking with him. He raised his voice, "Gu Xiqiao!"

    Gu Xiqiao blinked and came back to reality. "...Say it again?"

    Jiang Shuxuan rubbed his temples with a sigh, but his demeanor became noticeably warmer, and patiently repeated what he had just said¡ªDrink the healthy soup that Mrs. Zhang brewed every day, not to eat less than one bowl of rice a day, and to drink milk every morning...

    Even though his tone was strict, but his ink-ck pupils were tinged with warmth and care.

    As he was talking on the phone, another young man was looking at him as if he had seen a ghost.

    This young man was a descendant of the servant line of the Jiang family and had grown up together with Jiang Shuxuan, so he knew thetter¡¯s cold personality better than anyone. Even Master Jiang, his father, couldn¡¯t do anything about this personality of his, and for Jiang Shuxuan to say something so motherly like "Eat on time", and this young man felt like he might be daydreaming.

    Gu Xiqiao sounded like a girl¡¯s name, and added with the fact that Jiang Shuxuan had dyed his original ns to go back to Jing Capital to deal with matters for quite a few days, and that he even had ns to move his base of operations to N City...The young man felt like he had caught onto a dangerous thought.

    As soon as he thought all this, however, Jiang Shuxuan hung up and swept his gaze over to the young man, and his back practically bent over from the pressure, making him put a brake on his thoughts immediately.

    He was probably pushing his luck, gossiping about Jiang Shuxuan like that!

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao went out with her maths papers in hand, first walking around at the center of the city, before taking out some money from the ATM.

    She was invited for a meal at Xiao Yun¡¯s ce, so she thought it was only polite to bring a gift for them, but what? She had gotten a basic idea of Xiao Yun¡¯s family conditions in the past few days. Even though the other girl looked cold and aloof, but she had surprisingly low reservations once you became acquainted with her, and Gu Xiqiao knew all about her family within a few conversations.

    Her sister was in line to inherit the family business, and the other family member she had was her grandfather who was sickly and liked antiques. She didn¡¯t bring up her parents at all and figuring that it was a touchy topic for her, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t ask more about them.

    After walking around the shopping center, Gu Xiqiao found nothing that she could gift them, so she decided to discuss it with the system spirit.

    [Beauty Qiao, you can¡¯t be too stingy!] The system spirit replied while watching anime in the void.

    "I¡¯m not being stingy, I¡¯m just putting in thought, what do you know?" As she was talking, the system issued a mission, and Gu Xiqiao quickly grabbed the shoulder of an honest-looking young man that was walking by, and silently took the wallet that was in his pocket and ced it back into its original owner¡¯s bag.

    Her movements were so fast that even the young man couldn¡¯t see all of it happening properly, and he was so scared by Gu Xiqiao that he wanted to escape right away, but was held in ce with an iron grip that was so tight that he couldn¡¯t even shake it off!

    She had been practicing ancient martial arts for the past couple of days, and she was quite satisfied with her current level of strength, and she didn¡¯t have to spend points to buy Master status from the system shop for the time being.

    She dragged the young man into a corner, and before she even started talking the young man started to tear up. "Miss, I didn¡¯t have a choice! I¡¯ll never do it ever again, so please let me off the hook!"

    "Why are you crying already, are you even a man?" Gu Xiqiao leaned back on the wall, amused by his reaction.

    The young man stopped crying immediately, looking up without a single tear on his face and asked carefully, "Are you... Forgiving me?"

    "You look like you¡¯re just in high school, why are you pick-pocketing like this? If you got caught and sent to the police, it¡¯ll leave a bad record on your name! Those people that don¡¯t have any hands or feet can even sit on the ground with a bowl, and from the looks of it you¡¯re not disabled, so why don¡¯t you look for a decent job?"

    "...I didn¡¯t want to do that either." The young man looked over to the opposite direction in shame.

    This was the first time he did something like that and was caught in the act by a girl too, and if anyone knew this happened, he would be too embarrassed to live!

    Gu Xiqiao stood to face him and grabbed at his cor, pulling him close. "I don¡¯t care, just tell me if you¡¯re going to do that sort of thing again?"

    Her gaze was clear and her thin, red lips contrasted with her porcin skin, and upon seeing this wless face, his cheeks dusted with a blush and turned to look away. "I won¡¯t do it anymore..."

    He didn¡¯t do this sort of thing for a living anyway.

    Gu Xiqiao let him go in satisfaction, before taking out the money from her backpack and giving it to him. "This world isn¡¯t all that bad...Find a good job and be a decent person in the future, alright?"

    That young man was stunned, holding the money in his hands dumbly before he grabbed onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sleeve a secondter. "...Number."

    Gu Xiqiao wanted to kick him away, but upon seeing his tearful eyes, she held her forehead with a sigh and signaled for him to speak.

    "Uhm... Can I have your phone number to get in touch with you in the future?"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, pat her sleeves and turned around to continue shopping. The young man was about to say something, but when he looked up, he realized that she was gone.

    He stood there for a long time, and if it weren¡¯t for the cash in his hands he would have thought that it was all a dream. Where... was she?

    Gu Xiqiao who had already left the shopping center used three points to buy a ginseng root from the system as a gift for Xiao Yun¡¯s grandfather. What kind of ginseng root was it anyway, to cost her so many points?

 Chapter 27 Friend

    Xiao Yun¡¯s house wasn¡¯t far away, and she arrived quite quickly by taxi. Xiao Yun had already been waiting outside the mansion, and upon seeing Gu Xiqiao she came over to her. Grandfather Xiao was sitting outside in the courtyard leisurely, and it seemed like he was in perfectly good health.

    "What¡¯s that you¡¯re holding in your hand?" The two girls entered the mansion, and Xiao Yun looked at the white stic bag Gu Xiqiao was carrying in her hand.

    Gu Xiqiao followed her gaze to the stic bag, and her lips visibly twitched.

    She only traded a ginseng root from the system, and the system didn¡¯t give her a decent looking container and asked her to carry it with a stic bag. Would anyone believe that it was a real ginseng root if it were carried by a stic bag?

    "Oh, this? This is a gift for Grandpa Xiao, it¡¯s a hundred-year-old ginseng root." Gu Xiqiao stuffed the stic bag into Xiao Yun¡¯s hands and started making things up. She knew that it was just a ginseng root that the system created from thin air, but it was quite good looking so she guessed that this was a good reason. "System, can you recycle things that I traded points with you for?"

    If Xiao Yun didn¡¯t want it, she would make the system recycle it on the spot and get her three points back.

    [Of course not.] The system spirit rolled its eyes.

    Xiao Yun epted the stic bag and handed it over to her butler. "Didn¡¯t someone give us a bottle of hundred-year-old wine? Use that to soak this ginseng root, Grandfather should be able to drink medicinal wine."

    "You believe me?" Gu Xiqiao was taken aback by how readily Xiao Yun epted the gift. If someone had handed a stic bag to her and said that the ginseng root inside was a hundred years old, she would probably p them in retaliation. What kind of person uses a stic bag to carry such a precious ginseng root?

    That butler took out the ginseng root and examined it for a while, and smiled. "This ginseng that Miss. Gu gave looks quite extraordinary if I must say so myself."

    Was he knowledgeable about it? Gu Xiqiao walked over to him. "You can tell?"

    "Grandpa Butler has learned medicine before, and this ginseng root doesn¡¯t look fake at all." Xiao Yun nced at Gu Xiqiao in disdain, as if questioning why she was asking such a stupid question.

    "What do you know?" Gu Xiqiao followed behind Xiao Yun to the courtyard to meet her grandfather. "If you¡¯re so smart, why don¡¯t you recite Shu Dao Nan by Li Bai for me?"

    Xiao Yun was stunned by the sudden question. What was the first sentence of that poem again? "I¡¯m home now though?"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at her in simr disdain. "That¡¯s not an excuse for you to not memorize, chop-chop!"

    "The difficulty of the Shu Road..."

    Gu Xiqiao listened to her recite and corrected her errors ordingly, and even asked her how to write a few specific words as she did, and this continued until they came to the courtyard.

    "Grandpa Xiao, good morning." Gu Xiqiao bowed politely and smiled sweetly at Xiao Yun¡¯s grandfather.

    She was quite pretty, her eyes like clear springs with light dimples, and as she walked she seemed to purify the very air around her like a forest spirit. At a single nce, she was even prettier than the cold beauty Xiao Yun, and Grandpa Xiao had a great first impression of her. As expected, it was quite easy for her to talk with him, and Xiao Yun couldn¡¯t even join the conversation, and finally, she gave up and grumpily took the maths papers that Gu Xiqiao had brought to do maths exercises back in the mansion.

    "Qiao Qiao, Yun told me that you¡¯ve been helping her with her homework?" Grandpa Xiao looked up and down at this young girl and was quite satisfied with her. She was so young, and was versed in medicine, and even had good grades too, so he was relieved for Xiao Yun to have such a friend.

    Gu Xiqiao started to prepare a cup of tea for Grandpa Xiao. "We¡¯re helping each other out in our studies."

    Her movements were extremely elegant and on point, and it seemed like she had practiced it a lot, unlike the regr person that would just learn for appearances.

    It looked easy on the eyes at a single nce, and upon further scrutiny, her motions were quite profound, and even the people that performed tea ceremonies couldn¡¯t evenpare to her.

    Grandfather Xiao was quite surprised by how versed at the tea ceremony she was. "You looked quite well-practiced!"

    "I just learned it out of boredom to show off." Gu Xiqiao smiled, finally pouring Grandpa Xiao a cup of tea. "It¡¯s nothing much, so please don¡¯t think of it as a big dealpared to you, Grandpa Xiao."

    She had spent an infinite amount of time in the void with no one to talk to, and she had always been by herself. She didn¡¯t even need to rest, or eat, or take care of her other bodily needs. She could create whatever she wanted in the void, but they were all inanimate objects, and it was a necessity for her to find things to do other than reading, or else her psyche would have crumbled long ago.

    She used that time to research the 5000 years of Chinese history and had dabbled in many things like chess, tea ceremonies, and even traditional instruments.

    The system spirit had told her that it was because she was the only person to not crumble under those circumstances, and even develop stronger mental power that she was chosen to be revived with a system.

    "Grandfather, it¡¯s time to take your medicine." A suited young man walked into the courtyard with a briefcase in hand, evidently having just returned from work. "Grandpa Butler, bring Grandfather upstairs please."

    "This kid has always been like this, even stiffer and more uptight than me in my old age." Grandpa Xiao whispered to Gu Xiqiao about Xiao Sheng in a gossiping tone and finally went upstairs to eat his medicine under Xiao Sheng¡¯s firm gaze, making funny expressions at her as he did.

    Gu Xiqiaoughed at this interesting old man.

    "Excuse him, Miss Gu." Xiao Sheng sat opposite of Gu Xiqiao and drank a cup of tea, giving her a slightly surprised nce when he tasted it. "My grandfather is like this, I hope you don¡¯t mind."

    "It¡¯s fine, I like Grandpa Xiao a lot." Gu Xiqiao leaned back on the chair, looking around to see where Xiao Yun had gone to.

    "I was quite surprised that Yun said you were her friend." Xiao Sheng rubbed the ceramic cup as he pursed his lips slightly. "Our parents passed away in an airne ident, so she has always been extremely introverted. Grandfather had been sickly so he couldn¡¯t take care of her, and I had been busy with the family business, so we sent her to study abroad."

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him, not sure why he brought this up all of a sudden.

    After a short pause, Xiao Sheng took out a bank card and slid it over to her. "The reason why Grandfather invited you wasn¡¯t only because you saved him, but also because you¡¯re her first friend in China. No matter what, as long as I can do anything for you, just tell me! As long as I can do it, I won¡¯t be stingy with you!"

    "We are friends, so it¡¯s alright. Xiao Yun¡¯s calling me, so I¡¯m going now okay?" Gu Xiqiao smiled and pushed the card back to him.

    As a person with a system, whatever she couldn¡¯t do, he would have a hard time doing so either. As for money, she had a securities ount that had multiplied in value in the past few days, so she didn¡¯tck money.

    A person that could control the stocks as if she could see the future, wouldck money? April Fools was already over.

    Xiao Yun called her from the second-floor window, and when Gu Xiqiao came up to her room, she was still resting on the windowsill, and looking closely her gaze was somewhat burdened.

    "Why did you call me?" Gu Xiqiao sat on her bed andid down tiredly.

    "My brother is too stiff and stifling, so I was afraid that you would get bored." Xiao Yun¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t leave from looking out the window. "I don¡¯t know thest question on the paper, and I originally wanted to ask you to exin it to me."

    "Originally, so you don¡¯t need an exnation anymore?" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyshes fluttered slightly, as she asked with azy tone.

    "I¡¯m not in the mood for it, the bastard that caused Grandfather to be sick is back!" Xiao Yun¡¯s expression became gloomy as she gripped her hands tightly, her gaze filled with malice as if she wanted to materialize cold knives with her gaze to stab the person that she was looking at.

 Chapter 28 Treasure Appraisal

    Gu Xiqiao got up from the bed and looked out the window, following Xiao Yun¡¯s gaze.

    A ck car was stopped outside the mansion, and a slightly chubby man emerged from it. He wasn¡¯t tall and was somewhat bloated, and he had an honest smile on his face. At first nce, he seemed like a good person, but there was something off about him.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

    Those that had learned martial arts all knew The Yellow Emperor¡¯s ssic of Internal Medicine, and ording to this medical book, ¡¯As long as the righteous chi flows, all that is evil shall never vite¡¯.

    It seemed like a simple sentence, but it had great knowledge involved behind it. Essence nurtures chi, chi nurtures the spirit, the spirit nurtures essence, and it all forms a cycle. Hence, everyone that learns martial arts would also practice their virtue. If a person performed bad deeds, evil chi would permeate them and cause their chi to be polluted, making it twisted.

    This was also the deciding difference between regr and demonic cultivators too.

    "He¡¯s a distant uncle of mine who moved to our city after my parents died...Somehow, he makes me feel like he¡¯s up to no good." Xiao Yun pursed her lips as she red at the man downstairs, before closing her eyes helplessly. "But my brother and grandfather both trust him, and he¡¯s holding more and more power in ourpany..."

    Gu Xiqiao patted her shouldersfortingly. "It¡¯s alright, let¡¯s go downstairs and have a look?"

    As she was pat by Gu Xiqiao, Xiao Yun felt a cool stream of energy enter through her palms and flow around her entire body, freshening her up immediately.

    Downstairs, Xiao Yun¡¯s uncle Xiao Ming¡¯an was talking with Grandpa Xiao, while the butler holding a precious-looking vase in his hands.

    [Ding! Daily Mission activated: Help Xiao Yun appraise the Yuan Dynasty vase.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 10 points]

    A system notification rang out in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head, making her nce at the vase passingly as she followed behind Xiao Yun.

    "Yun has be even prettier." Xiao Ming¡¯an looked at Xiao Yun and chuckled.

    Xiao Yun returned his gaze with a cold one and wanted to say something, before Gu Xiqiao sent a nce at her, calming her down and stopping her from speaking out.

    Xiao Sheng had been worried that Xiao Yun wouldn¡¯t be able to keep down her temper, but seeing that she did, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Grandpa Butler, ce this vase into Grandfather¡¯s bedroom and prepare lunch, please."

    The butler nodded, and was about to go upstairs when Gu Xiqiao suddenly said, "This is quite a pretty vase."

    "Youngdy, you have quite the eye! This is a Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcin vase that has just been dug up, and I bought it at quite a high price. I even asked a monk to bless it, and worshiped it for forty-nine days, hoping it will bring health and prosperity." Xiao Ming¡¯an replied.

    "It had just been dug up? And it¡¯s been worshiped for forty-nine days?" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes brightened and took over the vase from the butler. "...Did you see it get dug up yourself?"

    Xiao Ming¡¯an¡¯s smile didn¡¯t falter in the least. "Of course."

    "Is that so." Gu Xiqiao caressed the vase gently and squinted slightly. "This blue-and-white porcin vase is quite sturdy, and there are four tiers at the base, and was connected at the base, the hip, and the neck of the vase. There are red spots on the rough base, the neck of the vase is curved fluidly, and its shape is round, without any knife marks... It does look like the real deal, doesn¡¯t it?"

    Xiao Ming¡¯an smiled as he listened to her analysis, but the final sentence made his expression freeze in ce. "Youngdy, are you implying something?"

    He looked over at Gu Xiqiao with a heavy gaze, and as he spoke, mental power that was three times for powerful than the average person¡¯s pulsed in her direction, wanting to cause make her panic and imnt several suggestions in her subconscious.

    As expected, this man was a cultivator, but he dared touch her with such feeble mental power?

    "I haven¡¯t even said anything yet, Uncle Xiao." She ignored the pulse of mental power immediately and continued to smile. "There are three ways in which blue-and-white porcin is colored¡ªVibrant, elegant, and grayish-blue. Smalt pigment was mainly used back in the Yuan Dynasty, which contains cobalt oxide and iron oxide, which react under high temperatures to be deep-colored crystals under the final ze. This vase, however, only has iron oxide powder under the ze, and you can see it quite clearly if you look at it under a microscope."

    Gu Xiqiao put the vase back in the butler¡¯s hands, and her expression became solemn. "As for the forty-nine days of worship... You consider doing so in ancient graves as bringing prosperity and health?"

    As soon as she said this, the expression of everyone in the room changed.

    Xiao Yun immediately stood on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side. "Uncle, what exactly were you thinking, giving Grandfather this vase that had been ced in a grave?"

    "Granduncle, if you didn¡¯t believe me in the first ce you could have said so! Why did you get this outsider to nder me?!" Xiao Ming¡¯an walked over to the butler quickly and stole the vase back into his hands, before ring at Gu Xiqiao darkly. "If this is how I am treated, then why should I stay here?"

    The man marched out of the house, followed by the sound of an engine getting started up.

    The people in the house were plunged into an awkward silence. Gu Xiqiao looked at Xiao Yun, then at the emotionless Xiao Sheng, then at Grandpa Xiao who had lowered his head, not knowing what to do. In the end, she was still not so experienced in dealing with this sort of thing.

    Suddenly, Grandpa Xiao grabbed at his chest as he coughed, his expression pale as he gasped for breath.

    "Grandfather!"

    "Master!"

    The butler and the two grandchildren went over to him immediately, shocked immensely.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her head slightly. "Stand back!"

    Grandpa Xiao couldn¡¯t even breathe well, did they want him to die by stealing all the oxygen around him?

    Gu Xiqiao took out a set of silver needles, and quickly pricked into a few acupuncture points, stopping the sudden outbreak of sickness immediately. Grandpa Xiao¡¯splexion returned to normal, but he was still breathing deeply to catch his breath.

    After ten minutes, Gu Xiqiao pulled out the silver needles one by one.

    Grandpa Xiao looked at Gu Xiqiao gratefully. "I had a hard time believing that you were the one that saved me back then, but now I have the chance to see you in action myself."

    He had just gone through an outbreak of his sickness, and so his tone was breathy and he didn¡¯t seem energetic.

    "Grandpa Xiao, please take care of yourself. I didn¡¯t say that on purpose, it¡¯s just that things taken out from graves have strong malicious chi and can cause you to be physically and mentally weaker if you be near it for too long. If I can venture a guess, that person would bring you antiques every couple months or so, yes?" Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips as she kept her silver needles.

    Xiao Yun spoke up at this moment. "Grandpa Butler, burn everything that man has given Grandfather!"

    The butler looked at Grandpa Xiao, then at Xiao Sheng, unsure of what to do now.

    "Burn it." Grandpa Xiao waved his hands tiredly. "Burn them all, why leave these dangerous things lying around?"

    Upon given permission, the butler immediately went upstairs to deal with the antiques.

    "Grandpa Xiao, I¡¯ll write you a medicine list that can help you. After so many years of malicious chi permeating your body, it would be very hard to treat, but as long as you follow my medicine n, you can return to seventy to eighty percent of your original health. That being said, some of these medicinal herbs are hard to find..." Gu Xiqiao discussed with the system and exchanged a medicine n from it for Grandpa Xiao.

    "Thank you," Xiao Yun said suddenly.

    Gu Xiqiao epted a piece of paper from Xiao Sheng to write down the medicinal herbs that Grandpa Xiao would need. "Don¡¯t mention it."

    Xiao Yun looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lithe fingers, not saying a word.

    The words on the paper were too beautiful. Grandpa Xiao and Xiao Sheng only wanted to see which herbs they would need, but their attention waspletely attracted by her words. Gu Xiqiao was already proficient enough to create a writing style of her own.

 Chapter 29 Rumors

    Early morning on Monday, Gu Xiqiao checked on the stocks that she had bought, which had grown quite a lot. She had enough money for the time being, so she sold her short term stocks, and focused on the long-term stocks.

    There were actually a few stocks with decent potential, but they would require at least a few years to develop so she didn¡¯t buy them. She only bought a stock that other people didn¡¯t dare to buy, because she knew the background behind this stock.

    Xiao Yun sat at her desk memorizing poems as always, and when lunch break came around she went for a short toilet break. When she came back, her expression became strange, and she changed between memorizing poems, doing maths exercises and reading English newspapers in the next moment.

    It was clear that she couldn¡¯t focus on any task at hand.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t bear this anymore and gave Xiao Yun a withering re. "If you have anything to say, just say it. Don¡¯t grind on the chair like you have hemorrhoids!"

    Xiao Yun bounced in her seat as if she was caught doing something bad.

    "Hey..." Xiao Yun scooted closer to Gu Xiqiao and whispered next to her ear. "You¡¯re an illegitimate daughter?"

    Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand pause in scrolling her phone, she immediately continued: "I don¡¯t mean anything by it, I just want to know if this is true. Even if you truly are an illegitimate daughter, it wouldn¡¯t be that big of a deal. It¡¯s not your fault anyway, so I won¡¯t think anything bad of you, promise!"

    Gu Xiqiao took out some maths papers from her drawer calmly, her eyshes hooded, blocking anyone from seeing her emotions, and even her tone was calm. "It¡¯s true."

    Upon seeing her reaction, Xiao Yun had already guessed the answer to her question. She had seen illegitimate daughters before, but she had never seen one like Gu Xiqiao. She was outstanding in her temperament, aura, and looks, and this was before putting all her skills into ount. It wouldn¡¯t be strange to see her as a noblewoman that had been educated well ever since she was little, but she was an illegitimate daughter? Who would believe that?

    Even though she was confused, she didn¡¯t ask any further upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reaction.

    When they went downstairs to have lunch, a lot of people were whispering at each other and looking at Gu Xiqiao.

    Schools nowadays were all like this, even a small piece of gossip could be known by the entire school within a single day and was even amplified by a few times.

    Xiao Yun red at all of them coldly, and after those people looked away awkwardly, she looked back at Gu Xiqiao. "Why don¡¯t we go to eat at the small cafeteria?"

    The small cafeteria was the most expensive in First City High with the best food, and it was frequented mostly only by children from upper society. Fewer teachers and students went there overall, which was why Xiao Yun suggested they eat there.

    "No need." Gu Xiqiao kept her phone in her pocket and smirked, her porcin skin like snow under the sunlight. "We can¡¯t manage what other people say, and neither run away from them forever. It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m thick-skinned enough to ignore all of them."

    There were even more people at the school canteen, and when they got there Wu Hongwen was already there, having saved two seats and gotten their food for them too.

    Xiao Yun pulled Gu Xiqiao over and nodded at him. "Thank you."

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t refuse, and the trio ate lunch together again. As they ate, the gazes on Gu Xiqiao became more and more unabashed, and their voices became louder and louder.

    Xiao Yun treated Gu Xiqiao as a true friend and even worshiped her blindly for her skill, and upon hearing everyone gossip and nder her like this, she couldn¡¯t help but get heated and angry. Looking at Wu Hongwen who was still eating calmly, she spoke, "Aren¡¯t you angry at all?"

    "What?" Wu Hongwen looked up at her innocently.

    "Everyone¡¯s saying that Er Qiao[1] is an illegitimate daughter, why are you so calm?" Xiao Yun raised her eyebrows. Wouldn¡¯t a person like Wu Hongwen hate illegitimate daughters the most?

    Wu Hongwen nced at Gu Xiqiao who was still eating her lunch slowly and calmly, before speaking, "What¡¯s wrong with being an illegitimate daughter? It¡¯s not her fault anyway, only the fault of her father for cheating."

    Gu Xiqiao finished her vegetables and set her chopsticks down on her te to wait for Xiao Yun, and as the two left she turned her head and nced at Wu Hongwen.

    When she turned her head, Wu Hongwen only saw her side profile, her delicate and wless features and her clear eyes that seemed to shine like pearls.

    Wu Hongwen hadn¡¯t put down his chopsticks, and his hand stopped in midair, stunned by Gu Xiqiao. He had gotten a basic understanding of this girl after following her around at school for a while.

    She was a cold person. Even though she didn¡¯t seem cool and aloof like Xiao Yun and instead warm and inviting, but her heart was guarded. This sort of person was hard to be close with, and Wu Hongwen had been prepared to battle for the long term, but it seemed that he had a chance?

    Was it because of what he had said?

    Upon seeing the subject of their gossip leave the canteen, the voices of the students that were chattering became even louder.

    Wu Hongwen furrowed his brow coldly, his gaze impatient and malicious as he stood up and looked around. "Shut up!"

    The harsh noises abruptly cut off, but Wu Hongwen was still quite pissed off. As he had said, what was wrong with being an illegitimate daughter? Was it her fault? This was the grudge of an earlier generation, so why did everyone me her? If she had a choice, who would choose to be an illegitimate daughter? She was at the age where she should have been treated preciously by her family, but she was treated like a nuisance and so coldly that it hurt.

    When Wu Hongwen took his te to the bin, he met with Zhong Yongsi.

    Neither of them gave each other good looks.

    Zhong Yongsi used to respect Wu Hongwen in the past. They were both in the Rocket ss, and one of them was focused on art while the other was focused on sports without neglecting their studies, and so they were given better praise than the exam robot that always took first ce in exams. But, as soon as Wu Hongwen started following Gu Xiqiao around, Zhong Yongsi didn¡¯t talk to him anymore.

    Wu Hongwen didn¡¯t want to deal with this kid with a temper, so he only nced at him dismissively before walking away, angering Zhong Yongsi greatly.

    After Zhong Yongsi set down his tes, he went over to Gu Xijin who was waiting for him at the entrance of the canteen.

    Upon seeing this, Wu Hongwen paused in his steps, his eyebrows furrowing again. If Gu Xiqiao truly was an illegitimate daughter, would she be rted to Gu Xijin?

    As soon as his brain got on this train of thought, Wu Hongwen started thinking of a lot of things. He suddenly remembered how Gu Xijin was the one who gave him the love letter in front of the entire ss, and how he didn¡¯t snatch it back because he didn¡¯t care about these things. Ever since then, Gu Xiqiao became infamous at First City High and was even talked about through broadcast. Thankfully, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ss teacher was extremely protective of his students so she didn¡¯t get a mark on her record, but it had caused her a lot of trouble nheless.

    His impression of Gu Xijin was quite good because she was quite pretty and had a good temperament. He didn¡¯t want to doubt her, but she gave him a lot of reasons to do so.

    Wu Hongwen squinted slightly and held the shoulder of a boy that had run over to him. "Check who it was that started saying that Gu Xiqiao is an illegitimate daughter."

    [1] not a typo. Like Qiao Qiao, it¡¯s a nickname

 Chapter 30 The Stolen Painting

    As Gu Xiqiao returned to her desk in ss, a system notification sprang up.

    [Ding! The system has detected that Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun have high affection towards you, do you want to add them to your Friends List?]

    "Sure, do that." Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t refuse this time. "Show me the map."

    As she said so, a screen appeared in front of her with the map of the school, and there were two green points and an orange point on it.

    She nced at it cursorily, before folding her arms on the desk and burying her head into her arms, going to sleep.

    Xiao Yun didn¡¯t know what to say about Gu Xiqiao. There were so many rumors about her, how could she fall asleep? Did she truly not care at all?

    It turned out that not only did she fall asleep, but she even slept peacefully without even waking up through all the sses in the afternoon. The teachers didn¡¯t mind that she was sleeping in ss, because she would be able to do well in her studies anyway.

    When she woke up, school had already let out. Gu Xiqiao reached inside her drawer, realizing that her oil painting had disappeared.

    [Hey, Er Qiao, your oil painting disappeared!] The system spirit eximed in shock in the void.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her forehead. "Don¡¯t act like you just knew this."

    [Fine...But Beauty Qiao, this oil painting wasn¡¯t taken by dangerous character Gu Xijin.]

    "I know." Gu Xijin had always been extraordinarily careful in doing these things and would have nevere to steal the painting herself.

    "Are you leaving or not?" Xiao Yun spoke up from the entrance of the ss. Why was this girl sozy?

    Gu Xiqiao took a few papers offhandedly, nning to do themter.

    All of the students in the ss would take home revision notes and notebooks so that they could check them when they didn¡¯t know how to do a specific question. Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao would only have to take a few papers home and by the next morning, these papers would bepleted without a single w. "What do you have in that head of yours?"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Xiao Yun. "My brain nucleus, a limbic system, a cerebral cortex, one trillion brain cells, and about one hundred billion memory storage cells, I think?"

    Xiao Yun¡¯s eye twitched slightly. "What do you do every day, only bringing back a few papers?"

    "I draw." Gu Xiqiao sighed softly. She had just finished the oil painting the day before, and it was stolen so quickly by Gu Xijin.

    Xiao Yun suddenly thought of how Gu Xiqiao had been carrying around a drawing canvas for the past few days, and how she went to the art studio at school sometimes. Xiao Yun had never seen her paintings, but she guessed that they wouldn¡¯t be half bad. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if this girl that was good at studies and medicine could be able to paint well too.

    Wu Hongwen was waiting at the stairs, and he nced at Gu Xiqiao to asses her mood

    As the trio walked towards the school gates, Wu Hongwen had wanted to speak up andfort Gu Xiqiao, but he didn¡¯t know what to say, so he could only trail behind her, staring dazedly at the back of her head.

    There were a bunch of people there at the junction in front of Building F, and they were all Rocket ss students. Wu Hongwen looked at them, sparks in his gaze and almost bursting out in anger.

    The person that led them was Zhong Yongsi, and hepletely ignored Wu Hongwen as he looked straight at Gu Xiqiao, his gaze disgusted. "Did you steal Ah Jin¡¯s painting?"

    Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly and stuck her hands into her pockets with a cold gaze, tilting her chin upwards slightly and smirking. "Didn¡¯t you people steal my painting?"

    "Yours? Do you think we¡¯re blind, that we can¡¯t even tell whose painting it is? This afternoon, I saw Jin¡¯s painting at your desk, and a lot of other people did too!" A girl walked out of the group and pointed at Gu Xiqiao. "Just be quiet and modest like the illegitimate daughter you are, don¡¯t be greedy for these things that aren¡¯t supposed to be yours! Don¡¯t you know that you¡¯re the disgrace of the Gu family?"

    Evidently, they were the ones that were blind

    Gu Xiqiao walked towards the girl, stopping close to her as their gazes met, giving her a mocking smirk. "I drew that oil painting with my own two hands, you say the oil painting is Gu Xijin¡¯s? Where is your proof?"

    Her gaze was clear and bright, and the girl that had been huffy puffy the second before went mute, suddenly forgetting her lines.

    Zhong Yongsi pulled the girl away and looked at Gu Xiqiao as if she had gone crazy. "We don¡¯t need proof, I¡¯ve seen that painting before! It¡¯s so realistic that it might as well be a photo, and it has already reached the level of a master. How could such a painting be from the hands of you, a beginner at painting?! This is the painting that Jin had nned to take to join a contest, and has been chosen by a master from the art academy to be nominated for the country! Gu Xiqiao, a person must know how much they are worth!"

    "I give this sentence right back to Gu Xijin. " Gu Xiqiao was expressionless as she listened to Zhong Yongsi speak, her demeanor as cold as ice.

    The crowd was chattering amongst themselves, and most of them were mocking her. None of them believed her, just like in her past life where Gu Xijin¡¯s image was too perfect. None of her exnations worked, and so she burned it all down in a fire...

    Xiao Yun walked forwards and stood beside Gu Xiqiao, her gaze sweeping over the crowd and making them m up. "Don¡¯t think that you people can be so arrogant just because you¡¯re Rocket ss students, tell Gu Xijin that this isn¡¯t over!"

    Wu Hongwen walked over and stood on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s other side without a word, but it was clear whose side he was on.

    Most of the students in school knew Wu Hongwen, and these Rocket ss had heard rumors of his background. This family was involved in both the dark and bright sides of society, and thest time a bunch of gangsters from their neighboring school got into trouble with him, they disappeared the next day.

    Everyone looked at each other, not daring to talk anymore, but everyone knew that things weren¡¯t over.

    The Gu family¡¯s heir wasn¡¯t so easily dealt with, after all.

    Zhong Yongsi nced at Wu Hongwen and looked back at Gu Xiqiao. "Wu Hongwen¡¯s reach isn¡¯t that long, and soon enough what you have done will spread all over N City, we¡¯re going to let everyone know! Even his family wouldn¡¯t be able to save you."

    "You..." Wu Hongwen stepped forward but was blocked by Gu Xiqiao.

    "The book of Sirach says: ¡¯If he needs you, he will trick you with his smiles and cheerful, kindly words."Do you need anything?" he will ask.¡¯" Gu Xiqiao smiled softly.

    Wu Hongwen stopped in his steps. "....What?"

    Oh nothing, but Gu Xijin was going to fall from the clouds.

    "It¡¯s nothing." Gu Xiqiao looked at the two that stood next to her like protectors, and even though she didn¡¯t know why they believed in her so much, but their actions gave warmth to her heart that had gone cold. "Aren¡¯t you two going to leave?"

    "I don¡¯t think you¡¯re this sort of person." Wu Hongwen¡¯s mind went astray again. This was the second time Gu Xiqiao looked straight at him, and if it weren¡¯t for the current situation he would run two circles around the field in excitement.

    Xiao Yun exhaled a sigh of relief upon seeing that Gu Xiqiao was unaffected by what happened. "This matter seems quite strange, please be careful. I don¡¯t think this is going to end so easily."

    "It¡¯s not all thatplex, I can deal with it myself, so don¡¯t worry." She had never treated any of these schemes by Gu Xijin seriously before, and she only wanted to use this matter to dispel thest vestiges of those pipe dreams of hers.

    Gu Xiqiao walked away and left the duo there, and even though she was walking slowly, she disappeared in their field of vision in a sh.

 Chapter 31 Protection

    Ever since she was nagged on by Jiang Shuxuan, Gu Xiqiao had never stepped foot on this alley. The reason why she did so today was that the system had issued a mission for her, and a red arrow was floating in front of her, pointing towards the alleyway.

    At the end of the alley, a group of people was beating someone up.

    The one that was surrounded was a youngster in a white t-shirt and jeans that had been washed so many times that it had be bleached. He held a pole in his hand that was stained with blood and was swinging towards one of the people in the group. He didn¡¯t have any special order in which he attacked, and beat whoever it was he chose as much as he could. Evidently, he had been in many fights of the sort and had a great aim, but there were too many people surrounding him so he was wounded, a trail of blood flowing down his leg which had probably been shed by a knife.

    These people weren¡¯t like the ones that Wu Hongwen had met, their arms and necks tattooed heavily and were real gangsters that had been doing this sort of thing on society for a long time.

    That young man couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.

    Gu Xiqiao knew that it was difficult to defeat these people with her feeble martial arts, and so she immediately bough Master status from the system. She was currently in a bad mood, and these people were the best sandbags for her to relieve her frustration.

    Even though they were ferocious, but they weren¡¯t a match for Gu Xiqiao in Master status, who could break their limbs without breaking a sweat.

    That being said, she still held back a little as she walked around, making these buff men drop to the ground with a single flick of her wrist.

    If someone were to see this, they would say that it seemed like she was teasing a bunch of puppies.

    These gangsters wanted to run away, but they felt as if they were surrounded by an invisible barrier, and they could only plead for mercy. After Gu Xiqiao yed enough, she waved them away.

    "Thank you for sparing us!" And so the gangsters fled with their tails between their legs, not wanting to stay in the presence of this terrifying girl for even more than a second. Was she even human?

    Gu Xiqiao looked over at the young man that had slumped down at the corner.

    "Thank you." Luo Weng¡¯s cheeks were devoid of any color.

    "No worries."

    As soon as she got the reward points, she turned around and left.

    Luo Weng looked up at her, and upon seeing her face, his extremely smart brain immediately remembered who she was. "Please wait!"

    Gu Xiqiao stopped and turned around to look at him.

    "I¡¯m Luo Weng from the Rocket ss, I know you¡¯re from our school, I saw you in our school canteen before." Luo Weng took out his school card and showed it to her.

    Gu Xiqiao read it carefully, seeing the familiar name on the card. "And?"

    "Do you have any money?" He looked at Gu Xiqiao seriously and handed her his school card. "I¡¯m promise I¡¯m going to return it to you, and you can keep this card as coteral. I¡¯m Luo Weng from the Rocket ss." He stated again.

    His left fist gripped tightly, and his gaze was dark and gloomy as if he was on the brink of despair. Who would lend a stranger their money?

    He smiled bitterly, and the glint of hope in his heart disappeared.

    "Oh." Gu Xiqiao looked at him without saying another word, before crouching down and cing her backpack on the ground, opening it and taking out a stack of money. This was the leftover money from that time at the shopping center, and then she patted her pockets and took out the money she had leftover from buying milk tea. "How much do you need? I only have this amount on me right now, and if this isn¡¯t enough we can go find an ATM?"

    The system analyzed that his desire for money had reached five stars, but it didn¡¯t activate a mission. That being said, she still loaned him money.

    She knew that despaired gaze better than anyone.

    Luo Weng looked at her, before epting the money with trembling fingers, counting them carefully. There were 2528.5 dors. He covered his eyes with his hand, his voice hoarse as if he were going to cry. "It¡¯s more than enough."

    "Alright, keep it." Gu Xiqiao took out another vial of transparent liquid from her backpack and threw it over to him. "This is for your leg. I¡¯m going now."

    "Let me escort you." Luo Weng stood up shakily and followed behind her. He knew how confusing these alleys were.

    "No need." Gu Xiqiao nced at his leg that was still bleeding.

    Even though she said so, Luo Weng still followed behind her quietly. The good looking young man¡¯s head was lowered, and his lips were pursed in thought, only turning around and going back upon seeing her leave the alleys.

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao woke up and had her usual morning run, before drinking a bowl of unknown soup under the gaze of Mrs. Zhang.

    She arrived on the dot at school, and Xiao Yun was waiting for her at the school gates. There weren¡¯t many people on the roads at this time and was the same as usual.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Xiao Yun who was frowning and spacing out, and she took out an apple from her backpack and munched on it. "Did that uncle of yours visit your grandfather again?"

    "Yeah, he¡¯s quite bothersome." Xiao Yun didn¡¯t ask why the other girl knew and scoffed. "Grandfather and Brother believed in him too much in the past, so he has a lot of shareholders on his side. That being said, he¡¯s underestimating us too much."

    Gu Xiqiao made a confused expression. "If you¡¯re so confident, why does your expression look like a bitter gourd?"

    "I..." Xiao Yun didn¡¯t know how to start.

    She had arrived earlier at school today, and as soon as she stepped into the school she heard people chattering about an oil painting being stolen. It was clear how much impact this matter had, but she didn¡¯t know how to go about dealing with it because she didn¡¯t know what happened between Gu Xijin and Gu Xiqiao, so she could only wait for her patiently. As soon as she saw her, however, she didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Seeing Xiao Yun¡¯s expression, Gu Xiqiao knew what the former was thinking. "It¡¯s alright."

    The two girls that had bought breakfast and wereing back to school in front of them stopped and one of them started talking with the other as she nced at Gu Xiqiao asionally.

    She didn¡¯t bother to talk in a lower volume, and her tone was extremely disdainful as she talked about how ¡¯the school should expel Gu Xiqiao¡¯ and how she ¡¯couldn¡¯t believe they were in the same school with such a girl¡¯.

    These students excluded a girl in such a way without any proof, and these rumors, gossip, and strange looks were like a suffocating mountain of stress. If someone else were subjected to this, they wouldn¡¯t even have the courage to go to school!

    Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the Parallel ss waspletely unaffected by anything that was happening outside. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ssmates had all been taken care of by Gu Xiqiao in the past, and their studies had improved dramatically, so they all treated Gu Xiqiao like the treasure of their ss. None of them believed that she was that sort of person, so they all argued to protect her when they saw posts of people ndering her on the official school forum.

 Chapter 32 You Painted It?

    Xiao Yun showed the school forum to Gu Xiqiao, and was stunned by it for a while, before looking up and realizing that most of the people in the ss were fiddling with their phones...

    "Gu Xiqiao,e with me." Old Ban knocked on the window and brought Gu Xiqiao to the teacher¡¯s office solemnly.

    This matter had long since surpassed the level of simple schoolyard gossip, and not only had it been posted on the web, but also on all sorts of electronic and printed media too. On the inte, the topic had entered the top three on the trending tab, and talk of an ungrateful illegitimate daughter became all the rage. This illegitimate daughter was brought home by the original matriarch of the family, and had been educated well and raised properly, but not only was she not thankful, she even stole an oil painting from the legitimate daughter of the family to join an art exhibition. Everyone knew who the legitimate daughter was¡ªThe genius youngdy of the Gu family, Gu Xijin.

    The posts on this topic had been seen by tens of thousands of people, and the replies had already multiplied by more than ten thousand!

    These keyboard warriors only knew how to degrade and throw nder onto people that they don¡¯t even know through the inte from a high moral standpoint.

    "Give me your guardian¡¯s phone number, I¡¯ll talk to them." Old Ban had a grasp on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s demeanor and knew that she was thest one to ever do something like this. He didn¡¯t want to get involved in the matters of higher society, but he couldn¡¯t stand there and watch this young girl get ruined by society.

    Gu Xiqiao epted the newspaper clipping that Old Ban handed her and stuck it into her pocket. "Thank you, Teacher. I¡¯ll deal with this myself. I promise this won¡¯t affect my studies."

    She stuck both of her hands into her pocket and looked at him seriously, but her obsidian orbs shrouded ad not letting him see her true emotions.

    Old Ban had wanted to say something, but his words got stuck in his throat as he looked at this young girl. It wouldn¡¯t be strange that an illegitimate daughter that grew up under prejudice and exclusion would be mature beyond her years, and he could only feel sad for this young girl that could have led a happy life like other people of her age.

    When Gu Xiqiao returned to ss, school had already let out. She slung her backpack over her back, holding it by the handle while the other was tucked in her pocket. Her face was like a delicate jade sculpture, and her eyes were squinted slightly, coldness peeking out from within. Even though she was expressionless, no one could look directly at her.

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen followed behind her.

    Coming to the school gates, Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t surprised in the least that she saw the Gu family car, and she waved towards the duo behind her. "I¡¯m going, see you guys tomorrow."

    Gu Xijin rolled down the window of the car and smiled sweetly at her. "Little sis."

    Gu Xiqiao nced at her, before going to the front seat and sitting in without replying her.

    Gu Xijin didn¡¯t speak anymore upon seeing this, and when the two sisters got to the Gu Estate, she twirled a strand of hair around her finger and stepped close to Gu Xiqiao. "If you know what¡¯s good for you, then say that I was the one that drew the oil painting. I¡¯ll tell everyone to stop talking about this, and we can consider things done and over with. After that, you can continue studying at First City High, and be the second daughter of the Gu family, or else...Just wait for your reputation to get ruined and for you to get expelled, not even Grandfather would be able to save you!"

    Her tone was mocking, but one wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell just from her expression that still seemed normal. With a smile, she walked into the gates as if she had everything was in her grasp.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t react at all to her words and followed her into Gu Manor without a change in her expression.

    Seeing this, Gu Xiqiao thought about what might be going through her head. Did she have any trump cards up her sleeve? Or maybe she didn¡¯t care about all this in the first ce? Gu Xijin ced her bag into the hand of her servant and wasn¡¯t surprised in the slightest when she saw the servant ring at Gu Xiqiao.

    Well no matter what tricks she had, none of them would work in front of sheer power, and her objective had already been achieved anyway. The one that had unrivaled talent in art in the eyes of everyone was her, Gu Xijin!

    Gu Zuhui had barely be guilty towards this illegitimate daughter and had started to give her more attention, but now it was all gone due to the rumors that were spreading around.

    As soon as he heard Gu Xiqiao insist that she was the one that drew the oil painting, his blood practically boiled with anger.

    "You drew it? You grew up in such a backwater ce that didn¡¯t even have a proper school! Do you know what oil painting is? Did your adoptive mother have any money to send to learn art? Gu Xiqiao, do you not even the slightest bit of regret? I shouldn¡¯t have let you stay in the Gu family in the first ce!" Gu Zuhui was so angry that he threw the porcin teapot that still had hot tea inside towards Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head.

    There was only a short distance between the two, but the teapot suddenly dropped down onto the ground five centimeters in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s forehead as if it bumped into an invisible wall, but at this point, no one would point out such a trivial thing.

    As the boiling hot tea seeped into the extravagant carpet, the servants that were standing around the living room all lowered their heads, their nerves stretched thin and not even daring to take a spare breath.

    Gu Xiqiao knew that anything she said at this point would be useless, and even though she wanted to exin, who would believe her?

    She didn¡¯t even have the strength to smirk. The one that was in front of her was her father, her one and only father!

    In her past life, she had even done a DNA test in secret.

    Su Wan¡¯er stood next to Gu Zuhui and looked at Gu Xiqiao as if she were an ant, and she had never seen this child as an actual person in the first ce, after all. "I epted you into our family without caring about your background, and had you educated with food and a roof to live under, and this is how you repay us? You stole Jin¡¯s oil painting! Who taught you to do that?! Since you came to our house, you should learn proper manners and leave those bad habits of yours back in your backwater countryside, you are in the prestigious Gu family! Even if you don¡¯t care about your image, the Gu family still has a reputation to uphold!"

    Gu Zuhui spoke up again. "Ah right, at the press conference tomorrow, tell them all what really happened and apologize to Jin! Jin is going to take her national finals and has to prepare her entry for the art exhibition, so I won¡¯t forgive you if this affects her badly! After the press conference, I¡¯ll send you to live at your grandfather¡¯s ce to learn how to be a proper person, so we¡¯ll have you pulled out of school for the time being."

    "Fine." Gu Xiqiao nodded and walked upstairs, locking herself in her room.

    The people downstairs were so surprised by this reaction of hers that they didn¡¯t know how to react. Wasn¡¯t she insisting that she was the one that painted it just a minute ago? Why did she give up so easily?

    That bring said, Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t want to spend anymore thought on her, holding down his anger as he called Grandpa Gu, exining the situation to him.

    Because this matter had been reported in the papers, and it must have impacted the Gu family greatly. The stocks of the Gu family would definitely plummet the next day, and Gu Zuhui had been bidding for the national basetely, and he almost lost his qualification to do so, so how could he not be angry?

    Mrs. Zhang had gotten a call from Gu Xiqiao saying that she wouldn¡¯t return to the mansion when she was out buying groceries, and she met one of her neighbors, an old man. This old man knew that Gu Xiqiao lived in the mansion when they met a few times on their morning exercise trips, so he gave Mrs. Zhang the newspaper with Gu Xiqiao on it.

    The article was written with half-truths, but it was sessful in arousing the rage of the masses, mostly against the illegitimate daughter.

    Upon seeing this, Mrs. Zhang immediately stuffed the newspaper into her pocket and called Jiang Shuxuan with fire in her eyes as soon as she returned to the mansion. "I saw Qiao Qiao paint that oil painting with my own two eyes, and you¡¯ve built her that art studio too, Master Jiang! What are those people saying, that she stole her sister¡¯s painting? Those family members of hers are blind too, throwing away such a good child. Did you know that they even said that they¡¯re going to have a press conference to have her apologize to her sister tomorrow? I can¡¯t believe this, Master Jiang!"

 Chapter 33 Delusion

    The subject of the painting was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s adoptive mother that Gu Xijin had never even met before, and the Gu family would have learned the truth even if they acted on the slightest bit of belief in Gu Xiqiao and investigated properly. From this event, it was clear to see how Gu Xiqiao was treated by them.

    As Mrs. Zhang continued to talk, she started to choke up in sadness. That girl was pretty yet frail, and mature and understanding beyond her years that it made her heart hurt. After taking care of her for the past few days, Mrs. Zhang knew that this frail-looking girl was stronger and more stubborn than anyone else.

    Such a stubborn child agreed to apologize for this farce when she knew she was innocent?

    How disappointed and in despair would she have been to ept this absurdity? How biased was her father to let a single child face the reprimands of the society by herself?

    Jiang Shuxuan had been holding a cup of tea in his hand that was still unfinished when Mrs. Zhang called, and as he listened to her, his expression became cold. With a crack, thin cracks spread through the cup in his hand, and the young man that followed him was almost frozen by his aura as he came in to send Jiang Shuxuan a stack of documents. He set down the documents on the desk, his hands trembling uncontrobly. What was wrong? Who wanted to die so much that they pissed Jiang Shuxuan off?

    "Young Master Jiang, these documents..." He bowed towards Jiang Shuxuan, breaking out in a cold sweat in fear. This young master that he had served growing up only got angry very rarely, and when that happened not even Master would be able to be deal with him. Who was the one that provoked him?

    Jiang Shuxuan ced the cracked teacup on the table. "Leave this here and go get me the earliest ticket to N City."

    After he said so, he took his jacket and walked out as he dialed a number, which was epted after a single ring.

    "Looking for me, Brother Jiang?" Her tone wasn¡¯t any different from usual and was even somewhat light.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t mention the matter that was going on and talked in a slightly slow and gentle tone. "Mrs. Zhang told me that you aren¡¯ting back?"

    "Yeah, I haven¡¯t gone back to Gu Manor in a while after all, so my dog misses me! It¡¯s hugging my leg and not letting go." Gu Xiqiao picked up a change of clothes to take a shower, while Gu Xijin¡¯s dogtched onto her leg and refused to let go, letting her drag it around.

    "That¡¯s good, sleep early tonight okay? Don¡¯t paint until it¡¯s toote."

    Gu Xiqiao squeezed out toothpaste with a single hand. "The painting is going to be done by the time you get back, I¡¯ll show you then okay?"

    "Alright, until we meet again." Jiang Shuxuan hung up and looked out the car window, the neon lights casting reflections in his eyes.

    She didn¡¯t even bring it up.

    She should be at the age where she should be able to rely on her elders, but she didn¡¯t want to say anything to not cause trouble to anyone when she had all the right in the world to do so.

    The next morning, a servant sent up a new dress for Gu Xiqiao early in the morning.

    This was arranged by Su Wan¡¯er because she couldn¡¯t let Gu Xiqiao wear too shabby clothes on this day where all the eyes of the media were focused on her. She had to keep up the image that she was a great mother, and it wasn¡¯t a good thing to let this illegitimate daughter wear rags.

    This dress was custom made, elegant and extravagant with a few diamonds encrusted on it. That bring said, its design was too mature and wasn¡¯t fitting for someone of her age, so Gu Xiqiao only looked at it before throwing it onto the floor, not nning to change into it.

    In the end, she decided to go downstairs wearing a pale blue dress.

    Su Wan¡¯er furrowed her brows slightly as she looked at the dress that Gu Xiqiao wore, but didn¡¯t say anything. The design of this design could be considered top-notch, so it wouldn¡¯t bring shame to her, but...

    Even if the girl didn¡¯t have any makeup on, her elegant and delicate features were still clear to see, while her long ck hair was tied up in a simple ponytail. At the moment, she was lowering her head, and the ponytail rested on her shoulder, and upon seeing this scene one could feel as if she was in her own peaceful and isted world.

    Gu Xiqiao was too pretty and had a pure and outstanding aura that made it hard to believe that she was brought up in a rural background. Su Wan¡¯er felt annoyed as she looked at her, so she looked away quickly, sighing a breath of relief at the thought of not having to deal with her anymore in the future.

    Gu Xijin only nced at her passingly before looking down at her phone, reading a message from Xia Zijun.

    --Jin, your younger sister doesn¡¯t seem like a person that would do something like this. She¡¯s still in high school, and this sort of press conference would impact her negatively, please convince Uncle otherwise?

    --Brother Zijun, the painting was found at her desk. I didn¡¯t want to cause a ruckus, and if it were any other painting I would have let her have it, she¡¯s my little sis after all, but this is a painting that I nned to use to join the art exhibition. The principal of the art academy even said that I could get an international award with this painting, so I can¡¯t give it to her no matter what! This is a matter of honesty, and I can¡¯t spoil her too much you see? I¡¯ve said everything that I could, but she never listened to me, so I can¡¯t even teach her that this is the wrong thing to do!

    Gu Xijin waited for a long time, but there was no reply from Xia Zijun. She red at her phone, her jealousy almost visibly manifesting itself around her.

    She had felt guilty for stealing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s painting in the beginning and didn¡¯t even dare toe face to face with her at first, but after a whole night of her telling herself that it did belong to her, she sessfully convinced herself that the painting was hers in the first ce!

    Gu Xiqiao wanted to steal her painting? How delusional!

    She switched open the television and turned over to the channel where Gu Xiqiao¡¯s apology would be broadcast live.

    Then, sheid back on the couch somewhatzily, not having any seconds thought of the oue of the press conference. Gu Xiqiao was just a small fish in an ocean that was out of her depth! She depended on the Gu family to live, and the only people that she knew were the trash from the Parallel ss, so how could she struggle?

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was sitting on the car that was driving towards the venue of the press conference, and Gu Zuhui ordered from his seat in front of her, "After this, I¡¯ll let my assistant join you in getting interviewed, so you just have to follow what he says. Just apologize earnestly, and leave the rest to him."

    Gu Xiqiao only closed her eyes without replying to him. "System, is everything ready?"

    [Yes, Beauty Qiao! All of the evidence is in my databank, and all you need to do is say the word, and it¡¯ll all be released onto the inte!] The system spirit sat in the void with a panel in front of it that was packed densely with code.

    "Very good." Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes and looked out the window, her eyelids hooded to hide the coldness in her eyes.

    Gu Zuhui became even angrier as he saw this reaction of hers, and cursed her adoptive mother for failing to raise this girl properly, but didn¡¯t say anything.

    The car entered the venue through the VIP passage,pletely avoiding the one that was blocked by news reporters.

    The press conference started officially at nine o¡¯clock, and it was only half-past eight at the time, so she went to the toilet, while the assistant waited outside for her in fear that she would flee. As Gu Xiqiao wiped her hands with a tissue, she looked at her pale reflection in the mirror and smirked mockingly. Not only was she not going to flee, but she was going to let Gu Xijin get what she deserved!

    Suddenly, the phone in her bag rang, and she took it out, before getting stunned by the caller.

    Jiang Shuxuan?

 Chapter 34 Videos

    As she was deciding whether she should ept the call, the phone stopped ringing and she sighed softly in relief. The next second, the phone started ringing again, as if the caller had infinite patience and wouldn¡¯t give up until she epted the call.

    Sighing again, she pressed on the green icon on the phone and held it to her ear. "Hey, Brother Jiang."

    "I¡¯m waiting outside Gu Building, youe out."

    Gu Xiqiao was surprised at how he returned to N City all of a sudden and pursed her lips slightly. "I don¡¯t think I can do that now."

    "Come out right now, I¡¯ve already sent in someone to escort you." Then, Jiang Shuxuan immediately hung up the phone, not giving her a chance to refuse.

    Gu Xiqiao stared at the phone in her hand dazedly beforeing back to her senses, her heart beating wildly. Opening the door, she saw that the assistant had disappeared, and was reced with a tall man that wore a pair of sunsses.

    In the end, Jiang Shuxuan was leagues more important than Gu Xijin, so Gu Xiqiaopromised.

    She walked out Gu Building without any obstacles, and she couldn¡¯t help but muse internally about how crazy it was that she was going to abandon the press conference like this. Thankfully, she could get the system spirit to upload all the evidence onto the inte, and Gu Xiqiao would be able to get what she deserved either way.

    Meanwhile, Gu Building was plunged into chaos as the star of the show disappeared, and Gu Zuhui shouted at the assistant that was lowering his head in guilt. "Can¡¯t you people keep an eye on a single young girl? Are all the years you lived just for show? The press conference has started, so you don¡¯t need to look for her, but remember! Gu Xiqiao has already been banished from the Gu family!"

    The assistant looked up at him in shock, and upon seeing that Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t seem like he was joking, he nodded and slinked away to prepare for the press conference.

    The assistant walked up the stage after tidying himself up, and immediately he was flooded by a barrage of questions.

    "What is the truth of the stolen painting?"

    "Was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mother the porn star Wen Xi? Why did the Gu family allow an illegitimate daughter to join the family?"

    "Do the two sisters have a bad rtionship? Why did she steal her painting?"

    "Will Miss. Gue out and exin for herself?"

    "..."

    These questions were all so pointed that the assistant was startled, were they all not afraid of getting on the Gu family¡¯s bad side?

    He didn¡¯t have much time to spare when there were so many cameras aimed at him, so he spoke, "Please quiet down, everyone. Today is the day Miss. Gu is going to apologize publicly, but first I have news to report! From this day onwards, Gu Xiqiao is no longer..."

    The assistant hadn¡¯t finished his sentence before he was cut off by someone who spoke up from the crowd. "Please wait."

    All of the cameras panned over to the person that spoke up, and some of the reporters seemed to recognize this person and started muttering to the people around them.

    "I¡¯m sorry for beingte, I was caught in traffic, you see." The one that spoke up was a middle-aged man that was wearing a tidy suit and had a square face that was smiling at all the reporters. Two buff men in suits came forward and nudged the assistant away, while the man walked up to the stage. "Before we continue, I¡¯d like everyone to take a look at a few videos."

    And so, everyone¡¯s gazes were attracted to the videos that started ying behind him.

    The first seemed to be taken by a mobile phone, and in the video, Gu Xiqiao was sitting in front of a canvas. In this video that was around ten minutes, the girl seemed to be giving great thought before her brush touched the canvas, and after a while, a pair of lifelike eyes were painted by her, as if it were the final touch that made the paintingplete.

    The subject of the second video was Gu Xijin, and a girl next to her asked: "Jin, is Gu Xiqiao really from the countryside? And she¡¯s the illegitimate daughter of your father too? Do you know who Gu Xiqiao¡¯s adoptive mother was?" After a while, Gu Xijin finally replied, "Her adoptive mother died a long time ago, so I¡¯ve never met her before." Even though the video was somewhat blurry, it was easy to tell what was going on.

    The third was a simple old photo of a middle-aged woman and a young girl. Even though the picture wasn¡¯t clear, but everyone could easily tell that the two were close and that their smiles radiated with happiness.

    The girl in the photo was exactly Gu Xiqiao.

    ...

    After the videos were all shown to the reporters, they all knew what was going on and looked at each other in surprise at the sudden turnabout of events. After that, all of their spearheads were turned to the legitimate daughter of the Gu family, Gu Xijin.

    Who cared about the public apology anymore? The situation waspletely reversed!

    Just a few weeks ago, these very reporters were interviewing this talented daughter of the Gu family that had gotten an art prize. Now, that genius girl was discovered to have been a wicked sister that had stolen her sister¡¯s picture, and even wanted to frame her sister for something she never did?

    This headline would blow the earlier one out of the waterpletely!

    At the same time, many pieces of evidence were released on the inte. It was unclear who leaked all the information, and even though the PR team of the Gu family had tried their best to get the posts off the inte, but all of them sprung up like mushrooms no matter how hard they tried. As soon as they got one off, another batch appeared like a virus that couldn¡¯t be deleted.

    An uproar immediately broke out amidst theizens that had been keeping a close eye on the entire incident, and the first reaction of the majority was that it had to be fake, how could Gu Xiqiao create such a painting? The next moment, one of the most renowned hackers on the inte spoke up, stating that none of the videos or evidence had any trace of editing!

    And so it was confirmed that the painting was drawn by Gu Xiqiao, and all theizens that were condemning Gu Xiqiao a moment ago all started to curse Gu Xijin in fury, their hate messagesing with even greater magnitude than when they did with Gu Xiqiao.

    At Gu Manor, Gu Xijin almost cked out from the sudden turn in events, the cup in her hands falling and shattering on the floor as she trembled. Upon seeing all the gazes of the servants on her, she held her hands to her head as if she were possessed by a demon and started running up the stairs, screaming, "It¡¯s not real, all of this is fake! I painted it! Me, me, me!"

    And so, the servants were all left standing helplessly at the living room, looking at each other with spooked out expression. "Has Miss..."

    Gone crazy?

    Of course, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have the ¡¯honor¡¯ of seeing Gu Xijin¡¯s reaction with her own eyes as she sat in the Bugatti. Jiang Shuxuan was flipping through documents beside her, his expression exceptionally cold and his lips pressed into a thin, firm line. He had never looked at her ever since she got onto the car.

    Feeling a cold aura that was packed with pressure practically wafting off of him, Gu Xiqiao had to try and catch her breath. Who made him so angry?

    "Brother Jiang?" Gu Xiqiao grabbed her backpack tighter as she realized the car was leaving towards the mansion. "I want to go to school, please."

    She asked this question with a tilted head, her expression like a child that had been caught in the act of stealing a cookie from the jar.

    Seeing this expression of hers, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mes of anger were doused immediately, closing up the documents on hisp and chuckling a little. What was the use of getting frustrated with her? The reason why she didn¡¯t tell him about it was to not cause him any trouble in the first ce, and who was he to me her? At this point, they could only be counted as slightly close acquaintances.

    After he thought all of this through, his cold expression thawed as he told the driver to bring them to First City High. "You¡¯re still in high school, so it¡¯s not good to get exposed to the media."

    Gu Xiqiao knew why Jiang Shuxuan had acted the way he did, and that it was how he showed he cared, so she didn¡¯t ask any more about it. At the moment, she was looking at a semi-transparent screen in front of her that showed the hatements of theizens towards Gu Xijin, all of them mocking and condemning, asking her to step up and apologize to Gu Xiqiao. Meanwhile, another bunch ofizens was expressing sympathy and apologizing to the second daughter of the Gu Family.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand slightly, and the screen disappeared.

    She had already ruined all of the things that Gu Xijin cared about the most¡ªHer pride, her reputation as a genius, and the image she was upholding in public...Now, the daughter of the Gu Family had be aughing stock! She wouldn¡¯t be able to salvage her current situation, no matter how much money she had...

    ¡¯So, Gu Xijin, how are you faring?¡¯

    She would see how the Gu family fares without her help!

    The car arrived at the school, and she alighted from it and stepped into the school gates, sheathing the coldness in her gaze.

 Chapter 35 Reaction

    The car stopped in front of the gates of First City High, and when Gu Xiqiao got off, Jiang Shuxuan reminded, "Remember toe backter."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s steps paused for a moment, before turning around and waving at him in confirmation.

    Seeing her figure disappear from his field of vision, Jiang Shuxuan leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes tiredly. He hadn¡¯t had even a wink of sleep the night earlier because he was tracking every trace of evidence he could get, from surveince cameras to a video taken by a passerby. Now that things were finally in motion, he could rest.

    At that moment, his phone rang again, and he was about to ignore it before he saw the person that was calling him, epting the call and thanking the caller politely before hanging up.

    The one that called him was the principal of First City High, and he was calling him to tell him about the matter of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s student status at the high school. The Gu family had acted quickly and gone through the procedures of converting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s student roll to another small town, and the principal didn¡¯t think of stopping them at the time. To his knowledge, the girl had done a great misdeed after all, and her grades were average, so there was no merit in leaving her in First City High.

    But at the same time, the principal received a call from the mayor to talk with him about this incident, andter on the Wu family, Xiao family, and even the Yin family called him. The principal himself was the secretary of the municipal party, so he realized that there was more to this incident than he had initially thought.

    Because of a single statement from this young man, all of the people that stood at the top of the social pyramid in N City called him to talk about this matter, and it was clear how great this Young Master Jiang¡¯s background was.

    At the same time, the information that the Gu family had taken away were sent over to him by other sources, and as hepiled them he couldn¡¯t help but muse about how this seemingly normal illegitimate daughter had the support of the mysterious Young Master Jiang and many high-brows in N City. The Gu family had truly bet on the wrong daughter, but the principal didn¡¯t bother to remind them about this.

    As for those people saying that she stole the oil painting, it only served to make the principalugh. With such a background, it was extremely easy for Gu Xiqiao to get into whichever art exhibition that she wanted to, so why would she need to steal any paintings?

    At the time that Gu Xiqiao returned to the school, three sses had already gone by, and when Gu Xiqiao arrived, Old Ban was coincidentallying out of the ss with a stack of papers.

    He was stunned upon seeing Gu Xiqiao, and his first reaction was to drag her to the teacher¡¯s office to question her.

    All of the students in the ss watched as Old Ban led Gu Xiqiao away, and could only leave all of their gripes andints on their social media. Whenever they came across any posts that were throwing hate on Gu Xiqiao, they called argued with them like Gu Xiqiao was their idol.

    These students were also checking on the broadcast of the press conference as sses went on, and the teacher acted like he didn¡¯t see them do so either. All of the students knew what happened, and they were all stunned by the oue. It waspletely unthinkable for Gu Xijin to do such a thing. Who would believe that the goddess of First City High was such a person?

    And so they went through sses without focusing on the topic that was being taught, but thankfully the teacher didn¡¯t exactly seem to be focused on teaching, either.

    When Gu Xiqiao returned to the ssroom, the lively ss was plunged into silence.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at them without saying a word, and ced her backpack on her desk and took out her papers as usual in preparation for the sses that were going to startter in the day.

    The boys in the ss pushed and nudged at each other, wanting to pick a representative to speak with Gu Xiqiao, but none of them dared to do so. Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t in her school uniform today, and her light blue floral dress was the very image of first love in the eyes of all the boys in the ss, so none of them were brave enough to step up to her. Meanwhile, all of the girls had surrounded her immediately.

    Thankfully, the bell rang again, and everyone returned to their seats.

    Xiao Yun finally had the time to talk with Gu Xiqiao, and thetter responded to all of her questions without any reservations until the ss was almost over. Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and browsed a few more finance websites like usual.

    As soon as the bell that signaled that ss ended rang, Xiao Yun nudged Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm gently and pointed towards the windows, where Wu Hongwen could be seen standing outside.

    He was tall and handsome, and his figure in the hallway like a model had attracted the gazes of most of the girls in the ss.

    Upon seeing this, the biology teacher allowed the students to leave.

    The power of rumors and gossip in high school was unparalleled, and in a mere two days, the incident of Gu Xijin had bemon knowledge to everyone in First City High.

    Gu Xijin¡¯s image had been too perfect and spotless before this, so much so that none of the students believed the news at first. After that, they realized that this news couldn¡¯t have been fake¡ªThe Gu Family wouldn¡¯t let fake news about their precious heir float on the inte without taking any action!

    Even though a few fans of Gu Xijin didn¡¯t believe that she was such a person, but most of the students were quite rational about this. As great as the image she had been upholding had been, who knew about what happened in theplicated social circles of upper society?

    It was a fact that Gu Xijin had been absent from school for the past two days, that was for sure.

    But the public was more interested in Gu Xiqiao.

    This illegitimate daughter that seemed to havee out from nowhere was even more dazzling than her sister, her painting getting praised by the principal of the N City Art Academy and even getting sent to a national level art exhibition.

    In the past two days, dozens upon dozens of reporters wanted to interview Gu Xiqiao but were all turned down.

    And so, they all started to change their interview subjects to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ssmates, who all praised her profusely as if she were a goddess as soon as they got a chance, in true fandom fashion.

    These students all described Gu Xiqiao so perfectly that the reporters didn¡¯t believe in them, and so they shifted their focus onto other passersby and people that were loosely rted to First City High. One of them was coincidentally the genius of First City High that had gotten first ce in every exam ever since he was enrolled, as well as multitudes of prizes and trophies. The bespectacled young man stopped in his steps as he heard the reporter¡¯s questions, and said a single sentence, "Ms. Gu is a very good person, and is smarter than I am."

    He seemed to have been in a rush, so he immediately left.

    But it was this simple sentence that thrown even the students of First City High into confusion.

    This exam robot had never bothered to smile or get involved with any extracurricr activities, the very image of a nerd with thick sses. It was hard to even catch sight of him usually, and he would go work part-time at KFC whenever he had the time to do so. Many education channels had wanted to interview him on many asions but were always turned down, but he spoke up for Gu Xiqiao uncharacteristically.

    And so, the students at First City High developed a strange sense of respect towards Gu Xiqiao.

    The reporter that got the scoop immediately edited together the video clips of the interviews along with several pictures of Gu Xiqiao, and broadcast it that night on the news. Most of the people that watched weren¡¯t all that interested in the interviews but were quite taken by the pictures of Gu Xiqiao.

    On the inte, this video and the pictures of GU Xiqiao quickly became viral, and this beautiful yet pure girl became the belle of the inte.

    Gu Xiqiao had no idea that any of this was happening as she walked together with Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen. Suddenly, Wu Hongwen asked, "Why would Luo Weng speak up for you? It¡¯s hard for him to even speak a single word in our ss, and he sometimes even t out ignores us when we ask him questions! He goes working whenever he has the time and goes missing at every other moment, and that was the first time I heard him speak so much!"

    Xiao Yun also cast a questioning gaze at Gu Xiqiao.

 Chapter 36 Shes Scary!

    Gu Xiqiao ordered three cups of milk tea from the milk tea shop as she replied nonchntly, "Perhaps... He was sympathetic to my plights?"

    "Can you be more serious?" As soon as she heard this, Xiao Yun rolled her eyes at Gu Xiqiao.

    epting the cups of milk tea from the girl at the counter, Gu Xiqiao handed them out, before sipping a mouthful of milk tea and patting Xiao Yun on the shoulder. "Fine, fine, I won¡¯t tease anymore. I met him on coincidence a while ago and helped him out a little. He¡¯s quite a good person to have remembered that until now."

    "You helped him out?" Wu Hongwen¡¯s interest was piqued. "I feel like that robot ns every second of his day and even drinks water at a set time every day, what could you have helped him with?"

    "I helped him the same way I helped you." Gu Xiqiao nced over at him.

    Wu Hongwen rubbed his nose sheepishly, it was quite embarrassing once he thought about how two men needed the help of a girl to save them. Looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s thin figure, he decided to himself that he would train and work out during the holidays!

    The trio split up at the crossroads.

    When Gu Xiqiao entered the virtual space to do her daily missions that night, she used some time to arrange andpile some forms that would be useful. She didn¡¯t quite remember what the national finals this year were about, but after analyzing the questions from the past years, she had found a certain pattern in the questions asked, and she prepared to give these notes to her ssmates the next day.

    She had felt the protectiveness of her ssmates towards her for the past few days, and it felt like she wasn¡¯t fighting all by her lonesome anymore...

    There were only twenty days left until the national finals came around, and she was prepared to help them out as much as she could. Who made it thew that the Parallel ss had to stay at the bottom, that they had to be forgotten by all of their teachers?

    After doing all this, she took out the old book and read through it again.

    "Spirit not leave the chi, and the chi not leave the spirit. Mixed within inhale and exhale, and neutralized with each other."

    [First breath of Xiantianes from the void, the second mixes naturally, the spirit surrounding the chi...Inhale chi, exhale spirit, spirit is inhaled and chi is exhaled, in and out, up and down, and returns to the origin, converged at one point...]

    Suddenly, the system spirit that was ying games in the void jumped in surprise. [Congrattions Beauty Qiao, you have sessfully entered Beginner level! 10 points are rewarded!]

    Beginner level was the lowest level, so not a lot of points were rewarded, but Gu Xiqiao still smiled happily at finally making a breakthrough. She stood back up from her meditative position and calcted the time which she had spent to get to this point. Three months had passed in the virtual space and added with the time she used earlier she got to Beginner level using five months.

    ording to the standards of the system when she asked, it was considered average.

    Gu Xiqiao knew that only now that she stepped into the Beginner level could she finally call herself a true ancient martial artist.

    [Beauty Qiao, you have a genius right next to you! Jiang Shuxuan is definitely above Fleet Foot, and even I can¡¯t detect which level he¡¯s exactly at because his ability is too strong. You can ask any questions you have on cultivating with him, and he can help you better than I can!] The system spirit created a solid avatar that looked like an extremely cute young child in the virtual space.

    Gu Xiqiao pinched its cheeks gently as she was shocked by this information, She knew that Jiang Shuxuan was strong, but not that strong! ording to the way the system said it, Fleet Foot was only the minimum guess?

    In this era, there were fewer and fewer people that practiced ancient martial arts, and it was extremely hard to be stronger with each level. Even though she only used five months to reach Beginner, she would probably have a hard time even reaching Chi Induction even after five years! Jiang Shuxuan was only a young man, and he was already greater than Fleet Foot?

    It was only nine o¡¯clock, and it wasn¡¯t time to sleep yet. Jiang Shuxuan was looking at the item in his hands dazedly, not even noticing when Gu Xiqiao came close to him.

    Upon closer inspection, Gu Xiqiao realized that it was her own painting.

    "Ah, have you finished your homework?" Jiang Shuxuan looked at Gu Xiqiao upon realizing that she was there.

    Gu Xiqiao replied with a soft hum, before pouring herself a cup of water and stealing back the painting. "How did this painting end up in your hands?"

    "This is yours in the first ce, no one would dare steal it." Jiang Shuxuan suddenly remembered something. "Those people from the art academy want to take this painting to join the national art exhibition, what do you think about it?"

    "There¡¯s no need to do that..." Gu Xiqiao looked down at the pair of warm and loving eyes on the painting, caressing it carefully. "I¡¯ll use another painting to join next time."

    The painting techniques used when she painted this wasn¡¯t all that refined and was only outstanding because of the sheer emotion she put into it. Even if she got a prize with this, it wouldn¡¯t mean all that much. But now that the topic was brought up, she wouldn¡¯t mind holding an art exhibition by herself one day once she had the time.

    Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao some downstairs, Mrs. Zhang immediately took out a bowl of medicinal soup for her.

    "Mrs. Zhang, you can try changing the vor of this." Gu Xiqiao downed the bowl of soup with a somewhat disgusted expression and smacked her lips as she tried to decipher what it was that made this soup taste the way it did. "Maybe if you don¡¯t put in the codonopis root, it¡¯ll taste better."

    "How did you know there was that ingredient?" Mrs. Zhang was quite surprised, but then she remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ability in medicine. "Alright, I¡¯ll try it tomorrow."

    "Alright, goodnight then." Gu Xiqiao turned around and walked upstairs, the edge of her lips twitching at the weird aftertaste of the medicinal soup.

    Seeing her antics, Jiang Shuxuan smiled with his chin propped up by his fist, and upon seeing the document on the table, his smile receded as quickly as it came.

    The Gu family...He reached out and rubbed the documents thoughtfully, before taking out his phone and calling a number after a while. "Just strike off their name from the name list of the national base, hold off everything else first."

    "Huh...Bro Jiang?" Yin Shaoyuan was confused as he heard themands from Jiang Shuxuan, blinking at the copy of the same documents he had on his hands. "I already collected all the evidence, I had no idea that there was so much dirt on the Gu family, they don¡¯t think about the consequences of their actions! If I clicked a button right now, they will suffer greatly!"

    "I know." Jiang Shuxuan stood up and walked towards his study, documents in hand. "But I think it¡¯s best for her to deal with her own family for the moment."

    "Her? Gu Xiqiao? Are you kidding me, Bro Jiang?"

    "Didn¡¯t your manager tell you? The videos that were released this afternoon weren¡¯t the ones I found." Jiang Shuxuan ced the documents on his study table, before taking out an ancient book from his shelves.

    There was a long silence. "You¡¯re saying..."

    Jiang Shuxuan flipped a few pages and continued: "What I¡¯m saying, is that those videos were found by her. Not only did she find the videos, and she even hacked into the system of yourpany and uploaded them to your manager¡¯sputer, without any of you noticing. Do you think that the Gu family can continue being this stable if she had the intention to make them fall?"

    Yin Shaoyuan immediately didn¡¯t have anything to say. The security systems in all of hispanies were imported from America and were even ones that even the greatest hackers couldn¡¯t bypass. If these couldn¡¯t cause Gu Xiqiao any trouble, then wouldn¡¯t it have been a piece of cake for Gu Xiqiao to hack into the databases of the Gu family and obtain top secret information?

    "F*ck, she¡¯s scary!" Yin Shaoyuan closed the documents and started thinking if he had gotten on her bad side from earlier. "Hey, where do you think she learned all this?"

    Jiang Shuxuan flipped another page and hung up.

    Yin Shaoyuan: "..."

 Chapter 37 Parallel Class

    The next day was the date of the final mock test before the national finals came around. Because the results of the mock tests would always be extremely close to the results of the actual finals, the ss teachers of each ss have been stressing its importance. As a result, the students were all extremely excited, yet strung high with tension.

    At this time, all the ss teachers of the other sses were talking to the students about what to take note of during the exams, while the atmosphere of a single ss was abnormally rxed, with a single young girl writing forms on the ckboard while the teacher looked onzily.

    "Alright, today is the mock exams. Perform as you would usually, no pressure! You all have been improving a lottely, and perhaps by the time the national finals swing around, the average of our ss can increase by at least ten." Old Ban waited for Gu Xiqiao to finished writing, before walking up and speaking with a rxed tone. Suddenly, his eyes squinted slightly at a student in the ss, his tone bing abnormally gentle. "Chubby Shi, is the food tasty?"

    A fat boy that sat in the middle of the ss looked up immediately, and sat up straight in response, causing everyone in the ss tough out loud, watching him wipe off the chili sauce on his cheek shyly.

    Gu Xiqiao propped her chin on her palm with a smile. She liked how the atmosphere of the ss now was rxed and light, unlike the other sses that were filled with pressure and stress.

    [Er Qiao, you are a tycoon!] The system held its hands to its chest as it sat in the void. In an out of character action, this host exchanged an item called the Genius Virtual Space for the parallel ss using a load of points. In twenty days, as long as these people were in the area of the parallel ss, their memorization ability and thoughts would be clearer and better. Combined with the data that Gu Xiqiaopiled for them, their results would improve drastically without any question!

    Which was fine, but the system spirit was stressing out from the points spent!

    "Calm down, I¡¯ll level you up once I have the points for it." Gu Xiqiao twirled her pen within her fingers.

    Even the ones that were sent to take their exams near this area were shocked and thought that this was a ce with great feng shui.

    The mock tests were taken ording to the rankings of thest exam, and because there wasn¡¯t enough space to fit all of the students in the third year ssrooms, some of the students were sent to take their exams at the Combined Building.

    The mock exams took two days, and the students revised by themselves between each paper.

    Thest paper was on English, and Gu Xiqiao passed up her answers early and waited outside the building for Xiao Yun. Xiao Yun had grown up abroad, so her English was much better than average, but even so, she didn¡¯t finish her exams quicker than Gu Xiqiao.

    No one had finished their papers this early, so there was no one walking around, and before Xiao Yun came down, Luo Weng did.

    He was carrying a ck knapsack with a baseball cap on his head which was held low, and it gave a gloomy and even somewhat suspicious air to him.

    Gu Xiqiao was focused on buying stocks on her phone, so she didn¡¯t notice himing down the stairs. Luo Weng walked out to the road, and his lowered head lifted to see Gu Xiqiao who was tapping away at her phone and paused in his steps. "Gu Xiqiao?"

    He took off his baseball cap, his gloomy air melting away like snow as his eyebrows were raised slightly in question, instantly bing a pretty boy that could even rival Wu Hongwen.

    "Hm?" Gu Xiqiao used this window of time to rake in more profits, and she was in quite a good mood because of this. When she heard someone call her, she looked up towards the source of the sound, seeing Luo Weng walk over to her.

    "How have you beentely?" Luo Weng knew that Gu Xiqiao had gotten into some sort of troubletely, and even though he praised her and stood on her side, he didn¡¯t know how much help he was because he was a mere student. Besides that, he had been extremely busy working daily, and so he didn¡¯t have any idea how things were going for Gu Xiqiao.

    "It¡¯s been good. Come, let me treat you to a cup of milk tea." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze swept over to the building and knew that Xiao Yun wouldn¡¯te down so quickly, so she decided to wait outside with Luo Weng.

    Luo Weng wanted to refuse, but the words of refusal were stuck in his throat as he looked at her. Even though Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was calm and her visage delicate, she had an air to her that made it impossible to refuse her.

    And so, he could only follow behind her without a word, epting the cup of milk tea that she stuffed into his hands.

    He drank a sip of this weird drink that didn¡¯t taste better than in water did to him, and smacked his lips as hemented over how such a weird drink could cost ten dors per cup.

    The duo waited outside the milk tea shop, and Luo Weng¡¯s eyes squinted slightly as he saw two figures running over from the direction of the school. Putting on his baseball cap and adjusting it slightly, he nodded at Gu Xiqiao. "I have to go to work now, bye!"

    Wu Hongwen who had run over with a basketball in hand was curious as he looked at the receding figure. "Isn¡¯t that Luo Weng? That¡¯s the first time I saw him stop to talk with someone."

    "Do you know why he¡¯s so hardworking?" Gu Xiqiao asked.

    "Why?" Xiao Yun was quite curious too. Normally, such a genius as Luo Weng would have many sponsors that would invest money and resources on him, but there had never been any news of the sort.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed, and replied, "Because for a person that doesn¡¯t have anything to their name other than their intelligence, time is their only resource."

    Just like Gu Xiqiao who lost everything, they had to utilize all the time they got to change their fate.

    After the mock exams ended, the school let the students go back early. Because there weren¡¯t any more holidays in the next few weeks leading up to the national finals, Xiao Yun and Gu Xiqiao went shopping. Wu Hongwen quickly refused the offer to tag along and went to y basketball with some of his buddies.

    Xiao Yun pointed at a white floral one-piece skirt that was on disy, and asked Gu Xiqiao, "What about this one?"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at it, before replying, "It¡¯s has a good design, but it doesn¡¯t suit you."

    "This one it is!" Xiao Yunpletely ignored thetter half of the sentence and waved the shop assistant over. "Get me one of the smallest size, please."

    Gu Xiqiao rolled her eyes and looked out of the shop window, seeing a crowd converging near the esctors and hearing screams of fright and the sound of children cryinging from that direction.

    [Ding! Daily Mission activated: Save the young girl that has been taken hostage on the balcony!]

    [Mission Completion Reward: 10 points]

    [Forced Mission activated: Soothe the emotions of the kidnapper, and prevent him from blowing up the mall!]

    [Mission Completion Reward: 299 points]

    [Mission Failure Punishment: Muted for ten days!]

    A semi-transparent screen popped up in front of Gu Xiqiao, with the map of the mall and a red arrow pointing towards the left.

    Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao leave suddenly, Xiao Yun immediately followed after her, not even getting the dress she wanted to buy.

    Upon arriving at the balcony, there was a scraggly man with a head of messy hair and a pair of bloodshot eyes, evidently on the edge of insanity. He seemed to be in a heated argument with someone, while the young girl that had been kidnapped by him seemed to not be over the age of four. She had a lollipop in her mouth and was blinking in confusion at what was going on.

    A few youngsters were standing across him, and the one that led them was a handsome and charismatic young man in a white shirt. Upon hearing footsteps, he stopped his negotiations with the man that was holding the girl hostage and nced back, only to facepalm as he saw Gu Xiqiaoing this way.

 Chapter 38 Terroris

    Gu Xiqiao naturally knew who Yin Shaoyuan was, but didn¡¯t give him much attention as she quickly scanned the situation. The man was holding the girl with one arm and seemed to have fended off the bodyguards that tried to stop him with his free arm.

    With a single nce, she knew that their ribs were broken from his attacks.

    This person wasn¡¯t the average Joe, being able to deal so much damage with a single arm.

    "Why are you here?" Yin Shaoyuan quickly made it over to her direction with a serious expression. "We don¡¯t know what this guy wants, and he probably has something up his sleeve... Hey, you¡¯re from the Xiao family, right? Take her away with you, don¡¯t get involved in this."

    He saw Xiao Yun after he noticed Gu Xiqiao, and he remembered who she was because he was acquaintances with Xiao Sheng.

    This man was a great threat, and even they didn¡¯t know where he came from or what his objectives were. He didn¡¯t want Gu Xiqiao to aggravate him even further and wanted Xiao Yun to retreat with her in case she wanted to stick around out of curiosity. In his eyes, Xiao Yun that grew up in upper society would be more mature about it than the average girl.

    As a member of the Xiao family, Xiao Yun naturally knew who Yin Shaoyuan was.

    The Xiao family could be counted as a noble family in N City, but it couldn¡¯t bepared to the Yin family. The master of the Yin family had once been themanding officer of the N City Military District that had been part of the war of independence. As a result, many of his descendants were affiliated with the military, and the children of the Yin family could be said to be the ones that had the highest social position of all.

    That being said, the Yin family was still quite mysterious and it was hard to even meet up with them. Thest time Xiao Yun met this person, it was on a banquet three years ago that was held in celebration for Yin Shaoyuan getting into B University. She only saw Yin Shaoyuan that was surrounded by many youngsters from afar as she followed behind her brother, and he remembered her?

    More surprising was the fact that Gu Xiqiao knew Yin Shaoyuan, and the two were evidently more than just acquaintances. How did they get to know each other?

    Looking at Yin Shaoyuan who couldn¡¯t do a thing about Gu Xiqiao, she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

    Yin Shaoyuan tugged at his necktie in irritation as he contemted on how to deal with this situation. He knew that he wasn¡¯t a match for the man, and had already called the police to deal with it, but perhaps he could only get the help of the Special Forces¡ªThis man didn¡¯t seem like a regr person.

    "Gu Xiqiao, don¡¯t get us into more trouble!" Upon seeing the two girls ignore himpletely, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s patience burned out. With a single gesture to the guards, they immediately held up their guns and pointed it at the instigator.

    These were special guns that Yin Shaoyuan had given to only five of the most elite guards, and even Yin Shaoyuan himself hadn¡¯t expected the weapons to be used someday.

    Upon seeing the guards take out their guns, a polite-looking young man that had been trying to negotiate immediately shouted out: "Young Master Yin! My daughter is still being held hostage!"

    "Your daughter?" Yin Shaoyuan nced at him, his eyes filled with fury as his tone became ice cold. "Do you see that? That man has a remote control, and if I don¡¯t apprehend him immediately, the entire building will be blown to rubble, and countless lives will be lost!"

    "So you¡¯re going to sacrifice her?" The young man felt despair at Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s words, looking back at the young girl that was being held hostage with tears welling up in his eyes.

    His hands curled tightly into fists as he tried to calm himself down but to no avail. No matter how well he had spoken at the negotiating table in the past, he couldn¡¯t think of any way to stop the terrorist in front of him that didn¡¯t even have the patience to listen to him.

    At this moment, Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t have much of a choice either. The choice between countless lives and a single one wasn¡¯t hard, but he suddenly felt a pang of guilt as he looked into the young girl¡¯s clear gaze.

    She was only an innocent child.

    Another pair of clear eyes appeared in his mind, and Yin Shaoyuan turned back around to fix Gu Xiqiao with a solemn expression. "Leave now, or I can¡¯t guarantee that you won¡¯t get hurt!"

    He had tested out these weapons before, and all he could do was to have the people that weren¡¯t involved step back to reduce the casualties. This was thest time he would warn her, and it wasn¡¯t his fault if she got hurt.

    Upon hearing this, Xiao Yun¡¯s expression changed to one of fright. She had great vision, and had already seen the remote control in the hands of the terrorist, tugging at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder and urging her to leave, "Er Qiao, let¡¯s go!"

    "No, it¡¯s alright." Gu Xiqiao smiled softly.

    Xiao Yun could only feel her arm go numb, her fingers letting go of Gu Xiqiao uncontrobly.

    "What? You!" Yin Shaoyuan hadn¡¯t been able to say anything before Gu Xiqiao disappeared in a sh, reappearing next to the terrorist like a spirit. The terrorist himself was stunned at the young girl that appeared next to him, unable to react in such a short time.

    Gu Xiqiao only held down the terrorist¡¯s wrist lightly, and thetter felt as if there was a thousand-pound weight on his arm, and struggled to get out of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s grip.

    Upon seeing this, Yin Shaoyuan waved at the guards to put down their weapons.

    "System, recover his sanity please." Upon closer scrutiny, Gu Xiqiao knew that this man had lost control over himself, and even he didn¡¯t know what he was doing.

    [Ding! Two points have been deducted, the objective has regained rity.]

    Upon hearing the system¡¯s voice, she tried to talk with the terrorist with a calm tone, "I know you must have been through a lot, but this girl is innocent. She was brought here to the mall by her father from the hospital today...Do you know why she was in the hospital in the first ce?"

    The terrorist seemed to have regained some semnce of sanity, and upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s calm and clear gaze, he replied softly. "Why?"

    "Because she has leukemia." Gu Xiqiao reached out and pat the young girl¡¯s head gently, her voice light. "She only has her father, and this might, unfortunately, be thest moments of her life, so...Please, will you let her go?"

    The terrorist stood there for a while before his grip on the young girl loosened, and he staggered onto the floor.

    No one had reacted in time, and only the young girl¡¯s father quickly ran over and carried the girl to safety.

    "How did you go over there?" Yin Shaoyuan finally came back to his senses and fixed Gu Xiqiao with an astonished gaze, asking the question that everyone had on their minds. "I didn¡¯t even see it properly."

    ¡¯I just did." Gu Xiqiao replied nonchntly as if she didn¡¯t do anything all that impressive.

    She didn¡¯t say anything, and Yin Shaoyuan had started to fill in the gaps himself. He knew that there was a secret society that was hidden from regr humans, and he had suspected that this terrorist wasn¡¯t a regr human either.

    He wasn¡¯t all that talented himself, so he was only a Beginner which waspletely average, but Gu Xiqiao seemed much younger than him. There wouldn¡¯t be many people that would be able to do this, and she could probably bepared to those geniuses from the capital!

    To Yin Shaoyuan, it was already a great feat that Gu Xiqiao became as strong as she did at the young age of eighteen, and was already talented enough to be called a genius. He himself had only gotten to the level that he was at after twenty years of practice under a tutor!

    Unbeknownst to him, she got to this level in a few months, and not eighteen years!

 Chapter 39 Self Combustion

    [Ding! Missionpleted, you have obtained 309 points!]

    [Ding! Growth Mission activated: The target Mu Zong has be bankrupt, so help him develop hispany.]

    [Mission Completion Reward: 500 points]

    Mu Zong was the father of the girl that had been taken hostage, who was thanking Gu Xiqiao profusely.

    Upon hearing the system notification, several thoughts shed through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind, but she knew it wasn¡¯t a good ce to talk about this now. She asked for Mu Zong¡¯s phone number and sent the father and daughter away.

    After some hesitation, Mu Zong left for the hospital so that the doctors could check on his daughter.

    After so many events, Yin Shaoyuan had finally realized that he couldn¡¯t underestimate Gu Xiqiao no matter what. The girl was just an illegitimate daughter that had been abandoned by her family, but she was talented and well versed in so many abilities. He had checked on her background, but he couldn¡¯t get any indication that this girl had been educated in any of those, so the person behind her was definitely a mysterious and strong figure!

    "Stand back!" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sound rang out as she waved for the guards to step back, her eyes squinted slightly at the terrorist. "System, what happened? Why did he spontaneouslybust?"

    Out of nowhere, the man had started burning with a blue me!

    [Ding! Your authority is insufficient!]

    "Just tell me whether I can put these mes out." Gu Xiqiao looked in shock at the mes that were so hot that even the floor started to liquefy, what type of mes were these?

    [You cant, Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re too weak now...Please don¡¯t be depressed, it¡¯s already a great aplishment to reach your level in just a few months!]

    But it wasn¡¯t enough, not in the slightest...

    Gu Xiqiao gripped her fists tightly.

    Yin Shaoyuan tried to go near the terrorist, but the mes were so hot that he couldn¡¯t even stand stepping closer to him. Seeing Gu Xiqiao stand there calmly, he asked in confusion, "What is happening?"

    "I don¡¯t know, let¡¯s wait for Brother Jiang." Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply, and the system had already notified Jiang Shuxuan when the mes appeared.

    "Are you sure he¡¯s going toe?" Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eyebrows furrowed slightly. "He¡¯s quite busy, so he might..."

    Before he could finish, he saw Gu Xiqiao look into the distance, the golden rays of sunlight casting a halo of light over the girl whose cherry lips were pursed slightly. Yin Shaoyuan blinked, before looking over in that direction too.

    Away in the distance, a silhouette that was bing clearer was walking in their direction, his jacket hung on his arm. His figure was lean and his features were cold and dignified like a swordsman.

    He stopped his steps and swept his gaze around the scene, his eyes colder than frost and ice, and the people that saw him couldn¡¯t help but avoid his gaze.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at the ominous blue mes before ncing at Yin Shaoyuan,ing back to reality as he waved off his subordinates, leaving only the four of them on the balcony.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked closer and raised his arm slightly, and the blue mes flickered and snuffed out without much resistance. Gu Xiqiao that was standing the closest to him felt a gust of cold air blow from the direction of Jiang Shuxuan, and couldn¡¯t help but step back to avoid the cold that seemed to be able to freeze her soul itself.

    What Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t see was a ck mist rising from the terrorist, before dissipating into the air.

    Meanwhile, the system spirit¡¯s expression was solemn as it looked on at the scene.

    Yin Shaoyuan stepped back more than Gu Xiqiao and looked at theyer of frost that had condensed on the terrorist in fear.

    "Bro Jiang," Once the temperature returned to normal, he walked over to Jiang Shuxuan. In the past, he even had a hard time contacting him through calls, so he had a hard time reacting at first. Was this Young Master Jiang always this free?

    "Deal with the rest however you see fit." Jiang Shuxuan nced at him, before turning over to Gu Xiqiao. "You finished your exams?"

    He was 190 centimeters tall, and Gu Xiqiao was only 162 centimeters tall, so the near thirty centimeters of difference in height made it so that Jiang Shuxuan would have to lower his head every time they talked.

    He looked at the terrorist, before sighing softly. "School let out early today, and there aren¡¯t any more holidays until after the national finals. You sure came here quickly."

    She raised her head slightly, her ck and white eyes like an ink painting that was painted meticulously with a calligraphy brush.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded and handed her his car keys. "The car is downstairs, wait for me alright?"

    Gu Xiqiao epted the keys and nodded, pulling Xiao Yun who was still stunned by what had happened away with her.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s expression had always been serious and aloof, her face expressionless most of the time like a cold empress, and she had never been the type of girl to gossip, but today, she nced at Gu Xiqiao repeatedly, as if she wanted to say something.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t ignore her anymore and looked at her in question. "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "It¡¯s nothing." Xiao Yun stuck her hands into her pockets, her brows slightly furrowed. "I have never talked with Yin Shaoyuan directly, but ording to my brother, that man is extremely fickle and a showoff, and he had gotten into many flings with actresses. The Yin family is....Complicated, too. Just be careful, okay?"

    She didn¡¯t bring up Jiang Shuxuan because she didn¡¯t know who he was, and the man looked more righteous and on the straight and narrowpared to Yin Shaoyuan.

    "I¡¯m not all that familiar with him either, but you can observe his ears when you have the chance. They¡¯re red and wide and are shaped like a deer¡¯s. This sort of person cares greatly about those he considers his friends and isn¡¯t the calcting type, so...You don¡¯t need to worry about him." Gu Xiqiao continued to reassure Xiao Yun as they walked.

    Xiao Yun looked at her without saying a word, before going back to the second floor and buying the floral skirt from earlier.

    When they exited the mall, Gu Xiqiao saw the Bugatti that was stopped across the road and nced at Xiao Yun, and thetter knew that it was time for them to part. "Alright, my chauffeur is here. I wanted to invite you to my ce for dinner, but it seems that now isn¡¯t the right time for it, is it?"

    "Next time, yeah?" Gu Xiqiao smiled at her.

    Xiao Yun nodded, before shoving the bag that held the white floral dress into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands before entering the white car that had stopped next to them.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down at the bag before looking up at the white car that had already sped away, not knowing how to react. So the dress was for her?

    She stood there and mused for a while, before entering Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car with his car keys. Guessing that he wouldn¡¯te out from the mall so quickly, she took out her phone and called up Mu Zong, and the call was epted after a few rings.

    Mu Zong was quite surprised when he got a call from Gu Xiqiao, and upon further conversation, he couldn¡¯t believe what he had heard. "Miss. Gu, I already went bankrupt a month ago, and I don¡¯t have enough liquidity to keep up apany. Tong Tong¡¯s sickness can¡¯t wait, so I was already preparing to pawn thepany off to the bank."

 Chapter 40 The Misunderstood Girl

    "All that¡¯s left of yourpany is an empty shell, and no one that has a brain would use their money to buy such an enterprise." Gu Xiqiao leaned on the car window, smiling softly as she spoke, confident with what she was saying.

    Mu Zong had been managing an intepany, and back when he was focused on his daughter Mu Jiatong¡¯s sickness, a spy that had been sent to hispany took the chance to stealpany secrets and a newly developed game from him, causing him to go bankrupt overnight. Added onto that was how hispetitors took the chance to rope in most of his developers and employees, and the higher-ups of thepany even took the funds with them, leaving thepany a metaphorical pile of rubbish.

    Pawn it off? Who would want it?

    As the strongest artificial intelligence in the world, the system had already collected all the information that Gu Xiqiao needed to know about Mu Zong, so she had the upper hand in the negotiation. "Hence, if you believe in me, you will be able to get back on your feet without any problems."

    The same way a drowning man would grab onto a piece of driftwood, Mu Zong finally chose to believe in this mysterious girl after seeing her supernatural feats that afternoon, and the two scheduled a date to meet up and discuss the future of hispany.

    Jiang Shuxuan that had stepped out of the entrance of the mall stood there at a distance and looked at Gu Xiqiao, only walking towards the car once she hung up.

    "Your friend gave that to you?" He revved up the engine and asked, spotting the bag that Gu Xiqiao was holding.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down at the bag, her tone bing lighter and brighter as she did. "My deskmate Xiao Yun did... She¡¯s the girl that I was with just now."

    Seeing her excited reaction to the gift, Jiang Shuxuan remembered how she reacted simrly back when he sent her the painting album. "You get really excited about gifts, don¡¯t you?"

    After he spoke, his motions paused for a moment as he thought about it thoroughly. The regr person would be happy with getting gifts, but wouldn¡¯t be as excited as she was about them, and once he thought about her background he finally understood why that was. She definitely had a difficult time back in the Gu family, hadn¡¯t she? No one cared about her enough to care about her general well-being, so gifts were definitely out of the question.

    So that was why she was so excited when she got presents...

    His niece would get so many gifts every year on her birthday that they could be stuffed into a warehouse, and she didn¡¯t even open some of the gifts most of the time. In contrast, what Gu Xiqiao had gone through was too much for someone of her age. Once Jiang Shuxuan thought of this, faint rage started building up in his eyes.

    Back at the mansion, Mrs. Zhang gave Gu Xiqiao another bowl of medicinal soup which thetter downed with a bitter expression. Upon seeing this, he couldn¡¯t help smiling, his sour mood lightening slightly.

    Mrs. Zhang epted the emptied bowl from Gu Xiqiao with a satisfied smile. "You have been bing healthiertely you¡¯re practically glowing! I told you this medicinal soup was going to help out, so you better drink it every day alright?"

    In fact, the main reason why she looked healthier was because she had a breakthrough in her ancient martial arts, but could she say so? Gu Xiqiao had always been a sucker for goodwill, so she could only drink the soup without being able to refuse. "Mrs. Zhang, you didn¡¯t change the medicine..."

    "No, I¡¯ve asked a doctor, and he told me that I can¡¯t skimp on the materials, or else the effects would bepromised." Mrs. Zhang replied with a serious expression.

    Gu Xiqiao: "..."

    Well, this could be considered a sweet burden in any case. She didn¡¯t have any chance to be cared for like this even if she wanted to be in the past, so she was quite content with her situation now.

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao went out for her morning exercise session before going to school. Jiang Shuxuan was the one that drove her to the school and had been doing so for the past few days.

    Gu Xiqiao alighted at the fork in the road near to First City High and only turned around to walk towards the school once she saw him off.

    Wu Hongwen that had arrived at about the same time saw her and jogged over to her to pat her shoulder.

    Gu Xiqiao had already known that it was Wu Hongwen. Had it been anyone else that did something like that, she would have flipped them over her shoulder and broken their arm.

    And so the duo walked towards the school gates together, and Wu Hongwen chattered on about the exams they had taken the few days prior as he drank a bottle of soy milk. Apparently, the results had alreadye out, and rumor said that all of the teachers were calcting the results and ranking the students the night earlier.

    Students in their final year all cared about their grades more than anything as it was integral to their future, and most of the other students that they passed by were talking about this topic too.

    "The robot is going to get the first ce again..." Wu Hongwen finished his soy milk and threw it towards the rubbish bin, and the bottle clinked against the edge of the rubbish bin before rolling across the ground.

    With a single nce from Gu Xiqiao, he sheepishly made his way over and picked up the bottle to throw it properly into the rubbish bin, before asking him in confusion. "Who¡¯s the robot?"

    Coming onto this topic, Wu Hongwen gritted his teeth slightly as he spoke. "I mean Luo Weng. We came up from the same middle school, and ever since our sophomore year, he has always been at the top of the rankings, with near-perfect marks across the board. That¡¯s why everyone calls him the exam robot!"

    This guy had outstanding grades, but he wasn¡¯t one to socialize and unt about his achievements, a true lone wolf that didn¡¯t talk much with any of his ssmates. ording to some rumors, he lived in the chaotic alleyways and had been seen getting into trouble with gangsters many a time, so many students avoided him of their own ord.

    Wu Hongwen had a grudge against this genius that could beat him in every subject, but of course, he didn¡¯t act on those grudges, just grumble about them endlessly.

    As the two talked, they came face to face with Zhong Yongsi at the stairs, thettering down the stairs with a drawing canvas in hand.

    The events of thest week were still fresh in their minds, and neither party was on good terms with each other. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was frosty as she waved at Wu Hongwen, before walking up the stairs without a word.

    She was wearing the dress that Xiao Yun had gifted her on that day, and the white floral dress furtherplimented her porcin skin, and her hair cascaded down the back of her head, and even though her head was lowered and her lips were pursed, she was still a sight to see.

    Zhong Yongsi stood there on the stairs in a short-sleeved t-shirt, feeling her hair brush past against his arm.

    The young man that had been talkative had be silent in the past few days. Like the vast majority of the ones that witnessed this incident, he didn¡¯t believe in the news that was reported on that day, and didn¡¯t believe that Gu Xijin was that sort of person!

    And so, he started to look for information on the inte and on social media, but what he found were many videos that showed him the side of Gu Xiqiao that he didn¡¯t even try to understand before.

    There were ones of her saving a young boy, of her feeding a stray dog, of her saving an old man, and of her concentrated with painting....These were all videos that were taken by passersby and were uploaded onto the inte.

    Theizens all praised her as a young girl that had great morals, and all took the side of this illegitimate daughter instead of Gu Xijin that had be morally twisted even with such a good upbringing, calling Gu Xiqiao a goddess. Because of this incident, manyizens dug up dirt and gossip on Gu Xijin and even posted videos on how Gu Xijin¡¯s clothes got torn a while ago.

    Zhong Yongsi didn¡¯t know how to react, but one thing he did know was that he had made a great mistake.

    Gu Xiqiao truly was talented in painting and wasn¡¯t the one that stole the painting, and even Gu Xijin¡¯s talent couldn¡¯t evene close to a tenth of hers. What made it even harder for him to ept the reality was the fact that Gu Xijin, such a gifted girl, would trick and direct everyone to believe that Gu Xiqiao was the one that had stolen her painting!

    He had been agonizing over this for the past week, and it even caused him to mess up on his mock exams so much that he was called for a conversation by his teachers. This was why he was going to paint in the first ce, but he didn¡¯t expect to meet the duo as he was walking downstairs.

    He had always hated those people that bullied others, but he was the one that led the other students in bullying Gu Xiqiao...How could he have done something like that?

 Chapter 41 Ranking

    After seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure disappear up the stairs, Wu Hongwen stopped smiling and raised an eyebrow at Zhong Yongsi. "What, do you wanna fight?"

    "No... Just tell her that I¡¯m sorry." Zhong Yongsi¡¯s gaze cast to the ground, his tone embarrassed.

    "Pfft..." Wu Hongwen swung his backpack onto his back and sneered at him. "Save it, she doesn¡¯t need it!!"

    He was initially angry at Zhong Yongsi, but he wasn¡¯t the type to stab people in the back nor to take revenge, so he started to look for another way to help Gu Xiqiao out through the mediater on. Before he could find a way to help, Gu Xiqiao herself seemed to have dealt with the problem, and if anything, the one in trouble now was Gu Xijin!

    He wasn¡¯t going to do anything more, but apologizing on Zhong Yongsi¡¯s behalf? Dream on!

    Seeing Wu Hongwen leave, Zhong Yongsi¡¯s grip on his canvas tightened, before he walked towards the school art studio.

    When Gu Xiqiao reached her ss, her ssmates were huddled at the podium. Every ss teacher had gotten the report cards for their sses that morning, and Old Ban put it on the podium for everyone to see. As the students of the Parallel ss looked at it, they all didn¡¯t know how to react.

    The student that had the first ce was naturally Gu Xiqiao, but her ranking in their grade was also the first ce...

    The first ce in the entire grade?

    In First City High, the Parallel ss had been historically the worst in terms of grades so they always got the least resources out of all the sses. The best teachers were sent to the other sses, and even their exam papers were slightly easier than average.

    Back when there was news that a transfer student that was rumored to have had terrible grades, none of the other sses wanted her, so Gu Xiqiao was sent to the Parallel ss.

    Now, this student got the best results in the school, even winning against the genius exam robot Luo Weng!

    All of a sudden, everyone¡¯s attention was gathered onto Gu Xiqiao.

    "You got the first ce in the entire school..." Xiao Yun was quite surprised too. Even though she knew that Gu Xiqiao was smart, she didn¡¯t know that she was so smart that she could obtain near-perfect scores across the board. "How did you do it?"

    Gu Xiqiao got to her seat and took out her books, flipping one open. "It¡¯s not that much of a big deal, no need for the fuss."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s English was so bad in her past life that she only got into B University because of her maths, but she had spent an entire lifetime studying, so it wasn¡¯t strange that she obtained such a result.

    "Gosh, are you being serious?" Xiao Yun looked at her own maths papers, before looking at the marks of the other ssmates. "You can get full marks on this insanely hard paper?"

    Xiao Yun had been proud of her maths in the past, but this pride of hers had been shattered as she started sitting next to Gu Xiqiao. She had already estimated that Gu Xiqiao would be able to get high marks, but she didn¡¯t expect her to get full marks!

    "Everyone improved this time around." Gu Xiqiao smiled at her ssmates that were crowding around her seat. "Our average maths grades are only second to the Rocket ss, so this is definitely a great improvement. Let¡¯s continue with the good work until the finalse around!"

    "You¡¯re so smart it¡¯s scary, Gu Xiqiao. Not only can you learn everything quickly, but you can also teach it better than most of our teachers too!" The ss monitor squeezed into the crowd. "Sometimes I don¡¯t even think you¡¯re a human when I see the way you solve questions, it¡¯s like you¡¯re a supeputer!"

    "Yes yes..." The girl that sat behind Gu Xiqiao nodded in agreement. "Whenever I ask her about physics questions, she would reply with a single nce and get it right! I couldn¡¯t even solve it in hours, do you know how much it shocked me?!"

    "Hey, are you bragging that you can ask her questions whenever you want? I even have to bribe the person that was going to ask her a question first before I could even ask her for help! Burn, you showoff!"

    "..." The ss monitor waved his hand in the air, seeing the conversation starting to get out of hand. "Cut it out, guys! I¡¯m going to treat everyone to skewers in celebration of our improvement, and of course to congratte our Beauty Gu for getting first ce!"

    The average marks of the Parallel ss had increased by a whopping thirty-five marks, and was such an extreme improvement that even Old Ban didn¡¯t believe it at first! Even though they were still weaker than the Rocket ss, but they could already bepared with the Experiment ss.

    Ever since the grades came out, the disciplinary had used the ss of cheating, and even the other students in First City high thought so too. The first ce in school was in their ss after all, so it was probably quite easy to cheat.

    The students of the Parallel ss didn¡¯t mind all that much because they could prove themselves on the actual national finals, no?

    They weren¡¯t all that confident in themselves, but they had a borderline religious belief in Gu Xiqiao.

    When lunch break came around, the Parallel ss had a barbecue party at a stall near the school, and Wu Hongwen shamelessly joined the party even though he wasn¡¯t in the same ss as them. "Hey, can anyone give me a grilled fish...Hey, Xiao Yun, can you...Fine, I¡¯ll have grilled veggies instead!"

    "You know." Gu Xiqiao nibbled on her food slowly. "You resemble a puppy without a muzzle."

    "..." Wu Hongwen squinted at this statement of hers before his expression turned into one of awe. "Enough about that, do you know how scary it is that you surpassed that Luo Weng? Let me tell you, a professional tested his IQ back when we were in middle school, and they said that it was 155, which was the highest that had ever appeared in Hua Xia! For some reason, no one ever sponsored him...But that¡¯s not the point, the point is that you surpassed his grades, which means that your IQ is definitely at least 155, and even higher!"

    "This doesn¡¯t have anything to do with IQ, it¡¯s mostly because you¡¯re dumb..." Gu Xiqiao nced at him before finishing her food and getting ready to leave. "I have something to attend to, so I¡¯ll be leaving first. Have fun, yeah?"

    She and Mu Zong had nned to meet that day, and as she thought of this she reached for her backpack that held the ns that she made for Mu Zong in the virtual space the day before.

    Gu Xiqiao was already gifted in finance, and she had a decade¡¯s worth of foresight, so if she were to get involved in the market... It would definitely be much more incredible than getting a measly first ce!

    The ce where they chose to meet was quite far away from the school, so Mu Zong had already been waiting for her when she arrived.

    "Where¡¯s Tong Tong?" Gu Xiqiao sat down across him.

    "Her immune system is too weak, so she¡¯s still in quarantine." Mu Zong was barely thirty years old himself and was at the age where he was supposed to show his skills, but he was unfortunately scammed of all his efforts over thest decade. His daughter suddenly became chronically sick, and his wife eloped with his money, and his employees left too, leaving him with nothing than his skills and an empty husk of apany.

    After experiencing so many life-changing events, he had already learned who to trust and who not to, and he was moved by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words from before. He was a smart man, and a meticulous organizer, and finally someone who knew how to take hold of any chances he was given.

    Somehow, he felt as if this young girl in front of him was the key to break this stalemate that he was stuck in.

 Chapter 42 After School Jog

    Mu Zong¡¯spany was initially focused on online games, but Gu Xiqiao knew that as technology progressed, the market would need much more than just purely online games. In her ns, she detailed several core services and ns for the future such as website creation, the development of the market in the future, emerce, and software development.

    Together with these were management strategies and sales ns, and even countermeasures for any future management risks.

    There weren¡¯t any loopholes or ws in her ns, and most of the ns that she detailed were daring and avant-garde, and it was at this moment that Mu Zong confirmed his hunch that this youngdy in front of him was the most gifted in finance among all of the people that he had ever met.

    He flipped the pages again and again, reading every word and sentence in detail as a new road to a bright future seemed to open up in front of him, clearing the haze that he was stuck in.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone to check on the stocks as well as the time, before speaking up, "Mr. Mu, you can bring this home, you know."

    Mu Zong came back to his senses, still bewildered that such an incredible n had been created by Gu Xiqiao, and sighed softly.

    Even though he was greatly motivated and wanted to prove himself, but he still returned the documents to Gu Xiqiao, smiling bitterly. "Ms. Gu, you canpletely create apany for yourself and get many sponsors and stockholders, so I can¡¯t take advantage of you. As you know, mypany is just an empty shell that won¡¯t even be able to get granted a loan from the bank, so..."

    He knew the situation that he was in, and he knew how precious the stack of papers in front of him was, so he was satisfied with only looking it over. If hispany was still at its peak, he might have chosen to risk it all, but as it was now, he would only cause trouble to Gu Xiqiao and waste this incredible n.

    Gu Xiqiao pushed the documents back to Mu Zong calmly. "Mr. Mu, I am not short of money."

    As if she wanted to prove her statement, Gu Xiqiao brought him to a nearby bank, and after the ountant checked the bnce of her bank card, they were immediately brought to the VIP reception room where the manager of the bank received them himself.

    Mu Zong was quite shocked by this, but he still followed behind Gu Xiqiao with a poker face.

    How much money would she have had to be able to get this to happen?

    Gu Xiqiao immediately transferred half of her money to him. "It¡¯s not a lot, but it should be enough for the time being."

    "Ms. Gu, don¡¯t you think that I would run away with this money?" Mu Zong was quite stunned at how straightforward Gu Xiqiao was.

    Was she brave, or did she have nothing to lose?

    Hearing this, Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow at him as she carried her backpack. "Money is just a number for me, and I believe in my intuition. Now if you excuse me, I have sses to attend to, my ss teacher is going to chew me out!"

    Even if he ran off with her money, he wouldn¡¯t be able to run out of the palm of her hand!

    "Don¡¯t wait for the bus, let me send you to school." Mu Zong only felt the weight of the trust on his shoulders, but he was quite moved by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s actions. "I¡¯m your subordinate from now on, Ms. Gu, so don¡¯t call me Mr. Mu anymore, call me Old Mu!"

    "I¡¯ll call you Uncle Mu, then." Gu Xiqiao chuckled softly.

    "Of course!" Mu Zong smiled as he looked at Gu Xiqiao, having almost forgotten that she was just a youngdy that hadn¡¯t even stepped into society yet. "It¡¯s a suitable way to call me for your age, anyway."

    After sending Gu Xiqiao to First City High and seeing her off, he looked down at the bank card in his hand, his eyes glinting with hope after such a long time, finally finding the silver lining in the darkness.

    He straightened his back, before calling a number on his phone and leaving.

    Back at school, the ss was already in session, and Old Ban nced at Gu Xiqiao that was waiting for permission to enter the ss with a hum. "Where did you go to?"

    Gu Xiqiao bowed in apology. "I¡¯m sorry, Teacher."

    Seeing this, Old Ban sighed softly and gestured for her toe in. "Come in. The national finals are right around the corner, so stop being so half-hearted!"

    The edge of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips twitched as she returned to her seat, not daring to sleep anymore and paying close attention to the remaining sses.

    Meanwhile, Xiao Yun felt great pressure from having such a smart deskmate. She had gotten 101[1] marks on her Chinese this time around, which was a great improvement from her sixty marks from before, and was a decent score even whenpared with the entire ss.

    Of course, that was on the condition that she wasn¡¯tparing with Gu Xiqiao.

    She took out Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Chinese papers, and the entire test paper was filled in neatly with beautiful handwriting that made the teacher hesitate to even deduct marks and only deducted a few on the essay section because no student in First City High had even gotten full marks.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone, before ncing at Xiao Yun and speaking, "Recite the A¡¯fang Court Prose for me."

    Xiao Yun only managed to recite a few sentences before she got stuck, flushing slightly as she looked at Gu Xiqiao sheepishly.

    "I¡¯m proud." Gu Xiqiao snatched her papers back from Xiao Yun, her clear eyes squinted slightly in disdain. "Your handwriting improved a lot, but you didn¡¯t even reach the average score of our ss. Go jog after school!"

    This was a new way that Gu Xiqiao thought oftely to get everyone to study, and even though Xiao Yun wanted to refuse, but all of their ssmates that idolized Gu Xiqiao followed all of her directions without any question.

    And so, there was a spectacle after school in First City High, where the school fields were taken over by a bunch of students jogging in circles, and judging from the numbers there was a sses¡¯ worth of students that were conversing as they jogged in an orderly fashion.

    Wu Hongwen who was ying basketball at a side threw the ball over to one of his teammates, before jogging over to Xiao Yun and maintaining the same pace as her. "What are you guys doing?"

    "Are you blind?" Xiao Yun nced at him and rolled her eyes, before speeding up. "Stop bothering me, I¡¯m memorizing!"

    Wu Hongwen was about to ask what was the point of jogging while memorizing, but his thoughts burst into a sudden rity, and his knowledge started to filter and make sense more and more in his head as he ran... After spacing out for a while, his eyes shed with interest as he continued to run with the other students.

    Then, he looked around at his surroundings, before all of his attention was snatched.

    The girl was sitting on the horizontal bar, one of her hands holding her bag while the other gripped onto the bar. Her delicate chin was raised slightly, and under the twilight, she seemed even more ethereal, like an immortal fairy that didn¡¯t belong to this world. Even though she was expressionless, once Wu Hongwen looked at her, he found that he wasn¡¯t able to look away.

    [1] the maximum score should be 150 in China

 Chapter 43 Old Friend

    The first person that Mu Zong thought of in rebuilding thepany was an old friend of his that was also the head engineer of hispany in the past.

    He was one of the few people that didn¡¯t run away with the secrets of thepany, instead lending him arge sum of money to help with Mu Jiatong¡¯s medical bills.

    At a barbecue stand at the side of the road, Mu Zong drank a can of beer before biting a skewer. "Wang, have you found a newpany to work for yet?"

    Wang Bo was a few years younger than Mu Zong and was a graduate of a renowned institution with great ability, and even if he didn¡¯t work for anypany, he would be able to earn more than enough for himself with a few frence jobs.

    Even though he was talented, he wasx and somewhatzy at heart so he didn¡¯t even apply for any jobs at anypany after he left Mu Zong¡¯spany.

    "Same old same old, I got paid for a frence job just yesterday, so I¡¯ll be able toze around for another half a month. What about you? If you don¡¯t have enough money, I have some to spare." Wang Bo suddenly remembered this matter and took out a bank card from his pocket, cing it on the table and pushing it over to Mu Zong. "I wanted to give this to you tomorrow when I would go to see Tong Tong, but here you are. The password is six ¡¯8¡¯s as always."

    Mu Zong stared at the bank card dumbly for a moment, before smiling and pushing it back to Wang Bo. "Bro, let me show you something."

    After he said so, he put down his skewers and took out some documents from his leather briefcase.

    Wang Bo took over the documents halfheartedly and flipped them open, squinting to read the words under the dim lighting. As he read the documents, the nonchnce on his face disappearedpletely and was reced with shock. "Where did you get this from?"

    He looked at Mu Zong with a fervent gaze, and even his fingers were trembling slightly in excitement.

    The contents of this document would be enough to change the world!

    "My new boss gave this to me!" Mu Zong smiled brightly, evidently very pleased as he stretched out eight fingers towards Wang Bo. "She even gave me an eight-digit fund!"

    Even back when theirpany was at its peak, their liquidated funds were only eight digits.

    "Hey hey hey, stop eating and show me the software mentioned in here!" Wang Bo immediately stood up and went over to tug at Mu Zong, wanting to leave and see the research oues immediately. The software that was described to be able to help with management and even analyze future risks, in particr, intrigued him greatly.

    Mu Zong waved at him calmly. "No rush, we have to get the newpany registered first and get all the proper procedures done. Even though we¡¯re using our original building, it¡¯s a whole newpany after all."

    Wang Bo nodded thoughtfully and sat back down, reaching for a bottle of beer as he tried to calm himself down. "How much confidence do you have of beating that nemesis of yours?"

    "Him?" Mu Zong scoffed. ¡¯If I can¡¯t even beat him with such great resources, then I might as well have lived in vain!"

    "Those people that betrayed you are probably rolling in regret right now." Wang Bo smiled lightheartedly. "Those people are still trying to recruit me into their ranks without giving up, but I¡¯ve refused them all."

    "Thank you!" Mu Zong raised his cup towards Wang Bo.

    In the next few days, Wang Bo and Mu Zong were busy with the procedures of creating a newpany, as well as recruiting talented individuals to join them, and Mu Zong was so busy that he only had the chance to visit his daughter at night. Ever since Gu Xiqiao visited Mu Jiatong at the hospital within these few days, the child had be healthier, and this motivated Mu Zong to work even harder for a better future.

    As the national finals came closer and closer, the third-year students collectively entered a period of tension, while Gu Xiqiao was as rxed as always, and continued to practice calligraphy and ancient martial arts daily. Recently, she had improved some more in her ancient martial arts, and it seemed to have made her body lighter as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

    After Gu Xiqiao finished her morning exercise routine, Mrs. Zhang gave her a bowl of medicinal soup as always, and at this point, she had already gotten used to the taste of the strange soup.

    Jiang Shuxuan waited for her to join him at the table before he started eating, and in the middle of their meal, Yin Shaoyuan came in through the front door, whining as he did, "Mrs. Zhang, give me a bowl too, I¡¯m hungry!"

    Mrs. Zhang looked out from the kitchen and nodded. "Alright!"

    Yin Shaoyuan walked to the tablezily and raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw Gu Xiqiao, pointing at her as If he couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. "F*ck, why is she here?!"

    Gu Xiqiao ignored himpletely and finished her bowl of porridge quickly before getting up from her seat.

    Seeing that she was done with her breakfast, Jiang Shuxuan stood up too. "Go take your bag, I¡¯ll be waiting for you outside."

    Yin Shaoyuan was left at the table with a bewildered expression as Mrs. Zhang walked out with a set of tableware. "Bro Jiang is going to send her to school?"

    "Yes, yes." Mrs. Zhang replied, before taking a bottle of milk and running out the door. "Qiao Qiao, you haven¡¯t had your milk yet!"

    Yin Shaoyuan that hadpletely been ignored sat there in a daze, not sure what had happened. The high and mighty young master Jiang was ying chauffeur for this girl... And did she just ignore himpletely? What was happening?

    Yin Shaoyuan rubbed his face before starting to eat out of the bowl slowly. If he told that to any of the people from Jing Capital, eight out of ten wouldn¡¯t believe him, while the remaining two would p him in the face.

    Gu Xiqiao was conversing with Jiang Shuxuan in the car, mostly with her talking one one-sidedly to him as he listened on. Suddenly, her mobile phone rang, and after ncing at it she declined the call immediately. A few secondster, the phone rang again, and Gu Xiqiao declined it again patiently.

    The traffic light turned red, and Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car. "Phone."

    Gu Xiqiao handed it to him, and he quickly cklisted the number with a few taps before handing it back to her.

    "..." This number was the Gu family¡¯s phone number, and she had no idea how they found this number of hers. The matter of Gu Xijin had been a few days ago, but the Gu family hadn¡¯t done anything yet while Gu Xijin hadn¡¯t gone to school.

    Gu Xiqiao was quite confused at how they only decided to look for her all of a sudden.

    "Brother Jiang, I¡¯ll be with my ssmates tonight, so you don¡¯t need toe to fetch me." She got down at the crossroads, then waved at Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s pitch ck orbs looked out the window, his gaze resting on Xiao Yun who was standing at the school gates before he nodded slightly, reminding her to stay safe before he drove away.

    The Gu family didn¡¯t give up even though they were cklisted by Gu Xiqiao. After school let out that evening, Gu Xiqiao walked out the school gates together with Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen after she led their ssmates to runps, the trio attracting the gazes of everyone as they walked.

    Outside the gates, Gu Xiqiao sighed softly as she saw the ck car that was parked close by. They hade here in the end, huh...

    Bidding farewell to her friends, she walked over slowly to the ck car.

 Chapter 44 Back to Gu Manor

    The back window of the car rolled down slowly, revealing an old but dignified face that made Gu Xiqiao pause in her steps.

    This was the current head of the family, Master Gu, and also the one that brought Gu Xiqiao to the city from the countryside.

    What sort of person was Master Gu?

    He was the man that had developed the Gu family from a nameless family to one that was respected and considered as sessful in N City, so he naturally had the talent and skill to go along with these feats. Even though Gu Zuhui was in charge of the family for now, but he was still referred to when anything big happened.

    Gu Xiqiao gripped tightly on the bag in her hand as she looked at the figure of the old man walk slowly into the Gu family in front of her.

    Gu Zuhui and Su Wan¡¯er were sitting on the sofas in the living room, and once Master Gu came in, Su Wan¡¯er that had be thin and frail in just a few days stood up and bowed at him. Once she saw Gu Xiqiao, however, her gaze became poisonous and cold, and if looks could kill, Gu Xiqiao would be dead by now.

    Master Gu didn¡¯t speak as he made his way to the main seat, while Su Wan¡¯er and Gu Zuhui went over to stand next to him.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down at the floor with her lips slightly pursed, feeling their piercing gazes on her.

    "Have you been staying over with your ssmatetely?" Master Gu epted a cup of tea from the butler and sipped it slowly before looking up at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes sunken but still bright and piercing.

    Gu Xiqiao only replied with silence, as if it were a silent confirmation.

    Master Gu evidently wasn¡¯t waiting around for a reply, so he continued, "You¡¯re still young, so you don¡¯t know all of this, but this matter impacted Jin greatly. Stay in the manor for the next few days without stepping out and reflect."

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head suddenly. "I¡¯m about to have my national finals!"

    "Finals? This sort of thing happened to your sister, and you¡¯re still thinking of that?" Master Gu¡¯s words were spoken slowly but brought with it an oppressive air. "If you like studying so much, then I¡¯ll have you go abroad to study with Jin after everything blows over."

    "Butler, take her to her room," Master Gumanded.

    So he was about to put her on house arrest, huh...

    Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes, many thoughts running through her head as she processed the information. She had always thought that Master Gu was a fair and just person, but she now realized that she was wrong.

    In the eyes of the Gu family, Gu Xiqiao was just a country bumpkin that Master Gu had saved from the backwater countryside and gave her a good life, and what did she do? To them, she was the root of all their problems, and even caused the heiress of the Gu family to be ruined overnight! To them, she was a leech that bit the hand that fed her.

    In her past life, she had helped the Gu family more than enough, but she was treated like a pawn and burned to death!

    Master Gu brought her here, to which she was grateful for and gave Gu Xijin chance after chance. If she wanted to take revenge, would the Gu family be able to be so peaceful?

    Gu Xijin had so many chances, but she still cause all of this to happen, and who could she me? Did Master Gu bring her back to the Gu family with such pure motives? He just wanted to use her as a stepping stone for Gu Xijin!

    The current generation of the Gu family was quite unreliable, with Gu Zuhui not having the guts and foresight while Gu Xijin was just mediocre, so Master Gu had to get all the connections he could.

    Gu Xiqiao knew this from the first day he had brought her to the Gu family, and this was also the reason why Su Wan¡¯er didn¡¯t do anything too excessive to her. Gu Xiqiao had even tried to hide all of her talent and skill to not cause any trouble, but even then, Gu Xiqiao still refused to let her go!

    Gu Xiqiao walked step by step up the stairs behind the butler with her head held low, her ck hair hiding the disdain in her expression.

    The butler nced at her as if he were looking at a dead person, and closed the door after Gu Xiqiao entered, locking it with a key as he did.

    "Three, Four, keep an eye on her!" The butler ordered two servants that were close by, before turning towards another servant. "Our Miss hasn¡¯t eaten yet, so go and tell the kitchen to make some Furong Chicken for her so that Lady Su can bring it up for her."

    The servant in question nodded respectfully and left.

    Of course, the ¡¯Miss¡¯ in question was Gu Xijin. In the Gu family, Gu Xiqiao had never been truly recognized by the members of the staff that served them.

    Downstairs, Master Gu¡¯s expression immediately darkened after Gu Xiqiao left, smashing his porcin cup on the floor, making Su Wan¡¯er and Gu Zuhui¡¯s shoulders jump in fright as they broke out in a cold sweat.

    "If things didn¡¯t be as bad as they did, were you two nning on hiding this from me forever? In a mere five days, the Gu family¡¯s stocks already hit a trading halt, and those investors all retracted their investments! Aren¡¯t you talented and skilled? Didn¡¯t you want to bid for the National Base? Gu Zuhui, do you only know how toe running to me when you get into trouble, hm?" Master Gu gripped one arm of the sofa as he spoke, breathing deeply as his face became flushed in anger.

    It was rare for him to get so angry, so Su Wan¡¯er and Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t know how to react.

    After a long while of Master Gu not speaking, Gu Zuhui finally mustered up the courage to speak, "I¡¯ve been trying to investigate on the mastermind behind all of this, and I found that the man from the press conference belonged to a side branch of the Yin family, and had helped them bid for the National Base."

    "So you think that this is all nned by the Yin family?" Master Gu looked up at Gu Zuhui, before lowering his head in thought.

    Then, he sighed softly and shook his head in disappointment. "Zuhui, I won¡¯t be able to live for much longer. If you can¡¯t even deal with something like this, how can I hand the Gu family to you? You were in the wrong from the beginning, Ah Jin is your daughter, but isn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao your daughter too? For you to force her to apologize to Ah Jin in front of all of those people would ultimately bring shame onto the Gu family all the same, and even give a chance for others to meddle!"

    "I¡¯ll deal with this by myself, so all you have to do is keep an eye on Gu Xiqiao and not let her appear in the eyes of the public for the time being." Master Gu nced at Gu Zuhui again in disappointment.

    A coward without an opinion and any will or ns... And Ah Jin didn¡¯t seem as if she had any talent either... As for Gu Xiqiao that only knew how to cause trouble...

    He regretted bringing her back to the family!

 Chapter 45 Late Night Stroll

    In the living room, only Gu Zuhui and Su Wan¡¯er were left there, pale from being berated by Master Gu.

    "I told you that you should have asked and referred to my brother, now you¡¯ve done it! Father ispletely disappointed in you, do you want him to give the Gu family to someone else?" After a while, Su Wan¡¯er spoke.

    Gu Zuhui sat down on the sofa and looked at her with a gaze that held a thinly veiled disdain at her words, but his tone was calm. "In any case, Father is back now. He¡¯ll find a way to deal with this."

    Ask those ravenous dogs from the Su family? Did they think that he was a fool that didn¡¯t know their schemes?

    Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao took out her papers as always, and as she was in the middle of finishing it, she realized that something was tugging at his pants. She lowered her head slightly, and her gaze locked with a pair of bright and beady eyes.

    The fluffy ball of fur realized that Gu Xiqiao had finally noticed it, and so it rolled around and whimpered softly, turning its head over to one side and ying dead.

    The weak whines of the dog made Gu Xiqiao feel pity even though she knew very well that it was just acting, so she carried it up and looked at its somewhat weak expression. Its white furcked a sheen to it as if it hadn¡¯t been taken care of properlytely, and Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but pat its head gently. "Look at you, how many days have they not fed you?"

    As if it sensed the caring tone in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice, the puppy¡¯s cries became even more tragic.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped teasing it and dug around her bag for a while before taking out a piece of bacon and a box of milk.

    The puppy finished the food she offered quickly before looking up at her again, evidently hadn¡¯t had its fill yet.

    Even though this was a stray that Gu Xijin took back home, but she didn¡¯t care about it at all. The servants didn¡¯t exactly like it either because it was just a regr white dog without a pedigree, and they would only feed it leftovers whenever they felt like doing so. Meanwhile, all of the high-grade dog food was fed to Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s Lowchen dog.

    "You¡¯re Gu Xijin¡¯s dog, so I don¡¯t like you at all!" Gu Xiqiao carried it up by the scruff of its neck and threatened emotionlessly.

    The dog¡¯s paws froze in ce for a moment, before it tried even harder to act cute.

    Gu Xiqiao put it down again, herself not having eaten anything either and starving, so she chose to just enter the virtual space, quickly calming down and finishing her daily missions and practising ancient martial arts.

    "The spirit protects the Kun Pce, and the chi shall flow freely."

    Chi Induction was the second level of ancient martial arts, and the Kun Pce referred to a spot in the body where chi was produced.

    In the virtual space that didn¡¯t have a concept of time, Gu Xiqiao used roughly two months yet she felt as if she were perpetually one step away from the next level. She didn¡¯t know what shecked, but she felt as if there weren¡¯t much use to stay in there any further, so she could only leave the space first.

    Seeing that the dog hadid down by her bed, she held her palm to her forehead and chuckled softly. "Hey, I¡¯m going to leave this ce now, are you willing toe with me? Bark once for yes."

    "Woof~"

    As soon as she finished her sentence, it barked at her once while wagging its tail.

    This dog had always been smart, or else it wouldn¡¯t have attracted the attention of Gu Xiqiao. "Saying this beforehand, but you better behave once we get out of here. Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t know that you peed on the bed and made it seem like the Lowchen did it!"

    The beady eyes of the puppy looked at her for another moment, before barking once in reply.

    Gu Xiqiao carried it up and put it into her bag. "Don¡¯t make a sound."

    [Beauty Qiao, do you want to buy an Invisibility Talisman with ten points?]

    "Sure."

    [Ding! Invisibility Talisman bought sessfully, effects active for half an hour.]

    At the moment that the system spirit spoke, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body rippled like water, before disappearing in thin air. The Invisibility Talisman sounded like a big deal, but it was just a low-grade talisman that changed the light rays so that they would distort around her.

    Gu Xiqiao pushed open her window and jumped out from the second floor, and with her current mastery of ancient martial arts, it was a piece of cake tond safely.

    It was almost ten o¡¯clock at night, and the servants were still doing chores around the house, but none of them could see her. She wanted to leave the manor immediately, but some urge possessed her to make her way to Gu Xijin¡¯s balcony, peering in through the ss windows.

    Gu Xijin was even more pale and frail than Su Wan¡¯er, and she was currently sitting on the bed while Su Wan¡¯er was trying to convince her to eat.

    "Mom..." Gu Xijin didn¡¯t eat at all and only cried as she looked at Su Wan¡¯er.

    Su Wan¡¯er was on the verge of tears upon seeing Gu Xijin in this state and immediately hugged her tight with her teeth grit. "Ah Jin, I know things have been hard for you, but don¡¯t worry! In a few days, your grandfather is going to send you two to America, and by then I¡¯ll have someone ept you over there. It¡¯s quite chaotic over there, so I¡¯ll find a way to help you get revenge!"

    It was way too easy to make someone disappear in those foreignnds, and judging from Master Gu¡¯s reaction, he wouldn¡¯t mind even if Gu Xiqiao disappeared, and even if she died, who would care?

    Gu Xijin kept on crying, while Su Wan¡¯er continued tofort her, cursing Gu Xiqiao and swearing that she would make her pay the price as she did.

    After a few minutes, Gu Xiqiao got sick of looking at the disgusting scene and scoffed, before jumping down from the balcony and leaving Gu Manor without any regrets.

    Even if Gu Xijin was clearly in the wrong, but Su Wan¡¯er still believed in her unconditionally.

    Taking out the puppy from her bag, she held it to eye level and tilted her head. "What¡¯s your name? Can¡¯t tell me? Then I¡¯ll make one up for you... Hm, I¡¯ll call you Haha then."

    As she talked, she rubbed and squished it as if Haha were a stuffed toy. "Since no one wants you and no one wants me, let¡¯s have each others¡¯ backs hm?"

    If she were to get into a fight with Gu Xijin, thetter would have Su Wan¡¯er to protect her, and now she would at least have a puppy that would stand on her side. Would it bite Gu Xijin even though it was picked back by her?

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she looked at Haha.

    The evening wind was quite cool, and even though she wore the dress that Xiao Yun bought for her, it only looked pretty but didn¡¯t do much in terms of keeping her warm. Gu Xiqiao could only grumble about how useless the dress was as she rubbed her arms to warm herself up.

    The road she picked didn¡¯t have any streetlights, but she wasn¡¯t scared in the least.

    A light shone from behind her, and she nimbly dodged to one side as the screeching noise of a car braking was heard. The ck car drifted and stopped in front of Gu Xiqiao before the window rolled down slowly, revealing a handsome face.

    Yin Shaoyuan switched on his phone and looked up at Gu Xiqiao, before showing her the screen. "Look at the time, it¡¯s one o¡¯clock in the early morning. What are you doing, second daughter of the Gu family?"

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him with a clear and calm gaze, smiling softly. "Just having a little stroll."

    After half an hour, the car stopped in front of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mansion. The lights were switched on and the door was open because Yin Shaoyuan had given Jiang Shuxuan notice beforehand.

    Inside the mansion, Jiang Shuxuan was sitting on the couch and reading a book, his lips pressed into a thin line. He was wearing casual clothes, and it made him seem a little less imposing and gaze him azy and rxed air.

 Chapter 46 Betrayal

    "Go take a shower ande down to eat." Seeing the duoe in, he put down his book.

    His expression was as calm as always, and he didn¡¯t even ask any questions as if things were perfectly normal. Gu Xiqiao nced over to the kitchen and realized that the lights were still on, and a sense of guilt and warmth flowed through her body, warming her body up from the cold.

    "Put down the dog." Jiang Shuxuan nced at the dog, and Gu Xiqiao put down Haha as instructed.

    The puppy wanted to waddle behind her with its short stubby legs, but sat down in ce after being red at by Jiang Shuxuan, not daring to move as it looked around.

    Yin Shaoyuan was quite amused by Haha so he carried it up and rubbed it as he talked with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Haha was quite smart so it didn¡¯t struggle at all, and only let the man do as he pleased.

    Mrs. Zhang had already finished preparing food for her when Gu Xiqiao finished showering, and Yin Shaoyuan had already made himself at home, sitting down by the table with Haha and waiting for the meal to be served. As Gu Xiqiao came downstairs, he nced over before his hands that were petting Haha stopped.

    The girl was wearing a white hoodie with its sleeves rolled up to her elbows, while her half wet hair was pushed to the back of her head, revealing her clean forehead. Because she had just had a shower, her cheeks were slightly flushed.

    Yin Shaoyuan rubbed his cheeks thoughtfully before he stopped his thoughts from going astray by repeating the words ¡¯Bro Jiang is going to kill me¡¯ in his head multiple times.

    Speaking of which, how could he endure himself when he was faced with such a beauty?

    "Qiao Qiao, this dog of yours is quite obedient. What¡¯s its name?" Mrs. Zhang wiped her hands after cing a bowl of soup in front of Gu Xiqiao, before taking the dog from Yin Shaoyuan.

    Gu Xiqiao finished the strange-tasting medicinal soup before replying calmly, "Haha."

    "Haha... You didn¡¯t give a lot of thought to its name, did you?" Yin Shaoyuanmented, beforeughing. "Won¡¯t people think that you¡¯re calling a demon?"

    "Are you picking a fight with me?" Gu Xiqiao put down her bowl and raised her chin at him provocatively, tauntingly raising her eyebrows.

    Yin Shaoyuan took the bait and immediately red at her. "I can beat you with a hand behind my back!"

    "You, go wash the dishes." Jiang Shuxuan put down the book in his hands, his lithe fingers brushing the yellowed pages. "You, go to sleep."

    The subject of the first order was Yin Shaoyuan, while the subject of the second was Gu Xiqiao.

    After Gu Xiqiao went upstairs, Yin Shaoyuan whined andined, "Why didn¡¯t you let me fight her, you¡¯re too biased!"

    "Fighting with a kid?" Jiang Shuxuan nced at him coldly. "If you two were to fight, ten of you wouldn¡¯t even be enough to beat her."

    Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t lying¡ªGu Xiqiao always had a mysterious quality to her that even he couldn¡¯t see through, and even though she was only in the lowest level of ancient martial arts, she would even be able to stand her ground against him if she let out all of her tremendous mental power at once.

    "Huh, is she that strong?" Yin Shaoyuan was stunned by this statement of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s, and even though he had always believed in Jiang Shuxuan, but Gu Xiqiao was just a regr girl. Other than looking pretty, how was she strong?

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t pay him any mind anymore, turning around and walking up the stairs. "Remember to close the door after you when you go."

    Even though she sleptte, Gu Xiqiao still woke up early in the morning and practised the Five Animal y, quickly waking herself up from her groggy state and feeling instantly refreshed as she walked back to the mansion.

    Seeing this state of hers, Jiang Shuxuan nodded slightly in satisfaction before driving her to school as always after they had breakfast.

    On the way to First City High, his expression was as calm as always. "Why didn¡¯t you call mest night?"

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t tell what the man was thinking judging from his expression and rubbed her nose sheepishly. "It was already ten o¡¯clock when I came out, so I took a little stroll because I wasn¡¯t feeling so good..."

    "How did you get out of there?" Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips.

    ording to Yin Shaoyuan, he had found her at one o¡¯clock, meaning that she had been walking around aimlessly for more than three hours by then.

    "I pried open the locks on their gate." Gu Xiqiao could have jumped out of the gates directly, but she felt vindictive enough to destroy the locks on the gate for no reason. "They probably never thought of sending me any food, so they probably don¡¯t even know I¡¯m gone."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t speak anymore, his expression stern as he listened to her speak, making her feel exceptionally pressured.

    Fortunately, the school was right around the corner, and she got down the car and waved at him before leaving for the school gates where Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen were waiting for her while chatting.

    As she walked towards them, she started thinking of whether she should get the Gu family into a little bit of trouble.

    The Gu family wasrge in N City, and there weren¡¯t many people that could get them into trouble, but she had too much dirt on them, so it was extremely easy to do so.

    The reason why she didn¡¯t do so back then was because of her grandfather that she felt indebted to and also because of her position, but now that even he had no intention of letting her go, wasn¡¯t it justmon courtesy to give them a gift?

    It was about time to contact Mu Zong.

    When Gu Xiqiao called Mu Zong, he was in a hotel.

    He had been busy with Wang Bo in creating apany, and even though it went smoothly at first, they got into some trouble near the end.

    Mu Zong had a nemesis called Liu Weiqing who was his partner in building up hispany in the past, but when Mu Zong needed him the most, Liu Weiqing had brought all of their research and joined the ranks of their rivalpany¡ªDacheng Communications.

    This was the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, dealing the final blow that had caused thepany to go bankrupt overnight. Liu Weiqing was capable, and his objectives were clearly to crawl higher on the socialdder and use their formerpany as a stepping stone to get into Dacheng Communications.

    ording to some rumors, the daughter of the boss of Dacheng Communications was a second-rate star that got onto the good graces of a well known rich boy in N City, and apparently, his background was so great that the stocks of thepany had shot up when the investors caught wind that he was involved!

    In conclusion, Liu Weiqing had betrayed Mu Zong and joined Dacheng Communications because he was convinced that Mu Zong¡¯spany had no future with Dacheng blocking his way.

 Chapter 47 True Love

    Dacheng Communications was in its prime because of the boss¡¯ daughter, and even the director of the Industry and Commerce Bureau wanted to get on his good side. As the trusted subordinate of Dacheng Communications¡¯ boss, nobody wanted to displease Liu Weiqing, so with a single sentence, Mu Zong¡¯spany registration was stopped by the director.

    Hearing the exnation of the man in front of him, Mu Zong¡¯s eyebrows were knit together tightly.

    "We¡¯re old ssmates so I won¡¯t beat around the bush Old Mu, but I can¡¯t help you with this. Liu Weiqing doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s going to let you go anytime soon, so the only thing you can do now is to get help from that rich kid." The man was one of the higher-ups in the Industry and Commerce Bureau, so he knew what was going on behind the scenes. "But that wouldn¡¯t be easy to do either, judging from all those bodyguards that are around him all the time. At this point, you can only hope for him to break up with that star, or else you might have to go to another city..."

    "Why don¡¯t we try looking for that rich boy?" Wang Bo suggested.

    Mu Zong nced at him and sighed. "Do you think that sort of person would bat an eysh at this sort of thing? We¡¯d have a better chance of convincing Liu Weiqing."

    Wang Bo slumped back on his chair and shrugged. "Then I¡¯ve got nothing."

    For a moment, none of them spoke.

    Seeing their dilemma, the man smiled and tried tofort them. "That rich kid is here at this hotel today, and you guys should try talking with him when hees out. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the type of person to be unreasonable."

    Hearing this, Wang Bo smiled too. "Sounds doable!"

    Mu Zong was more of a worrywart so he wasn¡¯t quite sure about the idea when they knew nothing about the rich kid in question.

    Seeing his caution, the man gave him a stack of documents. "Here, I checked up some data on him that I think you might be interested in."

    The document was quite detailed, and ording to it, the rich kid was a down to earth and kind person, and probably wouldn¡¯t get angry at them even if they failed to convince him.

    Mu Zong looked at the document carefully, notpletely believing in the words of the man in front of him even if they were old ssmates. The person in question wasn¡¯t just your average Joe after all, so would it be that easy to get such detailed information?

    Wang Bo was more hot-headed, so he immediately grabbed Mu Zong¡¯s arm and ran down to block the rich boy as he came out of the hotel. Mu Zong thought about it for a bit and decided that he would deal with things as they came as it was the first mission that Gu Xiqiao entrusted him after all.

    But just to be safe, he still called up Gu Xiqiao, thinking that her background might not just be a regr high school student, judging from how she took out eight digits for him without batting an eyelid.

    Seeing the duo leave, the man took out his phone and dialed a number before putting on a sycophantic smile. "Manager Liu, I already did what you told me to do!"

    Across the city, Liu Weiqing hung up the call and lit up a cigar, smiling mockingly as he leaned back, closing his eyes and enjoying himself.

    Mu Zong? Who was he to oppose him, did he really think he was capable? Wang Bo? Just a clown with no brains just like Mu Zong!

    Mu Zong¡¯s expression was guilty as he hung up the call with Gu Xiqiao. He knew that the only reason why the registration of thepany was intercepted was because of him, while the procedure would have been able to have been done in less than two days otherwise. He had all the documents and data at the ready, and it would have just been a matter of going through the motions at the Industry and Commerce Bureau had it not been for Liu Weiqing.

    "Was that person our boss?" Wang Bo asked curiously.

    Mu Zong nodded halfheartedly, not having the presence of mind to entertain him.

    "But I heard a female voice!" Wang Bo was shocked at the revtion, practically jumping in surprise.

    This reaction of his made Mu Zong squint at him. "What, are you looking down on women? Go get an eight-digit fund for me then!"

    "That¡¯s not what I... Anyway! Is sheing too?"

    "Yes, she¡¯s already on the way here actually so I want to get things dealt with before she arrives." Mu Zong was a little worried about not being able to deal with this problem and causing Gu Xiqiao trouble.

    Soon after, a bunch of people walked out of the hotel, centered around a young man in a white shirt who stood out from the ck-suit d bodyguards. He had a high nose bridge and deep-set eyes, and his hands were stuck in his pocketsfortably with a smile on his face, while a beautiful woman was clinging onto his arm with an arrogant expression.

    Mu Zong immediately knew that this was the person that he was looking for, but he didn¡¯t step forward just yet.

    "This guy doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s easy to talk to..." Wang Bo muttered to himself.

    Not only were there bodyguards surrounding him, but some infamous rich kids were also walking with him. These people that were high and mighty usually became as tame as pet kittens as they walked together with the young man in the middle.

    Such a person was down to earth and gentle? Mu Zong finally knew that his old ssmate had given them the wrong information on purpose!

    If that was the case, there must have been an ulterior motive of getting them toe here!

    Out of the corner of her eye, the woman noticed the duo and stopped walking, before talking in a sickeningly-sweet tone. "Young Master Yin, this is the perverted fan that¡¯s stalking me! I never thought he would have the gall to appear in front of you, so you have to teach him a lesson!"

    Mu Zong waspletely taken off guard by her usations. He didn¡¯t even know what the name of this woman was, let alone be a perverted fan of hers?!

    That being said, he reacted quickly and signaled for Wang Bo to back away and not get involved, and thetter nodded and backed away into the crowd of onlookers before taking out his phone.

    Yin Shaoyuan nced at Mu Zong before smilingzily. "Alright, you can do whatever you want with him!"

    "Thank you, Young Master Yin!"

    Seeing this, the assistant next to them shook his head subtly as he looked at the woman. Yin Shaoyuan was always like this, indulging in the wishes of whoever had his fancy at the moment and giving them the impression that he was truly in love with them before heartlessly throwing them away like an old shoe once he got sick of them.

    As Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s car was driven over by the doorman, Mu Zong¡¯s brain was working in overdrive to think of a way to get out of trouble. If he were brought away like this, could hee out alive?

    At the same time, a taxi stopped in front of the hotel, and a young girl alighted from it.

    Suddenly, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯szy gaze paused for a moment and he stopped walking, letting out a smirk in amusement as he saw Gu Xiqiao make her way in the direction of the hotel and crossing his arms around his chest.

    "Young Master Yin, what is it?" The woman looked warily at the youngdy that was making her way in their direction.

    Upon closer inspection, she realized that she had porcin pale skin and delicate features, and was the pure type that waspletely different to Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s preferred type, so she let out a breath of relief.

    Everyone that knew Yin Shaoyuan knew that he liked the busty and voluptuous, seductive type of woman, and this youngdy didn¡¯t even do her research beforeing to seduce him!

    Many women wanted to act as if they met Yin Shaoyuan on ident every day, but none of them caught his eye to the point where many people had suspected that Yin Shaoyuan finally settled on that female star.

    The arrogant and prideful rich kids that turned their noses up at her in the past all became akin to herckeys as a result, and her fellow celebrities were all jealous of her. As a result, she developed a strange sense of unfounded pride.

    Her gaze turned from wary to prideful and disdainful in a moment, and at this moment she still thought that she was Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s one and only.

 Chapter 48 Acquisition

    Gu Xiqiao sauntered over slowly, ncing at Mu Zong that had been grabbed by the bodyguards. "Let him go."

    Her tone wasn¡¯t respectful in the least, and Yin Shaoyuan hadn¡¯t even had the chance to talk before another voice spoke up.

    "Are you blind or are you dumb? Don¡¯t you know there are some things that you can¡¯t stick your nose into?" A young man with closely cropped hair shouted as he stared Gu Xiqiao down with a sneer. He was quite taken by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s beauty at first too, but there seemed to be something wrong with her...

    Gu Xiqiao nced over at him disinterestedly before her rosy lips curled. "Is this your house? I don¡¯t need your permission to stand here, so buzz off!"

    The female star had been clinging onto Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s arm, but thetter had shaken her arm off the moment Gu Xiqiao came onto the scene, causing warning bells to go off in her mind. "Zhou Hui, what are you waiting for? Take away this crazy woman too!"

    No one dared to defy Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s new favored pet, and Zhou Hui nodded and waved the bodyguards over. "Sorry about this, but you can only me your bad luck!"

    Yin Shaoyuan wanted to stop them, but he suddenly remembered Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s statement that ten of him couldn¡¯t beat her...

    He wanted to see how true that statement was!

    That being said, he still prepared himself to help out Gu Xiqiao if she couldn¡¯t deal with the bodyguards. These were all professionals after all, and even as he made the choice to have them test her out, he was still a little unsure about it...

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brows furrowed slightly before she threw her phone into the air, her hands forming a seal before she moved through the bodyguards, tapping at their shoulders as she did and causing them to drop unconscious to the ground.

    Before the battle started, it had already ended!

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that this scene unfolded in front of them, none of the onlookers would have believed that this sort of thing would happen in real life!

    Gu Xiqiao returned to her original position, before catching the phone that dropped down into her hand. "Having fun?"

    "What?" Yin Shaoyuan replied subconsciously, still shell-shocked from the scene that unfolded in front of him.

    Different from the regr person, he could feel the energy pulsing off of her endlessly, making chills run up his spine from the sheer degree of power emanating from her.

    "I asked if you were having fun. Should I make you some popcorn?" Gu Xiqiao asked, her gaze gleaming threateningly. "Or do you want to get some first-hand experience?"

    "No no, I wouldn¡¯t dare..." Yin Shaoyuan sped her hands together apologetically. "Have you eaten? Well, it¡¯s quitete now too, why don¡¯t I send you back to the mansion?"

    "No need, just let him go." Gu Xiqiao pointed at Mu Zong.

    "If I knew you were acquainted, I wouldn¡¯t have the guts to do this to him!" Yin Shaoyuan smiled awkwardly. Ever since the series of events surrounding the Gu family went down, his perception of her had changed from how it was initially. ording to his investigations, the Gu family didn¡¯t treat Gu Xiqiao well after they took her in, but that was normal for an illegitimate child, in any case.

    They had held a banquet on the day they took her back to Gu Manor, letting everyone know about her and turning her into theughing stock of the town. ording to his investigations, Gu Xiqiao had been reportedly gloomy and introverted, which waspletely different from her temperament in the past few days.

    The crowd of onlookers increased as this exchange went on, and Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want to be a spectacle. "Sorry for intruding, goodbye."

    Then, she nced at Mu Zong before waving goodbye to Yin Shaoyuan, before turning around and leaving.

    "Hey, are you leaving? I¡¯ll send you!" Yin Shaoyuan insisted.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t even turn around her head, only holding up an arm and waving it. "No need, rich kid!"

    Meanwhile, the woman¡¯s expression was frozen on her face as everything went down, and she could only let out a strangled, "Y-Young Master Yin...?"

    Hearing this, Yin Shaoyuan turned over and looked up and down at her with a smile, and in the past, she would have swooned into his arms, but today all she could feel was a chill run up her spine, finally realizing that something was off.

    Once Yin Shaoyuan started talking to Gu Xiqiao, she knew that things were getting out of hand. She hadn¡¯t been with Yin Shaoyuan for a long time, but she had seen her fair share of people in high ces that had lowered their proud heads when talking with him, and in those moments Yin Shaoyuan had always acted as their superior and was aplete contrast from his docile demeanor when he had talked to Gu Xiqiao.

    The rich kids that were surrounding them were all on the top of the social pyramid in N City, and they naturally knew more than a second-rate star did. Not only was the Yin family the most influential family in N City, they even held great sway in the Imperial Capital. If any of them could get on the Yin family¡¯s good graces, they would be set for life, and they might even be able to patch them up with the National Base that all of the families were bidding for!

    But judging from the current situation, they might have screwed things up? High on the social spectrum as they were, it had always been extremely hard for them to see Yin Shaoyuan in the past as all the members of the Yin family were extremely mysterious, so they had wanted to use the chance to give Yin Shaoyuan a good impression but...

    Then, they collectively looked toward the woman in disdain. True love? What a joke!

    Everyone knew that it was the end for all of them and the woman, and now the only thing they could do was to find that girl so that they could be given a second chance.

    When they tried to check on the surveince footage however, all of the images that contained her face were blurred out!

    Meanwhile, the woman gripped her bag tightly as her expression paled, staring at the direction where Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s car had disappeared.

    She hated her father for telling her to do something like that and felt as if she were plunged into an icy cer when she knew that she had been abandoned by Yin Shaoyuan.

    With a trembling hand, she took out her phone and called her father, telling him everything that had happened.

    Meanwhile, the boss of Dacheng Communications was in a dilemma too, with many of the investors and stockholders retracting their support of thepany. He hadn¡¯t thought that it was much of a problem because he still had his daughter and by extension Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s support, but his sense of security was immediately stripped away with a single phone call. Was that why all of the stockholders did so in the first ce?

    The project they were working on at the moment was therge-scaled holographicwork that Liu Weiqing had brought to thepany, and thepany had invested all of their time and money into it. Now that this happened, thepany would be bankrupt!

    Liu Weiqing, it was all his fault!

    Taking out his phone, he tapped at it angrily before holding it up to his ear. "Liu Weiqing, do you know what you did? Thepany is going to go bankrupt, so you better be prepared to get a summons from the court!"

    Liu Weiqing¡¯s phone dropped onto the floor as he was frozen in shock. His fingers trembled as he breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down as he processed what was going on. He had finally been able to afford a luxurious house and a race car, and he wouldn¡¯t give up just like that!

    Now, all he can do was look for Mu Zong!

    "System, how long would you need to buy Dacheng Communications?" Gu Xiqiao led Wang Bo and Mu Zong to a random coffee shop.

    The system spirit that was ying games in the void put down its game consoles. As the strongest artificial intelligence, it could do many things without breaking a sweat. [Huh, they¡¯re broke! No worries about the cost then, I¡¯ll be able to do this in ten minutes tops!]

    In response to this statement, Gu Xiqiao could only exim internally about the usefulness of the system.

    "This is your registration data from the Industry and Commerce Bureau." Gu Xiqiao took out a stack of papers, before taking out a mini-monitor that the system gave her. "This is the software that I talked about before. Also, you don¡¯t need to deal with the procedures anymore and develop thepany, I¡¯ll deal with everything else."

    Mu Zong and Wang Bo hadn¡¯t even had the chance toe back to their senses from their shock before Gu Xiqiao spoke again.

    "I bought Dacheng Communications, and you¡¯ll get the contract by tomorrow."

 Chapter 49 Pressure

    Had she bought Dacheng Communications?

    Mu Zong¡¯s head went nk from shock, feeling dizzy as he tried to process the information that Gu Xiqiao told him. Even though Dacheng was just a medium scale enterprise, but it had already started to build itself up as a renownedpany in N City... Was it bought by her just like that?

    Wang Bo was stunned by this revtion too, and while he hadn¡¯t the slightest idea how this sort of thing worked, he was certain that it wasn¡¯t as easy as Gu Xiqiao made it sound.

    Seeing their reaction, Gu Xiqiao knocked at the table and told them the reason why she came to them, "Make it so that the Gu Enterprise knows about this software, I don¡¯t care how. I¡¯ll give you the phone number for a manager with the surname Xu, he¡¯s someone we can use to our advantage."

    This manager was quite well respected in Gu Enterprise but had always had been vying for the spot at the top of Gu Enterprise. In the past life, Gu Zuhui was quite troubled by this man, but Gu Xiqiao had ultimately dealt with him along with all of the problems the Gu family had faced.

    If the software were sent to this man, he would use it to his advantage, and by extension cause the Gu family quite a lot of trouble.

    She had never thought of causing the Gu family any trouble because Gu Zuhui was her biological father, but since he didn¡¯t seem to think so, then all the bets were off the table!

    If she so wished, she would even be able to help another person onto the position of the head of the Gu family!

    Of course, she didn¡¯t want to ruin the entire Gu family. She couldn¡¯t well destroy the efforts of many generations of the Gu family with a good conscience, and cause many families that worked in thepany to go without a job. Now that she had been reborn, she started to have more hopes for her life.

    The Gu family barely caused a ripple in her ns!

    The three of them talked for a little more before Gu Xiqiao nced at her phone, realizing that it was already close to dinnertime. Although she wasn¡¯t on a curfew, Mrs. Zhang would wait for her if she went backte, and Jiang Shuxuan would probably do so too.

    "Let me send you home, it¡¯s inconvenient for a girl to go home thiste," Mu Zong volunteered.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t refuse, and Mu Zong sent her back to the mansion that was quite nearby. Mu Zong parked the car and waited for Gu Xiqiao to enter the gates before Wang Bo finally broke out of his stupor. "How much money would she need to buy a mansion here? No wonder she could give you all that money!"

    "Do you know the Gu family?" Mu Zong started up the car and drove away.

    "I don¡¯t live under a rock, you know..." Wang Bo trailed off, before a spark connected in his brain. "She¡¯s from the Gu family?"

    Mu Zong didn¡¯t reply, only driving towards the hospital without a word. When they arrived, he finally breathed a sigh, before speaking, "Something happened to Gu Enterprisetely, you can go check out the news... All I can say is that I feel stressed."

    The Gu family was renowned in N City, and he only had an understanding of it due to the recent events that were broadcast on the news.

    So Gu Xiqiao was the illegitimate daughter of the Gu family? What if the Gu family tried to get into trouble with them too?

    "Say...Do you think that rich kid from earlier today can measure up to the Gu family?" Wang Bo searched up the news on her phone, before speaking up.

    Mu Zong shook his head, not sure what to think. "No idea. I¡¯ve heard of the Gu family before, but I¡¯ve never heard of that young man from today..."

    What the two of them didn¡¯t know was that while the Gu Family was indeed considered a decent family in N City, but couldn¡¯t evenpare to the Yin family in the slightest. The only reason why they didn¡¯t know about the Yin family was that it was far too much out of their league.

    As the national finals came closer, all of the students in First City High started developing a sense of urgency and stress that inevitably came with the exams, and even the students in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ss were anxious.

    These days, Gu Xiqiao always made her ssmates runps around the school fields, making them rx and unwind after a day of hard work before they all went their separate ways, some of them leaving behind to apany Gu Xiqiao.

    While everyone was running, Wu Hongwen¡¯s gaze was attracted to Gu Xiqiao, and in those moments he felt as if he didn¡¯t care about anything else.

    He had always thought that he had decent grades, but his grades were still quite far away from Gu Xiqiao. At this rate, could he get into the same university as her? He had been quite stressedtely because of the impending exams, and it felt as if there was an invisible weight on his chest.

    "If I knew that it came down to this, I would have been more hardworking." He sighed regretfully.

    Xiao Yun scoffed. "You wouldn¡¯t be able to do it even if you had ten years."

    Wu Hongwen was understandably quite offended by this, but the other students that heard this all expressed their approval and were regretting not studying well in the past two years.

    Gu Xiqiao pushed a strand of hair to the back of her ear. "You can¡¯t bring back the past, so you should grasp the present and not let the past define your future."

    After a few moments of collective silence, one of the boys in the ss acted as if he was going to puke. "I¡¯ve already been fed enough chicken soup of the soul from the teachers..."

    Another boy immediately sped a hand over his mouth, grinning cheekily. "Don¡¯t puke, you have to drink all of Beauty Gu¡¯s chicken soup even if it¡¯s spoiled!"

    "Stop that!" Wu Hongwen shoved both of them yfully, before looking at Gu Xiqiao with a smile. "We know, but these days areing to an end."

    There was only a week left until the national exams woulde around.

    The students were quite perplexed by theplex emotions that they felt¡ªThey were both excited yet scared, and regretful and confused about how they should go about the future. Did their final year of high school end just like that?

    And so, everyone was plunged into deep thought, before they all separated at the school gates.

    The trio walked to the milk tea shop as they always did, and Xiao Yun bought them all drinks before Gu Xiqiao could.

    While they were waiting for the drinks to be served, Xiao Yun took out her phone and asked Gu Xiqiao, "I had someone create a securities ount for me and I deposited all of my pocket money into it, do you have any rmendations on what I should do?"

    She noticed that Gu Xiqiao would check on stocks whenever she had free time, and it seemed that she knew what she was doing.

    "What, has your brother reduced your pocket money?" Wu Hongwen joked.

    Xiao Yun ignored himpletely, taking the milk tea from the counter and handing it to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao stuck a straw into the cup, sipping a mouthful before looking at her. "I¡¯ll go make a list of stocks that hold potential for you when I get home, so you better remember to bring your phone tomorrow."

    She thought about a few stocks that would go up in value after the stocks of an electronicspany would go down, and these would be good for Xiao Yun to umte some experience.

    Wu Hongwen frowned and crossed his arms. "I¡¯ll make an ount when I get back home too!"

    "Yes, yes, I didn¡¯t forget you." Gu Xiqiao nced at him, and Wu Hongwen squinted slightly at her tone which seemed as if it were a teacher that was cating a child.

    After the three of them got their drinks, they walked out of the shop before a red open-hood race car stopped next to them.

    Gu Xiqiao looked over, seeing a young man in a clean, checkered shirt that had three of its buttons unbuttoned, showing his neck and corbones. Taking off his sunsses, he smirked at Gu Xiqiao, eliciting squeals from some of the girls that were passing by.

    "Come on, Gu Xiqiao."

 Chapter 50 Private Club

    "I know this guy... He¡¯s a rich kid that does things regardless of how it affects everyone else, you better not get involved with him." Wu Hongwen leaned over and advised Gu Xiqiao in a soft voice because even he didn¡¯t want to directly start a conflict with Yin Shaoyuan. He didn¡¯t know about the other man quite well, but his elders had reminded him time and time again that the only person that he couldn¡¯t get into trouble with in N City was him!

    Wu Hongwen had never expected Gu Xiqiao to get entangled with him of all people, and was worrying over what ulterior motives Yin Shaoyuan had.

    Yin Shaoyuan wasn¡¯t a regr person, so he naturally heard all of Wu Hongwen¡¯s words. Raising an eyebrow, he spoke, "I haven¡¯t been in N City for so many years, and you people start spreading all these bad rumors about me?"

    "That¡¯s not what the point of what I said. Is there any reason why you¡¯re looking for my ssmate?" Wu Hongwen moved and stood protectively in front of Gu Xiqiao, and at that moment he seemed like the protagonist of a romance novel.

    "What, do I need a reason to see her?" Yin Shaoyuan replied, jeering as he did.

    Wu Hongwen opened his mouth but didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Gu Xiqiao finished her milk tea and threw the empty stic cup to a rubbish bin before looking at Yin Shaoyuan. "What do you need?"

    Yin Shaoyuan turned around and opened the door for the passenger seat, seeing Gu Xiqiao finally respond to him. "Finally not treating me like air? I¡¯m just here on your Young Master Jiang¡¯s orders, are you going to stand around and let everyone gawk at you, or are you gonnae with me?"

    Since it was Jiang Shuxuan, she didn¡¯t have any more reservations and got onto the car.

    This was a ways away from where Jiang Shuxuan would always wait for her, and because it was already a while after school ended, so there weren¡¯t a lot of students passing by.

    Wu Hongwen frowned as he saw Gu Xiqiao get onto the car, and looked over at Xiao Yun. "Are you going to let her get on just like that? He isn¡¯t a good person..."

    "It¡¯s fine." Xiao Yun remembered Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s attitude thest time she saw him with the Young Master Jiang in question, so she wasn¡¯t all that worried.

    "You believe in that guy that he mentioned so much?" Wu Hongwen¡¯s brows were still furrowed as he drank his milk tea that he had never had a habit of drinking, before he met Gu Xiqiao.

    Xiao Yun finished her milk tea and threw it into a nearby trashcan, looking at the white car that slowly pulled up by the sidewalk in front of her. "I saw them at the mall before, and he treats her like a treasure."

    Both of them used to directly get fetched at the school gates, but ever since they had their after school strolls with Gu Xiqiao, they had always had their chauffeurs fetch them near the crossroads.

    The white car drove away, leaving Wu Hongwen pondering over what Xiao Yun had said.

    The red race car stopped by a private club, and Yin Shaoyuan got off the car and threw the car keys to the doorman before leading Gu Xiqiao inside, telling her where this was as he did.

    He pushed open a door and let Gu Xiqiao inside first, and there was a gentle and graceful woman inside whose gaze went up and down Gu Xiqiao as they came in, before smiling. "I heard that Young Master Yin got a new girlfriend, but I hadn¡¯t guessed that his tastes would have changedpletely to an underage girl."

    This gaze on her made Gu Xiqiao quite ufortable, and she furrowed her brows slightly.

    Yin Shaoyuan stopped smiling and looked at the woman seriously. "Miss Xia, just because you are free to say whatever you want, doesn¡¯t always mean you should, you know. I treat her as the biological sister that I never had."

    It was the first time that she saw Yin Shaoyuan so serious, and Xia Zn¡¯s expression froze on her face. Even though she had only been loosely acquainted with him before this, she had never expected him to talk like this with her because she had always been given special treatment because of her pretty face. Now that she was treated so coldly, she couldn¡¯t keep up her calm and gentle facade well. Was Young Master Yin being serious?

    And so, she nced at that young girl again to see if she could recognize who it was.

    The girl¡¯s features were delicate and pretty, and her dress that reached her knees further amplified her pure aura, but what Xia Zn was focused on was how her face seemed familiar...

    Before Xia Zn could react, Yin Shaoyuan shoved her to a side and led Gu Xiqiao in, not giving her any courtesy.

    At this moment, Xia Zn remembered who it was and froze by the door. She had seen Gu Xiqiao¡¯s picture before, and back then she had never paid any notice to the illegitimate daughter. Only when those events transpired that she finally started noticing this girl, and realized how much she had changed in a mere month.

    Not only did she change her gloomy and timid demeanor, she even caused all that trouble for the Gu family and got onto the good graces of Yin Shaoyuan at the same time?

    Xia Zn made her way into the toilet deep in thought.

    There were several billiard tables set up in the room, and a bunch of young people were ying while some were sitting and chatting at the rest area. Yin Shaoyuan nced at everyone and led Gu Xiqiao to the rest area.

    The membership fee of this private club started from around two million yuan, and the people that converged here were mostly from families that were involved in finance. This club was connected with many others of its kind all over the country and was quite renowned for having prestigious members.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat in the center of the sofas, and while some sat nearby him, none dared to sit next to him.

    Seeing Yin Shaoyuan and Gu Xiqiaoe over, he got up and took over Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bag. He had told Yin Shaoyuan to bring her back to the mansion first, but this unreliable guy brought her here directly.

    Yin Shaoyuan shrugged upon being met with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s condemning gaze. "I didn¡¯t bring her here on purpose, Mrs. Zhang went back to her home today so she wouldn¡¯t have anything to eat if she went back anyway..."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t linger on the topic anymore and was about to tell him to order some food before he thought for a bit and turned over to Gu Xiqiao. "What do you want to eat? Should I bring you outter?"

    "No need, there¡¯s everything you could want to eat here!" Yin Shaoyuan walked out and ordered food before Jiang Shuxuan could take the chance to leave¡ªHe wasn¡¯t about to let this young master that he had painstakingly convinced toe to the club in the first ce.

    Gu Xiqiao kept getting nces from the people that sat across her, and so she took out the painting album from her bag and focused on that instead.

    The onlookers were quite surprised that Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t tell Gu Xiqiao to retreat even though he was talking business with someone else, and because many of them were from rich families in N City too, they recognized Gu Xiqiao. One of them even almost spilled their cup of wine in shock, but then sipped as if nothing had happened, hiding their astonished gaze.

    After a while, some of the people that were ying billiards came over and nced at the girl that was flipping through the painting album in surprise before asking the others in a hushed tone, but all that they had in reply was silence.

    Gu Xiqiao eavesdropped on some of the conversations in the room as she flipped through the pages of the painting album, and realized that the main topic of the room was about the National Base that was going to be built in N City. She had only heard about the matter when Gu Zuhui mentioned it in passing, and back then the Yin family waspletely in charge of it. It was at that time that the Yin family nned to move the center of politics to Jing Capital.

    After that, the National Base turned into the most important research facility in the country, and the Yin Family became the highest authority in the matter of national defense.

    In other words, if any of the families in N City could get their fingers into this lucrative pie, their families would thereby be connected to the country itself, and in her past life, the Gu family couldn¡¯t get into this even if they poured all of their resources and connections into it.

    She nced at Jiang Shuxuan, seeing his cleanly shaved chin and sculpted jaw, and from the looks of it, he was the one that was in charge of the project as a whole.

    No wonder the Yin family could be so influential in her past life.

 Chapter 51 No Need to Grovel

    Yin Shaoyuan came back very quickly, and behind him trailed a pretty attendant in a uniform with a food cart.

    The food cart stopped beside the ss table in the middle of the sofas, and Jiang Shuxuan reached for a small bowl of herbal soup that he had them prepare for Gu Xiqiao that was simr to the ones that Mrs. Zhang would always make for her.

    Seeing Yin Shaoyuan enter the room, some of the women that were ying billiards put down their cues and stepped over with graceful steps.

    This get-together was held by Yin Shaoyuan in the first ce, and the ones that were invited were all from influential families and forces in N City. These women were all the cream of the crop chosen by those families to represent them upon hearing that Mr. Jiang was going to attend to. They had thought that he had already returned to Jing Capital, and while they didn¡¯t know why he returned to N City out of nowhere, it didn¡¯t stop them from trying to attract his attention with beauty.

    That was the n before they realized that this sort of thing didn¡¯t work on Jiang Shuxuan in the slightest.

    Different from the other men in upper society in N City, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s dignified and elegant aura seemed to bepletely natural and emanated from him, so much so that this aura of hisbined with his perfect featuresmanded the attention of everyone in the room while simultaneously making it exceedingly difficult for the women to even try and approach him.

    And so, they picked the next best objective to approach¡ªYin Shaoyuan who was well known as a yboy and a flirty man that would make it worth their while if they got on his good graces.

    Upon seeing Yin Shaoyuan, many of them crowded up to him.

    Yin Shaoyuan wasn¡¯t the type to do things regardless of time and ce, however, and in thepany of so many influential figures, he kept up a polite front and wasn¡¯t receptive to any of their advances.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden, and he looked at the name of the caller before ncing at Gu Xiqiao, seeing thetter munching on an apple while studying the painting album and walking out to ept the call.

    After he exited the room, all of the other people in the room seemed to have a weight lifted off of them and started chattering with each other unabashedly, and a few gutsy young men even tried talking with Gu Xiqiao and were trying to butter her up. They took the conclusion that this girl must be connected to Mr. Jiang in some way, so they tried to give her a good impression.

    Upon seeing the young girl flip the pages of her painting album without so much as stirring at their words as if she was in another world, their words became stuck in their throats.

    Then, they sat down back in their seats, not daring to interrupt her again. After all, how weak could a person that was connected to Jiang Shuxuan be?

    Meanwhile, the women that had just finished ying billiards and didn¡¯t see their interactions from earlier didn¡¯t know who she was and why she was here and only concluded that she was the new ything of Yin Shaoyuan when they saw him talk to her.

    Meanwhile, Xia Zn was about to call Gu Xijin, but upon thinking of thetter¡¯s current state she put down her phone and redid her makeup before making her way back out of the toilet. Upon stepping out, she bumped into a person, but the sensation was akin to bumping into a brick wall!

    Upon impact, Xia Zn¡¯s meticulously done hairstyle became loose and she almost fell to the ground, and she immediately regained her bearings and tidied herself up. When she didn¡¯t hear any apology, she was about to rebuke the other before she saw that the figure in front of her was a lean and tall one with a phone in one hand and an expressionless face.

    Seeing who the culprit was, her rage was immediately put out with a bucket of cold water and reced with a strange excitement, and she hugged her bag close to her in hopes of calming herself down before speaking in a careful tone, "Mr. Jiang?"

    Her face was made up lightly, and her wavy hair cascaded off her shoulder somewhat messily from the impact. That being said, this gave her azy sort of beauty under the lights of the club.

    Jiang Shuxuan only nced at her swiftly before walking away in another direction, picking up the call without much dy.

    Xia Zn didn¡¯t dare to follow behind him, but she was so filled with anticipation that her heart could burst. Did she just have a chance to get close to this person?

    When she returned to the room, she had already calmed herself down. Walking over to the billiard table, one of her friends put down her cue and talked with her. "Lan Lan, did something happen good to you? You¡¯re practically glowing!"

    Xia Zn smiled. "Thank you for thepliment."

    Then, she noticed how most of the people were gone, and her expression was reced with confusion. "Where is everyone?"

    "Young Master Yin came back, so everyone¡¯s over at the rest area." The other woman flipped her hair behind her shoulder before bending down and striking at a billiard with her cue, and after a few collisions were heard, one of the billiards wereted.

    Xia Zn thought about it for a bit, before deciding that she wanted to see what was so special about this illegitimate daughter of the Gu family.

    Meanwhile, much of the attention of the young men in the room were attracted by the beautiful girl that came with Yin Shaoyuan. Honestly, it was hard not to as not only did she have pretty features overall, her pure and earnest aura was one that was exceedingly rare among the aristocrats where everything was hidden behind veils of lies and deceit.

    "Second Miss Gu, what are you looking at?" Xia Zn walked over to Gu Xiqiao with a gentle smile.

    Once they heard this, most of the people stopped what they were doing and looked over at Gu Xiqiao.

    Their social circles weren¡¯t all that wide, and almost everyone knew about the second daughter of the Gu family but never knew what she looked like exactly.

    Speaking of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reputation, it had already been spread and modified beyond repair among the aristocrats, the very concept of an illegitimate child bing theughing stock of these people that thought that their blood was better than those of themoners.

    Ever since the event with the stolen oil painting, everyone became even more curious about this girl that had almost destroyed the Gu family and caused Gu Xijin to lose everything overnight. Was she as scary and vile as the rumors said she was?

    Once they saw her, however, they all thought that the rumors must be mistaken¡ªWho could equate the subject of the rumors that were said to be venomous, gloomy, and greedy to this pure and delicate girl?

    Gu Xiqiaopletely ignored all of the gazes that were on her.

    She knew who Xia Zn was, she was one of the best friends of Gu Xijin that had just returned from abroad, and was quite an arrogant person that didn¡¯t have any talent to back her bravado up. The Xia family couldn¡¯t even bepared to the Gu family, and only Xia Zijun could be said as talented and having even the slightest semnce of a working brain.

    Seeing that she waspletely ignored, Xia Zn stopped smiling. Noticing Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s calm gaze on the two of them, she concluded that he didn¡¯t have any ns of helping Gu Xiqiao even if anything happened and she became calm quickly. She knew about Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s fickle personality that had heard many of ady, and how could this illegitimate daughter make him act otherwise?

    Thinking of this, she became bracer and reached out and held the painting album in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands with two thin fingers and pulled... Huh, why wasn¡¯t it moving?

    Xia Zn¡¯s expression changed, but no matter how hard she tried, the album seemed to be glued to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands!

    Xia Zn bit her bottom lip and put down her bag, grabbing at the album with two of her hands and trying to pull the book from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. To her surprise, the book still didn¡¯t budge even in the slightest.

    Raising her head, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze glinted before she suddenly released her hold on the painting album.

    Bang!

    All of a sudden, Xia Zn fell back towards the ground from the inertia of her force on the book, dropping onto the floor with a resounding thud and plunging the room into silence.

    Gu Xiqiao reached over and daintily picked up the painting album, her eyelids slightly hooded, and the hints of a smile tugging at her lips as she spoke. "Miss. Xia, no need to grovel before me..."

 Chapter 52 Regre

    Xia Zn¡¯s head was hung low, and her gaze dripped with venom as she looked down at the floor. She had never been so humiliated in her entire life, and the mocking gazes all around her were like knives that stuck into her heart.

    Even though her arms were still numb from the impact, but she still got up shakily with a smile as if nothing had happened. "Whye here if you¡¯re just going to read an album, why don¡¯t we y billiards?"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingers paused and her eyebrows raised slightly, before looking up at Xia Zn in interest. "Sure, but are you sure you won¡¯t chicken out?"

    Seeing this turn of events, Yin Shaoyuan sat up straight in interest as he looked on. He already knew that Xia Zn wasn¡¯t a match for Gu Xiqiao in the least, so he let her do as she wanted, and not even Jiang Shuxuan would have to step up to deal with her.

    Those people that knew that Gu Xiqiao was probably close to Jiang Shuxuan all looked at Xia Zn in pity as if they were looking at a dead person. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, did she?

    All of them collectively made mental notes to tell their families to not get involved with the Xia family and the Gu family in the future, lest they get on the bad side of Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Of course we need a bet! I¡¯ll wager two percent of Bluestar Entertainment¡¯s equities, how about it?" Yin Shaoyuan immediately got in on the fun, wagering the equities of the entertainmentpany that was under his name. Thispany was quite well known in the industry, and besides that it was worth quite a lot just from the simple merit that it was owned by Yin Shaoyuan, so it was quite the precious wager.

    Xia Zn didn¡¯t understand why Yin Shaoyuan wanted to get involved with this illegitimate daughter, but she still tried to calm herself down as she nced at Yin Shaoyuan, before speaking. "I wager five million."

    Five million couldn¡¯t bepared with the 2% that Yin Shaoyuan wagered, but it was already all of her liquidated funds as the Xia family wasn¡¯t all that rich inparison to the other families in the city...But she was sure that it was much more than what Gu Xiqiao could wager!

    Xia Zn nced over at Gu Xiqiao in disdain, a slightly condescending smile on her face as she wanted to see how she would embarrass herself.

    Gu Xiqiao took out a card and ced it onto the table, before speaking calmly, "Twenty..."

    Xia Zn was about to scoff before the other girl continued, "Million."

    This card was the ck card that the manager of the bank gave Gu Xiqiao, and everyone knew that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t bluffing judging from how it was a ck card. How could Gu Xiqiao take out so much money so easily, was the Gu family so generous towards an illegitimate daughter? Even Ah Jin didn¡¯t have so much money!

    At this moment, Xia Zn slowly realized the mocking gazes of everyone towards her!

    Xia Zn¡¯s fingers were trembling with rage and embarrassment, and she finally got herself to calm down before leaning down and striking a clean hit and standing back up, looking back at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao took a billiard cue and bent down, her posture refined and elegant as she aimed at one of the billiards in concentration, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

    Her eyes narrowed in concentration before she struck,ting one billiard after a few collisions.

    With a single motion, she proved that she wasn¡¯t just a pretty face.

    As everyone was waiting with bated breath for her to strike again, she stopped and stood back up, ying with her billiard cue for no reason. As Xia Zn was about to urge her to continue, she suddenly moved, spinning the pole with a flourish and aiming it towards a waitress that was walking past with a cart of food.

    That waitress stumbled and dropped to her knees, and as she looked over to the young girl in fright, she realized that she couldn¡¯t move!

    Gu Xiqiao walked over daintily and picked up the billiard cue, before kicking the waitress two times and causing a well-hidden gun to drop out from her breast.

    After she finished dealing with the waitress, she walked back to the billiard table as if nothing had happened and rubbed the tip of the cue with a small pad. Meanwhile, everyone else in the room looked at the waitress in horror, realizing that they were only moments away from facing death.

    After that, Gu Xiqiao won the game by andslide.

    The onlookers pped and cheered upon witnessing everything, and if it weren¡¯t because Yin Shaoyuan were there, some of the more hot-blooded youths even wanted to throw Gu Xiqiao into the air in celebration because she saved their lives!

    Jiang Shuxuan had been standing by the doorway since the game started, but he hid his presence so well that even Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t sense him. Seeing that the game was finished, he walked in and nced passingly at the waitress that was still lying prone on the floor, before looking away and continuing towards Gu Xiqiao.

    No one realized that after Jiang Shuxuan walked by, a tuft of ck mist escaped from the waitress¡¯s head.

    Xia Zn that was about to leave in embarrassment looked at Jiang Shuxuan in surprise, her eyes brightening like a cat that had found its prey. "Mr. Jiang!"

    In her eyes, Jiang Shuxuan was more important than anyone there. While she didn¡¯t know who Jiang Shuxuan was, exactly, she knew that Yin Shaoyuan that was high and mighty acted like ackey to him, so it was clear what that meant!

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression was icy as he ignored Xia Znpletely, only walking towards Gu Xiqiao and taking her bag and bank card. Seeing this, Yin Shaoyuan immediately panicked and wanted to stop him from leaving. "We haven¡¯t even gotten started yet, why don¡¯t you stick around for a little longer?"

    "No need, I¡¯ll just let you deal with the rest." Jiang Shuxuan reached over and pressed his palm onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head affectionately. "This kid is going to have her exams soon, so I gotta bring her back to study."

    Study? Who would believe that?!

    Yin Shaoyuan had been showing attention to Gu Xiqiaotely, and it was apparent that this person was extremely intelligent, even getting better scores that Luo Weng. This young man was one of the more talented individuals that he had set his sights on to recruit as his subordinatetely, so he knew what a feat it was that Gu Xiqiao got the upper hand against him.

    In conclusion, it was quite clear that bringing Gu Xiqiao back to study was just an excuse!

    Even though he knew this and still didn¡¯t want the two to leave, he didn¡¯t have the guts to stop Jiang Shuxuan any further, sighing softly and letting them leave.

    The rest of the upants of the room didn¡¯t even dare to breathe too deeply, and Jiang Shuxuan only nced at them passingly before leaving the room.

    Seeing him leave, Xia Zn quickly followed them out the door. "Mr. Jiang?!"

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped, and before Xia Zn could muster up a smile, he spoke: "Remove the Xia Family from the list of candidates."

    Whether a family couldst was directly dependent on thepetence of every generation and how well it taught its sessors, and judging from Xia Zn alone, it was easy to see that the family wasn¡¯t all that great either.

    Of course, another reason was that Xia Zn purely pissed him off.

    As the two figures disappeared, Xia Zn finally came back to her senses and realized what was happening. She knew that from that day onward, she would be the butt of all the jokes of the upper society in N City!

    More distressing was the fact that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s new pet, but Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s! No wonder...No wonder she would be able to cause so much trouble for the Gu family and even take out twenty million as if it were nothing!

    Not realizing the w in her assumptions, her cheeks became devoid of color as she regretted her actions and words that had caused all of her hard work to be wasted!

 Chapter 53 Expectations

    Yin Shaoyuan that had followed out the door naturally heard everything, and he nced at Xia Zn with a smile. "Ms. Xia, just bank in the five million into my ount yeah?"

    The matter of the National Base was the only chance for these families to get involved with the country directly, and before they even startedpeting the Gu family and Xia family were already out of the running. Now that they knew that the young master of the Yin family was well acquainted with Jiang Shuxuan, they started asking carefully for any information on him, unless they got on his bad side as Xia Zn did.

    As for what happened that night, no one dared to bber about it to anyone else, and the outside world only knew that the Xia family was out of the running for reasons unknown.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao had already entered the virtual space to do her daily missions, before she heard the system spirit chirp up.

    [Ding! Your Chinese Painting skill has already leveled up to Intermediate Level! You have been rewarded fifty points, please keep on the hard work!]

    Did she level up?

    Gu Xiqiao looked down at the painting on the table depicting the simple scenery of the countryside, and the strokes of the brush were full but elegant and graceful.

    The system only required her to use an hour every day to practice without any other restrictions, so she always let her mind wander while she painted while she focused and used most of her time in the virtual space to practice ancient martial arts. She didn¡¯t expect that her painting skills would level up while there was no news on her ancient martial arts.

    "How many points do I have now?"

    [You have 168 points left, Beauty Qiao!] The system spirit scooted closer to Gu Xiqiao with an expectant expression. [Beauty Qiao, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time to level me up?]

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Do you want to level up so badly?"

    [You¡¯ll get many benefits from leveling up, and I¡¯ll have more abilities too!] The system spirit¡¯s eyes were shining with anticipation.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed softly. "I¡¯ll level you up after the national finals are over okay?"

    The system didn¡¯t ask why and only nodded understandingly.

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao practiced the Five Animal y at the central park while the old man from next door followed her actions.

    They met every morning when they exercised in the morning, and they became acquainted when he asked her about some martial arts questions upon seeing her practiced motions. They both had their understanding of the Five Animal y, and Gu Xiqiao only spoke out of politeness before she realized she had a lot ofmon topics to speak about with the old man.

    From martial arts to history to traditional art, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that Mrs. Zhang called her back to eat, she would have forgotten to go back entirely.

    After bidding the old man farewell, Gu Xiqiao turned around and walked back, seeing Jiang Shuxuan at the table as always when she got back.

    He was holding a file of documents in his hands, his eyebrows slightly raised. "Yin Shaoyuan had someone send this to you just now,e sign it."

    This was the equity transfer contract that Yin Shaoyuan wagered in the billiards game the day before, and Gu Xiqiao held her hand to her head before shaking her other hand. "Send this back, I don¡¯t want it."

    "It seems that he wants to ept you as his younger sister, so you can ept this without any problems." Jiang Shuxuan knocked on the table. "He already knew that you would win, so think of this as a roundabout way to give you a gift."

    "Little sister?" Gu Xiqiao felt her head throb in pain as she asked again, "When did that happen?"

    Jiang Shuxuan tapped the pen on the document again. "Sign it."

    She trusted that Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t urge her to do anything that would cause her any harm, so she wrote down her name quickly.

    After she finished, he took the document again and checked if anything was wrong with it before his gaze stopped on the three words she wrote, smiling softly. "Quite well written."

    "Of course, I¡¯ve been practicing" Gu Xiqiao replied nonchntly as she thought back to the contents of the contract. With her mental power, she had scanned the entire document within a split second and analyzed all its contents. The equities given to her ording to the contract had been increased from two to six percent, and without any risks at that?

    She had no idea what these two were up to at this point.

    Meanwhile, at the Gu family.

    Master Gu was standing in front of the window with a frown and his eyebrows knit together deep in thought. In the mere few days that he returned to the Gu family he had already be thinner from stress.

    First was the issue with Gu Xiqiao that caused Gu Enterprise¡¯s public image to deteriorate, then was Manager Xu that suddenly gotten a following and started challenging the highest authority in thepany, and now even the Yin family banned them from getting the chance to bid for the National Base project...

    At this point, even he didn¡¯t know how to deal with everything anymore. He was a leader with foresight and skill back when he was young, but he became more indecisive as he aged, which was the reason why he handed the reins to Gu Zuhui, but he had never expected this son of his to be so ipetent!

    "Is this the end for the Gu family?" Master Gu sighed.

    The person that stood behind him was Xia Deyou from the Xia family, which was quite close to the Gu family because the Xia family was indebted to them. "The Xia Enterprise has no more chance, but you still have a chance, Uncle Gu."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Zn saw your second granddaughter with the third son of the Yin family yesterday, and while the Yin family can¡¯t be reasoned with, but as long as you meet Mr. Jiang and get him to agree, you still might have a chance."

    A calcting glint shed in Master Gu¡¯s eyes. "Yes, it seems like it is worth a try."

    At this moment, Gu Zuhui walked into the room with a file and a sour expression. "Father, that b*tch ran away and even got into an indecent rtionship with Yin Shaoyuan!"

    "Shut up! Where are your manners? Remember that the person you¡¯re talking about is your daughter!" Master Gu¡¯s expression immediately hardened as Gu Zuhui walked in. "It¡¯s not time to talk about this, can you deal with even one problem that the Gu family is facing now? Don¡¯t always get yourself involved with this sort of thing because of your wife!"

    Every father wanted his son to be sessful, but Master Gu had always been dissatisfied with Gu Zuhui. He wanted his son to be one that could hold up Gu Enterprise, but he never thought that Gu Zuhui would be such a disappointment.

    He always wanted to find a suitable heir for the Gu family to no avail, to the point where he got so desperate that he epted an illegitimate daughter from the countryside.

    After Gu Zuhui was kicked out of the room, Master Gu turned back over to Xia Deyou with a disappointed expression. "Deyou, you¡¯re a good person, and you have a good son...Cough cough cough..."

    Master Gu started coughing as he spoke, and Xia Deyou immediately went to his side and pat his back gently.

    "Cough cough, it¡¯s fine...! Cough cough cough...I¡¯m just old..." Master Gu looked at the street lights outside the window, the lights making the wrinkles on his weathered face stand out even more.

    He knew that the future of the Gu Family was bleak at this point.

    Now, he could only pray that the rumored Mr. Jiang could agree for the Gu family to join the project and get involved directly with the country so that the family would at least be able to persevere instead of disappearing eventually.

 Chapter 54 The Nine Heavens Network

    All of the Gu family¡¯s actions were under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s grasp, but she didn¡¯t want to get involved with them any further. As for those ns to see Jiang Shuxuan...Were they worthy?

    Gu Xiqiao flipped leisurely through the documents before handing them back to Mu Zong, who she had been discussingpany matters with.

    Mu Zong was thoroughly impressed by this new boss of his, and now his first course of action, whenever he got into any trouble, was to look for her after she first showed him her abilities by giving him a perfect management n. All of her advice and suggestions were quite useful, and he could predict that if the ns and risk management ideas were applied in their newpany, it would have a bright future!

    "Most of the SMEs that we presented our software and ns to ept our services, and promised to advertise us without any fee. Wang Bo and I decided to start our business on the twelfth, what do you think?"

    The date was settled after Mu Zong got a fortune teller to choose one for them.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded and didn¡¯t give any further advice,pletely letting Mu Zong do as he wished. Taking out a USB, she handed it to him. "There¡¯s a search engine in here, along with the game that was stolen from you by Dacheng. I tweaked some parts of it, and from today onwards our official website is going to be called Nine Heavens Network."

    The name of thepany was called Nine Heavens Group, named after an ancient scripture along the lines of ¡¯The origin of the nine heavens is far beyond perception, while the breadth of the eight pirs is far beyond measurement¡¯, while ording to the Qimen Dunjia, Nine Heavens had the meaning of being ¡¯The father of all and the origin of all-metal¡¯.

    Ever since she was reborn, she started developing an interest in finding names with meaning, including those from ancient scriptures, and had a special meaning behind them, as a name would affect the fortune of an entirepany.

    She didn¡¯t exin much to Mu Zong and only gave him some advice here and there, which further strengthened her image as a person that was not of this world. Every day, his expectations would have to be higher and higher to amodate, and he didn¡¯t know how this young girl that was only in high school could have more experience than him?

    Gu Xiqiao had reminded him that she only wanted to be the boss in name and leave all the work to him, so he told everyone that thepany was supported by a mysterious figure, giving Nine Heavens Group an air of mystery in the eyes of their clients.

    Everyone was guessing that there was someone of extraordinary status and ability controlling the Nine Heavens Group behind the scenes.

    That being said, the Nine Heavens Group had just started, and thepany needed talented individuals to work for them.

    In the engineering department, there was Wang Bo and a few friends of his from the hacker forum from all over the country and were all confident in their abilities to the degree of slight arrogance. When they saw the software that Gu Xiqiao provided, they were all extremely interested and convinced to join Nine Heavens Group by Wang Bo. Mu Zong hadn¡¯t told this to Gu Xiqiao yet, as he wanted to only report when they finally had the proof that she didn¡¯t make the wrong choice in investing in him.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that Gu Xiqiao developed the Gu Enterprise into one of the top fifty enterprises in the entire world in her past life, so it might have been a tad bit difficult for him to reach a degree where it would cause her any surprise in the slightest.

    After they finished their discussion, Mu Zong returned to the hospital to take care of his daughter after his offer to send Gu Xiqiao home was refused.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in the middle of the za, walking the crowd and the passersby that fit the atmosphere of the neon lights and the hustle and bustle of the city¡¯s night scene. Everything was both simultaneously familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time, and she felt a strange emotion rise in her heart.

    It was a nameless emotion that was a mix of anxiety, confusion, and others that were hard to describe in simple words.

    Two dayster would be the time she took her national finals for the second time.

    Jiang Shuxuan parked his car across the road and rolled down the window, taking out a cigarette and lighting it before he looked at the girl that stood in the middle of the za deep in thought.

    It was strange, the way she stood out like a candle in the dark even though there was a group of people dancing right next to her, and her aura was unmistakable, making her stick out like a sore thumb.

    If one looked closely enough, it would be easy to see that many of the gazes of the passersby would be attracted to her subconsciously, and some even back and forth around her.

    As a boy walked past her for the fifth time, Jiang Shuxuan snuffed out the cigarette and called her number.

    From a ck car parked outside the mansion area in the city center, sounds of conversation could be heard. "Old Gu, you didn¡¯t even prepare a gift and didn¡¯t notify them beforehand, we won¡¯t be able to go in..."

    "Xia Deyou! Don¡¯t think that you can order me around just because my father likes you, would you be able to have your achievements today if it weren¡¯t for us, the Gu family?" Gu Zuhui scoffed and red at Xia Deyou for even having the audacity to giving him solid advice. "Is there any ce that I can¡¯t go to in the entirety of N City?"

    Xia Deyou only smiled awkwardly withoutmenting about how the two of them were being blocked out from the mansion area, and they couldn¡¯t even get close to that mansion!

    Meanwhile, Gu Zuhui was fuming at the fact that even a little bodyguard dared to block him, the great Gu Zuhui! What was the big deal anyway, weren¡¯t the people that lived here just a bunch of rich people that didn¡¯t know what to do with their money?

    He didn¡¯t know that the Yin family was the owner of the mansion area, and that the mansions in there couldn¡¯t even be bough even if he wanted to. More than half of these mansions were ones left for acquaintances of Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s from Jing Capital had they ever decided to visit, and the best mansion was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s. In a way, this was the best living area in all of N City, and even the guards were chosen from retired special ops team members from the army. In conclusion, it wasn¡¯t somewhere that Gu Zuhui could enter on a whim!

    "Wait, look!" Xia Deyou rolled down his window and pointed in the direction of the mansion. "Isn¡¯t that Ms. Gu?"

    A white Bugatti was parked in front of the gates, and two figures walked out from it¡ªOne tall and lean and the other elegant and dainty, and the two of them walked into the mansion.

    Gu Zuhui blinked dumbly as he tried to process the information, before he opened the car door and walked out, shouting, "Gu Xiqiao, you unfilial daughter! Stand right there!"

    "Who goes there! You aren¡¯t allowed toe in here!" The guards stopped Gu Zuhui with a gun in hands before he could do anything, and so Gu Zuhui and Xia Deyou were forced to step back fifty meters.

    "Old Gu, that was your second daughter wasn¡¯t it?" Xia Deyou was the smarter of the two, as he quickly understood the connection between the two people that got down from the car. "Then would the one that she was with be..."

    He didn¡¯t finish his sentence, but his expression was painted with shock. "Old Gu, this daughter of yours definitely isn¡¯t a regr high school student! You have to tell Master Gu toe and ept her back into the family quickly, or else we won¡¯t have any chance!"

    "Her? She¡¯s just a piece of garbage!" Gu Zuhui huffed and walked back onto the car, telling the driver to take them back and ignoring Xia Deyou¡¯s advicepletely.

    Xia Deyou knew this and tried to convince him more lest Gu Zuhui acted stupid again, and if it weren¡¯t for the fact that he depended greatly on the Gu Family, he wouldn¡¯t even want to use his time to deal with this fool!

    In response, Gu Zuhui only waved his hand impatiently. "Alright alright, I¡¯ll tell my father about it."

    Seeing his reaction, Xia Deyou became even more worried. As the saying went, one needn¡¯t be afraid of a godlike enemy, but an ally like a pig!

 Chapter 55 Contentmen

    [Beauty Qiao, Comrade Jiang is as bad as you are! Not only did he ignore Old Gu, he even got the guards to scare him off with a gun...Speaking of which, I was surprised that you didn¡¯t do anything to him!]

    Gu Xiqiao took a towel and walked over to the bathroom. "The finals areing, no use in giving myself the trouble."

    [You forgot to close the door!] The system spirit shouted.

    Gu Xiqiao responded with a single flick of her wrist, closing the door behind her with a resounding thump.

    [At least your ancient martial arts is good for closing doors!]

    "...Shut up!"

    June the sixth was a day before the national finals would start.

    At this time, all of the other students in First City High had already left the school, and the only exception was the Parallel ss that was on the fourth floor. In the ssroom, a girl in a loose-fitting school uniform was writing on the ckboard with a piece of chalk.

    Her words were written in regr script and were so tidy that it seemed like it was printed onto the ckboard.

    After she finished writing everything, she threw away the chalk and leaned onto the podium. "These are a few things you should focus on for the exams. Even though there¡¯s only one day left, but believe in yourselves and the Parallel ss, I¡¯m sure we will all be able to ace these exams!"

    "I¡¯ll believe in myself, Beauty Qiao! I won¡¯t disappoint you!" A boy shouted.

    "I¡¯ll get good grades and make you proud!" Shouted another girl.

    "..."

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but facepalm before she took three pieces of chalk with one hand and chucked them at the foreheads of the people that had spoken up. "Stop that! You¡¯re doing this for yourself and your family, not me, got it?"

    The ss was plunged into silence, and Gu Xiqiao patted the chalk dust off of her own hands in satisfaction, thinking that her words had gotten through before...

    "F*ck! How did you do that Beauty Qiao?! You definitely yed darts before!"

    "Oh my god! She¡¯s good at studying and even better at ying...What can I do?!"

    "From today onwards, you¡¯re my goddess!"

    "..."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s inner monologue: ¡¯Can someone deal with these demons?¡¯

    A day passed quickly, but none of the ssmates were willing to leave the ssroom, joking and chattering until dusk and even rioting for Gu Xiqiao to lead them in runningps on the school field. Most of them weren¡¯t as athletic as she was and stopped running after two or threeps, and the only person that could keep up with her was Wu Hongwen.

    Gu Xiqiao ran tenps before slowing down and walking over to the crowd of ssmates, the scene painted a brilliant rosy orange hue in the sunset. The crowd that had been chattering suddenly became quiet as she walked over, looking over at the mysterious girl.

    They had thought that they had a basic grasp of who Gu Xiqiao was after being in the same ss for two months, but there seemed to be infinite veils of mystery that made her more and more amazing the more she revealed! Her reputation and position in the ss had long since surpassed the ss monitor and Old Ban, only because she had the ability and the attitude that made them follow her without question. Other than her, who would remember to give them extra sses at this crucial time?

    At the moment, she was walking over to them with the sunset behind her, casting shadows in their direction. Even though she just ran tenps, she didn¡¯t even have a speck of dust and sweat on her. In terms of looks, she was a different type of beauty whenpared to Xiao Yun. Even though she wasn¡¯t as eye-catching as she was, every action and expression of hers could bepared to a painting, to the point where once she caught your eye, it was hard to look away!

    "Alright that¡¯s enough. Go home and rest up for tomorrow, okay?" Gu Xiqiao carried her bag and looked over at them.

    Everyone blinked dumbly before reacting, and they walked together out of the school gates before bidding farewell to each other sadly.

    "Beauty Qiao, we might not even be in the same state in the future, I¡¯ll miss you..."

    "Scram!" Wu Hongwen yfully kicked at the boy who said that before looking at the girl in question with a gloomy expression. "You two got to take the exams at the same ce, and I¡¯m the only one that¡¯s taking it here at First City High."

    "It¡¯s much more convenient to take it at First City High, me and Xiao Yun have to go to Third City high to take out exams. That¡¯s near the brink of the city!" Gu Xiqiao nced at him.

    "But it¡¯s not the same as taking it with you two..."

    Xiao Yun red at him. "Stop being annoying!"

    "...You¡¯d be annoyed if you were in my position too!" Wu Hongwen replied, and the two of them started debating again.

    Gu Xiqiao saw the familiar car that was stopped at its usual spot and waved the two goodbye. "I¡¯m going now. Good luck for tomorrow!"

    Wu Hongwen stopped and squinted to see the face that was revealed as the car windows rolled down. He was sure that he didn¡¯t know this person and that he had never seen him before, but when the man inside the car looked over at him, his mind went nk.

    Even though the car was right in front of him, his mind couldn¡¯t register the person that was inside properly, only noting a pair of glinting eyes and a white shirt.

    It was only until the car had driven away before Wu Hongwen came back to his senses. "Say...What would happen if I fought him..."

    "Pfft!" Xiao Yun immediately broke out inughter. "You?"

    "Hey, don¡¯t underestimate me!" Wu Hongwen rubbed his face, still feeling a harrowing chill on his back along with the cold sweat running down his back. "Wait, so you know that person?"

    Xiao Yun¡¯s car stopped next to her, and she looked at him pitifully before patting his shoulder. "Hm, you¡¯ve seen Young Master Yin right? This person is even more...Than him, understand?" She pointed the sky as she spoke. "So don¡¯t get your mind full of any ideas okay? It¡¯s for your good."

    "F*ck..." Wu Hongwen went to his car, but before he got on he kicked the car in frustration, earning a distressed look from the driver.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was relishing a feast back at the mansion that Mrs. Zhang had prepared for her, including a medicinal soup that contained herbs that would help her pay attention and have a clear mind. As she served the food onto the dinner table, Mrs. Zhang continued talking about how she would send her to the exam hall the next day so that she could focus on the exam.

    As she looked at the woman walking in and out of the kitchen, she felt both pressured and warm at the same time.

    She didn¡¯t remember much about her past life because it was just a blur to her, but she still had a faint recollection of the time leading up to the national finals because that was her only chance to create a future for herself at the time. The night before the finals, the Gu family had prepared a scrumptious meal for Gu Xijin, and even Master Gu came back to visit.

    She was probably envious of it at the time, but...She had it now in this life!

    She was content.

    She walked upstairs with a smile and a cup of warm milk, and even though the exams were only a day away, she didn¡¯t forget to do her daily missions, and it was already quitete when she came out from the virtual space. As she walked over to her desk, she was stunned by what was on it.

    A sky blue rectangr boxy there with an elegant bow on it and it seemed like it was meant for a girl, and the velvet bow came undone with a simple tug.

    Inside the boxy a ck fountain pen on a bed of golden cloth, and the champagne colored metal glistened in the light. The pen looked quite pretty, and it seemed more like a carefully crafted piece of art than a pen.

    Gu Xiqiao twirled the pen in her hand before she wrote down a few words using the pen.

    [Ding! Calligraphy skill has leveled up to Advanced Level! The system has awarded you a hundred points, please keep up the good work!] The system¡¯s voice rung out.

    At the same time, Jiang Shuxuan was holding an old book in his hands while he satfortably in a vine chair, and his lithe fingers flitted through the pages, the yellowed paper contrasting and making his hands seem even paler.

    He flipped the pages a few times before he put down the book and looked out the window, his gaze gentle and warm and devoid of its usual coldness.

    He hoped she liked the present...

 Chapter 56 Banners

    On July the seventh, Yin Shaoyuan came to see Jiang Shuxuan early in the morning and also had breakfast at the mansion too.

    Jiang Shuxuan waited for Gu Xiqiao to get prepared while Yin Shaoyuan finished his meal in a rush, before looking at Jiang Shuxuan that hadn¡¯t even budged from his ce with a shocked expression. "Bro, aren¡¯t you going to leave?"

    The National Base project was going to be carried out that day, and he hade here in the first ce to go together with Jiang Shuxuan to the meeting spot. If Jiang Shuxuan weren¡¯t there, no one would dare to activate the n, so his presence was quite crucial, but it was already less than half an hour away from the agreed meeting time of half-past eight...

    Yin Shaoyuan was actually quite anxious and urgent as the matter was extremely important, and he could only sit there as if he were sitting on a cushion of needles, but he didn¡¯t dare to rush Jiang Shuxuan.

    He was Young Master Jiang after all!

    Gu Xiqiao walked downstairs slowly with a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and while she wasn¡¯t all that tall, her proportions were good and her legs were long, and Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s gaze couldn¡¯t help but be attracted to her figure.

    She had always had a calm and cool aura to her, but she seemed particrly alluring on that day.

    A split secondter, he immediately moved his gaze away and internally berated himself for even thinking the slightest indecent thought about her, all while wondering how Jiang Shuxuan could control himself with such a beauty in his home.

    "Did you remember to bring everything?" Jiang Shuxuan snatched up his car keys from the table and nced over at her transparent pencil case, smiling as he spotted the ck fountain pen that he had gifted her the day prior.

    The pen represented a person¡¯s academic achievements and wasmonly used to encourage one to work hard, and he thought there was no better gift for her at this time.

    The exam pass, her identification card, all her stationery, and a watch were all in the pencil case, and Gu Xiqiao waved it in front of her. "I¡¯ve got everything, let¡¯s go."

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded and walked out the door together with her, and Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t even have the chance to ask what was happening.

    "Mrs. Zhang, what¡¯s the deal with them?" He didn¡¯t dare to ask Jiang Shuxuan, so he slipped into the kitchen and found Mrs. Zhang.

    Mrs. Zhang wiped all of the bowls and tes dry, before putting them disinfection cab and smiling. "Don¡¯t you know, Young Master Yin? Qiao Qiao is going to have her national finals today! Wait!" Mrs. Zhang suddenly mmed her palm onto the cab. "I forgot to give her the talisman that I got from the temple yesterday!"

    After saying that, Mrs. Zhang immediately scurried out the door and shouted for Gu Xiqiao to wait for her.

    Meanwhile, Yin Shaoyuan was left there speechless. The national finals?

    Realizing that the exams were on that day, Yin Shaoyuan berated himself internally for forgetting the date that Gu Xiqiao was going to have her finals. He had epted her as his younger sister in name, and he forgot such a crucial moment in her life? He remembered how back when he had his finals and the way a bunch of his friends gave him their blessings and even hung a banner in front of First City High for him...

    Thinking of this, he took out his phone and dialed up a number, before musing to himself. No wonder Jiang Shuxuan was acting so strangely!

    Gu Xiqiao sat on the car with a yellow talisman that Mrs. Zhang stuffed into her hands before she got onto the car, along with a, "Qiao Qiao, don¡¯t be nervous and do the best you can, your I¡¯ll be waiting for you with lots of good food when youe back!"

    The car drove steadily, and they arrived at Third City High at half-past eight. There were many cars on the way, and many of the roads were decorated with banners¡ªSome encouraging the students that were about to take their exams, others to warn drivers against sounding their car horns. Many of the roads nearby the exam sites were blocked from traffic, to not disrupt the students with any noise.

    At this time, there were butterflies in all the stomachs of the students that were about to have their exams, including Gu Xiqiao who had been affected by the overall atmosphere of it all.

    The next second, on thest road leading to Third City High...

    ¡¯May Gu Qiao Qiao do well on her exams!¡¯

    Seeing the banner, Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but facepalm in embarrassment.

    God, who did such an idiotic thing?

    At the same time, the banners with the name Gu Qiao Qiao were hung up all over the city, and more surprising was the fact that none of the authorities did anything to take them down, attracting the attention of the press and making many people guess who this mysterious person was.

    After a while, they arrived at Third City High.

    "Go on, do your best." Jiang Shuxuan got off the car and ruffled her head, and at this moment there were already students waiting to enter the exam hall outside the gates of the school.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded and walked towards the crowd before she heard a voice calling her and turned back to see Yin Shaoyuan running over. He had a few drops of sweat on his forehead, and his hair was matted with sweat, attracting the attention of a few girls nearby.

    In contrast to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s oppressing aura, Yin Shaoyuan seemed like a standard bad boy that was attractive to the regr high school girl.

    Gu Xiqiao was already in line to enter the exam hall so Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t go any closer and only waved at her encouragingly. "Good luck!"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and looked back to the front, seeing the white walls illuminated by sunlight and letting the staff check her exam pass before letting her in.

    A bunch of parents stood there in front of the school gates silently in contrast to how they acted usually, and some even brought water and umbres to wait for their children to finish.

    This situation wasn¡¯t rare, and Jiang Shuxuan looked in interest at the families that converged in front of the gate.

    If it weren¡¯t for him, would Gu Xiqiao have had to take her exams all by herself?

    Jiang Shuxuan nced over at Yin Shaoyuan who had made his way over to him and raised his chin slightly. "Let¡¯s go...And also, take down all of those banners."

    "I...I¡¯ll take them down." Yin Shaoyuan rubbed his nose sheepishly. He thought Jiang Shuxuan would have praised him for it!

    Didn¡¯t he think that it was cool?

    "No it¡¯s not cool, it¡¯s quite dumb." Jiang Shuxuan nced at him and spoke as if he read his mind.

    "..."

    They had to go through a metal detector before they entered the exam hall, Gu Xiqiao stood there and let the teacher use the detector on her calmly, thanking her choice to not wear a wired bra.

    Gu Xiqiao got through and found her own seat, and the metal detector kept going off when it scanned the shoes of the boy behind her, and the boy took off his shoes and let the teacher scan them by themselves, and the shoes still rang.

    The main examiner walked over. "Put on your shoes ande in!"

    "Roger that officer!"

    The other students smiled when they saw this scene, and Gu Xiqiao paused in twirling her pen and looked up at the boy that was walking in. The boy was in a short-sleeved school shirt and a pair of bleached pants, and he seemed...Quite familiar?

 Chapter 57 Appearance

    That boy¡¯s seat was right in front of her, and Gu Xiqiao finally reacted that this was the thief that she had caught back at the mall!

    Yao Jiamu walked over to his seat holding his sandals in hand, and he seemed to be quite rxed given that he was originally from Third City High anyway. As his eyes flitted around, they centered on the girl that sat behind him, and it seemed as if his world snapped into focus.

    He stopped in ce with his eyes wide in shock!

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at him, her eyes glinting with warmth as she gestured encouragingly before looking back down towards the desk and preparing herself to take the exams.

    The Chinese paper started at nine o¡¯clock, and she wasn¡¯t all that pressured by it as she took up her fountain pen and started writing down on the paper swiftly and steadily.

    The three examiners were patrolling the exam hall, and whenever they passed by her they would slow down their steps to look at her handwriting. If they were the ones that were in charge of marking their papers, they would have probably been hesitant about deducting her marks purely based on her handwriting.

    The theme of the essay this time around was ¡¯Home is where the heart is¡¯, and Gu Xiqiao looked at these words again and again before closing her eyes in thought and raising her pen.

    The Chinese paper wasn¡¯t all that hard, and most of the students could do as well as they usually did, and after the bell rang she took her pencil case and walked out the door.

    As she reached the stairway, she raised her hand and intercepted Yao Jiamu¡¯s hand.

    "What in the- Do you have eyes on the back of your head?"

    He was used to fighting after all, and while he wasn¡¯t unparalleled, he had already been famous in the streets for being able to fight multiple people at once ever since he was young. Now, she could block his hand with a single pencil case?

    "Huh, your pencil case is really sturdy!" Yao Jiamu reached over and pinched the pencil case that was as hard as steel at that moment and had impacted his arm so hard that it went numb...That was really strange.

    Gu Xiqiao side-eyed him and retracted her pencil case calmly. "If you have anything to say just say it, don¡¯t get all handsy with me."

    Yao Jiamu saw that she was about to leave, so he quickly followed behind her. "You¡¯re taking your finals here too? And you¡¯re even sitting behind me!"

    "Duh!"

    Yao Jiamu didn¡¯t really mind that she acted so coldly towards him, and was instead thankful towards her. He had looked at the phone number that she gave him many times but didn¡¯t call, making a promise to himself to not call that number until he had the achievements to show for it.

    Who knew that this coincidence would happen...

    "What¡¯s your name? Which school are you from? You¡¯re definitely not from Third City High!" The students in Third City High were mostly a bunch of students that were there to spend their days and not study properly, and Yao Jiamu was certain that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t that sort of student from a single nce. Besides, most of the students in Third City High knew him as the little king of the school that was handsome and good at fighting, and he even had his gaggle of fangirls...

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t stop walking, but she replied, "Gu Xiqiao, First City High."

    His eyes brightened slightly upon finding amon topic with her. "First City High...You must know my friend Luo Weng then!"

    "Yeah." This statement attracted a bit of her attention, and she turned around to look at this boy that had been chattering nonstop.

    As they talked, they arrived at the school gates, and Gu Xiqiao found the familiar car parked across the road immediately and her expression lit up. "Alright I have to go now, goodbye."

    Yao Jiamu stopped walking before shouting at her: "My name is Yao Jiamu!"

    She waved her hand in the air, gesturing that she heard him.

    Xiao Yun had alreadye out of the exam hall and had been waiting for Gu Xiqiao at the gates. Upon seeing the girl in question, she immediately grabbed her arm and asked, "How did you do?"

    "...Hey, aren¡¯t I the one who should be asking you that question?" Gu Xiqiao scrunched her nose slightly. Thank goodness she had good reflexes, or else her arm might have been twisted by Xiao Yun on the spot.

    "I did quite well, actually, and that essay theme...It was the same as the one that you gave us before! You haven¡¯t looked at our ss group chat have you? Those idiots all spammed messages in happiness about this! Hey, how did you guess?" Xiao Yun seemed to have been very nervous about the exam, so all her thoughts flooded out as soon as she opened her mouth.

    Gu Xiqiao pressed a finger to Xiao Yun¡¯s head. "If you don¡¯t get good results, don¡¯t evere and see me...I see your brother and your grandfather, bye now."

    She saw Xiao Yun off before she continued walking towards Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car.

    "Was that person your ssmate too?" As soon as she got onto the car, Jiang Shuxuan asked.

    "No, he¡¯s just someone that sat in front of me in the exam hall." Gu Xiqiao realized that he was asking about Yao Jiamu and answered with a calm tone.

    Jiang Shuxuan put down his book and told the chauffeur which he had gotten temporarily as he had his hands full dealing with the matters of the National Base.

    The exam period had always been hard on students, so Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t give her any more pressure by asking her about the exams, giving her some space to rx.

    In the afternoon, Jiang Shuxuan waited outside the gates as the students had their Mathematics exams, and he saw many studentse out of the exam hall depressed and gloomy as if they had lost their souls, and some even hugged their rtives and cried.

    He couldn¡¯t understand how that felt, but he concluded that the papers this time around must have been hard so he was still quite worried. Thankfully, none of the students that came out early and broke down were Gu Xiqiao, so he breathed a sigh and relief.

    But then again, what use would it be even if she came out early?

    There was no one waiting for her outside...

    Jiang Shuxuan suddenly felt as if it were hard to breathe in the car, so he got down and lit up a cigarette, but before he could even start smoking, he saw a familiar silhouettee out from the exam hall, prompting him to snuff out the cigarette and walk over.

    Gu Xiqiao was expressionless as she walked out, and upon spotting Jiang Shuxuan, she smiled brightly. "You were waiting for me!"

    This sort of pure and bright smile was rare for her, and it was so innocent and beautiful that it would make the viewer want to give the owner of the smile all the good things in life. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s steps paused as the weight on his chest disappeared, seeing that she probably did quite well on the exam.

    Other than maths, the other papers weren¡¯t all that hard.

    Gu Xiqiao quickly finished her English papers and handed the answer sheet to the examiner before she left the exam hall along with the surprised gazes of the other examinees.

    It was as if she didn¡¯t have any doubt that she did well on the exams!

    Yao Jiamu chuckled lowly as he looked at the figure that was leaving the exam hall, before looking down and reading the papers carefully. He had already gotten news of this girl named Gu Xiqiao from Luo Weng, and he was quite surprised that she even had better grades then Luo Weng.

    In that case, he couldn¡¯t do badly either.

    The sunlight was bright outside the exam hall, and the air was fresh and crisp. Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply before exhaling, all of her pent up stress releasing from her.

    Then, she walked towards the gates with light steps, but before she could get to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car, she was blocked by a girl that stepped right in front of her.

    The one that blocked her way had a beaten expression, giving a gloomy and somewhat sinister aura to the face that would have been considered gentle and pretty. Her eyes were filled with a murky glow and was a clear contrast from her gaze that had been bright in the past. While her overall aura changed, Gu Xiqiao recognized the girl in front of her immediately.

    It was Gu Xijin.

 Chapter 58 System Upgrade

    "You¡¯re here for the national finals..." Gu Xijin smiled at her as if the two of them never had any bad blood with each other.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored herpletely and took out her phone to check the time, thinking that Gu Xijin was being strange for some reason, but she couldn¡¯t put her finger on it.

    Gu Xijin seemed to not mind that Gu Xiqiao ignored her, and continued to ramble on, "Why can you stille here? You should havee with me to America, mother has already found us a good school, you¡¯reing right? Little sis?"

    She looked at Gu Xiqiao, the haze in her eyes bing clearer as she spoke.

    Now, she couldn¡¯t even go out in public because of all the mocking gazes that she would get, and these gazes further twisted her psyche. As she was being looked at with those judging eyes, she kept telling herself that this all should have been Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fate, not hers!

    But the person that was supposed to have been dealing with these problems now hade to take the exams as if nothing had happened!

    Gu Xijin¡¯s gaze became colder and darker, but her mouth was still twisted in a smile. "Little sis,e to America with me please? The education system there is better by ours by leaps and bounds, you¡¯ll definitely love it!"

    "Gu Xijin...Are you alright in the head?" Gu Xiqiao nced at her in disdain.

    The moment Gu Xiqiao said this, it seemed to have broken the gentle facade that Gu Xijin was putting on and her expression twisted fully into one of hatred. "What do you have to be so arrogant about? You¡¯re just a piece of trash from a backwater ce that no one knows about, and no matter how you hide it you can¡¯t hide your lowly blood! If it weren¡¯t for Grandfather, would you have your achievements today?"

    "I somehow remember you saying something simr in the past...Something about me being expelled and losing all my reputation, right?" Gu Xiqiao smiled, and a glow radiated from her as she did. "Look at yourself! You¡¯re the one that can¡¯t attend the exams, and you¡¯re the one that lost all of your prestige. Gu Xijin!"

    After she spoke, she turned around and left.

    Gu Xijin red at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s silhouette, her teeth biting so hard into her lower lip that it bled, but that seemed to be thest of her problems at the moment.

    She knew that what Gu Xiqiao had said was true, but it exactly because of it that she hated her even more.

    Ever since the entire fiasco happened, she dropped down from being a well-known beauty and a genius into a pile of mud and proved all of her arrogance and pride to be of naught as all the people she knew threw disdainful gazes onto her.

    Meanwhile, that b*tch got all the attention and the spotlight instead of her!

    What she couldn¡¯t ept the most was how Xia Zijun had never contacted her again after the entire event happened, and while she knew that Xia Zijun was one that kept his word and wouldn¡¯t go back on their engagement, the Xia family was extremely dissatisfied with her, and even Xia Zn hadn¡¯t contacted her for a while now!

    Her grandfather was about to send her to America, and while she knew that he had been developing talented young people, she was definitely going to inherit the Gu family. The only way she could change her fate was by holding power in her own hands so that she wouldn¡¯t be controlled by other people.

    Once she inherited the family and the enterprise, she would have the ability to look down on everyone!

    Gu Xijin stood there for a while before a creepy smile made it onto her face, sending chills up the spines of the people that walked around her. Meanwhile, she walked aimlessly and unfeelingly, as if she were a ghost.

    Gu Xiqiao walked to the car, and Jiang Shuxuan had already opened the door. He saw Gu Xijin too, but he didn¡¯t ask any further and changed the topic. "Shaoyuan¡¯s inviting you to eat in celebration, do you want to?"

    "..." Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Shuxuan to talk about that all of a sudden. "Nope, I want to go back home and rest. Tell him toe over tomorrow, I¡¯ll cook for us."

    "You?" The traffic lights turned red, and Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car, his gaze painted with shock.

    He didn¡¯t want Gu Xiqiao to go eat with Yin Shaoyuan in those indecent ces that he always brought people to, but she said that she would cook?

    Without a word, he nced over dubiously at the pair of hands that didn¡¯t have any callouses...Could she even tell salt and sugar apart?

    "Yeah, and I¡¯ll call two of my ssmates too." The more Gu Xiqiao spoke, she felt that it was a good idea. She hadn¡¯t stepped in the kitchen ever since she was reborn, so she hoped her skills hadn¡¯t gone rusty.

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his chin slightly. "You really know how to cook?"

    "Hey, don¡¯t underestimate me!" Gu Xiqiao straightened her back and furrowed her brows slightly, her tone painted with pride. "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll remind them to hold it in even if it¡¯s disgusting."

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him again, her ck orbs shimmering. "...Don¡¯t talk while you drive."

    "Alright, alright." Jiang Shuxuan replied, his tone filled with mirth.

    Gu Xiqiao had to make do on her own promises, so she started to n on what she was going to cook the next day.

    The system spirit flitted around in the air and as Gu Xiqiao wrote down thest word, it spoke, "Beauty Qiao, you finished your exams today huh..."

    "And? What about it?" Gu Xiqiao that had finished her daily missions and her cooking ns exited the virtual space, before walking over to the art studio corner.

    "And...Uhm...Did you forget?" The system sniffled as if it were about to cry.

    Gu Xiqiao got everything prepared before she smiled and took out her phone. "Right right, upgrade you yes? I remember."

    Then, she contacted Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun.

    Xiao Yun epted the invitation without much thought and asked her about the address.

    When it came to Wu Hongwen, he started grumbling as soon as the call went through, "I wanted to call you right after I came out of the exam hall, but I was dragged to a family dinner and my cousin kept on showing off and bragging that I didn¡¯t even have a chance to react. Thank goodness you saved me... F*ck, my dad¡¯sing, talkter!"

    Then, he hung up and sent her a message after a minute.

    "I forgot to ask you the address!"

    Gu Xiqiao sent him the address, and at the same time a mechanical voice rang out in her head. [A hundred points have been deducted from your bnce to upgrade the system, and during the time the system is upgrading you will not be able to enter the virtual space. All missions have been put on hold.]

    Then, the system spirit¡¯s voice rang out again. [I¡¯ll need three days to upgrade, Beauty Qiao! You won¡¯t be able to use the virtual space and the system shop while I¡¯m gone, so protect yourself and wait for me toe back, and you¡¯ll be able to have a ten space inventory!]

    After that, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s connection to the system was forcibly cut off and judging from the mechanical voice that rang out, it seemed that the system wasn¡¯t as simple as it looked.

 Chapter 59 Aroma

    Gu Xiqiao woke up early in the morning and jogged a fewps before practicing the Five Animal y on the clearing, and she used the methods that were recorded on the book to calm her heart and regte her chi.

    The old man that stood next to her looked at her for a while before he copied her actions, but he felt as if something was missing.

    Once she heard his worries, Gu Xiqiao was stunned for a bit before she smiled understandingly. She practiced the Five Animal y in tandem with ancient martial arts methods, so it was natural that there seemed to be something special with her motions. That being said, she couldn¡¯t tell him the truth so she thought for a while before telling him a simple way to take care of his health.

    The Four Seasons Theory was divided into three months for spring, three months for summer, three months for autumn and three months for winter, and was recorded in the Yellow Emperor¡¯s ssic of Medicine as a method that was useful for people of all ages. Gu Xiqiao told him some essential points in detail until he remembered everything, and then she left.

    Jiang Shuxuan always knew that she had the habit of exercising in the mornings, but this was the first time he saw her practice like that, and it shocked him quite a bit.

    He ran behind her in the morning for half an hour, and her breathing was calm and steady all the way, When she said that she was going to practice the Five Animal y after that, he agreed to wait for her, but he didn¡¯t look forward to it, to say the least. This was the reason why he was so taken off guard when he became more and more serious and focused as he watched her moves.

    The Five Animal y was divided into the Tiger y, the Deer y, the Bear y, the Monkey y, and the Bird y, and had been taught over the generations in China, but he had never seen someone that could practice it so well that her actions seemed to induct the chi in the atmosphere along with them.

    If she knew ancient martial arts, she would have stood at the top of the pyramid with her talent.

    The thought shed in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mind before he dismissed itpletely. Ancient martial arts wasn¡¯t something that could be learned so easily, and Gu Xiqiao was already past the most suitable age to learn it.

    Seeing her walk back to him, the ice in his gaze thawed and showed a gentleness to the person in front of him.

    Gu Xiqiao jogged over to him, her hair tied up in a simple ponytail and a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

    She had wanted to just go back after she finished her run, but she felt there was something wrong if she didn¡¯t practice the Five Animal y as she usually did.

    "No rush, wipe your sweat first." Jiang Shuxuan took out a white handkerchief, and after she epted it they walked back to the mansion together. "Your Five Animal y seemed to be quite practiced, did someone teach you?"

    Gu Xiqiao wiped her sweat, and she had been thinking about whether she should have returned the handkerchief to her before she was taken off guard by the question.

    "I was taught by an old man back when I lived in the countryside and didn¡¯t want to y in the mud along with a bunch of children, so I always had him teach me all sorts of things."

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her before he nodded. "Alright, let¡¯s go back and eat before you go buy the materials you need for cooking."

    Once this matter was brought up, Gu Xiqiao walked a bit faster. She regretted promising to cook once she woke up in the morning.

    But it was true that she knew how to cook, and seeing as Jiang Shuxuan was the type that hadn¡¯t stepped into the market ever since he was born, Gu Xiqiao refused his apaniment and got Mrs. Zhang to follow her.

    When she asked if Jiang Shuxuan had anything that he liked to eat over the phone, Jiang Shuxuan only replied, "As long as it¡¯s edible."

    Realizing that she had asked the question for nothing, she stuck her phone back into her pocket and stood in front of a bunch of veggies, before picking out a few.

    If he didn¡¯t bother to think of anything, then she would just have to go freestyle.

    After she came back from the market, Yin Shaoyuan had already arrived at the mansion, so he helped her carry her groceries like ackey. Looking at the time on her phone, she realized that she would finish just in time for lunch so she immediately walked into the kitchen, refusing Mrs. Zhang¡¯s offers to help.

    "Can Qiao Qiao...Really do it?" Mrs. Zhang asked worriedly.

    Yin Shaoyuan thought of her pale fingers and nodded in thought. "I think I should have someone prepare medication for us..."

    Jiang Shuxuan walked down the stairs, and upon hearing their words he nced over at the kitchen and held a finger to his lips with a smile. "Just remember to not show it on your expression too much."

    " I know, leave it to me!" Yin Shaoyuan smiled and pat his chest.

    Mrs. Zhang¡¯s expression was still unsure. "Taste aside, I¡¯m just scared that that child is going to burn down the kitchen..."

    While they were speaking with a low volume, but Gu Xiqiao heard everything because her senses had been amplified after she started practicing ancient martial arts. In other words, she could even hear the sound of a feather dropping onto the ground.

    She sighed softly, were they really that distrustful of her?

    That being said, if she was in their position, she would be unsure of her skills too.

    After a while, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen arrived at the mansion too. Once the two of them saw Jiang Shuxuan, their backs straightened and their actions became careful, as they were truly afraid of him.

    If anything, it was only natural that they reacted like that. It was hard not to when the man himself wafted with an aura that made them feat him instinctively!

    Seeing their reaction, Jiang Shuxuan decided to go into the kitchen and spare them the torture.

    Once he left, the two of them became significantly more rxed and started to hold a conversation with Yin Shaoyuan. Wu Hongwen had only seen him once, which was back when his father managed to get hold of an invitation to the Yin Family¡¯s dinner event.

    The Yin family was single-handedly the most influential family in all of N city, but their social circles were more inclined towards the Imperial Capital so it was exceedingly hard to get involved with them.

    Who knew how Gu Xiqiao could have gotten involved with such an arrogant young master with a weird temper.

    Fortunately, Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t act high and mighty because of Gu Xiqiao, and he even talked with them amiably and gossiped with them.

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen were still young and inexperienced, so they were quickly led to the topic that Yin Shaoyuan wanted to talk about. "You guys said that she introduced some stocks to you, can you show me which ones those are?"

    Their perception of Yin Shaoyuan was immediately improved after a single conversation, and once they heard him say that he wanted to look at stocks, they took out their phones proudly and showed them the ones that Gu Xiqiao picked out for them.

    "Phew, that¡¯s quite a profit you got there." Yin Shaoyuan was genuinely surprised by this, and just from the few stocks that they showed him, it was clear that the one that chose the stocks chose ones that had great potential to grow.

    "Of course, Qiao Qiao is really good at this!" Wu Hongwen eximed, his eyes sparkling as he did.

    Xiao Yun nodded in agreement, before reaching for Haha and picking it up, asking Yin Shaoyuan what his name was. "Its name is Haha, Gu Xiqiao named it that! Haha,e to Uncle~"

    Haha blinked, before turning around and facing Yin Shaoyuan with its backside, ignoring him.

    How interesting!

    Yin Shaoyuan squinted and yfully carried Haha by the scruff of its neck, quite amused by this dog that was different from all the others.

    At the same time, an alluring aroma started wafting from the kitchen, and the three at the table couldn¡¯t help but gulp hungrily, before looking over at the direction of the kitchen in shock.

    So...She wasn¡¯t bluffing?

 Chapter 60 This Guy is Crazy!

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at the girl that was cooking in an orderly fashion as if she had made her way around the kitchen a thousand times before, sniffing the delicious scent that wafted out of the kitchen. He had never known that food could emit such a strong smell upon being prepared properly.

    "Mr. Jiang, she¡¯s really good!" Mrs. Zhang made her way to the kitchen upon smelling the savory scent, her expression impressed as she inhaled deeply, feeling her appetite rising as she did. She had always been proud of her cooking skills, but she felt as if those paled inparison to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao sprinkled the hot oil in the pan onto the fish that had just been steamed, and the smell of garlic and fish wafted through the air, making the ones waiting outside gulp in hunger.

    "Qiao Qiao, let me do it." Mrs. Zhang saw that Gu Xiqiao was about to carry a bowl of soup out of the kitchen and immediately volunteered to help lest she burned herself. "Qiao Qiao, your soup looks absolutely delicious and it smells wonderful! How are you so good at everything?"

    There was a thin film of oil on the soup, hiding the white soup that was held below it. Yin Shaoyuan filled up a bowl and handed it to Jiang Shuxuan, before filling a bowl for himself.

    Jiang Shuxuan drank a small sip of the soup, and while it was understandably still quite hot, the taste of the soup itself was divine. Gu Xiqiao cooked it so that the soup itself not only had the sweetness and aroma of chicken, and wasn¡¯t greasy in the least.

    The others couldn¡¯t care about their image anymore, their chopsticks picking at the fresh fish that didn¡¯t have even the smallest hint of a stench, the braised pork that was packed full of vor as well as the smashed cucumber that cut into the rich taste of the food and provided the senses reprieve.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao looked at the tes and bowls that emptied in a few seconds, and pet Haha¡¯s fur wordlessly at the scene that could bepared to a war zone.

    Hey hey, weren¡¯t they supposed to be young masters anddies?

    The sun in the afternoon was quite bright, and it showered around the girl that sat in front of the window and made her seem like an angel that had descended onto the earth. At the moment, she was holding a charcoal pencil as she focused on the drawing board, her eyshes fluttering slightly as she did.

    After half an hour, Gu Xiqiao put down her pencil and stood up. Upon seeing this, Haha immediately made its way over to her and used its head to nudge at her leg, making Gu Xiqiao smile and show him the drawing that she made. "Do you think this looks like you?"

    Haha widened its bright eyes as it looked at the chibi version of itself on the drawing paper, before barking in affirmation a few momentster.

    "You done?" A deep and gentle voice came from beside her ear, and she turned her head to see Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s sculpted chin and high nose, making her sit there stunned for a bit before handing her drawing board to him.

    Gu Xiqiao had decided to sketch one drawing for Haha upon realizing that it was being sad that it didn¡¯t even get to eat one piece of meat from earlier.

    The sketch was pretty well done, making Jiang Shuxuan muse internally about how this girl in front of him was talented and had great learning ability in everything that she put her mind to.

    Then, he looked at Haha that was nuzzling up to Gu Xiqiao affectionately and suddenly felt a dislike for the dog, wanting to pluck it up by the scruff of the neck.

    Haha seemed to have felt the unfriendly gaze on it, and so it immediately shrunk into a corner and held Gu Xiqiao¡¯s leg tightly.

    "You continue rxing, I have something to attend to." Jiang Shuxuan shot a cold nce at Haha before telling Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in confirmation, and Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help but ruffle her hair affectionately before she walked out of the door.

    The three forgotten visitors on the sofa finally dared to walk over to her, Yin Shaoyuan scrutinizing the sketch before nodding to himself. "You finished this in half an hour, and quite well at that. I finally understand why that principal of the art academy wanted to get Bro Jiang to let you go to an art school."

    Yin Shaoyuan himself had been praised all of his life, and while he was mboyant, he learned everything that he had to properly and had always had good grades growing up. At the same time, he was well practiced in noble manners and was the most outstanding one back when he was in the army, but he never expected to meet someone like Gu Xiqiao.

    In Jing Capital he was still considered quite capable, and back then he was very arrogant and confident before he met Jiang Shuxuan and promptly became humble.

    Now, he was even introduced to this Gu Xiqiao...Did the universe want to tell him that he had nothing to be proud of?

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him before carrying Haha onto herp and raising an eyebrow. You¡¯re making too much of an exaggeration, this is just basic sketching. I¡¯m only good at these things that enable me to show off you see? Just to amaze you people that don¡¯t know that I¡¯m just doing something basic."

    Yin Shaoyuan scoffed. Did she think that he was dumb? If this wasn¡¯t called professional, then those national artists could pack their bags and leave!

    Xiao Yun was expressionless as she stood at a side, thinking about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tea ceremony skills that she performed back at her ce. Of course, she knew that it was extremely difficult to learn so many things at once, and even learn everything to such a great degree.

    Honestly, it wasn¡¯t hard for Gu Xiqiao to learn new things on ount of both the virtual space and her enormous mental power. Back when she had first been trapped in the void, she could only use books to fill her time and attract her attention. If it were someone else that had been trapped in such a ce for an uncountable amount of time, they would have already gone crazy!

    Not only did she not go insane, but she even used all the time to read through all of the books in the void. If even such a person couldn¡¯t get the recognition of the system, who could?

    Under the bright exterior, was years upon years of hard work and study.

    Her sess was built entirely on endurance and willpower.

    After Gu Xiqiao finished her sketch, they had nothing to do, and Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t have the guts to bring Gu Xiqiao clubbing or to any of his usual hangouts without Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s permission.

    Xiao Yun walked around for a while before she spoke. "Qiao,e with me?"

    "Alright, let me go change my clothes first."

    Meanwhile, Wu Hongwen that didn¡¯t have a chance to speak immediately grabbed his phone and prepared to follow behind Gu Xiqiao, before Yin Shaoyuan hooked an arm around his neck with a devious smile. "Hey, why do you want to go? What if they go buy underwear?"

    Wu Hongwen¡¯s face immediately burst into a crimson red, thinking about the two of them shopping for underwear...But then, he thought of the robbery thest time the both of them met with when they went shoppingst time, so he had to follow them! He had a bad foreboding feeling about it!

    What if something happened and he wasn¡¯t there?

    But try as he could, Yin Shaoyuan simply wouldn¡¯t let him leave...

    Was this guy crazy?!

 Chapter 61 Kidnapped

    The two of them didn¡¯t go shopping as Yin Shaoyuan had expected but instead went to the bank to withdraw money. Gu Xiqiao had helped with her finances, so there was quite a sizeable amount of money already stored in the ount, so when the ountant told Xiao Yun the sum of money in her ount, her mind went nk in shock.

    She had never had so much money before!

    "Why are you in such a rush to get the money?" Gu Xiqiao asked after they got out of the bank.

    Xiao Yun touched her bag in disbelief as they walked. They didn¡¯t withdraw all the money into cash, and the rest was transferred into a card, and upon hearing Gu Xiqiao, she thought for a bit, before answering, "It¡¯s nothing much. I just want to help my brother because he¡¯s beencking some fundstely."

    That distantly rted uncle of theirs had been acting up once again, and quite greatly at that. She heard her grandfather and her brother talk about it in secret the night earlier when she went downstairs for water. She kept it a secret that she knew about it because she didn¡¯t want to waste their effort of wanting to not distract her from the national finals.

    But looking at their worried expressions, Xiao Yun couldn¡¯t stay calm any further, so as soon as they were done with the national finals, Xiao Yun dragged Gu Xiqiao with her to the securitiespany, then to the bank.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in understanding, before patting her shoulderfortingly. "Your brother can solve it without a problem."

    "I know!" Xiao Yun raised her chin proudly. "How can such a weakling think ofying a finger on the great Xiao family? He doesn¡¯t even know how much he¡¯s worth...Hey, hold my bag for me, I¡¯ll go buy some milk tea!"

    Gu Xiqiao stood there with the bag as the other girl disappeared in the crowd, before taking out her phone and fiddling with it.

    Mu Zong called right at that moment, telling her about the official opening of thepany. Gu Xiqiao gave him all the rights to do anything he thought was fit, but he still gave her reports daily, as well as ask for her advice.

    "All the proceedings are being carried out faster than expected. I thought that it would have been too hurried for the grand opening on the twelfth, but judging by how quickly it¡¯s going, we could even start tomorrow without any problems."

    Mu Zong was quite surprised that the procedures that were usually so slow could have been carried out so quickly, and in the end, the only conclusion that he could draw was that it was due to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s influence.

    Speaking of which, it was really good to be on the receiving end of special privileges!

    Upon getting confirmation from Gu Xiqiao, Mu Zong immediately continued getting his tasks done. Even though the creation of thepany was made convenient through special privileges, they still had to develop thepany with their own hands, and he smiled as he looked at the employees that he had recruited into thepany confidently.

    Gu Xiqiao hung up on the call and looked around, not seeing Xiao Yun yet in the crowd.

    How did she take such a long time to buy milk tea? It wouldn¡¯t take this long to queue up in line, no?

    As she looked at the time disyed on her phone, she realized that something wasn¡¯t right.

    It was right at the peak hour when people would get off work, so there were a lot of people and vehicles around. Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes and controlled her weak chi to expand her senses. The system was closed off from use due to it being in the middle of upgrading, or else she could have used it to pinpoint where Xiao Yun was.

    Her eyes fluttered open, and her glossy hair started floating without any wind, then she looked down and rxed her fingers that were holding her bag.

    As more and more people joined the crowd, she walked slowly, as if she didn¡¯t care about anything at all.

    Suddenly, someone shouted, "Robbery!" from the crowd, and so the crowd started breaking out into a panic. Everyone pushed against each other and shoved, and Gu Xiqiao followed the flow of people.

    No one could see her dark orbs that were as cold as ice and snow.

    Gu Xiqiao slowly got out of the crowd and walked into an alleyway, and a silhouette shed in front of her in the dark.

    She stood there and made a seal with her hands, and only stopped after she knew that no innocent bystanders were around her.

    This was a seal that was taught by the system to create an istion space, but she only learned a weaker version of it that could redirect people from the area, instead of the system¡¯s version that could directly create a barrier.

    That being said, it was enough.

    That silhouette baited her there on purpose, but they didn¡¯t know that her mind was still clear andpletely unaffected by their mental power.

    A van was parked at the other end of the alleyway, and while she couldn¡¯t see inside it, she knew that Xiao Yun was in there.

    Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly. She had nned to beat those people up and take Xiao Yun back, but she changed her ns when she saw the van.

    With her enhanced senses, she acutely sensed a dark haze around the van, and it was some form of energy that she had nevere across before.

    Now, she wanted to know what this energy was!

    A bulky man in a white tank top slowly made his way close to her and knocked her out, before grabbing her and throwing her onto the can. After the door was closed, Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes in the darkness, breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing that Xiao Yun was unscathed.

    The people that kidnapped them probably thought that they were both just regr girls that couldn¡¯t fight back, so only two people were there, and the one that was on the passenger¡¯s seat was on a call, saying, "Boss, we did it! I saw them enter the bank together, so we caught the other one too at the same time, we¡¯re the ones that will have fun after all...Alright, alright, we¡¯ll be there in a jiffy!"

    The burly man hung up on the phone, before talking with the person on the driver¡¯s seat.

    As she heard them talk, the malice in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes started bing thicker and thicker, and judging from their conversation, she could already deduce why they were kidnapped like this.

    Someone had paid them to kidnap them and assault them, as well as taking videos of them as they did.

    As her fingernails dug into her palm, she pursed her lips as her aura became so cold that it didn¡¯t seem strange for frost to have materialized itself around her. As for who was the mastermind behind this incident, it was already quite clear to her at this point.

    The van stopped beside an abandoned house, and the burly man carried Gu Xiqiao in, and spoke to the man on watch as he did, "This chick is something else! Look at her figure, look at her skin...Phew, we really got lucky with this one!"

    They ignored thempletely after they threw them into a dark room, and were so confident that they didn¡¯t even bother to tie them up.

    After they got out of the room, Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes and walked around the room. The time was already quitete at this point, and she could hear the noise of people ying cards outside, while the room was filled with a rotting, nose-piercing smell.

    Meanwhile, the police in N City were facing the greatest problem in their lives.

    Jiang Shuxuan tugged his tie loose and looked around at all the police in the room with a cold re, making them look down and not dare to look at him in the eyes.

    Then, he looked down and waved for them to go away, and Yin Shaoyuan looked at him as if he wanted to say something.

    After everyone got out of the room, Jiang Shuxuan walked over to the window, before grabbing a sheet of paper and folding it into a paper crane. Then, he made a seal as he looked at the paper crane, and after a second the paper crane shuddered as if it hade to life, before flying slowly out the window.

    Then, Jiang Shuxuan looked at the ck haze that had converged in the night sky, his expression cold and frosty.

 Chapter 62 Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Array

    Not soon after, the brutes pushed open the door and came into the room, and along with them a dim, yellow light.

    "Go, wake those two up! It would be too boring two y with them while they¡¯re asleep!" The one that was right at the forefront was a man with bulging muscles and tattoos that was holding a camera in his hands, and as he looked at the two girls on the floor, his gaze became more and more lustful.

    Xiao Yun opened her eyes slowly, her eyes getting used to the dim light before squeaking in shock upon seeing the scene in front of her. Then, she slowly crawled in front of Gu Xiqiao protectively, ring at the men as threateningly as she could, but her shivering body betrayed her fear.

    The lens of the camera was pointed at the two girls, and Gu Xiqiao slowly opened her eyes too, ncing around and seeing a piece of rotten wood next to them.

    "Boss, let me do it! I¡¯ll shoot the video!" One of the men walked in from outside and snatched the camera over, pointing it at the two girls. As he looked at the two figures through the camera, his breathing started to be erratic.

    "I-I know I¡¯m your objective, but she doesn¡¯t have anything to do with this, so let her go... Please." Xiao Yun figured out what was happening and tried to calm herself down as much as she could. Gu Xiqiao was in their hands now too, so she couldn¡¯t enrage them! "If you need money, I can get someone to send it to you right now, and we won¡¯t even press any further charges against you, promise!"

    These people all looked quite fierce and all had tattoos, and Xiao Yun immediately started suspecting that uncle of hers that was always up to no good.

    To destroy a girl in such a way was already worse than scum!

    The bald man scoffed, before reaching over and grabbing her chin roughly with calloused fingers, before his fierce gaze swept over to Gu Xiqiao, looking up at down at her legs that were like a piece of art.

    "We don¡¯t need money," He said, before pushing her away and making his way over to Gu Xiqiao slowly, looking at her clear eyes in enthrallment and reaching over, as if he wanted to touch her.

    At that exact moment, Gu Xiqiao suddenly moved. She grabbed the piece of wood and swung it as hard as she could towards a weak spot she had aimed at beforehand!

    There were seven burly men in total in the room, and they all didn¡¯t seem like nice people, and the bald man in front of her seemed to be particrly strong.

    Gu Xiqiao had already weighed the odds of her winning against them, and while she was in the first level of ancient martial arts, things had already gone beyond her expectations¡ªThese weren¡¯t regr thugs that she could defeat while taking care of Xiao Yun at all!

    Now that Xiao Yun was here, she needed to buy her time to escape before she could deal with them!

    As the thugs were stunned in shock, the two of them ran outside as quickly as they could, and Gu Xiqiao handed Xiao Yun the keys to the van that was parked outside that she had snatched away and led Xiao Yun towards the car, but thetter wasn¡¯t willing to leave. "Let¡¯s leave together!"

    "Xiao Yun, listen, this is an attack aimed at me, alright? I can deal with this!" Seeing that Xiao Yun wasn¡¯t relenting, she grit her teeth and continued without really meaning it, "Don¡¯t you see? You¡¯re being a burden!"

    Xiao Yun closed her eyes and sighed, knowing that it was a truth that she would drag the other down.

    "It¡¯s Gu Xijin, right?"

    She gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath, already regretting why she didn¡¯t off Gu Xijin back when they had the chance, and more importantly, she hated how she was powerless to help!

    Gu Xiqiao only nced at her and didn¡¯t reply, but that already was enough of an answer.

    "Listen here Gu Xiqiao, if you don¡¯te back safely, I will let the entire Gu family go down to hell!" Xiao Yun entered the car and stepped on the elerator, her expression filled with frustration and hatred.

    She, Xiao Yun, would be a burden!

    And so, the van drove off into the distance, and Gu Xiqiao made several seals with her hands, making the space in the direction of the road warp slightly before returning to normal.

    After making sure that Xiao Yun was safe, Gu Xiqiao looked back at the thugs that hade back to their senses and walked calmly on a path leading to the forest.

    Even though she was walking very slowly, those thugs couldn¡¯t catch up to her no matter what.

    Meanwhile, wisps of dark energy permeated into the forest.

    In the forest, the eight burly men stopped in their steps, and the next moment, their eyes became glossy and dazed, while their movements became synchronized, as well as speeding up drastically, but they didn¡¯t make a sound as they marched. As their aura became stronger, even the leaves on the trees shook and fell onto the ground into piles.

    Gu Xiqiao suddenly stopped walking and tilted her head to listen to what was going on behind her.

    What she couldn¡¯t see were the wisps of dark, gas-like energy dissipating as soon as they came into contact with her.

    The next moment, the eight men appeared behind her, and Gu Xiqiao came face to face with eight pairs of lifeless eyes when she turned around, and it was like a scene from a horror movie that would cause chills to run up someone¡¯s spine.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze became focused, and she made another seal with her hands as she looked at the eight puppet-like figures in front of her.

    Suddenly, the eight figures started walking in a strange pattern, and as they walked, there seemed to be a strange pulse of energy that attracted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attention, and as they stopped, the scene changed immediately!

    All of a sudden, her surroundings were plunged into darkness and thick haze, and there seemed to be no way out of it.

    It was the Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes widened slightly in surprise, and at this moment, all she had was awe in seeing such an amazing array.

    The Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array had countless variations, and there were eight gates in total in the seal¡ªThe Gates of Opening, Healing, Life, Pain, Limit, View, Wonder, and Death.

    Now what Gu Xiqiao had to do was to leave was to find the Gate of Opening!

    The most marvelous part of this array was that itpletely separated the worlds inside and outside the array.

    Gu Xiqiao had made a seal to try and stop the eight men, but they werepletely unaffected by it, and they started attacking her violently, but at the same time, they didn¡¯t seem to be aiming to kill her, more so were trying to trap her and bring her back alive.

    Unbeknownst to everyone inside, a dainty paper crane came to rest on a tree branch outside the array.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao split her strong mental power into eighths and sent them into the minds of the eight men, and while she hadn¡¯t seen the real Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array, she had the memory of seeing it in ancient scripts!

    At this moment, she channeled a pulse of chi that became a stream of air towards the southeast direction, and the entire array warped as if it were disturbed before returning to normal.

    Then, she picked up a few branches and channeled chi into them fully, and while the entire affair used so much of her mental power and chi that she became pale, but her eyes were sparkling with excitement. Then, she started walking in between the eight figures with strange steps, leaving afterimages as she did.

    "The Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array is constructed to utilize the very rules and the flow of fate of the universe itself...You people are wasting it by using it like this."

    Her clear voice rang out in the forest, and if whoever knew their stuff was here, they would be shocked by how this girl was creating an inverse array!

    And only after looking at a half-baked array once...

    After a while, Gu Xiqiao stopped and stepped to one side, the moonlight shining down on her as the eight people in the array disappeared!

    Meanwhile, the girl that caused this to happen only raised her eyebrows slightly. "Hm...That was easy."

    If the geniuses from the ancient martial arts society heard this, they would probably cough up three liters of blood.

    Gu Xiqiao threw away the branches and was about to leave before her eyes closed and she fainted without warning.

 Chapter 63 You Fell Asleep

    Behind her back, a figure appeared and caught her easily.

    Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head and looked down at Gu Xiqiao, noticing that there was a trail of blood by her lips that contrasted greatly with her sickly pale skin.

    Her cheeks had only barely started filling with color through the past few weeks of nutritious eating, and now it was as pale as a piece of paper and back to how frail and weak she looked back when he first met her.

    He reached down and wiped off the trail of blood gently before his eyes suddenly squinted, and he sent a piercing gaze at the clearing nearby. There wasn¡¯t anyone there, but he stretched his arm out and drew a strange pattern in the air, making it distort slightly.

    Eight figures appeared again on the clearing, and it was the eight people that were sent to a pocket in space by Gu Xiqiao!

    Seeing them, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze became colder. He wasn¡¯t as lenient as Gu Xiqiao was, and he couldn¡¯t even muster even the slightest bit of pity as he picked up a branch and snapped it in half.

    Then, he created an array around those men without any mercy, and in a single moment, their very essence of life started to be stripped away from them. These people didn¡¯t know about arrays in the first ce, and they couldn¡¯t have escaped even if they were in a clear state of mind.

    Adding onto that was the fact that Jiang Shuxuan had created another array of killing within the bigger array, and the eye for that array was the thin tree branch that he had picked and snapped earlier.

    He looked at the eight people that were in the array, before looking back at Gu Xiqiao and raising his eyebrows slightly.

    "The protection of the heavenly dragon corresponds with the naturalw, and under the heavenly merit and virtue, all evils shall not prosper...No wonder, no wonder." Jiang Shuxuan muttered as he looked at her, before chuckling softly.

    Seeing as she had great fortune and heavenly merit, even the regr demonic entity couldn¡¯t evene near her, lest these wisps of demonic chi that were in the forest.

    More surprising was the clear aura of an ancient martial artist that she had.

    Then the air rippled, and the two of them disappeared from the scene.

    Meanwhile, in the city, a middle-aged man in Taoist robes suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and it didn¡¯t even seem as if it would have been strange for him to even cough up his organs, but he didn¡¯t seem to care about it at that moment.

    Instead, he was staring aghast at the northwest direction, the jade tools he used to cast his spells that were glowing faintly a moment ago all turned into ash and dust.

    --

    The bright sun filtered through the curtains and shone onto the clean floor, and the petite figure in the bed fluttered her eyshes and opened them to reveal a pair of clear eyes. Then, she got up defensively and looked around at the familiar room before she let her guard down again.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples before she grabbed her phone that was on the bedside drawer, and looking at the time, it was already eight in the morning. She had always woken up earlier than that, and who knows if the old man would wait for her to go practice martial arts in the morning.

    She only remembered the events ofst night vaguely and didn¡¯t even know how she got back. She furrowed her brows slightly as she tried to remember how she passed out in the first ce.

    Thest thing she remembered was how she cast the array and passed out...

    She asked about what exactly happened while they were having breakfast, and Jiang Shuxuan flipped a page before looking at her calmly. "I got a call from your friend the day before yesterday, so I located your phone through GPS and found you on a hill. You were already passed out when I got there."

    The day before yesterday...? The edge of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips twitched slightly.

    How tired could she have been to have passed out for an entire day and an entire night without feeling anything at all?

    Gu Xiqiao called Xiao Yun right after she finished eating, and Xiao Yun was ted at finally receiving a call from her, but her voice was in such horrible condition that even Gu Xiqiao cringed. "Alright, stop talking and take some lozenges and rest, okay? You don¡¯t need to worry anymore about this."

    Xiao Yun already had enough to worry about back at home, so she couldn¡¯t let her worry more about this.

    Hearing that Xiao Yun hadn¡¯t replied yet, she huffed softly. "I already told you that what happened had nothing to do with you, Xiao Yun. If you weren¡¯t together with me that day you wouldn¡¯t have gotten involved! Just worry about those problems on your end first!"

    Xiao Yun replied this time but halfheartedly, and Gu Xiqiao hung up the call after she held her forehead, then epted a call from Mu Zong telling her that everything was all prepared for the grand opening.

    Gu Xiqiao heard for a bit and nodded at how everything was going to n so she didn¡¯t ask any further about those matters but instead asked him to do something for her.

    Hearing her request, Mu Zong was silent for a bit before he replied, "It wouldn¡¯t be easy, but I¡¯ll try my best."

    "Alright, then let¡¯s meet tonight." Gu Xiqiao hung up on the call before looking outside the window, putting down the mobile phone after quite a while along with a cold smile.

    She had gone through the Gu Enterprise¡¯s finances and ounts in her past life, so she had all the weaknesses of the Gu family in the palm of her hand. She had evidence of Gu Zuhui spendingrge amounts of money on bribery, and she knew where all the evidence could be found, and if she wanted to destroy the Gu Enterprise, she didn¡¯t even need to do it herself. She only had to give the slightest sliver of information and theirpetitors would destroy the Gu Enterprise overnight.

    Just like in their past lives, Gu Xijin truly was in a hurry to die, wasn¡¯t she?

    That evening, Gu Xiqiao was in a coffee shop, propping her head up as she looked at the passersby walk outside the window. What she didn¡¯t know was how in the eyes of the others in the cafe, she was a beautiful painting that had given the coffee shop a boom in business all of a sudden, much to the shop owner¡¯s glee.

    Mu Zong came and sat down while panting, and only caught his breath after he drank some water. "Sorry for beingte, something went wrong with thepany just now and I had to deal with it."

    "It¡¯s okay." Gu Xiqiao smiled at him amiably. "How prepared are you for tomorrow?"

    "We set the venue at the Culture Manor, and the well-known people that epted our management application have responded to our invitations and the media is swarming to us like piranhas...The lure you threw out was too enticing, Miss Gu!" Mu Zong replied proudly.

    Gu Xiqiao only smiled and nodded, everything going ording to her ns. She wasn¡¯t worried in the slightest that no one would flock to them now that she offered software that was much better than every other on the market.

    "By the way, Bluestar Entertainment sponsored us out of nowhere...I wanted to refuse at first, but then I got wind that it would be a bad idea to provoke the person behind thepany, so I epted it, but..." Mu Zong furrowed his brows slightly, not saying any further, but it was clear that he was worried that Bluestar was going to take over their little enterprise.

    Bluestar?

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed the warm mug a little before remembering that Bluestar Entertainment was under Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s name. "Don¡¯t worry, the person behind Bluestar wouldn¡¯t fancy our littlepany. Just do all you can, okay?"

    Then she remembered that she had six percent of Bluestar Entertainment¡¯s shares, so she looked back up at him and spoke, "Give Bluestar five percent of ourpany¡¯s shares."

    Mu Zong was taken off guard by this, but upon seeing how calm her expression was, he pondered over it for a bit before concluding that she probably knew the person behind Bluestar, and quite well at that.

    Mu Zong¡¯s expression became normal again, and he nodded in response.

    How generous she was to give someone five percent of their shares just like that!

    In any case, he didn¡¯t forget what was the most important matter and so he handed the file in his hand to Gu Xiqiao. "I did everything that you instructed me too, but not too much information could be found in such a short time..."

    Gu Xiqiao epted the files and stuck them in her backpack, before smiling at Mu Zong. "It¡¯s enough."

 Chapter 64 The Return of the System

    Gu Xiqiao refused Mu Zong¡¯s offer to send her back home once again and walked directly towards the crowd.

    One of her hands was stuffed in her pocket while the other was holding her bag. As she was waiting for the lights at the pedestrian crossing to be green, a royal blue sports car stopped right next to her, and the windows rolled down to reveal a devilishly handsome face.

    The youngsters in the crowd were all quite surprised by this, and they all pointed towards it and started breaking out in excited conversation. To them, this sort of extravagant car could only be seen on the television and in magazines, and they were all in disbelief upon seeing it in real life.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the car, before opening the door and entering it, and at this point, she had two thoughts on her mind:

    One, that a certain Young Master Yin had bought a new car again; Two, was he not worried that he was going to be fined for stopping at the pedestrian crossing?

    "Did youe out by yourself?" Yin Shaoyuan spotted her at the coffee shop when he finished talking business with someone else, and he was too worried to let her go home by herself after she went missing the day before yesterday so he waited for her to finish before fetching her home himself.

    Gu Xiqiao was scrolling on her phone, and upon hearing this she only hummed in confirmation, before speaking, "I won¡¯t be going back just yet."

    "Huh?" Yin Shaoyuan almost braked right there on the spot. "Where do you want to go?"

    She replied with an address, and Yin Shaoyuan muttered, "That¡¯s quite out of the way..."

    That being said, he still obliged and spun the steering wheel to go to the address that Gu Xiqiao told him. He couldn¡¯t defy the orders of Empress Gu, after all! At this point, he would probably be unused to it if the girl suddenly started treating him gently.

    "Are you checking on the stocks again?" He asked, upon seeing her looking at the familiar website out of the corner of his eye.

    "Yeah," Gu Xiqiao replied halfheartedly before she saw a familiar stock and tapped into it. "Bluestar has been having financial troublestely, hasn¡¯t it?"

    "Huh?" Yin Shaoyuan was quite surprised at this. "You knew about it?"

    The female celebrity from before had been fired by Yin Shaoyuan, and because thepany had spent too many resources on her¡ªShe was featured on a recent drama, but Bluestar bought the rights to it and changed the female lead to someone else. This bought some negative consequences to thepany and caused their stocks to drop, but since this drama was based on a well-known novel with a lot of fans, Bluestar Entertainment could easily get a new bunch of fans through this without any consequences by buying the trending tab positions and getting prime time cements...

    But Gu Xiqiao knew that Yin Shaoyuan would be able to think of all these ns, so she had something else in mind. "We have high-tech entertainment tools on our hands, do you want them?"

    She had six percent of the shares to thepany after all, so it was natural that she would help.

    The quality of celebrities under an entertainmentpany¡¯s name as well as the tech that they had under their belt was both important. Apany that didn¡¯t have proper funding wouldn¡¯t be able to create a critically acimed piece of art, both because of the high price of contracting artists and all sorts of technical equipment and behind the scenes workers, but the best technical equipment couldn¡¯t easily be bought even if they had the money for it.

    Yin Shaoyuan turned over and looked at her calm expression before smiling. "High-tech entertainment tools? Alright."

    "I¡¯ll have someone contact youter about it." Gu Xiqiao looked back down at her phone, not saying much.

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯tck money at all, and the only reason why he epted the tools was that he didn¡¯t want to upset Gu Xiqiao. Most of the tools and equipment in hispany were all imported from abroad and were already considered quite top-notch even whenpared internationally, so he didn¡¯t care all that much about the tools that Gu Xiqiao talked about.

    Gu Xiqiao saw his expression, of course, but she didn¡¯t exin herself any further.

    The car stopped at a certain high-end primary school, and Gu Xiqiao got out of the car. "I¡¯ll be back in ten minutes."

    This was a private primary school, and it was clear that a lot of money was poured into furnishing and building it up to be like a pce, but this ce wasn¡¯t the objective of Gu Xiqiao, but instead the abandoned two-story building next to the primary school. This abandoned house had always been the objective of explorations for kids, but Gu Xiqiao was here for Gu Xijin!

    This was a ¡¯secret base¡¯ that Gu Xijin and had always unted about subtly in their past life, saying that it belonged to her and Xia Zijun, and was the ce she would frequent whenever she was in a bad mood.

    Gu Xiqiao pushed open the door slowly, and the inside of the building was dark and only illuminated by the dim yellow streetlights outside. She walked slowly, side-stepping the obstacles in her way as she did.

    With a ¡¯click¡¯, the house was suddenly illuminated with light, and Gu Xiqiao smiled gently as her calm clear eyes met a pair of astonished ones. "Long time no see, Sister."

    Meanwhile, Gu Xijin¡¯s expression was one of a person that had just seen a ghost, and she was so scared that she couldn¡¯t even make a sound as she looked at Gu Xiqiao. She was extremely familiar with this ce, so she knew that this ce had already long since been cut off from electricity, but the lights were suddenly switched on!

    As a chill went up her spine, she shivered as goosebumps grew on her arms. Was Gu Xiqiao a human or a spirit?

    "Don¡¯t be scared, let¡¯s have a little talk." Gu Xiqiao seemed even more like an apparition under the light that made her look as pale as a ghost, and with a single wave of her hand, an old bench flew in her direction. "First, let¡¯s talk about why you¡¯re so against me, hm?"

    Gu Xiqiao started shivering even more that her teeth started chattering, and she couldn¡¯t even breathe properly anymore.

    "The temperature of the water in the showers on the day I was first epted to the Gu family, and the bear you gave me the day after that... And even the love letter that you gave Wu Hongwen using my name." Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly and spoke, leaning slowly towards Gu Xijin as she did. "I¡¯m just a lowly illegitimate daughter, so why would you need to plot to get rid of me like that?"

    This question went unanswered by the elder girl because she had already fainted.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down in disdain at the small puddle of liquid under the other girl, and after a while, she muttered, "How useless."

    She didn¡¯t actually want answers from the other girl because she already knew from her past life, but she had never thought that the other was so uselessly weak. Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and messaged someone, before walking towards the exit. Before she left, she looked back at the girl that was lying on the dirty floor and smiled.

    The daughter of the Gu family became insane and spent the rest of her life in an asylum...What a good idea.

    "Well, that was quick!" Yin Shaoyuan snuffed out his cigarette.

    "I never expected it to go like this either...Let¡¯s go."

    They spent an hour to get from the abandoned house back to downtown, and Gu Xiqiao got down from the car and waved Yin Shaoyuan goodbye before walking away.

    Yin Shaoyuan looked at the petite silhouette that had her head lowered slightly, and from her side profile, he could see her fluttering eyshes and her elegant chin. Young, lovely and alluring at the same time, she could already bepared to the prettiest female celebrities out there, and she had already won against them in terms of aura and temperament.

    If she became a celebrity, she would definitely be the most popr of them all.

    That was a far-fetched idea in the first ce, so Yin Shaoyuan only started driving off with a sigh. "The Nine Heavens Group, huh..."

    Back at the mansion, Gu Xiqiao breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯t returned home yet, because she felt somewhat guilty of not notifying him before she went out.

    After eating dinner, she went upstairs to look at the documents that Mu Zong had handed her, and after a while, a series of familiar sounds started to ring in her head.

    The system had finally returned.

 Chapter 65 Level Up

    [Ding! The system has upgraded sessfully, congrattions! You have obtained an inventory with ten spaces!]

    [Ding! The host has aplished a hidden mission! You have obtained 1000 points!]

    [Ding! The host has aplished a random mission! You have obtained 10 points!]

    [Ding! The host has sessfully leveled up to the Chi Induction stage of ancient martial arts! You have been awarded 100 points!]

    [...]

    The system notifications came endlessly after the system finally finished upgrading after three days, and the system spirit woke up after the system recovered to its usual functions, and as soon as it did it was greeted with the incessant notification sounds. [Qiao Qiao! What did you do in these three days? What happened for the points to jump like this!]

    Gu Xiqiao stopped flipping over the documents and blinked at all the notifications. It had slipped her mind that the system would finish upgrading on that day, but what was the deal with all the notifications?

    And secret missions, too?

    [Beauty Qiao, the system might have been shut down while I was being upgraded, but you would still be rewarded for the missions you aplished during that time...But what did you do? You even leveled up on your ancient martial arts!]

    "I didn¡¯t do much." Gu Xiqiao looked back down and started looking through the documents again, but she was still thinking about the night that she was kidnapped.

    Did she level up on her ancient martial arts? She silently checked on the chi and the energy she had and noticed that it was two times more than it had been before. It was true that she was gifted, but she had only stepped into Beginner ten days ago...How did she level up so quickly?

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the papers that had evidence that could destroy the Gu family ten times over, but all she thought of were the points and her ancient martial arts level.

    In any case, she was even more surprised than the system was.

    Finally, the system made the only rational conclusion: [Beauty Qiao, you got lucky!]

    Gu Xiqiao: "..."

    There seemed to be no other exnation for it, was there?

    Gu Xiqiao entered the virtual space and did her daily missions again as she pondered over what had happened exactly. She had just gotten more than a thousand points from all the system rewards, and she was still reveling over suddenly bing a whale.

    After finishing her daily missions, she suddenly remembered the inventory that the system had gifted her, and she opened it with a single thought, learning that the inventory was exactly like one of a game. There were ten spaces in total and each space could only be used to fill one item, but she could store up to 999 of the same item in a single space.

    For example, she could put up to 999 eggs a single inventory space, but if she used a box to hold 999 eggs, she could store 999 boxes with eggs in them in a single inventory space.

    Gu Xiqiao was immediately interested in this new function, and the first thing that she did upon exiting the virtual space was keep everything in the room that she could into the inventory before talking them out again, but her mental power was used up quickly as she did.

    [Beauty Qiao, you need to be careful! You need to use mental power when you ce items into the inventory and take them out, and therger the item is, the more mental power it would need!]

    The system spirit¡¯s body had be clearer and more realistic after the system upgrade.

    After doing everything, Gu Xiqiao prepared to go to sleep.

    The phone vibrated, and she took it out to see that it was an invitation by Xiao Yun to go eat at` Xiao Manor the next day.

    While the Nine Heavens Group would have its grand opening tomorrow, Gu Xiqiao had gone through too much in her past life to be interested in such a small event, so she handed the entire project to Mu Zong, and thinking of this she replied Xiao Yun affirmatively.

    Xiao Manor was particrly lively on that day, aplete contrast from how silent it was usually because Grandpa Xiao had never been one to like that sort of atmosphere, the young master had never been one to invite his friends over, and the youngdy of the family had always been aloof, but something was different about that day.

    The youngdy of the Xiao family had a rare smile on her face, and the workaholic young master seemed a little rxed, while the master of the manor seemed particrly amiable...

    The maid that was in charge of pouring tea was newly hired, and she looked over at the unfamiliar boy and the girl at the stone table in the garden, and just from their silhouettes, she could tell that they were definitely good looking. She started standing on tiptoe to have a better look at them before a strict middle-aged woman spoke behind her, "Xiao Li, get to work!"

    Xiao Li¡¯s expression became pale from fright before she turned around and headed towards the kitchen. Right as she was about to leave, the girl at the stone table turned her head and their eyes met, and the clear eyes seemed as if they could stare into her very soul.

    Xiao Li didn¡¯t dare to keep looking and immediately hurried towards the kitchen.

    Gu Xiqiao finished preparing a pot of tea and poured one cup for Grandpa Xiao, before asking, "Grandpa Xiao, how have you beentely?"

    "I jogged for an hour this morning, you tell me!" Grandpa Xiao chuckled. He had been following the medicine n that Gu Xiqiao had prescribed him for a few days, and he had started to visibly be healthier that even his old friend was surprised by how healthy he looked when they met that morning.

    He was certainly satisfied with this friend of Xiao Yun¡¯s and practically treated Gu Xiqiao as his granddaughter. If it weren¡¯t for Xiao Yun blocking him, he would have probably epted the girl into Xiao Manor and started treating her like a treasure.

    "You know about tea too?" Wu Hongwen felt as if there was some sort of magic at work as he looked at her hands working on the tea under the sunlight, and he couldn¡¯t even avert his gaze.

    "I¡¯ve been practicing ways to show off all my life, you see." Gu Xiqiao smiled and poured a cup for Wu Hongwen, before talking to Grandpa Xiao again. "Have you been having trouble sleepingtely?"

    It was normal for an old man to have inadequate sleep so even Grandpa Xiao himself didn¡¯t really mind it because his health had be better, but as he looked at the girl and remembered how magical she was, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Did you...See any problems?"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and changed the subject, and Grandpa Xiao didn¡¯t pursue the topic anymore, instead starting to ask them about how they did on the national finals.

    It was already an extremely rare event that Xiao Yun would invite her friends to Xiao Manor, so her brother was quite serious about receiving the two as well as possible, while Xiao Yun herself stood there in the kitchen as she watched the chefs and helpers work on their meal.

    She knew that they weren¡¯t as good as cooking as Gu Xiqiao was, but all she could do was to make sure that they cooked the best they could so she continued to keep an eagle¡¯s eye on them, but it seemed as if it had the opposite effect.

    After everything was done, Xiao Yun looked at the dishes that looked quite delicious and called the people in the garden to get to the dining hall to eat.

    Wu Hongwen skipped over behind Xiao Yun and asked, "Xiao Yun, are you avoiding me? Do you have anyints about me?"

    "You¡¯re just buy-one-free-one, the door is right there." Xiao Yun nced at him.

    "Hey grandpa, look at Xiao Yun! She wants to drive me away!" Wu Hongwen immediately went over to Grandpa Xiao andined, and the older man made a serious expression at Xiao Yun before chuckling good-naturedly.

    He was d that his granddaughter had such good friends.

    "We hired a new cheftely who¡¯s good with making simple dishes that taste delicious and fresh, you guys try it!" Xiao Yun steered Gu Xiqiao to the table as she exined.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the dishes on the dinner table¡ªFried pork, celery stir-fry, goose wings with onion and oyster sauce, cucumber with steamed eggs, chestnut with sweet-sour pork and beef stew with tomato and yam, and it truly looked like quite the feast.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s clear eyes squinted coldly, and a smirk made its way onto her face.

    How smart, even she was almost fooled.

 Chapter 66 The First Step

    Grandpa Xiao had already started eating, but because he couldn¡¯t eat anything too heavy, there wasn¡¯t a lot of oil added to the dishes. He started with a small bowl of beef stew and started reaching his chopsticks towards the sweet and sour pork before he was stopped by Xiao Sheng.

    Upon seeing a nce from the young master, the butler quickly used chopsticks to ce a chestnut into Grandpa Xiao¡¯s bowl, making thetter smile bitterly as he looked at the chestnut.

    "Grandpa Xiao, eat some of this." Gu Xiqiao used her chopsticks to take some cucumbers for him and pushed his bowl with the chestnut in it to one side. "Grandpa butler, you know about traditional Chinese medicine, right? Judging from how you knew the quality of the ginseng root I brought herest time."

    The butler nodded and replied, "That would be correct, Miss Gu, I learned some from a traditional Chinese doctor because Master Xiao wasn¡¯t healthy in the past."

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Xiao Yun that was reaching for the cucumber with boiled eggs after she had eaten a goose wing, and reached over and held her arm in ce, her expression frigid. "If that¡¯s the case, why didn¡¯t you know about foods that have properties thatbat each other?"

    Thebination of goose with egg would damage their digestive system, while the otherbination of foods on the table like peanuts and cucumbers as well as beef and chestnut would be detrimental to health too if eaten together. They must have already had many of these sorts of meals in the past, had he not realized that something was amiss?

    "This..." The butler¡¯s expression changed as he looked at the dishes on the table, and he couldn¡¯t respond for quite a while.

    After she said this, the table was plunged into silence. Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen that trusted Gu Xiqiao the most immediately put down their chopsticks, while Xiao Sheng took out his phone, his expression bing serious.

    "It still taste quite good, let¡¯s eat." Grandpa Xiao was silent for a bit before he spoke again.

    If the foods couldn¡¯t be eaten together, they could just eat one or the other.

    Everyone there was smart, and they immediately knew that Grandpa Xiao didn¡¯t want to have the person behind this to be alerted, and they all took their chopsticks and started eating again. Thankfully, Wu Hongwen started joking and lightening the mood, or else a bystander would be able to see that something was wrong.

    Xiao Yun was in a bad mood, feeling quite guilty that she had let this happen under her supervision when she was the one that invited the two to her house.

    "I take it you guys are still gued with those problems from before?" Gu Xiqiao patted her shoulderfortingly.

    "It¡¯s almost been dealt with, but I owe you one." Xiao Yun quickly calmed down and turned over to look at Wu Hongwen. "You too."

    "Don¡¯t mention it, we¡¯re friends after all!" Wu Hongwen smiled, and continued, "If you have anything you need help with you can just ask! Even though I haven¡¯t inherited the Wu family, I can still use some people without any problems. If there¡¯s anything you guys don¡¯t want to do because of your family name, our family can do it for you!"

    The Xiao family was purely business-oriented, while the Wu family had their fingers in all sorts of different pies, and they had connections to all sides of society, so they could do things that the Xiao family couldn¡¯t do.

    Gu Xiqiao wanted to say something too, but her phone rang at just that moment, and she epted the call and listened for a bit, before nodding and hanging up on the call.

    "I won¡¯t bother you anymore today, so you guys focus on your problems okay? I¡¯ve got to go." Gu Xiqiao waved her hand in goodbye.

    Xiao Yun didn¡¯t stop her from leaving because she had a lot to deal with in her own backyard, and so she saw the two visitors off before walking back into the manor and straight to the kitchen, practically leaving a trail of ice as she walked.

    She had be livelier after being friends with Gu Xiqiao, but she had be much scarier too as a result. Ever since the time that she and Gu Xiqiao were kidnapped, both she and Wu Hongwen finally understood that they weren¡¯t strong enough, and they needed to be stronger to at least not hinder Gu Xiqiao.

    Let this first step of hers to be by rectifying the Xiao family!

    Yin Shaoyuan was the one that called Gu Xiqiao, and his car was stopped not far away from Xiao Manor, and the young man that had always been wless and unbothered now had his eyebrows furrowed tightly, not knowing what to say.

    Standing beside him was a young girl that was around four years old who was wearing a surgical mask and was holding a lollipop in her hand.

    Yin Shaoyuan initially went to the grand opening to hold the show because not a lot of influential people went there, and his appearance had truly been useful in stopping anyone with ulterior motives. As he was leaving the scene, he saw Mu Jiatong that was sitting by her lonesome on a bench and brought her with him out of pity.

    After he did, however, he had no idea how to deal with her because he had never dealt with children before, but Mu Jiatong was a nice child that had a pair of innocent eyes, along with longing towards everything in the outside world.

    Yin Shaoyuan practically melted and brought her to interesting ces to satisfy this longing of hers, but as she yed, she started bing paler and paler to the point where he was so worried that he got the help of Gu Xiqiao.

    "Sister Gu, I missed you so much!" Mu Jiatong looked at Gu Xiqiao with bright eyes, not even blinking.

    "Good girl, you can take off your mask when there aren¡¯t a lot of people, you know?" Gu Xiqiao carried her over to sit on herp, taking off her mask as she did. "Have you eaten yet?"

    Mu Jiatong nced over at Yin Shaoyuan as if she were undecided on how to reply, but it was clear what the answer to that question was, so Gu Xiqiao sent a withering re at Yin Shaoyuan.

    Yin Shaoyuan immediately called up his secretary to reserve a restaurant for them, exining himself after he did, "I didn¡¯t know what she could eat, or else I would have taken her to eat in the first ce! I wouldn¡¯t ask you for help otherwise!"

    Gu Xiqiao ignored himpletely and held Mu Jiatong¡¯s hand gently, before sending a gentle, small stream of chi into her body. Mu Jiatong only felt a warmth spread through her hand into her body, and she suddenly felt much better, a healthy blush making its way onto her face as she looked at Gu Xiqiao in surprise.

    "Tong Tong¡¯s immune system is much weaker than everyone else, so she would need to be sent back to the quarantine room after being in public for too long." Gu Xiqiao knew how scary the quarantine room could be for a child, in a ce where no one could enter except for the nurses that were in charge of medicine.

    "Sister Gu, I¡¯m the one that wanted Uncle Yin to y with me." Mu Jiatong scratched Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand gently, her expression serious. "Tong Tong has had so much fun today!"

    Yin Shaoyuan saw those innocent eyes through the rear-view mirror, and he couldn¡¯t help the warmth and sadness that went through his heart. "I¡¯ll pay better attention next time, I¡¯m sorry."

    Because the people that were with him were Gu Xiqiao and Mu Jiatong, Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t take them to any strange ces, but just an exceedingly normal private restaurant.

    Gu Xiqiao had already eaten, so she only watched as Mu Jiatong ate.

    Yin Shaoyuan sat opposite of the two girls, and while he always knew that Gu Xiqiao was a beauty, he was still attracted by her eyes that were like clear springs, and her gentle and warm expression as she looked down at Mu Jiatong.

    If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Shuxuan, he would have...

    Ahem.

    He stopped his thoughts even before they could take form, and thinking of this he reached over and pushed a ss of fruit juice in her direction.

    In any case, it was still quite nice to have a new little sister.

    "Try this fruit juice, it¡¯s the best in N City!"

    Gu Xiqiao took the ss and sipped, before raising her eyebrows slightly. It really was good.

    "I¡¯ll go get a call outside." Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t help but smile as he saw that she liked it, but his phone suddenly rang.

    Seeing who the caller was, his expression froze slightly before he epted the call outside.

 Chapter 67 Outburs

    Yin Shaoyuan soon returned with a bitter face, and even while eating he was absent-minded. Gu Xiqiao put away her phone after seeing his expression and said, "Alright, Tong Tong has also eaten, I¡¯ll bring her to the hospital. If you¡¯re busy, you can leave first."

    "I¡¯ll take you both to the hospital first." Even if he was beaten to death, he wouldn¡¯t dare to leave Gu Xiaoqiao alone. If anything happened to her on his watch, Jiang Shuxuan would be forced to kill him.

    He opened the door while he talked, intending to let the both of them leave first. However, when he nced around outside and his gaze fell on a figure that was hidden near the doorway, the corner of his mouth quirked up. "Wait a while, I¡¯ll be right there. Make sure you don¡¯t leave!"

    Having said that, Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t give Gu Xiqiao a chance to respond as he closed the door, walking out to the figure who was hiding in the corner, pulling the person out. "Mom, what are you doing?"

    Mrs. Yin looked embarrassed to be caught for a while, before straightening up, "I heard that you¡¯ve found me a daughter-inw and a cute granddaughter, so I came to see for myself."

    "F*ck, this... no, who¡¯s been spilling these things to your ears?" Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s face was flushed, with a helpless and stunned look. "What do you mean daughter-inw and granddaughter! That¡¯s my sister! She just graduated from school, what joke is this?!"

    "What the f*ck...is that true?" Mrs. Yin¡¯s eyes were wide with surprise. She knew that her son had always been fickle in regards to rtionships, but when she heard the gossip she had been over the moon, rushing over. Who knew that the reality was such, that it felt like Yin Shaoyuan had poured a bucket of cold water over her. However, she continued to speak, "Thest time you mentioned you¡¯ve met a sister, this was talking about her?"

    "That¡¯s right."

    "When are you bringing her home?"

    "Soon. Don¡¯t look at me that way, nothing will happen between us. She belongs to Master Jiang, I wouldn¡¯t dare to defile her with my hands." Yin Shaoyuan hurried to add on as a reminder, seeing the calctive looks in his mother¡¯s eyes as soon as he had said the previous words.

    Hearing those words, Mrs. Yin slumped in defeat. She knew when to give up, especially when the difference was obvious. Even if you offered the entire Yin family up, no one would dare to touch anyone that belonged to Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Then I¡¯ll go and meet my daughter," Mrs. Yin said with a slight furrow of brows, she had been wanting a daughter for a very long time.

    "No, now¡¯s not the right time." Yin Shaoyuan said as he pulled out his phone. "I¡¯ll call Dad if you still won¡¯t leave, and tell him that you¡¯ve been ying online games in my room the entire night."

    "...Unfilial son!" Mrs. Yin huffed, as she turned to reluctantly leave. "Remember to make time to bring her home!"

    Yin Shaoyuan breathed a sigh of relief after she had gone out of sight, and returned to the private room that he had left the others in.

    After sending Mu Jiatong back to the hospital, Gu Xiqiao requested that Yin Shaoyuan return first, as she would remain and apany Mu Jiatong in the hospital. Yin Shaoyuan was hesitant, not feeling at ease to leave her alone, but he couldn¡¯t manage to convince her, and could only nag at her for a while before getting into the car and leaving.

    By the time Gu Xiqiao left the hospital, it was already evening. As she walked along the road, a notification came from the System suddenly.

    [Beauty Qiao, there is a car following you from behind.]

    ¡¯I know.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao¡¯s five senses had been honed to be more sensitive, and she had felt herself being followed before the System had notified her.

    [There isn¡¯t any malicious intenting from the owner of the car. Would you like me to run interference on your position, Beauty Qiao?]

    ¡¯There¡¯s no need." Gu Xiqiao said, stopping. She turned her body slowly as she waited for the car to catch up to her, a nk look on her face as she watched the ck car approach. Her eyes were half closed, and her eyes were empty.

    She knew who it was inside the car.

    The car slowed to a stop beside her, and the window rolled down, revealing a matured middle-aged man¡¯s face. It was Master Gu, the head of the Gu family!

    Gu Xiqiao stared at him quietly, with no surprise on her face at the sight of him. After a short while, she got into the car.

    The reason the Gu family had taken her in, waspletely under the instructions of this old man. They weren¡¯t sure what was going on with the Yin family, suddenly deciding to suppress the Gu family in everything. Not only that, even the other two who were neutral had started to get in the way of them, driving them into a corner with no way out.

    At this time, the old man suddenly remembered Gu Xiqiao. He knew that Gu Xiqiao was someone who held familial rtionships close to her heart, and she would always return. He knew that she had a good rtionship with the Yin family, but without her position as the second daughter, what else did she have?

    Gu Zuhui thought that he had all these seen through and calcted.

    Gu Xiqiao sat in the car, still having an indifferent expression on her face as she focused on nothing in particr. After thinking a while about it, she sent a text message to Jiang Shuxuan letting him know that she would be backte.

    The car came to a stop outside the gates of the Gu manor, and as the lights outside the window passed in a blur, she recalled the feelings she had when she first stepped foot into this ce. Anxious, uneasy, anticipation, and now¡ªher heart just felt dead.

    The farce should be over now.

    Gu Zuhui greeted Gu Xiqiao with a smile and was courteous, remembering Master Gu¡¯s words. He wore a kind expression, a smile on his face as words of concern poured out of his mouth like it didn¡¯t cost any money to buy the words.

    However, the girl beside him suddenly looked straight into his eyes, and it made him ufortable to meet her gaze, and he didn¡¯t. It felt like she could see inside him, and everything inside his heart was bare for her to see. He felt that there was something different about his daughter, but he couldn¡¯t put a finger on it, and chose to swallow his words and stay silent.

    When they returned to Gu Manor, they greeted Gu Xiqiao with the same cheerfulness. Even Su Wan¡¯er was all smiles, no matter how much resentment was in her heart towards Gu Xiqiao, she wouldn¡¯t dare to show it on her face. The head of the Gu family was treating Gu Xiqiao like a treasure right now, and she didn¡¯t dare to say anything about it. Her heart was bitter, but she swore silently that once Gu Xiqiao had outlived her usefulness, she would definitely take everything back, including interest!

    "Since you¡¯re home, you should stay in the future. It¡¯s nothing great about staying outside, and there¡¯s care for you at home too." Master Gu said, implying that they would no longer pursue past affairs. She was still ady of the Gu family, and still held her inheritance rights.

    With familial love and her inheritance, Master Gu believed that Gu Xiqiao would be obedient and listen to his words.

    Gu Xiqiao listened to the words spoken, and only raised her head when they were done speaking, her eyes still devoid of any emotions. In just a short month, she had been exercising a lot, and filled up quite a bit. She was slightly taller than before, a gorgeous body with beautiful curves. Herplexion was also better, her cheeks having a natural rosy hue which indicated she was healthy. Her skin was pale but not unnaturally so, and her beauty was really shining through and it was hard to not notice it.

    "Do you recall how I came back with you?" Gu Xiqiao said as she looked into Master Gu¡¯s eyes, with him recalling the memories back then. "You searched for me far and wide, and when you found me, you told me that I wasn¡¯t an orphan, that I had family, and they were in N City."

    She paused, smiling without humor. "You said you wanted to bring me home to see my family, I used to ce so much trust in you. For someone who knew from a young age that I was picked up from god knows where, and never knowing who my birth parents were, do you understand how much I yearned for the word ¡¯family¡¯? I saw you all as my savior from that torture, and that was also the reason why I tried so hard to integrate myself into the family."

    "However, my biological father treats me like I am the biggest stain in his entire life! From the day I came into the Gu family, you have all sat on your high chair, telling me with words and actions that I¡¯m not fit to even take on the family name and will never be part of this family in anything but name. That I am just an illegitimate daughter that should never have seen the light of day, the shame of the prestigious Gu family!"

    Gu Xiqiao stood in the middle of the living room, she stood with her back rammed straight, and her eyes were cold with barely a hint of any emotion in them.

    She was just standing there, but everyone else in the room felt the heavy atmosphere pressing on them like a mountain, rendering it hard to take their next breath each passing second.

    Master Gu was staring at Gu Xiqiao, and had many times looked like he wanted to interrupt her spiel. However, even if he had opened his mouth, the words wouldn¡¯te out. It was as though his entire being was out of his control, and as he watched the girl who stood aloofly in front of him, his eyes narrowed slightly.

 Chapter 68 Tragic End

    The words on Master Gu¡¯s tongue was a question, a question on whether everything happening was nned by her hands. But the words refused toe out.

    Her words dripped with acid as she spoke, each of it piercing his heart and rendered him unable to move with the sheer coldness and resentment in it.

    "As soon as I was taken in, you began to guard yourselves against me, and even started enabling Gu Xijin! How is this my fault? I was an orphan with no parents, a poor worm that nobody wanted... but once I had parents, I am the illegitimate daughter who is ungrateful and has ill-intentions!"

    Her voice had gotten slightly hoarse. "Grandfather, I really do appreciate what you have done, taking me out from there. I¡¯ve always thought that you were the only one who treated me with a semnce of fairness, until you came back this time, I realized I was wrong. You justtched onto my desire for family and brought me back, waiting for the right time to sell me off to the highest bidder. You¡¯d even throw me back out without mercy if the need ever arises."

    "I was so stupid, thinking that I could ever gain any of your approval, but... an illegitimate daughter who had been abandoned from the beginning, whatever she does would forever be in vain, wouldn¡¯t it?"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s vision was getting blurry as she thought of her previous life, she had always been regarded as expendable by the Gu family. With no proper help nor care given to her, she was still an abandoned child in the end. It was such a simple reality, and yet it had taken her life to truly understand what it had been.

    "Have a good look at this document, and consider this thest thing I will ever do for the Gu family. From today onwards, I¡¯m severing all ties with this family!"

    She released a deep breath, cing the stack of papers in her hand on the table. She smiled lightly at Master Gu, her eyes once again devoid of any emotions. "You wille to need these things in the future, but remember, my debt to the Gu family has been paid off! From now on, whatever that happens has nothing to do with me! Therefore, it¡¯ll be best not to provoke me either. Put a leash on Gu Xijin, you hear me?"

    Reigning in her emotions and expressions, she once more bore an indifferent expression that she hade in with, her back straight and her head lifted in pride. The same instance she opened the door and walked out, a bolt of lightning struck through the sky. The light from it made her eyes sh eerily, the coldness in it more vibrant. The rain started off softly, gathering momentum before falling heavily from the sky, joining the tears on her face that were falling from her eyes.

    The dull roar from the thunder sounded, exploding in her ears and covering the sky and earth with its majestic sight and momentum. The dark night sky seemed to be covered entirely in its light.

    The petite figure walked into the night slowly, and the servant that had been standing by the door was petrified, an umbre held tightly in his hand as they didn¡¯t dare to offer it to the person who had walked out. Not everyone was heartless after all, but all they could do was feel regret as they watched the scene y out.

    Master Gu, who had been sitting on the sofa in shock, finally blinked back to reality. He reached out to the papers that Gu Xiqiao had left behind. After reading the first piece, his withered hand started trembling, his heart thumping violently in his chest as a wave of pain and regret swept through his body.

    Gu Zuhui and Su Wan¡¯er saw him with one hand clenching his heart, and hurried over to help him.

    Master Gu waved them off coldly however, and with one hand clutching his chest, his other hand continued to flip through the stack of documents. The more he read, the more upset he became. When he was finally done reading through the documents, he couldn¡¯t help the tears that trailed down his eyes. "I have always prided myself in being wise all my life, but I have watched with my own eyes what would have been the best sessor of the Gu family leave just like that! It¡¯s retribution, it¡¯s all retribution! Cough cough!"

    He found it hard to breathe, coughing as he tried to pull in the oxygen he needed, and he finally fainted backward onto the sofa.

    "Father!"

    "Father!"

    Gu Zuhui and Su Wan¡¯er rushed forward again, panicking at the unresponsive old man. The servants rushed in, and one of them called for an ambnce. Gu Zuhui pulled the papers that Master Gu was holding tightly in his hands despite being unconscious and flipped through it, and found himself dumbfounded after reaching thest page.

    Since it was something that Gu Xiqiao had used as a piece to cut ties with the Gu family, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be something so simple. It turned out to be the thing the Gu family needed the most¡ªthe rights of cooperation for the base!

    This contract in his hands would allow the Gu family to escape the entire situation of embarrassment and hopelessness that they found themselves in right now. Not only that, the document contained a set of ns, and with it, it wasn¡¯t an impossible feat for the Gu family to be able to return to its former glory!

    This had definitely not been written by the Yin family. With the far more aggressive state they were in, Gu Zuhui wasn¡¯t in any disillusion to think that they would be willing to set out a n like this for them. Moreover, if the Yin family had the kind of talent to draw up this n, they would have already been the chaebol[1] of N City.

    And with that logic, these things were definitely drawn up by Gu Xiqiao.

    With that thought in his mind, Gu Zuhui¡¯s hand also began to tremble. What kind of daughter had he forced out of the family?

    But it was toote to regret it now, along with the contract, there was also evidence of the Gu family¡¯s bribery activities. The most damning was also evidence of how Gu Xijin had hired an assassin and kidnapped Gu Xiqiao. If all of these came into light, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything, and all they could do now was let Gu Xiqiao leave in peace.

    "There isn¡¯t any good news whenever that trainwreckes back to Gu Manor. Tomorrow Ah Jin will be leaving overseas, didn¡¯t she juste back to cause trouble?!"

    p!

    Gu Zuhui had not been able to contain himself as his handshed out to p Su Wan¡¯er. It was this woman in front of him. This woman had cost them a life of regret and lost opportunities!

    "Gu Zuhui, you... how dare you..." Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s eyes were wide with shock and surprise. She couldn¡¯t believe her husband, a man who had always obediently listened to her every word, had dared to raise a hand to her!

    "Get out of my sight!" Gu Zuhui spat, giving her a look full of contempt as he dismissed her, turning to follow the doctor up the stairs.

    Once Su Wan¡¯er had snapped out of her daze, she screamed and started smashing everything in her reach in a violent tantrum.

    The Gu household found no sleep that night.

    Gu Xiqiao stepped out of Gu Manor, the rain falling harder than ever. It was impossible to tell whether it was rainwater or tears on her face at this point, and yet she continued to walk in a daze. Her focus was on cing one foot in front of another as she walked, just like the first night she had been reborn. The only difference this time was, she was walking out of this ce for real.

    The rain falling on her vanished suddenly, and Gu Xiqiao lifted her hand to wipe at her face. Raising her head, she looked at a familiar face.

    Lightning shed through the sky, and thunder roared loudly. Although it was raining cats and dogs, the man¡¯s white shirt was still as clean and pristine as ever, not a single drop of rain had touched it. Although the expression on his face was indifferent and seemed to be aloof, his sea-blue eyes held a hint of warmth and gentleness underneath his cold exterior. Standing there beside her with the umbre in his hands, it seemed like he was the only person left on earth in the world.

    At the sight of a familiar face, knowing that it was someone who cared for her, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tears gushed anew. Like a dam breaking, the tears flowed uncontrobly from her eyes.

    She was not a person who liked to cry, and the number of times that she had cried in her life could be counted with one hand. But she was not able to suppress the urge to cry tonight, she wasn¡¯t even sure whether she was crying because of her desire and yearning for the familial affection that she never had, or for the unbelievable past life that she had once lived.

    Jiang Shuxuan had started his journey over here the moment he had received her text message. He always had good instincts, knowing how to read between the lines that were left unsaid by her.

    Tightening the grip on the umbre in his hand, he listened to her every sentence and word spilling from her lips. With his position, he naturally would never have imagined that there would be someone like Gu Xiqiao existing in this world. The things that were in reach of his fingertips were things that she would never be able to even touch.

    When others only saw her prideful exterior, he saw the broken pieces of her shattered heart.

    He lowered his head to be at the same height as her face, seeing the tears that didn¡¯t slide down her face on her eyshes. The once clear and vibrant eyes were now filled with tears, obscuring the life in them. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and rainwater was still dripping from her hair. Her small petite frame was also trembling.

    He suddenly recalled the time when he had first met her. When he had firstid eyes on her, he knew how her ending would be¡ªtragic.

    [1] family run business-conglomerate

 Chapter 69 Uneven Steps

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s heart was in turmoil. If possible, he would have rather brought her to his side earlier, instead of letting the Gu family abuse her like this.

    "I¡¯ll go in..." Jiang Shuxuan sighed lightly, a hand reaching out to smoothen her hair. Hot air radiated from her body, and her body was dry instantly, her wet clothes refreshed and clean without a speck of dirt on it.

    Gu Xiqiao wiped her nose as she looked at him. "Whatever for?"

    "...to give them a fight?" Jiang Shuxuan saw that she was now warm, and felt his worries dissipate a little, but the clouded look in her eyes remained.

    "Really, you fight too much, too violent. However, it was I who had bullied them tonight..."

    ¡¯Then why is the one who¡¯s hurt and in distress, you?¡¯

    Jiang Shuxuan pressed a hand to his temple, and thought that perhaps her intelligence was not in her right state now, and decided not to argue further. "Alright, let¡¯s return first then."

    "Oh." Gu Xiqiao said softly with her head bowed down, being more obedient than she usually was.

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips, not used to her current demeanor. He nced back to look at the gold-ted words, a sh of steel in his eyes.

    The rain wasn¡¯t letting up, and it was obvious that the umbre wouldn¡¯t be able to cover two people. However, when the rain was about to touch the two, it seemed like it hit an invisible barrier instead, sliding off it and falling into their surroundings.

    The ck car drove away slowly.

    Under the rain in front of the Gu family house, the que with the words ¡¯Gu Manor¡¯ had been struck by lightning¡ªshattered andying in several pieces on the ground.

    At night, Gu Xiqiao slept soundly, even though she had been expecting to be unable to fall asleep. She even slept better than she had before.

    After sleeping, she went out for her morning run like usual. Seeing her return, Mrs. Zhang immediately brought a bowl of soup out for her, urging her to drink.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at her, and drank the soup slowly.

    She had had a good sleep, and she felt more rxed after a good rest. The shadows that hung over her from her previous life were slowly receding. And in her new life, leaving the Gu family was not the end, but a start¡ªthe beginning of her life.

    She didn¡¯t need to rush for sses now. In her free time, she would just move a table and chair, draw under the tree, or writerge characters. Sometimes, a few birds wouldnd on her shoulder, but when Mrs. Zhang came over, they would spread their wings and fly away.

    Haha sat beside her,zing on the grass.

    Wu Hongwen was holding the sour plum soup that Mrs. Zhang had made in his hands. He and Xiao Yun had been taking turns to spend time with her. The two were able to see that although Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t express much on her face, her heart was in deep turmoil. Wu Hongwen, who was usually very chatty, was also unusually silent these days.

    The sun was not shining too bright today, and an asional breeze would blow. It was good weather that was rarely seen.

    "You don¡¯t have to speciallye here." Gu Xiqiao said suddenly, not raising her head nor turning around which made Wu Hongwen stop in his steps behind her. "I¡¯m alright now, with you guysing to see me persistently, I feel even more pressured."

    From this angle, he could clearly see her expression which looked like it was carved from ice, her eyshes waving lightly in the breeze. The sunlight was not too bright, and Wu Hongwen felt slightly dazed from the view, but he replied subconsciously, "No, I¡¯m happy to."

    "Alright, alright. Let¡¯s go out then." Gu Xiqiao smiled, a resigned expression on her face as she put away her painting tools.

    Wu Hongwen was quick to help, his eyes lighting up at her words. "Go out? For real?"

    Due to the good weather, the streets of N City were bustling with people. There was also an artificialke next to the street, and there were many boats floating on it, and people were also gathering under the shade of trees beside theke.

    [Daily Mission activated: Help the indicated person, Shen Nianzhi]

    [Missionpletion reward: 20 points]

    The system gave off a notification suddenly, and Gu Xiqiao froze, her eyes following the transparent arrow in front of her to find the task objective.

    There was a street artist by theke, and to her surprise, it was a girl. Gu Xiqiao immediately nced at the information sent to her by the system. The girl¡¯s name was Shen Nianzhi, an orphan at birth and justpleted her national finals. She had be a street artist in order to raise her college funds.

    After reading through the information given by the system, Gu Xiqiao suddenly recalled this person. In her previous life, Gu Xijin¡¯s talents in oil painting were well known in N City, and the only other person able to match her talents and poprity was Shen Nianzhi, whose talent was in Chinese painting. Gu Xijin was the most revolting person at that time, taking Gu Xiqiao¡¯s painting to trample Shen Nianzhi beneath her feet.

    Shen Nianzhi was someone who had the urge to trample over the bunch of people who were in front of her currently. She had just taken the A-level art test, and she didn¡¯t have the funds for college and the fees were already very high. Apart from working every day in a fast-food restaurant, she worked as a street artist during her spare time, earning money while bing familiar with painting tools to avoid any loss in time to make money.

    When she had first achieved a little result in the beginning, she had been slightly proud, to the point that she didn¡¯t put much interest in Gu Xijin, who had been the same age as her. But thepetition in the Academy of Fine Arts had made her realize how ignorant she had been.

    A portrait had taken first ce, and she had gone to specifically see the drawing. It was a simple but rigorous painting¡ªthe lines were fine and neat, rich but not overly so. The painter had used realism techniques,bined with skillful and delicate brush strokes to create an astonishing painting.

    Shen Nianzhi had never seen such an intimidating painting before in her life, and this made her more convinced that the second cing she had gotten was what she fully deserved. She knew that the difference between their skills were like heaven and earth, and from what she heard from the dean, the person who had submitted the drawing was a girl of simr age to her, which piqued her curiosity more.

    However, the girl had kept a low profile, refusing to participate in the national art exhibition, losing the opportunity to be famous overseas.

    Due to the influence of the unknown girl, Shen Nianzhi no longer felt arrogant over receiving the national award. She gave up the opportunity to head overseas and instead began to hone her skills slowly, starting by being a street artist.

    Of course, she still wanted to meet the unknown girl, but she never had the chance to.

    Shen Nianzhi was also someone who the dean of the Academy of Fine Arts held in high regards due to her talents, so the dean¡¯s daughter was displeased with her. She would take the time to humiliate her in front of people while she was drawing for others, and out of respect for the dean, Shen Nianzhi would not take her actions to heart, but this time this was too much¡ªeven for her.

    Clearly knowing that Shen Nianzhi¡¯s talenty in scenic painting, she had intentionally brought a bunch of people over for her to do portrait painting for them.

    Shen Nianzhi had patiently exined to them this fact, but the bunch of people refused to listen, causing amotion that attracted the attention of other onlookers. She knew that due to this, today would be a lost cause for her, and could only quietly pack her tools. If she couldn¡¯t beat them, the least she could do was avoid them, right?

    But things couldn¡¯t go on like this, she had already been bothered by them for three consecutive days. If this continued on then she would need to have a discussion with the dean. As she continued packing, she reached out for the chair, but was startled when a pair of hands met hers instead.

    It was a beautiful pair of hands, clean, slender, extremely delicate and pale under the warm sunlight. She definitely had a pair of artist hands. With that thought in mind, Shen Nianzhi couldn¡¯t help but look up at the owner of the hands. What kind of person would these pair of hands belong to, she wondered?

    Disregarding the eyes of everyone around them, Gu Xiqiao set out the table and chair that Shen Nianzhi had packed away.

    At this time, the young girl at the head of the group finally snapped out from her daze, pointing at Gu Xiqiao as she asked, "Hey, who are you? Are you looking for trouble!"

    "The one who will paint for you." Gu Xiqiao repliedzily, smiling at the girl once she had finished setting up the table.

    Wu Hongwen had also arrived at the same time this was happening, Gu Xiqiao had sent him to buy some Chinese painting tools. Luckily, this was amercial street, and it didn¡¯t take him long to find the things she wanted.

 Chapter 70 Chinese Painting

    Wu Hongwen easily maneuvered his way through the crowd with hisnky figure and was soon beside Gu Xiqiao, cing the tools on the table, as well asying out a roll of fine writing paper for her.

    The young girl was going to protest at the change, but when a tall, handsome Wu Hongwen appeared in view under the sun, she was suddenly at a loss for word as a blush appeared on her cheeks. She forcefully swallowed the words that had threatened toe from her mouth, wanting to preserve her image.

    The young girl was the daughter of the dean for the Academy of Fine Arts, and would be considered to be a schr. However, she always had an unconventional behavior ever since she was little. Due to her status as an artist, her partially entric attitude was epted by the people around her.

    "What painting do you want, and what are your requirements?" Gu Xiqiao said as she held the brush loosely in her hand, looking at the young girl.

    "Portrait, with me being the model for it. The girl said, sneaking a nce at Wu Hongwen before adding, "Make it prettier."

    "Alright, have a seat." Gu Xiqiao said as she ground the ink slowly. She looked at the girl who was obediently sitting down, and thought over a few ideas before starting to work.

    Figures in a Chinese painting involved capturing the outer appearance of the subject, and also the inner essence as well. This made it rtively more profound and had more depth than the usual scenic paintings. It required meticulous brushwork, as well as free, expressive brushwork, together with a decent mastery of calligraphy.

    Gu Xiqiao had deliberately picked Chinese painting to study while she had been in the virtual space, but her level was only almost Intermediate, and she could only do her best in painting a portrait.

    She closed her eyes, entering a meditative state for a short moment. When she opened her eyes shortly after, it was as though she exuded a mysterious aura, raising her brush and started to work. The tip of the brush danced across the paper, as though having a soul of its own. As the Chinese idiom ¡¯while the connoisseur recognizes the artistry, theyman simply enjoys the show¡¯, passersby who were walking around the ce couldn¡¯t help but stop to look at the girl who was painting, their eyes entranced by the movement of her brush on the paper, stunned by the painting she was producing.

    What surprised the audience gathered around was the fact that the painting was only using ck ink, and yet the figure in the painting was bright, valiant, elegant, as well as clearly showcasing the feminine aspect of it.

    Everyone who stopped to look had forgotten the passage of time.

    Finally, Gu Xiqiao finished thest stroke of her painting, and seemed to snap out of her wondrous state, her mind brushed by the system.

    [Missionpleted! Obtained 20 points.]

    [Ding! Congrattions Beauty Qiao, your Chinese Painting has leveled up to Intermediate. The system has rewarded 50 points!]

    [Ding! Congrattions Beauty Qiao, your Chinese Painting has leveled up to Advanced. The system has rewarded 50 points!]

    [Ding! Congrattions Beauty Qiao, your Ancient Martial Arts has leveled up to Bone Refinement. The system has rewarded 500 points!]

    ¡¯System, what is this?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao was slightly surprised, it was simr to the night when the system upgrade had been sessful.

    The system materialized slowly in its human form from the void, its form now more realistic after the upgrade, as it raised its flesh hand with ws to scratch its head. [Beauty Qiao, I have no idea what happened. But when you first started painting, it attracted the spirit of heaven and earth. I think you were able to gain another height of insight through painting as a route, and that¡¯s why you were able to achieve such an upgrade. No matter how it happened, this is a great thing. Don¡¯t worry too much about it.]

    If Gu Xiqiao had to guess, getting a route to some form of enlightenment through painting and Bone Refinement didn¡¯t seem like something she would be able to attain even once so easily. The fact that she was lucky was most likely due to her leaving the Gu family, being able to let go of her past life and managed to break through the state of mind she had been in. That was the most probable reason for her to have a chance like this.

    "I¡¯m done, here you go." Gu Xiqiao said as she withdrew from her thoughts, holding out the painting to the young girl in front of her.

    The onlookers watched as Gu Xiqiao handled the delicate painting so casually, and the same thoughts ran through their minds. This girl treated this pinnacle of a painting with a nonchnt attitude, didn¡¯t this girl have any appreciation for it at all?

    The young girl was in astonishment as she looked at her. "You¡¯re...you¡¯re really giving this to me?"

    "Yeah, it¡¯s for you. Try not to trouble anyone anymore in the future." Gu Xiqiao said, shoving the painting into her hands when it was clear the young girl wasn¡¯t going to move for a while to take it. She then followed Wu Hongwen through the crowd, not giving any time for anybody to stop her at all.

    The young girl suddenly snapped out of her daze as she lunged forward to grab Shen Nianzhi¡¯s arm. "Hey, do you think that¡¯s the girl that won!?"

    Shen Nianzhi snatched the painting from her hands, looking up and down for a very long time. She hadn¡¯t been able to bring herself back to reality, but she felt her mouth move. "Li Li, let¡¯s settle whatever our problems are another day. You go after her, I¡¯ll go back to inform the dean!"

    Li Li grunted in annoyance. "Hey, you¡¯re making it sound like I have no choice but to have a problem against you..."

    Encountering such a major incident, the two of them set aside their old grudges temporarily and cooperated to work together.

    The Academy of Fine Arts were also divided, with the Chinese painting department getting colder as the time passed by, and what with an oil painting winning thest championship, it made the survival of the Chinese painting department more difficult. So far, the younger generation of Chinese painting has only been supported by Shen Nianzhi alone.

    She felt excitement as she ran, the people she passed were in a blur to her eyes. With the paintings from this person, there was hope for the Chinese painting department. It would also make that bunch of people in the art world to not underestimate the Chinese painting style!

    Gu Xiqiao had nned toe out today to visit Mu Zong. After the Nine Heavens Networkpany had been set up, she had never gone to see it. However, the upgrade on her martial arts had made her change her mind. The body was profound and turbulent, and she needed to enter the virtual space to stabilize her levels and get used to it.

    As she breathed in to regte the chi flowing turbulently in her body, she also had to talk to Wu Hongwen at the same time. Wu Hongwen had initiated a conversation after she had painted the Chinese painting, and had not stopped chattering away since then.

    When he reached the manor area in the city, he quieted down as soon as they entered the vi.

    There was finally silence in her ears.

    Gu Xiqiao who had followed him from behind looked rxed. But Wu Hongwen was frozen in his steps, and his entire being seemed to stiffen up suddenly. Following his line of sight, Gu Xiqiao met a pair of cold ck eyes.

    It was no wonder Wu Hongwen held the expression he did. From theirst brief contact, Gu Xiqiao was aware that Wu Hongwen held a healthy dose of fear toward Jiang Shuxuan. He would be scared stiff, and would be tongue-tied in front of the other man, and if he spoke his tone would also be lower than usual.

    "Brother Jiang, Brother Yin." There was another middle-aged man sitting opposite Jiang Shuxuan, beside Yin Shaoyuan. Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know who it was, so she could only greet the other two obediently.

    Yin Shaoyuan narrowed his almond-shaped eyes as he smiled, muttering a praise under his breath as he beckoned Wu Hongwen forward. Wu Hongwen held a bitter expression as he dragged his feet over to where they were sitting.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded his head at the greeting, a hint of warmth seeping into his cold eyes as it softened a little. He watched as Gu Xiqiao turned to return to her room, and said suddenly, "Wait."

    Gu Xiqiao stopped at the stairs in slight confusion, watching as Jiang Shuxuan approached her. He wasn¡¯t walking in a hurry, but it seemed like he was at her side in just an instant. His lips were curled slightly, exuding an aura around him that made people want to stay away from him.

    It was terrifying.

    Jiang Shuxuan naturally didn¡¯t say anything, but he ced his hand at the acupuncture point in her lower back, which was the gate of vitality.

    His fingers seemed to have touched a piece of ice, the cold chill lingering on his fingertips.

    Gu Xiqiao was looking at the hands in slight shock, the sleeves neatly folded and rolled upwards three times, revealing thin arms. His arms all the way to the tip of his fingers were the same pale white and thin, fragile looking. It looked to be no different than what other people would expect of schrs, but she knew what kind of explosive powersy hidden in them, she couldn¡¯t but feel horrified and amazed at the same time at the realization.

    She suddenly recalled that the system had once said that Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s level in ancient martial arts was probably above Fleet Foot, but now it seemed like it was even higher than that?

    Nurtured essence, white mist floating in the air, he had to be at least at Xiantian level, at a minimum!

 Chapter 71 Emerging Industry

    "Mrs. Zhang¡¯s family had some issues, so she has gone back temporarily. If you need anything, you can just give me a call. That¡¯s all, go on ahead." Jiang Shuxuan said, letting her go while looking at her pale smooth face. The torn expression on her face made him unable to resist the urge to rub her head.

    By the sofa, the middle-aged man couldn¡¯t help but ask Yin Shaoyuan, "Boy, who¡¯s the pretty girl?"

    Yin Shaoyuan had been talking to Wu Hongwen, getting an update on what had transpired when he was interrupted. He didn¡¯t dare say anything about it though, and just exined with a disgruntled expression, "Dad, are you getting demented in your old age? Didn¡¯t you send someone to inquire about the Gu family¡¯s second daughter because you sympathized previously, now that you¡¯re seeing her in person, you don¡¯t recognize her?"

    "Oh, so that¡¯s her." Yin Jinian said, then he nced at Jiang Shuxuan, "Well, if you have the time, tell Shuxuan that the kid from Gu family is not easy, and she¡¯s just not worth your time. Not up to either of your standards, not even for fooling around."

    ¡¯Are you really my birth father! Do you not know that Jiang Shuxuan has such sharp hearing, he can even hear the sound of feathers falling to the ground ten meters away?¡¯

    Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s face held a dumbfounded expression, risking a nce at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s direction. Sure enough, his ck eyes were sharp, cold and as hard as a rock. His face was also tensed, his body rigid.

    The sins of the father fall to the son and both are guilty¡ªhe was a goner...

    Once Gu Xiqiao returned to her room, she looked at the drawing board, trying to calm the shock in her heart for a long while. She had the advantage of a cheating artifact system, which she could have the time of a year in a day. Even with that, she had been able to level up by chance. Jiang Shuxuan was not the same¡ªhe was a real cultivator who trained himself, and he was already at Xiantian level. How much talent did this genius have?

    Even the system was surprised at the revtion as it had never seen such a talented person before.

    [Wait a minute, Beauty Qiao! The profound chi in your body that was out of control has been stabilized!] The system suddenly eximed.

    She didn¡¯t notice just now, but once Gu Xiqiao heard the words from the system, she immediately concentrated her mind on the flow through the meridians. She then realized that the turbulent energy caused by the upgrades previously had disappeared. If the flow in her meridians was described as a raging river previously, it had now settled down into a gentle stream.

    [I thought that you would need to spend at least a month in virtual space to sort out all that turbulent chi, but it looks like it¡¯s not needed now. Beauty Qiao, I have a suspicion that Big Jiang assisted you just now! But for someone to be able to help sort out another¡¯s chi flow, that¡¯s just incredible and impossible!] The system said, rubbing its chin in puzzlement and confusion.

    Everyone¡¯s profound energy was not the same, because everyone walks different paths, so for Jiang Shuxuan... was another level of impossible that Gu Xiqiao and the system were unable to describe using words.

    "Is this the strength of a descendent from an ancient martial arts family..." Gu Xiqiao muttered as she pressed two pale fingers to her temple, her thin peach-colored lips pursing slightly. Smoothing out her delicate face into a serious expression, she said, "Help me set up, I¡¯ll do the daily missions first."

    Standing in the virtual space, she willed for a table to appear in front of her, together with pens, ink, inkstones, and paper on it. Practice was the best way to hone a person¡¯s mind, and the system watched as Gu Xiqiao wrote on the first piece of paper, her calligraphy bold and mboyant to the point it was almost haphazard, which was not her usual style. It was not until the second piece of paper that her calligraphy returned to normal.

    Seeing that she was feeling better, the system left her on her own to do her own things with a peace of mind.

    Gu Xiqiao was still too far away in terms of abilities from a person from an ancient martial family, so she still wasn¡¯t suitable to touch this circle.

    Downstairs, the issues with Yin Jinian had already been discussed and he had left with Yin Shaoyuan. Of course, Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t forget to take Wu Hongwen with him.

    As soon as they were out of the gate, Yin Shaoyuan hooked an arm around Wu Hongwen¡¯s neck, narrowing his eyes as he asked, "Why did you go out this afternoon?"

    Wu Hongwen had been chatting about it even before he stepped foot through the door, so of course they had overheard him. Maybe Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t that concerned about it, but Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t ignore it. She was his sister after all, wasn¡¯t she?

    The warm breath on Wu Hongwen¡¯s neck made him struggle over how ufortable it felt, but his struggles werepletely ignored by Yin Shaoyuan. Wu Hongwen was not able to resist, and he also didn¡¯t dare to offend him, so he could only obediently retell what had urred in the afternoon.

    "Is that so..." Yin Shaoyuan said as he rubbed his chin in thought. He nodded his head in satisfaction after a while. "Amazing. Not bad indeed, she¡¯s exactly like our family."

    Wu Hongwen nodded his head even as he rolled his eyes, ¡¯How big can your ego go!¡¯

    Naturally, the few people here were unaware that the Academy of Fine Arts was in an uproar. The dean of the academy was pulling all the strings and using all his connections in order to find the girl of unknown origins. And for those who were directly involved like Shen Nianzhi, being artists would mean that it wouldn¡¯t be difficult for them to identify a person¡¯s appearance, but no matter how they tried, they couldn¡¯t seem to recall the girl¡¯s face¡ªtheir memories in a hazy fog.

    The dean had been looking into the video surveince all day and night, and even the entire Chinese painting world had been shaken by this event, but not a hide nor hair of the girl could be found.

    The address used by the Nine Heavens Networkpany was from the previouspany that Mu Zong owned. The area was better, and it is located in a ten-floormerce building right in the middle of the city area.

    At the moment, thepany was still in its initial development stage, and the model scale was small. However, following this development trend, it would one day be a top of the lineworkpany, and it wouldn¡¯t be impossible to get into the international rankings.

    After the opening, Nine Heavens Networkpany had been widely epted by the public, as it was the firstworkpany that was founded entirely by Chinese. Their products¡¯ capabilities and privacy were strong and not only epted by the younger generations, even the older generations were happy to use the products.

    Nowadays, the first sentence uttered by youngsters when they met up was, "Do you know the Nine Heavens online game?"

    In addition to online games, the other software products they produced were also popr all over China. Everyone in the same circle was wondering how the Nine Heavenspany could be so productive and yield such a high return, and not only that, the software they released was also great and not inferiorpared to the technology developed by the other countries.

    When Gu Xiqiao reached the downstairs of the building, she gave a call to Mu Zong. Once Mu Zong received the call he hurried downstairs, seeing a girl in a pale yellow dress standing there. She was eye-catching, standing there with the sun shining on her pale skin from the back.

    When she saw Mu Zonging in her direction, she smiled at him lightly. "Uncle Mu, you have to take care of Tong Tong every day, and also bnce managing thispany. You really have worked hard."

    "Not at all, this opportunity is exactly what I¡¯ve been looking for." Mu Zong said, shaking himself out of the daze at the sight of her. Once he had gathered himself, he led her upstairs.

    How could this be said to be hard?

    Gu Xiqiao had the money, the ns, and also the brain. To be included in this huge slice of pie was already him being lucky, and sometimes he still couldn¡¯t believe his luck. Was this how simple hiseback easily came to him?

    He no longer needed to worry about not having enough money to treat his daughter¡¯s illness in the hospital, and he no longer had to worry about his business rivals trying to acquire the industry that he had established after so much hard work. Now, even those big shots that he used to only be able to admire from far would greet him respectfully as President Mu when they saw him.

    This was the life that he wanted, and he was willing to suffer through the hard work that came with it. This was because he knew that he wouldn¡¯t find a better-suited job for himself, and he would never be able to find another person who would believe in his capabilities like this.

    Even though the building for Nine Heavens Networkpany had ten floors, seven floors were actually not in use. It was still an emergingpany after all, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to recruit so many people at a time, being that its capital and scale were limited for now.

    And after experiencing the betrayals, Mu Zong was even more careful now when recruiting people. Ordinary employees were still fine, but the process for recruiting management people was more strict and rigorous, with a lot of thoughts being put into considering the person, and he would still finally ask Gu Xiqiao for advice beforeing to a decision.

    "Manager." The people inside greeted him with a smile when Mu Zong walked in.

    Mu Zong only inclined his head slightly in return¡ªnot introducing Gu Xiqiao to anyone. This was also at her request, as she wanted to remain behind the scenes.

    Once the two of them left, only did the employees started chatting with each other, "Hey, that person, do you think she¡¯s one of our colleagues?"

 Chapter 72 Best Technology In History

    "Having a colleague like that wouldn¡¯t be bad." A man with sses said as he started fantasizing, "She¡¯s such a rare beauty."

    "Bute to think of it, she¡¯s a little young. You guys don¡¯t think that she and the general manager..." The woman who was typing on the keyboard looked up as she said, giving a ¡¯you know¡¯ look to everyone.

    "Dang, didn¡¯t you see the cautious looks the general manager was giving her? I think she¡¯s some VIP. Weren¡¯t there rumors that ourpany is involved with the Yin family? Could it be someone from the Yin family then?" Another person threw in his thoughts.

    "Did you really just say that? You think ourpany can have a rtion to the Yin family?" The same woman replied with a gobsmacked expression on her face.

    To their eyes, the Yin family was an unreachable existence. In N City, their existence was simr to that of being the emperor of the nation. Once, someone had caught sight of Yin Manor, but they didn¡¯t have the chance to snap a picture before the person was chased away by the special police force.

    ¡¯With such a family that has extravagant security detail, to suggest that they have anything to do with this small start uppany, is your brain just for show?¡¯

    "How can you just dismiss it as nonsense! Do you know in the opening a few days ago, the Yin family not only sent congrattory flowers, but even Young Master Yin also came in person. Otherwise, do you think that the Commerce and Industry Bureau chief would be keeping an eye on us?" Another woman huffed.

    "Young Master Yin? The prince?!" Several women¡¯s attentions were distracted in another direction at the mention of him. " I heard that he changes girlfriends faster than he changes clothes. A few days ago, there was some scandal about him and some celebrity women, sadly the newspaper didn¡¯t dare to publish anything about it though."

    "Even if you search online, the results you¡¯d get would be things like relevantws, regtions, and policies, and results cannot be disyed. It¡¯s really a bummer."

    "Ha! You still bothered to search? But that¡¯s true, people like him are just too far away from us..."

    "Why are you guys chattering and gossiping during work hours? Do you want your bonus to be deducted?" Wang Bo had been on his way to the general manager¡¯s office after receiving the news, and took his time to educate the employees that he was passing by at the same time.

    Most of the people here were under Wang Bo, had high capabilities, and were very respectful toward Wang Bo. As soon as the words left his mouth, all chatter stopped and silence descended over them.

    ***

    Inside the office, Gu Xiqiao was looking at a performance report. Her reading speed was fast, as she flipped through the pages quickly. She read one in a matter of seconds, and picked up the nearest business proposal to read next.

    After she had flipped all of them, she gave them some thought before pointing out the minor errors to Mu Zong, as well as corrected a few more obvious ones.

    Mu Zong was taking note of all the important points. In the beginning when he saw the way she was flipping through the pages, he had thought that she was just giving a cursory nce through it. He didn¡¯t expect that she would be able to read them all in detail, and also propose ns. These ns were drafted by all of them who had been cracking their heads for two days, and yet she coulde up with some with just a nce?

    Mu Zong couldn¡¯t believe his eyes as he stared at Gu Xiqiao, where did this monstere from?

    He wouldn¡¯t know how strong Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mentality was, to the point that the Chinese idiom of ¡¯ten lines at a nce¡¯, which meant ¡¯to read rapidly¡¯ was literally describing her.

    As soon as Wang Bo came in, he asked if Gu Xiqiao had brought any new software for her research, to which she nodded her head, "This is the high-tech software that I gave to Bluestar Entertainment, you can make a copy to tinker around with it. Mu Zong, you can reach out to the manager from Bluestar Entertainment."

    [Beauty Qiao, to be honest, with the technology you have on earth right now, it¡¯s possible that you wouldn¡¯t be able to research any of these in the next twenty years. The three hundred points you spent were really worth it!] The system had a slightly pained expression when it said that. Three hundred points for three software sounded expensive, but it would be able to bring the greatest benefit to an emerging industry. For the sake of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s future, it endured for her...

    Mu Zong wouldn¡¯t know how valuable the software that Gu Xiqiao held in her hands was, but he could tell that the value was not low based on the price of the otherpanies bidding on it. When he heard that she had given it to Bluestar Entertainment for free, Mu Zong felt a little pain in his heart, that just nearly ten million out the window.

    He recalled the opening day of thepany, when Yin Shaoyuan had personally delivered a flower baster. This kind of friendship, exchanging a few software was nothing, right?

    But why did he still feel that they were the ones who had lost out!

    Mu Zong struggled with his own internally as he asked his assistant to arrange the contact with Bluestar Entertainment¡¯s executives.

    As for Wang Bo, he took the software that Gu Xiqiao had handed him to make a copy. As soon as he turned on hisputer, a line appeared on the desktop dialogue.

    [Did you make this software?

    From: X]

    Wang Bo blinked in surprise, rubbing his eyes after to make sure he wasn¡¯t seeing things. The one who had sent the message was a pinnacle figure in the hacking world. Even if you were in the same circle, you couldn¡¯t even nce at the dragon¡¯s tail that was residing up in the mountain, you could only look at the mountain in the distance. And now, this great god was talking to him in a casual tone, Wang Bo felt like he was on cloud nine. Even while typing his reply, he whimpered.

    [Are you really God X? God X, I¡¯ve admired you for a very long time!]

    ***

    On the other side of the Antic Ocean, a boy who had ck hair and ck coal eyes watched the line of letters appear on his screen, together with a few new software, and his eyes lit up in eagerness.

    After a long while, he slowly lifted his head, his eyes were bloodshot from staring at the screen for long hours. As expected, these software were not something he could crack, no matter how much he tried.

    If it was the past him, he absolutely wouldn¡¯t believe that there were software out there that he couldn¡¯t crack. However, now, the reality was right in front of him, and it made him tremble with excitement and surprise. Maybe it was time to return...

    In the upper circles of N City, the majority of them knew who Bluestar Entertainment belonged to. Even though it was said that someone who involved in military and politics was not allowed to involve themselves in business, when Yin Shaoyuan opened an entertainmentpany, it wasn¡¯t like anyone dared to say anything about it. The old men from the Yin family were indulging him also, so who were they as outsiders to try dictating anything?

    Yin Shaoyuan had always been hands-off regarding thispany, and his talent in business was not especially high. He had also been in the Imperial Capital for the more recent years, and hadn¡¯t been paying much attention to Bluestar Entertainment.

    Fortunately, the management in charge of Bluestar Entertainment was more than able to run thepany smoothly. Although Yin Shaoyuan was crazy, because he had a lot of money, others would also give him face. Otherwise, it would be difficult for such apany without anything unique about it to survive.

    The senior management had finally caught Yin Shaoyuan once in thepany, immediately bringing him for a meeting in the meeting room. Perhaps Yin Shaoyuan realized that he couldn¡¯t go on like this, and he had deferred to the people who were sitting in the room, and had earnestly sat down in the meeting for the discussion. Once the management people saw him doing so, they were also a little relieved.

    Don¡¯t think that they were being presumptuous, if this young master didn¡¯t want toe to the meeting, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything anyway.

    This time they requested for Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s presence because of the newestpany ¡¯Nine Heavens Network¡¯ that had been taking the city by a storm. This emergingpany had recentlyunched several softwares and sent it to the auction house. After the evaluation of the auction site, each software had been auctioned for an amazing price of four million.

    The news spread and caused an uproar everywhere, and Nine Heavens Networkpany rose to a new height due to that.

    Now Bluestar Entertainment¡¯s worry was that theirpetitor had sessfully auctioned a software, but the details were tightly sealed and they still had no idea what kind of software it was. But in recent days, their media coverage had resulted in quite a rise in poprity for them, and had overshadowed Bluestar Entertainment¡¯s own, and this was causing Bluestar Entertainment to be anxious.

    After several discussions, Yin Shaoyuan seemed to have some sort of rtionship with Nine Heavens Networkpany. So they wanted to ask him if he could inquire whether they were willing to sell them another software.

    Knowing that this was the reason these people had requested for him, Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t really believe them. He even felt that his management was cracking a joke at him. "In your opinion, is Nine Heavens Network Group really that great? Even better than the military specific miniature camera that I bought from America at such a high price?"

    "That¡¯s right." The executive¡¯s expression was solemn as he replied, "However, that Mu Zong from Nine Heavens is a slippery guy. I tried contacting him a few times, and he just messed around with me, not giving any serious thought at all. Then we thought of you, sir, we can¡¯t be overwhelmed like this by that guy!"

    Yin Shaoyuan leaned back in his chair, his eyes curving up as hezily yed with his phone, seemingly not listening to the words that were being said.

    A person like him would naturally not understand the power of technology that was simr to Microsoft.

    Seeing the way he reacted, the executives started to feel even more anxious. Fortunately, the phone rang at the exact moment, and the executive looked at the person calling, his face lighting up as he hurriedly picked it up.

 Chapter 73 Feas

    The person on the phone was someone the Bluestar Entertainment executive had always wanted to meet, but was unable to. After finishing up the call, he suddenly turned to Yin Shaoyin with a look of admiration. "Young Master Yin, so you had actually already obtained the software from Nine Heavens Network. Mu Zong just called to let us know that they would provide us with the software and hardware with no charge!"

    Faced with the bright eyes of his executive, Yin Shaoyuan was a bit dumbfounded. "..."

    He then realized that his executives had not been joking with him. Slipping on a more serious expression, he raised an eyebrow. "The part where you said their software was great, that wasn¡¯t trying to rile me up?"

    "The auction site personally evaluated it, it definitely wasn¡¯t! Everyone in the circle knows that too!" The executives wereughing joyously, there were now only three software programs left from Nine Heavens, and you couldn¡¯t imagine the joy they were feeling right now for having one in their hands. "Young Master Yin, don¡¯t go first. The software will be here soon, and I can personally have a demonstration to show you."

    Yin Shaoyuan said nothing as he took out his phone, waiting patiently for the first time ever.

    The twopanies were located in the city center, and the distance was not that far. The software was quickly sent over, and the staff from the tech department were gathered around when it arrived. Yin Shaoyuan nced at it.

    He didn¡¯t understand the cryptic and difficult codes that he saw, but with the maneuvering of the engineer, the ordinary t media immediately lit up with brilliant 3D colors from its dull t state. The engineer was excited as he said, "I haven¡¯t fully understood the software, and can only produce this effect at the moment. Everything inside here is amazing, give me a few days, I will definitely be able to make the coolest promotional image in the world with this!"

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t understand the technical aspects of this, nor why this was such a great thing, but seeing the uncontroble excitement of his technicians, he smothered his doubts.

    Nine Heavens had brought over the software, and the issue about this had been solved perfectly. The senior management no longer pestered Yin Shaoyuan about his presence, and so he left thepany with aplicated feeling in his heart.

    In the beginning when he had befriended Gu Xiqiao, it wasn¡¯t with any ulterior motive or anything. Firstly, it was because the girl was exquisite in appearance and her fiery temper was exactly up his alley. Secondly, it was because Jiang Shuxuan treated her very well, and so he just went with the flow and acknowledged her as his sister.

    In the eyes of others, it would seem like she had picked up a big bargain with him doing so, but now it would seem like it was the other way around, wasn¡¯t it?

    Turning down a beauty politely, Yin Shaoyuan gave Gu Xiqiao a call, deciding to invite her for a meal.

    ***

    When Gu Xiqiao received the call, she was already at the door of an inte cafe, she hade here after the discussion with Mu Zong. Listening to the words from Yin Shaoyuan, she rubbed her temple gently as she replied, "I can¡¯t make it today, I¡¯m meeting with Xiao Yun for something. Next time, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal instead."

    Entering an inte cafe for the first time in her two lives, she felt that the ce was very simple.

    She had initially nned on returning home directly, but Wu Hongwen had called her toe over to the inte cafe. What confused her was that Xiao Yun woulde to a ce like this.

    Presenting her ID card with mixed feelings, Gu Xiqiao paid the fee and nced around, spotting Wu Hongwen who was with Xiao Yun quickly. The two of them were not in private seatings either, sitting in a corner of the lobby, wearing earphones. They didn¡¯t even realize she was approaching.

    Finally seeing Gu Xiqiao making her way over, Wu Hongwen immediately cleared a seat for her. "Do you feel it¡¯s too noisy? I thought since it¡¯s an inte cafe, the best way to have the feel was to sit in the lobby area."

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t showing any signs of disdain, Wu Hongwen grinned. "I brought you here today to y the Nine Heavens game that even Xiao Yun can¡¯t stop ying!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mixed feelings got even moreplicated hearing that.

    Although the online game was distributed from her hands, she had never touched it before.

    "Click here to log in, then enter a nickname, which is simr to a user name." Wu Hongwen walked Gu Xiqiao through the process step-by-step, because he was afraid she didn¡¯t understand, and took the time to exin clearly.

    She gave some serious thought before entering the words: For A Millennium.

    "You¡¯re already in the starting vige, click on the NPC to ept the task and wait a while for me, I¡¯ll log in to bring you around." Wu Hongwen proceeded to hijack theputer beside him, chasing away the young man who had been sitting on it. While guiding Gu Xiqiao around, he admired the game as they yed. "I¡¯m not sure who created the game, but the sound effects, graphics, speed, skills, and theplex controls are everything that I ever wanted. Sometimes it feels like I¡¯m not ying a game, but it¡¯s actually reality."

    "I always thought that these kinds of games could only be developed by other foreign countries, and I never expected to see China setting a precedent for it instead. I can already imagine the day when Nine Heavens dominates the world of online games!" Wu Hongwen said excitedly, as though he had wanted to say it for a long time.

    Gu Xiqiao only smiled as she listened to his words, her features highlighting her youth, her face resembling a beautiful painting, and her earnest looks in her eyes were gentle.

    Wu Hongwen got more excited and animated the more he talked.

    Gu Xiqiao might be a genius in many other aspects, but in terms of online games, she was only average. She wasn¡¯t a klutz by any means, but she wasn¡¯t great either. She couldn¡¯t evenpare to Xiao Yun¡¯s level, but it wasn¡¯t like she was interested in online games anyway. It was the system that liked it, and Gu Xiqiao let it y.

    As the most powerful virtualwork, the system had already produced its own intelligence. Even the most powerful firewall would be nothing in front of it, and ying an online game was just a walk in the park for it.

    "Ah, I almost forgot!" Xiao Yun said suddenly, turning away from theputer in front of her to face Gu Xiqiao. "The ss monitor told me to invite you for the farewell banquet, what time is it now¡ªoh no!"

    Wu Hongwen nced at the digital disy on theputer. "It¡¯s 4:25 pm."

    "He asked us to arrive before 5 o¡¯clock, luckily it¡¯s not over the agreed time yet." Xiao Yun said, breathing a sigh of relief.

    Tomorrow was the day when the results of the national finals would be announced. Until then, a lot of families would be rejoicing and at the same time be worried. Most people chose to enjoy before the results came out, so their ss monitoe decided to have a big feast the day before the announcement. However, he couldn¡¯t contact Gu Xiqiao, so could only leave it to Xiao Yun to bring her.

    ***

    The venue of the party was set in a fairly good entertainment club. Xiao Yun looked in from the distance, and was slightly surprised, "I didn¡¯t expect our ss monitor to have so much money."

    "Your focus on certain things are still weird, as usual." Gu Xiqiao said, smiling lightly at thement. She had already seen their ss representative who was standing beside the door. "Aren¡¯t you the richest in our ss?"

    Xiao Yun nced at Gu Xiqiao. "No, that¡¯s you."

    Gu Xiqiao scratched her nose, deciding not to retort. The ss monitor had already seen the two of them. "You two beautiful women are finally here. If you were anyter, I would probably be torn to pieces by those little bitches in there!"

    The two of them followed him into the private room, seeing that the rest of their ss had already gathered here. Seeing the ss monitor bringing the two over, one of the guys pped the ss monitor on his back enthusiastically. "You¡¯re really something, here are three cups as your reward!"

    The ss monitor couldn¡¯t say anything as three cups were pushed into his face with those words.

    "Beauties!" The people greeted Gu Xiqiao one after another. They had been divided into two tables, and Gu Xiqiao was ushered into the main seat, while Xiao Yun followed closely, settling into a seat beside her.

    "Everyone knows that due to some family issues, I almost had to give up taking the national finals, and maths was my worst ever subject. At such a despairing time, I had Beauty Gu and you guys beside me. This time¡¯s finals were easier than the previous mock exams that I had to take. Thank you, and also thank you everyone!" The girl sitting opposite Gu Xiqiao stood up and raised a ss in her direction, her eyes slightly red when she was finished.

    So many people had advised her to give up, and only the people in the Parallel ss had apanied her through this period and encouraged her.

    "There isn¡¯t much else to say, this toast is to you, Beauty Gu." The people who were sitting at the next table also came over, one after another. All of them knew, in thest moments of their preparations, it was because Gu Xiqiao had led them every step of the way, that they were able to create the miracle that they did.

    Even in thest mock exam that they took, the average marks of their ss had managed to catch up with those in the Rocket ss. It made the director who had always shunned their Parallel ss to be dumbstruck at the results.

    They believed that when the results of the national finals were announced, their Parallel ss results wouldn¡¯t be that bad.

    This was faith, the confidence that had been given to them by Gu Xiqiao!

 Chapter 74 Ultimate Mission!

    Gu Xiqiao stood slowly, raising her own ss. "This is the result of your own hard work, what you all rightfully deserve!"

    The light reflecting off the transparent wine sses that were raised shone with beautiful rainbow colors, all the expressions on everyone¡¯s face was joyful, as a loud, joyous cheer sounded out, rocking the entire private box.

    After finishing their meal, a waiter came to remove the table and chairs, opening the wall at the center of the room to reveal arge LCD screen TV. The box instantly transformed into arge KTV area, and the ss lead was calling for everyone to y the games offered, while some sang karaoke, chatted and it felt like they had returned to those beautiful carefree days of their final year.

    Gu Xiqiao sat on the sofa, her head in her hand as she watched them have fun, she was after all ¡¯elderly¡¯, and she wasn¡¯t so easily hyped up like these youngsters. The others around her just assumed that she had a little too much to drink, and didn¡¯t force her to join in on their fun.

    "Why are you hiding here,eee, sing a song! I want to hear how Beauty Gu¡¯s voice sounds!" The girl sitting at the back table was a mic hog, but when she saw Gu Xiqiao sitting there without moving, she couldn¡¯t help but shout out.

    With that one exmation, everyone¡¯s eyes fell on her. Once they heard that Gu Xiqiao was going to sing, they couldn¡¯t help but feel some anticipation and eagerness rise.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head to find that everyone had stopped their activities and was looking at her, so she silently got up without protest, heading towards the mic and choosing a song.

    The familiar music started ying, and everyone here recognized the melody of the song.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t look at the lyrics, sitting casually on the stool with azy look in her eyes. Her long eyshes and sparkling ck eyes were mesmerizing, and a clear voice sounded out, "If the two words didn¡¯t tremble, then I wouldn¡¯t have known that it was unbearable..."

    Her voice was like a gentle stream flowing through, and sometimes it went lower to the baritone range, bing clearer and clearer as the song went on, letting those who listened feel the mild and lingering caress in their ears.

    The song was already moving by itself, and her singing was also amazing, and the atmosphere of joy previously in the room was also falling from the emotions in the air.

    In their third year, they used to sleep and eat together, and even go to the washroom together.

    Especially in the final month, it was the most important and unforgettable time of their lives. They had stuck together, ran together, rebelled against the director together. They pulled each other along all the way, and those days were days that none of them would forget, even when they were too old to walk.

    Some of the girls couldn¡¯t help the redness of their eyes, a few of them even hugging each other, promising to attend the same university in the same city.

    "Gu Xiqiao, you¡¯re awesome, making our entire ss cry." Xiao Yun couldn¡¯t help but say after she watched Gu Xiqiao put down the mic. Looking around at her ssmates, she couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly emotional.

    Gu Xiqiao was not expecting this to happen either. "...I really didn¡¯t mean to. Um, why didn¡¯t the ss teachere?"

    Xiao Yun took a piece of watermelon casually, her voicezy as she replied, "He went off to the Imperial Capital once we finished our exams, but since tomorrow is the announcement, he should be back by then."

    With that said, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother pursuing further. "I¡¯m going to the washroom."

    The washroom inside the private box was upied, and it seemed like the person inside was constipated or something. Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want to wait, and as Xiao Yun was talking to the ss monitor, she only nodded her head and told her to be careful.

    "Alright," Gu Xiqiao said, taking her phone with her as she left.

    The washroom wasn¡¯t that far from the room, just take a turn and it was there. Strictly speaking, she was still underage at this time. This is the first time she had drunk alcohol at this age, and this wasn¡¯t the same body that could walk in a wine pool. Drinking a little wine in this body was already ufortable.

    The light was dim in here, and her pale white skin contrasted against it, standing out even more, like a sparkling beauty. The corridor was quiet, but she slowed her steps, her brows furrowing. She looked to the left of the room, her eyes sharpening.

    There was a presence in there that made her ufortable.

    A hand emerged from the corner, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Her heartbeat sped up in an instant, this was the first time, the first time that she had felt so powerless in front of a person. Since she had leveled up her ancient martial arts skill, she was able to sense everything within the radius of ten meters, but she didn¡¯t even detect the presence of this person!

    "What are you doing here?"

    A familiar voice rang out from the top of her head, and a tug came at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart as she felt a warm touch on her back. The chest behind her was hard and solid, and although the usual smell on him was absent, she could make a guess at the familiar feeling he gave off. "Brother Jiang!"

    She raised her head, her eyes meeting those deep, ck eyes that looked like they were glittering in the dark.

    Hearing her voice, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression gradually eased, the corner of his lips tilting up slightly. His eyebrow cocked up, he was just standing there, and yet he could portray himself to be indecently handsome. "And you¡¯ve been drinking?"

    "It¡¯s a ss party, I only drank a little," Gu Xiqiao replied, touching her nose lightly. She had already washed her face, how was he able to still tell from the lingering smell?

    [Forced chain mission: Purify the evil aura! Please follow Jiang Shuxuan into the mission venue, find the mission target, and purify his evil aura.]

    [Missionpletion reward for first partpletion: 200 points! Missionpletion reward for the entire part: 100,000 points! Penalty for iplete mission: Obliteration!]

    A paragraph of blood-red words had appeared on the transparent panel in front of her, one sentence at a time. It was as though the words were engraved in her mind, and her mental state took a huge blow.

    This was the first time a mission like this had appeared, and the words ¡¯obliteration¡¯ made all blood drain from her face. She called out to the system in the void, ¡¯System! What is going on?!¡¯

    [Wait a while, don¡¯t panic, Beauty Qiao, I¡¯m investigating.] A serious look was on the system spirit¡¯s face, as it sat crossed legged while reading through the information. It was not omnipotent, everything that it knew came from a chip imnted by others into its brain. It required some time to process and digest millions of data.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jiang Shuxuan saw that she was even more pale than usual, he grabbed her arm immediately, searching her face for any hints.

    Gu Xiqiao was someone who had already died once, so she calmed down fairly quickly. Reaching out a hand to grip the corner of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s shirt, a pair of clear, calm eyes looked up at him. Her skin was as white as ice and snow, and her delicate eyebrows made her face look even more fragile. "It¡¯s alright, Brother Jiang. I will go with you."

    "Alright." With such a determined look on her face, he couldn¡¯t find it in him to reject her. In addition, the task he was on wasn¡¯t that dangerous, and he agreed with little thought, "After we go in, don¡¯t talk. Just stay by my side."

    Jiang Shuxuan rubbed her head gently, and then led her to a luxurious box room.

    When they reached the door of the room, he let go of their intertwined hands. Gu Xiqiao followed behind him.

    There weren¡¯t many people in the room, and the room was iparable to the one that the parallel ss was in. Seeing that Jiang Shuxuan had returned, the people inside greeted him. Most of the people here were upstarts in N City, and were families who were not really well known. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t know of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity either. They just saw him as someone who was overly generous, and would quietly ept his arrival.

    Everyone was crowding a fierce looking man, and his name was disyed above his head: Wang Lixin.

    The words were marked red by the system, and Gu Xiqiao knew immediately that this was the mission target!

    [Beauty Qiao, I¡¯ve found it. This is also known as the ultimate chain mission. The year you died and was scanned by the system, because you met the criteria of the system, the system was willing to spend so much energy to help you be reborn.] The system spirit paused a while here, before continuing, [But you know, everyone¡¯s fate is unchangeable. Your rebirth has already changed history to a certain extent, so you are required toplete some missions in order to ensure the natural order of the world is not disrupted. This ultimate chain mission is the most important and dangerous mission that you need toplete, and only afterpleting it will you have a real rebirth, and be free from the control of the system. This mission is linked to others down the road, and it will get more dangerous in the future, this is just the beginning!]

 Chapter 75 Success

    Hearing the exnation from the system, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart finally calmed down from the surge of panic she felt. Knowing the whole story now, it wasn¡¯t necessary to feel so much fear.

    Jiang Shuxuan returned to his seat, and after taking his seat, he moved a te of fruit that was in front of him to Gu Xiqiao.

    The female model that was sitting beside Wang Lixin hated the sight in an instance. She wasn¡¯t very old, but her debut period had been very long. Being in the circle for such a long time, she had naturally conformed to the methods that they used to survive in it. Although the gold mine that she had found wasn¡¯t great in the looks department and had a bad temper, she could endure as long as she had a steady source of resources for herself. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t be able to get to where she was today.

    After these few days of following Wang Lixin, she had also gotten to know Jiang Shuxuan. Although she didn¡¯t have a chance to speak to him, she knew his background, his worth, young, handsome, and he was the biggest catch in this circle. No one had seen him bring any partner before, and suddenly this young girl was brought out. The female model couldn¡¯t tell whether she should be jealous or envious.

    She gave Gu Xiqiao a look of contempt, categorizing her as those girls who were kept and sheltered.

    "Little sister, you¡¯ve new to all this mingling, aren¡¯t you." She wasn¡¯t that far from Gu Xiqiao, just stretching out her hand, she would be able to touch her. She handed Gu Xiqiao a ss of wine that had something added in., "Big sister will treat you to a ss."

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at her, taking the offered ss silently, but not drinking it, just holding it in her hand.

    The female model gave a cold expression. They were all here to be unted, what was there to be acting all high and mighty about. She looked at Jiang Shuxuan who didn¡¯t look up at all during the exchange, and felt that the girl didn¡¯t seem to be the type that he would like at all. With that thought, she stood up to walk to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.

    "What¡¯s wrong, you don¡¯t like this?" She said, bringing the ss up to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips.

    At the same time, the formation in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands beenpleted and had materialized, the chi in her body surging outwards.

    [Ding! 20 points deducted! The host has received a bonus for the first timepletion of a formation!]

    What Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t see was that her formation had already taken effect, with a cloud of ck smokeing out from Wang Lixin¡¯s head. The ck smoke gave off a chilling cold effect, and when it floated out, the area around it was covered with ayer of white mist.

    Part of the ck smoke dissipated, while another part spread out through the room, and some of it stopping when it encountered Gu Xiqiao, and slowly disappeared.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t see any of this, but Jiang Shuxuan saw it clearly with his own eyes. He turned to look at Gu Xiqiao with a slightly stunned expression.

    The female model, seeing that Gu Xiqiao was ignoring her, felt the annoyance building up within her. Casting a nce to see that Jiang Shuxuan was giving Gu Xiqiao quite a focused look, she felt pleased, that was her ticket to get out of this, right?

    Feeling more and more that she was being reasonable about this, the female model straightened her posture so that her breasts were slightly more pushed up and more cleavage was visible, she whined. "Master Jiang, what kind of partner have you brought out?"

    p!

    Jiang Shuxuan reached out to p away the ss held in the female model¡¯s hand. Reaching out, he gently took Gu Xiqiao and led her out of the box. Since the matter had been resolved, there was no reason for him to stay any longer.

    There were no more dangerous people here, and soon there would be peopleing for the aftermath.

    The entire box was silent, the noises within cutting off suddenly, including the female model, who was staring at Jiang Shuxuan in a daze, not believing that he could be so impudent.

    After mingling for a few days, this was not the first time they had gazed upon his face. In their impression, he was just another ordinary second generation upstart from a rich family, but now they suddenly found that this man was different from their first impression.

    The grave, stern and cold expression made it looked like his face was carved from ice, the lines on his face doing nothing but highlighting the delicate features, and even the dim light in the room did nothing to hide his elegance.

    Bang!

    Wang Lixin, who had been sitting in the main seat suddenly fell down in a faint, and the entire box was thrown into a mess.

    ***

    "Xiao Yun is still waiting for me in the box, I can¡¯t return with you yet," Gu Xiqiao said, stopping in her steps during the descent to the ground floor of the building, suddenly remembering that Xiao Yun was still waiting for her.

    She took out her phone, ncing at it, there were twenty missed calls on it!

    Jiang Shuxuan had been holding her shoulders all this while, and just nced at her from the corner of his eye when she said that, the corner of his mouth curving slightly. "No."

    Gu Xiqiao: "..."

    "You said you would follow me." Jiang Shuxuan continued in a casual tone, but his brows were slightly furrowed. As soon as they had stepped out, he had checked her energy levels in her body, and found it to be near empty. She was now in quite a fragile state, and needed to have proper rest.

    With her in such a state, how could he leave her outside with a peace of mind.

    "Alright, then let me call Xiao Yun," Gu Xiqiao said, ncing up at him. She felt that there was no room for negotiation on this, so she gave Xiao Yun a call. While waiting for the call to connect, she said, "Today is thest dinner with my ssmates, is it really fine for me to leave early?"

    "It¡¯ll be fine, you¡¯re all ssmates. They wouldn¡¯t be petty about it too much. You even need me to support you while we walk right now, and you still think that you¡¯re able to head back in and y with them?" Jiang Shuxuan caressed the top of her head fondly, sighing. "You don¡¯t always have to consider other people¡¯s feelings, sometimes you have to think about yourself. People always have to put themselves as priority first and foremost."

    Gu Xiqiao was stunned for a while at his words, and she lowered her head slightly, keeping quiet for a while, before responding softly, "...I know."

    She was just used to it.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s phone was answered by the ss monitor, "Oh my god, you finally called. Xiao Yun and the other girls are tearing the washrooms apart to find you, if you still hadn¡¯t contacted us we would have gone to the hotel and caused a ruckus."

    If it was anyone else, the ss monitor and the others wouldn¡¯t be in this state. But this was Gu Xiqiao, and Xiao Yun had been in a panic with red eyes, almost calling Wu Hongwen over. Once their ssmates saw how frazzled she was, all of them had joined in the search and swept the entire second floor, but there was still no sight of her, so they continued the search to the third floor.

    The ss monitor was relieved when the call came, as long as she didn¡¯t disappear suddenly, all was good.

    "...you better let them know so they cane back." Gu Xiqiao felt the situation was a little amusing, and she felt touched at the same time. After waiting a while, the phone was finally back in Xiao Yun¡¯s hands.

    Once Xiao Yun knew that Gu Xiqiao was with Jiang Shuxuan, only did she feel a relief course through her.

    Jiang Shuxuan waited for her to end the call, before saying, "Your ssmates are all decent, you¡¯re able to get along with them all."

    His underlying meaning was: Forget about those people from the Gu family, they¡¯re not worth it.

    "I know." Gu Xiqiao nodded, she hadn¡¯t been in contact with the people in Parallel ss in her previous life. In this life, they got along well because of Old Ban. At least these people had a grateful heart in them.

    ***

    After heading back only did Gu Xiqiao give some serious thought about this ultimate chain mission. Because of limited authorization, the system could only ess limited information. Hence, she didn¡¯t know what the final mission in this string of missions would be, and how difficult it would be.

    "How many points do you need to level up to the next level?" Gu Xiqiao asked, sitting cross-legged across the system spirit in the virtual space.

    The system gave a cautious look at her, [One...one thousand points.]

    Gu Xiqiao lifted her eyebrows, giving the system a once-over. Her eyes were bright, which made the system have a spark of hope in her.

    After half a beat, her lips shifted. "...we¡¯ll talk about it next time then."

    [...] It knew it!

    "When the time is right, I will definitely get you upgraded," She said, giving it a smile, a gentle expression on her face.

    [Thank you, Beauty Qiao!] The system spirit¡¯s eyes sparkled brightly at that.

    ***

    The next day was the most anticipated and dreaded day for the third-year students in N City. The results of the college entrance examination exams would be released, sess or failure would be determined by it.

    At 9 o¡¯clock in the morning, all the students were out of bed and fresh, sitting in front of aputer while waiting for the results in anticipation. This was going to be the result of their hard work in studying for the past twelve years! This was the result that would determine their direction in life! This would be the clearest line of distinction between all the students!

    At this moment, even the calmest person would inevitably feel anxious, not daring to lift their fingers to press the ¡¯Enter¡¯ key.

 Chapter 76 National Finals Resul

    Gu Xiqiao sat on the carpet in the living hall, teasing the dog as she threw a hoop, letting it dangle on it.

    At first, Haha wasn¡¯t willing to go along with it, but its instinct kicked in, in the end. Being teased by the toy a few times, it finally started to have fun with it after a few minutes.

    She didn¡¯t realize that today was the day the results were announced until Xiao Yun called her, as she was having a lot of fun ying with Haha.

    "How much did you get?" That was the first sentence that greeted her when she picked up the call from Xiao Yun.

    "What?" Gu Xiqiao blinked at the question, their thoughts not on the same wavelength.

    Xiao Yun pped her own forehead in exasperation. "I say, the national finals result, have you checked yours yet?"

    "I haven¡¯t." Gu Xiqiao replied, snapping out of her daze. She threw the hoop into a random direction and pulled herself up to the sofa, "You¡¯ve checked yours then? How did you do?"

    "Chinese 123 points! A total score of 649 points! That¡¯s 98 points higher than the minimum line!" Xiao Yun¡¯s voice got more excited as she talked, "I went to an interview at the performing arts faculty in B University three months ago, and I was worried I wouldn¡¯t have enough points, but it looks like I¡¯ll have enough and more!"

    Hearing that Xiao Yun had gone for an interview at the School of Performing Arts in B University, Gu Xiqiao raised a delicate eyebrow. It seems that her original route of going into the film industry had not changed, and her pink lips curved up in a smile. "Congrattions!"

    "It was nothing big." Xiao Yun said modestly, knowing inside her heart that she wouldn¡¯t be where she was without Gu Xiqiao. "The site for checking the results has yet to close, give me your desk number and ID."

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t really bothered about it, and her memory was good, recalling the numbers from the time she had to fill it in over the year. She didn¡¯t need to head upstairs to look for it, and she gave it to Xiao Yun right after she had asked for it without much thought.

    Xiao Yun didn¡¯t hang up the phone, and Gu Xiqiao could hear the keyboard typing on the other side of the call. After a while, Xiao Yun¡¯s surprised voice came through. "That¡¯s weird, why can¡¯t I find your grades?"

    "If you can¡¯t find it it¡¯s fine, maybe it¡¯s a system dy. Hurry and tell Grandpa Xiao the news, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be ecstatic," Gu Xiqiao replied, smiling widely. Xiao Yun hesitated only a moment, knowing that Gu Xiqiao would let her know once she had any news on this.

    Gu Xiqiao waited for a while and sure enough, Wu Hongwen¡¯s call came as scheduled. He had usually had decent grades in rocket ss, but after mixing with Gu Xiqiao and the others for a month, his grades had been raised to a new level. The results he got this time was 721 points, even for someone from Rocket ss, that was amazing and just second to Luo Weng!

    So the only one left was her?

    Finally, even Mrs. Zhang called her to ask about her results. Gu Xiqiao was nonchnt about it, and she also tried to check for her results on theputer, but she couldn¡¯t find it.

    ***

    At the same time in the base, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s phone was ringing. He flipped it open to see an unfamiliar number on his personal phone. He paused the meeting, and took the call.

    After a while, aplicated look crossed his face.

    Hanging up the call, he continued with the meeting. Not long after, another call came in. This time, there was a shocked expression on his face after taking the call.

    "Let¡¯s end it here for today," he announced directly after that, ending the meeting.

    Waiting for everyone to leave, Yin Shaoyuan stood up from his seat with a puzzled expression, "Brother Jiang, it¡¯s not easy for you toe to the base, why are you leaving so soon suddenly?"

    "Her national finals results have juste out. I received three calls, one each from S University, B University, and A University." Jiang Shuxuan turned and walked out of the room, emotions fleeting through his obsidian eyes. Thin lips lifted slightly, and the lines on his face smoothed out into a more gentle expression on his delicate face.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was waiting for the call from her ss teacher, since she didn¡¯t manage to check her results.

    "Student Gu, your total score for the national finals is 747 points, which is three points more than Luo Weng." Old Ban¡¯s voice was as energetic as ever. "The major universities have all barred your results, fearing that your family¡¯s phones would be ringing non-stop. Student Gu, that¡¯s incredible!" In the end, he couldn¡¯t hide the joy that was in his voice.

    "I understand, thank you, Teacher." Gu Xiqiao replied, nodding her head, not really surprised at the result.

    As for Old Ban, he had never met a doll who was so calm. "I just called to let you know, in case you¡¯re in a panic after not being able to check your results. It¡¯s fine then,e to school tomorrow, I think they¡¯ll be a lot of people looking for you."

    Gu Xiqiao walked downstairs as she talked on the phone, thinking that she would have to fill up forms on information and which university to choose.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already entered the house, seeing that she wasing downstairs, he stopped and stood by the door. He stood against the light, all coldness from his expression fading, his lips tilted up in a rare smile and a soft look on his face as he looked at her. "Congrattions."

    She had always thought that even if such a cold person like him smiled, it would be stiff and awkward, but with just that small smile, it felt like a spring breeze that could melt the coldest snow.

    His smile wasn¡¯t hiding anything behind it, a bright light in his eyes as if there were diamonds in his eyes. In this moment, only one word that came to her mind¡ªphenomenal.

    He really should smile more, Gu Xiqiao thought as she scratched her nose, and forced herself to look away from that radiant smile.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her fluttering eyes, and chuckled lowly as he ducked down a little, rubbing her head gently. "Top ranker, we¡¯ll have a celebration tonight and invite some close friends."

    At this time, you should be celebrating such a joyous asion with family. However, thinking of that bunch of people that was her family, Jiang Shuxuan furrowed his brows, it was like having none at all anyway. At least she still had him.

    Thinking about the fact that Gu Xiqiao had filled in the contact information for family with his details, Jiang Shuxuan felt somewhat rueful and d that she had done so.

    It was a good thing that it was his details.

    "There¡¯s no need." Gu Xiqiao said, waving her hands. "They will definitely be having dinner with their family, it¡¯s fine. I still have to go to school tomorrow."

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her. "That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll make the arrangements."

    Gu Xiqiao: "..."

    The news of the top ranker in N City quickly spread through their own ssmates, and soon it had spread across the school.

    In the afternoon, major newspapers had already obtained first-hand information on the college examination results.

    Every year, the top ranker in the national finals was always popr news. Adding on the fact that she wasn¡¯t only the top ranker in N City, but also the entire country, this content was far more gold and couldn¡¯t bepared to the articles on the previous top rankers that they had published before.

    It wasn¡¯t only the top ranker that was interesting, but the one who came in second was also outstanding. Just three points less than the top ranker, N City had not only taken the top spot, they had taken the second spot also. As soon as the information on the college entrance examination was out, it wasn¡¯t only N City¡ªeven the other cities werepeting to report the matter as soon as they could, and that became the hottest topic among talks right now.

    Journalists in N City began to dig for information on Gu Xiqiao and Luo Weng, they had sent representatives to meet the two initially, hoping that they would be able to get individual interviews with them. They never expected that these two would be so secretive, one more mysterious than the other, and for the first time had seen a top ranker that was so low-key to this extent.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was unaware of all the happenings as she sat in her room to finish painting after dinner¡ª lost in her own world as she painted. Up to the point when Jiang Shuxuan knocked on her door, and she ced down her brush, the Haha in her painting seemingly came to life.

    "Change your clothes, I¡¯m taking you out." Jiang Shuxuan said as he nced at her current outfit of T-shirt and jeans.

    Gu Xiqiao opened her mouth to ask a few questions, but didn¡¯t expect Jiang Shuxuan to close the door suddenly in her face. She smiled in resignation, going to pull open her wardrobe and fished a dress out to change.

    It was a tight-fitting dress. The bright yellow color of it made her skin more white against it, and she let down her ebony ck hair¡ªher red lips and white teethpleting the look. Something flickered in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes when heid eyes on her, but he just nodded in satisfaction without saying anything.

 Chapter 77 The Yin Family

    He drove the Bugatti on what seemed like a familiar road, and Gu Xiqiao was stunned when she realized why it was so familiar¡ªthis was the road that led to the Gu family¡¯s residence. She tilted her head slightly to look at Jiang Shuxuan. He was driving with a serious expression on his face, his lips tightly pursed as he looked at the road ahead of him. There wasn¡¯t any other expression on his handsome, delicate features apart from that, and it looked quite noble and majestic.

    The car was indeed headed towards the Shanhe Manor Area, however, he drove right past number 16, and went further in.

    The Shanhe Manor area was an ancient legacy that had been handed down through the generations, and served as the gathering ce of the influential and powerful people. There was an unspoken rule in ce here, the more influential you were, the closer you were located near to the inside. There were a total of twenty manors in this area, and the Gu family were located on the outskirts.

    Jiang Shuxuan drove all the way in, seeming like he had no intentions of stopping anytime soon. The manors they passed were more luxurious and intimidatingpared to each previous ones they passed.

    Night had fallen by the time the car finally came to a stop at the innermost manor. The manor was brightly lit, with beautifully preserved, rich, ornamented architecture. The carved dragons on the pirs were extremely life-like, as though it was about to rise up to the heavens.

    From the sight of the ancient buildings, Gu Xiqiao finally understood what it means to be magnificent beyond words and wealthy beyond means. As expected of the most influential family in N City, worthy of a family that could rise into the Imperial Capital. The Gu family couldn¡¯t even match a pinky of the Yin family.

    "Go on in." Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was just standing by the gate in a daze, Jiang Shuxuan stepped forward. "This is Shaoyuan¡¯s home, he had initially nned on bringing you here to meet his family, so it was a good time as any today."

    Behind the gate, there was a corridor. Yin Shaoyuan sitting in an armchair in that corridor, ying with his phone. Jiang Shuxuan had called out to him before he reacted to their presence.

    "You¡¯re slow," Yin Shaoyuan said as he led them inside. "I was getting bored to death."

    They walked passed two more corridors before reaching the main part of the manor. There were four sentries at every corridor, which Gu Xiqiao was quite apprehensive at the sight of.

    "Have a seat, my mother heard that Qiao Qiao wasing and hurried out to buy some things. She med me for not letting her know earlier, so she should be back anytime soon," Yin Shaoyuan said as he took out a bottle of milk to hand to Gu Xiqiao, and then he turned to Jiang Shuxuan, "That¡¯s right, Grandfather is in his study, it seems he has something to discuss with you."

    In regards to Grandfather Yin, Jiang Shuxuan still had some respect for him so he didn¡¯tment. He left to go upstairs after a few words of reassurance to Gu Xiqiao.

    Waiting until he was out of sight, only did Yin Shaoyuan huff to Gu Xiqiao. "Really, it¡¯s not like he has anything to worry about while you¡¯re in my house."

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him, not replying to his statement.

    Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯t told her where he was taking her, just said that he was bringing her out to y. She didn¡¯t expect him to bring her to the Yin family manor. Although Yin Shaoyuan had indeed acknowledged her as his sister, buting to visit the Yin for the first time, empty-handed?

    She smiled bitterly, rubbing her temple with two fingers as she sighed. It was really impolite to do so.

    "What¡¯s wrong with you?" Yin Shaoyuan said, after chattering on for what seemed like half a day. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was ignoring him, he couldn¡¯t help but reach out to poke her face, and his hand was pped away by her.

    "Cousin!" As the two of them were bickering, a clear voice sounded out suddenly, making Gu Xiqiao turn to the source of the voice.

    A girl who looked to be seventeen, eighteen-year-old stood by the door, her gaze flitted over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, and thennded on Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s face with a smile. "Cousin, you have a guest?"

    "Yeah." Yin Shaoyuan grunted a response, not looking at the person. Seeing the slightly puzzled expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I actually don¡¯t know her, something about some distant rtives. I don¡¯t even know how she came here."

    Yin Feifei saw that Yin Shaoyuan was ignoring her and talking to the stranger, she couldn¡¯t help but turn her gaze on her.

    In her impression, no matter how much Yin Shaoyuan fooled around, he had never brought any women back to the house. Everyone knew that he was just fooling around after all, never serious about any of it. But this time, he actually tantly brought back one?

    That¡¯s ridiculous, even the times she was allowed into the manor could be counted on one hand.

    Yin Feifei¡¯s brow furrowed at the thought. She knew that she was just from a branch family, that¡¯s why she was trying her best to curry favor with Mrs Yin. The Yin family so far were very epting of her and love her, except Yin Shaoyuan.

    Yin Shaoyuan was someone who was hard to get close to. In his eyes, apart from being lovers, there were no women that he would have eyes on. Yin Feifei had tried everything in her power to make him look at her, but to no avail. So she could only continue to brown nose around with Mrs Yin.

    "I saw Aunt when I was at the mall, she brought me over and is talking to the housekeeper outside. I think she¡¯sing in soon, Cousin, look..." Yin Feifei said as she shot a nce at Gu Xiqiao.

    She was discreetly reminding Yin Shaoyuan that Mrs. Yin didn¡¯t like to see him bringing girls home casually. You can fool around all you want outside, but bringing them home would be staining the honor of the Yin family.

    That¡¯s why she was giving a reminder to Yin Shaoyuan, hinting at him to hurry up and send the girl away. She felt that even though Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t ept her good intentions, maybe his impressions on her would be a little better.

    But she didn¡¯t expect for Yin Shaoyuan to just nce at her for a moment before turning away, Yin Feifei felt like he had seen through her intentions, and made her feel ashamed and angry!

    ¡¯Don¡¯t me me for reminding you even if Aunt scolds you then!¡¯

    Yin Feifei lowered her eyes, concealing the resentment in them.

    "Carry the lighter ones in." A voice came faintly from outside, and Yin Feifei called out ¡¯Aunt¡¯ before following the voice, turning around to shoot Gu Xiqiao a cold look before leaving.

    "What the hell was that!" Seeing the attitude that Yin Feifei gave, Yin Shaoyuan shattered the cup in his hand, seething in anger, his eyes narrowing.

    This Yin Feifei, it was already peculiar that she was in the house. Not only did she not greet Gu Xiqiao, she also discreetly dissed her!

    With those thoughts, Yin Shaoyuan turned to look at Gu Xiqiao, hoping she wouldn¡¯t take Yin Feifei¡¯s words personally.

    Gu Xiqiao got up nervously instead, softly asking, "Oh, your mother¡¯s back?"

    She hadn¡¯t taken Yin Feifei¡¯s words to heart, but she was worrying about something that needn¡¯t be worried about.

    "Such a big heart," Yin Shaoyuan muttered under his breath.

    "What did you say?" Gu Xiqiao asked, not hearing what he had said. Her gaze shot to the door unconsciously. To be honest, she was feeling very anxious about this meeting. In the eyes of outsiders, for someone who had forced her elder sister into that position, wouldn¡¯t be someone with a good reputation, right?

    "I say, you don¡¯t have to be so nervous. She¡¯s also considered to be your godmother, don¡¯t worry, she won¡¯t eat you." Yin Shaoyuan had calmed down considerably. This was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s first time here, so he couldn¡¯t get angry over someone insignificant. Looking towards the door, he was curious as to what his mother had bought, being that there was so much fanfare outside.

    The one who entered the house at the next moment was an elegant, mature looking woman. The years had seemed to left no trace on her face, and she had a pair of stunning, bright eyes, which shone gently under the light.

    The woman made a beeline to Gu Xiqiao, sweeping her up in a hug which made Gu Xiqiao slightly stunned. Wait, wasn¡¯t this development a little strange?

    "Qiao Qiao, right? Sigh, that wretched boy has finally brought you home. Oh, you¡¯re such a radiant little thing," Tang Yanling said, loosening her hold and squinting eyes that resembled Yin Shaoyuan as she studied Gu Xiqiao properly from head to toe.

    The girl before her eyes was radiant. Her pitch-ck eyes resembled a deep whirlpool. Her lips were like peach blossoms, her dark hair glossy, and her face held the luster of a jade. This obedient-looking child¡¯s appearance was too enchanting!

 Chapter 78 Where Did This Confidence Come From?

    This was simply the image of her ideal daughter! The more Tang Yanling looked, the more satisfied she felt. Seeing the thin body, she frowned. "You¡¯re way too skinny, need to fill this up!"

    She didn¡¯t forget to remind the person outside again, "Chen Bo, put the things that I¡¯ve just bought into the room opposite Shaoyuan¡¯s room."

    She had already begun to prepare a room for Gu Xiqiao a few days ago. Although Yin Shaoyuan had failed to bring back a daughter-inw for her, at least he had brought back a daughter that fit her ideals exactly.

    Her son normally didn¡¯t do things that harmonized well with her, but he did really good this time.

    As though she had suddenly thought of something, she suddenly pulled her phone and pointed it at Gu Xiqiao who was still in shock, and with just a quick ¡¯click¡¯, a photo was taken.

    [Ding! The system has detected that Tang Yanling¡¯s affection towards you has reached 60 points. Do you want to add her to your friend¡¯s list?]

    The warmth of the embrace still lingered on her body, and there was still a slight fragrance of Tang Yanling¡¯s on her. Gu Xiqiao quietly approved the add. The problem was this was the first time she had encountered such... high favorability?

    She touched the bracelet that Tang Yanling had ced on her hand, still feeling a bit dumbfounded.[1]

    Her ancient martial arts had already reached Bone Refinement level, and she naturally could feel the aura flowing in the bracelet. Wearing the bracelet gave a boost to the energy flowing in her meridians, it really was a rare treasure.

    Even if it was something for a close rtive, wasn¡¯t this too priceless a treasure to give?

    "Aunt." Yin Feifei finally found a chance to cut in. She had been concealing the shock and the overflowing jealousy at the sight, and took Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand in hers gently. "I¡¯ve never seen this beautifuldy before?"

    She had clearly seen Tang Yanling¡¯s treatment towards Gu Xiqiao, and immediately knew that she had the wrong impression previously, and continued on Tang Yanling¡¯s tone.

    "This is the goddaughter that I have acknowledged. Since you both are about the same age, Feifei you have to get along well with her," Tang Yanling said as her lips curved up, a warm and gentle smile on her face.

    She was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would feel a bit awkward,ing here for the first time, so she had purposely found a girl that was in the same age group to introduce to her at the same time.

    Goddaughter! Yin Feifei saw red at that word, gritting her teeth in anger. She had spent more than ten years just to gain such a little bit of favor with Tang Yanling, but then this unknown girl just flew in from god knows where and became Tang Yanling¡¯s eldest daughter in her nest!

    Gu Xiqiao. She knew this name. Wasn¡¯t she the illegitimate daughter from the Gu family?

    She really had such skills. Being abandoned for so many years but still managing to return to the Gu family, and then, pulling the Gu family down into the waters, now she even managed to climb to such a high position in the Yin family!

    She nced at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s delicate features, her pale white skin that had a slight shimmer on the surface like white jade, and also Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s gentle warmth in his eyes when he looked at her.

    She suddenly had a thought, was Yin Shaoyuan the culprit behind the scenes that was responsible for advising Gu Xiqiao into the folds of the Yin family?!

    Yin Feifei had a gentle and warm expression while looking at Gu Xiqiao on the outside, but was full of contempt and disdain within her heart. ¡¯Just wait, wait for the day when Yin Shaoyuan will get tired of you and reject you.¡¯ That would be the day she would be filled with glee.

    With those thoughts in mind, her smile became even friendlier on the outside.

    Among the aristocrats of N City, the people in this circle only had a surface understanding of Gu Xiqiao. Naturally, they weren¡¯t bothered to spend any more time than required on this abandoned child. Therefore, most people had never truly understood her, and the only words used to describe her was¡ªillegitimate daughter, vicious, cruel and cold-hearted.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t care for most of these things, but what made her head swim was the fact that Yin Jinian had returned home. Not only had he returned, he had also brought back a gift that he had specially selected for her.

    Yin Feifei stared at the bag in poorly disguised shock, her re was so hard that it looked like it would burn a hole in the bag. She recognized the brand written on it¡ªit was an internationally famous jewelry brand. There were only a limited number of essories produced each year.

    Her mother had been lucky enough to get a ne from that ce, and treated it like a treasure. No one else was able to even touch it!

    But it was just the first time Gu Xiqiao had visited the Yin family household, and even Yin Jinian had prepared such an expensive greeting gift!?

    What did Gu Xiqiao have to deserve this kind of wee?

    Yin Feifei had been following Tang Yanling for more than ten years, and had sent all kinds of gifts to the Yin family throughout those years. Even if she was a dog, she would be considered to be close to the family already, right? But when did she ever receive such treatment? Apart from Tang Yanling, no one else in the family had ever given her much thought or treated her nicely!

    A few of her close friends were extremely jealous of her, because she had Tang Yanling¡¯s favor. With this rtionship, even the mayor had to show her some courtesy to a certain degree. She had been content with this initially, but now she found out that all of this was nothing in the face of Gu Xiqiao.

    Yin Feifei took a deep breath, struggling to contain her emotions and calm down. It wasn¡¯t easy to get into Yin Manor today¡ªshe couldn¡¯t screw up because of something so insignificant.

    "Uncle, Aunt." A clear and melodious voice floated from the stairs.

    Yin Feifei¡¯s head turned in the direction of the voice, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight. A man was supporting another elderly man down the stairs. Every single move that he made was elegant and attractive. His delicate face held an indifferent expression, though his eyes had a hint of warmth in them. His eyes were a deep pool of ink, exuding a slight chill when you look into them.

    She was dumbfounded.

    She didn¡¯t snap back to reality until they had all taken a seat at the dining table.

    Jiang Shuxuan spared a nce at Yin Feifei¡ªfurrowing his brows slightly before smoothing out his expression to leave no trace, and said nothing. He only reached out to cut a piece of pork ribs for Gu Xiqiao.

    Seeing this, Yin Guofu who was sitting at the head of the table, had realized what was happening. A smile stretched on his face, and the wrinkles on his forehead smoothened out, with a gentle expression on his face. "I heard that the results of the national finals have been announced, which ces will you be preparing to take the exam at?"

    Gu Xiqiao ced the chopsticks in her hand down, looking towards Yin Guofu, she responded obediently, "I¡¯m preparing to take the exams in the Jing Capital, but I¡¯m not sure which university yet."

    The corner of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mouth turned slightly downward, but it was so slight that you would miss it if you didn¡¯t pay attention.

    "Oh, so Miss Gu is also a third-year senior," Yin Feifei suddenly spoke, sweetly smiling which wasplete in contrast with what she was feeling inside.

    She was not the same as Gu Xiqiao, she knew how strict the Yin family rules were. In the many years she had been here, she had only seen Yin Guofu a handful of times, and she had never seen such a warm and inviting look on his face before. The most surprising thing to her was Yin Guofu¡¯s attitude towards Jiang Shuxuan. It wasn¡¯t like how he would treat a normal junior, but there was some respect there too.

    For Yin Guofu to disy such a respectful look towards a young man, Yin Feifei was unable to imagine how important this person must be to earn such a look.

    Tang Yanling seemed to remember that fact when Yin Feifei had spoken up. "Oh, I forgot, Feifei you also sat for the national finals. You¡¯ve always done well in school, have you checked your scores?"

    "I checked this morning." Yin Feifei stole a nce at Jiang Shuxuan, her grades in school were always top-notch, and this was one of the things she had always been proud of. Thinking of that, she shifted her gaze to Gu Xiqiao as she continued, "I got a total score of 671 points, which is about 100 points more than the minimum line, and within the top 100 in the province."

    "That¡¯s good." Tang Yanling praised, smiling. Even Yin Guofu who never really looked at her before nodded his head and said ¡¯not bad¡¯.

    Yin Feifei¡¯s mouth was itching to twist upwards, but she restrained from the excitement that coursed through her body at their reactions. She nced back at Gu Xiqiao from the corner of her eyes, but the features on that delicate snow-white skin face was calm, showing no obvious expression on it.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything in response, and the others couldn¡¯t help it, Yin Feifei... where did she get this confidence to boast about her own scores in front of the top ranker of the national finals? Yin Shaoyuan smirkedzily as he said lightly. "Dad, Mom, have you forgotten the main purpose for tonight¡¯s gathering?"

    "Look at me, I¡¯m overjoyed!" Tang Yanling said as she pped her hands together. "Aren¡¯t we celebrating Qiao Qiao¡¯s national finals victory?"

    "Oh? What¡¯s the asion?" Yin Guofu asked, setting down his own chopsticks as he looked at Gu Xiqiao in surprise.

    She smiled and didn¡¯t reply as there was nothing to show off. Instead, she looked at Yin Guofu¡¯s right hand thoughtfully.

    "That¡¯s right, this little girl not only ced as the top ranker in the province, but also on the national level. A University, B University, and even those schools in Hong Kong and Taiwan had directly contacted Brother Jiang in order to try to rope in this talent to their own ce. Tonight¡¯s gathering is of course, to celebrate for her," Yin Shaoyuan boasted casually, rubbing his chin as he enjoyed the many emotions and colors crossing Yin Feifei¡¯s face¡ªfrom red to white and then red again. He continued slyly, "Grandfather, don¡¯t you feel like rewarding her a little?"

    [1] Not sure when this happened but it did

 Chapter 79 Moving Forward

    "Of course!" Yin Guofu eximed as he smiled widely. Initially when he had known that such a person like Gu Xiqiao was around, he didn¡¯t pay much care about her. As head of the Yin family, his sights were naturally set on a higher degree than most. Although they were notparable to some families in the Imperial Capital, he was still a person standing at the top of a pyramid, and it was not an exaggeration to say that they were also quite powerful in their own right.

    The generation below him had found a god-granddaughter for him, but it had to be an illegitimate daughter with a bad reputation. Although he wasn¡¯t fully contented with it, he tried not to put too much thought into it after seeing the expression on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face. The Yin family was big anyway, there was nothing wrong with adding one more person into it. That being said, somewhere deep within his heart, he still looked down on the illegitimate daughter from the Gu family.

    When he hade down the stairs and his eyesnded on the girl, she had carried herself confidently¡ªin a rxed manner that didn¡¯t lose out to other well-bred youngdies from powerful families. Even he couldn¡¯t help but have slight fondness at this graceful and humble girl. Hearing that she had taken both the top spots made this feeling rise to the highest possible level. Being able to im both spots was a great honor, and such talent was only produced in the country once a year, if there was.

    After thinking for a long while, Yin Guofu brought out a stationery set with pen, ink, and paper that he cherished and presented it to her. This gesture was indirectly acknowledging that she was part of the Yin family.

    Yin Shaoyuan and Tang Yanling¡¯s hearts felt at ease for the moment at that. The gift was not the main point, but Grandpa Yin¡¯s acknowledgment was the most important.

    Coupled with the Lamborghini that Yin Shaoyuan had gifted her, Gu Xiqiao was receiving gifts left and right the entire night.

    Yin Feifei clenched her fist tightly¡ªa single drop of blood seeping out from underneath the fingernail that had dug deep into the hollow of her palm. Just a second ago, she was still proudly boasting about her results, and the next moment, Yin Shaoyuan had basically given her a p in the face!

    Wasn¡¯t she just an illegitimate daughter from the countryside? How could she have gotten such brilliant education in some backwater ce? To the extent that she even took the spot of being the national top ranker! Thinking back to during the day, when the entire ss had been discussing this year¡¯s top ranker and runner up. The top ranker that everyone had been admiring and respect was this person in front of her¡ªthe person who was loved by the Yin family. The disdain and acid in her heart were almost threatening to explode from within!

    No matter how good a mask she had up, Yin Feifei was not able to hide her true nature. There had been nopetition before, and she didn¡¯t know what jealousy was like. With such a strongpetitor right in front of her eyes, it was hard for her to remain calm for the moment. She had a stiff smile stered on her face.

    Tang Yanling nced at Yin Feifei for a moment and the smile on her face faded slightly. With sharp eyes, she already knew what Yin Feifei was feeling inside. The purpose tonight was to make Gu Xiqiao happy by bringing a friend of the same age, but it seemed like she had made a mistake this time.

    At this moment, Yin Feifei who was full of burning resentment in her eyes, caught sight of Tang Yanling¡¯s eyes on her. Her face grew pale immediately. Shivers filled her body as her hands became ice cold¡ªa chill running up her spine. Tang Yanling...she was giving up on her!

    Everything she had in the family was due to her having Tang Yanling¡¯s favor. If she lost this rtionship, then she really would have nothing left.

    She looked around nkly. She realized that no one was paying her any attention¡ªeven the maids were ignoring her existence. Yin Feifei suddenly realized it was over. She was done for!

    "Tonight is to celebrate your college entrance examination result, and we have to immediately look for a good day to hold the ceremony. We must ensure that this rtion is acknowledged on arge public scale." It was a testament to how much power Yin Guofu held as no one else dared to object when he spoke.

    "A ceremony... isn¡¯t it a bit too formal?" Gu Xiqiao whispered to Jiang Shuxuan, "Isn¡¯t it enough with a small acknowledgment?"

    Jiang Shuxuan covered his mouth with a fist, stopping the smile that was threatening to stretch on his face. He knew that this girl had always been ignorant and not used to the more extravagant part of this lifestyle, wanting to avoid it if possible. However, he allowed her ignorance this time, knowing that the Gu family had probably neglected to hold a formal banquet for her before. He instead raised an eyebrow sternly. "Grandpa Yin is old, and he likes things to be lively, do you have the heart to deny him so?"

    Gu Xiqiao: "..."

    She knew it was a lost cause then.

    Tang Yanling was persuading Gu Xiqiao to stay the night, and Jiang Shuxuan had initially wanted to refuse her good intentions. But seeing the warm smile on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, he swallowed the words down. As long as she was happy, that was just fine.

    ¡¯The Yin family is really a force to be reckoned with,¡¯ Jiang Shuxuan thought as he narrowed his eyes, but it was still somewhat gratifying.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect that Jiang Shuxuan would actually agree, and she looked at him with a mixture of gratitude and surprise. Jiang Shuxuan said nothing but gently rubbed the top of her head, his expression warm as he said, "Go on, go and see the room with Aunt."

    "That¡¯s right,e along, I¡¯ve been decorating it for a while!" Tang Yanling said as she looked towards Gu Xiqiao with an eager expression.

    The room that was given to her was opposite Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s room. The walls were painted in pale blue and decorated with furnitures of pink tones, though it was not overly blinding to the eye. The floor was covered in thick, fluffy carpet, and in the centre of the room was a white princess-style bed. The area beside therge windows that stretched from the floor to the ceilings were decorated with tatami and a small round table, giving it a neat and delicate look.

    "I got someone to break the walls to the next room, which was just used to store misceneous things. Shaoyuan said you like to paint and read, so I made a small study for you," Tang Yanling said, exining the wall between the bedroom and the study that was separated by arge piece of ss.

    There was a row of antique-style bookshelves in the study room, and the many rows were stacked neatly with books. There were also an easel, paints of all colors, and paper ced around the room.

    There had been a time when she had been envious of Gu Xijin¡¯s bedroom. Now, she had a more luxurious and spacious bedroom than her sister. Gu Xiqiao blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to hold back the sting that was threatening to spill forth.

    Jiang Shuxuan was also surprised by the gesture. No matter whatever the reason the Yin family had done this, he wouldn¡¯t forget this good intention.

    Tonight, there were some people who slept well with wonderful dreams, and there were people who found sleep eluding them.

    ***

    Two banners hung outside First City High, one was to celebrate the two students from their school having obtained the top spot and runner up at the province level, and the other was to celebrate the same two students for also taking the top spot and runner up at the national level.

    This made the other schools green with envy, especially Qing City High.

    In the previous years, the top rankers had alwayse from Qing City High. It was due to the fact that Qing City High was a school for aristocrats, and the teachers who taught there were outstanding. This time, the top student in their school also had grades that were great, and could be considered to be the top ranker if in certain ces. However, with First City High producing two monsters, this overshadowed all other outstanding students that they had.

    All of the major newspapers and other media tforms werepeting to report this great news, and so by the second day, these two geniuses were already well known to the public.

    When Gu Xiqiao came to First City High, she was immediately ushered towards the principal¡¯s office. The principal looked at Gu Xiqiao. The more he looked, the more satisfied he felt. From the ¡¯painting thief¡¯ incident, he had been keeping a close eye on Gu Xiqiao. In this moment, looking at this girl really gave him a great sense of satisfaction.

    His gaze turned to Luo Weng then. First City High had initially thought they were lucky enough to be able to attract Luo Weng into their school, and they didn¡¯t expect another ck horse to emerge in the end.

    It was such a surprise, an amazing surprise at the end!

    The principal looked at them with a kind smile. "Do you both know which schools you want to enroll in? Or do you intend to go overseas? I have ways to help you too."

    "Thank you for your concern, principal. I¡¯ve already decided which school I¡¯ll be enrolling in," Gu Xiqiao replied, turning down the principal¡¯s kindness.

    The principal waved his hand in understanding, already expecting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s answer from the start. With such strong support behind her, why would this little girl need the small resources he had in hand? The words he had said were more for the benefit of Luo Weng, because he knew a little about his family situation, and would like to give him as much help as he could.

    Luo Weng raised his head, revealing a polite expression on his face, but also unexpectedly turning down the principal¡¯s generous offer. His answer was a surprise to the principal, which obviously showed on his face. He had initially thought that Luo Weng would ept his offer. After all, staying in China was not great for his future development, and that family was quite troublesome.

    "Alright then, if you have any troubles in the future, feel free toe to me," The principal said, recovering easily from his surprise. He shook hands cheerfully with the two of them before they left, hisst words still mostly for Luo Weng¡¯s benefit.

 Chapter 80 A Sliver of Hope

    Their ssrooms were in different buildings, so they separated when they got to the fork of the road.

    Luo Weng looked at Gu Xiqiao whose skin looked like ivory under the bright sunshine, before asking, "Which university are you going to apply for?"

    "A University, probably," Gu Xiqiao replied, telling someone else about her ns for the first time. "Apparently A University and B University are just one street away from each other, and since Xiao Yun is applying for B University we would be able to visit each other too."

    "I see." Luo Weng nodded, before looking away as he saw Wu Hongwen that was jogging over in their direction. "Well I¡¯ve got to go, bye."

    Gu Xiqiao looked as he walked away.

    [This boy is always so busy.] The system spirit shook its head. [ording to my calctions, something bad¡¯s going to happen to him.]

    "I don¡¯t think so." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she looked over at Luo Weng. "When I looked at him just now, he was filled with living energy and he didn¡¯t have any shadows over him. How would anything bad happen to him?"

    [If not him, then someone close to him!] The system spirit furrowed its brow as it reconsidered its first divination.

    "Even if that¡¯s the case, they will be able to deal with it without any repercussions." Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t all that hung up over this topic, and the moment Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen came, they talked for a while before separating to their respective ssrooms.

    Xiao Yun looked over at Gu Xiqiao and asked, "Old Ban is definitely going to ask us about the universities we¡¯re going to be applying for...Have you decided?"

    "You won¡¯t be disappointed." Gu Xiqiao smiled and patted her shoulders, before pushing open the door of the ssroom.

    "Surprise!"

    With a loud pop, confetti sprayed out from either side of the door courtesy of the two boys with bright smiles with party poppers in their hands. Everyone in ss huddled around them and looked at her, while Old Ban stood there at the podium with a rare warm smile as he watched the merry scene.

    Gu Xiqiao swiped a bunch of glittery pieces of confetti off of her head as she looked at everyone, not knowing whether she shouldugh.

    She looked over to Xiao Yun and saw a soft smile on her face, and she channeled her chi ever so slightly to get the pieces of confetti to drop off of her subtly as she sighed.

    Well, as long as they were having fun.

    After all the ruckus, Old Ban sat them all down before looking at everyone with a satisfied expression. "I¡¯m d that everyone is here! To all my students in Eleventh Parallel ss of the Fifty-Sixth Session, I am proud of all of you!"

    After he eximed as such, everyone in the ssroom apuded thunderously.

    "Your achievements have surprised everyone, even the board of directors of this school! All you guys hand rankings below the 400s at first, then after three years your grades had risen above all the other Parallel sses and were the same as the Normal ss students, and in thest month, you all miraculously surpassed even the Experiment ss, and could evenpete with the Rocket ss!" Old Ban smiled as he reported.

    "Now there are some reporters from the education channel over at the office. They gave up on interviewing the Rocket ss and made a straight beeline for you guys, so be gentle, okay?"

    After that, he talked about the university applications and gave them pamphlets, before letting them do as they wished.

    "I¡¯ll be at the office if anyone needs me!"

    After getting the notice that everything was done with, the reporters that were waiting at the office all made their way excitedly towards the Eleventh Parallel ssroom with their gear. Not only was this ss special already, the amazing girl that got the highest ranking in the entire country was in there too!

    When they got to the ssroom, the ss monitor that sat at the first row stood up and bowed his head politely. "Hello, I¡¯m the ss monitor of our ss, do you need anything?"

    The reporters immediately told him what they were here for, and some of them interviewed the students in the ssroom while the ss monitor took out his notes upon being asked why they did so well. "It¡¯s really nothing much, just good time management and by using the correct methods. Here¡¯s a bunch of notes that Gupiled for us, you can take some shots of it if you want."

    "Gu? Are you talking about the girl with the top ranking in the country, Gu Xiqiao?" As if on cue, his camera panned over to the girl sitting by the window that was flipping through the university pamphlets and asionally looking up to reply to whoever was talking with her.

    One of the reporter¡¯s eyes brightened, and she asked curiously, "Shepiled notes for everyone in the ss? Wouldn¡¯t that get in the way of her studying?"

    "That¡¯s why we¡¯re fans of her!" The ss monitor replied matter-of-factly, a smug grin making its way onto his face as if he were bragging about his own achievements. "There isn¡¯t anyone that is so pretty, so intelligent and has such a nice personality as her in this world... Write that all down in your articles, got it?"

    The reporter: "..."

    She couldn¡¯t help but look back at the girl that had a small smile on her face as she talked with someone, and apanied with her clear eyes that shone in the sunlight, it almost seemed as if the entire world brightened along with her smile.

    Click, went the camera, and the scene was frozen in eternity.

    While she had been a reporter for such a long time, this was the first time that she had met with such a situation. Everyone in the ss bragged more about Gu Xiqiao than themselves when they had achieved quite the feat themselves too, and their tone borderlined worship.

    When the reporters finally had the chance to interview this girl, they realized that the ssmates weren¡¯t pushing the truth in the slightest. This girl was down to earth, pretty and didn¡¯t put on any airs even though she was so aplished.

    ¡¯A northern belle that is unparalleled, with the aura and temperament of an orchid and the talent of a goddess,¡¯ was how everyone described her in their articles.

    The very same afternoon, the term ¡¯National Goddess¡¯ started trending and going viral on the inte. While there have been simr instances of pure celebrities being called goddesses on the inte, there had never been someone that had been praised so thoroughly as Gu Xiqiao.

    No one even questioned her achievements at all, and only looked on in awe.

    She ranked on the top of the entire country and was incredibly pretty to add onto it, and if such a person couldn¡¯t be called a goddess, who could?

    ***

    At Gu Manor, Master Gu¡¯s hands trembled as he watched the news report, and all of a sudden, he grabbed his chest and started gasping for breath, the shade of his lips bing dark as he did.

    The butler hurriedly took out a ck pill and fed it to Master Gu along with a cup of water, and thetter caught his breath before pointing at the door with a shaky finger. "Go! Get that useless son of mine in here!"

    One of the servants immediately hurried out of the room onmand along with a phone.

    While Gu Zuhui was being summoned here, Master Gu continued to look at the news report over and over again.

    The first top ranking student from N City, with almost perfect scores across the board that even the national channel was reporting about her! All of the higher institutions were fighting over her, which was only normal because she was the top ranker, but there were never any students that have had grades as good as hers.

    Master Gu continued watching the report before lowering his head in defeat. There had never been any outstanding individuals in the past two generations of the Gu family, and he had worried over this matter over countless days and nights.

    He had thought of marrying Gu Xijin off to a capable man, but now the girl was halfway insane, while he didn¡¯t have much time left. Even though the Gu family had the resources given by Gu Xiqiao, it was only a matter of time before everything would fall into another person¡¯s pockets under Gu Zuhui¡¯s leadership!

    He had never thought that the most suitable heir to the Gu family was right in front of his eyes...And she was pushed away with his own two hands, at that!

    With her pride, she would definitely nevere back again...That was the truth, but he couldn¡¯t help but still hold hope that she coulde back one day and aid the Gu family.

 Chapter 81 Car Owner

    Gu Zuhui saw Master Gu¡¯s stormy expression when he came back, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. "Father, why were you in such a rush to get me back home? I finally managed to get in contact with one of the managers of the Yin family!"

    "Why? Why?!" Master Gu immediately threw the cup in his hand towards him. "Don¡¯t you know what you¡¯ve done? You¡¯ve ruined the future of the Gu family! You useless child! Unfilial child!"

    "Father, please don¡¯t be angry!" Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t dare to dodge the projectile, only letting the old man take out his anger on him. "What happened?"

    Gu Zuhui motioned for the butler to show him the newspapers.

    Gu Zuhui nced at the news before his eyes widened slightly in surprise. He had already known that Gu Xiqiao was outstanding, but never this much!

    "You go tell her that we¡¯ve already sent Ah Jin abroad to nevere back to our country ever again. If she¡¯s willing toe back, she¡¯ll be the only heir to our family!" Master Gu said as she looked at Gu Zuhui. "As long as she wille back, we¡¯llply with all of her conditions!"

    Gu Zuhui didn¡¯t dare to speak back against this choice of Master Gu¡¯s, but he was still dissatisfied with this decision. He felt bad for letting a talented individual go, but to give the family to her? What is this child¡¯s y?

    What could the girl even do if she came back to the family? She had never dealt with the matters of the enterprise before so she was definitely less experienced than he was...Was his father going senile?

    In any case, would she evene back after acting out that time?

    "Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking." Master Gu knocked on the table in the living room sternly. "My intuition has never been wrong!"

    Without any choice left, Gu Zuhui could only try to contact Gu Xiqiao, but he didn¡¯t know how to do that, and upon seeing his conundrum his assistant reminded, "Sir, Miss Gu might be at her school."

    Gu Zuhui nodded and let his chauffeur bring him to First City High, and while there were many students there, he found Gu Xiqiao in the crowd that was together with two of her friends.

    Seeing a young man in a suit walk over, Wu Hongwen blocked in front of Gu Xiqiao warily.

    Gu Zuhui¡¯s assistant waved his hands harmlessly. "Miss Gu, Chairman Gu is waiting for you."

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him, the smile on her face disappearing as she did. In all honesty, the people that she wanted to see the least now were those people from the Gu family, and she thought that she had already made it abundantly clear. "I¡¯ll be done quick, wait for me okay?"

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao, Gu Zuhui first praised her on her achievements, before telling her what he was here for, "Your grandfather said that you will be able to inherit the entire Gu family if youe back."

    After that, he kept an eye out for the girl¡¯s reaction. The Gu family was counted as a family that was quite well off in N City, and would definitely be enough of a bargaining chip to cause almost anyone to drool at their mouths. Even he himself wasn¡¯t entrusted with the entire family by Master Gu!

    He had expected for Gu Xiqiao to be taken aback by this news, but the girl¡¯s expression remained as cold and unaffected as always.

    Did she not know how much that was worth?

    "What I wanted was never the Gu family." Gu Xiqiao smiled. "Mr. Gu, I thought I already made things clear with youst time, I hope this will never happen again."

    She was smiling, but there wasn¡¯t even a hint of warmth behind her smile.

    Looking at her leaving silhouette, Gu Zuhui suddenly remembered the documents that she left them and felt a sudden pang of fear. If he really managed to anger her, would she give all of this evidence to the authorities? Thinking of this, he didn¡¯t dare to linger any further and told his chauffeur to bring him back.

    While a talented individual was important, the Gu family was more important than it.

    He could only me himself for not grasping the chance while he could, but deep inside he breathed a sigh of relief. Where could he ce his dignity if Gu Xiqiao agreed to inherit the Gu family?

    After he told Master Gu what had happened, thetter sat there for a long while, before sighing in defeat.

    He had truly given up this time, and he seemed to age right then and there, bing a husk of his former self at that moment.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mood was still terrible even after Gu Zuhui left, so she refused Wu Hongwen¡¯s invitation. "I¡¯m a little tired today, so I¡¯ll go have some rest, yeah? I¡¯ll visit you on another date."

    "Are you okay?" Wu Hongwen¡¯s brows furrowed slightly as he saw through her facade, making an internal note to talk with his father about hindering the Gu Family whenever they had the chance to.

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m going now." Gu Xiqiao waved at the two of them when she saw Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s car, and as she left, Wu Hongwen looked over at Xiao Yun with a serious expression.

    "I¡¯ve decided that I want to go to the management faculty of A University."

    It wasn¡¯t a problem to get that course with his grades, but Xiao Yun¡¯s eyebrows knit in response. "Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to focus on sports yesterday?"

    "This is the only way that I can seed my father¡¯s position without any drawbacks, right?" Wu Hongwen¡¯s father had promised him that he would be the sessor to the family, but he still had to do some things with his own two hands.

    This was the first time that he even had the thought of wanting to be a suitable sessor to the family.

    Xiao Yun was honing herself too, so who was he to be left behind?

    ***

    Yin Shaoyuan looked towards Gu Xiqiao as he rested his arm on the car windowsill, but his gaze was duly ignored by Gu Xiqiao, the girl opening the back door and getting onto the car without a word.

    "Hey, could you not show so much disdain towards me?" Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s cool facade cracked for a few moments as he held his hand to his forehead. "Why did you choose to sit behind there instead of here in the front?"

    "It¡¯s wider and morefortable here," Gu Xiqiao replied.

    "I¡¯ll get a car with only two seats the next time around, let¡¯s see if you can sit on the top of the car!" Yin Shaoyuan revved up the car as he grumbled. "I¡¯d be impressed if you did!"

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone. "You can always try it, I¡¯m not against it."

    Knowing that he couldn¡¯t beat her in a quipping battle, Yin Shaoyuan quickly changed the subject. "Spare me that silver tongue of yours, I¡¯m going to take you to see your car that just got shipped herest night...Right, do you have a driver¡¯s license?"

    "...No," Gu Xiqiao replied, not even raising her head.

    "Have you ever driven a car?" Yin Shaoyuan looked at her through the rearview mirror in surprise.

    "Does a tractor count?"

    "..."

    The car that Yin Shaoyuan was going to give her was custom made abroad, and had just gotten through inspections. In order to celebrate her doing well on her exams, the keys were sent in first while the car came one dayter.

    The car was ced in a 4S shop, and Yin Shaoyuan was going to bring her to get her car on that day.

    "I wanted to ship it directly back to Yin Manor, but I thought of those soldiers that were keeping guard there so I gave up on the idea. Those people don¡¯t know how to hold back, and it¡¯ll be quite a shame to break this car on the first day it came in..." Yin Shaoyuan brought Gu Xiqiao to the car dealership quickly, and showed her a streamlined, pink Lamborghini.

    It had a sleek design with stark dynamism and aggression, all sleek lines and cutting edge design, and it seemed quite impressive and even a tad bit ostentatious, especially with its two scissor doors.

    Strangely enough, the pastel pink color didn¡¯t conflict with this design in the slightest, and even Gu Xiqiao was quite satisfied with it.

    Yin Shaoyuan walked over to the car. "Did you bring your keys?"

    The car keys had already been ced in the inventory by Gu Xiqiao, and upon being asked, she stuck her hand into her bag and willed for the key to appear in her hand.

    "Get in the car, I¡¯ll take you for a ride." Yin Shaoyuan caught the keys that Gu Xiqiao threw over, before getting on the car and waving at her. "You learn how to drive for two days, and I¡¯ll have someone get a driver¡¯s license for you."

    Gu Xiqiao only pursed her lips slightly as she looked over, not getting in the car.

 Chapter 82 Ru Ware

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Yin Shaoyuan asked.

    "Nothing, just give me a second." Her long eyshes fluttered slightly and she turned her head to the side, her expression twitching slightly. Even Tang Yanling knew to color the walls of her room a pastel blue, why did he choose such a car?

    Gu Xiqiao back at the car again, her lips still pursed. "Let¡¯s recolor it."

    "Ah, so it¡¯s the color that you don¡¯t like!" Yin Shaoyuan chuckled. "Hey, I was the one that chose the model of this car, but Bro Jiang was the one that chose this color. I already picked a white one, but he pointed and this one and said to pick it! So...Do you still want to recolor it?"

    This color was picked by Jiang Shuxuan? Gu Xiqiao facepalmed as she thought of the man¡¯s sculpted features and ruthless cold demeanor...What was he thinking?

    She knew that Yin Shaoyuan wouldn¡¯t trick her about this, so she had even more of a headache.

    "Get out the car, let me try it," Gu Xiqiao said, gesturing for him to move.

    "Are you sure you can do it?" Yin Shaoyuan was quite worried still, and it showed on his expression when he stepped out of the car. "Would you need me to sit in the passenger¡¯s seat?"

    Gu Xiqiao epted the keys from him and got on the driver¡¯s seat. "I¡¯ve driven a tractor before, don¡¯t look down on me."

    Yin Shaoyuan only stood there with his arms crossed, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that she wasn¡¯t doing anything wrong, as unfamiliar as her motions were.

    As he looked at the girl that was driving the car, he was somewhat stunned for a bit as he realized why Jiang Shuxuan chose this color for Gu Xiqiao.

    The color pink was a really picky color in regards to its user, and if the wrong people used it, it would seem gaudy and ostentatious, but Gu Xiqiao already seemed like a dainty porcin doll that looked right at home in all the pink, especially her lithe and pretty hands that were contrasted by the ck steering wheel. At the moment, her lips were pursed slightly and her brows furrowed in concentration, and it gave her a different appeal than she usually did.

    "Bro really does have taste." Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t worry anymore upon seeing Gu Xiqiao getting better and better at driving. "No wonder he chose this color...I wonder if he knew that it would have this sort of effect?"

    "Do I drive this car away right now or leave it here?"

    Yin Shaoyuan had thought of letting her drive it away right there, but he gave up on the idea quickly. "I think there might be a bunch of useless men tripping over themselves and get into idents with your car get to know you if you drove onto the road just like this..."

    The more he thought about it, the more he thought that it was possible. "Just leave the car here and drive it away whenever you need it. I¡¯ve already told the manager to have the employees remember your face so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. She needed some time to ept this car, after all, the color was too...

    After the two of them had lunch, they went on their separate ways.

    ***

    The Antique Street of N City was always a hot spot for crowds of all ages alike, whether it was old people that had an eye for antiques or youngsters that wanted to buy treasure that always became the target of scams from the stall owners.

    Gu Xiqiao was attracted by the hustle and bustle as soon as she got there.

    Before she could step into the street, a system notification rang out.

    [Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Treasure Appraisal.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 20 points!]

    As she followed the arrow on the system interface, she saw an old man with white hair seemingly having a hard time deciding on an antique shop, while the owner of the shop seemed to be promoting his wares, "This is a Ru Ware used in the imperial court back in the Song Dynasty. Look at its beautiful emerald hue and the wonderful craftsmanship! As one of the Five Great Kilns, it¡¯s already a great catch to buy it with just a mere ten million!"

    Tang Wenbo looked at the green te in his hands with a perplexed expression on his face. Ten million wasn¡¯t that much for him, but if it were true that it was Ru Ware from the Song Dynasty, this te would be worth at least fifty million!

    But then again, the risk was still quite high...

    Should he buy it?

    "This te looks quite delicate." A young woman¡¯s voice rang out as if it were a clear spring in the hot summer¡¯s day.

    Tang Wenbo saw her and his eyes brightened, not looking down on her in the slightest merely based on her age. "Do you have any advice for me, youngdy?"

    The old man had a head of snow-white hair and a pair of energetic eyes, and he was wearing a white kung fu suit. His demeanor was down to earth and gentle, and it was hard not to like him.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and replied, "Not advice, just my own opinion. Ru Wares were monopolized by the imperial court back in the day, and they didn¡¯t skimp at all on the cost so they used agate in the ze, giving it a sky blue, egg blue, or pale blue shade. This te in particr does have the traits of having a thick and round texture, and it has a lightly impressed floral...Or insect-wing like design, too."

    Seeing that she truly knew what she was talking about, Tang Wenbo ced the te on the table, not caring at all about the unspoken rule of antique lovers not interrupting each other¡¯s appraisals. "Give it a look yourself, littledy."

    Gu Xiqiao took the te along with a magnifying ss and looked over it carefully, before cing it down on the table again.

    "How is it?" Tang Wenbo asked, not knowing what she thought of it.

    "Slight traces of copper were used in the firing of the Ru Ware, so you can see slight traces ofvender or red when light is shone upon it, and the body of the Ru Ware has a slightly yellowish-gray tone, or in other words, the color of incense ash. The ones made in Zhanggong Alley of Ruzhou, in particr, have this grayish-white color that is slightly paler than the other kilns, so it¡¯s a deciding factor too in knowing whether or not it was from Northern Song," Gu Xiqiao spoke slowly.

    "I checked on all of it, and these traits are all there!" Tang Wenbo looked at the te with a hopeful expression.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. "That¡¯s not all, ording to historical archives, the Ru Wares of that period had slight defects due to the overly high temperature of firing, and they only managed to deal with this problem by adding a specific type of nt, and it¡¯s also where its distinctive patternes from...The pattern on this te, however, seems to have been created by adding a chemical instead, which is why the edges of the te are a grayish-white, and the reason why it doesn¡¯t have any changes in color when exposed to light. Looking closely, the bubbles of the ze are coarse and much less delicate than a real Ru Ware..."

    Hearing this, the owner¡¯s expression froze on his face.

    Tang Wenbo took the te and exposed it to the sunlight, and it was clear that what Gu Xiqiao said was true.

    Ru Ware always had the reputation of being as beautiful as the emerald waves of ake when the sun shines after the rain, and it was reputed for a treasure that money can¡¯t buy, and as such, it was truly precious and exceedingly rare.

    "It¡¯s too much wishful thinking for me to think that I could find Ru Ware here." Tang Wenbo sighed, but he didn¡¯t dwell on it any further and looked back towards Gu Xiqiao. "You have quite the trained eye for someone so young, you¡¯re even better than it than us old bones!"

    "It¡¯s only because I have done some research on Ru Ware, in particr, I can¡¯tpare to everyone else." Gu Xiqiao quickly shook her hand in response to his praise. "I don¡¯t know much about other types of antiques."

    Even though she had seen books on antique appraisal before, but she had never seen the real thing, so she would have missed a lot of details if it weren¡¯t for the system. Appraisal required more than just theory, but actual practice and experience too.

    Tang Wenboughed brightly, his impression of the humble girl in front of him increasing another notch.

    [Mission aplished! You have been rewarded with 20 points!]

    [Ding! The system has detected that Tang Wenbo¡¯s affection towards you is 28, do you want to add him to your friends¡¯ list?]

 Chapter 83 Ancient Jade

    The system notification rang, and Gu Xiqiao looked at this old man with a young heart and rubbed her chin thoughtfully before agreeing to add him into her friend list.

    After that, the two talked for a while and really hit it off, and Tang Wenbo thought that his girl was much better than that brat of his at home. "You¡¯re almost the same age as my grandson, so you can call me Grandpa Tang!"

    "Grandpa Tang." Gu Xiqiao obliged with a smile, making the old man chuckle in satisfaction, before asking, "Are you here to look for anything in particr?"

    Gu Xiqiao looked around at the shop¡¯s wares, but there wasn¡¯t anything that she wanted ording to the system appraisal, and after thinking about it for a few moments, she replied, "I¡¯m here to look for ancient pieces of jade, but it¡¯s been hard..."

    Such a big shop didn¡¯t have what she wanted, after all, so the same could probably be said for the other shops and stalls on the street.

    "Ancient Jade?" Tang Wenbo looked at the girl in surprise. "That¡¯s a hard one, but you might be able to find it if you look for it closely enough. Why don¡¯t Ie with you, I don¡¯t have anything else to do today?"

    Gu Xiqiao agreed, and the duo went around the entire street, but didn¡¯t end up finding any pieces of jade. In the end, Gu Xiqiao only bought two pieces of jade that were cut out on the spot.

    "Well that¡¯s strange, there should at least be one piece..." Tang Jinyu looked at the time, before looking at Gu Xiqiao. "How about you go home ande back tomorrow, I believe they¡¯re going to restock?"

    "Thank you for your help, Grandpa Tang, I¡¯ll go do some more window shopping by myself, you go home okay?" Gu Xiqiao raised her hand to cover her eyes, before putting them down again. She had a strong hunch that there was a piece of ancient jade there, but she only couldn¡¯t find it for the time being.

    When she raised her hand, the jade bracelet that was on her wrist slid out into view, and Tang Wenbo was suddenly stunned as he looked at it for a long while.

    "Grandpa Tang?" Gu Xiqiao asked curiously. "Is everything alright?"

    "...It¡¯s nothing." Tang Wenbo retracted his gaze. "Well, I should be making my way home now, goodbye."

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the old man leave before raising her hand again, thinking for a bit before giving up and focusing on her current task¡ªTo find that vexing piece of ancient jade.

    "System, this piece of ancient jade is too good at hiding, do you have any way to sniff it out?" Gu Xiqiao rubbed her head, feeling a headacheing on. She had already leveled up to Bone Refinement, and her mental power had grown much stronger too to the point where she could epass the entire street with much to spare, but it was still impossible for her to find that piece of ancient jade.

    Now that she had used up her mental power, it couldn¡¯t be used for a while longer.

    [Loading...50 points are required to detect the location of the ancient jade!] The system quickly notified.

    "Why is it so expensive?" Gu Xiqiao asked in surprise. She thought that it would¡¯ve been easy for the system to find the ancient jade just by scanning the street.

    Hearing this, the system spirit replied: [Beauty Qiao, this piece of ancient jade is supernatural and has enough spiritual energy on it that it already learned how to disguise itself. The system would need to use up energy to find it, and the more energy it needs, the more points it¡¯ll cost!]

    "...Fine, I¡¯ll bite." Gu Xiqiao gritted her teeth slightly, before continuing,: "But you must find it!"

    [Ding! 50 Points have been deducted sessfully! Objective secured!]

    A clear arrow appeared on the system interface, and Gu Xiqiao quickly found a stall with all sorts of knick-knacks after following it.

    A small bowl was ced in the most eye-catching position of the stall, and that piece of ancient jade that she was looking for was currently as ck as coal, and was apparently being used as a coaster of sorts.

    In the end, Gu Xiqiao spent twenty thousand yuan to buy the bowl, and as if she didn¡¯t know how much the piece of ck stone was worth, she weighed it in her palm for a bit before looking at the stall owner. "I¡¯ll take this back to put this bowl on it, is that okay?"

    The stall owner was too preupied on finally managing to scam someone and was counting his money, and he didn¡¯t even raise his head as he said dismissively, "Take it, take it."

    [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯ve really gotten lucky with this!] The system spirit eximed with bright eyes. [Not only did you get this piece of ancient jade, this bowl is worth quite a lot too, right?]

    "Yes it is. This is a piece of Guan Ware from the Qing Dynasty, but the signature marking on the bottom seemed to have been polished away by someone on purpose, so the stall owner didn¡¯t notice either. He probably spent around a dozen on it, so he¡¯s probablyughing at me for being stupid right now." Gu Xiqiao took a taxi back to the mansion.

    [Are you going to sell it? It¡¯s probably going to sell for around a million, yes?]

    "No, I¡¯m going to let Haha use it as a dog bowl." Gu Xiqiao nonchntly threw the bowl into her inventory, before taking out the piece of ancient jade and looking at it carefully.

    The system spirit: [...]

    ¡¯Is your pet dog made of gold?¡¯

    ***

    She bought the piece of ancient jade to make an array described on the old book that the system gave her, and this ancient array could be stored into a piece of jade.

    The gift that Tang Yanling gave her was too heavy, and she never thought of how to repay her until the system spirit told her about this jade array that could facilitate good health, keep her youthful and pretty, and protect her life when she needed it. Even though thatst function might not be used, but it was the greatest gift that she could give at the moment.

    She also wanted to gift Jiang Shuxuan a simr array, but since his level of ancient martial arts was too high, a regr seal and array wouldn¡¯t be useful to him, and along with the level of array it would need the corresponding quality of ancient jade.

    There was ayer of patina enveloping the piece of ancient jade, and since Gu Xiqiao was toozy to send it to be cleaned by a professional, she used 5 points to buy a mysterious solution that had the same effect from the system.

    As the outeryer of the ancient jade was washed off, it showed a round piece of white jade that was a somewhat translucent and the color of ivory, and there was a lifelike motif of a dragon carved onto it, and just by looking at it, one could feel that it had quite the history.

    "System, I want to buy a Heavenly Talisman." Gu Xiqiao looked at the beautiful piece of ancient jade appreciatively before speaking, feeling the warm ebbs of energy from the piece of jade flow into her through her palm.

    [Ding! 1500 points have been deducted, transactionplete!]

    Suddenly, a bunch of seals shed through her mind, and Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes to practice these seals in the void multiple times before opening her eyes when she was ready.

    The ancient jade floated in front of her, and Gu Xiqiao started to make seals with her hands as pulses of natural energy flowed into the piece of jade as if it were drawn by some sort of supernatural force into the piece of jade.

    As her movements became quicker and quicker, beads of sweat started appearing on her forehead, and along with a final movement, the piece of jade spun in midair like a top before stopping!

    At the same time, Jiang Shuxuan that was fighting with an old taoist priest on the outskirts of town looked over to the direction of the city, where a funnel of spiritual and natural energy had formed in the sky. He was quite surprised by this, and because his thought were preupied, he didn¡¯t hold back even in the slightest, making the old taoist priest cough up ck blood.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked back at him coldly, and he waved his hand again as he saw the wisps of ck energy surrounding the old taoist priest in front of him.

    The next moment, the old taoist priest turned into ashes, and disappeared along with the wind.

    Then, he stood there as he looked at the giant whirlpool of energy, unknown emotions shing through his eyes as he muttered, "Even Grandfather would probably not be able to make such amotion, which hidden master did this?"

    After the whirlpool dissipated, he retracted his gaze and made a mental note to check on itter, before he disappeared with a sh.

 Chapter 84 City Hospital

    Gu Xiqiao held the piece of ancient jade in her hands, the natural energy around her so thick that it already materialized into mist as she looked at the piece of jade that had be even more stunning after the array had been embedded into it.

    [Beauty Qiao, the most precious part of this piece of jade isn¡¯t its chi-converging properties, but that it can protect the user from all harm, essentially another life! Jiang Shuxuan better be worth 1500 points!] The system spirit spoke with a somewhat jealous tone. Those points could have been used to upgrade it!

    "You¡¯ve only just been upgraded, so wait for a while okay? I promise I¡¯ll upgrade you again soon!" Gu Xiqiao smiled as she knew what the system spirit was thinking of, the natural chi around her illuminating her with an ethereal glow.

    [You¡¯re really the prettiest person in the world Beauty Qiao!]

    This piece of jade was already perfect in the first ce, so Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t make any modifications to it. She kept it in her inventory, before taking out the two other pieces of jade that she bought earlier.

    A normal-tiered array would already be more than enough for Tang Yanling and Yin Jinian, so Gu Xiqiao used 100 points each to embed said arrays into their pieces of jade. This time around, nothing special happened except for the air rippling slightly.

    These pieces of jade were still unsculpted after all, so Gu Xiqiao made the system polish and refine them because she was already too tired to do it.

    The system used up 1 point each to sculpt them into a pair of earrings and a thumb ring.

    The system was good at its job, of course, and the pair of earrings looked like two teardrops that had intricate designs on them when looked at closely, and it had an ethereal glow to it. This wasn¡¯t an effect caused by the jade and the natural energy in it, but the masterful craftsmanship of the system in sculpting it so that it could refract light in a myriad of ways when light was shone on them.

    These two earrings seemed like a work of art from the heavens itself that couldn¡¯t be designed by the most experienced designers in the world, and even Gu Xiqiao was amazed by their beauty.

    After getting done with everything, her mental power reserves had already reached rock bottom, and her mind felt if it was going to explode. Under such pain, however, she still looked as calm and collected as ever.

    Gu Xiqiao had already gone to bed when Jiang Shuxuan got home, and he hastily finished the meal that Mrs. Zhang had prepared for him before going into his study.

    The window to the study was open, and the curtains pped in the breeze. Jiang Shuxuan switched on the lights before he took out a random old book from the shelves and sat onto his chairfortably. This was his habit, no matter how busy he was.

    The pages of the book he was reading were already yellowed with age, and the words on the paper was ancient small seal script. He was extremely focused as he read it, and he seemed even more handsome as his face was illuminated by the dim lights.

    He had barely flipped two pages before his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a glint of astonishment shed through his cold orbs.

    Jiang Shuxuan set down the book and walked over to the sandalwood table, and ced on it was a piece of perfect white jade with an old-looking design and enough spiritual energy that it seemed to be pouring out into the room, and this was the first time that an expression of shock made its way onto the man¡¯s face in a long while.

    He hadn¡¯t detected this piece of jade in the slightest when he entered the room... Did this piece of jade already birth its own intelligence?

    Even though he had read that spirits could be birthed from jade, this was the first time that he saw such a piece of jade in person.

    As he held the piece of jade in his hand, he felt a familiar presence from it and smiled. "This kid..."

    But then again, he had already guessed that Gu Xiqiao was the one that gave him this piece of ancient jade. As he eximed internally on the value of this gift, a tender smile made its way onto his face as he got a red string and used it to hang the piece of ancient jade on his neck.

    As he sat back onto his chair, he couldn¡¯t focus anymore, continuing to unconsciously rub the piece of jade on his neck with his fingers. While he knew that it was a special piece of jade, as soon as it was hung onto him, he realized that the natural chi was flowing in his direction many times quicker than before. If it continued like this, he would probably be able to level up again quite quickly, wouldn¡¯t he?

    Jiang Shuxuan sighed softly as he put down the book again and walked over to the window, letting the cool breeze soothe his nerves before he walked out of the room, switching off the lights behind him. As he walked by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room, his steps stopped for a moment in front of a certain girl¡¯s door, and he stood there for a while, listening to the calm and steady breaths of someone that was asleep before walking away.

    The next morning, Gu Xiqiao came back to the mansion right as Jiang Shuxuan walked downstairs.

    He was wearing a white shirt, and from the single button at the top that wasn¡¯t buttoned, one could see a thin, red thread.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at it in surprise for a few moments. She knew that Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t like wearing too many essories on his person to the point where he was toozy to even wear a watch, so she didn¡¯t bother to thread it with a string, only expecting him to bring it around in his pocket at most.

    But he threaded it up by himself?

    She hadn¡¯t pinned him for someone that liked these sorts of antiques, and she trailed over to the table as she started eating breakfast.

    Then, she remembered a question that she had forgotten to ask earlier. "Hey, Brother Jiang, did you really pick the color for my car?"

    "You mean the one that Yin Shaoyuan gifted you, right?" Yin Shaoyuan raised an eyebrow as he looked over at her. "Yes, is there a problem with it?"

    Normally, one would choose the color pink for a girl because it was a widely epted girlish color, but in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes, all colors had their own meaning in correspondence to the naturalws of the world. While Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fate had been starting to shift as ofte, and she had heavenly merit and luck on her side, there had always been a presence of Yin-Chi attached to her soul.

    Within all of the colors that brought luck and prosperity, pink was the only one that suited her the most.

    "Not really." Gu Xiqiao downed the bowl of soup in one go, before looking back at the tall and aloof man that was in front of her. "Can I interview you on why you chose this color for me, Mr. Jiang?"

    Jiang Shuxuan knew that she was half-joking at the moment, so he put down his bowl and wiped his hands with a napkin. "It depends on the person I¡¯m choosing for. It would be another color if it were another person."

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t quite believe this exnation of his, but she only nodded and replied: "...As long as you¡¯re happy."

    "Quite. Are you going outside today?" Jiang Shuxuan got up from his seat and asked.

    As she held a boiled egg in one hand, she scrolled on her phone with the other and replied, "Tong Tong is going to have chemotherapy today, and her nurse is on leave, and Uncle Mu is still out on a business trip, so I¡¯ll go look after her."

    Jiang Shuxuan grabbed his keys, and while he didn¡¯t know why Gu Xiqiao was so concerned about that child, he didn¡¯t ask any further. "The city hospital, right? Want me to give you a ride?"

    "Give me a second!" Gu Xiqiao scarfed down the egg and quickly downed her cup of milk, before calling out to Mrs. Zhang that was in the kitchen, "Aunt Zhang, I won¡¯t be back for lunch!"

    "Aren¡¯t you going to change your clothes?" Jiang Shuxuan nced at her sports attire before asking.

    What kind of girl didn¡¯t take a shower nor change her clothes aftering back from a morning jog?

    Gu Xiqiao scrunched her nose and sniffed at the air, before replying, "It¡¯s fine, I didn¡¯t sweat a lot today."

    Jiang Shuxuan smiled and nodded, then drove her to the city hospital. The girl got down from the car and waved at him in goodbye, and only stepped into the hospital after the car disappeared from her line of sight.

    She hade to the hospital before, so she knew where Mu Jiatong¡¯s ward was, and she went to the sixth floor where the hematology patients were hospitalized, and there were many other patients that had simrly severe sicknesses as Mu Jiatong did, so the air itself was filled with despair.

    The eldest patient in there seemed to not even be over thirty years old, and all of their lives had to be cut short because of their sickness.

    Gu Xiqiao stood there in the hallway for a while, before she made a decision to herself.

    Mu Jiatong stayed in a double-ward with another boy that had been transferred there recently, and from the looks of it he was only around the age of a middle-schooler. When Gu Xiqiao walked in, the two children were sitting there on a bed and watching television. Mu Jiatong was getting an IV drip, and the gaze of the boy beside her kept alternating between the screen and the medicine drip vigntly, as if he were her nurse.

    "Tong Tong." Gu Xiqiao stepped into the ward and nced at the screen of the television that was broadcasting news, and from the looks of it, it was about her.

 Chapter 85 Recruitmen

    "Sister Gu!" Mu Jiatong¡¯s expression brightened when she saw Gu Xiqiao and immediately wanted to stand up inplete disregard to the needle that was pierced in her arm, and the boy next to her immediately held her down. "It¡¯s not your father, what are you so excited about?"

    "Brother Dalin[1], this is Sister Gu! She¡¯s the one I told you about, you know, the one that¡¯s great at everything!" Mu Jiatong sat back down, but her eyes were still stuck on Gu Xiqiao with worship written all over her expression.

    "How great could she be, is she greater than Xu Jiayin?" The boy patted Mu Jiatong¡¯s head while he rolled his eyes, not believing what she was saying.

    The girl frowned and puffed her cheeks as she looked at the boy with a serious expression. "No, Sister Gu is awesome! She¡¯s as awesome as Dad!"

    The boy knew of Mu Zong¡¯s position in his daughter¡¯s heart, and seeing that the girl ced Gu Xiqiao on such a pedestal, he only turned his head and looked back at the television.

    "Hello, Dalin." Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t one to care about the opinion of a child, so she only ced the fruits she brought with her on the table and started peeling an apple with a knife.

    Hearing her voice, the boy turned around and looked at her, only to turn his head away with a blush up to his ears as he saw her face.

    "Official reports say that the Arts Academy has gotten a Chinese painting that has been epted into the national art exhibition, but the artist of this work is still unknown..."

    Gu Xiqiao saw the painting that she drew on the screen, before the camera panned over to Xu Jiayin¡¯s face. Upon seeing this, she smiled. If she didn¡¯t want anyone to find her, no one would be able to, even if they turned the entire country upside down.

    Seeing that she looked at the television too, the boy smiled proudly and said, "Sister Xu is awesome! She¡¯s the smartest person in our area other than my brother, and she was epted by B University¡¯s Faculty of Arts!"

    Seeing that he was so proud of it as if it were his own achievements, Gu Xiqiao chuckled. "Alright, well you better learn from your Sister Xu, yes?"

    "Of...Of course." The boy seemed particrly prone to being shy, but he still tried to put on an unfazed front as he did.

    Gu Xiqiao was focused on peeling the apple with a fruit knife, deftly peeling off the skin of the apple without pausing as she smiled warmly at the two children.

    After she finished peeling the apple, she cut it up and pierced two pieces with two toothpicks before sticking both pieces of apples into the children¡¯s mouths. "What are you guys looking at me for? Eat!"

    Dalin nibbled on the apple with a perplexed expression. Was he really the type to value looks that much? How could he just follow what she told her without any question?

    After a short while, a nurse came into the ward and started herding the two children out for chemotherapy, which Gu Xiqiao was here to apany Mu Jiatong for in the first ce. She was quite surprised that the boy¡¯s parents weren¡¯t here, while the warm-hearted nurse brought up calling Dalin¡¯s older brother here.

    "Please don¡¯t call my brother! I can do it by myself!" Upon hearing the suggestion, Dalin immediately sped his hands together and looked at the nurse pleadingly. "Sister Nurse, please? My brother is very busy!"

    The nurse blinked in surprise, while Gu Xiqiao went over tomunicate with the nurse about looking after Dalin too.

    There wasn¡¯t much difference between taking care of one child and two.

    The chemotherapy room was in another building, and when she brought the two children there, they were met by the surprised gazes of some elderly people that were waiting in line too. "Chemotherapy at such a young age?"

    Gu Xiqiao only rubbed their heads before sending them into the chemotherapy room, not knowing how to reply.

    Yes, they were young. Too young to have to deal with this much pain, and too young to have to learn to stay positive despite what life threw at them.

    "Hello...Huh, why are you here?" A familiar voice asked behind her.

    Gu Xiqiao turned around, and saw a familiar boy standing there in the halls of the hospital.

    It was Luo Weng.

    "You¡¯re... Dalin¡¯s older brother?" Gu Xiqiao immediately guessed the rtionship between him and the younger boy, and she pointed towards the chemotherapy room. "He just went in."

    Radiation was strong in the chemotherapy room, so family members weren¡¯t allowed to enter, and while Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t afraid of radiation, she still waited outside in respect to the rules of the hospital.

    Luo Weng panted softly as he tried to catch his breath. "Yes, thank you."

    He was helping with deliveries for the fast-food restaurant that he was working at. Even though there were two workers hired for that purpose, but sometimes customers would request that he be the one that delivered them, so he was so busy that he almost forgot about Luo Wenlin¡¯s appointment. Upon rushing to the hospital, he was notified that the boy had been brought to the chemotherapy room, so he rushed here immediately after he knew.

    He was quite surprised to see Gu Xiqiao there.

    Thinking of this, Luo Weng¡¯s mood became better as he looked at the girl in front of him with a smile. "Mhm...Why are you here?"

    "I¡¯m here to apany a girl." Gu Xiqiao leaned back onto the wall, before looking over at the door of the chemotherapy room for a long moment before continuing, "Dalin¡¯s not bad."

    "Mhm." Luo Weng seemed to have been reminded of something, and he started to space out for a while.

    All of a sudden, the doors were opened from the inside along with Luo Wenlin scrambling out of it followed by a doctor that was shouting, "Hey, wait!"

    Dalin¡¯s expression was ghastly as he looked at Luo Weng, before he immediately ran away with pursed lips, not saying a single word.

    "Luo Wenlin!" Luo Weng finally reacted to what was happening and he immediately chased after the boy, shouting as he did, "Luo Wenlin, stay right where you are!"

    Gu Xiqiao looked on at this, not quite sure what had happened, before she heard the doctor from earlier exin to a particrly gossipy patient that saw what had happened, "This boy probably didn¡¯t know about his condition at the start, and he heard me and Dr. Zhang talk about how he couldn¡¯t getpletely cured no matter how much money they spent, and..."

    The doctor sighed as he made his way back to the chemotherapy room and closed the doors.

    ***

    A young boy and a handsome young man stood there under the sun, the two of them staring each other down and not willing to step back on their respective standpoints.

    Luo Weng¡¯s hands were sped on Luo Wenlin¡¯s shoulders in a tight metal grip as he red at the boy sternly, but the younger boy wasn¡¯t even fazed in the slightest as he looked back up at him with the exact same intensity. It was clear that Luo Wenlin was a stubborn boy that even Luo Weng couldn¡¯t do anything about.

    "Luo Weng, your phone has been ringing for a while now. If you have matters to attend to, you can go, okay? I¡¯ll take care of Wenlin for you," Gu Xiqiao made her way over slowly and said.

    Seeing that this matter couldn¡¯t be resolved in a short matter of time, Luo Weng let go of Dalin and looked at him for a few moments before breathing deeply and turning over to face Gu Xiqiao. "Thank you, I¡¯ll be back when I¡¯m done."

    There was a camphor tree in the courtyard by a bench, and Gu Xiqiao sat down with Dalin under the shade. "Now that your brother¡¯s gone, do you want to tell me what that was about?"

    Upon hearing her question, Dalin only raised his legs onto the bench and wrapped his arms around them, before curling into himself, not replying to the question at all.

    When Gu Xiqiao thought that this silence would go on, he spoke.

    "Brother Weng isn¡¯t my brother by blood."

    Luo Wenlin had been abandoned at the orphanage¡¯s doorstep a mere few days after he was born, and Luo Weng was the one that picked him up and named him, and brought him into his home like he was his own brother.

    Ever since he could remember, he had been following behind Luo Weng, and from the words of the people around them, he knew that his brother was a genius. Many families had tried to adopt Luo Weng, but he had always refused because of Luo Wenlin.

    That was until one day, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and the older boy sold all of his favorite trinkets and worked as hard as he could to earn money for his medical bill. Every day, he would go out and work until midnight before going to school at six in the morning, without even the slightest bit of free time.

    Luo Weng had always told him that he wasn¡¯t all that sick.

    "Sister Gu, my brother is an awesome person, and I can¡¯t be a burden to him. The doctors said that I only had a ten percent chance of being cured, and that is only under the circumstance of having a suitable donor for me...But my brother can¡¯t wait, he just finished his national finals with such good grades! Both A University and B University have called him time and time again, and he¡¯s going to stay in N City for me...He needs more money than I do to go to university, and I hope he can have a great life..." Dalin spoke as his head was still buried in his knees. "If I knew things would turn out like this, I would have never agreed to be admitted into hospital."

    He hadn¡¯t done chemotherapy yet, and he was already starting to feel his chest tighten and his line of sight bing blurry...But if he died like this, it wouldn¡¯t be bad, right? His life was picked up anyway, and he would at least not be a burden to his brother if he died here.

    Luo Weng¡¯s mind was in a daze, when suddenly he felt a stream of warmth make its way up his arm, and his eyesight started to be clear again, along with the tightness of his chest.

    "Sister Gu, you..."

    Gu Xiqiao was holding his palm, her skin tone bing even paler as her eyshes fluttered slightly, before she stood up again. "Alright, let¡¯s go get Tong Tong and get something to eat, shall we?"

    She stood there for a while to regain her bearings before she brought the two children to a nearby restaurant to have some food.

    Luo Wenlin¡¯s height was already up to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ear, and he had eyes as clear and bright as hers were. When the two of them stood together, they seemed like brother and sister.

    Of course, the one that had to convince this stubborn boy to ept treatment had to be Luo Weng.

    When they were eating, Gu Xiqiao sent Luo Weng¡¯s phone number to Mu Zong, and got the system to create a contract and send it to Mu Zong too, and the man was quite surprised when he heard Luo Weng¡¯s name.

    Mu Zong already knew who Luo Weng was. After all, there was a reason why such a genius was in such a state without any external help, he wasn¡¯t just a regr poor kid.

    ording to the rumors, after his mother gave birth to him, his father went to make a name for himself in the Imperial Capital, only to fall in love with a rich girl and get married into their family, while Luo Weng¡¯s mother died in a car ident soon after.

    And so, Luo Weng became an orphan, and that rich girl from the Imperial Capital seemed to dislike him a lot, and had sent word time and time again for everyone in N City to not help in any way!

    There weren¡¯t any people that dared to get in trouble with a strong family from the Imperial Capital, and even the ones that didn¡¯t know about the situation and had wanted to sponsor him were all advised not to by those in the know, and they cut off their ns immediately. For them, it wasn¡¯t worth it to risk their entire families and businesses on a boy with unknown value, so even now that he had gotten the second ranking in the entire country, he still had no financial aid.

    [1] or "Big" Lin

 Chapter 86 Career Change

    Listening to Mu Zong¡¯s words, Gu Xuqiao¡¯s expression remained unchanged.

    "Uncle Mu, this is N City. With the Yin family overseeing it, it is unlikely for those from the Imperial Capital to extend their reach here. Believe me, it will be soon that Nine Heavens Network will sit at the top of this country, and even the big families in the Imperial Capital will hesitate to make a move against us." The words spoken by the girl were soft but firm and clear, and rang loudly in his ears.

    Mu Zong¡¯s eyes flickered as he nced into the distance, as though the scene was ying in his eyes. Theirpany already had advanced softwares to research on, perfect marketing ns, and Gu Xiqiao had also personally designed risk-free financial products. These were just a few of the products they had, but it had managed to attract those financial predators right from the start. That in turn had attracted almost an amount of millions in investments, and with such scenarios, don¡¯t talk about standing at the top within the country, even standing at the top of the world didn¡¯t sound impossible now, did it?

    After hanging up the phone, Mu Zong asked Wang Bo to bring the contract to meet Luo Weng.

    ***

    When Luo Weng returned to the hospital once again, Gu Xiqiao had already left. Luo Wenlin was watching a rerun of the afternoon¡¯s program on TV.

    "Brother! Look at Sister Xu!" Seeing that Luo Weng had returned, Luo Wenlin pointed at the TV excitedly, "Sister Xu is on TV again, she¡¯s so great, being interviewed on national television!"

    Xu Jiayin was indeed good, reaching such a point at such a young age, and her talent cannot be underestimated. However, Luo Weng merely nced at the screen. "Not bad."

    Luo Wenlin was obviously dissatisfied with Luo Weng¡¯s response, "Brother, although Sister Xu is only a few years younger than you, but among her own age group, she¡¯s very good!"

    "The older sister who took you out today, her name is Gu Xiqiao. She¡¯s this year¡¯s top ranker in the national finals, and she¡¯s closer to full markspared to me," Luo Weng said, secretlyughing at the stunned look on his brother¡¯s face and couldn¡¯t resist adding in further, "Not only that, the artpetition that your Sister Xu took part inst time, she¡¯s also the one who took the champion for that. Dozens of major media ces wanted a chance to interview her, and yet she didn¡¯t agree to a single one."

    "She, she, she...!" Luo Wenlin stuttered, before taking a deep breath to calm himself, "How can she be better than you!"

    Recalling how he had gushed about Xu Jiayin in front of Gu Xiqiao today, his face flushed red, not knowing how to describe the shame he felt inside. Who knows how hard Gu Xiqiao wasughing at him on the inside!

    Luo Wenlin wailed, burying himself in the sheets as the mortification spread through him.

    Luo Weng stood to the side as he watched him, but his eyes were not focused on him, staring through him instead. He recalled the afternoon¡¯s incident, and immediately his whole face became gloomy. Making up his mind, he proceeded to drag Luo Wenlin downstairs without a word, towards where there was a cash machine. Because it was night, there weren¡¯t many people around. He immediately shoved his card in the machine, keying in his pin number and selecting the disy of bnce in his ount.

    After the bnce was disyed, he pulled Luo Wenlin in front to let him see the amount. "Your brother has money now, if you dare to repeat what you said in the afternoon again, then don¡¯t call me your brother anymore!"

    No one could imagine the rming panic that had gripped his heart when he heard Luo Wenlin eximed he didn¡¯t want the treatments anymore in the afternoon. He had spent the entire afternoon screwing up quite a few orders in his delivery job, and he was just lucky the few girls didn¡¯tin to the store manager. He was in such a state up to the point when he received the call, where someone had offered to sign him on for ten years, and was willing to pay him an advance of one million in cash.

    Luo Weng felt that he was in a dream, and he thought he must have heard wrongly, thinking it must be a mistake. But then a middle-aged man hade to the store to look for him in person with a contract in hand, and in the next second there was one million being transferred into his card.

    He faintly managed to inquire about it, and found that the one who had helped him this time was Gu Xiqiao. She had ignored the pressure from Jing Capital, and once again pulled through for him.

    He hadn¡¯t even managed to return her the 2,528.50 from thest time. Now, it was one million.

    She had always given him hope when he was down and at his most desperate. If that was how it was going to be, then he would also do his best to help her!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know that her move this time had managed to rope in the best ally for her future. At this moment in time, she was giving the jade essory that she hadpleted to Yin Shaoyuan to give to Tang Yanling.

    Yin Jinian was the first to receive the jade ring from his son, and although he didn¡¯t disy much expression upon receiving it, the ring had never been taken off his finger since he put it on.

    When Tang Yanling received the earrings, she couldn¡¯t help but fall in love with them, putting them on immediately. Disregarding the fact that the earrings suited her to the t, even Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eyes were sparkling with admiration at the uniqueness of the earrings. It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that the crafting of the item was extremely skillful, and when Tang Yanling went out with it, it could probably blind the otherdies with it.

    Tang Yanling was so satisfied with the gift that she didn¡¯t take it off even when she slept. She boasted to everyone about her recently acquired goddaughter, Gu Xiqiao from the Gu family, that she was smart and talented as well as beautiful. She really was a blessing that had been born from the 500 years of prayers from their ancestors.

    And there was other more exciting news, the Yin family would be holding a banquet in honor of Gu Xiqiao on the seventh of June!

    The banquet was going to be big and grand, and the invitees would be personally selected by Tang Yanling. This gave tremendous pressure on the senior officials of N City.

    The Yin family had always held a low profile. Thest public banquet they had was for Master Yin¡¯s birthday, and that was a few years ago. Compared to some other families who held banquets three to five times a year, the Yin family really didn¡¯t open their doors much to the public. This made every outsider curious to what Yin Manor was like, unable to imagine how it looked on the inside.

    This time, the Yin family was holding the banquet in their home, which made a lot of people tremble in anticipation. The Yin family was bound to invite all the major big shots, being able to just drop in would be a major boost to their reputation, not to mention all the opportunities towork.

    When Jiang Shuxuan had heard Tang Yanling¡¯s words, he had smiled lightly. He remembered the golden light surrounding Gu Xiqiao, and thought to himself, ¡¯This kind of blessing can only be obtained once after every thousand years of prayers.¡¯

    When the Gu family received the news, the regret that they felt was paramount. Not to mention Master Gu, even Gu Zuhui was at a loss. He had struggled and was frustrated since the fallout, and he treated Su Wan¡¯er coldly, to the point that he even found a lover on the side. Su Wan¡¯er couldn¡¯t be bothered with Gu Xijin during that time, tearing into Gu Zuhui.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was unaware of all this, as she was studying a set of acupuncture methods for Yin Guofu at this time. From the first dinner she had taken with them, she had noticed that there was a problem with Yin Guofu¡¯s right arm, and she was trying to figure out a way to fix it.

    The system spirit was able to sell the medicine to cure it immediately, but she didn¡¯t ept it. The things she grasp with her own hands only would be considered hers.

    That was the reason Gu Xiqiao spent the few days going over medical texts in the void. There were medical books on inverse pulse needles, and she had spent a sum of money to have someone craft some golden needles as the book had described. She looked at examples all day and night, even moving a stic mannequin to the bedroom, using the golden needles she hadmissioned to find the acupoints on the mannequin.

    In the end, even Mrs. Zhang knew that Gu Xiqiao was no longer painting, and that she had turned her sights to biology instead. Since she didn¡¯t really understand any of it, she made a casual mention to it one day to Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t stop Mrs. Zhang¡¯s chattering, so he asked Gu Xiqiao the next day at breakfast. "I heard you¡¯re studying acupoints of the human body recently, is this an indication of you thinking about a career change into medicine instead?"

    In Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s talent in oil painting was amazing, and that it would naturally be the thing that she intended to pursue, so he had brought it up casually without much meaning behind it. He assumed that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s study of the human body was just a passing fancy, and didn¡¯t put too much thought into it.

    Unexpectedly, Gu Xiqiao just raised her head, replying with a short ¡¯yes¡¯!

    But even with her admitting that she was heading towards that direction, Jiang Shuxuan took it as that it was just a moment¡¯s curiosity for her. Once she hit a wall, she would know to turn back.

    Although it seems that she was taking the study seriously, buying books after books on the human meridians, and she studied them all thoroughly. The books were filled with her annotations and thoughts, and when he read through thements she had written, a surprise expression appeared for the first time on his normally cold, indifferent face.

    Putting the book back in its ce without a word, Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes slightly. He walked to the room and knocked on the door, but there was no response. Raising a delicate brow, he turned the door handle. Fortunately, she never had the habit of locking doors.

    In the room, where an easel used to be, a mannequin had taken its ce. Jiang Shuxuan had seen the mannequin before, but thest time he had seen it, it was filled with marks from acupuncture. The mannequin in front of him today was clean, all the marks on it were cleared off, and the person that he was looking for was clearly absorbed in her work over the mannequin, the golden needles in her hands poking into the mannequin one after another.

    She had a look of concentration on her face, her hands holding the needles in a way that was once unfamiliar and clumsy, now proficient and confident as the needles were pulled out and plunged in again and again.

    The slim figure was stunningly graceful as her body was bathed in the lighting from behind her, disying a breathtaking scene.

 Chapter 87 A Favor

    After a long while of staring, Jiang Shuxuan finally epted that this child was serious, and this was not just a passing fancy.

    After knowing each other for so long, he was well aware of her temperament. If she believed in something, she wouldn¡¯t give up on it so easily. She was very stubborn, to the point it was distressing.

    The cold stern eyes softened slightly, and he backed out from the room¡ªclosing the door softly as he instructed Mrs. Zhang to stay silent so that Gu Xiqiao could work in peace. He then proceeded downstairs with a softer gait than usual.

    When Gu Xiqiao came down, Jiang Shuxuan was sitting by the window, holding a small ball in his hand. He would throw the ball out randomly after a while, and Haha would shoot off to chase after it, bringing it back to his feet¡ªits tail wagging in delight.

    Strangely, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s senses were sharp, as well as his gaze, and his whole body exudes a chilling aura. Sometimes, Gu Xiqiao still felt some apprehension while in the same vicinity as him, but it seems that Haha was getting less afraid of him as time passed.

    "You¡¯re down? Just in time for dinner then," Jiang Shuxuan said when he saw her, cing the ball on the ss table and heading towards the kitchen to call for dinner.

    Haha ran straight to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side, looking up to her with its big, round, shimmering eyes. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart melted at the sight. Haha had been in a rich environment for almost a month. Adding on the fact that Mrs. Zhang would bring it for grooming every other day, Haha hadpletely transformed into a good pedigree dog. The fur on Haha was smooth and silky, like snow, which made people unable to resist the urge to touch it.

    Dogs were intelligent creatures, they understood who was good to them, and it was precisely because of the asionally kind gestures from the usually cold Jiang Shuxuan that made Haha like this.

    Gu Xiqiao scooped him up in her arms, and stumbled a little at the weight. "Haha, if you gain another few pounds, I won¡¯t be able to carry you like this anymore."

    Haha whimpered pitifully, ncing up at her, widening his already big, innocent eyes.

    "Alright, alright, stop pretending to look so pitiful." Gu Xiqiao scratched his ears, and seeing that dishes had been brought out, she let Haha down as she went to the kitchen to wash her hands.

    Gu Xiqiao would take Haha out for a fewps every day after dinner, but Jiang Shuxuan had called for her today.

    He looked at her, staring into her eyes¡ªhis expression solemn. "Why did you suddenly take an interest in medical studies?"

    She had the talent in the medical field, but he was still worried. Among the people he knew, there were a few families that had ventured into medicine. Those people have been busy since they were a child to adult, going through mountains of books since a young age. Once they went into college, in addition toboratory experiments, there were also theory sses. From time to time, they were also required to take up internships. Once they became doctors, they got even busier, and there was little time to rest. Sometimes, they would even be pulled away to attend to emergencies with just a phone call.

    The profession of a doctor was good and all, and it was a job. But when things go wrong, the public wouldn¡¯t hesitate to throw their hurtful opinions at you.

    In all fairness, it was not really a ttering profession to take up.

    Thinking about how Gu Xiqiao was usually quiteid back, Jiang Shuxuan felt he had to properly discuss this issue with her.

    "This is not something I took up on a whim, I just hope to have the ability to help my friends and family. I have the talent, right?" Gu Xiqiao touched the bracelet on her hand unconsciously, thinking of Mu Jiatong and Luo Wenlin who were still in the intensive care unit. Both of them had looked to her like they were looking at a small sun. How could she let their lives end, when it had barely even started?

    Seeing that Jiang Shuxuan was unmoved, Gu Xiqiao brought up Yin Guofu¡¯s arm. Her observations wouldn¡¯t be wrong, Yin Guofu had an injury on the arm that was hidden, and it hadn¡¯t gotten any better.

    Jiang Shuxuan raised an eyebrow. "It¡¯s difficult to turn an upation into a professional career. The purpose of studying medicine is to save the world, and it¡¯s only valuable if you are able to specialize in the entire field. A person only had so much time in their life, and some live their lives never knowing what they were doing in the end. Do you really intend to let go of your other interests, like oil painting?"

    He hoped that Gu Xiqiao had the resolve, there were not many geniuses in the world, but there were even more people who ended up like the story of Shang Zhongyong, which talked about a genius who was brilliantly talented, but eventually bing ordinary due to his ck.

    Her family only existed to her in name, having them was like having none at all, so he hoped that he could give her a little more guidance in her life.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded without hesitation, if she didn¡¯t take a liking to it, she wouldn¡¯t have wasted so much time putting in the effort to read through the books. To be honest, this was the first time she had found a direction that she liked.

    Of course, what she didn¡¯t say was that the thing shecked the most was time. As long as she had the points, she basically had unlimited time in her hands. Not only that, the system had also released various growth type missions, so her interest was definitely higher than the average person.

    However, she also nned to continue improving her oil paintings in the void space, so that it wouldn¡¯t be shown in front of Jiang Shuxuan during the normal days, otherwise he might have something to say about it.

    It wasn¡¯t like she would give up everything else if she pursued medical studies.

    "Alright, then you can go ahead and take a look at Grandfather Yin¡¯s arm over the next few days," Jiang Shuxuan said, seeing the determination in her face. He then turned around, taking his car keys before leaving the house.

    Watching as he left her sight as fast as possible, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She didn¡¯t know what he meant, but what couldn¡¯t be denied was that, with someone being so concerned about her life and her ns for the future, it actually felt quite nice.

    ***

    This person who was recently immersed in being a ¡¯nursing dad¡¯ was now at the Yin family house.

    The Yin family guards recognized him, because Yin Shaoyuan was afraid that these little guards would offend a great god, he had deliberately passed them Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s photograph to ensure they knew who he was. This was to avoid these guards from being sent to their death without knowing who it was that killed them.

    Jiang Shuxuan hade over this time to meet Yin Guofu, and hepletely ignored Yin Shaoyuan, who hade over to greet him.

    Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s hands were stretched out halfway before it retracted, with Tang Yanling at the side chattering away. "Oh, Shuxuan is here. Take back the clothes that I just bought for Qiaoqiao to try on! I¡¯ll need to send her a message on WeChat to try it on one by one, and to send me pictures."

    Over the past few days, Tang Yanling¡¯s circle of friends had been bombarded by praise for Gu Xiqiao. Once the woman had started boasting about this dazzling girl, she couldn¡¯t stop even if she wanted to.

    This led to Young Master Yin¡¯s wondering, was he going to be sidelined no matter where he went?

    Tang Yanling had never taken his photo to show off in her circle of friends, he was still her son by blood, right?

    Yin Guofu was sitting in his study, his hand holding a sleek brush with a weasel bristle. The tip of the brush was barely touching the paper, but he didn¡¯t write on it for a long time. If you looked closely, you would realize that the brush was shaking slightly. After a long while, he ced the brush down and let out a long sigh.

    It was still not possible.

    When Jiang Shuxuan came in, Yin Guofu was already seated at the low table, making a pot of tea.

    He was old. His children as well as grandchildren were all independent and didn¡¯t cause him any worry, so he was able to be at peace with all this. He liked to spend his time among the flowers and nts, making tea and watching the birds, and it was a very leisurely life. When he saw the junior that he admired, he couldn¡¯t help but reveal a skill that he usually didn¡¯t show.

    Making tea was a very technical skill. Jiang Shuxuan took a sip, admiring Yin Guofu¡¯s skill while affirming it at the same time.

    Yin Guofu chuckled at that, but he didn¡¯t forget the point of the visit. "You¡¯vee at ate hour, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not just to drink my tea?"

    "Of course," Jiang Shuxuan replied, putting down the cup, and shooting him a solemn look. "I¡¯d like to know, Grandfather, if you¡¯ve injured your right arm before."

    As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Yin Guofu raised his head in surprise, staring at him in slight shock.

    Yin Guofu had been sent out to the frontlines when he was just a teenager, the military medals hanging in his study were exchanged using his life and blood over and over again. At that time, he was the sharpshooter of the army, using his military strength, he climbed through the ranks and becamemander when he was middle-aged. What soldier didn¡¯t have injuries? He had suffered a gunshot wound on his right arm¡ªthe bullet had impacted his bones. With the medical facilities in those times, it was impossible to fully mend an internal injury, and it left asting mark, and he wasn¡¯t able to use his arm fully until now.

    Who would have known, the sharpshooter back in those days that had not touched a gun in twenty years, was because he was afraid.

    Now, it took a lot of effort just to write a few characters. Don¡¯t even talk about the hundred steps to lift up a gun.

    "How did you know?" Yin Guofu¡¯s eyes were slightly hazy, lost in nostalgia. Outsiders had seen his actions as abandoning the gun, but he had never even discussed this matter with his family. The internal injury was also only known to himself. With just a short amount of time, his junior had identified it, and he could only sigh at that. This was the first time he had discussed his injury with anyone, and he had calmed down so much from the time he had gotten it. "It has been many years since I¡¯ve gotten this injury, I guess it won¡¯t matter even if I discuss it with you."

    "At that point in time, the medical technologies were all not able to help. I¡¯ve also tried to secretly look for the miracle doctor, Rong Feishuang. But this doctor was too secretive, and I didn¡¯t manage to get him on the line."

    Jiang Shuxuan hesitated a little after listening to Yin Guofu¡¯s words. An internal injury wasn¡¯t easy to treat, adding on the fact that it had been many years since he had gotten the wound. If it was that easy to cure, then the old man wouldn¡¯t be in this state in the first ce.

    But thinking back to Gu Xiqiao, who had been tirelessly researching in the past few days, to the point that she seemed to have forgotten to sleep and eat, Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t bear to let her down.

    Even though she didn¡¯t say it, he knew that she was studying acupuncture for the sake of Yin Guofu.

    He knew of the doctor called Rong Feishuang. He was globally famous as a doctor, having a strange temperament, able to wrestle people back from the hands of death. Someone who was out of everyone¡¯s reach, and you would be lucky to catch a glimpse of him. He seemed to have good friends all over the world. No one would dare to go after the life of someone who would possibly be the one saving their lives in the future, after all.

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes in contemtion. If she really crippled Yin Guofu¡¯s hand, then he would find Rong Feishuang.

    Others were helpless against the divine doctor, but he would find a way to do it.

    "Grandfather, I want to ask a favor of you." Jiang Shuxuan stood to move in front of him, bowing low to Yin Guofu. "The child of my house has seen your injury, and she has bought countless medical books to study every day and night. She intends to diagnose and treat you, I hope that you will be able to agree to her treatment when the timees. No matter what happens after, I will bear the responsibility. Don¡¯t put any of the me on her."

    Yin Guofu wasn¡¯t about to throw the courtesy he was shown back to his face, and he hurriedly pulled Jiang Shuxuan out of his bow. "I¡¯m very happy that she has such a heart and intention, how could I ce any me on her?"

 Chapter 88 Treatmen

    Jiang Shuxuan had personally vouched for her, and requested a favor from him. Even if he was doing it for Yin Shaoyuan, he would never refuse him.

    But what made him shocked was that, for the sake of an unrealistic idea of a little girl, Jiang Shuxuan was willing to personallye to ask for a favor from him. The young master of the Jiang family really was paying a lot of attention and concern for this child.

    Master Yin¡¯s thoughts were running a mile an hour, but on the outside he remained calm and quiet. He was now satisfied from the bottom of his heart for the actions that Yin Shaoyuan had made unintentionally, bounding the child to his house before anyone else had realized her potential and sought to do the same. It would seem that the Yin family will not be going downhill in the next hundreds of years.

    It didn¡¯t hurt that he also approved of this doll of a girl.

    After getting the agreement in words, Jiang Shuxuan let out a sigh of relief. He couldn¡¯t help the sudden whim that Gu Xiqiao had, and so he could only retreat and head towards Yin Guofu instead.

    She was still a child after all, one who didn¡¯t consider thingsprehensively. Didn¡¯t she think about the fact that the old man had no reason to hand over the treatment of his arm to a child? And what would happen if sheplicated the matter instead of healing him?

    And so this was the only thing he could do, setting up a safety for Master Yin because of her.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t aware that Jiang Shuxuan had done so much for her without her knowledge, just that he hadn¡¯t been breathing down her neck about her studying the medical texts that she had gotten. Even Mrs. Zhang had not lectured her recently, only reminding her to take care of her body. Gu Xiqiao still couldn¡¯t adapt to their concerns, so she opted to stay mostly in the void space to discuss the treatment methods with the system.

    [Beauty Qiao, don¡¯t research anymore, I¡¯ll go to the shop and find if there are any treatment options there,] The system spirit said, holding a book in its hands. Its expression clearly said that it was bored of looking through the many books with Gu Xiqiao, and its eyes lingered on her somewhat pleadingly.

    Gu Xiqiao was sitting in the void space, surrounded by mountains of ancient texts. She flipped through the one in her hands quickly, tossing it aside once she was done. With a quick thought in her mind, another book would float to her hands. "It¡¯s fine, go ahead and y your games, I¡¯ll continue to look."

    The system spirit heard her words, but didn¡¯t reject the idea. It had already been by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side for two weeks, and she had been studying the medical books without sleep in those two weeks. The system spirit felt like it was quite useless in this endeavour.

    [Then, I¡¯ll go ahead and y some games,] The system spirit said, disappearing immediately after from the void to y the game it had developed, Nine Heavens.

    In the void, Gu Xiqiao continued flipping through the medical books, reading book after book. The speed that she was reading at was very fast, almost as though she was looking at ten sentences in one nce.

    Even for people who had high mental power, your brain and memory would also get tired after continuously working at full capacity like this. Gu Xiqiao slowed down eventually, and she started to review each case study in the books. Every acupuncture point and needle pressure in the books were practised in her mind as she read.

    Feeling that it was almost time, she left the void space.

    Although countless months have passed in the void space, it was only a moment in reality. Gu Xiqiao first took a bath, feeling the mental fatigue fade as she refreshed herself. She could feel her mental reserves building back up, expanding even further than usual. The system who was in the void space shouted at that, [Beauty Qiao, how is your mental power rising more again, this doesn¡¯t make sense in scientific terms!]

    "You could rise in strength too, if you were like me," Gu Xiqiao said as she took a towel to dry her hair, walking towards the mannequin in her room as she did. She took her time examining it, trying to find the most suitable spot to inject the needle.

    She had never seen Yin Guofu¡¯s arm with her own eyes, and so she didn¡¯t know how the condition in his arm was. She could only study simr examples and ponder over each case, and she would probably need to make changes when she was looking at the real thing.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t been able to study through all the ancient texts in the void space, before she caught off guard by being called to the Yin family house.

    Tang Yanling had gotten Yin Shaoyuan to make the call, and naturally, Jiang Shuxuan was also invited along.

    "In just a while, you¡¯ll be able to take a look at Grandfather Yin¡¯s arm," Jiang Shuxuan said to her, driving the car into the sea of people.

    The words were soft, but it felt like it had been screamed into her ears. Gu Xiqiao squeezed the phone that she held in her hands, her eyes turning to him, and it was clear the uneasiness that was in them. "This... wait a minute?"

    This was her first hands on experience, without the system¡¯s diagnostic, and it waspletely based on her own strength. Disregarding the uneasiness in her heart, she hadn¡¯t been able to prepare herself after so long, and was expected to start just like that?

    Jiang Shuxuan tried to reassure her after seeing her in this state. "Don¡¯t worry, just take a look at it, he won¡¯t me you or anything for that."

    Like Yin Guofu, the both of them were not holding out much hope from the bottom of their hearts. Unlike Yin Guofu however, Jiang Shuxuan was worried that she would be beaten down by this failure, being more afraid that she was really serious about going down the path of medicine.

    The Yin family household was lively as ever, especially Tang Yanling, who had prepared a lot of new clothes for her, inquiring about her health. Gu Xiqiao knew that she had also gotten a hold of Mrs. Zhang¡¯s phone number, asking after her physical condition every day.

    Even without the system notification, she could feel the feelings of concern and warmth.

    The her that had a chance to do this life over again, was really lucky.

    Gu Xiqiao calmed her heart in determination, following Jiang Shuxuan up the stairs. The Yin family wasn¡¯t aware of Yin Guofu¡¯s injury, and she had no intentions of letting it slip out.

    The others were told that the old man had something to discuss with them, and didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. Yin Shaoyuan was holding the remote in his hands and watching the TV, and even told Gu Xiqiao to hurry up and join him when she was done.

    Tang Yanling told her toe and drink some soupter once she was done, and hearing this, Gu Xiqiao almost lost her footing and slipped.

    Why was it that she couldn¡¯t avoid soup no matter where she went?

    Jiang Shuxuan bit his lip, fighting the smile that was threatening to stretch on his face.

    ***

    Yin Guofu had entered his study after he finished eating. Usually he would take a walk in the gardens and watch the birds y, but today he was waiting for a child toe and treat him. It was a bit insane, but he was actually looking forward to it?

    Letting out a sigh, Yin Guofu raised his right arm, and his heart sank again. It¡¯s been a few decades, and even if there was a chance of being healed, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be in the hands of a doll-like child.

    The hope in his eyes was extinguished with that thought, but he put on a smile again as he looked at Gu Xiqiao gently. "Go ahead and perform your treatment. I¡¯m alright, and I won¡¯t me you if anything happens."

    Gu Xiqiao solemnly looked over his arm, she knew that the two of them in the study didn¡¯t believe in her, but she didn¡¯t care. The most important thing for her was whether or not the arm of Yin Guofu in front of her could be saved. She inspected the muscle around the injured area, and probed it with a little chi to look deeper into it, her concentration centered on the arm she held.

    Seeing the look of concentration on her face, Yin Guofu and Jiang Shuxuan breathed lightly, in hopes to not disturb her concentration.

    The recovery of Yin Guofu¡¯s arm was already considered to be good. Generally, when the bullet prates the body, it would leave a hole in the tissues underneath the muscle, which would have a great impact when it healed over. If the bullet goes through the bones, that part of the body was basically useless then. The fact that Yin Guofu was still able to move his arm and that his family had never realized his arm was injured for decades, that extent of recovery was already considered to be a miracle.

    After inspecting for a while, Gu Xiqiao had discovered the problem.

    When his arm was injured by the bullet, it had burned the meridians around it,pletely stopping the flow of energy. The cracks in his bone had also not healed, making it impossible for him to control his arm fully.

    Knowing the extent of the injuries made treatment a lot more simple, and she took out her golden needles, cing it on the table with a wave of her hand.

    "I¡¯m starting the treatment," Gu Xiqiao said, looking into Yin Guofu¡¯s eyes. Once she had his approval, she picked up a needle.

    From the moment the golden needle was in her hand, her entire demeanor changed. Her gaze sharpened with a distinct fire, and her hands moved quickly and smoothly. Every needle fell urately onto the points, each wrapped in a slight amount of chi, breaking through the blocked meridians.

    The bones would usually heal on their own, but Yin Guofu was old and his body had begun to shrink, so there was no possibility of healing it.

    However, veins and muscle could be healed, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s chi had magnificent vitality. It swam through Yin Guofu¡¯s body and quickly repaired the cells on his arm where the needle had gone in.

    It was obvious that Yin Guofu felt a change in his arm, he knew his own arm the best, after all. In this moment, the pulsing of his arm was amplified by a few times, echoing in his ears. He slowly turned to look at his arm, his eyes clearing up as he turned his attention to what was happening.

    The arm had always felt slightly numb and paralyzed all year round, and he couldn¡¯t move it properly, but now there was a slight feeling of pain throbbing in it.

    "I..." Yin Guofu¡¯s eyes clouded over, a slight tremble could be heard in his voice. For years, he had been trying to avoid this reality.

    He grew up holding a gun in his hand, and the gun had apanied him through those countless thrilling days, it was his closest partner. After his arm injury, he was never able to pick up the gun again, locking it away in a safe, deliberately trying to make himself forget. However, there was a part of his mind which could never do so.

    Did the pain that had returned to his arm indicate that there would be a day in his remaining lifetime, that he would be able to pick up the gun again?

    Yin Guofu¡¯s eyes were slightly glossy when he looked at Gu Xiqiao, and slightly red-rimmed. "This...I..."

    He struggled for words for what seemed like half a day, but nothing coulde out of his mouth, but there was hope in his eyes that hadn¡¯t been there before.

    "Although there is nothing to be done for the crack in the bones, but it will be fine for doing calligraphy." Gu Xiqiao had drained all the strength and energy in her body for this, and also she was mentally exhausted after the effort, she mustered up a smile to hide her fatigue. She nced at the paperid out on the desk, her gaze softening.

    Managing to calm his overwhelming emotions, Yin Guofu took note of Gu Xiqiao¡¯splexion, and reached out to support her in concern. Knowing that she had exhausted herself for his sake, and not knowing how much research she had had to do before reaching this stage, he was deeply touched by her effort. "Alright, alright. Come, sit down and rest."

    Regardless of whether the treatment had worked, the intentions and feelings behind her actions were enough topletely move him. From now onwards, Yin Guofu would truly acknowledge her as his god granddaughter from the bottom of his heart, and it would not be due to any benefit that she would bring to the family.

    Jiang Shuxuan held Gu Xiqiao, supporting her weight, not knowing how to feel about the entire thing. Looking at her weary state, he could only sigh again, and couldn¡¯t bear to criticize her at this moment.

    Gu Xiqiao had exhausted herself mentally by forcefully clearing his veins, and her mental state was not great. She could only lean against Jiang Shuxuan, softly asking him to write out a prescription.

    "Grandfather Yin, I¡¯ll take her back first." Jiang Shuxuan said as one hand held onto her, and the other wrote down what she said. His lips were pursed tightly, his eyes narrowed sharply as the hard expression slid onto his face.

    With Yin Guofu being blessed by Gu Xiqiao for such a huge favor, it was only natural for him to have Gu Xiqiao stay the night in Yin Manor. On top of that, she was also under the Yin family name, staying here a night would be an obvious choice of matter.

    However, looking into the pair of cold, distant eyes, Yin Guofu was unable to say anything along those lines, and could only urge Gu Xiqiao repeatedly to not overdo it before they left.

    "Oh, Qiao Qiao, remember toe back on the sixth, the day of the banquet!"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded obediently, but Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t linger too long, sweeping her away after that.

    She hadpletely exhausted her mental reserves, and could only rest to recover it slowly, he couldn¡¯t do anything much for that.

    Seeing her pale face made his heart tighten, so he could only smoothen out his expression and not say a word.

    Sitting on the passenger seat, Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes to rest. She had already gotten used to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s indifferent expression, and she didn¡¯t feel that anything was wrong for a while, until she heard his deep voice speaking.

    "You¡¯re very suited for the profession of a doctor," Jiang Shuxuan said, looking straight into her eyes, his expression easing a little to show some warmth.

    When she was treating Yin Guofu, he had felt the vitality in her chi, and he couldn¡¯t help but be moved by her determination. Her mental power was also naturally strong, the profession of doctor seemed like a profession that was created for her.

    Perhaps, she could evenpare to Rong Feishuang in the future? In this moment, even he was anticipating whether or not a day like that woulde for her.

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes slightly, the doubts in his heart being confirmed little by little. Gu Xiqiao was bing stronger as the days passed by, and he was grateful and happy for it, but worried at the same time. Sometimes, great power came with great responsibilities, and that was one of the reasons he had never told her about the current situation of the ancient martial arts world.

 Chapter 89 Wrestle For Jobs

    With what had happened, the only thing left was the matter of moving out. Gu Xiqiao rubbed Haha¡¯s head as she thought about where to move to. Haha was clearly enjoying the attention she was giving him, a bright pair of big eyes looking up at her from her embrace. "About moving out, if you agree with me, bark once. Come on, bark once."

    Haha: "Woof woof~"

    Gu Xiqiao picked him up so that Haha¡¯s eyes were on the same level as hers as she stared intently into his eyes. "I said, bark once."

    Haha: "...Woof."

    "Looks like you also agree about moving out, but where should we move to?" Gu Xiqiao returned Haha back to her arms, and continued to ponder.

    Her phone rang and Gu Xiqiao picked it up, finding an unknown local number shing on the screen. There weren¡¯t many people who knew her number, and those who could call her were only people that she was close to.

    She had guessed it to be a lot of other people, but she didn¡¯t expect the one to have called her was Luo Weng. He was inviting her to his house, today was Luo Wenlin¡¯s birthday.

    "If you¡¯ll give me the address, I¡¯ll go over there myself," Gu Xiqiao said, hanging up the call soon after, and Luo Weng sent over the address with a message that since the ce was difficult to find, to give him a call if she couldn¡¯t find it.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the address, and found that his house was actually in the small alley beside First High.

    Because it was Luo Wenlin¡¯s birthday, Gu Xiqiao first went to the mall to buy a gift. She settled on a Transformer toy that the salesperson had assured her that boys generally liked.

    The alleyways in First High were numerous and chaotic. When she got off the bus, she saw Luo Wenlin waiting for her at the mouth of the alley. He was wearing a face mask, and only the pair of dark eyes was visible on his face. When he caught sight of Gu Xiqiao, his eyes brightened.

    "Sister Gu!" He waved at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao walked to stand in front of him, rubbing the top of his head gently, handing the gift in her hands to him. "Happy birthday, Dalin."

    Luo Wenlin didn¡¯t rush to open his gift, but pointed to the boy standing next to him. "Sister Gu, this is Yao Jiamu, my brother¡¯s friend. Brother Yao, hurry up and greet people."

    The tall, thin boy beside him lifted a hand to adjust the cap on his head, a bright smile appearing on his face as he looked up. "Hey, we meet again."

    The girl in front of him was dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt, exposing the beautiful curve of her neck, a pair of crystal clear eyes, a healthy flushed face as well as a faint, warm smile on her lips. Yao Jiamu struggled to pull his gaze away, taking what felt like half a day to react.

    "You know each other?" Luo Wenlin asked in surprise.

    "Less talk, let¡¯s go." Yao Jiamu was clearly in a good mood, leading the two of them into the alley with a ridiculous grin spreading from ear to ear on his face.

    The corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips twitched upwards, turning to exin to Luo Wenlin. "Yes, I was sitting behind him during the national finals. He wore slippers to the exam, so it left a deep impression on me."

    She wasn¡¯t saying anything about the first time they had met, Yao Jiamu noted as his smile stretched wider. Even though their first meeting had been far from friendly, the impression he had left on her was deep. Seeing that she didn¡¯t bring it up, he also didn¡¯t mention it.

    The Luo family house was quite remote, and they walked quite a few twists and turns before finally reaching a courtyard.

    As soon as they reached home, Luo Wenlin ran to his room to secretly open the gift that Gu Xiqiao had gotten for him. When he had first caught sight of the packaging, he had been holding in urge to open it immediately. It was an expensive brand in the stores, and he would see it almost every day, but he never thought that he would ever get a gift from there.

    Yao Jiamu had navigated through the kitchen with easy familiarity as he took out a decent looking paper cup on top of the fridge to serve Gu Xiqiao.

    "I¡¯ve been really curious for a while, at that time, what made you take the money from that woman?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she watched him make tea.

    Having met a few times, Gu Xiqiao found that Yao Jiamu wasn¡¯t a bad person. He was a very loyal person, open and honest, and he wasn¡¯t the kind to go around stealing.

    "It was nothing, really. At that time, Wenlin¡¯s condition wasn¡¯t stable, and he needed chemotherapy, which meant more money that we didn¡¯t have. In the beginning, I borrowed money from my aunt, promising to pay it back. Her family has the money, but once they had money, their attitude also changed for the worse, not acknowledging my dad, who was a dirt poor rtive. At that time, I was really angry, and so I took the money from her bag," Yao Jiamu exined, finding the situation hrious when he recalled, and at the same time rejoicing from the memory of it.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know that there was such a backstory, feeling a little loss for words at the revtion. She remembered the lecture she had given Yao Jiamu, and scratched her nose. "Did I misunderstand you again?"

    "No, you saved a youth," Yao Jiamu said, shaking his head. At that time, he was so cynical in his thoughts, thinking that the good people always suffered a lot, while the bad people were always carefree and happy, that the heavens were really unfair. It wasn¡¯t until she appeared and made him understand that there was still hope in this world.

    While he was talking, Luo Weng came back carrying the groceries. He didn¡¯t say much, just greeted Gu Xiqiao with a few words before heading into the kitchen. It looked like he was going to be the chef for the night.

    Luo Wenlin carried the Transformer toy that he had just received, thanking Gu Xiqiao for the present, before heading into the kitchen too.

    In the kitchen, Luo Weng watched as Luo Wenlin sat on a stool and yed with the Transformer toy in his hands, a childish smile on his face. Compared to the normal expression he had on usual days, there was an air of vitality and youthfulness that was usually absent in him today.

    Luo Weng watched him a little longer before turning back to chop the vegetables, his eyes clouding over slightly.

    How many years has it been since he had seen such an expression on Luo Wenlin¡¯s face? It had been so long that he had thought there would never be a day in this life when Luo Wenlin would get better, and his desire to travel to every corner of the world didn¡¯t seem like a dream that was too far off now.

    The kitchen door was not closed fully, and by turning his head slightly, Luo Weng could see Gu Xiqiao who was in the living room. She was standing in the middle, staring at the awards and trophies adorning the wall. It belonged to both Luo Weng and Luo Wenlin, but naturally, there were more of Luo Weng¡¯s.

    "Entertain yourself for a moment, I need to go out to pick up someone," Yao Jiamu said, his eyes on his phone as he informed Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao turned her gaze on him suddenly, narrowing her eyes. "It¡¯s better for you not to go out, I see that you have the scent of death hanging over you."

    Yao Jiamuughed, looking straight at her with a serious expression after a while. "Don¡¯t tell me, you¡¯ve predicted it through finger divination?"

    "More or less." Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, turning back to look at the certificates and awards on the wall, looking like she wasn¡¯t bothered whether he listened to her words or not.

    Yao Jiamu left, and didn¡¯t return until it was time for dinner. He was being supported by a girl when he returned, and when Luo Wenlin saw the way he returned, he immediately went to retrieve the first aid kit from the room. Luo Weng proceeded to bandage his wounds with practised ease, though the expression on his face was pale. "Yao Jiamu, how many times have I told you. Don¡¯t mix with that group of people, they¡¯re all good for nothing, and they¡¯re not good people!"

    "It¡¯s fine, don¡¯t worry so much, holy shit, can you be gentler!" Yao Jiamu hissed. He took a deep breath, looking at Gu Xiqiao whose eyes were also on him. He immediately turned grim. "You said that today, I would..."

    "It was just a guess," Gu Xiqiao said, raising an eyebrow. She nced over his injuries, "It looks fine, you won¡¯t be dying from it."

    Take it as a lesson.

    Yao Jiamu: "..."

    "One day, you¡¯re going to die from all this fooling around!" Shen Nianzhi scolded as she ced the gift in her hands on the table. "Please, and you said I needed to be picked up? If it wasn¡¯t for me making a police report, you would have said goodbye to your life!"

    Shen Nianzhi¡¯s attention finally turned from Yao Jiamu¡¯s person to Gu Xiqiao, who was standing to the side. When she saw her face, she froze.

    After struggling for so long, and it seemed like all hope was lost, the person that they had been looking for suddenly appeared in front of her. Excitement was not enough of a word to describe her feelings right now, and she could only stand in shock, spluttering, "You, you!"

    "Hello." The corner of her pink lips lifted up as Gu Xiqiao greeted, not giving Shen Nianzhi an opportunity to continue her own line of thoughts.

    "Hello," Shen Nianzhi finally said, after opening her mouth a few times, but ending up swallowing whatever she was trying to say. She couldn¡¯t calm the turmoil inside her heart though, and was dumbstruck. Fortunately, everyone was more focused on Yao Jiamu¡¯s injuries, and didn¡¯t pay much attention to thepse of control from her.

    "Weng, where did you get this medicine? The effect is really good. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll need to go to the hospital, I¡¯ll be as good as new tomorrow." Yao Jiamu¡¯s injury was on his back, it was arge cut and the blood from it had stained the back half of his shirt. Luo Weng had given him a change of clothes.

    Luo Weng nced at him but didn¡¯t say a word. Yao Jiamu knew that he had screwed up this time. He bowed his head, admitting his fault.

    Gu Xiqiao took advantage of the down time, preparing to draw something to give to Luo Weng. She stood at the study desk, slender fingers as white as snow holding the brush, with her brows furrowed in concentration. Her entire figure was in contrast with the narrow and rundown room that she was standing in.

    This was the first time Gu Xiqiao was painting in front of Luo Wenlin, and he found that she looked very serious, his own face full of awe and admiration. He had seen Shen Nianzhi paint in front of him before, and at that time, he only felt that it was good and mystical. And today, he was seeing Gu Xiqiao outline himself and Luo Weng in just a short ten minutes, the painting as vivid as life...

    He finally believed the words that Luo Weng had said, "Sister Gu, you¡¯re amazing!"

    "What do children know!" Gu Xiqiao teased as sheughed, and then she changed to another brush, writing a poem in the nk space of the paper.

    Say nothing on old homes to old friends,

    but start a new fire to brew fresh tea.[1]

    Her calligraphy was clean and concise, the strokes were bold and graceful, imitating a soaring dragon and dignified like it was written by a true professional.

    "Sister Gu, I¡¯m not a child." Luo Wenlin pouted, he was sure that line was just teasing him.

    Seeing that she was done, he cheerfully took the painting to show Luo Weng.

    "You paint really well," Yao Jiamu said, walking over to her as surprise appeared on his face. Even an outsider like him could tell that the painting was an amazing job, "Very amazing."

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him, thinking for a while, "Do you want to learn how to fight?"

    The system in the void suddenly raised its head at that, [Beauty Qiao, do you intend to take him in as a disciple?]

    ¡¯No.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t borate further.

    "Do I look like I need to learn how to fight?" Yao Jiamu said, raising an eyebrow in challenge. "I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯ve never lost a fight from the time I was young!"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the knife wound on his back. "I can tell."

    Yao Jiamu: "...this was a one-time ident."

    They didn¡¯t continue the discussion on this matter, but Gu Xiqiao was already turning over the ns she had made in her mind.

    Shen Nianzhi managed to get the opportunity to talk to Gu Xiqiao after that, her voice trembling with excitement as she looked at her, but she was also careful not to let her voice go too loud, "Miss Gu, your painting has already been entered into the National Art Exhibition. Mr. Sima has also wanted to contact you through the dean, wanting to ept you as one of theirs!"

    Everyone in the art world knows the person who is called Sima Jun, he was undoubtedly the top artist in the art world. His apprentice, Mu Yunfan was also a well-known genius in oil painting. Even having money was sometimes not enough to obtain a piece of his artwork.

    Mu Yunfan has received numerous international awards, ying on international stages ever since he was ten years old. And now, he has left the older generation in dust, everyone in the circle regarding him as a legend. He was very temperamental, spoke bluntly to everyone and would not listen to anyone but Sima Jun. He was also known to have big mood swings.

    Even so, it didn¡¯t affect the admiration of everyone.

    He was the first Chinese to conquer overseas artists with his own paintings, and due to that, his reputation in China had soared to great heights.

    And for people from the Academy of Fine Arts like Shen Nianzhi could only look up to people like Sima Jun and Mu Yunfan. If you wanted to see them in person, it would take even someone with talent like Shen Nianzhi at least ten years worth of effort before they would have the chance to stand on the same stage as them. And who knows what greater heights Mu Yunfan would have reached in those ten years?

    And that was why, when the Academy of Fine Arts had received the call from Sima Jun, the entire academy went into an uproar again, the other people in the academy had always looked down on the Chinese painting department after all. They adored Mu Yunfan, hence there were a lot of people who were learning oil painting, but because of that one call, there was a sudden surge of enthusiasm for Chinese painting all of a sudden, one that was unprecedented in all the years.

    Once Shen Nianzhi had exined everything, she looked at Gu Xiqiao, expecting her to also be excited about the news she had just learned.

    However, Gu Xiqiao was not a bit excited about it at all. She was surprised and stunned for the moment, and started to recall what she could remember of Sima Jun. Come to think of it, he was also a familiar person in her previous life. Without her, he had been Gu Xijin¡¯s teacher thest time.

    When she recalled the matter, her mood plummeted. She pressed her fingers to her temple, trying to ward off the bad memories as she smiled lightly at Shen Nianzhi. "Consider that painting a gift to you, and I hope you won¡¯t tell anyone else about this. Thank you."

    Shen Nianzhi was astonished once again, she had thought of various possibilities, but she didn¡¯t expect this conversation to turn out this way.

    She refused?

    She¡¯s actually refusing Sima Jun?

    Did she know what the three sybles ¡¯Sima Jun¡¯ represented?

    As long as you were under Sima Jun, you needn¡¯t fight so hard in the remainder of your life, not to mention the countless prestige and fame that awaited you!

    Did she really not know, or did she not care at all?

    "You...really?" Shen Nianzhi uttered, not able to react for a long moment.

    A golden needle appeared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand suddenly, and her clear eyes gazed into Shen Nianzhi¡¯s own before a more sedate and secretive smile graced her face. Her eyes curved in a beautiful arc. "My ambition is to be a good doctor. That¡¯s why, you have to keep this secret for me."

    She had such an amazing talent for painting, and yet she wanted to study medicine!

    Shen Nianzhi could only nod her head hurriedly, still wide-eyed and dumbstruck by what she had just heard.

    By the time she recovered, Gu Xiqiao was already in the midst of talking to Yao Jiamu.

    But what in the world was going on here? How could there be such a person that existed?

    Shen Nianzhi could feel a headacheing on, one that would want to make her pull her hair out in frustration. Such a talent but won¡¯t go into painting, but instead choose to wrestle for jobs with those science students!

    [1] Trantor note: ¡¯ÐÝ¶Ô¹ÊÈËË¼¹Ê¹ú,ÇÒ½«ÐÂ»ðÊÔÐÂ²è¡¯ are lines extracted from"Íû½­ÄÏ¡¤³¬È»Ì¨×÷" which is a poem written by Su Shi from the Song Dynasty.

 Chapter 90 Resolved

    As a patient, Luo Wenlin still needed to return to the hospital, so there was no other activity nned apart from dinner. Yao Jiamu was booted out of the ce by Luo Weng, ordering him to take a rest. Shen Nianzhi also reluctantly left after a phone call, which left the three of them.

    Luo Wenlin had brought the Transformer toy with him into the ward, and the nurse was setting up the IV bag and connecting it back to his arm. Seeing his bright, glittering eyes, Luo Weng¡¯s eyes softened.

    "Tha-"

    "It¡¯s fine," Gu Xiqiao said, stopping him frompleting his sentence. She tilted her head to the side, her face seemingly glowing in the dark, "I heard from Uncle Mu, that you are very good."

    She had only known about the current situation after having a call with Mu Zong yesterday night. She had initially thought that although Luo Weng was clever, his practical skills wouldn¡¯t be any more outstanding than his intelligence. Unexpectedly, Luo Weng was naturally sensitive towards numbers. Just by giving him a portfolio of future arbitrage that they had, he was easily able to discern the pattern in them by himself.

    Mu Zong had seen the potential in Luo Weng, and had immediately contacted Gu Xiqiao. He had decided to groom Luo Weng, since Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t in thepany all the time. Mu Zong had clearly seen through Gu Xiqiao being a moreid back andzy person, and so when she wasn¡¯t at thepany, Luo Weng could assume her responsibilities.

    A strongpany couldn¡¯t rely on just one person after all.

    "It¡¯s nothing really," Luo Weng said in a low voice, he had never thought that he would have such an affinity for finance. Mu Zong was the first to discover his talent, and was currently grooming him. He even changed the terms in his contract, to the amount of ten million.

    In fact, he knew that the amount of money didn¡¯t matter to him. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be leaving the Nine Heavenspany.

    Also, he had seen from the investment ns thepany had, they were looking at 10% risk-free returns. In this world, she was the only person to be able to create such a terrifyingly amazing percentage return, right?

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t aware of the thoughts that were running in Luo Weng¡¯s head as she chatted with Mu Jiatong for a while, before getting ready to head back.

    Luo Weng had received a call shortly before that, and when he saw she was turning to leave, he hurriedly called out to her to stop her. "Hey, wait a minute. Uncle Mu is calling us to go to Nine Heavens!"

    "Are you sure?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she blinked. Why would he ask her to go over?

    "If you don¡¯t believe me, you can give a call and ask him yourself?" Luo Wengughed as he waved his phone.

    Gu Xiqiao touched her nose. "Alright, let¡¯s go."

    She couldn¡¯t figure out why Mu Zong would be looking for her, it would have to be something big, but what was it? Her eyebrows knitted together in concern, and then she nced at Luo Weng, a few possibilities running through her head.

    "The teacher is here, you can meet him in the conference room." Was the first thing out of Mu Zong¡¯s mouth when he saw them, he was acting normally as he asked Luo Weng to head for his training.

    He had found a famous financial analyst in N City for Luo Weng, and his sry was calcted by the hour. Luo Weng was aware of this, and he took his studies seriously. After saying his goodbyes to Gu Xiqiao, he left for the conference room without dy.

    Since they had given him this opportunity, he would definitely seize it properly!

    There woulde the day that he would stand on top of the world, and head to the Imperial Capital to see the man who had abandoned his wife!

    Gu Xiqiao watched him leave before turning back to Mu Zong, and the smile that was on his face dropped. He took the document that was on his table and handed it to her, a solemn look on his face. "One good news, and one bad news."

    "The good news," Gu Xiqiao said, flipping through the document in hand. She could guess at the bad news, it would probably be about those big shots from the Imperial Capital.

    But she had no idea on what the good news would be about.

    Touching on this topic, Mu Zong¡¯s expression rxed slightly. "It¡¯s Wang Bo, you remember he has been studying the software that you gave him? In his free time, he posted the firewall that he couldn¡¯t crack onto the hackers forum, and unexpectedly he managed to attract a big name from that website."

    Gu Xiqiao turned thest few pieces of paper over, and raised her head to look at him slightly surprised. "A big name?"

    "That¡¯s right." Mu Zong sighed. "Hearing what Wang Bo has to say about him, he¡¯s quite a tyrant. A lot of foreign countries are trying to dig him out, but no one knows his identity. He¡¯s mysterious, and also has very good foresight!"

    Their newpany in an emerging industry had been relying on the software that Gu Xiqiao had given them to turn a profit, but that was not a long term development n that they had. What Nine Heavenscked the most right now was the right talents, and in this era, how easy was it to find a talent with appropriate technical knowledge?

    Luo Weng was one of them, and this was enough to surprise Mu Zong. And now, unexpectedly, their small software had managed to hook up another big fish!

    "Wang Bo has left for S City to find him, I believe we¡¯ll have anotherrade not long after!" Mu Zong couldn¡¯t help but feel pleased with this, the excitement inside bursting out slightly.

    A divine hacker that a lot of foreigners would give money for. One no one had ever seeded getting their hands on, and they had seeded where no one else had!

    Gu Xiqiao touched her nose, taking her phone and swiping it to the Caijing web. "You¡¯ve already said that the person hadn¡¯t been interested in so many other foreignpanies, and they have such a high vision, why would they look at our little empire?"

    "Qiao Qiao, you underestimate yourself," Mu Zong said, shaking his head. He had already familiarized himself with the force that was Gu Xiqiao, able to bring out such amazing software which made an arrogant genius hackere down to look at it. With her here, why would they fear the person wouldn¡¯te to them?

    If Wang Bo didn¡¯t head to S City, the person would probablye here on his own.

    Mu Zong¡¯s praise made Gu Xiqiao feel a little embarrassed, and she quickly changed the topic towards the bad news.

    As expected, the bad news was that the influential families in the Imperial Capital had begun to exert pressure on them. The people from the Industry and Commerce Bureau knew that Nine Heavens had some connection to the young master from the Yin family, and had released the news to Mu Zong discreetly, doing him a favor and warning him in advance to be alert.

    Mu Zong was worried when he received the news, and wanted to discuss with Gu Xiqiao. "It¡¯s lucky that we had the warning due to Young Master Yin, if not we would have been taken by surprise."

    "What about the software that Uncle Wang took to study with a few othersst time?" Gu Xiqiao askedzily, putting down her phone.

    She leaned against the table, her posture elegant, an indifferent expression on her face, as though the matter was not important. Mu Zong felt his anxiety lessened when he took in her demeanor, but those people were still from the Imperial Capital, and no matter what there would still be some doubt and anxiety inside his heart.

    "They¡¯vepleted their research, but what are we going to be doing with this type of software?" Mu Zong had heard from Wang Bo that the few software were for monitoring and scanning, it was a set of security systems. He didn¡¯t know how good the level of capability on the security system was, but seeing Wang Bo¡¯s reaction after he had pulled a few days of sleepless nights, it would seem like something that was unimaginable again.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, turning theputer that was on the desk on, the keyboard clicking cking as she typed away. Her hands contrasted against the ck keyboard, making them shine like a pale moonlight glow with the string of words flowing out from her hands.

    "Do you know that N City intends to build a base?" Her soft, melodious voice sounded after a while.

    "I know a bit about it," Mu Zong said, nodding his head. There weren¡¯t many people who were aware that N City was building a base, but since the circle they ran in was quite big, there was sure to be someone who would leak the news to him for the potential of his position in Nine Heavens.

    But since it was a national base, Mu Zong had never thought about getting into it, it was too far off. In other words, only N City¡¯s top influential families would dare to try to take a piece of pie from that.

    And their small little business?

    They didn¡¯t have the right to know about it nor to get involved at all!

    Wait, for her to raise this up now, could it be that she had her attention on the national base? That was some bold courage, and Mu Zong was stunned when he looked up as the realization hit him, "Are you saying..."

    "This security system was made with them in mind," Gu Xiqiao said, typing in thest word.

    She had the n from the beginning. In herst life, she had done her best to have the Gu family upy even a little bit of the piece of pie that was the national base, and that led to the Gu family having better prospects.

    Seeing how it had been so important to connect to the country, she wouldn¡¯t let go of the opportunity this time!

    The most important thing about national bases was privacy and confidentiality, they would buy the expensive security systems from out of the country. But how could things from foreign countries reassure them? Inparison, there was a security system that was better than the ones in the foreign countries, they would be the ones to rush to cooperate with Nine Heavens instead.

    The printer printed out the few pieces of paper, Gu Xiqiao taking them out and handing it to Mu Zong. "You have to know that the stage we¡¯re going to take it not N City, nor is it China, it is the world, Uncle Mu. Be more courageous, look a little higher."

    Their stage was not N City or China, it was the entire world!

    The words that Gu Xiqiao said made Mu Zong¡¯s blood pump with excitement, and he took the papers from her hands to read. His eyes flew over the words, getting wider and wider at each sentence he read, eyes flying faster. It took him a long while after he had finished reading before he snapped out of his daze to look at Gu Xiqiao.

    The ns and proposals in his hands were until the previous short term ones before, but a long term one. It also took into consideration the future economic development trend, the line of thought being extremely mature andprehensive which spoke of years of experience. If she hadn¡¯t done the entire thing in front of him, he would have assumed that a top schr from the financial world had done this.

    How could the Gu family have let such a talented and amazing person go?

    Mu Zong thought back to the recent rumors that were circting in the circle. Had they really severed all ties to the person standing in front of him?

    Needless to say, how blind were the people from the Gu family?

    He looked toward Gu Xiqiao, who was looking at her phone. Her figure was slim, and her slightly rounded face was bright and looked very young. Yes, no matter how matured she acted, she was still a child.

    Come to think of it, if Nine Heavens had a connection with the national base, would those big influential families from the Imperial Capital really stop?

    Mu Zong didn¡¯t really know what he was doing. He wasn¡¯t as knowledgeable as Gu Xiqiao pertaining to the national base, and naturally had his doubts about it inside.

    He picked up his coat, calling his assistant to call the car as he took his phone.

    ***

    The Imperial Capital, a ce where all the powerhouses were concentrated in. Countless of tall buildings stood, reaching all the way up to the clouds. The roads were spacious and clean, just by standing at the bottom of those buildings, you would be able to feel the insignificance of your existence when you looked up.

    Inside a tall building in the middle of the city, a woman with exquisite makeup and upturned eyes was holding a cup tightly with slender hands and perfectly manicured fingers. "A small, non-influentialpany thinks that they can step over me to take the national base, and doesn¡¯t even care to think who I, Cheng Feng am?!"

    The corners of her lips raised up slightly, her eyes full of contempt and poison.

    "I¡¯m sure it isn¡¯t, your daughter is really close to the Murong family after all, how could anyone in the Imperial Capital not give you face?" The assistant sitting next to her said tteringly.

    The waters in the Imperial Capital were deep, and rtionships were a moreplicated tangle of webs. It didn¡¯t matter whether you were the head honcho in some other ces, when you reached here you had to obey the rules. You had to look out for yourself and not overstep the boundaries, or you would be caught unaware one day if you weren¡¯t careful.

    Now even small businesses in second-tier cities dared to butt heads with the Chen family, they really didn¡¯t know how the word ¡¯dead¡¯ was pronounced.

    Although the reach of the Chen family was not as far, everything in the world cannot be separated from monopoly. The influential families in the Imperial Capital had been around for many years, and who doesn¡¯t know of the three reclusive families¡ªJiang, Murong, and Tang? Although the Tang family was only half-reclusive now, and couldn¡¯t bepared to normal people.

    These reclusive families had the abilities to go on and about their days normally, without leaving any footprints and beingpletely unpredictable. Even if people wanted to find them, they didn¡¯t know where to begin. For the Chen family to be able to make friends with the Murong family was the envy in many eyes. Getting rid of a small business was naturally not a problem.

    "Go and investigate who is in charge of the national base, make sure it¡¯s thorough." Chen Feng¡¯s face was bored but firm as she spoke to her assistant.

    ***

    A call came through to the N City national base, and Jiang Shuxuan was listening to what Yin Shaoyuan was saying, his face getting darker by the seconds. "Chen family? Which Chen family?"

    "Puwah!" Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t help but let out a burst ofughter, after such a long time, this young master Jiang still didn¡¯t know who the Chen family was, that was practically saying they weren¡¯t even worth a speck in his eyes.

    "The girl who often follows behind Murong Miaoxue, also a second-year student this year."

    Jiang Shuxuan furrowed his brows in thought, but he couldn¡¯t remember anything about them. If he didn¡¯t remember something even with his extraordinary memory, then it probably wasn¡¯t significant.

    With that thought in mind, Yin Shaoyuanughed even harder, "I literally feel said on behalf of the Chen family!"

    Although he was smiling, Yin Shaoyuan knew that when it came to dealing with this matter, it was a bit on the gray area. Even if he didn¡¯t ask Jiang Shuxuan, he knew how the other thought. The Yin family name was great in N City, but it was practically useless in the Imperial Capital. This had to be taken care of by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s name, because Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s name didn¡¯t hold any weight in this matter.

    No matter how things were done, in the end they were all doing it for the sake of Beauty Qiao, right?

    ***

    And so, Chen Feng who was waiting in the office in the Imperial Capital for news of this matter, she wanted to force Luo Weng to have no other way to go!

    When the phone rang, she waved her assistant off, picking up the phone herself. She was all smiles while her eyes were full of contempt and mockery. How dare a small business try to go against a great wall like them? Her smile was only on her face for about three seconds before her face froze in stunned surprise.

    The voice on the other side of the phone was clearly male. Not waiting for her to speak, his stern tone came through, mowing her down with his scolding words. "Chen Feng, I think you¡¯re tired of living your life, is it? You dare to stick your fingers into matters of N City, do you not know that the Jiang family is in charge over there? Are you not aware of what the Jiang family represents, that they can crush us with just a pinky finger? It¡¯s great if you fall, since your reach is so great, but don¡¯t bring us down with you!"

    The call was cut immediately after, the dial tone ringing in her ears. Chen Feng was frozen in her seat, not able to react to anything. The blood had drained from her face the instant the words sank in, fingernails sank into her palm as her fist clenched tightly, not noticing the blood that dripped out, nor the pain that apanied it.

    She¡¯d offended the Jiang family, that was the only thought that was swirling in her head, lingering on it. Her ns of brushing away Luo Weng and pressuring him was already pushedpletely out of her mind.

    It was just a small emerging industry, why did it suddenly be about the Jiang family?

    She got up in a desperate hurry, making calls as she went down the stairs. She could only hope that the Jiang family didn¡¯t see her as significant, otherwise she didn¡¯t know how to even die!

    After this matter, no matter how many guts you gave Chen Feng, she still wouldn¡¯t dare to touch N City. No matter how much of an eyesore Luo Weng was, he wasn¡¯t as important as the Chen family¡¯s future. Luo Weng was just a jester, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape her palm. If ever he¡¯s out of N City, she would definitely get back at him!

    The assistant followed behind her closely, vaguely able to guess what had happened. Her mouth was downturned, but her eyes were full of scorn.

    After such a long time, they were still bullies but afraid of retaliation. He didn¡¯t know where the Jiang family came from, who were they and why was the Chen family so afraid of them? The assistant was deep in thought, he had been in the Imperial Capital for so long, but he had never heard of this family before. After thinking longer on it, he understood, it was probably another ss of level that he could never touch.

    After a flurry of activities, Chen Feng finally got word that the Jiang family wasn¡¯t going to pursue this matter, but she wasn¡¯t allowed to intervene in matters of N City.

    Chen Feng was relieved to receive the news, reaching out to wipe the cold sweat from her brows, she slumped down onto the sofa for a long while before slowly getting up. She could feel the invisible pressure just by receiving a call from the Jiang family. Even if they hadn¡¯t said anything, she wouldn¡¯t dare to interfere in N City anymore. The Jiang family had always been overbearing when it came to protecting what was theirs, if they really pursued the matter, she wouldn¡¯t be able to bear the consequences.

    "Luo Weng, consider yourself lucky!" Chen Feng cursed under her breath, the loathing in her eyes not diminished in the slightest.

    ***

    In the office of the N City base, Yin Shaoyuan had just hung up the phone, and he was looking at Jiang Shuxuan. "Brother Jiang, why didn¡¯t you send someone to clean up the Chen family properly?"

    Yin Shaoyuan had never thought himself to be a good person, and he had done a lot of hical things during his time in college. After he met Jiang Shuxuan, his arrogance didn¡¯t stop growing, those who needed to be rid of should be cleared up. Even if it wasn¡¯t in his intentions, those who needed to die should be killed!

    And now, seeing someone who wanted to knock Gu Xiqiao off, how could he stand aside and watch? She was such a cute, beautiful and intelligent little sister who was his to hold dear, and somebody dared to show their ugly mug in his territory. With his temper, he absolutely wouldn¡¯t take this lying down, and would definitely kill the person, but...

    Jiang Shuxuan was holding him back?

    Why? Why? Why!

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t understand, Jiang Shuxuan was even more overbearing than him. Didn¡¯t this situation call for a good beating on the Chen family?

    Jiang Shuxuan ced down the book that he was reading, looking him straight in the eyes. "Let her use this as training."

    Wait for her to use it as training? How was she going to train? Yin Shaoyuan was slightly stunned. ¡¯Young Master Jiang, you just need to use one phone call to the Chen family ancestors, and every single power in Chen Feng¡¯s hands would be gone. At this point, you¡¯re still willing to have mercy and leave them with a chance? Leaving it as training for Gu Xiqiao, she still needs training? Even if you don¡¯t practise on Chen Feng¡¯s family, they still wouldn¡¯t have peaceful days anymore right!¡¯

    Or maybe Chen Feng would go into hiding with her tails between her legs?

    So what exactly did you mean, Master Jiang?

    The words were stuck in his throat, as though saying it or not wouldn¡¯t make a difference, it was so frustrating!

    Yin Shaoyuan tempered down his annoyance as he picked up the book on the table, not understanding the dense wall of text when he flipped it open and threw it to one side. He then suddenly realized what he had done, and hurriedly picked it up and dusted it off.

    It was fine, no one would dare to make a move against her in N City after all. Even if Chen Feng dared to use any underhanded methods, he would ensure that they would die an ugly death...As for the Imperial Capital, don¡¯t look be deceived by Master Jiang¡¯s appearance, if you touch a hair on her head, he would probably uproot the entire Imperial Capital!

    His phone rang suddenly, and Yin Shaoyuan picked it up in azy motion to look at the screen, and a sudden look of shock crossed his face.

 Chapter 91 From The Imperial Capital

    The phone number is from the Imperial Capital, and there were only two words on it¡ªMurong.

    Yin Shaoyuan stared at the two words, the smile on his face fading slowly, and it took a long while before he swiped on the green button to receive the call.

    The sixth of July was a big day in the aristocratic circle of N City, it was a day where the Yin family, a family which rarely held banquets, would hold a grand banquet for the celebration of acknowledging a new family member.

    The Yin manor was located in the innermost part of the Shanhe Manor Area. On normal days, people who looked from afar wouldn¡¯t even be able to catch a glimpse of the building. The guards who stood outside provided iron-d security, not letting even a flye in, what more the people. Being able to attend the banquet today would be something to boast about in the long future.

    But since it¡¯s the Yin family, those who were invited would definitely only be those big, prestigious families of N City, and those from the smaller households...

    For example, the Gu family, they wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to touch an invitation card!

    The atmosphere in Gu Manor was miserable. When Gu Xijin was sent away, Su Wan¡¯er¡¯s family had made a fuss once, straight out iming that they needed to teach Gu Xiqiao a lesson. Once the news of the Yin family taking in Gu Xiqiao came out, the Su family never brought up the matter again. Gu Zuhui sank deeper into depression by the days, and Su Wan¡¯er returned to her parent¡¯s house in a tantrum and had yet to return.

    "Do you think the wrongs I havemitted are too deep?" Just a few days of not seeing him, Master Gu had a gaunt look in his eyes, as though he had aged years.

    The butler stood by his side, his gaze on the TV in front of them, his brows furrowed at the words, but he remained stoically silent.

    On the screen of the TV, a reporter was talking about the banquet that was being held today. It stands to reason that a big family like the Yin hated to be on the news, and information regarding their family was well hidden from the inte. It wasn¡¯t only the Yin family, all of the prominent families were the same.

    However, the Yin family had initiated an interview themselves, and although the reporter could only stay outside the area of the Shanhe Manor Area,pletely out of sight of Yin Manor, they were still making the headlines, weren¡¯t they?

    In any case, the Yin family was announcing to the world atrge: Gu Xiqiao was really important to them!

    ***

    "Mrs. Yin, you have a gorgeous daughter." Ady with heavy makeup spared no effort in her ttering of Tang Yanling. "It really is such a joyous and wondrous asion, I see yourplexion has also improved a lot!"

    Initially, they had thought that Gu Xiqiao was someone who managed to make it to the top by luck, but when thedies entered the doors, they were in for a shock.

    Many people hade bearing gifts, such as the Wu family, who were involved in bothw enforcement and underworld dealings, the Xiao family, who were low profile but have been around for more than a hundred years...and many more other distinguished families. The message that was delivered with their presence was simple, they were here for Gu Xiqiao. This led to a lot of shock and surprise to the others who were here, what was so special about Gu Xiqiao?

    Hearing someone praise Gu Xiqiao, Tang Yanling¡¯s smile naturally got wider. With a radiant smile on her face, she gently touched the earrings on her ear. "Of course, do you see this pair of earrings? It was a gift from her. After I started wearing them, myplexion has improved a lot, I don¡¯t even have any powder on my face today!"

    This further gave the impression to thedy that Tang Yanling really adored the child from the Gu family. It looked like she would have to find a way to get close to Gu Xiqiao. That¡¯s right, how old was the child again...

    She was almost eighteen right? Such a good match for her own son!

    Thedy¡¯s eyes lit up as soon as she recalled the fact. And she also remembered that when the child was first taken in by the Gu family, she was known as a wallflower. Her appearance was good, but what about the inside? It wasn¡¯t important, the fact that she managed to cultivate a rtionship with the Yin family was already great, who cared about the other things? Even if Gu Xiqiao had an ugly face, she would still ept it!

    But speaking of which, wasn¡¯t the Gu family facing a big loss for chasing the girl out of their family? And they were also still within the social circles in N City, they would never be able to escape the Yin family¡¯s influence.

    The more she thought about it, the more excited thedy became.

    Tang Yangling was not aware what thedy was thinking, she was only listening to the praises of Gu Xiqiao. She was feeling extremely happy on the inside, while holding a polite and courteous expression on the outside.

    However, she wasn¡¯t really boasting. Ever since she wore the earrings that Gu Xiqiao had given her, she felt more refreshed over the days, even the migraines she usually had had disappeared. Not only that, her skin had a more healthy glow to itpared to the more pale tone it used to be, and it was an obvious change. She had insisted that Yin Jinian wore the ring on his finger.

    She suspected that Gu Xiqiao had a direct hand in this, and it looks like she had somewhat of a mysterious skill. She had initially worried that the child would be bullied when she entered the Imperial Capital in the future, and it looks like she wouldn¡¯t need to worry about it now.

    Back in the days when she was in the Imperial Capital, those capable people didn¡¯t have these kinds of incredible and bizarre skills. She could tell that her daughter was indeed amazing, not bad at all!

    Yin Shaoyuan, who was entertaining some guests not far away from her, saw from her eyes that she was lost in her own world again. He had never seen her as radiant and proud before, and with those thoughts in his head, he couldn¡¯t help but start to reflect on his own person. Was it because he wasn¡¯t good enough as a son, and that led to his mother not wanting to admit that she had such a son?

    Yin Shaoyuan was unwilling to ept such thoughts, and he reluctantly forced himself to find a reason. It must be because Gu Xiqiao was better looking than him, he would concede on this point!

    While he was pondering the matter, his phone started ringing again. Yin Shaoyuan gave a look of someone with constipation on his face once he saw the name ¡¯Murong¡¯ on the screen again. It was like a deadly reminder, the person on the other side was someone he didn¡¯t dare to offend, so he could only swallow his annoyance and frustration as he headed to the car to retrieve the person.

    ***

    At the intersection of the Shanhe Manor Area, a tall, beautiful woman had caught the attention of the many car owners who drove past her. She was wearing a ming red dress, with a perfectly curved figure, and a gorgeous face. However, her gaze was arrogant, and turned up her nose at the people who were looking at her.

    In the past, Yin Shaoyuan had been fascinated by this ming hot woman for a short period, unfortunately, she had no interest in him at all. That was also the first time the Young Master Yin had faced failure in his yboy career.

    Beforeing, Yin Shaoyuan was afraid that he wouldn¡¯t have the resolve to look into that face without faltering. However, now that he faced her, he realized that his heart was calm. The face that had made his heart beat rise and his face flush, held not a single attraction to him right now. There was another face, slightly younger and inexperienced, that floated to the front of his mind.

    Yin Shaoyuan stopped the car, waving to her. "Miss Murong, please get in the car. I need to hurry back, or my mother will have my head!"

    There was a slight astonishment in Murong Miaoxue¡¯s eyes as she looked at him. There were many people who had pursued her, and Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s ability to attract people was undeniably strong. She had mulled over a lot before deciding toe, afraid that he would be hopelessly muddled when he saw her. But now, she felt a little ufortable seeing how calm he looked.

    Had he really given up, or was he loosening the reins just to lure her in?

    Sitting in the passenger seat, Murong Miaoxue continued to ponder. From the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of a packet of potato chips that was on the dashboard, and her expression froze. They had known each other for many years, and he had never touched this kind of thing. And although he fooled around a lot, he had never brought anyone inside his car before.

    So, who was it who had left it behind? She was never one to hold back when she was curious, so she picked up the bag of chips. "Yin Shaoyuan, whose is this?"

    ncing at the bag in her hands, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s gaze softened slightly. "A beauty¡¯s."

    That was something he had specifically bought for Gu Xiqiao previously. She had left it in the car, not able to finish it. She had also told him not to buy it again for her, as the taste was horrible.

    Murong Miaoxue narrowed her eyes when she saw the soft gaze, and brushed her hair back with the other hand. "Oh, so it¡¯s just another one of those interests."

    "Miss Murong is such a joker." The insulting undertone from her made Yin Shaoyuan stiffen up again, and he replied to her tly, his mouth turning downward.

    This was the first time Yin Shaoyuan had spoken to her in such a cold tone. Murong Miaoxue rolled her eyes as her expression also turned cold. "You think I wouldn¡¯t know if you didn¡¯t say it? She¡¯s just an illegitimate daughter. I¡¯m dying to see what kind of charms she has, to the point that the person with the name Jiang has not returned to the Imperial Capital for two months!"

    Screech!

    The sharp sound of the car stopping rang out.

    Yin Shaoyuan stepped out of the car with an unsightly expression, throwing the car keys into the hands of the housekeeper who was standing outside the door.

    Standing under the light of the sun, Murong Miaoxue looked even more eye-catching and gorgeous when she stepped out.

    Although the both of them didn¡¯t say anything, they both knew that Murong Miaoxue was here for Jiang Shuxuan, and just to have a look at Gu Xiqiao at the same time.

    Yin Shaoyuan knew that for Murong Miaoxue toe to N City, she had already sent people to investigate the ongoings here. It can be said that apart from Jiang Shuxuan, the whereabouts and doings of everyone else was within the palm of her hands. Thinking about it made Yin Shaoyuan frustrated. Murong Miaoxue had a high status, and if she wanted to, even the entire Yin family was not enough for her to y around with.

    However, Gu Xiqiao was now his family. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to bully her.

    If you, Murong Miaoxue want to bully his family, then bring it on! Even a powerful dragon could not crush a snake in its old haunts. They were in their own home territory, why would they be afraid of her for? If push came to shove, it wasn¡¯t impossible for the Yin family to hold their own. Not to mention there was still the presence of Jiang Shuxuan. With his temperamental attitude, Murong Miaoxue might be killed before she could make a move!

    "Miss Murong, wee to our Yin residence." After clearing away his thoughts, Yin Shaoyuan politely spoke, his hands adjusting his cor with an air of boredom. The corner of his mouth lifted up slightly into a smile that didn¡¯t reach his eyes at all, a gleam returning to his eyes.

    Yes, he had reverted to his usual persona, walking leisurely on the path, casting a wink at the beautiful celebrities that he passed, which left Murong Miaoxue seething in anger.

    ***

    Tang Yanling was chatting with a group ofdies, but when Yin Shaoyuan walked in with a captivatingdy by his side, she made her excuse to them and proceeded to head in his direction.

    Last night, Yin Shaoyuan had thrown a tantrum with Tang Yanling, so she knew that this was thedy of the Murong family. Naturally, she also knew what the Murong name represented. She was afraid that other people would mber all over themselves to reach Murong Miaoxue, so she was prepared to personally receive her.

    "You rascal, why did you bring her all the way here?" Tang Yanling said under her breath when they were close enough. Weren¡¯t there enough things to do without adding on anymore annoying matters?

    Yin Shaoyuan was also feeling reluctant and helpless at the situation. "It¡¯s not like I could do anything, she is a Murong after all, I couldn¡¯t just ignore her!"

    "Alright, alright. Go and check if Grandpa is ready or not," Tang Yanling said, shooing Yin Shaoyuan away with a disgruntled look.

    Murong Miaoxue didn¡¯t know Tang Yanling personally, but seeing that she was Yin Shoayuan¡¯s mother, she was slightly more modest, but there was still a hint of arrogance underneath it all.

    She was the most outstanding child in the Murong family, and she was also a one of a kind existence in the Imperial Capital. This kind of arrogance was something that had ingrained and umted for a long time now. When she talked to people, it was always in amanding tone. "Aunt Tang, I heard that you were epting an unknown person as a goddaughter. The people in the Imperial Capital have never been known for choosing anyone lightly, if you are unwilling or coerced into it in any way, please tell us. We will definitely stand on your side."

    Murong Miaoxue had spoken the words after some consideration. Even the people in the Imperial Capital were not interested in acknowledging any further rtions, and they were very particr about it, the aristocrats here were even more so. So why would they decide to randomly recognize an unknown girl? And it was an illegitimate child that had been chased out of her own family to boot, something that would leave a bitter taste in your mouth when talking about it. So she felt that it was possible that Jiang Shuxuan had pressured the Yin family into doing so.

    "Your concern is appreciated but unnecessary, Miss Murong." Tang Yanling¡¯s smile had gradually slipped off her face when the words had been spoken, "Uncle Zhang, go and see if Qiao Qiao has arrived."

    Tang Yanling is not a stupid person either, she obviously knew what kind of person Murong Miaoxue was.

    When other people saw Murong Miaoxue, they became meek and cautious around her, but Tang Yanling was not one of those people. The three reclusive prestigious families in the Imperial Capital...Murong? Did they really think she was afraid of them? What a joke!

    ***

    Murong Miaxue was just tossed to the side of the corridor like that by Tang Yanling. The smile on her face vanished, and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

    This was the first time that someone had dared to not give her any face like this!

    There was one thing that Yin Shaoyuan had not gotten wrong, this was N City, not the Imperial Capital. The Yin family still held thergest authority in the national base here. If Murong Miaoxue wanted to make a move in this city, she would need to consider a lot of things before doing so, hence she waited patiently for this ¡¯Gu Xiqiao¡¯ to make an appearance. After all, she hadn¡¯t met this girl in person yet, and she couldn¡¯t determine what the person was like just based on the information that she had gathered.

 Chapter 92 Clash

    Gu Xiqiao normally arrived on the dot, and hence all the guests were present and just waiting for her arrival.

    With Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s position, it was obviously an inconvenience to appear in public, and the Yin family didn¡¯t dare let him out to entertain the guests either, so he arrived with Gu Xiqiao.

    The man was dressed in a crisp white shirt and sleek ck cks, his entire body radiating with a dangerous aura. His face held the usual indifferent expression, an elegant and regal sight on his exquisite features made it seem as though his face was carved from ice.

    The woman was dressed in a pastel green dress, catching everyone¡¯s breath with just a brief nce. Her features were delicate, as though it had been painted on her face like a graceful painting with unparalleled beauty.

    They both hadplete opposite temperaments, but it was hard to tell that with the way they stood together in perfect harmony. They made for a perfect fit, as though they were meant to be.

    For a moment, everyone in the hall was stunned and could only stare at the two in a silent daze.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s status was special, and even in the Imperial Capital he rarely made an appearance in public. With that said, it was impossible for the Yin family to have Jiang Shuxuan y the host. In N City, the Yin family was in second ce, and no one would dare to im the top spot, and no one dared to cause any trouble in their territory.

    "Master Jiang, are you heading up?" Yin Shaoyuan greeted Jiang Shuxuan as he tried his best to ignore the other¡¯s intimidating gaze. "With you standing here, nobody dares to talk normally..."

    He nced around the hall, and sure enough, everyone had their heads down, talking in barely audible voices. Their actions were also cautious and slow, how did this look anything like a banquet at this rate? The people here obviously didn¡¯t know Jiang Shuxuan personally, but it was strange that they would be so afraid of him. As long as Jiang Shuxuan was around, they wouldn¡¯t be able to hold the banquet properly.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Gu Xiqiao, who was standing not too far off. He raised an eyebrow, and pursed his lips tightly, "Now?"

    "Of course, the effect of your presence has already been achieved," Yin Shaoyuan said, scratching his nose. "So, in order for the banquet to proceed as usual, you have... to go!"

    Once the words were out of his mouth, Jiang Shuxuan shifted his gaze towards Yin Shaoyuan, his obsidian eyes seemingly able to see through his every thought.

    Yin Shaoyuan shuddered and endured it. Fortunately, Jiang Shuxuan left upstairs once he was done. If Master Jiang didn¡¯t leave on his own ord, what else could he have done?

    As soon as he left, the atmosphere in the hall loosened. Like a switch that was suddenly turned on, the liveliness of the party came back on.

    Speaking of adopting a goddaughter or any other rtive, the ceremony has a bit more depth to it than just a banquet. Usually, it is the child¡¯s parent that would host guests, and also prepare gifts for the godparents. Of course, due to certain reasons, the banquet was held in the Yin Manor, which to a certain extent also showed how important the Yin family regarded Gu Xiqiao. Tang Yanling had even prepared a golden bowl, a pair of golden chopsticks, and a longevity lock for Gu Xiqiao as gifts. She had also personally gone to Huguo Temple to request for a protection lock for the sake of auspiciousness.

    Both sides of the gates were piled high with gifts, and these were no ordinary gifts. It was said that it was a big gift that had been jointly prepared by several families, and the recipient was Gu Xiqiao.

    The gifts were indeed huge in size, and the people who wereing in or going out would stop in front of it for a while to marvel at the size before going on their way. They didn¡¯t know why all the prestigious families were disying such an attitude, but they also guessed that it wasn¡¯t for the sake of pleasing the Yin family, it was purely for the sake of that person¡ªGu Xiqiao!

    The biggest shock came when even Yin Guofu who rarely showed up had been moved to make an appearance. When he looked at Gu Xiqiao, there was only kindness and contentment in his eyes. Everyone who saw this could obviously guess that this old man was extremely pleased with Gu Xiqiao.

    The guests present could see the signs, and their gaze and impression of Gu Xiqiao changed over and over. Even though she was only a goddaughter of the Yin family, she was definitely highly favored. It looked like the favorite daughter in N City would soon be reced. Although the otherdies present were green with envy, none of them dared to show any signs of it on their face, maintaining the smiles on them.

    Tang Yanling took Gu Xiqiao on a walk among the nobledies, and suddenly she was the most popr person around, as every single Tom, Dick, and Harry was moring to greet her. Gu Xiqiao was also behaving well, showing a generous yet decent behavior, much unlike a person who was attending a banquet for the first time. With that, Tang Yanling felt reassured to let her wander and deal with the crowd on her own.

    ***

    ¡¯System, I want to get out.¡¯ Even though Gu Xiqiao¡¯s talent in maintaining a facade was amazing, keeping up the mask of fake politeness for such a long time would inevitably take a toll on any person. The kind where you put on a smile all the time, while not wanting to smile in the least, or the kind where one sentence had an abundance of hidden meanings behind it, or the turns and twist that tried to curry favor with her. Thinking about all of these made her head hurt.

    In the virtual space, the system spirit had stopped ying its game. The floating projectile which disyed the ongoing cut scene was in front of it, a gleaming ray of light shining from the character with the name ¡¯For A Millenium¡¯ on top of it, and then the top boss in the game falling immediately after. The system spiritughed in satisfaction before processing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, [Do you...want me to teleport you out of there?]

    ¡¯Only you are able to say this kind of things, teleporting out in front of such a massive crowd, are you stupid?¡¯

    [Don¡¯t you think it would be cool?]

    ¡¯Rather than be cool, my life is more important.¡¯

    [...]

    In the end, it was Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen who came to her rescue. Both of them hade with their families, but had refrained from greeting Gu Xiqiao when they saw that she was busy. Their families had also brought them along with the intentions to introduce them to some of their business partners, so it was only now that they had the chance to get away.

    Gu Xiqiao was only able to rx when the people around her finally left.

    "I came with my elder brother, but he¡¯s talking to a group of old men. It was very suffocating," Xiao Yunined.

    Wu Hongwen scratched the back of his head. "That¡¯s great for you, your brother is so protective of you, nothing can touch a hair on your head. What¡¯s so suffocating about it!"

    Xiao Yun was foaming at the mouth at that, and red at Wu Hongwen before proceeding to ignore him. She lowered her head, her expression serious. "I don¡¯t really understand the Yin family, but I saw how well Mrs. Yin treated you just now, so I¡¯m relieved."

    Gu Xiqiao was well aware that the two of them were not the kind with patience to attend banquets, and they were here for her sake. "When we have time, I¡¯ll exin it properly to both of you. The most important thing right now is, I have to go to the washroom."

    As soon as she left, the woman in red who had been in the corner ced her ss down, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly as she moved to follow.

    ***

    In the washroom, Gu Xiqiao was patting her face with water. She nced in the mirror and straightened up suddenly.

    [Beauty Qiao, a hostile person approaches. She is someone from the ancient martial arts world, and has reached the level of Bone Refinement. It seems that she can be considered to be a genius on Earth, but she¡¯s still not as good as you.]

    Hearing the system¡¯s words, Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. She pinched a tissue and used it to wipe her hands, finger by finger.

    Murong Miaoxue crossed her arms under her bosom, her eyes sizing up the person standing in front of her.

    She was leaning against the sink, her pastel green dress outlining her lean body, and her skin was white like a freshyer of snow. Her eyes were crystal clear, a slight shine in them resembling a jade. Her brows were delicate, like a well-painted painting, and she had a faint aura radiating from her, but what was undeniable was...

    No matter how you look at her, she was just an immature and inexperienced little girl!

    "You¡¯re Gu Xiqiao, I suppose," Murong Miaoxue said through her red, glossy lips, "Don¡¯t look so wary, little girl, I have no bad intentions. Of course, I¡¯m not the kind who bullies others either. Today I just have some things I want to discuss with you."

    "Go ahead," Gu Xiqiao said, giving her a light smile. Tossing away the tissue paper in her hand, she continued, "I¡¯m listening."

    Murong Miaoxue was surprised to find her appearing so calm.

    "I know that you¡¯ve been around Jiang Shuxuan for the past two months, but after so long, do you know who he really is?" Murong Miaoxue paused a while, searching Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, "I¡¯m guessing he didn¡¯t tell you, and I wouldn¡¯t me him. Our families are naturally secretive, and not many people on the outside know. I see that you¡¯re quite pleasing to the eyes, so I¡¯m giving you a reminder that we¡¯re not from the same world. We¡¯re divided into ranks, and you... are just on the lowest rank. Even if I don¡¯t spell it out for you, you should feel it yourself, right?"

    Gu Xiqiao mulled over the words that Murong Miaoxue had just spoken. She didn¡¯t really understand what Murong Miaoxue had meant, but if it was meant to insult Gu Xiqiao with those words, then she would be sorely disappointed.

    Nodding politely, she replied, "Thank you for the kind reminder."

    It was like hitting cotton with a fist¡ªshe wasn¡¯t fazed at all. Murong Miaoxue narrowed her eyes, and then she waved her hand suddenly.

    Gu Xiqiao felt a wave of energy sweeping past her face, and a ¡¯crack¡¯ sounded behind her. The mirror beside the sink had cracked, slowly shattering and turning into dust.

    "Do you see that? That is the difference between us." Murong Miaoxue said, looking Gu Xiqiao dead in the eye, with arrogance and conceit in her own, "Jiang Shuxuan is the hope of this generation of the reclusive families, and I am not the only one who is enamoured with him. There is another demon girl who even I am afraid of, so how much more of a chance do you havepared to us? Otherwise, when you arrive in the Imperial Capital, you¡¯ll be dead before you even know how it happened. After all, Jiang Shuxuan will not be able to stay by your side to protect you all the time!"

    [Beauty Qiao, beat her up!] The system spirit shouted from the virtual space, looking very angry, [She¡¯s just at Bone Refinement level, and she¡¯s even older than you by a few years. What a thick face she has. If she¡¯s so special, why doesn¡¯t shepare herself to Jiang Shuxuan instead!]

    "Difference?" Gu Xiqiao lifted her head, a gentle expression on her face as sheughed lightly. She raised her hand. "This is what difference means."

    She crooked a finger, and the narrow space they were in fell instantly into a void.

    Murong Miaoxue¡¯s haughty expression vanished abruptly, staring at the void in bewilderment. Her eyes were wide as she stared, and after a long time, she stuttered, "This...this is...the Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array, how is that possible?!"

    She had been fortunate to have seen the elders in the family who had not known how to perform the formation, but used jade and amulets to put it up as a decoration. Those who were trapped inside here, no matter how high their rank was, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use brute force to break their way out of it. One could only try to find the center of the formation. There were only a handful of formation masters in the world, even less of those that could break the Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array, and even less of those that could arrange the array at will.

    Using chi to draw the Nine Pces and Eight Trigrams Array was basically making a self-contained space, and the master who was able to control the array must have a deep, profound understanding of chi. A person trapped in here could only await ughter with no way of escape. Thinking that she had pulled out the big guns in front of the other person and had the advantage, Murong Miaoxue felt extremely ashamed of herself!

    Gu Xiqiao waved her hand to dispel the array, and nced at Murong Miaoxue once more, before walking around her to leave without a word.

    Murong Miaoxue could only stand there as she watched Gu Xiqiao walk away without stopping her. The back of the girl really was thin, not at all like someone with such profound strength.

    Murong Miaoxue was unable to move for a long while. How old was she, and how was it that she had already reached this level? Was it another ¡¯Jiang Shuxuan¡¯ that had been born? Even if she were to go against that demonic girl, it seemed that she would be able to hold her own? But the members of the reclusive families that she knew had never heard of this girl, so who in the world was she?

    Or was it possible that she was a descendent of some master? Murong Miaouxue could only make guesses in her heart, no one being able to give her any answers.

 Chapter 93 Something Else Hidden

    Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun stood in a corner of the main living hall, chatting for a long time but it was more of idle topics. There were a few people who had seen their closeness with Gu Xiqiao and had tried to strike up a conversation with them, but they were all dealt with swiftly by Wu Hongwen.

    "Cousin, why are you hiding here? Uncle has been looking for you." Just as the two of them were on another idle topic, a young man holding a wine ss walked over with a warm smile. When he saw Xiao Yun, his eyes brightened. "And this beautifuldy, you are acquainted with my cousin?"

    "Why are you here?" Wu Hongwen said, the smile on his face dropping immediately when he saw who it was.

    The man ignored Wu Hongwen¡¯s attitude. "Cousin, don¡¯t be so rash. Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re only able toe to the Yin household because of me. Otherwise you wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to catch a glimpse of the Yin Manor gates on normal days."

    "What¡¯s going on?" Xiao Yun was slightly lost. What did he mean by Wu Hongwen was only able toe because of him, how thick was his face? Didn¡¯t the Yin family personally deliver the invitation to their hands?

    "Don¡¯t pay attention to him, he¡¯s a bit nuts." Wu Hongwen snorted.

    Hearing him say that, the man¡¯s face darkened. He and Yin Feifei were lovers, and he had received Yin Feifei¡¯s guarantee that they would receive an invitation from the Yin family. He didn¡¯t hold out any hope on that in the beginning. Their family had always been treading a thin line betweenw enforcement and underground dealings, and the Yin family were the gatekeepers of N City, how was it possible that they would send an invite to a family with such ties with the underworld?

    But when the invitation was delivered to the Wu family patriarch, he believed it. His status had risen to new heights because of this too.

    "Wu Hongwen!" The man said coldly, and just as he opened to his mouth to continue, he suddenly caught a glimpse of another figure from the corner of his eyes.

    Yin Feifei had shown him a picture of Yin Shaoyuan before, and although it was taken secretly, he could clearly recognize him from it. The person walking towards them was a person that you had to see with your own two eyes, hearing would never be enough to give justice to him¡ªYin Shaoyuan from N City!

    He hurriedly straightened his clothes nervously, finally believing Yin Feifei¡¯s words that she was on very good terms with Yin Shaoyuan.

    It was rare for Yin Shaoyuan to show his face. The sharp features he had made him extremely attractive, a roguish smirk on his handsome face, and a pair of mesmerizing eyes which felt like it could pull you in once you looked into them. There weredies blushing all around as he made his way over, and though they didn¡¯t dare to reach out to him, they parted ways for him to walk through, but their gazes remained fixated on him.

    He ignored the outstretched hand of the young man, reaching out to hook an arm around Wu Hongwen¡¯s neck and raised an elegant eyebrow up. "Why is it only both of you here, where¡¯s Qiao Qiao?"

    "She went to the washroom, she¡¯ll be back soon." Wu Hongwen said, trying in vain to dislodge Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s arm, but failing. "You¡¯re going to strangle me to death, are you sure you want that kind of image?"

    "She went alone?" Yin Shaoyuan straightened up. A hint of something shed in his eyes, but it was too quick to be noticed. "Are you sure?"

    Wu Hongwen wriggled out from his hold. "Yeah, I¡¯m sure."

    "Alright then, you two have fun. I¡¯ll be back soon."

    They weren¡¯t sure what Yin Shaoyuan was thinking, but he left after those few words, and he looked to be moving in a hurry, disappearing from their sight after a short while.

    At the same time, Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun both received a text message. They nced at each other, before deleting the message without saying anything.

    The man who had been ignored had an irritated expression on his face, and turned to re at Wu Hongwen. His face was red with anger, but he left in a huff soon after.

    ***

    Wu Hongwen left the ce with his father without a word, and when the car had pulled out of the Yin family area, Wu Feiyang let out a breath of relief. "You unfilial child, you didn¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re acquainted with Young Master Yin. When he came to look for me just now, I felt like my heart was going to jump up into my throat. The first thought in my mind was that he was there to arrest me!"

    It was an upational hazard, a man from a long line of military family backgrounding to find him. Wu Feiyang had just recently struck a deal with the underground, had he been discovered?

    "What was the point in telling you?" Wu Hongwen said, his mouth twitching, "And I¡¯m not really close to Yin Shaoyuan, I¡¯m close to Er Qiao."

    "All the same." Wu Feiyang said, waving a hand dismissively, "But when your cousin made that ruckus during that time when the invitation came, why didn¡¯t you say anything? Letting him take credit for this, your reputation is now lower than his in the family."

    "I want to rely on my own abilities, and I don¡¯t need any help from the outside. If he wants the credit for these kinds of things, I don¡¯t mind." Wu Hongwen said solemnly, "Dad, I told you before that I will study hard and take over the Wu family. I wasn¡¯t kidding."

    Seeing his son being so serious for the first time, Wu Feiyang was stunned. He recalled that his son had been following him around over thest few days, even asking advice from the other people in the household. It didn¡¯t look like he was faking it. "I asked you to take over the businessst year, and you gave it up on your own. You have already lost the default rights to inherit, and now you have to fight for the position on your own. Even then, are you willing to do so?"

    "I know, I won¡¯t give up." Wu Hongwen said, looking into Wu Feiyang¡¯s eyes, his own onyx eyes were burning with a fire of determination in them.

    Wu Feiyang let out a wide grin at that, and you couldn¡¯t tell whether he was pleased or proud from his eyes. "Good boy! I will support you!"

    Wu Hongwen felt some slight disgust at that, and his phone chose that moment to ring. After ncing at the caller, he realized it was Yin Shaoyuan. He made a shushing motion to Wu Feiyang, and answered the call.

    ***

    In Yin Manor, all the guests had already left. The servants were busy clearing up, though their faces were filled with joy. It had been a long time since this ce had been so lively. Being able to help out on such asions, they would also be able to brag about it when they go out to talk in front of others.

    However, the faces of the few people who were sitting on the sofa were apletely different story.

    Yin Shaoyuan got off the phone, cing it down. "I¡¯ve asked, Wu Hongwen doesn¡¯t know either. I¡¯ll ask Xiao Yun."

    "No need." Jiang Shuxuan said with a chilling re on his stoic face. He stood abruptly, his thin lips pursed tightly. "There are traces of Murong Miaoxue¡¯s energy in the washroom. I¡¯ll go look for her."

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t have time to stop him, and Jiang Shuxuan disappeared from the Yin residence.

    Furrowing his brows deeply, Yin Shaoyuan had not told Jiang Shuxuan about Murong Miaoxue¡¯s presence before. He thought that she wouldn¡¯t do anything out of fear of Jiang Shuxuan. But looking at the situation now, it seemed that something had indeed happened.

    Thinking about Gu Xijin who was currently overseas, Yin Shaoyuan felt uneasy. Not many people knew, but he was well aware, on the first night that Gu Xijinnded, someone had broken her arm. Even after she recovered, she would never be able to hold a painting brush.

    This had Jiang Shuxuan written all over it, and it was all kept under wraps. It was likely even the Gu family didn¡¯t know about the urrence.

    "Mom, I¡¯ll go out and look!" Yin Shaoyuan informed Tang Yanling, before grabbing his car keys and heading out.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t gone to any other ce, but to the small alley near First High. It was a bit of a pain, since she hadn¡¯t been able to find the person she was looking for, and now she was being blocked by a bunch of gangsters. The guy who looked to be the leader was smoking a cigarette, and was looking at Gu Xiqiao with a look that didn¡¯t spell good things.

    The system in virtual space raised its head, [Beauty Qiao, I suddenly really pity these bunch of people.]

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, but she raised her head slowly, the corner of her lips lifting up slightly. She was already originally a beauty, with a fairy-like charm that was eye-catching, but the smile on her face pushed her beauty to another level of gorgeous.

    The sunlight shining down was ring as it was summer, but the people in front of her suddenly felt a bright sh in their eyes, its brightness outshining even the rays from the sun.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    In just a few short breaths, Gu Xiqiao walked to the entrance of the alleyway. Behind her, a group of bodiesy scattered on the ground. Yao Jiamu, who had rushed over after receiving the news from his friends...

    "..."

    The bunch of friends who had followed behind him were all wearing shell shocked expressions, some of their jaws looked to be on the ground in astonishment.

    ¡¯Boss, you sure this fierce female overlord ever needed your heroic self to rescue her?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao looked up to see Yao Jiamu with a pleased expression on her face as she gave him a light smile. "Let¡¯s go."

    After a few minutes of walking, the alley stretched out into a courtyard. Yao Jiamu tinkered around in his kitchen, taking out a paper cup and rinsing it with hot water before filling it with freshly boiled tea and bringing it out. His father had bought this tea, and usually they were reluctant to drink it, but it seemed today was a day to bring it out.

    "Why did youe to see me today?" Yao Jiamu asked as Gu Xiqiao took a sip of the tea he had given her. He had spoken only after seeing that she had noints about the tea he had boiled, and his tone held a hint of happiness in it.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the tea that was greenish in color, eyeing it with her inexperienced eyes before opening her mouth to reply, "It¡¯s about the thing I mentionedst time, teaching you to fight."

    She had been discussing this matter with the system for a few days, teaching Yao Jiamu to fight was not just for fun and games. After a lot of consideration, in order to achieve the best effect, the system had chosen a set of exercises and a couple of Bone Marrow Cleansing Pills for him. Gu Xiqiao had spent a lot of points in order to obtain these items.

    "This book on Firefly Illusion has been passed down by my... master, and it¡¯s more suited for you. I have made some remarks on the more obscure things in it, you can use it for your own practice first. And also this bottle of elixirs, there are three of them inside. This is for cleansing your bone marrow, you¡¯re getting older and there are too many impurities in your body to get started." Gu Xiqiao exined as she pulled out the things from her pocket, borating on each item.

    Yao Jiamu with a confused (old) face: How can your small pocket stuff so many things?!

    But his mind still hadn¡¯t properly processed what she had said, ancient martial arts? Firefly Illusion? Elixirs? Cleansing of bone marrow to renew? Wasn¡¯t all this just made up things from a martial arts novel? But seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s serious expression, she didn¡¯t seem to be joking. Was it all for real?

    "You guys?" Yao Jiamu finally choked out the words, after contemting for a long while, mulling the words over and over in his head.

    "Yeah, and there are two others. They wille to you in a few days, just wait for them in your house," Gu Xiqiao said, standing up, "I need to go, to drop in Dalin¡¯s house. Study this for a few days properly, I¡¯ll be back in a month to check on you. This path is not easy to walk, but I hope that you guys can have a ce in the ancient martial arts world one day."

    Even though Jiang Shuxuan and the others had never mentioned anything regarding the ancient martial arts world, but with the system, Gu Xiqiao had a general understanding of everything in it. She gave the chance to learn ancient martial arts to Yao Jiamu, and hoped that he would do as she expects.

    After Gu Xiqiao had left, Yao Jiamu still felt like he was in a dream. He held the tattered book in his hand, his gaze far away. He still sat in a daze until nightfall, worried that it was all just a dream, that when he blinked, everything would disappear.

    Ancient martial arts, noble warriors... This was the desire that everyone had, deep down inside their hearts.

    And now he had the opportunity, he wasn¡¯t so ignorant to not realize that this was a once in a lifetime chance that would alter his lifepletely.

    ***

    Yin Shaoyuan had been looking for Gu Xiqiao, and it had been two days. He couldn¡¯t find her, but he found Murong Miaoxue, who was on her way to the airport.

    "You¡¯re leaving today?" Yin Shaoyuan asked, looking at her, a glint of unfamiliar emotion in his eyes.

    Murong Miaoxue nced at Yin Shaoyuan, his eyes seemed to be hiding a raging fire behind it. His brows were furrowed deeply, not a hint of admiration on his face. It waspletely different from his usual flirty attitude, and she sneered at him. Brushing her long silky hair back, she looked at him. "Ask what you want to ask, don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re here. Why do you need to have a pretense?"

    Yin Shaoyuan took a deep breath to calm his emotions that were threatening to boil over, managing to hiss out in an even voice, "Were you the one who chased Qiao Qiao away?"

    "Tsk." Murong Miaoxue resisted the urge to smirk, and instead her eyes brightened more as she looked at Yin Shaoyuan. There was an arrogant and cold expression on her face. "Why should I tell you?"

    She turned around after saying that, pulling her luggage and heading towards the boarding gate. The hand on the handle was trembling slightly when she recalled those cold eyes, the pain that was zing all the way into her bone marrow. She couldn¡¯t help the chills that surged from the bottom of her heart at those memories. If she had held admiration of that person before this, there was also a healthy dose of fear and respect mixed in there now.

    A delicate and young face floated into her mind, the girl with unknown origin but was mysteriously powerful, she was barelyparable to Jiang Shuxuan. However, Murong Miaoxue paused in her thoughts. The girl would go to the Imperial Capital one day anyway, and when she did, she would know that it was impossible to face the four big families alone!

    Not to mention, the Imperial Capital still had that crazy demonic woman!

    Murong Miaoxue¡¯s fighting spirit was rekindled. When she reached home today, she would apply to go to the legacy base immediately!

    Yin Shaoyuan gritted his teeth as he watched Murong Miaoxue walk away. He moved to stop her, but was hit with an invisible barrier instead. His heart sank. "F*ck, this again!"

    Murong Miaoxue had used the same method to block his advances previously, and he knew that she was the same kind of person like Jiang Shuxuan. They had powers that ordinary people didn¡¯t, and were able to create a form of istion barrier. He thought that this was going to be the same asst time, he would be trapped here a day and a night before it dissipated. If he wanted to leave earlier than that, he would need Jiang Shuxuan to release him.

    However, the barrier only blocked him for a while before he was able to pass through easily.

    What was this?

    Looking down at his hands, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s mind was in a daze. He looked at the ring that was on his finger. It was something Gu Xiqiao had given to Yin Jinian initially, but once Tang Yanling wore it on her fingers, she had imed that it warded off evil spirits. When Gu Xiqiao heard about it, she sent along another ring the next day.

    In order to verify his theory, Yin Shaoyuan took off the ring. His hands were shaking hard from the excitement, and he didn¡¯t seed the first time, but he did on the second. He then ced the ring down on the ground.

    Just as he thought, his hands were unable to go through the barrier this time.

    Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t help the excitement that burst out from this revtion, and he put the ring back on before rushing out of the barrier to his car, in a rush to find Jiang Shuxuan. If Gu Xiqiao had really been the one to pull this off, then with her capabilities, it was impossible for her to have been chased off by Murong Miaoxue. That said, there was definitely something else that was being hidden here!

 Chapter 94 Departure

    Jiang Shuxuan was in the study, sitting in the solid, rattan chair. He held a book in his hands, an impassive expression on his handsome face. His posture was rxed, but his eyes betrayed the calm exterior he had, a hint of frost in them. After hearing the reason Yin Shaoyuan wasing over, he reached up to touch the jade pendant that hung on his neck, closing his eyes to conceal the turmoil in them.

    "Have you asked her friends?"

    Seeing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s excitement diminished quickly. As soon as his mind could process it, he understood that Jiang Shuxuan had probably already known about it all along.

    "I¡¯ve asked Mu Zong and Wu Hongwen, they both don¡¯t have a clue. But if you think about it now, Qiao Qiao must have said something to them before she left, or they wouldn¡¯t be so calm about it. Only, why didn¡¯t she say anything to us? Where in the world did she go?" Yin Shaoyuan said, sneaking a nce at Jiang Shuxuan.

    There was one thing that was left unsaid. That was, although Gu Xiqiao was not chased off by Murong Miaoxue, she had left after hearing Murong Miaoxue¡¯s words. However, he believed that Jiang Shuxuan had reached the same conclusion as well. Murong Miaoxue had disappeared without a trace for the past two days, and it was highly probable that it was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s doing.

    "Didn¡¯t say anything to us?" Jiang Shuxuan repeated, putting the book down. He gazed out of the window calmly, his eyes as deep as night. "Your parents are calm about it, the only people she didn¡¯t inform was me and you."

    "Why?!" Yin Shaoyuan eximed, realizing that Jiang Shuxuan was right after he pondered over his words.

    Logically speaking, his mother adored the child so much. If she were missing, they would have mobilized the whole city to search every inch and corner to find her. But as it was, he was the only one who was running around.

    "I want to know too," Jiang Shuxuan said, getting up to push the curtains to one side, and opened the window. A snow-white paper crane flew in from the outside, flying in a circle twice in front of him beforending on his shoulder dejectedly. "Even I can¡¯t find where she is, or is she not in this dimension at all?"

    He reached out to pull a piece of paper out from the shelf beside him. The words on it were clear and beautiful, written neatly¡ª

    Brother Jiang, I have something that I need to figure out. When I understand, I¡¯ll return for sure. Be safe, don¡¯t worry about me.

    He massaged his temples as he looked out the window again, his pitch-ck eyes calm and unwavering now. Even if it was out of his capabilities, even if he had to search the entire heavens and earth, he would definitely find that girl!

    Although she had not said anything about it, he understood inside, the reason for her departure.

    Yin Shaoyuan was speechless for a while. This was the first time he had seen Jiang Shuxuan in such a downcast state. He suddenly understood that because Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want Jiang Shuxuan to find her, she had chosen not to say anything to him. Did she not believe in him?

    His elegant brow twisted in frustration. Not only Jiang Shuxuan, he felt unhappy too. This girl, she needed to be taught a lesson once they found her.

    ***

    With his mind full of doubts, Yin Shaoyuan personally went to talk to Mu Zong in person at Nine Heavens, but he was met with a face of surprise. "Sigh, Young Master Yin, you know as well as I that I haven¡¯t seen Qiao Qiao in a week. Thest I heard she was at Yin Manor two days ago, how could she be missing today? Is everything alright?"

    It was quite an exaggerated reaction, it was clearly an act. If she were really missing, how could he remain so calm? Yin Shaoyuan swallowed the fire that he wanted to spit out. This person was one of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, he didn¡¯t dare make a move against him. So he turned away to find Wu Hongwen instead.

    Wu Hongwen was in the middle of his family training when he found him, and he only gave him an indifferent nce before turning back to bury himself in his studies.

    Yin Shaoyuan hooked an arm around his neck, his eyes narrowing as his body radiated a dangerous aura. "Tell me honestly, where did that girl go? Otherwise, don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to stay silent today!"

    "Hm." Wu Hongwen made a noise of agreement, and proceeded to point to a page in his book calmly. "What¡¯s wrong with this annex report?"

    "It¡¯s simple, Party B¡¯s investment failed. Shareholders dumped their stocks and they were acquired by Party A. As a result, Party A became the majority shareholder. As for the other things, like Party B¡¯s failure, it didn¡¯t matter whether or not Party A was involved in making it happen, what matters most is the result," Yin Shaoyuan replied with an answer after just a quick nce at the book. As heir to the Yin family, he had received top-notch education in all aspects, although he didn¡¯t look the part normally.

    He had exined the matter in a more straightforward and clear way than most professionals would, and Wu Hongwen¡¯s eyes lit up, picking up several other cases to ask him.

    Yin Shaoyuan proceeded to answer every one until his mouth ran dry, and then he suddenly realized what he was doing. "God f*cking dammit, I didn¡¯te here to tutor you!"

    "Don¡¯t be so calctive, I¡¯ll treat you to dinner," Wu Hongwen said, avoiding the topic as he threw the book in his hand aside. He fluttered his eyes, happily inviting the young master Yin to dinner.

    His eyshes were long. When his eyes fluttered, it was like a butterfly pping its wings. Yin Shaoyuan reached out, not able to stop theughter that burst out from his lips as he gestured. "The length of yourshes can bepared to Qiao Qiao¡¯s, but hers are a bit denser than yours."

    "Impossible, it¡¯s not as long as hers," Wu Hongwen said, patting his hands. "Will you stay to eat?"

    "Yes," Yin Shaoyuan replied, taking his hands back, and then he remembered his original intentions again. "No wait, you haven¡¯t told me where she is?"

    "Are you staying to eat or not..."

    "..."

    In the end, Yin Shaoyuan was still swayed away from the topic by Wu Hongwen with just a few words.

    After the two had left once dinner was over, the more influential members of the Wu family looked at each other, and began congratting Wu Feiyang for raising such a good son. Wu Feiyang was feeling delighted on the inside, but he maintained a passive look on the outside while receiving the praises.

    The younger cousin of Wu Hongwen stood in a corner with a gloomy expression, watching the two figures who were leaving, his eyes glowering.

    Once they left the house, Yin Shaoyuan headed to his own luxury car. "I say, there¡¯s something not right with that cousin of yours."

    "He¡¯s just another jumping clown, not much great skills. I¡¯m not bothered to touch him at all, there are some things that need people like that to do, after all," Wu Hongwen said, ncing at Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s car in slight apprehension. "You¡¯re driving?"

    "Why, can¡¯t bear to look at it?" Yin Shaoyuan said, raising an eyebrow.

    Wu Hongwen took a deep breath. "The color..."

    "Damn, this car..." Yin Shaoyuan whipped out his phone after the words triggered something in his mind, making a call. The other side picked up after one ring. "Manager Xu, is the car I left at your ce thatst time still there?"

    "It¡¯s been taken the day before yesterday?"

    Hanging up the call, Yin Shaoyuan frowned. She had driven the car, and it was a big target, but he still couldn¡¯t find any clues on her whereabouts. Disregarding the car, her phone was also customized and there was GPS tracking installed on it, but even the satellite couldn¡¯t find her location. Was what Jiang Shuxuan said spot on, that she wasn¡¯t even in this dimension?

    He turned his eyes on Wu Hongwen, who immediately gave him an innocent look.

    ¡¯... Very good, it is very Wu Hongwen-ish.¡¯

    ***

    In the south station of N City, Gu Xiqiao was carrying a backpack. In her pale lithe fingers, she held a light blue train ticket.

    [Beauty Qiao, Yin Shaoyuan and Jiang Shuxuan are scouring the entire ce to find you, but I¡¯ve blocked everything.] The system was sitting down, its arms around its legs, its tone cocky. Even though it was unreliable in a lot of matters, its concealment features were one of the better ones. Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t be able to find them for a while.

    ¡¯Alright, thanks for your hard work,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao replied, turning around to look at N City one more time before heading towards the ticket gates.

    [Nothing hard about it. By the way, Beauty Qiao, I want to remodel your car.]

    ¡¯How will you do it?¡¯

    [I¡¯ll change it into a smart car, the kind that will have the auto-drive function. As to how I will be doing it, you wouldn¡¯t understand even if I told you!]

    Gu Xiqiao, who wouldn¡¯t understand even though the system told her: ¡¯...do as you please.¡¯

    [Hehehe.]

    There were two young men standing at the exit, and they obviously stood out from the crowd around them with such extraordinary temperaments. With one nce, you could tell that they were extremely wealthy. The young man who looked to be the more dominant of the two ced the box in his hands on the ground suddenly, taking off in a run towards the ticket gates.

    "Gu Xiqiao!"

    Hearing her name being called, Gu Xiqiao stopped in her steps. She turned around to see who had called out to her, and found her gaze meeting Xia Zijun.

    He was wearing an ordinary T-shirt, his short ck hair was slightly messed up from his run. There was a healthy spark in his eyes, his elegant features on his face highlighting how handsome he was. Adding on a pair of lean, long legs, his entire person easily attracted the attention of people around him. He nced at the ticket in her hands. "Where are you going?"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart had calmed a lot since thest time she hadid eyes on him, and she gave him a small smile. "Home."

    "I..." Xia Zijun bit his lip. "I heard some things. You... are you alright?"

    "I¡¯m very well, thank you." Gu Xiqiao raised her ticket and waved it slightly. "The train is going to leave, goodbye."

    Seeing her retreating figure once again, Xia Zijun was a little startled. It has been two months since they had met, and she appeared to have grown a bit taller. She was dressed in a baggy blouse, and was still as thin as ever. Her porcin white skin resembled white jade, her eyes were as clear as water and captivating, you couldn¡¯t look away from her beauty.

    "If you fancy her then you should go for it. With your looks and everything, she will definitely hold onto you and not let go," The young man with a crew cut said as he shoved both hands into his pockets, making his way overzily. ncing at the retreating figure, he let out a low whistle. "That is one fine girl."

    Xia Zijin let out a chuckle. "She¡¯s just a friend. No, perhaps I¡¯m not even considered a friend in her eyes. Sigh, forget it, the car is here."

    "Such indecisiveness," The man replied,ughing. "I¡¯ve already said you won¡¯t find a wife like this..."

    As they walked away, Xia Zijun couldn¡¯t resist turning around one more time, but she had already entered the gates. Fancy her? Perhaps that was true, but it wasn¡¯t like he had a snowball¡¯s chance in hell. He bore the responsibilities of two families, and that caused him to not have the rights to fancy anyone.

    Pulling himself together, the calm returned to his ck eyes. When they had first met, he had already felt the throbbing of his heart, deep inside. He had thought that he would naturally forget about it in time, but this unexpected meeting had just managed topletely shatter his defenses once again.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had bought a train ticket, from N City south station to Ping¡¯an District, then she would take a bus and she would reach a vige.

    The distance between Ping¡¯an District and N City was not far, and the train journey would only take two hours, so she had bought a reserved seat. A middle-aged woman with a child sat opposite her, and the child was particrly noisy throughout the trip, chattering away and eating constantly. He had a lot to say, and a lot to do too.

    As soon as she had got on the train, Gu Xiqiao had dozed off, up till she was awakened by frantic cries, "Datou, Datou!"

    Her eyes snapped open, but all she saw was the middle-aged woman in front of her, holding the child in her arms as she patted his head in a panicked motion. The child was blue in the face and appeared to be unconscious. Only his two hands were clutching his mother¡¯s sleeves tightly.

    The people on the train were gathering around them. Someone had already called for the attendant, but most of them were just making amotion.

    [Ding! Daily Good Deed Mission activated! Save the little boy.]

    [Missionpletion rewards: 50 points!]

 Chapter 95 Get Out of My House!

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples as she reached over and epted the child from the middle-aged woman. Her expression was calm and collected as every motion of hers could be a work of art, and her temperament and aura that stood out like a sore thumb in the passenger car caused the middle-aged woman to look at her as herst hope.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t speak, already arriving at a conclusion when she saw the cherry pit beside their seat.

    She swiped away all of the snacks on the table in front of her before setting the young boy down, one hand pressed on his back and sending a flow of lively chi into him that made its way to his stomach.

    Of course, she still took out two gold needles and pricked them into the boy¡¯s head to not arouse any suspicion, and after she plucked them out again, she pinched the boy¡¯s chubby cheek gently.

    The boy woke up blearily, along with a weak: "Mommy..."

    Many of the onlookers gasped in surprise, and their gazes immediately became fervent as they went up and asked Gu Xiqiao about their condition upon seeing such a miracle.

    The middle-aged woman hugged the young boy tightly as her lips trembled from residual fear. "My angel, you¡¯re finally awake!"

    She cried for a while before she bowed down and thanked Gu Xiqiao again and again, and Gu Xiqiao tried to think of a way to stop her from thanking her until the next day. "Uhm, you should go get some water for him, he¡¯s probably still feeling a little sick from eating a cherry pit just now."

    "Okay!" Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman immediately wiped away her tears and went to the front of the carriage to get water for the boy.

    At that moment, Gu Xiqiao was still being pestered by the crowd, so she could only exin, "No, my little brother had eaten a cherry pit once before, so I coincidentally knew what to do!"

    Upon hearing this, they nodded and left, leaving her to breathe a sigh of relief before she looked down and her eyes came into contact with a pair of beady ones. "Big Sister, you¡¯re so awesome!"

    "Call me Aunt." Gu Xiqiao squinted at him.

    "Oh." The boy that was around four years old adjusted his position in her arms a little, his chubby cheeks and baby fat especially cute as he looked at Gu Xiqiao, not even blinking. "Big Sister, am I heavy?"

    "You¡¯re not that heavy." Gu Xiqiao reached into her bag and pulled out a pack of chips from her inventory, before ripping it open and handing it to him. "Eat this. Remember to call me Aunt, okay?"

    "The aunties that I know don¡¯t look like you do." The boy epted the pack of chips, and he started munching on them obediently.

    Gu Xiqiao took the chance to take out her phone, scrolling, and scanning through the long blocks of text that Yao Jiamu messaged her before shutting down her phone again without a reply. "There are aunties that look like me too."

    The boy looked at her curiously, before grabbing the pack of chips with his small hands. "Okay, but my mommy says that I¡¯ll be stupid if I eat this."

    "Then don¡¯t eat it." Gu Xiqiao tapped open a game on her phone and handed it to the boy, and the young child put down the chips and tapped at the screen, swiping at it a few times before he died on the first level. He didn¡¯t give up and started tapping and swiping again and again, but he kept dying, and Gu Xiqiao wordlessly took the phone and stuffed the bag of chips back into his hands.

    "Eat, Datou."

    "Thank you, Big Sister!" The boy epted the chips and started munching on them again.

    Seeing that he hadpletely disregarded what she said about calling her that again, she sighed softly and conceded. "Fine, fine, big sister it is."

    A deep chuckle sounded from beside her, and with her sixth sense, Gu Xiqiao knew that he was definitelyughing at her, so she nced over, seeing a handsome young man in expensive-looking clothes.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze only lingered for a second before turning back to the boy, while the young man rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

    The train quickly got to the next station where she got off the train together with Datou and his mother, but since their destinations were different¡ªThey were going further upstate, while Gu Xiqiao was going to Baixing Vige, so they went their separate ways.

    After getting off the train, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t rush to get on a bus to go to the vige just yet. She didn¡¯t bring any luggage with her when she left N City because she put all the things she needed in her inventory, so she went around buying luggage in nearby stores. She didn¡¯t want anyone questioning her on why she had so much food and clothes when she didn¡¯t bring any luggage to the vige in the first ce.

    After she bought the luggage, she went to somewhere where no one was and transferred some items from the inventory to the luggage. She closed the lid and grabbed the handle, and while it was a little heavy, it wasn¡¯t much of a problem for her.

    Gu Xiqiao carried the luggage boxes as she made her way to the closest bus station. She got there quickly by foot, the weight of the luggage not affecting her in the slightest.

    Thest had just left from the station, so there weren¡¯t many passengers on the one she was on, and when she got onto the bus, she even heard an old man wearing a straw hat grumbling to himself about how he should have walked faster so that he could have got onto the bus from earlier.

    All of the residents in Ping¡¯an District had more of an ent and their Chinese was not as fluent as city-folk, and it had been many years since she heard the familiar ent and ng that only made her feel like she was home.

    "We have arrived at Ermao Store!" The bus slowed down as the female conductor shouted by the entrance of the bus.

    The familiar name immediately caught Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attention, and she stood up and walked out of the bus.

    Ermao Store was a convenience store that was ced right at the entrance to the vige and was the ce where the residents of the vige bought their daily groceries from every day. If what they wanted wasn¡¯t avable, they would have to get on a bus and go to the town together to stock up on their needed items.

    Gu Xiqiao got off the bus and walked on the crossroad leading into the vige that was lined with weeds and bushes. Baixing Vige was ced in a basin area that was surrounded by mountains, and there were only around twenty families in the small vige. That being said, it was quite close to the viges nearby, so it wouldn¡¯t be a rare sight to see four people from different viges sit down at a table for mahjong.

    There were quite a few people on the roads, and they all greeted Gu Xiqiao merrily when they saw her. To them, she only left for three months, but to her, she hadn¡¯t stepped into this ce for an extraordinarily long amount of time.

    When she came back to this vige in her past life, it was on the year she was currently in, but by then, the vige had already been cleared out, its buildings were torn down. When she asked, she was only told that the vigers had moved away, but to where, she wasn¡¯t told.

    This was why she rushed here as soon as she had the chance to, and thank goodness she did.

    Her objective was a small house in the center of the vige. It was a modest-looking house, with two floors and white paint brushed on the walls. This was the home of Yu Man, her adoptive mother.

    Yu Man was a talented woman and was a barefoot doctor that lived in this small vige. Whenever anyone was sick, she would heal them, but she passed away due to brain hemorrhage so suddenly that she didn¡¯t even have the chance to see a doctor.

    With a flicker of intent, a bunch of keys appeared in her hand.

    She distinctly remembered locking up the dark green metal gates herself with arge lock, but now, the lock was gone.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows slightly, already sensing the people inside the house. Did they pick open her lock? How brave!

    She stood there in front of the gates, her porcin fingers resting on the gates as she was about to push them open, but they opened by themselves.

    The person that opened the door was a youngdy in a Bohemian-styled dress. She had curly and light-colored hair, and she looked alluring and stylish, and it was clear that she was different from the girls that were born and raised in this vige.

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao, she was stunned for a moment upon seeing someone that didn¡¯t lose to her in the looks department in front of her.

    "Who are you?" The girl raised her chin proudly as she looked at her, leaning on the gate as she did.

    Who was she?

    Gu Xiqiao scoffed, but a surge of rage had already started forming in her heart. She didn¡¯t want to waste any of her words on this girl, so she only waved her hand in front of her, and the girl stumbled to the back, almost falling on the ground as she did.

    There was a man in the yard that was looking at a map, and upon hearing the exmations of the youngdy, he looked up to see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s icy cold visage. At the moment she looked over at him, she looked like an icy, wrathful goddess, and for a moment, he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears.

    Seeing this, the girl¡¯s brows furrowed together and she shouted, "What, have you never seen a woman before? Why did you just let her in? Let¡¯s see how you can exin this to Young Master Tang!"

    "Cough..." The man coughed awkwardly, knowing that he had embarrassed himself. "Let me go ask her why she¡¯s here?"

    "What other reason would there be?" The girl scoffed. "She¡¯s another one of those shameless women here for Young Master Tang, no doubt!"

    She didn¡¯t control the volume of her voice, so the man reflexively looked towards the direction of the house. Subconsciously, he felt that this girl wasn¡¯t such a person, but he couldn¡¯t find any other reason why she would be here. It was already amon event that the girls of this vige knocked on their doors to see Tang Qinghong.

    "Alright, could you pipe down a little? I¡¯ll go look." The man nced at the girl, before walking into the house.

    There were two floors in the building, with two rooms that he and the girl lived in, while Tang Qinghong upied one of the two rooms on the second floor. They didn¡¯t go up to the second floor a lot, but now the unknown girl made her way up there.

    The remaining room on the second floor was locked, and the vige chief didn¡¯t agree to let them go on the second floor or even touch that door, and if it weren¡¯t for the mayor¡¯s help, Tang Qinghong would probably not even be able to stay in the extra room on the second floor.

    The man walked up the stairs to see the unknown girl stand there before walking towards the locked door, and before he could stop her, she took out a bunch of keys from her pocket.

    He was stunned for a moment. Was she the owner of this house?

    Gu Xiqiao walked into the room and looked around and the familiar and worn furnishings. These were all bought and arranged by Yu Man, who had treated her like her own daughter even though she was adopted.

    Why... Could she not have been reborn at least a month earlier?

    She would probably be able to save Yu Man then, wouldn¡¯t she?

    [Beauty Qiao, please don¡¯t be too sad. Life and death are dictated by fate after all, and she¡¯s in a better ce now!]

    "I know." Gu Xiqiao breathed somewhat shakily, a little overwhelmed by her current emotions. "I was just sad because I had never even brought her out of this vige because I thought we still had a lot of time, but I never expected hers to be so short."

    After a while, she opened the doors again, seeing the two strangers standing outside.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at them with an emotionless gaze, before she spoke, "Why are you living in my house?"

    The other girl was going to retort, before the man mped a hand over her mouth as he bowed his head slightly, not daring to meet Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze. "We¡¯re sorry for intruding..."

    Just now, he had still been guessing why this girl was here, but now he couldn¡¯t even speak.

    "You have ten minutes." Gu Xiqiao nonchntly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she spoke, her tone dismissive and cold as if she were an empress talking with a peasant. "Get out of my house!"

    The man opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he was stopped by a sudden exmation.

    "Little Gu, you¡¯re back!" The person that spoke was a youngdy with a long, tidy dress and her hair tied up in a bun on her head. She had a bright smile on her face as she looked at Gu Xiqiao. "I didn¡¯t believe Uncle Daniu when he said that he saw you, so my mom told me toe here to check! You haven¡¯t eaten yet, right? Come to my ce!"

    All three pairs of eyes looked downstairs, and a certain curly-haired girl squinted hers in distaste as she saw the neer¡¯s traditional and old-fashioned clothing.

 Chapter 96 You Might Meet A Miserable End!

    Gu Xiqiao blinked in slight surprise, evidently not expecting to see her so quickly, and the frost on her face dissolved into a warm smile as she walked down the stairs. "Sister Mei."

    "It¡¯s great that you¡¯re back!" Li Yanmei smiled before holding Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm naturally and leading her towards the entrance of the house. "Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll go cook some noodles for you at my ce!"

    Those clean eyes were filled with worry, and Gu Xiqiao obliged with her silent plea to leave so as to not worry her.

    After the two girls left, the two that were left on the second floor finally reacted. The girl shook herself free of the man¡¯s hand, still quite angry. "What are you doing, Su Wen? That woman is a menace! Who is she, to chase us out like that?!"

    "Bao Xinyi, calm down, please." Su Wen rubbed his head, his brows knit together. "Didn¡¯t you hear? This is her house, and we moved in here without her permission. We¡¯re the ones at fault here."

    "We¡¯re at fault?" Bao Xinyi scoffed. "Are you really nning on moving out? What augh!"

    Su Wen was quite frustrated with the current situation too. It was impossible for them to leave because Tang Qinghong would be the first to disagree after settling on this ce, but at the same time, it was hard to look for apromise with the owner of this house seeing that they had given her a bad first impression.

    Just from a few words, it was clear that she wasn¡¯t the type to go back on her words easily.

    "What are you doing?" When he came to from his thoughts, he saw Bao Xinyi stomping on the door with her foot, and he held his head again at the headache that came onto him.

    Bao Xinyi looked at him with a disdainful expression. "What¡¯s there to be surprised about? Now that she¡¯s back, wouldn¡¯t it be natural that she give this room to me? You¡¯re such an imbecile, don¡¯t you know that a girl from this backwater ce would be able to be dismissed with some cash in her face?"

    After she spoke, she stomped on the door again, and this time, the force of her stomp was reflected onto her by an unseen force, and she fell onto the ground very ungracefully.

    Su Wen helped her up with a frown. "Are you alright? Don¡¯t make a fuss, let¡¯s wait for Young Master Tang."

    He had thought that Bao Xinyi would definitely refute his words, but he was surprised at how she didn¡¯t speak back after he suggested waiting for Tang Qinghong, making him cast another nce at her in confusion. It was then that he realized that her face had gone pale as a sheet as if she had just seen a ghost.

    ***

    Li Yanmei was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s neighbor, so they got to the former¡¯s house with only a few steps.

    After they walked out of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s house, Li Yanmei¡¯s expression became serious. "Thank goodness I got there in time, or else you might have gotten on the bad side of some big shots..."

    "Big shots?" Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t even need to think to know that she was talking about the two that had moved into her house like a bunch of cuckoo birds.

    "The three that are living in your house now, I mean." Li Yanmei spoke carefully, her voice bing a whisper as she did as if she were scared of anyone listening in. "The town mayor brought them here himself, and apparently these people from the Imperial Capital with high officials in their family. The vige chief couldn¡¯t refuse, and the only room he could keep from them from was your room. You acted too rashly just now! These people can crush us like ants with a single finger, so you better not get into any trouble with them. You can stay at my ce until they move away, okay?"

    Three people? And they picked their house?

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her forehead slightly. "Alright, I know what to do."

    Li Yanmei opened her mouth slightly but didn¡¯t speak anymore. Gu Xiqiao had always had her own ideas and had always been smart since she was a child, so she wouldn¡¯t do anything foolish.

    "My, is Little Gu back?" A worried voice rang out from inside the house. "Come, let Aunt look at you!"

    Gu Xiqiao grew up together with Li Yanmei since they were children, and Aunt Li had always treated her as her own daughter, sharing food with her all the time.

    "Aunt, I..." Gu Xiqiao had barely spoken before she paused in her steps as she stepped into the room, the smile on her face frozen in ce.

    Inside, Aunt Li was lying weakly on the bed, her expression as gentle as always, but all Gu Xiqiao was see were Aunt Liu¡¯s legs.

    "What...Happened to your legs?" Her voice was a little dry as she clenched her shaking hands into fists in an effort to suppress her emotions from going out of control.

    Aunt Li waved her over and sat her down on the bed, before reaching and petting her head affectionately. "It¡¯s alright, I just fell on the mountain road on a rainy day. I¡¯ll get better in a few days!"

    Meanwhile, Li Yanmei made her way to the kitchen.

    "Have you seen a doctor?" Gu Xiqiao sniffled slightly. Aunt Li¡¯s legs were hurt to such a degree, and judging from the looks of it, they definitely didn¡¯t stay in the hospital for long. This would definitely leave behind lingering pains in the future, and if it was left that way for too long, she would be a cripple. This sort of development would definitely be devastating for the Li family.

    This degree of injury wasn¡¯t much for Gu Xiqiao to treat, but all she could think of was whether Aunt Li suffered the same injury in her past life. Did she manage to get it treated? Where did their family move to in the end?

    The more she thought of it, the more she felt distressed.

    "Child, I¡¯m doing alright, see?" Aunt Li sighed softly, before speaking as she saw Li Yanmeie in with a bowl of noodles. "You¡¯re hungry, aren¡¯t you? Eat up!"

    After she ate, Gu Xiqiao took out the reached into her pocket and pulled out her set of gold needles from the inventory. Both Li Yanmei and Aunt Li knew that Gu Xiqiao had a rudimentary understanding of medicine at least because people used to ask her for help with light ailments when Yu Man wasn¡¯t around to help.

    Aunt Li let Gu Xiqiao apply the needles as she wished. She had seen a doctor when she went to the hospital in the city and said doctor had told her that her legs were beyond saving, so she didn¡¯t have her hopes up for Gu Xiqiao.

    The next second, her expression froze as she felt a stream of warmth in her legs, and the next moment, she felt pain from her legs that had already gone numb since the day of the ident.

    "This is... Little Gu..." She had already given up on her life ever since the day she got the diagnosis, and thest thing she expected was for Gu Xiqiao to bring her hope once again.

    "My mom always told me that those doctors couldn¡¯t be trusted...Have some rest and don¡¯t get off the bed just yet, I¡¯lle and apply needles to you every day. Keep calm and have a positive attitude, you¡¯ll recover!" Gu Xiqiao kept her needles before looking over at Li Yanmei. "Come with me, let¡¯s go get some herbs that my mom left behind."

    The two walked outside, and Li Yanmei couldn¡¯t help but ask in surprise, "Little Gu, will my mom really recover?"

    "Yes, I¡¯m positive." Gu Xiqiao stuck her hands into her pockets and looked up at the sky. "The rest depends on how much I¡¯ve learned..."

    Li Yanmei immediately giggled and replied, "I believe in you! You have always been a smart pickle, what can¡¯t you learn? Even the strict old man from back in the day had always been gentle to you because you were a genius!"

    "What, that¡¯s only because you guys didn¡¯t want to learn calligraphy from him." Gu Xiqiao replied, her expression bing gentle as she thought back to the carefree days of her childhood.

    Once the topic of their childhood came up, their moods became better, and when they returned to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s house, they met with Su Wen and Bao Xinyi. Four gazes locked with each other, none of their owners uttering a word before Gu Xiqiao led Li Yanmei up the stairs.

    When Yu Man was still alive, she always went up the mountains to pick medicinal herbs. Part of those herbs was used to treat the vigers, while the rest were dried in the sun and collected as a hobby.

    Li Yanmei wasn¡¯t as scared of the people outside anymore because of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reassurance, but as soon as she saw Gu Xiqiao take out the dried herbs, her eyes started tearing up. "Aunt Yu had always loved collecting herbs. My parents always brought back herbs for her when they went up the mountains because they knew she loved them, but thest time they did that they were met with locked gates..."

    Many of the vigers had the same habit because they knew that Yu Man loved collecting herbs, and they always tried their best to repay Yu Man for treating them without asking for anypensation.

    Yu Man¡¯s sudden death had a great impact on all of the vigers, and Gu Xiqiao left after that, and this house was locked up.

    When the three people from the city came, the vige chief was pressured into opening the lock for them.

    "It¡¯s alright, we all have to look forward, yes?" Gu Xiqiao took the required herbs and gave them to Li Yanmei as she felt hard to breathe from this room filled with memories of Yu Man. "Now go home."

    "Are you really not going to stay over tonight?" Li Yanmei was still quite worried.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s alright." Gu Xiqiao walked out the gates with her as she pushed the hair off of her face, her hooded eyshes not betraying any of her emotions. "Believe in me, okay?"

    Her strange state had Li Yanmei cast a worried gaze on her, but she still left with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s persistence before thetter walked back into the house.

    Bao Xinyi¡¯s gaze shifted as if she didn¡¯t dare to look at Gu Xiqiao in the eye, but then again, she thought of how she was a rich girl from the city, so why would she need to be afraid of a country bumpkin? And so, she walked over to Gu Xiqiao with a stack of cash in her hand. "We don¡¯t need you to move out, but you must let me stay in that room on the second floor. If you agree, this money is all yours. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll have my ways to make you agree, and when that happens, you won¡¯t even be able to get this money!"

    As she spoke, the guilty expression on her face receded, and she became more and more confident.

    These people have probably never seen so much money in all their lives, huh?

    "Xinyi!" Su Wen hadn¡¯t even had the chance to stop Bao Xinyi before the girl took out the money, and now he could only wish that this girl could take the money and let things be, or else things would get quite troublesome.

    It was true that he thought that this was just a backwater ce the same way as Bao Xinyi did, but he was scared that she would anger Tang Qinghong if they got into any trouble.

    If it were anyone else, they would have been intimidated by the money, but the person in question was Gu Xiqiao.

    When she saw the money, a strange smile made its way onto her face as she reached for the money and grabbed it, and before Bao Xinyi could react to this, Gu Xiqiao smacked the wad of money into her face!

    The money slid down her face and onto the floor, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile was as perfect and graceful as always, her aura like a lily in bloom. "You better leave before I get angry, or else you might meet a miserable end!"

    The person in front of her was as wless as a piece of jade and was smiling at that, but Bao Xinyi stepped backward as her expression was reced with one of horror. She felt a pulse of energy press down on her brain as if she would go insane if the other so much as used one ounce more of power!

    This person wasn¡¯t lying!

    Before Su Wen could react, he saw Bao Xinyi stumble away and out the door as if she were the heroine of a thriller. What had happened?

    As Bao Xinyi was making her escape, she bumped into Tang Qinghong who had just returned. If it were ten minutes earlier, she would have been excited because she thought that Tang Qinghong only needed to move a finger to deal with Gu Xiqiao, but at that moment, she knew that the girl was quite strong too. She would probably be dealt with in moments, and Tang Qinghong would probably not even help her!

    "What happened?" Tang Qinghong asked with raised eyebrows.

    He was wearing casual clothes, his hands stuck in his pockets as he smiled, his arched eyebrows framing his star-like eyes that seemed hard to even look at directly.

    It was hard for any woman to resist his charms, and Bao Xinyi calmed herself down as she looked back at the house. "Young Master Tang, the owner of this house is back."

    Tang Qinghong only chuckled. "So...You¡¯re going to leave just like that?"

 Chapter 97 Questions Answered

    "Alright, let¡¯s go in shall we?" Tang Qinghong spoke, before walking into the house, curious at who the mysterious owner of the house was.

    When he first came to this vige, he was weed by the vigers, but they started disliking him and refusing him and just based on that, it was clear to see that the owner of this house was quite well respected in the area. Who was it, and why did they garner such respect?

    The first thing he saw upon entering the house was a pile of money on the floor, then a beautiful girl in a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

    The girl looked over at him when she heard hime in, and he blinked in surprise for a moment...It was her?

    He was amused by this girl when he saw her on the train a few hours ago, thinking that she was probably a student on their way back home for the holidays, but before they could have a conversation, she vanished.

    Now, she appeared in front of him again, and was the house owner that he had been curious about? What were the odds?

    "You..."

    "Ah, thest one is back I see. Go pack your bags and get out of my house." Gu Xiqiao nced at him, speaking with a cold and demanding tone.

    Tang Qinghong realized that she was angry, and with a nce at the money on the floor and another at Bao Xinyi that was still shivering slightly behind him, he pieced together what was going on pretty quickly. He was still curious, however. How did this girl manage to scare Bao Xinyi so badly?

    "Wait." As Gu Xiqiao was about to walk upstairs, Tang Qinghong stopped her with an amiable tone, as if he wanted to look for apromise. "I¡¯m sorry on behalf of my friend for getting mad at you, but we really need to stay here. Can we reach an agreement?"

    Hearing his words, both Bao Xinyi and Su Wen made an expression of equal surprise.

    To them, Tang Qinghong was like the moon in the sky, far and unreachable, and even if they lived under the same roof, they still treated him with respect and even fear. Not only did they differrgely in social status, but also in other factors too, and they already felt lucky beyond belief to be able to live here together with him this time.

    Upon hearing his tone, it was hard for them to process what was going on for a few moments. Who was Tang Qinghong? He was someone that even the mayor of the Imperial Capital had to give respect to, and now he was being so polite and humble to this girl? This was too surprising, and Su Wen¡¯s expression was one of someone that had seen a ghost.

    Meanwhile, Bao Xinyi understood Tang Qinghong¡¯s reaction. This girl probably wasn¡¯t as simple and harmless as she looked.

    "Sorry, but that¡¯s impossible." Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t even turn her head as she refused, nary a pause in her steps.

    This girl really was too brash, and Su Wen couldn¡¯t help but look towards Tang Qinghong. Judging from the looks of it, was he about to get angry? There weren¡¯t that many people that could refuse Young Master Tang so directly, after all.

    Tang Qinghong sighed softly as he heard the refusal. So he had to go about this in another way? He looked at the jade bracelet on her wrist and smiled. "Say, do you know the people from the Yin family?"

    This time, Gu Xiqiao stopped walking up the stairs and looked back down at him, raising her chin slightly in a silent order for him to exin.

    "Tang Yanling is my aunt."

    His aunt? Gu Xiqiao looked down, her fingers touching the jade bracelet for a moment as she pondered for a bit. "You can stay here, but you can¡¯t disturb me, nor the other vigers."

    "Of course." Tang Qinghong nodded with a smile. "My friend wasn¡¯t polite just now, so I¡¯ll lecture them on your behalf."

    Bao Xinyi was still outside the door, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a scared expression. Every time she stepped into the yard, she felt as if there was a hand around her neck, and it was hard to even breathe properly. If this went on, she might probably go mad!

    But as she looked at Tang Qinghong and Gu Xiqiao, Bao Xinyi didn¡¯t dare to speak any further, just deciding to move out as soon as she had the chance to.

    The only reason why she wanted to stay here was to get closer to Tang Qinghong, but what good could he do if she died?

    Hearing Tang Qinghong oblige, Gu Xiqiao was about to walk upstairs again before she heard a voice shout from outside in the yard.

    "Little Gu, we heard Daniu say that you¡¯re home, so we¡¯re here to see you!"

    Tang Qinghong didn¡¯t close the gates behind him as he came in, so there were a bunch of vigers outside the gates that hade to see Gu Xiqiao with gifts in tow as soon as they heard that she had returned.

    Gu Xiqiao walked out to see the vigers that had tanned skin from working in the sun all day, holding eggs, or grains, or some fresh fruits and vegetables in their hands.

    "We heard you came back and were worried that you had nothing to eat, so here we are!" The vige chief spoke as everyone worked together to put everything on the wooden table in the yard. None of them dared to go into the house, so they only talked with her outside.

    The vige chief sighed. "Little Gu, I¡¯m sorry for being so useless that I can¡¯t even keep an eye on your house for you..."

    "Vige chief, please don¡¯t say that." Gu Xiqiao smiled as she reassured the vige chief, "I¡¯ve known you ever since I was a child, so could I not know that you must have tried your best? It wasn¡¯t something that you could control, and I¡¯m thankful that my house is still intact and that you managed to leave my room untouched, too."

    These vigers all had unsophisticated and warm hearts.

    "Alright, I won¡¯t talk about it anymore, then." The vige chief sighed again. "Your aunt went back to her mother¡¯s ce today so she¡¯ll onlye back tomorrow. Come to our ce tomorrow and I¡¯ll have her cook up something delicious for you, hm? Look at you, you¡¯re all skin and bones after getting out of the vige!"

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao nodded. "Go back, hm? I¡¯m sure Shi Tou misses you."

    "Nah, he even begged me toe here to see you together!" Speaking of Shi Tou, the vige chief chuckled. Shi Tou was his only son, and Yu Man had saved him when the boy got smallpox in the past, so their families were quite close to each other.

    But then again, which family in the vige wasn¡¯t close with Yu Man and Gu Xiqiao?

    Gu Xiqiao escorted the vige chief for some ways before he shooed her back, and so she could only stand there and watch as he disappeared from her sight before turning back.

    Tang Qinghong¡¯s eyes glimmered in surprise upon seeing how practically everyone in the vige hade to give Gu Xiqiao food. They had stayed here for quite a while now and had never been treated like this, not even by the girls that had crushes on Tang Qinghong.

    Was she really that popr and respected?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have the mood nor the patience to care, so she only walked up to her room. Before this, she had actually bought a bunch of gifts for the vigers, and upon thinking of this, she made arge stic container appear in her room with a single intent.

    All the gifts she brought with her were stuffed in this container so that it would only take one space in the system inventory.

    She had bought too many gifts, so she sat there on the floor as she arranged them all. She hadn¡¯t even done her daily missions yet, and upon thinking about the hassle of having to clean the room up then go to take a bath before she could to that, she felt a headacheing on again.

    Gu Xiqiao could only hasten her movements, only going downstairs to take a bath.

    As she walked out the door, she stopped as she stared at the potted nt on the windowsill. It was a beefsteak nt, which was a sort of nt that was resilient and could survive easily in any sort of soil. Normally, its leaves were green or purple with toothed margins and fine hairs, but this particr nt had a ck mist around it that made it seem quite eerie.

    [Beauty Qiao, something¡¯s wrong!] The system that was ying video games in the void raised its head suddenly as it looked at the pot with a serious expression.

    Gu Xiqiao reached over and the potted nt floated into her palm, and at the moment it touched her palm, a cold, mechanical voice rang out in her head again, while a screen popped up in front of her with the message written in red font.

    [Chain Mission¡ªStage Two: There is an unknown source of evil aura within ten miles of your position, you must find its source and purify it immediately!]

    [Mission aplishment reward: 5000 points]

    [Penalty for mission failure: Obliteration]

    Upon seeing these words, Gu Xiqiao was quite calm. This was the reason why she was reborn, after all, and it was a responsibility that she couldn¡¯t just shrug off.

    Even if it weren¡¯t, this was still the ce she grew up in, and where the ancestors of the vigers set down their roots, and she wasn¡¯t about to let them lose their home any time soon.

    The main reason she came back in the first ce was to find the reason that made all the vigers go missing, and upon seeing this mission being issued, she had an inkling as to what that might be.

    Her fingers twitched slightly as a mist emerged from her palm, counteracting the ck mist on the nt and purifying it like snow in the sun before she let the pot float back to the windowsill.

    In actuality, back when this house was built, everything was quite simple and crude, and they didn¡¯t have all the conveniences that weremonce in the city. This was a vige, after all, and the most they had was a bathroom.

    But upon the arrival of the trio from the city, Su Wen renovated the house so that Tang Qinghong could stay therefortably, spending a lot of money on their first day here to make a shower room, a toilet, as well as install sr panels, inte connection, and all sorts ofmodities.

    The water from the bath was flown in from the spring in the mountain behind them, and everything was extremely convenient.

    It was already quitete, and she guessed that the trio was already resting so she went downstairs to take a bath.

    Before she could walk in, the door opened from the inside.

    "You¡¯re going to take a bath too?" Tang Qinghong was only wearing a loose bathrobe, translucent water droplets dripping down his muscr chest as he smiledzily, exuding male hormones with his handsome face.

    If it were someone else, they would probably be attracted to him beyond repair, but Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t appreciate it in the slightest. "Is it strange for me to take a bath?"

    He was a tad bit nervous in actuality when he met her clear gaze, but the next moment his emotions turned into ones of defeat upon seeing that she wasn¡¯t affected by his charms in the least, but he quickly masked it with a smile. "I wanted to ask about your rtions with my aunt... Are you...Shaoyuan¡¯s girlfriend?"

    "No." Gu Xiqiao bypassed him and pushed open the bathroom door. "Aren¡¯t you supposed to be leaving? What, do you want to watch?"

    "Cough..." Tang Qinghong had always had the image of being a gentleman, and few people talked to him like this straight to his face. "Alright, I¡¯ll leave. Goodnight."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded and closed the door behind her.

    Outside the door, Tang Qinghong¡¯s gaze became darker and somewhat calcting as he looked towards the second floor. Was that surge of chi that he had felt, or was he mistaken?

 Chapter 98 Hiking

    The next morning, Gu Xiqiao woke up early to have a morning job around the mountain roads, greeting the vigers that were starting their day in the fields with a smile.

    After that, she found a clearing and started practicing the Five Animal y, noticing a round head following her around after she did.

    "Sister Little Gu, whatcha doin¡¯?" The boy was munching on an egg as he looked at Gu Xiqiao curiously.

    Gu Xiqiao breathed to recover from the exercise before she rxed and replied, "Shi Tou, why are you here? Where¡¯s the vige chief?"

    "Dad¡¯s checking on the dam, and I¡¯m eating an egg!" The vige chief¡¯s son was seven years old that year and was so naughty and mischievous that even his family members couldn¡¯t quite tame him, but strangely enough, he was quite obedient to Gu Xiqiao. He looked at her with a tilted head and a bright smile. "Sister Little Gu, you¡¯re finally back!"

    "You don¡¯t look all that excited by that." Gu Xiqiao covered her mouth as she chuckled, before pointing at the creek nearby. "Go wash your hands after you¡¯ve finished your egg, I¡¯ll take you home."

    It was like this in the past too, back when Yu Man was still alive. Gu Xiqiao would meet Shi Tou halfway on her morning jogs, and then she would bring him home where Yu Man had already made breakfast for them.

    Shi Tou waddled over to the creek and washed his hands. "I was so excited that I couldn¡¯t sleepst night, and my mom beat me so my excitement has already run out."

    "You were definitely being annoying again, why else would she spank you?" Gu Xiqiao knocked on his head gently.

    "Yeah, yeah." Shi Tou walked down the stone steps, before looking back at Gu Xiqiao. "Sister Little Gu be careful, there¡¯s a bunch of steps here."

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her forehead. "Alright, alright, I¡¯m not blind you know?"

    Upon seeing this talkative boy and these familiar steps, and the familiar sights and sounds, Gu Xiqiao felt another wave of nostalgia hit her as she walked.

    Not soon after, the duo came across Tang Qinghong that hade out for a morning jog too in a light-colored tracksuit. His skin was pale and his nose was tall, and even though he didn¡¯t have a smile on his face, he still seemed quite gentle and distinguished in demeanor, making the onlookers feel like they were in a high-ss exhibition hall instead of in a vige.

    "Good morning," Tang Qinghong smiled and greeted Gu Xiqiao. "Someone¡¯s up early."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded with a: "Good morning."

    Shi Tou held her hand and looked over at Tang Qinghong with a mischievous smile. "Hey uncle, it¡¯s alreadyte! Big Shi Tou has already finished his morning chores and is about toe back home!"

    "Big Shi Tou?" Tang Qinghong asked in confusion.

    "Yeah, our family cow." Shi Tou nodded and dragged Gu Xiqiao away, ignoring any further questions that Tang Qinghong had.

    Tang Qinghong: "..."

    It was actually still quite early in the morning at half-past six, but since it was summer, the sun had alreadye up at around five in the early morning, when everyone started their daily routine. For a person in the city, half past six might be an early time to wake up, but it was definitely not the case for someone from the vige.

    Gu Xiqiao stifled augh before she spoke: "Shi Tou, you seem to not really like that uncle from just now?"

    "Huh, was I being too obvious about it?" Shi Tou blinked, and upon seeing her expression, he rubbed his nose sheepishly. "Everyone in the vige is scared of him, and even though I¡¯m not scared of him, I feel like he¡¯s soooo fake! When you smile, I feel warm and fuzzy, but when he does... It¡¯s like a bizzaro freak!"

    Shi Tou didn¡¯t know how to describe him, so he used that analogy, and Gu Xiqiao made a mental note to not cross him in the future.

    After Tang Qinghong came back from his morning jog, he smelled a whiff of a mouth-watering scent from far away. His footsteps stopped as he took in the alluring scent. The three of them didn¡¯t have much in the way of food here in the vige, and it was mostly cooked by Su Wen who only knew how to cook barely edible food, or sometimes they got food sent here from the city, but it seemed as if none of those couldpare to this scent.

    He pushed open the door, seeing the bald boy from earlier sitting there at the table in the yard. The kitchen in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s house wasn¡¯t built into the actual house but was instead another small building by itself in the yard, and from the window, someone from the yard could see what was going on inside.

    At the moment, Gu Xiqiao was busy in the kitchen, preparing food as her hair became matted with sweat from the heat of the fire.

    Su Wen was standing there dazedly, and Tang Qinghong smacked his back gently to shake him awake. "What, aren¡¯t you going to help?"

    "No, it¡¯s just.." Su Wen scratched his head sheepishly. "I¡¯m scared..."

    He and Bao Xinyi woke up immediately upon getting a whiff of the smell, their stomachs grumbling in protest, but it was clear that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have any ns on letting them have any judging from how she only prepared portions for two people.

    "Go tell her you¡¯re the heir to the Su family from the Imperial Capital." Bao Xinyi yawned, herplexion slowly returning to normal in contrast to the awful paleness it was the night prior, but there was still a non-dismissible fear in the depth of her gaze as she looked at Gu Xiqiao. "She¡¯d definitely give you all the food you want."

    Tang Qinghong nced over with a thoughtful smile on his face. "The Su family..."

    What he didn¡¯t say was how the girl might not even think of the Su family as worthy, lest bring them food because of it.

    As he was thinking of this, he walked towards the kitchen.

    Bao Xinyi had been preupied with looking at Gu Xiqiao, and she had only realized that Tang Qinghong was there when he walked by her, and upon seeing that he didn¡¯t even say a word to her before walking straight towards the kitchen, her fists clenched slightly.

    "I never expected you to be the type to cook." Tang Qinghong looked around the kitchen before his eyes brightened at the delicious-looking meal on a te.

    Gu Xiqiao had just got done with the cooking, and as soon as he walked in, she waved towards Shi Tou that was out in the yard toe and get the te.

    Tang Qinghong couldn¡¯t steal food from a kid, so he only coughed awkwardly and said, "Uhm, my aunt..."

    "..." Gu Xiqiao looked at him wordlessly before giving him one egg pancake.

    Tang Qinghong looked at the pancake awkwardly, his expression somewhat embarrassed at asking for food like this.

    Then, he bit into it, and the delicious taste exploded in his mouth. Just from the taste, it was definitely as good as those starred restaurants, and after being stunned for a short moment, he chuckled lowly. His shamelessness was worth it if he got to eat something like this.

    Gu Xiqiao actually liked foods like porridge and buns that were more Chinese-styled, but all of these needed time to make and had many steps, and Shi Tou only liked foods like sandwiches in the first ce, so she would make it for him when she had the time.

    Bao Xinyi couldn¡¯t bear to stay there anymore, so with a nce at Su Wen, she said, "I¡¯m going to Jia Wei¡¯s ce."

    Jia Wei was the town mayor¡¯s daughter and was also her ssmate at the Imperial Capital, and while she didn¡¯t like that girl that stuck close to people with money and power like industrial glue, it was surely better than staying here.

    Upon hearing that, Su Wen just let her leave without stopping her at all.

    Gu Xiqiao walked upstairs to get two boxes of milk from her inventory where time was frozen and the freshness of the milk was retained. She had stored ny-nine containers of milk in her inventory, but that was too scary, so she only took out two boxes and ced them in her room.

    After breakfast, Gu Xiqiao brought Shi Tou next door, as she applied needles to Aunt Li. A hundred days of treatment would be required to cure her fully, and because she was already old in her years, and Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t use any medicines that were too stimting neither, only making some medicine for her using the herbs that were avable in her house.

    "You put it down, let me do it." Li Yanmei wanted to snatch the herbs over upon seeing Gu Xiqiao head over to the kitchen. "My mom¡¯s definitely going to nag you when she sees how skinny you are, all skin and bones."

    Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t let her take the herbs, so she dodged Li Yanmei¡¯s hand easily. "Sister Mei, go and help Uncle Li out since I¡¯m better at making medicine than you are, and I won¡¯t be able to rx if you do it."

    Li Yanmei didn¡¯t insist any further upon hearing this. "Alright, I¡¯ll go help my dad in the fields near the entrance of the vige, so you just have to get Shi Tou to call me if you need me."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded before going back to the kitchen.

    There weren¡¯t many useful herbs left in the vige in actuality, but Gu Xiqiao had many herbs that she kept in her inventory that Mu Zong helped her to collect. Gu Xiqiao found a pot and ced the herbs in them, before taking out the precious herbs from her inventory.

    As she cooked the herbs, she called Yao Jiamu who had been given a Bone Marrow Cleaning Pill together with Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun, and even though they had been given the Firefly Illusion Record with exnations, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect them to have any results in such a short time.

    Very surprisingly, Yao Jiamu could already sense the flow of chi, and Gu Xiqiao answered questions from the excited boy before hanging up.

    [Beauty Qiao, Yao Jiamu is surprisingly talented!] The system spirit was still floating and ying games in the virtual space, but it stillmented. [He had already stepped into the first level in just two days, and while it couldn¡¯t bepared to you, he is still a genius better than most of those young people in the ancient martial arts world!]

    "I¡¯m quite surprised too." Gu Xiqiao turned off the me uponpletion of the medicine, before pouring the elixir into a bowl.

    The pot that was on the stove was extremely hot, but Gu Xiqiao held it as if she couldn¡¯t feel anything, her expression calm as she walked out of the kitchen.

    [No wonder Yao Jiamu was the only one that seeded, look at these two! ying games so early in the morning, not even with a bit of motivation...I¡¯ll bully them in-game!]

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen (in-game): Please don¡¯t bully us! QAQ

    Gu Xiqiao took the bowl over to Aunt Li, and Shi Tou epted the bowl before blowing on it gently and feeding it to the middle-aged woman. At this time, the door opened with a rushed m, and Li Yanmei rushed back into the house. "Little Gu! Come out quickly, the vige chief fainted when he was working in the fields, go and check on him!"

    Gu Xiqiao immediately stood up and walked out of the house with Shi Tou in tow.

    "Hey, it¡¯s fine okay?" Gu Xiqiao reassured Shi Tou who looked as if he was worried sick. "I¡¯m here."

    "Okay..." Shi Tou replied, his tone nasally as he stifled his tears.

    When Gu Xiqiao got there, the vige chief still hadn¡¯t woke up yet, and just from looking at him, he looked just like if he went to sleep, his expression peaceful.

    What was different about him was theyer of a dark aura wrapped around him that only Gu Xiqiao could see.

    [Daily good deed mission activated: Save the vige chief!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 100 points!]

    Gu Xiqiao breathed deeply before taking out a set of golden needles, and upon seeing her, the vigers quickly made way for her.

    They all knew that Gu Xiqiao was Yu Man¡¯s adoptive daughter, and had learned a thing or two from Yu Man too when she was brought around to help with treatments since she was little. This was the reason why no one looked down on her, and also the reason why people called her the little genius doctor.

    The infestation of evil aura on the vige chief was still quite light, and Gu Xiqiao started applying the golden needles into his pressure points and channeled chi that had great life energy into him, making the ck mist melt away slowly.

    In order to quicken the process, she subtly made a seal with her hands where no one could see and dispelled the evil aura from him as she applied the needles.

    After a while, she took out the golden needles and stood up, rubbing Shi Tou¡¯s head as she did.

    "Look after your father, alright? He¡¯ll recover, I promise. Tell him toe to my ce when he wakes up, okay?"

    Shi Tou blinked and asked, "When will he wake up Sister Little Gu?"

    "In half an hour at most." Gu Xiqiao said, before refusing their offers to stay for lunch.

    When she got back home, Tang Qinghong was waiting for her at the gates, his lean figure attracting the attention of the young girls in the vige as they walked by. As Gu Xiqiao walked closer, he looked at her and smiled. "Did someone faint?"

    "Yeah," Gu Xiqiao replied halfheartedly before walking into the house.

    Tang Qinghong blinked in surprise, still not used to someone ignoring him like that. "Wait!"

    The girl stopped walking and turned over to him, her eyes slightly squinted as she did. "Speak."

    "This might be sudden for you, but all the people in your vige are going to have to move out." Upon seeing her face be colder the second he said that he quickly continued, "It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll arrange for amodation for them in the city!"

    This was a secret operation from the higher-ups, and it was actually quite dangerous for the vigers to live here in Baixing Vige in the future. In the past few days, many people have gotten hurt and chalked it up to just a bunch of idents, but he knew that in a month, every inch ofnd in a ten-mile radius would be a living purgatory!

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him humorlessly, and as he thought that she wasn¡¯t going to speak anymore, she said, "We¡¯re not going to move!"

    "You..." Tang Qinghong looked in disbelief at the girl that started walking away. Would anyone have a problem with leaving here and getting a high-ss condominium in the city? "In any case, that¡¯s not a decision for you people to make..."

    He sighed softly, and after a short while, Su Wen came back from outside. "Young Master Tang, aren¡¯t you going out today?"

    Su Wen was a student from A University that was here on a trip with his ssmates, and he met Tang Qinghong by coincidence on the way here, so the three of them chose toe here together. Another bunch of people had already gone to N City beforehand, and they would probably arrive here in a few days.

    That being said, Su Wen didn¡¯t dare to stick his hand into Tang Qinghong¡¯s business. He didn¡¯t know where Tang Qinghong went to every day, but thetter always came home after sundown, so this was the first time he saw him in the morning.

    "Because a big change ising..." Tang Qinghong murmured, as if deep in thought.

    Su Wen wasn¡¯t sure what he meant, so he changed the topic. "We¡¯re going hiking in the afternoon, will you be joining us?"

    "Hiking?" Tang Qinghon¡¯s brows furrowed unnoticeably. On the northern side of the vige was a tall mountain that waspletely nketed by tall trees, and even the residents here didn¡¯t dare to go there on their own.

    He looked over to look in the direction of the north, before breathing deeply. "Do I have to go?"

    Su Wen didn¡¯t know what was going through his mind exactly, so he only scratched the back of his head. "We¡¯re only going to hike...Don¡¯t worry, we have a professional guide with us, so we won¡¯t get lost!"

    "Okay." Tang Qinghong nodded and turned around to enter the house without a single word.

    ***

    At one in the afternoon, Su Wen andpany converged at the entrance of the vige in preparation to hike, and as they were about to set out for the mountain, Tang Qinghong arrived in a white branded sports t-shit and track bottoms, and this handsome young man immediately became the center of attention.

    The girl that had been talking with Bao Xinyi immediately put on a cold facade as if she wanted to contrast herself from the other more passionate girls that were there, and it actually worked on the other boys, to an extent, because she was quite pretty, but Bao Xinyi only scoffed.

    The ¡¯I¡¯m not like the other girls¡¯ facade was so out of fashion nowadays, and if this really worked in attracting the attention of Tang Qinghong, the youngdies in Imperial Capital would probably cry to death.

    "Young Master Tang!" Su Wen and Bao Xinyi greeted, and as the other heard this, the others looked at each other. They didn¡¯t know Tang Qinghong, but they sure knew the duo that could be counted as parts of families that were high up in society even in the Imperial Capital. For them to treat someone with such carefulness spoke more than words.

    On the way to the mountain, some of them asked Su Wen and Bao Xinyi about this new guy, but the two didn¡¯t even dare to talk about him at all, so their efforts were in vain.

 Chapter 99 Rescue

    Tang Qinghong hung back at the tail end of the group as they walked deeper into the mountains, the impassive jade-like expression on his face slowly melting into a more stiff and imposing one.

    There were a considerate amount of towering trees in the mountain which obscured the view of the sky, and the temperature here was at least ten degrees lower than the inside. There were goosebumps on some of the girls¡¯ arms, but it didn¡¯t deter their adventurous spirit in the least. The person in the lead serving as the guide was obviously experienced, taking them down paths that were specific, and even ying a few games that they were unfamiliar with on the way.

    They would asionally take a break and rest when they came across a spring, taking the time to eat the snacks that they had brought along. The guide even caught a few fishes from the water, putting together a soup with fish and fresh mushrooms. The big pot of soup was only enough to feed a few mouthfuls for everyone, and it served to be appropriate as a light refreshment.

    While everyone was having fun, Tang Qinghong was leaning against a tree alone, his eyes fixed on the deeper part of the forest, and he let his mind drift off in his thoughts.

    At the same time, there was a girl holding a bowl of soup, heading in his direction. Bao Xinyi stood in the stream after taking off her shoes, and when her gazended on the scene, her lips curled up into a sneer. Such wistful thinking. If Tang Qinghong was so easy to be won over, she wouldn¡¯t even be standing here doing nothing in the first ce. Just wait, you would turn around and run once you hit a dead end.

    "Young Master Tang, this is the fish soup made by the guide, would you like a taste?" The girl was giving him a sweet smile, making her seem cute and approachable. If it was anyone else, they wouldn¡¯t reject such a cute girl.

    However, this was Tang Qinghong. "Thank you, but no."

    The girl was obviously not going to give up, and just as she reached out to move forward another centimeter, she seemed to hit an invisible barrier. No matter what she did, she couldn¡¯t move a single step forward.

    "I have mysophobia," Tang Qinghong said in a firm tone, a frosty gleam in his eyes. There was a smile on his face, but the words were said with anything but warmth in them.

    The girl¡¯s hand which she had raised stiffened and she retracted it quickly, hanging her head down before she turned to return to the others. As soon as she reached the side of the stream, she heard Bao Xinyi¡¯s unrestrainedughter ring out, and her head snapped up. "Bao Xinyi, what are youughing at?!"

    Bao Xinyi snorted coldly. "At you, obviously. How nice it must be, to have such a thick face!"

    "You!"

    It was impossible for the girl to not notice the underlying mocking tone that Bao Xinyi had said those words with. She could clearly feel the eyes of everyone else on them, and her lips quivered, her fist clenched tightly in rage. She raised a hand and pointed her finger at Bao Xinyi, unable to bring herself to speak for a long time, then suddenly turned around and ran towards the depth of the woods.

    After another ten minutes had passed, the guide cleared up all the pots and bowls. Gathering everyone together, he started the headcount, but his expression changed when he realized something. "Why is there one less person!"

    Bao Xinyi nced over at the group, and realized that the girl she hadughed at had yet to return. She frowned. "So what if there¡¯s one missing, we can just go on ahead..."

    "Xinyi!" Su Wen interrupted her before she finished her sentence, he was ever still the sensible one. "Everyone stay here and continue resting, I¡¯ll go with the guide to find her. This is a big mountain, so don¡¯t go wandering off by yourself. It¡¯ll be dangerous if any of you gets lost."

    ***

    On that side, they were busy looking for people. Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was having a leisurely time on her side.

    The vige chief had already woken up, and hade around to see her. Gu Xiqiao was currently drying fresh herbs under the sun. These were all fresh herbs that had been found by the vigers in the mountain, and had been delivered to her.

    "Uncle, bring this medicine back and let aunt boil it for you. Drink it for two days, and that should be enough." She said as she grabbed the medicine. "You might feel somewhat sore and maybe some stiffness because you¡¯ve just woken up, but that isn¡¯t a big problem. After a couple days of rest, you¡¯ll be fine."

    "I feel great right now, as strong as an ox even. It feels like nothing is wrong at all!" The vige chiefughed loudly as he took in what she had said, gesturing a bit to show Gu Xiqiao that he meant it.

    "That¡¯s good." Gu Xiqiao said, breathing a sigh of relief. She didn¡¯t know how her chi would react with ordinary people, or whether there would be any detrimental side effects, but it seemed like nothing very obvious.

    After receiving the medicine, the vige chief continued to chat with her a few more minutes before heading off.

    After working in silent for a while, Gu Xiqiao smiled suddenly and said, "It¡¯s fine,e on in."

    Hearing her voice, Shi Tou didn¡¯t bother hiding anymore. He came in and proceeded to help Gu Xiqiao sort out the medical materials. "I thought you wouldn¡¯t be home. I saw a bunch of people going into the mountains this afternoon, and my mom also said you would go."

    "Into the mountains? Who?" Gu Xiqiao asked distractedly.

    There weren¡¯t many materials left, it would probably be used up in the next few days. Shi Tou squatted down on the ground, counting the ants as he replied, "Those three who live here, and some others that I don¡¯t know. They even brought a guide, and since they left a while ago, they would probably need to stay in the mountains overnight."

    Gu Xiqiao brought in some of the dried herbs from outside, and took a box of milk out from her inventory at the same time. On the north side of Baixing Vige, there was a huge mountain. Since ancient times, it has been called Baixing Mountain after the vige. There were many people who came to visit the mountain, but since the mountain was nevermercialized or developed, the people from the Baixing Vige never benefited from it.

    Shi Tou took the milk, poking the straw into the box and taking a sip. "I haven¡¯t been to the mountains in a long time. My father told me that the vigers have been encountering problems in the mountains recently, and forbade me to go."

    "If he has told you not to go, then you better not go. You won¡¯t go wrong by listening to the vige chief." Gu Xiqiao was spinning ideas in her mind. Ever since she had been reborn, she had the n to develop the vige. The mountain to the north was the best ce to start a breakthrough, but the most important thing right now was toplete the chain mission. Otherwise, it would be useless no matter how much she developed the ce. The chain mission this time was difficult, not having any hints on where the start or end was. She didn¡¯t have any idea where to begin her search.

    "Yeah alright, I actually came here to ask you over for dinner. My mom is cooking up a storm today, so she asked for you to stop by tonight," Shi Tou said finally, having been staring at Gu Xiqiao for a long time as he finished his milk.

    Gu Xiqiao was unsure why, but she felt that Shi Tou was very chatty today. She went upstairs for a bit, and when she came down, she was holding aptop in her hands. cing it on the stone table, "Entertain yourself with this."

    Having a new toy to y with, Shi Tou didn¡¯t bother Gu Xiqiao any further. He stared at theputer for a while, before reaching out to touch it. He had seen this once at the mayor¡¯s house, but only from afar before the mayor had kept it away.

    That afternoon, Gu Xiqiao tidied up her house while Shi Tou learnt how to y with theptop. When night fell, the vige chief came and asked the both of them toe to dinner.

    The vige had a lot of local produce, and it had been raining a few days ago. The vige chief had picked up some mushrooms that morning to cook with the chicken soup, and there were sausages steamed with the rice. There were also peppers picked from their own garden, paired together with fried eggs. Other than that, there was fried cabbage, sd with a bunch of tomatoes, and some braised meat that they had bought earlier in the afternoon from one of the shops at the vige entrance.

    Apart from Gu Xiqiao, there were another two people that had assisted the vige chief in the afternoon that were invited over for dinner. All of them sat around the big table, and they had a lively meal, chatting happily as they ate.

    ***

    [Beauty Qiao, I feel that something is wrong.]

    After eating, Gu Xiqiao was walking around the vige with Shi Tou. Just as they reached the northern side, a chill ran down the system spirit¡¯s spine, and its expression became serious.

    Gu Xiqiao halted in her steps, turning to see that the mountain top had suddenly been surrounded by a strong, malicious aura. ¡¯You¡¯re right, something is wrong.¡¯

    Just as the both of them had said that, the cold electronic sound rang again, [Ding! Random Mission activated! Rescue the people from the mountain sessfully.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 300 points!]

    At the same time, a transparent panel had appeared in front of her, with a red arrow disyed on it. Night was falling over the vige, and the red arrow stood out ringly on the map. Gu Xiqiao thought back to the words that Shi Tou had said previously about the people going into the mountain, it should be referring to them.

    She told Shi Tou to head back first, while she entered the mountain alone.

    The reward for this random mission was 300 points, and the mission rewards were usually directly proportional to the risk it was attached with.

    The transparent panel in front of her was disying a map and the arrow, and the entire Baixing Mountain could be seen from it in a nce. There were also a few red dots on it, marking the targets of her objective.

    The red dots were divided into four ces, one had a cluster of them together waiting in a location without moving, another two red dots were together in a small area, moving repeatedly in circles which indicated that they were likely caught in an ¡¯endless loop¡¯. The other two red dots were in separate ces, one was curiously moving fast at a constant fast speed, while thest other was on top of the mountain, not moving at all.

    Gu Xiqiao took a deep breath, nning a route in her mind as she picked up her pace.

    If there were other people on the mountain now, they would see a strange shadow walking on the mountain path, its speed fast enough to only leave behind a shade.

    ***

    The trees on the mountain top were ones that were high enough to touch the sky, and it was pitch ck to the point that you wouldn¡¯t be able to see your fingers in front of you. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sight was unlike ordinary people, and even with that, her sight was still slightly hindered by the darkness. You could imagine how big an impact it would be on an ordinary person.

    As she went higher into the mountain, she could also feel the malicious aura getting heavier. She felt like maybe she had found a breakthrough in her mission, but the situation naturally didn¡¯t allow for her to think about it too much. Rescuing the people was her priority, and following the prompts of the system, she came to a ditch underneath a spring, and the person that she needed to rescue was lying in it.

    It was a girl with her eyes closed tightly, and had bruises all over her face. Looking at her, it seemed like there wasn¡¯t much life energy left in her body, and she probably wouldn¡¯t be able to make it past the night. However, she didn¡¯t look to be someone who was short-lived. Looking at her somehow made the hairs on your arms stand on end.

    Gu Xiqiao stood above, she didn¡¯t know how the girl hade to be here, but she didn¡¯t dwell too much on it. She waved her hand gently, and the girl¡¯s body floated up, toward the b of stone that was beside her.

    [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re getting very good at directing your chi now,] The system spirit eximed in delight, but the other party paid it no heed.

    "It looks quite bad." Gu Xiqiao pulled out her golden needles, piercing a few of the acupuncture points while inserting her own chi to help preserve the girl¡¯s life a bit longer. "I can¡¯t treat her at the moment, it would consume all the chi I have left in my body. The mountain is in an unusual state right now, if I were to use up all my chi right now, I probably won¡¯t be able to make it out alive."

    The system spirit frowned thoughtfully. [Just take her out like this for now, you already gave her enough chi to survive for a while, you can treat her after you get out of the mountain.]

    It seemed like that was the best thing they could do at this point in time. Gu Xiqiao nced at the girl, and proceeded to lift her up in a princess carry. A person who weighed at least 100 pounds was like nothing in her arms, and it didn¡¯t even affect her speed in the slightest.

    The single red dot at the top of the mountain on the transparent panel had disappeared, and there were three left. Gu Xiqiao took a quick nce at her map. If she followed this path downward, she would reach the two red dots that were stuck going around in circles.

    ***

    Night hadpletely fallen by now, and the entire mountain forest was still. There was no sound of the winds nor the rustling of leaves or grass, everything was eerily silent.

    Su Wen felt like they had been walking around in circles, getting confused on the hillside. "Uncle, we¡¯ve been here before, haven¡¯t we?"

    After wandering around the same ce countless times, Su Wen couldn¡¯t stand it. Even if he was an atheist, he couldn¡¯t help the chills that were creeping up his spine, the goosebumps on his hands were getting harder to ignore.

    "We¡¯ll walk in that direction." The guide had experienced a lot of problems before, and although he was terrified inside, he couldn¡¯t make any rash decisions. He pointed in another direction. "We¡¯ll head south this time, I don¡¯t believe that we can¡¯t make it out!"

    Su Wen pushed aside the fear in his heart, once again following the guide from behind. He never imagined this would happen, he had onlye out with the guide to search for someone, he didn¡¯t expect that they would be trapped in such a terrifying ce. The surroundings were silent, and the more you think about it, the more horrifying it felt.

    He followed the guide closely, and suddenly he felt his breath catch in his throat, making it hard to breathe. A sea of fire wasid out in front of them, the mes licking everything in its path, and you could feel the scorching heat on your face, as though it was going to swallow you whole! There was only an iron chain linked to the other side, and it was heated up to the point that it was a glowing red in color.

    "We¡¯re leaving!" The guide shouted suddenly, snapping Su Wen out of his shocked state.

    The two of them turned around, and Su Wen¡¯s eyes widened. There were a bunch of sharp daggers flying towards them, travelling at a fast speed! Daggers in their front, a sea of fire behind them, the guide made a choice instantly. "We¡¯ll cross the iron chain!"

    Being able to remainposed in this situation, the guide was really a capable person. However, Su Wen was shaking in fear. When normal people see a sea of fire, they wouldn¡¯t even have time to feel fear, neither would they dare to walk along an iron chain either!

    In this moment of distraction, the daggers had reached them, and from the reflection of the des that were bright from the burning mes, they could clearly see their horrified faces!

    Su Wen screwed his eyes closed tightly, but the pain that he was expecting to feel didn¡¯te after a long while. His eyshes were trembling as he slowly pried open his eyes, and suddenly found that the daggers had stopped two centimeters in front of them, suspended in the air. The scene was just too bizarre, and it clearly vited the scientificw of gravity, he clearly couldn¡¯t use the normal logical mindset to analyse this.

    The daggers suspended in the air split in half, and as the des were destroyed, they saw a girl standing behind.

    Her milky white skin that glowed softly reminded him of jade, and her long silky hair fluttered behind her, even though there was no wind. The mes lit a soft red glow on her face, which gave a clear view of her delicate and elegant features. She was holding another person in her arms, and when Su Wen recovered from his shock, he could clearly see the girl¡¯s face and was even more at a loss for words.

    Gu Xiqiao passed the person to Su Wen, and Su Wen took her without anyment. Once the burden was passed, Su Wen staggered under the weight. He was shocked, seeing Gu Xiqiao carrying the girl in her arms with no problems, he had thought that the girl wasn¡¯t heavy. He had not expected the weight when he held her.

    With her hands now free, Gu Xiqiao turned her sights on the sea of fire. She only raised her hand slightly, there were no other movements, but before Su Wen could react, the entire sea of fire vanished, leaving behind only the pitch-ck forest.

    Their helplessness in the face of the fire and daggers seemed like a joke in her hands.

    "Follow me, and remember the way," Gu Xiqiao said, sparing a nce at them before taking three steps north, seven steps south, five steps east... And so, Gu Xiqiao led them out of the ¡¯endless loop¡¯ after just a short five minutes. The two of them had followed her closely, not daring to fall behind even by a step. The fear that grasped their heart so tightly had also disappeared, calmed by the confident, slim figure in front of them.

    After a while, the two finally caught sight of the group that they had left behind. Fortunately, these people were very obedient. They had started a fire and gathered together, not wandering off too far.

    Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly, then turned to Su Wen. "Stay here and wait, don¡¯t wander off."

    Su Wen and the guide nodded their heads in a hurry, after what had happened just now, the two of them were cing all their trust in Gu Xiqiao, not having any objections to her words at all.

    Seeing that they had returned, the rest of the group came towards them, gathering around Su Wen to check on the girl in his arms.

    Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips, her hand going through a series of gestures, and a small istion formation was arranged around them. Having done that, she then walked into the darkness, intending to find the spirit that was walking in the mountains.

    On the transparent panel in front of her, thest red dot was still moving at a fast speed. His speed wasparable to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, and it would take some effort to reach him.

    Furrowing her brows, Gu Xiqiao observed the map for a while. Before she could think of anything, the fast moving red dot had slowed down, finally stopping at the top of the mountain.

    At the same time, the air around her fluctuated a beat. Perhaps ordinary people couldn¡¯t feel it, thinking it was just a gust of wind, but she could clearly feel it, it was a st of profound chi!

    The red dot on the map was getting flickering and getting dimmer, looking as though it would disappear.

 Chapter 100 Endure

    "Guh!" A mouthful of ck blood gushed out from his mouth, and if there was daylight, Tang Qinghong would be able to clearly see the lingering ck smoke that arose from it.

    He wiped his mouth with the back of his hands, his eyes fixed on the malicious cloud of anger in front of him. The vengeful spirit had already taken on a humanoid form, and had been following behind their group the whole time. In order not to bring any harm to the ordinary people, Tang Qinghong had led the vengeful spirit into the woods. However, this thing was powerful, and as much as he didn¡¯t want to admit, he was definitely outmatched here.

    It would be risky if he pushed too hard, and he was clutching a jade charm in his hand. He could crush it anytime he felt that he couldn¡¯t handle the situation... but when he thought about it, he really had no desire to bow his head to that person. He had miscalcted badly this time, having juste out of the legacy base, and had at least seventy percent of his powers sealed. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t need to expend so much effort to deal with such a little thing in front of him!

    This mass of ck chi was at most at the level of Chi Induction, but because it had no solid mass and was good at illusions, it was the worst possible match he could be pitted against.

    Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes as he saw a figure approaching. Getting a clearer look at the figure¡¯s face, he didn¡¯t have time to smash the jade talisman. He moved quickly, using thest bit of energy he had left to immobilize the vengeful spirit.

    "Why are you here?!" Tang Qinghong shouted at Gu Xiqiao, his brows furrowed deeply, "Hurry and take the chance to run while I can still hold it, otherwise we¡¯ll both die here today!"

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, seemingly ignoring him as she stared at the ck mass silently. Thinking that she had been petrified from fear, Tang Qinghong cursed. He forced himself to soften his voice, his tone gentle as he tried again. "Don¡¯t be afraid, turn around and walk straight down the mountain. Don¡¯t look back, and quickly organize an evacuation once you reach the vige."

    His mission was to protect the ordinary people, if he couldn¡¯t stop this thing here tonight, he was afraid it might cause a catastrophe.

    "I¡¯m not afraid," Gu Xiqiao said suddenly, turning her head to look at him. Her clear obsidian eyes were bright, not the least affected by him at all. "I¡¯m just thinking about how to kill it."

    Tang Qinghong wasn¡¯t able to react to that, but no matter how flustered he was, it couldn¡¯t overshadow the elegance and noble air that was within him. "What?"

    "Stand still, don¡¯t move." A pill appeared out of nowhere onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm, and she quickly flicked it into Tang Qinghong¡¯s mouth before he could close it.

    The pill melted in his mouth, though Tang Qinghong couldn¡¯t taste anything from it. He felt like a refreshing wave of water had been poured into his throat, traveling all the way down his body, quickly evaporating into mist inside and flowing through his entire body in an instant. He felt the injuries on his body recovering slowly, the chi that he had exhausted was also returning to him, even the seals that restricted his powers felt looser.

    What kind of elixir was this? To be able to recover chi?

    He lifted his head, and the scene in front of him left him stunned speechless. Not knowing what she had done, the vengeful spirit who managed to attain a humanoid form had disappeared. It had be a ck mass of smoke, and it seemed to be thrashing around wildly, consistently crashing into something unseen, stuck in an area and unable to escape.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands were moving quickly as she drew the patterns in the air, having realized that the ck mass in front of them did not hold an ounce of intelligence. It meant that it was just an incarnation of something bigger, which the system spirit had identified, hence she was already ready with a countermeasure.

    That huge spirit was hiding somewhere, controlling its incarnation from behind the scenes. Gu Xiqiao gestured with both hands, ready to draw up formations for a trap. She had also bought a container from the system shop that could hold the vengeful spirit, since this vengeful spirit could split itself, she would definitely be able to uncover the secret from it!

    And so that was the scene that Tang Qinghong witnessed. Up till the end, she actually forcefully crammed the ck mass of chi into a bamboo tube?

    Where had this insane persone from?

    He wiped his lips again and looked at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes zing. Based on what he had just seen, he could feel the extensive level of chi in her body. Even though her level was notparable to his, but with the formations that she had performed with her hands, she could probably crush the younger generation of the ancient martial arts world!

    "Who is your master?" Tang Qinghong asked, coughing a little. Smoothing out his delicate features into a more gentle one, he felt like a noble once again. "With such talent like yours, it¡¯s impossible that you weren¡¯t included within the Youth Ranking List in the ancient martial arts world."

    There was no such person on the list, and the names on the list were reced every year on a global scale. Every person on it had gone through countless evaluations, and within the twenty names, it was mostly male. There were only two females, and one of them was the person in the tenth ce from America. The other was one of the members from the reclusive families, at sixth rank, known as the demon girl. Even he was afraid of her existence.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him. "My master is no longer around."

    Tang Qinghong was taken aback. After collecting himself, he said softly, "I¡¯m sorry."

    "Let¡¯s head back first," Gu Xiqiao said as she patted the bamboo tube that was shaking violently, "Calm down, or I¡¯ll burn you."

    The bamboo tube stopped shaking immediately, and stayed motionless obediently. After she had stuffed the vile thing in the bamboo tube, the malicious aura on the mountain had receded, and some moonlight finally pierced through the dense forest trees.

    Under the inconspicuous moonlight, her porcin skin seemed like it was glimmering softly, giving her a pure and beautiful look. Although she carried herself with a sophisticated grace, the trace of youth couldn¡¯t be hidden on her face.

    Tang Qinghong couldn¡¯t exin it, but when he saw the image, he couldn¡¯t help but want tough a little. As soon as the firstugh broke through though, he felt the vibration jolt his internal injuries and he let out a pained gasp, but he continued to keep his bright eyes on the figure in front of him.

    ***

    That night, the group of people who had gone up the mountain to camp, came back down overnight. Others just assumed that they were a bunch of city kids who were unused to life in the woods, and didn¡¯t ask too much about it. Only a few people who were directly involved had a drastic attitude change from the incident. The most obvious one was Su Wen, who used to regard Tang Qinghong as the one person he would faithfully followed.

    Now, he swore to follow Gu Xiqiao and Tang Qinghong both. This kind of worshipful attitude didn¡¯t need any actions to show, you could tell just from his expression and eyes.

    Bao Xinyi became angrier the more she watched the scene in front of her. She had stayed with the group the entire night, hence didn¡¯t have a dangerous, thrilling experience like Su Wen. So she didn¡¯t understand the change in Su Wen¡¯s attitude overnight, thinking it was because of the girl¡¯s beautiful appearance, and she couldn¡¯t stand this kind of shallow attitude!

    "Miss Gu, my ssmate still hasn¡¯t woken up..." Gu Xiqiao had returned to find Su Wen waiting anxiously in the yard for her. After hearing what he said, she recalled the other unfortunate person that had been affected by the vengeful spirit.

    "Where is she now?" Gu Xiqiao asked, as she started stretching her arms in azy manner.

    Su Wen scratched his head awkwardly. "The others were worried about her, and had taken her to the hospital in town during the night. However, she hasn¡¯t woken up, and they¡¯re preparing to transfer her to the city."

    In such a situation, even transferring her to the city would be of no use. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. "I¡¯ll go over with you once we¡¯ve eaten."

    Su Wen¡¯s eyes lit up, and he nodded hurriedly in agreement.

    ***

    The town was not far, it would take less than ten minutes to get there by car. Gu Xiqiao took Shi Tou with her, towards Su Wen¡¯s car that was parked in a temporary makeshift shed outside the vige. It was a ck Porsche that was equipped with thetest SQ car audio, and the model design was simr to that of a sports car. In short, it was a low-key designer luxury car that was extremely eye-catching.

    Shi Tou looked at the car in awe, having never seen one before, and couldn¡¯t resist reaching out to touch it.

    Bao Xinyi looked at Shi Tou, frowning. No matter how good she was at concealing her feelings, you could still see a hint of contempt on her face. However, she was still cautious of Gu Xiqiao enough to not fully let it show.

    Gu Xiqiao had been following behind Shi Tou with a smile on her face, but when she saw the scene unfolding in front of her, the smile on her face faded away.

    The girl was still in the town hospital, the doctor having exhausted all the avable equipment in the ce and still couldn¡¯t find out what the problem was. He suggested for the mayor to transfer the girl to the hospital in the city, but since Su Wen was the leader of this trip, they didn¡¯t dare to authorize the move without approval, and could only wait dejectedly for Su Wen to return.

    They only waited a few minutes before Su Wen appeared, bringing with him two strangers. These people had not seen Gu Xiqiao before, and assumed that she was Su Wen¡¯s friend.

    Several of the teenagers couldn¡¯t help but stare at the beautiful girl, their eyes lighting up.

    "Miss Gu, have a look." When they reached the ward, the girl was lying on the bed. Her face was slightly grayish in color, and her breathing was steady and deep. On the surface, she looked no different than any other person.

    Shi Tou was holding on to the edge of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shirt, he looked at the person lying on the bed and blinked his eyes. This person looked like how his father had been yesterday...

    Gu Xiqiao walked over to the bed, her hands holding a few golden needles. She raised her hands, her long and smooth ivory fingers waiting to move as she looked for the acupoints. As usual, she had easily taken the spotlight of the entire room.

    She had a grave expression on her face, and she looked quite an impressive sight.

    "Wait!" Bao Xinyi, who had been silent all the while, shouted suddenly, "Su Wen, letting her do what she¡¯s doing, is it right for me to assume that you will take responsibility if anything goes wrong?"

    "Yes," Su Wen said without hesitation, answering her directly. After the experience he had gone throughst night, he had convertedpletely to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s loyal fan. If she couldn¡¯t save her, then who else would be able to?

    "I hope you remember your words!" Bao Xinyi said, crossing her arms and standing to the side, an aloof expression on her face.

    The others had no idea what to say, this matter was quite mysterious in many ways. Falling unconscious in the mountain without any signs of illness, and not being able to find the reason for it... they couldn¡¯t help but recall the supernatural incidents that a few of the younger nurses had been talking aboutst night. Now that they thought back about it, it was really creepy.

    "Brother Su, shall we find a Taoist priest to perform an exorcism?"

    "No need. Go ahead and treat her." The first two words were aimed at his ssmates, but thetter part of his sentence was aimed at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s golden needle had already pierced through an acupoint, injecting some chi into the girl¡¯s body at the same time. The majestic energy entered the girl¡¯s body, and the people gathered around the hospital bed clearly saw that once the third needle pierced in, color began to return to the girl¡¯s face, which was previously a slightly grayish hue.

    It looked to be a mystical process, and Su Wen eximed in surprise.

    When the final needle entered the body, the girl¡¯s eyelid twitched. A more observant boy in the group saw it, and he cried out, "She moved, Brother Su, look!"

    The voice was abrupt and harsh, piercing her ears. Gu Xiqiao lifted her head to look at the boy, and then pressed a finger against her lips, making a shushing motion. Her pale fingers pressed against pink peach blossom lips on her elegant face froze the boy in his ce.

    "Get a ss of cold water." She said, looking at Su Wen¡¯s direction. Su Wen immediately fetched the mentioned item.

    Gu Xiqiao took the ss and examined it for a while, flicking a finger on the ss before handing it back to Su Wen, "Go on and feed some to her."

    What was the flick for? Su Wen was already in blind worship of Gu Xiqiao, and he didn¡¯t bother asking any questions. He just passed it to another junior to feed the water to the girl.

    Seeing that the water had been drained, Gu Xiqiao once again took her ce beside the bed, pulling out the needles one by one in order. When thest one was removed, the girl¡¯s eyelid twitched again slightly, and under everyone¡¯s nervous gaze, her eyes fluttered open slowly.

    The group of people suddenly surged forward, all of them talking at once and over each other. Only Su Wen remained where he was, scratching the back of his head, "Thank you. If... there is anything you need in the future, please feel free to ask me."

    Without herst night, his life would most likely have been lost to the weird forest. Looking at her crystal clear obsidian eyes, there were a lot of things he wanted to say, but couldn¡¯t. He could only give a promise. He thought, even the most powerful people would have troublesome times, right? If she came to him in the future, he would definitely do everything he could in his power to help her.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head slightly, giving him a smile.

    Bao Xinyi, who was still standing by the door, remained silent with an unhappy expression on her face, shooting dark looks at Gu Xiqiao. Gu Xiqiao had never spared her a nce, and shepletely ignored her this time, pulling Shi Tou along to the exit.

    But when she reached the doors, she deliberately turned around to meet Bao Xinyi¡¯s eyes. Bao Xinyi dropped her head immediately to avoid eye contact in a panic.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips curled up in a smile, rubbing her fingers together. After a while, she seemed to have collected herself as she lowered her hands. Ah, she couldn¡¯t do that, she needed to endure it.

 Chapter 101 Proposal

    The town was not that big, and Gu Xiqiao took Shi Tou to circle around the ce a few times. She bought a lot of things¡ªa crutch for Aunt Liu, cigarettes for the vige chief, a radio for the grandpa next door, a game console for Shi Tou... everything that you could think of, she had bought it.

    It was quitete in the day for this trip, so Gu Xiqiao took Shi Tou to eat the beef noodles that he had always wanted to eat.

    Just when they finished eating, a beautiful woman was making her way down the streets. She was wearing a western-style dress and her hair was dyed maroon red with wavy curls gently falling on her back. There was light but exquisite makeup on her face, and she was holding a parasol in her hands, her entire person looking very fashionable. All the heads were turning to look at her as she walked on the street.

    "Gu Xiqiao?" The woman said, slowing her steps as she came to a stop, "Why are you here?"

    She deliberately dragged her words when she spoke, and her voice was piercing. Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but rub her aching ears, and had to squint her eyes due to the ring sunlight to look at the woman. The face was extremely familiar, however she couldn¡¯t seem to recall who it was.

    "Hello, Sister Jia Wei," Shi Tou greeted, and Gu Xiqiao immediately recalled who it was¡ªthe mayor¡¯s daughter.

    There was only one middle school in this town, so the both of them had studied in the same school. Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t sure when she had wronged her, but Jia Wei had always not gotten along with her. However, those were back in their younger days.

    "It¡¯s been a while," Gu Xiqiao smiled as she greeted her.

    Her smile was bright and dazzling under the scorching sun, and even though Jia Wei was a woman, she was momentarily captivated by her beauty. However, it onlysted for a second before her face darkened, and she snorted coldly. "Didn¡¯t you go to the city to climb higher? What, have you crawled back here after getting bullied?"

    "Thank you for your concern, I¡¯m doing fine."

    It was like throwing a fist at cotton¡ªshe waspletely unfazed. Didn¡¯t she hear the mocking tone in her words? "Gu Xiqiao, is there something wrong with your brain?!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile didn¡¯t falter, indicating that she was indifferent to her provoking words. Jia Wei seemed to lose interest in her then, stomping off in a huff after throwing her ast sneer.

    Shi Tou watched her leave, his eyes focused on her stiletto heels that were at least ten centimeters high. After a while, he turned to Gu Xiqiao with a serious expression. "I just realized, Sister Jia Wei is really short."

    Jia Wei, who had yet to be out of earshot, stopped and turned around at that, leveling a re at Shi Tou.

    ***

    "Alright, let¡¯s head back now." There was only one road that led to Baixing Vige, and Gu Xiqiao led Shi Tou toward the intersection. The ck Porsche that had been parked there was definitely standing out, children and other vigers woulde around to look at it from time to time, as such luxury cars were rarely seen in town.

    Bao Xinyi had an unhappy expression on her face. "Su Wen, it¡¯s frigging hot here, can¡¯t we just leave first!"

    "Wait a while longer," Su Wen said calmly as he yed with his phone, "If you can¡¯t stand the heat, you can always ride the bus back first."

    Bao Xinyi had the urge to strangle Su Wen when he said that. Although they weren¡¯t childhood friends, they were still considered to be close friends. When did he start talking that way to her? It seemed like Su Wen had be a different person, and she even suspected that he had been possessed by a ghost.

    "Xinyi, be patient. Su Wen said to wait a while, then we¡¯ll just wait," Jia Wei said, giving Bao Xinyi a small smile.

    "You really can talk," Bao Xinyi said, sneering at Jia Wei.

    Jia Wei¡¯s smile dropped and she stayed silent, her expression stiffening at the response that Bao Xinyi had given her. She wasn¡¯t a pleasant person by nature, and she was only in the spotlight from her elementary school days to her high school days in this town because she was the mayor¡¯s daughter. When she had managed to barely make it into a first-ss school in the Imperial Capital, she was simply just a shabby personpared to all the people around her who were all extremely wealthy!

    She knew that her appearance was decent, and her grades were good, so why couldn¡¯t shepare to those rich and powerful girls from wealthy families?

    She had been in the Imperial Capital for almost a year, and had seen the prosperity of the city with her own eyes, which changed her perception of the world. She knew that this poor town was not where she wanted to settle down.

    Bao Xinyi was her ssmate, and she was also the best person that she knew among all her ssmates. So even if she spoke harshly, she would endure it.

    She already had a new goal in mind, Su Wen was Bao Xinyi¡¯s friend. All of Bao Xinyi¡¯s friends were naturally of high positions in society. Also, she had heard that he was in A University, which was one of the best educational institutes in the country. When she found that there was such a person near her, she began to n in her mind.

    Although there wasn¡¯t much progress yet, at least Su Wen remembered and used her name. It was a good start.

    Bao Xinyi looked at Jia Wei who had a contemtive look in her eyes, and she snorted, her own eyes full of ridicule when she looked at the girl. She really thought that a wild chicken would be able to take flight into the air and turn into a phoenix, what wishful thinking she had!

    Su Wen was not bothered about whatever the two girls were up to or doing, his gaze was focused on the road instead. When a familiar figure started walking toward them, his eyes lit up. He strode forward in a few big steps, closing the distance between them and took the things from her hands. "You¡¯re here!"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head slightly as a greeting. "Sorry, I bought quite a few things and made you wait long."

    "No worries, it wasn¡¯t that long." Su Wen said, shaking his head, "Come on, it¡¯s hot outside."

    He nced up to observe the sun¡¯s position, it was about two o¡¯clock in the afternoon, when the sun rays were the strongest and most damaging at this time. He could feel the heat on his face, and the sweat on his back. And yet, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have a single drop of sweat on her, despite walking under the heat with not even an umbre in hand. Her clothes still looked fresh and without a wrinkle, her face still held the usual soft white glow, the sunlight only serving to highlight her delicate figure, making it even harder to tear your eyes away from her beauty.

    Jia Wei had also caught sight of Gu Xiqiao, and she was surprised to see the usually cold and indifferent Su Wen pick up her bags like a loyal dog. She felt the questions swimming around in her mind, when did Gu Xiqiao meet them? Bao Xinyi saw Jia Wei¡¯s bbergasted face, and sheughed mockingly. She turned to Su Wen. "Su Wen, your car only has four seats, right?"

    The Porsche looks amazing, but the interior was not as useful as the exterior looked. In order to maintain its beauty, it could only fit four people inside. When they were heading into town, it was just enough to fit Gu Xiqiao and Shi Tou at the backseat. But now there was an extra person, Jia Wei, and there was a small problem.

    Of course, Jia Wei was the one that was in an awkward situation. Her other ssmates had alle down by bus, but she had decided to gamble on her schemes. She knew that Su Wen¡¯s car was at the intersection, and so she had rushed to the location. In order to get closer to her objective, she had put in a lot of effort, but she didn¡¯t expect for Gu Xiqiao to appear, and even look like she was close to Su Wen!

    This simply made Jia Wei red with anger and green with envy!

    She stifled the frown that threatened to make its way onto her face, forcing a smile onto her face with a lot of effort. "Su Wen, I¡¯ll have my dad pick me upter."

    Su Wen nced at her, and gave her a light smile. "I¡¯m really sorry."

    "It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s to be expected." Jia Wei¡¯s heart skipped a beat, at least she had gotten his attention for a while. But then she thought about his treatment toward Gu Xiqiao, and her heart returned to its calm state.

    Gu Xiqiao was silent throughout the exchange, looking at the poorly disguised contempt in Bao Xinyi¡¯s eyes, she resisted the urge to sigh.

    ¡¯System, how¡¯s the progress on modifying the car?¡¯

    [It¡¯s almost done, I¡¯ve already installed the self-driving system, and the most detailed map in the world. Would you like to try it?]

    ¡¯Yeah, let¡¯s try it,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao said, ncing at Jia Wei, who was reluctant to leave, and Bao Xinyi, who almost wore the disgust on her face.

    [Okay, there¡¯s an empty space just a bit in front, I¡¯ll ce the car over there.]

    Self-driving cars had yet to be produced in China. Although there were already prototypes in America, the cost was high and the function was not too useful.

    Unless their local big shots with cash to spare were bored, no one would spend such arge amount of money on something that was almost useless.

    On the burning hot road, a pink sports car could be seen driving toward them. Its design was sleek, distinct, aggressive and very much eye-catching as a whole. If Su Wen¡¯s car was considered to be a low-key luxury, this car practically screamed rich and wealthy!

    "It¡¯s the Lamborghini¡¯stest concept EG sports car!" Su Wen eximed loudly when he caught sight of it, dropping whatever that he was doing.

    Bao Xinyi was also in the same state. "Look at the logo under the wheel, it¡¯s a customized model, there¡¯s only one in the entire world!"

    Jia Wei, who couldn¡¯t understand anything the both of them were saying, could only look at the sports car with awe and spection in her eyes.

    The car slowed to a stop beside them, and only did they realized that there was no one in the driver¡¯s seat!

    Su Wen suddenly said, "It¡¯s a self-driving car."

    Gu Xiqiao dug into her pocket, waiting for a while before a bunch of keys appeared in her hands. Pulling out the keys, she smiled at Su Wen. "My ride¡¯s here, but please help me take the things back."

    Having said that, she pressed the switch on the keys, and the double-scissors door raised up. She shoved Shi Tou, who was staring dumbfounded in, and got in herself before closing the doors. For a moment, only the rumbling of the engine could be heard, but the car soon shot off out of sight.

    The three of them remaining were rooted to the spot, still in a daze after a long while.

    "Jia Wei, do you know her?" Bao Xinyi asked suddenly.

    Jia Wei was still in shock, and she nodded her head dumbly when she managed to process the question.

    "Is she really from the vige?"

    "Yes." Jia Wei blinked rapidly, trying to collect herself. "She was picked up by a family in Baixing Vige. She¡¯s been here for more than ten years, but she suddenly left a few months ago after her adoptive mother passed away. I heard that she had just returned from the city."

    "Picked up? She¡¯s an orphan?" Bao Xinyi scoffed. "An orphan that drives a luxury car?"

    "Bao Xinyi, enough!" Su Wen snapped, frowning. He thought back to the sea of fire in the forest, when this person had waved her hand and made it disappear. With that kind of power, driving a luxury car was nothing, right?"

    "Hmph!" Bao Xinyi snorted, thinking back to the time that she felt breathless, as though something was crushing her when Gu Xiqiao had looked at her, she stayed silent, not saying another word.

    Only Jia Wei¡¯s eyes were clearly flickering with various emotions, looking at the sports car that had disappeared from their sight, the corners of her lips lifted up slightly.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t drive the car into the vige, but parked it in a simple shed just some ways outside it. Shi Tou got down from the car, and started touching the car, the awe clear on his face.

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough. Go on home," Gu Xiqiao said, flicking his forehead.

    "Just a little longer," Shi Tou said, continuing to caress the vehicle, before following Gu Xiqiao as he asked for the nth time, "Sister Gu, is this really your car?"

    "Yes," Gu Xiqiao answered patiently, "If you want, I¡¯ll give you an exact same model when you reach adulthood."

    "No way," Shi Tou said, shaking his head, "The color is too girly."

    Gu Xiqiao, who had been rejected: "..."

    ***

    At the same time, in the office of N City¡¯s base, a man stood trembling in front of the boss¡¯ chair. The person sitting in the chair was turned around, and although only his white cuffs were visible, the pressure in the office was extremely heavy.

    The man that was trembling wiped the sweat off his brows, and repeated the motion again and again, even his thighs were trembling now. Was there a problem with the proposal that he had submitted?

    It couldn¡¯t be that the boss of Nine Heavens had lied to him, right?!

    Just when the man thought that the documents with the proposal in Young Master Jiang¡¯s hand woulde flying at his head, a cold, velvety voice spoke, "You¡¯re quite good, I¡¯ll leave this matter to you."

    As he said that, the chair turned around slowly to reveal a seemingly perfectly sculptured face, eyebrows with an elegant arch, and a pair of mesmerizing coal-ck eyes which held a hint of frost in it, which made it hard for people to meet his eyes.

    Only after getting the affirmative answer did the man manage to wipe clear the cold sweat that had slid down his face, and then he moved to ept the papers before leaving the room in careful steps.

    Jiang Shuxuan remained in the same position in the chair, leaning back on it. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and after a long while of staring at nothing, he let out a sigh.

    The door opened again, and Yin Shaoyuan stuck his head inside. "Brother Jiang, I heard... Mu Zong came over with the proposal?"

    "Hm." Jiang Shuxuan grunted, lighting a cigarette. Blowing the smoke out, it slightly obscured his face. "I had someone try it, it¡¯s an extremely good firewall."

    Jiang Shuxuan rarely gave out positive remarks, but Yin Shaoyuan was not surprised as he had seen the miracle that Nine Heavens was. "But of course, you didn¡¯t see how excited my employees were when she sent a few software over to mypany!"

    "And then there¡¯s the online game, you wouldn¡¯t know since you don¡¯t y games. It¡¯s really all the hype right now, and any youngster who isn¡¯t ying meant they weren¡¯t keeping up with the times!"

    Yin Shaoyuan got more excited as he talked, until he saw Jiang Shuxuan shooting a look, and he slowly came down back to earth. "Well, Qiao Qiao sent me a message yesterday night..."

    Just as he said that, the pair of eyes behind the smoke sharpened on him. Pursing his lips, he said suddenly, "Get out."

    Knowing that he had said the wrong thing, Yin Shaoyuan immediately raised his hand to mime zipping his lips.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingers unconsciously reached up to touch the jade piece that hung on his neck, his eyes slightly zed over. One week, it was definitely not a long amount of time, but to him, it had felt like forever. Having poured all his attention on a single person for thest two months, now he had a lot of free time after the person had disappeared, and that made him feel like he had lost his focus in life. There was nothing to do that interested him.

    This was definitely a problem, Jiang Shuxuan thought as he grasped the piece of jade in his hands. He was relieved when he felt the familiar pulse of energy inside it.

    If this went on, he wouldn¡¯t be able tost for long.

 Chapter 102 Reason

    The reason Su Wen hade here together with a bunch of ssmates was to experience the ¡¯rural¡¯ lifestyle, and although the experience he went through yesterday night was anything but pleasant, it was still a sort of novelty experience in his opinion. Not to mention, Gu Xiqiao and Tang Qinghong were present, so he was not worried in the least.

    Baixing Vige was surrounded by mountains and rivers, there was a mountain to the north and a man-made pool underneath the mountain, the stream flowing down from the top of the mountain would flow into this pool. Every summer, the vigers would gather together and fish at the pond. During this time, the water in the pond would be drained slightly, leaving it with a shallow enough height so that everyone could go down into the waters.

    Gu Xiqiao was not attracted to these sort of activities, even back when Yu Man was around, and they had never gone down to fish at the pond either. However, the vigers would always leave a few fatter fishes for them.

    On the other hand, Shi Tou was extremely excited about it. This child seemed to be filled with endless energy, whenever he heard of something interesting he would sprint over, and before he reached there would already be shouts in the air. Since this year there were additional people including Su Wen, it was a more lively scene than usual, as the young boys and girls of the vige were struggling to show off their skills.

    There were also a bunch of girls that were as pretty as flowers standing on the bank, which were Su Wen¡¯s ssmates. They were standing with umbres in their hands, clearly disliking the idea of the mud and pond below, but that itself was not enough to curb their interest of the happenings in it. Whereas Su Wen and the other guys were not so particr about it as they all took off their shoes, rolled up their trousers and went down into the pond.

    Bao Xinyi was among the other girls that were on drynd, and seeing Gu Xiqiao slowly approaching the area, the group of girls began whispering to each in low voices while staring at her. Their gazes were all on Gu Xiqiao, to the point that she wondered if there was something stuck in her teeth for them to stare at her so hard.

    In the end, Gu Xiqiao chose to turn a blind eye to them. She stood calmly under the tree, looking to be at peace with the world atrge.

    It was better to be alone than with thatrge group.

    "You¡¯re not going down? Weren¡¯t you the one making a fuss abouting here?" Gu Xiqiao said, ncing down at Shi Tou. The younger was staring at the pond with bright eyes, clearly filled with eagerness to try whatever he could.

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, Shi Tou¡¯s eyes lit up, but then he seemed to think of something, and then lowered his gaze. "Forget it, it¡¯s better not to go down. Someone from the neighboring vige almost drowned while taking a bathst month, so my mom won¡¯t let me go."

    Rubbing her fingers together, Gu Xiqiao nced at the people in the pond. A sh went through her eyes, but it was fleeting, before she said, "Then it¡¯s best to be obedient."

    Li Yanmei had also gone down to the pond, but she hadn¡¯t been in it for long before her father came after her to chase her out of it. She nced around, and found Gu Xiqiao standing on the bank, and turned to head towards her.

    "You weren¡¯t here just now," Li Yanmei said, wiping her hands. She smiled at Shi Tou, before stepping closer to Gu Xiqiao. "Jia Wei had a lot to say about you."

    "What did she say?" Gu Xiqiao asked, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to her.

    Li Yanmei epted it before continuing, "She said..." She seemed to struggle to continue, instead staring at Gu Xiqiao closely, her bright ck eyes holding a serious glint. "Do you have a car, the kind that is very expensive?"

    Once she heard those words, Gu Xiqiao knew what had happened. She looked back into Li Yanmei¡¯s eyes and said, "The car was obtained legally, don¡¯t listen to the nonsense that they are saying."

    "I knew it," Li Yanmei said, letting out a breath of relief. "That damn Jia Wei, that lying problem of hers hasn¡¯t changed a single bit over the years!"

    "Speaking of which, there shouldn¡¯t be any bad blood between me and Jia Wei, right?" Gu Xiqiao furrowed her brows in confusion. She was aware that she wasn¡¯t really good with people, but she wasn¡¯t bad to this extent, right? "This doesn¡¯t seem to be the first time she¡¯s targeted me?"

    Li Yanmei blinked, staring at Gu Xiqiao without saying anything for a while, before replying, "Have you forgotten?"

    "What?" An elegant brow arched up.

    "When you were in your first year of junior high, there was always some boy that looked for you?" Li Yanmei said, while Gu Xiqiao tilted her head to the side, confusion clear on her face. "The most sought after boy in our ss, the one where only a handful of girls in our school didn¡¯t have a crush on? Jia Wei was set on chasing him, but before she even made a move, he fell for you instead. You really don¡¯t remember any of this?"

    Gu Xiqiao blinked slowly. Junior high, that was a long time ago. She sighed. "I really don¡¯t remember, is that the reason she won¡¯t get along with me?"

    "She worked so hard to treat you as her rival, but fortunately for you, you didn¡¯t need to do anything and managed to capture the heart of the most sought after boy." Li Yanmeiughed. At that time, Gu Xiqiao was still young, but she was not any less beautiful. With her snow-white skin, and the fact that Yu Man had never allowed her to use inappropriatenguage, it made herpletely unlike a countryside bumpkin, but that was also a long time ago.

    "I guess Jia Wei must have been foaming at the mouth when that happened, it¡¯s not like you¡¯re unaware of her ego. She went to the city to further her studies after third grade, and that was also because she was mad at you."

    "If I knew that was the case, I would have sat down to talk to her. This wasn¡¯t the way to go about it," Gu Xiqiao said with a straight face.

    Li Yanmei: I feel sorry for Jia Wei.

    The two didn¡¯t talk after that, shifting their gaze to the fish pond. Ever since Gu Xiqiao hade, the young people in the pond were suddenly more energetic. When they were idle, they would look over at her direction, and everyone would greet her from a distance from time to time. It showed how popr Gu Xiqiao was among the vigers.

    "Sister Gu, I¡¯ll hang a portrait of you on the tree the next time I go to the field." Shi Tou said, squatting down under the tree as he looked at the fish pond.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t keep up with his thoughts for a while. "What for?"

    "It¡¯s the eldest son in the Li family, thatzy bum, he managed to pull in twos of fishes in such a short time." Shi Tou said instead of replying her, pointing down at someone. "You know thatzy ass who usually doesn¡¯t bother to move on normal days."

    Li Yanmei stretched her head out, and then she covered her mouth with her hands to hide the smile behind it, "That¡¯s right, before you came, he wouldze around beside the pond, getting scoldings from Uncle Li all the time."

    "... you don¡¯t need to say anymore." These two were continuing each other¡¯s sentences, even Gu Xiqiao who was thick faced to a certain extent felt ufortable, knowing where the conversation was leading to. "Shi Tou, I thought you wanted to go down?"

    Shi Tou was immediately distracted. "That¡¯s right, Sister Gu, will you talk to my mom?"

    Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes slightly, then she ced her hand on top of Shi Tou¡¯s head. Shi Tou felt slightly puzzled, and thought he felt a feeling of warmth on top of his head. It disappeared the next second, as though it had never happened in the first ce. Her pale pink lips curled up slightly, "Go on down and look for your father. If he says anything, just tell him that I allowed you to go."

    "Oh," Shi Tou answered calmly, but his hands were quick in removing his shoes, jumping down like an excited bunny.

    "He really only listens to you," Li Yanmei said with a sigh. She turned to look at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smooth, delicate face, not understanding how Shi Tou¡¯s mind worked. "You don¡¯t know how much trouble he was during your absence, even the vige chief didn¡¯t know what to do with him."

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, staring motionlessly at the center of the pond, until Shi Tou reached the vige chief¡¯s side.

    When the vige chief saw Shi Tou, his brows furrowed together. Since he couldn¡¯t do anything about it, he let the child follow him. It wasn¡¯t a lie to say that Shi Tou listened to Gu Xiqiao. Ever since he went down to the pond, he had stuck to the vige chief¡¯s side, not wandering off on his own.

    ***

    The pond wasrge, and there were not many people at the center. The vige chief together with a few of the youngsters were pulling a toward it, but when they reached the center, he slipped and went down.

    In order to store water, there were several wells dug in the pond. The wells were not deep, but the height was definitely more than an average adult. There hadn¡¯t been any problems with it in the past, everyone knew how to avoid it, but it seemed that the vige chief had forgotten the cements today and had stepped right into one. His legs felt like it was heavy with lead, slipping slowly into the mud down the well, and his eyes widened with horror.

    "Dad? What are you doing?" Shi Tou said, turning his head. He patted the vige chief¡¯s exposed shoulder. "Hurry up, don¡¯t bezy."

    The moment Shi Tou touched him, the vige chief felt his entire body lighten, and his trapped legs were able to move. He hauled himself up immediately, feeling slightly dazed and muddled, his gaze inadvertently traveled toward the shore. "Shi Tou, Little Gu was the one that asked you toe down here."

    "Uh huh," Shi Tou replied disinterestedly, leaning down to touch his feet.

    The vige chief stood without moving for a while, before returning to normal and proceeded with pulling in the fishes like usual. However, there was a hint of worry in his eyes, and he nced around at the vigers in the waters, a feeling of anxiety gripping his heart.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao, who had been watching the entire time, turned away to talk to Li Yanmei. After a while, Jia Wei sauntered over to where they were standing with a few other girls, "Miss Gu, it¡¯s been a while."

    "Hello." Gu Xiqiao said, giving them a stunningly warm smile.

    The girls gritted their teeth secretly, and one of them said, "Miss Gu, we heard that you¡¯re an orphan?"

    Gu Xiqiao replied affirmatively, taking out her phone as she did, not intending to hide that fact.

    Jia Wei looked at the phone in her hands, before eximing in surprise, "That¡¯s the newest model which costs about seven to eight thousand dors! Little Gu, you really have a lot of money!"

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her that¡¯s rich." The girl beside Jia Wei snorted. "The phone was just released in July, and it hadn¡¯t even reached the maind yet. If she can get it, it¡¯s probably due to the money her godfather has, right?"

    Nowadays, people had a funny mentality. When they see their peers driving branded cars or having branded items, they can¡¯t tell whether they feel jealous or contempt toward the person. After struggling to identify the feelings, they would then turn to the cynical type of thinking, cing themselves at a higher moral ground than the other party tofort themselves. On the inte, these types of people were called ¡¯keyboard warriors¡¯.

    Gu Xiqiao deliberately waved her phone for them to have a better look. "Are you envious, you can go and find one too~"

    Jia Wei¡¯s face was changing colors rapidly at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sing-song voice, it was quite interesting to look at.

    "Bah!" Li Yanmei couldn¡¯t hold back herugh, she knew that even all together, these girls would have nothing on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sassiness.

    "Little Gu, let¡¯s head back, you haven¡¯t done acupuncture for my mom yet today." Li Yanmei coughed lightly, leading Gu Xiqiao away. If she let things go on, she was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would piss the others off, those people were still big shots in the vige after all. She was also afraid that Gu Xiqiao would cause trouble if she was annoyed, so she made up the excuse to lead her away.

    Gu Xiqiao was not about to get pettier than those little girls, so she followed Li Yanmei to leave. As soon as she left, the hot-blooded young men in the pond all withered down.

    Jia Wei watched the slim figure walk away, and she bit her lip angrily. The girls beside her lost interest too, and so they returned to their resting spot. Bao Xinyi nced at the girls who had returned, and said mockingly, "Stop serving as Jia Wei¡¯s gun, or you¡¯ll probably die without knowing the reason."

    The girls wouldn¡¯t dare to provoke Bao Xinyi. They had seen Jia Weiing back by car with Bao Xinyi, and had assumed that she had a close rtionship with the two of them. However it looked like that was not the case at all!

    The few of them exchanged looks with each other, and as though reaching a decision inside, their gazes turned cold, looking at Jia Wei who was also making her way to the shade.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao followed Li Yanmei back, giving Aunt Li her needle treatments. After boiling some medicine together, Gu Xiqiao then left for her own home. As soon as she opened the gate to the yard, she caught sight of Tang Qinghong, who was pacing around the stone table.

    He had rested for a day, and adding on the medicine that Gu Xiqiao had given him, his injuries were more or less healed, once again returning to the state of beauty that he usually was.

    "You¡¯re back." Hearing the gates open, he turned his head slightly, giving her a smile that felt like a spring breeze blowing in a season of blooming flowers.

    Narrowed, clear eyes looked at him, a clear voice responding, "Did you put something in my yard?"

    Being well aware of her abilities, Tang Qinghong didn¡¯t bother denying it. "When I got here, I felt that something was wrong with your house, that¡¯s the reason why I forced my way in to upy the ce." He coughed lightly, feeling slightly ufortable, "The medicine you gave mest night helped me recover my strength, so I thought that I would be able to resolve the problem here now."

    The magical effect of the medicine was already a miracle, overturning everything he knew about the ancient martial arts world. If word about it got out, it would definitely rock the entire ancient martial arts world!

 Chapter 103 A Painting Worth Seven Figures

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t aware of the thoughts that were running through Tang Qinghong¡¯s mind. Rolling her eyes, she turned to look out at the yard.

    Tang Qinghong had yet to finish arranging the items in his hand, and he had never felt more embarrassed than he was now in his life. When this was all over, he was going to return to Jing Capital and remove his seals immediately, this feeling was really humiliating!

    "What¡¯s wrong with my house?" Gu Xiqiao asked, still looking around. She nced at the setting sun and the reddish-orange sky as she took out the bamboo tube fromst night. "I don¡¯t feel anything."

    "You¡¯re just at Bone Refinement level, right?" Tang Qinghong said, straightening up, thinking that he would give her a basic understanding of the ancient martial arts world. He had felt itst night, when her chi was surging up, it was evenparable to some disciples in the Tendon Forging levels. "Under normal circumstances, you wouldn¡¯t be able to see the malicious aura, yesterday was an abnormal incident. You may not know about the problem in your house, but on the first day I came here, the malicious aura here was ten times stronger than the one on the mountain!"

    "What is more curious is that your house is built on thisnd, and it seems like it was done deliberately. The malicious aura that lingers here, an average person would definitely die in about half a year without even knowing the reason for it. Disregarding the fact that you¡¯re not affected due to your chi, but how is it that the people living nearby this area are also unaffected?"

    Gu Xiqiao looked around the small yard again in surprise. She knew more about this ce than him, naturally. Yu Man had passed away two months ago, and she had left the ce. Returning two monthster, she found that the people staying closest to her¡ªthe Li family and the vige chief, they had been caught up in all kinds of idents. ording to her memory from her past life, the entire vige had moved out of this ce soon after.

    "I don¡¯t know why I can¡¯t see it," Gu Xiqiao said, as she continued to nce around. She couldn¡¯t feel anything wrong, and she always felt that Yu Man had something to do with it. "My mother had never said anything about it either."

    Tang Qinghong ced thest piece of jade from his hands down, and there was a sudden ripple that tore through the air. Tang Qinghong¡¯s face paled slightly, but nothing else happened. He turned to Gu Xiqiao, looking at her with a solemn expression. "You¡¯re also part of the ancient martial arts world, I need your help in this matter!"

    "You don¡¯t even need to ask," Gu Xiqiao replied, taking a deep breath. "Let me know what you need."

    Her bright eyes narrowed slightly as she nced around again, urately pinpointing the few jade stones that Tang Qinghong had ced. Without waiting for him to say anything, Gu Xiqiao reached out to change the position of a few of them. A wave of energy rippled the air, and then there was a steady wave of energy circting in the area.

    "This is... a small Eight Trigram array?" Tang Qinghong¡¯s surprise expression broke through his gentle mask again, feeling slightly numb as he asked, "How do you know this?"

    Even for him, it would have taken a lot of effort to set up the small formation, and the entire process would take all the energy he had in his body, otherwise he would have done something by now. But how was it that she just casually moved her hands and formed the array, which didn¡¯t look like it took any effort at all by the look on her face?

    "I just practised some." Gu Xiqiao said, looking at him. Then she raised the bamboo tube that was shaking uneasily due to the formation, and coldly said, "If you continue to move, I¡¯ll burn you."

    Vengeful spirit in the bamboo tube: "..."

    If finally settled down after Gu Xiqiao stared at it for a while, and then she turned her attention back to the yard, ¡¯System, I can¡¯t find the reason for this, can you scan it?¡¯

    [Please wait a moment, Beauty Qiao.] The system spirit put down the data in its hands, a serious expression on its face. It knew that the mission for Gu Xiqiao this time was not easy, and it had been searching through all the essible files in its database, hoping to find any records that could help them.

    A transparent panel appeared in front of Gu Xiqiao again, this time disying a map in three-dimensional settings of the house and the courtyard. From what she could see in the image, there was nothing out of the ordinary anywhere.

    [Beauty Qiao, look at the bottom.]

    The map scrolled downwards, and Gu Xiqiao could see at least ten meters underground, but after that it was all ck on the screen.

    [There¡¯s really something wrong with your house, I can only go down as far as ten meters. There¡¯s something blocking my sensors, I think there¡¯s more to your adoptive mother than you think.]

    Building a house on thisnd, and being able to guarantee no incidents for the past ten years, Gu Xiqiao could also guess that there was more than meets the eye when it came to Yu Man, but what was going on? And Yu Man¡¯s death, was it really due to cerebral hemorrhage? Why didn¡¯t she leave any information to her?

    All of these thoughts were swirling in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind as she continued to stare at the ck screen, not having a clue how to start figuring it out.

    In Tang Qinghong¡¯s eyes, the girl was staring at the air in a daze, her eyes out of focus. Fortunately, she had exquisite looks. Although she was standing there in a daze, she was still a beauty which was pleasing to the eyes.

    "Don¡¯t worry too much, nothing will happen here. If you don¡¯t want the vigers to leave, then I should have a way to make it happen," Tang Qinghong said, letting out a sigh. Thinking of that person, he frowned deeply, "There¡¯s someone who can definitely resolve this matter perfectly, so if we can¡¯t handle it, we¡¯ll contact him."

    Although, he was extremely reluctant to admit that he wasn¡¯t able to measure up to that person.

    "Thank you." Gu Xiqiao sighed, and waved the panel away discreetly. She returned the bamboo tube to her bag, and raised her head to look up at the gorgeous sunset in the sky, the bright vivid colors spreading everywhere. She felt a tug at her heart after staring at the sight. "I¡¯m going out for a while."

    Tang Qinghong didn¡¯t know what she was nning to do, so he just watched her as she went upstairs to grab a drawing board beforeing back down and heading out.

    ***

    There was a small hill not far from her house, and you could see the entire vige from there. Gu Xiqiao had grabbed her oil painting tools, which was easier to carry than her Chinese painting tools. After setting up the drawing board, she sat on the hill and began to draw.

    Instead of using the A Prima method, which was the direct style of painting where the paint is applied without letting the earlieryers dry, she chose to use the zing method, which was to first spread ayer of paint on the canvas, and applying anotheryer only after the first had dried and so on. The main purpose of doing this was to make it look like the colors werebined optically, without the pigments actually mixing. This creates a monochrome underpainting which gradually builds up the zes on top to show a more jewel-like effect on it. This technique tests the painter¡¯s abilities, as well the depth of understanding of colors.

    She applied the various colors over each other, using mostly warmer tones. Looking down at the board after a while, she rubbed her chin thoughtfully before picking up a brush that had been dipped in a colder tone which was blue. Both cold and warm tones were the essence of oil painting, and you would use warmer tones for the nearer view, and colder tones for the further view, the contrast of cold and warm being easily exined. The thickness of theyers was also very particr, with the nearer view needing to be thicker than the other. The thickness of theyers could also make a difference in the distance of the painting.

    ***

    At this time, most of the people had returned from the pond area. Shi Tou carried arge batch of fishes to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s door. Seeing the hated Tang Qinghong sitting there instead of her, he ced the fish down and ran off.

    Tang Qinghong who had been rejected: ...

    Apart from Gu Xiqiao, this was the second person to dislike him with such obvious actions.

    The gentle, jade-like face showed a stunned expression for the moment. He didn¡¯t understand, why did the both of them dislike him so?

    ***

    Shi Tou stood at the gates, looking around for a while, before spotting Gu Xiqiao, who was sitting at the hilltop. His eyes brightened, and he ran over to her, "Sister Little Gu, what are you doing?"

    "Drawing." Gu Xiqiao replied, as she stopped.

    "What are all these?" Shi Tou asked, staring at the pile of strangely mixed colors. His eyes widened as he eximed, "It¡¯s so ugly, you¡¯re even worse than me, Sister Little Gu!"

    Gu Xiqiao: ...This is where our friendship ends.

    Shi Tou was still chattering on, and Gu Xiqiao took a deep breath, sliding out her phone and handing it to him. Shi Tou took the offered item, unlocking the phone with familiar motions and opening the game that Gu Xiqiao often yed. Five minutester... he died, try again, two minutester...he died.

    Gu Xiqiao: ....This is the effect I wanted.

    After the system spirit had modified the game, it became a game that cheated children. The system spirit sat in the void space, miming the action of wiping away Shi Tou¡¯s tears. He just had to provoke her when she was in a bad mood, it really was...such an entertaining scene to watch!

    ***

    Su Wen and his group had also caught quite a few fishes, and it was all thanks to the boys of the group. They decided to have a full fish banquet campfire for dinner at night, and Su Wen naturally didn¡¯t want to put a damper on their ns. However, he also didn¡¯t dare to start a bonfire at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ce, and so gathered everyone to set up beside the pond instead. Some of them would stay there to clean and prepare the fish, while the others would gather the items and materials needed.

    Walking along the path, you could clearly see two figures that were sitting on the hilltop.

    The reddish hue of the sky clearly outlined the figures, and the girl¡¯s white creamy tone of her skin glowed softly, her long eyshes covering the pair of mncholy eyes. Slender fingers held the paintbrush that danced on the canvas, like the brushstrokes used in a dynamic ink painting.

    Although they couldn¡¯t see her face clearly from afar, they couldn¡¯t help but lighten their steps in an effort to not disturb her.

    Su Wen stood at her back slightly further away, and could only see a mess of colors. He had never studied anything in regards to painting before, but he looked on silently anyway. Bao Xinyi wasn¡¯t so meek, and she lifted her chin haughtily to one of the other boys that was beside her, "You¡¯ve studied art before, what do you see?"

    The boy was staring into space, lost in his own thoughts. "Beauty..."

    Bao Xinyi: Go to hell!

    The boy came back to himself after a beat, and seeing the fire in Bao Xinyi¡¯s eyes, he blushed in embarrassment. "That pretty girl is using an ancient zing painting method, it requires quite a high level of skill. No matter how her drawing turns out, it¡¯s already amazing with the fact that she can use this method."

    Bao Xinyi stared at him in silence for a while, before turning her eyes to the painting that had yet to bepleted, and let out a coldugh. "Are we still not going? That level of painting is worse than an amateur like me."

    Su Wen frowned, but said nothing. However, he also had no indication that he would move, and the others were even more reluctant to leave because of that.

    Hearing Bao Xinyi¡¯s words, Shi Tou turned around to look at them, and said to himself, "Teacher used to say that crows were the most annoying creatures, and I didn¡¯t believe her, now that I think back, it seems I was just too immature to understand then."

    "..." Bao Xinyi¡¯s face was red with anger, she couldn¡¯t even win against a child?

    And so they remained where they were, waiting to see how Gu Xiqiao would finish off. However, she felt like she was given a p on the face soon after.

    As moreyers were added to the mess of colors, theplicated messy oil painting soon started showing its proper outline. Gu Xiqiao added a red that was simr to that of a raging fire, and the sky seemed to burn on the canvas. Shrouded in a vivid sunlight, the scene of the whole vige was a peaceful and tranquil sight, and it was as though you can see the leisurely life of the vigers through the painting.

    Shi Tou had been ying games beside Gu Xiqiao with a bored expression, sometimes grabbing and plucking the grass on the ground, and sometimes counting the bugs he could. He was moving around listlessly, and when he finally looked over when Gu Xiqiao¡¯s painting was almostplete, his eyes grew wide as he stopped his actions, staring in shock.

    With one nce, he could tell that the painting was of their vige. The vige looked majestic, bathed in the glow of the golden rays from the sun. Even though he didn¡¯t understand oil painting, he could still feel the charm of the painting, and was fascinated by it. He reached out his hand to touch it, and felt like he could go one step further, and be touching the cooling sun that was setting.

    The boy standing beside Bao Xinyi smiled in triumph. "I knew that this pretty girl¡¯s skills were great, and even our teacher wouldn¡¯t be able to match her. It¡¯s amazing, her surreal approach and vividly fresh colors, the stunningposition, it¡¯s a testament to how great her grasp on the understanding of colors is."

    Most of the words from the boy¡¯s mouth were not understood by the others, and they were all mystified by it, but it didn¡¯t hinder their appreciation for this painting.

    Bao Xinyi¡¯s frown on her face deepened, and nced at the boy who was still prattling on and thought, ¡¯Why do I really feel like strangling him?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao was aware that there were people behind her, and by the time she hadpleted her drawing, it was gettingte. She packed her tools, and had Shi Tou help carry the items. When she turned around, she found that Su Wen and the others were still standing there without moving, "Don¡¯t you have anything to do?"

    "Yes, we do. We were just about to leave," Su Wen replied with a grin on his face, and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Your painting is really good."

    The few boys standing beside him were nodding in agreement.

    Bao Xinyi spoke up only after Gu Xiqiao had left. "What¡¯s so great about, she¡¯s just another pretty face, it¡¯s not like anything you¡¯ve never seen before. You don¡¯t even know how many people have..."

    "Xinyi!" Su Wen snapped out, a chilling look on his face. He leveled a frosty re at her. "You have never been this ignorant before!"

    Although Bao Xinyi had been ignorant previously, she would just act childish about it, she wasn¡¯t so malicious to throw around wild spection about others. She had changed so much recently, to the point that he was thinking whether it was a mistake to have brought her along?

    "Ignorant?" Bao Xinyi said, her lips twisting up into an ugly sneer. "It¡¯s you who are blind from your own fascination with others!"

    Having said that, Bao Xinyi turned around and left, two of the group hurrying to follow her. One of them turned to Su Wen before they left, disapproval clear in his eyes. "Xinyi is right, Su Wen. This girl is young and orphaned, yet she owns a very expensive branded car... don¡¯t be too caught up with her. If it¡¯s just a temporary interest, then that¡¯s fine. Money and things are one thing, but don¡¯t break your ties with Xinyi just because of this. Beautiful women can be found anywhere after all!"

    The rest of the people who stayed behind were ones that were on good terms with Su Wen, and they nced at each other. They weren¡¯t sure how the situation had be like this. The art student who hadmented on Gu Xiqiao previously raised his hand. "Then, I have something to say regarding that. Su Wen, don¡¯t listen to them. I¡¯m taking the subject and learning art, and I can say with confidence that the pretty girl has great skills, I won¡¯t be wrong about it. The painting that she justpleted, if you put it out to the market, it can sell for at least seven figures."

    "Seven figures?! That¡¯s a real neat sum!" One of the group said, their eyes lighting up with wonder.

    However, Su Wen ignored them. He had never questioned Gu Xiqiao¡¯s abilities, only something they said made him think of something, "You said the girls were discussing this matter the whole afternoon, could it be that the entire vige knows about it?"

    "Based on the amount of gossip these people do, it¡¯s most likely," Another person replied softly.

    Su Wen¡¯s attractive face darkened as he nced at the sky that was dimming, and sighed softly. This was exactly the situation that he didn¡¯t want to see happening.

 Chapter 104 Indication

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t sleep that night, going into the virtual space toplete her daily missions instead. She hadn¡¯t been able to level up her calligraphy or ancient martial arts recently, and was getting slightly frustrated at that, so she decided to research more information in the virtual space with the system spirit.

    If anyone else knew her thoughts, they would probably want to strangle her. She had reached Bone Refinement level after just a few months, and that itself was already unheard of, and now she wasining that it was too slow?

    The database that the system had wasprehensive, and with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental power and being able to read ten lines at a nce, they still hadn¡¯t even gone through one-tenth of it. She didn¡¯t know how long she was in the virtual space, and the books around her had piled up like a small mountain, her mindpletely upied by the data and information that she was going through.

    There was also a pile of books next to the system spirit, as the spirit itself was data, all it needed to do was scan the books to extract the information.

    Although, even saying that it was just a bunch of data, it could also get tired. So it decided to sneak a break, and looked over to Gu Xiqiao who was sitting opposite it, but it suddenly realized that something was wrong with her, and issued a warning immediately, [Beauty Qiao, wake up, your mental power is about to copse!]

    After sounding out the rm, it booted Gu Xiqiao out of the void with its authority immediately.

    The familiar voice pierced through the haze in her mind, and Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes. Her head hurt, and it felt like thousands of needles stabbing her brain, the paining in waves after waves. Her pale lips were pressed together tightly, all the blood had drained from her face. During this time, strands of ck mist slowly inched toward her. Just when it was about to touch her body, a golden light flickered out from her, making the mist evaporate instantly.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s endurance was extremely strong, managing to calm herself after about ten minutes. Hearing footstepsing from the corridor, she immediately turned on herputer, opening a game.

    A knock sounded on her door not long after, and although the door was locked, she didn¡¯t get up to open it. Instead, she waved her hands and a click was heard, and the door opened.

    Tang Qinghong stood outside the door, a pair of onyx eyes on his symmetrical face, a gentle smile on his lips. Unlike Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s cold extravagance that made it hard for people to ignore, his was a kind of soft and silent tenderness.

    "Have you been in the room this whole time?"

    "Yeah, is there a problem?" Gu Xiqiao asked, raising her head from the screen to look at him with an indifferent expression on her face.

    "No, nothing." From where he stood, Tang Qinghong could see the screen was disying a CG scene which seemed to be ending soon. "Goodnight then."

    Closing the door quietly, Tang Qinghong looked back at the corridor with a look of confusion on his face. He had clearly felt something unusual in the room just now, how did it just vanish suddenly? Could it be just him overthinking things?

    Seeing that Tang Qinghong had left, Gu Xiqiao calmed down. She looked at the screen and saw a group of characters, one of them was a lolita character with the username ¡¯For a Millenium¡¯ on top of her head, and she was leading everyone else through the dungeon.

    The lolita character was unlike the others, whenever she struck out, a mini-boss would fall down, defeated. Lashing out to strike again, the bigger bosses health would drop by half, and soon enough, the hardest dungeon in the game was easily conquered by the group of yers.

    [Party] Whispering Winds: Er Qiao... you¡¯re quite violent for a girl.

    [Party] Brother Wu: Er Qiao, you were so cool!

    [Party] Merciless Sky: Wait, isn¡¯t the great god a man?

    [Party] Fallen Underwear Upstairs: With such nimble and violent technique, if the great god is a woman, I¡¯ll eat my keyboard!

    [Party] For A Millenium: = =

    [Party] Merciless Sky: F*ck it! Group photo with great god in front!

    The system spirit is the most advanced artificial intelligence, and ying its own game that it had developed was practically cheating. The godlike controls that it yed the game with had managed to shock every other yer in the game within just a short few days.

    Previously in the server, there was a yer named ¡¯Common¡¯ that was known to be the ¡¯richest under heavens¡¯ that everyone wanted to get closer to. Later, there came another yer that was known to be ¡¯undefeatable¡¯, a high level PK-er with the username ¡¯For A Millenium¡¯ that every yer wanted to party with.

    The rich and powerful Common had a weird temper, while For A Millenium had an icy cold attitude. The former of them would throw arge sum of money out to kill someone when they were unhappy, urately depicting the word ¡¯powerful¡¯, while thetter wouldn¡¯t say a word in a thousand years, being as cold as they were mysterious. So when For A Millenium replied in the chat box for the first time, it was screenshot and posted on the game forum that night itself, discussions breaking out between those who were interested.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have much interest in the games, so once Tang Qinghong had left, she closed theptop, leaving the rest of the game to the system spirit.

    In the game, Whispering Winds was Xiao Yun, while Brother Wu was the shameless Wu Hongwen, who always took advantage of other¡¯s titles. Just as Gu Xiqiao closed herptop, her phone rang and she picked it up, looking at the screen to find it was Xiao Yun calling her.

    "Er Qiao! You¡¯re finally willing to show up!" Xiao Yun¡¯s excited voice came through the phone, "Where are you now? You¡¯re all alone this time, so let us know whatever you need and we¡¯ll send it over."

    Xiao Yun had turned into a mother hen immediately, and Gu Xiqiao leaned against the windowsill as she listened, her lips curving into a smile. "I¡¯m fine, you guys cane over once I¡¯m finished with what I have on my hands."

    If she developed this ce, she would inevitably need their help, as all those olderpanies would definitely have many connections. Her intepany was just starting out, and even though thepany¡¯s ability to earn money was strong, some things couldn¡¯t be solved with just money.

    "Also, I¡¯ve read through the book on the Firefly Illusions, and I don¡¯t really understand it..." Xiao Yun said. She had already eaten the elixir that Gu Xiqiao had given her, but it seemed that there weren¡¯t much changes apart from her skin bing slightly better, and her strength getting a bit stronger?

    Not to mention, Yao Jiamu had already reached Beginner level, and even Wu Hongwen had started to feel the existence of chi. Why was it only she that couldn¡¯t do it?

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a while, before opening her mouth to reply cautiously, "You see, Xiao Yun, ancient martial arts depends on certain criterias, if you¡¯re too dumb..."

    Before she could finish her sentence, the call was cut off, the dial tone echoing in her ear.

    [Beauty Qiao, Xiao Yin is so cute, how can you bear to hurt her!] The system spirit spoke up from the void space.

    "You¡¯re being unusually emotional, are you jealous?"

    [...please, no.] The system spirit replied, sculling away into a corner and continuing its game.

    Seeing that there wasn¡¯t anything else that would distract her, Gu Xiqiao pulled out the bamboo tube from her inventory. As soon as the bamboo tube came in contact with the air, it began to vibrate violently without stopping. Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, reaching out to knock on the tube, and it quieted down instantly.

    She touched the bamboo tube, and a book appeared in her other hand with a bright sh. This was a book that she had found in the void space, which detailed a record of the origin of this vengeful spirit.

    However, all the books that the system spirit had taken out were in tatters. The more valuable the book, the worse the condition it was, some of the words were unreadable, and the content was obscure and difficult to understand. It looked like she had her work cut out for her.

    ording to the method written, Gu Xiqiao ced the bamboo tube on the floor, and then used her hands to quickly draw a pattern in the air. If the bamboo tube could, it would probably start struggling for freedom, but this entire space was already within her control.

    The bamboo tube quickly stopped its trembling, floating passively a bit above the ground. Gu Xiqiao nced at the floating tube, her hands going faster and the tube slowly started rotating.

    As the tube prorated, a faint chi started leaking into the air.

    Gu Xiqiao seemed to not see it, her charcoal eyes trained on the bamboo tube unblinkingly.

    The bamboo tube finally stopped moving in mid-air, pointing down toward the ground!

    Crystal clear eyes followed the direction that the tube was pointing, looking at the ground. She gathered the chi in her body toward her eyes, and the floor that she was looking at slowly became transparent in her sight. In an instant, she could see the area below her house, the clumps of gray flooding her vision. Once it reached twenty meters below her house, she felt her mental powers straining.

    Taking a deep breath, Gu Xiqiao let her eyes droop slightly, the bamboo tube also falling at the same time. She reached out to touch it, and could feel the vengeful spirit being too quiet.

    Holding the bamboo tube in her hands, she pondered through the things she had found. It seemed like the problem was in her home, she had thought that it would be the mountain top. She wouldn¡¯t need to go to the mountains for the time being then.

    [Beauty Qiao, since you¡¯ve found the solution, the most important thing for you to do now is to upgrade your skills, especially your formations.] The system spirit said, watching Gu Xiqiao who was in a daze, [If you can¡¯t handle it, then go to Jiang Shuxuan. This is really too weird of a situation, I¡¯m worried that something will happen!]

    "Don¡¯t worry," Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand moved in a pattern again, "Didn¡¯t you say I have quite the talent in handling this?"

    [It¡¯s because you have the talent that I don¡¯t want you to take unnecessary risks.]

    "This is not a risk," Gu Xiqiao stood, patting herself to get rid of the non-existent dust on her body. "Help me redeem all the remaining points for time in the virtual space, I want to stay until I manage to advance my martial arts level!"

    Since Tang Qinghong had said that she was not high level enough, then she would just need to advance forward!

    If Tang Qinghong, who was next door heard what she said, he would surely be forced to puke blood again. Did she think that advancing your ancient martial arts level was like eating and drinking?! Say that you want to advance and you will? Was she looking down on all the geniuses on the list?!

    [Alright, but you have used a lot of your mental power today already, I will be closing the void space today, Beauty Qiao. You cane in tomorrow.] The system spirits paid close attention to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s physical condition. It only had one host after all, and she was also adorable. If anything happened to her, then it wouldn¡¯t be able to go on living.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t someone who was reckless either, and could listen to advice when she needed it. Taking the advice of the system spirit, she obediently went to bed to rest.

    The night was ck as ink, the darkness covering all the stars in the sky. The system spirit floating in the air, not resting. It sat in a daze, watching Gu Xiqiao¡¯s slumbering face throughout the night without sleeping. It wasn¡¯t like it needed sleep anyway. ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    Outside her room, Su Wen had been standing in front of the door for a while. He hade back after the fish banquet dinner, while everyone else had remained at the campsite, setting up the tents that they had brought. He couldn¡¯t sleep, and so hade here instead, standing in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room, but the lights inside had already been extinguished.

    After a long while, he turned and went down quietly.

    In order for Gu Xiqiao to have a good rest, the system spirit had isted the entire room, even if there was any loud noise outside, it wouldn¡¯t be heard inside the room.

    ***

    At dawn, Gu Xiqiao got up and exited the room, bumping into Tang Qinghong who was also heading downstairs.

    Tang Qinghong gave her a warm smile. "Hey, morning."

    "Morning," Gu Xiqiao said with a yawn, heading downstairs to do her morning run.

    Su Wen had also woken up early, and he was sitting in the hall, asionally dozing off. Turning to see Gu Xiqiaoing down from the stairs, he was stunned by her beauty for a moment, before pulling himself together to greet her, and even invited himself along on her morning run.

    "There are two paths, are you sure you want to follow me?" When Shi Tou had followed her, it was nothing, since he was a kid after all, and someone she was familiar with. But it was a bit awkward when it was another peer with the same age as her, and an unfamiliar one at that.

    "I¡¯ll keep up somehow," Su Wen said, touching his nose. He realized for the first time how thick his face was, and then he suddenly saw two vigers who were busy farming in front of them, he immediately became nervous, "What is..."

    Before he couldplete his sentence, the two vigers wereing over, and Su Wen stiffened, his eyes following their movements.

    "Little Gu, going on a morning run?" The two vigers greeted Gu Xiqiao cheerfully, with warm expressions. They chatted for a bit before leaving, no different than usual.

    If there was anything strange, it would be that the two vigers were treating Gu Xiqiao a little too kindly. Su Wen let out a sigh of relief when nothing that he was worried about happened, and continued to run along with Gu Xiqiao. He raised his head after a while, and realized that there was someone approaching them again.

    As they followed the path, the vigers that were on the road would all stop to greet Gu Xiqiao. Su Wen started off being worried in the beginning, to being reassured, and finally to being numb. Wasn¡¯t her poprity a little high? To the point that she was loved by all?

    "Let¡¯s talk," Gu Xiqiao said, looking in the distance. There were rows of small tents by the creek, so she didn¡¯t go any further, finding another ce to start her practise, "You¡¯ve been nervous the whole time you were following me, why are you here?"

    Su Wen also started to go through the motions for his own practice.

    "I heard that Jia Wei was talking about you yesterday... I was worried about the vigers¡¯ reactions, so I followed you. I didn¡¯t expect for them to be so kind." Su Wen had been pleasantly surprised, he had woken up early in the morning, expecting to see the judgemental looks of the vigers, he didn¡¯t expect the vigers to be so friendly.

    Hearing that, Gu Xiqiaoughed lightly. "Did you think that we¡¯re like the people back in your city?"

    The people in the vige had been receiving Yu Man¡¯s blessing since they were young, when Gu Xiqiao grew up and learned a little from Yu Man, she would be the one to nurse the vigers when they had headaches or fevers in Yu Man¡¯s absence. Yu Man had wrestled countless people back from the hands of death, the numbers could possibly even reach hundreds, and there were many people who came here especially in admiration of her. In order to repay her, those people had sent all kinds of valuables, but the majority of them had been rejected by Yu Man.

    The vigers were well aware of this. Not only that, this child was beautiful, obedient, and well-behaved. Even if they were out of their minds, they wouldn¡¯t doubt the child who they had watched grow up with their own eyes.

    If you were to ask them, they would say, Little Gu was such a wonderful child. A luxury car? What about it? She deserves that and even more.

    Listening to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, Su Wen blushed, his movements turning sluggish, "I was just worried."

    "Wrong," Gu Xiqiao said, narrowing her eyes as she watched Su Wen¡¯s movements.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, but dropped her hands and walked to his side. Two pale fingers came out to adjust his stance, "Your punching movement is wrong, you don¡¯t have enough strength. The angle of your arm needs to be wider in order to exert more force, and when you punch, the palm should be facing upward..."

    Su Wen followed her instructions robotically, his mind nk as he could only focus on the feel of her shallow breathing, and her ivory white face. Looking a little closer, her facial features really were very delicate, untainted by even a speck of dust.

 Chapter 105 Su Wen

    After pointing out a few more obvious mistakes, with Gu Xiqiao nudging him and changing his stance, Su Wen started up his practice again, and he froze.

    This set of techniques was taught to him by Tang Qinghong a few days ago, and since he knew that the things Young Master Tang taught were always useful things, he practiced hard even though he didn¡¯t understand the essence of it. But just as Gu Xiqiao had said, the punches he threw were as soft as cotton, and were very flowery. If it wasn¡¯t for his overly trusting nature toward Tang Qinghong, he would have felt that this entire thing was a lie.

    However, when he stared up again this time, there was a burst of wind that appeared from his fist. Those sluggish and uncertain moves didn¡¯t appear again, and he felt his arms and legs fill with seemingly endless energy.

    "This set of techniques is a good thing, don¡¯t just go through the motions, learn to understand the meaning behind them," Gu Xiqiao said, breaking a branch off. "When you have learnt it properly, everything your hand can reach can be used as a weapon."

    She struck out suddenly, the branch in her palm winding smoothly like a snake. She exerted her full strength, tightly knitted motions that even the wind couldn¡¯t get through, the wind rustling in his ears. Watching the scene in front of him, Su Wen felt like he understood what the martial arts saying of ¡¯Gun like a swimming dragon, stick like a whirlwind¡¯ meant!

    Nobody would imagine the fierce technique she was disying was the same soft one that he had been practicing a while ago. If he didn¡¯t see it with his own eyes, he wouldn¡¯t have believed it either!

    [Beauty Qiao, you actually taught him yourself.] The system spirit gave her a re. [You didn¡¯t teach Xiao Yun and the others personally!]

    Gu Xiqiao slowed down gradually, tossing the branch away casually, ¡¯That¡¯s because I couldn¡¯t find the right opportunity.¡¯ But in fact, it was because she had be fond of Su Wen.

    It took a while before Su Wen came back to reality, and he looked at Gu Xiqiao in slight shock, his eyes burning. "Will I be able to do the same in the future?"

    "It depends on your diligence and aptitude," Gu Xiqiao said, ncing at him, "If your aptitude is crap, then I can¡¯t help you there."

    "..." Thatment pierced right through his heart.

    At any rate, he felt slightly relieved, he had benefited quite a bit from this, and Su Wen returned to the creek area with an uplifted spirit. It wasn¡¯t even seven o¡¯clock yet, and most of the people weren¡¯t up. There was only Jia Wei who was up and about at the creek, being that she had gotten up early and was busy preparing breakfast.

    A girl around the age of twenty, young and beautiful, hard-working and virtuous, she should be the ideal partner in the eyes of many people.

    The smile on Su Wen¡¯s face slid off slowly as he looked at Jia Wei who was busy, and his eyes darkened. After thinking for a while, he walked toward his own tent, but when he reached it, he paused outside. He hadn¡¯t slept in the tent yesterday night, and the tent should be undisturbed, but the p of the tent was not closed, someone must have touched it.

    "Brother Su, you¡¯re back!" Jia Wei turned her head when she saw Su Wen, handing him a bottle of mineral water that she was holding, giving him a bright smile. "Have a drink first, the fish porridge is almost done. I¡¯ll go and wake everyone up."

    "You¡¯re so lucky, Young Master Su," A boy who had just woken up and stumbled upon the scene said, as he yawned. "Beautiful, gentle, kind, why don¡¯t I have the chance to have this too!"

    "Don¡¯t say anything like that in the future," The boy had been joking of course, but Su Wen replied with a stern and serious expression.

    Generally, when a guy is in this situation and would not ept the girl, they wouldn¡¯t embarrass her in front of others. Jia Wei hadn¡¯t walked far yet, and when she heard Su Wen¡¯s words, she couldn¡¯t help the smile that appeared on her face.

    When she left the area, the boy looked at Su Wen with clear disapproval. "Is it really okay to treat a girl like that?"

    "That attitude of yours of ignoring, not rejecting and not exining yourself is called being a scum," Su Wen said, giving him a nce before taking a water bottle out from his own tent. "Don¡¯t give false hope to others."

    "Bah, it was just a joke, why are you so serious about it?" The boy stole a look at Jia Wei, who was washing her hands, "It¡¯s just a fact when I said she¡¯s beautiful, her temper is good too, and she¡¯s got high standards but little ability to choose. There are so many other guys in the school but she ain¡¯t interested in any of them, but she chose to be interested in you? Didn¡¯t she ever think that you¡¯re way out of her league?"

    Su Wen let out another sigh. "And you wonder why I call you scum?"

    "Alright, whatever you say then." The boy waved his hand dismissively, taking his towel to the stream.

    Because he had gotten up early, Su Wen had already washed up, and now he felt even more refreshed, so he sat under the tree and had a look at the map, nning the day¡¯s itinerary.

    Before he could finish his nning, he felt a shadow cast over him. Su Wen raised his head and found himself looking at Tang Qinghong, who had appeared in front of him. He stood up in a hurry, packing the map away as he greeted him, "Young Master Tang."

    Tang Qinghong responded half-heartedly, he pursed his lips, looking at nothing in particr for a while before asking, "When are you guys nning to leave?"

    "I¡¯m not sure, ording to the original schedule, we were going to be here for half a month." Su Wen recalled yesterday night¡¯s matter, and knew what Tang Qinghong was worried about. "Anyway, you and Miss Gu are here, so I¡¯m not afraid."

    "It¡¯s not a question of whether you¡¯re afraid or not," Tang Qinghong said, frowning, "Try to leave earlier if possible."

    "Understood, Young Master Tang." Su Wen said, nodding his head, he wouldn¡¯t disregard the safety of other people.

    As the two were talking on that side of the creek, the others in the tents had woken up and were washing and ying in the stream. Jia Wei noticed the two of them, and asked the girl beside her in a low voice, "Who is that person, he has such a strong presence, and it looks like Brother Su really respects that person?"

    The girl squinted slightly, looking at Jia Wei for a little while before smiling suddenly, pointing her finger toward the sky. "I only know it¡¯s someone from the Imperial Capital, Brother Su had warned us in the beginning to not provoke that person, and I¡¯m not sure who he is. Do you see the watch that he¡¯s wearing? It¡¯s from a brand called Patek Philippe, and it¡¯s a custom made model. The manufacturer only makes one each year, and it also depends on their mood. Even if the king of Ennd wanted one, he would need to wait. I suppose you can imagine what kind of person he is from that."

    Jia Wei¡¯s eyes sparkled brightly as she turned her head, her eyes trained on the man who was standing with Su Wen. His person was elegant and graceful in his actions, and every part of him was wless. In terms of appearance, Su Wen couldn¡¯tpare to him at all. She had seen all kinds of beauty in the Imperial Capital, but none of them could measure up to this stunning person.

    The girl saw the thoughts clearly disyed on Jia Wei¡¯s face, and her lips curled up into a cold sneer. After washing her face, she purposely took out her expensive cosmetics in front of her and applied it on her face. "Don¡¯t look anymore, that¡¯s not someone you can reach no matter how much you dream of him."

    "You!" Jia Wei snapped her head back to look at the girl, trembling with anger, but not saying anything. She then just watched the girl leave with cold eyes.

    "Do you feel dissatisfied about what she said? Unwilling to ept it? Jealous? She¡¯s not as good looking as you, and not as smart either, but she¡¯s from a wealthy family and with just that, she has got the better of you."

    Jia Wei looked up, and Bao Xinyi was standing in front of her. She was taken aback for a moment. "Xinyi, why would you say that?"

    "Jia Wei, you can deceive others, but you can¡¯t lie to me. What did you dost night, sneaking around?" Bao Xinyi¡¯s tone was taunting, tossing a small bottle at her. "We¡¯re going to the butterfly valley today, this is yourst chance."

    Jia Wei looked at the bottle in her hands for a while, before turning around to look at Su Wen, gnawing on her lips as she clutched the bottle closer to her chest.

    ***

    When Shi Tou went to look for Gu Xiqiao, she was sitting on the stone bench, drinking a bottle of milk. Herptop was still on the stone table, and his eyes lit up at the sight of it. "Sister Gu!"

    "Go ahead and y," Gu Xiqiao said, pointing to another bottle of milk that was on the table, gesturing for him to drink it. "I¡¯ll be drying herbs."

    The games on theputer were ones that Shi Tou had not yed before, so he had a lot of questions, and was even more chatty than usual. He asked questions after questions, and Gu Xiqiao was patient with him, answering each and every one of them.

    When Shi Tou encountered something he didn¡¯t understand, she would calmly teach him. She stood beside Shi Tou, leaning over to look at the screen, her face glowing with content, eyes filled with warmth, and a gentle smile on her face.

    Tang Qinghong stood at the door, watching the scene in a stupor for a long while before regaining his senses. He had known her for just a few days, but when he faced her, she always had an indifferent look on her face, and he had never seen this expression on her face before.

    Not long after he had arrived, Gu Xiqiao noticed his presence. She nced at him, and then turned away, an indifferent expression sliding back onto her face.

    Sigh, he was once again being disliked! Tang Qinghong sighed lightly.

    Gu Xiqiao had nned to rest properly today, and to iste herself at night in the void space, not intending to leave it if she didn¡¯t get a breakthrough in her ancient martial arts. So after she had given Aunt Li her acupuncture treatment, she decided to apany Shi Tou to y games. Then she took a nap in the afternoon, until evening when the system spirit woke her up with an alert.

    [Random Mission activated: Rescue Su Wen!]

    [Missionpletion rewards: 50 points!]

    She was startled at the mission description. "Su Wen?"

    The system spirit rolled its eyes. [He fell into a trap and got drugged, he¡¯s in the butterfly valley about two kilometers away. Do you want to buy a teleport item, Beauty Qiao?]

    "Buy it, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll reach there toote if I don¡¯t." Now that she knew the situation, she was also slightly speechless, but it was still important to save people now.

    Gu Xiqiao informed Shi Tou that she was heading out, before finding a secluded area. She snapped her fingers, and was gone the next second.

    ***

    At the same time, Su Wen was lying in a cave somewhere in the butterfly valley, his face was flushed red as he groaned from time to time, and the person who was beside him was Jia Wei!

    Jia Wei was looking at Su Wen, her fingers trembling as she unbuttoned her shirt determinedly. But in the next second, she blinked and realized that there was an extra presence in front of her, and she lifted her head in a hurry. She was met with a cold pair of eyes, and her heart almost jumped up to her throat.

    "Gu Xiqiao, how are you here!" She hissed, gritting her teeth as she buttoned up her shirt.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. "I¡¯m here to save you from making a miserable mistake while being lost on the road of life."

    Jia Wei stood up, facing Gu Xiqiao with a defensive expression. "Get lost, I don¡¯t need you to care!"

    "Don¡¯t need me to care?" Gu Xiqiao snorted angrily, "Are you even aware of what you¡¯re doing? Are you sure he won¡¯t kill you after he wakes up?"

    "I know what I¡¯m doing," Jia Wei said, adjusting her clothes after she had put it on properly, leveling a re at her. "Gu Xiqiao, now that you¡¯re rich, are you looking down on me? What, you can do it, but I can¡¯t? I won¡¯t lose to you!"

    "Jia Wei, you¡¯re insane!" Gu Xiqiao had never seen Jia Wei behave this way, in all her twenty years of both her lives, "No matter how it is, you require mutual consent to do anything. If you do this, you won¡¯t benefit anything from it!"

    "You¡¯re being so righteous about it, but if you were me, would you let this opportunity go?! I..." Jia Wei trailed off, her eyes closing suddenly as she fell in a faint.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed, dusting her hands off. "As expected, a bit of violence is required when dealing with a mad person."

    Having taken care of Jia Wei, she turned to Su Wen. There was sweat breaking out on his forehead, the flush on his face unusually red as he groaned. She let out another sigh, lifting him up easily and disappearing with a wave of her hand.

    When she reappeared, it was by a river. She casually flicked her hands, and Su Wen was thrown into the river without much thought.

    [Beauty Qiao, can you be more a bit more gentle and feminine?] Carrying someone just like that was really an epitome of a barbarian.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled warmly. "I¡¯m afraid that if I do that, you would puke."

    System: Just remain the way you are, that¡¯s better.

    Seeing Su Wen struggling in the river, the system spirit silently lit a candle in remembrance for him. Gu Xiqiao clearly had the antidote in her hands, but she didn¡¯t use it, instead throwing him into the river. It felt its heart fill with sympathy for him, and it wasn¡¯t a really pleasant feeling now, was it?

    "Find the source," Gu Xiqiao said, snapping her fingers again, and she disappeared.

    ***

    Bao Xinyi was standing not far from the cave during this time, holding her phone as she approached the cave slowly. As she took another step forward, she was met with a branch, and a cold voice by her ear. She spun around, and saw Gu Xiqiao, her eyes widening in horror, "Why are you here?!"

    "That day in the hospital, I held myself back a lot before deciding to let you off. I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d be so reckless, rushing headfirst into meeting your death!" Gu Xiqiao said, giving her a sharp smile. Her gorgeously delicate face was stiff, and you could practically feel the chill radiating from her, even Bao Xinyi had a bad feeling when she looked at her.

    "What are you talking about?" She said, looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction, but not daring to meet her eyes.

    With a wave, Bao Xinyi fell to the ground. Gu Xiqiao walked to her side, looking down at her. "Did you really think I don¡¯t know what you have on you? I don¡¯t care if you scheme against others, but don¡¯t touch any of us, you got unlucky today!"

    She gathered chi into her eyes, and she saw that Jia Wei, who was lying on the ground, was covered in ayer of condensed ck mist. This was the first time she had seen such a situation, a person being possessed by a malicious aura.

    "You!" Bao Xinyi hauled herself up, a fierce re in her eyes.

    "What are you ring at!" Gu Xiqiao shot back, throwing a leaf from the branch, and Bao Xinyi staggered from the hit, falling to the ground again.

 Chapter 106 Forcing Her To This Exten

    The system spirit watched the one-sided battle, and shook its head. [Beauty Qiao, I feel like you¡¯re quite short-tempered recently.]

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Bao Xinyi who was lying unconscious on the ground, and kicked her a few times. When she confirmed there was no response, she returned to the river. "It¡¯s your imagination, I¡¯m just getting rid of things that are harmful to the vigers."

    She looked to see that Su Wen was graduallying around, and she left with a peace of mind.

    Gu Xiqiao was throwing the entire matter of the mountains issue to Tang Qinghong to settle, and since it was caused by him anyway, she didn¡¯t feel too guilty about it.

    Tang Qinghong was fishing Su Wen out of the water with a slightly resigned expression on his face. "You¡¯re really something."

    "I didn¡¯t even realize anything." Su Wen¡¯s face was still flushed, and he punched the ground with his fist, "It just happened suddenly, and I still don¡¯t understand how I was tricked. Don¡¯t let me see her face ever again!"

    "I didn¡¯t want any of you to get involved in this initially... Jia Wei is still in the cave. I¡¯ll take Bao Xinyi away," Tang Qinghong said, sighing. "I¡¯ll exin the matter to youter. For now, just take Jia Wei back."

    The two exchanged a few more words, and Tang Qinghong left.

    ***

    Returning to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s yard, he was about to head upstairs to look for Gu Xiqiao, but found the door to be locked tight. Tang Qinghong stood outside the door, thinking about how it was likely that she was avoiding him deliberately. Knowing that she definitely thought that he had overstepped his boundaries, he knew there was nothing else he could have done.

    But seeing the rough way that Gu Xiqiao had treated Su Wen in the afternoon, Tang Qinghong felt that she treated him rtively more gentlypared to that. It was most probably due to his rtionship with Tang Yanling.

    His room was very simple, a table, a bed, aputer, and a diagram that seemed to be the Eight Trigram on the middle of the floor.

    Tang Qinghong first walked around the Eight Trigram diagram, and after making sure there was nothing unusual, he turned on theputer. He logged into the exclusive forum that was avable in the ancient martial arts world, and started to report to the moderator on the incident today, and the more recent strange happenings. He hesitated a little on the option of whether he needed assistance, but ultimately decided before clicking on ¡¯No¡¯.

    The people from the ancient martial arts world were different from ordinary people. In today¡¯s era, the people who learn ancient martial arts were few and far between, but there were many things in the world that were impossible for normal people to solve, and it required someone from the ancient martial arts world to handle it. Therefore, there was a forum that was moderated by the ancient martial arts world, with the intention to manage the martial artists. The tasks that they took on could be exchanged for points, and the points could be exchanged for treasures or money that would benefit them.

    The ones behind the Huaguo Forum are the three major ancient martial arts families that remain, and that was also the reason why no one dared to cause any problems on site. However, the three major families were not very concerned with small matters such as this, only the smaller, less known martial artists who werecking resources would choose toplete the tasks in order to gain points and exchange items.

    Tang Qinghong was not concerned about the points or treasures, what he was concerned about was the moderator behind the forum. No matter how arrogant he was, he knew that he couldn¡¯t measure up to the person who had been sitting on the top of the Ranking List for the ten consecutive years. But now, the opportunity was present, if he had enough points, he would be able to enter the Jiang family¡¯s legacy base!

    Tang Qinghong was even more determined in his decision, that person had risen to the top of the Ranking List after he had exited the legacy base, and everyone started specting that there was some big secret in the Jiang family¡¯s legacy base. No matter what happens, he needed to try going in at least once to see for himself.

    The qualifyingpetition that was held once every three years was about to begin, he didn¡¯t have much time remaining.

    Taking a deep breath, he nced at the Eight Trigram diagram on the floor, and felt even more anxious after counting the days. The best time to move would be two days from now.

    He had found the solution to the problem, and had recovered at least 50% of his chi. He didn¡¯t need to look very hard for the solution anyway, there were many formations and spells on the forum specifically used to deal with vengeful spirits. Most of these formations were left there by the moderator, and they were very practical. There were manyments left by the people who have used it, and all of them were full of praise, just that certain amount of points needed to be used to exchange for it.

    He had gone into the city to buy the necessary items for the formations a few days ago, and also happened to run into Gu Xiqiao who had just returned.

    After so many thoughts, Tang Qinghong finally got ready for bed. He had been patrolling the mountain area to ensure that nothing would go wrong, and had covered all his bases.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao returning here, the vigers would have all moved away. But now that she was here, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to arrange an istion array with her abilities. Otherwise, the vigers would need to be evacuated and leave this area to be purgatory. However, he didn¡¯t want that to happen, and that would be thest resort.

    ***

    For the past two days, Gu Xiqiao had note out from her room at all, and the door remained tightly locked. Shi Tou was also obedient, not bothering her.

    Tang Qinghong hesitated as he looked at the closed door, wondering if he should knock on it or not.

    Just when he was still pondering about it, the door opened by itself.

    Gu Xiqiao stretched her arms upwardszily, after several days (years) of not seeing the sun, she felt like it had been a lifetime since she hade out. When she noticed Tang Qinghong, she shocked him by giving him a warm smile. "Morning."

    "...morning."

    Her eyes were sparkling and clear, while her skin was smooth and wless, coupled with the beautiful smile on her face, Tang Qinghong was stunned for at least two minutes in the early morning by her beauty.

    When he finally came to, she had already gone downstairs.

    Tang Qinghong immediately followed after her, Su Wen was dealing with Jia Wei¡¯s affairs, and he hadn¡¯t returned for a few days, so there were only the two of them in the house. "I¡¯ve counted and today is the best day to move."

    "Sure." Gu Xiqiao nodded, not asking further. After spending so much time in the virtual space, her ancient martial arts skill had sessfully advanced. "I¡¯m going to take care of something first, wait for me toe back."

    Li Yanmei¡¯s house was just beside hers, and she didn¡¯t want them to be dragged into this, so she asked Li Yanmei to take them out to town for the day.

    When she returned, Tang Qinghong was ready. He was standing in the middle of the yard, measuring the positions, and there were many things on the stone table.

    Gu Xiqiao closed the door quietly, she didn¡¯t know what the hell he was doing.

    "I will bait the thing out from underground, while you seal off the yard to avoid any idents from happening to the other people," Tang Qinghong said as he looked at the sun in the sky, before turning to give Gu Xiqiao a grave look. "I don¡¯t know exactly what it is underground, so if I can¡¯t handle it, you have to strengthen the formation while I get help."

    He squeezed the jade charm in his hand.

    "I will," Gu Xiqiao said, and gestured with both her hands. Eight pieces of jade appeared around her body, her chi surging out in an instant.

    Tang Qinghong looked up to observe the whirlpool of energy circting in the air, and he looked at Gu Xiqiao with an unreadable expression. Living in the same age as all these monsters, it was really one surprise after another. "It¡¯s just been a few days, you¡¯ve advanced?!"

    "I feared that I wouldn¡¯t be able to beat this thing," Gu Xiqiao said, and with just a thought in her mind, the jade was divided into many pieces, scattering across the yard, "And so I advanced."

    Just as she said that, the space in the yard was distorted for a moment, and a dense mist filled the area. Tang Qinghong was still stuck on the words that Gu Xiqiao had said, she advanced because she was afraid she couldn¡¯t beat it? Did she think that advancing was as simple as eating or drinking, that you could have it when you want it? Unlike them, who could only advance their level when the opportunities were presented to them, or when they had a chance to obtain a treasure to assist them?

    For the first time, he experienced the feeling of jealousy. "Don¡¯t say anymore."

    Having said that, he looked at the space around him, astonishment on his face. "Is this Small Universe? A self-contained space?"

    "That¡¯s right, so stop talking and let¡¯s get started!" Gu Xiqiao stepped aside, leaving the field to him.

    ¡¯System, I feel that something bad will happen.¡¯ She thought as she watched Tang Qinghong¡¯s movement without blinking.

    [Don¡¯t worry, Beauty Qiao. You¡¯ve learned so much in the virtual space, it will definitely be of use. If not, you just need to wait for Jiang Shuxuan toe.]

    Tang Qinghong¡¯s expression was solemn. After arranging everything, the ground beneath them started to tremble, wisps of ck smoke leaking out continuously, and the air got heavier to the point it was hard to breathe. "Careful."

    He stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, gathering a concentrated amount of chi into a small football size ball on his palm. The ck chi in front of them continued to twist and turn, until a ck bird appeared, and then the ck mist gradually faded.

    The ck bird seemed to still be asleep, and at first nce, it looked like an ordinary ck crow. It was trapped in Tang Qinghong¡¯s formation, and looked to be harmless.

    [Beauty Qiao! Hurry! The Slumber formation and the Nine Pce Eight Trigram array! This is a phoenix that has been growing inside the malicious aura since it was born!] The system spirit eximed in horror suddenly. [You absolutely cannot let it escape! Tang Qinghong is right, if it gets out, this entire ce will be purgatory on earth!]

    The moment the system spirit had spoken, Gu Xiqiao had started drawing the pattern with her hands. The Slumber formation was one that she had learned recently, while the Nine Pce Eight Trigram was during the time she was kidnapped. When the two formations were interlinked, the entire space would be sealed off. She would then be the core, and as long as she doesn¡¯t fall, nothing would be able to escape this ce!

    The eyes of the ck bird opened suddenly, and it spread its wings to take flight. Tang Qinghong bit his lips as he strengthened his own formations, throwing the ball of chi in the bird¡¯s direction at the same time.

    With a resounding ¡¯bang¡¯, the bird slowed down its movements. After the mass of chi had impacted, there were only a few feathers that were blown off, while the rest of it remained unscathed. The ck bird turned its head slowly, staring at Tang Qinghong with its blood-red eyes, and then it opened its mouth to spit out a stream of scorching ck mes.

    Tang Qinghong didn¡¯t have any information on the bird¡¯s abilities, and a thickyer of chi appeared in front of him, serving as a shield. The mes were obstructed by theyer of chi, but it was also spreading slowly to the side.

    "It¡¯s a phoenix, you can¡¯t charge headfirst into this without a n!" Gu Xiqiao said as she walked to his side with a grim expression on her face. If she pushed herself hard enough, she could probably find a way to handle it. However, she wasn¡¯t alone here, and there were a lot of ordinary people around here that she couldn¡¯t just ignore.

    Gu Xiqiao received the solution from the system spirit, and she turned to Tang Qinghong. "Buy me some time, at least ten minutes, I¡¯ve got a way to handle it."

    "Leave it to me," Tang Qinghong said, concentrating on dealing with the bird.

    No matter what, he was still a descendent from an ancient martial arts family, and naturally had various protection tools on him. He wouldn¡¯t feel any grieve from using them.

    Now that she was free, Gu Xiqiao took the bamboo tube out from her inventory, which immediately floated in the air. She started drawing patterns in the air with both hands, herplexion getting paler, and the corners of her lips slowly leaking blood, her hair whipping around even without the presence of the wind. Fair face, ck hair, red blood, the beauty of the image she was disying was simply breathtaking.

    "Out of the way!" Gu Xiqiao eximed after ten minutes.

    Tang Qinghong retreated to her side, reaching his hand out to throw another ball of energy. He had sustained quite a lot of injuries, there were ashes and dirt on his face, and even his clothes had been singed. He had initially thought it was just a mass of vengeful spirits, who would have expected a fully formed phoenix!

    ***

    In the office of the N City base, the man sitting on the sofa reading a book paused in his actions, the paper crane on his shoulder dropped its head suddenly, instantly disintegrating.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood up, his eyes wide and rmed. He quickly walked to the window, looking out in the distance towards the north where a surging mass of profound energy could be seen, looking exactly the same as thest time he saw it. His lips pursed tightly, his lean fingers gripping the jade that hung on his neck. In the next moment, he disappeared.

    Yin Shaoyuan, who just opened the door: ...sometimes I really feel this person just likes to show off! Show off!

    ***

    Baixing Vige was a calm sight, and no one was aware of the intense battle that was ongoing in the small courtyard.

    Gu Xiqiao had already reached thest part of her array, but she was also serving as the core of the formations that she had previously drawn up, and her chi was depleted. If this went on, neither of them would win this battle. Blood rushed out from her throat, flowing down the corner of her mouth, and she wiped at it subconsciously.

    "Even though I really didn¡¯t want to use this trick, you¡¯re such an annoyance." Gu Xiqiao focused her chi that she was using to protect the center, staring unblinkingly at the phoenix that started to feel a stab of fear. Her lips stretched into a smile, her pale lips red with blood which gave a terrifying sight.

    Her eyes were starting to dim, and everything was gradually getting blurry. However, she was Gu Xiqiao, someone who could stand tall during the toughest times, and she couldn¡¯t fall.

    There was a gust of wind that blew past her ear, and Gu Xiqiao struggled to keep her eyes open. Before she could see clearly, her eyes were covered by another hand, and then, nothingness.

    "Forcing her to this extent, you¡¯re really something else," A deep voice rumbled,pletely devoid of emotion.

    A figure appeared suddenly in the space, his figure was tall and elegant, a pair of bottomless onyx eyes on his delicate face, his entire person was shrouded in an icy snow aura, making it hard for people to meet his eyes.

    He looked at the burning small bird like he was looking at dirt, and he reached out to grab the bird in his palm. If he exerted a little force, it would disappear immediately, "And so, you will disappear."

    Tang Qinghong, who was lying at the side, finally snapped out of his daze, "Wait, that¡¯s a phoenix!"

    "I¡¯ll deal with youter." A clear voice sounded out, and although it was said in a t tone, Tang Qinghong shivered slightly from it.

    Jiang Shuxuan ignored him then, raising his hand slightly, a de of ice and frost appeared in it. He drove it through the bird, pinning it to the ground. The blood-red eyes of the bird slowly returned to a more normal color, and it opened its mouth, a trace of human emotions in its sluggish eyes, "My lord, please spare my life!"

    "She exhausted her powers in order to preserve you, I¡¯ll spare you for the moment," Jiang Shuxuan said, his eyes that were trained on the small bird were full of displeasure, "If she¡¯s hurt in any way, I will make sure you burn till nothing but ashes is left!"

    Indifferent eyes swept towards the vengeful spirit with a half-formed human shape, the other half still within the bamboo tube that belonged to Gu Xiqiao. If he had been even a secondte, she would have burned up the remainder of her life to seal it back.

    Raising his hand slightly, pieces of sharp icicles appeared on his fingertips.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    The vengeful spirit, including the bamboo tube that was floating in the air, everything was reduced to smoke. "Why would you keep these things that will harm you?"

    He lowered his head, the beautiful face with vividly clear eyes that should have been filled with life were closed tightly, her lips were stained with blood, and her face was as pale as paper. Her slender brows were knitted together, and even in her unconscious state, she was not at peace.

    Jiang Shuxuan was outraged, the icicles appearing at his fingertips once again, and the eyes of the bird, who was pinned to the ground, widened in horror.

    The shards pierced through its left wing, fresh blood spraying out from the wounds.

 Chapter 107 Is He Looking For You?

    Jiang Shuxuan carried Gu Xiqiao in his arms as he walked the steps up. He hadn¡¯t been here before, but he could urately pinpoint her room. cing her on the bed, he gently pressed his palm on her forehead.

    He removed his hand after a moment, taking a step back. Seeing that some color had started to return to her face, he felt some relief course through him.

    Heading downstairs, the interlinked formations that Gu Xiqiao drew had disappeared the moment she went upstairs. Tang Qinghong had managed to crawl up from the ground, and he was sitting on the stone bench in the yard, looking at the door in a slight daze.

    "Why didn¡¯t you ask for assistance?" Jiang Shuxuan said as he raised his hand, sending the scattered medical materials in the yard back to its original ces.

    Tang Qinghong stood up immediately, not daring to look at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face. "It was my oversight."

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Nonsense! Go back and receive your punishment!"

    ncing up at the second floor, Tang Qinghong pursed his lips, but could only reluctantly reply, "Understood."

    He stood there for a while, watching as Jiang Shuxuan cleared up the mess in the yard, putting everything back in its ce and making sure everything was neat. He smiled bitterly, who would have thought, the member of the Jiang family who was standing at the peak of the world would actually lower himself to perform these trivial tasks?

    A fifteen-year-old boy that had participated in the qualifyingpetition for the Ranking List and had soared high into the sky. Now, ten yearster, he still dominated the top spot, and even the masters of the older generations didn¡¯t dare topete with him.

    Letting out another sigh, he thought it was sad to be living in the same generation as these monsters, he didn¡¯t even have the courage topete against them.

    Tang Qinghong left quietly, and no one except Jiang Shuxuan knew where he had gone.

    Jiang Shuxuan went around the second floor, clearing up the room that Tang Qinghong had been living in, before taking out his phone to make a call. Three hourster, he looked at the redecorated room and felt the distressing feeling that was gripping his heart fade into nothingness.

    Gu Xiqiao slept for two days, and on the third day, she finally opened her eyes to see a person sitting by her window, reading a book.

    The golden rays of the sun shone on him, casting a majestic glow on the elegant figure, his smooth face looking like it had been carved from ice. Although he was sitting casually, it was hard to deny the natural grace and noble vibe that exuded from him.

    Her longshes fluttered slightly, and Gu Xiqiao pulled herself up, rubbing at her eyes. The figure was still there, and she murmured under her breath, "So it wasn¡¯t a dream."

    Hearing the shuffling movement, Jiang Shuxuan ced his book down, lifting his head to look at her. This is the first time the two had seen each other clearly after a while, and the body that he had carefully taken care of seemed to have shrunk again. He rubbed his temples helplessly. "Are you hungry?"

    "Oh," Gu Xiqiao responded without much thought, her brain still processing. "I¡¯ll take a bath first."

    "Alright, I¡¯ll wait downstairs for you," Jiang Shuxuan said. He had kept a pot of soup warm downstairs, in case she woke up.

    Seeing him walk towards the door and about to leave, Gu Xiqiao finally snapped out of her daze. "Brother Jiang."

    Jiang Shuxuan turned slightly, his face still expressionless, but his tone was warm when he spoke, "Yes?"

    "I just wanted to call your name," Gu Xiqiao said, and after thinking for a while, she climbed down the bed and walked to him. Stretching out her left hand, she ced it on his chest, a warmth pulse underneath her palm. She could feel the strength of his heart beating, a beat after another, strong and powerful, just like she heard when she had fallen unconscious, it inexplicably put her at ease.

    Ink ck eyes looked at her as Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head slightly, staring into the white porcin face, the elegant arch of her brows, and eyes that sparkled like stars. Unable to resist, his hand came up to hold the hand that was on his chest.

    He finally understood, when there is someone who has a hold on your heart in the world, you would feel pain the moment there was a crease on their face.

    "I¡¯ll head down and heat up the soup for you. Once you¡¯re done,e on down and drink some, hm?" He leaned down to embrace her, and although he was reluctant to leave the warmth, he released her almost immediately. She hadn¡¯t eaten for two days, and was hungry, food was more important.

    Jiang Shuxuan went down, and lingered at the bottom of the stairs for a while, rubbing his fingers together, it was still such a pity.

    Gu Xiqiao watched the figure disappear from the doorway, and a smile stretched on her face after a while. The question that she had been pondering on for what seemed like forever finally had an answer, and her mood was good as she grabbed her clothes to head for the shower downstairs.

    [Beauty Qiao,] The system spirit said, after being ignored the whole time.

    "Has this part of the chain mission beenpleted?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she walked into the bathroom. Turning the shower on, the room was soon filled with mist.

    Hearing the question, the system spirit¡¯s eyes lit up, [Hehe, there¡¯s a few thousand points from it.]

    "So predictable, go ahead and upgrade then."

    [Roger that, Beauty Qiao. I need three days to upgrade, wait for me toe back then!] Saying that, the system spirit disappeared into silence.

    In the past few days of taking care of Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan had spent the time sweeping through various ces of the vige that had vengeful spirits. Although these were small problems, he was unnerved and didn¡¯t feel like leaving it for her to deal with it.

    "The bird is still in the yard, and it¡¯ll follow you from now on," Jiang Shuxuan said when he saw that she was almost done with her soup.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him in surprise. "Follow me?"

    "You¡¯re a person of great merit, and the Vermillion Bird is one of the four great spirits of the skies. Now that it has started to be contaminated by the vengeful spirits, the southern constetion mansions are in an unstable state. Having it by your side would reassure me."

    "The Vermilion Bird of the South is represented by seven mansions, well, ghost, willow, star, extended, wings, and chariot. With the Vermilion Bird being corrupted, the stars are unstable, which is a bad omen."

    There is always no doubt about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, and Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. "It really is the Vermilion Bird?"

    She had always thought that the Vermillion Bird depicted in ancient mythology was just a myth, she never thought that she would see it one day with her own eyes.

    Jiang Shuxuan chuckled lightly, his face holding a warm expression and a gentle smile. "Everything is born of heaven and earth, the existence of the Vermillion Bird is definitely not a myth, but a fact."

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t really understand it all, if she were honest, but she went out to look at the little bird. The mythical Vermilion Bird was nailed down into a corner, and though only two days had passed, the feathers that were previously ck had changed, bing a ming red color. The feathers were sleek and fiery red, shining brightly under the sunlight, looking as though it would burst into mes at any time.

    "It changed color." Gu Xiqiao reached down to flick its head, "But what happened to its wing?"

    The blood on the left wing was still fresh and wet, and it looked to be quite a serious injury.

    "Master," The Vermilion Bird lowered its head when it saw Gu Xiqiao walking over, crying out pitifully,pletely different from two days ago.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at it, a white light shed in his hands and the Vermilion Bird was released instantly. He ruthlessly exposed its true colors. "Don¡¯t be fooled by it, the injury is not as bad as it looks."

    The Vermilion Bird who had been exposed: Life is already difficult, why must you be so bitterly insistent on making it worse?

    Compared to the words of the bird that had tried to kill her, Gu Xiqiao was more inclined to believe Jiang Shuxuan. "Will it have to follow me consistently?"

    "Naturally."

    "Then I can¡¯t be calling it Vermilion Bird all the time. There is already a Haha in the house, so let¡¯s call you Xixi." Gu Xiqiao decided, snapping her fingers in triumph.

    Xixi? Xixi! What kind of stupid name was that! The Vermilion Bird realized that it had to protect its own dignity, and opened its mouth, "My name is Aimi, Master."

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a while, before turning to Jiang Shuxuan. "Brother Jiang, is this really a bird? Could it possibly be a spirit that can turn into a human after some training?"

    Jiang Shuxuan grabbed the Vermilion Bird by its neck, and exined, "The Vermilion Bird is a long lived creature, although its intelligence is not high, it doesn¡¯t have any trouble speaking."

    "I see," Gu Xiqiao said, narrowing her eyes. She suddenly turned to look at the Vermilion Bird, giving it a bright smile. "Xixi, nice to meet you."

    "Aimi!"

    "Xixi."

    "Ai... Xixi understands." Xixi changed its tone immediately, after receiving a re from Jiang Shuxuan, obediently nodding its head at Gu Xiqiao.

    Jiang Shuxuan released the bird, and Xixi flew over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder. When itnded on her shoulders however, it was taken slightly aback. At first, he had agreed to be her pet unwillingly, due to the fear of Jiang Shuxuan, its heart was actually full of resentment at the turn of events.

    But now, standing on this person¡¯s shoulder, it could feel a steady stream of energy flowing into it, and it was full of vitality. Under this situation, it could also feel its strength slowly growing. Xixi¡¯s eyes widened, in that case, nothing would make it leave Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulders.

    "When will you be returning to N City?" She had stayed for a long time, and the things that she needed to do were already done. Which meant she should be returning soon, right?

    Gu Xiqiao tapped Xixi¡¯s head as she thought about it. "I¡¯ll go back for a bit, but then I have toe back here. I have to go to the county once more."

    Now that the problem in the vige has been solved, she should think about how to improve their lives and make it better. The mountain to the north would be the breakthrough point, but it didn¡¯t belong to the vigers, so she needed to head to the county to rent the mountain.

    Thinking about this, she gave a call to Mu Zong and proceeded to send messages to Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen. They had been kicking up a fuss and wanted toe to where she was, especially Xiao Yun, who was not as busy as Wu Hongwen, and took every opportunity to talk her ears off,pletely unlike the cold ice queen that she was known to be.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan apanied her to the county in the afternoon, and the car he was using here was a modest BMW, not the luxurious Bugatti.

    As for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s little pink car, she was trying her best not to use it if she could avoid it.

    The county was a bit far out from the vige, and Jiang Shuxuan was driving for forty minutes before they reached the government gates. When she was getting off the car, Gu Xiqiao stopped the other person who was about to follow her out. She feared that if she went in with him, everyone would forget what they were doing.

    It was afternoon, and the government building didn¡¯t have much. Gu Xiqiao informed them of her intentions, and the clerk at the entrance was chatting with other people, giving her a short nce before saying, "Wait."

    Ten minutester, Gu Xiqiao frowned slightly and patiently inquired again.

    The clerk was a thirty-year-old woman, ncing at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cowboy t-shirt, her tone was irritable. "I¡¯ve told you to wait, so wait. If you don¡¯t want to wait then get out, don¡¯t bother me doing work!"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled coldly at the show of this attitude. If this were N City, she would have lost her job already!

    It was pointless to get angry and argue with these types of people, so Gu Xiqiao stepped aside and pulled out her phone. After making a call, she spoke in a low voice to the other party.

    Seeing her do that, the clerk paid no more attention to her. In small ces like these, the government offices were filled with nepotism. Although she was just a small reception clerk, she naturally had some connections to the people on top. The connections were unclear to others, but usually nobody dared to cause any trouble or not get along with her. But today, there had to be this off-putting girl that appeared.

    Three minutester, a person came down from upstairs. The female clerk who had been busy chatting suddenly stopped, giving the middle-aged man who just came down a smile. "Secretary, where are you headed to?"

    The man ignored her, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a smile. "You must be Miss Gu. Apologies for the wait, let¡¯s go on up."

    After the both of them left, the female clerk was stunned. The phone in her hand rang, and she picked it up numbly, receiving the notice that she was fired.

    ***

    The procedure for renting a mountain was actually quite cumbersome, and it usually took a few days ofing and going for regr people, but Gu Xiqiao had only been sitting for about half an hour before the secretary handed her a stack of documents. "Before you arrived, I¡¯ve already prepared everything. Have a look at and let me know if there is anything wrong, and I will get it changed right away."

    Gu Xiqiao merely nced at it for a short while, then had read through the documents in detail. "It¡¯s perfect, thank you."

    "It¡¯s a small matter." The secretary walked her all the way to the gates, and waited until the ck BMW drove away and out of sight.

    The clerk was looking at him with a pale face. "Secretary, I..."

    "Why haven¡¯t you left yet?" The secretary said, frowning. "The first rule of our government is to serve the people, look at what you¡¯ve done! Hurry up and leave!"

    Serve the people? If anyone else heard these words, they would literallyugh themself to death. However, no one said anything, only whispering in low voices specting about who the girl that had just left was.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao held the government¡¯s permit and returned to Baixing Vige, taking a stroll around the north mountain, thinking on how to develop the ce. The whole time, Jiang Shuxuan was following her in silence, and there was only the sound of birds twittering.

    "Brother Jiang, when are you going back?" Gu Xiqiao asked, turning her head suddenly towards him.

    The trees in the mountain provided a decent amount of shade, and it was extraordinarily cool, but the unusual chill that was there a few days ago was absent.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached out a hand to pull her towards him, letting out a resigned sigh. "There are stones in front, careful. I¡¯m not in any hurry to return."

    "I was referring to the Imperial Capital, when are you heading back?" Gu Xiqiao raised her head to look at him, her clear eyes looking as though it could see through everything.

    "If there are no special matters that require my attention," Jiang Shuxuan said as he looked into her eyes, "Then I¡¯ll probably stay here."

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t ask about what was considered to be a special matter, and turned to ask other things instead.

    The two of them started talking about the ancient martial arts world, and when it came to this, Jiang Shuxuan held out a small wooden token to her. "Everyone in the ancient martial arts world has an identification, this is yours. The forum address is also on it, there are various things on there that you¡¯d be able to find answers to, otherwise, you can ask me."

    Receiving the wooden identification, Gu Xiqiao felt a rush of excitement from the novelty of it. There was even a forum, she never knew that the ancient martial art world was so organized. "Then let¡¯s head back immediately!"

    She couldn¡¯t wait to see what the ancient martial arts world had to offer her, it was all so new!

    "You go on ahead first, I¡¯ll head up to take a look," Jiang Shuxuan said as he nced at the mountain top, thinking that he wanted to draw another two formations to avoid any repeat incidents in the future.

    Gu Xiqiao thought for a while. "Then...I¡¯ll head down first?"

    "Go on," Jiang Shuxuan said, rubbing the top of her head gently, "I know you¡¯re curious."

    How could she not be? It was the magical ancient martial arts world! Gu Xiqiao took a step and vanished from his sight.

    However, she wasn¡¯t able to dive right into it. As when she reached the bottom, she bumped into Li Yanmei, who was washing vegetables by the creek. "Little Gu, you¡¯re finally back!"

    "Sister." Gu Xiqiao touched her nose as she stopped, "I haven¡¯t been able to give Aunt Li acupuncture for the past few days, right?"

    "That¡¯s a small matter, my mom¡¯s eating the medication that you prescribed. Where have you been these past two days? The yard was also closed, and those people are still at your house, I was worried that you were getting bullied," Li Yanmei said, concern shining through her eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart warmed at the tone of her concern. "I had something to do, and those people have already left my house, not to worry. I left mainly because I had something to do."

    "It¡¯s good if everything¡¯s fine then," Li Yanmei said, breathing a sigh of relief, "Come over tonight for dinner, I see you¡¯ve lost weight."

    "Tonight¡¯s no good, save the good food for Aunt Li, she injured her bones and will need to heal properly." If Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t around, she would definitely want to go.

    The two of them chatted for a while, Li Yanmei had a lot of vegetables to wash to make pickled cabbage, so Gu Xiqiao gave her a hand in carrying the baskets.

    Just as Li Yanmei turned to leave, she suddenly froze. Gu Xiqiao came up from the back, "What¡¯s wrong?"

    Seeing that she wasn¡¯t about to respond any time soon, Gu Xiqiao followed her line of sight.

    Li Yanmei had never seen such a stunning man before. Tang Qinghong was one, but he wasn¡¯t even two-tenths of the person that was standing before her. The man walking down the mountain path was glowing under the sun rays, his face strong and defined, his features seemingly molded from ice. He wore an indifferent expression on his face, though there was a hint of warmth in it.

    Li Yanmei could faintly see the aura he exuded, which was simr to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, only the aura from him gave off a feeling of being unapproachable.

    The man seemed to pause in his steps when he reached the bottom, his eyes ncing around beforending in their direction, and that was where he turned to head towards.

    Having seen the beauty that was Gu Xiqiao countless times, Li Yanmei was not dazzled too much by this man. She looked at the man, and her eyes widened. "Little Gu, is he looking for you?"

    "Probably," Gu Xiqiao said, touching her nose without saying anything after.

 Chapter 108 Start Work

    "Why are you still here?" Jiang Shuxuan walked over slowly and took the basket in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand.

    Gu Xiqiao chose to put Li Yanmei that still hadn¡¯t reacted aside for a moment because she felt that exining things was going nowhere, so she chose not to. "Brother Jiang, this is Li Yanmei. We grew up together and went to school together too in the past."

    The ink orbs turned over to look at Li Yanmei before he nodded politely. "Hello, Miss Li."

    Even though there wasn¡¯t much emotion in his words, it was easy to feel his sincerity. In contrast to people like Tang Qinghong that put on masks and facades, he didn¡¯t think of himself as a higher being in the slightest, humbling himself and cing everyone he talked to on the same level as him.

    "Hello, Mr. Jiang." While that was the case, Li Yanmei still didn¡¯t know how to react, because some people had naturally intimidating auras, regardless of their intent.

    Seeing that Li Yanmei still wasn¡¯t quite used to him, Jiang Shuxuangged behind them by a few steps and let the two girls walk in front of him, letting Li Yanmei rx and think about how the basket that looked so out of ce in his hands.

    Li Yanmei looked back again, before whispering to Gu Xiqiao, "Little Gu, this guy is not bad."

    Jiang Shuxuan was dressed tidily, polite, and every word he spoke was educated and dignified, thought Li Yanmei, racking her brain to think of the appropriate adjectives to describe him.

    After listening to her description, Gu Xiqiao paused for a bit before she nced at a certain someone in the back that had a strange smile at the corner of his mouth before she looked back at Li Yanmei with a serious expression. "Don¡¯t you think that he¡¯s as cold as ice, emotionless andpletely unapproachable?"

    "You think? He doesn¡¯t seem to be a talker, and he isn¡¯t very expressive, sure, but I think he¡¯s a good man..." Li Yanmei trailed off, before giggling as she suddenly realized that a certain Gu Xiqiao was being a tsundere. "Do you have any moreints about him, Little Gu?"

    A low chuckle came from behind them, and while it was almost unnoticeable, Gu Xiqiao still managed to pick it up, so she closed her mouth and didn¡¯t speak anymore.

    Thankfully, they arrived at their destination quickly, and Gu Xiqiao went upstairs to get theputer to check on the online forums.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat down by her side as she did so that he could answer any questions that she had.

    Gu Xiqiao typed the link into the address bar and pressed the enter key, and what popped up wasn¡¯t the ancient martial arts forum but instead a login page. No one would be able to enter this website without a member¡¯s ID, and her ID was written on the identification que that Jiang Shuxuan had given her.

    Gu Xiqiao quickly registered an ount with the name ¡¯For A Millenium¡¯, before clicking into the forum expectantly.

    In terms of looks, it was just a regr forum with several different categories¡ª¡¯Community Area¡¯, ¡¯FAQs for Newbies¡¯, ¡¯Quest Board¡¯, ¡¯Rewards¡¯, and several others.

    Gu Xiqiao immediately clicked on ¡¯FAQs for Newbies¡¯, which had a whole bunch of posts that she checked on and read through, before getting a certain understanding of the Ancient Martial Arts Forum.

    This was the central hub of the ancient martial arts world with more than twelve thousand members, and while that sounded like a fine number, it was a pitiful amount in proportion to the poption of Hua Xia, barely surpassing a millionth of the poption, even if they counted the ancient martial artists that didn¡¯t have families and sects.

    Most of them were people from the three great ancient martial arts families. All of these families had their own legacy bases that were left behind by great ancient martial artists from those families long ago. Every year, they would pick a few geniuses and youngsters with potential to go into these bases and grasp opportunities to be stronger. Within all of these families, the one that everyone wanted to go to the most was the Jiang family, but their picking criteria was extremely high, and if you weren¡¯t an unparalleled genius, the only way to enter was through getting points frompleting quests on the forum, and exchanging those points for a chance to enter the Legacy Base.

    Of course, the points that would be needed for that would be hopelessly high.

    Other than the Quest Board, the thing that attracted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attention the most was the Heaven and Earth Ranking List, as well as the Youth Ranking List. The Heaven and Earth Ranking List was a list of the all the strongest warriors in the world with a total of a hundred positions, while the Youth Ranking List was one of the young generations of geniuses. In other words, the Youth Ranking List could be said to be a precursor to the Heaven and Earth Ranking, and just by having their name on the list, a young person could prove how much potential they had.

    Gu Xiqiao clicked into the Youth Ranking List, and the first name on the list was three familiar words...

    Jiang Shuxuan!!

    The Heaven and Earth Ranking List was a deduction on the strongest warriors in the world through extraption and theory because those warriors were either too out of reach or wouldn¡¯t fight on a whim, while the Youth Ranking List waspletely decided through direct fights within the younger generation. These fights would sometimes end up being extremely one-sided because of the abilities they practiced¡ªAncient martial artists from China, ninjas from Japan, vampires from America, clerics from Ennd... Every country had their own strengths and ws, and this made it so that they would form alliances whenever an evil force arose.

    Because there were only limited resources all over the globe, these resources were allocated ording to the rankings, with more resources the higher one was on the ranking list.

    Gu Xiqiao scrolled down the page and saw some videos that the members of the forum uploaded, along with somements.

    [ording to gossip, Jiang Shuxuan has already reached Xiantian! It¡¯s unknown whether this is reliable, but from the video we can notice that the vampire couldn¡¯t even withstand a single attack from him. Look closely, can you see the white glow that was emitted from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s palm? Don¡¯t underestimate it, because it is a frost de created from pure chi that is exclusive to people that are above Tongmai... It¡¯s widely recognized that there is a massive jump in power every three stages in ancient martial arts, namely from Bone Refinement to Tendon Forging, and from Tongmai to Xiantian. Every warrior that has surpassed the level of Xiantian could be said to be within the strongest of the strong, and the top ten warriors in the Heaven and Earth Ranking List have at least this level of power... But of course, this is all conjecture, and no one can say for sure!]

    So the system¡¯s estimation that Jiang Shuxuan had at least Fleet Foot-level power was correct...

    After she finished browsing the forum, Gu Xiqiao closed the browser and looked over at Jiang Shuxuan who was reading a book leisurely, suddenly feeling quite stressed.

    "Brother Jiang, shall we go back tomorrow?" She asked suddenly.

    His fingers paused and he looked up with a smile, obliging without asking for a reason.

    Before she returned, she bid her farewells to Li Yanmei and Shi Tou, giving herptop to thetter in exchange for a promise that he would be a good boy and listen to the vige chief.

    Jiang Shuxuan only trailed behind her like a watchful bodyguard as she did all this, and upon knowing that she was about to leave, the Li family and the vige chief¡¯s family prepared many dry goods and farm products for her.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t refuse these gifts, so she epted them, but the most troublesome was Shi Tou. Once he found out that she was going to leave, he immediately waddled over and dered that he didn¡¯t want theptop anymore, then clung onto her leg like an overgrown ko, not letting go no matter what.

    It was already quitete, so Gu Xiqiao only let the vige chief go home first with a sigh as she prepared to talk with Shi Tou. "So your dad¡¯s gone now, are you going to let go?"

    "No," Was the reply from the stubborn boy.

    "Fine, fine, whatever you want." Gu Xiqiao just let him be, and even though she was dragging someone along with her, it didn¡¯t affect her movements in the slightest.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that the person upstairs didn¡¯t mind it either.

    Jiang Shuxuan put down what he had on hand and walked down the stairs, not bothering to lower the sound of his footsteps so the leather shoes cked against the wooden stairs quite loudly.

    Upon hearing the click-ck of footsteps, Shi Tou looked over towards the stairs, seeing a pair of cold, emotionless eyes that scared him so much he let go of Gu Xiqiao.

    After Gu Xiqiao finished packing thest pack of herbs, she saw Shi Tou that was sitting on the floor. "Brother Jiang, you scared him."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t have the sheepishness of someone that had intimidated a child in the slightest, and he pursed his lips slightly. "He¡¯s too easily scared."

    Shi Tou: "..."

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know what to say, so she just turned back to work on writing on the herb packets, while Jiang Shuxuan helped her pack all of them together.

    Shi Tou that had been shown PDA out of nowhere: I better go home, no one loves me here!

    Of course, he took Gu Xiqiao¡¯sptop with him¡ªShe promised, after all!

    ***

    The next morning, the ck Benz drove out of the vige, and in the afternoon a few hourster, a team of cars drove into the vige. The leader of the team found the vige chief and offered a careful and polite smile. "Hello, vige chief, my name is Mu Zong. Miss Gu sent me."

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name, the vige chief breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, I see. Why have youe to our humble vige, Mr. Mu?"

    "Ourpany has decided to develop this vige and build an eco-tourist spot based on agriculture and natural scenery, but we might need the help of the vigers," Mu Zong exined with a smile.

    He had epted a file from Gu Xiqiao the night before that contained many ns for the eco-tourist spot, as well as some candidates that would be able to help them.

    Mu Zong let Luo Weng take care of the Nine Heavens Group while he rushed here with a guide, and with the help of some of the people that Gu Xiqiao suggested, they managed to build a temporary living area while they waited for the others toe.

    It wasn¡¯t an easy feat to build arge-scale eco tourism spot, and Mu Zong had never dealt with this sort of thing before. Thankfully, Gu Xiqiao had gotten Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen¡¯s help, both of which had their coffers full with the help from Gu Xiqiao.

    Later on, Wu Hongwen got a team of trucks with resources and materials that they would need, and caused such amotion that the vigers from the adjacent viges came to look.

 Chapter 109 Growth

    Gu Xiqiao stayed at Yin Manor for two days after she got back to N City, where Tang Yanling practically stuffed her with tonics and healthy foods upon seeing that she had be thinner.

    "Qiao Qiao,e look at my calligraphy." Grandfather Yin called Gu Xiqiao over as he put down his brush. After his arm healed, he started trying out many different avenues of life that he had never tried before, greatly surprising the other members of the family in the process.

    Gu Xiqiao poured a cup of tea and walked over to him, looking at the words he wrote as she did. "Strong and bold lettering, but also graceful at the same time. Good job, Grandfather, you¡¯re old but gold!"

    Grandfather Yin chuckled, before sighing softly. "Old, I really am old. I heard Shaoyuan say that you¡¯re quite good at calligraphy? How about you show this old sack of bones how it¡¯s done?"

    Gu Xiqiao took the pen and thought for a bit, before writing four words on the xuan paper.

    ¡¯»¨ºÃÔÂÔ²¡¯ (Lovely Flowers, Round Moon)

    These words weren¡¯t as strong and bold as the ones that the elder wrote but were like the product of an immortal, fluid, and spirited while having its own style, and just from a nce at it Grandfather Yin¡¯s eyes brightened. "Such spirited writing!"

    He was born as a farmer¡¯s child, so he valued the education of the younger generation greatly. Sadly enough, his son wasn¡¯t all that smart, while his grandson used his smartness in less satisfactory ces, so this goddaughter that Tang Yanling had taken in pleased him greatly. Gu Xiqiao was smart, polite, pretty, and even had great calligraphy skills, why couldn¡¯t she have been his biological granddaughter?

    In other words, Grandfather Yin actually had quite a grudge over this.

    "Really? I¡¯ve had so many tonicstely that I feel as if it¡¯s affecting my head." Gu Xiqiao felt her words were ugly the more she looked at it. She would definitely have to practice when she got into the virtual spaceter on.

    It was true that hard work was the root of all sess, and she couldn¡¯t let up even for just a second. Anything could only be piled upon weeks and months of practice, and quite frankly, she wouldn¡¯t know what she would do if she lost her daily activities.

    Grandfather Yin realized that the girl was actually quite displeased over her own writing, so he tried to reassure her, "Qiao Qiao, don¡¯t be too harsh on yourself. It¡¯s already quite an achievement to write something like this at your age. Even if it¡¯s not to the level of those masters, you¡¯re already leagues ahead of all the people in your generation, and all you need is time."

    "I understand." Gu Xiqiao nodded, knowing that Grandfather Yin was worried about her, but she was different than everyone else. As the host of the system, she could stretch one day into a year, and as the saying goes, with great strengthes great responsibility, so she couldn¡¯t very well discipline herself to the standards of her age bracket.

    Seeing that his words hadn¡¯t quite gotten through to her, he only sighed, knowing that this child had gone through a lot even though she was only a young girl. He only wanted her to live and enjoy the same woes and happiness as the ones of her age, and not have her days filled with stress.

    As he thought so, he wrote down the words ¡¯¼°Ê±ÐÐÀÖ¡¯ (carpe diem) on the paper. "Child, I know that I won¡¯t be able to convince you, but you must remember that you can let yourself go and bezy sometimes when you¡¯re tired, you have the support of..." Grandfather Yin swallowed the name Jiang Shuxuan before he continued, "The Yin family, so you can afford to be capricious sometimes."

    Gu Xiqiao waited for the words to dry slightly before she took the paper to be framed up.

    She looked back at the old man that already had snow-white hair as she let her heart be warmed by his words. The luckiest thing that happened to her in this life was that she found a bunch of people that genuinely cared for her.

    She had already stayed at Yin Manor for two days and was about to leave, and while Tang Yanling was reluctant to have her leave, she didn¡¯t force her to stay, only sending loads of tonics and precious food that hadn¡¯t been finished to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s vi. After that, she called Mrs. Zhang on the phone for hours, and the two settled on meal ns for Gu Xiqiao every day after.

    Gu Xiqiao: ...Don¡¯t talk about me as if I¡¯m not here!

    After she hung up on the phone, Tang Yanling thought for a bit before having the butler send a bunch of new clothes over too, and after she got everything done with and stopped nagging, she pinched Gu Xiqiao¡¯s supple cheek. "You¡¯re finally getting some color back in your cheeks after a few days... Look at you, getting so frail after such a short time, how can I rest easy while you¡¯re off in the Imperial Capital?"

    Tang Yanling knew that Gu Xiqiao got into A University, and while she was still quite unwilling to let her go, she still found the silver lining in the cloud. "Thankfully, you¡¯re going to A University and not abroad, or else I¡¯d only get to see you in a few years!"

    After two hours of Tang Yanling fussing over her, Gu Xiqiao finally stepped through the doors of Yin Manor. She drove her pink Lamborghini to the southern part of the city, which was the territory of the Wu family.

    It¡¯s been some time, and she thought it was about time to see if anything hade from her sudden whim to have them learn ancient martial arts.

    She was actually quite expectant about it.

    ***

    They were practicing ancient martial arts in a location that was left behind from back in the day when the Wu family delved in mobs and triads, and while it was just small, it was still guarded by the subordinates of the Wu family.

    Gu Xiqiao got down the car and walked over to tell them what she was there for, and when the bodyguard saw her, his first reaction was to be amazed by her beauty, and when he heard that she was here to look for Wu Hongwen, he nodded as if it were only natural before taking out his phone and smiling politely at Gu Xiqiao. "Please wait here, miss, I¡¯ll let you in after confirmation."

    Upon hearing that a girl with the surname Gu was there to see him, Wu Hongwen was surprised and excited. "I¡¯ming right now!"

    His tone was so excited that the young man that was standing guard looked at Gu Xiqiao again with renewed curiosity, before ncing at the expensive-looking car. Was she an heiress of an influential family? Goodness, was she his future mistress?

    As he thought of this, he became even more respectful of the girl in front of him, no wonder his young master woulde out to get her personally.

    Not a minuteter, Wu Hongwen ran out, his eyes brightening even more when he saw Gu Xiqiao. "Er Qiao, here!"

    Gu Xiqiao squinted as she looked at him from afar, noting that his footsteps were light, his eyes were bright and that he had a thin veil of chi around him, and while it was not nearly enough to be in Beginner, it was only a matter of time before he became an ancient martial artist.

    When he made his way over to her, she suddenly attacked in an actionpletely in Wu Hongwen¡¯s surprise, and while he reacted, he couldn¡¯t dodge her attack in time. With a single hit, he was knocked onto the floor.

    While their reunion ended up embarrassing Wu Hongwen from the get-go, he crawled up from the ground and pat his clothes with a smile. "Er Qiao, don¡¯t make me lose my dignity in front of all my subordinates!"

    All the subordinates: Sorry Young Master, we¡¯ll act like we didn¡¯t see it!

    The young bodyguard: F*ck, the future bossdy is a violent woman!

    "How have you not improved after such a long time?" Gu Xiqiao walked in together with Wu Hongwen, her tone disdainful.

    Wu Hongwenughed before he replied, "Don¡¯t look down on me, I¡¯ve been winning against Xiao Yun all this while!"

    Even though neither of them was as naturally gifted as Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen was quite athletically inclined already, and under the effect of the pills that Gu Xiqiao gave them, their progress was actually quite excellent.

    Wu Hongwen brought Gu Xiqiao to the open-air martial arts hall, and there was only a single girl practicing the spear in the center.

    "Yao Jiamu¡¯s not here, that brat..." Upon mentioning Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t help feeling jealous. "We all started at around the same time, but he¡¯s leaving us behind as if he¡¯s riding on a rocket! I would be fine with it if he were as hardworking as us, but he onlyes here to practice just a couple hours a day, sometimes one, while he spends all his other time outside doing who knows what!"

    Such azy person could beat both he and Xiao Yun at the same time, and this was the second person that made him question his talent after Gu Xiqiao.

    "I don¡¯t want to admit it, but natural talent really does count." Gu Xiqiao sighed. "Don¡¯t be disappointed with yourself, you can already be counted as decent in the ancient martial arts world."

    With Yao Jiamu¡¯s talent, he would probably be able to enter a legacy base with the lowest requirements, wouldn¡¯t he? When she found that Yao Jiamu had entered Beginner sessfully, both she and the system only guessed that Yao Jiamu was a hard worker, but the truth was the opposite! No wonder Wu Hongwen was so huffy puffy over it.

    "Er Qiao, does the ancient martial arts world really exist? Why does it sound like something from those online novels about secret societies?" Wu Hongwen was still quite in disbelief, and even when he could feel Chi, it still felt like a dream.

    Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao, Xiao Yun wiped her sweat and walked over.

    Gu Xiqiao greeted her before she spoke again, "Not only ancient martial arts, but people with supernatural abilities exist too, but it would be better for the general public to not know about everything. Can you imagine the panic it would cause?"

    Wu Hongwen thought for a bit before he nodded, knowing how everything would go out of order if people knew that such a group of people existed.

    "I can finally feel a stream of chi..." Xiao Yun said, but her tone didn¡¯t sound all that happy.

    "Hah, really!" Wu Hongwenughed and nudged. "Congrattions!"

    His teasing tone was quite clear, and Xiao Yun¡¯s cool exterior cracked for all but a second as she kicked ferociously in his direction. "Buzz off!"

    Wu Hongwen¡¯s reflexes were leagues greater than they were before, of course, and while he couldn¡¯t defeat Gu Xiqiao, it was still a breeze for him to dodge an attack by Xiao Yun.

    After a few minutes of fighting on the part of the duo, the three sat down and started asking Gu Xiqiao questions on cultivation, especially Xiao Yun who didn¡¯t understand much about the book that Gu Xiqiao had given her.

    Gu Xiqiao had improved a lot in her ancient martial arts, and rtively speaking, she could already be counted as a master level character whenpared to Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen. With a single nce, she knew how to solve their problems, but she could only nudge them in the right direction. Cultivation greatly depended on one¡¯s own understanding, after all.

    "Yao Jiamu¡¯s probably going to get here in a bit." Wu Hongwen looked at the clock that showed that the time was four o¡¯clock. "He always gets here at around this time, and leaves at six."

    "He¡¯s that busy?" Gu Xiqiao asked in surprise.

    Xiao Yun twisted open the bottlecap of mineral water and drank one mouthful. "I saw him near the schoolst time, he helped me to fight off some hoodlums. Rumor has it that the triads in this area have been in disarray, recently. I¡¯d like to venture a guess that he¡¯s trying to absorb them all into his own group.

    "Oh, he¡¯s getting involved in the underworld?" Wu Hongwen rubbed his chin with interest. "How could he have not brought me to y with him? What kind of bro is he?"

    "You? In the mafia?" Xiao Yun scoffed. "Tell that to me when you stop carrying your financial business textbook around like its a family heirloom."

    Wu Hongwen wasn¡¯t serious sometimes, but he would never give up once he set his mind on something. After he decided to inherit the Wu family¡¯srge business, he didn¡¯t give up no matter what trials and tribtions he faced.

    Every day after he practiced, he learned from the seniors in thepany, and under Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s advice, he started doing sales by himself to equip himself with the tools of the trade.

    Even though Xiao Yun teased him about it, but she actually respected him quite a lot after he gave up on his choice to go into sports and used all his time and energy to learn the things that he disliked with a passion.

    They said that Yao Jiamu was busy with matters all the time, but were they any much idler than he was? One was trying his hardest to learn and inherit the family, while the other was attending talent course after talent course.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s brother could take care of their family business so she had much more freedom in terms of picking a career that she had an interest in, but it wasn¡¯t that easy to be an actor, too.

    Under every bright and shining exterior hid days upon weeks upon years of blood, sweat, and tears, and the duo learned this very well in just a few days.

    They thought that Gu Xiqiao was just a pure genius that was good in everything that she touched, but now it was clear that she put in hard work too. No one knew how to do all the things she could at birth, and there¡¯s no such thing as a free lunch.

    They didn¡¯t know how much effort Gu Xiqiao devoted exactly, but what they did know was that they were filled with courage and the strength to go on by her when things were the toughest.

 Chapter 110 Who Knows?

    After that, the three talked for a while more before Yao Jiamu came sauntering in. After just a few days, his entire demeanor had changed from one of a brash youngster that knew nothing of fear to someone that could be called a mature and reliable man.

    Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao, his serious expression turned back to one of a youngster as he waved at her. "You¡¯re back!"

    "She¡¯s here to fight you!" Without waiting for Gu Xiqiao to speak, Wu Hongwen immediately shouted and looked at the other boy with a scheming expression. He had been bullied by the other so much in all these days and there was finally someone that could take revenge for him. How could he let this chance go?

    Hearing his words, Yao Jiamu¡¯s gaze was filled with an expectant, anticipating gleam.

    He had only discovered some of the wonders of the martial arts book that Gu Xiqiao had given him, and he felt as if he had be worlds apart from how he was in the past. He had be the second-inmand of a small triad with his fighting skills, and he continued to amass his connections and resources. His dream wasn¡¯t to just be a small second-inmand, after all.

    He nned to be the greatest boss of the underworld in N City and take over the ce of the boss that was in the position right now! If it were in the past, he wouldn¡¯t have such lofty desires, but now that he had the fantastic Firefly illusion Record, he would use it to expand his influence!

    Gu Xiqiao turned over and raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure you want to fight?"

    "Yes!" Yao Jiamu nodded seriously. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to beat her, of course, but he just wanted to see what the difference between them was.

    "Alright, I won¡¯t go all out, don¡¯t worry. "Gu Xiqiao realized that she would be taking too much advantage if she used a weapon. "Let¡¯s just go easy, yes?"

    The two came to the middle of the arena while Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen spectated, and their expression changed like so: Seriousness¡ªDisbelief¡ªTwitching lips¡ªNumbness.

    It was apletely one-sided battle, where Gu Xiqiao stood there in ce and only counterattacked with her palms against Yao Jiamu¡¯s fists, her lower body so firm on the floor that it seemed to be rooted there, while Yao Jiamu was repelled and fell onto upon impact.

    As he did, Gu Xiqiao grabbed one of his arms and smacked a palm right onto his head with a smile, and the punishment-teaching session went on for a while as shemented with a smile, "Not enough power, your feet aren¡¯t grabbing the ground well, you look like you¡¯re daydreaming..."

    With eachment, Yao Jiamu was twisted to correct his form and smacked in punishment, until he kneeled onto the ground in defeat, his hair matted with sweat and his expression twisting as he felt indescribable pain.

    Standing in front of him was a girl with clear eyes whose jet-ck hair moved with the breeze, and from a distance, she might have looked like she came right out of a shoujo manga... If it weren¡¯t for the heaping pile of Yao Jiamu in front of her.

    Wu Hongwen mped his mouth shut after it had be agape as he was watching Yao Jiamu being punished. "Thank goodness that wasn¡¯t me."

    "It actually felt quite nice when I first looked at it, but..." Xiao Yun trailed off, but she continued internally, ¡¯I¡¯m actually quite sympathetic towards him now..."

    Yao Jiamu didn¡¯t hear what the two were saying nor would he have cared if he did. Now, he only felt a strange, unfamiliar surge of energy flowing in his body from bottom to top, and for a second, he felt as if he were wrapped in a warm nket, and in the next, he felt another surge of pain.

    After ten minutes of this, the pain subsided like the tide as his gaze became clear again, and Yao Jiamu felt as if he was filled with power. With a punch onto the ground, dust was sent flying all around him.

    Gu Xiqiao raised a hand to wave the dust away, none of it getting onto her in the process.

    After the dust settled down, everyone saw a tiny crater under Yao Jiamu.

    After a moment of silence, Wu Hongwen shouted, "F*ck, he gets to be stronger after being beaten up? Er Qiao is too biased!"

    "What, did you forget that you were the one that instigated it?" Xiao Yunmented eerily.

    Wu Hongwen: How could I have known it would turn out like this!

    And so, the two muttered, "Yao Jiamu became stronger again..." "It¡¯ll be easier for him to bully us than before..." "Yao Jiamu¡¯s such a b*tch*ss..." for a few times like a mantra before they looked up at him like ghosts that didn¡¯t pass on because of a grudge.

    A certain refreshed Yao Jiamu: Thanks for the help, Little Wu!

    Wu Hongwen: Please stop talking, I just want to p myself from half an hour ago!

    Gu Xiqiao walked over slowly. "You two would probably be able to do that too if you y fewer games and work harder."

    "No, I can¡¯t abandon all of my waifus, I can¡¯t say goodbye to those beautiful immortals in the sky, I am unwilling to leave my guildmates..." Wu Hongwen said dramatically before he realized that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was quickly shifting into one of annoyance, so he quickly stopped. "No, but do I have any chance of bing stronger than Little Woody over there?"

    "Probably not." Gu Xiqiao replied without a second thought as she took out her phone from her pocket.

    "What if I give up ying video games?" Wu Hongwen asked again.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed and stuck the phone back into her pocket. "There¡¯s no way to cure your stupidity, but we need to go now."

    "Wait wait wait! Final question!" Wu Hongwen grabbed his chest dramatically.

    Gu Xiqiao turned around and smiled, before saying, "Yes I have loved you before; No I won¡¯t go to bed with you; No I don¡¯t have money; To save the world; No I won¡¯t regret it; I don¡¯t know how to solve this question; I¡¯m busy tomorrow; No, I haven¡¯t finished my homework; Yes I do like pineapple on pizza; I put cereal in before milk; I don¡¯t know if pigeons are spies from the government; The force of the p on your face just now was twenty-five Newtons; The area of the psychological damage I have done to you is nine centimeters squared. Any more questions?"

    Pfft!

    Wu Hongwen still hadn¡¯t reacted after Gu Xiqiao spoke, but Yao Jiamu and Xiao Yun had already burst out inughter.

    A few minutester after both of them finishedughing, Wu Hongwen: "Bahahahaha!!!"

    Yao Jiamu \u0026 Gu Xiqiao \u0026 Xiao Yun: Is he stupid?

    On the two days that she had returned to N City, she still hadn¡¯t met with Jiang Shuxuan yet because he was busy with the matters of the National Base and maybe some other matters, and she had yet to see Yin Shaoyuan either, so things must be in full swing at the moment.

    In conclusion, the two only contacted each other through short text messages, and even finding the time to call was difficult.

    Yin Shaoyuan just messaged her to go to the Flying Fairy Tower, which was a new restaurant that had opened up in town, and after that, he sent another message as if he knew that Gu Xiqiao was visiting her friends, inviting them to get a meal together with them. Since they were all quite close, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t make any fuss and just asked them if they wanted to go, to which they all agreed.

    Yao Jiamu was actually quite apprehensive about it because he knew that someone that was friends with the trio would be very high up in society, so he wouldn¡¯t fit there, but finally relented after Wu Hongwen practically dragged him there with a: "Why are you scared, Little Woody? How can you be a mafia boss in the future if you get cold feet so easily?"

    Before the other boy could think about it, he was stuffed into the car by Wu Hongwen, so his only option at that point was to ept.

    To bepletely honest with himself, he was actually quite looking forward to seeing what their inner circle looked like.

    The Flying Fairy Tower wasn¡¯t just a tower, but arge manor that took up arge area in N City, and just from that point alone, the owner of the restaurant must have spent a lifetime¡¯s worth of money.

    This restaurant was members only, and the only ticket to enter the establishment was an elusive VIP card.

    Many businesses used this style nowadays to stimte consumerism, or in less fancy words, to make rich kids feel that they¡¯re important by spending their money in an exclusive establishment.

    After all, diamond grade VIP cards were all the rage nowadays!

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have a VIP card, but Yin Shaoyuan had prepared beforehand so a middle-aged man immediately came up to them as soon as they parked their car. "Hello, are you Miss Gu?"

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao nod, the man smiled politely and directed them towards the restaurant. "Please go inside, Mr. Yin will arrive shortly."

    The man brought them through a long hallway and made two turns before they were brought to an intricately built pavilion in the middle of a manmadeke. On the spine of the pavilion was a sculpture of a dragon that looked as if it were going to fly into the sky, while silk gauzes draped down the sides of the pavilion, the stone tables and chairs barely visible from outside.

    "All this fuss for just a meal?" Wu Hongwen grumbled. "I feel so ufortable here, can we even eat well?"

    Hearing hisment, the middle-aged man smiled politely and replied, "This pavilion was built based on the ssical Gardens of Suzhou, and your privacy is ensured so you can eat in peace!"

    Wu Hongwen hadn¡¯t even replied yet before someone spoke behind them, "Didn¡¯t a waiter say that thiskeside pavilion was closed? Why could they enter?"

    The middle-aged man¡¯s smile didn¡¯t so much as waver as he replied, "Hello there, dear customer. Indeed, this pavilion isn¡¯t open for outsiders, I hope that you can understand."

    "Are you dumb or am I dumb here? Are you not going to get money when you can?" The man walked over, and his most eye-catching feature was his bald head that made his bold and distinct features stand out even more.

    "Me, of course." The middle-aged man smiled and replied without any hint of anger. "I hope you have a nice meal, dear customer."

    The bald man knew that the owner of the restaurant couldn¡¯t be trifled with, so he only looked at Gu Xiqiao and the others before a light bulb lit up in his head and he looked back at the party behind him. "Xia Zijun, isn¡¯t that the chick you saw at the train station?"

    The people behind them walked up to him slowly, and Xia Zijun nced over upon being told to, and he was stunned for a moment.

    "Baldie, what happened to Boss?" One of the men patted the bald man¡¯s shoulder in curiosity. Xia Zijun was one of the most popr and talented people in school, so of course, he had a lot of followers. These were all friends that he had made back in high school, and who hade together for a get-together on that day.

    The bald man lit a cigarette and smiled mysteriously. "Your yboy boss has fallen into the of love! Do you see that chick in the yellow skirt? Your boss drank for three days on end because of her... You remember the time we got him at the bar?"

    "Ah! That¡¯s her?" The boy¡¯s eyes brightened in interest and he looked over, but he only saw a thin silhouette. "How does the girl that single-handedly turned Boss into a yboy look like, I wonder?"

    As if she heard what they said, the girl turned around, and for a second, the man realized what was unparalleled beauty, and what was called beauty that could make entire cities fall.

    After the people in front walked into the pavilion, the young men looked at each other. "Boss has to work hard, then, if she¡¯s someone that can eat in the pavilion."

    "Yeah, you don¡¯t know her? She¡¯s the second daughter of the Gu family that stirred upmotion in N City!" The bald man replied.

    "The second daughter of the Gu family? The one that was epted as a goddaughter by the Yin Family? That didn¡¯t fit my expectations of her." The boy blinked and ah-ed in recognization. "I always thought that she would have been more of the sl*tty type, but..." She waspletely different from the rumors!

    The bald man puffed out a mouthful of smoke. "Who knows? I have to get back to the military baseter... Hey, what are you still looking at, Xia Zijun? She¡¯s already gone! If you¡¯re a man you gotta be more clear-cut! Either you give up, or you pursue her..."

    As the bald man talked, Xia Zijun only sighed softly. He was unwilling to forget her, and to pursue her? That would probably be impossible even if that were in their next life...

 Chapter 111 Xixi and Haha

    Gu Xiqiao walked into the pavilion, and only inside did they realize how spacious it actually was, at least dozens of square meters wide. Only the side that faced theke wasn¡¯t covered with the silk curtains, and from the opening, they could see theke that was covered with lotus pads and lily flowers, and on closer scrutiny, koi fish could be seen swimming in the water freely.

    Xiao Yun immediately took some of the fish food that was prepared for them, and scattered it into the water, causing the colorful koi fish to swarm over and fight over the feed.

    Wu Hongwen dragged Yao Jiamu to the arcade machines that were set at on side, and after a while, neither of them felt awkward or ufortable anymore.

    Not a whileter, Yin Shaoyuan and Jiang Shuxuan arrived, and while the former came in with an amiable smile and seemed easy to be close to, thetter came in with his usual cold demeanor, making the air in the pavilion freeze up for a split second.

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen were already acquainted with him, so they were only stunned for a moment before they came back to their senses, but Yao Jiamu waspletely different. Gu Xiqiao had just helped him to get rid of the blocks in his veins so that his chi could flow even better, and helped him strengthen his ancient martial arts level even further.

    It was also because of this that he could feel how absolutely terrifying Jiang Shuxuan was, and for a moment, he felt a great impact on his mental power for a moment, and even the chi in his body became disorderly and even started to go out of control for a moment.

    Upon seeing this, Gu Xiqiao flicked a finger in his direction, and the pressure on Yao Jiamu lightened as if it were just an illusion.

    "Why did you leave without saying goodbye?" Yin Shaoyuan squinted at Gu Xiqiao. "If this happens, again, I¡¯ll have to...I mean, my mom will teach you a lesson!"

    The second half of the sentence was changed immediately upon a nce by Jiang Shuxuan.

    "You couldn¡¯t beat me up even if you tried," Gu Xiqiao said as they all sat down, and after a while, a young and pretty waitress walked in with a silver tray. "Why did you pick this ce?"

    "The food here is the best in N City. Did you know that the ancestor of the head chef cooked for the emperor himself?" Yin Shaoyuan introduced the origins of the restaurant to Gu Xiqiao, before looking at Yao Jiamu. "You¡¯re a promising one, eh?"

    Yao Jiamu didn¡¯t know why he was suddenly cued so he was taken off guard. The people at this table were all in high society, and inparison, he felt like an ugly duckling, especially the one that sat directly across him that made his mental power crumble when he even so much as set his eyes on him.

    He couldn¡¯t even believe that he was dining at the same table as they were, and his past self would have thought he was crazy if he told him about this.

    "Young Master Yin, Little Woody is an honest guy, so don¡¯t bully him okay?" Wu Hongwen spoke up.

    "I¡¯m not bullying him! I saw him fight by himself against dozens of people once in an alley on the southern side of the city, and he reminded me of Bro Jiang back in the day." Yin Shaoyuan eximed, before asking in interest, "Are you a practitioner?"

    Of course, and he was taught by Gu Xiqiao! But could he say that? Yao Jiamu looked over at Gu Xiqiao.

    Jiang Shuxuan picked up his chopsticks and nced over at Yao Jiamu, his gaze emotionless but not ufortable as his low voice rumbled, "Don¡¯t talk while eating, Yin Shaoyuan."

    Hearing this, Yin Shaoyuan immediately stopped gossiping and mimed zipping his mouth shut.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao acted as if she didn¡¯t see the entire exchange happen.

    Yao Jiamu had been pretty nervous, but at that moment, he suddenly felt rxed. The people here didn¡¯t have simple backgrounds, but they weren¡¯t high-and-mighty nor arrogant, and he felt quitefortable when he talked with them.

    As expected of her friends, should he say?

    After that, Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t help but start talking again, and he asked, "Bro Jiang, have you found that hacker you talked about?"

    "I heard that he¡¯s back in China, but no one knows where he is..." Jiang Shuxuan replied with furrowed brows. The hacker was quite sly and knew how to make many different identities for themselves to hide on the inte, and even though Jiang Shuxuan was strong in real life, he couldn¡¯t possibly do something like grabbing a bunch of data out from the world wide web.

    Gu Xiqiao put down her chopsticks, her expression one of curiosity. "A hacker? Why would you need one?"

    Jiang Shuxuan pushed over some fruits in her direction before he replied, "We need their talent for the national base."

    Gu Xiqiao thought back to the time she had to help him recover the lost document, and nodded to herself. He really had to find someone with that sort of expertise.

    [Beauty Qiao, why would you need a hacker if you have me!] A familiar voice piped up in her mind.

    At the same time, a cold and robotic voice popped up in her mind too.

    [Ding! The system has been upgraded sessfully. System Avatar obtained. You have obtained: Virtual Arena(Upgradeable)*1]

    [Ding! The host¡¯s calligraphy has evolved to Advanced Level! You have obtained 200 points!]

    [Ding! The host has aplished a random mission! You have obtained 300 points!]

    [Ding! The host has aplished daily missions! You have obtained 20 points!]

    A bunch of system notifications rang out in her mind, along with a bunch of points that replenished her stores after she used them to upgrade the system.

    After a short moment, Gu Xiqiao asked, "System avatar? What is that? And what is this virtual arena, and how is it different from the virtual space?"

    [With the system avatar, I finally don¡¯t have to stay in the virtual space anymore and can form an avatar in the real world!] The system spirit bounced around in the void happily, before it exined: [The virtual arena given by the system is apletely broken ability! You remember all those years you spent in the virtual space? If you had the virtual arena, you would have been able to improve even more!]

    [The system arena has the same functions as the virtual space, but the biggest difference is that you can create anything you want here, no matter if it were a living being or not! In other words, you would be able to create many copies of yourself or your enemies when you practice in here, for example.]

    The system spirit¡¯s exnation surprised Gu Xiqiao slightly. "Use the system avatar and let me see?"

    The system spirit nodded and made seals with its hands before a being like a pixie appeared in front of Gu Xiqiao that looked like it could fit into a palm. It had icy blue hair and pale skin, and thin, translucent wings on its back.

    Jiang Shuxuan had been talking with Yin Shaoyuan, and his eyes narrowed slightly before he nced over at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction.

    The system spirit suddenly felt a chill up its spine. [Beauty Qiao, why do I think that Big Jiang can see me?]

    "Didn¡¯t you say that no one could see you other than me?" Gu Xiqiao was still in shock upon seeing what the system spirit looked like for the first time. Was this the same system spirit that picked its toenails and yed games daily in the void?

    At that thought, she couldn¡¯t help the mental image of this pretty and cute pixie picking its toenails like a middle-aged man...

    The system patted its chest as it exhaled. [Yes, but I feel as if Big Jiang could see through me!]

    As the two talked, the two had finished with their meals, and Yin Shaoyuan characteristically suggested that they go hang outter on. Knowing full well the ces that he would bring them to, Jiang Shuxuan rubbed his forehead and spoke, "You can only bring those two, the girls aren¡¯t going."

    "Alright, Bro Jiang, I¡¯ll take good care of them!" Yin Shaoyuan replied. He didn¡¯t have any ns of bringing the girls together with them anyway.

    ***

    After sending Xiao Yun home, Gu Xiqiao finally returned to the vi that she hadn¡¯t seen for a month.

    "Beauty Qiao! Beauty Qiao!" Upon entering the door to the vi, she was greeted by a crisp voice.

    Xixi pped its wings as it flew over to Gu Xiqiao, its body as red as me. "You¡¯re finally back! I missed you! QAQ"

    She was brought to the vi by Jiang Shuxuan to be taught a lesson, but it seemed that the lesson still hadn¡¯t been engrained into Xixi yet.

    Gu Xiqiao smacked it away, before crouching down and carrying Haha that was looking up at her with bright eyes.

    Upon seeing this, the feathers around Xixi¡¯s neck red up as it chirped at Haha, "Chirp, chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (B*tch, who are you?!)

    Haha only gave her a disdainful look before replying, "Woof woof woof!" (I¡¯m Beauty Qiao¡¯s favorite pet!)

    "Chirp chirp chirp chiiiiiiiiiiiirp!" (I¡¯m a legendary beast, she only loves meeee!)

    "Woof woof? Woof woof woof!" (You see that bowl I eat out of? It costs millions! Do you have one?)

    "Chirp!" (D*mbass!)

    Xixi red at Haha, before looking over at Gu Xiqiao with a shy expression. "Beauty Qiao, Haha said that he would give me that bowl..."

    Haha: "Woof woof woof! Woof woof!" (You f*cker! Get out of my house!)

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know if animals couldmunicate across species, but she ignored Xixi¡¯s wordspletely and held Haha for a while before going upstairs to check out the virtual arena, leaving Xixi with a depressed expression.

    At the same time, a young man walked out of the N City Airport, and upon seeing him, Wang Bo dragged Luo Weng toward him and asked excitedly, "God Lo! Are you God Lo?"

    The young man took off his sses to reveal a good-looking face. "Hello, my name is Yu Ning."

 Chapter 112 Out Of This World

    The virtual arena was no different than the virtual space in terms of appearance, the entire ce being an endless starry sky.

    The difference was that, with one thought from Gu Xiqiao, pavilions, towers, and animals would appear, bird chirping sounds could be heard in your ears, and the scenery was extremely lifelike.

    Feeling yful all of a sudden, she thought about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s figure, like his perfectly sculptured face, the thin lips and high nose, a pair of cold, onyx eyes. His eyshes were actually quite long, but not many people noticed that, since they didn¡¯t dare to look directly into his eyes.

    And finally, the faint glint in his eyes that was full of invisible pressure.

    When the outline of the figure appeared in front of her for and looked at her for an instant, Gu Xiqiao was taken aback. It was incredibly realistic and wless, from his appearance to his breathing, there was no difference at all.

    If the person in front of her was not so realistic, she wouldn¡¯t have known that she could remember so many details of this person so clearly.

    She waved a hand, vanishing the entire scene in front of her, leaving behind only the vast starry sky.

    Standing still for a while, she then simted an open space. Moving both her hands and drawing patterns in the air, she started practising and testing her newest power. Green lights rose suddenly, and then a huge crater about ten meters deep appeared on the ground with a ¡¯boom¡¯.

    [Beauty Qiao, your power is looking good, it seems like there is great potential in Tendon Forging level.] The system spirit floated beside her. [Try out the Eight Trigram array again, when you advance another two levels, then you can condense your chi into a physical item filled with power, just like Jiang Shuxuan did with his frost de.]

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, and with a thought, eight pieces of jade floated around her body, the entire space sealed off immediately.

    [When you have enough points, the virtual arena can still be upgraded. When it reaches a certain level, it can be brought into reality too.] While Gu Xiqiao had been ying, the system spirit had found information regarding the virtual arena in its database. [You have to earn lots of points!]

    "It¡¯s not like I can earn points whenever I want it," Gu Xiqiao said, sighing, "Even the 1,000 points thest round nearly killed me.]

    [Take it slowly, we¡¯re not in a hurry.] The system spirit said, floating around the virtual space, [Oh, you continue to stay here, Beauty Qiao. I¡¯m going out a few rounds!]

    "Go ahead." The system spirit had been in this empty space for who knows how long, she knew it wouldn¡¯t be able to resist.

    ying around in the virtual arena for a while more, she experimented on the skills that she knows, beforeing to a stop, doing her daily missions instead. After she was done, she took out the development ns for Baixing Vige.

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao woke up early to do her morning exercises as usual, with Haha and Xixi remaining by her side all the way. She met a lot of familiar people on the road, and when she reached the ce that she normally practises her Five Animal y, the familiar figure of an old man was there.

    "Little Gu, you¡¯re finally back," The old man smiled as he looked at Gu Xiqiao. When he hadn¡¯t seen her a few days back, he had inquired about it to Jiang Shuxuan, who was also doing his exercises that time, and found out that she had gone traveling.

    After a few days, he finally saw her again, "Come and take a look whether I¡¯m doing this right or not."

    The old man had discussed with her previously, and started using the slightly modified version of her Five Animal y. Although he didn¡¯t have thepatibility with it, when he moved this time, there was an obvious flow in his meridians. After finishing up the motions, he sighed happily. "People in my house recently said that it looked like I got younger."

    He also felt that his body was much lighter, he used to be only able to jog for half an hourst time, but now he could go for at least an hour!

    He felt that this must have been Gu Xiqiao¡¯s doing, but she would always smile without saying anything when he said so, and the old man could only sigh and not bring it up again.

    The two had not seen each other for a long time, and they had a lot of catching up to do, talking for a long time.

    When they couldn¡¯t avoid the fact that it was time to eat, they parted ways.

    Mrs. Zhang had prepared a familiar soup, with the same taste. Gu Xiqiao drank it down and thought, ¡¯If this goes on, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for me to gain weight.¡¯

    After eating, she got ready to go out. When Xixi heard that she was heading out, and it flew to her shoulder immediately, indicating that it would also follow. Gu Xiqiao rubbed its head. "I¡¯m heading out to settle some things, why do you want toe with, trying to act cute?"

    "Beauty Qiao, I have great capabilities, who knows when you will need it. Master Jiang had also told me to follow you wherever you go, in order to protect you. If anything happens to you, he will pull out my beautiful feathers!"

    "Alright, you can follow me, but don¡¯t talk and don¡¯t eat anything others give you," Gu Xiqiao agreed, knowing that if it was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s order, she wouldn¡¯t be able to refuse.

    Xixi gave Haha a triumph look at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s agreement andpromise.

    "Woof woof woof!" (Get lost, you bitch!)

    "Chirp chirp~" (Sigh, going with Beauty Qiao makes me so happy~)

    "Woof woof woof!" (Get down you shameless thing!)

    "Chirp chirp chirp~" (Are you going to bite me if I don¡¯te down~)

    Haha¡¯s inner heart: Damn retard!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s n today was to first stop by Nine Heavens Networkpany to check in. Since Mu Zong wasn¡¯t there for the time being, she wanted to see how Luo Weng was holding up with managing thepany. After that, she would go to the hospital to see how Mu Jiatong and Luo Wenlin were doing.

    Instead of driving her own pink car, she took a taxi to the city center.

    After visiting thepany a few times, the receptionist was already familiar with her, and let her up without much questions. She only spared a nce at her shoulder, which held a beautiful ming red...bird?

    When she got into the elevator, the system spirit who had been out the whole night woke up in a daze. [Morning, Beauty Qiao~]

    ¡¯It¡¯s not morning anymore,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao took out her phone to look at the time, and raised an eyebrow. ¡¯Being a mass bunch of data, you still need sleep?¡¯

    [It feels different,] The system said, materializing into a spirit form in front of her. [I didn¡¯t need to restst time, but now I can leave to take on a shape, so I¡¯m considered to be a living being now, and rest has now be a way for me to replenish energy. Of course, when I get upgraded to the highest level, then I can truly be a life on my own.]

    [Being able to feel tired and sleepy is really a good feeling.]

    ¡¯You can be a life on your own?¡¯ A pair of beautiful eyes widened in surprise.

    [There is information pertaining to this in the database, but I think it¡¯s impossible, there had never been a record of anyone ever seeding in the entire database. Anyway, I¡¯m already satisfied with things now!] The system spirit said, as it followed Gu Xiqiao to exit the elevator.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll try my best,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao said, giving a small sigh. She felt that the goal was too difficult to achieve, but if there was even a sliver of hope, she would definitely try.

    [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re the best!]

    She hade at an inconvenient time, Luo Weng was having a meeting with the upper management. The secretary was one that Mu Zong often used, and she was one of the few that knew Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity. She greeted her with respect and brought her to the general manager¡¯s office, and also gave her a pile of documents for her to look over.

    Gu Xiqiao leaned on the front of the table, flipping through the documents.

    She read through the pile quickly, taking just one second for each paper, and five minutester, she was done with them. While she had flipped through the documents, she also picked out several ones that she deemed important, setting it to the side.

    The secretary watched as Gu Xiqiao read through the papers quickly, and she assumed that she was merely ncing through it without reading it in detail, so she didn¡¯t say anything. But then Gu Xiqiao picked up the pile and handed it to her, "The first book, page two, the second book, page five, the third book, page five, the fourth book, page seven and the fifth book, page six. The reports and bills are not tallied."

    Without further words from Gu Xiqiao, the secretary flipped to the mentioned pages to read through it.

    Twenty minutester, "Miss Gu, I will take care of it."

    The secretary assured Gu Xiqiao, she was Mu Zong¡¯s secretary after all, and there were a lot of small and big matters she was in charge of, and so was familiar with the workings of thepany. But she didn¡¯t expect to see someone who could read through the documents so fast, and spot the problems in them with just a few quick nces.

    She had turned the pages so fast, did she really finish everything? Even if she could read ten lines at a nce, it wouldn¡¯t be that fast, right? What more, a lot of these documents required arge number of calctions to be done.

    The secretary looked shocked, but she had her fair share of meeting all kinds of talent before, so she recovered quickly and pushed aside her feelings, and proceeded to update Gu Xiqiao on the recent developments.

    After a few minutes, Luo Weng finally came through the door. When his eyes fell on Gu Xiqiao, he looked at her with surprise. "Why are you here!"

    "Just having a look around." Gu Xiqiao dismissed the secretary with a wave. "How¡¯s it going, everything alright?"

    She knew that this was the first time Luo Weng was managing thepany, and was most likely unused to it.

    "I was caught unprepared for a bit, but fortunately, Uncle Wang is here to teach me, it¡¯s been better than expected." Luo Wengughed lightly. As a genius second to only Gu Xiqiao, his intelligence was notparable to regr people. Although it was hectic on the first day when he took over, but with the help of Wang Bo and the secretary, he pulled together everything by the second day.

    Seeing that he was sufficiently independent, Wang Bo left him alone and dove right into his sea of data once again.

    Luo Weng served a cup of tea to Gu Xiqiao, staring at Xixi on her shoulder in curiosity, and then seemed to think of something. "That¡¯s right, I went to pick up someone with Uncle Wang yesterday night."

    Xixi had vowed to Jiang Shuxuan that he wouldn¡¯t speak in front of outsiders, and it took a lot of effort on its part to swallow down the words it wanted to say, ¡¯Have you fallen for my beauty?¡¯

    "Who?" Gu Xiqiao asked, raising an elegant brow. Since the both of them had gone together, it must be someone quite important.

    "ording to Uncle Wang, he¡¯s a great hacker that has just returned from overseas," Luo Weng smiled when he said that. "Ourpany will be adding another talent soon, from the looks of it."

    A hacker that had just returned? Gu Xiqiao suddenly recalled something that Jiang Shuxuan had said yesterday night. "If he¡¯s such a great god, why is he interested in a smallpany like ours?"

    This time, Luo Weng hadn¡¯t managed to speak, and the system spirit floated in front of Gu Xiqiao, giving her a cheeky smile. [Beauty Qiao, you look down on me too much. The things that I produced are all out of this world, have you forgotten? All the firewalls on the inte on earth are nothing in my eyes, I can even pull out all the secrets of your military bases now for you to see!]

 Chapter 113 You Have Nothing

    Even without needing it to say, Gu Xiqiao was well aware of the defying aspects of the system. As the most advanced artificial intelligence on the, it was not surprising for it to have these kinds of capabilities, ¡¯Okay, I know you¡¯re great, but don¡¯t show me, I still value my life.¡¯

    "I¡¯m heading over to the hospital in a while, are you going to see Dalin?" She asked as she picked up a pen, scratching somements on the documents. "These ones still have some problems, look over it again."

    Luo Weng took the papers from her, and with one nce he also found the problem, themunication between two highly intelligent people were made so much simpler, if the secretary were to see this scene, she would probably puke blood and die. "I just went in the morning, so I won¡¯t be going. I still have to follow Uncle Wang to visit the hacker godter."

    Gu Xiqiao had decided from the beginning not to be the one overseeing the matters of thepany, and she wasn¡¯t interested in this hacker, as the system spirit had indicated that it could show her all the information on him, he wasn¡¯t mysterious in the slightest.

    Let¡¯s go to the hospital and visit the children instead then.

    ***

    As she was walking towards the hematology ward, Gu Xiqiao felt an aura of despair overwhelming the ce, to the point it was choking. She let out a small sigh and quickened her steps, reaching Mu Jiatong and Luo Wenlin¡¯s ward room. They two children knew each other, their brothers and fathers also knew each other, so they had simply moved them to a double room for them to stay in.

    When Gu Xiqiao reached the ward, there were others inside, and one of them was Shen Nianzhi.

    "Miss Gu!" Seeing that pristine face that resembled a stunning painting, Shen Nianzhi was stunned for a moment when she realized who it was, and her mouth moved silently as though she wanted to say something.

    Gu Xiqiao shed her a smile. "Hello."

    Then she turned to the two patients on the bed, and was pleasantly surprised to see that their physical conditions had improved. Although their bone marrow had yet to be reced, they didn¡¯t look sick anymore on the surface.

    "Sister Gu." Their faces lit up when they saw who it was, a joyous expression on their faces, especially Luo Wenlin, who took out a drawing of her person. Smooth, white fingers picked up the drawing, and from a professional perspective, it did have some resemnce, and Gu Xiqiao praised it loudly.

    Luo Wenlin¡¯s face flushed from embarrassment and pleasure, but then he was taken aback when he looked at Gu Xiqiao again.

    Mu Jiatong pointed at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder. "What a beautiful bird!"

    The praise lifted Xixi¡¯s heart, and it immediately pped its wings in front of Mu Jiatong, trying hard to imitate the image of a stupid bird. "Hello, little beauty. Hello, little beauty."

    "It¡¯s a parrot!" Luo Wenlin said, examining the feathers with a curious face, "The feathers are pretty! And it can talk!"

    "Hello, handsome!" Xixi turned to Luo Wenlin, it knew how to act well, using ¡¯chirp chirp chirp¡¯ to rece the other words it wanted to say.

    Having found something new that was interesting and entertaining, the two children had a great time. Half an hourter, the nurse came to collect them for them to rece IV drip, while Gu Xiqiao and Shen Nianzhi waited outside.

    [Ding! Random mission activated: Participate in the International Exhibition and win glory for the country!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 300 points!]

    At this time, Shen Nianzhi had finally found the courage to raise her head, looking at Gu Xiqiao, "Miss Gu, I know what you¡¯re capable of, can you, if possible..."

    "Give a painting to you?" Gu Xiqiao guessed, tilting her head to the side, her clear eyes sparkling like crystal, a soft smile on her face and her eyes curved into a crescent shape.

    Although she was surprised that Gu Xiqiao had guessed her intention, Shen Nianzhi opened her mouth to exin in a hurry, "Miss Gu, please be assured that we will not be iming credit for the painting! There¡¯s an international exhibition that is held once every ten years soon, and for our country... there are only a few spots. Mr. Sima has selected his disciple to participate, and he is giving you the remaining spot, so..."

    Shen Nianzhi trailed off, she knew that her request was outrageous, but she couldn¡¯t help it. Even the people like Sima Jun couldn¡¯t reach Gu Xiqiao, and she was the only one who could asionally meet her.

    Though she didn¡¯t understand how Gu Xiqiao could hide and stay under the radar so well, she also didn¡¯t understand why Sima Jun didn¡¯te in person when he was aware she was in N City.

    After a while, there was still no change of expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s delicate face. Shen Nianzhi¡¯s eyes dimmed, and she slumped down slightly, "Miss Gu, I¡¯m sorry, I..."

    "Alright, I promise I¡¯ll have one for you." Her eyshes fluttered slightly as she blinked, and she gave a small sigh. Taking up her phone to check the time, "It¡¯s a bit toote tonight, I¡¯ll have Jiamu pass it to you tomorrow."

    "Eh?" The sudden eptance stunned Shen Nianzhi for the moment, staring at Gu Xiqiao for a full minute before replying with an overjoyed tone, "Thank you, thank you so much, Miss Gu!"

    She felt her heart bursting with excitement, itching to tell the dean the good news the first chance she was able to!

    Gu Xiqiao fiddled with her phone, when she had initially heard the name Sima Jun, she was extremely reluctant to hand a painting over to them. Sima Jun had been Gu Xijin¡¯s teacher in her previous life, and she vaguely recalled the first time she had met his disciple, Mu Yunfan.

    ["You¡¯re Gu Xiqiao?" A young man said, his face was defined, with a glow that reminded you of jade, and an indifferent expression on it. His voice was nasal like and grated harshly on her ears, and he had a pair of eyes that were midnight ck. There was a hint of undisguised disgust in them that spoke of how he felt his pure, white hands would be tainted if his eyes lingered too long on her.

    At that time, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know what Gu Xijin had said about her, and she only spared a quick nce at Mu Yunfan, before leaving the office without a word. If Mu Yunfan had a weird temperament, then Gu Xiqiao had an even weirder one at that point in time, even if she pissed anyone off, it was of no consequence to her.

    Behind her, Gu Xijin¡¯s gentle voice could be heard. "Senior Yunfan, don¡¯t be angry, my sister¡¯s personality has always been like that. Please forgive her? I¡¯ll give you the ¡¯Starry Sky¡¯ piece that I¡¯m almost done with if you will."

    Gu Xiqiao, who had yet to leave the area, smiled coldly then. Give it to him? Then there wasn¡¯t any reason to paint it well.]

    "Sister Gu, what are you thinking about?" Mu Jiatong asked, shaking Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm.

    Gu Xiqiao snapped back to reality, and gave Mu Jiatong a reassuring smile. "It¡¯s nothing, I just recalled some memories that were unpleasant."

    Luo Wenlin pulled Mu Jiatong aside, smiling at Gu Xiqiao. "Sister Gu, the doctor in charge of us has asked for you." Since both their families were not present, having Gu Xiqiao go wouldn¡¯t make any difference in their eyes. Shen Ninanzhi had been called away during the time when Gu Xiqiao was lost in her memories.

    Luo Wenlin and Mu Jiatong¡¯s doctor was a matured man, he took the forms and handed it to Gu Xiqiao. The families of the two patients were special, and their parents were very generous, donatingrge sums of money to the hospital. The doctor was not one to beat around the bush, getting straight to the point, "We¡¯ve identified a suitable donor for Mu Jiatong, but none for Luo Wenlin yet. Since he has the rarest blood type, which is the Rh blood type, there are very few who meet this requirement, and even less that would be willing to donate their bone marrow. Please prepare yourselves for any eventually."

    [Beauty Qiao, are you looking for a bone marrow donor?] The system spirit flew out again, [I¡¯ve already said before that you can always ask me for anything.]

    Before Gu Xiqiao could say anything in response, a transparent panel had appeared in front of her, lines and lines of codes appeared on it, going through the databases of major hospitals. The speed of the information scrolling pass was too fast, even for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. Suddenly, the scrolling bar stopped and one person¡¯s information appeared on top, and it seemed to be Luo Wenlin¡¯s.

    [This is Luo Wenlin¡¯s information and history, I¡¯ll search globally, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be able to find a lot of suitable people.] Once the system had finished its words, the information on the screen started flying at high speed again, its delicate and cute face on the spirit looking to be very proud of itself, [I¡¯m telling you, Beauty Qiao, with my abilities, I¡¯ll be able to find a bunch of them in less than three seconds...]

    The system spirit trailed off, suddenly stopping everything.

    ¡¯What¡¯s wrong?¡¯ The beauty rolled her eyes then raised an eyebrow. ¡¯Did you get stuck?¡¯

    The system spirit took a while before it responded, [That¡¯s not it, I found something interesting. This is the results of the paternity test that the Gu family did between you and Gu Zuhui.] Saying that, a piece of document with the result was disyed on the screen.

    This was something Gu Xiqiao was well aware of, otherwise, how would Gu Zuhui have brought her home without it?

    [The important thing isn¡¯t that, it¡¯s the fact that you¡¯re also of Rh blood type, Beauty Qiao, and it seems like it¡¯s a match with Luo Wenlin.] The system spirit¡¯s face grew serious, [Your Rh blood type is inherited from Gu Zuhui, and having analyzed the gic data of the both of you, I think you should do a paternity test between Luo Wenlin and Gu Zuhui.]

    "...I¡¯ll ask Weng." Gu Xiqiao walked out of the hospital, lifting her head to look up into the darkening sky, "I can¡¯t really ept this, I¡¯ll think about it."

    Based on Gu Zuhui¡¯s attitude of fooling around, it wasn¡¯t impossible. cing her phone back in her pocket, she thought the painting ¡¯Looking Homeward¡¯ was in her inventory. Once she managed to find a secluded area, her hands shed white and the painting appeared at her slender fingertips.

    Gu Xiqiao carried the painting and headed to find Yao Jiamu, and the painting that would fetch at least an eight-figure sum was casually handled by her. If Shen Nianzhi was watching the way she treated the painting, she would probably cry at the heartache of it.

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s house was in the alley, and after walking for a while, she came upon two figures arguing, a piercing female voice was the first thing she could hear.

    "Yao Jiamu, you have nothing, living in this sort of ce, and you say you can give me a future? With what, the empty words that you¡¯ve been spouting? Wake up! Young Master Wang is my current boyfriend, look at this car that he bought, do you have one? You have nothing! I¡¯m begging you, stop disturbing me anymore, alright? Take this sum of money as a break-up fee, and let¡¯s part ways amicably!" A girl who had heavy, vivid makeup on her face eximed as she pulled out a wad of cash from a famously branded bag she was holding, leveling a cold look at Yao Jiamu.

 Chapter 114 A New Era

    Yao Jiamu lifted his head slowly, his eyes a bottomless ck pool that looked like it could pierce through your heart. "You really want to break up?"

    "Why did you think I came for today?" The girl said, taking a step back. It was undeniable that she held a dose of fear toward Yao Jiamu, his name was something akin to a legend in Third High, and it was quite a glorious time to have been his girlfriend.

    When Yao Jiamu had not looked for her for a while, she had gone clubbing with her friends, and had met Young Master Wang. Young Master Wang was handsome as well as rich, generous in his spending, and she was fascinated by him. Since then, her horizons had expanded a lot.

    Compared to Young Master Wang, Yao Jiamu was simply too ordinary, to the point that she didn¡¯t want to look at him anymore.

    "Alright, then let¡¯s break up," Yao Jiamu said, ncing at her with an indifferent expression on his face. Initially, he had only gotten a girlfriend to follow the trend. It wasn¡¯t like he held any feelings for her or anything, he had even forgotten her existence at one point. Up tillst night, when they had gone to a nightclub with Yin Shaoyuan and he saw her in another man¡¯s embrace, the situation had made it look like he had gone to look for her specifically.

    The girl snorted. "I hope you¡¯ll be able to do as you say. Take this money, you look so pitiful, and I¡¯m not short of it."

    Saying that, she pushed the money onto his chest, clearly not believing his words. To be honest, her looks were extraordinary, otherwise she wouldn¡¯t have gotten the eyes of people like Young Master Wang. Having gotten used to the feeling of being pursued, she didn¡¯t believe that Yao Jiamu would let her go so easily.

    A white, delicate hand appeared in front of her suddenly, grasping her wrist and squeezing it with surprisingly great force for such a slender hand, and the girl was stunned to find that she couldn¡¯t pull away!

    "Miss," A melodious voice spoke from behind her, revealing a perfectly sculptured face, elegant eyebrows and skin as smooth as cream, a form of beauty that took your breath away. "Don¡¯t bully the young and poor, there wille a day when they will spread their wings and fly. At that time, won¡¯t you regret your choice?"

    The girl stared at Gu Xiqiao in silence for a few seconds, astonishment clear on her face. Having always thought that she was the fairest of all women, there was a slight feeling of shame that welled up within her as she said nkly, "Bully the young and poor? Him? Are you treating me like a fool?"

    After being by Young Master Wang¡¯s side for these few days, she had seen how many people looked at her with jealousy and admiration in their eyes, and she had enjoyed the taste of being at the center of attention. She was haughty and arrogant, obviously looking down on Gu Xiqiao and lumping her to be the same type as Yao Jiamu, her gaze sharp as she said, "Are you jealous of what I have, doing this so that I will leave Young Master Wang?"

    Having her good intentions thrown back in her face, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t feel like saying anything more, and gave her a smile, her eyes shifted slightly. "There¡¯s a sinister presence on your person today, you¡¯ll likely be dumped."

    "You¡¯re crazy!" The girl eximed, ring at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao pretended to sigh loudly. "It¡¯s true, and I had wanted to help you avoid this disaster."

    "Ugly bitch, ugly bitch!" Xixi, who was sitting on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder, pretended to be a parrot again, calling out to the girl.

    The girl¡¯s face turned red with anger, she wasn¡¯t about to fight a bird, and turned to leave when the phone in her bag started to ring. Her face lit up with joy, picking it up and talk to the person on the other side and looking at the two of them at the same time.

    Gu Xiqiao and Yao Jiamu: What is she so proud of? Is being kept by someone else an achievement in life?

    Yao Jiamu was disinterested in the entire thing, and was about to call out to Gu Xiqiao so they could leave, but she gave him a dazzlingugh. "Wait a bit, let¡¯s watch the show."

    Not longter, the Young Master Wang that the girl had talked about hade. He drove a convertible sports car, looked extremely attractive, and moved gracefully to stand in front of them.

    The girl immediately waltzed up to him, sweetly calling out to him, "Young Master Wang, I already said you don¡¯t have to get me, I can drive myself."

    Young Master Wang respondedzily, and his eyes fell on the girl who was standing to the side, and his entire person changed suddenly, with an enthusiastic look on his face. "Miss Gu, why are you here?"

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mesmerizing eyes on him that held a hint of confusion in them, Wang Jun began to exin, "That time in the clubhouse, you saved us! My name is Wang Jun, but you may not know me!"

    Wang Jun¡¯s expression of excitement and admiration stunned the girl, it was the first time she had seen him treat someone else with such respect and gratitude. All of those second-generation rich upstart families aimed for the sky, and for them to worship someone was practically a dream, but here he was, treating this girl like he was her dog. Who the hell was she?

    Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes. She vaguely remembered, the first time Yin Shaoyuan had taken her to the clubhouse. She had wrestled a gun from the pocket of a waitress, now that she thought about it, it was actually... quite a violent time.

    Wang Jun got even more excited when he noticed that Gu Xiqiao had recalled the incident, being the second generation of a rich family, they were extremely proud of their lineage. Even if they were faced with Yin Shaoyuan, he wouldn¡¯t bend over so easily, what they feared more was the terrifying force of the Yin family behind Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s back.

    Gu Xiqiao was different. Even though she was the goddaughter of the Yin family, her position didn¡¯t give her much prestige. What they admired about her was her genius intelligence, her impossible results and her unusual talents. Wang Jun was among those who had been impressed by her own skills.

    "That, Miss Gu, may I shake your hand? To receive some of that magical aura..." Wang Jun asked cautiously.

    The girl who had been standing to the side in a daze finally understood what was going on. This Miss Gu that she had been insulting was an important figure, someone even Young Master Wang didn¡¯t dare to provoke. Thinking back to all the things that she had just said, she wanted to bang her head against the wall, the regret in her overflowing! When did Yao Jiamu meet these big shots?

    When Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eye flickered over to her again, the girl wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it. She was shocked, afraid, and regretful. Afraid that with one word, Miss Gu would have Young Master Wang dump her, and making her regret leaving Yao Jiamu. She wondered if she hadn¡¯t left, would he still have met these people?

    Fortunately for her, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say a word the entire time, and finally left with Yao Jiamu.

    The girl let out a sigh of relief, and Wang Jun turned to her with a glowing smile on his face. "This car is for you, treat it as a break uppensation, I never owe any of my girlfriends."

    What kind of person was Wang Jun?

    He had grown up in an environment where people were easily corrupted, how could he not understand what had transpired here? Upsetting his idol, that was like stepping on God¡¯s head!

    As soon as the girl heard that, she jumped in shock, turning around to see Young Master Wang¡¯s sports car driving away, leaving behind only a cloud of gray smoke. Thinking of the intoxicating feeling of being revered for the past few days, she suddenly felt extremely remorseful.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had walked and turned a corner beforeing to a stop, handing the painting in her hand to Yao Jiamu, and taking out a brown pill at the same time.

    The blue form of the system spirit was floating around Yao Jiamu, [Thinking about how you exchanged a Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill for him, it¡¯s a bit painful. With his aptitude, coupled together with this insanely awesome pill, if he doesn¡¯t get into Fleet Foot in the future, I¡¯m going to chop him to pieces!]

    Gu Xiqiao had exchanged the cleansing pill after much deliberation, and it had cost her quite a sum of points. These pills were used to improve the aptitude of their skills, and were extinct on earth, and only Gu Xiqiao was able to obtain it from the system. If word ever got out that she was in the possession of them, all hell would probably break loose.

    "I¡¯ll give it to Shen Nianzhi," Yao Jiamu said, carefully epting the painting and the pill. The current him naturally didn¡¯t know how defying reality the things that Gu Xiqiao gave him were, butter when he understood the significance of the pill, when his ancient martial arts advances without any problems and his physical condition and aptitude improves by a mile, at the time, he would truly be dumbfounded.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao stayed idle a few more days. Right up till Mu Zong returned and requested for her to drop by thepany, stating that thepany was weing a new ally, the great god hacker?

    The recruitment of this talent was good news, he would be able to further the research on the advanced software provided by the system, and bring more breakthroughs to thepany.

    Listening to Mu Zong¡¯s words, this great god was a bit arrogant, insisting on meeting the person behind the software and refusing to cooperate obediently.

    The two parties met in a private room, when the attendant opened the door for her, Gu Xiqiao saw a young man sitting beside Mu Zong, and she was not surprised at how young he was.

    "Miss Gu, you¡¯re here." Mu Zong, Wang Bo, and Luo Weng stood up to greet her when she walked in, seemingly like they held a great amount of respect for this girl.

    Yu Ning thought the scene to be a bit strange, but before he could ponder further on the matter, he saw the girl walking towards him, a dazzling smile on her face as she said, "Yu Ning, real name Ning Jiu, currently studying in America, and recently received a PhD inputer science. Oh, I also have a record of your venture into the national base of America, do you want to have a look at it?"

    He didn¡¯t even have the chance to open his mouth yet, and was dumbstruck by the information that she had dumped on him. As a hacker, he knew that his ability to cover his tracks was out of this world, even being able to hack into the nationalwork to change his name and fake his identity. Everyone in the hacking world was aware that there was a God Lo, but nobody knew who he was, because no one could see through the fake identity that he had created, and this was also one of his pride.

    But, never in his wildest imagination would he have thought that a girl that he just met for the first time in person would be able to list down all his details with a smile on her face.

    "He... Hello." Yu Ning was still in a state of shock, unable to react, just reaching out robotically to shake her hand. Was his many years of hidden secrets so easy to see through?

    However, he didn¡¯t feel dismayed at all, on the contrary, he was feeling extremely excited. ording to the several software that he had studied. The technology and coding in it were significantly advanced. He faintly felt in his heart that this was a sign that a new era of the inte was approaching.

 Chapter 115 The First Time Someone Refused To Be His Disciple

    <h4>Chapter 115 The First Time Someone Refused To Be His Disciple</h4>

    Yu Ning agreed to Mu Zong''s proposal, and thetter was not at all surprised at how the entire matter had unfolded, instead pulling out a contract that had been prepared earlier.

    Having seen early on how those manufacturers were extremely fond of Gu Xiqiao''s software that were auctioned, and the enthusiasm of the youth nowadays for ''Nine Heavens'', Mu Zong had arrived at a conclusion regarding her abilities. Although it was hard to swallow, there were not many geniuses in the world, and someone like her who was both hardworking and capable with high intelligence was even more rare, but now theirpany had managed to get three of them!

    When he thought about this, Mu Zong''s blood boiled with passion as he watched Yu Ning sign the contract.

    Yu Ning signed away his soul on the contract, thinking about the fact that just a few days ago, he had wanted to remain a free man, never expecting such a drastic change of ns. After signing the contract, he found that he didn''t feel disagreeable a single bit, but instead his heart was full of anticipation.

    The few of them came to a consensus, and Wang Bo was the most excited among them all. Thinking about being in the samepany as the most talented hacker in history, it felt like a dream to him.

    Until the time they left, he was still pinching himself and asking Mu Zong repeatedly whether it was a dream, to the point that Mu Zong got tired of engaging him.

    "Weng, there''s something concerning Dalin," Gu Xiqiao blurted out, as some of them were getting into the car.

    Luo Weng looked at her, and she lowered her gaze, the moonlight casting a shadow of her eyshes onto her cheeks, and he couldn''t see her expression.

    Unknowingly, a feeling of uneasiness gripped his heart. He silently followed Gu Xiqiao to the opposite side of the road.

    "I guess it''s considered to be good news, my bone marrow can match Dalin''s." Gu Xiqiao stated, her eyes on the cars that were on the road, her lips curled up slightly, and a sparkle of light in her coal ck eyes.

    Luo Weng gaped at Gu Xiqiao, his line of sight narrowing on her, and despite his best efforts, he couldn''t stop the trembling of his hands. After experiencing so many years of despair, there was finally a ray of light in sight, and he was at a loss at what to do.

    Seeing the state he was in, Gu Xiqiao touched her nose awkwardly. "But you know, Dalin''s blood type is Rh, and my bone marrow is 100%patible with his. This is Gu Zuhui''s hair, it''s up to you whether you want to do a paternity test, since you are Dalin''s brother."

    Between them, she was an outsider. The younger brother that he had brought up and depended on each other for so many years, to hear suddenly that he still had family, it made Luo Weng feel conflicted. He looked at the hair on the milky white palm for a long while, not reaching out to take it.

    Gu Xiqiao ced the hair on his palm, leaving the decision up to him.

    The two of them on the roadside attracted a lot of attention, with people walking past giving them looks asionally. The girl was a rare beauty, with enchanting eyes and snow white skin, while the guy was tall and handsome. At first nce, they looked like a beautiful couple.

    A man sitting in the car didn''t hesitate as he opened the door, calling out in a deep voice, "Xiqiao."

    His voice was clear and cold, standing tall and straight by the ck Bugatti that he had gotten down from. The buttons on his white, crisp shirt were buttoned up all the way. He stood there, a pair of obsidian ck eyes on his well defined face, a stunningly attractive sight, though the intimidating aura that he emitted made it hard for people to look at him.

    Hearing the familiar voice, Gu Xiqiao retracted her hand, turning towards him. "Brother Jiang."

    "Hm," Jiang Shuxuan grunted, seeing Gu Xiqiao''s eyes lit up the moment itnded on him, his figure reflected in her eyes, the agitation that was in his heart dissipated instantly.

    After exchanging a few more words with Luo Weng, Gu Xiqiao left with Jiang Shuxuan.

    ***

    Yu Ning, who was still standing at the door of the hotel narrowed his eyes. He nced at the person beside Gu Xiqiao, and asked suddenly, "Do you know the person who is beside Miss Gu?"

    Mu Zong turned to look at the person, and replied in a low voice, "I''ve only met him a few times, don''t be too curious about it. He''s not an ordinary person, so don''t provoke him in any way."

    "I know," Yu Ning replied, his tone thoughtful, "When I hacked into the national database, I saw that person''s information in there. It was all in the highest level of encryption, I spent three days getting through it, just to find that it was written in ancient Chinese script!"

    Thinking back to that time, Yu Ning felt his mood dampened. When he thought about how he had cracked the code after not sleeping for three days, disregarding how proud he felt in that moment, he didn''t expect to be faced with ancient Chinese script, who would understand all the squiggling words?! Why the hell was his information so! Damn! Secretive!

    "Cough cough." Mu Zong coughed lightly. "Yu Ning, don''t talk about such things in such a public area. Let''s head back and talk about it."

    ''Aren''t you afraid of being caught by the police to be interrogated in broad daylight?''

    ''Kids nowadays,'' Mu Zong thought to himself as he massaged his temples, they really were getting more and more terrifying.

    ***

    "What were you talking about with your ssmate just now, his face was unnaturally pale." After getting into the car, Jiang Shuxuan raised the question, seemingly indifferent about it.

    Gu Xiqiao didn''t bother hiding anything from him, and rehashed the entire story for him.

    Jiang Shuxuan listened to her words, his brows furrowing deeply before suddenly stepping on the breaks. Gu Xiqiao''s eyes widened slightly, turning to him in surprise. "Brother Jiang, what''s wrong?"

    "Your bone marrow has a 100% match with his?" His voice was low and deep, unlike the usually clear tone that he spoke with, as though he was suppressing his anger.

    He didn''t turn his head, and Gu Xiqiao couldn''t see the expression on his face, and was not able to gauge what he was feeling at the moment, and replied in a slightly helpless voice, "I mainly wanted to express that Wenlin may be Gu Zuhui''s son, and my half-brother. Brother Jiang, you''re focusing on the wrong point."

    "I''m not, are you saying you''re going to donate your bone marrow to him?" Jiang Shuxuan finally turned to look at Gu Xiqiao. His brows were tightly knitted, an extremely deep frown on his usually smooth face. These past few days, the color had finally returned to her face, but she was still too thin for his liking. Where did all the soup that she ate go? "There''s no meat on these bones at all, did the soup all go into Haha''s stomach?"

    "...I''ve grown recently," Gu Xiqiao said slowly, but then she got excited when she next spoke, "At least four or five centimeters!"

    "Four, five centimeters?" Jiang Shuxuan stared at her, and reached out to measure with his hand, "So, just a little past my shoulder?"

    Gu Xiqiao: Okay, we can stop talking and cut off our friendship here!

    "When I first saw you, you didn''t even reach my shoulder, and now you just slightly pass it." When he mentioned this, Jiang Shuxuan''s eye softened¡ªa warm, gentle hint entering it. At that time, she was just a small, thin, little thing, crystal clear eyes, and extensive mental power¡ªa genius.

    He had felt regret back then, thinking that it was such a pity that a talented person like her had not learnt ancient martial arts. But he received a surprise after that, finding out that she wasn''t only part of the ancient martial arts world, but her level was... hm, it was now at Tendon Forging level, the speed of her advancement was simply baffling.

    But Jiang Shuxuan himself was an insane genius, so he wasn''t too surprised by that, and there was a strange sense of pride in his heart at that.

    "I''m 165 right now, 170 isn''t that far away," Gu Xiqiao said, her eyes brightening. She had almost been 170 in her past life, so she should be able to surpass that in this life, right?

    Jiang Shuxuan started the car again, driving slowly towards the flow of people. "If you really want to donate your bone marrow, don''t hide it from me."

    He knew that he couldn''t stop her, with her attitude and personality, she wasn''t the kind to turn a blind eye in these situations. He could be cold and ruthless to anybody else, but he could never deny her.

    "It will be especially painful, right?" Jiang Shuxuan tried, but he couldn''t hold it in in the end, and he also thought about her pursuing medical studies. "Will it have a major impact on you in the long run?"

    "It won''t hurt, and it wouldn''t impact me too much," Gu Xiqiao said, shing him a smile, "Brother Jiang, you can rest assured, I know my limits."

    "When have you ever made me not worried?" Jiang Shuxuan said, arching an eyebrow, "That time, when you¡­" Whenever he recalled the horrifying memory, he would feel a stab of fear go through his heart. If it wasn''t for the fact there was a surge of profound energy, if she hadn''t left him a trace, he wouldn''t have made it to her in time.

    "That was an ident, an ident!" He would always bring up this incident when he lectured her, and because she couldn''t refute it, she felt a little disheartened.

    ***

    At the same time, the painting that Gu Xiqiao had given to Yao Jiamu had finally reached the Imperial Capital, after going through a lot of hardships.

    After a while, there was a knock on the door, and Sima Jun took off his sses. "Come in."

    A young man came in, dressed in a stylish white shirt, a handsome and pleasant face with slightly upturned eyes that were as dark as night. His tone was cold and aloof as he spoke, "Teacher, you were looking for me?"

    "Mm, let me show you something," Sima Jun nced at his only disciple, a smile on his face, "I want you to take someone in as a disciple."

    Mu Yunfan nced over absent-mindedly, but when his eyes fell on the painting, his gaze sharpened.

    Seeing his expression, Sima Jun felt pleased with himself. "Isn''t this a spectacr piece of work? I heard that she had just turned eighteen, and a capable talent that can be polished. I''m preparing to take this painting and yours to send to the Biennale[1]."

    "There''s a lot of spirit and feeling in this, where is she?"

    Sima Jun let out a disappointed sigh. "I don''t know where she is, only that she''s in N City. I''ve asked many people to inquire into it, but the leads all disappear into nothing, it seems like someone is blocking them."

    "There are actually people in this world that are not willing to be your student, I couldn''t even resist back then," Mu Yunfan reached out and lightly caressed the four beautiful words written at the bottom of the painting: For A Millenium.

    He slowly raised his head, silently repeating the words to himself before turning to look out the window. "N City."

    [1] Biennale is an Italian word, used within the art world to describerge-scale international contemporary art exhibitions

 Chapter 116 Unusual Cave

    <h4>Chapter 116 Unusual Cave</h4>

    As soon as Jiang Shuxuan drove the car to the gates, Xixi flew out of the house.

    "Beauty Gu! Beauty Gu!"

    "Why didn¡¯t you take Xixi with you today?" Jiang Shuxuan asked with slightly narrowed eyes. The flicker of frost in his eyes startled Xixi, who immediately flew to sit on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder.

    Gu Xiqiao saw it happening, and raised an eyebrow at him, reaching up to touch her nose. "I left Xixi at home to apany Haha."

    In actuality, she felt that Xixi was a tad noisy, and had too much of a human-like personality. Bringing it out made her feel like there was no privacy, so she waszy to bring it out with her.

    "Remember to bring it along next time, there have been some ninjasing into N City recently. I¡¯d feel more assured if Xixi was with you."

    As the evaluation for the Ranking List drew closer, many foreigners wereing to inquire about China discreetly. The reason was because China had produced someone like Jiang Shuxuan who had been sitting in the top spot for the past ten years, and thus igniting theirpetitive spirit.

    After observing for a few days to find that they hadn¡¯t managed to cross the boundaries, he rxed slightly. However, they were still being kept under watch discreetly, since these people were no ordinary people after all. Being the rising new generation from Russia, their skills couldn¡¯t be underestimated. As seeded yers, they would definitely have some heavy protections on themselves, and if they were to use it would most likely lead to earth-shattering scenarios. And that was also the reason why Jiang Shuxuan was worried that she would meet these people, she had a lot of secrets after all, and sometimes even he couldn¡¯t measure her true strength.

    China had already upied three spots among the top twenty in the Ranking List, and were already a thorn in the side of the other counties. If they were to add one more this time, they would be under even more scrutiny, and it was possible that the other countries would resort to more underhanded measures.

    Hearing the new term, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s interest was piqued. "Ninjas? Do those things really exist?" Thinking about it made her excited, she had never seen one before.

    Jiang Shuxuan had wanted to correct her by saying that ninjas were not things, but then he paused. That wasn¡¯t right, if they weren¡¯t ¡¯things¡¯, then what were they?

    He couldn¡¯t think of a more appropriate term, so he skipped that line of thoughtpletely instead. "There should be some in the forum, you can go back and have a look through. Remember to take Xixi out with you next time."

    "I know." Gu Xiqiao nodded, the shine in her eyes growing brighter as she thought about it. She had been in contact with ancient martial arts for so long, and still rarely encountered any other cultivators. And now finding out the existence of ninjas... she was really looking forward to it.

    Seeing the bright sparkles in her eyes, Jiang Shuxuan could faintly make a guess at what she was thinking about. Feeling helpless at the situation, he could only give Xixi a pointed look, emphasizing for it to keep a careful eye on her. And to contact him should anything happen, no matter what the time.

    Both of them entered the house together, and the first thing that caught their eyes was the figure of Yin Shaoyuanzing on the couch. Once the man saw the two of them walk in, he jumped up immediately, suddenly full of life as he eximed, "You guys are back. Auntie Zhang, serve the dishes!"

    Mrs. Zhang called back affirmative from the kitchen, and then started bringing out the dishes to the table.

    "Aren¡¯t you busy today?" Jiang Shuxuan suddenly asked, after seeing Yin Shaoyuan lean over to Gu Xiqiao to chatter in her ears.

    Yin Shaoyuan straightened up in his seat subconsciously, a grave expression sliding onto his face. "What, I was actually very busy. A group of new, egg-headed recruits broke my heart. They got big-headed afterpleting one mission, so I wanted to borrow Qiao...ah, no. I want to invite the both of you to give them a scolding!"

    "Is there a reason you can¡¯t do it?" Gu Xiqiao replied, scratching the top of Haha¡¯s head, her tone disinterested.

    "Sigh, I need to maintain my cold and uncaring attitude!" Yin Shaoyuan said, a hint of a whineing into his voice. "I¡¯m not like Brother Jiang, who got the title of major general without needing to do anything. I¡¯m just a poormander, and I¡¯ve only just been promoted!"

    Grandpa had thrown him into the barracks at the age of thirteen, starting out from the lowest rank of a soldier. Twelve yearster, Yin Shaoyuan had finally started to make his own achievements, slowly climbing up the ranks with his own strength. Grandpa had said that the Yin family was not his stepping stone, and no one in the barracks knew his background. How high he could climb would wholly be dependent on his own power.

    Gu Xiqiao silently thought that Jiang Shuxuan had done more to achieve his status. Without his ancient martial art skills, how would he have the position he was in today?

    "Don¡¯t you have an entertainmentpany, how are you still able to be amander?"

    Could soldiers have their own businesses? Thinking back to the way he was soid back, did all soldiers have so much free time? Wasn¡¯t there any training to be done?

    "Hehe, that¡¯s because I was carrying out a big mission for Brother Jiang before this, and the top brass gave me a month¡¯s leave after that," Yin Shaoyuan said, kicking his legs up to ce it on the coffee table, he looked at Jiang Shuxuan. "If you need help in any of your missions, don¡¯t hesitate to find me, don¡¯t be shy!"

    "I fear that you will leave and not return instead." Jiang Shuxuan shifted his gaze to him, with a thin line on his lips, and his graceful hands holding the porcin cup. "After all, you¡¯re very weak."

    Yin Shaoyuan, who has been stabbed in his heart by a few knives: What happened to the deep friendship bond between us? Belittling him in front of Er Qiao like this, he couldn¡¯t believe that Jiang Shuxuan could be this petty! He had really judged him wrongly!

    Yin Shaoyuan narrowed his eyes, turning to look deep into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes instead. "Qiao Qiao, don¡¯t listen to Brother Jiang¡¯s nonsense, I¡¯m actually super strong, I¡¯m not lying."

    She blinked, her longshes fluttering with the movement, as a bright smile graced her face, her melodious voice floating out as she asked, "Then, can you beat me?"

    Crack!

    Yin Shaoyuan could practically hear the sound of his heart breaking. His domineering, intimidating, tall, and strong big brother image was in shambles in her eyes. ¡¯Jiang Shuxuan, I want to duel you!¡¯

    However, when he thought about it, there were many things that needed to be considered in dueling, if you weren¡¯t careful, you could also lose your life!

    "The military base is quite fun. Qiao Qiao, don¡¯t you want to go?" Yin Shaoyuan was at his wit¡¯s end, sping his hands together. "You¡¯re free tomorrow, right? Let¡¯s go let¡¯s go let¡¯s go?"

    Since it was Yin Shaoyuan, Gu Xiqiao had just been teasing him. She nced over to Jiang Shuxuan, who was tapping his fingers against the cup, and knew instantly that he had also been teasing Yin Shaoyuan, "Then I¡¯ll go with you to see tomorrow!"

    With Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s personality, he wouldn¡¯t have raised the issue with them if it was something that he could resolve on his own, so the moment he opened his mouth, the two of them had already decided that they would go. However, they couldn¡¯t help but give in to the urge to tease him when they saw his face.

    With such sadistic habits, they really were birds of a feather.

    Seeing the two of them agreeing, Yin Shaoyuan felt relieved. He hadn¡¯t been sleeping well the past few days, and his eyelids slid shut before Mrs. Zhang had even finished serving up the dishes.

    "Let him sleep, missing one meal wouldn¡¯t matter." Mrs. Zhang was about to wake him up, but Jiang Shuxuan stopped her. "Save some dinner for himter, andy the sofa back down."

    The sofa can be unfolded, and with Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s tall figure, sleeping on the sofa wouldn¡¯t befortable. Once Mrs. Zhang extended the sofa, it looked better, and no different than a normal bed.

    "Brother Jiang, what happened to him?" Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect him to fall into such a deep sleep in just a few minutes.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingertips twitched. "It¡¯s stress, and he hasn¡¯t been sleeping well for a while. Let him rest."

    The two moved the dinner dishes to the other hall, so that Yin Shaoyuan could rest quietly. Though Gu Xiqiao felt that Jiang Shuxuan might know more than he was letting on, he didn¡¯t look like he had any intentions to share. She would get the system spirit to look into it.

    Ever since the system spirit was able to materialize and leave on its own, it would take any and all chances it could to head out to roam. It was even curious about the more shady sides, with ces like the red-light districts. Without fail, it would always head out for at least five hours, just exploring. Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, it spread its wings and immediately flew out.

    The system spirit had also started behaving like a normal person, not going through walls but floating down the stairs slowly to leave the house. When it was on its way down the stairs, it bumped into Jiang Shuxuan, who was heading upstairs.

    His ink-ck eyes seemed to have a considerable amount of light in it, and the system spirit shivered at it. It didn¡¯t dare to look at Jiang Shuxuan, flying away as soon as it could.

    Up till flying out of the house, the system spirit could still feel the chills on its back.

    ***

    Early the next morning, even before the sun had risen, the eyes of a girl lying in the middle of a white bed fluttered open slowly, revealing a pair of bright, clear eyes. There was a faint flush on her pale wless face, and she tilted her head to the side, seeing a cute spirit lying beside her.

    Upon closer inspection, the spirit¡¯s body was not actually touching the bed, but it was lying quietly with its eyes closed and sleeping, seemingly like any other ordinary person.

    As the only person who could touch it, Gu Xiqiao reached out with a finger, rousing it. "Stop sleeping already, tell me what¡¯s the situation?"

    The system spirit opened its eyes, floating upward slowly. "I eavesdropped in the corner yesterday night for a long time. Recently, some soldiers in the military barracks suddenly became very powerful, and their attitudes also changed drastically. They cleared S rank missions easily, and their ranks have also risen rapidly. Apparently, it¡¯s because of a cave behind the mountains. I heard that as long as you walk into it, you woulde out powerful, and a lot of soldiers have been sneaking out to look for the cave."

    So that was what was happening, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. After a while, she got up and headed for the shower, and once she was done she followed behind Jiang Shuxuan and Yin Shaoyuan toward the military barracks.

    The only military district in N City was located in a hidden forest and was surrounded by mountains, there was only one road leading into it, and it was littered with guards. Nobody could just waltz into the ce, and anybody without special permits would be caught once they step foot onto the path.

    At the same time, there was a figure walking on the south side mountain, he was wearing a military uniform, a red star on his shoulder. He had tanned skin, and he was standing at the side of a dark cave, his face holding an expression of joy. He had finally found it after so long, the rumored mountain cave.

    He was just a viger from a rural vige, having never studied before, he entered the army relying on his physical body. After almost eight years, he was still just a lowly soldier, receiving the lowest amount of sry. There were also just a handful of times that he had returned home, and now his family wrote to him, informing him that his son was sick, and they needed money urgently. But, how would he have such a sum of money?!

    In his desperation, he heard rumors of the mountain cave, and so he sneaked out in order to search for it. As long as he went in, he could be different when he came out, he would be able to carry out more missions, and receive more money.

    Looking at the dark cave, he strode forward determinedly, but came upon an invisible barrier not long after.

    A low voice came from behind him, somewhat clear and melodious. But before the man could hear what was being said, he pitched forward, falling down into a dead faint.

 Chapter 117 Had He Offended Her In Any Way?

    <h4>Chapter 117 Had He Offended Her In Any Way?</h4>

    "There really was such a cave?" Yin Shaoyuan looked at the dark, dingy cave. He had always assumed that the cave¡¯s existence was just a rumor, he didn¡¯t expect to actually find that it existed with his own two eyes. Thinking back to the rumors that going into it would make you powerful, he turned his eyes to Jiang Shuxuan. "Brother Jiang, are the rumors true or false?"

    Jiang Shuxuan was silent, pursing his lips as he looked at the cave with a grim expression. After a while, he finally opened his mouth to reply. "It¡¯s true, but the price is high."

    "What¡¯s the price?"

    This time, it wasn¡¯t Jiang Shuxuan who replied, but Gu Xiqiao, "Your soul."

    There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, and what you pay for was usually what you get. Though the cave would give you powers beyond your imagination, from the moment you walked in, you would no longer be yourself when you walked out.

    Desire, money, fame, and fortune, these were the things that most people crave in their hearts. If you couldn¡¯t escape this circle of desire, then you wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid temptations.

    "Soul?" Yin Shaoyuan repeated, stunned. He turned to Jiang Shuxuan again, silently staring at him for confirmation, and thetter nodded his head lightly.

    This was beyond Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s scope ofprehension, he always knew that Jiang Shuxuan was not an ordinary person, and that people like him were rare. But this was the first time he had encountered something that was so strange and despicable.

    "Why did it appear here suddenly?" As someone who had gone through a lot of hardships and encountered many shocking things, Yin Shaoyuan managed to pull himself together after only a short time. There were two masters in his presence after all, though his hands were still trembling slightly. "Can it be resolved?"

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at the negative yin energy that was swirling above them, her eyes wandered. "Yes, and the source of the issue lies with you."

    As she spoke, her hands were also moving. "This is not really a mountain cave, but an array. Its purpose is to deliberately harm ordinary people who are directly or indirectly connected to you. The person who deployed this formation is surely someone that you know."

    As she finished drawing her formation, the cave gradually faded behind a cloudy mist.

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had been standing next to her, was rubbing his fingers together. In the end, he didn¡¯t need to do anything. This level of formation was still not dangerous, it was good practice for her.

    "There¡¯s actually someone who wants to do this to such an amazing and handsome man like me?" Looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s calm demeanor, Yin Shaoyuan felt the fear that had gripped his heart lessen. He observed the foggy mist shrouding the cave, his eyes still slightly wide with shock. "Qiao Qiao, you¡¯re also cool!"

    "It¡¯s just you that was scared." Gu Xiqiao lowered her hands, ncing at the man lying on the ground. "Take care of this guy, he has talent, but he¡¯s been suppressed all the while by those petty people. He can still be groomed."

    "Alright." Yin Shaoyuan nced at the tanned man lying on the ground, not being able to make out his face. The military rules were extremely strict, this man had fled without proper permission and had ignored the military regtions. Normally, the person would be punished or expelled when he returns to the barracks, but since the things that Gu Xiqiao said had made sense, he would let him remain in the military for now.

    After surveying the area, Jiang Shuxuan came back to find the two chatting happily, his eyes narrowed. "Shaoyuan, when you get home, let aunty know about this."

    "My mom?" Yin Shaoyuan suddenly looked ill at the thought of doing so. "What¡¯s the point of telling... Alright, I¡¯ll tell her once I get home."

    Jiang Shuxuan turned away, looking to see that the entrance of the cave had been sealed off by Gu Xiqiao. He raised his hand. "Let¡¯s head back."

    With a sh, the four figures disappeared instantly.

    Yin Shaoyuan had wanted to say something to Gu Xiqiao, but the scene suddenly changed. As soon as hended in his own dorm room, he staggered and fell t on his back.

    "... are you alright?" Gu Xiqiao asked, looking away, trying not tough.

    Yin Shaoyuan: No, listen to me, this has to be that demon Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s doing!

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at him, one elegant brow arching up, though there was a rare warm expression on his face. "Sorry, my mistake."

    "It¡¯s fine, no worries." Yin Shaoyuan pulled himself up and patted the dust away. "I¡¯m a man, this pain is nothing."

    "That¡¯s good then, go and check on your subordinates." Jiang Shuxuan had his usual indifferent expression on his face again, his entire person radiating confidence, and every move he made was graceful and majestic in every way possible.

    Yin Shaoyuan stood behind him, goosebumps appearing all over him, and he resisted the urge to rub his arms. Why was it when Jiang Shuxuan started being nice and friendly, he felt that something bad was going to happen?

    ***

    Li Shun¡¯s sleep was not peaceful, he had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting to do something, and his head was killing him. He wanted to open his eyes, but it was hard to do. He heard someone calling his name in his ear, and so he gritted his teeth, forcing his eyes to open.

    "Ah Shun, you¡¯re finally awake!"

    Li Shun struggled to keep his eyes open, and realized that the person talking was his bunkmate. He sat up, finding that he wasn¡¯t in his own dormitory, "Liang Zi, where am I?"

    "Themander¡¯s dorm." The one called Liang Zi said with a bright grin, "You¡¯re so lucky, themander is giving you a promotion!"

    "Commander?" Li Shun couldn¡¯t react for a while, his mind muddled. He kept feeling that he was forgetting something, but it was getting more confusing by the minute. "Why does he want to promote me?"

    "How would I know? Now that you¡¯re up, hurry up and go. Themander said to meet him in the training grounds once you woke up," Liang Zi urged.

    The two scrambled for a bit before heading towards the training ground, and it was unusually lively today. There were a lot of people who were standing in a circle outside,pletely unlike the usual disciplined attitude they would be disying.

    The three people standing in the middle of the field were particrly eye-catching, and the one that stood out the most was the lone girl among them. Li Shun stared hard at the pale white figure, and she happened to turn around at the same time, letting him get a good look at her face.

    Her face was like a beautiful picture, perfect in every way, and she dazzled like the sun. He felt like he was blinded by her radiance.

    "I feel like I¡¯ve seen her before?" Li Shun suddenly said.

    Liang Zi was standing speechless next to him. "I say, this sort of pick up method doesn¡¯t work anymore. It¡¯s too old school, you gotta have better and newer ones now, let brother teach you some when we get back!"

    Li Shun didn¡¯t bother to exin his words, and silently walked toward Yin Shaoyuan.

    Yin Shaoyuan nced at him, then ordered him to stand at the side. He then proceeded to call a few other names.

    Gu Xiqiao stood next to Jiang Shuxuan, looking at the people that were being singled out by Yin Shaoyuan, and her breath was caught in her throat. "Brother Jiang, these people..."

    "There¡¯s no helping them." Jiang Shuxuan sighed, reaching out to rub her head gently. "Don¡¯t think too much about it, they made their choices."

    "Mm." Gu Xiqiao agreed, looking down.

    Yin Shaoyuan had also heard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, and he gave a sigh before handing them all over to Jiang Shuxuan, no longer caring what would happen to them.

    Gu Xiqiao walked away while the two were busy, and she received a call from Luo Weng.

    His voice was heavy, like he had given up, "I got the result from the hospital today, it¡¯s a 99% match."

    Gu Xiqiao had already expected this result a long time ago, but hearing it from Luo Weng¡¯s mouth didn¡¯t make it any less unpleasant. She was silent for a while, before speaking, "Where are you now, I¡¯ll head over immediately."

    "The hospital,e on over." Luo Weng hung up and sat down on the hospital bench, staring at nothing in particr while he waited.

    Gu Xiqiao put away her phone and walked over to Jiang Shuxuan to inform him of her intentions, he lifted his eyes to look at her. "Take my car. Xixi is inside, don¡¯t forget to bring it along."

    "...Oh." Gu Xiqiao was reluctant, but it looks like there was no other choice but to bring Xixi, so be it.

    Yin Shaoyuan had given her the permit in the morning, and so she went to find Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s Bugatti with the permit in hand, finding Xixi sitting on the top of the car. When it saw her, it opened its mouth to greet her, "Beauty Gu! Beauty Gu!"

    "If you go six hours without speaking, I¡¯ll give you candy." Gu Xiqiao started the car, then gestured with her hand as a white light shed in her palm, a brown pill appearing.

    Xixi was a divine beast after all, and feeling the rich profound energy the pill held, it shut up instantly.

    Finally having the silence that she wanted, Gu Xiqiao pulled the car out onto the road.

    ***

    The military base was located in a remote area, and so it took Gu Xiqiao about an hour to reach the national highway. When she reached the exit, her car was stopped by someone.

    The person who stopped her was a middle-aged man, and his smile was kind. "Miss, our car has broken down, and the tow truck is slow ining. Could we possibly trouble you to take our young master to N City first?"

    The man was not a bad person, and if it was in the past, Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t refuse, and even if she did, it would be a gentle refusal. However, she nced at the broken down car at that moment, and even though the window was tinted, she could clearly make out the face in the back seat.

    "No," Gu Xiqiao said, her voice full of ice. Not giving the middle-aged man time to get another word in, she closed the window and drove away.

    The middle-aged man was dumbfounded, and he turned his head stiffly to see that the young master had stepped out of the car, revealing a stunningly attractive face. "Young Master, I¡¯m sorry I have failed you!"

    "It¡¯s fine." Mu Yunfan nced up to see the rear of the ck Bugatti disappearing into the distance, some doubts in his eyes. He had seen the girl¡¯s expression when she had looked into the car, and it seemed cold? Had he offended her in any way?

    But, he had never met her in his life.

 Chapter 118 Not Bad

    <h4>Chapter 118 Not Bad</h4>

    When Gu Xiqiao arrived, Luo Weng was still sitting on the same bench, still in the same dazed state.

    "Why didn¡¯t you go up?"

    Hearing her voice, Luo Weng turned his head slowly to look at her. They stared at each other for a long while before he finally opened his mouth, "I don¡¯t know what to say to him."

    His eyes were out of focus. After raising his younger brother for so long, to hear that he still had living rtives, he couldn¡¯t muster up any feelings of happiness at all, and felt disappointment instead.

    "Then don¡¯t tell him, no one will know." Gu Xiqiao sighed. Xixi was flying around her, and it was a bit annoying. pping it to one side, she continued, "There¡¯s nothing good about the Gu family anyway, Dalin won¡¯t care about these things."

    "Let¡¯s go," Luo Weng said, acting like he hadn¡¯t heard her as he stood up, his head still bowed, "This is his right."

    Though he said that, when they reached the ward, Luo Weng didn¡¯t have the courage to go in. He handed the paper that held the result to Gu Xiqiao. "I won¡¯t go in, go ahead and tell him."

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the expression on his face, and seeing that he really didn¡¯t want to go in, she didn¡¯t press the issue. "Then I¡¯m going in."

    In the ward, Luo Wenlin was working on his oil painting, and Mu Jiatong was in the bed behind him, observing him without blinking. They didn¡¯t even notice Gu Xiqiaoing in, until Xixi flew forward in circles around them, which attracted their attention.

    "Sister Gu!" Mu Jiatong greeted her once she saw her, scrambling to jump out of the bed.

    Luo Wenlin also stopped painting and turned around. "Sister Gu."

    Gu Xiqiao responded easily, and walked over to look at Luo Wenlin¡¯s painting. His paintings were full of life and spirit, and in this he was very simr to the Gu family, like how she and Gu Xijin were both talented in art. "Not bad."

    "Not as good as yours, Sister Gu." Luo Wenlin felt pleased and embarrassed to hear her praise.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed his head, wondering how to bring up the matter. After a while, Luo Wenlin turned back to continue his painting, and Gu Xiqiao opened her mouth after some time had passed. "Dalin, I found your family."

    "Oh." Luo Wenlin¡¯s hand paused, his brush hovering above the canvas. He murmured softly, but there was no other emotion.

    His reaction was t, and Gu Xiqiao felt a bit unexpected. "Do you want to know who they are?"

    "Sister Gu." Luo Wenlin suddenly raised his head, and his eyes seemed like they could pierce through you, he said very slowly, "I only have one family member, and that is my brother. If there is anyone else, then it would be the people from the orphanage."

    He had grown up in the orphanage, and when he got out he had lived with Luo Weng. In his eyes, Luo Weng was his only family.

    "Un, not knowing is good too," Gu Xiqiao said, patting his head gently. After giving him a few tips on his painting, she left the room.

    Luo Weng was leaning against the wall beside the door when she came out, his face in his hands and she couldn¡¯t see his expression.

    "You heard Dalin¡¯s words, go on in and don¡¯t worry anymore," Gu Xiqiao said in a low voice.

    "Mm," Luo Weng replied, his voice unusually hoarse and scratchy. He stood outside a while longer before opening the door to head inside, and from the outside, Gu Xiqiao could hear Luo Wenlin¡¯s cheerful exmation followed by chatter.

    ¡¯System, my bone marrow is suitable for Dalin, right?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao confirmed with the system as she turned to walk to the office of Luo Wenlin¡¯s doctor.

    The system spirit was ying a game in the void, and hearing her words, it left the void to appear in front of Gu Xiqiao, [ording to the information I have, that is correct, Beauty Qiao. However, it looks like Big Jiang is really reluctant for you to donate your bone marrow.]

    ¡¯Dalin is my younger brother. Although we have different mothers, he¡¯s so much better than Gu Xijin, right?¡¯ This was an unexpected surprise, and Gu Xiqiao felt strangely responsible for this.

    [Alright, but you have to take good care of yourself. If Big Jiang knew that this entire incident was because of me, he¡¯d most likely to y me.] The system spirit shivered at that thought, [I keep feeling that he can see me, and that¡¯s a horrifying thought.]

    ¡¯You¡¯re thinking too much." Gu Xiqiao had reached the doctor¡¯s office, and informed him of her intentions.

    "You want to donate your bone marrow to Luo Wenlin?" The doctor adjusted his sses. The girl in front of him was a beauty, with delicate features on her pale face and a thin, petite figure. He strongly suspected that she had malnutrition, "Are you of age? Does your family know about this?"

    "They know, doctor. Dalin is my brother, my bone marrow is definitely a match." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were determined.

    Saying it like that, the doctor couldn¡¯t retort with anything else. He started writing a list, "You have to take a test first, to check whether it will be a sessful match. Then a check on your health, and leave a way to contact you. The results will be out only tomorrow."

    If her general health was not up to standard, even if the bone marrow was a match, the hospital wouldn¡¯t simply do the transnt.

    Gu Xiqiao took the list and went to get her blood tested, and it took a while before she was able to leave. Recalling that she wascking some painting materials, she left to find a shop to buy her things.

    When she was heading down, she remembered that the paper Luo Weng had given her was still in her pocket. Thinking back to Luo Wenlin¡¯s reaction, she promptly tossed the paper into the rubbish bin.

    ***

    While Gu Xiqiao was getting better as the days passed by, the Gu family business in contrast was getting worse as the days went by. Master Gu had heart attacks quite frequently in recent days, and was being apanied by the butler to the hospital today. Therge machines were unable to be moved to the manor, and so he had toe to the hospital for check ups once in a while.

    He didn¡¯t expect to see Gu Xiqiao at this time, and Master Gu watched as she crumpled a piece of paper, tossing it into the bin. He was curious at this, and told the butler, "Take it out and let me have a look."

    Initially, he was wondering whether it could be that the young people were causing chaos again? When the butler handed the paper over to him, his eyes widened as he clutched his heart, gasping for breath.

    The butler hurriedly tried to calm him, but Master Gu waved him away. "It¡¯s okay, it was just a burst of excitement. Go, hurry and investigate this boy called Luo Wenlin!"

    Gu Xijin was useless, and Gu Xiqiao had turned her back on the family, unwilling to return. The Gu family was considered to have no sessor, and unexpectedly another qualified person had appeared out of thin air, and was even his grandson by blood! There was nothing more exciting than this at this moment.

    More importantly, this grandson of his and Gu Xiqiao must know each other. As long as he could bring his grandson back into the Gu family, how could Gu Xiqiao ignore them in the future? Of course, if she was willing to teach his grandson, that was all the better.

    Thinking about this, Master Gu couldn¡¯t resist it anymore. He didn¡¯t even bother going for his check up, immediately sending for someone to drive him home instead. He needed to investigate and ponder over this matter carefully!

    ***

    There was a specialty store not far from the hospital, and thinking about how hard it would be to find parking, Gu Xiqiao left the car and made her way slowly towards the shops on foot instead. Xixi was flying around her in a show of tantrum for not being able to speak, and she had swatted him time and time again. For a long-lived creature, he sure didn¡¯t have the best memories.

    [Ding! Daily Mission activated: Help that mister!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 100 points!]

    The system gave an alert while she was on her way back from buying her things.

    Gu Xiqiao had already seen a group of people gathering at the intersection, and instead of squeezing past them immediately, she lingered at the side to listen to the situation.

    It went something like this, a woman was hit by a middle-aged man riding a motorcycle while crossing the road. She fell to the ground and wouldn¡¯t wake up. Her brother had caught the perpetrator, but the man imed that he had not hit the woman.

    The woman¡¯s brother was dressed in ck clothes, and wore a ck bandana. In today¡¯s society, there was no surprise at his choice of clothing. He picked up the middle-aged man with one hand, and it clearly showed how strong he was. He spoke with inurate words which indicated that Chinese was not his firstnguage. "The Great Heavens disappoint me. Scum like you, what¡¯s the point of you being alive?"

    He lifted the man higher, a glint of anger in his eyes.

    He wanted to teach this scum a lesson, but before he could move, he realized that his wrist was being gripped by someone. He turned his head, and his eyesnded on a beautiful, petite girl. Feeling tolerant while faced with a beautiful girl, his anger diminished a little as he looked at her, "Little beauty, don¡¯t be nosy."

    "He¡¯s a good person, you¡¯ve misunderstood him." Gu Xiqiao looked at the mister who was being held, his eyes were pleading and full of urgency. He was being held by the neck, and it was hard to get any words out.

    "With such beauty, why is it that youck the brains!" The man¡¯s eyes slowly turned red, and he looked to be very short-tempered, and on the verge of throwing a fit.

    At the same time, the people around were looking at Gu Xiqiao with disapproval in their eyes. "That¡¯s right, could it be that this girl is in cahoots with the girl who was knocked down?"

    "They may look like people, but I didn¡¯t expect their hearts to be so callous."

    "..."

    This matter was already severely affecting the traffic flow, and a luxury ck car was forced to stop at the roadside. "Young Master, it looks like there has been an ident in front. Do you want someone to clear a path?"

    A cool voice sounded faintly. "No need."

    Mu Yunfan rolled down the car window, his eyesight was good, and he could see what was happening in the distance. He noticed the girl was the same one that he had met that one time, and he could clearly remember her because she was really an exquisite beauty. Hearing the butler¡¯s words, he furrowed his brows slightly, feeling his impression of the girl dropping into nothing, "Go around it."

    The low-key luxury car left quietly.

    "Having hurt my sister, you have to pay with your life. Little girl, stop being such a busy body. Otherwise, don¡¯t me me if you die. Don¡¯t be arrogant just because you have a little more strength than average, I¡¯m not an ordinary person!" The man sneered coldly and a ball of me gathering directly above his palm. He was a ninja from Japan. Even if he killed an ordinary citizen of China, they wouldn¡¯t dare toe after him.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, a heavy aura emitting from her body.

    Sorry, her ancient martial arts were not bad either.

 Chapter 119 Miko

    <h4>Chapter 119 Miko</h4>

    "You¡¯re from the ancient martial arts world?!" Yamamoto¡¯s expression changed immediately and darkened, seeing the dense chi surrounding Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body. Aftering to N City for so long, this was only the third time he had seen someone from the ancient martial arts world.

    The system spirit floated around Yamamoto, shaking its head. [Although you¡¯re a bad guy, I really pity you. I hope when you dieter, it won¡¯t be too ugly...]

    Xixi stared at Yamamoto for a short while, its jet-ck eyes full of sympathy. This man was obviously not as powerful as it was, but he was so full of himself. Foreseeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s aggressive actions to resolve this, it couldn¡¯t help but shed (fat) tears of pity for him.

    A white light shed in the slender fingers, and Yamamoto¡¯s arm was numb from the impact, his grip on the middle-aged man loosening till he fell to the ground. The middle-ageed man shot a grateful look at Gu Xiqiao, and she waved him into the crowd.

    Without the presence of another person in the field, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t hold back. She gestured with both her hands, drawing a formation to trap Yamamoto inside. She had wanted to beat him up directly, but with a crowd behind her, she felt slightly embarrassed and awkward about the situation.

    The system spirit could read the thoughts on her face, and it opened its mouth to speak, [Beauty Qiao, you can try using the smokescreen technique that you were practicing in the virtual arenast time.]

    ¡¯Bingo!¡¯ Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers, and with speed that was visible to the naked eyes, the space around them started to twist, with them being at the center.

    Yamamoto looked on in stunned silence. It wasn¡¯t like he hadn¡¯t fought against any other martial arts practitioners before, but it was always him that would end up at the top. Not to mention, most people in China were ordinary people, he could easily squash any one of them with just a flick of a finger.

    Just as he said, his position was special, even if he killed one or two people, the government of China wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to him. That was how his personality had been warped to this extent, killing anybody that showed him even the slightest hint of disagreement. And since it was people from China, he didn¡¯t feel a hint of remorse from his actions at all.

    However, all this was useless in front of Gu Xiqiao. After epting the mission, she had clearly studied the information on these three people.

    The ninjas in Japan were divided into the ranks, from the lowest Hatsunin, Genin, Chunin, Jounin, Hitonin, Jinin, to the highest which was Tennin. Yamamoto¡¯s strength could be said to be just average, being only a Genin at the age of twenty-eight. Gu Xiqiao could easily end his life with just a twitch of her finger.

    The system spirit had already hacked into thework, pulling out the list of every single one of Yamamoto¡¯s crimes for Gu Xiqiao to see.

    "You¡¯ve been in China for ten days, and you¡¯ve killed two murderous fugitives, but you¡¯ve also injured four ordinary citizens, indirectly killed one, and outright killed two..." Gu Xiqiao stated all of this with a sharp smile on her face, her eyes not betraying any emotions. "We can solve China¡¯s affairs on our own, we don¡¯t need your intervention."

    Yamamoto had been inattentive to her words in the beginning, but by the time she had listed all his actions, he was shell shocked, because she had not missed any details, while he himself had forgotten all the small things.

    "I don¡¯t care what kind of trouble you stir up while in Japan, but once you arrive here in China, you follow our rules. We will handle our own people, you don¡¯t need to take any action, do you understand?" Gu Xiqiao cracked her knuckles, her smile was unusually wide.

    Yamamoto couldn¡¯t move, and he looked up at Gu Xiqiao with horror on his face. He felt a flow of energy coursing through his entire body, and then a pain that seeped into his bones bursting out from within suddenly. Gu Xiqiao had sealed off his acupoints, he wasn¡¯t able to scream nor raise his head, but he could see a slender fisting at him.

    "This is for the abuse you¡¯ve piled on the people of China!"

    Boom!

    "Proud of bullying ordinary citizens, aren¡¯t you?"

    Boom!

    "Do you know why blood is red?!"

    Boom boom boom!

    Five minutester, Gu Xiqiao waved her hand lightly, and Yamamoto felt his body lighten, the acupoints that were sealed washed away like water flowing into a stream. However, the pain was engraved into his mind, he never wanted to experience that sort of pain ever again in his life. Such a petite girl was already so strong, China really lived up to the saying of ¡¯crouching tiger, hidden dragon¡¯.

    Gu Xiqiao dispelled her smokescreen, scanning the surroundings with an indifferent expression on her face. She was only about seventeen years old, yet she had stunning features, a real beauty that was wless.

    Just a few minutes have passed since then, but the people around her suddenly couldn¡¯t spit out any more words of usation which they had been doing previously. It felt like this petite girl had changed into apletely different person in an instant, and the person she was now made it hard for them to look at her.

    Gu Xiqiao pulled out a few silver needles, poking it into the girl who was still lying on the ground. After a few beats, the girl woke up slowly. Gu Xiqiao pulled out the needles. "Did this mister knock you down just now?"

    The girl shook her head, her voice weak as she replied, "It¡¯s just low blood pressure, nothing to do with the mister."

    "You hear that?" Gu Xiqiao said, turning around and getting to her feet. No one dared to meet her eyes, and Yamamoto was even more ashamed of his actions, shrinking into himself as he slipped to his sister¡¯s side, not daring to make even a sound.

    The mister wiped the tears that had slid down from his eyes, his voice hoarse as he spoke, "Thank you, miss."

    He was in a hurry to send money today, his wife was waiting for the money for a life-saving operation in the hospital, but he was unlucky to be caught up in this situation. Being held by the neck by the Japanese made him feel like he was going to die in that moment, and he didn¡¯t expect to meet and be rescued by such a righteous person.

    "It¡¯s alright, hurry up and go, Aunt is still waiting for the money. Don¡¯t worry, your family is safe, don¡¯t do anything rash." Gu Xiqiao patted his shoulder lightly.

    The uncle felt his shoulders lightened, but thinking about how his wife was waiting, he didn¡¯t linger on those thoughts, instead hurrying to get back on his motorcycle towards the hospital.

    Midway to the hospital, he suddenly realized that he had never mentioned his wife in the hospital, how was it that the girl had known?

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the siblings with a cold expression on her face, turning to grab the painting materials on the ground and wanting to head back to the car that was parked at the hospital. As soon as she picked up the materials, her phone rang.

    Pulling out her phone to see that the caller was Jiang Shuxuan, her face brightened, and people would mistake her for a goddess with the radiance that she was emitting, "Hello, Brother Jiang."

    "Mm, look to your left." A deep velvet voice came through, and Gu Xiqiao looked over in the direction that he had said, her eyes widened in surprise.

    "Why are you here?" She asked, staring unblinkingly for a moment beforeing back to herself.

    Jiang Shuxuan put down the phone, cutting through the crowd, he slowly walked towards her. He was wearing a sleek, white shirt, with the top two buttons on top undone. His sleeves were rolled up halfway, revealing a thin, slender arm. The clothing was meant to be simple and casual, but on him, it gave off a re of elegance. His defined face looked to be sculptured, standing out like a sore thumb among the sea of people. It seemed like only the words magnificent and phenomenal could be used to describe him.

    "Brother Jiang, why are you here?" Gu Xiqiao repeated her question, staring at him in stunned silence until he stopped in front of her. She reacted only then, reaching up to touch her nose awkwardly.

    Elegant eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a slender finger twitched. Jiang Shuxuan was feeling slightly resigned. He had been intending to drive to the base, but then he suddenly felt a familiar fluctuation of energy, as well as a faint ninja aura. Though he knew that Gu Xiqiao would be fine, he still couldn¡¯t help but stop the car.

    Xixi saw Jiang Shuxuan, and it started pping its wings and flying around in circles around him. Jiang Shuxuan felt himself getting dizzy from the motion, and with a smooth gesture a frost de appeared and he used it to swat the bird away.

    Xixi who had suffered 100 million points of damage: Jiang Shuxuan is even more cruel than Beauty Gu! Break off friendship! Break off friendship!

    As it was amercial street, there were many peopleing and going. Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Let¡¯s go, where did you park the car?"

    "The hospital." Gu Xiqiao followed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side, often getting shoved and pushed as people rushed past them.

    Just when Gu Xiqiao was about to be shoved away again, Jiang Shuxuan grabbed her hand with a pensive face, saying calmly, "Follow closely."

    "Mm," Gu Xiqiao said, but her attention was on their sped hands. He emitted a chilling aura, yet the temperature of his hands was warm. She could also clearly see the smooth and sharp outline of his jaw when she raised her head slightly. The two of them had their attention on their hands, and they didn¡¯t hear the Yamamoto siblings in the distance.

    ***

    "Miko, look at that, isn¡¯t that the person you¡¯re looking for?" Yamamoto pointed towards Jiang Shuxuan with a look of surprise as he turned to his sister. "I heard that he would be in N City, but I didn¡¯t expect that we would be fortunate enough to see him!"

    "Brother, who is that person next to him?" Miko smiled, but then she saw Gu Xiqiao beside him, and became anxious again. "They look very close."

    Miko was Yamamoto¡¯s younger sister. She had been weak from birth, and her body had not recovered to this day. Even though her health wasn¡¯t good, she was very talented. Yamamoto was just a Genin, and his sister was younger than him by five years but already at Jounin level. In Japan, she was also recognized as a genius, and she was here topete for a spot in the Ranking List.

    "No matter who she is, she will die." Yamamoto was a sis-con, as long as it was something his sister wanted, even if it was the stars in the sky, he would take it for her. "I¡¯ll bring you to someone, they will definitely have a way."

    Yamamoto had a friend in China, and that friend was someone in a high ce. In his view, there was nothing that his friend couldn¡¯t do, and it so happened that his friend was also currently in one of the secret bases in N City. His friend¡¯s abilities were also decent, and not long after Yamamoto passed on the message, his friend had managed to find Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity.

    "Miko, don¡¯t worry. My friend is an administrator of the ancient martial arts world in China. It won¡¯t be a problem for him to clean up one of their own. Just wait for his good news." Yamamoto said, giving her the good news. "Mr. Jiang is also in N City, haven¡¯t you been admiring him for a long time? I¡¯ll ask my friend for help, and ask to arrange a meet up for you."

    "Really? I can really meet Mr. Jiang?" Miko¡¯s face had a disbelieving expression, looking at her brother with a bright smile on her face. However, her heart had doubts, afraid that Yamamoto was just pulling her leg.

    "Really." It was rare for Yamamoto to see his sister like this, and he thumped his chest with a fist, "Believe in your brother, you¡¯ll see. My friend is calling now."

    He epted the call with a beam on his face, but just as he was about to speak, his friend¡¯s voice came through, cursing, "Ida Yamamoto! I consider you to be a good friend, a brother even! I arranged everything that you wanted when you came to China, even covered up for the killing spree that you went on, and this is how you repay me?! Do you know who Gu Xiqiao is?!"

    "Who... who is she?" Yamamoto was still in shock over the scolding that he received, and couldn¡¯t help but stutter. This was the first time his friend had spoken so harshly to him.

    "The forums lists her as a confidential person, with only two words on her profile, a formation master! Do you know what it means to be a formation master? The number of formation masters in the entire China can be counted on one hand, and they are China¡¯sst line of defense. You¡¯re asking me to kill a formation master, is it you or me that is stupid? Forget it, don¡¯t contact me anymore in the future, and you better find the opportunity to leave China quickly. Otherwise in a couple of days, you might not be able to leave even if you wanted to!"

    The ancient martial arts world was big, and management of it was very strict. All registered people had an identity level when they first registered, and they were split into ordinary, intermediate, advanced, and hidden levels. The higher the level, the stronger the person. This was also the reason why Yamamoto¡¯s friend was afraid, he had actually investigated a person on the hidden level. He feared that the top brass of the ancient martial arts world woulde and arrest him in the next second.

    Yamamoto didn¡¯t have time to say anything before his friend cut off the call, and when he called again, no one answered. He must have blocked his number.

    "Brother, what has happened?" Miko looked at her brother, asking cautiously.

    Yamamoto forced a smile on his face. "Miko, we¡¯ve been out for so long. Do you want to return home?"

    Hearing this, Miko was startled, and there was a sh of disappointment in her eyes. "I...I¡¯m still okay."

    "I¡¯ll head down to get you a meal and book the tickets, once we¡¯re done eating we¡¯ll leave." Yamamoto didn¡¯t give Miko a chance to reply, heading downwards once he was done talking. They were staying in a hotel in the city, and they had no luggage, easing theiring and goings.

    Yamamoto went down and grabbed a meal, and trudged up to the room. When he reached the room, he found itpletely devoid of life, Miko had gone from where she was sitting on the bed!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had yet to eat, and they didn¡¯t want to trouble Mrs. Zhang by going back at this time, so they found a nearby private restaurant.

    After entering the ce, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t ask her what she wanted to eat, and proceeded to order a few dishes from the menu.

    [Beauty Qiao, I found something.] The system spirit didn¡¯t dare to materialize in front of Jiang Shuxuan, so it stayed in the void space and yed games with its leg crossed in the air.

    ¡¯What?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao asked disinterestedly as she watched Jiang Shuxuan ce their order.

    The system spirit knocked on the virtual keyboard, [Ah, here it is. Look at this, Beauty Qiao, Master Gu picked up the paper that you threw the other day, the one into the rubbish bin.]

    Hearing this, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes narrowed dangerously. ¡¯You¡¯re saying Master Gu picked up the evaluation result that I threw into the trash?¡¯

    [That¡¯s right, Beauty Qiao. What do we do now? He¡¯s looking into Luo Wenlin, do you want me to destroy all the information?]

    Gu Xiqiao looked disgusted. ¡¯He actually picked up something from the trash, how disgusting.¡¯

    When she had thrown the paper, she had clearly seen baby diapers with yellow stains on it in the rubbish bin, and there were a lot of other unknown things in it. How could they still pick it up in that condition?

    System: Although I don¡¯t want to say anything, I can¡¯t help but want to vomit blood right now. Aren¡¯t you focusing on the wrong parts again, Beauty Qiao!

    The dishes came quickly. First, there was a bowl of some soup, then sweet and sour ribs, mixed vegetables, spicy crawfish, and stir-fried mushrooms. The portions of the dishes weren¡¯t big, but there was a big enough portion of the spicy crawfish, and everything was what she loved to eat.

    "You look like you don¡¯t like to drink soup." Jiang Shuxuanmented after he watched as Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes and gritted her teeth before drinking the soup. "If you don¡¯t like it, you can just say it."

    "If I say it, will you agree for me not to drink it?" Gu Xiqiao shot back, looking at Jiang Shuxuan expectantly, her eyes bright and clear

    Jiang Shuxuan paused, slowly arranging his chopsticks as he had dismissed the waiter. "Of course not."

    "Then you¡¯re just teasing me." Gu Xiqiao knocked her head against the cup in her hands lightly in frustration. "Brother Jiang, if you continue like this, you¡¯re gonna lose me."

    "Nonsense." Jiang Shuxuan said, looking at her with his ink ck eyes, warmth dancing in them.

    As the two conversed, Xixi was sitting to the side silently. After being injured by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s ice de, it had quieted down, not flying around them anymore.

    Seeing Xixi quiet for the first time, Jiang Shuxuan felt surprised. "What did you do to Xixi?"

    Gu Xiqiao peeled a crawfish efficiently with her hands. "Well...mountain kids have their secrets, it¡¯s something Brother Jiang won¡¯t be able to learn."

    "You¡¯re quite skilled at peeling crawfish." Jiang Shuxuan changed the subject then, watching those slender pale hands move quickly. Within three seconds, the piece of white flesh of the crawfish had been pulled outpletely.

    "That¡¯s, I used to do it for my mother a lot...my adoptive mother, I mean." Gu Xiqiao lowered her eyes. "The vige chief would send a lot of crawfish to us during summer."

    Talking about the past, Gu Xiqiao felt conflicted. This time when she went back, she had managed to resolve the issues there, and that made her feel better about it.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her, before taking up another crawfish, peeling it clumsily. His motions were unfamiliar, and this was his first time peeling one. You didn¡¯t need much skill to peel a crawfish, as long as you had hands, you could do it.

    Without much effort, Jiang Shuxuan had also peeled off the shell from the crawfish, and he ced it in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bowl.

    "Brother Jiang..." Gu Xiqiao lifted her head, looking at Jiang Shuxuan warmly.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jiang Shuxuan said, looking back at her.

    Gu Xiqiao opened her mouth, but then closed it and smiled instead after a while, "Nothing, it¡¯s just that it¡¯s ugly."

    "...Don¡¯t talk while eating." Jiang Shuxuan nced at the crawfish he had peeled, and indeed it didn¡¯t look goodpared to the ones that Gu Xiqiao had done. Instead of peeling it out in one whole piece, it had broken into a few pieces. He pursed his lips, and finally said, "I can still practice."

    "Pfft, there¡¯s no need," Gu Xiqiao said, picking up the pieces of meat. She dipped it into the gravy, and took a bite. The fragrance was overflowing, mixed with the spicy taste, she didn¡¯t need to mention how delicious it was. "I like it this way."

    Jiang Shuxuan was taken aback, and he hung his head down without a word. However, the hard lines on his face softened, the affection continued to dance merrily in his eyes. If you looked properly, you could even see the corner of his mouth quirking up slightly in a smile.

    As the two ate, Xixi looked on with a deadpanned expression. It felt like its teeth were all forcefully glued together, and since it currently couldn¡¯t speak to express its feelings, ity at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s feet, pretending to be dead.

    ***

    When they returned home, Xixi found that Haha was eating from that bowl that was worth a few million. Feeling annoyed, it went and poke at Haha.

    "Chirp chirp chirp!" (I went out and had a big meal with Beauty Qiao today!)

    "Woof woof woof!" (So what, do you have a bowl that is worth a few million?)

    "Chirp chirp chirp!" (Beauty Qiao has never taken you out!)

    "Woof woof woof!" (Do you have a bowl worth a few million?)

    "Chirp chirp chirp!" (I am a very, very powerful divine beast!)

    "Woof woof woof!" (Do you have a bowl?)

    Xixi¡¯s heart: Haha this vicious bitch, there wille a day when it will take this stupid dog¡¯s ce!

    Haha¡¯s heart: Xixi this stupid bird needs some treatment.

    After another hour, Xixi¡¯s prohibition for talking hade to an end, and it flew upstairs in excitement. "Beauty Qiao, Beauty Qiao, time is up. Hurry and give me the pill, the pill, the pill!"

    Xixi¡¯s voice was shrill and sharp, Gu Xiqiao was trying out the paint that she had just bought. When Xixi shouted, her hand slipped in surprise, and a good picture was gone just like that.

    Xixi froze for three seconds after entering, and then it started wailing like a ghost. The drawing board in front of Gu Xiqiao held a drawing of a ming bird, its feathers were gorgeous and vivid, but there was a long scratch on its mouth.

    With one look, Xixi knew that it was the one who had disturbed Gu Xiqiao. It felt so painful, it had always been jealous of Haha¡¯s collection of sketches for a long time, and had tried to steal them several times without sess as Haha had hidden them well. Knowing that Gu Xiqiao had painted them, it had vaguely hinted so many times at her, and unexpectedly, Beauty Qiao was actually painting it, and it had ruined it!

    "Get out!" Gu Xiqiao said, rubbing her temples as she felt a headache building. A white light shed in her hands, a pill appearing. She flicked it into Xixi¡¯s mouth, and waved her hand, sending Xixi out the door with a gust of wind.

    The elixir melted in Xixi¡¯s mouth, and the strong profound energy swept through its entire body. However, Xixi didn¡¯t care much for the pill that it had gotten after so much hard work, beating its wings against the door. "Beauty Qiao, Beauty Qiao! Let me exin!"

    Gu Xiqiao had drawn up an array that prohibited entry and sound, so no matter how much Xixi called out or how sore its throat became from it, she couldn¡¯t hear it.

    Haha hade upstairs after hearing themotion, letting out a coldughing bark before turning around to head back downstairs slowly.

    Xixi had been watching TV with Mrs. Zhang recently, and it had learned a few things. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was not answering the door, it started again, "Open up, open up, open up! Gu Xiqiao, if you can paint then you can open this door!"

    The system spirit had materialized in the room, not affected by the formation and could hear everything Xixi was saying, and it could only snicker. [...silly bird.]

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t painting in the room anymore, painting was likeposing a story. Losing it after you finish writing, even if you remember the contents you wouldn¡¯t want to continue writing it anymore, because you have lost interest.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed, let¡¯s give it a rest for a few more days before drawing Xixi again.

    The most important thing at the moment was the matter with Luo Wenlin. Even if it was an hical thing to do, she contacted Mu Zong to hire a private investigator to investigate Luo Wenlin¡¯s mother.

    Knowing Master Gu¡¯s character, now that he knew Luo Wenlin was part of the Gu family, he would do everything in his power to bring him back into the family. The Gu family currently had no sessor, and suddenly a descendent appeared, and it was his grandson to boot! How would he let go of this rare opportunity!

    The private investigator that Mu Zong had hired was very reliable, and the price was high. The matter was investigated in two days.

    Luo Wenlin¡¯s mother used to be a waitress in a bar, and Gu Zuhui had taken a fancy to her. She had Luo Wenlinter on, when there was already no news of Gu Zuhui. Luo Wenlin¡¯s mother didn¡¯t go to the Gu family, she gave birth to Luo Wenlin alone, and raised him alone.

    Unexpectedly, she was diagnosed with leukemia soon after. There was practically no cure for this disease, and so she ced everything she owned in the baby¡¯s name, and left him at the orphanage gate. There was no news of her after that, and based on the information, it was most likely she had died.

    Gu Xiqiao had read through the information many times, [Beauty Qiao, Digusting Gu has gone to find Luo Weng.]

    Since Gu Xiqiao was able to dig up the information on this, then it was natural for Master Gu to be able to do the same. Not only that, the system spirit had also heard the conversation between Master Gu and the butler. "He grew up in an orphanage, which orphan doesn¡¯t want a home? And he has leukemia, he would have no one else but our Gu family that has the money to pay for the treatments, then give Luo Weng a sum of money. I heard that he¡¯s got good grades, if he¡¯s willing, I can take him in as a godson too."

    "Master, this Luo Weng has some connection to people in the Imperial Capital. They have announced before that no one is allowed to help Luo Weng, otherwise they would not get along with whoever it was." The butler reminded him.

    Mater Gu was silent for a while, though he didn¡¯t like the feeling of being told what to do by others, he also didn¡¯t dare to provoke the people from the Imperial Capital. "Then forget it. When hees, just give him one million."

    Recently, the Gu family business hadn¡¯t been doing well, and they had insufficient funds to go around. This one million was from Master Gu¡¯s own private stash.

    "One million, I believe that Luo Weng will definitely not refuse. He probably would never see such a big sum of money in his entire lifetime." The butler was bowing at the side, he probably didn¡¯t know that Luo Weng was currently working on a big order in a business that was earning tens of millions of dors, and this one million was nothing in his eyes.

    Master Gu felt reassured at the words of his butler, and this was the first time he had felt happy since the day that Gu Xiqiao cut all ties with the Gu family.

    The two of them waited in the private box for a while, the meeting time with Luo Weng was set at 10 o¡¯clock. Master Gu had been impatient and didn¡¯t bother putting on any airs, and had eagerly arrived early at nine thirty.

    When 10 o¡¯clock came around, a waiter opened the door, and Master Gu looked over, immediately getting stunned. Because the person standing there was not Luo Weng, the person that they thought they could bully into epting their conditions, but Gu Xiqiao, who they thought they would never see again.

    Gu Xiqiao walked in and sat opposite Master Gu without hesitation, she lowered her eyes. "Why are you looking for Luo Weng?"

    She saw the cheque next to Master Gu¡¯s hand, and her gaze sharpened.

    Seeing her giving him the look, Master Gu had the butler put away the cheque, feeling slightly embarrassed. He looked into those clear eyes, feeling like all his secrets wereid bare for her to see.

    He knew that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t return to the Gu family no matter what happened, she didn¡¯t even want to see any members of the Gu family. Judging by the fact that she hade to see them regarding Luo Wenlin¡¯s matter, it told them how important the Luo brothers were to her. If that was the case, then it was all the more reason he needed to bring Luo Wenlin into the Gu family no matter the cost, "Luo Wenlin belongs to the Gu family, he is my grandson."

    "He isn¡¯t." Hearing Master Gu¡¯s words, Gu Xiqiao smiled coldly, "So he won¡¯t be going to the Gu family."

    "He is." Master Gu said, taking out a new evaluation paper. After he went back, he had done a new paternity test and found that the results were urate.

    Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes at the paternity test result, and suddenlyughed, cing both hands on the table, "I say he¡¯s not, so he¡¯s not. Believe me, the next time you do another paternity test, it won¡¯t be."

    "You!" Master Gu gasped, clutching his chest. He looked at Gu Xiqiao who had a fearless expression on her face, and he knew that she wasn¡¯t lying. She really had the capability to do it, and Master Gu felt extremely bitter.

    The person in front of him was originally from the Gu family, and with her capabilities, the Gu family could have soared to new heights. Such an excellent heir was chased out by his own hands, and up till today, Master Gu had trouble breathing when he thought of it. "Qiao Qiao, if you¡¯re willing to return to the Gu family..."

    "If that¡¯s all, I¡¯ll be leaving first, Master Gu." Gu Xiqiao slid out from the chair, heading towards the door.

    Seeing her determined figure walking away, Master Gu stood up, his hand still clutching his chest, his eyes getting dimmer, his voice hoarse and pitiful, "Wait, Qiao...Miss, Miss Gu, please give us a way to survive."

    Hearing what he said, Gu Xiqiao wanted tough, a way to survive? Wasn¡¯t letting the Gu family live in peace till now considered to be that?

    After a slight pause she continued on her way, Gu Xiqiao sighed. "Master Gu, when have you shown me the same courtesy?"

    In the box, Master Gu was gasping for air, his face turning a slight bluish color. Seeing this, the butler immediately gave him the medicine pills that he had brought.

    After taking the medicine, Master Gu slumped down in distress. He had clearly heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s parting words, and he recalled the incident of forcing her to publicly apologize in front of the media. No matter how good a person, if they were treated like this, they wouldn¡¯t forgive so easily.

    But Master Gu was unaware that Gu Xiqiao was talking about her previous life, and he would never understand how such a gentle, big-hearted person like Gu Xiqiao could be so chillingly cold towards the Gu family.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao left the building, and although the sun was shining brightly above her, she felt her mood plummeting. She took out her phone to see that Yin Shaoyuan had sent her a message, informing her that Tang Yanling had bought a lot of things for her to take to use in college. Thinking about the fact that there were only a few more days left before she was leaving for school, she put away her phone and headed towards the car park to her pink car.

    She had sleptte yesterday, and it was already 9 o¡¯clock when she woke up. Jiang Shuxuan had left early in the morning, and she didn¡¯t have time to call for a cab, so she had to drive her own pink car. Actually, it was the type of color that you would eventually get used to after driving it a few times.

    Tang Yanling had prepared a lot of food for Gu Xiqiao early on, when she thought about how Gu Xiqiao was going to college soon and wouldn¡¯t be able to visit so easily, she had to make full use of the time that they had left. Sigh, the child was so thin, letting her go to the Imperial Capital to study, with the non-nutritious food in the school, it really didn¡¯t do anything to ease her worries.

    Jiang Shuxuan and Yin Shaoyuan returned in the afternoon. These two were both busy people, especially Yin Shaoyuan, he hadn¡¯te home for dinner for a whole two months already.

    Tang Yanling nced around to see the table full of people, and her heart felt joy and sorrow at the same time. Within the next few days, they would be leaving again.

    Ever since she started wearing the essories that Gu Xiqiao had given her, her skin had be fairer and lighter, and her spirits were also better. Even the old pains that were left from Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s birth had disappeared.

    Eating well and sleeping well, the more she aged the younger she looked, all the other nobledies outside were extremely envious of her.

    "Or, should I go with you to the Imperial Capital, Qiao Qiao?" Tang Yanling opened her mouth suddenly.

    "No!" Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t manage to speak yet, and Yin Jinian denied her immediately.

    Yin Shaoyuan raised his headzily. "Mom, was I brought into the world by you?" When he had gone to the Imperial Capital, Tang Yanling didn¡¯t even say a word, which made him seriously doubt now, was he really Tang Yanling¡¯s son by blood?

    "You were picked up!" Tang Yanling said without lifting her head, she was upied piling a lot of vegetables on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s te.

    Yin Shaoyuan: If this goes on, I¡¯ll want to run away from home just to prove my existence!

    "Shuxuan, are you also going to the Imperial Capital with her?" Tang Yanling asked suddenly. Thanks to Gu Xiqiao, she could now look at Jiang Shuxuan without being overly cautious.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded his head slightly, naturally, it didn¡¯t need to be said. If it wasn¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao, he would have left N City two months ago. The affairs in Imperial City had been dyed for so long, if he continued to drag it out, he was afraid he would find someone dead at his door.

    "Then you have to take good care of Qiao Qiao, make sure she drinks soup every day. Mrs. Zhang called me thest time to tell me that Qiao Qiao had given half her soup to Haha." Although Tang Yanling couldn¡¯t imagine Gu Xiqiao doing something that didn¡¯t fit her image, she was inclined to believe Mrs. Zhang¡¯s words.

    Hearing that, Jiang Shuxuan nced at Gu Xiqiao. He had just joked about how all the soup she drank was in Haha¡¯s stomach.

    Gu Xiqiao had a guilty look on her face, if she said that she just wanted to also fatten Haha up since it was thin, would anyone believe her?

    She let out a sigh, it was obvious that no one would believe her. She ignored Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s pointed and dissatisfied gaze, lowering her head and continuing to eat. ¡¯If you want to look then look, I¡¯ll just ignore you!¡¯

    Jiang Shuxuan knocked on the table, and Gu Xiqiao immediately picked up the piece of meat that she had pushed to the side a while ago.

    Yin Shaoyuan felt like he had been fed dog food, the food in his mouth tasting like cardboard. His face looked distressed, and he could no longer muster up the feeling to be yful. He set down his bowl, and dragged his feet into the kitchen with difficulty, "Mom, I have something to ask you."

    "Ask away." Tang Yanling was busy, and replied to him half-heartedly.

    "Am I really your son?" Yin Shaoyuan asked sourly.

    "Get out and turn left!"

    That was their pet cat¡¯s sleeping ce, Yin Shaoyuan thought, and then he understood.

    "Although I¡¯m not yours biologically, I still love you." Yin Shaoyuan leaned forward. "And there¡¯s something Brother Jiang wanted me to tell you."

    Yin Shaoyuan then proceeded to inform his mother about what had happened in the military base as per Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s instruction, careful to include all the details and not omitting anything.

    Tang Yanling listened and was silent for a while, before opening her mouth to say, "Don¡¯t worry, son. This will never happen again."

    Hearing this, Yin Shaoyuan raised his eyebrows. "A, Mom, so I turned out to be really yours!"

    Tang Yanling: My son is most likely stupid with no cure.

    Once Tang Yanling had left the kitchen, Yin Shaoyuan straightened up slowly, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. It looked like his mother was ufortable when he had brought up the issue? And it seemed like Jiang Shuxuan also knew what was happening, was it only him that was unaware about what was going on?

    "This... kinda hurts." Yin Shaoyuan threw a cherry tomato in his mouth, chewing it slowly as he turned to walk out.

    ***

    When Gu Xiqiao left, she brought back a lot of things with her. Her car was filled to the brim, so was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car, it was a full load of two cars. While they had been loading the things, she was tempted to pack it all into her inventory. However, it was impossible to do it in broad daylight, she was afraid that she would be caught and brought in to be dissected, so she held back.

    After loading everything, Gu Xiqiao was about to climb in her car when Jiang Shuxuan stopped her. He pulled the keys from her hand and handed it to the butler, then he bundled her into his own car.

    "What¡¯s up?" Gu Xiqiao said, reaching up to touch her nose awkwardly. Was it because the color of her car was too pink? But he had chosen the color himself, and said that it was a good color, but now he was disliking it?

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her, "You didn¡¯t bring Xixi out today?"

    "Xixi is busy fixing and stabilizing its cultivation energy, I couldn¡¯t bring it out. I¡¯m afraid that it won¡¯t be able to control its power and burn down the entire N City." Once Xixi had taken the elixir, it had advanced soon after.

    "So soon?" Jiang Shuxuan said, feeling astounded. ording to his initial estimation, it should have taken at least two to three years for it to advance a level.

    Speaking of this, Gu Xiqiao took out a gray pill from her inventory, stuffing it into his mouth. "Have a candy."

    Jiang Shuxuan felt a warm sensation running from his mouth through the meridians in his body, the rich dense energy dispersing through his limbs. He was bbergasted, this seemed to be the elixir that had been described in the ancient texts, but wasn¡¯t it just a legend and myth? How could it be here?

    Gu Xiqiao waited for a long while, but there was no indication of Jiang Shuxuan advancing another level, "That much profound energy and its still not enough to advance to the next level?"

    [Beauty Qiao, why do you insist on underestimating Big Jiang. He¡¯s already above Fleet Foot level, and the amount of chi he needs to advance is enormous. That small bit that you gave him is probably just enough to pick his teeth with.]

    ¡¯I know, it¡¯s just so unbelievable.¡¯ Every time when she thought that he was already incredible, he had to show her that time was ever-changing and that he kept evolving with it.

    [Beauty Qiao, when you talk about him, how about taking a look at yourself? Training to this level in just a short three months, who can be more insane than you?]

    Gu Xiqiao touched her nose and stopped talking, and the car slowly came to a stop. She looked out at the surroundings, and it was an...amusement park?

    "Brother Jiang..."

    "Let¡¯s go." Jiang Shuxuan had only bought two tickers for the Ferris wheel, and when they got there, there was no one else around. "What happened today?" He asked, once they were seated inside and off the ground.

    Gu Xiqiao was startled when he asked. She thought that she had managed to pull off being cheerful enough that even such a sharp observant person like Tang Yanling had not noticed it, but he had seen through her.

    "I...I¡¯m just a bit lost." Gu Xiqiao watched as the wheel took them higher into the sky, the buildings below them gradually getting smaller. "I went to see the Gu family today, was it wrong?"

    Jiang Shuxuan felt his heart clenched at the lost and confused look on her face, "You did the right thing. The Gu family is destined for ruins, and it has nothing to do with you. You have already drawn a clear line with them."

    "I know, but I still feel a bit sad." The mister that she had met the other day who was on the way to deliver the money to his wife, he was an employee of the Gu family. The Gu family had reached a state where they needed toy off workers, and the mister was one of them, even the money for his wife¡¯s treatment was painstakingly pulled together.

    "You could buy Gu Enterprise." Jiang Shuxuan nced at her, "I know you don¡¯t want it, but you could hand it over to Luo Wenlin."

    "There¡¯s potential in that." Gu Xiqiao said, rolling her eyes. With the current situation in the Gu family, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult for her to step in and sweep the entire thing into her hands.

    The Ferris wheel hadpleted its round, and the both of them came down. Gu Xiqiao still feeling a bit excited from it. "Brother Jiang, stay here and don¡¯t move, I¡¯ll go get an ice-cream cone!"

    "Alright." Jiang Shuxuan rarely saw her radiating such happiness, so he stood patiently to wait for her under the shade of the tree.

    His figure was tall and eye-catching, his face looking as though it was carved from jade with it being wless and smooth. The skin that was exposed held a slight ethereal glow, while his features were delicate and mesmerizing. Just by standing there, he was garnering a lot of attention from the people all around, especially from the women. However, his demeanor was ice cold which made him unapproachable. Many of them contented themselves by just looking at him from afar, not daring toe any closer.

    Suddenly, a girl appeared in front of the crowd. She was not very tall, with a lovely, cute, delicate face. Her expression was timid like a baby deer and she wore a pink uniform. She walked slowly towards the tall figure.

    "Mr...Mr. Jiang, my name is Miko, I¡¯m very happy to meet you!" Miko bent down in a low bow, her face flushed red. She stretched both hands outwards. ¡¯The etiquette in China is shaking hands, right? It should be right! Come on Miko, you have to grasp this opportunity!¡¯

    Please go to https:///Rebirth-of-an-Idle-Noblewoman/ to read thetest chapters for free

 Chapter 120 Virtual World

    <h4>Chapter 120 Virtual World</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan looked over to the direction of the cold beverages shop. It wasn¡¯t too far away but one needed to make a turn before reaching it. Hence, Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t visible from where he stood. After waiting for a while and realizing that the person wasn¡¯ting, the dreaded feeling of regret slowly surged within him. He should have gone with her but before he could even step forward, a figure emerged in front of him, blocking his path.

    Miko, with her head drooped, awaited for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s answer nervously. In her mind, countless possibilities of his answer yed out repeatedly, for every one of which she had prepared a response. No matter what he said, she had no choice but to speak up.

    And so, she stood there for what she felt was like an eternity. The only oue she did not expect was for him to walk past her without even sparing her a nce.

    How did things turn out this way? This was the first time someone had ignored her as if she was nothing but a mere phantom. Seeing how Jiang Shuxuan decided to walk away so abruptly, she looked back up and reached out in an attempt to grab the sleeve of his shirt.

    Whoosh!

    She had failed to stop him as a strong gust of wind blew her hand away. Red scratches caused by rock fragments had appeared all over her pale, delicate fingers. Miko was wide-eyed. She stared at Jiang Shuxuan in bewilderment. How could he do such a thing to her?

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze was distant and cold; he had finally made eye contact with her. However, his eyes were devoid of emotions, perhaps reflecting the indifference he had toward her.

    Even if she was a little dim-witted, Miko knew perfectly well that he had no interest in her. But why? Ever since she got herself a ce in the rankings, she had be obsessed with this man. She had even asked her brother to bring her here, just for the sake of meeting him. She had left thend of the rising sun for this alien piece ofnd, just so she could fulfil her dream. But why was he treating her so coldly?

    Miko was frustrated. She had given up so much for him but why did it never seem to be enough?

    Miko, who had always been under the protective wing of her caring big brother now felt extremely wronged. Her vision started to blur up as tears welled up in her eyes. Passersby gawked at the two as different images red up in their imagination. Nearly all of them shed unfriendly looks at Jiang Shuxuan.

    Only a handful of people chose to look away; most of them were angry at Jiang Shuxuan but as mere outsiders, they couldn¡¯t just step in and start yelling at him. Thus, a great deal of them looked at Miko with sympathetic eyes.

    Miko was the very definition of moe back in her country. Her cute appearance appealed to the male protective instinct and since their society was at its core, superficial, beautiful people were given more attention than your average Joe.

    Seeing Miko slowly break into tears, some justice-seeking youth felt obliged to stand out for her. He appeared to be below average in terms of both emotional and intellectual intelligence. Though, he did seem to be a college freshman despite that. Helping Miko get back on her feet, he yelled at Jiang Shuxuan distastefully, "You think you can act all high and mighty just ¡¯cause you have more money? How dare you bully girls! Do you still call yourself a man or what!? Failures like you are like a gue to our society!"

    Of course, Jiang Shuxuan was not prepared to start a debate with such a man. He shot the youngster a nce silently before turning to leave.

    While he couldn¡¯t care less about the situation, others could. Gu Xiqiao was walking with two soft-serve ice creams in her hands as her ears picked up the ruckus created by the feisty youngster. Her eyes blinked but the expression on her face remained the same. With a pair of brightly shining eyes, she scanned the two men in front of her. In a matter of seconds, she could deduce roughly what had happened. And so, she opened her mouth.

    "So what if he¡¯s rich? Did he eat your food, drink your water, or sleep on your bed? Young man, hating the rich isn¡¯t particrly healthy for the mind you know?"

    The sun shining above her head momentarily blinded the young man. Through the gap between her fingers, he could vaguely make out a halo created by the sunlight around her. Her words were clear but it stung also. The man, now with a face as red as a tomato, wanted to refute her statement but his mind had gone nk, which made him even more frustrated. It sounded like she was hinting to him how pathetic of a person he was.

    "Let me give you some advice, young one. Some things, you have to see with your own eyes to believe. What you think is true however, is usually nothing but false images projected unto you by others." Gu Xiqiao eyed Miko as she spoke. She was confident that Jiang Shuxuan did not harm her directly. At most, he probably would have given her a few frost des.

    "I..."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s demeanor was so intimidating that her words cut like actual knives. It tore through the youngster whose words failed toe out of his mouth. In fact, he actively averted his gaze when she stared at him menacingly.

    Jiang Shuxuan tugged on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s finger, urging her to leave. She wasn¡¯t that much of a chatterbox usually and killing someone with words was an even rarer asion. However, she forced herself to do this for the sake of him. A warm, fuzzy feeling swelled up in her heart but she knew how pointless it was to waste her time on this clown of a stranger. Since they rarely spent time together, she wanted to make every second count.

    Miko stared at Gu Xiqiao for a long time and naturally, she recognized her as that girl who walked beside Jiang Shuxuan a few days ago. Though, the two of them were walking at a frantic pace so she couldn¡¯t get a good look at who she was. Now that she was standing right in front of her, she noticed how warm and gentle the woman actually was beneath her mask of ice. For the first time, Miko admitted that she could not rece the woman that stood beside her crush!

    Miko panicked upon seeing that the two were about to leave. If she were to let Jiang Shuxuan leave like that, god knows how long it would be until they met once more. Miko struggled to get back on her feet but the moment she got up, her body crumpled limply onto the floor. She had lost consciousness.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was supposed to be walking off, stared with her jaws agape.

    ¡¯Had she learned a new technique?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao blinked dumbfoundedly at the lifeless girl before passing the two cones over to Jiang Shuxuan. Using her mouth, she silently said to him, "I¡¯m gonna y with her for a while."

    Since she had medical skills, Gu Xiqiao knew that Miko hadn¡¯t truly fainted. At most, she would see stars above her head but her condition wasn¡¯t such that she would ck out instantly like that.

    As Gu Xiqiao got closer to Miko, the youngster was able to get a good look at her face. Her eyebrows appeared almost as if it had been painted on by an artisan ink-painter and her skin, as delicate as snow. In terms of beauty, Miko¡¯s cutesy appeal paled inparison to this woman standing before him. In fact, he had been so captured by her looks that he did not notice the silver needle clenched between her fingers.

    As the needle pierced into her skin, Miko¡¯s face twisted in pain. She was a girl, pampered since birth, so when the needle stabbed mercilessly into her skin, she cursed under her breath.

    ¡¯Why are the men in this country so unconventional!? Damn it, Chinese people will always be Chinese people! Where¡¯s the chivalry?!¡¯

    Miko was still adamant in keeping up her act. Through the gap between her eyelids, she could see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s porcin-like skin, which as a woman, she was deeply envious of. Gradually, Miko focused her eyes and the finger she hid behind her back twitched. Strands of gray-green smoke began flowing out of her hand; some drilled into the body of the youngster while the remaining ones floated towards Gu Xiqiao.

    Looking at the smoke, Miko thought to herself, ¡¯Instead of putting the me on me, you should me my unrivaled ability instead.¡¯

    Before the smoke could prate Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skin as they did with the youngster¡¯s however, she pinched the three worm-like strands and hung it above Miko¡¯s face.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    Miko stared back at Gu Xiqiao in awe. The green smoke had been given her by her elders for personal protection. Once they found their way into the body of her opponents, they would let down their defenses for her to attack. How on earth did she manage to stop her attack? Impossible!

    Seeing how Miko wasn¡¯t going to answer her question, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brows twitched.

    ¡¯Fine, if you¡¯re not gonna give me an answer, I¡¯ll have to shove your own products down your throat.¡¯

    Blowing lightly, the green smoke was sent straight back into Miko¡¯s body. Gu Xiqiao had now lost interest in toying with her any further. She returned to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side. With a flick of her finger, she shot a gray-colored tablet into the mouth of that youngster. In an instant, the solid pill liquefied upon making contact with his tongue.

    Although she was not particrly fond of him, he was a fellow Chinese; she couldn¡¯t stand seeing her own people being bullied, especially by their neighbors. For this reason, she didn¡¯t mind the mini confrontation that they had mere moments ago.

    She might turn the other cheek when bullying happens between her countrymen but when things get international, she could no longer do the same.

    That young man was frozen in ce due to pain but in the next instant, as the liquid spread around his mouth, the pain he felt drained out of his body, returning to its usual state.

    After what he had gone through, the way he looked at Miko changed.

    Miko¡¯s face grimaced in pain as she tugged on the sleeve of the youngster. Teary-eyed, she begged for him to help her. And yet, the man slowly pulled away from her.

    He backed off and stared at Miko in her eyes. "I am a patriotic man."

    ¡¯Oh god how I wish I could kill him right now!¡¯

    However, every second brought about a new pang of pain.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already prepared tosh out with his frost de as Miko released her sneaky ambush. Without hesitation, he was prepared toy waste to that girl but to his surprise, Gu Xiqiao managed to take control of the situation. His surprise was reflected in his eyes when she returned to his side. It seemed that there was more than met the eyes about this woman.

    Gu Xiqiao retrieved her cone from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands. Despite the sweltering weather where other peoples¡¯ soft serves would start melting and dripping, the two cones in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands remained pristine. In fact, they were so cold that the air had condensed into ayer of fog, flowing down from his hands as if they had just been taken out of the freezer. Luckily, no one took notice of this odd phenomenon.

    "Are you done?" asked Jiang Shuxuan who held onto his cone, not knowing that it was in fact, bought for his own consumption. Even though there was no one else apart from him that Gu Xiqiao would buy the soft serve for, he convinced himself that the second cone must¡¯ve been sold for half the price.

    "I¡¯m bored. Let¡¯s go." Gu Xiqiao said with a slightly dejected look. She was fascinated by ninjas and Miko initially reminded her of one.

    The pair proceeded to drive home. Gu Xiqiao wolfed down both of the cones before starting to text on her phone. Mu Zong had already arrived at the vige and began reporting his progress to her. Opening her mailbox, she slowly scanned through the lines of text.

    "The hospital called me yesterday." Jiang Shuxuan broke the silence. He figured that Gu Xiqiao could just fill in the nks with the sea of information she had gathered from the guardian.

    "..."

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose, realizing that she had done something incredibly foolish.

    "What did they say?"

    Sullenly, Jiang Shuxuan replied, "They want me to prepare you for the marrow transnt next Monday."

    Gu Xiqiao stole a nce at Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Brother Jiang..."

    While Jiang Shuxuan was upset about this, he couldn¡¯t help but ce the me on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulders. Had she be tired of living? To agree to a marrow transnt for someone else when she herself had such a frail body?!

    Transnts like these were damaging to one¡¯s body, which was why Jiang Shuxuan was so unhappy about this. He had not slept even a winkst night as he was searching through the sea of information on hisputer, noting down points to take note of after the surgery. In addition to that, he had even created a post-surgery meal n to speed up Gu Xiqiao¡¯s recovery.

    Knowing that she had indeed, caused Jiang Shuxuan to worry for her, Gu Xiqiao sighed. Luo Wenlin being her half-brother wasn¡¯t the only reason why she had chose to save him. Arger part of the reason for her self-sacrifice was because of his friendship with Luo Wenlin. Their interaction reminded her of what her adoptive mother did for her.

    While Jiang Shuxuan was angry at her for making such a decision, seeing her acting so depressed made him feel even worse; he found it incredibly difficult to despise her for doing such a thing.

    "Please don¡¯t be upset, Brother Jiang. Aspensation, how about I give you the first holographic helmet prototype that Nine Heavens developed?"

    Gu Xiqiao put down her phone and sped her palms together to beg Jiang Shuxuan for forgiveness.

    "Holographic helmet?" This was the first time he had ever heard of such an item. Of course, his interest had been piqued. And so, Gu Xiqiao had sessfully subverted their topic.

    She sighed out in relief. She already nned to give the holographic helmet to him anyway but fortunately, this was her first time mentioning it to him. "It¡¯s currently nned to be used for gaming. You should give it a go when we get back. You¡¯ll love it, I promise."

    "If it¡¯s nned for gaming, does that mean its use will change in the future?" Jiang Shuxuan caught on rather quickly.

    "We¡¯llunch a few test models first. If everyone epts the use of such a helmet, then our market will be near endless. Think about it, if everywork user uses this helmet, everyone would have their own virtual avatars to traverse through thework. And, we now have GPS modules installed in the helmets, which is awesome. With that module, our users can do things which they otherwise cannot do in the physical world..." Gu Xiqiao became more excited the more she talked about their prototype. Suddenly, a new idea popped up in her head.

    To be more precise, she hade up with a name for this system¨CThe Gifted.

    The manufacturing process of this helmet was an incrediblyplex procedure and whenpleted, this helmet would be the pioneer of apletely new market. Though, all it would do was alter one¡¯s reality; it remained impossible for one to upload his or her consciousness onto thework. This, in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s opinion, would be against the order of God.

    A virtual world? Uploading someone¡¯s conscious mind onto the? How would such a world turn out? Jiang Shuxuan had no idea. Even so, he understood how difficult it would be to actually pull this off. Looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s enthusiasm, he felt amazed by her. Every time he thought that she had finally arrived at her limit, she would tear down the wall, unleashing a new, mind-boggling ability.

    Being with her meant that every day came with new surprises. Fortunately, she was living with him. If it were someone else, then she would¡¯ve been dead a long time ago. Thinking of how Yin Shaoyuanined to him a few days ago about how defiant she was, and that defeated look on his face, Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help but smirk proudly at his creation.

    "Why are you acting so surprised Brother Jiang? To be honest, the US is already years ahead of us in the field of virtual reality research. They¡¯ve just achieved a new breakthrough just recently. Bet you didn¡¯t know that the satellite they¡¯ve justunched was precisely in preparation for the further advancement of this branch of technology. Though..." Gu Xiqiao smiled gleefully as she trailed off. "It would take them at least five years before they can fully generate a virtual world. The source code of our Nine Heavens Virtual World will soon be announced and believe it or not, our system can even handle 3D images. Though, the obstacle that remains is the inte. The inte as we know it today, must be changed from a static, 2D webpage into a 3D dynamic ne you can physically traverse through."

    This problem was currently being troubleshooted by Yu Ning. In her free time, Gu Xiqiao had hoarded terabytes of data in an attempt to help solve the puzzle. Because of this, she had now be somewhat of aputer scientist herself even though thework was once apletely alien concept to her.

    However, the biggest contribution to this virtual world project remains in the hands of the system itself, which provided the crucial source code.

    "My lovely little system! I will fight on every day for the sake of your precious upgrade!"

    Being spoken to like that made the system feel a little embarrassed.

    [Oh no. I am sorry if it bothers you to do so.]

    "Okay. Then I guess I shouldn¡¯t do that. Give me the exchange rate for today..."

    [Here you go. Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re still 2589 points away from giving me an upgrade. I will cheer you on! Please fight on! You have my support!]

    "..."

    Jiang Shuxuan peered at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bright eyes. She was throwing around a lot of technical terms, terms he had no idea what they were, but he still listened to her voice intently. Sometimes, he would throw her a question or two and in the end, he had a rough grasp on what the virtual world project actually was and how it was constructed.

    Something inside him told him that this truly was going to be a revolutionary project for humanity.

    It was only after finishing her lengthy exnation that Gu Xiqiao realized how much she had spoken. She nced at Jiang Shuxuan, whom she feared would be bored out of his mind from all the boring tech talk. However, she was unexpectedly met with an interested face, urging her to continue. His face seemed rxed, and his expression indicated that he was actively taking in her words; to her astonishment, he wasn¡¯t bored by her talk.

    "I¡¯ll let you try it out when we get back. Although this helmet is specially dedicated for gaming, it isn¡¯t too far off from the ones we n to link up to the virtual world. Artificially-generated projections will rece the physical items around you so I can guarantee that it¡¯ll be a magical experience." Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t wait for Jiang Shuxuan to test out their new product. To think that she had angered the old man so much that he vanished into thin air just this morning.

    Jiang Shuxuan increased the throttle upon seeing her excitement. It¡¯s a good thing that they weren¡¯t too far away from home.

    Yu Ning had already sent over two helmets and Gu Xiqiaopleted the instation of the Nine Heavens browser and games on their study roomputer.

    "Pick a name for your avatar."

    "What¡¯s your name?"

    "For A Millenium."

    Jiang Shuxuan thought about it for a while before slowly typing out the words "A Flowing River."

    (*TL note: This is a y on their names. Jiang in Chinese, means river. So when tranted, it means "a flowing river".)

    "Put on the helmet. Stay at Rookie Vige. Like, don¡¯t move! I¡¯ll be right with you when I get back to my room!" Gu Xiqiao scurried back to her room. Since she had a high-specputer, it took just a second for her to boot up the game. Finally, she could plop the helmet over her head.

    The system has be more and more addictive as ofte. As it has been a while since Gu Xiqiao has been online and ying, she heard a crisp ding-dong the moment the game booted up.

    She had spawned at the entrance of a dungeon outside the city. There were peach blossoms all over the trees and looking at the hyper-realistic flower generations, she couldn¡¯t help but reach out to touch them. It felt real, like she was actually touching it. If she wasn¡¯t aware that she was in a game, she would¡¯ve thought that this was the actual world for sure.

    Gu Xiqiao reminded herself not to frolic around for too long as Jiang Shuxuan was still waiting for her in Rookie Vige. She pulled out her map before a voice from behind prompted her to turn around.

    "So you are For A Millenium?"

    Entering her vision was a swordsman dressed in white. Just a nce was enough for her to make out that he too, was another helmet user. This was Nine Heavens Network¡¯s godly marketing at work here. The winners of their program would receive a helmet for free while the others would have to cough up 20,000 for one unit. Worse still, the units for sale were limited to 500 only. Though, games aren¡¯t exactly known to be frugal pastimes. Real gamers couldn¡¯t care less about the 20,000 yuan price tag and so, demand for this product was pretty much instic.

    Floating on top of the swordsman¡¯s head was "Common". He looked at Gu Xiqiao with cold and distant eyes.

    "Anything I can help you with?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she summoned her horse, ready to race towards Rookie Vige.

    Her voice sounded equally as cold as his gaze, which reminded the man of someone he wasn¡¯t fond of.

    "Do you know how to paint?"

    "No."

    Common called up his horse as soon as he heard her answer. Then, just like that, he disappeared into the horizon without saying another word.

    He definitely came across as slightly rude, thought Gu Xiqiao as she raced towards Rookie Vige on her horse.

    It wasn¡¯t long before a loli character dressed in pink appeared before Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes.

    "Hee hee, how are you feeling?"

    "It¡¯s really bizarre." Jiang Shuxuan walked in circles before reaching out for an apricot flower hanging down from a tree branch. "It¡¯s way too real, to the point where the line between reality and the virtual world is blurred."

    "When this helmet hits the production line, the game¡¯s main aim will switch over to representing the actual yer in the game. Of course, they will still be able to alter their appearance."

    Gu Xiqiao brought Jiang Shuxuan over to different locations in the game; they were here more to sightsee rather than to battle monsters.

    The in-game scenery was hyper-realistic and their walk did not differ too much from walks in their actual world. After personally experiencing what it was like in a virtual world, Jiang Shuxuan grew a little more excited for that virtual world Gu Xiqiao was talking about.

    If a mere game could be so realistic, what about a virtual simtion of their actual world?

    China had taken the world by storm. Not by anything else but by a single game on a helmet. Countless people from every continent were seeking to experience firsthand what it was like to be in such a hyper-realistic virtual world. The hype was so intense that the helmet, which was originally sold for 20,000 a pop, now sold for over 150,000 on the international market.

    Some IT experts were willing to pay the price just so they could reverse engineer the helmet but the sheerplexity of itsponents were such that they scratched their heads at what was going on. What they found and spected was the heart of thisputing marvel, was nothing but a fingernail-sized chip.

    Unfortunate experts on the other hand, who hesitated to buy the expensive piece of technology now felt extremely bitter as Nine Heavens announced their decision to not produce a second batch of these helmets!

    Their statement on Weibo went roughly like this: "Because ourpany is restricted financially, we will stop producing the helmets for now. See you next month."

    ¡¯Bullshit! Financial restriction my ass! Millions worth of investments could be raised in an instant for empty air, let alone such a precious piece of technology! Theirtest game raked in over eight digits in terms of revenue so who would believe such a tant lie!?¡¯

    But so what if they didn¡¯t believe in their lie? Nine Heavens Group couldn¡¯t care less. Seconds after they issued the statement, thement section had exploded with over tens of thousands of spiteful insults but they were all in vain.

    Theseizens who have been waiting for their helmet lost their steam over time. In the end, they could only refresh Nine Heavens¡¯ official webpage for any new announcements on the possible release of the much-anticipated gadget.

    The gamers who managed tond their hands on the helmet started flexing on some well-known forum.

    [One setback with the helmet is that you run the risk of mismanaging the in-game pain level you receive. I¡¯ll never forget the pain I felt when I died while exploring a dungeon!]

    [+1, I stumbled upon a tiger while wandering around and it felt way too real! Sh*t, I almost had a heart attack man!]

    [Boohoo, I fell into the water when crossing a bridge. I choked way worse than I thought I could, cough cough cough...]

    [Too bad my man. I used to fear getting underwater but I learned how to swim in the river outside the city yesterday. Guess what, I shocked my friends at the pool yesterday when I dived straight into the water and swam around!]

    [Good job. I think I¡¯ve just invented a new way to y this game.]

    [+1]

    [+2]

    [+10086]

    [...]

    [Damn son, why do I have a feeling that I¡¯m in the middle of a circlejerk? Y¡¯all should eat shit and die!]

    [Give us your helmet and we¡¯ll spare your life!]

    [Hey, thread starter! If you¡¯re afraid of the pain, then you should just give your helmet to me! How does 30 grand sound?]

    [I¡¯m willing to pay 40!]

    [I think 70 should be the lowest dude...]

    [These are selling for 150 on the ck market. At this point y¡¯all are nothing but a bunch of clowns.]

    [I¡¯ve got news that Nine Heavens will beunching another thousand units next month. Location: Beijing. Buy your ne tickets now~]

    [Really? Why there though?]

    [Why the hell would you know this?]

    [The wife of the son of the aunt of my aunt¡¯s daughter¡¯s schoolmate works as an employee at Nine Heavens so you¡¯re wee!]

    This unintentionally started thread went viral overnight. News of Nine Heaven Group¡¯s decision to release their helmets for sale in Beijing spread faster than a worldwide pandemic.

    ***

    Ever since they got their helmets, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen have been ying longer and longer sessions. Though because their chosen ss, ancient warriors had notoriously low agility, they were being utterly crushed by Yao Jiamu.

    "You two fight me together. I¡¯ll use 30% of my strength this time," said Yao Jiamu on the training ground.

    Wu Hongwen: "Dammit why is this guy so punchable!? One day, I¡¯m gonna get Er Qiao to teach you a lesson!"

    He then thought of how Yao Xiaomu grew so much stronger after being defeated by Gu Xiqiao. Wu Hongwen shook his head. He couldn¡¯t let Er Qiao touch Yao Jiamu. No, if anyone, he should be the one to be crushed by Er Qiao. At least, he would stay still throughout the entire ordeal!

    Xiao Yun: "She¡¯s just an innocent child who has yet to be ustomed to using an ancient warrior. Why do you keep mentioning her all the time? Couldn¡¯t you be anymore thick-skinned? Do you want to be punished so badly?"

    At the same time, the both of them thought the same thing.

    ¡¯How I miss Er Qiao!¡¯

    Yao Jiamu loosened his fingers and raised both his arms. With a beaming smile, he challenged the duo: "C¡¯mon!"

    Ten minutester, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwenid limply on the ground, their eyes devoid of life.

    "Maybe Er Qiao just doesn¡¯t love us anymore?" mumbled Wu Hongwen. "It¡¯s all because of this Yao Xiaomu that stole away Er Qiao¡¯s attention. As expected, wild flowers would always smell nicer than homegrown ones."

    "Heh heh."

    Xiao Yun managed a painful chuckle.

    "That¡¯s it! You¡¯re pretty much asking for it now!" Wu Hongwen got up angrily while pulling up his sleeves.

    Xiao Yun shot him a nce. "If only your talent points were higher, maybe Er Qiao would¡¯ve taken you under her wing. You have no one else to me but yourself!"

    The me was on him. Wu Hongwen crouched down silently. He felt that he should refrain from speaking to Xiao Yun for the rest of the day. He had been trying his best not to bring up the matter of him being a total noob but why was she so obsessed with picking at his wounds?

    Turned out that it was true. No one loved him here. QAQ.

    Yao Jiamu went into the dressing room and changed into a new set of clothes beforeing out to find that the two still hadn¡¯t left.

    "Are you guys going to the hospital?"

    "For what?" asked Wu Hongwen indifferently. "You have a terminal illness now?" He smirked the more he pondered the possibility of that being true.

    "..."

    Yao Jiamu left the ce in silence.

    Wait, this shouldn¡¯t be happening. Wu Hongwen got up and started yelling, "Yao Jiamu, Yao Xiaomu, Yao Numskull, Xiao Blockhead, are you gonna leave us again? Although I am saddened by this if you must go, I wish you a smooth journe-"

    "m!"

    Before he was able to finish his sentence, Yao Jiamu had sent him flying into a tree trunk.

    To say that Wu Hongwen was thick-skinned wasn¡¯t really wrong. The ancient warrior had been pummelled all day long and he still seemed to be unaffected by this, which earned him Xiao Yun¡¯s pitifulughter.

    Seeing that the annoying one had received his punishment, Yao Jiamu stopped to wait for Xiao Yun.

    "Miss Gu went through an operation just now. I think she should be waking up now. I¡¯m going to see her. What about you guys?"

    "Wait a sec." Xiao Yun¡¯s heart raced. She outstretched her palm. "Wait a sec. Could you repeat that one more time? Operation?"

    "Gu Xiqiao. Miss Gu," said Yao Jiamu very slowly, just in case Xiao Yun couldn¡¯t hear his words clear enough.

    "Didn¡¯t you guys know about it?"

    Wu Hongwen stopped acting dead. Still lying prone, he crawled over army-style and with a dead serious look on his face, he asked, "You¡¯re talking about Er Qiao?"

    It was then that Yao Jiamu realized that the both of them were still kept in the dark about this. Thinking that there wasn¡¯t too much of a problem, he revealed the truth to the duo.

    "Yeah, she¡¯s supposed to go through a marrow transnt operation to help save Dalin."

    "Dalin? Who¡¯s that?" Although this was a life they were talking about, Wu Hongwen quite obviously wasn¡¯t a fan of the one being saved.

    Seeing how different their reactions were, Yao Jiamu subconsciously peered at the faces of the duo. It¡¯s just a marrow transnt is it not? Was there a need to act in such a hostile way? Because he was acquainted with Luo Wenlin, he personally felt that there wasn¡¯t too much of a problem with the whole operation.

    However, Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun, who had no idea who Luo Wenlin even was, found it hard to ept that Gu Xiqiao was donating her marrow to this Dalin fe. Xiao Yun peered at Yao Jiamu with an emotionless face. "Do you know this Dalin?"

    "Yes..." This was Yao Jiamu¡¯s first time seeing her act so seriously and he was a little bothered by it.

    "In any case, let¡¯s go there and take a look first." Wu Hongwen¡¯s joker attitude had faded away in an instant. Dusting himself off, he left with Xiao Yun to see theirrade in hospital. Yao Jiamu, who became abandoned, was left in ce, stunned.

    ¡¯Did they eat the wrong type of medicine today?¡¯

    ***

    At the hospital, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s transnt operation had ended sessfully. Contrary to popr belief, such a transnt does not cause damage to one¡¯s body and the hospital encourages potential donors to step forward and save lives. However, that wasn¡¯tpletely true either. The human body contains blood producing cells and these cells do not replicate indefinitely through cell splitting. There is a limit to the number of times these cells can self-replicate and when that limit is reached, the human body will start aging and hence, deteriorate.

    And so, there can only be so many times one could donate blood in his lifetime. While he may be willing to go above the limit, the body simply cannot.

    To donate marrow was an even more serious matter that would impact the body on an even greater scale.

    Both Wu Hongwen and Yao Jiamu knew about this fact, which exined why he was so upset when he heard the news of Gu Xiqiao agreeing to the surgery. Holding his head nervously in the elevator, he asked, "Tell me, why the hell did she agree to do such a foolish thing?"

    Even before they met, Wu Hongwen had started to despise this Dalin fe.

    Xiao Yun counted the floors as they went up. "It¡¯s because of that attitude of hers. She feels obliged to intervene in anything that is remotely linked to her. It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know her!"

    "But can her frail little body even make it through the surgery?!" Wu Hongwen scratched his head in panic.

    "We¡¯ll see when we get there." Even Xiao Yun was getting riled up. How dare she hide this from them. This is outrageous! She¡¯s gonna witness their full wrath when they get to her room!

    At least, that was what they thought. Such feelings quickly fizzed out when they saw her lying there on the hospital bed. Still under anesthesia, her eyes remained shut. Her face no longer had that rosy tint and instead, it was of a deathly paleplexion.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood beside her bed. Judging from his facial expression, he was not in a good mood. His thin lips were pressed together tightly and his brows were knitted. The air pressure around him dropped significantly, almost sublimating into ice.

    Standing there, he emanated an incredibly intimidating aura. Even the nurse, who was checking on Gu Xiqiao trembled out of fear, almost flipping over her tray.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression softened upon seeing Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen enter the room. At the very least, he was friendly toward Gu Xiqiao¡¯s friends. "You two stay here and look after her. I¡¯ll be heading back to prepare her meal."

    The two nodded eagerly. Moments after Jiang Shuxuan left, the sneaky Gu Xiqiao slowly opened her eyes, which was noticed by Wu Hongwen in an instant. "Er Qiao you slimy rat... you almost got me there."

    "Why are you two here?" asked Gu Xiqiao. It wasn¡¯t that she wanted to fool them. It was more that she was afraid of seeing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face.

    Now that she had mentioned this, Xiao Yun felt nothing but anger for her. ring at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pale white face, she lowered his voice, "What do you think? You¡¯re going through such a life-threatening surgery and you think you can just stay silent like that? Is making a phone call such a difficult task?"

    "C¡¯mon, it¡¯s no biggie. I¡¯ll just have to stay here for 12 hours and I¡¯m gonna be discharged tomorrow morning."

    "No biggie!? They had to slice you open for god¡¯s sake!" Xiao Yun red at her. She couldn¡¯t hold herself back any longer. "Does it hurt? Can you still eat? Is there anything you would like Wu Hongwen to buy you?"

    "Brother Jiang¡¯s preparing food for me back home. I¡¯m feeling a little tired so I¡¯d like to sleep if that¡¯s okay with you." As the anesthesia was still coursing through her veins, she was able to fall asleep in a matter of seconds.

    Silently, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen walked outside her ward. Just then, Yao Jiamu had finally hurried over but to his disappointment, he was stopped by Wu Hongwen from seeing her.

    "Er Qiao¡¯s asleep. You should stay outside. You¡¯re entire body¡¯s covered in germs and sh*t after all."

    "Fine, then would you like to pay Dalin a visit?" asked Yao Jiamu as he thought they¡¯d be interested.

    "Let¡¯s go." urged Wu Hongwen. He wanted to see what this trash of a person, Dalin looked like!

    Because he had just undergone the surgery, Luo Wenlin was moved to the ICU so they could only watch him through a ss window. Luo Weng was sitting on the bench outside the ICU when they got there, which puzzled Wu Hongwen.

    "Why¡¯s Luo Weng here?"

    "Because, he¡¯s Dalin¡¯s elder brother," said Yao Jiamu as he approached the window. At the moment, Luo Wenlin was resting on a bed with his eyes shut. There were pipes inserted in both his legs as well as his head. As if that wasn¡¯t terrifying enough, there was a great big shiny needle protruding out from where the tubes led into his body.

    Luo Wenlin was a cute boy, which earned their sympathy in an instant. Even the fiery Wu Hongwen who was originally ready to tear his throat out went silent at the sight of the poor boy.

    Wu Hongwen¡¯s silence continued after hearing Yao Jiamu¡¯s exnation of Luo Wenlin¡¯s family background. The duo stared at his serene face for a while before finally returning to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ward. However, with Jiang Shuxuan there, theycked the guts to loiter around any longer. Right before the hospital closed its doors to visitors, they managed to stealthily CIA their way out of there.

    The operation had been a sess. Luo Wenlin was able to regain consciousness that night and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s condition had been stable throughout the twelve-hour observation window. Seeing how much she has improved, Jiang Shuxuan could finally sigh out in relief.

    As scheduled, she was allowed to be discharged the next morning.

    "Wait for me here. I¡¯ll drive over."

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car was at the car park and he did not want Gu Xiqiao to walk such a distance by herself. And so, he made sure that she waited for him at the hospital¡¯s entrance. She protested by saying how un-weak she was but one look from him was enough to silence her.

    Fine, she admitted defeat this time.

    While waiting for Jiang Shuxuan, she leaned against a nearby pir and started ying on her phone.

    "Miss Gu!" yelled someone from behind.

    That someone was Shen Nianzi.

    "Why are you here?" she asked with an astonished look.

    "To see Dalin," replied Gu Xiqiao with a smile. No one knew about her agreeing to donate marrow for Luo Wenlin. Not even the recipient himself knew about this.

    "Hey, ditto. I heard he even woke upst night." Shen Nianzi smiled. They were the same batch of kids raised in the orphanage so naturally, they had developed a strong bond with each other. She was so happy for Luo Wenlin¡¯s recovery that she failed to sleepst night. "And I heard his condition¡¯s under control now. I really wish I could thank that donor right now!"

    Tucking her phone away, Gu Xiqiao shed her a smile. "Yep."

    "Ah right." Shen Nianzi looked around before continuing in a whisper. "Miss Gu, your drawing has already been sent to the Biennale. Mr. Sima would like to ept you as his disciple as soon as possible. He¡¯s quite serious about this. In fact, he¡¯s called up the director quite a number of times now. I can guarantee you that this man¡¯s the best teacher you could ever hope to get. Miss Gu, even if you¡¯re not nning to learn the art of painting, you should definitely pay him a visit. After all, there¡¯s no harm in doing so is there?"

    Shen Nianzi spoke seriously. She was genuinely thinking in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s best interest. What she couldn¡¯t understand the next moment, was how a sane person could reject the god-tier artist, Sima Jun¡¯s offer!

    "Thanks but I really can¡¯t do that." Gu Xiqiao shook her head with a smile. She could make out that Shen Nianzi had no underlying intent. "My new semester will be starting soon so I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t have the spare time to learn about art. As you know, med students are busy as bees."

    "Alright." Shen Nianzi was a little disappointed. "Miss Gu, if you ever change your mind, you must see Mister Sima."

    "I must," repeated Gu Xiqiao. She must not ever look for Sima Jun. "Oh, my ride¡¯s here. I¡¯ll be leaving then. See ya!"

    Shen Nianzi watched Gu Xiqiao get into her car before turning to enter the hospital. However, she was stopped by someone the moment she did so. Looking up, it was revealed to be someone with a pretty face.

    "So, you¡¯ve made contact with the one and only, For A Millenium."

    "Yeah," replied Shen Nianzi excitedly as she stared constantly at Mu Yunfan¡¯s face. This was the first time she was standing so close to him. The other time she saw him was on the television screen. "But she still rejected Mister Sima¡¯s offer to ept her as his own disciple."

    "That I know." Although Mu Yunfan had expected her to say such a thing, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed. Before he left, he reminded her, "The next time you see her, remember to notify me. I¡¯d like to see her too."

    "Hold up." After a moment of silence, Shen Nianzi opened her mouth. "You recognized the girl that was standing beside me just now?"

    "Beside you?" Mu Yunfan¡¯s eyes were suddenly filled with disgust. "No."

    He left shortly after. His butler, with a bag of medicine in hand, followed behind him. As he passed Shen Nianzi, the butler greeted her with a friendly smile.

    "Wait. Something¡¯s wrong." Shen Nianzi scratched her head cluelessly. "Didn¡¯t he say he wanted to meet her in person?" If that¡¯s the case, then why did it seem like he hated Miss Gu?

    Please go to https:///Rebirth-of-an-Idle-Noblewoman/ to read thetest chapters for free

 Chapter 121 The Legend

    <h4>Chapter 121 The Legend</h4>

    When Gu Xiqiao came back home, Xixi and Haha were already like peas in a pod.

    "Beauty Qiao!" Xixi pped its wings and circled above Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head. Tears gradually swelled up in its beady eyes. "My poor little Beauty Qiao, boohoo..."

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes narrowed. He reached out and grabbed Xixi by its w before flinging it out the door. Haha, standing inside the building, looked down at Xixi with contempt. Then, without making a noise, it climbed up the stairs behind Gu Xiqiao.

    Xixi, who was left outside, screeched, "Haha you scheming b*tch!"

    A phone call came just as Gu Xiqiao entered her room. Feeling exhausted, she wanted toy down and take a nap but upon realizing who the caller was, she felt recharged again. It was Tang Yanling.

    She did not notify the Yin family about her surgery. Firstly, Gu Xiqiao felt that the marrow transnt was just an insignificant operation and secondly, she felt that more trouble would brew if she told everybody about her decision.

    With this in mind, the only reason why Tang Yanling knew about her operation would be none other than that loose cannon, Wu Hongwen!

    It really wasn¡¯t too big of a deal but due to Wu Hongwen¡¯s exaggeration, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s operation was described as akin to a battle to the death with the Grim Reaper. Hence, upon receiving news from Yin Shaoyuan, she rushed straight to their house and had a conversation with Mrs. Zhang that stretched over an hour.

    It was before noon when Gu Xiqiao woke up. There were a few missed calls on her phone which turned out to be from Luo Weng, Yu Ning, and Wu Hongwen.

    Though, it seemed that the only person urgently looking for her was Yu Ning, who presumably had thetest test results for their holographic helmet prototype.

    "Miss Gu, the new helmet has now hit the production line. September is when we have decided tounch the product." Yu Ning sounded rather excited about this. "I have already started trial runs for the virtualwork browser but weck manpower in the office. I have a handful of hacker friends and I¡¯d like to bring them over to help with the project. What do you think?"

    How bad could the friends of the godly hacker get? Even if they weren¡¯t on par with Yu Ning¡¯s skill, they should be prettypetent. However, Gu Xiqiao was a little skeptical of why these programming gods would be so eager to visit her little shrine called the Nine Heavens Corporation.

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s doubt her friends worried Yu Ning. "Miss Gu, do you really not understand the fundamental meaning of our virtual world? To put it simply, you could squeak a tiny squeak on our official website and there¡¯ll be countless engineering masters rushing to offer their service to our project!"

    Yu Ning felt awed whenever he spoke about this matter. He had originallye here to see just who it was that created that software that he was unable to break. To think that Gu Xiqiao would give him an even bigger surprise, the virtual helmet, a virtualwork, a virtual world! These were all things that he predicted would onlye out in the next decade. It never crossed his mind that they would appear right in front of him so quickly, and partly shaped by his own two hands too.

    Still, Gu Xiqiao was the biggest miracle that ever presented itself to him. She had given him countless creative inspirations, like that source code, or that nanochip... these were all courtesy of Gu Xiqiao. Neglecting her sleep schedule, she managed to produce a n which was a major factor why the virtual helmet was able to take the world by storm. For some reason, the market¡¯s reaction turned out exactly as she had predicted.

    Yu Ning recalled the time when he asked Wang Bo, how capable Gu Xiqiao was. Why did she have so many geniuses working under her and why were they all so loyal?

    Wang Bo¡¯s answer was direct, "Miss Gu is an incredibly magical person."

    While Yu Ning did not understand what Wang Bo was saying at that time, he certainly understood now. To be able to create a brand new virtual world, how magical was that?

    Of course, being the skeptic that he was back then, Yu Ning scoured the for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s information. He was prepared to search high and low, turning over every rock in order to look for strips of information about this mysterious girl. He thought that she would keep everything about her secret, just like that unbreakable software she created.

    To his surprise, her information could be found with just the click of a few buttons. Even articles that talked about her in a bad light were out in full disy on the inte.

    The illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, stealing, the number one schr of N City... and the Nine Heavens Corporation that she secretly owned.

    Seeing these gave Yu Ning the first taste of just how "magical" this Gu Xiqiao was.

    Although Yu Ning wasn¡¯t particrly well-versed in the realm of business and enterprise, he still knew about the big three investment groups that were funding Nine Heavens Corp. Not only was their investment virtually risk free, the interest rate was at a staggering 10%! Even the financially-illiterate Yu Ning knew just how holy that digit was. He had mistaken Luo Weng as the person who was responsible for this all but to think that it was her all along! Even Luo Weng kowtowed under her feet as if she was a saint.

    You could pick a random member from the higher-ups of the corporation and they¡¯d all turn out to be elites. Everypany thirsted for such men to be a part of their project but they were all concentrated in the tiny Nine Heavens headquarters. Yu Ning couldn¡¯t help but smile at that thought. Hanging up the phone, he returned to his work, with the intent of lifting thispany up to the heavens!

    ***

    Mu Zong has been busy with farming activities in the rural vige these days. He had sufficient capital as well asbor, not to mention Wu Hongwen who had his back. And so, their PR campaign has developed at such a pace that in the end, Mu Zong had nothing to do with the project.

    Mu Jiatong was scheduled to undergo an operation so Mu Zong had to return to N City. Initially, he thought that he¡¯d be given a ton of jobs to settle and that he¡¯d be too busy to return but he would soon discover that their entire project had no need for him; everything had been nned beforehand by Gu Xiqiao. Even though Muzong was assigned the role of supervisor, in reality, he acted as nothing more than an office decoration.

    There weren¡¯t even final tasks given to him before his departure, which made him question the meaning of it all.

    "Mr. Mu, I heard you¡¯re going to N City? Could you bring these to Little Gu?" News that Mu Zong was about to leave spread quickly around the vige. Most of the vigers had things which they needed Mu Zong to bring to Gu Xiqiao. They were mostly food items produced exclusively in their humble vige.

    He did not expect her to be so popr among the vigers. As Mu Zong received a bag of items from Li Yanmei¡¯s hands, he suddenly recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. "Miss Gu asks you if you would like to continue with your studies?"

    "Huh?" Li Yanmei raised her head to look at Mu Zong. She totally did not expect to hear that question.

    It¡¯s been almost a month since Mu Zong moved here and Li Yanmei¡¯s a year or two older than Gu Xiqiao. She was a sensible, hard-working person but her education stopped after graduating from high school. From what he heard, she had a brother who was studying in a big city but it¡¯s been two years since hest came home.

    "I¡¯m saying, would you like to continue studying?" repeated Mu Zong patiently. "If you¡¯d like, follow me back to N City. We¡¯ll continue where you left off."

    Back then, when she had dropped out of the national finals, Gu Xiqiao ran home from her school to interrogate her about her foolish decision. She¡¯d even offered to pay for her tuition fees but Li Yanmei turned down her generous offer. It wasn¡¯t just tuition fees she had to worry about. She also had to fork out a sizable amount of cash for food, rent, and other misceneous expenditures. Relying solely on Gu Xiqiao was out of the question. Her mother¡¯s health was waning and someone in her home had to make a sacrifice, and so she did.

    Then one day, a bunch of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s "friends" arrived at their vige, saying that they wanted to develop theirnd and that the vigers need not be forced out of their homes. Even so, they were required to patch up their houses. If possible, they were urged to turn their houses into farmhouses but the vigers were also given the option to choose a regr, residential building too. After that came the construction of various tourist mas around their vige, followed by a pool of nine to five jobs for the vigers to take up.

    This was the dream which the vigers sought. Even though their mountain has yet to reach its maximum potential, they were willing to help as workers. At the very least, they received a steady flow of a couple hundred yuan per day, which was miles ahead of what they got when toiling away in the rice fields.

    A new cement road waspleted just under two weeks¡¯ time, linking the vige directly to N City. Apparently, they were even discussing the construction of a high-speed causeway over the new road, which of course, shocked the vigers.

    The neighboring viges definitely enjoyed the overflowing benefits but they were still envious of Baixing Vige.

    The problem that remained for their vige was the issue of money management. Li Yanmei thought about how her mother was finally able to walk again after taking the pills left by Gu Xiqiao. ¡¯The day when she fully recovers is just over the horizon,¡¯ she thought.

    "I¡¯d like to further my education," said Li Yanmei with a serious expression.

    "Very well. Pack up your things. We¡¯ll head for N City tomorrow morning."

    After wrapping up the vigers¡¯ gifts into a secure bundle, they left for N City on the morning of the next day.

    Upon arriving at N City, he did not head first for the office, nor the hospital. Instead, he chose to check-in at a hotel which was located nearby Gu Xiqiao¡¯s residence.

    "Boss!"

    Mu Zong was talking to Gu Xiqiao over the phone outside his hotel¡¯s entrance when a familiar voice boomed from behind him. Turning around, a chubby face entered his field of view.

    He was none other than Liu Weiqing. This traitor who he once despised so much he wanted to skin him alive! Never had it crossed his mind that he would bump into this bastard again.

    Mu Zong hung up the phone. With his mouth curled downwards, he greeted the man in a mocking tone, "Mr. Liu."

    Mu Zong had almost gone bankrupt when Liu Weiqing sold him out. Even if ten thousand years had passed, he could never forget his despicable face.

    "Big boss, can I talk to you for a moment?" asked Liu Weiqing with a wary smile.

    Out of a sudden, Mu Zong recalled Liu Weiqing¡¯s reaction when he had went to question him previously. Pompously, that man had said, "Brother? How dare you even call me that!? If you wanna act so brotherly then why did you refuse to transfer half of your shares over to me?"

    "Nope, tell me what you want to say right here, right now." Mu Zong had be so distracted by his thoughts that he stopped caring about Liu Weiqing. In fact, he felt a sense of gratitude towards him. If not for what he did, forcing him between a rock and a hard ce, he would not have stood in the ce he was standing in today.

    Back then, Liu Weiqing looked down on him and even joked that he was not worthy of being his friend. How the tables have turned for this slimy bastard to call himself "boss" respectfully like the dog he was.

    Mu Zong was standing in a much higher ce now. He had burned Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phrase, "Nine Heavens is aiming for the world" into his brain. Ever since theunch of their virtual helmet, his superficial friends had started contacting him again. Knowing that he was now holding the General Manager of the world-famous Nine Heavens Corporation, they must¡¯ve regretted their attitude towards him back then.

    This especially applied for Liu Weiqing. Back then, he had stolen the secret form of Mu Zong¡¯spany and as if to add insult to injury, he¡¯d even taken away most of his talented employees. Even so, Mu Zong was able to rise again and this time, the winds were blowing in his favor.

    This backstabbing sonuvab*tch thought that life would be easy after his daughter managed to marry a rich, influential man. What he did not expect was Mu Zong being an acquaintance of said man. In fact, his daughter, who was once a fairly popr celebrity, had been put back on the shelf, returning to obscurity.

    Worse still, he had been made redundant by his ownpany. Virtually every confidential document was kept out of his reach and ever since Nine Heavens¡¯ emergence, theirpany had been on the decline and at a rapid pace at that. Thus, Liu Weiqiang was extremely excited to see Mu Zong once more. He hoped that he could forget the past and give him a helping hand this time.

    If only he knew about what Mu Zong would be today, he would not have sold him out back then!

    "Boss, I got mypany¡¯s confidential n right here. If you agree to let me work at Nine Heavens, this file will be yours," said Liu Weiqiang with a cunning smirk.

    Even Li Yanmei looked at Liu Weiqiang in shock. ¡¯What a shameless man!¡¯ she thought.

    Mu Zong chuckled. He now understood the phrase, "dogs will never change their habit of eating sh*t".

    "Liu Weiqiang, I see you haven¡¯t changed one bit. Do you think that I even need to know about your little secret?"

    Leaving Liu Weiqiang alone outside, Mu Zong brought Li Yanmei into the hotel. No matter how he yelled for Mu Zong to stop, the man kept on walking. He ground his teeth in frustration.

    "Rascal! How can his luck be so good?!"

    Speaking about luck, Mu Zong felt blessed to have met Gu Xiqiao. If not for her, he probably would still be struggling in some unknown corner of the country. Whenever it came to his job, he made sure to put in all his effort because of what Gu Xiqiao did for him. She was the whole reason why he could regain his pride today.

    The reason why Gu Xiqiao picked this spot for Mu Zong was so it would be easier for them to meet up. Having juste out from an operation, she was barred from exiting her home and was ced under surveince by Mrs. Zhang. Still, she managed to slip out of the house like a secret agent.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes lit up the moment she saw the pair sitting in the private booth, waiting for her.

    "Sister Mei!"

    "Little Gu." Li Yanmei was excited to see Gu Xiqiao. This was her first timeing to such arge city. Skyscrapers dotted thendscape and everything seemed almost foreign to her, a country bumpkin. At the very least, seeing her beloved friend¡¯s face gave her a sense of familiarity amidst the alienating city.

    Li Yanmei passed a bag over to Gu Xiqiao.

    "Shi Tou wanted me to give you this. He misses you a lot."

    Gu Xiqiao retrieved a piece of paper from the bag. Looking at it, there was nothing but unrecognizable scribbles all over.

    "Don¡¯t listen to his bullcrap." Gu Xiqiao stared at the paper for quite a while and still failed to decipher its meaning. Sigh, she never could understand what that boy was thinking. "We¡¯d just chattedst night over theputer. He told me that you wereing y¡¯know. Even asked me if you¡¯re gonna stay here forever."

    Gu Xiqiao left her present for Shi Tou before her departure. Fortunately, he was able to figure out how to use aputer within the span of a few days. In fact, he was able to add her as a friend on social media.

    Discovering a new function of hisputer, Shi Tou made his first move. He chatted with Gu Xiqiao so much that she thought he might¡¯ve grown sick of seeing her face. To her amazement, the boy was able to make his first video call with her through his webcam.

    "Shi Tou! Shi Tou! Shi Tou!" Xixi, who was perched on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder, screeched as it hated being left out of conversations like that.

    Hearing the bird speak, Gu Xiqiao turned away from Li Yanmei and finally gave Xixi the attention that it longed for.

    "What a pretty little bird. Is that what they call a parrot?"

    "That¡¯s right." Gu Xiqiao patted Xixi¡¯s tiny bird skull to silence it. The only reason she brought the noisy bird out was out of fear that it might expose her secret to Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Look at its beautiful feathers!" Mu Zong, who was an avian enthusiast, guessed that it should fetch quite a high price in the market.

    "Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!" repeated the bird. It pped its wings and hopped over to Mu Zong¡¯s shoulder. "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!"

    That roughly meant "you got a good eye there mister," in birdnguage.

    If Haha was here, he undoubtedly would¡¯ve said, "What a retard!"

    Noticing the noise it was creating, Gu Xiqiao picked up Xixi and threw it out of the door. After that, she made sure to shut the window. And so, the room returned to its tranquil silence.

    "Qiao Qiao, won¡¯t it get lost or something?" Li Yanmei asked worriedly as she looked out of the window. "What if it gets caught by someone?"

    "That would be much appreciated," replied Gu Xiqiao with her teeth gritted. That stupid featherball promised not to cause so much noise before they left the house but it just couldn¡¯t keep its promise could it? One day, Gu Xiqiao swore, she would pluck all its feathers out!

    Mu Zong gazed at the bird that flew in circles outside the window.

    "It¡¯s pretty smart. What species is it? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen such a bird before."

    Gu Xiqiao grinned. "A mongrel."

    Smack!"

    Xixi, who was perched outside the window had lost its bnce and fell down to the first floor. It could feel how unloved it was. Wasn¡¯t it the purest of all breed, the Vermillion Bird? Mongrel? That was clearly referring to that ugly ass mutt at home!

    Today, Gu Xiqiao had braved the risk of getting caught by Jiang Shuxuan in order to meet Mu Zong. Of course, this was all for the sake of her family. She took out the n that she had churned her mind inside out to produce and passed it to Mu Zong.

    "Take a look at this. If you agree to it, then please pass it to Luo Weng. He¡¯ll know what to do."

    Mu Zong was awestruck when he noticed a name contained in the n. A merger with another one named Gu? That Gu? Was she kidding?

    "I don¡¯t think I can handle pranks like this." Mu Zong did not dare to flip the page over. He knew just who this Gu person was to Gu Xiqiao. To simply propose a merger with this man was no ordinary task. "Are you serious?" he asked.

    Although Mu Zong had faith in Gu Xiqiao, the same could not be said for himself and Luo Weng. "This is a huge step up. I think it¡¯s better for you to handle this yourself. I don¡¯t think I and Weng will be able to oversee a merger of such an epic scale."

    Only Gu Xiqiao could ever sessfully pull off such a thing, he thought.

    "Look at the steps I¡¯ve written inside. Uncle Mu, I¡¯m nning to head to the capital with Weng so you will inevitably be the man in charge here. It¡¯s going to be beneficial for you in the long run to handle the merger with Gu Enterprise." said Gu Xiqiao as she tapped her fingers on the table.

    Mu Zong silently thought to himself, ¡¯Stopughing, you¡¯re scaring me.¡¯

    "Have faith in yourself, Uncle Mu. You have a phone don¡¯t you? If there¡¯s any problem bugging you, just give me a call. I¡¯ll deal with it, I promise." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. If she were to handle this matter all by herself, she¡¯d have to wait until after her new semester starts. Though, she was confident that she could deal with the Gu family even if she was based in the Imperial Capital.

    But with Mu Zong¡¯s help, there wasn¡¯t the need for Gu Xiqiao to dirty her hands. She had high hopes for the man. After all, in her n for the future, he was going to handle important matters for theirpany. Although he was what you would call a corporate "veteran", Gu Xiqiao wanted him to get a taste of what it was like on the battlefield. The second reason why she assigned this job to him was... because she didn¡¯t feel like doing it herself.

    With Gu Xiqiao¡¯s assurance, Mu Zong epted the responsibility he had to shoulder. It had been a couple of months since he joined Gu Xiqiao¡¯s team and within this period, he had spent countless hours talking to her over the phone about his job, from which he learned quite a number of valuable lessons.

    Although Gu Enterprise was by no means, an easy target, it had an abundance of capital, both financial and human. That alone, in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s opinion, was well worth the shot. In addition, she wanted to use this as a chance to prove her might.

    Mu Zong tucked away the thick file, rich with essential information. This was what Gu Xiqiao poured her time and effort intopiling, and so he had to treat it with respect. He had a feeling that its contents would surprise him, in a positive manner of course, but he did not flip it open instantly. He feared that opening it was like opening Pandora¡¯s Box, once open, he¡¯d never be able to shut it back. What¡¯s more, Mu Jiatong was going to undergo a surgery tomorrow, so he wanted to ensure that the operation goes as smoothly as possible.

    After all, it¡¯s not like there weren¡¯t cases like as mentioned before. A major part of thepany¡¯s employees would always be so captured by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s proposals that they would even forget to eat. Back then, when a bunch of freshly graduated financial analysts received her proposal n, they studied it day and night, especially the new form that she specially drew up for thepany, what more to say of Wang Bo and Yu Ning, those nutcases.

    Arge part of them scratched their heads at the lines of source codes Gu Xiqiao came up with.

    There was a lot of crazy stuff that stemmed from this one girl and most were experienced firsthand by Mu Zong. And so, he wanted to wait until after Mu Jiatong¡¯s surgery had ended before opening that file.

    "Oh right, Uncle Mu." Gu Xiqiao fished out from her pocket, a candy wrapped in parchment. "Give this to Tong Tong. Make sure she eats this by today. Let¡¯s hope her surgery goes well. I¡¯m gonna visit her too, after it¡¯spleted."

    "Alright." Mu Zong nced at her beaming smile. He grinned to himself. No matter how well she is performing, Gu Xiqiao is just another youngdy.

    Seeing his odd smile, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose in confusion. "Well then, I¡¯ll be leaving now."

    "Let¡¯s go together." Mu Zong too, got up from his chair. "I¡¯ll help you with your friend¡¯s affairs before going to the hospital."

    "Thank you, Uncle Mu." Gu Xiqiao contemted for a while before continuing, "Remember that apartment unit that you assisted me in buying? I still haven¡¯t moved in so you should let Sister Mei live there. It¡¯s quite close to the school too."

    That unit was bought when she was hellbent on moving out a month ago. A lot of things happened in that one month and she decided that she didn¡¯t want to move out just yet. Li Yanmei was in luck as Gu Xiqiao was more than ready to let her move in for now.

    "Sure, I¡¯ll bring her there then." The moment they stepped out of the hotel¡¯s entrance, they were greeted by Xixi, who swooped above their heads andnded on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder. Seeing the milk candy in Mu Zong¡¯s hand, it locked its eyes with its master.

    "Chiiiiiiiiiirp!" (Beauty Qiao you don¡¯t love me anymore! You¡¯ve fallen in love for another trashy outsider again!)

    Gu Xiqiao pped the bird off her shoulder but Xixi stubbornly returned to her shoulder. The way they interacted was, to the regr passerby, interesting to watch.

    The sight of a pretty youngdy walking down the street created an image in the minds of a great deal of pedestrians. "A young, pixie manic dream girl with eyes as clear as the crystal, on a summer stroll with her fiery red pet bird. The bird¡¯s feathers, equally as bold and pretty as its master, flickered like mes under the sunlight as it danced about her shoulders. The bond between bird and girl was peaceful and filled with unconditional love."

    In reality, it was more like:

    "Girl! Tell me if you love me or not!"

    "Heh heh."

    "If you don¡¯t love me, don¡¯t tell me you love that sh*thead Haha mutt! Boohoo!"

    "Shut your trap!"

    "Hell naw! If you don¡¯t love me then who do you love!?"

    "Haha."

    "As expected. I knew something was going on between you two! I want a divorce!"

    "Too bad. Now beat it!" She smacked the noisy bird onto the concrete sidewalk.

    "Argh! What did I say just now? I have no idea what I was saying..."

    Mu Zong stared at their bizarre interaction before beginning their walk to the apartment that supposedly was located near the school district.

    For some reason, he felt hatred in that bird¡¯s eyes. Mu Zong looked down at himself. Apart from that candy in his hand, and that document file he held, he had done nothing else that might possibly piss the bird off, right?

    "Mr. Mu." Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had finally left, Li Yanmei finally found the courage to ask a question she had began to wonder about. "What is Miss Gu actually doing?"

    She felt something was off. It was not like they were trying to exclude her from the conversation but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn¡¯t keep up with what they were saying. Though, based on her vague understanding of their conversation, she could conclude one thing: Miss Gu seemed like a very smart individual?

    Although Gu Xiqiao withheld her identity from the public as Nine Heavens¡¯ founder, she had never tried keeping it a secret from the people around her.

    Mu Zong answered her question in a straightforward manner, "To be honest, Miss Gu¡¯s my boss. She¡¯s the big boss behind the curtains."

    "What!?" Li Yanmei was wide-eyed. That was way too shocking. How could she be able to rise into a young boss when she had just left their vige six months ago? She knew that Gu Xiqiao was a clever girl whom the vige elders loved to teach but her achievements in this city astounded her. No wonder, there were so many people looking to develop their vige.

    "Haha, it¡¯s pretty surprising innit? Though, it¡¯s been a rough ride for her too." Mu Zong drove his car to a spot nearby First City High. His memory of Gu Xiqiao and the incident with her family still remained as clear as day.

    Back then, the Gu family was like a giant mountain, squeezing down on them to the point of asphyxiation. Now, the chance hade for them to break this mountain down. Though, that was easier said than done. Still considering the progress they had made... it wasn¡¯t too hard was it?

    If someone were to hear Mu Zong¡¯s innermost thoughts, that man would undoubtedly feel an urge to strangle him. Not too hard? Didn¡¯t he know that countless families caught up in investment failuresmitted mass suicide? How many spectors plunged to their deaths from skyscrapers alongside their stock prices when the bubble bursts?

    ***

    Mrs. Zhang was still out buying groceries when Gu Xiqiao returned home. She sighed in relief, knowing that she had dodged that olddy¡¯s endless nagging.

    Xixi flew down from her shoulder and hopped over to Haha¡¯s kennel in an arrogant manner.

    "Chiiiiiiirp!" (I went out with the girl for a great big, tasty meal today.)

    "Woof woof woof woof!" (So what?)

    "Chiiiiirp! Chiiiiiiiiiirp!"(She loves me!)

    Haha went silent as it brought out two precious paintings he tucked away at the back of its kennel. Secondster, it tucked the paintings away, perhaps out of fear that the jealous featherball would snatch it away.

    Xixi: ¡¯F*ck!¡¯

    "Chiiiiiiirp!" (Look at the bell the master has bought me.)

    "Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!" (I believe that the master¡¯s taste is better than that.)

    Seeing the poop-colored bell hanging on Xixi¡¯s neck, Haha in reality, was so envious that rage bubbled up within him.

    Xixi: ¡¯... That¡¯s right, this was snatched away from the hands of a child. But why would I admit to that!?¡¯

    "Chiiiiiiirp! Chiiiiiiirp!" (You¡¯re just jealous of me! Hmph!)

    Haha was toozy to entertain the bird now. It proceeded to lick up the water in its bowl. After all, action was louder than words, or in this case, barks.

    Xixi peered at the expensive-looking bowl, then at the dull-colored bell on its neck. In an instant, something inside of it snapped.

    Seeing Xixi getting so pissed off prepared Haha for a good long afternoon siesta. After all, it needed its daily dose of torture before drifting into dreand~

    Gu Xiqiao stealthily sneaked upstairs, trying to look as if she hadn¡¯t left the second floor at all. However, the moment she arrived before the door of her room, she discovered that the door to the study room opposite of hers was wide open. Sittingfortably on a wicker chair facing the doorway was Jiang Shuxuan, looking at her with a deadpan expression.

    "Brother Jiang..." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body went stiff and her fingers curled up tightly.

    ¡¯Didn¡¯t he say that he would return at nightst night? Liar!¡¯

    Feeling that she had been lied to, Gu Xiqiao wore a pitiful expression on her face.

    Jiang Shuxuan put down his book and sighed in disappointment. "Come in. I have something to tell you. I won¡¯t scold you, I promise." If not for that final phrase, she would not have stepped into his room.

    Since he was a man of his word, Gu Xiqiao slid into the room quickly. "What¡¯s up?"

    "Do you have a more skilledputer expert at your disposal?" Jiang Shuxuan knew very well about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s connections in that field. "We¡¯re facing problems at the base and we need the help of such a person."

    Gu Xiqiao remembered that he mentioned the same thing before but she had forgotten about it soon after. "Yes I do, but I¡¯ll have to ask that person first. Is it a very urgent matter?"

    Good thing she was still a somewhat reasonable person. She nned to ask Yu Ning about it in a "friendly" manner and if he turned her down, she would offer another new source code in exchange for his service. But, if that does not satisfy him, she¡¯d have to resort to the caveman method¡ªknock him unconscious and drag him home.

    "If possible, I¡¯d like to have it done in 2 days¡¯ time. Anymore and I won¡¯t have the time to handle this issue once I get back to the capital." There were a ton of jobs waiting for him to settle at the Imperial Capital and his stay at N City certainly meant that he had been neglecting his work. Even so, the boys in Jing Capital dared not speak up about this.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. "Then I¡¯ll try to ask as soon as I can. I¡¯ll keep you updated."

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded. The most suitable individual for this job was that God Lo person from the hacker forum. However, that guy was like a slimy rat; he had vanished without a trace after supposedly returning to the Imperial Capital. The entire forum scratched its head at whether he had really disappeared or whether he was just lurking around under a false identity.

    He rested two of his fingers on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s inner wrist to take her pulse.

    "You should take a rest this afternoon. You¡¯re allowed to go out tomorrow but don¡¯t stay out too long."

    Gu Xiqiao half-heartedly mumbled a response as she was more focused on looking at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingers. They looked clean and well-maintained. His fingers were long and slender, with a pronounced bone structure. Although he was no artist, he possessed the hands of a good artist.

    "Hurry up and take a shower. I¡¯ll be waiting for you downstairs with your soup." Jiang Shuxuan knocked his knuckles on her skull.

    "Okay." Gu Xiqiao sighed. Soup. Soup again.

    She had to down an entire bowl of soup before finishing her lunch. It was hard, but she managed to fall asleep afterward but it wasn¡¯t long before Xixi came flying into her room. "Beauty Qiao wake up! Wake up! Wu Hongwen¡¯s with a hot babe downstairs!"

    "Scram!" Gu Xiqiao could no longer stand this annoying bird. Suddenly, a pillow came flying from the direction of her bed, mming into Xixi¡¯s beak.

    This was proof that sleeping with the windows open posed a dangerous risk.

    Yawning a few times, Gu Xiqiao got out of bed. Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun were downstairs, and since there wasn¡¯t anything urgent, she decided to settle the matter about Yu Ning first.

    ***

    Yu Ning, who was in the middle of breaking a source code, almost turned his phone off when it rang nonstop. Picking it up, he realized that the caller was Gu Xiqiao and so he answered the call.

    Gu Xiqiao exined to him the issue with the base and their need for an expert programmer. Who would¡¯ve thought that Yu Ning would turn her down in an instant. Now in Nine Heaven¡¯sputer engineeringboratory, he was like a duck in water. He was just a few steps away from literally moving into theboratory as a permanent resident. Every day, he would spend hours at theb, studying various programs and rted documents.

    How could he not do that? Everything that Gu Xiqiao brought to thatb were sensational pieces of equipment that added to his arsenal. Yu Ning was pretty much in aputer freak¡¯s paradise now. He had barely scratched the tip of the iceberg and he was already feeling like he had reached the peak of his career. So how could he possibly be moved by the outside world anymore?

    Having prepared for this oue, Gu Xiqiao opened her mouth. "I¡¯ll give you a n to break the source code."

    "I don¡¯t care what you sa-" Yu Ning stopped mid sentence. "Give me five or I won¡¯t go!"

    "Two." Gu Xiqiao was prepared to haggle down to the bitter end.

    "I need at least four!" Yu Ning would lose his cool every time they discussed this matter.

    Gu Xiqiao poured herself a ss of water. "Best I can do is two."

    "Three! No less than three..."

    "Bye, I¡¯m hanging up."

    "Hold up!" yelled Yu Ning. "Two is fine! Pass me his contact number right now!"

    "Done deal," said Gu Xiqiao before she hung up.

    Downstairs, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen were seating on the sofa watching television while talking to Mrs. Zhang. They were paying Gu Xiqiao a visit today and came with the intention of asking her when they should leave for the Imperial Capital.

    "I¡¯ll go before my semester starts but I don¡¯t have a specific date in mind yet. I¡¯ll leave it up to you both." Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t overly concerned about the timing, not that it made any difference to her as long as they went.

    Xiao Yun made the call for them. "Then let¡¯s set it at three dayster, on the second day of registration."

    Xiao Yun¡¯s university semester started on the same day as Gu Xiqiao, and the registration for both schoolssted for three days, so they picked the second day, which they felt was the Goldilocks¡¯ zone.

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had more or less recovered from her operation, it was time for the two to leave for an afternoon training session now. Wu Hongwen yed dead on the sofa. "Er Qiao, I don¡¯t wanna get beaten up by Yao Xiaomu again. When will I ever be able to beat him up?!"

    "Let¡¯s see," replied Gu Xiqiao who lifted Haha up to herp. Her pink lips curled into a subtle smile. "Maybe in your next life?"

    "..." Wu Hongwen was on the brink of forfeiting his friendship with her.

    Xixi, who after a tremendous struggle, managed to crawl out from underneath the heavy pillow, started screeching wildly upon seeing Haha in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s embrace. "Chiiiirp chiirrrp!" (Let go of my girl!!!!!!)

    Haha shot it a nce before turning away.

    Seeing how Haha was ignoring itself, Xixi flew circles above the dog¡¯s head.

    "What¡¯s up with that bird?" asked Xiao Yun curiously.

    Silently, Gu Xiaoqi read out the word with her lips, "He¡¯s sick, needs medication."

    Smack!"

    Xixi had be so dizzy from flying circles that it dropped out of the air and onto the floorboard.

    ***

    After receiving a special permission from Jiang Shuxuan, Gu Xiqiao left early the next morning to pay Li Yanmei a visit.

    School started early for Li Yanmei. Mu Zong brought Li Yanmei to the headmaster¡¯s office as an introduction and then proceeded to handle the standard paperwork before finally going to the hospital.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s unit was new. Although it was clean, there was a lot of clutter, which Li Yanmei spent her time clearing up. That resulted in her not having enough time to walk around the school and familiarise herself with the environment.

    And so, she woke up extra early the next morning and after buying her lunch at a stall downstairs, she made her way to N City¡¯s best school, which coincidentally was also her dream school. Though, the entry requirements for this establishment was high. Only those who scored top in their districts couldnd a ce in this school.

    Now that she was blessed with the chance to study here, words could not describe the joy she felt.

    Taking in a deep breath, she stood in front of its pearly gates, observing the students and parents walking in and out of the school. It was only after a while when her emotions settled down that she decided to step in through the gates.

    Leading into the school was an eightne asphalt road. There were many voices around her but she discovered that they mostly spoke of the same person¡ªthe top ranker of this year¡¯s national finals.

    "Have you heard? The top ranker and runner up of this year¡¯s national finals are students from this academy. Believe it or not, it¡¯s because of my idol that I have decided to transfer here! Maybe I¡¯ll even be able to get some of that magical aura!"

    "Unlike you, my parents forced me to transfer to this school. First City High¡¯s hit the jackpot haven¡¯t they?"

    "..."

    A lot of them seemed to be transfer students.

    Li Yanmei too, had grown a bit curious about the schools¡¯ performance. The students¡¯ results were posted on a nearby bulletin board so she had to squeeze through arge crowd just so she could get a good view at the digits.

    As she did so, words like "national goddess", "talent" and "two academic maniacs" were being thrown around repeatedly among the students.

    Finally she reached the front of the crowd. Li Yanmei sighed in relief. As she raised her head, she wasn¡¯t looking for any particr individual but in the end, her eyes ended up looking at arge print of a girl¡¯s photo.

    Although it was the type of photo you¡¯d get for your ID card, that face still looked as pretty as a painting. No wonder these students were all gathered around here.

    Li Yanmei was awe-struck. She gulped in surprise. She knew who this person was! She was none other than Little Gu! That Little Gu with whom she had shared a meal with yesterday! The one whom she grew up with at the vige!

    Although, it was shocking and it was hard for her to ept. Although she knew from young that Gu Xiqiao was an intelligent girl, she simply couldn¡¯t get used to how mystical she actually turned out to be.

    Slowly panning down, Li Yanmei was astonished to find that she had managed to obtain near perfect scores for every subject she took.

    There was arge number of new students who were expressing their regret for not joining the school earlier to witness the genius in real life.

    There were also a bunch of other students posted at the back of the bulletin board, presumably from other sses. Apart from that, there was also the headmaster¡¯s own words, which read: "This batch of students are definitely the most exciting ones I have ever seen in my career! Starting today, we will be abolishing the ss system that differentiates students in terms of their grades! We hope that you too, will be as miraculous as these students!"

    The words made an impact on Li Yanmei, who stared at the headmaster¡¯s words for a long, long time. Although there were missed calls from Mu Zong on her phone, she was too focused on the writing that she forgot all about that matter.

    Finally, her memories returned when she squeezed her way back out of the crowd. Seeing that the caller was none other than Gu Xiqiao, Li Yanmei looked back at the bulletin board.

    "...what? You want to show me around the school? No way! Stand right there! I¡¯lle for you!"

    Please go to https:///Rebirth-of-an-Idle-Noblewoman/ to read thetest chapters for free

 Chapter 122 Dont Come To The Capital!

    <h4>Chapter 122 Don¡°t Come To The Capital!</h4>

    Standing not far outside the school¡¯s entrance, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin after hanging up. She was baffled by Li Yanmei¡¯s odd reaction over the phone.

    Shortly after, the person she was supposed to meet popped into her view. Raising an eyebrow, Gu Xiqiao asked, "What are you up to? Why are you looking around like that?"

    "No, nothing. I was just saying my prayers to the God of studying just now, that¡¯s all." Li Yanmei pulled Gu Xiqiao to an inconspicuous corner.

    "I don¡¯t know if you know this but uh, the sudden influx of transfer students to this school this year was because of them wanting to pay homage to you."

    If she were to walk around the school grounds beside Gu Xiqiao, God knows if she¡¯ll be able to make it out alive by the end of the day.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose in amazement.

    "It¡¯s really gotten that crazy?"

    "I swear I¡¯m not exaggerating." Li Yanmei appeared to be dead serious. "Why didn¡¯t you tell us about that when you returned to the vige. I bet my mom and the vige elder would be ecstatic to hear what you¡¯ve achieved."

    "... I guess I forgot." Gu Xiqiao pped the pesky Xixi off her shoulder. "Let¡¯s leave this for another day. How about you? Have you gotten used to this ce?"

    "Does that even matter? I¡¯ll have to thank the heavens that I managed tond a ce in this school." A smile broke across Li Yanmei¡¯s face. "Thankfully, I have you around. Without your help, First City High¡¯s never gonna take me in, cause, you know, my age and all. I¡¯m at least 2-3 years older than all of my peers and it¡¯s not like my grades are the best either."

    It was a single sentence from Mu Zong that sealed the deal. Slowly, he said to the school¡¯s headmaster, "This girl here is Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cousin. Would it be possible if..."

    "Oh, a rtive of our much beloved student? Why of course we¡¯ll take her in! Hm, how does the first ss sound?" Both the tone and facial expression of the headmaster changed the moment the words "Gu Xiqiao" entered his ears. Even as they were about to leave, the headmaster personally apanied them to the school¡¯s entrance, all while wearing a great big smile. "Should you face any problems living here, please, do not hesitate to schedule an appointment with me."

    Li Yanmei initially had no idea why the headmaster had suddenly changed his attitude. Now, she understood that she hade to this school, riding on the coattails of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reputation.

    "Alright, I shall get someone to bring you a set of notes and revision books. They¡¯re allpiled by me during my final year at this school." Gu Xiqiao then remembered how long it has been since Li Yanmei touched a book. Without help, she would inevitably struggle to keep up with the sybus. As those from the parallel ss back then had struggled too, she set aside some time to revamp the notes that she had made for the parallel ss.

    Unbeknownst to Gu Xiqiao, her set of notes had been shamelessly printed into countless copies by the headmaster, which as a result, created the academic miracle that would go down in N City¡¯s education history. Be that as it may, there was no one who could top what Gu Xiqiao achieved.

    Li Yanmei of course, knew just how precious Gu Xiqiao¡¯s notes were. She couldn¡¯t wait for tomorrow toe. With someone of that caliber supporting her, she felt... great.

    "Oh right, I gotta bring you clothes shopping." Gu Xiqiao said as she eyed the conservative outfit Li Yanmei was wearing. She feared that dressed in that outfit, the girl would find a hard time fitting in with her peers. "Treat it as a celebratory gift to you for managing to get into your dream school. After all, I¡¯ve never really given you something as a gift, have I?"

    Li Yanmei felt thating to N City was already bothersome enough and for her to receive clothes from Gu Xiqiao for free, anymore and she¡¯d start choking up from the guilt. However, seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes that were brimming with anticipation forced her toy down her defenses. She had fallen for her trap.

    It was already noon when their shopping trip came to an end. Gu Xiqiao brought Li Yanmei to a restaurant for a grand meal. After they were done with lunch, she cruised with her cousin slowly toward the center of a crowd.

    After hearing what Li Yanmei had to say, Gu Xiqiao refrained from going back to First City High, mainly due to her fear of stirring up unnecessary trouble. She drove straight to Li Yanmei¡¯s new apartment and dropped her off there. She had things to do for the rest of the day, like assigning important tasks right before she left for the Imperial Capital.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped her car in an alleyway behind First City High. She did not get out of the car immediately. With just a thought, a transparent screen materialized in front of her eyes. It showed a map of the alleyways with a green dot that slowly inched across said screen.

    "At that speed of his, how long until he walks out?"

    [At least 30 minutes], reported the system.

    It took her only ten minutes to navigate out of that alleyway. Activating her strong psychokinesis, she was able to locate and "see" Yao Jiamu in the blink of an eye. There was also a girl that was flirting around with him. Rubbing her chin, Gu Xiqiao said to herself, "This Yao Jiamu is pretty gentle with her isn¡¯t he?"

    [Should we catch up and take a look?], the nosy system spirit hopped forward. [I¡¯m gonna go first!]

    Gu Xiqiao followed its lead, with Xixi trailing behind her. It was a rare sight to see it acting so quiet. Still, it was pping its wings, circling above her head, which was slightly annoying but even that was much better than its usual self.

    Xixi could only make noise in its tiny bird brain.

    ¡¯Arghhhhh I have so many things to say but I¡¯ve promised Master Jiang to stop bugging the youngdy!¡¯

    ***

    Yao Jiamu hadmitted something big recently. By himself, he wiped out an entire team of rivals and because of that, he got promoted. Now, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the leader of his gangs and he even was assigned a handful of underlings.

    "Yao Jiamu. Are you really this heartless? Have you forgotten about me? Do you remember what you said to me back then? That you¡¯d never leave me! That till death do us part!"

    That girl¡¯s acting was as real as it gets. Even the way she cried made her seem more attractive, which was absolute proof that she had been well-trained in this art.

    "Hmph." Yao Jiamu had spent too much of his time in the criminal underworld that he started exuding a foreboding air around him. He seemed mature but at the same time, threatening. That, paired with his low, husky voice boosted his sex appeal to women around him.

    The girl stared at him dumbfoundedly. She couldn¡¯t believe how much he had changed since the first time they met. He no longer contained the youthful spirit that she was desperately searching for. She used to fear provoking Master Wang but she would always act more boldly around Yao Jiamu. Because, no matter how angered he was, he would not resort to killing her, would he?

    "Boss, is there anything that we can help you with?" A group of men jumped down from the back of a truck that was parked on the opposite side of the road. Stripped to the waist, these men were covered in tattoos of the same, green dragon. Every one of them seemed like they were ready to kill, or at least from her point of view.

    Boss? She knew that it was a term typically used by the triads but who were they calling boss? Apart from her and Yao Jiamu, the alleyway was pretty much deserted. Suddenly, the truth dawned on her. Wearing an expression of disbelief, she turned toward Yao Jiamu.

    Yao Jiamu got up and looked over to his men, ignoring the girl that stood just a few feet away from him.

    "It¡¯s nothing. Let¡¯s go."

    And so, menacingly, Yao Jiamu walked down the alleyway with his men following behind him. The girl was frozen in ce for roughly two seconds before grabbing her bag and trailing behind the moving mass.

    Gu Xiqiao located Yao Jiamu only after a few steps into the alleyway. Following tightly behind him was arge team of big, burly men.

    "Yao Jiamu, are you filming a drama or something?"

    "You are brave to dare disrespect our second inmand!"

    No matter how she looked at it, Gu Xuqiao found it hard to believe that Yao Jiamu managed to climb up the ranks of a gang.

    Subconsciously, Gu Xiqiao waved her hands and without physically making contact with that underling of his, the men was sent flying back by five meters.

    "Oh no, careful!" Gu Xiqiao estimated that the force she exerted most likely would have inflicted serious injuries on that man. She was standing beside a trash disposal spot and noticing a foam lying next to her feet, she sent the box flying toward the man at mach speed. Just as she had calcted, itnded right underneath her first victim, breaking his fall.

    Finally, Gu Xiqiao could sigh in relief. Forcing an innocent face, she said, "I really didn¡¯t mean to do that."

    She paused for a while before deliberately adding, "He¡¯s just too weak for me."

    Put yourself in the shoes of these men. To see one of your friends getting his ass handed to him by a sweet young girl. How humiliating it must be!

    In the previous second, these men could hear the sound of flowers blossoming when the mysterious girl stepped out in front of them. In the next second though, they almost heard the sound of said flower shattering into a million pieces. Despite her beauty, they were hesitant to even think about making a move against her after seeing what she had done to theirrade.

    "Miss Gu?" Yao Jiamu had be excited after recognizing a familiar face. "Why are you here?"

    Gu Xiqiao eyed the group in front of her.

    "To take a look."

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s underlings were shocked. So she was an acquaintance of their boss. As expected, only he could ever be friends with such a powerful person.

    "You guys head back first. I¡¯ll be staying here," Yao Jiamu barked out toward his men. His expression was threatening. Evidently, he had grown quite a bit since thest time they met. As they say, bloodshed was the fastest way to turn a boy into a man.

    "So, what¡¯s up? Why are you looking for me today?" In an instant, Yao Jiamu returned to the way he was back then.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand and instinctively, Xixinded on her finger. It gobbled up a ck pill that she held out on her other hand. Although it wasn¡¯t as effective as thest one she fed it, it was still better than nothing.

    "My new semester¡¯s starting soon, so I have to ask you about your future ns." Gu Xiqiao turned away from him. "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll see just how much you¡¯ve grown inbat."

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing her invitation. Ever since downing the pill that Gu Xiqiao had offered to him, he could feel his powers grow exponentially each day. At this point, even Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun were no match against him, what more to say of regr humans, who he could kill with just the slightest movement of his fingers.

    Okay, this might be too much of an exaggeration but it was true that Yao Jiamu¡¯s ancient martial arts had be much more powerful than before.

    Xixi circled above, observing the enthusiastic Ya Jiamu with sympathetic eyes. "Foolish child. Mdy will crush you without even giving you the chance to scream. I wish you luck. My advice is... don¡¯t get killed."

    As the two walked further away, a girl slowly peeked out from the corner. Looking at them from behind, she wore an envious look on her face. With such a person standing in her way, no wonder Yao Jiamu was so reluctant in returning his love for her.

    On one side of the training ground, Yao Jiamu took up his battle stance. On the other side stood the graceful Gu Xiqiao. Reaching out a single delicate finger and with a voice as clear as crystal, she said, "I won¡¯t be a bully this time. I¡¯ll be using one-tenth of my strength against you."

    Yao Jiamu finally understood what it was like to be in Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun¡¯s shoes...

    Gu Xiqiao was not joking when she said that she would use only a tenth of her total strength. Even so, Yao Jiamu was already pushed near his limits. A blinding white light shed past his face as he barely dodged her killer fist. Dodge her fist he did but he still failed to avoid the shockwave that resulted from her fist going over the sound limit.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    In three seconds, Yao Jiamu had been rendered almost unrecognizable from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s series of attacks. Slowly, he lifted himself off the dusty ground. His face was still calm, meaning he could and wanted to still fight on. Hisbat capability had certainly improved significantly; although he was still below Gu Xiqiao for now, it won¡¯t long before he bes on par with her.

    Even he acknowledged that what he saw today was just the tip of the iceberg. Having been defeated, Yao Jiamu solidified his will to keep on strengthening himself so that perhaps one day, he would stand toe-to-toe with Gu Xiqiao.

    After their battle ended, dust filled the air of the two-meter wide ring. Yao Jiamu¡¯s body was caked in a thickyer of gray-colored dust and unsurprisingly, Gu Xiqiao remained squeaky clean, just as she had gone into battle. To his amazement though, the air in a one meter-wide circle around her was clean, as if an invisible barrier had been erected.

    What was even more surprising was that Xixi, who had remained in the ring throughout their entire battle, was as clean as its master; its feathers were still glistening red, which attracted Yao Jiamu¡¯s attention.

    Upon catching wind that the two were about to slug it out in the ring, Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun had brought over their stools to observe the fight. They, who had been constantly shoved around by Yao Jiamu, needed to regain their confidence. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s role here was to break the idea of Yao Jiamu¡¯s invincibility as well as to exact revenge in their stead. This was especially so for Wu Hongwen, who had videotaped the entire battle as something tough at afterward.

    ***

    As the start of their new semester neared, they needed to settle a bunch of stuff. Yao Jiamu had to deal with his gang, all while overseeing how things were unfolding in the capital. As such, he needed some help himself. Impressed by his bravery on the battlefield, the leader of his gang was even prepared to offer his own ce for Yao Jiamu.

    Yao Jiamu thought about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, reminding him to stay humble. She specifically advised him to remain as the second-inmand. Upon announcing his decision, the leader of his gang was so moved by Yao Jiamu¡¯s sense of honor that he swore to protect him with his life.

    After asking for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s permission, he taught a handful of usefulbat skills to his own men. They weren¡¯t styles used by ancient warriors but instead, practical fighting techniques that, if mastered, could take down ten inexperienced fighters at once.

    Wu Hongwen on the other hand, was so overwhelmed by his own family business that he even brought over a huge file during his afternoon practice. He needed to burn the contents within this file into his brain. This was especially so as his father had recently let go of the business, meaning most of the responsibility had to be borne by his shoulders alone. This apparently stressed him out a great deal.

    Only Xiao Yun out of the trio was the most rxed. Every day, she¡¯d waste her time watching famous celebrities working out. Though, you could say that in a way, she was rather busy?

    "I¡¯ve reserved a table for us at the Flying Fairy Restaurant." Wu Hongwen said out of the blue. "Of course, I¡¯m not talking about Huxin Pavilion. That ce can only be reserved by people like Young Master Yin after all. Still, I hope you guys cane."

    "For what?" Xiao Yun shot him a nce.

    An embarrassed look suddenly surfaced on Wu Hongwen¡¯s face. Scratching his head awkwardly, he replied, "Heh heh, it¡¯s my birthday today."

    In unison, the three thought, ¡¯How did I be friends with this idiot again?¡¯

    ¡¯Aren¡¯t you supposed to announce in advance that your birthday ising up? Is that not what people usually do? To notify your friends in advance?¡¯

    Such an abrupt announcement ced the trio in an incredibly awkward situation.

    "Guys, stop acting like that. You know I never celebrated my birthdays in the past." The only reason that was the case was because his asshat of a dad never seemed to be able to remember his actual birthdate. In fact, he had just learned that today was his real birthday yesterday.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him as she received the document file, which she immediately flipped open to scan through.

    Wu Hongwen scratched his head at her actions. "Er Qiao, what are you doing?"

    She was flipping through the pages so fast that no person could possibly read it. Was she just counting the pages or something?

    "Sounds like it¡¯s a rare asion, celebrating your birthday. Here¡¯s your present." Gu Xiqiao nced up at him before snatching away a pen from his hand. Then, she scribbled, crossed out, and even sketched on the pages in Wu Hongwen¡¯s dummy thick file.

    If an employee of Nine Heavens Corporation was present, he or she¡¯d definitely be awestruck. Oh, their boss is up to something new and ground-breaking again.

    Within just a few minutes, she had absorbed the sea of information like a colossal sponge. After she was finished with her editing, she ced the file back into Wu Hongwen¡¯s hands. "Let¡¯s just say, you should get a couple of new, morepetent workers in yourpany. Out of this entire stack, only a handful of proposals are passable. Seems like a lot of them are just wasting your time and money."

    With disbelief painted across his face, Wu Hongwen flipped through the pages.

    ¡¯Oh my god I think I¡¯m gonna prostrate under your feet right now! What are you? A god or something!?¡¯

    Xiao Yun and Yao Jiamu were puzzled at what was actually going on. However, seeing Wu Hongwen¡¯s defeated facial expression, they couldn¡¯t help but feel pity for him. Even on his birthday, he was unable to avoid his ego from being smashed against the floor. This truly was duh-press-ing!

    The Flying Fairy Restaurant was as tall as ever. The moment their cars rolled to a stop, the manager started shuffling over to greet their respected guests for the night. While Wu Hongwen had only reserved a regr private room for them to celebrate in, the manager, who was well-acquainted with Gu Xiqiao, specially offered them a spot in the infamously un-reservable Huxin Pavilion.

    "Somehow, I feel like I¡¯m not actually deserving of this." Wu Hongwen muttered to himself. "Er Qiao, I¡¯ll be in your care from now on."

    "You¡¯ve the guts to do that?" asked Xiao Yun nonchntly.

    "...not really." Wu Hongwen¡¯s knees buckled the moment memories of a certain someone popped up in his mind.

    Walking to the front desk, the manager bowed lightly. "Please wait here for a moment. I¡¯ll be with you after I get your que."

    These people didn¡¯t mind the wait. Happily, they sat down and started conversing with each other.

    "Didn¡¯t you guys say no pets?" Shortly after sitting down, the sharp voice of a woman came from the main entrance. Looking over, she appeared to be a middle-aged woman but perhaps because of that, she had caked on a thickyer of powder over her face. It was so thick that deep, abyss-like cracks formed near the end of her eyes where most of her wrinkles were concentrated.

    "Ma¡¯am, I¡¯m afraid that birds do not fall under our list of restricted pets." Although the front desk worker had no idea who Gu Xiqiao was, he had already taken note of how respectful the manager treated her, and so he did the same.

    The woman was not going to let them off that easily. Deliberately increasing the pitch of her voice, she yelled: "What do you mean it¡¯s not a pet? That bird of hers isn¡¯t a pet and yet my golden retriever is considered one? And here I thought that you people were professionals. It is quite obvious that I have made a mistake."

    Although most of the clients at this establishment were members of the upper ss, this was their first time dealing with such a difficult person. Even if a rule had been breached, the people here would simply turn a blind eye and more so for Gu Xiqiao in fact. This woman however, was rather ignorant in this regard.

    "Please forgive us. Our staff members will not stop you the next time you visit our establishment." The way the front-desk operator handled this matter was perfect to the T.

    "That¡¯s enough. Just go in," said the man beside that woman impatiently. He had every right to be angry after being publicly humiliated by his wife¡¯s trashy attitude.

    Something inside that woman snapped. "Fine, I know what you¡¯re thinking, Li Gui! You¡¯re getting tired of me aren¡¯t you!? Never forget that I stuck close by your side even when you were so poor that you couldn¡¯t afford to pay for a pair of trousers! Now that you¡¯re rich, you¡¯ve gone off with a younger slut haven¡¯t you!? Yes, you just want to forget about your "wretched wife" don¡¯t you!?"

    "Now you¡¯re just being unreasonable!" The middle-aged man was so frustrated that he started shaking. Without saying a word more, he stormed through the door.

    The woman had by now, forgotten all about the pet incident. No matter how infuriated she was, she still had to enter the building. If not, how else could she brag to her friends about visiting Flying Fairy?

    "Yao Jiamu? What are you doing here?" The woman was shocked upon recognizing the man sitting beside Wu Hongwen. How could such a person be a patron of this fine establishment? Didn¡¯t they say that this hotel was exclusively visited by the upper ss? Did he have a member card or something?

    Yao Jiamu silently stared at the woman, refusing to acknowledge her as his aunt. He wasn¡¯t the one to me for this though. Ever since thisdy became rich, she started to look down on the poor, even her own rtives. Back then, when Luo Wen was desperately in need of money to pay for his chemotherapy, his attempts to borrow some money from her only earned him a scornful look from her beady eyes. She was merciless, and despite having more than enough money for herself, she started to ignore him. Though, it was because of his resulting decision to start stealing that he was able to meet Gu Xiqiao.

    Now, it was time for her to get a taste of her own medicine.

    "I¡¯m sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Gu." The manager hurried over and bowed apologetically. "I¡¯ll bring you guys there."

    Despite her ignorance, Yao Jiamu¡¯s aunt could tell that the manager was an important man in this establishment. Of course, the manager himself had nothing to do with her. She knew him because of how Li Gui, her husband would treat this manager respectfully every time they came here. Her eyes twitched when she saw the manager lead her nephew and his friends to Huxin Pavilion. She stood there in silence, thinking about Li Gui¡¯s attitude from before. If Yao Jiamu had indeed struck gold, with his help, would Li Gui treat her just a little better? The more she thought about it, the more she leaned toward the answer, "yes".

    And so, when Gu Xiqiao andpany finally left the building, the woman was still standing outside the entrance, quite obviously waiting for them. Li Gui¡¯s face had be stiff all because of his wife¡¯s foolish antics. "You better be careful from now on! What are you doing out here!? How can you leave my boss behind like that!? I¡¯m telling you, you¡¯re not gonna live to see another day if the boss gets offended!"

    "Boss?" His wife was not fazed. After all, that manager treated Yao Jiamu and his friends way more courteously than he did toward the "boss" that her husband revered.

    "Why you!" Li Gui was royally pissed. Deep down, resentment toward his wife had finally taken root. What he felt more than rage though, was regret. He regretted taking in this uncultured swine of a woman as his wife. It was truly the biggest mistake he had evermitted in his life.

    Aunt Yao couldn¡¯t care less about her husband¡¯s feelings. Her eyes were locked onto the doorway; no matter what, she could not let Yao Jiamu slip away like that. Her nephew definitely did not disappoint her, yet. In the next moment, just like before, the manager apanied them out of the building with the friendly smile that neither she nor her husband had ever seen before.

    Before she was able to step forward though, the man whom her husband kept calling "boss" darted forwards.

    "Mister Yao, and oh, aren¡¯t you Young Master Wu? Wait and... this... you¡¯re Miss Gu!"

    While the "boss" definitely acted his part in front of Li Gui, the same could not be said when it came to this group of youngsters. The man he focused the most on however, was none other than Yao Jiamu, the rookie. Thest procurement of his could not have materialized if not for this young man¡¯s help. In Li Gui¡¯s boss¡¯ opinion, this young man was a hustler who had a lot of potential. In fact, he was not all too surprised when he learned that Yao Jiamu was now the second most important person managing N City¡¯s criminal underworld.

    Thus, it was important to forge a solid bond with this man. Who knows? Maybe there woulde a time when his help was much needed.

    He did not expect to see Yao Jiamu standing alongside a member of the Wu family, who had by now, legitimized most of their business. Lastly, there was N City¡¯s most fearsome youngdy, Gu Xiqiao.

    Instantly, he thought back to the banquet where a young aristocrat decided to challenge Gu Xiqiao. Shortly after that, a fire broke out and literally burned down the entire event. From then on, said aristocrat was permanently barred from entering any upper-ss banquets.

    Seeing how the "boss" was currently acting, Aunt Yao was intrigued. With a beaming smile, she stepped forward.

    "Why isn¡¯t it my nephew? Say, do you still recognize me?"

    This poor rtive of hers begged to see her back then didn¡¯t he? Now, she had graciously decided to give him a chance to meet her, so he should be fairly moved, no?

    Yao Jiamu continued speaking to the boss. He did drink quite a bit tonight but he could hold his alcohol well. Still, he was slightly tipsy. Peering at his aunt, he asked coldly, "Who are you?"

    People who are so heavily affiliated with the criminal underworld aren¡¯t typically known for their good temper. His aunt however, was as ignorant as ever. In her eyes, he was still the same worm that squirmed helplessly in poverty. "Alright ya little sonuvab*tch! Screwin¡¯ yer dad over just ain¡¯t enough for ya is it? Now yer gunna ignore me too!?"

    Beneath her thick makeup, Aunt Yao was your stereotypical vige woman who cursed as much as she breathed. Everything that flowed out of her mouth sounded uncouth and downright dirty. It was at this moment that Li Gui made the call to find someone else who was more suited for him. It didn¡¯t help that his boss¡¯ facial expression had changed into one of horror.

    "Shut your mouth, woman!" he howled.

    "But I..." Before Aunt Yao could make up an excuse for herself, something red swooped in from above and started pecking on her scalp. She started yelling in pain and ran around, trying to hide from her unknown assant. In the blink of an eye, her hair had been turned into a new-age birdnest.

    Xixi looked at its own impressive artwork. This was revenge for calling it a pet!

    Aunt Yao was red-eyed. Try as she might but she simply could not get a hold of Xixi.

    "I¡¯m gonna rip yer bloody skin off!"

    Gu Xiqiao reached out her arm, on which Xixi happilynded. Slowly lifting her head, she looked straight into the woman¡¯s eyes. "I¡¯m terribly sorry. My Xixi has been quite a naughty fellow."

    "Ah! Don¡¯t worry about that!" The boss tried to defuse the situation. "Miss Gu, you should leave now. I know you¡¯re a very busy girl."

    "Mhmm." Gu Xiqiao nodded slightly to bid her farewell before leaving with her friends.

    After they had left, the boss gestured for Li Gui to let go of Aunt Yao.

    "If the both of you are hoping to die early, don¡¯t get me involved too. Do you have any idea who those people are? Yao Jiamu is a big man in the underworld. His hands are stained with blood I tell you! Offend him and you¡¯ll be sleeping with the fishes by the end of the night! I don¡¯t even need to talk about Miss Gu. How dare you threaten to kill that bird of hers!? You could add both of your assets up and you¡¯d still be worth less than a feather from that bird. Li Gui, we¡¯ve been working together for so many years now. I¡¯ve told you time and time again, if we are to continue our cooperation, you better make up with that nephew of yours soon. He seems to be an acquaintance of Miss Gu¡¯s. Don¡¯t you dare ignore this matter! Just taking into ount of Miss Gu alone, I can guarantee that there are countless men offering their service to finish you two should she feel pissed off by your foolish act!"

    In the end, right before he left, Li Gui¡¯s boss turned around.

    "I really don¡¯t understand what you two are thinking. That young man¡¯s an extremely precious asset but for some reason, you two just can¡¯t get a hold of him can you?"

    Li Gui loosened his grip on Aunt Yao, who by now, had finally realized how seriously she had screwed up.

    "Stop wasting your time! Go look for that brother of yours!" he yelled.

    ***

    Peace returned to Flying Fairy as the middle-aged couple left. It was then that another group of people approached the entrance. As she walked, Li Li kept peering in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. That girl seemed familiar to her but she just couldn¡¯t remember who she was.

    "What are you looking at Li Li?" asked the dean of N City¡¯s Academy of Fine Arts. "I wonder what¡¯s going on with that head of yours. If you really like daydreaming that much, why not try to recall that person who gave you that painting?"

    "I tried. But it¡¯s kinda weird. Every time I try thinking about her face, my mind just goes nk." Li Li started to feel a little frustrated.

    The dean sighed disappointedly. "Fine, it¡¯s alright if you can¡¯t recall her face. For now, promise me you¡¯ll try your best to amodate Mr. Mu." Ever since Mu Yunfan¡¯s arrival at N City, his academy has seen a sudden surge in poprity. However, guilt started taking hold of the dean as Mu Yunfan still could not find the person who he came here to search for.

    Looking in front of her, Li Li asked, "Dad, why do I have a feeling that Mr. Mu¡¯s unhappy?"

    Mu Yunfan, who walked in front of the father-daughter duo had his brows tightly knitted together.

    ¡¯Why do I bump into this girl everywhere I go? And why is it that every time we meet, she¡¯d always be in the middle of bullying some poor soul?¡¯

    In the spur of the moment, the man decided not to enter the building.

    "Let¡¯s go back!"

    The group trailing behind him was all taken aback.

    ¡¯What happened?¡¯

    Still, some of them had already grown used to his ever-changing mood.

    If only Mu Yunfan knew about the truth of the matter, maybe he¡¯d start believing in fate.

    For them to bump into each other on four consecutive asions, how could that not be called fate? It was apparent that God had decided to pull his leg.

    He now understood what it meant to share so much fate and yet at the same time, share so little of it with someone else.

    "You didn¡¯t tell us about your birthday beforehand so I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t get you a present. Remember that little thing from before? Here, you can keep it as a gift from me," said Gu Xiqiao as she pulled out a piece of jade from its case. She then transferred some of her own energy into the stone, making it an enchanted item that could generate energy by itself.

    The moment Wu Hongwen made contact with the jade, warmth rose up within his body. Power flowed through his veins and at that moment, he felt confident that he could bring down ten raging bulls at once.

    ***

    Meanwhile, at Nine Heavens¡¯ Main Tower.

    As Yu Ning reluctantly left his belovedboratory, he dialed the number that Gu Xiqiao had sent him. As soon as that person realized he was speaking to an actual hacker, he gave him the name of a weird sounding ce. Yu Ning, feeling that something was off, decided to boot up hisputer and look this ce up.

    After scouring through the inte, the facial expression that he wore changed. ¡¯Interesting¡¯, he thought. This ce seemed like a national base but the firewall they¡¯ve put up was way tooplex for him to infiltrate and confirm.

    Thus, Yu Ning drove over to said location. Upon arrival, he was led further into the camp by a soldier who had ps pinned on each side of his shoulder. Along the way, he observed just how tightly guarded this area was. Even a fly would find it hard to prate into this base.

    "So this is the hacker that Qiao Qiao rmended?" Yin Shaoyuan asked as he walked around Yu Ning. "He looks way too young doesn¡¯t he? Do you think he¡¯ll work?"

    Yu Ning responded with a sharp nce. "Would you care to find out?"

    "Holy hell!" Yin Shaoyuan exploded with rage. He didn¡¯t care that Gu Xiqiao had the back of this young man. "You looking for a fight, punk!?"

    "That¡¯s enough." A low voice sounded from behind an office desk. Yu Ning looked over at the source of the voice. In an instant, a look of disgust surfaced on Yu Ning¡¯s face.

    Why, if it isn¡¯t the man who had set up the code which Yu Ning wasted three days¡¯ time breaking only to find that it contained nothing but worthless oracle scripts!

    Jiang Shuxuan put down his book. "You should head over to observe the situation first."

    Yu Ning eyed the book that he was holding. As he had expected, he was reading a book about oracle scripts!

    He started feeling nauseous.

    Following behind Jiang Shuxuan, what originally sounded like a two-minute stroll turned out to be a long walk through a hall, then an elevator ride to the lowest floor, where a massive underground opening, evenrger than the base camp above ground was found.

    After turning at least seven or eight corners, they finally arrived at aboratory. Jiang Shuxuan tapped his own ID card on the reader before a great white door rolled open.

    A discussion was being held by the few that remained in theboratory as they walked in. Seeing Jiang Shuxuan here, they rose from their seats and began reporting on their progress.

    Jiang Shuxuan gestured for them to pause in order to introduce to them Yu Ning.

    "This person here will be working with you for the next few days."

    "Hold up. What do you mean next few days? You should know that I¡¯m a busy person. At the very least, you gotta tell me what I¡¯m going to work with man." Yu Ning¡¯s brows furrowed. This means that he wouldn¡¯t be able to return to his lovely Nine Heavensboratory for the next few days. He started thinking if he should bargain for more pathways to break the source code from Gu Xiqiao.

    "Your job is to decipher the molecr form for calcting this virus¡¯ development phases." Jiang Shuxuan said as he pointed toward aputer. On its screen was an illustration of the protein structure.

    Yu Ning narrowed his eyes. He counted with his own fingers for a moment before finally opening his mouth. "I¡¯ll give it to you tomorrow morning."

    "Tomorrow morning?" Theb personnel were awe struck. They had been ving away for the past three months and had onlypleted one-one hundredth of the total calctions that needed to be made. And yet, this man here promised toplete the entire calction by tomorrow morning?

    Maybe the entire world has gone mad now.

    Yu Ning eyed their shocked expressions. He didn¡¯t feel the need to exin himself. Maybe that was why the world of prodigies was such a lonely one~

    Plopping down in front of theputer, he entered the hacker¡¯s forum. There, he logged into his own ount where all the tools of his trade were found. It wasn¡¯t long before his fingers started tapping away on the keyboard.

    Theb workers couldn¡¯t stop themselves from looking over Yu Ning¡¯s shoulders. In the next moment, they were stunned by what they saw. While they were miles below Yu Ning, they were still considered veterans in the world of hackers. Naturally, that meant that they were familiar with the name, "God Lo". The earliest news about this man went way back to when he livestreamed what was going in a secret American military base. After that, America dered him to be a global threat and announced that interpol would be after his ass. In the end, nothing was ever heard about this "God Lo" hacker again.

    So this man was "God Lo"? How could it be?! To think that they even doubted his abilities when they first saw hime into theirboratory!

    Every realm had its own god, including the realm of hackers; you could ask everypetent hacker and they¡¯d all say that they¡¯ve used at least one of the hacker tools "God Lo" had uploaded onto the forum.

    Theb personnel all had their eyes glued onto Yu Ning¡¯sputer screen. Based on the digits, the rate of calctions beingpleted was rising at an exponential rate.

    "So you really managed to walk the talk?"

    Even Yin Shaoyuan was impressed.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked up the hacker¡¯s forum. The more he read, the wider the smile that appeared on his face. She truly had brought him a god. The man he had been searching high and low for was somehow under her control the entire time. He was right about one thing. Being by her side really meant a daily dose of surprises.

    Yu Ning continued bumping up his calctions as if his life had depended on it. As Gu Xiqiao had said, if he wanted the two source codes, he would have toplete this job first.

    God Lo was really a god. Their progress had risen to 20% only after a mere two hours.

    "How the hell are you pulling these calctions off? Yo, what the heck, this is straight out alien man!" Someone beside him eximed.

    Yu Ning shot him a nce. "It¡¯s all thanks to my boss¡¯ special ingredient. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do this without her help."

    "What! So you¡¯re telling me that your boss is better at this than you!?" These men were shaken to the core. Their worldview had changed so much over the course of a single night.

    "Of course! If that¡¯s not the case then tell me, how would she be able toe up with this plug-in?" This plug-in was the perfectzy man¡¯s tool. Its creation goes back to one random day when Gu Xiqiao was feeling toozy to read through a mountain of documents on her desk, so she whipped up a new plug-in on the second day to help her continue herziness streak. No one would¡¯ve imagined that it would one day, end up benefiting the whole of humanity.

    At five in the morning, the progress bar had finally reached a hundred percent. Yu Ning snapped a picture of it before immediately taking off to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ce. Before exiting the base, he turned to ask his final question, "Can I ask something that is presumably confidential?"

    "Go on." Jiang Shuxuan had already left and only Yin Shaoyuan remained there.

    "Who¡¯s the one responsible for setting up the firewall for this base?" He had been attempting to breach this firewall but to his surprise, it was near imprable.

    Yin Shaoyuan, believing that Yu Ning had indeedpleted his job, decided to let him in on the secret.

    "Your boss."

    ¡¯Jesus Christ, I never thought that she¡¯d be such a freak!¡¯

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao, who was already up for her routine morning jog, sneezed. She turned toward Jiang Shuxuan who was standing nearby. "Brother Jiang, you gotta believe me! This isn¡¯t some cold or anything. Someone¡¯s bad-mouthing me behind my back!"

    ¡¯Why are you already trying to exin yourself when I haven¡¯t even spoken a word?¡¯

    After she was done with her run, she went off to meet Mu Jiatong. She wasn¡¯t too worried about her operation; the bigger part of the reason for going there was to meet Luo Weng. She was leaving for the capital the day after so preparations must be done beforehand.

    After all, Luo Weng¡¯s enemies, the Chen family, was mainly based in the capital. She must notify him of her departure in case of any problems that might arise in the unpredictable future.

    ***

    Imperial Capital.

    Cheng Feng listened to their butler¡¯s report. Finally, a smile broke across her gloomy face. "So Luo Weng¡¯sing to the capital? Is heing here to study?"

    The butler went silent for a moment. "ording to our informant, that is correct."

    "Very well." Chen Feng¡¯s fingernails were stained with an exceptionally red nail polish that glimmered under the ceiling lights. Looking out the window, she started a monologue.

    "Heaven¡¯s got a path and yet you choose to avoid it. Now you¡¯re just heading straight down the highway to hell."

    Ever since she was warned off by the Jiang family when she decided to teach Luo Weng a lesson, most of her authority had been unanimously reduced by her own family members. From a president, she turned into a freeter[1] whozed around at home all day long. The news that her friends got gradually grew more and more detached to her own matters.

    Finally, those who she couldn¡¯t care less about back then now had the chance to look down on her. She, of course, could not tolerate being the butt of their jokes so she simply stayed at home. Just like that, an entire month hade to pass without her stepping out of her house.

    From a dignified heir of the Chen family, she was reduced to a good-for-nothing NEET. All this because of a certain someone!

    "Why are you running, Luo Jiajun!?" She flung an empty ss at the man¡¯s feet, shattering it into a thousand pieces. "Aren¡¯t you supposed to be happy that your son¡¯s finallying to see you?"

    Luo Jiajun¡¯s brows furrowed. "Feng¡¯er, you know that I don¡¯t care about that boy. Right now, all I care about is you guys and my daughter."

    "Don¡¯t call me that!" Chen Feng shot up from her seat. She shot him a cold re. "Listen up! Luo Weng¡¯s gonnae to the capital the day after tomorrow. If I find out that you two met up in secret, you¡¯re gonna be as good as dead!"

    She was about to storm up the stairway when she turned back. "I hope you remember your words. When hees, I will teach him a lesson he¡¯d never forget. Don¡¯t you dare intervene old man!"

    Luo Jiajun stood there in silence. Luo Weng. It¡¯s been 15 years since hest saw his own son. Not much emotion was felt whenever his name was said. However, the Chens were unable to produce a male heir ever since he entered their family. Knowing how precious a son was, Luo Jiajun did not hope to lose his only son because of Chen Feng¡¯s envy!

    Luo Jiajun headed upstairs to his room and took out all the cash that he had with him. He must look for Luo Weng. Then, he must warn him abouting to the Imperial Capital. This money should be able to pay for the rest of his life!

    [1] Japanese expression for people whock full-time employment or are unemployed, excluding housewives and students

    Please go to https:///Rebirth-of-an-Idle-Noblewoman/ to read thetest chapters for free

 Chapter 123 To The Capital!

    <h4>Chapter 123 To The Capital!</h4>

    "Going to the hospital?" asked Jiang Shuxuan while retrieving his car keys after having breakfast.

    Gu Xiqiao swallowed the mouthful of eggs she was chewing.

    "Yeah, wait for a sec. I¡¯d like to hitch a ride."

    Before leaving, she climbed upstairs to get the notes which she had prepared for Li Yanmei.

    "You¡¯re a pretty busy woman aren¡¯t you?" asked Jiang Shuxuan with a raised brow as he drove onto the freeway.

    "I gotta make sure that everything here¡¯s dealt with. I mean, I am leaving for the capital soon you know?" Still, it did feel to her like everything was happening all at once. Mu Jiatong and Luo Wenlin¡¯s surgery, Nine Heaves¡¯ n to expand into Imperial Capital¡¯s market, the merger and acquisition of the Gu family¡¯s assets, andst but not least, her going off to university at the capital...

    Jiang Shuxuan too, had been rtively busy as ofte. Handing over of the base wasrgely Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s responsibility but apart from the remaining tasks, he had taken up all the missions posted on the forum which no one dared to ept for the past two months.

    "Alright, we¡¯re here. You can just leave me here." Gu Xiqiao exited the car at the main entrance of the hospital. She didn¡¯t forget to wave Jiang Shuxuan goodbye. "Oh right, before I forget, remember to be careful on the road. I heard that the number of road idents in N City has actually increased recently."

    Although it sounded like she was concerned about his safety, Jiang Shuxuan felt something off about her reminder.

    Something weird was certainly going on with their city recently. In the short amount of time Gu Xiqiao spent standing in front of the hospital entrance, there were already a handful of ring ambnces that sped straight into the hospital. Even more surprising was that nearly all the people lying on the stretchers were covered in blood from head to toe.

    Something¡¯s definitely going on, thought Gu Xiqiao as she nervously dug her nails into the flesh of her palm. She stood there at the entrance for quite a while before proceeding upstairs where Mu Jiatong¡¯s ward was located.

    Unlike Luo Wenlin, Mu Jiatong was not sent straight to the ICU after the surgery. Even the doctor was surprised by her recovery progress, saying that this was a miracle in the world of medicine. During yesterday¡¯s operation, they witnessed Mu Jiatong¡¯s white blood cell count reduce dramatically. They initially thought she could not be saved, even by the best doctor in the world. Still, this brave little girl clung stubbornly to her life and her surgery could not have ended more smoothly.

    Mu Zong¡¯s eyes were red and swollen. He had struggled for so long against the idea that he would lose his daughter sooner orter. To think that fate would stand on his side for once. It was all thanks to Gu Xiqiao. For some reason, luck seemed to favor him right after he had met this young woman.

    "Thank goodness she¡¯s alright," said Gu Xiqiao with a smile. "Uncle Mu, you should be happier about this."

    "That¡¯s right. I really am though." Mu Zongughed to himself. How could he not? His career had finally taken a turn for the better and so did the health of his previous daughter.

    If Mu Jiatong¡¯s recovery progress continued at its current rate, she would be discharged in less than seven days. Mu Zong, whose shoulders had finally been freed of an overbearing weight, picked up the document which Gu Xiqiao had given him. It was time to pay Gu Enterprise a visit. The mere thought of it made him incredibly excited.

    Flipping open the first page, it appeared to contain the Gu Enterprise¡¯s current financial situation. That book funds, level of liquidity, as well as solvency... quite obviously confidential data. The second page was recorded activities, which included proof of smuggling and bribery. The third page listed down the weak points of Gu Enterprise for him to take note of. Lastly, the fourth page contained details of the merger and acquisition n¡¯s initial phase.

    All in all, it appeared to be a wless n, with provisions for every kind of situation they might end up in. Though, there wasn¡¯t a solid solution for most of these circumstances. ¡¯Gu Xiqiao must¡¯ve deliberately left this part nk,¡¯ thought Mu Zong. Perhaps it was a test to gauge how much he had learned from Gu Xiqiao after working under her for such a considerable period.

    Mu Zong knew just how forgiving Gu Xiqiao was; in the off chance that this n blew up in his face, he was confident that she would step in and bail him out. Still, he couldn¡¯t disappoint her like this. In any case, he vowed to put all his effort into his job, so as to prove to Gu Xiqiao and more importantly, himself, that he was a capable man.

    To be frank, the pressure was already surmounting with Luo Weng¡¯s presence in thepany. What more to say of Yu Ning, who was a world-ss talent through and through. Yes, that¡¯s the word. Only the word "talent" could fit them so well. Inparison to the two, Mu Zong felt that he was way too ordinary, in the sense that you could lose him straight after throwing him into a crowd. This however, only motivated him to work harder.

    Aftering up with a handful of hacker friends of his, Yu Ning had been making incredible progress in their virtual world project. Luo Weng, after dealing with his brother¡¯s issue, was also in the middle of drawing up his grand n of expanding their business into the Imperial Capital. Only he had nothing to work towards. There was a growing gap between them, he felt. If he did not strive forwards, he was sure that he wouldg far, far behind them in ten years¡¯ time.

    "Big Sister, hear me out." Seeing that her daddy was so upied with reading the document Gu Xiqiao had handed him, Mu Jiatong sat up from her bed and whispered into her ears. "After eating the candy you gave me yesterday, I feel really warm inside."

    Gu Xiqiao was gently caressing Mu Jiatong¡¯s head. With an equally gentle voice, she replied, "That¡¯s because Tong Tong¡¯s full of courage."

    "Mhmm!" Mu Jiatong nodded enthusiastically. "I wonder if I¡¯ll be as cool as you when I grow up, Sister!"

    "Of course!" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes glowed when she smiled so brightly.

    Mu Jiatong had her tiny little breath taken away by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s beauty. At that moment, she remembered a line she heard from a romance drama.

    "Sister Gu, promise me you¡¯ll wait for me."

    "...what?" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile became awkwardly stiff.

    ¡¯Hold up, something about this doesn¡¯t feel right.¡¯

    "I mean, you¡¯re so pretty. Of course I¡¯m gonna marry you when I grow up. Imagine how much respect I¡¯d get when I bring you out on a date." Mu Jiatong¡¯s face was dead serious when she said this.

    ¡¯She must¡¯ve watched the wrong film or something, right? What the hell has Mu Jiatong been watching on TV for the past few days?¡¯

    "See yater, Tong Tong." It was time to leave. Upon bidding farewell to Mu Zong and his daughter, Gu Xiqiao left their room.

    With a pair of innocent eyes, Mu Jiatong peered up at her father. "Daddy, why¡¯s Sister Gu leaving so early?"

    "Daddy¡¯s not at thepany, so that means Sister Gu has to handle more jobs than usual."

    What Mu Zong actually thought was, ¡¯It¡¯s because of your frightening words, no?¡¯

    Remembering what she said earlier, Mu Zong asked his daughter, "Tong Tong, tell Daddy what you have been watching these days."

    "The Tyrannical Boss Has Fallen In Love With Me!" she replied.

    ¡¯It¡¯s gone. My innocent little daughter is gone! Herees her chuuni [1]phase!¡¯ Mu Zong thought to himself.

    ***

    Tucking Li Yanmei¡¯s notes into her bag, Gu Xiqiao turned around upon closing the door to Tong Tong¡¯s room. In an instant, Xixi appeared on her shoulder. Good thing it was able to control the energy within itself now, and was not consistently chatting her ears off.

    Walking out the front entrance of the hospital, the familiar petite figure entered her vision. Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes to get a better view of the girl. Upon recognizing her weak-ass face, she felt a bit nauseous about bumping into her so early in the morning.

    Miko¡¯s feet stopped moving as she looked over to the girl that stood near the hospital entrance. She was wearing a light blue dress decorated with floral patterns. Her skin was delicate, like porcin and her face, bright. That woman peered back at her with a pair of expressionless, almost tranquil eyes.

    Miko shuddered upon seeing the look in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. Remembering the painful experience she was put through by that woman, a look of fear slowly took over her face.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Mu Yunfan asked upon seeing Miko stop so abruptly.

    It was a few days ago that this girl fell in front of the car that he was driving. Although it didn¡¯t seem like he was at fault, Mu Yunfan had to send her to the hospital upon seeing the condition she was in. Despite her bodily functions being in a state of decline, the doctor was unable to diagnose anything specifically wrong with her, hence no actual medicine could be prescribed. Still, he remembered the doctor saying that she might have experienced pain greater than ordinary humans ever go through in their lifetime.

    Mu Yunfan, who was about to leave after sending her here stopped in his tracks after hearing the doctor¡¯s words. Something about her being in pain appealed to him. In the few days he spent with her, Miko¡¯s personality totally changed the way he thought about Japanese people as a whole.

    Although he didn¡¯t particrly like her, he didn¡¯t despise her either. From what Miko said, he was fairly sure that she was a victim.

    Noticing the fear in her eyes, Mu Yunfan followed the direction she was looking at. Then, his expression changed the moment he recognized the person she was looking at, who, presumably was the one responsible for the unexinable pain she was experiencing at the moment.

    ¡¯Her again!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao looked away upon seeing the both of them. Wow. The people she hated most were now working together. She better look away, or she¡¯d risk having her mood destroyed for the rest of the day.

    What a coincidence. She bumped into Shen Nianzi, who had alsoe to the hospital. Taking the opportunity to cleanse her eyes, Gu Xiqiao chatted with her for a while before leaving. As for the duo who stared at her the whole time, who cares?

    "You seem pretty familiar with her," Mu Yunfan said to Shen Nianzi in a respectful tone.

    This shocked Shen Nianzi. The man in front of her was well known for his arrogance. She rarely saw him in the time she spent in Nanjing. Even the academy dean found it hard to schedule a meeting with him. And yet, this was the second time he had initiated a conversation with her. Though, Gu Xiqiao was mentioned in both the times they exchanged words.

    "I am friends with Miss Gu. She¡¯s a pretty friendly person, I think." Shen Nianzi had been helped countless times by Gu Xiqiao. From what Luo Weng told her, she had also done a lot for his brother, Luo Wenlin. So, her character¡¯s pretty respectable, at least from her point of view. As for their rtionship, they should be close acquaintances at worst, right?

    Luo Weng was, to her knowledge, friends with Gu Xiqiao and she was friends with Luo Weng. To her, a friend of a friend can be called "her friend" too.

    Mu Yunfan¡¯s gaze turned cold upon processing Shen Nianzi¡¯s words. He had a pretty good impression on the woman though. Given a few years¡¯ time and a good teacher, he was sure that she could make it as a world-ss master painter.

    Friends? More like animals of the same species. His eyes had now turned hostile. "Friends? How close are you two actually? Are you so close that you would give up the chance to get into an international art academy just to remain her friend?"

    International art academy? Shen Nianzi was surprised. This was pretty much the end goal of every aspiring artist. Though...

    "Sir, perhaps a misunderstanding has arisen between you and Miss Gu?"

    "Tell me, did you choose this friend over the chance of entering an international art academy?" Mu Yunfan¡¯s expression softened but his eyes remained fixated on Shen Nianzi. Unbeknownst to her, he was deeply impressed by Shen Nianzi¡¯s attitude.

    Shen Nianzi¡¯s face turned serious in an instant. She knew that Mu Yunfan had always been on the prowl for For A Millenium but she¡¯d always escape his grip at thest moment. Naturally, this earned her his contempt. What would happen if he were to find out that Gu Xiqiao was this For A Millenium? Would he regret doing what he did?

    "Mr. Mu, I think you¡¯ve really misunderstood Miss Gu¡¯s intentions. If you don¡¯t clear things up with her, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯d regret not doing so in the future."

    "I¡¯ll have you know that I have never regretted my decisions," said Mu Yunfan while staring straight into Shen Nianzi¡¯s eyes. "How about you tell me why exactly I would regret this?"

    Communication with this man was seemingly impossible. Although Shen Nianzi had always admired Sima Jun and his protege, Mu Yunfan who had reached the international stage all on his own, she felt put off by his current attitude. Gu Xiqiao was also a person who had earned her respect. Seeing the two of her "idols" sh naturally made her feel conflicted.

    "I..." Shen Nianzi struggled to speak. She just wanted to yell out, "Gu Xiqiao¡¯s that painter you¡¯ve been searching high and low for!"

    Mu Yunfan waved her goodbye before she could start speaking. "I¡¯m leaving to participate in the Biennale in the America. I hope to hear more news about this For A Millenium from you the next time we meet."

    Mu Yunfan left before she could break the truth to him. Frozen in spot, she stared at the two as they disappeared into the distance. Then, she stomped angrily on the ground.

    "Don¡¯te looking for me when regret finally hits!"

    And so, there was one less name in her list of admired people.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had no idea about their interaction. Even if she knew, her only reaction would be a cunning smirk. Mu Yunfan? Maybe in her next life!

    It was conveniently break time when she reached First City High. Remembering Li Yanmei¡¯s warning, she did not barge right into the school. Instead, she stood outside the school gate after calling Li Yanmei up.

    "I can¡¯t believe you managed to prepare this so quickly Xiao Gu." Li Yanmei¡¯s eyes lit up upon seeing the top schr¡¯s secret weapon in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. Wait, no, they were only notes. Surprisingly, she had blended pretty well into her ss, which allowed her to hear even more rumors, about how Gu Xiqiao was the primary reason why the previous batch of students had obtained such godly scores on their final exam. This only ramped up her excitement at getting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s notes.

    Gu Xiqiao handed the package over to Li Yanmei. "They¡¯re all here. Oh also, I¡¯m leaving for the Imperial Capital tomorrow. From now on, if you¡¯re facing any issues, feel free to call up Uncle Mu."

    "Yep, got it."

    Li Yanmei almost toppled over upon receiving the bag containing her precious notes. She totally did not expect it to be so heavy.

    Fortunately, Gu Xiqiao was able to grab the bag before it fell onto the ground. "Careful." At that moment, Gu Xiqiao almost facepalmed. It had been only a day or two since they met and how on earth did Li Yanmei regress to such a clumsy state?

    "No, it¡¯s because I saw you holding onto it so effortlessly. I would never have thought that this would be so darn heavy!" The corner of Li Yanmei¡¯s mouth twitched. In actuality, it wasn¡¯t her that had gone clumsy. It was this bag that weighed approximately twenty full kilograms. How could a frail young woman hold onto such a thing as if it was at most, 2-3 kilograms?

    "Fine, fine, It¡¯s my fault." Gu Xiqiao chuckled. She had forgotten that Li Yanmei had never been engaged in any sort of training before. "There are two types of notes for each subject. One is for your day-to-day reading while the other contains the most essential parts of each topic. Use the former one for now and as for thetter, leave that for two months prior to the main exam. They¡¯re pretty much the same but there are some additional problems I¡¯ve created in the essential one."

    No wonder this bag was so heavy. Li Yanmei was thoroughly moved. Still, she wasn¡¯t used to saying cheesy sh*t, so she ended up saying a simple, "Thank you, Little Gu."

    "C¡¯mon, what¡¯s there to thank me for? You¡¯re my big sis after all. Quick! Get back to ss!"

    She then climbed onto a nearby cab and left after waving Li Yanmei goodbye.

    Li Yanmei would turn back for every three steps she took. Clutching the notes tightly, she sincerely felt gratitude for what Gu Xiqiao had done for her. Everything felt like a dream to her.

    ***

    Standing underneath the 67 story-tallmercial building, Gu Xiqiao peered upwards so that she could see the entire megastructure. Nine Heavens had grown sorge that it used up ten stories of this very building. If not for Luo Weng bringing with him their employees to the Imperial Capital, ten stories would obviously be not enough to house their entirepany.

    The hustling atmosphere in Nine Heavens was really heavy too. Upon stepping through the front door, the receptionist, knowing that Gu Xiqiao was a respected guest of their general manager¡¯s, let her in right away without question.

    "I¡¯m telling you, I absolutely must go to the Imperial Capital," said Yu Ning, who stared unbudgingly at Luo Weng.

    Luo Weng massaged his temples as he ced the document he was holding, down onto his desk. For some reason, his entire body felt like crap. "Weren¡¯t you against that idea in the very beginning?"

    "Well you did say the very beginning. Can¡¯t I change my mind?" The reason why he was initially against the idea of going to the Imperial Capital was because he feared the people that were typically found there. He found that that ce offered him little to no feeling of security.

    But now, the situation has changed. Thepany was going to shift its base over to the Imperial Capital. Gu Xiqiao was moving to the Imperial Capital. There was no reason for him to continue staying here.

    Gu Xiqiao moving to the Imperial Capital meant that there was the possibility that he would be starved of new softwares for a very long time. It meant that they would have no one to consult whenever ideas shed. Also, her state-of-the-artzy man¡¯s ideas would obviously be removed from their operation.

    Though, the mostpelling argument is that Gu Xiqiao must remain in their quest for creating a virtual world.

    Oh, and that virtual helmet. He was unable to go to the unveiling event for their ground-breaking product. No matter what, he vowed to be there for their next event. After all, he had led the team in producing this very helmet for theirpany.

    Luo Weng flipped through a bunch of documents. He had started out with this n under the assumption that Yu Ning was not going to the capital. It would be a hard time for them with the sudden addition of a member to their Imperial Capital team. Also, the abrupt removal of Yu Ning from N City¡¯sboratory was a huge fuss to deal with.

    "You can go there if you¡¯d like," said Gu Xiqiao as she waltzed into the room. "Didn¡¯t you say that you have a bunch of hacker friends there? If you¡¯re really set on moving there, you¡¯ll need to assign your responsibilities here by the end of today."

    "Yes boss!" yelled Yu Ning who was already outside the door. Every second mattered as handling the remaining jobs he would leave behind was a pretty difficult task. If he failed to do that, there was no way he could go to Imperial Capital tomorrow. If he missed out on this opportunity, there was no telling when the next one woulde.

    "Prepare to leave tomorrow." Gu Xiqiao spun around in the office before looking straight at Luo Weng. "Oh and before I forget, I need you to be extra careful while you¡¯re at the Imperial Capital. The Chen family has yet to get over their feud with you."

    "The Chen family?" Luo Weng raised his brow. "That father of mine. Called me up yesterday. He said he¡¯s offering fifty grand in exchange for me not going to the Imperial Capital. Said he wants me to find another ce to spend the rest of my life in."

    "...and how did you respond?" Gu Xiqiao asked anxiously.

    "Then I said, who are you?" replied Luo Weng with a triumphant look.

    Gu Xiqiao could imagine how disturbed his father felt after hearing his son utter such words in response. "Look, all I¡¯m saying is, it won¡¯t hurt you for being more cautious while you¡¯re there. You already know that the Chens have spread word about you here. No matter how crazy talented you are, no Mister Money Bags is willing to invest in your ns precisely because of that."

    Although he had not heard of the Chen family, Luo Weng had more or less deduced what was going on in the dark. The phone call from yesterday only confirmed his suspicion. Still, something about it bothered him. "If the Chens are so influential, and if I¡¯m moving to Imperial Capital, they wouldn¡¯t resort to sabotaging ourpany would they?"

    "The Chen family?" Gu Xiqiao chuckled. "Yeah sure, they¡¯re pretty powerful in N City but in the Imperial Capital? They¡¯re a bunch of nobodies! Stop being such a worrywart! Remember my words, the Chen family wille groveling at your feet for forgiveness. There¡¯s nothing about them you should fear about!"

    She would not allow anyone to bully her employees!

    Now that Nine Heavens was slowly marching towards the global stage, and that the virtual helmet has garnered the attention of their higher-ups, theirunch event in Imperial Capital would surely attract a great deal of publicity. If they could turn their littlepany into an unstoppable beast in N City, so could they in the Imperial Capital!"

    Luo Weng was a little fanatical when it came to his trust in Gu Xiqiao. Since she said there was nothing to worry about, he just took it at face value. In fact, he was looking forward to see the man who had abandoned his own family in the capital.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped through the documents lying on Luo Weng¡¯s desk. These were the proposals she had him prepare for her.

    "Pretty good projects you have here. But I need you to take note of these parts." After scanning through the entire file, she picked up a ck pen and circled certain parts which she deemed unsatisfactory. "Please make some amendments to the parts that I¡¯ve pointed out."

    "Understood" replied Luo Weng with a nod. Then, a thought popped up in his mind. "About ourpany¡¯s arbitrage portfolio. Someone from International Finance called today. They¡¯re inviting you to their financial center to give a speech. Of course, its content¡¯s gonna be about that portfolio."

    "Did you ept?" asked Gu Xiqiao with a raised brow.

    "Of course not. Just because they invited us doesn¡¯t mean we have to ept." Luo Weng furrowed his brows. He recalled how pompous the person from the financial center was when they spoke over the phone. Without double-checking from which part of the globe that person was from, he grilled the person in pure mandarin.

    "Great. So, what do you think about the lessons you¡¯re getting from your financial guru?" She had never had the chance to ask him about the financial analyst Mu Zong had invited to teach Luo Weng.

    Luo Weng, being the number freak that he was, intimidated the analyst so much after receiving just the fundamentals of finances that he ran away without even requesting for the tuition fees to be paid.

    Luo Weng¡¯s outstanding abilities was one reason for this. Though, the bigger part of the reason was because of said analyst¡¯s sheer ipetence. In fact, because of this unfruitful lesson, he had been looking forward to the sses he would attend in the Imperial Capital.

    He had been dissecting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arbitrage portfolio. Not just him, but most of the financial analysts who were working for Nine Heavens too. However, there were simply too manyplex forms, some of which he had never even seen before. The more he studied them, the more it looked like pure sorcery.

    This made Luo Weng doubt his own intelligence. Perhaps he was nothing but a stupid caveman?

    "It¡¯s alright. But I hope to learn much more when I get to the Imperial Capital." Luo Weng felt that it was best to keep hisints to himself, or he would risk hearing something from her mouth that might just shatter his pride into a thousand pieces. Having known her for quite a while now, it¡¯s not like he¡¯s unaware of how nasty Gu Xiqiao could get sometimes.

    Nine Heavens has been recruiting prodigies in every department, or people who were fairly responsible when it came to work. This meant that thepany had more or less been turned into a well-oiled machine that could function on its own. Gu Xiqiao patrolled around the workspace once before deciding to leave for home in order to pack up her things before leaving for the Imperial Capital.

    ***

    In the outskirts of N City, Jiang Shuxuan was staring up at a cyan-colored cloud formation suspended in the sky. Slowly, his thin lips curled into a smirk. An intimidating expression made itself present on his face and a secondter, both of his hands started moving. Following the motion of his fingertips, a dull white strobe moved around, forming into a bunch of strange symbols that floated in the air in front of him. The weird symbols fluctuated at a frequency that was visible to the naked eye.

    Then, its speed started increasing sharply. Not long after, a vortex was formed, which was the time when he stopped moving his hands. Jiang Shuxuan stepped back two steps.

    Thud!

    Thud!

    Two figures descended from the sky. They looked around frantically at the blinding lights surrounding them before looking over, wide-eyed at Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Master Jiang? What is the meaning of this!?" Yamamoto tried to calm himself down. He was cing all his bets on Jiang Shuxuan being unaware of that matter.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at the two. "Anyone in the field that vites the international agreement will have his meridian abolished on site!"

    "You!" Yamamoto was horrified. He couldn¡¯t understand why Jiang Shuxuan knew about this. He himself had made sure to stay as discreet as possible. "Master Jiang, I had no other choice! I can¡¯t watch my sister lose her life in a ce like this!"

    After all, unlike Gu Xiqiao who possessed an antidote herself, there was none for Miko¡¯s green mist. It was upon consulting the elders in his family did Yamamoto learn that this was a ck magic spell that had its origins rooted in China. Thus, he had toe here to deal with it once and for all!

    Still, the Chinese were ahead of the game in this art. Through a spell he had casted at an intersection, he was able to transfer his luck and health onto Miko¡¯s body. A few dayster, Miko was discharged from the hospital without furtherplications.

    "The first rule of the ancient martial arts world, whoever that attempts to harm an innocent man shall be taken down without mercy!" Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice boomed.

    Standing before the two, he remained unyielding.

    Feeling wronged, Miko stared back at him. "But Master Jiang, it was that girl who started the fight. You know this!"

    "So what?" Like a sledgehammer, his low voice mmed against her heart.

    "How can you be so heartless!" Tears were pouring out from her big, bright eyes.

    Jiang Shuxuan was not interested in talking. As soon as he raised his arm, Yamamoto started screaming in pain while all four of his limbs twitched uncontrobly.

    Miko too, started panicking. "Master Jiang, Master Jiang please spare my brother. I swear I won¡¯t do this again! My brother did this for me. If not for that girl, my brother would not have done what he did! Master Jiang, please!"

    Everything was gone. The oue could not have been further from what she had initially imagined. Back then, she thought that even the sky would be rose-colored upon meeting Jiang Shuxuan. She would smile, and then he¡¯d walk toward her...

    This was all gone. Brother had been crushed, his bodyid lifelessly on the ground. "I really, really really liked you. How could you do this to me!?"

    Only a kid would utter such nonsense. Jiang Shuxuan responded with an even colder look in his eyes. "You like me? And just because you saw a girl that I liked, you were hellbent on making her suffer?"

    Feelings aren¡¯t always reciprocal. What more to say of her feelings?

    "Your actions alone have led to your own destruction. Do not me others for that." Jiang Shuxuan waved his hand effortlessly. He didn¡¯t have such a voracious appetite so there was no way he could ever ept a second lover in his life.

    Seeing how little he was moved, Miko felt fear and regret. It seems that this was the first and thest time she would ever step on Chinese soil. He really was going all out against her! But, why did it turn out like this? She had been so infatuated with him and despite that, the only responses she ever got from him was brutal, merciless.

    If she knew what would happen today, she would not havemitted such sins against humanity. But, what has happened, has happened. Even if he were to show mercy, someone else woulde to serve justice in his stead.

    As a blinding white light shed, her figure disappeared into thin air, as if she had been nothing but a phantom.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was packing up her things. Tang Yanling had sent her lots of goodies and without second thought, she stuffed them all into her suitcase. There were only a handful of clothes in the otherpartment so her luggage was surprisingly light for someone moving to another city.

    This was her second chance to go to university. Gu Xiqiao was not as excited as thest time. In fact, she was a little bit reluctant to leave this ce.

    Xixi was perched on Haha¡¯s snout.

    "Chirp chirp!" (Haha, what¡¯s she doing? Look at her, walking here and there!)

    "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof woof woof!" (Maybe she¡¯s contemting about life.)

    "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (Ahhhhh she¡¯s looking back! Oh! She¡¯s looking at me! Looking at me!)

    "Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof!" (I don¡¯t think I need to say a word more.)

    Gu Xiqiao slowly walked over and hugged Haha tightly in her arms as she gently brushed its fur with her fingers.

    ¡¯Haha you damned slut!¡¯ thought Xixi.

    Haha smiled smugly at the bird.

    ¡¯Boy, you weren¡¯t even born when she and I were struggling through life together!¡¯ thought Haha to itself.

    Jiang Shuxuan had nothing but books in his study room. Though, when Gu Xiqiao went in to have a look yesterday, half of its shelves had already been emptied out. Next morning, they set off for the Imperial Capital. Tang Yanling insisted oning with them and since Jiang Shuxuan had no other choice, he had to allow her on board.

    Wu Hongwen too, went with them. At the front of his house, he argued with his father for what seemed like an eternity before he finally mbered onboard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car. "Rx old man, I know myself more than you do! I¡¯ll give you a call when I reach there, I promise!"

    Wu Feiyang smiled half-heartedly at his son. This was the first time in over twenty something years that his boy would leave for such a faraway ce. It would be months before the next time he returns.

    It¡¯s just that the situation at the Wu family that did not allow for him to be away from home for such an extended period of time. Ever since he took the reins of his family business, Wu Hongwen had to remain here to oversee their entire operation. Now that he was leaving, god knows what he woulde up with the next time he came back.

    Unlike Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun did not want her brother to send her off at all. Apparently, she told him, "Er Qiao¡¯s going by herself, Wu Hongwen¡¯s going by himself, so if you send me off like this, I¡¯d be embarrassed! Also, you should be more worried about that bunch at home! Aren¡¯t you afraid that Grandpa will be bullied or something!?"

    To think that the day had finallye when Xiao Yun¡¯s words made sense.

    Grandpa Xiao stood beside them, his mouth twitching.

    ¡¯You, even if you don¡¯t want your brother to send you off to school, don¡¯t use me like a tool! Ever since taking the medicine that friend of yours gave me, I feel as strong as an ox! Ain¡¯t no way someone¡¯s gonna push me around like you said!¡¯

    Xiao Sheng went silent for a moment. He looked at the extra-long limousine, thinking about reminding the driver to pay extra attention to Xiao Yun.

    Stopping by the driver¡¯s window, he soon found out that it was none other than Jiang Shuxuan behind the wheel. This man was so intimidating that he dared not look him straight in the eyes. Looking over to the backseat, Tang Yanling smiled gently at him. Forget it. No way he was gonna let that woman take care of Xiao Yun!

    The remaining two were Gu Xiqiao and Wu Hongwen. Hopeless fes, thought Xiao Sheng. He turned to speak to Xiao Yun a little more before letting her go.

    Xiao Yun sighed as soon as she got onto the car. Looking at Wu Hongwen beside her, she exined, "I almost got nagged to death by that brother of mine." She had never seen him drone on like that before!

    Wu Hongwen understood the ordeal that she had gone through. In fact, he had spent half a day being lectured continuously by his own father

    Tang Yanling chuckled at the two. "You may say this but once you arrive at the university, you¡¯ll know how great a ce home actually is."

    Speaking about home, they started thinking about it as soon as the wheels started turning. Rubbing his chin, Wu Hongwen asked, "Right, I forgot to ask you guys, what are you two studying? I¡¯m amazed that we still haven¡¯t talked about this yet!"

    "I¡¯m majoring in film and television." Xiao Yun red at him coldly. "Didn¡¯t you know about this?"

    "Fine. What about you, Er Qiao?" Wu Hongweng guessed that she was going to say economics or something simr, like business administration. Though, there is the possibility that she was going to pick art too. Though, he would soon find out that none of his guesses were even remotely close to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s answer.

    She was hunched over, ying a mobile game when she replied, "I¡¯m studying medicine."

    "What the f*ck?" Wu Hongwen was wide-eyed. "Can you repeat what you just said? You¡¯re telling me that instead of art, you¡¯re going to be a med student?!"

    Someone, who had been awarded a special prize for her painting, was going to study medicine? Perhaps holding a brush was simr to holding a scalpel? Wu Hongwen wanted to pry open Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head to see what was going on inside.

    Even ayman like him recognised just how talented she was when it came to painting. But why did she choose to study medicine instead?

    This baffled him!

    Xiao Yun on the other hand, wasn¡¯t even remotely surprised by her answer. She was confident that like painting, Gu Xiqiao would dominate the world of medicine with her superior intellect. Though, she was concerned about which university she would pick to pursue her education in medicine at.

    It would definitely be bad news if Xiao Yun was studying at B University while Gu Xiqiao was going to choose A University.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at Wu Hongwen. "C¡¯mon, why are you saying this? I¡¯m pretty good at medicine you know?"

    Tang Yanling peered at Jiang Shuxuan, who didn¡¯t seem like he was going to speak about this. Thus, she opened her mouth, "Qiao Qiao, have you really decided to take this course?"

    "Yes, and no regrets too," swore Gu Xiqiao while raising her right hand.

    ¡¯That should be fine¡¯, thought Tang Yanling. No matter what she studied, it¡¯s not like the Yin family couldn¡¯t afford it.

    "Ah right!" Another thought popped into Wu Hongwen¡¯s mind. "Er Qiao, remember the gigantic amusement park you told us about? I¡¯ve forgotten all about it now!"

    It had been so long since they talked about this. Originally, he and Xiao Yun were supposed to visit her but they totally did not expect her to return on the second day. In fact, she had sent them an email, containing an agreement which they signed without further questions. Following her instructions, they sent a ton of items to the address as specified by her.

    And then... because they were too busy, they had forgottenpletely about this.

    "That¡¯s alright, there¡¯s nothing much you two could do anyway," Gu Xiqiao replied. The truth of the matter was, they were going to start on the first of October. Much of the required preparations had already beenpleted and it was only a matter of time before Nine Heavens made an announcement on their official website.

    In unison, Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun thought to themselves, ¡¯She¡¯s looking down on us!¡¯

    On the other side, Luo Weng had departed with his men. His group appeared much stronger than Gu Xiqiao¡¯s. Together with Yu Ning and a couple of other technicians, the entire carriage was livelier than ever.

    Yu Ning was the craziest of them all. Even in the car, he was busy trying to crack codes, which in turn, has created a heated discussion. "Holy sh*t Mr. Yu, your way of cracking this code seems pretty rad!"

    "Yeah man, you make it look like it¡¯s child¡¯s y or something!"

    "Man, I¡¯m looking forward to the day when our virtual paradise finally arrives!"

    "..."

    Using the deadlybination of an eye mask and a pair of noise-canceling earbuds, Luo Wenlin was put to sleep by Luo Weng. After that was done, he began dissecting the arbitrage portfolio Gu Xiqiao had left him.

    It was a ten-hour journey from N City to the Imperial Capital. By the time they reached their destination, it was already six in the evening. It was only three days ago that someone from Nine Heavens was dispatched here to buy real estate and a building to house their main operation. The lorry was driven straight to the city center, where they stopped in front of a small opening.

    News reached the suburban vi as soon as Luo Weng stepped out from the vehicle. Chen Feng was sipping red wine when her mouth curled into a devious grin. "Oh, I can¡¯t wait to see your face Luo Weng. Don¡¯t think that I, Chen Feng, have run out of ways to make you pay, you little mongrel!"

    She picked up her phone and dialled for someone. Her mood improved greatly immediately after hanging up.

    ***

    Luo Jiajun calmly walked upstairs before he dialled Luo Weng¡¯s phone number. Immediately after the call got through, he started cursing at his son, saying how he was going to die if he did not leave the Imperial Capital right this instant.

    Gu Xiqiao took the phone out of Luo Weng¡¯s hands and spoke into the mouthpiecezily, "Mister, don¡¯t you think that you¡¯d be the one to die first?"

    Her voice was crisp and loud, but her tone was irritated. Upon hearing the voice of a woman, Luo Jiajun thought he had called the wrong person. Still, a pressuring aura emanated from the earpiece which made him choke on his own words.

    Gu Xiqiao hung up the phone before his senses returned to him. Knowing that he would continue contacting Luo Weng, she had the system change Luo Weng¡¯s phone number over to her own phone. Looking out the window, she narrowed her eyes. Thus, their expansion in the Imperial Capital would start with the Chen family!

    [1] Chuunibyou¨Ca phase in which a child either acts like a know-it-all adult and looks down on real ones, or believes they have special powers unlike others

 Chapter 124 Back To School and Military Drills

    <h4>Chapter 124 Back To School and Military Drills</h4>

    It was already 6, almost 7 pm by the time Gu Xiqiao andpany arrived in the Imperial Capital. This wasn¡¯t the hour at which you would typically go to the university for a tour; it was obviously much better to find a ce to hole up in for the night. And so, it was time for Jiang Shuxuan to flex his financial muscles.

    Even before Gu Xiqiao received her grades, he had already bought a house situated near to her university. It was a double-floor building with four bedrooms and a living room. Even its rustic interior design was tailored to fit Gu Xiqiao¡¯s taste. ced conveniently right across the street from her university, one could easily see its faculty buildings when standing near any one of the many windows.

    The first thing Tang Yanling did upon stepping foot into the house was to climb onto one of its beds. She was suffering from a serious case of motion sickness from the long car-ride, which made Gu Xiqiao feel a little guilty.

    Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yu proceeded to snatch up a room each for themselves. Though, they were so excited to see their new school that they didn¡¯t remain in their bedrooms long after setting down their luggage. Both universities, A and B, were one of the top ces to get an education throughout the whole of China. The duo had been extremely envious of those who could get into these two schools, especially Xiao Yun, who had initially lost all hope of entering a prestigious university after returning to the country. After all, her performance at school had been...ckluster.

    She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes when the results of her final exam came in. Xiao Yun stared at her results for a long, long while, before calling up Gu Xiaoqi to express her gratitude.

    "So, you two going or not?" asked Wu Hongwen at the doorway, having already changed into his sports tracksuit.

    At that moment, Gu Xiqiao waszily fiddling with her phone on the couch. Without even lifting her head, she muttered a reply, "Uh, I¡¯ll pass. You two go on ahead."

    For a person who knew everything there was to know about these two schools, she was unsurprisingly uninterested.

    Knowing that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t the enthusiastic type, neither Xiao Yun nor Wu Hongwen insisted that she go with them. After brieflyying out their stuff, they grabbed their phones and exited the building.

    Shortly after, Jiang Shuxuan walked down from the second floor. He had just taken a shower, as evidenced by the wet clumps of hair pasted onto his forehead. This man had a high nose bridge, thin lips, and a pair of slightly drooping eyes, features which made him all the more irresistible. The top button of his shirt was loose, allowing his pronounced cor bone to peek out from underneath.

    Aftering downstairs, he raised his head, staring straight into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. The wrinkles on his face gradually faded away as his expression softened up. "I need to go back to deal with something since it¡¯s my first day here. Stay here. If I don¡¯t return by tomorrow morning, you should proceed with the registration with Aunt Tang, okay?"

    "...Oh, right." It took a while for Gu Xiqiao toe up with a response. Of course, she couldn¡¯t just say that she had been enchanted by his sexiness could she?

    "Try to be more obedient will you? Someone will send dinner overter so you just remember to open the door." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face then went nk, as if he was trying to recall something, whilst snapping his fingers. At that moment, Xixi, who had been out and about right after getting out of the car, swooped in from the open window.

    "Master Jiang, how may I be of service?" With no one around, Xixi could finally let its beak loose.

    Jiang Shuxuan ordered, "I¡¯m gonna head back so I need you to watch this ce."

    Xixi understood his orders immediately. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s order actually meant for it to protect his princess from harm. This it knew but if not for the noiseints earlier on, it would not have left Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side for even one second. After all, it was only while being by the girl¡¯s side could it feel a warmth flowing through its meridian points.

    It had been only two months being with Gu Xiqiao and yet it had already sessfully leveled up once. The pill that she handed it truly worked wonders. Still, it was, in all respects, indistinguishable from the aura that the girl emitted.

    "Don¡¯t be too noisy too." Jiang Shuxuan remembered to give Xixi a final warning before leaving. He understood that bird down to the bone.

    Hearing his intimidating voice, Xixi nodded reluctantly. If someone were to ask, "Who¡¯s your most feared person in this world?" its answer would undoubtedly be Jiang Shuxuan. This man¡¯s moves were unpredictable; with the slightest movement of his fingers, it could die a million deaths. This, Xixi thought, was not worth the risk.

    Naturally, Xixi preferred the prettyss more than this heartless bastard. While Gu Xiqiao might appear to be cold and indifferent, so long as one did not annoy her too much, she was fairly friendly.

    After sitting in the car the entire day, Gu Xiqiao felt exhausted. After receiving their dinner at the door, she brought it upstairs where she finished it with Tang Yanling before heading straight to bed.

    Early morning, on the second day, it was time for students to register themselves at the university. Both Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun left to do just this. On the other hand, Gu Xiqiao slept until noon before dragging herself off the bed. Even Tang Yanling panicked at the sight of her sorry state on the first day of university.

    Dragging a luggage bag behind her, Gu Xiqiao and Tang Yanling arrived at the registration desk. Because today was already the third day of registration, there weren¡¯t too many people around so she only had to wait briefly before hearing her name called. The person handling her registration was a man who spoke gently and whose eyes were clear as crystal. He handed her a form. "Wee. I¡¯ll need you to fill in this form for me please."

    Unlike the students around her, who would immediately bend over and start filling in the nk spaces with the required information, Gu Xiqiao lifted the form up to eye level. Under natural sunlight, the bleached white piece of paper was so dazzling that even Lin Xia¡¯s eyes hurt from looking up.

    Once again, she ced the form back onto the table. Picking it up, Lin Xia shed a gentle smile at her. "So you are Gu Xiqiao. You..." He was not even halfway through his sentence when he stopped and looked up toward the person standing before him.

    As a member of the student council, he knew who this Gu Xiqiao was. Even before she arrived here, rumors about this girl had already spread like wildfire among the med students themselves. Apparently, she had obtained near full marks for every subject she had taken, which was a rare feat ever achieved, even in their entire faculty¡¯s history. The dean of the Faculty of Medicine had specifically called him up to make sure that Gu Xiqiao received a warm wee to this establishment.

    Lin Xia was almost sure that she would note, since it was already the third day. Who would¡¯ve thought that she would make her appearance at thest minute.

    He made sure to etch the image of this girl standing before him into his memory. That jade-like face of hers, her subtle expressions and that pair of soft, light eyebrows that appeared so intricate that it was like an ink painting.

    "Cough, I¡¯ll guide you through the enrollment procedure." Finally, his target has arrived. Lin Xia stood up and allowed his junior to stand in for his job.

    The people around them started gossiping as soon as the three of them left.

    "Did you see the president¡¯s face? That ain¡¯t what you call "calm"!"

    "Heh heh, seems like another nominee has arrived for Miss University!"

    "Say, you think she¡¯s in a performance troupe or something? I think I¡¯ve stared way too long at her pretty face just now."

    "Watch your mouth boy. You are right about one thing though. Even the white beauty we saw on the first day pales inparison with this one!"

    "..."

    As the enrollment procedure was fairly straightforward, and because most of the new students have already registered in the past two days, it took them no more than twenty minutes toplete the entire process.

    "Thank you, Senior Lin." Under the female dormitory building, apart from the luggage she was originally pulling with her, Gu Xiqiao now held a ten-kilogramplimentary package containing daily necessities like a nket and a thermos bottle to name a few. Despite its weight, the way she held it made it seem like an extremely light load. Effortlessly, she walked upstairs with Tang Yanling. Before she disappeared into the building though, she smiled silently at Lin Xia, which somehow made her seem less of a freshman.

    ¡¯She¡¯s pretty cool huh?¡¯ thought Lin Xia to himself. He stood there motionlessly for a while before returning to his station. It¡¯s been such a long time since someone has treated him with this attitude.

    He originally thought about leaving her his contact info but it quickly became apparent that it was impossible to create a situation that would make her talk to him naturally. Thus, he could only look down at the form which she had filled in just now.

    ***

    Each dorm in A University was shared by four students. Because Gu Xiqiao had arrivedte to the party, the only empty bed left was one situated right beside the door. That did not bother her though. Right after setting her stuff down, she, alongside Tang Yanling, began cleaning up the space.

    At the moment, she shared the unit with two other roommates. One appeared sweet, and whenever she smiled, her eyes seemed to do the same too. "Nice to meet you, my name¡¯s Xu Jing. I¡¯m your new roommate."

    Gu Xiqiao would never turn down someone else¡¯s friendly approach. She immediately ced the thing she was holding down and reached out her slender and pale hands. "Nice to meet you too, I¡¯m Gu Xiqiao."

    Her voice sounded cold but Xu Jing wasn¡¯t particrly fazed by it. Her sixth sense had already told her that Gu Xiqiao was a good person. Throughout their exchange, her eyes had been glued onto her new roommate. "You¡¯re really good-looking. Are you in the Faculty of Performing Arts?"

    Upon closer inspection, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skin was radiant and smooth, almost poreless. The shape of her face was like a peach and her cherry-like lips, moist and shiny. Her facial expression reflected her calm personality, which for some inexplicable reason, created a good impression on Xu Jing.

    "No, I¡¯m studying medicine," Gu Xiqiao kept her reply brief but her voice sounded soothing.

    Xu Jing looked at Gu Xiqiao with disbelief in her eyes. "You¡¯re a med student? No please, don¡¯t do that. You¡¯re so pretty, why waste it in something like that? You should go into entertainment and media, where people would dly kneel down and lick your boots!"

    "What about you? What are you majoring in?" Gu Xiqiao opened her mouth unexpectedly.

    Xu Jing stopped her babbling instantly. "I¡¯m majoring in the Chinesenguage. Geeky, I know."

    "Oh." Having finished unpacking her stuff, Gu Xiqiao began wiping the dust that had collected off the furniture in their dorm room.

    "Ahh, let me help you with that!" Xu Jing picked up her own rag. "This is what I use, but if you think it¡¯s..."

    Before she could finish talking, Gu Xiqiao grabbed the rag from her hand, dipped it into a bucket of water and began wiping the tabletop.

    Seeing her work like that, Xu Jing felt more intrigued by her new roommate.

    "It¡¯s alright. Let me do that for you. Go fill your thermos with hot water. I¡¯ll rinse it off with the waterter afterward," said Tang Yanling as she walked over with a water tub. Seeing Gu Xiqiao wiping the table, thedy had to put down the tub she was holding in order to stop Gu Xiqiao from continuing.

    It was through sheer effort that they managed to keep her hands so pretty. Tang Yanling was not prepared for her precious Qiao Qiao to return to what she was back then. After all, a young girl¡¯s hands must be at all times, in a pristine condition.

    "Nice to meet you, auntie. My name¡¯s Xu Jing. I¡¯m Miss Gu¡¯s roommate." Xu Jing smiled sweetly but more importantly, innocently.

    Tang Yanling smiled back at her. "Oh, Jing Jing, would you be so kind as to bring Qiao Qiao to fetch some hot water over?"

    "Hey, I was about to do just that!" Xu Jing shed Tang Yanling a smile before turning toward the bed right beside the window. "Sun Jiajia, would you like some water too?"

    Sun Jiajia was a bespectacled girl. She wasn¡¯t as pretty as Gu Xiqiao, nor was she as sweet as Xu Jing. She only shot Xu Jing a nce before shifting her gaze over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s T-shirt.

    "Nope."

    The boiler room was just downstairs after all. Sun Jiajia was a surprisingly talkative girl.

    "Gu Xiqiao, are you a local?"

    "No." Gu Xiqiao lifted the water as if it was nothing but a pile of feathers.

    "Since you¡¯ve arrivedte, I figured you weren¡¯t a local. Well, let me brief you on the situation here." Xu Jing began exining while she walked. "Remember the bed inside? When that girl came, she¡¯d even brought with her an entire team of personnel, including her butlers. Her surname¡¯s Bai so I guess she¡¯s from the Bai family, which is pretty well-known in the capital. Military drills start tomorrow so I guess she¡¯ll be returning by tonight. Sigh, I don¡¯t think you truly know what I¡¯m talking about. Anyway, I¡¯m going to give you a good lesson once the time is right."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head in silence. Without saying a word more, she returned to finish up her job. After that, she went down and sent Tang Yanling back to their apartment. Finally, it was time to meet up with Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun.

    By the time she returned to their dorm room, it was already night time. All eyes were on her the moment Gu Xiqiao pushed open the door to their unit.

    A University had a long history, hence why a strict system was imposed campus-wide. The military drills they held every year was as unforgiving as the real deal. Unless there was a valid reason, it was impossible for one to leave the campus whimsically. This was also why everyone would be present in their rooms every night.

    Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes narrowed. Even without squinting, her overall demeanor was already plenty intimidating. Her eyes scanned Gu Xiqiao up and down, especially the jeans and t-shirtbo she was sporting. Finally, she spoke, "I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll make it tonight. I¡¯m gonna treat you guys out to dinner a few dayster, when the drills end. It¡¯ll be at the Royal Hotel next door."

    Sun Jiajia¡¯s eyes glimmered. "Really? But I heard it¡¯s only open for members. Xinran, do you really think we can enter that ce?"

    As if she had seen this look on others¡¯ faces plenty of times before, Bai Xinran smiled nonchntly. "It¡¯s just the Royal Hotel okay?"

    "Xinran, m¡¯lord," said Sun Jiajia with her hands sped together as if making a prayer.

    Bai Xinran then whipped her imported junk food package out before pouring it all on her bed.

    "Take whichever you want."

    Sun Jiajia picked up a random bag on which there was an Englishbel. And so, the naive young girl had been bought over through a few packs of junk food. Even the way she spoke changed so dramatically. "Xinran, you¡¯re such a saint."

    The other two did not respond to her bribery. That, however, did not seem to bother Bai Xinran. She then pulled out her very own Appleptop and began surfing the web with it resting on herp. To mere mortals like Sun Jiajia, Apple was a luxury brand, and was more of a status symbol than anything else, which earned Bai Xinran even more of her respect.

    "What are you three majoring in? I¡¯ll start first. My grades were average so I¡¯m in the performing arts faculty." After ying for a while, Bai Xinran finally decided to break the ice. She looked up from herputer screen and at her new roommates, but mostly at Gu Xiqiao. How could she not be more concerned about a girl who was more attractive than herself?

    Sun Jiajia hastily came up with something to suck up to Bai Xinran. "Many of the students in the Faculty of Performing Arts possess skills that are more valuable than superficial knowledge. You¡¯re a genius Xinran!"

    "I barely scraped past the minimum grade requirement so I was limited to an unpopr subject to major in." Xu Jing didn¡¯t care about exposing how bad her grades were. To be able to get into this university was already good enough for her.

    Hearing about Xu Jing¡¯s grades, Sun Jiajia was finally able to muster up some courage. She was not very good-looking, nor was her figure the best. The only thing that was beautiful was her grades. "I was the top schr at my school with 721 points in my exam. Medicine."

    721 points was indeed a pretty high score. Anyone from a ce other than the Imperial Capital would be hailed as the top schr with that score. Even Su Jing and Bai Xinran were stunned upon hearing her insanely-high grades.

    Now that the three have introduced themselves, Gu Xiqiao, who was fiddling with her phone responded half-heartedly, "Medicine."

    Medicine was a popr course students aimed for at A University so one had to possess an extremely high grade to be epted. Realizing that Gu Xiqiao was in the same course as her, Sun Jiajia¡¯s voice increased in pitch. "So we¡¯re coursemates then? What did you score?"

    "Above the admission threshold." Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t care too much about her grades.

    Sun Jiajia sighed in relief upon hearing her reply. With arge bag of crisps in her hand, she plopped back onto her chair and started talking to Bai XInran.

    Xu Jing was ying on herputer at her own desk while Gu Xiqiao was scrolling through the inte with her phone on her bed. Suddenly, Xu Jing¡¯s shriek broke the silence.

    "Gu Xiqiao! You¡¯re hot news! The entire school forum¡¯s talking about you now!"

    "God! Yo-yo-you!" Xu Jing was wide-eyed, staring at one of the many threads talking about her roommate. At that moment, Gu Xiqiao even feared that she would faint out of asphyxiation. Finally, she was able to get over her stutter. "You didn¡¯t tell me you¡¯re the national top ranker! You¡¯re that legendary girl they were reporting on the entire summer! Good heavens!"

    As if that wasn¡¯t enough, Xu Jing rotated herputer over in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. "Look at this! You¡¯ve been ced at the top of the "school¡¯s most attractive" list by our male peers. Look! There are threads all about you girl! This is the first time I¡¯ve seen someone being talked about so extensively on this forum!"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at her screen. "They¡¯re talking nonsense."

    Bai Xinran, who had been staring at Gu Xiqiao the entire time, logged onto the school¡¯s forum and started browsing through the many forums talking about Gu Xiqiao. A thread started a few days ago which talked about herself, had already been pushed down into some inconspicuous corner by the new threads that popped up one after another, all rted to her new roommate. Bai Xinran bit her lip in resentment.

    Hearing Xu Jing¡¯s words, Sun Jiajia rushed over to her side. Coincidentally, she was looking through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s results sheet on which there were three holy digits that neared the ultimate number. Sun Jiajia¡¯s jaws almost dropped to the ground.

    "I-Impossible!"

    In the next moment, she cupped her hands over her mouth. She knew she had screwed up now. Xu Jing furrowed her brows. "This is official from her school. No way it¡¯s fake."

    Sun Jiajia¡¯s face turned pale in an instant. Then, without making a noise, she returned to her spot. To think that she was unting her grades in front of Gu Xiqiao moments ago. She was no clown. No, she was the entire circus.

    Xu Jing kept refreshing the forum¡¯s main page. There were only a handful of blurry images of Gu Xiqiao and yet this girl has thoroughly invaded the forum through discussion threads about her.

    The most popr thread had only two pictures in it. Here¡¯s how the thread starter posted it.

    Heavens of Fire and Ice: "Nuff said. [JPEG] [JPEG] No filter, no photoshop. You can thank meter. I¡¯ll leave the rest to your imagination"

    The first picture was a close-up shot of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bare hands. It was extremely detailed, showing her porcin-like skin as well as the well-defined contours of her bone. Her pale whiteplexion was contrasted against the dark of the ball pen, underneath which three distinct words were written¨CGu Xiqiao!

    The second one was a picture of the side of her face. Her lips were moist and glistening and her jaw, sharp. In that photo, her head was slightly lowered and her long eyshes cast a shadow under her eyes. Her lips were of the color of cherry blossoms and her skin, of freshly-fallen snow. All in all, that photo of her seemed more like an ink painting than an actual photo taken by a camera.

    Anon 1: "Uwahhhh! Hand fetishists unite! You have my respect OP!"

    Anon 2: "I think this is the hundredth time I¡¯ve looked at these two photos!"

    Anon 3: "And so, I have changed the woman of my dreams! My God, is this girl really a freshman? This must be a sign that the new batch of students will change the course of our school¡¯s history!"

    Anon 7: "Yo, anyone here got intel on her? What¡¯s she majoring in? I¡¯m offering a hundred yuan as a reward! Waiting for you online, need the intel urgently!"

    Anon 11: "No way she¡¯s studying sciences. OP, you sure these pictures aren¡¯t photoshopped? Look at her hands, those are the hands of an artist. And her long eyshes, her sexy lips, and that corbone... where¡¯s this person from? I think she¡¯s a fairy or something magical!"

    Anon 16: "It¡¯s true. I have a few photos of her too. Still, they aren¡¯t as clear as the OP¡¯s. Here ya go. [JPEG] [JPEG]"

    Anon 21: "I hereby dere that I have a non-existent boner even though I¡¯m a girl. How you doin¡¯ boys?"

    Anon 88: "Okay, here¡¯s thetest information we got. Brethren! Come forth and say your prayer... wait no! Witness the glory of Gu Xiqiao! [JPEG] [JPEG]"

    Thetest photos shocked all of the students that were following the discussion thread about Gu Xiqiao. On their screens was a series of unimaginably scary digits. This was the grade she got for her final exam, which apparently had a number of extremely tough questions. Even in the previous exams where the questions were much easier, the highest-scoring students obtained not over 740 points. In the world of maths, where questions were getting harder and harder to solve exponentially, this girl managed to score full marks! No mere mortal could ever pull off such a feat!

    Right after that was posted, the entire forum exploded with talk about Gu Xiqiao. Beauty, Academic Goddess, these were the two words thrown around most frequently by its users. Either one would have already caused an uproar by itself and to add the two together meant ultimate pandemonium.

    It didn¡¯t take long before this discussion spread out from the school¡¯s official forum to the public social media tforms. In the blink of an eye, a post about Gu Xiqiao even reached the top three hottest topics on Weibo¡¯s education rted forum.

    Pretty much everyone on campus now understood what a "national goddess" meant.

    Apart from Gu Xiqiao, her three other roommates were fixated on the device screens. Xu Jing was particrly busy as she typed line after line on one of the live forums.

    She typed: "I am sharing dorms with the Academic Goddess herself. If you want a high-definition, non-censored method of contacting the woman, then DM me. The price I¡¯m charging is negotiable."

    Her post spawned hundreds of other responding posts, each being more intense than the other. Thus, Xu Jing earned herself a couple more followers on the forum.

    "Dear Miss University, let¡¯s do an interview, shall we?" Xu Jing picked up a booklet and held a pen on her other hand. She then sat down on the edge of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bed and started asking away. "What is your favorite food?"

    "I love everything."

    ¡¯Umm, fine??? I¡¯ll guess she¡¯s a foodie¡¯

    "...and your favorite color?"

    "As long as it isn¡¯t red."

    "...your birthday?" Xu Jing could feel Gu Xiqiao growing more disinterested by the second.

    "I don¡¯t know."

    "...Gu Xiqiao! Be more serious in answering my questions! Let¡¯s be loving roommates!" said Xu Jing with a re.

    It was true that she didn¡¯t know about her own birthdate. Yu Man picked the date on which she was taken in as her birthday, which was right around the start of winter, November the 18th to be exact.

    Bai Xinran was already in a foul mood, which was further exacerbated when she started scrolling through the threads. cing down herptop, she walked out of the bedroom door.

    Sun Jiajia on the other hand, continued reading through the threads in silence. She wanted to know more about Gu Xiqiao. Without saying a word more, she climbed onto her bed and let down the drapes. Quietly she started memorizing English phrases from an extra-thick dictionary.

    "Fine." Xu Jing tossed her phone down onto the bed. Seeing how Bai Xinran had finally left their room, she started talking about her. "Do you know about the Bai family? They¡¯re one of the top five richest families in the capital. Like we¡¯re talking about blocking out the sun with banknotes type of rich. I think that Bai Xinran¡¯s a member of this family."

    Sun Jiajia who wasying on her bed blinked a few times when she overheard their conversation. Then, she plugged her ears with her earbuds and continued studying English phrases.

    "Oh." Gu Xiqiao wriggled off her bed to retrieve her ownptop from her luggage bag. It was an Apple product, and a new model at that! Xu Jing¡¯s eyes lit up upon seeing its iconic logo. "Woah, that looks cool. I bet it¡¯s great at gaming!"

    "I¡¯m gonna write a script." Gu Xiqiao said as she ced theptop over herps.

    Xu Jing blinked twice. "What script?"

    "For a speech as the freshman representative." Gu Xiqiao was a little saddened as she said that. "A senior told me to have it prepared by tomorrow morning."

    "This is pretty easy. There¡¯s a bunch of them online, and it¡¯s not hard to write at all." Xu Jing waved her hands, indicating that she was well-trained in whipping up stuff like this.

    "Well, I think so too." Gu Xiqiao opened up a nk document and began typing away while she spoke. Her fingers moved like a well-oiled machine, churning out line after line of cliched, cheesy lines one would typically hear in a speech. "But I wonder how many words I should have."

    "As a freshman rep, I think slightly above a thousand words would be the best. Anymore and they¡¯d start dozing off." Xu Jing was awestruck. It had just been a couple of minutes and yet there were already 500 or so words on the document. "Hey, say, do you create scripts like this very often?"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled silently at her. The ones she typed out weren¡¯t exactly for "this" purpose. It was more to brainwash Gu Enterprises¡¯ aplices. Still, it seems like her skills could finally be put to good use.

    They still needed to print the script out afterpleting it and Xu Jing, the brave soul volunteered to go with her. The printer room wasn¡¯t far from the female dormitory and so, the duo talked as they strolled to their destination. They bumped into a pair of familiar faces as soon as they opened the door. Naturally, the female face was Bai Xinran¡¯s. As for the guy, even Gu Xiqiao recognized him. He was none other than Xia Zijun whom she had not met for a long time.

    ¡¯A University is big,¡¯ thought Gu Xiqiao. And yet, to think that she would bump into a familiar face on her first day here.

    "Hey, hear me out." Xu Jing pulled Gu Xiqiao over to one side. She knew that the girl wasn¡¯t interested in campus gossip so she made sure to keep her well-informed. "You know who that guy beside her is? He¡¯s Xia Zijun! The guy who¡¯s fighting to be the next student council president. He¡¯s a mini-celebrity at the Faculty of Economics but I heard a new challenger has appeared there this year. Still, look at her. Bai Xinran managed to get him on her hook so early on."

    Speaking of Xia Zijun, he was already pretty popr back in senior high. Pretty much half of the school¡¯s female poption were his fangirls. He was still as good-looking as before but Gu Xiqiao could notprehend why he was not as popr in university.

    "But you¡¯ve just been here for two days. How do you know so much?" Gu Xiqiao nced at her.

    "Heh heh." Xu Jing chuckled. "Let¡¯s just say, I¡¯m interested in this sort of stuff. I¡¯ve already infiltrated the school¡¯s intel system during summer break so I¡¯m pretty well-informed. Hey, do you know about the top three studs in our school? You want me to tell you more about them?"

    Gu Xiqiao had little to no interest in such things. "Thanks but no thanks."

    ***

    Bai Xinran had be a member of the student council as soon as she enrolled into this university. And because Lin Xia was an acquaintance of her¡¯s, a shortcut opened up right in front of her.

    She was feeling a little bored staying in her dorm room so she went to the student council¡¯s office to help them tidy up their files. Most of the departments have yet to recruit the freshmen so the student council was severely short on manpower. Naturally, they were d to see Bai Xinrane lend them a hand. They worked until ten at night and as Lin Xia still had something to do at the Faculty of Medicine, he arranged for Xia Zijun to send Bai Xinran home.

    Xia Zijun was a peace-loving guy, which was why he did not turn down Lin Xia¡¯s order. However, he still maintained a barrier of formality and politeness between them.

    This was enough to satisfy Bai Xinran. Upon reaching her dorm room, she asked for Xia Zijun¡¯s phone number. Subtly, his brows furrowed. Though, because he was going to be a part of the student council in the future, he could not reject her request. Thus, he gave her his phone number.

    There were still quite a number of students walking around the dormitory. Xia Zijun was well-known throughout the campus for his good looks and there were even some girls that started snapping away on their phone cameras. Some on the other hand, pointed at Bai Xinran. A great deal of them were talking about how Xia Zijun, who had remained single the entire time he spent here, finally got himself a girl to squeeze.

    "Alright. See you around, Senior Xia!" Seeing the attention she had gathered for herself, Bai Xinran felt satisfied.

    Xia Zijun nodded lightly and waited for Bai Xinran to enter her room before turning to leave. He was a gentleman, they thought.

    To his surprise, the first thing he saw upon turning around was a face he swore that he would never see again in his lifetime. She was standing so close that it broke down the calm expression he was maintaining as if it was nothing but a house of cards. Surprise filled his eyes but his feeling was positive nheless. "You¡¯ve managed to get here too?"

    "Yep." Gu Xiqiao frowned upon discovering that they had been spotted by nosy onlookers. She kept her cold demeanor throughout the entire exchange. "I still need to memorize my script so if you¡¯ll excuse me."

    "Hey, wait up!" Xia Zijun tried to hold himself back but to no avail. "I¡¯ll leave my phone number with you. If you¡¯re facing any problems, feel free to call me."

    He knew that if he was to ask her for her phone number, she woulde up with a million excuses before that was done.

    He proceeded to report his phone number out loud and left immediately after, as though fearing that Gu Xiqiao might reject his approach.

    "...Damn! You¡¯re pretty bold aren¡¯t you?" Xu Jing searched her mind for a long time before finally opening her mouth. "If Bai Xinran finds out about this, she¡¯ll definitely strangle you to death!"

    Gu Xiqiao silently gave her a look. "Let¡¯s go, I have to memorize my script."

    Right after stepping foot into their dorm room, a loud conversation between Sun Jiajia and Bai Xinran could be heard. "Really?" she asked. "Xinran you genius!", she congratted. The rest had roughly the same meaning.

    Gu Xiqiao noted that Sun Jiajia must¡¯ve sucked at linguistics, else why would she keep repeating the same words over and over again? Even if she wanted to tter Bai Xinran, this was not the way. At the very least, she should get online and look for new phrases instead of relying on the two repetitive praises.

    The smile on Bai Xinran¡¯s face faded away as soon as her other two roommates entered the room. "Are you two looking to get into the student council as well? If so, just let me know. I personally know one of the seniors so I cannd you a spot there. Jiajia¡¯s agreed to participate too."

    "Thank you, but I have a senior that¡¯s majoring in the news and reporting department. I¡¯d like to follow in her footsteps," said Xu Jing with an apologetic smile.

    Of course, she was not Bai Xinran¡¯s target. Without a word of protest, she turned toward Gu Xiqiao. "What about you? Is there any student department you are aiming to get into? There¡¯s only a handful of seats at the council andpetition¡¯s fierce. Though, I can help you if you want."

    "Thanks but I¡¯m really busy. I¡¯ve not the time to meddle with the student council." Gu Xiqiao replied while turning over to a new page on her script.

    "Oh is that so? Too bad I guess." Bai Xinran was not interested in continuing their conversation. Picking up a variety of different bottles, she entered the bathroom. Knowing that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t interested in the student council made the smile on her face even more apparent.

    Xu Jing thought to herself, ¡¯Is there even a need for Gu Xiqiao topete!? Look at her face, look at her brain, any ce would happily ept her application. Even if she doesn¡¯t work, merely standing at the shop will be enough to attract customers like bees to a flower. I guess Bai Xinran still doesn¡¯t know what she¡¯s up against in this battle.¡¯

    Bai Xinran walked out of the bathroom with a bunch of bottles, one of which she said was sunscreen she had bought overseas while on vacation. Sun Jiajia was shocked upon hearing the words "overseas". To her, going on vacation in another country was an alien concept. And so, the look of admiration in her eyes intensified. At that moment, she solidified her will to curry Bai Xinran¡¯s favor at all costs.

    ***

    There were army drills the next day so Gu Xiqiao slipped into her military uniform and gathered her polished script.

    "Hey! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re gonna head out without applying anything!" Xu Jing walked over with a bottle of sunscreen in hand. There was a unique appeal about Gu Xiqiao in her military uniform. Still, herplexion was unusually pale for her to be a soldier. "Quick, put this on. I don¡¯t want your pretty face to be destroyed by the Sun¡¯s evil UV rays!"

    "I don¡¯t need this." Gu Xiqiao smiled while waving the script she was holding. "I¡¯m in a hurry. See youter."

    Xu Jing, who had failed to stop her thought to herself: ¡¯...dammit!¡¯

    The military drills the university students were put through was hard. First, they had to stand at attention underneath the blistering hot sun for two hours straight before the chancellor arrived to give a lengthy, boring speech. Then, it was the freshman representative¡¯s turn to speak.

    After basking under the sun for two hours, everyone was soaked in sweat. Even the sunscreen the girls applied had been dissolved by sweat into a whitish fluid that rolled down their faces. On the other hand, Gu Xiqiao was as dry as a bone, with no disgusting sweat marks at all. The chancellor stood up to shake her hand as she walked up the stage. Then, he proceeded to introduce the representative to the students, something which had never been done before.

    And so, Gu Xiqiao had made a name for herself even before sses had even started.

    Her instructor was a strict meathead who made the entire ss of students run fourps around the track, without stopping. After standing at attention for two hours, even the boys felt that this was an impossible task toplete. Many of them moaned in pain afterpleting just one round. Surprisingly, the instructor did not chew up their asses for cking off like that.

    In the end, only Gu Xiqiao was the one left standing.

    The skinny-looking girl had not even a sweat mark on her uniform as she soldiered on.

    The drill instructor was obviously perplexed by her performance. Everything about her, from her posture, to her hand-to-handbat form, to her marching appeared as good as it gets. In fact, he was so impressed that he used her to demonstrate to the students what peak performance looked like.

    Morale was greatly boosted, especially among the male students of the other ss, whose calls became loud and clear when they marched past Gu Xiqiao.

    The students in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ss, unwilling to admit defeat, yelled even louder, drowning out the voices of their rivals as they marched.

    Once again, they went back to throwing shadow punches. Seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wless form, the drill instructor couldn¡¯t help but ask her during break time, "Gu Xiqiao, have you received training before?"

    "Yeah, a little bit," replied Gu Xiqiao with a humble smile.

    Underneath the sweltering hot sun, the drill instructor smiled back at her. "I see you¡¯re pretty strong yourself. Come, let¡¯s spar."

    He had a feeling that this girl would not disappoint him.

    Gu Xiqiao was taken aback. "Huh?"

    "It¡¯s a fight till the end." The drill instructor knew how bad his reputation would be once he sparred with a girl. Still, he needed to prove his sixth sense right. A girl who does not sweat after running tenps around the track, if she¡¯s not an expert then she must be an expert¡¯s expert!

    The boys started booing the drill instructor but Gu Xiqiao rose up nheless. "Your teaching is greatly appreciated."

    The bystanders backed off so that the two had ample space to spar in. Gu Xiqiao squeezed up her fists, pondering how she should lighten her punches. An idea popped up in her mind. She then exclusively used the shadow punching techniques the drill instructor taught them just now, which was a series of foolproof defensive maneuvers.

    In the end, the drill instructor admitted defeat. He was apetent soldier from the special forces and his own unique fighting technique. And yet, he was defeated by a girl using his own technique, which humbled him significantly.

    "You are very very talented, Gu Xiqiao. If you¡¯re interested, maybe you should consider joining the special forces. I can guarantee that you¡¯ll be the ultimate soldier our nation will ever produce!"

    The chancellor, who was strolling by butted into their conversation, "You¡¯re pretty bold aren¡¯t you? How dare you attempt to lure our precious student away? Have you be tired of living?!"

    Gu Xiqiao was surprised by the drill instructor¡¯s offer. "I¡¯m sorry sir, but I¡¯ve never thought about joining the military."

    The drill instructor was reluctant to let such a precious asset slip out of his hands. "You are truly talented at this. It¡¯s such a waste for you to remain at school. With your skills, you would be unchallenged in the world of soldiers!"

    Gu Xiqiao responded with a gentle smile. "I am talented in other areas too."

    This was true. The instructor opened his mouth but he failed to produce any words. Suddenly, someone cleared his throat loudly from behind.

    The chancellor was not amused by his antics.

    ¡¯How dare you solicit our students to join the heartless war machine! How dare you ignore my presence here!¡¯

    ¡¯...Oh crap.¡¯

    And so, the military drills ended. As a whole, Gu Xiqiao felt satisfied with it as she got the chance to get along with her fellow peers. She found out that the students she spoke with were all incredibly intelligent people. Contrary to what many thought, the girls were friendlier toward her than the boys.

    Of course, Sun Jiajia was not included among these girls.

    ***

    Just as she had said, Bai Xinran treated the three of her roommates out to dinner at the Royal Hotel after the end of the military drills.

    Gu Xiqiao was supposed to turn her down as only Xu Jing had ever treated her nicely. Though, because they were going to live together for the rest of the year, she felt bad for rejecting her offer and so they walked out of the school entrance together.

    Suddenly, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone rang inside her pocket. Peering down at the caller ID, the cold look in her eyes warmed up, which shocked even Xu Jing, what more to say of Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia.

    "Is that your boyfriend?" asked Xu Jing curiously.

    Gu Xiqiao was stunned for a while and was silent while she thought about it, they were something like that, weren¡¯t they? "Sorry guys, I can¡¯t go with you tonight. I¡¯ll treat you guys out next time though."

    "No biggie! As they say, boys over hoes." Xu Jing wasn¡¯t bothered by it. In fact, her eyes were brimming with curiosity. "Say, when will we meet him?"

    Even Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia turned over, obviously interested in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s "boyfriend".

    Bai Xinran thought about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lifestyle, which by no means, was as exquisite as her own. Thus, she figured that this boyfriend of hers must be from a rich family.

    Gu Xiqiao did not answer her friend¡¯s question. She looked down the street, at a regr-looking army jeep that cruised slowly toward her. Sun Jiajia saw the car and couldn¡¯t stop herself from saying, "Gu Xiqiao, you¡¯re so pretty but it doesn¡¯t seem like your boyfriend¡¯s equally as attractive or anything."

 Chapter 125 Foothold In The Imperial Capital!

    <h4>Chapter 125 Foothold In The Imperial Capital!</h4>

    The area outside A University¡¯s entrance gate was packed. This was the hour when traffic flow was at its peak, and there were countless vehicles, both private and public, zooming down the street. Luxury imported cars were by no means a rare sight in the capital, what more to say of the street in front of the best university in the nation. Thus, seeing a jeep did not impact these girls the slightest.

    Sun Jiajia was born into a middle-ss family so she didn¡¯t even know what a jeep was. In fact, it¡¯s boxy shape seemed a little old-fashioned to her, which earned her disdain. On the other hand, Bai Xinran, who was from an upper-ss family, knew a little more than your typical Chinese girl about imported vehicles.

    "That car¡¯s a military vehicle modified for private use. Definitely hard to find, even in the capital. Also, that number te¡¯s no ordinary te." Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes glimmered as she turned toward Gu Xiqiao. "How old¡¯s your boyfriend? Why is he even permitted to drive this car?"

    The number te arrogantly disyed four zeroes. This meant that the driver did not need to stop at police checkpoints. This sort of vehicle was hard to get, even for distinguished military personnel. Of course, the corner of Bai Xinran¡¯s mouth stiffened up as soon as she realized that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s boyfriend was no nouveau riche, let alone an average Joe.

    Gu Xiqiao did not bother answering her question. Instead, she kept her eyes on the car, which rolled to a stop just outside the university gate. She bowed slightly towards her roommates to bid them farewell.

    "I¡¯ll be leaving now. Will treat you guys out to dinner the next time."

    She walked towards the car in a graceful manner. Xu Jing was incredibly curious about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s boyfriend but considering that they had just met a few days ago, she felt it would be rude of her to walk forward to get a better glimpse of the driver. So, she stood in ce, looking from afar hoping that the man would enter her vision. Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia too, remained still.

    The car door did not pop open as they had expected it to. Right before the moment Gu Xiqiao was about to reach the car though, a man with a well-built frame hopped down from the to open the door for her. Even from a distance away, they could make out the handsome features on his face. He had a pair of slightly raised eyebrows, a high nose bridge but the most prominent thing about him of all was his intimidating demeanor. Only a man with a high social standing could give off such an air, they thought.

    Still, they were surprised by his chivalrous attitude when he popped open the door for Gu Xiqiao. While he did so, he carefully ced his other palm onto the roof of the car. Every little action of his made these onlooking young girls squeal loudly in their heart.

    "So that¡¯s Gu Xiqiao¡¯s boyfriend?" Sun Jiajia was the first to react after the car zoomed off into the distance. Her face was flushed. In her entire lifetime, this was the first time her heart had gone numb for another man. Remembering Bai Xinran¡¯s words from before, she asked, "Say, who do you think that guy is?"

    "I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯m sure that he was raised in a well-off family." Bai Xinran replied. Before that though, she was standing there, staring into empty air where her roommate¡¯s boyfriend once stood. Her head drooped down slightly, making it hard to discern the look on her face. "Since we¡¯re short of one member, I think it¡¯s best to postpone this dinner to another night."

    Sun Jiajia did not protest this decision. She wanted to see more of that man. So much so that she didn¡¯t mind not going to the Royal Hotel for dinner.

    Naturally, without Gu Xiqiao, Xu Jing lost even more interest in dinner with those two, neither did she feel like talking with them. She fished her phone out of her pocket and proceeded to text Gu Xiqiao.

    "My dear, your boyfriend is earth-shatteringly handsome! He¡¯s really suited for you ahhhhh!"

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao, who sat on the front passenger seat, did not visibly react to the message. Calmly, she typed out a reply.

    "Thanks for thepliment."

    Then, Xu Jing sent her a longer text. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

    Jiang Shuxuan brought her back to their apartment. Tang Yanling was nowhere to be seen after seeing her off to school. Gu Xiqiao had a rough idea of where she was currently so she didn¡¯t bother asking.

    Xiao Yun was still undergoing her military drills at B University, in which phones were strictly not allowed. Thus, it had been a while since Gu Xiqiao had spoken to her.

    As for Wu Hongwen who went to the same university as her, they had not met because of two reasons. Number one, A University was way toorge for them to bump into each other and number two, because there was no time for them to meet up due to the never-ending drills. Thest time she saw him was during lunch time when he and a bunch of his roommates had gone out for some grub.

    Freshmen were given a few days rest time after the military drills before sses started officially. Gu Xiqiao was nning to use this time to deal with Nine Heavens¡¯ matters. Mu Zong wasn¡¯t at the Imperial Capital and Luo Weng himself could not support the entirepany by himself, so her help was much needed.

    "Eat up." Seeing how Gu Xiqiao was holding her chopsticks but wasn¡¯t eating, Jiang Shuxuan rapped his knuckles on the table to snap her out of her reverie.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose when her senses finally returned to her. "Brother Jiang, why did you bring Mrs. Zhang to the capital?"

    Jiang Shuxuan rxed after seeing her finally eat. "Well, to take care of Xixi, Haha, and you."

    "I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need to do that." Gu Xiqiao protested. "So the main objective is to take care of Haha. We freshmen have to remain in the dormitory for an entire semester before we¡¯re allowed to move out."

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her with eyes that were hard to describe. "You studied the entire art of painting for twenty-four hours straight just because you wanted to create an oil painting. I can only rx with Mrs. Zhang here, watching over you." He was more worried about her skipping meals. Work was demanding and the ancient martial arts world needed more of his time and effort. If no one were here to babysit Gu Xiqiao, god knows what she would end up like.

    Gu Xiqiao did not try to rebuke Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words.

    Speaking of painting, she remembered the painting she would havepleted if not for Xixi¡¯s mischief. Thus, upon finishing dinner, she went upstairs and pulled out her painting canvas as well as the required materials.

    Jiang Shuxuan remained there. He sat down on the sofa, observing her as she painted.

    Pulling a stool over, she sat down by the window. The canvas in front of her was unfinished but there were sshes of bright red and dark inkplementing each other. In the night, the rosefinch appeared so real that it seemed like it was moments away from taking off.

    Jiang Shuxuan enjoyed looking at her painting or studying while in a serious mood. Right now, she was as still as calm water, the pr opposite from what she was normally.

    "And done." Gu Xiqiao stretched her body. The military drills had sapped out quite a lot of energy from her.

    "You go up and rest. I¡¯ll take it from here." Jiang Shuxuan said while he looked at the paintbrushes scattered across the ground.

    He had done this countless times before and Gu Xiqiao only mumbled a response before dragging her heavy body upstairs.

    Xixi was hiding in a corner. It knew that this was the portrait Gu Xiqiao had made specifically for it and yet it did not have the balls to take it for itself. For some reason, it felt that if it did so, Jiang Shuxuan would smack it to death. ording to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s philosophy, people easily lose their rationality once jealousy sets in and there is a high chance of this happening, with itself being on the receiving end.

    Bird lives matter.

    Jiang Shuxuan picked up Gu Xiqiao¡¯s painting. Upon closer inspection, the Xixi on the canvas waspletely unlike the Xixi in real life, who was looking at him with a pair of beady eyes. He blinked once before ripping the paper out and tossing it to one side. Then, he proceeded to carefully pick up Gu Xiqiao¡¯s paint brushes.

    Xixi, who was spying on him on the corner thought to itself, ¡¯Jiang Shuxuan you bastard! I knew you would do this! What do you get from bullying a mere bird?! Go bully Haha if you have the balls!"

    Jiang Shuxuan turned towards the fuming bird.

    ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    ***

    Next morning, Gu Xiqiao used an illusory trick to retrieve her pink car out of her inventory and into the garage. Luo Weng had just sent her the address of thepanyst night. Theirpany was set up in an office building in themercial district, upying five whole floors of said building. In the Imperial City, every inch ofnd was worth more than its weight in gold, so procuring five whole floors was extremely costly. Still, to the capital-richpany that was Nine Heavens, the bill was nothing but a mere digit.

    Luo Weng came out as soon as she arrived. He appeared tired andcked the energy he usually had with him. With a raised brow, Gu Xiqiao asked, "Where are you going?"

    "To send Dalin off. The doctor said he can go to school now. So I am gonna put him to school." A few days ago, during the military drill phase, he had entrusted the boy with Yu Ning and his friends. The next time he returned, he discovered how sloppy Luo Wenlin had be under their care. After consulting with the doctor, Luo Weng decided to send Luo Wenlin to a middle school situated near to Imperial City Normal University.

    "Right." Gu Xiqiao searched through her mind for something to say. "Has the Chen familye to bug you yet?"

    "No, not really." Luo Weng felt something was off about this. ording to what his father had said, things should not have been so peaceful.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at him. "Give me your left hand."

    Luo Weng was surprised by her sudden request. Still, he reached out with his left hand. Gu Xiqiao then drew a bizarre-looking symbol at the center of his palm.

    "What¡¯s this?" More question marks popped up in Luo Weng¡¯s mind.

    "Nothing. You better be on your way now or Dalin¡¯s going to bete." Gu Xiqiao waved him goodbye before entering the building.

    Theyout of their office was simr to that found in N City. In fact, it was so simr that Gu Xiqiao felt that she had stepped through a wormhole and has returned to N City. Yu Ning and his men were gathered in one office to try out thetest virtual helmet. This time, the helmet provided a more seamless experience after adding quite a number of new features and patching up some bugs.

    Yu Ning¡¯s eyes lit up as soon as he saw Gu Xiqiao. "Look! See how much of the source code we¡¯ve managed to crack!"

    Gu Xiqiao looked over to find that his team had already cracked 10% of the source code. All that, done within less than half a month¡¯s time. This was no small feat. Their achievement meant that they were advancing in the right direction and given another half month¡¯s time, they should be able to crack the source code at a faster rate than before.

    "I definitely see some new faces around here. Have you guys been hiring new people?" Gu Xiqiao figured that the fresh faces must be new recruits.

    Pretty efficient for new recruits.

    Speaking about this, Yu Ning looked directly at Gu Xiqiao after setting his phone down. Luo Weng was not around, so for now, he was Gu Xiqiao¡¯smentator. "These men are allrades of Luo Weng, wooed in from University A. They are all members with overflowing potential. We even have a PhD student among us! Don¡¯t look at me like this, this entire project is the fruit of our collectivebor!"

    Luo Weng had two roommates who were both in the investment club. And so, Luo Weng was quickly assimted into said club and the club president was precisely the PhD student that Yu Ning had mentioned. For now, he was acting as a consultant for the club. Most of the people gathered here were the cream of the crop from A University¡¯s Faculty of Finance and Economics.

    Nine Heavens needed arge pool of talents during its growth stage. Luo Weng recognized the opportunity that had presented itself as soon as he got into the investment club. He brought the arbitrage portfolio Gu Xiqiao had devised over to let them dissect, just how this low-risk, high-profit model functioned, which quickly got the attention of his seniors.

    A University was packed with talented people but at the same time, they had high standards too. Working together, they spent days trying to reverse engineer the portfolio and as they did so, Luo Weng released bits and pieces of information he got from thepany to keep them hooked to the problem. This also earned him their respect as a fellow genius.

    If the otherpanies were to know how he was monopolizing on human capital that was readily avable at the university, they would undoubtedly cough up blood.

    Hearing Yu Ning¡¯s exnation made Gu Xiqiao involuntarily reach for her nose. Yu Ning then pushed a copy of their progress report into her hands.

    As Gu Xiqiao flipped through the pages, Yu Ning continued ying as narrator.

    He started off exining how even before they officially started operating in the Imperial City, they were already pulling off such incredible feats. Gu Xiqiao, who possessed a good foresight, procured a few softwares before the news of Nine Heavens expanding to the capital was leaked out. And because of the poprity of their virtual helmet, many people set their eyes on this building.

    Before Nine Heavens announced the tenpanies they were going to cooperate with after their official opening, there were a great deal of techpaniespeting with one another to produce the most advanced softwares in order tond a chance to seal the deal with Nine Heavens.

    And yet, Nine Heavens was as cold as ice. Most of them did not know where they were; only a handful of insiders were able to contact Nine Heavens¡¯ agents.

    And so, these insiders would hastily run towards whoever they were working with as soon as they got a whiff of what Nine Heavens was up to, in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve.

    ***

    Luo Weng drove Luo Wenlin to school. As he was crossing an intersection, arge truck turned around the bend. He stopped the vehicle to allow the truck to pass by and to his surprise, the truck swerved and headed straight for his car.

    Never once had his mind been so clear before. Luo Weng felt his hands move on its own. They turned the steering wheel and directed the car towards the railing that lined the side of the road.

    Sitting in the car, he could feel the immense impact as his vehicle mmed into the steel railing. Instinctively, he hugged Luo Wenlin to protect him from all the jarring movements his car made. They survived the near-fatal car crash. Shortly after, traffic police had arrived to cordon the ce off for inspection. They pulled both Luo Weng and his brother out of the wreck. Astonished, one of the police officers said to him, "Mister, you¡¯re really lucky! Seems like a scratch and nothing else!"

    The car which Luo Weng was driving had theirpany¡¯s logo on it. However, said logo was barely recognizable after the entire car smashed into the steel railing. The police estimated the total damage of his vehicle to be at 85% and yet both driver and passenger were able to walk away unscathed. This was a miracle.

    "Maybe, it¡¯s just my luck." Then, Luo Weng remembered the ominous marking Gu Xiqiao had made on his hand.

    Had he escaped the jaws of death because of that? Was she even rted to this incident? Luo Weng couldn¡¯t stop himself from wondering. He desperately needed answers from Gu Xiqiao. And yet, he knew that she would not necessarily answer his question. Still, his unconscious mind told him that the answer was right in front of him the whole time.

    ***

    At the same time, in a vi on the outskirts of the Imperial City.

    "Smash!"

    A wine ss smashed into the marble floor, sshing wine in every direction.

    "I don¡¯t recall asking you to take out Luo Weng. It¡¯s too quick and easy for him to die like this!" Chen Feng¡¯s voice shook with rage after sending her wine ss flying across the room. "I wanted him to suffer a fate worse than death! Isn¡¯t he currently working for a localpany? I want you to deal with thatpany first. Let¡¯s drive him into a dead end, let him witness how it¡¯s like to have his friends leave him one by one. A fate worse than death!"

    Luo Weng had finally arrived at the capital. Chen Feng was in a good mood. She had always despised the man but because of her foolish actions against the Jiang family, everything she had was taken from her. Naturally, she ced the me all on Luo Weng. And so, she wanted him to go through the same painful process that she herself had experienced.

    The voice on the other end of the line went silent for a while before agreeing with Chen Feng¡¯s decision.

    Shi Teng hung up the phone. He could be considered one of Chen Feng¡¯s closer friends. Back then, when she was at the peak of her career, she had helped him a number of times before, so he owed her a favor. Now that Chen Feng had toppled over, the only person she could rely on was him. Thepany she spoke about was barely in its infant stage. Shi Teng didn¡¯t mind taking it down since it would be an easy task, or so he thought.

    Recently, he had been nning on further expanding hispany so if he could transfer the workers in thatpany over to his own, it would end up in a win-win situation.

    Chen Feng wasn¡¯t sure about Luo Weng¡¯s current whereabouts. Regardless, she sent Shi Teng an address. It was an office building upied mostly by government agencies; the staff were all highly trained. Calling up his assistant, he scheduled a visit with a couple of other friends to this office building.

    Nine Heavens had yet to open its doors, so only a small sign was hung up on its main entrance. Frankly speaking, it seemed pitiful, even to Shi Teng¡¯s assistant.

    Looking in, there were clusters of employees discussing something; there was not the orderly vibe you¡¯d find in a professional environment. Very obviously, the employees were country bumpkins who have just recently moved to the Imperial Capital. The assistant cleared his throat loudly to get the attention of everyone.

    "Nice to meet you all today, I am the assistant to the CEO of Wanteng Technology. I have an important announcement to make so listen up."

    "This applies to all of you here. As long as you are willing to join ourpany, we will guarantee benefits a hundred times better than whatever this ce is offering." The assistant scanned the faces of the workers around the office. "I believe that you all know what ourpany does. We are one of the most sessfulpanies our nation has ever seen and today, we wee you to join our team. Though, if you decide not to..." The assistant smirked. "Expect fiercepetition. I personally have seen the downfall of many startup firms like yours."

    The employees at Nine Heavens were stunned by what they heard. It took them a while before their senses returned. So, this person was here to intimidate them? Nearly everyone of them felt their mouths cramp up. Leave Nine Heavens? What kind of joke was this? It was through their collective effort that Nine Heavens was able to be what it was today. This firm possessed so many talents, high-end software, and a robust financial management system that would allow them to keep on advancing far into the future.

    They have learned so many things working at Nine Heavens. And now you¡¯re asking them to leave?

    Does yourpany possess such a fearsome source code? Does yourpany even have this magical virtual helmet? Does yourpany have an investment portfolio that has as little risk as we do, while simultaneously providing such high returns?

    No! So spare us the bullcrap!

    Seeing how cold a response he was getting, the assistant¡¯s smile faded away. This was the Imperial City, where he had many connections. It was as easy to merge and acquire this small startup as it was to flip over one¡¯s hands. If they choose to do this the hard way then so be it.

    The assistant picked up his phone and was about to dial for an acquaintance when a familiar voice sounded from behind him. "Why, if it isn¡¯t Mister Shi¡¯s assistant?"

    "President Fang, what are you doing here?" The assistant nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the fatty walk in through the doorway. This man was a financial giant, with assets nearing hundreds of millions. Still, he was able to maintain a low-profile and had met Shi Teng in private a handful of times before.

    "Well, for the same reason as to why you are here," said the financial giant with a hushed voice. "So, how¡¯s it going? Have you guys procured any good softwares? I heard that Nine Heavens is very picky when dealing with partnerships. It was hard enough to locate their whereabouts and it¡¯s not guaranteed that they will work with me either."

    Hearing the financial giant¡¯s words, the assistant¡¯s jaws almost dropped to the floor.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Come on, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still trying to hide what you¡¯re doing." The financial giant sounded a little displeased. "Everyone that steps into this ce has only one goal in mind¡ªto offer their software and to partner up with Nine Heavens. Of course, a long-term partnership would be the ideal oue. They have just expanded into the Imperial City so of course they need partners. I¡¯ll do my bestter. I wonder if I¡¯ll even be picked."

    "Nine Heavens?!" The assistant was astonished. As an assistant, he was well-informed about the current affairs in the tech world, especially when it came to the virtual helmet that had taken the world by storm. Ever since the product¡¯s conception, he had always felt that this was an opportunity he could not miss out on.

    This feeling was reinforced when Nine Heavens announced on Weibo, their decision to prate the Imperial City¡¯s market. As a tech employee himself, he genuinely was looking forward to working with Nine Heavens. This was his golden ticket to rise up on the international stage.

    But what did the financial giant just say to him? This is the renowned Nine Heavens techpany? Did he mess up the location or something? No way they were this small!

    "Fine, if you aren¡¯t talking, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m gonna head in to look for the man in charge." Seeing how Shi Teng¡¯s assistant was staring nkly into empty air, the financial giant furrowed his brows and proceeded to enter one of the office cubicles.

    The assistant stood there, jaws agape. In the blink of an eye, his face felt like it had been pepper-sprayed. To think that he was acting so arrogantly in front of his dream partner, never in his life had he felt so embarrassed before. If only he could curl up in a hole and disappear from mankind.

    He could not stand there any longer. He made his way back to Wanteng with his tails tucked between his legs, back to Shi Teng¡¯s office.

    "So? How are thingsing along?" Shi Teng asked as he looked up from the document he was reading. Of course, he waspletely unprepared for failure. After all, his techpany was the best there is out there.

    "Boss, we¡¯ve got a problem." The assistant was trembling. "Thepany Miss Chen was talking about is not what you think it is. They¡¯re actually Nine Heavens! The one that you were looking forward to partnering up with!"

    You could ask anyone what the next "big" techpany was going to be and they would not hesitate to answer "Nine Heavens".

    Theirwork speed was the highest throughout the nation and was as secure as a vault when it came to private information. Apart from that, their many functions triumphed over many otherpanies offering the same, but inferior service. Adding theirtest game to the equation, Nine Heavens dominated the local market when it came to the inte of things. In just a few months¡¯ time, this local firm had managed to get the attention of the entire globe. Foreigners might not know where China was but they definitely would know that Nine Heavens Network was "Made in China"!

    What more to say of the virtual helmet. From now on, said product would be China¡¯s main source of revenue once it wasunched worldwide!

    Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would know that this wasn¡¯t an opportunity you could simply skip out on.

    Even Shi Teng admitted defeat in the face of such a fearsome adversary. The moment he caught wind that they were moving to the Imperial City was the moment he decided to form a partnership with them.

    However, it turned out that not only did he fail to form said partnership, he had even insulted them at their own office. In the blink of an eye, Shi Teng¡¯s expression dullened.

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Chen Feng had led him into a trap. After all, this Chen Feng was narrow-minded and short-sighted. Else why was she so hellbent on killing the child that her husband had with his ex-wife?

    He sat there in silence for a while before calling Chen Feng.

    ***

    Chen Feng wasying on the recliner. Her mouth curled up into a menacing grin upon hearing her phone ring. At that moment, there was a middle-aged woman doing her nails. Shortly after, her butler brought her phone over. "Miss, this is a phone call from Mister Shi."

    "Hello?" Chen Feng answered the call with a smile on her face. "You¡¯re pretty effective aren¡¯t you?"

    "Effective? Chen Feng, do you have any idea how close I was tomitting corporate suicide?! Let¡¯s just end the n now. I don¡¯t need you topensate me for my losses today but please don¡¯t meet me ever again. Even if you want to die, I don¡¯t!" Shi Teng sounded furious over the phone. After saying what he wanted to say, without waiting for Chen Feng to respond, he hung up the call.

    Chen Feng¡¯s expression changed straight after she was hung up on. She smashed the phone on the floor, her face, twisted in anger. "Luo Weng! You bastard Luo Weng! You! Start the car! I¡¯m going to meet my father!"

    She was the only heir of the Chen family. No matter how far down she has fallen, there was no way her father was going to ignore her. It has been over two months now, long enough for the Jiang family to have gotten over her. She felt that this was the perfect time to make hereback. Everyone around her, she felt, was nothing but trash. In the end, it would be up to her to finish off Luo Weng!

    Luo Jiajun was about to head out when he saw Chen Feng storm out of the house. The woman smiled at him and said sarcastically, "What a fine son you have produced!"

    Luo Jiajun felt threatened by her words. Seeing her taking off in a hurry, he dialed Luo Weng¡¯s number. Just like countless times before, his phone would either be switched off or he would refuse to pick up the phone. Perhaps his phone number had be cklisted. Luo Jiajun cursed under his breath at his good-for-nothing son.

    ***

    Around that time, the financial giant was sitting in an office cubicle at Nine Heavens. "Please wait sir, Mister Luo will be with you in a moment."

    "Hm, thanks." The financial giant looked around to observe the officeyout of his would-be partner. After a while, he was thoroughly surprised. The appliances they had lying around were all top-of-the-line equipment, which although addedfort to the working environment, was extremely costly. A small office like this with its decorations must have cost over a million yuan for them! This... really was luxurious!

    Luo Weng safely sent his brother to school before arriving at the police station to answer a few questions. It was near noon by the time he returned to the office.

    "Great timing." Yu Ning was walking towards his office with a piece of paper in hand when he bumped into Luo Weng. He then tossed a bunch of keys into his hands. "Boss left this for you before she left. The car¡¯s downstairs. Find it yourself. I don¡¯t know which one it is. Also, someone¡¯s here to see you. I think you should go in and check it out."

    Yu Ning rushed back to his office after saying that. Gu Xiqiao had been in her office a while ago and had discovered a new method of cracking the source code. Their methods surprisingly shed. This, he felt, was worth his time investigating!

    Luo Weng¡¯s car had been towed away by the insurancepany after the ident. He had not told anyone about the ident yet and for Yu Ning conveniently passed him the keys to a new car...

    He found it hard to believe that Gu Xiqiao was not rted to his ident earlier on.

    Clenching his fist over the keys, Luo Weng walked closer to his office. The financial giant was waiting for him inside. That man was visibly surprised as soon as Luo Weng walked in; he did not anticipate seeing such a young man running such an important business. He looked like he had just graduated high schoolst year. Was Nine Heavensposed entirely of young people like him? This, the financial giant found, was hard to ept.

    He would find it even harder to swallow if he knew that Luo Weng was just a freshman at A University.

    "We are not interested in cooperation but what we can offer, is a new investment method." Luo Weng had a photographic memory. He had briefly scanned through the list of people interested in a partnership with hispany and this man was part of said list. "Please have a look at this."

    He quickly typed in a series of codes on hisputer. After mingling with Yu Ning, he now understood basic programming. Soon, dense lines of digits filled hisputer screen. "We can change the way we cooperate. You help us procure advertising space, and this investment will be yours."

    There was a reason why this man was called a "financial giant"; it was because of his ability to analyze cash flow that he was renowned worldwide. He hade here expecting to help Nine Heavens expand their business, not to receive an investment n from them.

    Listening to Luo Weng made the financial giant¡¯s brows furrow. There was already a great number of investment methods hispany possessed, all of which were fundamentally the same. Likewise, there were a handful of financial management systems hispany was using. Why would he need another one in exchange for providing advertising space for these fools? He was no fool himself!

    Still, forcing politeness, he epted the piece of paper, which he half-heartedly nced through. His eyes caught onto something that made him suck in a mouthful of air. "9% risk-free, guaranteed profit?! What?!"

    Even for a world-sspany, the highest returns one would get from investing while remaining risk-free was 3.4%. Them offering 9% meant that one would get more than three times the returns, which was to say that if one invested ten million for exactly one year, said person would receive 900, 000 every year. If you had a bit more capital, it was easy to get up to five million in returns every year.

    Apany could grow exponentially with this investment n.

    The financial giant stared nkly at the paper. He did not understand theplex form behind it but he sure understood the digits printed on it. He looked up at Luo Weng, wide-eyed. "A-Aren¡¯t you guys a techpany?"

    Luo Weng responded with a humble smile. "We are well-known for ourwork system but our financial management is also fairly robust."

    Fairly? No, that wasn¡¯t the right word, the financial giant thought. This was revolutionary! The man thought to himself, ¡¯It would be great if you guys could just stick with tech. Now you¡¯re trying topete with us too?¡¯

    "Well, we¡¯ll stick to this for the moment. d to be working with you. We will be starting operations here the day after tomorrow and I hope to see you soon!" Luo Weng passed the partnership agreement to the man with a slight smile.

    "Why of course! I¡¯ll be seeing you soon!" He must keep his eyes glued to thispany. With 9% guaranteed returns, he would be smiling even in his dreams.

    Luo Weng thought to himself, ¡¯If only you knew about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s investment n that would guarantee 15% returns, would you just die on the spot?¡¯

    Following that, Luo Weng had to meet with a further ten well-known interested partners and sessfully procured ten more advertisement spaces. This was the way things were done back in N City. Of course, the best advertisement space remains to be their official website.

    ***

    Next morning, at 9 am, a new announcement was made on Nine Heavens¡¯ official website which had remained dead for the past ten days.

    Nine Heavens Network official blog site: Nine Heavens has officially established itself in the Imperial City. Tomorrow, at 10 am, at the International Exhibition Hall, we will be offering 5000 units of virtual helmets for sale. In addition, another 2000 units will be avable online for pre-ordering. This includes the Supreme Edition, the Deluxe Edition, as well as the Common Edition. It will be avable in different designs for you to choose. Our staff will be standing here, waiting for you."

    Commenter 1: "Ahhhhhhhhhh! Finally, God has answered my prayers!"

    Commenter 10: I don¡¯t care anymore! I must get my hands on this thing! Don¡¯t you dare steal my virtual helmet away from me! ??

    Commenter 113: They¡¯ve finallye to the Imperial City! Imma go rent a room near the International Exhibition Hall right now. I¡¯m gonna get my very own virtual helmet now! ????

    Commenter 999: If you can post on Weibo then you should be able to post pictures! That supreme edition thing sounds sickkk! You¡¯re teasing us by not showing what it looks like man! Reveal the damn thing already!

    Commenter 12,222: Those who live outside the capital are watching you guys with envy. Fellow pre-orderers, this will be a test of our humanity.

    Commenter N: Good God, there¡¯s only 7000 of them for sale. And with so many richfags around, this will be hell!

    Commenter NN: Am I the only one who has noticed this? Nine Heavens must be richfags themselves to be able to even afford renting the International Exhibition Hall ????

    Commenter M: Also, that ce isn¡¯t always avable even if you have the money.

    ***

    No matter what, Nine Heavens would always end up being at the top of the discussion. You could visit any news website and they¡¯d always be on one of their headlines. In fact, this new announcement made them overshadow even the announcement of a new popr film that was being released that day.

    Yu Ning was even more hard pressed to break the source code after seeing the crowd¡¯s response to their release of the virtual helmet. Something inside told him that the age of virtual reality had finally arrived.

    Luo Weng nced at him and thought to himself, ¡¯Gu Xiqiao would never care so much about what our customers think.¡¯

    No matter what, from today onwards, Nine Heavens would have solidified its foothold in the capital, the Imperial City.

    On the side of the office building located at the heart of the financial district, three words were disyed proudly across the middle five floors: Nine Heavens Corporation!

    Pedestrians walking by below all stared up in awe at their majestic name.

    Over the course of two days, Chen Feng managed to convince her father to allow her back to manage the family business. Although she wasn¡¯t as big of a yer she once was, the position she held was pretty high up. Right after she had dealt with that, she caught wind of Nine Heavens¡¯unch in the Imperial City, which was where Luo Weng worked at.

    Her cheerful expression turned cold again. Looking down at the traffic below, she sneered: "Nine Heavens?"

    ***

    After overseeing Nine Heavens¡¯ operation and being satisfied that they were heading down the right track, Gu Xiqiao returned to her dormitory. Her break wasing to an end and sses were about to start. Her room was surprisingly noisy when she came back. She heard Sun Jiajia ask excitedly, "Really? You bought the supreme edition helmet?"

    "I mean, it¡¯s just a helmet. You could y with it if you want," replied Bai Xinran. She looked up from herputer screen. "Oh, you¡¯re back huh?"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. She put her bag down and sat down on her bed. Xu Jing was not in the room, presumably doing something elsewhere.

    "Was that man really your boyfriend?" Bai Xinran asked. Jiang Shuxuan had left too deep of an impression on these girls. No matter in terms of appearance or temperament, he triumphed over every Tom, Dick, and Harry in their university. Also, there was that car of his, which they felt, was an indication that he was no average joe.

    She couldn¡¯t get over the fact that Gu Xiqiao had a boyfriend like him.

    Sun Jiajia put down the helmet she was holding and asked, "What¡¯s his family involved in? He has this air around him, don¡¯t you think?"

    "I don¡¯t know?" replied Gu Xiqiao while tidying up her desk. She knew that someone had been going through her stuff, which was why her gaze turned cold and hostile in an instant.

    "Don¡¯t know?" Bai Xinran¡¯s tense expression loosened up. She looked at Gu Xiqiao with sympathetic eyes. A man who refrained from telling his woman what he was up to meant that he did not care about her enough to exin the truth.

    Bai Xinran smiled deviously. "We should meet up sometime, have dinner together or something. Let¡¯s all get to know each other."

    Gu Xiqiao continued tidying up her stuff. "He¡¯s busy, doesn¡¯t have the time to have dinner with you guys."

    "Come on, don¡¯t be like that," said Sun Jiajia. Although she was born into a regr family, her standards were pretty high. She looked down on most people she met but hearing Bai Xinran¡¯s words made her impressed with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mysterious boyfriend. "We¡¯re roommates after all. No way you guys don¡¯t have time to share a meal."

    "He really doesn¡¯t have the time." An intimidating smile surfaced on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face.

    Being on the receiving end of such a look, Sun Jiajia snorted. Without saying a word more, she returned to her own bench and continued fiddling with the virtual helmet. "Xinran, how much did you spend buying this?"

    "Someone gave it to me as a gift."

    "Gift? Who¡¯s that? I saw online that this thing¡¯s going for tens of thousands!" Sun Jiajia¡¯s mouth was wide open. Her allowance per semester was limited to a couple thousand yuan only.

    "A friend of mine." Bai Xinran seemed to have remembered something as she turned toward Gu Xiqiao. "Oh, right, I recall seeing the icon of the game Nine Heavens had just released. Did your boyfriend buy you a helmet as well?"

    Gu Xiqiao sighed. What a bothersome fellow. "Nope." In reality, it was she who had presented the deluxe edition of the virtual helmet to him. Subsequently, she forcefully dragged him into a gaming session on said device thatsted hours.

    "But..." Bai Xinran¡¯s brows were tightly knit. "He should easily be able to afford it, no?"

    "I don¡¯t particrly enjoy gaming that much." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s patience was running out.

    Bai Xinran smirked. "I see that the version of your game is pretty far behind. Was thest time you yed it a long time ago? If you wanna try it out, I can lend it to you. Still, don¡¯t you think that that boyfriend of yours is getting pretty irresponsible?"

    "So-so, I guess." Gu Xiqiao really wanted to get out of this ufortable conversation. Thankfully, Xu Jing came back at the right time. However, her eyes were wide open when she looked over to Gu Xiqiao.

    "Beauty Gu, someone really handsome is waiting for you downstairs!"

 Chapter 126 Crappy Roommates and The Downfall of the Chen Family!

    <h4>Chapter 126 Crappy Roommates and The Downfall of the Chen Family!</h4>

    "Who¡¯s looking for me now?" Gu Xiqiao shot Xu Jing at nce.

    Her friend chuckled cheekily. "A very veryyyy handsome man. Says you know him. Um, I think you¡¯ll know when you go down and meet him!"

    Xu Jing was acting weird but Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t bother with squeezing information out from her. She blinked a few times before deciding it was best for her to find out personally what was going on.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll be going down then." Gu Xiqiao locked up her own cab before grabbing her phone and heading downstairs.

    Bai Xinran minimized her game interface as soon as Gu Xiqiao left. Pulling her drawer open, she revealed a fancy-looking set of cosmetics. "These are repair serums I got from overseas. They¡¯re really effective against sunburns. Here, see if you two need any of it."

    Sunscreen waspletely useless against the blistering sun during their military drills; Bai Xinran as well as her friends were now heavily tanned. A glint appeared in Sun Jiajia¡¯s eyes as soon as her ears picked up on the word "overseas". She had a keen interest in all things foreign, especially if they were luxury goods.

    Xu Jing smiled at her offer but did not walk over to pick one of her gifts up. This prompted Bai Xinran to open her mouth. "Xu Jing, would you like to try this out? Here, have a bottle. It¡¯s really effective. I¡¯ve been using it for three days now and see, my skin¡¯s noticeably fairer now."

    Born into an upper-ss family, Bai Xinran always treated others with arrogance. Still, that attitude of hers had paid off as it had not even been a week but she hadpletely won over Sun Jiajia¡¯s heart. However, the attitudes of her other roommates were lukewarm at best. Leaving Gu Xiqiao aside, she felt that it was imperative to win over Xu Jing¡¯s heart too.

    "Oh, you¡¯re right! Xinran, your skin¡¯s much fairer now!" Sun Jiajia picked two bottles of Bai Xinran¡¯s repair serum for herself.

    "Thanks but no thanks. My skin¡¯s naturally tanned. It would all end up in vain no matter what I apply on my skin." Xu Jing politely turned down Bai Xinran¡¯s generous offer.

    ¡¯How much difference can there be after just 3 days?¡¯

    Xu Jing¡¯s rejection definitely surprised Bai Xinran but she had always the premonition that she would be a tough nut to crack. In an instant, she tried to change the topic. "Hey, you said someone was looking for Gu Xiqiao right? I presume it¡¯s a guy?"

    "Guy?" Sun Jiajia asked while patting the repair serum onto her face. "I thought Gu Xiqiao already had a boyfriend."

    The way she said it irritated Xu Jing. "He¡¯s an ordinary friend. Also, having a boyfriend doesn¡¯t mean losing her own freedom, you know? Nowadays, it¡¯s not weird for girls to have a few good male friends around them."

    "Jiajia¡¯s just joking, no need to be so serious." Bai Xinran forced a smile on her delicate face. During the military drill phase, she didn¡¯t have the things to win them over with. Still, she wanted to get Xu Jing on her side. Surprisingly, she had actually grown closer with Gu Xiqiao who had done nothing for her, than herself.

    Did Xu Jing have a problem with her eyes? Bai Xinran was really frustrated about this. What did Gu Xiqiao have that she didn¡¯t apart from better looks and a high-status boyfriend?

    Bai Xinran continued smiling at Xu Jing sweetly.

    ¡¯You will regret this b*tch!¡¯ she thought to herself.

    Xu Jing mumbled a half-hearted response before grabbing her clothes and going into the bathroom. She had just be a member of the student council and subsequently, has been standing under the hot sun throughout the entire afternoon. Her shirt was soaked with sweat so taking a shower was her number one priority. Who cares about Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia~

    ***

    It was now evening. There were lots of people outside the female dormitory but all of their gazes were fixated on one thing¡ªthe man standing underneath the sycamore tree. He was sporting a minimal casual outfit but paired with his good looks, he seemed ssy and cool. His head was lowered so both of his eyes were hidden behind thin strands of hair hanging off the edge of his hairline. Still, his facial features alone told the tale¡ªthis was an extremely attractive man.

    Not many were able to turn casual clothes into an evening dress, especially for regr university students. Though, the Patek Philippe on his wrist confirmed that he was no snot-nosed university boy. He was a refined gentleman, a winner in society.

    Some women looked at him with pitiful eyes but that was his own fault. They wondered who was the lucky girl that he was so patiently waiting for outside their dormitory. If this was their boyfriend, never in a thousand years would they never let him wait like that!

    In the next second, as if by telekinesis, the man lifted his head to peer at the main entrance. As he did so, his pretty face was finally revealed to the onlooking women.

    No matter from which angle you looked at him, he seemed dashing and mature,pletely unlike the boys in A University who were still years away from graduation.

    Instantaneously, they knew that the person he was waiting for had arrived. Following his gaze, they traced it to the main entrance of their dormitory. There were lots of girls crowded there but they all figured out in a second which one he was truly waiting for.

    The girl dressed in blue stood out the most from the crowd. She had a pale, poreless face and a pair of bright eyes, as clear as a puddle of still water. Her eyebrows were so perfect that it looked like it was drawn on by a master painter.

    These girls never felt so much envy in their life. This girl was miles ahead of them in terms of looks. Ugh, this superficial, looks-based world is disgusting.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental strength was godly, as evidenced by how she was able to figure out who was waiting for her based on Xu Jing¡¯s vague description alone.

    "So, why have youe here?" She asked Tang Qinghong with slightly narrowed eyes.

    It took Tang Qinghong a while to regain his senses after which he quickly responded to her question. "I heard from my aunt that you were here, so I¡¯vee to pay you a visit."

    Of course, his aunt was none other than Tang Yanling. He had met her just yesterday. This was the aunt that proimed how she would never return to the Tang family after marrying her husband years ago. Thus, throughout his lifetime, the number of times he had seen her could be counted with five fingers alone. In fact, of the times he had met her, some were done in secrecy alongside his father.

    Back then, the old man of the Tang family had looked down on Yin Jinian. No matter how hard they persuaded him, he was stubbornly against Tang Yanling¡¯s marriage with him. If she did so however, he vowed to never let her back into their home. Tang Yanling, having inherited her father¡¯s stubbornness, went ahead with her own ns. It was like the sh between two unbreakable boulders¡ªnone of them were willing topromise. Tang Yanling, who had moved to N City after the marriage then swore to never return to the capital!

    Though, after the bloodbath that ensued, the Tang family has finally changed their stance on this issue.

    Speaking of the Tang family, although they were once considered hermits among the nobility, they had finally started opening up to the world around them recently. His brother had started an entertainmentpany that spelled the end of their hermitdom. And since this happened, the old man has been so busy with a bunch of stuff that he had forgotten about the ongoing grudge with his daughter.

    "So, it¡¯s just a visit then? No strings attached?" Gu Xiqiao eyed Tang Qinghong suspiciously. She thought to herself, if he answered "yes", she would immediately send her fist straight into his jaw.

    "Not exactly. I have something to discuss with you about." Tang Qinghong replied with a smile. Seeing how they were gathering more and more attention by the minute, he frowned slightly. "Let¡¯s find a more quiet ce to sit down at."

    Gu Xiqiao too, hated crowds. Acting as if Tang Qinghong had something important to tell her, she scouted the ce before finally choosing a more deserted pavilion to sit down at.

    The girls around the dorm entrance started gossiping among themselves as soon as the two left.

    "Oh. My. God. I know who that girl is! It¡¯s that popr girl on the school forum! The one whom they say is as smart as she was pretty!"

    "Ohh, no wonder her face seemed so familiar. So it¡¯s her after all."

    "I didn¡¯t think that she¡¯d be much prettier in real life. Oh no, you feel that? Something¡¯s happening with my sexuality! I must remind myself, I am a woman and I am straight!"

    "Wow, the freshmen this year are really impressive. They¡¯re a much more lively bunch than their seniors. I think there¡¯s already a handful of really attractive ones in their batch."

    "Speaking of this, I can¡¯t help but bring up my new idol, Wu Hongwen. He¡¯s that new kid in the student council. He¡¯s so handsome and I tell ya what, his personality really is made up of sunshine and flowers! Crap, I gotta stop my lustful desires from overflowing!"

    "..."

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao rested her butt on the railing that surrounded the pavilion. "Go on, what are you hoping to discuss with me today?"

    "It¡¯s hard for me to exin in one shot but I¡¯ll try my best." Tang Qinghong looked at this pitiful excuse of a ce to talk at. What he originally had in mind was for them to sit down at a nice, cozy cafe, where the ambiance was just right to hold a conversation. He totally did not expect her to pick this spot out of all the spots she could have picked. "I think you already know by now that I am a member of the ancient martial arts world. As a matter of fact, we, the Tang family, are one of the three existing families that are still practicing the art."

    He stared at her face waiting for a response that never came. What he said, she had already figured out long ago and she made no attempts to hide that fact.

    His story started with Yin Shaoyuan. He had told Tang Yanling about the incident that had urred at the base he was overseeing. In a fit of rage, she discovered that the elders of the Tang family were behind this incident. Without dy, she rushed straight back to the Tang family home and caused a huge ruckus. After the dust had settled though, old man Tang no longer felt the need to keep up his act. Ordering his men, they captured Yin Shaoyuan and brought him over from N City before locking him behind the Tang family¡¯s door.

    After all, half of the blood flowing through Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s body belonged to the Tang family. Before he could react, Tang Wenbo had him sealed inside the Tang family¡¯s legacy chamber to receive the legacy of the Tang family. Every member of their family woulde out with two-thirds of the seal on their body removed and would for the most part, function as a normal human being. And yet, the seal on Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s body was unbreakable no matter what. Tang Qinghong then remembered Gu Xiqiao and the pill she fed him earlier on to loosen up the seal on his body.

    Only she possessed such a powerful tool. And so, upon catching wind that Gu Xiqiao was at the Imperial Capital, he came looking for her as soon as the opportunity arose.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brows knitted up slightly. She didn¡¯t really understand much about this legacy thing but she had her friends list. A clear board appeared right in front of her eyes, on which Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s details were disyed.

    Though, from Tang Qinghong¡¯s point of view, Gu Xiqiao was staring nkly into empty air.

    [Beauty Qiao, Yin Shaoyuan is full of vitality and his mental strength appears to be at its peak. All functions are normal. But why isn¡¯t he conscious?]

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know, but give me those pills that I used from thest time, arge amount of them. Also, have you wilted recently?¡¯ She had rarely heard from it recently, let alone see it appear in her vision. Something was definitely wrong, she felt.

    The system¡¯s voice echoed from a void. [I did not wilt. It¡¯s just that the capital is too terrifying.] There was danger lurking around every corner here and so did bad omens. As soon as it left its usual form, it would feel an indescribable pressure closing in on it, just like what it felt in front of Jiang Shuxuan. Estimation suggested that it might need to level up one more time before it could maintain its physical form.

    Gu Xiqiao was already thinking about something else. "Let¡¯splete a couple more tasks to help you level up, alright?"

    [Chirp, chirp, chirp. Beauty Qiao, I love you so much!]

    ¡¯How disgusting. I don¡¯t even think we should be friends anymore!¡¯

    System: I¡¯m sorry.

    "This is for you." Gu Xiqiao continued chatting with the system before tossing something to Tang Qinghong. "If this doesn¡¯t work, you¡¯ll know where to find me."

    She¡¯de up with another n if it didn¡¯t work.

    Tang Qinghong instinctively reached out to grab arge bag of pills that did not spill despite her tossing it so carelessly at him. His handsome face was awestruck. He thought that it would be hard for him to get even a single pill from Gu Xiqiao; he never expected her to give him such a huge bag of them. He had personally ingested one of these pills and experienced how powerful its effects were. It must be an arduous process, trying to create these pills, he thought.

    So why was she so willing to give him such arge bag of them?

    "You should head on back and give these to Brother Yin. If it doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯ll try something else." Her expression was subtle when she spoke.

    Tang Qinghong realized that she was doing this for Yin Shaoyuan. Seems like they¡¯re pretty close friends. If not, there was no way a sane person would willingly offer so many of these magnificent pills which were near impossible to procure even with a vast amount of cash.

    "Well then, I¡¯ll be heading back now." Tang Qinghong said with his head lowered.

    Gu Xiqiao watched him leave hastily before turning back towards her dormitory. She hoped that the pills would work as intended on Yin Shaoyuan. If not, she would have to go personally to the Tang¡¯s residence. Being affiliated with the ancient martial arts world was thest thing she wanted to do having just arrived here in the Imperial Capital.

    ***

    Back at her dorm room, it was pleasantly quiet. Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia were busy ying with Nine Heavens¡¯ newlyunched Virtual Helmet.

    "Oh, I see you¡¯ve returned. Are you really friends with that man?" Xu Jing really was left speechless by how handsome that man waiting outside the dorm entrance was.

    Gu Xiqiao mumbled a response before pulling out herptop to check her ss schedule. Then, she nced at Xu Jing¡¯s dead tired face.

    "What happened to you?"

    Xu Jing sighed as she rested her jaw on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s table. With a sad expression, she exined, "As you know, I became a member of the student council¡¯s news department, in an attempt to follow my senior¡¯s footsteps. She¡¯s the second-inmand in her department and everything wasing along oh so smoothly. But for some reason, we were ordered to do some promotional bullcrap this afternoon! Isn¡¯t this supposed to be the PR¡¯s job?! I had to stand outside the hall the entire frickin¡¯ afternoon! Ah, I guess my stars are misaligned today."

    It¡¯s not surprising for one to have friends and rtives in the student council. Xu Jing herself was also quite the capable worker; the new recruits there loved her too so it was hard to exin why she received such a tough job so suddenly.

    [Ding! Daily Mission activated: Help target character, Xu Jingplete her promotional project. 20 points will be awarded upon missionpletion!]

    It had been such a long time since she had received a mission like this. Gu Xiqiao raised her brow. She had sessfully downloaded her ss schedule. There were four subjects they had to study this semester, which were basic chemistry, organic chemistry, anatomy and histo-embryology. After that came the weeklyboratory sessions. It wasn¡¯t as packed as it was back in herst year at senior high.

    "What sort of promotional thingy are you trying to do? I¡¯ll help with drawing and painting." She downloaded the ss schedule on her phone.

    Xu Jing who was in the middle of groaning about her new task went quiet immediately. While rubbing her chin, she scanned Gu Xiqiao from head to toe. "You¡¯re good at art?"

    Gu Xiqiao turned around with a smug look. "I¡¯m fairly good at copying techniques."

    Xu Jing did not take what she said seriously. What matters now is that sheplete the task that has been handed down to her, and not how pretty it looks. "Wait up. I¡¯m gonna wrap up this report then we¡¯ll do this thing together!"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. Then, she climbed onto her bed and sat down cross-legged. She picked up one of the textbooks that had been sent to her and flipped through them one page at a time. It didn¡¯t take long for her toplete one whole book, after which she moved on to the next book.

    Bai Xinran was still ying her game but she just couldn¡¯t get into the mood because of something that was bugging her mind. Looking over to Gu Xiqiao, who was flipping through her textbook, she couldn¡¯t help but ask, "What are you doing?"

    No way was she reading books. No one in this world could read at such a speed, right?

    Gu Xiqiao thought to herself, ¡¯I can¡¯t tell her I¡¯m reading books can I?¡¯

    And so, she looked up from her book and replied, "I¡¯m bored so I¡¯m counting the pages in my textbook."

    ¡¯Girl, are you mentally ill or something? They call you a talent but you look more like a retard than anything!¡¯

    Sun Jiajia also decided to end their gaming session. Her in-game equipment was inferior to what Bai Xinran had so she was basically being carried the entire time. Now that Bai Xinran wasn¡¯t ying, there was no point in her continuing the game.

    "If that¡¯s the case then why don¡¯t you join us? Xinran¡¯s a god at this game! In fact, she¡¯s a mod at the top guild in the game, and she can bring you into it too!" yers in the top guild wasposed of the best yers in the game who were equipped with the finest equipment avable in the market. Sun Jiajia who came from an average family on the other hand, could not afford to pay cold hard cash in exchange for some virtual weapons, so she could only join the guild because of Bai Xinran¡¯s rmendation.

    "I¡¯m not really interested at the moment." Gu Xiqiao declined politely.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s rejection made Sun Jiajia¡¯s mouth curl downwards. Though, upon seeing her rival burying her head in a book, she too, climbed onto her bed and started studying basic chemistry.

    Right around then, Xu Jing finished typing her lengthy report. She stretched her torso beforeying out the art materials she brought back from the student council. She was about to start a sketch of the poster when Bai Xinran spoke out. "Jiajia, how¡¯s life at the student council? Would you like me to speak to your department leader? I¡¯m pretty close with him so I could ask him to cut you some ck."

    Xu Jing¡¯s eyes narrowed as soon as she heard Bai Xinran¡¯s words. After careful deliberation, she turned her offer down. "Um, no thanks. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to engage in such a slimy conduct. I, Xu Jing, have yet to hit the bottom of the barrel."

    Bai Xinran¡¯s smile stiffened the moment her mind processed Xu Jing¡¯s rejection. However, she was quick to defuse the situation that was growing ever tenser. "Well, if you ever need anything, you could just speak to me."

    Picking up her clothes, Bai Xinran waltzed into the bathroom. The moment its door clicked shut though, her gentle expression changedpletely. She and that girl were like oil and water.

    ¡¯You¡¯ll regret this!¡¯

    "Heyy,e over, time to start drawing now!" Xu Jing set the paper down onto the table before producing yet another smaller piece of paper for a rough sketch. With her teeth gritted, she said, "You know what? I think you just need to write the words. Leave the drawing to me."

    Gu Xiqiao had just finished flipping through the fourth book. She tossed the book aside and proceeded to grab the paintbrush from Xu Jing¡¯s hand. "Good girl, but let me do the drawing. I¡¯m better at it than you think."

    Xu Jing, who was initially skeptical about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s artistic skill was stunned when the painting began taking shape. She recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words from before. "Copying? Fairly good? No, no, no, this is exactly the type of painting you¡¯d get from a grandmaster of painting! Bob Ross level sh*t!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head was slightly lowered as she worked the paintbrush in her hand with precision. In a jiffy, the overall structure of the painting had beenpleted. This poster was about a news broadcastpetition held by the Ministry of Information so she made sure to paint a couple of microphones and some cute, by surprisingly realistic chibi characters.

    What¡¯s left to bepleted was the information on saidpetition. She ced the paintbrush down and picked up a calligraphy brush. Dipping its tip in ink, she began swiping away swiftly, stroke by stroke, just like a professional caligrapher.

    "F*ck me!" This was the first time Xu Jing cussed so loudly. "Beauty Gu, what you¡¯re doing here is like a whole another level to us filthy peasants. This isn¡¯t a poster! This is a work of art! And a damn fine one at that!"

    The brush stopped moving. Gu Xiqiao then took a step backward. "Is this alright?"

    "If that isn¡¯t alright, then I should just off myself right here, right now!" Xu Jing startedughing like a madman. Once that painting dried up, she made a vow to protect it as if it was her own baby.

    Someone was trying to bite her ass out there. ¡¯Just you wait¡¯, she thought. ¡¯When I find out who you are, I¡¯m gonna punch your face so hard, it¡¯s gonna swell up like a balloon!¡¯

    Xu Jing slept like a baby that night.

    ***

    The next morning, Gu Xiqiao went out for her routine morning run. Everyone was still asleep when she came back from the run. She ced the bag of breakfast she bought for Xu Jing on the table before heading into the bathroom for a shower. Halfway through scrubbing herself down though, she could hear her roommate outside professing her love for Gu Xiqiao.

    ording to the schedule, there was a long ss on basic chemistry in the morning. Gu Xiqiao had already flipped through the whole bookst night and every bit of information had been burned into her mind. Still, she found it hard to fully understand what those words meant. The professor giving the lecture was an older gentleman, surname Jiang. His sses were strict and so was his face, on which a smile never seemed to appear. The thing he most hated was the sight of a bunch ofzy, demotivated students.

    "That student over there! I see you fiddling on your damn device! You must be real good at this subject for you to do that! Now, tell me, you all have studied the subject of chemistry back at middle school and high school, have you not? So why are you studying the same subject all over again in university?" Seeing the girl who couldn¡¯t leave her phone alone for even a minute, Professor Jiang chucked a piece of chalk at her.

    The white chalknded smack right in the middle of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s desk. It momentarily stunned her before she shot up from her seat. Slightly narrowing her eyes, she thought of an answer to the professor¡¯s question.

    Her fellow coursemates started panicking upon realizing that the feared professor has finally set his sights on their lovable ss pet. Everyone sitting in her vicinity tried to help her by giving her their own answers to the professor¡¯s question. Some whispered the answer to her directly while some wrote them down on a piece of napkin which they folded and passed over to her.

    "Sir, I know the answer to this question," said Sun Jiajia with her hand raised. Pumping her chest forwards confidently, she started exining, "I have read through the textbook yesterday. To my surprise, while the concepts we learn here and back then are fundamentally the same, the things we learn here are much more in-depth and involve the use of moreplex terms. Apart from this, the symbols we use are slightly different as well."

    Professor Jiang nodded toward her and gestured for her to sit down before returning to Gu Xiqiao.

    "Do you have anything you would like to add on?"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brows twitched. Looking straight into the professor¡¯s eyes, she opened her mouth when everyone else did not expect her to do so. "We use the ¡¯hands-on¡¯ approach while learning."

    The professor¡¯s knitted brows loosened up. He was waiting for her to continue but what followed was dead silence. "And?"

    "Professor, you should know that..." Gu Xiqiao made sure to put up a smile. "...ss is over."

    "...what¡¯s your name?"

    "Gu Xiqiao." Before she could open her mouth, someone else had already answered the professor in her stead. A glow appeared in the professor¡¯s eyes. Before the start of his ss, someone had already told him that the current year¡¯s national top ranker was among this batch of med students. He, who originally thought nothing of it, and was thoroughly surprised by Gu Xiqiao.

    Sun Jiajia¡¯s expression was bitter. She had the perfect answer and yet the professor did not even spare her a nce. Why? Why did Gu Xiqiao¡¯s half-assed answer get so much of his attention?

    Gu Xiqiao walked out of her lecture hall. She had received a text message from Wu Hongwen, saying that he was waiting for her outside the entrance of her faculty building. It was this message that got her into trouble with the professor.

    Coincidentally, Bai Xinran¡¯s ss had ended at the same time. She was majoring in acting so she had more freedom than say, a med student. She was about to head on over to the student council¡¯s office when her eyes picked up on a sunshine boy. His back was leaned against a tree and he was presumably waiting for someone. Rays of sunlight that managed to prate the dense leaves above his head created bright spots all over his body, making his well-toned silhouette even more pronounced. Such a handsome guy, she thought. She¡¯d believe it if someone told her that he was a well-known actor.

    Lots of pairs of eyes were on this guy. Bai Xinran stopped abruptly in her tracks. She knew this guy. He¡¯s that new recruit from the student council¡¯s PR division, Wu Hongwen.

    Not only did this rookie have good-looks, he was also a sweet-talker. His proficiency in talking was so much so that he managed tond a sponsorship of five thousand yuan for the student council, which also earned him the president¡¯s praise and respect.

    Apparently, he was studying financial management and shortly after enrollment into said course, he was nominated as their most attractive student by his fellow peers. ording to hearsay, his personality was cold and distant. They said he was hard to approach. She personally had approached him too and just like what she heard, his reaction was lukewarm at best. She figured that he bore no ill-will toward herself and that it was just his personality.

    This was the first time Bai Xinran had been shot down by a member of the opposite side. She, who had conquered Xia Zijun, felt her ego take a critical hit after being given the cold shoulder by Wu Hongwen.

    "What¡¯s up Xinran? Is Prince Charming waiting for you?" asked the curious girl standing beside her.

    Bai Xinran shook her head. "I don¡¯t think so. He¡¯s from the student council so we¡¯re only acquaintances. We¡¯re not as close as you think."

    "Hey, look!" The girl interrupted her. "That girl, isn¡¯t she the one who they say was the national top ranker?! Um, Gu Xiqiao, right?!"

    Bai Xinran¡¯s brows furrowed upon hearing that name. Peering up, she saw Wu Hongwen¡¯s ice-cold expression turn into a warm smile. From time to time, he would even chuckle when talking to that girl. He was theplete opposite from who he was back at the student council.

    And that girl! Her face was so familiar! That¡¯s because she was none other than Gu Xiqiao!

    "Oh man, she looks much prettier in real life. Thank goodness she isn¡¯t our coursemate. Else, we¡¯d be in deep trouble, don¡¯t you think?" eximed the girl beside Gu Xiqiao.

    Bai Xinran was sick of hearing these words. Her hand reached up to her face. She wasn¡¯t too far below Gu Xiqiao right? So why did everyone stop talking about her right after Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arrival?

    "I bet you don¡¯t know this but..." Bai Xinran smiled at the girl. "...I¡¯m roommates with Gu Xiqiao. She has a boyfriend already."

    "A boyfriend?" The girl instinctively looked over to Wu Hongwen.

    Bai Xinran opened her mouth once more. "You¡¯re looking at the wrong guy. He¡¯s another rich man¡¯s son."

    The girl¡¯s brows became knitted upon hearing Bai Xinran¡¯s words.

    ***

    While talking to Gu Xiqiao, Wu Hongwen noticed that her mind had already wandered off elsewhere. He scratched his head at what her mind was currently preupied with. "Did you hear what I said? I said, Yao Jiamu has somehow befriended the senior manager at a nightclub recently!"

    "I heard you." Gu Xiqiao stretched her body. Yao Jiamu¡¯s unique set of abilities meant that there would be demand for his service no matter where he went.

    She was more interested in the conversation that was happening between the two standing behind her. ¡¯Bai Xinran? The Bai family? Guess I¡¯ll have to do some research when I get home.¡¯

    Xiao Yun was waiting for them both at the university entrance. She had a tall stature and her default facial expression was joyless, which made quite a number of heads turn in the short time that she stood there waiting.

    Finally, they could meet up again after settling their respective tasks. There were no sses for the rest of the afternoon so Wu Hongwen suggested that they should pay Yao Jiamu a visit. Xiao Yun was surprised upon learning of their destination. She had never been to a nightclub before.

    "Well then, let¡¯s wait until it¡¯s dark. Their doors are closed right now anyways." Gu Xiqiao looked at the sky. She felt like going to Nine Heavens to check on the current situation there.

    And so, Gu Xiqiao left after having lunch together with Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun.

    "Have you realized something?" Wu Hongwen whispered to Xiao Yun.

    "What?" Xiao Yun looked up.

    Wu Hongwen made a sad face. "Ever sinceing to the capital."

    Xiao Yun then urged him to continue speaking.

    Wu Hongwen peered up at the sky, like a great philosopher who had attained enlightenment.

    "Er Qiao has stopped loving us."

    "I swear to God, you¡¯re retarded!"

    "Forget it, I have just bought the deluxe version of the virtual helmet two days ago. How about we y a match or two together? Maybe we can get Er Qiao to join us too!"

    It was as if Wu Hongwen¡¯s soul had returned to his body when talking about games.

    Xiao Yun agreed to his proposition immediately. She had been so busy with military drills that she did not even get the chance to y on her phone. What more to say of a gaming tform?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had by now, arrived at Nine Heavens. It was rare for her to see Luo Weng here but he was currently in a meeting with the employees. From the window, she could see his dead serious face that did not change throughout the entire meeting.

    Gu Xiqiao plopped down on her office chair and eavesdropped on said meeting. She now knew why Luo Weng had arranged for this meeting to be held. The Chen family, who had gone silent over the past few days have now struck again.

    As the saying goes, even the strongest dragon cannot defeat a snake in its burrow. Not only was Nine Heavens not a nativepany to the Imperial Capital, it had only started operating here just days ago. In an instant, a handful of powerfulpanies hade saying that they wanted to pull out of the joint-project with Nine Heavens.

    They have just started arge-scalework construction project and this divestment would deal a massive blow against the progress of this project. It would be a matter of time before theirpany would be reduced to dust and then, disappear as it gets blown into the wind.

    At least, this was what Chen Feng had thought would y out. Her lips curled up into a malicious smile as she looked through the report her assistant handed her. "Luo Weng! I will make you kneel before me!"

    Her dream would soon be reality! Or so she thought. Things could not turn out any further from her imagination.

    Beads of sweat dotted the forehead of the financial giant who had just learned about this situation. He thought to himself, ¡¯What are they thinking!? Is something wrong with their heads to suddenly pull out of this project?! This is the golden opportunity! How could they be so oblivious to such a great project!? Fools! That¡¯s right, what massive fools they are!¡¯

    He had just received a phone call from Chen Feng. With a smile, he said firmly, "President Chen, I will not be divesting my funds from this project. If I end up losing money then so be it. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m short on dough anyways."

    Like oil and water they were! Chen Feng took on a more displeased tone. "I don¡¯t care if you believe me or not, but I am a phone call away from making this ce a hellhole for you."

    "Of course I believe you!" The financial giant didn¡¯t seem fazed by her threat. "But as a businessman, I must be a man of my word! How would I continue conducting business deals here if I just abandon agreements? Please, you have to understand where I¡¯ming from, President Chen."

    Chen Feng furiously hung up the call. Still, the man didn¡¯t mind angering her. Life still went on without her. In fact, he had recently bought a fortune cat to help boost his luck in business.

    Those who pulled out of the project looked at the financial giant with pitiful eyes. One even asked him, "Aren¡¯t you afraid that the Chens would take revenge on you?"

    Although the Chens weren¡¯t the most powerful family in the capital, they were still a well-established family. Their founder was apparently a prominent figure during the days when triads ruled the streets. The current leader of their family had the face of a cruel dictator, and he certainly acted like one, hence why no one dared to stand in his way.

    Still, the financial giant was firm in his decision. "What is there to be afraid of? I believe that Nine Heavens will continue soaring ever higher."

    "Where¡¯s that confidence from?" Had he lost his mind? His rades" chattered among themselves, about how he had potentially gone insane. In the end, they did not warn him. Instead, they decided to look at him like how you would at a horrible car crash.

    The man¡¯s words were still repeating in Chen Feng¡¯s ears. Sheughed maniacally as she looked forward to hearing news about Nine Heavens¡¯ copse from her assistant.

    That news did note. What came instead was something that would shock her for the rest of her life.

    The Wang family, who was cooperating with the Chen family in real estate development in the north of the Imperial Capital, had suddenly decided to pull out of the project. The Chen family had already invested more than one billion in this project and construction had already started. Despite this, the Wangs suddenly announced their withdrawal without providing an exnation whatsoever. They did however, pay ten million in liquidated damages as specified in their contract.

    Chen Feng, who had invested most of her family¡¯s assets into this project saw nothing but darkness in front of her eyes. "Call the Wang family! I demand to know the reason for their divestment!"

    "President Chen, we didn¡¯t want to divest our funds either but... we are interested in cooperating with Nine Heavens. As you know, the expected returns from investing in tech is much higher than real estate." He then hung up immediately after.

    Chen Feng angrily mmed her phone down upon hearing the line go dead.

    She could not simply let billions go to waste like this!

    How could Nine Heavens, who had the most robust investment n possibly run out of funds? On paper, they may bebeled as aworkpany but unbeknownst to the citizens of the Imperial Capital, they were involved in investments too. In fact, Gu Xiqiao had just devised a risk-free investment method that guaranteed a return of 15% per annum.

    Upon uploading the n onto the inte, a tidal wave of investors from all over the world swept over them, offering their investments and yet none of them were epted by Nine Heavens.

    At the same time, the financial giant who had not terminated his contract with Nine Heavens began to enjoy the fruits of his decision. Nine Heavens had recently been on the offensive, releasing a great deal of ground-breaking softwares and as the icing on the cake, they even released a short clip of what to expect from their virtual world, which took the nation by storm.

    The United States had already dered that it would take at least a decade before a fully-functional virtual world could be rolled out and yet, China woulde to disprove their statement.

    In the end, articles rted to Nine Heavens dominated the headlines on the inte.

    ***

    At the same time, in the Chen family home.

    Face drained of color, Chen Feng knelt before the patriarch of the family. In a fit of rage, the old man flipped the coffee table over. "Chen Feng! Remember your promise?! You said you would handle thepany well! That you would not meddle in others¡¯ affairs! So why?! Why have you stirred up so much trouble for us?! Will you only be satisfied when our family is utterly destroyed?!"

    "Father!" Teary-eyed, Chen Feng looked up at the old man. "I just wanted to teach Luo Weng a lesson! I never thought that it would turn out like this!"

    "You never thought?" The old man was frustrated at how little his daughter had learned from her past experience. "How can you be so short-sighted? He¡¯s just a boy. We have already gotten over him so why can¡¯t you!? Now that your n has blown up in your face, youe here to beg for my help!?"

    "Father please, I have made a mistake. Your daughter has wronged you. Please tell me what to do next, please..."

    The man couldn¡¯t bear to see his daughter crying like this. "Luo Weng will be representing hispany at a charity party tonight. Follow me there. We¡¯ll try to clear up our misunderstanding with him."

    "Okay." Chen Feng wasn¡¯t going to do that. Clear up a misunderstanding? With the son of her husband¡¯s ex-wife? To hell with that! To her, doing such a thing was on the same level as eating dog feces.

    That evening, Chen Feng went with her father as well as with Luo Jiajun, who was never allowed to take part in such asions, to the charity party.

    Luo Jiajun was surprised when he was told that he could participate in tonight¡¯s event. Then, from her remarks, he figured out that this must¡¯ve been because of the son that he had abandoned years ago. From then on, an ominous feeling lingered in his heart.

    He had never once taken his own son seriously. Throughout the years, never once had he spoken to that boy. However, this silence was broken when he warned the boy againsting to the Imperial Capital. It never crossed his mind that this boy had grown up to be a man of significant social standing, such that even the Chen family had to bow down to him.

    It took Luo Jiajun a matter of seconds to locate his son from the crowd at the party. This was because of the striking simrity between son and father.

    This was the son who he had looked down upon up until recently. Surrounding him were a couple of sessful people, who seemed honored to be speaking with him.

    When had he be such a capable man?

    Upon recognizing Luo Weng¡¯s face, the leader of the Chen family stepped forward and greeted, "Brother Luo, I see you have achieved quite a lot for a man your age."

    Chen Feng, who trailed behind her father forced a smile.

    Luo Weng¡¯s gaze glided over Luo Jiajun lightly before his mouth curled into a smile. "Oh, it¡¯s nothing to talk about. We have to thank our boss for that!"

    What he said was true. Thank God for Gu Xiqiao. She was the one pulling the strings behind this show. It was all a part of her n, which started the day she arrived at the Imperial Capital. He then remembered something she said to him yesterday. "Sweet revenge will be taken. Rest assured, Nine Heavens will have your back till the very end."

    Luo Weng was putting up a pretty convincing act. The corner of Chen Feng¡¯s mouth twitched in anger.

    ¡¯A fool¡¯s luck he has!¡¯

    "But, for a young man like you, it¡¯s better to have passion in what you do," said the old man with a friendly smile. "But don¡¯t look down on us old men! We¡¯re pretty tough fighters too."

    What he actually meant was "Don¡¯t mess with the Chen family. Should you stand in our way, I will take you down, even if it means imminent death."

    If it was any other day, Luo Weng would have backed down upon hearing this. However, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words emboldened him. She had given him the opportunity and courage. The entirepany was supporting him so what was there to be scared of?

    "I¡¯ll be waiting then." Luo Weng raised his ss, his expression, as cool as ice.

    Tensions were high during such an exchange. The old man¡¯s warm expression turned cold in the blink of an eye. "I certainly don¡¯t hope to see you copse under your own weight in the future!"

    "Well, I wonder what that feels like. I presume you¡¯ve learned firsthand what that¡¯s like from yesterday¡¯s incident?" Luo Weng had not the time to open his mouth before a woman¡¯s voice came from behind. A young woman slowly walked up to his side. One of the hall¡¯s spotlights were shining from behind her back, so it was hard to make out her face clearly. Still, Chen Feng was able to catch a glimpse of a pair of crystal clear eyes.

    She was smiling, and yet they could feel the pressure ramping up.

    The old man was wide-eyed when she walked up in front of him. "You!"

    He was pissed off, but he had nothing to use against her. And so, he turned to leave as he said, "Don¡¯t you dare regret thister on."

    "I¡¯ll be waiting right here," replied Gu Xiqiao with a smile.

    Luo Jiajun stole a nce at Luo Weng. In the end, he decided to ce his chips on the Chen family. While he had not the slightest clue about the current situation in the Imperial Capital, he knew that the Chens were quite powerful and no matter how capable Luo Weng was, there was no way he could topple their entire family, right?

    "If I crush the Chens, your cheap father may drown with them too. Would you object to my decision?" asked Gu Xiqiao.

    "No. No objections," replied Luo Weng with an unchanging expression. He had nothing but disdain for Luo Jiajun. If not for him, his mother would not have been murdered by Chen Feng. He felt that he would not feel even an ounce of guilt if every single member of the Chen family was to die in front of him.

    "Very well. Enjoy the show." Gu Xiqiao said with a smile on her face. The reason why she had held back her punches against the Gu family was because they were her own flesh and blood. To date, she had not done anything drastic towards them; she still had her trump card that could destroy them at her will.

    As for the Chens, who were not rted to her, nor did Luo Weng care for them, the chance has finallye for her to dere an all-out war.

    The Chen family had its roots in organized crime, from smuggling, to moneyundering and a couple of other disgraceful activities. Recently, their country has been cracking down hard on smugglers. If proven in court, they would all be sent behind bars with no prospect of returning to their former glory.

    ***

    One dayter, Chen Feng was in the middle of a meeting with her employees when men in blue busted into the office and took her away.

    In the afternoon, news of the Chen family¡¯s destruction spread like wildfire around the Imperial Capital. Amidst the chaos, they realized that the time hase for Nine Heavens to rise up.

    The men who once sneered at the financial giant for not pulling out of the agreement with Nine Heavens were now dumbfounded. No matter how much regret they felt, they were barred from entering Nine Heavens¡¯ door, what more to say of discussing new business deals with them. A couple of them, after being turned down so coldly, went back home while cursing the already fallen Chen family.

    When did the situation here be so vtile?

    Damn thatpany! They knew that they had a trump card against the Chen family so why hadn¡¯t they revealed it earlier? Why had they chosen to wait for them to pull out before bringing down the Chens! What a bunch of cunning bastards!

    Regardless, fear of Nine Heavens had already been sowed in many of the peoples¡¯ hearts. They even started specting about who the puppetmaster was behind this operation. He must be a horrifying person to be able to topple the mighty Chen family!

 Chapter 127 A New Mission and the Short-Tempered Gu Xiqiao

    <h4>Chapter 127 A New Mission and the Short-Tempered Gu Xiqiao</h4>

    Luo Jiajun had not anticipated the Chen family¡¯s downfall toe so suddenly. To him, the family was an immovable mountain. When he first came here to the Imperial Capital, the Chen family was so prosperous and powerful that he had forgotten all about his own family. Blinded by their glory, he stayed with them in the Imperial Capital ever since.

    So what if he was considered a good-for-nothing son-inw of the Chen family? Life was much better here than back in N City where he had to work all day just to make a living. Here, there was no longer the need to rush around like a madman in chase of a wage. In fact, some of the rich folks here would congratte him from time to time. This all was courtesy of the Chen family. As for his poor wife, well, good luck to her.

    Luo Weng¡¯s recent appearance had reminded him that he still had a son. Despite this, he still looked down on the boy as if he was just another small fry. After all, how much could one man do against the entire Chen family?

    In truth, not only had he defeated the Chen family, he had also cut off their escape route!

    Chen Feng, her father as well as the high-ranking officials involved in the scandal were all rounded up and ced under police custody. Some sources say that the amount of money involved in their criminal activities numbered over 900 million!

    Such a massive amount meant that there was virtually zero chance of them ever making aeback; if lucky, they might spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

    Just what the hell was this Luo Weng made of? How was he able to take down the entire Chen family as if they were nothing?

    He sat on the stool, waiting quietly for the officer to bring Chen Feng out. She had always treated him with indifference. All things business was handled by her own personnel and he was kept in the dark when it came to a majority of their family¡¯s affairs.

    Because of this, he was released by the police after spending two days behind bars.

    "Are you here tough at me?" asked Chen Feng behind the tempered ss barrier that separated them. That piece of ss was like the boundary between two different worlds. It was only a couple of days and yet her face had undergone a visible change. Her once delicate face was now filled with wrinkles. It almost seemed like she had stepped into a time machine that went ten years into the future.

    Luo Jiajun looked back at her. "I... I¡¯m just here to take a look."

    "Now that you¡¯ve gotten rid of me, gotten rid of the Chen family, why don¡¯t you go find that son of yours, huh? Let¡¯s see if he would like to have you back." Chen Feng¡¯s tone was filled with sarcasm. "Back then, you abandoned them for the sake of money. I guess you¡¯ll be doing the same thing now, wouldn¡¯t you?"

    "You!" Luo Jiajun¡¯s face turned beet red. Staring back at Chen Feng, his lips were trembling. And yet, he struggled to produce anything. She was right. He really was thinking about meeting his son, Luo Weng.

    Without saying a word more, he stood up and left.

    Seeing his receding back, the arrogant look on Chen Feng¡¯s face shattered into a million pieces. She couldn¡¯tprehend why she had been reduced to such a sorry state. Luo Weng was nothing but an orphan. That very orphan who she was able to shove around forcefully without consequences back in N City.

    Everything changed when she got that warning from the Jiang family. It had been nothing but a downward spiral since then.

    She knew that Luo Weng was only being backed up by hispany, Nine Heavens. If she was given one more chance to get back at him, she would not underestimate anyone from thispany. At the same time, she would not give Luo Weng a chance to get help from Nine Heavens either!

    "Nine Heavens, Nine Heavens..." Chen Feng started cackling like a madman. Just who was the one behind their rise? Who sentenced her family to death?! She had nothing but hatred towards that person!

    Seeing Chen Feng return, her father and his aplices pressed himself against the ss window of the prison cell he was in and with a panicky look on his face, he asked, "Daughter! Our trial will start tomorrow! Did you ask Luo Jiajun to beg for forgiveness from Luo Weng!?"

    Chen Feng¡¯s footsteps ground to a halt. She looked at the man, who once stood proudly over others now begging like a dog that has lost its master, wagging its tail pitifully as it did so.

    "Beg? Where¡¯s your pride? Where¡¯s your courage? Why should I beg from him!? Who is he!?" There was something demonic about Chen Feng¡¯s smile.

    "You¡¯ve gone mad! If this goes on any further, we will soon be executed!" Bewildered, one of the high-ranking officials yelled at Chen Feng. "You are the one responsible for the situation we are in right now! If it weren¡¯t for your petty grievance with Nine Heavens, we wouldn¡¯t sink so low as to spend nights sleeping in a damn cell like this!"

    "My daughter, please listen to me. Get Luo Jiajun to beg for forgiveness from his son! For our sake!"

    Chen Feng did not answer her father. Instead, she resumed walking forwards at a constant pace. Previously, she did not hold back against Luo Weng so who was to say that he would show her mercy? This was especially so after having taken down his rtives one after the other.

    And even if he decided to forgive them, what could he do realistically-speaking? That boy at best, had a higher-than-average intelligence. The true curse that has caused the destruction of her family was the man behind Nine Heavens¡¯ wheel. Inparison to that person, Luo Weng was nothing but a speck of dust. He was just a bystander.

    That person was pretty clever too. Every man with connections to the Chen family had been rounded up by the police. She had originally nned to use these connections against Luo Weng but she did not expect him and hispany to strike pre-emptively.

    If she knew that she was going up against such a fearsome adversary, she would not have screwed over Nine Heavens. Still, what has happened, has happened; there was no cure for regret in this world.

    The corner of Chen Feng¡¯s mouth twitched as what¡¯s left of the glow in her eyes died out, leaving a pair of soulless eyes that stared into empty air.

    For such a big family to be toppled so suddenly, members of the ruling ss would undoubtedly continue talking about this incident for the days toe before gradually dying down.

    Although a member of the ruling ss, the Chens were nowhere near significant that it would destabilize the entire capital. However, they were big shots in the criminal underworld here. Just like how the old man had warned Gu Xiqiao during their brief exchange, that Nine Heavens would be shooting itself in the foot by messing with their family, even before the Chens could shoot themselves in the foot, they had already been casted into a well from which they would never emerge.

    Bystanders who were watching the Chen family crumble couldn¡¯t help but be awed by Nine Heavens¡¯ might. Nowhere in history was there a startuppany that had brought down an entire family of criminals like them. They must be resilient to be able to pull off such a terrifying feat.

    As the saying goes, a dog that bites does not bark. The Chens who were rushing through their n were theplete opposite of Nine Heavens that had remained shrouded in mystery the entire time leading up to their copse. It was only after the pulling out en masse of their investors did Nine Heavens reveal their row of pearly whites. This was a show of might to their investors, as well as to remove the Chen family from the capital once and for all.

    The final blow however, was dealt when they had uploaded evidence of the Chen family¡¯s crimes onto the inte. Everyone already knew that they were actively engaging in criminal activities but the level of detail in the collected evidence was far beyond any of their expectations.

    This was the most terrifying part of Nine Heavens. Virtually all of the ruling elites here in the capital had done things that weren¡¯t supposed to be exposed to the public. Should they piss thispany off, there was no saying that they wouldn¡¯t be exposed in the same manner as they had done towards the Chen family. It would already have been toote if it ever came to that.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao waspletely unaware of the level of interest the public had on her identity. Some had started specting about her age and gender. The most popr conclusion was this:

    He¡¯s a man.

    He¡¯s very far-sighted and a good tactician.

    He must be an older gentleman.

    He fights with one clean blow, meaning he must be younger than 50.

    So in the end, they created a bogeyman who was a forty-something-year-old male entrepreneur.

    When the system told her about this, Gu Xiqiao unconsciously reached up to rub her nose. A forty-something-year-old dude?

    ¡¯Do I look like an old man?¡¯

    [You earthlings are so funny. Everyone thinks they¡¯re a detective or something. But, they certainly have provided good reasons for their guess. In fact, I¡¯m almost convinced that you are an old geezer.]

    "I think they have gone overboard with this." Gu Xiqiao started her car and slowly drove towards the night market. She had agreed with Wu Hongwen to meet up with Yao Jiamu tonight.

    When she arrived, there were already two men waiting for her at the entrance of the nightclub. Because of how eye-catching Gu Xiqiao¡¯s car was, they knew instantly that she had arrived.

    Wu Hongwen stormed toward her. "I thought we agreed toe here on Monday night. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve been postponing this for the past eight days!"

    "Come on, I have some things to deal with. It¡¯ll be my treat tonight, okay?"

    "Ahem." Wu Hongwen cleared his throat but his eyes were looking somewhere else. He was staring at Xixi, who was perched on her shoulder.

    "Why¡¯d you bring it here?"

    Who on earth would think that bringing a pet bird to a nightclub was a good idea?

    "No harm bringing it, right?" Gu Xiqiao gentlybed the feathers on its head. It¡¯s not like she wanted to bring it here in the first ce. Though, Jiang Shuxuan insisted over the phone that she brought Xixi with her just in case.

    Xixi, being a sentient bird, decided not to give Gu Xiqiao too much trouble tonight. Silently, it stood on her shoulder as if it was just a regr bird.

    Wu Hongwen¡¯s eyes narrowed when looking into its beady eyes before moving down onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body. She was sporting her ssic "t-shirt and jeans"bination which made him facepalm uncontrobly.

    ¡¯Why did I forget to tell her to dress up tonight?¡¯

    This was his first time visiting a nightclub but he had done some research beforehand. After all, he was bringing two girls with him so he felt more secure after reading up about the establishment they were visiting.

    Though, considering their strength as a whole, no wait, considering Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength, he really shouldn¡¯t be the one worrying about things. The ones who should be worried were those who might try to stir up trouble with them.

    Xiao Yun, who had been briefed by Wu Hongwen had put on a ck dress. It was an ordinary ck dress you¡¯d find at the mall but for some reason, it seemed way prettier when worn by her. Perhaps it was her well-developed figure that made her all the more alluring or was it her beautiful face that would make countless men throw themselves at her feet?

    And so, even before stepping into the club, Xiao Yun had sessfully made countless heads turn.

    Inparison, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were glued onto the floor. Her outfit was way too casual and her frame, so slender that she seemed like a prepubescent girl. Here at the ssy nightclub, she stood out like a sore thumb. Luckily, Xiao Yun was here to outshine her in every aspect.

    It was gettingte so the trio entered the club straightaway. Upon stepping in, it felt like they had moved into a different world. It was far greater than a regr pub. Everything here was scaled-up, from the entertainment facilities, to the drinks counter, to the KTV booths as well as their public bath.

    The lights inside the nightclub had been turned down to the bare minimum. Gu Xiqiao looked over to Wu Hongwen. "Did you tell Yao Jiamu that we would being over?"

    Wu Hongwen smiled as he whipped out his phone. "I did. You guys wait here for a moment."

    There was a massive dance floor on the first floor where a lot of people were moving toward the upper floors. At the moment, it was drowned in strobing lights.

    Shortly after, Yao Jiamu came down from upstairs. It has been such a long time since they met and so much about him had changed. The most noticeable was his face, which has grown even colder than before.

    Though, this look melted away as soon as he recognized his three old friends.

    "Wee! Come, follow me upstairs." He brought them to a private room on the sixth floor. There were all sorts of services offered for this particr room.

    Along the way to the room, they walked past a handful of employees. These employees would all stand to the side and bow respectfully towards Yao Jiamu and his guests.

    "Hmm, seems like a pretty cool ce you got here," said Wu Hongwen with a raised brow. Seeing how deeply the employees were bowing, he figured that Yao Jiamu must¡¯ve been a prominent figure at this establishment.

    Yao Jiamu turned back with a smile. "I¡¯m one of the more lucky ones."

    That¡¯s right. He was lucky. His original n called for him and his men to upy a piece ofnd before slowly cannibalizing on the surrounding territory. However, right before his n started, he saved a person who coincidentally, belonged to the Dong family who owned this very club. On the streets, he was called Big Boss Bai. Both sides of the world referred to him as "Big Brother" so evidently, he was a pretty powerful man.

    On Yao Jiamu¡¯s first night here, he and his men subdued a mob on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, marking his first move ever made here. In thend that fell under his protection, he saved Big Boss Bai, who had been shot twice, one of whichnded dangerously close to his heart.

    If it weren¡¯t for Yao Jiamu, this man would undoubtedly have been dead. Because of that, Big Boss Bai became the godfather of Yao Jiamu. In addition to that, Yao Jiamu was offered the job as the general manager of this club.

    "It¡¯s that medicine that you gave to Weng that helped me. Because he feared that I would get mortally wounded in a fight, he gave it to me. We were this close from losing him but thankfully, your medicine came at the right time." Yao Jiamu recalled how blood spurted out uncontrobly like a fountain from Big Boss Bai¡¯s wounds. It was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s magical medicine that had supported the man¡¯s life before ER could arrive. Of course, Big Boss Bai wanted to meet the creator of this medicine but obviously, the chance did not arise.

    Wu Hongwen looked at him enviously. "And because of that, you now run this huge-ass nightclub?

    ¡¯What bullsh*ttery is this!? I am jealous! I am extremely jealous! You guys must be raking in so much dough, I mean look at the size of this ce! What¡¯s more, being in a prime location in the Imperial Capital, this ce must be worth a crazy amount!¡¯

    "So you¡¯re not nning to go to school?" Xiao Yun eyed Yao Jiamu. Her opinion of him had changed drastically ever since she stopped getting her ass whooped by him.

    Yao Jiamu pushed open the door to the room on the sixth floor. Turning around, he said, "No, how can I do that? In any case, I still have to bring a degree back to show my dad. sses are few and far between in my first semester so I¡¯m able to juggle between working here and studying."

    "That must mean you¡¯re staying here most of the time? What about your men?" From Gu Xiqiao¡¯s understanding of him, Yao Jiamu must be against the idea of bringing his men here. After all, they would cease to be his men if that was true; they would alle under Big Boss Bai¡¯s leadership.

    Her deduction turned out to be more or less the reality. "I¡¯m only here for the experience. My men are still in their respective territories. Didn¡¯t you allow me to teach them a trick or two? Most of them can hold off ten men by themselves now. In fact, they have be so powerful that we¡¯ve assimted with two other smaller gangs in the area."

    As expected, Yao Jiamu did not rely entirely on his new boss¡¯ strength. Though he had to admit, the process ofpleting tasks was much smoother with the help of Big Boss Bai.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. Before she could open her mouth, the system¡¯s voice suddenly red out.

    "[Ding! Daily Mission activated: Save Ning Qing! Missionpletion reward: 10 points!]"

    "[Ding! Random Mission activated: Help Ning Qing actualize her dreams! Missionpletion reward: 800 points!]"

    The two abrupt notifications broke Gu Xiqiao¡¯s train of thought.

    ¡¯Ning Qing? Who¡¯s that? Also, 800 points? It¡¯s been such a long time since I¡¯ve heard such an amount.

    ¡¯System, sounds like you¡¯re bing more generous as ofte.¡¯

    "[As generous as I may be, you should know that mission rewards directly reflects the difficulty level. To be honest, Beauty Qiao, I¡¯m worried about Ning Qing¡¯s dream.]"

    "What is there to be worried about? After all that we¡¯ve been through, you¡¯re now chickening out?"

    The System has started ying games recently because of how scary the outside world was. That meant that old habits have started resurfacing as well.

    "[It may be hard but nothing will evere close to chain missions.]"

    Speaking of chain missions, Gu Xiqiao suddenly realized that it has been a long time since she received such missions. She wondered when the next one woulde.

    Suddenly, a clear board materialized in front of her eyes. On it was a red arrow that was pointed in the direction of the door. That must be where Ning Qing was standing.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s current level of mental powers meant that she could now scan the entire nightclub with little to no effort. Her powers, like water bursting forth from a busted dam, enveloped the entire vicinity, locating her mission target within the fraction of a second.

    Yao Jiamu decided to y bartender for the night. Working here, he had picked up a trick or two when it came to drinks mixing. Using just the tip of his finger, he was able to make the liquor bottle do backflips through the air without shattering into a thousand pieces. Both Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun were captured by how cool his bar tricks were.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes shifted over to the door. Then, she turned around and smiled at her friends.

    "You guys have fun. I¡¯m gonna head to the bathroom for a minute."

    Yao Jiamu had already finished mixing a couple of drinks when Gu Xiqiao disappeared behind the door. With doubtful eyes, he asked them, "Isn¡¯t there a bathroom in the room? Why is she outside?"

    He was a little worried about her safety as this wasn¡¯t exactly the safest ce for a young woman to be wandering around alone. Still, he was more worried about the men who might be beaten into a pulp by her if she goes berserk.

    ¡¯Crap, if anything happens... I don¡¯t think I can afford to paypensation!¡¯

    "Don¡¯t try to guess what Er Qiao is thinking. I mean, you know how violent she can get. Tonight might be the worst night ever for those who decide to provoke her." Wu Hongwen shuddered when he thought about how badly Gu Xiqiao once beat up her victim. "How about you teach me how to mix drinks. This is precisely what makes a man a chick ma man!"

    ***

    Ning Qing was washing her face in the bathroom. Then, she wiped off the water droplets that had sprayed onto the mirror. She stared nkly into the now clean mirror. As of this year, Ning Qing was 25 years old. She wasn¡¯t what you would consider "young" in the entertainment industry. Ever since her debut at 22, the biggest role she had ever yed was as the female viin which everyone despised. Her Weibo followers were under ten thousand, half of which were strawmen set up by herpany.

    There was something demonic about her. She had a pair of enchanting eyes and cherry-red lips. There was no denying that she was a beautiful woman, but her looks meant that she was only suited for "bad guy" roles. And so, apart from ying the viin, she had only been given small, insignificant roles.

    She was an artist under Tang Enterprise. Her manager was responsible for two other artists but she was the worst-performing one of them all. It was hard enough to find a film for her to y in, what more to say of a major role.

    After persisting for three years, she felt that she could no longer hold on. Her manager was frustrated at how little she had progressed over the years. In fact, he rmended that she start sucking up to a couple of major yers in the industry. If she could do that, there was a chance that she mightnd a major role in some film that might turn her career around. However, she was firmly against that idea.

    She pulled out a couple of napkins to dry her hands. Just before she chucked the napkins away though, a silhouette suddenly appeared behind her. Then came a disgusting voice.

    "Miss Niiing."

    A hand came out of nowhere and pressed itself firmly against her lower back. Out of a sudden, Ning Qing felt an icky sensation rise up within her. She recognized in an instant who this voice belonged to. He was none other than the real estate tycoon who had sat at the same table as her during dinner.

    Ning Qing originally thought that he already had his eyes on another girl, Peng Zixian. She wanted tough at herself for making such a terrible mistake. From what she heard, this guy was a big shot in the entertainment industry as well. Recently, he had invested a huge amount into a book-to-movie adaptation, with Peng Zixian being the lead actress. On the other hand, she herself was only given a minor role in this film.

    Her manager would sneer at her from time to time, "So what if you¡¯re pure? You think it¡¯ll put food on the table? Wake up Ning Qing! Do you really think every celebrity out there made it because of their own ability? It¡¯s all fine and dandy if youe from a rich family, but do you? Take a look around you. See that everyone has already surpassed you in their career! Look, you have topromise when the situation calls for it! Think about it!"

    Her eyes closed shut. Her hands which fought to break free of his grip slowly went limp and powerless.

    Seeing how she had stopped resisting, a slimy grin surfaced on the real estate tycoon¡¯s face. His mmy hands were about to reach up beneath her skirt when someone grabbed onto his wrist with a death grip.

    This hand appeared delicate and frail. Despite the dim lighting, herplexion was noticeably pale. This was the most beautiful pair of hands he had ever seen throughout his lifetime. In the next second though, a jarring pain shot up his arm. The man squealed in pain like a pig that had been shot by an arrow.

    Gu Xiqiao twisted his ears then with a subtle movement, she sent the man who seemed twice her size, head over heels. As if that wasn¡¯t enough, she raised her leg before mming her heel down right at the center of his chest.

    "Shut up!"

    The real estate tycoon¡¯s disgusting squeals stopped immediately. His mouth was twisted in pain and the both of his arms were waving around violently but not a sound escaped from his fish lips. With his beady eyes, he stared back up at Gu Xiqiao in fear.

    Now that the noise had subsided, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tense expression loosened up. Then, she pulled out a packet of napkins from her pocket to wipe clean her fingers that had touched the real estate tycoon¡¯s body.

    Ning Qing did not expect things to take such a huge turn. Turning around to see her savior, she was dumbfounded by her beauty even though she had been working in the entertainment industry for so many years now.

    This woman stood out from the rest of the girls Ning Qing worked with. Her natural brows were perfect, like a brushstroke and her face, delicate like a piece of jade. The most eye-catching thing though, were her eyes, which reminded her of a cloudless, starry summer night sky.

    There she stood, sporting a basic T-shirt and jeansbination but oddly enough, the way she moved was graceful, like that of an aristocratic youngdy.

    She must¡¯ve been God¡¯s little pet before being sent down onto the human realm! If her manager were to see this girl, no doubt, he would force her into a contract with hispany immediately.

    With that face of hers, she could refuse to work and countless firms would still be offering her a job at their ce.

    "You¡¯re gonna give in so quickly?" Suddenly, a cold voice broke the silence, snapping Ning Qing out of her daydream. Her eyes quickly darted up to look at Gu Xiqiao. Her mouth opened and closed, as if she was about to say something.

    And yet, without waiting for her to speak, Gu Xiqiao had the system disy Ning Qing¡¯s information in front of her. From the disy, she got to know that Ning Qing had spent the first half of her life as an immoral person who had done some unscrupulous things just for the sake of achieving her goals. However, ever sinceing under that man¡¯s control, she had been toiling away day-and-night in the entertainment industry to no avail.

    Nobody knew that Ning Qing was truly passionate about acting. Her dream was to one day, gain global recognition and to receive an academy award.

    However, before this dream of herses true, she had already been beaten down by harsh reality.

    After wiping her fingers clean, Gu Xiqiao chucked the dirty napkin into the bin before walking up to Ning Qing¡¯s side. "Are you going to hand over your fate that easily? You have already been persisting for three years so why give up at thest moment?"

    Ning Qing was wide-eyed upon hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. How did this stranger know so much about herself? Without thinking too much, her mouth started moving on its own. "I¡¯m not giving in. I had no other choice, believe me. I have been holding on for so many years now and I¡¯m tired. If I don¡¯tnd a role in any movie, I won¡¯t even have enough money for rent next month."

    For an unpopr actress like her, thepany would never bother to provide free amodation. Apart from the asional minor roles she would be assigned to y, she worked part-time in order to continue supporting herself.

    It wasn¡¯t that she was giving in due to weakness but sometimes, it was hard to fight back against a sh*tty fate.

    "Don¡¯t forget your dreams Ning Qing. Believe in yourself. Continue marching on and one day, you will arrive where you once thought you would never be in life." Gu Xiqiao said with a reassuring smile.

    Ning Qing¡¯s eyes unconsciously moved downwards at the real estate tycoon who was lying on the ground pathetically. Did it matter if she continued striving forward? She had already pissed off a big shot in her industry. The glow in her eyes slowly fizzled out. She feared the worst was about toe.

    As if she could read what was going on in her mind, Gu Xiqiao reminded her, "It¡¯s fine, this guy will forget about everything when he wakes up tomorrow. You should hurry back for now. Let¡¯s make sure no one knows about this alright?"

    Forget about everything when he wakes up tomorrow? What kind of a joke was this? A painful smile broke across Ning Qing¡¯s face. Still, for some reason, that girl was convincing enough that she headed straight home without looking back.

    When she woke up the next morning, Ning Qing was relieved to find that her call log was empty.

    Unbeknownst to her, her life would soon be headed in apletely different direction.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao did not remain for long at the nightclub before going back to her dorm. Xixi remained perched on her shoulder. Thedy guarding the female dorm did not mind the little bird as long as it did not roam around the ce, threatening to bite the students.

    Only Xu Jing was present in the room when she entered her unit.

    "Hey! Wee back!" Xu Jing was busy writing her report when Gu Xiqiao entered the room. A beaming smile appeared on her face the moment their eyes met. She had decided, from now on, she would treat Gu Xiqiao like her queen.

    ording to her, the news department she was working in had been treating her rather poorly. However, this changed the moment she brought her painting out. Her work had been so effective that when it was brought onto disy, countless students had lined up to register for the event. The number of registrants was so high that it was two to three times higher than what the student council had initially estimated there to be. Because of this, more funds had been directed into her department.

    Now, everyone treated her like a precious asset, including the leader of her department.

    Xu Jing knew that the actions of a certain somebody was the reason why she was being treated so poorly by her department. Her head throbbed in pain when thinking about how she would continue her life in the student council. No matter how hard she thought about it, the only feasible solution was for her to resign from her position. Who would¡¯ve thought that the tide would turn so suddenly in her favor.

    And so, from time to time, she would sing praise for Gu Xiqiao in front of Bai Xinran, who could only react with stiff smiles. Pretending that she wasn¡¯t aware of her disliking of Gu Xiqiao, Xu Jing made sure to annoy Bai Xinran as much as possible.

    "Wow, what a pretty bird!" Xu Jing said while spinning her pen. She was surprised by how stunning the color of Xixi¡¯s feathers were.

    ying the role of a parrot, Xixi cawed, "Beauty! Nice to meet you! Beauty! Nice to meet you!"

    Xu Jing rushed over from her seat. "It called me a beauty! Wahaha! It called me a beauty! What a smart bird you got there! It won¡¯t leave your shoulder will it? Does it have a name?"

    "Xixi," replied Gu Xiqiao as she sat down in front of herputer.

    It took a while for Xu Jing to regain her senses. "Haha?" Something was off, she felt. "No, I¡¯m asking about its name. What are youughing at?"

    Gu Xiqiao sighed. "I mean, it¡¯s name is called Xixi."

    "Huh? Xixi?" Xu Jing¡¯s mouth twitched. Looking at its luscious feathers, she asked, "You¡¯re saying that you named this majestic-looking bird, Xixi?"

    While waiting for her game to load, Gu Xiqiao said, "Yep, is there a problem with that?"

    "No! Of course not!" Xu Jing returned to her table and continued writing her script. Still, how bad can her naming sense be?

    Gu Xiqiao not ying games in her dorm room did not mean that she hated them. Waiting for her was the same little loli dressed in pink. She did not bring her helmet here so something felt missing while ying the game.

    Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia both looked over at Gu Xiqiao the moment they walked through the door. That girl, they thought, was like a phantom. She would disappear and reappear unannounced just as she did with this week. They rarely saw her on campus not to mention the fact that she had been absent from their dorm room throughout the entire week.

    There were rules the freshmen staying in the dormitory had to follow. Evidently, Gu Xiqiao was acting outside of these rules. Whenever Sun Jiajia reported her deviant behavior to the student counselor, he would turn a blind eye.

    "Are you talking about Gu Xiqiao? The one who scored near to full marks for every subject in her finals? I know her! Her brain operates like a supeputer! What a legend. I bet you didn¡¯t know that the lecturers would never forget to sing praise about her every time we meet. That she¡¯s really smart and all." Their interaction roughly went like this.

    To her frustration, the counselor did not mind how Gu Xiqiao was breaching the rules. So what if she¡¯s smart? Does being smart give someone the right to stay above thew? How could a counselor be so biased?!

    To her, Gu Xiqiao was no genius. Sun Jiajia had never seen her flip open a book during their lectures.

    ¡¯Just wait till the exams arrive,¡¯ she thought. ¡¯Then they¡¯ll see that the top schr is nothingpared to me!¡¯

    What Sun Jiajia did not know was that the counselor was scared of crossing Gu Xiqiao. This was the first time a person of such intelligence had ever studied at this university. Students who had achieved scores simr to hers had only been able to do so under some sort of privilege system. Gu Xiqiao on the other hand, achieved her near-perfect scores through her intelligence and sheer hard work. Because of this, every faculty in A University would not even hesitate before epting her as a student.

    The physics paper in the college entrance exam that she took was set by one of the physics professors from this university. It contained a question which he said no one would be able to solve but he included it regardless.

    To his amazement, not only did someone answer the question correctly, she did so with unrivaled simplicity. The professor¡¯s knees buckled when he scanned through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s answer sheet. At that moment, he felt that she was the prophet sent down by God to spread the knowledge of physics.

    It wasn¡¯t only the physics professor who felt this. The dean of the Faculty of Mathematics too, felt that she was born to solve mathematical equations from how beautifully she solved the final question in the test.

    A handful of professors from different departments went for each other¡¯s throats in an argument of "which field Gu Xiqiao was most suited for". In the end, she picked neither physics nor mathematics. She opted instead for medicine.

    The Faculty of Medicine was excited to have her as their student since both her chemistry and biology scores were as high as they could ever get. Still, they weren¡¯t sure whether her aptitude was suited for majoring in medicine. That night, a secret meeting was held by the leaders of the mathematics, physics, and medicine faculties of A University. They reached a unanimous decision that if she turns out to not be suited for medicine, the dean would allow her to pick between mathematics and physics.

    In any case, the potential of a genius must be maximized.

    The Faculty of Medicine was, in fact, extremely on edge about the thought of losing Gu Xiqiao. After all, they had agreed that a talent must not be wasted if she wasn¡¯t as proficient in medicine than say, mathematics or physics.

    However, it was just a weekter that all of her professors started singing praise for Gu Xiqiao. Every professor would wear the same satisfied look after giving lectures to the ss she was in. She was a master at all things rted to human anatomy, as one of her professors noted.

    Even the infamous Professor Jiang was impressed by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wits.

    Considering how well she was faring in her current course, the mathematics and physics department did not make even a single squeak about Gu Xiqiao, what more to say of a little counselor like him? He feared that if he did so, she would just transfer into the Physics Department where there were fewer restrictions on their students. After all, it¡¯s not unheard of for students to switch courses suddenly.

    What the counselor did not know was that his words were reinforcing Sun Jiajia¡¯s disapproval of Gu Xiqiao.

    Sun Jiajia rolled her eyes upon seeing Gu Xiqiao gaming on herputer.

    "You¡¯re ying this game too? Come join Xinran¡¯s party, she can also invite you into the guild at the same time."

    "Yeah, since we¡¯re living together, it¡¯ll be easier for us toplete quests," added Bai Xinran.

    "No thanks, I¡¯ve got my own party already," replied Gu Xiqiao.

    Sun Jiajia scoffed. "Stop ying with those noobs ande join us, big league yers. Do you know our party leader? He¡¯s the second-best yer in the game¡¯s ranking system, Smoke On Water!"

    Gu Xiqiao remained silent. Well, Smoke On Water was her party member after all. In fact, this guy had always been one step behind her ever since this game was officiallyunched.

    [Team] For A Millenium: You guys focus on killing these low-tier monsters. I¡¯m going to take a shower.

    [Team] Brother Wu: Go on ahead! Now, let¡¯s have some fun shall we?

    [Team] Smoke on Water: Ok.

    [Team] Whispering Winds: Then I¡¯ll go offline for a while too. I have to do someundry.

    [Team] Merciless Sky: So only three of us are left to fight these guys?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao stood up from her desk. In an instant, Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes caught sight of the bird that perched on her shoulder. "Wow, is that a parrot? It looks so pretty!"

    "Yeah." Gu Xiqiao nodded as she picked up her dirty clothes.

    "I can¡¯t believe how red its feathers are." Sun Jiajia then curled her lips downwards. "How old-fashioned."

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t bother with entertaining them. She went straight into the bathroom. Of course, Xixi was left outside the door.

    "This bird must be really expensive." Bai Xinran ogled at Xixi, who awaited Gu Xiqiao obediently on her desk. "I think it¡¯s worth at least ten grand."

    "Ten grand?" Sun Jiajia¡¯s jaw dropped. She looked over at the bird whose feathers shone underneath the fluorescent ceiling lights. Her family¡¯s savings ount had precisely that amount, ten grand. To think that Gu Xiqiao had spent so much money on this dumb bird. Then, her mind immediately went back to Jiang Shuxuan. "Perhaps her boyfriend bought her this bird?"

    Bai Xinran stared silently at the bird.

    The color on its feathers was so fascinating. This bird must be of the highest grade in the realm of pet birds. It must be difficult to procure, even if you had a huge amount of cash. Only a select few had the right to possess such a bird, she thought. After all, she had never seen such a bird before, despite how rich and influential her family was. Also, from her observation, it was extremely well-trained.

    Apart from her boyfriend, who else could have given her this bird?

    Xixi hopped around Gu Xiqiao¡¯s desk when suddenly, a massive shadow was casted under its talons. Looking up, it was a massive hand that was far uglier than the mistress¡¯ hands. How ugly, it thought. In fact, Xixi was so disgusted by that hand that it wanted to spew fire to burn it. Too bad, it needed to keep up the act as an innocent little bird.

    Being the well-trained bird that it was, Xixi allowed Bai Xinran to pick it up without much resistance.

    This all happened in silence so Xu Jing, who was busy writing her script did not see what was going on.

    Xixi was horrified at how toxic this woman was.

    ¡¯F*ck, she¡¯s digging her nails into my body! F*cking evil b*tch!¡¯

    It wanted to smack Bai Xinran away but quickly abandoned that foolish idea. For now, it would let her off. Still, the way she held it hurt a lot!

    The look in Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes grew darker and darker. She thought, ¡¯If I press any harder, it would die. It would die.¡¯

    In the next second, a hand came in and grabbed her wrist firmly. Shocked, she suddenly looked up to find that Gu Xiqiao was already out of the bathroom. Water dripped off her soaking wet hair and dribbled down her neck.

    Slowly, Gu Xiqiao reached out to retrieve her precious Xixi. However, Bai Xinran¡¯s grip did not loosen up as she had expected it to. Instead, it continued growing ever tighter until suddenly, Gu Xiqiao raised her arm and tossed the bird abuser aside like a heavy sack of potatoes.

    Bai Xinran gritted her teeth and despite the pain, she crawled back onto her feet.

    ¡¯S-She! How dare she?!¡¯

    At a snail¡¯s pace, Gu Xiqiao inched closer to Bai Xinran. With a hostile look on her face, she warned, "Bai Xinran, I am a very short-tempered person. The next time I catch you doing this crap, I will destroy your entire family."

 Chapter 128 A Dinner With Roommates, Yao Jiamus Subverted World Views

    <h4>Chapter 128 A Dinner With Roommates, Yao Jiamu¡°s Subverted World Views</h4>

    The room was suddenly plunged into silence. Xu Jing had been focusing on penning her article, but the sound of Bai Xinran hitting the floor made her pause and look over to see the girl that had always been so focused on maintaining on her image sitting on the floor, her hair a mess.

    Taken off guard by the sight, Xu Jing looked over to Gu Xiqiao to see the other girl standing in front of Bai Xinran with a pissed off expression, her brows furrowed as she looked down at the girl on the floor with a piercing re, and it was the first time Xu Jing had seen her like this.

    Sun Jiajia who was booting up herptop to y a game paused too and looked over to see Bai Xinran holding herself up with the bed, her veins popping from anger.

    Gu Xiqiao was looking down at Bai Xinran with a strong aura, and even though she wasn¡¯t the one who Gu Xiqiao¡¯s anger was directed at, she could still feel the pressure that emanated off of the unassuming girl. As she listened to what Gu Xiqiao said, Sun Jiajia couldn¡¯t help but shrink back, surprised that the girl that always seemed so unbothered by everything would be so scary when she was angry.

    After a moment, of silence, Xu Jing stood up and handed Gu Xiqiao a towel. "Dry your hair, hm? It¡¯s dripping with water."

    Gu Xiqiao nced over at the towel before her aura changed again as she epted it, cing Xixi onto her desk and drying her hair.

    Humiliated, Bai Xinran red at Gu Xiqiao again before tidying herself up and storming out of the room with her bag.

    Bang!

    The door was mmed shut with such force that the windows rattled.

    Sun Jiajia immediately turned her head around and marched off to the bathroom to take a shower before hiding onto her bunk and drawing the curtains around it before finally breathing a sigh of relief. The sight of Gu Xiqiao fury from earlier was too terrifying for her, and she couldn¡¯t shake those eyes that were filled with an oppressing aura.

    How could such a thin person chuck someone that was more than ten pounds heavier than her away like that? Was she a monster?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t think that much of it after that and sat back at the table where Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen had been messaging her toe back to y. She clicked a few buttons and their party went to another dungeon before she saw Xixi that was acting dead on the table.

    Xixi shrugged and looked around at the room sheepishly, not daring to stare Gu Xiqiao in the eye.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at it for a few moments before muttering, "Stupid."

    Xixi pitifully chirped back in response. It wasn¡¯t stupid! It just wanted attention from Gu Xiqiao!

    "Do this again, and you get out of my sight immediately." Gu Xiqiao told it with a warning tone.

    Bai Xinran was just a normal human, and even ten of her couldn¡¯t hurt a feather on Xixi, but not only did she grab it, but she almost pinched it to death. Gu Xiqiao knew that Xixi was acting weak, but she still couldn¡¯t control herself when she grabbed Bai Xinran and shoved her away, and judging from how much force she had put in there, she wouldn¡¯t be able to heal under two weeks, and the doctors wouldn¡¯t even know what was wrong with her!

    She wouldn¡¯t have treated Bai Xinran like that had thetter not gotten in trouble with her in the first ce¡ªThey were roommates after all, so things really didn¡¯t need to get that way, but now that she had taught Bai Xinran a lesson, she felt much better.

    When bedtime came around, her phone vibrated slightly, and Gu Xiqiao switched it on to see a message from Xu Jing.

    Xu Jing: Beauty Gu, you shouldn¡¯t have blown up at her, you know? Bai Xinran is from the Bai family, so you might get in trouble...

    Gu Xiqiao knew that the girl was worrying on her behalf, so she replied: It¡¯s fine, I know my limits.

    Xu Jing stared at the message for a moment before nodding to herself. Gu Xiqiao had always been mature and smart, so she wouldn¡¯t say that without being sure about it, but she was still quite worried. The Bai family wasn¡¯t a family that could be trifled with so easily, even in the Imperial Capital.

    They didn¡¯t see Bai Xinran at all in the following days, and while Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t care at all and acted as she normally would, Xu Jing was quite worried and even asked the student council about it. After she got the news that the girl had been on leave, she was even more confused and worried about Gu Xiqiao.

    Meanwhile, Sun Jiajia didn¡¯t dare to act strangely with Gu Xiqiao anymore, not even daring to speak with her. Every time she saw her, she would remember what she had said about Gu Xiqiao behind her back, and she lived in terror that she might be thrown downstairs by the other.

    On the fourth day, Bai Xinran returned to the dorm, and Xu Jing, for one, was takenpletely off guard.

    The reason for that was because Bai Xinran had a gentle and perfect smile on her face as if nothing had ever happened, greeting everyone amiably and even smiling at Gu Xiqiao, and it waspletely out of character for her.

    ording to her personality, she was probably the type to seek revenge from Gu Xiqiao as soon as she had the chance to, but just from the looks of it, she didn¡¯t care about it at all.

    "I think something¡¯s wrong with Bai Xinran..." A certain Detective Xu muttered as they were eating in the university canteen. "Is she plotting something? You have got to be more careful!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pale and lithe fingers knocked on the table before she looked up at the other girl. "Don¡¯t talk about that person when we¡¯re eating, it makes me lose my appetite."

    Xu Jing sighed. "I wouldn¡¯t if I had the choice, but I¡¯m just too worried, you know? It¡¯s the Bai family we¡¯re talking about here you know? They would probably only need to blow a single breath to wipe us off the face of the earth!"

    "What are you saying? We are living in awful society." Gu Xiqiao rebutted, raising her eyebrows slightly.

    "That¡¯s true..." Xu Jing looked around, and since it wasn¡¯t lunch hours, there weren¡¯t a lot of people around. Lowering her voice, she spoke, "Enough about that, you know about the Nine Heavens Group right? You¡¯re a gamer after all. They¡¯re so, so cool!"

    Xu Jing was excited about the topic, and as soon as she started talking, she couldn¡¯t even keep her mouth shut anymore as she told Gu Xiqiao all about the exploits of thepany.

    She majored in journalism, so she was great atmunication, and she spoke about the trade war as if she had gone through it herself.

    "Eat." Gu Xiqiao was silent for a moment before she gave Xu Jing a piece of beef from her bowl in an effort to shut the other up.

    Before Xu Jing stopped, she finished off her ramble with, "I have no chance to be someone like that, but I now have the life goal of interviewing the person behind the Nine Heavens Group!"

    Seeing that the girl didn¡¯t eat, Gu Xiqiao picked the piece of beef back into her bowl with her chopsticks. "That¡¯s ame life goal."

    "You just don¡¯t know how influential thispany is!" Xu Jing sighed, feeling lonely talking about this with someone that had no idea about it. "Right, you¡¯ll let me interview youter right?"

    Gu Xiqiao knew that Xu Jing had joined the student council and the school newspaper department, and had been given a column of her own because of her remarkable performance.

    Xu Jing had investigated on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s poprity before, and it had already been twenty days since sses started, but not only had her poprity not diminished, it had even be greater and greater. At present, pages about her were still the most popr in the university forums.

    Gu Xiqiao would have outright refused the proposal to interview her if it were anyone else, but since it was Xu Jing, she didn¡¯t even think before agreeing to it.

    With her weekly quota filled, Xu Jing smiled in satisfaction. "Wu Hongwen agreed to an interview yesterday, and now you agreed too, and I¡¯m contacting that hottie from the Law faculty... All that¡¯s left is the mysterious genius Luo Weng from the Faculty of Management and Economics."

    Speaking of this guy made Xu Jing want to cough up blood in frustration. As the second ce holder of the national finals that year, he had a lot of attention on him too, but he was always a low-key person. On the first day of school, he applied for a semester¡¯s worth of leave, and along with the application was a bunch of thesis papers, and this application was approved by the dean of the faculty.

    "I lurked around the faculty for five days to be told this bad news! Just smite me now!!!" Xu Jing grumbled.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, because she would have said that only basics would be taught in the first year of university and that Luo Weng already knew all of that so it would only be a waste of time, but would she say that to frustrate Xu Jing even further?

    ***

    Meanwhile, Sun Jiajia stood in front of Bai Xinran in the dorm, her head lowered as she bit on her lower lip in thought. In front of her, Bai Xinran searched up some pages before showing them to Sun Jiajia.

    Sun Jiajia¡¯s eyes widened slightly, and she stared at it for quite a while. She had always known that Bai Xinran was rich, but not that rich, and when she looked at Bai Xinran again, her gaze was tinged with envy and jealousy.

    This world wasn¡¯t fair at all, the way the money that her parents worked all their lived for couldn¡¯t evenpare to one of Bai Xinran¡¯s dresses.

    Upon seeing her reaction, Bai Xinran smiled knowingly, a glint of disgust and disdain shing through her eyes before she spoke again, "Put what¡¯s in that box under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bed."

    Sun Jiajia took over the wooden box that Bai Xinran had ced onto the table. On the box were intricate, ominous-looking inscriptions, and upon opening it, she saw a paper talisman that was slightly yellowed and painted with ck and red pigment.

    When her eyes saw the symbols drawn on the talisman, she felt a cold and terrible wave of energy, and Sun Jiajia stepped back as her heart palpitated in instinctual fear.

    "You have nothing to be scared of, just put it in there quickly, this can¡¯t be outside for too long!" Bai Xinran goaded and smiled coldly.

    "Okay!" Sun Jiajia replied, before stuffing the talisman under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mattress.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Xu Jing asked when Gu Xiqiao suddenly stopped walking, her eyes squinting slightly.

    Unbeknownst to her, Gu Xiqiao could clearly see the energy field around her distorting and bing messy in a single moment. "It¡¯s nothing."

    Back in the room, Sun Jiajia was ying games with her head lowered, while Bai Xinran wasn¡¯t there. Sun Jiajia lowered her head and shrank into herself slightly when Gu Xiqiao returned, not daring to look at her at all. When the other only took some stuff and left, she breathed a sigh of relief and flopped onto the table, panting softly.

    There was only one session of sses in the afternoon, and an unimportant one at that, so Gu Xiqiao left the school grounds after sses ended.

    "Something¡¯s off today, isn¡¯t it?" Xu Jing¡¯s brows furrowed slightly when Gu Xiqiao tugged her out of the way of a car once again. At first, it was the basketball flying at them, now it was a caring at them out of nowhere, was she really so unlucky?

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the road, before ncing at Xu Jing. "You go first, I think I forgot something back in our room."

    "Alright, stay safe okay?" Xu Jing waved at Gu Xiqiao before skipping into the building.

    Gu Xiqiao walked back to the dorms, and at that moment, there was no one there. Gu Xiqiao pushed open the door and walked over to her bed, before flipping her mattress and seeing the ominous talisman under it.

    ***

    Bai Xinran immediately rushed back to the dorms upon sensing that the talisman had been touched, but when she arrived, there was only Gu Xiqiao sitting there at her desk, while her bed was clean and tidy. She tried to sense the talisman again, and it was still pressed underneath the mattress as if no one had touched it.

    Did she make a mistake? Bai Xinran breathed a sigh of relief, before looking at Gu Xiqiao. "I¡¯ve mentioned inviting you guys to have dinner together right? How about tonight, we don¡¯t have sses tomorrow anyways."

    "Sure." Gu Xiqiao replied with a nod.

    Bai Xinran was surprised by how easily she agreed to the invitation. Was this girl really Gu Xiqiao? She thought she would have had to convince her more than this.

    She stared at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s back, and Xixi that was resting on her shoulder turned around and stared right into Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes, its ck orbs gleaming as if there were mes in them. Bai Xinran was scared by the sight and stepped back in fright, but when she looked back at Xixi, it was still the harmless, pretty bird it had always been.

    Xu Jing didn¡¯t refuse the offer because even Gu Xiqiao agreed to it, and Sun Jiajia was thest person who would refuse, and in the rare event that all of the roommates were of a single opinion, Bai Xinran immediately reserved them seats at a restaurant.

    "We won¡¯t be going to the Royal Hotel today, but the Garden of Eden that opened up in the town center!" Bai Xinran said with a smile.

    Sun Jiajia heard this, and her gaze became even more expectant upon getting the chance to eat at a restaurant that was much better than Royal Hotel.

    It was quite far away from the campus, but Gu Xiqiao only furrowed her brows slightly, notmenting about it.

    The Garden of Eden was member-based, and in terms of interior design and facilities, it was a leg above the Royal Hotel, and upon getting off the car, Sun Jiajia was astonished by the grandeur of the building, having never eaten at such an establishment before.

    As the four of them walked towards the entrance, another party of people came out. Bai Xinran nced at them, before smiling and walking towards them. "Uncle Lin."

    Those people weren¡¯t wearing gold and silver, but with a single nce, it was clear that they weren¡¯t regr folk based on the way they carry themselves. This ¡¯Uncle Lin¡¯ was one of the Bai family¡¯s business partners, and Bai Xinran had met him before when she followed behind her elders.

    Even though the Lin family¡¯s properties were around the same level as the Bai family¡¯s, one key difference between the two families was that the Lin family was based on politics. The businesses that they had under their name were taken care of by Uncle Lin¡¯s wife, and their position was actually higher than the Bai family that focused solely on their business.

    "I heard from your father that you got into A University, good job." Lin Cheng spared a nce at the three that followed behind Bai Xinran, seeing that they were just ordinaryly in, he looked back at her with a praising gaze. "Are these your friends?"

    "Yes, they are." Bai Xinran was quite ttered and surprised that the man had remembered who she was, and as her gaze scanned the crowd, she gasped and eximed, "Senior Lin?"

    Lin Xia¡¯s gaze moved away from Gu Xiqiao, and upon hearing Bai Xinran, he nodded. "Hello."

    "I take it you two are acquainted?" Lin Cheng seemed in quite a good mood.

    "Senior Lin is the student council president and one of the most popr students in our university, how could I not know him?" Bai Xinran covered her mouth daintily as she giggled. She had never expected Lin Xia to be Lin Cheng¡¯s son! She had thought that the most outstanding person in the student council was Xia Zijun, but it was actually the humble and low-key Lin Xia.

    Of course, what she expected the least was that the son of Lin Cheng would be a student in the medical course.

    "Oh?" This was the first time that he had heard of this, and he was quite taken by this girl that was polite, demure, and well educated. "The student council president, hm? This boy never tells us anything about his campus life..."

    "Father, didn¡¯t you always say that you wanted to see the genius from our faculty?" Lin Xia cut the topic short, tilting his head in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. "That¡¯s her."

    Hearing Lin Xia¡¯s words, Lin Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly and looked towards the three again, and his gaze was immediately attracted to Gu Xiqiao that was standing behind Sun Jiajia.

    She was the most different in demeanor within the three girls, and her wless face attracted attention while she stood with good posture, but her hands were stuck in her pockets. Even though that was the case, no one would think that she was impolite or rude in the slightest.

    "So you¡¯re the genius Gu Xiqiao that even Professor Jiang praises endlessly?" Professor Jiang was Lin Xia¡¯s mentor and was renowned internationally as the authority in neurology, and Lin Cheng had used his connections to get Lin Xia under his tutge in the past. When he heard that this professor praised someone on his own ord, his interest couldn¡¯t help but be piqued by the subject of that praise.

    Gu Xiqiao was visibly taken off guard upon having the topic shifted onto her all of a sudden, so she replied after a shortg, "Yes..."

    "You¡¯re definitely going to have a bright future!" Lin Cheng praised.

    Gu Xiqiao was about to reply before her phone rang, and if it were anyone else she would naturally have ignored it, but it was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s designated ringtone, so she only ducked her head apologetically. "Sorry, I have to take a call."

    "Hello, Brother Jiang." Gu Xiqiao walked over to a pir and spoke lowly.

    The voice on the other side of the line rumbled, "Where are you?"

    A nce at the name of the restaurant. "Garden of Eden."

    "The one in the center of town yes? I¡¯ll go get you." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrowed slightly as he touched the jade pendant on his chest, thank goodness it wasn¡¯t too far away.

    "You can¡¯t do that, I have dinner with my roommates." Gu Xiqiao rolled her eyes.

    There was silence on the other side of the line before Jiang Shuxuan spoke again, "Continue with your ns, I¡¯ll go there anyway."

    ording to his schedule, he would have returned on the next day, but when he was out on a mission, he felt the energy on the jade pendant weakening, its glow dimming as it did. He knew that this jade pendant was intrinsically connected to Gu Xiqiao, so he hastened his movements and finished his mission beforehand so that he could rush to her side.

    In any case, he had to check on her to get peace of mind.

    Gu Xiqiao hung up on the phone, and Lin Cheng was still chatting with Bai Xinran, and her charisma had the elder man quite entertained.

    "I won¡¯t interrupt your ns anymore, bute and visit sometime yes?" Lin Cheng checked on his watch, before bidding Bai Xinran farewell. "We¡¯ll be taking our leave."

    This was the first time that she had been invited to the Lin family, so Bai Xinran was actually quite excited about it. "I will! Goodbye Uncle Lin!"

    Lin Cheng nodded and was about to bid Gu Xiqiao farewell too, but upon remembering what Bai Xinran had said, he frowned slightly and turned away.

    He didn¡¯t need to have manners for a promiscuous university student that slept around with many men.

    Lin Cheng andpany had just made their way down the stairs before a ck car stopped in front of them, its tires screeching as it decelerated, and Lin Cheng stopped as he saw that it.

    The car itself wasn¡¯t all that special, but its number te. ¡¯¾©1000¡¯ certainly was. Lin Cheng had the luck to see this number te once at an extremely important meeting, and he knew how important the person in the car was, and he retracted his steps as he looked at the car respectfully.

    A lithe hand pushed open the door, and the man inside stepped out.

    A pair of icy cold eyes gleamed in the night, its owner having thin lips and a high nose, but what stood out the most about the man wasn¡¯t his looks, but his imposing aura.

    Even though he had already guessed who it was, but Lin Cheng was still quite surprised when he saw him. "Young Master Jiang?"

    Jiang Shuxuan nced over, but he didn¡¯t know who it was, so he only nodded cursorily.

    Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia were astonished by Lin Cheng¡¯s reaction, and Sun Jiajia¡¯s face became flushed as she whispered at Bai Xinran, "Why is your Uncle Lin so respectful towards Gu Xiqiao¡¯s boyfriend?"

    "I don¡¯t know!" Bai Xinran was quite upset by the sight, and while she already knew that Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t a regr person, she couldn¡¯t find any information about him after checking on the information of all of the young masters in Imperial Capital. That could only mean one of two things¡ªEither he was in a high enough position to evade her investigation, or he was just a regr rich kid.

    She hadn¡¯t seen him at all in the past few days, so she subconsciously assumed that he was just a regr person.

    Looking at it again today, she knew that her assumptions were definitely wrong.

    Lin Cheng probably knew who he was, or else he wouldn¡¯t have been so respectful, but if such an influential person as Lin Cheng could only bow his head, who exactly was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s boyfriend?

    Bai Xinran¡¯s smile became forced, and her gaze became even more threatening as she nced over at Gu Xiqiao.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze immediately found the girl standing beside the pir who was staring at him in astonishment¡ªDid hee too quickly? It had already been ten days, and Jiang Shuxuan finally breathed a sigh of belief upon seeing that the other was fine.

    He walked over, but before neither of them could say anything, Bai Xinran spoke, "Ah, so you two are still together?"

    As soon as she said this, Jiang Shuxuan looked over at her with a pressing stare, and Bai Xinran was immediately intimidated, gulping before she continued: "I thought you two must have broken up after I saw her walk with another man..."

    Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t spoken, but Xu Jing rebutted with a frown, "Bai Xinran, what nonsense are you spewing?!"

    "She¡¯s not spewing nonsense, a lot of people saw them, myself included!" Sun Jiajia spoke up on Bai Xinran¡¯s behalf, then her gaze met with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s handsome face, and it was the first time that she was close with such a wless person that she could feel her heart threaten to jump out of her chest.

    Jiang Shuxuan immediately knew what was going on, and he looked at Gu Xiqiao, seeing the girl blink at him innocently and not saying anything in response to the usations.

    "You¡¯re Qiao Qiao¡¯s roommate, yes?" The low rumble of a voice startled Sun Jiajia, and she was about to reply, but then she saw that he was looking at Xu Jing when he asked this.

    Xu Jing was a little nervous upon being cued all of a sudden, and she nodded. "Yes, I am."

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I think we will have to call off dinner for this evening,e and have dinner at our ce tomorrow." Jiang Shuxuan nodded at her politely, his expression softening upon knowing that she was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s roommate.

    His gaze became cold and emotionless again when he nced over at Bai Xinran and Sun Jiajia. Why did she agree to have dinner with these two?

    He walked over and held Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wrist before leading her towards his car, his expression unreadable as his oppressive aura made everyone step out of his way.

    Lin Cheng looked over at Lin Xia after the car left the vicinity, and he hummed to himself before he spoke, "That¡¯s the little genius of your faculty, yes? Are you sure?"

    "Yeah," Lin Xia replied nonchntly.

    Lin Cheng didn¡¯t think much of it and nodded. "Don¡¯t get into any trouble with her, and it would be best if you could be friends with her." Lin Cheng regretted his cold attitude from earlier, would he leave a bad impression on Gu Xiqiao? He berated himself on letting his head only be filled with profit and gain.

    ***

    In the car, Jiang Shuxuan could feel that the messy energy field on her was gone, but something wasn¡¯t quite right, and after looking at her for a while, he realized that she was hiding her condition from her intentionally.

    "Brother Jiang, let me off for a sec." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing the two familiar silhouettes by the za.

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped obediently, and Gu Xiqiao immediately got off the car.

    The two people that were standing by the za were Luo Weng and his father, Luo Jiajun.

    Luo Jiajun had already gotten used to the luxurious lifestyle of upper society, so he wouldn¡¯t let any chance to return to it go. Upon getting news that Luo Weng was now the representative of the recently up and rising ck horsepany, the Nine Heavens Group, he immediately scrambled to find him.

    Luo Jiajun got someone to help him investigate, and they found that the Nine Heavens Group was a newpany that had even more potential than the Chen family.

    Luo Jiajun immediately had other ideas of exploiting his son upon knowing that he was in the prestigious Nine Heavens Group, but now their positions werepletely switched.

    In the past, Luo Weng was the one that could only look up at him, and he could treat Luo Weng whichever way he wanted, but now he had to put down his high and mighty demeanor to ask pity from him.

    He had already used up all the money he had, and couldn¡¯t even stay in hotels anymore, so if this went on, he could only stay in the slums.

    It¡¯s easier for someone to go from a frugal lifestyle to a luxurious one than the other way around, after all, and how could he let this chance go now that he knew his own son was so rich and influential?

    Luo Weng looked at the man in front of him, nking out as he thought to the past when Luo Jiajun had first left their family. He could still remember his face then, but the memories that came after were all of his mother working day and night to provide for their family, then the news that Luo Jiajun had abandoned the two of them that he heard from his neighbors.

    His mother died in a car ident a few dayster, and he knew who the mastermind behind this man-made ident was.

    Who else could release a murderer that had the intent to kill other than the Chen family?

    Luo Weng was weak and helpless in the past, and he could only hate Luo Jiajun and the Chen Family. He swore to himself that he would make the Chen family pay, but he was restricted greatly in N City, and after a long time, it finally got through to him that the Chen family really could do whatever they want in N City. For his brother Luo Wenlin, he stopped struggling, and while he worked part-time every day, he always thought to himself how lucky he was that he still had something to fight for.

    That was until the day Mu Zong came to him with a million yuan and a contract.

    Gu Xiqiao might not have thought of it as much, but to him, that was his salvation.

    Until today, he still couldn¡¯t believe that the Chen family that had always been like an unbearably heavy stone pressing on his chest was wiped out just like that.

    He looked down at Luo Jiajun who was practically groveling at his feet with a mocking re. "Who are you? Why should I take you in?"

    Luo Jiajun didn¡¯t know what to say. He had thought that Luo Weng would ept him graciously, and he had even confirmed it with a psychologist that the young man would definitely becking a father figure in his life.

    "Luo Weng, who are you to look down on me like this? You¡¯re just a sparrow that managed to get in the good graces of the Nine Heavens Group!" Luo Jiajun shouted, almost hysterical from the thought of having to return to the slums and continue living that dirty and tiring life. "What difference do you have from me? We¡¯re both just nobodies that get into high ces by begging and stealing! How dare you mock me!"

    "He¡¯s much better than you are, that¡¯s for sure." Gu Xiqiaomented. "At least he achieved everything that he did through sheer hard work... Is that true for you?"

    Luo Jiajun recognized Gu Xiqiao as the youngdy that had confronted the master of the Chen family. "How do you know that I haven¡¯t worked hard? Do you know how much I have sacrificed?!"

    "Oh, don¡¯t say that sir, of course we do!" Gu Xiqiao smiled confidently. "You came here to the Imperial Capital in 2001 and fell in love with Chen Feng at first sight, and immediately forgot the fact that you had a wife and a son waiting for you at home, and the next year you struck your wife with a stick to make her leave when she came to see you at the capital. Chen Feng found out about itter, and was so angry about it that she had someone crash into your poor wife with a car, and you heard about this too but you acted like you didn¡¯t know about it, yes?"

    "You... You...!" Some of the passersby looked over with dubious nces when they heard this because Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t suppress the volumn of her voice in the slightest, and an embarrassed flush burst out on Luo Jiajun¡¯s face. He looked at Gu Xiqiao in fright and confusion upon her knowledge about all of this, as Chen Feng had definitely wiped it from all the records!

    The gazes of the crowd were unbearable, and Luo Jiajun covered his face and fled pathetically with his tail between his legs.

    If he knew this day woulde, he wouldn¡¯t have let Luo Weng stay alive and cause his downfall like this!

    He regretted it so much that his intestines turned green and felt like it would burst, but now that his deepest secrets were revealed, he could only scramble back to the slums that he hadn¡¯t been in decades.

    "Thank you." Luo Weng covered his eyes after he saw Luo Jiajun flee like a cockroach. The fact that his mother hade to the Imperial Capital in search of his father in the past was news to him too, and he felt terrible knowing that her mother had been humiliated like that.

    Gu Xiqiao only shook her head slightly. "I was just worried that you would be softhearted, he doesn¡¯t deserve you, you know. I¡¯ll go now okay?"

    Gu Xiqiao had found all this out ages ago, but she never told Luo Weng until now.

    His phone rang, and upon seeing that it was Yao Jiamu, Luo Weng picked it up before hanging up after a few words, chuckling lowly. How lucky was he, to have all these people in his life as his salvation? Mu Zong, Yu Ning, the Nine Heavens Group... And Gu Xiqiao.

    She was the brightest star in his dark and gray sky.

    His greatest serendipity was meeting Gu Xiqiao, and his greatest courage was reaching out and borrowing two thousand yuan from her.

    Luo Jiajun was actually right when he said that he only had what he had today because of the Nine Heavens Group, but more precisely, he wouldn¡¯t have his achievements today.

    (In another life, he would have ascended to great heights and would have consumed the entire Gu family after Gu Xiqiao¡¯s death, but that¡¯s a story for another day...)

    Back in N City, when everyone was afraid of the Chen family, only Gu Xiqiao signed a contract with him. Back then, Nine Heavens Group had barely even started and was far weaker than what it was now, and ording to Mu Zong, the Chen family had picked trouble with them in the past too.

    The promise that Nine Heavens would have his back until the very end lingered in his mind.

    He felt that he wouldn¡¯t ever forget this debt, even in his next life.

    ***

    Back in the car, Jiang Shuxuan asked, "Those roommates of yours said you were walking with another guy?"

    Gu Xiqiao sheepishly rubbed her nose upon hearing this question, and replied, "It was Wu Hongwen, we were going to see Xiao Yun together, you know, since we¡¯re not in the same university."

    "Alright, I was just asking." Jiang Shuxuan nodded, and his expression was as calm as ever.

    He was actually still quite busy, and so he went off to tie up some loose ends after making sure that Gu Xiqiao was alright.

    Gu Xiqiao patted Xixi¡¯s head as she sat on the bed, closing her eyes and entering the virtual arena. After doing her daily missions, she recreated the ominous paper talisman under her mattress with a single thought.

    This was the strongest point of the virtual arena, the way that she could recreate and project it even though she didn¡¯t have the slightest clue how the talisman worked.

    This talisman was impervious to fire and water and everything in between, and Gu Xiqiao gave up on trying to destroy it and started to flip through books and scrolls. With two stacks of books on either side, she would set the book she was reading down asionally and draw on paper.

    The system spirit floated around in surprise. [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re quite talented at drawing talismans!]

    She had already created a very basic talisman after just a short while, and more importantly, now she could get more missions!

    As soon as the system spirit spoke, a cold and mechanical voice rang out from the void.

    [Ding! You have activated the third chain mission: Find the user of the Soul Extinguishing Seal, and save its victim!]

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡¯System, could you not bber for two seconds?¡¯

    The system spirit: [Go out Beauty Qiao, Yao Jiamu has already called you a dozen times!]

    Gu Xiqiao exited the virtual arena as she thought about the Soul Extinguishing Seal, and she epted Yao Jiamu¡¯s call when he called again.

    "Miss. Gu, I¡¯m at Kongshan Temple, and Big Boss Bai is talking with a Taoist monk, but something doesn¡¯t feel right..." Yao Jiamu¡¯s tone was quite serious, and because he was a beginner in ancient martial arts, he could feel things that regr people couldn¡¯t. Since he stepped into the temple, he felt that something was off, but he couldn¡¯t tell Big Boss Bai about it.

    Upon getting into trouble, the first person that Yao Jiamu thought of was Gu Xiqiao.

    As soon as he spoke, he felt a shift in the air, and as Gu Xiqiao questioned him on the other side of the phone, he felt as if he couldn¡¯t speak as he looked up and saw the Taoist monk that was smiling ominously.

    "Pass away peacefully, young man, I¡¯ll exorcise you!" The old Taoist monk waved the fly-whisk in his hand, and an invisible force surged towards Yao Jiamu.

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s eyes widened in fright and all of a sudden...

    Bang!

    "Ah, my beautiful feathers! Beauty Qiaooooo!"

    The air in front of Yao Jiamu rippled before arge bird appeared in front of him all of a sudden. Yao Jiamu felt the force on his body disappear, and even though he could talk again, Yao Jiamu was extremely astonished by the sight in front of him. Even though it was many timesrger, but wasn¡¯t this Xixi? How was it so big? How could it talk??

    Yao Jiamu asked experimentally: "Xixi...?"

    "Don¡¯t call me Xixi, call me the great and mighty heavenly beast!" Xixi huffed and puffed its feathers, before turning around and facing Yao Jiamu with its backside.

    "You really are Xixi?" Yao Jiamu felt his entire world view was subverted in a single moment.

    "The Vermillion Bird!" The Taoist monk reacted and looked at the giant bird in front of him, and immediately remembered the ounts of this legendary beast. He had never expected such a beast to appear in front of him, and one that had already obtained intelligence!

    As he recalled the information about the Vermilion Bird in front of him, he remembered legends that it was immortal and that it had unquenchable mes, and he immediately stepped back warily. It was true that he wanted this beast, but he knew that he didn¡¯t have the ability to capture it. If he was too rash, even his spirit would be wiped out in an instant!

    This was the Vermilion Bird from the legends, and if he had it, he would be able to hold his own against those masters from the ancient martial arts families, not having to hide again!

    Thinking of this, the Taoist monk reached and touched the two talismans on his waist that he reserved for emergencies, especially the Heavenly Lightning Talisman.

    He didn¡¯t need to defeat the Vermilion Bird, he only needed a chance for it to ept him as its master.

    He could tell that this bird wasn¡¯t controlled in spirit, so it was definitely not owned!

    The old Taoist monk stepped back further as he took out a talisman, but before he could move, a clear voice rang out behind him.

    "Are you so sick of living? That¡¯s my bird!" He turned around and saw a girl standing there in the night, her expression cold as her hair waved even though there wasn¡¯t any wind. Coupled with the chi that was surging around her, she looked like an immortal.

 Chapter 129 Ancient Martial Arts Advancement, The Bai Family

    <h4>Chapter 129 Ancient Martial Arts Advancement, The Bai Family</h4>

    "Who are you?" Apart from the older people from the ancient martial arts world, the old Taoist priest had never seen such dense and profound strength in anyone else before. He clutched the talisman in his hand tightly, looking at Gu Xiqiao with fear in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand slightly, a sh of white light bursting out from her hands and shooting out into four directions.

    The old Taoist¡¯s eyes followed the four lights, and realized that it wasn¡¯ting toward him, but instead moving at least one meter away from him. The flow of the lights was unpredictable, and it took a long while before he realized that the space in front of him was twisting and getting distorted.

    After a beat, he suddenly eximed, "This... this is the Four Elephant Array!"

    The Four Elephant Array was an extremely ancient array, and the records in history indicated that it was abination of the Eight Trigram Array in ordance with the five elements of the north, south, east, west to form the array. It was known to be an array that surged forward and around endlessly, a mysterious force that was extremely powerful.

    The array required four formation masters to draw up concurrently, and required for the four masters to have a certain level of bonds between each other. It was absolutely impossible for one person to perform it!

    However, at this moment, the old Taoist priest was witnessing a single person performing this array with his own eyes, how was that possible!

    He was still caught up in his astonishment that he didn¡¯t realize he had been trapped, he was still staring in awe at Gu Xiqiao, but what he didn¡¯t know was that this was a skill that was unique to Gu Xiqiao. Eight Trigram, Six Formation, Four Elephant Array, no matter what formation there was, she could do it all by herself. This was her natural talent.

    The system had said countless times that she was talented, and these were not empty words, she just possessed a talented, heavenly gift.

    The old Taoist priest was trapped in another dimension, where there were endless waves of energy attacking him from all sides, multiplying as the time passed by.

    If this continued, he would definitely die being trapped here. The old Taoist priest gritted his teeth, choosing to utilize the protection talisman on his belt. Heavenly Lightning, no matter how painful it was, he had to use it. He could still get out while the talisman would be used, but if he lost his life then there would be nothing left.

    Boom!

    As soon as the Heavenly Lightning Talisman was used, a bright white thunder pierced through the sky, like a silver majestic sword illuminating the entire earth.

    Yao Jiamu lifted his hands to cover his eyes, and he looked toward Xixi, before looking back at Gu Xiqiao, "Do we not help her?"

    "My duty is to protect you," Xixi said, twisted itsrge body to stand in front of Yao Jiamu. Sigh, humans were really weak, they wouldn¡¯t survive without it here with them, and then it looked at Yao Jiamu. "Even if you go up there, aren¡¯t you just going to your death?"

    Yao Jiamu: Although Xixi is right, I also really want to beat Xixi to death right now!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    The wind and rain shed down together with the thunder, the wails and screeches like a shrieking ghost. The sounds were getting louder as it continued to strike, and the lights were getting brighter as it went on. A thick pir of light descended from the sky, breaking through the Four Elephants Array!

    This was the power of natural forces. In the face of the two users, every other method was useless.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, looking at the shing lightning above. Her gaze was deep, and the rainwater would evaporate before it touched her, a transparent barrier forming about one meter around her.

    The old Taoist priest who had used the Heavenly Lightning wasn¡¯t doing any better, he was kneeling on the floor, spitting out mouthfuls of blood. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was wholly intact and unharmed, he was bbergasted. How was this possible? How could she not be hurt at all by the power of the lightning?!

    The old Taoist priest whose world was in shambles by what he had just witnessed could only stare at Gu Xiqiao for a long time. He had been injured badly by the lightning, and most of his skills had already been used up. He needed at least three to five years to recover from this, and after deliberating the pros and cons for a while, he pulled out a Teleport Talisman and left instantly to save his own life.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored him, standing stiffly where she was. She closed her eyes, and a dazzling white light rose from her body, overshadowing the lightning immediately.

    As though pulled toward her, the lightning started to move toward her.

    "Miss Gu, is she okay?!" Yao Jiamu couldn¡¯t help but want to run to her direction to help, but Xixi caught him with its ws.

    Xixi who had be big, its eyes were big and beady as it stared at Gu Xiqiao for a long time. It could feel the dense and profound energy in Gu Xiqiao rotating rapidly, and the piece of sky above her was also filled with a vortex of chi.

    "Beauty Qiao has managed to advance again?!" Xixi squawked, stunned. Didn¡¯t she just reach Tendon Forging recently, and now with a blink of an eye, she¡¯s advanced to Fleet Foot?!

    Fleet Foot was the real dividing line in the ancient martial arts world. When you reached this position, you could start using the forces of nature. There were tens of thousands of ancient warriors in China, but there were only less than hundreds of them who had reached the level of Fleet Foot. This also included the ones from the reclusive families, and there hadn¡¯t been anyone in the history that had reached Fleet Foot at her age. It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that she was second to none in the past five hundred years.

    Yao Jiamu didn¡¯t feel much of anything toward Gu Xiqiao¡¯s advancement, he didn¡¯t know how terrifying of a matter it was. He just saw the lightning that kept striking Gu Xiqiao, and he was worried. "What¡¯s going on with that lightning?"

    Xixi¡¯s eyes were still on her, its eyes zing. "That¡¯s the power of nature. Beauty Qiao has really done the impossible. The power of thunder and lightning, there really is nothing in this world that can stop her."

    ***

    In a residential area not far from here, a boy who looked to be five or six years old stood in front of his window and shouted, "Which fellow Taoist is summoning this catastrophe?"

    His mother, who rushed over to apany him in worry that he was scared. ...Was her son crazy?

    ***

    Half a beatter, Gu Xiqiao had finished ¡¯summoning the catastrophe¡¯ and opened her eyes. Lightning shed in her eyes for a moment, and it was captivating. She struggled to adjust for a long while before finally managing to keep the power and strength in her body under control.

    Xixi looked at Gu Xiqiao, clearly feeling the terrifying aura that radiated from her, the same kind it felt when it faced Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Beauty Qiao, you¡¯ve advanced..." Xixi felt so frustrated, this was it. Now that she was stronger than it, she didn¡¯t need its protection anymore.

    White, slender fingers raised slightly, a small purple electric sparked between them. Gu Xiqiao sighed, "Yeah, I¡¯ve advanced." Finally.

    Looking around at the messy courtyard, Gu Xiqiao willed all the rubble and mess away with just a thought. "Let¡¯s go, to have a look at your Boss Bai."

    "Oh." Yao Jiamu came back to himself. When he looked at Gu Xiqiao, it felt like something had changed. But when he looked at her face, it was the usual pale, white and glowing face. If he had to say there was any difference, it was probably... she had be even more fairy-like?

    ***

    Boss Bai was talking to the priest of Kongshan Temple. He was a middle-aged man with a majestic and noble appearance, with elegant brows. Only, his forehead seemed to be shrouded in a mysterious ck mist.

    "Master, please just be upfront with me." Boss Bai had been involved in the underworld all his life, with the blood of countless people on his hands, though none of them were ordinary people. He also never believed in ghosts or gods, but the recent happenings were just too strange and out of this world.

    There were two bullets in his body, and one of them had almost imed his life. If he was killed due to vengeance, then that would be fine to him. However, this was a fight between two gangs, and he waspletely uninvolved and innocent of this matter.

    Even while driving he was suddenly hit by a truck out of nowhere, if Yao Jiamu wasn¡¯t in the car, he probably would have died on the spot.

    And even while walking, there were vases that fell from the air...

    At Yao Jiamu¡¯s convincing, Boss Bai finally went to find a priest. The first one he sought out was Master Chang Kong, a famous priest who was well known in Kongshan Temple.

    Once he had reached the temple, he was caught up with a Taoist priest that said there was a cmity that was going to befall him. Boss Bai didn¡¯t know why he stopped in his steps, but only when a novice monk came up to him to inform him that Master Chang Kong had reached did he move from there.

    Master Chang Kong¡¯s eyebrows were white, a gentle expression on his face, his gaze kind and warm. Sitting beside him, Boss Bai was able to feel the peace and calm radiation from the old man, and felt his own frustration on the recent happenings wash away.

    His gaze finally came away from the window, and Master Chang Kong sped his palm together and looked at Boss Bai. "Amitabha, I already know the troubles of the benefactor. But the one who will save you is not I, but another."

    "Another?" Boss Bai couldn¡¯t help but blink. "And where is that other person? Where will I find them?"

    "They have already appeared," Master Chang Kong said, his gaze returning to the window. "I imagine you will be meeting them very soon."

    Just as he said that, a novice monk knocked on the door. "Master Priest, there are some guests looking for Benefactor Bai."

    "They are here. Please return, Benefactor Bai."

    Ah Gen, who was waiting outside the door, came up to him when he saw Boss Bai leave the room. "Boss, Yao Jiamu hase to see you."

    Yao Jiamu? Could the person Master Chang Kong was talking about be Yao Jiamu? Boss Bai walked inrge strides to the outside, and because he was walking in such a hurry, he almost tripped and fell into the mud when he reached the doorframe.

    Boss Bai, who has never been this unlucky in his life: "..."

    Yao Jiamu and Gu Xiqiao were standing in the courtyard. There was a pond full of lotus leaves in it, but you could hardly see any lotus flowers. There were dimnterns hanging in the ce, the lights were not bright, but it was just enough to see where you were walking.

    Xixi had returned to its normal size, and was perched on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulders. Seeing Boss Bai who had almost tripped, it couldn¡¯t resist the urge to p its wings and fly toward Boss Bai, making circles around him as it cried out, "So stupid! So stupid! So stupid!"

    Yao Jiamu, who was watching Xixi imitate a parrot with all its might: No matter how much you pretend to be a parrot, you can¡¯t hide the fact that you¡¯re a mythical beast!

    Boss Bai, who had been mocked: This bird is gorgeous, this bird was only telling the truth, and although it is just a bird, although it is bad to be petty toward a bird, but... he really wants to pinch it to death, what do?

    "Xixi,e back." Gu Xiqiao turned around, her brows furrowing slightly.

    Xixi clicked its beak shut immediately, flying back to her shoulder in contentment. However, the eyes that looked at Boss Bai were still full of mockingughter.

    Boss Bai wasn¡¯t looking at Xixi anymore, but his eyes were instead on the girl beside Yao Jiamu. She was obviously there the entire time, but he hadn¡¯t noticed her until she made a move. He didn¡¯t even sense her presence the whole time before that.

    Seeing her in that instant, Boss Bai was sure that the person Master Chang Kong had been talking about was her!

    The girl exuded a fairy-like aura, simr to those immortals in stories, and she had exquisite beauty. When she looked over, he seemed to see purple lightning in her dark, obsidian eyes.

    Boss Bai shook his head a little, trying to rid the thoughts in his head, and turned to Yao Jiamu.

    Yao Jiamu scratched his head awkwardly. "Boss Bai, didn¡¯t you say you wanted to meet your savior? It¡¯s actually Miss Gu, and since she was coincidentally at the temple today, I brought her to meet you."

    Boss Bai had wanted to see the person who possessed such a miracle medicine, it had stopped the bleeding as soon as it touched his wounds, which stopped him from bleeding out in that instant.

    In Boss Bai¡¯s eyes, the person who had saved him that time didn¡¯t have a big figure, but it wasn¡¯t small either. However, although he didn¡¯t expect the person to be as big as his memory, he wasn¡¯t expecting such a small figure either, and she even looked smaller than Yao Jiamu?

    "Miss Gu, pleased to meet you." Boss Bai felt that Yao Jiamu would use this matter to tease him in the future, but he suddenly remembered Master Chang Kong¡¯s words again, that his savior was here. Could he have been talking about Miss Gu?

    Looking at the youthful face in front of him, Boss Bai couldn¡¯t help but bite his lip. The savior that would help him was this doll-like girl, was it possible?

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Boss Bai, and suddenly opened her mouth, "Boss Bai, I would like to ask you a personal question. Have you any grievances with the Bai family from the Imperial Capital?"

    Boss Bai froze at the question, lifting his head to look at Gu Xiqiao, the surprise clear in his eyes.

    Even the older generations in the Imperial Capital weren¡¯t aware that he was actually part of the Bai family, and thought that he was just an abandoned child. Back then, his parents were both engaged in a research project in theboratory when it suddenly exploded. On that day, Boss Bai became an orphan.

    It was hard to survive in the Imperial Capital as an orphan without the protection of their parents, and soon after that, the head of the Bai family passed away, leaving the group of siblings to fight over the family inheritance. He was thrown into a baseless usation by them, and was chased out of the Bai family the next day.

    After he was chased out, he didn¡¯t give up on life or himself. He started from the bottom, mixing into the underworld of the Imperial Capital. The entertainment clubs in Jing Capital were now all under his control, and once the Bai family had found out, they wanted him back in the family, and he had outrightly refused to return.

    Very few people were aware of his history, and once he had made a name for himself, he made sure that all of the previous records were destroyed. No one in the world knew about his rtionship with the Bai family, so how did this girl know?

    And it was at that moment, he suddenly believed everything that Master Chang Kong had said, that this girl in front of him was going to be his savior.

    As he thought about this, he looked to Gu Xiqiao and opened his mouth, "So you¡¯re saying that the Bai family hasshed out at me because of this?"

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a while, pondering, "Put out your hand."

    Boss Bai stretched out his left hand, he still harboured doubt toward Gu Xiqiao. On one hand, he thought that she was an enigma, but on the other hand, she was so very young. Could a doll-like girl like her really be able to pierce through the heavens?

    There were flickers of electricity crackling softly on her white fingertips, and Gu Xiqiao slowly drew a symbol on the palm of Boss Bai¡¯s hand. The symbol drawn with purple light floated above his palm, lingering for a few seconds beforepletely vanishing.

    "The Soul Extinguishing Seal, it serves to transfer the luck of the recipient to the caster. The recipient continues to run into increasingly bad luck as the days pass, and finally the recipient¡¯s soul will dissipate after seven days, never knowing the real reason behind their death," Gu Xiqiao exined while she drew. "Releasing this requires the right time and ce. I¡¯ve temporarily sealed the powers of the talisman on you, and I¡¯ll release itpletely for you on the night of the full moon in a few days¡¯ time."

    Yao Jiamu could see the distorted space slightly, and he saw the air in front of Boss Bai twisting a bit before returning to normal.

    Boss Bai¡¯s eyes were wide when he heard that he could have died in seven days and not know the reason. He looked at his own palm for a long while, before turning his eyes toward Gu Xiqiao with disbelief on his face. "That¡¯s it?"

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, but Yao Jiamu was the one who came forward, speaking to him in a low voice, "Yeah Boss Bai, the maic field around you has returned to normal."

    The maic field around him? What the hell was that? He opened his mouth, gaping like a goldfish, looking at Yao Jiamu as though he wanted to ask something, but no words came out from his mouth in the end.

    "Miss Benefactor, this is what the Master Priest has instructed me to give you." The novice monk walked over, holding a piece of paper in his hands.

    Gu Xiqiao took it from him, "Thank you, Master-in-training."

    She opened it and there were six words written on it: Since we¡¯re here, take it easy[1].

    What did it mean? Could it be possible that he knew that she was someone who had been reborned?

    She repeated the words silently in her mind, and stared at the note for a long time before her eyes shed, opening her mouth suddenly, "Master-in-training, the lotus flowers here have yet to bloom for many years here, right?"

    The little novice monk looked over to the pond, sighing as he said, "Ever since Kongshan Temple was built, I have never seen the sacred nt bloom."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded slightly, then she turned to walk in the direction of the pond. Once she reached it, she knelt down and touched the water in the pond. The water was cool, and she lowered her gaze, a huge force of natural energy flowing out from her slender fingers that were still in the water.

    Master Chang Kong, who was in the meditation room, opened his eyes suddenly, the prayer beads in his hands had stopped moving. He looked in the direction of the pond, "Amitabha, excellent."

    The next day, the sacred flowers in Kongshan Temple which had not bloomed for many years had suddenly flowered overnight. It became a topic of interest for many people, as well as adding a lot of pilgrims for the temple.

    The lotus flowers that had bloomed overnight were full of mysterious aura, and was a miracle all by itself. Many people came to admire this miracle, hoping to be able to bath in the mythical aura that surrounded it.

    The novice monk greeted yet another group of pilgrims, and his eyes strayed to look at the sacred flowers again. He was the only one who knew that the flowers hadn¡¯t bloomed overnight, but it had bloomed in just an instant. When the young miss had ced her hand into the water, the entire pond flowered immediately, and that was really a scene of a miracle.

    "Amitabha." Thinking of this, the young novice monk sped his hand, reciting a prayer.

    ***

    Xu Jing had been invited over to dinner by Jiang Shuxhuan, but it was just too busy at the student council. As a freshman, this was the time Xu Jing needed to perform well, and she would face the challenges head first with a positive mindset, unlike Gu Xiqiao, who waszy to a certain extent. With that mindset, she thought that having dinner at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ce could be done any other day, and decided to postpone it.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have many issues regarding this matter, and she had also calcted that the next full moon would be in a few days, the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because it was close to the National Day, she had asked Xu Jing not to return home. It was just a good time to invite all the lonely people to have a good meal at her home.

    Ever since Gu Xiqiao had drawn the array on his palm, Boss Bai felt that nothing big or bad had happened to him in the past few days. Even while he was walking on the streets, no random flowerpot would appear above his head. There was no appearance of a truck with sudden brake failure when he was driving alone along on the roads, and no small pebbles to trip him over...

    Word had reached him on the miracle of Kongshan Temple, and he knew it wasn¡¯t just hearsay, he had witnessed it with his own eyes after all. The lotus flowers had gradually opened as far as the eye could see, and he felt like he could practically see the golden light shining from behind her figure, like the Buddha who had reached enlightenment.

    At that, Boss Bai couldn¡¯t help himself, reaching out to Yao Jiamu, "Xiao Yao, what deity is Miss Gu?"

    Yao Jiamu: Boss Bai, didn¡¯t you say you don¡¯t believe in ghosts and gods? Didn¡¯t you say that she was just a young little girl? How does it feel now that it¡¯s alling back to p you in the face? Does it feel good?

    Seeing the meaning behind Yao Jiamu¡¯s eyes, Boss Bai felt extremely embarrassed and ashamed. He had not believed it at first. Anyone whoid eyes on such a beautiful and charming girl wouldn¡¯t have believed that she was some great master, right?

    Having these thoughts in his head, Boss Bai straightened up, his eyes shing, "I know better now, and it¡¯s not toote to realize it. Un, what should I prepare for Great Master Gu?"

    "Money," Yao Jiamu said with no hesitation, then he thought of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s habit of investing in the antique market, and thought that she might prefer these kinds of things. "Items that are more ancient in nature, the more antique and expensive an item is, the more she likes."

    Money? Antiques? Boss Bai felt a relief course through him, these were things that were easy enough to handle. As long as it was things that ordinary people couldn¡¯t find, he would be able to obtain it.

    In terms of antiques, that was even easier for him. He owned an auction house and there were tons of antiques that he handled in them, with just one order he had them all withdrawn from the market. After it had been transported over, he got Yao Jiamu to bring Gu Xiqiao over to have a look at the items.

    Of course, Yao Jiamu wouldn¡¯t object to any of this. Gu Xiqiao had expended so much energy and effort, it wasn¡¯t weird to ept some things in return, right?

    As for Boss Bai, these things were just a drop in the ocean. What couldpare to his own life?

    Gu Xiqiao, who had received a massive amount of items that she is very interested in: She seemed to have stumbled upon a bright road that would lead to riches...

    The system spirit¡¯s mouth twitched upwards. [Beauty Qiao, if you want to be rich, disregarding Nine Heavenspany, even the investment portfolio that you just started is already raking in money every day, and you still want to earn extra money?]

    "It¡¯s not the same," Gu Xiqiao replied, her voice solemn, "The money I make is just that, money. These antiques are treasures that have been hidden away by people, and I would have to exert a lot of effort in order to find them. This way is great, it saves me the trip of going to the antique market."

    System: Saying that you won¡¯t make a run to the antique market is something I won¡¯t believe.

    Contrary to Boss Bai, Bai Xinran felt that something was wrong with herselftely. Firstly, the audition role that was initially already in her hands was snatched out by someone from B University. The director wasn¡¯t afraid of the Bai family name, and he didn¡¯t even give her any other female role to rece the role that had been taken.

    Then she suddenly had diarrhea during a selectionpetition for a big performance, and had to abruptly miss it...

    With so many things befalling her, some trivial and some not, she began to wonder whether she was also cursed. She had taken a peek at the talisman under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bed, but the talisman was still in ce and looked like it hadn¡¯t been touched. However, Gu Xiqiao looked fine, and it seemed like nothing had affected her?

    It has almost been seven days, and she was still alive and kicking like normal. Could it be that the curse had failed?

    Impossible, Bai Xinran thought as she shook her head. This was the method of that expert in the family, and it had never been wrong.

    As for the things that had been happening to herself, it was all surely just a coincidence, for sure. It had to be a coincidence. Bai Xinran breathed a sigh of relief when she thought about it thoroughly and felt convinced at that, turning her nce toward Gu Xiqiao, who was lying on the bed while chatting with Xu Jing. She stered a smile on her face as she said, "There¡¯s a banquet tomorrow evening for my birthday, the both of you have toe, definitely."

    Xu Jing frowned, thinking about what kind of nonsense was Bai Xinran talking now, and was about to reject immediately when Gu Xiqiao spoke up instead, "Un, we¡¯ll be sure to be there on time."

    ¡¯What has gotten into your head, you gone crazy?¡¯ Xu Jing¡¯s expression spoke volumes as she looked at Gu Xiqiao, using her gaze to ry her thoughts.

    Gu Xiqiao thoughts for a while before returning a look, just to see what the hell the Bai family have.

    Of course, Xu Jing didn¡¯t understand Gu Xiqiao¡¯s answering gaze. "Sigh, I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re trying to say."

    Letting out a light sigh, Gu Xiqiao looked at her again, "It was more of a test of intelligence. Be good, it¡¯s better if you didn¡¯t understand it."

    Xu Jing: Gu Xiqiao you really want to pick a fight with me, is it?

    ***

    The next day evening, three people were preparing to leave the dorms to the Bai family residence. Xu Jing had rummaged through her wardrobe the entire day before finally finding a suitable dress, instantly admiring her mother¡¯s wise words and prediction.

    Naturally, you had to dress morously when you attended a banquet. When Xu Jing turned around, she found Gu Xiqiao sitting on the bed ying with her phone as usual, wearing her usual jeans and T-shirt.

    "Hurry up and change!" Xu Jing roared at her like a lion.

    Gu Xiqiao picked at her piercings, "We¡¯re only going to y at the Bai family house, why do I need to change my clothes as though I look up to them?"

    Xu Jing smiled, and thought that maybe Gu Xiqiao just didn¡¯t have an evening dress. She pulled out one of hers which was very exquisite, throwing it on the bed, "Hey, go and change into this. You have to dazzle everyone with your beauty tonight. Just think about it, you will be the centre of attraction at a banquet meant for Bai Xinran. Won¡¯t she just tremble with rage, puke blood and die? Let her regret inviting you!"

    Reaching out to the evening gown, Gu Xiqiao threw it back to her, saying lightly, "It¡¯s too big."

    Xu Jing: We can remain friends if we don¡¯t talk about our weight.

    In the end, there wasn¡¯t any other way, so Gu Xiqiao put on her own floral dress that she had brought along.

    After she had changed, Xu Jing gave an absent-minded nce at her, and was floored immediately. She knew that Gu Xiqiao had always been in, not wearing any makeup or essories. The girl in front of her was wearing a pastel yellow floral dress, highlighting her jade-likeplexion, with ink ck hair tumbling down to her waist like a waterfall. She made for a stunningly glorious sight, the awe-inspiring aura that she exuded when she walked with confidence, it was simply breathtaking.

    "Can we go now, ancestor?" Gu Xiqiao yawned, squinting her eyes at Xu Jing.

    Xu Jing snapped out of her daze. Even though she was disying such udylike actions, she still felt that Gu Xiqiao was stunning.

    As they were all from the same dormitory, Sun Jiajia had also made the trip with them. Bai Xinran¡¯s address had been sent over to them long ago, and it was a vi on the mountainside. When they got off the car, Sun Jiajia gazed at the beautiful vi in front of her. She had only ever seen this vi on TV, and she couldn¡¯t help but reach over to cover her mouth with her hands, her mouth opened in stunned surprise for a long while. Her eyes were filled with admiration as she continued to stare at the vi. "Xinran¡¯s family... is really really rich."

    Even though the fact that Bai Xinran hailed from a rich family was well known, Sun Jiajia was still shocked when she saw the glorious vi.

    Neither Gu Xiqiao nor Xu Jing responded to thisment, staying silent and calm.

    The inside of the vi was even more luxurious, and Bai Xinran had invited a lot of people tonight.

    When Gu Xiqiao arrived, Bai Xinran was talking to a few otherdies. The moment her eyesnded on Gu Xiqiao, the smile on her face slowly faded, because most of the people had turned their gaze toward Gu Xiqiao when she walked in.

    "Xinran, is that your roommate?" One of Bai Xinran¡¯s friends asked as she looked at Gu Xiqiao, "Doesn¡¯t she know it¡¯s your birthday? She dares to dress like that, as though intentionally stealing the limelight from you?"

    Bai Xinran stered a smile on her face, ignoring thement, "They are all my friends, let me introduce you."

    "You¡¯re really out of your mind." Some of Bai Xinran¡¯s friends exchange nces, determined to teach this ignorant girl who didn¡¯t know her ce a lesson on behalf of Bai Xinran.

    Gu Xiqiao, who had not done anything: Even if she said anything, you wouldn¡¯t believe it. She really didn¡¯t do anything, just changed into a dress, she didn¡¯t even put on makeup.

    Walking to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side, seeing her wless profile, jealousy was written on all of her friends¡¯ faces, "Miss, we have never seen you at any banquet before. Which Imperial Capital family do youe from?"

    There was sarcasm and mocking underneath the tone.

    "Sorry, I¡¯m from N City." Gu Xiqiao raised her ss, observing the Bai family carefully on the inside, while maintaining a casual look on the outside.

    Upon hearing her answer, the rich littledies couldn¡¯t hide the trace of contempt in their eyes. N City was no different than a vige from the countryside in their eyes.

    "N City? I think there was a servant in my house thates from N City." One of them said, giggling behind a hand covering their mouth.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t bothered by these small insults, but Xu Jing couldn¡¯t take it lying down. "I think Niuniu from our house is also from the Imperial Capital. Oh, you definitely don¡¯t know what Niuniu is, right? It¡¯s our family dog, and it¡¯s really adorable."

    "You!" It¡¯s just somebody from N City, how important can a person from N City be, and how big a backing could they bring out anyway?

    These people naturally didn¡¯t ce Gu Xiqiao to be anyone important in their eyes. Although the words were said by Xu Jing, the wine ss in the hands of a girl who was wearing a purple dress was thrown into the direction of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s delicate porcin face.

    Ssh!

    When it was thrown halfway, it suddenly sshed on her own face without reason.

    The purple dressed girl looked at her own hands, her makeup ruined by the wine on her face. She looked particrly embarrassed, wiping her face as she looked at Gu Xiqiao, raising her right hand and flinging it toward Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. "You bitch!"

    Ssh!

    She hadn¡¯t evennded her hand, and the person next to her suddenly lost control of their own hand, sshing the wine in her own hand on the purple dressed girl.

    Ssh!

    Ssh!

    The wine in several otherdies¡¯ hands kept being thrown at the face of the purple dressed girl.

    The scene attracted the eyes of many people around them.

    "You! You all!" The purple dressed girl looked at all her friends, including Bai Xinran, in disbelief. "Fine, fine! Just you wait!"

    The aggrieved girl covered her face as she ran out in embarrassment.

    Bai Xinran and the other girls wanted to exin, but they couldn¡¯t make any sound when they opened their mouths, and they couldn¡¯t even move a single step. When the girl was finally out of sight, they were able to move freely.

    What the hell had happened? They looked at each other, traces of fear on their faces.

    Gu Xiqiao withdrew her mental power, a grave look on her face. There was a wooden hut behind the vi, and there was nothing but malicious spirits in it. The Bai family... they had killed too much. Who knew how many innocent people had died by their hands?

    There were countless puppets in the wooden hut, and one of them had Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name engraved on it!

    Every doll represented a life, Gu Xiqiao also found the doll with Boss Bai¡¯s name inside.

    What made her more enraged was the fact that there was a puppet of a three-year-old in the hut. Even if you have grudges, what did a child do to deserve it?

    Boom!

    Dark clouds suddenly covered the night sky which had been clear and bright, and a lightning bolt as thick as an arm struck down toward Bai Vi.

    After some crackling and sizzling sounds, Bai Vi plunged into darkness. The power had gone out, and the lights outside the vi flickered rapidly. They heard the thunder breaking something, and the people in the hall were in a panicked state. They huddled together, some trembling in fear, fearing that the entire vi would be struck by lightning and copse. They began to regret their decision toe to Bai Vi tonight.

    After a few more shes of lightning, the hut behind the vi was utterly destroyed. The dark clouds in the sky began to dissipate, and the thunder and lightning gradually faded away too.

    At the same time, an old Taoist priest who was sitting cross-legged in a secret room at the outskirts of the city suddenly coughed up mouthfuls of ck blood. He coughed continuously, and only recovered after a long while. He turned to look in the direction of the Imperial Capital, horror on his face.

    ***

    "Beauty Gu, did you know that the outside world is saying that Bai family is receiving retribution for all the evil things they had done!" Xu Jing said as she held a pair of chopsticks in her hands. "Did you see that Bai Xinran was absent today? I¡¯m sure she¡¯s getting chewed out!"

    "What about you?" Gu Xiqiao nced at Xu Jing. "Weren¡¯t you scared to death yesterday, and you¡¯ve recovered nicely today?"

    "Let¡¯s not bring that up anymore, okay!" Xu Jing said, embarrassment clearly written on her face. Normal people would naturally be afraid when they met this kind of situation, oh, except the big crazy Gu Xiqiao. "You haven¡¯t seen how bad things are outside, and if I have to say, the Bai family is in a deep mess this time."

    Gu Xiqiao smiled but said nothing.

    The lightning had only destroyed the small ck hut, but the spells within them had already beenpleted. The destruction of the hut could only slow down the effect of the Soul Extinguishing Seal, the recipients would still die after a few days. Thinking about it, she shoved a few mouthfuls of rice into her mouth. "If there¡¯s nothing else, I have to go to thebs. Professor Jiang assigned me a topic, and I have to finish it quickly to have my holiday!"

    Xu Jing, who knew the cause and effect: This was just in showing off!

    ***

    In theboratory, Lin Xia was busy. Professor Jiang had given a topic on the fusion of cells, and he had sessfully fused blood cells of two different patience without any signs of rejection.

    Catching sight of Gu Xiqiao approaching theb, he smiled and greeted her. There was no difference in their interaction, if you were looking for one, the only difference was that his smile was wider than usual.

    "Why does Junior Lin look a little more cheerful today?" The other seniors who were working on their experiment in thebs looked on in slight confusion.

    "Probably it¡¯s because his experiment is almost sessful. I¡¯ve seen him puttering around thebs these few days. Sigh, being Professor¡¯s Jiang¡¯s apprentice is good. I also wanna..."

    "Sigh, say no more. If Professor Ban were to hear you, you¡¯ll have to clean the toilets again!"

    Professor Ban was their mentor, and unlike Lin Xia, they were graduate students and were assigned to him. However, they longed for the famed Professor Jiang¡¯s tutge.

    Professor Jiang was rather particr, and after so many years, the number of apprentices he had taken could be counted with one hand. There were so many great students in A University, and yet only such few had managed to catch his eye!

    This year was a bit unexpected, being that he had epted two students. One was a junior, and the other was a freshman, which made everyone around them envious.

    But when they heard that the freshman was the top ranker in the national finals, those people couldn¡¯t muster the effort to feel jealous.

    Lin Xia had been continuously carrying out the experiments the past few days, consistently trying again and again. He was using a magnifying ss to observe the two cells, and this time it finally merged. He let out a sigh of relief, but the cells stopped dividing in the next moment, entering the aging stage.

    Another failure, Lin Xia thought as he let out a heavy sigh. He turned to Gu Xiqiao, finding her not doing an experiment, but instead typing a report in front of theputer.

    He walked to her side, seeing that she was typing up a report on the cell fusion, he couldn¡¯t help the dumbfounded look that appeared on his face. "Why are you writing the report when you haven¡¯t even started the experiments?" She had also included several methods that he had used, how to get past the rejection period, and how two cells from different sources could be truly fused. The report was written in great detail, like she had done the experiments and had the results.

    But Lin Xia was well aware that she hadn¡¯t been to thebs in the past three days!

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him. "I¡¯ll do the experiment after I finish writing."

    Lin Xia felt that this was the time to express himself, "Junior, practical is not the same as theory. When you actually do the experiment, it will not turn out the same as what you think. You should be doing the experiments before writing the report, otherwise it¡¯s just a waste of time."

    "Thank you for your advice, Senior. I¡¯ve already carried out the experiments." Gu Xiqiao replied, not pausing in her typing.

    Well fine, it was rather like not turning back until you hit a wall. Lin Xia let out a sigh, thinking about how he would need to console his junior when she inevitably failedter on.

    She had really already carried out the experiments in the virtual space for a long time. She had spent long enough time in there until even the system spirit had wanted to puke at the sight of her face, but of course, no one would believe the truth.

    Finishing up her report, Gu Xiqiao took blood cells from two white mice, cing them in a petri dish. She then used a needle to transfer a few drops of chemicals onto it. "Un, Senior, where¡¯s the PEG (polyethylene glycol)? I can¡¯t find it."

    She was going through the steps slowly and methodically, step by step. It was pleasing to see the way she worked, and Lin Xia only snapped back when he heard her voice, feeling a little reluctant.

    She dared to say that she had carried out the experiments, but she didn¡¯t know where the cell fusion agent was?

    While thinking about it, he found the chemical and handed it to Gu Xiqiao, reminding her carefully, "Don¡¯t put too much, otherwise the cells will break easily."

    "Thank you, Senior." Gu Xiqiao took the PEG, and put a drop into the petri dish, sliding the dish to observe it under the microscope.

    Seeing the two cells gradually merging, Gu Xiqiao let out a sigh of relief. The virtual space was no different than reality.

    Coming back to herself, Gu Xiqiao made a call. "Professor Jiang, are you avable now? ... Yeah... I¡¯m done...e on over then."

    Listening to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s conversation, Lin Xia was startled. "You¡¯ve asked Professor Jiang toe over?"

    "Yeah, didn¡¯t he say to check in with him once we were done?" Gu Xiqiao replied, squinting her eyes slightly. With her big brain, she was sure she didn¡¯t remember wrong.

    "It¡¯s not that, you¡¯re asking Professor Jiang to check this over, just like that?" Lin Xia rubbed his temples. "Usually it takes a while, since there¡¯s also the rejection period and the aging period. You should call the professor again and tell him not toe, otherwise if he sees that you¡¯ve failed, he will surely get angry."

    Professor Jiang had quite the poisonous tongue, and it was quite hurtful. Lin Xia was worried that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand a tongueshing from him.

    Knowing that he had good intentions in his heart, Gu Xiqiao smiled and patiently exined, "Don¡¯t worry about it, Senior. I have tried many times, and this is definitely a sess." She had stayed in the virtual space for nearly five months before she had understood the method of cell fusion. Practise makes perfect, after all. Now she could easily integrate the cells.

    Professor Jiang arrived soon after. Naturally, he wanted to knock the head of this little genius as well. After all, to be able to sessfully perform the cell fusion experiment in three days was impossible, and he felt that she needed to be taken down a peg.

    But when he saw the report that Gu Xiqiao had written, shock was stered all over his face.

    He had a total of four students under him, including Gu Xiqiao and Lin Xia. The previous two students also had the same topic for their graduation project. He himself had done cell fusion many times, and he naturally knew what area to pay attention to. That was why when he saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s report, he knew that the direction of her research was right at one nce!

    "Have you seeded in your cell fusion experiment?" He looked at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes were wide, excitement and anticipation clear in them.

    Gu Xiqiao pointed to the microscope. "That... may I leave now?"

    "Go on, go on!" Professor Jiang waved her away, taking the printed report with him as he took the stack of papers toward the microscope, starting to observe the dynamics of the cells.

    Gu Xiqiao, who felt like she had been tossed to one side: Fine, she¡¯ll go then!

    Lin Xia, a bewildered and dazed look on his face: She... really seeded in one try?!

    The solemn expression on Professor Jiang¡¯s face told him all he needed to know.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao left for Nine Heavens as soon as she was out of thebs, and once he heard of hering, Yu Ning immediately pushed everything on his hands aside. "There¡¯s a difference with the source code, and my opinion differs from the others and we can¡¯t reach an agreement. Will you take a look?"

    "No way! Keep trying if you have any differences!" Gu Xiqiao replied without looking up, sitting in front of aputer.

    Yu Ning: Is this yourpany or not?

    Luo Weng watched as Gu Xiqiao read through a stack of documents, and proceeded to discuss his expansion ns with her. He had been running around the past few days, wanting to choose a real estate for Nine Heavens. After thepany has more people, they would naturally need a bigger ce, and it would be better to get a building with more floors. Since Nine Heavens was notcking money, but talents.

    "Thepany¡¯s business will expand naturally, and talents need to be attracted, but let¡¯s change the n." Gu Xiqiao turned the monitor around, smiling widely as she let Luo Weng see the n that she had just drawn up.

    Luo Weng stared at it for a while, before stumbling back onto the couch, his butt hitting the cushions in shock. "You, you... you actually want to acquire the Bai family?!"

    The Bai family, which was a very famous family in the Imperial Capital. The Chen family could not even measure up to a leg of the Bai family, Gu Xiqiao was just entirely too bold!

    [1] TL: ¼ÈÀ´Ö®,Ôò°²Ö® is a Chinese idiom, which means since you¡¯re here and can¡¯t do anything to prevent it, you might as well ept the ups and downs of the situation, and enjoy the ride.

 Chapter 130 Full Moon, Sun Jiajias Changes

    <h4>Chapter 130 Full Moon, Sun Jiajia¡°s Changes</h4>

    It wasn¡¯t unreasonable for Luo Weng to be shocked. For Nine Heavens to be able to deal with the Chen family, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s role in the entire thing was very important. Moreover, the Chen family was very confident, never cleaning up messes of those who went overboard, so some of the evidence collected was very detailed.

    But the Bai family was different. As a very prestigious family in the Imperial Capital, the Bai family had everything done under wraps with no leaks, and they were also known to have a very good temperament. They had a lot of business partners, and Nine Heavens was just a newpany in an emerging industry. No matter how fast it developed, it couldn¡¯t hide the fact that Nine Heavens had a shallow foundation.

    No contacts, shallow foundation, short of time, these were the main problems that Nine Heavens was facing right now.

    Compared to the Bai family, Nine Heavens was like an ant trying to move an elephant.

    However, something had happened in the Bai family. For the ce to be struck by lightning for no reason, outsiders were guessing whether or not the Bai family had done something to make the heavens angry with them? Otherwise, why was it that Bai Vi was the only one that had been struck, when there were so many other vis in the mountainside?

    Not only that, but some of the business partners had gone home, listening to their children¡¯s stories which served to add fuel to the mes, and they started to harbor indescribable strange feelings toward the Bai family.

    Some people immediately cut ties with the Bai family, in order to avoid any further risks in the future by being involved with them. Others felt that it was purely coincidence, and moved on from the matter quickly.

    No matter what happens, the Bai family was still a powerful family. Even if the stock of theirpanies plummeted, they had such a strong background that they would still be able to support themselves through this difficult time.

    Luo Weng was not aware, but the Chen family was very much the same. Collecting evidence was an easy thing to say, but very difficult to do. For Gu Xiqiao to be able to smash through the barriers and manage what she did, it was more than enough to prove how powerful she was in her capabilities.

    Naturally, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t enlighten him on all these matters.

    "I know you¡¯re worried that this n will need a long time, but acquiring the Bai family is something that I will insist upon." Gu Xiqiao had prepared the n, and the acquisition of the Bai family was imperative to her. The sins that the Bai family hadmitted were too deep.

    There had been an overwhelming amount of evil aura above Bai Vi, to the point it was almost suffocating, as though every one of them held a few lives in their hands.

    It seemed to have be a tradition for the Bai family to kill people using the Soul Extinguishing Seal.

    On the surface, they seemed to be a family that was kind to others, and didn¡¯t take to heart any offense that others directed at them. On the back however, they were like apletely different family, not even letting a three-year-old go, using arrays that killed people without any visible signs. Their enemies would die, but they would still be able to maintain their reputation as they wouldn¡¯t be found to be involved at all. The Bai family was indeed too horrifying and sinister.

    If she didn¡¯t destroy the Bai family, she wouldn¡¯t be able to live with herself.

    No matter what type of enemy she would face, no matter how big the storm ahead was, Gu Xiqiao was still Gu Xiqiao. She wouldn¡¯t back down just because someone stood in her way, she would be as strong as her enemies were.

    He knew that Gu Xiqiao was extremely capable, and the ns were meticulouslyprehensive. If you were to read over the proposals and ns, you would think that a financial guru with many years of experience had been the one to write it, not a young girl like her. For the ns against the Bai family, she had been even more careful with the nning. "It¡¯s not that it¡¯s impossible if you were using this method..."

    "I will definitelye up with a more refined n. Otherwise, what will happen to all my employees if thepany fails?" Gu Xiqiao leaned back against the chair, narrowing her eyes. She had never done something if she didn¡¯t have the confidence it would work. "I thought you would disagree with me, since the Bai family has a great reputation at the moment after all."

    "Why would you think like that? Let me put it out straight then, I admire you unconditionally. Don¡¯t talk about taking over the Bai family, even if you asked me to go into a mountain of daggers and seas of fire, I would do it without questioning you at all!" Luo Weng stated firmly, looking straight into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, not wavering. He straightened up. "The Bai family does have a good reputation now, but being too perfect means that a person is also the most dangerous, and have many more things to hide underneath."

    Take Gu Xiqiao as an example. When she was in First City High, many people regarded her as a goddess, this was not any different when she came into A University. However, after getting along with her for a while, everyone knew of the few ws that she had.

    Firstly, herziness. If she could sit, then she wouldn¡¯t stand. If she could lie down, she wouldn¡¯t sit.

    Secondly, tight-fisted. Yes, that was right, such a rich and beautiful girl was actually very stingy.

    Thirdly, she has a bad temper. Regardless of her usual cold and indifferent, elegant and noble look, if she was anxious or disturbed, she wouldn¡¯t be able to stop her temper from erupting.

    ...

    Those were the major ones, but Luo Weng was sure there were also a lot more minor ones which only people who spent every day with her and were closer to her would know.

    In short, there was no such thing as a perfect person in this world. If there was such a person in which you couldn¡¯t find any ws in them, then this person was likely to be very terrifying on the inside.

    "You really have good taste." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin, a little surprised at Luo Weng¡¯s thoughts. The next beat, her gaze on him suddenly sharpened. "However, do you have time to do me a favor?"

    "What is it?" Luo Weng was startled, a bit of disbelief seeping into him. She actually needed help with something?

    In other words, you also have days like that?

    "I have a roommate who writes a column for the magazine in the editorial department," Gu Xiqiao said, still looking at Luo Weng, "In order to interview you, she waited for three days in the Faculty of Management and Economics. When she got the news that you were absent and away, she was heartbroken, in a pain that was no different than dying. Could you give her a chance to have a small interview with you?"

    Luo Weng had a lot of possibilities running through his mind about what Gu Xiqiao would need his help for, since it must be a big deal for her to ask him for help. He never expected this answer from her, and he felt slightly dumbfounded and cheated, not knowing whether he shouldugh or cry about it. This was probably Gu Xiqiao¡¯s charm on its own.

    She was a person who was very considerate of her friends. As long as she acknowledged them, she would use everything in her power to help them out.

    For example, Mu Zong, Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, and himself.

    "I don¡¯t really have the time for face-to-face interviews, but you can pass me her number. Since it¡¯s a college magazine, it doesn¡¯t need to be too grand, right?" Luo Weng replied as he thought about it, he really was tied up in Nine Heavens recently.

    ***

    And so, for Xu Jing who had suddenly received a call from Luo Weng felt like she was in a dream. When the gentle voice came through the phone, she felt her face flush immediately.

    There were quite a few rumors about Luo Weng in school, he was after all ced second in the entire country in the national finals, and was only a few points behind Gu Xiqiao. However, there was too little information about him that was avable, and even the photos they had were his passport photo. He was also quite handsome, not at all like a die-hard study nerd. And so with just a photo ID of him, he had managed to be one of the male gods on campus.

    When she received his call, Xu Jing was stunned for a few seconds before being able to react.

    When she heard that the purpose of the call was Luo Weng epting the interview, Xu Jing struggled to suppress the excitement that threatened to burst from within her, opening her notebook with trembling hands to note down the details.

    An interview for a college magazine wouldn¡¯t involve too many personal questions, but Xu Jing fired question after question, birthday, hobby, age... and even questions on whether there was adypanion in the picture.

    In the past, Luo Weng wouldn¡¯t be bothered with such trivial things, but since it was Gu Xiqiao who had entrusted him with this task, he patiently answered them all.

    When he hung up the call, he was obviously relieved that it was finally over. The other party was slightly mind-boggling to him, and it was a little tough for him to handle her.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ns for the Bai family had been fine tuned, but she didn¡¯t carry it out immediately as the Mid-Autumn Festival had arrived. Not only did she nned to spend time with her group of friends from the Imperial Capital, she also needed to handle the sinsmitted by the Bai family.

    Once the full moon was over, it would be impossible to save the victims who were cursed by the Bai family.

    When was thest Mid-Autumn Festival again? Gu Xiqiao scrunched up her face as she thought about it. She had no memories of how she had celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival in her past life, or whether she had lived through it in the first ce.

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen knew that Gu Xiqiao would be at home, and so they had arrived earlier in the afternoon, and they were the earliest to reach.

    As soon as they caught sight of her, Xiao Yun began chattering away. "Er Qiao, let me tell you, I have epted a role in a movie, and it¡¯ll start in a few days." She was obviously very happy.

    Xiao Yun was usually a cold and indifferent person, but once she saw Gu Xiqiao and Wu Hongwen, she turned into someone that she couldn¡¯t even recognize anymore.

    Speaking of the movie, she herself had been surprised at it. It was the only film this year that was being directed by a famous local director, Cheng Zhou. She hadn¡¯t held out much hope when she went to the audition after receiving a call from her teacher, as there were many other first-rate female stars who had also gone for the audition. She almost didn¡¯t believe it when the director chose her.

    In fact, her acting skills were not as good as those first-rate stars, but Cheng Zhou only said one thing, that her acting was very uplifting and inspiring, and that it was like she was born to be an actress, although there were still many areas that needed polishing and refining.

    "You¡¯ve told me this at least ten times while we were on the way here, I hope you¡¯re not nning to do the same to Er Qiao." Wu Hongwen groaned as he gave Xiao Yun a pointed look.

    Gu Xiqiao was initially sitting at the window side as she painted, but once the two arrived, she had kept away her things. "The future star Xiao Yun is just too excited and happy. Since this is the first time, Little Wu, you have to be more understanding."

    The future star, Xiao Yun: Er Qiao, take back those words and we¡¯ll still be friends when we meet in the future!

    Gu Xiqiao pretended that she didn¡¯t see the somewhat annoyed expression on Xiao Yun¡¯s face, calling for Haha instead. "Haha,e over here. Come and meet the future superstar, Xiao Yun. You won¡¯t get to see her once she gets hot and popr in the future."

    The future superstar, Xiao Yun: This is the end of this friendship, no exnation needed!

    Wu Hongwen smiled as he watched their interaction, and then he suddenly asked, "Where¡¯s Xixi? Why is it not here? Also, where¡¯s Mrs. Zhang, did she go out to buy groceries?"

    "Xixi went out to find Brother Jiang. As for Mrs. Zhang, I gave her the day off since today is the Mid-Autumn Festival." Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, she seemed to have forgotten the most important thing. So, it seemed like, today, she had to cook?

    When she realized that, Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun had also reached the same conclusion. They nced at each other, beaming. When they thought about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cooking skills in the kitchen, they couldn¡¯t help but feel the drool gathering in their mouth.

    After the two, the next to arrive was Luo Weng and Yao Jiamu.

    They looked at Gu Xiqiao who was busy in the kitchen, and concern shed in their eyes. Yao Jiamu looked to Wu Hongwen. "Is it really alright... not to give her a hand in the kitchen?"

    He thought about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s slender hands, the pale fingers that were smooth and never rough, seemingly to be hands that had never touched chores before. His eyes held the doubt that he felt inside, did she really know how to cook?

    Wu Hongwen let out a sigh, slightly embarrassed, "Er Qiao won¡¯t let us in the kitchen, else she¡¯d throw a tantrum. Little Mutou, even if you can¡¯t eat the food she gives youter, just pretend that it¡¯s delicious." Although the words were nonsense, he said it with a deadpan expression.

    The main point was that Yao Jiamu, and even Luo Weng believed it.

    Xiao Yun acted as though she didn¡¯t hear anything, she felt that even if they had spoken the truth, no one would believe them. With the way Gu Xiqiao was, she herself wouldn¡¯t have believed it if she hadn¡¯t eaten her cooking before. Gu Xiqiao was not only able to cook, but her skills had even reached this wonderful extent?

    The doorbell rang again, and since Wu Hongwen was the nearest, he jumped up to open the door.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had sent the address to Xu Jing earlier that morning. When she had reached the area, it was full of luxury cars, and she felt that as someone from a rich family, she had taken a million points of damage to her heart. From Gu Xiqiao¡¯s behavior, dressing and attitude, it was obvious that she was not someone with a normal background.

    However, when Xu Jing had arrived at the area, she felt that even her dog¡¯s eyes had been blinded by the view, especially after she entered the building and found that there was even a butler! This was just... she didn¡¯t even know when the Imperial Capital had be so high-end.

    When she found the Gu Xiqiao¡¯s unit number, she had to double-check her phone to ensure that she had gotten the right ce before ringing the doorbell.

    The door opened quickly, and a handsome face appeared in front of her, and the first thought in Xu Jing¡¯s mind was: Dammit, you pressed the wrong doorbell!

    Otherwise, why would the unapproachable male god that was known to be a student that was reserved, aloof but nice, be here?!

    She took a step back, ncing at the house number again, going through the numbers one by one. She kept staring at it, as though the numbers would change if she stared hard enough, but even after her eyes watered slightly from staring at it too long, the numbers were still the same as the one on her phone, there was no mistake. Also, Beauty Gu wouldn¡¯t be so careless as to send her the wrong address.

    And so, Xu Jing brought her gaze back to the person in front of her with some difficulty and asked, "Excuse me, is Gu Xiqiao here?"

    Wu Hongwen had some faint impression of Xu Jing, and he leaned forward slightly. "I know, you should be Er Qiao¡¯s roommate, right? She¡¯s in, hurry in."

    Swallowing heavily after receiving an affirmative answer, finally processing the fact that Wu Hongwen and Beauty Gu knew each other, she was then further surprised by the person sitting on the sofa who had lifted his head to look at her after she had entered.

    Wasn¡¯t that handsome, gentle and beautiful man wearing sses sitting on the sofa, Luo Weng?!

    Xu Jing was taken aback once again, the surprises wereing continuously, she needed time to calm her racing heart.

    Wu Hongwen, who hade back in after closing the doors: This roommate of Er Qiao¡¯s, was there a loose screw in her head?

    However, Xu Jing was unable to calm down. She couldn¡¯t have guessed that Gu Xiqiao was actually acquainted with these two people! Thinking about the phone call that she had received from Luo Weng two days ago, the mystery of his sudden eptance was finally solved! It was no wonder that Luo Weng, who was known to be withdrawn, cold and mysterious would suddenly ask for her phone number to ask for an interview. Even if somebody told her that this wasn¡¯t something Gu Xiqiao had a hand in, she wouldn¡¯t believe it!

    Xu Jing sat down on the sofa, but she was still in the same state. The attitudes of the people around her were warm and friendly, and very different from what she had imagined.

    When she heard that Gu Xiqiao was cooking in the kitchen, her reaction was no different from those few. ¡¯Are you sure she can cook? Will it be edible?¡¯ It wouldn¡¯t give them food poisoning, right?

    When Jiang Shuxuan pushed open the door, he saw the room full of people. He was still holding his phone in his hand as his gaze swept through the room, and then he nodded slightly to them in greeting. He had always been polite toward Gu Xiqiao¡¯s friends.

    Only, his deep gazended on Wu Hongwen and paused for a moment, obviously recalling the words that Bai Xinran had spoken the other day. Even though he knew there was nothing between the two, he still felt some unhappiness tugging at his heart. The tone of his voice lowered as he continued his call. "That¡¯s all then, I¡¯m hanging up."

    On the other side of the call, the young attendant that had been frightened by Jiang Shuxuan was wiping the cold sweat off his forehead. Although he knew that the Young Master Jiang was not in front of him, he still felt the chilling aura that seemed to seep through the other end of the phone, and cold sweat broke out on his person. "Okay, understood. I will ry your message to the master."

    After hanging up the call, Jiang Shuxuan put down his phone and rolled up his snow-white sleeves, changing his shoes to a pair of indoor slippers. The slippers had been purchased by Gu Xiqiao. It was blue and had prints of a pig¡¯s head, and it looked rather childish. Jiang Shuxuan was a handsome man with stunning features, as well as having an intimidating temperament. For him to wear the pair of slippers, it really didn¡¯t match his image and looked out of ce on his feet.

    It gave others a feeling of extraordinary joy, somehow.

    Wu Hongwen waited for Jiang Shuxuan to leave the room and into the kitchen, before he opened his mouth and whispered to Yao Jiamu, "I bet you two cucumbers that the slippers Master Jiang is wearing was something Er Qiao bought."

    Yao Jiamu: What a coincidence, that was exactly my thoughts.

    Wu Hongwen: ... then there¡¯s no meaning to this.

    Xu Jing looked at Jiang Shuxuan, and felt that if she spent a few more days with this group of people, everyone on the outside would be ugly inparison in the future!

    ***

    There were quite a few people that were eating lunch, so Gu Xiqiao had prepared a lot of dishes. The dishes were actually prepared by Mrs. Zhang earlier before she had left, and Gu Xiqiao just needed to cook it.

    "Is there anything that I can do?" A familiar voice suddenly sounded beside her ear, his tone slightly lower than usual.

    Because he was so much taller, he would bend his head down when he spoke to her. For Jiang Shuxuan to lower his head in this life, the person he did it for clearly had no appreciation for it at all. Every time he lowered his head, Gu Xiqiao would look at him coldly.

    Did. She. Really. Look. Like. She. Was. That. Bloody. Short?!

    When she would raise this issue previously, Jiang Shuxuan wouldugh lightly and then look at her solemnly. "You¡¯re just a head shorter than me."

    "What can you do?" Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t like anyone present when she was cooking, as she didn¡¯t feelfortable. Just like the time in N City when she had cooked for the first time, she had chased everyone out of the kitchen.

    But this time, there was an extra presence in the kitchen, and she wasn¡¯t ufortable in the least. Instead, she cast a sidelong nce at him, the disdain clear on her face.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t care much for her expression, picking up a vegetable for the first time with hands that had only ever held a pen and sword, and slowly washing it under the faucet.

    His movements were stiff, but because his expression was serious and earnestly asking for advice, Gu Xiqiao hummed, and didn¡¯t nitpick at the things he did.

    Doing things for the first time, Jiang Shuxuan felt that he still had room for improvement.

    He watched Gu Xiqiao pour the oil into the pan, then slipped the meat slices onto it. He narrowed his eyes when ayer of oily smoke immediately rose from it, and nced up at the venttor above the pan. Flicking a finger, ayer of chi emerged from his fingertips to form a barrier in front of Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao could naturally feel the silent actions that Jiang Shuxuan had done, and felt her heart warm at his concern. However, wasn¡¯t this a little too overprotective?

    Seeing that the oily fumes no longer touched her, Jiang Shuxuan lowered his hands in satisfaction. He continued to watch as Gu Xiqiao bustled around the small kitchen, and a strange sense of contentment swelling in his heart. However, his brows wrinkled again when he thought of the intrusive group that was waiting in the living room.

    He reached up with his hands to massage his temples, and let out a low chuckle after a while.

    He was never someone who liked excitement, and if it wasn¡¯t necessary, he would never appear at the meals of the Jiang family. It¡¯s not like anyone in the Jiang family could beat him anyway, and everything depended on one¡¯s strength.

    But here and now, with so many people in the house, he didn¡¯t feel disagreeable about it at all. He could tell that Gu Xiqiao was really happy about this gathering.

    It was fine then, as long as she was happy. After he had met her, what part of his usual principles did he still keep to anyway?

    The people who were waiting outside suddenly caught a whiff of the strong fragrance that seeped out from the kitchen. Luo Weng, who was the first to smell it, couldn¡¯t help but look toward the kitchen, which was the source of where the smell came from.

    The scent was amazingly mouth watering, and Yao Jiamu couldn¡¯t help but exim, "Don¡¯t tell me, this is Miss Gu¡¯s doing!"

    "Probably." Wu Hongwen said, keeping his face straight as he shrugged. Inside however, was a different story. ¡¯Just wait, you guys will feel a p in your face, just like how I felt when I first found out!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao quickly steamed the fish, sprinkling the top of it with some homemade sauce. There was a sweet smell in the air then, the fish was tender and soft, the soup was clear and mellow, which made people want to dig in as soon as they were able to.

    Jiang Shuxuan brought the dishes out, and Wu Hongwen jumped up when he saw it. He had been around Yin Shaoyuan for a long time, and he obviously knew that Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s status was not low, and was really a young master. So when he saw him bringing out the dishes to be served, he immediately jumped to relieve him from the task. "Boss Jiang, why don¡¯t you take a rest, I can do this."

    "It¡¯s fine, I can handle it." Jiang Shuxuan spared Wu Hongwena nce, his gaze was extremely frosty, and his tone left no room for argument.

    Wu Hongwen felt himself freeze in his ce. Did he offend Boss Jiang in some way, otherwise why was his gaze so much more chilling toward him today?

    Seeing the dishes that were slowly piling up on the table, Luo Weng¡¯s shock morphed into a form of numbness, and finally, he just really, really, really wanted to dig in now! Could he eat now?!

    They had initially thought that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know how to cook, and even discussed that they had to pretend it was good even if it wasn¡¯t. But now it looks like it was biting them back in the ass, and thinking of this, Yao Jiamu sent a nce at Wu Hongwen. His face waspletely void of surprise, and his eyes were staring at the dishes on the table intently, a look of desire on his face.

    Yao Jiamu knew in that instant that Wu Hongwen had made an ass out of him!

    Once the dishes were all served, they gathered at the table and like lightning started to pile the food on their te. The moment they bit into the meatballs, the rich vor burst in their mouths. The taste was so delicious that they almost bite their own tongue in a hurry to eat more!

    But in terms of speed, who could beat Jiang Shuxuan at this table? He not only grabbed his own food quickly, he even took a portion for Gu Xiqiao.

    As for Luo Wenlin who couldn¡¯tpete with anyone here, he looked toward Luo Weng with a pitiful face.

    Luo Weng ced the chicken that he was about to put in his mouth in Luo Wenlin¡¯s bowl at thest minute: ... your elder brother has wronged you!

    After eating, Luo Weng didn¡¯t immediately return to the office, instead staying to watch Wu Hongwen and others as they yed games.

    Luo Weng wasn¡¯t someone who yed games, and Xu Jing hadn¡¯t yed Nine Heavens before. However, after seeing Wu Hongwen y for a while, their interest had been piqued. Xiao Yun even went to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room to borrow a few extra virtual helmets.

    "Smoke On Water?" Xu Jing hadn¡¯t even registered yet, but when she saw the members of Wu Hongwen¡¯s party, she couldn¡¯t help but exim in surprise. Thanks to Sun Jiajia, even she knew that there was such a god-like yer in the game.

    Wu Hongwen nced up at her. "If you don¡¯t y the game, how do you know about Smoke On Water?"

    "Our other roommate ys, and she always mentioned that they had the support of the second best yer on the PK rank list." Xu Jing replied, and then she nced at the golden character of Wu Hongwen on the screen, and thought that he must be a great yer too.

    Wu Hongwen let out a sad sigh. "An old timer who always gets crushed over and over by Er Qiao, why doesn¡¯t your roommate worship Er Qiao instead? She¡¯s the top yer on the PK list with a 100% win rate."

    Now Xu Jing was stunned again. She looked at Wu Hongwen¡¯s friends list, which he clicked and a little lolita character appeared, with the name ¡¯For A Millenium¡¯ on the top of her head, and a golden title underneath it, ¡¯The World¡¯s Greatest Master¡¯.

    Thinking of how Sun Jiajia had been bragging nonstop about the second-ce yer, Xu Jing thought that Gu Xiqiao could really hold in her feelings. If it were her, she would have already used the great master title to throw in Sun Jiajia¡¯s face!

    But it can be seen that Gu Xqiaio¡¯s personality was a little weird, and the circuits in her brain functioned differently than regr people.

    Luo Weng, who was chatting with Luo Wenlin at the side: You¡¯re surprised with just this? If you guys knew that Gu Xiqiao was the one behind the scenes of Nine Heavens, wouldn¡¯t you guys get another shock of your lives and feel like dying from the revtion then?

    ***

    Today was the day of the full moon, and Gu Xiqiao left after eating, taking Jiang Shuxuan and Yao Jiamu with her.

    Boss Bai was waiting anxiously for their arrival, and the hall had been arranged earlier with an incense table in it. He sat on the chair, feeling somewhat uneasy. The feeling wasing back again, the pressure that he felt on his person, and even if he sat in one ce, he had a nagging feeling that the roof would cave in on him.

    Yao Jiamu had sent him a message earlier, informing him that Gu Xiqiao would be arriving soon, but he was still nervous as long as he didn¡¯t see her in person.

    "Yao Jiamu has arrived with some other people." Ah Gen knocked on the door frame after a short while.

    Boss Bai stood up immediately. "Bring them in, quickly!" He had wanted to receive them personally, but thinking about his unlucky streak, he halted in his steps, not wanting to meet anymore misfortune.

    "Boss Bai." It wasn¡¯t long before he heard the clear, melodious voice ring out. He raised his head consciously, seeing the people who stepped into the room under the moonlight.

    "Great Master Gu!" Boss Bai eximed with some unrestrained joy in his voice and face. "You¡¯re finally here!"

    Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly as she looked up at the moon in the sky, it was particrly round tonight, because it was the fifteenth of the month, and it excluded a faint silvery light. In contrast, Boss Bai was exuding a faint scent of death on his person.

    Yao Jiamu was well prepared, having asked Gu Xiqiao earlier on what he needed to pay attention to. The yard had been cleared, and only a Yin-Yang Eight Trigram Array on the ground was present.

    "Just what the hell is this?" Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help the furrowing of his brows, looking at the shattered maic field around Boss Bai. It was simr to what had happened to Gu Xiqiao previously, and he still didn¡¯t know what the cause of it was.

    Even though he was a prodigy in ancient martial arts, and there were only a handful of people who were able topare with him in terms of power, but in terms of formations and array, he had not touched on those before.

    Not everyone had a virtual space like Gu Xiqiao, and had endless amount of time to explore things like she had done.

    Gu Xiqiao instructed Boss Bai to sit in the middle of the Eight Trigram Array, then she turned to Jiang Shuxuan. "Brother Jiang, where is Xixi?"

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his hand to draw a symbol in the air, and a ck hole appeared suddenly, the huge form of Xixiing out from it. "Chirp chiiiiirp! Beauty Qiao, Xixi has missed you!"

    Xixi, who had been let out, didn¡¯t hesitate to rush toward Gu Xiqiao, but was pped to the side without mercy by Jiang Shuxuan.

    Boss Bai felt faint watching the scene in front of him, these were all things that were beyond his imagination. But thinking back to the miracles that he had witnessed, he still couldn¡¯t get over the marvel of them, and the bird that was bigger than a human was able to talk?

    Didn¡¯t they say that animals couldn¡¯t be spirits after China was built?

    In the end, Gu Xiqiao borrowed the power of the jade pendant on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s neck. She walked to the middle of the Eight Trigram Array, waving her hands casually to produce a few other jades with spiritual aura in them. She ced them in specific positions on the Eight Trigram Array, and when the ancient jade from Jiang Shuxuan was ced down, a st of silver light burst out.

    Countless of silver lights poured down from the moon, resembling a silvery waterfall.

    "This... she¡¯s changing the fates." Feeling the profound energy and chi radiating from Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan finally realized something. When did that happen, she seemed to have advanced unknowingly?

    "Xixi, fire!"

    On hermand, Xixi opened its mouth, spitting fire. ck? Ops, wrong one!

    Withdrawing the ck fire, it immediately changed it to the vivid, bright red mes instead. As a divine beast of heaven and earth, the energy in its me was extremely pure.

    The sky gradually darkened, and the people standing outside the Eight Trigram Array couldn¡¯t see the two figures who stood inside it. Jiang Shuxuan could only rely on his connection to the jade pendant to assure himself that Gu Xiqiao was fine. Changing the fates... Jiang Shuxuan felt a stab of fear when he thought of these words.

    Since ancient times, wasn¡¯t being able to change the fates a great power of the ancient martial arts world?

    How great was Gu Xiqiao, being able to take advantage of the power of heaven and earth, using Natural Force to forcefully change the fates?

    Really, when it involved her, every day was a new surprise. One day, if she were to tell him that she would be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, he wouldn¡¯t find it surprising at all.

    The effectsted for almost an hour before the silver lights faded slowly, revealing the slim figure behind it.

    Gu Xiqiao held the pendant in her hands,ing up to Jiang Shuxuan and cing it around his neck once again. She then turned to Yao Jiamu. "Sit still for the night, Boss Bai will be fine."

    "Thank you." Yao Jiamu said gravely, and then he remembered what Boss Bai had entrusted to him. "Boss Bai has prepared two boxes of antiques, I¡¯ll get someone to send it over to you soon."

    In order to collect all the items, Boss Bai had also exerted quite some effort, and Gu Xiqiao was well aware of it. "You¡¯ve really put a lot of thought into this."

    Yao Jiamu rubbed his chin. "This is nothing, really." When Boss Bai woke up tomorrow, Yao Jiamu would pester him send another sum along to Gu Xiqiao, he thought inside.

    Boss Bai: Am I still your godfather or not? Why do you treat me like this?

    ***

    Bai Xinran had been having bad days consistently for a while, what irked her the most was that Gu Xiqiao was still alive and well. Knowing that the master wasing to her house tonight, Bai Xinran went back to the dorms quietly and retrieved the talisman underneath Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bed.

    She not only wanted to kill Gu Xiqiao, she wanted all of those people who hadughed at her to also die!

    The talisman was still at its original ce, not looking like anyone had touched it. Bai Xinran let out a sigh of relief, and she picked up the talisman, writing the names of all the people on the back side of the paper.

    ck!

    The room light was turned on suddenly, lighting up the room instantly. "Bai Xinran, what the hell are you doing?"

    "Ah." Bai Xinran was sitting on the ground, her expression horrified as she stared at the two people who had appeared in front of her suddenly. She scooted backward. "You, you... are you ghosts or humans?"

    The two faces under the lights were gorgeous to the point that they looked a bit unreal.

    Gu Xiqiao took a step forward, raising her hand slightly. The paper in Bai Xinran¡¯s hands floated upward into the air. "Didn¡¯t I warn you not to mess with me, otherwise I would take care of the entire Bai family?"

    Bai Xinran leaned against the bed, trembling in fear. She could feel the frosty chill that radiated off Gu Xiqiao, the faint gaze piercing through her heart, she was serious about this!

    She had never felt as much regret as she did in this moment, she watched as Gu Xiqiao turned the talisman, which was almost impossible to destroy whether by fire or water, into ashes with just a flick of her fingers, which leaked through the gaps in her hand.

    Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes widened at that, a look of disbelief on her face. The priest had mentioned before, once the array was sessful, it was impossible for the talisman to be destroyed. No one in the world would be able to do it. However, the talisman was no different than ordinary paper in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands!

    Surprised, fear, and regret! Bai Xinran had no other thoughts, even knowing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s unmoving attitude, she didn¡¯t have any awareness to notice that he was also present.

    Run! That was the only thought in Bai Xinran¡¯s mind!

    She pulled herself up, seeing Gu Xiqiao still smiling and watching her without moving from her spot. Bai Xinran felt a burst of courage as she took off toward the door suddenly.

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes, and flicked his finger, a frost de materializing and flew out.

    Boom!

    Before Bai Xinran could make it out the door, she was thrown back by a st of energy.

    "I¡¯ve always carried out the words that I say." Gu Xiqiao¡¯splexion was eerily white under the lights, elegant eyebrows and a gentle smile on her face.

    Bai Xinran could feel the coldness from the smile on her face.

    With just a thought, a pale yellow talisman paper appeared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm. "I won¡¯t let you die, I want you to watch with your own eyes as the Bai familyes to an end, while you can do nothing about it."

    The yellow paper floated up, flying toward Bai Xinran¡¯s forehead and merging into her brain in an instant. The expressions in Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes faded away into emptiness, and her face became dull and jaw cked.

    No one would know, but her insides and mind could clearly see what was going on!

    A normal person whose mind was extremely clear would seem to be someone with dementia, it was a cruel feeling. Bai Xinran wanted to shout and struggle, but the nurse that was assigned to her would only treat her more ruthlessly than thest one.

    She would watch as the Bai family gradually sinks deeper into trouble, as her father got older and gaunt, and watched as those victims that had been cursed by them came back to life, one by one.

    She would want to tell her father that the person behind the scenes was Gu Xiqiao, but all she would manage to do was let out a long string of garbles.

    For the rest of her life, she would live in endless regret and suffering.

    ***

    After dealing with Bai Xinran, Gu Xiqiao felt the air in the dorm room improved.

    But in the following days, Sun Jiajia who previously only knew how to follow behind Bai Xinran had changed. She learned how to apply makeup, how to dress herself up in morous clothes, and when she had to deal with Gu Xiqiao and Xu Jing, there was a faint air of arrogance around her.

    Gu Xiqiao was seldom in the dormitory because she was busy dealing with the Bai family affairs, but she had been pestered by Professor Jiang intoing today, and so she went to thebs.

    In theboratory, Lin Xia was busy carrying out his experiments. When he saw Gu Xiqiao, he paused in his work.

    Professor Jiang had given him Gu Xiqiao¡¯s report to look over, and after reading it, Lin Xia only had one thought in his head, insane.

    They weren¡¯t sure how, but Professor Ban had gotten word about the report, and tried every means he could to get his hands on it. Professor Jiang kept everything tightly under wraps, and didn¡¯t allow him to read it at all. The two could be regarded as friends for almost half their life, and in order to understand Professor Jiang, there came a day when finally, Professor Ban had stolen the report!

    Professor Jiang was extremely angry, and severely scolded Professor Ban for his actions.

    However, Professor Ban said nothing. After reading the report, he began to hound Professor Jiang to get Gu Xiqiao to perform the entire experiment in theboratory in person.

    Because if you were to mention the problems of the rejection period, almost everyone who studied biology would know that the cells of two different animals were difficult to fuse due to the cell surface protein and the difference in their nuclear DNA. Even if they were sessfully fused, they wouldn¡¯t survive long, and would quickly enter the aging stage. At most, they would survive for three days.

    But the cells that Gu Xiqiao had left thest time were still dividing, acting no different than normal cells.

    Disregarding Professor Ban, even Professor Jiang was surprised and doubtful. After a few more days, he finally agreed to the proposal, and started to badger Gu Xiqiao ining back to theboratory.

    Gu Xiqiao, who had learned the truth from Lin Xia: "..."

    Professor Ban and Professor Jiang arrived quickly, almost in tandem. Bumping into each other at the entrance of theb, they didn¡¯t even have time to quarrel before rushing inside.

    "Professor Jiang." Gu Xiqiao nced at Professor Jiang, and turned to the old man beside him. "Professor Ban."

    Professor Ban looked at the girl in front of him, a delicate appearance and great temperament, no less than those noble daughters from the big families in the Imperial Capital. Who wouldn¡¯t want such a well-behaved and beautiful apprentice?

    "Old Jiang is too rigid in his work, would you consider studying under me instead? Pity an old man like me, I don¡¯t have any students under me yet," Professor Ban said sadly.

    The group of students who were under Professor Ban in thebs: ...Teacher, don¡¯t treat your normal students like idiots that don¡¯t exist once you see a genius. Although our intelligence is not as high, we still have our dignity!

    Being able to enter A University was definitely something to boast about, but of course, these people also had times when theypletely admired someone.

    Firstly, this was an era of looks. Just based on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s appearance, no matter where you go, it¡¯s also particrly popr, right?

    And then, what kind of insane person would be able to obtain a perfect score in the first test? What else could they say? There was only one test in A University, and the questions were extremely difficult, the teachers were merciless. Most of the students who could obtain 60 marks were already thanking the heavens and earth, even those who scored 70 marks. Only those with extremely good luck would make it into the bracket of 80 marks!

    There were even some questions which the teachers didn¡¯t know the answers to, and those were the medical questions.

    However, this crazy person named Gu Xiqiao had actually managed to score an almost perfect score in the test, which was 95 marks. There were also rumors that there was a disagreement between the two grading teachers regarding thest question in the paper, and had in the endpromised by giving her an extra 5 marks.

    In the Faculty of Medicine, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reputation was practically divine.

    At the same time, Luo Weng from the Faculty of Management and Economics had also disyed the same kind of insanity, scoring an almost perfect score in the test.

    As expected, the story of Shang Zhongyong was indeed just a myth, about how geniuses would eventually be ordinary people. These two insane people had tested into A University with such crazy results, and they still kept up their insanity after that!

    In just an instant, the two hadpletely dominated the limelight and overshadowed the rest of the students in their year. Many people were crying, being able to be in the same generation as these two people, it was really such a sad thing, because other people who wanted to shine would be outshined by their glorious light.

    The two people involved in this matter naturally were unaware of this, and Gu Xiqiao spent the entire afternoon in theboratory, exining the rejection period thoroughly.

    Being constantly badgered by two old codgers to the point she wanted to puke blood, she was relieved to be finally set free after that. She dragged her feet back to her dorm then, looking like someone with nothing to live for.

    "What¡¯s the matter, you look like life screwed you over," Xu Jing said, looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s appearance in surprise.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed. "Buddha said, the less you desire, the less annoyance there is. Jing Jing, you basically mention desire in every sentence you say, could it be possible your life has deteriorated to this extent already?"

    "No, no, no! On the contrary, I¡¯m doing very well recently!" Xu Jing was proud when she said that, the two articles on Gu Xiqiao and Luo Weng had garnered a lot of poprity. There had never been a time on campus when the college magazine had sold more than a thousand copies.

    But this time, more than ten thousand copies had been sold! This was the highest record ever, and it had all been thanks to Xu Jing¡¯s two articles.

    It was inevitable, Luo Weng was mysterious to the point that even the teachers couldn¡¯t find him.

    Gu Xiqiao at least still attended sses diligently in the earlier stages, and disappeared into thin air at theter stages. A lot of students on the forums were yelling out for pictures of her, in high-definition or uncensored. However, don¡¯t talk about high-definition or uncensored, you couldn¡¯t even find the person¡¯s silhouette!

    That¡¯s why, when the college magazine produced high-definition, uncensored pictures of the two popr students, the magazines flew off the racks quickly, running out of print every day.

    Seemingly knowing that Xu Jing had an indescribable rtionship with the two, the editor-in-chief had consistently brought up Xu Jing¡¯s contribution repeatedly, how would you not feel proud about it? Clinging to someone famous suddenly didn¡¯t feel very bad at all.

    While the two were chatting, the door was pushed open suddenly, and Sun Jiajia stepped in with her high heels.

    Just a few days of not seeing each other, Gu Xiqiao felt that Sun Jiajia had changed a lot. Disregarding her character, even her appearance had changed. She had permed her hair, turning those straight locks into wavy curls, with delicate makeup on her face that turned her initially dark, squarish looking face into a smaller, more dainty white face.

    An ordinary, in local girl had instantly transformed into a rich beauty from the city.

    ***

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao, Sun Jiajia was startled for a moment. Gu Xiqiao had not been in the dorms for a long while. At first, she had been excited because she didn¡¯t attend sses, that would mean that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be able to pass her exams when the timees!

    But when Sun Jiajia saw the results of the exams, her heart shattered.

    On the report card which also disyed the ss positions, Gu Xiqiao was still ced at the first, while she only obtained 60 marks, which was considered to be a lower grade.

    Sun Jiajia, who had always prided herself on her achievements, couldn¡¯t withstand the blow from this matter. She had gone to the grove to cry in secret, and then met her life savior during that time. She had taught her how to apply makeup, how to buy clothes, and how to change herself.

    The first time she had applied makeup, Sun Jiajia couldn¡¯t believe that the smiling figure on the mirror turned out to be herself!

    Not long after, she had met her true love again, and when she thought of him, she couldn¡¯t help the fuzzy warm feelings that bloomed in her heart.

    "Gu Xiqiao, why are you back here?" Sun Jiajia sat on the stool, picking up her mirror to touch up on her makeup. "I haven¡¯t seen your boyfriend yet. Bring him along when we go out for a meal, my boyfriend owns a bar, so you can open your eyes to the world when youe along."

    Even though she had a boyfriend, her heart still throbbed when Sun Jiajia thought about Jiang Shuxuan. That perfectly cold face that looked like it was carved from ice, it was not one that was easily forgettable.

    Thinking back to the surprised expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face when she entered just now, Sun Jiajia wanted to see more of it. What kind of expression would Gu Xiqiao¡¯s boyfriend have when he saw apletely different person?

    She reached up with her hands to stroke her white cheek, and for the first time, she looked forward to seeing someone again.

    She no longer felt inferior nor less worthy of anyone else!

    "He¡¯s busy," Gu Xiqiao replied, ncing at Sun Jiajia again, her eyes narrowing slightly. There was something off about her.

    "No matter how busy he is, there will always be time to spend with his girlfriend." Sun Jiajia turned and picked up her bag. "Look at my boyfriend, he¡¯s busy running a business, but he still takes time out to apany me."

    "Oh." Gu Xiqiao turned away, making a noise of agreement.

    "Oh? You give me just a ¡¯oh¡¯ after such a provocation from me?" Sun Jiajia looked at Gu Xiqiao, but didn¡¯t say anything further, leaving in a hurry.

    "Really, one day in heaven is one year on earth, I just left for a few days, and such a big change has urred in the human world." Gu Xiqiao sped both hands behind her head, letting out an overexaggerated heavy sigh.

    Xu Jing couldn¡¯t help the smile that stretched across her lips. "So then, Miss Immortal, what have you seen?"

    Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes at Xu Jing. "You will have a love affair."

    Xu Jing: "..."

    She felt like she still couldn¡¯t win against Gu Xiqiao, her opponent was just too good. Every time she would be the one who was on the receiving end. "Sun Jiajia recently got a boyfriend, I heard that he¡¯s the kind that has dealings with both worlds, and has quite a sum of money."

    Xu Jing started to exin Sun Jiajia¡¯s situation, and most of it was things that she had heard from others, but it didn¡¯t seem to be too far off from the facts.

    "I see." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, and then she jumped down from the bed suddenly. "I remember something important that I needed to do, I¡¯m leaving first then!"

    Today was the day that Xiao Yun began her shooting, and she had promised she would be there!

 Chapter 131 Injured Beauty

    <h4>Chapter 131 Injured Beauty</h4>

    Following the address that was sent by Xiao Yun, Gu Xiqiao arrived at Studio City, which served as a well known filming base in the Imperial Capital. When the taxi stopped outside the building, she saw groups of performers lingering around the area.

    The people who hung around here, if they weren¡¯t young people full of hope and dreams, then they were the older generations of performers whose dreams have already been drowned by reality. At their age, it was extremely difficult for them to be popr again.

    Double checking that she had the right ce, she slowly made her way toward the filming base.

    ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was Cheng Zhou¡¯s only work this year, and the reason they started shooting at this time of the year was to make it in time for the awards ceremony which was at the end of the year. Generally speaking, the entire filming process was quite fast. Whether you were a big shot or a newbie, you had to get up early and workte into the night when you were in this crew, and no one dared to go against this culture here.

    The ones who joined the filming of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ were mainly there due to Cheng Zhou¡¯s reputation. He was an unorthodox genius director from China, with only seven films in his hands, with an entric temperament. If he couldn¡¯t find a person suitable to y the role in his movie, then he would rather not shoot at all. The films that he produced were all ssics, and differed a lot by the movies that were generally found in the box office.

    They didn¡¯t manage to find a suitable heroine for one of his other movie of hisst year, and till today it still hadn¡¯t started production due to that reason. With such an amazing script just sitting in his hands like that, it made a lot of people jealous.

    It was precisely due to his entric personality that many of the fresh and new rising stars were eager to hold a part in his movies.

    This time, Xiao Yun was lucky to be selected. Because he had been having problems finding a perfect candidate for his movie for a long time Cheng Zhou had made a call to a good friend of his, hoping to be able to find some fresh talents. He never expected that he would be able to find someone like Xiao Yun.

    "Cut! Jin Sitian, the role you¡¯re ying is Princess Qixia! It¡¯s a princess, you know! Not some prostitute! From the top again!" Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes were on the actress in front of him who was ying an indispensable character in his movie, the fire in his gaze was threatening to burst out at how annoyed he was toward the woman.

    A princess of a ruined nation, there were many actresses and entertainers that were qualified to y this role in the entertainment circle. However, the princess was described as the world¡¯s greatest beauty, and Cheng Zhou was very obsessed and picky in regards to the personality of the person ying this role. If the person wasn¡¯t beautiful, then he didn¡¯t want her. Although the one in front of him was indeed a beauty, one that would shine in front of him, her acting was subpar. No wonder she was still only a second-rate entertainer even though she had such a gorgeous face.

    "Director Cheng, calm down. She¡¯s a newbie, she probably just needs more practise." The producer who was beside him smiled as he tried to mediate the situation.

    "Newbie?" Cheng Zhou sneered, pointing toward Xiao Yun, who was busy memorizing her lines at a corner of the stage. "Open your eyes and look, that¡¯s a newbie! No matter how, this one has stayed in the entertainment industry for nearly three years already, and she¡¯s acting just like a fresh newbie!"

    The producer wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, thinking if it weren¡¯t for him being so demanding about looking for an extremely beautiful face, then they wouldn¡¯t be doing so badly until they felt like dying in this scene.

    "Xiao Yun is someone who had professional training, and she also has an innate talent on her own, and most likely even in private... she..." The producer¡¯s voice trailed off suddenly, and at the same time, a hushed silence fell over the entire stage area.

    "She? She what!" Feeling the sudden change in the atmosphere, Cheng Zhou raised his head, and was also caught in a trance like the others.

    Having been in the entertainment industry for close to seven years, he had seen countless entertainers, and although there had been ones that were very pretty and stunning, he had never seen anyone that couldpare to this girl. Her face was as pretty as a picture, elegant and graceful, a fairy-like aura radiated from her as she walked. When she walked under the light, her skin exuded a soft glow that gave her an ethereal feeling, her obsidian eyes were ck and sparkled clearly.

    Such a person actually existed in this world, and even if she doesn¡¯t smile, there was still a fresh feeling about her. Her beauty was out of this world, and it made it hard for people to look away from her.

    "Who is she?" Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes were bright with excitement, feeling like a person who urately portrayed Princess Qixia had finally made an appearance.

    The producer nced at Cheng Zhou silently, already knowing the thoughts that were running through his head. "Director Cheng, don¡¯t forget that the final candidate selected for Princess Qixia is Jin Sitian."

    Cheng Zhou: My heart breaks! It weeps! It hurts to the point I can¡¯t breath!

    Was it toote for him to regret?

    ***

    Jin Sitian had returned to her dressing room in a temper, throwing the cup in her hand angrily. A prostitute?! He had called her a prostitute! He had crossed the line!

    As an entertainer with a strong financial backer, Jin Sitian was the only person in the crew to have her own dressing room, apart from the actresses and actors in the movie.

    "Jin Sitian! This is the production team, there are many more people who are higher in status than you, what are you ying at!" The manager had seen the scene unfold in front of him, and had entered her room after he was done with his phone call, whispering furiously to her.

    Which entertainers nowadays were not careful to y their roles well? They weren¡¯t like Jin Sitian, thinking that she was invincible just because she had a financial backer behind her. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she had a good foundation and was great at adapting, he wouldn¡¯t have wasted any effort on such a person.

    "Is there anything wrong with losing my temper after getting scolded like that? It¡¯s just a minor female role, I¡¯ll go back and talk to Mr. Tian. How many other female lead roles are waiting for me to pick? Why must I suffer through this insulting attitude here!" Jin Sitian felt annoyed at this. It was just a minor character role here, why must she treat it like something rare and precious as though she couldn¡¯t find these types of roles anywhere?

    The manager¡¯s face flushed in anger. "Minor role?! This is a minor role in a movie directed by Director Cheng, a chance to be on stage with various actresses and actors. How many first-rate actresses won¡¯t even get a chance in their lifetime to stand in your position, where has your brain gone?!"

    Jin Sitian kept her eyes on the manager, who was clearly still frustrated and annoyed at her attitude, and she suddenly asked, "Why are you so worked up all of a sudden, was it Ning Qing on the call just now? Why are you still covering for her?"

    At the mention of Ning Qing, the manager furrowed his brows. Ning Qing was also a decent entertainer when she started out, only that she was too honest and virtuous, and that¡¯s why she had been kept in the cold pce until today.

    As long as she was more discreet and adaptable, she would have easily gathered the required resources to make her a popr first-rate star. Although it was a little regretful, he knew that Ning Qing was already a lost cause. "Alright, I¡¯ll get someone to touch your makeup. While you¡¯re waiting, why don¡¯t you have a better look at the script."

    Once the manager had exited the room, Jin Sitian looked at the script in her hands. She couldn¡¯t let go of her anger, and threw the book to the side angrily.

    The makeup artist who came in the room walked in on her doing that, and she frowned. What¡¯s the use of having a financial backer if she was an entertainer with an attitude like this? She still wouldn¡¯t be able to improve her reputation and get popr with the way she was.

    ***

    "Er Qiao, you¡¯re here!" Xiao Yun put away the script in her hands when she saw Gu Xiqiao, quietly pulling her into a corner.

    Another scene was being shot on stage now, since the previous one had been interrupted halfway. The actor on stage had a handsome face, and he was wearing a white robe. What was more noticeable however, was not his good-looking face, but the pained expression on his face that was covered up a second toote. He looked toward the girl that had already turned away from him, the eyes that held a hint of contempt slowly faded away, a look that seemed to have experienced half a century of sadness recing it.

    After a long while, he straightened up again, his eyes focusing little by little, the deep pools bing clearer. From today onwards, he was the Prince of Nanguo who was burdened with countless lives on his shoulder, no longer the Nan Qiubai that turned from duty for love!

    Watching the performance shocked Gu Xiqiao, and when she returned to her senses, she looked at Xiao Yun, handing the milk tea in her hand to her. "...That was amazing." Even the atmosphere around him was powerful.

    Xiao Yun epted the milk tea easily, the cool drink feeling pleasant in her hand. "That¡¯s Li Yu, a well known actor. How can he not have that amazing aura around him? You know, when I first had a scene with him, I waspletely out of it, and I wasn¡¯t able to recite a single word of my script. I was almost reprimanded to death by the director."

    "Have you signed a contract with anypany?" Gu Xiqiao suddenly remembered that Xiao Yun was considered to have entered the entertainment circle, and she would likely have signed a contract and have her own manager. Why was she alone then?

    "Yeah, I did. Tang Enterprise, China¡¯s spearhead in the entertainment industry. I don¡¯t even know how I managed to sign a contact with the Tang Pictures Enterprise, to be honest." Xiao Yunughed slightly embarrassed, but happy. "My manager didn¡¯t just bring me alone, there¡¯s also another person, so there¡¯s only an assistant with me."

    She was still a newbie after all, and with such kind treatment, Xiao Yun was already satisfied.

    "Xiao Yun, is this your friend?" An attractive voice sounded from behind her suddenly.

    Xiao Yun was startled for a moment, surprised that Li Yu would take the initiative to talk to her first. Her expression was slightly excited as she turned to reply, "Senior Li!"

    Li Yu smiled at her greeting, a warm smile on his gentle and striking face. He was among one of the rarer actors which possessed great temperament in the industry. Xiao Yun was a neer with a solid foundation in her skills, and she was also motivated to do well. Compared to Jin Sitian, she was much cuter, and the entire crew, including Li Yu, had a good impression of Xiao Yun.

    "This is a good friend of mine, she came specially to watch me when she heard that I was shooting today." Xiao Yun said, reigning in her excitement as she exined to Li Yu.

    Li Yu smiled faintly. "Well, beautiful girls have beautiful friends as expected."

    Being praised by a senior that you admire, even Xiao Yun would feel slightly embarrassed, a slight flush appearing on her cheeks as she scratched her head,ughing shyly.

    Jin Sitian, who had just walked out of the dressing room came out to see Xiao Yun talking andughing with Li Yu. Her expression darkened, clenching her fist tightly. A look of hatred shed in her eyes, but it was only there for a moment before it disappeared.

    "Xiao Yun, it¡¯s your part now, the director is looking for you!" A staff member who was carrying a box called out to Xiao Yun to remind her when he saw her chatting.

    "I¡¯ll be right over, thanks!" She was so excited that she had almost forgotten about her shooting, and waved to the other two as she hurried away.

    Xiao Yun was ying the second female lead who was a concubine, Zuo Qiuxiang. She was the male lead¡¯s childhood friend and sparring partner, her status was equivalent to that of a maid, and she possessed strong martial art skills. Princess Qixia was yed by Jin Sitian, who was the sister of the male lead, and also a princess of a fallen nation. In this scene, she would be filming a part where she practised her sword skills, sparring with Xiao Yun. Since Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang would be distracted with thoughts about the prince and another woman, it was a scene where Princess Qixia would identally wound her.

    Gu Xiqiao watched the scene between the two, and was pleasantly amazed at how good Xiao Yun¡¯s acting skills were. The character of Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang was fairlyplicated, but she was able to clearly portray the role urately.

    On the other hand, the actress that was portraying Princess Qixia was stiff and tense, while she was supposed to be a cold, aloof but talented princess. There was even a sh of envy in her eyes when she looked at Xiao Yun?

    Seriously, you¡¯re acting the role of a princess. What jealousy do you have against a character portrayed to be a sparring partner?

    While Gu Xiqiao was watching Xiao Yun¡¯s performance with rapt attention, Li Yu was scrutinizing her instead.

    Being observed so intensely, you would only be unable to feel it if you were an idiot. Not long after, Gu Xiqiao turned to him, narrowing her eyes as she spoke with a cold tone, "Mr. Li, can I help you with anything?"

    Li Yu was not the least embarrassed to have been caught staring, he only sensed that the girl in front of him was very powerful. Her gaze on him felt like it was piercing through him, baring his heart out for her to see. "It¡¯s nothing, I just... felt that you seem familiar."

    That was such an old-school method of starting a conversation and picking up girls, and that was clearly expressed on her face as Gu Xiqiao looked at Li Yu. However, there was only an earnest expression on his face, with nothing hidden behind his words, and he looked like he had only spoken a fact.

    Seeing that she ignored him after getting an answer, heughed slightly to himself. The person he was thinking of and she were indeed alike, but their personalities werepletely different.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. Meanwhile, Xiao Yun and Jin Sitian had already started the fight, and because she had been through the harsh training under Yao Jiamu, Xiao Yun was performing very well in terms of martial arts. Looking at Jin Sitian however, you really didn¡¯t have eyes to look at her. The martial arts instructor that was assigned to her had spent half the day talking, but seemed to not have taught her anything useful.

    Cheng Zhou had strict requirements in his productions, one of them being he didn¡¯t allow any stunt performers to substitute any of his actors or actresses. Jin Sitian could only continue her poor performance of waving and jumping around.

    Her expressions were stiff, her tone was out of ce, her movements were not natural. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she observed the differences between the two, and ultimately decided that their Xiao Yun was definitely way more pleasing to the eyes.

    If she as an observer and outsider was able to spot all these problems, Cheng Zhou naturally was also able to. He looked at Jin Sitian, the fire in his eyes once again threatening to burst forth, mming his hand on the table, he shouted, "What the hell are you doing, Jin Sitian!"

    Unexpectedly, his shout startled Jin Sitian badly at this time, and the sword in her hand was flung toward the direction of Xiao Yun¡¯s face when she flinched. The swords they used in filming were in fact all the real deal, and when the sword was flung out, most of the people around them didn¡¯t even have time to react or shout a warning, and some even closed their eyes in fear and not wanting to watch how it would y out.

    Xiao Yun had already sheathed the sword in her hands when the director had called for a stop, and didn¡¯t expect a turn of events like this to happen. She watched as the white sparkling sword flew toward her, her eyes widening in a moment of fear, knowing that she didn¡¯t have any time to react at all.

    At this moment of peril, familiar, slender fingers appeared in front of her, grabbing the de of the sword. Xiao Yun stared nkly in shock, until the red liquid started seeping out from the pale white palm, vividly red to the point that it was painful to look at.

    "Gu Xiqiao, have you lost your mind?! Hurry up and let it go!" Xiao Yun¡¯s eyes saw red, but she also didn¡¯t dare to touch the de. She yelled at Gu Xiqiao in a panicked voice, rushing her to release the sword. "Why did youe over? Aren¡¯t you normally great in your usual days?! Why don¡¯t you use your brain properly when it matters!"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Xiao Yun, loosening the hold on the de as it slid out from her hand, making a clear nking sound as it fell to the ground.

    The sound was the thing that snapped everyone out of their stunned state, and it seemed that everyone started moving immediately, gathering around them in concern and asking questions in worried tones.

    Xiao Yun looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palms through blurry eyes, feeling her nose blocked from trying to hold back her tears. "I wouldn¡¯t have died, why would you rush over like this?!"

    "Nonsense, is your face or my hand more important, hmm?" Gu Xiqiao said, keeping her eyes on Xiao Yun. The most important thing for a star was their face, and that was the reason she had grabbed the de with her bare hands without much thought. The situation had been urgent enough to warrant the action, and she had reacted instinctively.

    The honed instincts of her body allowed her to avoid injury to the important parts of her hand, and it was just a normal wound. However, it looked worse than it was, with the way the blood was seeping out from the wound.

    Xiao Yun didn¡¯t even hesitate a beat before replying, "Nonsense! Of course it¡¯s your hands that are more important! If my face is ruined, I can still fix it!" This was the hand that needed to hold a painting brush, a scalpel, and it was obviously a thousand times more important than her own face.

    "Bullshit, your face is more important." Gu Xiqiao sighed. "Don¡¯t worry, my hand is fine."

    "Director Cheng, may I take the rest of the day off to apany my friend to the hospital?" Xiao Yun wasn¡¯t looking at Gu Xiqiao anymore, turning to address Cheng Zhou instead.

    Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t even need to think and agreed immediately.

    The exchange between Xiao Yun and Gu Xiqiao had touched the people around them. Nowadays, it was rare to see such iron solid friendships in the entertainment circle, and they couldn¡¯t help but soften their gaze when they looked at the two girls.

    Especially when they looked at Gu Xiqiao, whose hand was still bleeding from the open wound. Her eyes were lowered slightly, and you could only see the snow-white face of hers, but not the expressions in her gaze. She looked the image of a child who had been wronged but was still keeping up a strong front, and the staff members around them felt even more distressed when they saw this. There were countless people who started to move around, searching for the first aid kit and also offering to send them to the hospital, apart from making sure she was alright for the moment.

    As for Jin Sitian, the instigator of the whole drama that was happening, she had been shuffled to the side, and every one of the staff were treating her as though she didn¡¯t exist,pletely ignoring her.

    Although she was normally treated coldly, there was always one or two brown noses who would indulge her due to her financial backer. However, none of them came forward today. They pretended not to see her even when their gaze swept across her, and some even held usations in their eyes.

    "Why are they ming me? It¡¯s not like I did it on purpose, it was an ident! And Xiao Yun wasn¡¯t hurt at all!" Jin Sitian eximed, raging at her manager.

    The manager could feel the migraine building behind his head. Dealing with this sort of people and artistes, he feels at least ten years of his life being shaved off. "But you injured Xiao Yun¡¯s friend, what¡¯s the difference from hurting her?"

    "Her friend? What about her?" Jin Sitianughed coldly. "I already follow your instructions to not intentionally sh with Xiao Yun normally, what does that have to do with her friends? If she didn¡¯t use her bare hands to catch my sword, then this wouldn¡¯t have happened, it was all her own fault!"

    "Do you think that Mr. Tian is invincible? The Imperial Capital is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, any person that you pick out randomly has a possibility of being a descendent of some founding fathers. Hurry up and go apologize!" The manager was unusually firm in his stance.

    While Jin Sitian could find no way around it, she also knew that her manager was someone very intelligent, and had no ns to search out another manager, and so she grudgingly went to apologize.

    When she apologized in a soft, lowered voice (that¡¯s what she thought), the other party was not appreciative of it at all.

    "If apologies worked, then why would you need the police?" Xiao Yun replied coldly, a frosty re on her face, and it felt as chilling as a harsh wind blowing in the winter.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Xiao Yun, and motioned for her not to be too worked up. "Miss Jin, right? I¡¯m alright. However, a de isn¡¯t something that is meant to be something used so lightly, I hope that the next time you will be able to hold the sword firmly in your hands. Not everyone has tough and thick skin like me after all."

    A staff member scurried over with a first aid kit at this time. They didn¡¯t want to simply use any medicine, but they did want to clean the blood off her hands, it would make the people around them less worried.

    Also, it would need to be disinfected.

    "Let¡¯s go to the hospital." Xiao Yun pulled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm, intending to leave the ce.

    "It¡¯s fine, I can just take care of it here." Gu Xiqiao opened the first aid kit, rummaging through the box and pulling a few things out.

    Li Yu frowned, looking at the blood that covered the snow-white skin, feeling that it was a bit unpleasant to the eyes. "Miss Gu, I think it¡¯s better to head for the hospital. It would be more reassuring to know whether any nerves or meridians have been damaged too."

    "That¡¯s right." Cheng Zhou looked at Gu Xiqiao, who still wore an indifferent expression on her face. She was still in the mood to joke around,pletely unlike an injured person. "It¡¯s better to have it checked at the hospital, you shouldn¡¯t y around with hand injuries."

    "See, everyone is saying the same thing!" Xiao Yun eximed, looking at Gu Xiqiao. She was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would remain stubborn, and at that point, no one would be able to convince her.

    Gu Xiqiao straightened up and walked a bit further away to find a ce to sit, taking out the disinfectant to wipe away the blood on her hands. When disinfectant enters any wound, it definitely was painful, and even the people around her winced in sympathy at her actions. But the person who was injured was calm, not even twitching, seemingly like it wasn¡¯t her hand that was being affected.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I already said it¡¯s fine." Gu Xiqiao nced up at Xiao Yun. "Have you forgotten what I major in?"

    Going to the hospital for such a small injury, that was practically overkill for her.

    In her state of panic, Xiao Yun had indeed forgotten. She was suddenly reminded of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s superb medical skills, and knew that she wouldn¡¯t lie about these things to her. Although that reassured her, she still felt a stab of pain through her heart when she saw the two deep gashes on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand, her gaze remaining heavy as she stared at her.

    After washing away the bloodstains, the two gashes could be seen clearly, and although it was deep, it hadn¡¯t cut to the bone.

    "I¡¯ll head home first today. Rehearse well, Xiao Yun." Thinking that her continued presence here would affect everyone around here, which would then not allow Xiao Yun to continue her filming, as well as the staff wouldn¡¯t be able to help themselves from looking over to her to ensure she was alright, she decided that leaving was the better option.

    Li Yu had already started shooting in the next scene, and usually, every staff member present would be captivatedpletely by his performance, but today every one of them was absent-minded.

    Because there was a girl sitting nearby that was even more dazzling than the handsome actor.

    "I¡¯ll send you back!" Xiao Yun said, starting to clear away her things.

    "It¡¯s fine." Gu Xiqiao waved her phone in her face. "Brother Jiang has alreadye over, you can continue shooting with a peace of mind, it¡¯s alright."

    Hearing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s name being mentioned, Xiao Yun finally rxed, and she walked Gu Xiqiao to the exit. "When you get back, make sure you listen to Mr. Jiang¡¯s words. Don¡¯t let your wound touch water, and if you need to, make sure to go to the hospital, alright?"

    Xiao Yun stood at the doorway of the entrance until Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure had disappeared from her sight, and the smile that was on her face drop instantly, a cold, elegant and frigid look sliding onto her face.

    When she returned to the stage area again, Li Yu was already done with his scene. The next one would be of her and Jin Sitian again.

    "What Miss Gu said just now, what exactly is she studying?" Li Yu asked as he wiped the sweat from his head with a towel. It was summertime now, and being wrapped in heavy robes indoors was really hot after a scene.

    Xiao Yun took the sword from the staff that was holding it out for her, and after testing the weight of it again, she turned to reply, "She¡¯s in the Faculty of Medicine at A University, studying clinical medicine."

    A University was the highest educational institution in China, and it was well known for its Faculty of Physics, as well as Medicine. There were only a few hundred people being recruited each year in the entire country. Those who were able to enter the medical faculty in itself were already an indication of their abilities, and so when Li Yu heard that, he felt the respect he had for Gu Xiqiao rise even more. "Didn¡¯t expect her to be from the medical faculty."

    Cheng Zhou, who had been listening in on their conversation discreetly, felt a little disappointed at those words. s, she was in the medical faculty. Wouldn¡¯t it have been great if she was from the Faculty of Performing Arts?

    Soon, the next scene began filming. Xiao Yun was once again sparring against Jin Sitian. This time, Jin Sitian could feel a lot of pressure pressing down on her person, the atmosphere was also heavier, and she looked at Xiao Yun suspiciously. Her expression and actions were not any different than usual.

    It was even worse when the two started fighting, and Jin Sitian had already taken a hard punch, with Xiao Yun taking three bloopers, and yet Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t say anything about it.

    This tant unfair treatment led Jin Sitian to feel it to be unbearable, and she finally threw down her de. "I¡¯m done! I¡¯m not doing this anymore!"

    Xiao Yu remained silent, casting a nce at the ground, where some dry bloodstains still remained. The stains were probably there because the staff had missed it when they had cleaned the ce in a hurry.

    Everyone around was basically unresponsive at this exmation, and Jin Sitian returned to the dressing room with a calm face to change her clothes. She then took her bag and left the ce.

    Her manager tried to salvage the situation with the production crew,ughing awkwardly. "I¡¯m really sorry, Sitian really has too high expectations on herself, and the pressure must have been too intense..." He couldn¡¯t even bring himself to continue this line of a lie.

    Cheng Zhou and the producer didn¡¯t bother to continue the conversation, and were busy settling their own things. Seeing that, the manager also felt helpless in the situation, and left to chase after Jin Sitian after another hurried apology to the crew.

    "What are you going nuts for again?!" The manager had returned to the van where he saw Jin Sitian just getting off a call. He continued to reprimand her with a calmer face. "Do you know how difficult it is to have an opportunity like this?"

    Jin Sitian nced angrily at her manager. "Wasn¡¯t it obvious that Xiao Yun was personally targeting me just now? Director Chang was clearly showing his dislike for me too!"

    It was clearly you who had harmed others first, and others were now just venting out their anger on behalf of their friend. The manager felt that Jin Sitian really couldn¡¯t go on like this.

    "I¡¯ve already talked to Mr. Tian, asking him to increase his investment on the condition they take Xiao Yun out. Otherwise, he will withdraw his investment, since this movie has her but not me!" Disdain appeared on Jin Sitian¡¯s face. Since she had opposed her to this extent, then she would have to face the consequences of her actions!

    As soon as she said those words, the wrinkles on the manager¡¯s face subsided a little. Having money would lead to having a big head nowadays, otherwise, with Jin Sitians acting skills andck of intelligence, how else would she have climbed up to the position of a second-rate star?

    There were just some inexplicable concerns in his heart, not sure whether there was any use in using Mr. Tian¡¯s name this time. If Xiao Yun remained in the team, it was obvious that Jin Sitian wouldn¡¯t be able to continue on in it.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was waiting for Jiang Shuxuan after she had left the building, she wasn¡¯t actually sure that he would turn up, and so she decided to wander around the filming base.

    Her phone rang twice before she picked it up with her left hand, her tone was cheerful as she answered, "Brother Jiang."

    "Where are you?" Jiang Shuxuan was driving on the highway, a Bluetooth piece in his ear.

    When Gu Xiqiao gave him the location, he was surprised. "Why are you there?"

    "Xiao Yun is filming today, so I came to take a look. It was very interesting." Gu Xiqiao had also seen some familiar faces that were usually only seen on the TV screen, and her interest was piqued. "Aren¡¯t you busy now, Brother Jiang?" For him to have the time to personally pick her up, it had been a while since she had seen him having time to do so.

    Jiang Shuxuan had turned the car to head in the direction of the filming base. "If you¡¯re busy for a long time, there must also be a break for it." He wasn¡¯t overly concerned about the family affairs, and recently he had mainly been cleaning up in The Forum. Once that was done, he was free.

    During the next few days, no one would be able to move this great god that was him, and the ancient martial arts world wailed in sorrow for the moment.

    Hanging up the call, Gu Xiqiao nced at her right hand and bit her lip. Die, she could already imagine Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s dark expression once he found out about her injury.

    Since she was already here, she might as well take the good and bad along, and enjoy the ride. That was how sheforted herself.

    "It¡¯s you?" A familiar voice suddenly sounded from somewhere beside her.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, seeing a woman with a slightly demonic look and a pair of mesmerizing and seductive eyes. "My name is Gu Xiqiao."

    "Miss Gu," Ning Qing rolled the words on her tongue silently, then she smiled. "I didn¡¯t manage to say it the other day, thank you."

    Looking at Ning Qing who seemed to be quite lively and energetic, Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes at her slightly. It seemed that she had adjusted well, unlike the dejected and depressed look that she wore the other night, Ning Qing was looking beautiful and radiant today. If she was given the chance, she would definitely be famous in one swoop.

    "It¡¯s just a trivial matter," Gu Xiqiao said, waving it away. "Have you managed to pay your rent?"

    When Gu Xiqiao raised the topic, Ning Qing blushed a little. "Myndlord has given me a few more days, and I¡¯m currently taking on some smaller roles, so I should be able to pay some off soon. Are you also an actress, Miss Gu?"

    "I¡¯m not, I came to see a friend today." Gu Xiqiao smiled. She still had money in her pocket, and it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to help Ning Qing through this difficult and embarrassing period. However, this was not what Ning Qing wanted, and what shecked the most right now was not money, but opportunities.

    Seeing the recruitment was already starting, Ning Qing said, "Miss Gu, we¡¯ll talk another day!"

    "Wait." Gu Xiqiao took out her phone. "Leave me your contact information."

    "Ah? Oh." Ning Qing felt a little ttered, not expecting for Gu Xiqiao to ask for her contact information at all.

    After she had knocked out the real estate tycoon the other night, things had gone on without any changes, like nothing had happened. Ning Qing knew that Gu Xiqiao was definitely not an ordinary person, and for her to want her contact information, it made Ning Qing a little excited.

    After entering the information, Ning Qing returned the phone to Gu Xiqiao, but then she pulled back in surprise. "What happened to your hand?"

    "It¡¯s nothing, I identally cut myself." Gu Xiqiao gave her a small smile. "Hurry and go, I think I see those people rushing them."

    "Then, I¡¯ll see you around." Ning Qing gave her hand onest nce before turning around and leaving.

    "Ah, being youthful is good, so full of life and vitality." Gu Xiqiao suddenly sighed.

    The system spirit who was ying its game in the void space suddenly paused in its action, furrowing its eyebrows. [...you¡¯re saying it as though you¡¯re very super old?]

    It wasn¡¯t like she had kept track of how many years she had lived including her past life. ¡¯Probably wouldn¡¯t be as old as you though.¡¯

    The system spirit pouted at that. [You¡¯ll easily lose me at this rate!]

    ¡¯Oh, I forgot, you¡¯re not Xixi.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao suddenly realized.

    System: Come at me bro, let¡¯s see who hurts each other more! Who¡¯s afraid of who now?!

    ***

    As an actor, Li Yu was busy almost every day. Cheng Zhou had made sure to concentrate most of his scenes within a certain time period. Now that the filming was done, he sat in the car as it drove away from the set. While on the road, he caught sight of a familiar figure, and opened his mouth to speak to the assistant driving the car, "Stop for a bit."

    The assistant also clearly remembered Gu Xiqiao, and knowing what Li Yu wanted to do, he slowed the car and parked it neatly in front of Gu Xiqiao.

    "Why are you still here? Get in and I¡¯ll send you home," Li Yu said after winding the window down. His brows were furrowed in slight concern, didn¡¯t she say that someone was picking her up? It had been a long time and she was still wandering around here.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped talking to the system, raising her eyes to see the handsome face in front of her. She shook her head lightly, when she spoke to Xiao Yun, she was always smiling, and her voice was not as cold as it was now, and she seemed quite distant. "It¡¯s alright, Mr. Li. My ride will soon be here."

    Feeling that the girl was possibly being stubborn and was not willing to admit that she had made a mistake previously, Li Yu put on sunsses and came down from the car. It was really the first time someone had refused him. "It¡¯s fine, just get in. I¡¯m an honest citizen, don¡¯t worry."

    "That¡¯s not what I meant." Gu Xiqiao smiled slightly, she knew that Li Yu had good intentions. "It¡¯s just that my ride really ising soon."

    Roughly calcting the time needed, he should be here any time now. The traffic in the Imperial City had always been quite a drag, and there was definitely traffic at this time, which waspletely normal.

    "You..." Li Yu opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get anything out from his mouth, he saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes lit up in delight, a sincere smile stretching across her face. It was as though stars had filled her eyes in that instant, the sunlight couldn¡¯t evenpare to the radiance that she was exuding right now. She turned toward him as she pointed in the direction ahead. "Look, it¡¯s here."

    Li Yu followed her line of sight, and thought to himself inside, even though their eyes were simr, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s were so much more energetic, and of course, even her face was more pleasant to look at.

    A ck Bugatti was slowing down in the distance. In the Imperial City, it was not umon to see luxury cars, and a Bugatti was just slightly more eye-catchingpared to a lot of other cars out there. Li Yu swept his gaze across it without paying much attention, but when he saw the license te on his, he was startled, his eyes widening.

    A Bugatti was a rare sight, but special license tes were even rarer.

    These tes were reserved exclusively for people who were special or from specific departments. With Li Yu¡¯s eyesight, it was easy enough to identify it.

    "Goodbye, Mr. Li." Gu Xiqiao nodded her head at him, and then turned to trot toward the car.

    The car had stopped at the corner not far from where they were, and Li Yu could see someoneing out from the vehicle. The person was tall and lean, a stunning silhouette that looked as though it had been carved perfectly and ted with a gold rim under the sunlight, and a pair of straight and slender legs. He opened the passenger seat door, and you could faintly make out a faint smile on his face when he lowered his head.

    In the next instant, his smile had disappeared. He straightened up slowly, gently grabbing the hand that the girl was hiding behind her back, and a furious expression crossed his face.

    Li Yu couldn¡¯t hear what the two were saying, but he could see Gu Xiqiao lowering her head, pretending to look even more pitiful than usual. After a short while, the man let her go and shuffled her into the car.

    As he got into the car, his eyesnded on Li Yu, his onyx eyes were deep and cold, his gaze sharp and piercing.

    It was only a second before he turned away, but Li Yu could still feel ayer of chill settling around him. He stood for a while in his spot, then turned to return to his own car.

    ***

    "What happened?" Jiang Shuxuan slid into the driver¡¯s seat, his face still having a cold, indifferent expression. He looked very scary (Xixi thought so), and Xixi who had been perched on his shoulder immediately hopped to hide in the backseat.

    Gu Xiqiao rolled her eyes. "Cutting fruit..."

    It was a red light, and Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car. "You think I¡¯d believe that?"

    "Fine." Gu Xiqiao sighed. "When I was watching the shoot today, I was too immersed in it and got injured by mistake. This kind of thing is quitemon in the stage areas... Sigh, just driving home is fine, I don¡¯t have to go to the hospital!" She was also a doctor for goodness sake, and it was such a small wound. She only needed the night to use her chi to mend it, and she knew it would bepletely fine!

    "Can doctors treat themselves?" Jiang Shuxuan nced at her, knowing now that she didn¡¯t go to the hospital, his face darkened further.

    Although it was likely that the doctor had already clocked off work, Gu Xiqiao remained silent as she watched Jiang Shuxuan make a call. His cold tone was attached with extreme pressure, and it seemed to scare the person on the other end of the call to death.

    ***

    As Rong Feishuang¡¯s apprentice, Zhu Yuan was also quite well known. On normal days, he was only asionally found at the hospital of the Imperial Capital, or sometimes he would ept a few international consultations, or he could be giving lectures everywhere.

    However, he had just returned to the country today. Before he could even sit his ass down to have a cup of tea, someone named Jiang had given him a call.

    Hearing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s tone, it had sounded like a massively serious injury, and had rushed to the hospital. He found the dean of the hospital trembling when he reached, and when he examined the injury, he found that it was just an ordinary knife wound, and none of her meridians were injured either.

    Seriously... was it necessary to torment him this way?

    Zhu Yuan wanted to spit out a mouthful of blood at this.

    But no matter what he thought, he still handled the wound carefully, and naturally would also sneak a peek at the person he was treating. The girl didn¡¯t look very old, her skin was white as snow, her face was a gorgeous sight. She seemed to be a rare beauty, and even for him who had seen all kinds of looks, he was also still bewildered for a moment.

    He didn¡¯t dare to look long, if he did, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes would be like a knife and pierce through him.

    "The wound has been treated previously, so there¡¯s no risk of infection. Try not to get it wet, and apply the ointment that I will prescribe so that it won¡¯t leave a scar," Zhu Yuan said as he bandaged the wound. After thinking a while, he carefully finished it up with a bow. He was being so meticulous, Master Jiang would probably let him off from his killing gaze, right?

    Jiang Shuxuan ignored him, going out to make a call while he was wrapping the bandage. "Qingqiu, I need to trouble you to do something for me."

    ***

    As soon as Tang Qingqiu had finished processing thest document, he received a call from Jiang Shuxuan. "Shuxuan? You¡¯re asking me for help?" This was the first.

    Listening to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, Tang Qingqiu finally understood the entire story. Even without his prompting, he had already been investigating this matter. As the spearhead of the entertainment industry as well as thepany that sat on top of the pyramid, it was easy enough to investigate the recordings of a stage area. The main point was that this was the first time in twenty years that Jiang Shuxuan was asking for help, and he needed to perform well. This was to show his concern to a brother... especially regarding a major turning point of a lifelong matter.

    ***

    After Jin Sitian had returned, she had managed to pleased Mr. Tian and made him very happy.

    Once Cheng Zhou was done with work, he received a call from Mr. Tian. "Xiao Yun will have to leave the crew, otherwise Tian Enterprise will withdraw their investment. Go and figure it out."

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s face darkened immediately, throwing his phone on the ground in a fit of anger, shattering the device. "What the f*ck!"

    Mr. Tian was the biggest investor in this movie, and if he suddenly withdrew his investment, he wouldn¡¯t be able to rece such a huge amount in such a short time. The movie needed to be done in time to be released by the year end, and Mr.Tian¡¯s withdrawal of his investment would deal a heavy blow to the production team of the ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯!

 Chapter 132 Get Off The Cast!

    <h4>Chapter 132 Get Off The Cast!</h4>

    Zhu Yuan nced up at Gu Xiqiao the moment Jiang Shuxuan walked out of the room with his phone. Silently, she sat on a chair, peering at her own hand with a calm expression.

    While this seemed like any other small wound, it had a significant impact on Zhu Yuan. There were twocerations underneath of which raw, bloody flesh was visible. It must¡¯ve hurt when disinfectant was poured over the wound but to Zhu Yuan¡¯s surprise, she did not flinch even once throughout the whole ordeal.

    Looks can be deceiving but minor changes in one¡¯s expression usually could not. Zhu Yuan was sure that the seemingly delicate ice princess possessed a heart that was as hard as a rock.

    "How old are you?" Zhu Yuan was curious about this young woman. "Are you in senior high, or perhaps you¡¯re in university?"

    Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t be interested in a middle schooler, would he?

    Gu Xiqiao peered back at him with a pair of eyes that glowed like the stars in the night sky. Her skin was crystal clear, like a piece of white jade underneath the fluorescent ceiling lights.

    "I¡¯m a university freshman," she replied.

    Her soft voice sounded cold but it was pleasant nheless. A glow appeared in Zhu Yuan¡¯s eyes. "Oh? Here? In the Imperial Capital? What are you studying? Do you live here too? How did youe to know Master Jiang?"

    His mind went back to that group of people from the ancient martial arts world. There were only a handful of girls whom he was familiar with but she was not one of these girls. If she wasn¡¯t part of their group then there could only be one exnation left. Zhu Yuan stole a nce at Gu Xiqiao. If this was the case, then things were gonna get messy.

    Would the Jiang family allow amoner to marry into their family?

    Despite facing so many questions, Gu Xiqiao answered them patiently. "Yes, I¡¯m studying medicine. No, not here. I guess we met out of pure coincidence."

    Her answers were way too concise, which made Zhu Yuan scratch his head for a second. It took a while before he finally realized that she was answering his questions from before.

    ¡¯Studying at the capital, medicine, not from here and met Jiang Shuxuan by coincidence.¡¯

    Sounds interesting, Zhu Yuan thought. The more he looked at Gu Xiqiao, the more he wanted to know about her. Medicine. The best ce for learning medicine in the capital was A University.

    "Are you from A University?"

    Although A University¡¯s entry requirements were notoriously high, especially so for medicine, even if she wasn¡¯t able to get in, Jiang Shuxuan should be able to find a way for her, right?

    "That¡¯s right." Gu Xiqiao nodded. Then, she turned around and narrowed her eyes in the direction of the doorway.

    Zhu Yuan, who thought that Jiang Shuxuan had returned, sat up straight as if their little exchange had not happened before.

    A few secondster, a zing red-figure swooped in at mach speed from outside. Even Zhu Yuan was unable to catch a good glimpse of what that thing was.

    Xixi flopped into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arms.

    "Chirp! Chirp! Chirp chirp! Chirp!" (Are you okay? What happened?! I told you that you¡¯d run into trouble without me!)

    Master Jiang had already ordered it to follow Beauty Qiao around every day. The little red feather ball was euphoric upon receiving such an order.

    Xixi, whose euphoria had yet to subside was suddenly drowned out by arge shadow casted over its tiny body. Then, two human fingers came in from nowhere and picked it up gently. Upon seeing who those fingers belonged to, the bird stopped its futile struggle. Obediently, it hopped onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder.

    The dean had already brought Zhu Yuan¡¯s formtion over. Jiang Shuxuan received it and held it up to his eyes. It looked like any other ss bottle minus abel. Through the clear ss, one could see a green fluid inside. "Zhu Yuan, this medicine of yours... doesn¡¯t it seem a little sketchy? Is this what they call a ¡¯three-non-product[1]¡¯?"

    Zhu Yuan almost choked on his own spit upon hearing those words. Sketchy? This was THE cosmetic product, a fruit of his intensebor for the sake of all the pretty girls out there! There were only fifty bottles avable in the whole world and many would dly sell their soul just to get their hands on this bottle. How dare Jiang Shuxuan call it a three, non, product?!

    "If you don¡¯t want it, you can give it back! To think that I turned down the duchess¡¯ offer because I wanted to give it to you guys!" If not for that youngdy¡¯s pretty pair of hands, he would not even have considered giving Jiang Shuxuan such a precious potion.

    Jiang Shuxuan tucked the bottle swiftly. "You should text me to exin how to use this thing."

    "..."

    It was only after seeing them both leave the clinic could the dean wipe the sweat off his brows. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. To be honest, he had no idea who that man from before was. However, seeing how respectful Zhu Yuan¡¯s attitude was towards him, he figured out that the guy must¡¯ve been a big shot. He let out a sigh before turning over to Zhu Yuan.

    "Professor Zhu, you came at the right time! Professor Jiang has brought back ab report on cell fusion a few days ago. I think you should give it a read."

    "Cell fusion? Nothing new everes out of that sort of research," said Zhu Yuan while stretching his body. He seemed bored out of his mind, but rightfully so. Things have be frustratingly stagnant in recent years. "I¡¯m gonna head back to sleep. I¡¯lle over some other day, if I have the time."

    If it was any other day, their interaction would¡¯ve ended there with the dean allowing him to head on home without any fuss. However, today was different. Shaking his head, the dean said, "No no, Professor Zhu, I insist that you take a look. Trust me, you won¡¯t regret it."

    "Oh?" Zhu Yuan¡¯s interest was piqued by his words. He knew a bit about Professor Jiang. Apparently, he was a world-renowned surgeon but there have been signs of him leaving the spotlight over the past few years. From hearsay, this man was supposedly working at A University.

    Eyes brimming with anticipation, Zhu Yuan followed the dean into theboratory.

    There were a couple of petri dishes lined up neatly on the table. The dean then pointed toward one of these petri dishes. "This contains blood cells from two different rats. Take a look, they have sessfully fused together with neither of them showing signs of rejection."

    "How long has it been like this?" Zhu Yuan pointed towards the petri dish. He knew that short-term fusing was not impossible to pull off. In fact, back then, him sessfully fusing cells for ten days straight earned him a global recognition award. ounting for technological advancements, fifteen days should be usible.

    In his previous experiment, it took seven days before the cells stopped splitting, which was what kickstarted the cell rejection process. Itsted another three days before every single cell in the petri dish died.

    The dean smiled proudly. "Today is the tenth day and there seems to be no signs of cell rejection. Apart from cells that have died naturally from aging, the rest are still actively splitting."

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s eyes darted up at him instantly. "For real?"

    The question was, of course, unnecessary. Why would the dean lie about this? It was the fact that this had sessfully gone on for ten days that caused his heart rate to shoot up momentarily. "Where¡¯s theb report?"

    Theb report was already waiting for him. Pulling open a drawer, the dean retrieved a stack of papers which he handed over to Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan started flipping through the pages the moment he caught hold of the report. Hunched over, he scanned through the lines with insane speed.

    From the dean as well as any outsider¡¯s perspective, Zhu Yuan was nothing close to being a doctor. Every day, he would find himself a new girl to squeeze and whenever it came to serious matters, he would never forget to wear that smug and extremely punchable expression on his face. He would act like that until his master pops up in front of him, after which he would retract his head like a shy little turtle. Oh, right, and in front of that guy from before too.

    However, the yful look on Zhu Yuan¡¯s face had long faded away. Now that he was finally serious, he seemed like a much more mature man; theplete opposite of how he would usually act.

    The dean was astonished by how quickly Zhu Yuan transitioned into his serious mode.

    Gathering all his focus, Zhu Yuan was fully-absorbed in reading this report. The methods as described in the report were surprisingly advanced, some of which he had never even heard of before. There were even PEG choices included. The report contained a line he could never forget:

    Traditional PEG can indeed boost cell fusion and given the right concentration, sess is more or less guaranteed. Though, up until now, this process has only been conducted on nt and animal cells. Rats were specifically chosen for this experiment so that we can close the scientific gap and hopefully, one day, reach the level where experimentation with human cells is possible.

    This was his first time reading such a bold statement! Zhu Yuan found it hard to describe what he was feeling with words. Not only did this guy have the guts to make such a statement, he even pulled it off wlessly!

    The blood cells of two different rats have sessfully fused together with zero signs of cell rejection!

    Suppressing the urge to meltdown from excitement, Zhu Yuan turned over to the next page only to find it empty. Is this it?

    He looked up from the paper. "The other half¡¯s missing I presume?"

    "The other half is still with Professor Jiang." Pausing to push up his sses, the dean continued, "He said that if we wanted the other half, we have to go get it from him."

    "Where¡¯s he at?!" Zhu Yuan¡¯s chest was itching. "I gotta go find him now."

    "That urgent?" The dean was surprised. He had not read through the report yet so he had no idea how ground-breaking its contents were to the scientificmunity. However, he soon realized the report¡¯s significance after seeing Zhu Yuan¡¯s exaggerated reaction. "Professor Jiang is frequently seen in A University¡¯sbo... ratory."

    Before he could finish his sentence, Zhu Yuan had already dashed out of the door.

    ***

    Of course, Gu Xiqiao was oblivious to what was currently going on. If she were to find out that her research had been shared by the professor with so many outsiders, she would undoubtedly turn red from embarrassment.

    Since they had not had dinner yet, Jiang Shuxuan brought her to a restaurant where he ordered a couple of dishes.

    Since they had arrived during the restaurant¡¯s peak hour without a reservation, no private rooms were avable. Instead, they opted for a table beside the window.

    The dishes they ordered involved mainly mushrooms, carrots, shrimp as well as meat. In an instant, Gu Xiqiao recognized that these were all foods that aided her recovery process. Taking a few bites of mushroom, she set her eyes on the shrimp.

    ¡¯Hmm, I wonder what it tastes like with its shell on...¡¯

    Then, out of nowhere came a pair of hands that picked up the shrimp she was looking at. It was peeled cleanly before being ced into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bowl.

    "Eat up," he said quietly.

    It was as if she had her own little genie. She was just thinking about eating shrimp and here it was, smack in the middle of her bowl. Gu Xiqiao looked at him. His actions, although slightly awkward, were thoughtful. She figured that this must be his first time doing such things for another person.

    This man in front of her had done lots of things, some she knew about some she didn¡¯t. He would never say what he did and she would never ask. Perhaps it was because of how much trust they had in one another.

    Her heart was racing. She felt that this scene would repeat itself for the rest of her life.

    "Eat up, stop daydreaming." Jiang Shuxuan was getting a little annoyed, especially after seeing her bandaged hand. Though, no matter how much anger he felt, he just couldn¡¯t let it out on her. And so, in times like this, Xixi would conveniently turn into his punching bag.

    Smack! Xixi, who was circling above Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head was swatted out of the air like a fly.

    Xixi: Whud did I do wuong? I don¡¯t wemember saying anyfwing!

    Gu Xiqiao: I am sorry friend. I cannot do anything for you this time...

    Mrs. Zhang was on leave recently and now that Gu Xiqiao had injured her hand, Jiang Shuxuan had no other choice but to learn how to cook. He could just eat out but most of the delicacies offered outsidecked the nutrition his body needed.

    He went searching around the web and scribbled down some recipes on paper.

    He was as serious when scribbling these recipes down as when he was actually working. In fact, he was so into it that he had lost track of time. His pen had only stopped moving when Gu Xiqiao knocked on his door.

    ¡¯I think I¡¯ve overshot the limit now.¡¯

    "Brother Jiang, Haha still hasn¡¯t been cleaned yet," reminded Gu Xiqiao as she stood at the doorway of his study room. It appeared that she had juste out of the shower, as evidenced by the steam that was rising off her body. Her face was beet red, presumably after taking a nice hot bath.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze automatically crept down her neck, towards her corbones before he quickly looked away. He pretended to cough into his arm to divert her attention.

    "Let¡¯s go wash Haha then."

    As the cutest little thing in their home, Haha was treated like a king by these two. Every day, it would receive showers as Gu Xiqiao was somewhat of a clean freak. When Mrs. Zhang was here, it would be her job to keep the furball clean. However, since she was away, Gu Xiqiao had to step in and take over the role.

    Now that her hand was wrapped up under bandages, it was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s turn to clean Haha.

    It never crossed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mind that such a day woulde, that he would have to search the web to learn how to cook and to wash his own dog. Despite these activities sounding like extremely trivial tasks, the way he did them was surprisingly borate.

    "After you¡¯re done washing it, wrap it with a towel." Gu Xiqiao handed over Haha¡¯s very own hairdryer. "Thenes drying its fur. You¡¯re done after that."

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s movements weren¡¯t as gentle as Gu Xiqiao but Haha remained silent regardless. In fact, its body was stiff as a rock from fear. For Master Jiang to personally give it a bath, would it live to see the light of tomorrow?

    If the bunch from the ancient martial arts world were to see Jiang Shuxuan giving his dog a bath, they would undoubtedly spew blood from their mouths.

    As he blow-dried Haha, Gu Xiqiao sneakily snapped a couple of photos of him in action. Both man and dog wore simrly stiff expressions. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression was what you¡¯d call "stone-cold". The dog on the other hand, seemed spooked by this as its beady eyes did not even blink once.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone rang suddenly. Looking at the caller ID, she realized that it was a call from Luo Weng.

    "Hello?"

    Although it was the same old "hello", the way she spoke sounded like she was in a rtively good mood today. "The Bai family has confirmed that they will be participating in the development of the capital¡¯s northern region. Though, it appears that they are running low on assets as ofte."

    This puzzled Luo Weng. The Bai family was deeply-rooted in the Imperial Capital and any recovery they make should be swift with the connections they have. And yet, it surprised him to hear that they were running low on cash. Very, very low on cash.

    "Good news to me." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression changed as soon as she heard him talk about the Bai family. Considering how much harm they have done unto others, perhaps it was time they got a taste of sweet karma. "I want you to keep an eye out for the people who are coborating with the Bai family. We¡¯ll make sure to send them a big present next time."

    "Coborators?" Luo Weng was stunned. He thought about the families who would regrly conduct business deals with the Bais. "There seems to be a huge movement amongst the firms operating under the Bai family. They are expecting to receive a batch of goods that would be delivered by tonight."

    "Say, you think Yao Jiamu and Big Boss Bai should handle this hijacking?" A shine appeared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. She felt that this n was not bad at all.

    Luo Weng couldn¡¯t even react before Gu Xiqiao hung up the call.

    By then, Jiang Shuxuan had already finished drying Haha¡¯s fur. "If you¡¯re busy then you should head upstairs first." He too, needed to go upstairs to resume his research on home-cooking.

    Though, he still had to consider which approach was most suited for him. Jiang Shuxuan thought about this while rubbing his chin.

    And so, in the next few days, the Jiang family butler would not only be surprised by the young master¡¯s unannounced return, but also by how much time he spent in the kitchen. He had been busy with trying out different recipes and cooking methods under the head chef.

    For the first time in forever, the young master uttered the word "thank you" not only to the butler himself but also to the servants, which thoroughly shocked him.

    Gu Xiqiao was clueless as to what the hell Jiang Shuxuan was up to. Fearing that the goods would be sent elsewhere, she hopped in front of theputer to prepare her operation. She hadn¡¯t told Big Boss Bai that the seal she had removed from his body was all the Bai family¡¯s doing.

    Typing with one hand did not seem to affect Gu Xiqiao¡¯s speed. She reached out and tapped a few keys before a couple of videos popped up on the screen. These were a few items that the Bai family procured on the ck market. They were the raw materials needed to create the Soul Extinguishing Seal.

    Inparison to exining the situation to him over the phone, she felt that Big Boss Bai would understand the message she wanted to convey better if he saw these pictures. She was confident that everyone was smart enough to know this.

    ***

    On the second day, the filming of "Empire Under Siege" started as usual. It was very early in the morning and yet every celebrity had already arrived on set.

    "Miss Xiao, I think I¡¯ve just heard some not-so-good news." It was Xiao Yun¡¯s assistant. She appeared to be as delicate as a flower petal. Judging from her face, she must¡¯ve been younger than Xiao Yun. At the moment, her face was twisted with anguish.

    The makeup artist was still putting on makeup on Xiao Yun¡¯s face so without turning around, she asked, "What¡¯s up?"

    "It¡¯s, it¡¯s..." Her assistant then went closer and whispered into her ear cautiously. "I heard that Jin Sitian has someone powerful backing her up, and that someone is one of the film¡¯s sponsors. I heard that there was a request put forth for you to be reced."

    "You heard?" Xiao Yun¡¯s expression changed in an instant. Putting the script down, she asked, "From who did you hear this?"

    The assistant panicked after seeing her reaction. "It¡¯s... everyone said the same thing. Urgh, you were way too rash yesterday!"

    She thought that if Xiao Yun did not treat Jin Sitian with so much hostility, this situation would not have resulted.

    "She¡¯s the one who targeted me first. I mean, even if I didn¡¯t take action against her, would she let me go so easily?" Xiao Yun¡¯s expression was unchanging. She raised her script up to continue memorizing its lines. Knowing how nasty Jin Sitian was, Xiao Yun guessed that it was incredibly likely that her assistant was right.

    Although slightly disappointed, Xiao Yun did not have very high hopes to begin with. Also, ever sinceing here, she had learned a lot and her horizons had expanded. Something inside her has changed for the better, she felt.

    While her peers were still going through intense body-shaping exercises, she had already yed her part in a scene.

    This was quite literally, the fruit of her intensebor during summer.

    The assistant agreed with the idea that Jin Sitian was behind this.

    "Why are you still here?" Suddenly, a sharp voice interrupted their conversation. Turning back, it was unsurprisingly, Jin Sitian and her sweet, innocent face.

    Speak of the devil.

    Her egg-shaped face was pretty but her default expression was ufortable to stare at for long. Somehow, that arrogant, pompous look on her face took some of her points off the attractiveness scale.

    Xiao Yun stood up and shot back with a cold re. "If you are allowed to be here then so am I."

    Jin Sitian had serviced Mr. Tian wellst night and as a result, he promised to step up his investment and to get rid of Xiao Yun. Not only that, he had also requested for Jin Sitian to have more screen time in the movie. Seeing Xiao Yun here so early in the morning, especially after hearing his promises infuriated Jin Sitian.

    "Where¡¯s Director Cheng! Get him here!" she yelled. Fortunately, her manager was able to cup his hands over her mouth before anyone could hear her idiotic yelling.

    ¡¯Dumb b*tch!¡¯, thought the manager as he warned Jin Sitian with a deathly re. He whispered into her ear, "Let me handle this issue alright? No matter what, you just stay here and watch. As a public figure, could you at least have more control over your own emotions?"

    The manager¡¯s words made sense. While panting heavily, Jin Sitian pointed towards Xiao Yun. "You should get her out of here, now! I want her out of this ce right this instant!"

    "Give me a moment." The manager picked up Mr. Tian¡¯s secretary¡¯s phone call. Over the phone, he roughly understood Mr. Tian¡¯s intentions. With him behind his back, it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to get a rookie off the set.

    Smoothing out his coat, he left to meet Cheng Zhou.

    To be frank, there was no need for him to do so. The current situation was so obvious that even Cheng Zhou understood what was about to happen. He was still in the middle of today¡¯s very first scene. In order to get the filming process off to a good start, the first scenes usually involved prominent actors and actresses and today, it was Li Yu¡¯s turn.

    There were lots of major movements but Li Yu had full control over his emotions as well as his facial expressions. He was able to cut himself offpletely from the outside world the moment the cameras started rolling. However, the same could not be achieved by his fellow actor, a rookie, who because of this, had messed up the scene.

    "Cut!" yelled Cheng Zhou with a sullen face. Instead of hurling insults at the actor though, his attention was on Jin Sitian¡¯s manager who was marching over.

    The director¡¯s menacing eyes made the little manager tremble in fear. Cheng Zhou was a big shot in the industry. No matter in terms of social standing, identity, fame or whatever aspect you could think of, Cheng Zhou was miles above this Jin Sitian¡¯s manager. However, the reason for them standing on the same ground today was because he was here to give Cheng Zhou a vine. Hence, there no longer was the need for him to bow down like a dog, as he did back then.

    "Director Cheng, I believe Mr. Tian¡¯s secretary has already informed youst night that he would be pumping another twenty million yuan into this project. This of course, requires you to make Xiao Yun leave the set. If otherwise, he will be pulling out the 100 million that he had invested."

    The manager smiled ambitiously in the face of Cheng Zhou.

    Cheng Zhou looked at him nkly and went silent. He had postponed the start of this filming project just for the sake of finding someone as suited to the role as Xiao Yun. To think that he was threatening to pull out his investments just to make Xiao Yun leave!

    This, Cheng Zhou felt, had crossed the line. It was the reason why he stayed silent yesterday when he was supposed to inform Xiao Yun of her dismissal.

    "You guys have gone too far with this!" Cheng Zhou red sharply at Jin Sitian.

    And yet, the manager remained smiling silently. "I¡¯ll be waiting for news from you. In ten minutes¡¯ time, if Xiao Yun does not leave, I¡¯m afraid that I will have to give Mr. Tian a call. I believe you are a smart man, Director Cheng, so make your decision wisely."

    Upon saying that, the manager turned and left for Jin Sitian¡¯s makeup booth.

    "Director Cheng." Li Yu put down his prop sword and walked over. Seeing how bitter Cheng Zhou¡¯s face was, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Is everything okay?"

    "We are facing some issues with funding," sighed Cheng Zhou. Jin Sitian being a part of his team was already a problem that made him unhappy. Now that they are making him force Xiao Yun out, he started questioning if he should continue working on this film.

    "I think we should just stop filming altogether."

    "If it¡¯s an issue with funding, maybe I can help," offered Li Yu. Being an A-list actor in the capital, he had quite a bit of dough with him too.

    This Cheng Zhou already knew. However, the problems he was facing did not just end with funding. Being such a powerful man, Mr. Tian could make his entire crew cease operation with just onemand. Considering that the director was eyeing for the film award at the end of the year, perhaps there was no other choice but to...

    Give Xiao Yun up.

    Xiao Yun was sitting on a bench, reading her script to gain a better understanding of her character, her rationale, and her motives. On an unconscious level, she had already be one with Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang. She straightened her back and focused her eyes to look straight forward. Her face nk of any emotions, she ced one hand on the table and the other, on her waist. In an instant, she entered into what felt like a defensive posture, ready to strike down any dissenters.

    No doubt, this was what it feels like to be Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang.

    Someone who had been secretly trained since childhood to possess formidable hand-to-handbat skills, ruthlessness, and an unwavering loyalty.

    Cheng Zhou felt his heart being crushed at the thought of losing an actress so spiritually-connected to her character. If she were to leave the set, he would undoubtedly carry this heavy feeling of regret with him to the grave. However, he was left with no choice.

    "Xiao Yun."

    Xiao Yun looked up. Seeing the director standing there, she shot up from her bench. "Director Cheng."

    Cheng Zhou nodded. He mulled over how to break the news to Xiao Yun. After all, it was him that had personally hired her to join his crew.

    So many girls hade auditioning for the role of the second female lead but his eyes caught onto Xiao Yun in an instant. Although her acting skills were less developed than first-rate actors, given enough time, Cheng Zhou believed, she would definitely make it as a star one day.

    But before that day arrived, Cheng Zhou had no choice but to let her go.

    Cheng Zhou struggled to produce words from his mouth. "Y-You should¡¯ve h-heard about it by now right?"

    Cheng Zhou had never fired someone halfway through the filming process in his career as a director. However, the one he wanted to fire most right now was Jin Sitian, not Xiao Yun with whom he was extremely satisfied.

    Xiao Yun froze up momentarily. Secondster, she regained her senses. Although there weren¡¯t any signs of emotion on her face, it was apparent to Cheng Zhou that she didn¡¯t mind being kicked out like that. "Although my time here was short, I was very happy to have worked here with everyone. Thank you Director Cheng for looking after me."

    Sigh.

    Director Cheng let out a long, depressing sigh.

    "I have a couple of old friends who are starting a new film together. I¡¯ll try to get you a suitable role in their project, alright?"

    This was the best he could do for her.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s eyes lit up as soon as she heard this.

    "Thank you Director Cheng!"

    "No problem."

    Director Cheng turned and left but something foul continued lingering in his heart.

    As soon as the staff stationed nearby caught wind of her dismissal, they all rushed over and surrounded Xiao Yun.

    "Xiao Yun, I heard you were leaving! For real?"

    They didn¡¯t want her to leave. That meant they had to interact solely with the dreaded Jin Sitian!

    Xiao Yun looked around at her fellow colleagues as she announced, "I will be leaving soon. I really appreciate all that you guys have done for me."

    Some of them had their faces twisted from anguish, some of them cursed under their breaths. Of course, they all knew who the perpetrator was. However, they could only do so much as puny, receable pawns.

    Li Yu too, had arrived at the scene after realizing that Xiao Yun had just been let go by the director. Marching forwards slowly, solemnly, the people surrounding Xiao Yun parted like the Red Sea did for Moses.

    "I heard you were leaving, Xiao Yun?" His brows were furrowed when he looked at Xiao Yun.

    Seeing her own idol standing at such close proximity, Xiao Yun quickly lost herposure. Leaving the set wasn¡¯t too big of a deal. The thing that bothered her most was losing the chance to continue working with her favorite celebrity.

    "Yep. Senior Li, I wonder when I¡¯ll get the chance to work with you again."

    Her heart was crushed.

    Li Yu had already got a good grasp of the situation from his manager¡¯s description of events. He knew that Xiao Yun had been sabotaged by someone else. Thinking back to the person who came to pick Xiao Yun up yesterday, he smiled reassuringly at her.

    "Something¡¯s telling me that it won¡¯t be long before you and I will be working together again."

    From how angry that man¡¯s expression was, he wouldn¡¯t just stand there and watch would he?

    Leaving everything aside, that number te of his could pretty much scare the living sh*t out of everyone on set, even the big shots.

    Xiao Yun took it as a joke and did not respond to it. Instead, she turned around to get a pen and paper from her assistant.

    "Since I¡¯ll be leaving now, please give me your autograph, Senior Li!"

    Li Yu proceeded to scribble down his autograph over the piece of paper. With a beaming smile, Xiao Yun epted it like a true fan.

    "They¡¯re filming again. See you around then," Li Yu said before leaving hastily.

    Before she could remind him that she won¡¯t be seeing him again, Li Yu had already disappeared into the distance. Xiao Yun could only swallow her own words in silence.

    Now that the next scene was starting, her ex-colleagues bid Xiao Yun farewell before hurrying back to their respective stations. Xiao Yun removed her makeup and was about to change into her regr clothes when Jin Sitian blocked her path.

    Jin Sitian had been waiting for her friends to scurry off before making her appearance. "I guess you now know that anyone who dares to cross me will never end up well. You, and that friend of yours from yesterday too!"

    "A dog will never produce ivory, no matter how hard you pry." Seeing Jin Sitian reminded her of what she did yesterday. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yun¡¯s mood worsened.

    Thankfully, they were the only ones in the dressing room. Upon loosening her wrists, an evil look surfaced on Xiao Yun¡¯s face.

    Thud! Thud! Thud!

    She threw three solid punches against Jin Sitian¡¯s belly.

    This was the secret technique that Gu Xiqiao had taught her. While creating immense pain in her victim, no bruises would be left, making it impossible to prove that assault had actually been taken ce.

    Holding onto Jin Sitian¡¯s lower jaw, Xiao Yun let her hand loose. Seeing how Jin Sitian was lying on the floor like a dead fish, she swiftly changed into her own clothes before leaving the crime scene.

    Seeing that she was about to leave, everyone in the crew came over to say their farewells. Evidently, they were reluctant to see her leave.

    It took a lot of struggling for Jin Sitian to get on her feet. Tearing her clothes open, she was stunned by how little evidence there was after receiving such heavy blows. Realizing that her assant hade prepared, she gritted her teeth and shrieked, "That b*tch!"

    Ever since she was a child, Jin Sitian had only been treated with love and affection due to her good looks. She couldn¡¯t take this hit. Not in a million years. In a fit of rage, she charged out of the room to find the crowd that was sending Xiao Yun off as well as Li Yu, who had been giving her the cold shoulder the entire time. Feeling her blood boil, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Xiao Yun! I¡¯m telling you! I¡¯ll make sure that you never act again in your lifetime!"

    She would go back and order Mr. Tian to shut Xiao Yun off from the world of entertainment once and for all, just like what she did with Ning Qing! Although her contract was with Tang Enterprise, it shouldn¡¯t be too hard for him to buy his way in right?

    The noisy crowd turned dead silent right after her scream.

    This was outrageous! How could someone be any more shameless?!

    Be that as it may, these people did not dare to speak up against her. If they did so, they risked losing their livelihood.

    They all went silent. Even Xiao Yun took a while to register in her mind, what was going on. Then, she looked at Jin Sitian with shiny eyes.

    Jin Sitian¡¯s abdomen still hurt from the punches. Gritting her teeth, her anger was further fueled by the sight of these people acting like a bunch of non-sentient dummies!

    "What did I miss?!" asked a surprised voice that came from the main entrance.

    Looking over, he was a middle-aged man sporting a pair of gold-rimmed sses. He looked elegant in the way he carried himself, especially so with that slight smile on his face.

    The bystanders had no idea who he was with the exception of Li Yu and Cheng Zhou. As an artist under Tang Pictures Enterprise, how could they not recognize the big boss¡¯ main secretary, Qin Heng!

    "Secretary Qin, what brought you here?" Cheng Zhou paused what he was doing and hurried over to greet the man. The director had a puzzled look on his face as he looked at Secretary Qin. Cheng Zhou was a carefree, easygoing fe who started his own studio that was independent from the Tang family. However, he was also well aware of who Secretary Qin was, Tang Qingqiu¡¯s second-inmand.

    Matters pertaining to the Tang family, no matter how big or small, would always be handled by Qin Heng. As for Tang Qingqiu himself, to be frank, little was known about that man. There existed only a handful of photos of the man published in the entertainment column of newspapers.

    Qin Heng responded to the director with a smile. "I am here on behalf of the Tang Enterprise to discuss the contract with your crew."

    "Contract?" Cheng Zhou¡¯s heart almost stopped. What did Qin Heng mean by discussing the contract?

    Everyone there had never heard of Qin Heng but they certainly did know who the Tangs were. They were one of the giants in the entertainment industry and under them worked countless A-list and B-list celebrities. That included Li Yu, who was currently present on set. Also included was the female lead, who had yet to return from her trip overseas.

    The Tang family was a mysterious entity that remained behind the scenes throughout their entire operation.

    This was their first time seeing someone representing Tang Enterprise out in public so naturally, they were curious about him.

    Even Jin Sitian was stunned. She lightly bit her lips as her eyes locked onto the middle-aged man who was standing at the doorway.

    "Tang Enterprise has decided to invest two-hundred million yuan to the filming of "Empire Under Siege". However, we have two requests."

    200 million? From Tang Enterprise? Cheng Zhou began seeing stars circling above his head. His dreams were starting toe true recently. Still, he maintained hisposure and listened closely to the two requests that Qin Heng mentioned. He wondered if they would make another impossible demand, like making Jin Sitian the female lead.

    Such an investment he could not ept!

    "It is a very simple request." Qin Heng searched his mind, trying to recall how his boss looked and sounded when he made the request. In the blink of an eye, he dominated the scene. Pointing his finger in the direction of Jin Sitian, he spoke calmly, "Get her off the cast!"

    He wasn¡¯t yelling but the people there were dumbfounded by the authoritative tone nheless. They scratched their heads at what exactly was going on.

    After a momentter, they finally realized what Qin Heng¡¯s words meant. They turned over to face Jin Sitian. It was only moments ago when she was threatening to end Xiao Yun¡¯s career. Now, Tang Enterprise hase to get her off the set? Karma was swift it seems.

    For Tang Enterprise to demand her removal so abruptly, was there anyone who would willingly let Jin Sitian stay here?

    The color on Jin Sitian¡¯s face changed like that of a chameleon¡¯s. It took her an eternity to process what Qin Heng had said. She then stared up at Qin Heng with disbelief all over her face.

    Her manager, who was holding a new outfit and was preparing to walk over to Jin Sitian felt like he had just been struck by lightning. What the hell was going on? Why did Tang Enterprise suddenly decide to screw Jin Sitian over?

    Qin Heng did not wait for her to respond. "The second request is, perhaps you, Director Cheng are unaware of this but Mr. Xiang has recently signed a contract with a rookie, who is none other than Xiao Yun here. Ourpany values her very, very much."

    They finally understood what was going on upon hearing this. So Tang Enterprise had finally sent someone to back their artist up?

    They had been in the entertainment industry for quite a while now and naturally, they knew that things were not as simple as it seemed. Tang Enterprise was signing countless contracts with a variety of different artists and Xiao Yun was just one of them. Seeing the inexperienced assistant that was assigned to Xiao Yun, the more they felt that Qin Heng¡¯s words were nothing but made-up nonsense.

    If Tang Enterprise really valued her that much, they wouldn¡¯t send a half-assed assistant over to Xiao Yun. The truth became all the more tant when considering the fact that Xiao Yun drove her own car; if they really valued her, they would¡¯ve given her a brand new car with a dedicated driver. So why were they lying through their teeth?

    These people thought long and hard about it but nothing came up.

    Li Yu was the only person who wore a smile. It appeared that he had figured this out already.

    However, the oue of this battle really shocked him. For Qin Heng to make an appearance, Xiao Yun¡¯s friend must be really important to the Tang family. After all, there were only a handful of times he had met this busy secretary throughout his career.

    Sometimes, there really existed mountains that were so high that you couldn¡¯t see the peak no matter how hard you looked up. Jin Sitian of course, was one of these people.

    Silently, the crew peered over in Jin Sitian¡¯s direction. Instead of driving her enemy away, she had messed up and got herself kicked off the set. It must hurt a lot, doesn¡¯t it?

    [1] T/N: Three-non-product: Sketchy stuff with no expiration/manufacturing date, no QCbel \u0026 no product branding

 Chapter 133 The Jiang Family, And The Final Blow Against The Bai Family

    <h4>Chapter 133 The Jiang Family, And The Final Blow Against The Bai Family</h4>

    Taunts, sneers and schadenfreude...

    She had never been on the receiving end of these things before. Now that she was, Jin Sitian¡¯s face was so red that it seemed like she was about to explode.

    Her mind then went nk for a very long time. Ever since her debut in the entertainment industry, she had always been riding on Mr. Tian¡¯s coattails. Her peers would always look at her with envy for being so lucky to have found such a wealthy but most importantly, generous sugar daddy, albeit him being an older gentleman.

    Even so, many were still jealous of her. Because of her powerful sugar daddy, no one dared to stand in Jin Sitian¡¯s way let alone offend her deliberately. Because Mr. Tian¡¯s pocket was like a bottomless pit, he easily could pour tens of millions into any project so how could these people ever reject his offer?

    This was the first time she had been publicly shamed in front of so many people. Despite this, she still had something to say.

    With Tang Enterprise¡¯s support, Xiao Yun¡¯s role in "Empire Under Siege" was further solidified. There was no doubt about Jin Sitian being kicked out from this project but there was still the possibility that the Tangs could end her entire career altogether!

    Jin Sitian found it hard to make sense of this. Purple-faced, she yelled, "It¡¯s just a tertiary character! You think I care if I lose this role?!"

    Finally regaining his senses, Jin Sitian¡¯s manager, who was far more well-informed about the Tang family, cupped his hand over her mouth and dragged her back into the dressing room to prevent her from exacerbating the current situation. "You must tell Mr. Tian about this immediately!"

    Mr. Tian must be in financial trouble, he thought. It was because of the man¡¯s authority that gave the manager the confidence to stand toe-to-toe with Cheng Zhou. Seeing Cheng Zhou¡¯s pitiful grin created an emotion in the manager that was not too far off from what Jin Sitian was experiencing. Never in his life had he wanted to bury himself in the ground more than right now.

    He must have been drunk to be able toe up with what he said to Cheng Zhou just now!

    The manager felt like he was about to shrivel up and die from regret. He knew very well that working in the Imperial Capital was like treading across a minefield. So why didn¡¯t he grow some brains before making such foolish decisions?

    Tang Enterprise? They were one of the pirs that supported China¡¯s economic prosperity! Mr. Tian, whom Jin Sitian was relying on all this time was nothing but a petty nouveau riche inparison. No matter how much money he had, there was no way he could match the significance of such a well-established family! Death was the only oue should one decide to fight against such an unstoppable force.

    With the help of Tang Enterprise, Mr. Tian was as insignificant as an ant on the ground to the entire "Empire Under Siege" project!

    "I don¡¯t see a need to do that? Xiao Yun is just a nobody!" Jin Sitian started taking out her anger on her manager. "Tell Mr. Tian to get Tang Enterprise to hand Xiao Yun over! I¡¯ll make sure that she never makes aeback! Period!"

    This was all Xiao Yun¡¯s fault. Jin Sitian who held her grudges well could not take it without retaliating.

    "Have you gone mad?" This was the first time the manager had ever handled an artist as mindless as Jin Sitian. In fact, he started doubting his decision to work with her. "Don¡¯t you know who they are?! You better be praying hard for Tang Enterprise to not ce the me on either you or Mr. Tian! Else, you guys are done for, for the rest of your lives!"

    The manager then painstakingly exined the situation she was currently in.

    Jin Sitian still wore that stubborn look on her face. However, panic had already started taking hold of her underneath the surface. This situation was making her more and more upset, she felt.

    This feeling was further reinforced when her calls went unanswered by her sugar daddy no matter how long the phone rang.

    These two, who came marching in with high spirits in the morning proceeded to leave sneakily like a bunch of thieves. The process took ce in under an hour but the scene had changed so dramatically. The film crew, upon seeing them leave, were moments away from celebrating with firecrackers.

    Sitting in the car, Jin Sitian didn¡¯t even have the mood to sneer at Ning Qing who was working as a pathetic background actress. Her mind was only filled with worry.

    She found it hard to ept the fact that Xiao Yun was allowed to stay and continue ying as Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang, and her own dismissal was even harder to swallow. To be able to turn the tide so suddenly, just who was this Tang Enterprise? What happened for them to take such drastic actions against her?

    Mr. Xiang, as far as she knew, was a top-tier manager working under the Tangs. He was responsible for quite a number of A-list celebrities which included both Li Yu as well as the female lead who was going to return from overseas soon. But wasn¡¯t the person with whom she signed the contract Mister Li? When did Mr. Xiang step into the picture?

    ***

    Qin Heng wanted to have a meeting with Cheng Zhou as well as the producer. Before leaving though, he spared Xiao Yun a couple of nces. Naturally, he was curious about the artiste who his boss had personally mentioned and subsequently, transferred over to Mr. Xiang.

    "It¡¯s just like I said. I had a feeling that we would be working together very soon." Li Yu nced at Xiao Yun. "Hey, it¡¯s your turn to go on camera now. Hurry up and change into your outfit. I¡¯m looking forward to working with you again."

    Xiao Yun felt her entire body stiffen up. She thought about it for what felt like an eternity but no matter how she looked at it, it just didn¡¯t make sense for Tang Enterprise to step in and intervene.

    She didn¡¯t have any connections with the people here in the Imperial Capital. Wu Hongwen and Luo Weng were definitely out of the equation for this; to her knowledge, they did not know about yesterday¡¯s incident. She totally did not expect the situation to y out like this. Ruling out everyone else, only Gu Xiqiao had the potential to turn the tide around.

    The makeup artist was working on Xiao Yun¡¯s face when she brushed her fingers across her phone. She wanted to give Gu Xiqiao a call but decided against it at thest moment.

    "Xiao Yun," said Cheng Zhou who had walked out halfway through the meeting. There wasn¡¯t the need for him to stay there since it was the nning department¡¯s responsibility to handle the cooperation and finances. He left after confirming the Tang family¡¯s intention to fork over two-hundred million yuan to fund his project. He needed to talk to Xiao Yun.

    "Now that Jin Sitian has left, we need someone to y the role of Princess Qixia. Perhaps your friend from yesterday would be interested in ying this role?"

    Hold up. Xiao Yun thought she had misheard the director.

    "Director Cheng, are you sure that you want my friend to y in this movie?" Gu Xiqiao was a med student, not an actress!

    "That¡¯s right. I feel that her temperament suits this character very well." Seeing how Xiao Yun was skeptical about this, Cheng Zhou¡¯s expression grew even more serious. "I have been a director for so many years now, and to tell you the truth, my eyes never fail me. That friend of yours I feel, has a very malleable personality. Take you for an example, the reason I chose you was because of how convincing you are when you act. To date, I have never been disappointed by your work. Likewise, something tells me that your friend is born to act!"

    He refrained from saying that when staring at Gu Xiqiao, he saw the image of Wen Xi, the empress of entertainment in China. However, twenty years ago, Wen Xi vanished from the entertainment scene without leaving a trace. Many of her fans broke down into tears upon learning of her departure. Even till now, she remained an unsurpassable milestone for many aspiring actors and actresses.

    Those bright eyes of hers in particr was what made her such a phenomenal actress. A slight change would have conveyed countless emotions she was feeling to her audience. This was what many had attempted to and failed to replicate.

    She even appeared on the front page of a foreign fashion magazine, who described her eyes as "eyes that could speak".

    Xiao Yun was puzzled by the director¡¯s look but she knew that he was beingpletely serious about it. As such, she replied in an equally serious manner.

    "Director Cheng, Er Qiao is a med student. I cannot guarantee that she would ept your offer."

    By that she meant, there was an 80% chance that Gu Xiqiao would refuse the offer.

    For the remaining 20% toe true, Gu Xiqiao must be bored out of her mind at her university.

    "It¡¯s alright, so long as you ask her about it. I¡¯m not forcing her to ept the role or anything."

    Cheng Zhou may say so but in reality, he had no intention to ept anyone else for Princess Qixia¡¯s role other than Gu Xiqiao.

    Xiao Yun was surprised by how persistent the director was for Gu Xiqiao to y in his movie. Without a second thought, she called Gu Xiqiao on her phone.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was not even halfway through her breakfast when Xiao Yun¡¯s call came through. "Er Qiao, are you interested in acting?"

    "Chirp?"

    Before Gu Xuqiao replied, she smacked Xixi off to one side before opening her mouth. Right before she could do so however, she was interrupted by a notification from the System.

    "[Ding! Random Mission activated: Star in the movie "Empire Under Siege" as the character, Princess Qixia!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 500 points]"

    The System¡¯s eyes were beaming at Gu Xiqiao from the void.

    "[Beauty Qiao, I am still 511 points away from leveling up!]"

    She had received 2000 points from the chain mission involving the Soul Extinguishing Seal and her advancements in ancient martial arts gained her another 2500 points. As such, the system was now just 511 points away from gaining another level.

    If shepleted this mission, she would receive 500 points.

    "I have never acted before. Could you wait for a little longer? Perhaps a new mission is just around the corner?" Gu Xiqiao sighed. She just couldn¡¯t figure out the pattern in which the System rolled out its missions.

    "[But Beauty Qiao! You¡¯ve learned how to paint, how to do calligraphy, the art of ancient martial arts and even medicine. You¡¯ve got a virtual arena to test out your new skills and an unlimited timespan for you to polish it up! What¡¯s so hard about acting for you?]" Sensing how reluctant Gu Xiqiao was about epting the mission, the System started counting on its fingers the time it would take until the next mission arrived.

    "Er Qiao?" Hearing the line go silent, Xiao Yun couldn¡¯t help but call out to Gu Xiqiao to see if she was still there.

    "I¡¯ll think about it." Gu Xiqiao poured herself a ss of water. "I can¡¯t give you an answer right now."

    She really didn¡¯t know whether to ept or to reject this offer as she had never thought about acting before.

    Still, even if she turned down this mission, she had already epted Ning Qing¡¯s mission so it was only a matter of time before she got herself involved with the entertainment industry.

    She really needed to think hard about this matter.

    "It¡¯s fine. Do consider it seriously. FYI, Director Cheng isn¡¯t in a hurry." Xiao Yun was surprised by how Gu Xiqiao did not reject her immediately. Director Cheng really wasn¡¯t in a hurry; he could just push the scenes involving Princess Qixia back. There was a reason why he did not n to hold any auditions for said character¡ªhe was waiting for Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao booted up herputer as soon as she hung up the call. Putting on the virtual helmet, she loaded onto her game. While her hands were busy, her mind was not, which was what it took to operate the in-game character.

    While ying the game casually, she started contemting if she should ept or reject the acting mission.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already left the house early in the morning afterpleting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s itinerary for the day. After waking up, she was astonished to find the bowl of piping hot porridge waiting for her on the table. When did he start cooking? Thinking back to his nk facial expression in the kitchen, she wondered if he was that way because he was busy absorbing the cooking lesson from her.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had been sneakily learning how to cook returned to the Jiang residence early in the morning. As he traveled along the road that led up to his home, a bunch of young juniors who were heading toward school for their daily practice exploded from excitement.

    "Oh my god! That... who is that? Hey, is that Master Jiang?!" yelled a young one who was trying to release his chi.

    "Oh my, I¡¯m about to... I¡¯m about to faint... I remember three years ago, when I managed to defeat those people and enter the Jiang family mansion, and this is my first time seeing him in person! Oh, I am moved!" said a young woman in her early twenties. She had a slender figure and her eyes were slightly glowing in red.

    "Ahhh! The strongest man in the ancient martial arts world! Everything about him triumphs above ordinary men! Look at his eyes, his intense gaze, his long legs, and those pale fingers of his!"

    "..."

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s level of fame in the ancient martial arts world has surpassed that of anyone from generations before him. Of course, that was because despite being at the very top of the youth ranking list, no one really knew about his true strength.

    His impression on the masses was made three years ago, when he took over the ancient martial arts world¡¯s main forum. Back then, there was a Zenith Ninja that let loose a blood storm that spread across the ind nation of Japan. Rumour has it that he had even buried an entire town underground in his murderous rampage. The Japanese were helpless against him and his blood-fuelled rampage soon spread over the border to China.

    There was a page on the forum that said the following about him. The Zenith Ninja¡¯s special attack was "Destroying Mountains and Draining Oceans". This ability earned him the 36th rank as the strongest man in the world.

    His ability did what it literally meant. Most of the ancient martial arts users knew how much of an existential threat his ability posed. For the sake of innocent Chinese lives, every single one of them agreed silently that this was a mission they would never turn down. A team was dispatched to stop his rampage but no one was able to take the mighty ninja down.

    As they were paralyzed by despair, Jiang Shuxuan made his appearance. Him, and his trusty sword.

    ording to those who had fought on the same battlefield as him, the sky changed colors the moment he arrived. A ray of gold lit up the battlefield, blinding these people until the battle was over, when they witnessed the end of the Zenith Ninja.

    Jiang Shuxuan had decapitated the Zenith Ninja and disyed his head proudly at the national border. They had no idea how he did it but the head remained there for one whole year without rotting. It was a warning to every single foreigner who was entering China. From then on, no one dared to challenge his authority.

    In the end, the Almighty One gave him the final judgment. It stated how his abilities had transcended beyond the realm of normality, surpassing the masters on the earthly list. It was highly likely that he would be among the top ten on the worldwide ranking system!

    Jiang Shuxuan was only twenty-three back then. What a fearsome man he must be to be able to achieve such heights at such a young age.

    From then on, the greedy nations who had their eyes on China¡¯s natural resources went silent.

    He was already so amazing three years ago. They had no idea how much he had grown over this period. This was because nobody was able to make him unleash his true abilities in battle.

    As the strongest man in the ancient martial arts world, he was the one whom many youngsters aspired to be. He was their one and only, pir of hope.

    This was especially so for the younger generation of the Jiang family. Some had finally managed to enter the core of the Jiang family after going through various selection rounds. However, it has been three whole years since anyone has seen him in person. One could count using his hand the number of times he returned to his family mansion over this period.

    And so, to see Jiang Shuxuan himself with their own two eyes filled them with an indescribable sense of excitement.

    The butler, who had received the message, brought the servants who have been serving this family for generations, out to the door to wee the young master¡¯s arrival. From afar, they could see a man walking over with the sun behind his back. No doubt, judging from the air of elegance around him, this was the young master.

    "Young Master, wee back." The butler stepped forward and bowed.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face was expressionless. He nodded in response to the greeting and handed a bag of items that he had bought over to the butler.

    The butler, who expected it to be a bag of precious items was astonished when he found out that it was nothing but a pile of vegetables. He paused for a moment to think about what to do next before bringing it to the kitchen. Even if they appeared to be vegetables, there must be something special about them, he thought.

    Jiang Shuxuan changed into a more casual outfit beforeing back downstairs.

    "Where are the vegetables?"

    "Young Master, I have already ced it in the kitchen for you. Would you like me to bring it out?" the butler asked.

    "No, no need for that." Jiang Shuxuan rolled up his sleeves as he headed for the kitchen.

    ¡¯I wonder what exercise the young master will do this time.¡¯

    The butler trailed behind the young master. He was curious to see him in action.

    And yet, upon stepping into the kitchen, he discovered that Jiang Shuxuan was... cutting vegetables? Hm, perhaps the young master was training his knife skills.

    ¡¯Cleaning out fish? Perhaps the young master is learning how to eviscerate his enemies.¡¯

    ¡¯Oil? Perhaps the young master is...¡¯

    ¡¯How can I continue lying to myself like this?!¡¯

    The butler watched Jiang Shuxuan throw the vegetables into the frying wok with a deadpan expression before proceeding to push them around in an awkward motion. He was very sure now that the young master was dead serious about learning to cook!

    "Young Master, you must haveplete control over the me. Shut it off at precisely two minutes after putting in the fish slices. Else, you¡¯d risk messing up the mouthfeel." The Jiang family¡¯s head chef stood beside him, giving instructions as they went along.

    The butler¡¯s gaze moved over to the head chef¡¯s trembling hands.

    ¡¯Stop putting up the act already! You think you can conceal your fear?!¡¯ he thought to himself.

    This was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s first time returning to his home since the start of this year. Surprisingly, it was in order to learn how to cook. The butler looked up at Jiang Shuxuan. "Young Master, what changed your mind about this?"

    Listening to the experienced head chef¡¯s instructions, Jiang Shuxuan felt that it was much easier to follow than the lengthy instructions he read on Baidu.

    He truly had set his heart on learning to cook beforeing back to the Jiang family home. As the Jiang family had high standards on all things material, even their personal chefs were legendary masters who have worked in the imperial kitchen. If he was to learn how to cook, of course he would learn from the very best.

    An hourter, Jiang Shuxuan brought three separate dishes out of the kitchen. The first was shrimp stir fry, then drunken pork ribs, andstly, fish fillets in hot sauce.

    The butler offered to serve the dishes but Jiang Shuxuan turned him down. With his own two hands, he brought the dishes onto the dining table where the head chef tasted the food before giving his precious feedback.

    The head chef was surprised upon hearing the young master¡¯s request for him to taste his cooking. Picking up his chopsticks, he took one bite out of the first dish. Then, a profound look appeared on his face.

    Seeing the head chef¡¯s still-trembling hand, the butler scoffed.

    ¡¯No matter how hard you try, you¡¯ll never change the fact that you¡¯re acting really suspicious right now!¡¯

    The head chef proceeded to give his lengthy verdict. In short, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s cooking wasn¡¯t bad at all. Though, there was a lot of room for improvement. Still, he emphasized that he was impressed by the young master¡¯s ability to whip these dishes up by himself.

    The butler thought to himself, ¡¯Are you trying to lure the young master into bing a chef? I knew you were up to no good! This man was born to handle big things! How could you make him waste his time on such stupid activities?!¡¯

    Jiang Shuxuan too, took a bite of his own cooking. Satisfied by its taste, he took out a thermos container to store the freshly-cooked food in.

    A lightbulb lit up in the butler¡¯s mind. "Young Master, could it be that you have found yourself a woman?" He found it hard to believe. After all, the young master was not exactly "young" anymore. Normally, he would be as insensitive as a piece of wood towards members of the opposite sex. The butler had also never heard of any woman with whom he was particrly close to.

    Even the mistress started to worry if the young master had ns to marry someone in the future. If Jiang Shuxuan isn¡¯t willing to, there was virtually no one who could force him into marriage.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hand paused mid-air.

    The butler¡¯s eyes lit up. Looking up at Jiang Shuxuan excitedly, he asked, "Is it true? Is it Miss Jiang Tong?"

    There was only one person in the ancient martial arts world that was worthy of being the young master¡¯s wife; the others were simply too weak.

    Jiang Tong was well known as a demon girl in the ancient martial arts world. She ranked sixth on the youth ranking list and was a rare prodigy who had a near limitless future. Apparently, she had just broken her own record a few days ago and has expressed her intention to aim for the third rank.

    "No." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrowed. "You should stop guessing now. She isn¡¯t someone from the ancient martial arts world. Also, I can¡¯t confirm our rtionship just yet."

    "Not from the ancient martial arts world?!" Color drained out from the butler¡¯s face. "I¡¯m afraid the mistress will be against this decision, Young Master!"

    Jiang Shuxuan lifted his head and gave the butler a look. Just that look was enough to shut the man up. He had been by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side ever since he was a child; he knew very well when the young master was dead serious about doing something.

    "Young Master, it¡¯s a call from Miss Jiang Tong. She says she would like to talk to you for a moment." A servant¡¯s voice came from a nearby room. "Would you like to speak with her?"

    ***

    Jiang Tong wasn¡¯t home today. However, she had learned about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s return while scrolling through the ancient martial arts forum. She didn¡¯t care too much about it at first, as she thought it was just a hoax perpetrated by some bored inte trolls. However, her assumption was proven wrong upon seeing a blurry picture posted by the thread starter of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s back, which she recognized in an instant.

    She knew the Jiang family¡¯sndline number which she dialed immediately after realizing that Jiang Shuxuan had returned. However, when his servant picked up the phone, she was informed that Jiang Shuxuan had unfortunately left the house.

    Jiang Tong felt powerless the instant she heard that. Jiang Shuxuan would always treat her like this, avoiding her deliberately. It wasn¡¯t just her though. He had been deliberately avoiding girls throughout his entire life.

    Still, she fearlessly marched on. As the youngest, most capable girl in the ancient martial arts world, Jiang Tong felt that she was getting closer to her target. At the very least, everyone in the ancient martial arts world would think of her whenever they heard the word "woman". Also, the Jiang family had expressed their satisfaction with her abilities.

    "Little Tong, why are you still here? Training has started!" Someone nearby hurried her.

    "Coming." Jiang Tong put her thoughts aside. Right now, the most important thing for her was to improve her own abilities and to reach the top three positions in the youth ranking list.

    Strength was all that mattered. As for Jiang Shuxuan, didn¡¯t he only notice people with high mental strength levels?

    Jiang Tong clenched her fists. She vowed to work hard this time. If Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t going to participate in the youth ranking list this year, she would have to aim for the first ce!

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan packed up the dishes and headed out of the Jiang family home. Mrs. Jiang, who was informed of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s return, had just arrived home when she saw the boy about to leave. She was about to lecture him angrily when she remembered the text message the butler had sent her. In an instant, a motherly smile surfaced on her face. "Son, I heard you were going out with Jiang Tong?"

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrowed upon hearing the words "Jiang Tong".

    "No, I am not."

    She knew that her son would not lie to her. However, Mrs. Jiang was still adamant on knowing the truth. "Is that true? Don¡¯t lie to me."

    "I really am not." Jiang Shuxuan then nodded to bid her farewell before marching off.

    This was why he hateding back home.

    Now that Jiang Shuxuan had left, the butler proceeded to tell the entire story to Mrs. Jiang. He figured that the young master must havee back to "vinate" his family before finally breaking the news to them. He was truly the strongest man in the ancient martial arts world; his hands could hold the pen, a sword and today, a cooking spat. If the people of the ancient martial arts world were to know of the unexpected twist, they would inevitably die from sadness.

    "Not from the ancient martial arts world? He told you that?" Mrs. Jiang narrowed her eyes after seeing the butler nod. The smile on her face had, by now, faded away. "What is he thinking?!"

    "Mistress, please stay calm. We aren¡¯t very sure about his decision yet. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to interfere..."

    Even if they could interfere with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s n, who could stop him?

    Sullen-faced, Mrs. Jiang yelled, "Get Jiang Tong on the phone. I want to see her now!"

    In continuing their family lineage, if Jiang Shuxuan were to marry somemoner, it would only spell disaster for their entire family. She wasn¡¯t the only one who was against Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s idea. Every single elder in the family would never agree to this foolish act!

    "But Mistress, I believe the young master has his own reasons for this. Not to mention the fact that he¡¯s at such a young age. Perhaps he¡¯s just ying around?" The butler tried his best to calm Mrs. Jiang down but judging from how serious Jiang Shuxuan looked, he knew that they had already gone past the turning point now. His only wish was for the young master to handle this issue as cleanly and as swiftly as possible.

    However, the butler shared Mrs. Jiang¡¯s opinion. As the sole heir of their family, Jiang Shuxuan simply could not marry amoner!

    The Jiang family was helpless about this. They could only pray for the young master to think this through.

    Seated on the chair, Mrs. Jiang squinted her eyes. "I hope Shuxuan is indeed just ying around. He better turn around before its toote."

    "Rest assured Mistress, the young master should be well-aware of his limits. I doubt that he would disappoint you." The butler smiled gently, evidently reflecting his confidence in Jiang Shuxuan.

    This seemed to do the trick as Mrs. Jiang was able to calm herself down. Then, she realized how Jiang Shuxuan had never let her down before. Hopefully, he would do the same for this issue.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was blissfully unaware about what had taken ce. She was busy ying her video game, which she felt was the best way to kill her free time.

    [Legend Of The River¡¯s Lake: "The number one yer, Smoke on Water has been defeated by another yer, For A Millenium! What incredible news!"]

    [World] Wandering Around: "Haha, I see this every time! I bet he¡¯s still suffering from PTSD after that battle! £¨=^¨Œ^=£©

    [World] The Cutest Waiter: "I second that! (*^¦Ø^*)"

    [World] Li Yu Is My Husband: "I third that! ¨r£¨¨F¨Œ¡ä£©¨q"

    ***

    The defeated Smoke On Water himself didn¡¯t think too much about it himself. At first, he found his defeat to be a hard pill to swallow but he had long grown used to such situations.

    [Private Chat] Smoke On Water: "Godly Gu, do you know why Whispering Winds hasn¡¯t been online recently?"

    After the PVP math, Gu Xiqiao began scouting the area for spots where she would show Jiang Shuxuan in the future. She ended up discovering a beautiful canyon for this asion.

    The sun was shining across the azure skies here, and Gu Xiqiao noted to herself to bring Jiang Shuxuan over.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was about to go offline saw Smoke On Water¡¯s chat bubble. Wait up, why does Smoke On Water know Xiao Yun? When did the two get to know each other?

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "She¡¯s been busy as ofte. She¡¯ll be online more frequently after she sorts out her schedule."

    [Private Chat] Smoke On Water: "Isn¡¯t she just a student? Why¡¯s she so busy?"

    Gu Xiqiao was able to control her emotions to prevent starting unnecessary gossiping. She then answered his question sensibly.

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "It¡¯s hard to say. You should ask her yourself when she¡¯s online."

    [Private Chat] Smoke On Water: "Right, thanks Godly Gu."

    Smoke On Water then went offline.

    Again, Gu Xiqiao was about to go offline when another private message popped up in her feed.

    [Private Chat] Host Of A New Generation: "Beauty Qiao! Guess who I am!"

    ¡¯Fool, you¡¯ve exposed yourself from the way you speak!¡¯ Gu Xiqiao facepalmed.

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "Xu Jing, you¡¯re here too?"

    [Private Chat] Host Of A New Generation: "Wu Hongwen taught me how to y this game. Back to the question, how did you know it was me?"

    Gu Xiqiao proceeded to fill the chat with bullcrap.

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "I didn¡¯t. It¡¯s just that I hacked into yourputer seconds ago."

    It took a while before Xu Jing typed out her reply.

    [Private Chat] Host Of A New Generation: "Crap!"

    [Private Chat] Host Of A New Generation: "I just wanted to tell you something. You know, that Sun Jiajia¡¯s been intensifying her cajoling campaign as ofte!"

    Sun Jiajia¡¯s in-game name was Autumn Beauty. Her equipment has always been subpar ever since she started ying the game but recently, not only has she suddenly received a virtual helmet, she had even gotten herself a suit of golden armor, which squeezed her up the yer equipment ranking list.

    [Private Chat] Host Of A New Generation: "I bet you didn¡¯t see how high and mighty she was acting. Ah, it was hrious! Oh and she¡¯s publicly showing her love for that rich man¡¯s son in the game every day!"

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "Oh."

    Gu Xiqiao then saw a yer named "Autumn Beauty" riding on a crane over her head.

    [Private Chat] Host Of A New Generation: "Oh? What kind of a reaction is that? Aren¡¯t you curious? She even told me to invite you and your Master Jiang over for a meal."

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "Very well."

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes and looked at the couple riding on the crane. Then, one after another, the two in-game characters suddenly glitched out.

    Without warning, they were smacked off the crane¡¯s back and down they fell, pummeling towards the ground.

    [Private Chat] For A Millenium: "I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s just with her ¡¯cause of her looks. How long can you keep up the act? Tell her that the next meal¡¯s on me!"

    Wow, the beauty was angered. Xu Jing wanted to ask her more about it but to her surprise, Gu Xiqiao had already gone offline.

    Come on! Xu Jing physically felt herself getting blue-balled from not being able to feed her voracious appetite for gossip. To think that Gu Xiqiao would abandon her and go offline like this...

    "Wash your hands before you eat." Jiang Shuxuan was pouring the dishes out onto some tes when Gu Xiqiao came down from upstairs. She seemed to be mentally preupied with something as she stared listlessly at Xixi with knitted brows.

    Xixi swore to the heavens that it did not mess with the girl this time!

    After washing her hands, Gu Xiqiao plopped down on her seat and took a bite of the food before asking, "Brother Jiang, are you really free right now?"

    "Yep, my vacation¡¯s really long." The length of his vacation was entirely up to him anyways. "Do you have anything you would like to eat tonight?"

    "Hot pot," said Gu Xiqiao with a cheeky smile.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her. "Do you not remember what the doctor said? Cut down on intense foods."

    ¡¯Then there is nothing more to say! Goodbye!¡¯

    "We¡¯ll wait till your wound heals okay?" Jiang Shuxuan was surprisinglypliant.

    "I think it¡¯ll heal by the end of tomorrow." Gu Xiqiao took her final bite. The ribs were delicious; they reminded her of Yu Man¡¯s home cooking.

    Jiang Shuxuan put down his bowl and went over to the coffee table to retrieve a clear medicinal paste.

    "Stretch your arm out."

    Gu Xiqiao wanted to tell him that she would recover even without this paste but seeing how serious he looked, she felt that it was best to remain silent.

    Gently unwrapping the gauze, Jiang Shuxuan found that the two openings had healed almostpletely now. At the very least, the wound had already closed up and there was only some minor bruising left around the scars. In contrast to her pale, delicate palms, the scars were rmingly noticeable.

    Without saying anything, Jiang Shuxuan opened up the paste that Zhu Yuan gave him and using a cotton swab, he gently dabbed it onto her wounds.

    Zhu Yuan told him that he could start applying the paste today.

    "Go up and take a rest. No games." Jiang Shuxuan re-wrapped her wounds using a fresh, sterile gauze strip.

    After seeing her walk up the stairs, Jiang Shuxuan dialed Tang Qingqiu¡¯s number with a resentful look on his face.

    "Qingqiu, send me that person¡¯s information."

    Tang Qingqiu was curious as to what Jiang Shuxuan would do with said information but obviously, he wouldn¡¯t reveal his intentions so easily. And so, he did as told, sending Jin Sitian and Mr. Tian¡¯s information over to Jiang Shuxuan. Then, he called Zhu Yuan¡¯s number to ask what was going on but who would¡¯ve thought that his call would go unanswered.

    What the hell was going on?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao took an afternoon nap on her bed. After waking up, she called Luo Weng to ask about had what happenedst night.

    "Yao Jiamu told me that Big Boss Bai has sessfully hijacked the goods. The Bai family really was engaged in smuggling." Luo Weng¡¯s voice sounded solemn over the phone. Although China had already issued a warning that smugglers would be heavily punished, there were still quite a lot of people engaging in the crime.

    A prime example would be Big Boss Bai. Smuggling was a bad enough crime already but the thing he smuggled, which was military firearms, made the situation even worse. There was someone in the army who was coborating with him and with the relevant departments turning a blind eye, Big Boss Bai was free to do anything that he liked.

    What bothered Luo Weng wasn¡¯t the fact that the Bai family were smugglers. It was what they were smuggling that bothered him. When they seized the items, he found out that they were transporting massive amounts of cocaine, a crime punishable by death in China.

    Gu Xiqiao was deep in thought before finally speaking up. "If I tell you to end this battle with the Bai family, would you?"

    "Huh?" This wasn¡¯t a matter of guts. It was the Bai family, they were talking about, one of the most powerful families in the Imperial Capital. Of course he would be worried sick at the thought of bringing them down. "What should I do next?"

    Luo Weng felt his brain starting to fail at such a critical moment.

    "Take this evidence and bring it to the Public Security Bureau." Gu Xiqiao approached the window. Looking out, her lips curled into a smirk. It was time to present her little gift.

    ***

    Luo Weng hung up the phone. His brain started working like a well-oiled machine. Immediately, he contacted Yao Jiamu before reporting the Bai family, just as Gu Xiqiao had instructed.

    The police did not start their investigation right after Luo Weng sent his report. Instead, they swallowed up some key pieces of evidence.

    As expected, the police were as corrupt and as unreliable as always. Luo Weng sighed before starting with n B. Expose the Bai family¡¯s crimes on the inte.

    Using an official WeChat ount, he posted details about the incident all over the inte before thinking closely about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attitude. He figured out that she wanted to let Nine Heavens rise up to fame again, bypletely exposing the ruling ss¡¯ crimes in the Imperial Capital.

    Although Luo Weng was excited about this, he was also quite worried too. After all, their opponent was the Bai family. He looked forward to seeing the "big gift" that Gu Xiqiao had mentioned; hopefully, it would turn this entire situation around in their favor.

    Luo Weng¡¯s prediction was more or less urate. In an instant, the incident blew up like a bomb all over the inte. Smuggling cocaine, and at such a huge amount was no petty crime. Theizens started posting their opinions on the matter, mostly expressing their shock or anger at the Bai family.

    The foodstuffs produced under the Bai family enterprise were all exempt from quality inspections. For news about them smuggling drugs to suddenly pop up out of nowhere, how could you me these consumers for being angry about it?

    Nine Heavens¡¯ official webpage was instantaneously filled withments saying how much they needed an ally of justice in their country. Many more urged thepany to persevere and defeat the Bai family once and for all, for the sake of justice.

    This incident stirred up a lot of debate, which brought Nine Heavens into the spotlight. So someone was nning to bring the fight to the Bai family? Nine Heavens¡¯ reputation among the Imperial Capital¡¯s ruling elites started waning. Did thispany think that they were just some piece of y to be pressed and twisted as it liked? Nine Heavens was getting way too arrogant! After bringing down the Chen family, how dare they set their sights on their own family! This truly was¡ª

    As the saying went, a newborn calf will always be fearless against a tiger!

    On that very day, the Bai family made themselves clear in an interview.

    "If you want to know the truth behind this incident, I believe the police, who serve the people, will soon prove that the Bai family is innocent! We, the proud Bai family, will not yield under such evil forces!"

    Bai Xinran was shocked after seeing the news on TV. Her eyes were filled with terror.

    ¡¯She¡¯s finally attacked! She¡¯s finally attacked the Bai family!¡¯

    Bai Xinran opened her mouth, wanting to tell her father to not go against Nine Heavens. And yet, the only sound she could produce was a pitiful whine. Shortly after, her mouth was gagged up by a nurse who hade to check on her!

    After the interview, her father returned to his office. In the heat of the moment, he shattered his entire tea set.

    "Piece of crap startuppany! Where did the news evene from?! How dare they try to hit us while we¡¯re down! I will make you guys pay for this!"

 Chapter 134 The Bai Familys Plan and the Medical Conference

    <h4>Chapter 134 The Bai Family¡°s n and the Medical Conference</h4>

    The Bai family had severely underestimated Nine Heavens. After all, they had the police on their side. The evidence that was handed over to the police had been sent neatly in a package back to the Bai family. Such instances were not umon in the Imperial Capital; high-ranking government officials, the police andrge corporations were all colluding in order to bar outsiders from trying to gain a foothold in the country.

    The Chen family was caught off-guard by Nine Heavens¡¯ unannounced offensive, in which solid evidence of them colluding with officials and powerful businessmen was revealed to the public. In such a circumstance, the Supreme People¡¯s Court had no choice but to carry out strict punishment on the Chen family for their crimes. As China was now cracking down heavily on corruption, the Chen family had virtually no chance of buying their way out of the usation. Fear of Nine Heavens has been sowed into the hearts of the people. Many startup businesses were extremely jealous of how fast thepany was growing. Still, they had not the guts to make a move against Nine Heavens due to the fear of a heavy reprisal.

    However, the masses were puzzled by why Nine Heavens was challenging the Bai family so suddenly.

    Did they have evidence that, beyond the shadow of a doubt, could end the Bai family, or had they finally lost their minds?

    ording to the rate at which theirpany was growing, the higher-ups must have gone mad to go against the Bai family. Many were watching with keen eyes to see how this situation was going to develop.

    On the 67th floor of the Bai Enterprise Tower, the current director, Bai Ting sat on his plush, executive chair. Whilst smoking a cigarette, he stared at the numbers on hisputer screen with bloodshot eyes. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent, evidence of sleep deprivation for the past few days.

    His entire office was filled with smoke so thick that his secretary almost couldn¡¯t find him when he entered the room. "Director, the managers of the Li and Xu families as well as Dong Shi¡¯s have arrived. Would you like to meet them?"

    The Bai Enterprise has recently been investing in real estate. These were the families who, apart from having close ties with the Bai family, were also cooperating with them. As soon as they caught wind about the rumours of the Bai family¡¯s crime, they sent their managers over to Bai Enterprise for an emergency meeting.

    During such times, sitting here, awaiting his death was not an option for Bai Ting. After losing a batch of smuggled goods, a significant portion of Bai Enterprise¡¯s liquid assets had be frozen. In times like this, they could only rely on their shareholders as well as their allies for financial support.

    "Director Bai." The men, who were already seated in the conference room all stood up and bowed to greet Bai Ting as soon as he entered the room. Gesturing for them to sit down, he started speaking. "I am aware of why everyone has gathered here today. As such, I would like to provide you with an exnation. I have already devised a n to deal with such circumstances."

    Bai Ting then motioned for his secretary to start the slides. He then rose up from his seat and made his presentation personally. "I assume that everyone here already knows what sort ofpany Nine Heavens is. Here, take a look at this. This is their sales turnover that they have recently uploaded onto their official website. Their revenue has already exceeded over a hundred million. What about the rest that has yet to be announced? Mr. Li, let me ask you this. Has your annual sales turnover reached this level in the previous year?"

    His remark was like a detonating bomb. Seated in the conference room were all businessmen. They knew very well that running a business was harder than it looks. They were all stupefied upon hearing Bai Ting¡¯s words. "D-Director Bai, what are you hinting at?"

    For a startup to reach such heights within such a short amount of time, it waspletely unheard of.

    "I¡¯m betting that they are misreporting their figures. For the past few years, these firms have not done any false ounting. Remember how vtile the market was in Asia? Many of us suffered losses of varying scales and it was hard to remain in the market. Surprisingly, they managed to capture profits during this time. Now, don¡¯t you find that a little odd?" One of them found it hard to believe. He was a financial analyst who, during this period of market vtility, guaranteed that normalpanies would find it hard to not plunge into the red.

    Seeing how the men had started discussing among themselves, Bai Ting then revealed a couple of other photos. "Nine Heavens¡¯ official website has not only taken the entire country by storm but the entire globe as well. Take the virtual helmet for example. A single unit sold can generate a profit of over tens of thousands. Global demand for this product has outstripped its supply. Just yesterday, the Americans have already made a public announcement that it would take them at least ten years to reverse engineer this piece of technology. Ten years! Given their current growth rate, this period is more than enough for them to dominate the entire world¡¯s market, do you understand..."

    Everyone had be dead silent. Realization had just set in, that what Nine Heavens offered was cutting-edge technology that no one could match up to, but was extremely well-received by the masses. Their online sales volume has reached proportions unrivaled by any otherpany.

    "Thus, what I would like to ask you people is, wouldn¡¯t you all want in on this business, whose potential is near limitless?" A warm, hearty smile broke across Bai Ting¡¯s face when he posed the question to his allies.

    In the face of profits, justice, morality and ethics could go to hell.

    The prospect of massive profits, apanied with technology that even America failed to recreate lit up lightbulbs in the heads of these businessmen. Combining their forces, overwhelming the enemy was as easy as turning over one¡¯s hand.

    "Well then, Boss Bai, let¡¯s talk about how we could acquire Nine Heavens..."

    Bai Ting sneered in his heart upon seeing the looks on the faces of these men. He still had a couple of Soul Extinguishing Seals. Even without the master, he had already mastered the usage of these seals. When the time was ripe, he would only need to sit and reel in his hook.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was in her home, staring at the clear board in front of her eyes that projected a live view of what was going on in Bai Ting¡¯s conference room. She was munching on an apple when she asked the system spirit, "Hey, seems like Bai Ting¡¯s nning to acquire Nine Heavens. You think Luo Weng¡¯s scared out of his wits?"

    The System: [Nine Heavens belongs to you. Does it even matter if Luo Weng is scared? Aren¡¯t you supposed to be the one who¡¯s scared witless?]

    Gu Xiqiao called Luo Weng and as soon as the call got through, she spoke with a despondent tone, "I have just received bad news. Bai Ting and a couple of other families are nning to acquire Nine Heavens."

    Luo Weng almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Gu Xiqiao say that. He had just watched Bai Ting¡¯s interview that afternoon and had already anticipated retaliation from him. Be that as it may, it never crossed his mind that they would choose to go down this route. In an instant, his mind went nk.

    "The evidence that I leaked to the police has already been erased. They¡¯re working with the Bai family. What should I do next?" Luo Weng had uploaded the information on Weibo and as expected, there was an uproar on the inte but truth be told, there was little these keyboard warriors could do in real life. This, and how corrupt the government bureaucracy actually was, made it hard for them to level the ying field.

    "Wait," said Gu Xiqiao as she rubbed her chin. Luo Weng was surprised by her tone, her voice as calm as it usually was and there were no signs of anxiousness in it at all.

    The calmness sessfully rubbed off on Luo Weng as he listened to her talk. Hanging up the call, he proceeded to read through the n that Gu Xiqiao had left with him. For some reason, he felt that the situation was still entirely within her expectations, which included Bai Ting¡¯s impromptu decision to acquire Nine Heavens.

    But was that even possible? Luo Weng went into deep thought as he soaked in every bit of detail the n offered. For her age, Gu Xiqiao was surprisingly levelheaded. She was able to contain her emotions throughout their entire exchange while he, in contrast, started melting down immediately upon receiving "bad news". Thankfully, her calmness was contagious and he was able to cool himself down too.

    While muttering the word "wait" repeatedly, he began retracing his steps to locate Gu Xiqiao¡¯s train of thought.

    "Little Luo! Boss Gu isn¡¯t answering my calls. Can you ask her when she¡¯sing over to Nine Heavens? I¡¯d like to show her our progress on the source code!" Yu Ning stormed into his office and sprawled over Luo Weng¡¯s desk to get his attention. Of course, it would be much appreciated if Gu Xiqiao could give them a handful of new routes to crack the source code.

    Luo Weng grabbed the n from Yu Ning¡¯s hands before shooting him an angry re. "She¡¯s injured her hand. For the time being, she won¡¯t being here."

    Judging by how protective Jiang Shuxuan was, she would never be allowed outside of the house.

    A dejected look surfaced almost immediately on Yu Ning¡¯s face. Seems like his n to get Gu Xiqiao to get him a new route had gone bust. "I wanted to show her our progress, about how we have gone past a new milestone. I just wanted to give her a massive surprise, you know?"

    "Surprise?" Luo Wenng nced at him. "A surprise that took you guys an entire month to prepare?" What¡¯s worse, was that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s work was essential to the creation of this "surprise".

    Yu Ning almost sprayed blood from his mouth when he heard Luo Weng¡¯s question. This was the source code for a virtual world they were talking about! The thing that even America was unable to recreate. In under a month, their tinyboratory of men had already sessfully broken 12% of the source code so how dare Luo Wengin about their pace?

    Outsider! Buffoon! Normie!

    "I see, you¡¯ve been looking at the n Boss Gu left you. It¡¯s been so many days now, and yet it doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re remotely close to figuring it out?" Yu Ning eyed the piece of paper in Luo Weng¡¯s hands. No matter where he went, he would always bring it with him. Perhaps, this supposed "financial management prodigy" from A University was nothing but a useless pile of dung!

    Luo Weng froze up. "It¡¯s such a profound piece of philosophy, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll understand."

    "Heh heh! Sounds like you could use this sentence a lot!"

    The secretary, who had overheard their conversation, was left speechless.

    ¡¯Could they even afford to have infighting within theirpany now, of all times?"

    ***

    The only reason why Gu Xiqiao had left the n with Luo Weng was because she was confident that he would be able to figure something out. Then, she started contemting deeply.

    "What are you thinking about?" Jiang Shuxuan poured her a tall ss of orange juice. Seeing how cunning the look on her face was, he figured that she must be up to no good again. Seems like yet another person would be meeting his demise soon.

    "I am thinking about-" Gu Xiqiao took a big gulp of orange juice. "-about acquisition and the opposite of that. The action and reaction when applying force. I want to topple them using their own momentum. What do you think? Brother Jiang?"

    ¡¯...I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t quite understand what you¡¯re saying.¡¯

    ¡¯Perhaps she was slowly losing her sanity from being stuck at home all the time? Or was she speaking some genius-dialect that I don¡¯t understand?¡¯

    "Follow me to the supermarket tonight," said Jiang Shuxuan. Perhaps staying at home too long has negative effects on one¡¯s mental capacity. "You can pick anything you want to eat."

    Gu Xiqiao did not respond immediately to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words. "System, what did Brother Jiang just say?"

    [He invited you to go out to the supermarket with him.]

    "I beg your pardon? Gu Xiqiao cupped her hands behind her ears.

    The System then repeated, [Beauty Qiao, Master Jiang wants you to go to the supermarket with him.]

    Gu Xiqiao was now sure that she had not misheard what he said. However, she was not mentally prepared to hear Brother Jiang say such a thing. Has the worldline changed? Or has he finally changed his mind?

    Gu Xiqiao felt lightheaded when they arrived at the supermarket. Why did Jiang Shuxuan, who looked every part the gentleman, pick the supermarket out of all ces he could go to?

    Jiang Shuxuan proceeded to pick some vegetables from the fresh produce section. Looking up from the greens, he found Gu Xiqiao still in a dazed state. Reaching out his slender finger, he flicked it painfully against her forehead. "Watch where you¡¯re going, you¡¯re gonna bump into someone."

    Gu Xiqiao suspiciously eyed Jiang Shuxuan. ¡¯You think I¡¯m not aware that you¡¯re toying with me?!¡¯

    The two then strolled down the aisles, filling their shopping cart with lots of things, from vegetables, to snacks, to fruits as well as pet food for Xixi and Haha.

    "I¡¯m gonna head to the check-out counter. Wait for me at the entrance." The supermarket was pretty crowded so Jiang Shuxuan was worried about her hand, and thought it better to let Gu Xiqiao leave the area first.

    Gu Xiqiao stood at the entrance, ying on her phone whilst waiting for Jiang Shuxuan. In the blink of an eye, she threw her phone up into the air and reached around with her empty hand to grab her stalker!

    "Ughh that hurts like hell!" Zhu Yuan felt pain paralyze his body. He just wanted to say hello to her but to his surprise, her reflexes were much faster than what he had expected. To think that she managed to grab him from behind, she must¡¯ve had insane dexterity!

    Realizing that the person was Zhu Yuan, Gu Xiqiao loosened her grip. Right at that moment, her phone fell right into the middle of her other palm.

    "Are you retarded?"

    Zhu Yuan: Hell no I¡¯m not! It¡¯s you who¡¯s the weird one here!

    Zhu Yuan stared at the frail-looking girl in front of him with a puzzled look. Her wrist was so skinny that it seemed like he could snap it in two effortlessly. So where did she get so much strength from? Also, how did she know that he was behind her? Although he wasn¡¯t particrly talented in ancient martial arts, his physical strength was still higher than the average man. So why was she able to immobilize him?

    In the end, Zhu Yuan arrived at the final conclusion. ¡¯This girl must be a weirdo! I wonder if her strength canpare to that little demon girl?¡¯

    "How are your wounds now?" Zhu Yuan looked around but failed to locate Jiang Shuxuan. Confirming that he wasn¡¯t around, he finally started looking her in the eye when they spoke.

    "It¡¯s fine." Her reply was concise. If it was a normal person talking to her, he would¡¯ve inevitably backed-off from continuing the conversation.

    "Look here, pretty littledy, what you¡¯re doing here is downright wrong. If you¡¯re gonna act so cold and distant, no boy is gonna fall for you. Listen to big brother¡¯s advice, you see, girls have to act cute when the time calls for you to act cute...." Zhu Yuan started babbling away in front of her.

    He had a lot of things to do today, for example, he had to prepare his script for the uing conference at A University. Speaking about this, he was fully prepared to fight a battle to the death with Professor Jiang.

    Last night, when he met with Professor Jiang, he expressed his desire to see the other half of his report, as well as to meet the brainiac of a man behind the cell-fusion experiment. And yet, that old bastard tucked his report away. As if that wasn¡¯t enough, he requested Zhu Yuan to hold a conference at the university, or he would not be given the chance to read the entire report, let alone meet the person behind this extraordinary experiment!

    Zhu Yuan was infuriated. As a world-renowned doctor, he was just a few steps behind his master. There were even American universities, who offered him a payment of eight figures to give a talk to their students, and he still had to contemte epting their offer or not.

    How dare Professor Jiang try to take advantage of him like this. "Hold a conference, and the report will be yours. You will also get to meet the author of the report. If you choose otherwise, well, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything we could talk about now."

    Zhu Yuan felt the urge to pour an entire bottle of sulfuric acid over Professor Jiang¡¯s face. No one else, apart from his master, was allowed to talk to him in such a tone. But, in the end, he had to endure theshes. Forcing a smile, he epted Professor Jiang¡¯s proposition.

    "Professor Jiang, it seems like the day after tomorrow would be the perfect day..."

    He had no choice. The other half of the report was something he could not afford to miss out on. Of course, it was imperative that he met the author too. Like a cat trapped in a cage, he paced around in circles when he was reminded that the conference was still a day away. He struggled to contain himself, even for a second.

    His eyes lit up upon seeing Gu Xiqiao. After all, she was a pretty girl. However, unlike many other pretty girls, he could only look at this one from afar. Still, it took his mind off his agreement with the professor.

    "Oh, right, before I forget, I¡¯m holding a conference in A University tomorrow. The topics we will be discussing is the history of human advancements in medicine as well as traditional Chinese medicine. Would you like to attend this conference?" Professor Jiang had already announced at his faculty earlier this morning that Zhu Yuan would be hosting this conference. As expected, the faculty almost exploded with excitement as the youngsters there were all fans of Zhu Yuan.

    In every single continent, Zhu Yuan has made a name for himself due to his contributions but only a handful of people were able to see him in person. Based on how Gu Xiqiao was looking at him, he figured that she must not have known about him. Anyone working in a medical-rted field who recognized him would never look at him the way that she did.

    Gu Xiqiao put her phone down and gave Zhu Yuan a skeptical look. "A conference?"

    ¡¯Can you stop giving me that look? Just you wait, you¡¯ll be on your knees tomorrow when you find out who I am!¡¯

    In order to demonstrate how cool he was to Gu Xiqiao, Zhu Yuan grabbed her phone without asking and typed in his phone number. "Call me when you reach school tomorrow. I¡¯ll get someone to let you in."

    ¡¯I¡¯ll show her how many fans I have!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. She was about to say something when a towering figure appeared behind Zhu Yuan and swiftly, her phone was snatched away from his hands. "What are you doing?"

    Zhu Yuan, stiff as a rock, felt a tickly cold breeze crawl down the back of his neck. "Ha ha ha, nothing at all! I¡¯m just asking how Miss Gu¡¯s wounds are recovering. Oh, Master Jiang, I didn¡¯t expect to see you here at the... supermarket?"

    Seeing how the trolley Jiang Shuxuan was pushing was filled to the brim, Zhu Yuan almost bit his tongue out of astonishment.

    ¡¯Holy f*ck, is something wrong with my eyes? Master Jiang grocery shopping at a supermarket?! When did he be so humble?¡¯

    "Mmhmmm." Jiang Shuxuan seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Giving the phone back to its rightful owner, he bid Zhu Yuan farewell.

    "Enjoy your shopping. We¡¯ll be leaving now."

    "Oh." Zhu Yuan awkwardly nodded his head. To be frank, he had yet to regain his senses.

    By then, the two had already disappeared into the distance.

    Zhu Yuan immediately whipped out his phone. He forgot to check his phone since yesterday where he spent all of his time arguing with Professor Jiang about the report. As soon as its screen lit up, there appeared several missed calls, most of which were from Tang Qingqiu. Another one was from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone which he used to call his own number.

    Saving Gu Xiqiao¡¯s number onto his phone, Zhu Yuan went onto the The Forum, where he started up a couple of threads in rapid session.

    Title: [I met the moderator in person while grocery shopping! OP is shocked!]

    Anon 1: "Spare me the shocked talk and send pics if you¡¯re legit~"

    Anon 2: "OP is lying. The mod grocery shopping? Hurry up and get back to bed kiddo~"

    These were all people who weren¡¯t familiar with who Zhu Yuan was. He did know quite a lot of users on this forum and they were all friends of his in real life.

    Anon 12: "I don¡¯t buy it. You? Meeting my idol while grocery shopping? So you¡¯re saying that he was shopping for groceries on his own? Nah, there must be some b*tchy bimbo who¡¯s by his side!"

    Zhu Yuan thought to himself, ¡¯Well Master Jiang will get angry at you if you stare too long at his "b*tchy bimbo"!¡¯

    Anon 15: "Did you speak to my idol up close? Thest time I saw him was at the Youth Ranking List Tournament. *Sniff* Oh how I miss seeing him. I¡¯m still stuck at the Trial Tower!"

    Anon 66: "Skip the bullcrap and post HD pictures!"

    Zhu Yuan left the forum, thinking how futile their efforts were, trying to pry into Master Jiang¡¯s private matters. Upon doing so, he gave Tang Qingqiu a call, which was answered by the second ring.

    The two then proceeded to speak about Jiang Shuxuan and his friend, Gu Xiqiao for what seemed like an eternity over the phone.

    Tang Qingqiu¡¯s thirst for knowledge was not satiated even after their conversation ended. His heart simply could not rest after handing over Jin Sitian and Mr. Tian¡¯s information to Jiang Shuxuan earlier this afternoon. What was he nning?

    ***

    Jin Sitian was supposed to head over to Mr. Tian¡¯s ce aftering back home but he wasn¡¯t answering any of her calls. She couldn¡¯t find him even in the vi where the both of them lived in the past. This time, a tidal wave of fear overwhelmed her.

    Restlessly, she remained in her home. One call after another she made but to no avail. Her manager, on the other hand, was sitting on the sofa, smoking a cigarette. His brows were knitted, as he basked in his own thoughts. Throughout his entire career, this was his first time going through such a desperate situation. No doubt, Mr. Tian would never dare to mess with the Tang family. His refusal to answer Jin Sitian¡¯s calls was the perfect proof of this.

    The glow on Jin Sitian¡¯s pretty face had now faded away; her expression was as bleak as ever. She grabbed the manager¡¯s wrist tightly. "Why isn¡¯t he answering my calls?! What should I do?"

    "What should you do? Didn¡¯t I warn you? Your short temper will get you into trouble someday! The entertainment industry isn¡¯t as simple as you might think it is. You¡¯re in luck now! Having pissed the Tang family off, don¡¯t even think about going back into acting! You insolent fool!"

    The manager stared coldly at Jin Sitian. If he knew that such a day woulde, he would never have signed the contract with her. Ning Qing might be stubborn but at least she wasn¡¯t as senseless as this woman!

    Jin Sitian looked back at the manager with disbelief in her eyes. "Don¡¯t you forget that without me, you would never have risen to this ce! Do you even think you have the right to call me a fool?!"

    The manager shot her a nce and sneered. "If Tang Enterprise is indeed serious about this, not only would you be done for, I too, will probably risk losing my career! You can go back and live in your slums for all I care!"

    The word "slums" frightened Jin Sitian. Her face was drainedpletely of color upon seeing the look on her manager¡¯s face. She had already swore to herself, not to return to that ce ever again in her life!

    Mr. Tian. Right, he was the only one who could save her now.

    Jin Sitian took out her phone with trembling fingers. Finally, after pressing around clumsily for a while, Mr. Tian¡¯s phone call came in. She, who initially thought that he had abandoned her for good, instantly rejoiced upon seeing the caller ID.

    Something Mr. Tian said over the phone had made Jin Sitian¡¯s expression loosen up quite a bit. In an instant, her usual demeanor returned to her.

    The manager, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown figured that a chance might have arisen after seeing the look on Jin Sitian¡¯s face.

    "So, what did he say?"

    "He said that someone from Tang Enterprise has already contacted him. Apparently, they expressed that they didn¡¯t want to pursue this matter any further." Jin Sitian then went upstairs to take a shower and put on some makeup. She had apletely new understanding of authority after what she had gone through today.

    In the Imperial Capital, whoever that had the authority was the boss!

    Mr. Tian was a middle-aged man, with a slight chub on his waist. He had a pair of small eyes that gleamed underneath two narrow slits. There would always be a sense of perverseness in his gaze. "Tian Tian, I have solved the incident you got caught up in. You won¡¯t be able to return to the cast of "Empire Under Siege" so would you like to try out for some other movie?"

    He too, couldn¡¯t believe his ears when he answered the call from Tang Enterprise this afternoon; they said that they would let this incident slide and expressed their hope to return to their once-friendly rtionship. If it wasn¡¯t for that, he would¡¯vepletely severed his ties with Jin Sitian.

    After all, it was Tang Enterprise that we were talking about. Now that the Tangs have given him face, Mr. Tian felt even more pleased about himself.

    Unbeknownst to him, this was a trap set up deliberately by Tang Qingqiu who wanted to watch the spectacle unfold.

    "Mr. Tian, I know I won¡¯t be going back to the cast of "Empire Under Siege". But, there¡¯s someone I really, really hate. Would it be possible if..." Jin Sitian asked as she started giving Mr. Tian a shoulder rub.

    Mr. Tian¡¯s brows furrowed. "Are you talking about Xiao Yun? No, that won¡¯t do! She¡¯s working under Tang Enterprise!"

    Jin Sitian backed off immediately. "Of course not! It¡¯s someone else! But she seems to be a friend of Xiao Yun¡¯s!" A friend of her enemy was naturally, her enemy. Thinking back to that "high-and-mighty" look she gave her, Jin Sitian felt anger rising up within her.

    "Mr. Tian, she¡¯s a very beautiful girl..." Jin Sitian¡¯s eyes glimmered. "Even Tian Tian is afraid that she isn¡¯t as pretty as her."

    "Oh? She¡¯s prettier than you are?" Mr. Tian¡¯s interest was piqued upon hearing this. The reason why he had Jin Sitian by his side for the past three years was because of her looks. In fact, she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Despite her crappy attitude, he was able to put up with her because of that. She however, had gained his attention by talking about a girl that was prettier than herself.

    "Yeah, she appeared on set that day. She¡¯s Xiao Yun¡¯s acquaintance but I can confirm that she has nothing to do with Tang Enterprise. You¡¯ll know immediately after you check about her." Jin Sitian smirked.

    Mr. Tian, who was an avid fan of pretty girls, immediately whipped out his phone to get his men to check on the girl Jin Sitian had mentioned.

    Jealousy surfaced in Jin Sitian¡¯s heart upon seeing this but she was also intrigued by what was going to happen.

    Thud! Thud! Thud! Someone had knocked on their front door.

    "So fast?" Mr. Tian asked.

    Jin Sitian skipped over to open the door. She was still smiling before she could make out clearly who it was standing outside the door. Looking down she noticed a knife in his hand but then, darkness enveloped her vision.

    ***

    When she came to, she was in an abandoned building with a single dim light bulb hanging down from the ceiling. Tied behind her was Mr. Tian. There were two men, dressed in an entirely ck outfit standing in the room with them. One of them seemed to be on the phone, talking about something she didn¡¯t understand.

    Then, another person entered the room. Upon seeing who it was, Jin Sitian was wide-eyed. He had an elegant silhouette and a pair of well-defined eyes. He almost seemed like he was covered in ayer of frost, like an immortal being that has descended from heaven. Her heart raced as the person walked over slowly.

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped three steps away from the girl. His gaze was cold and indifferent.

    "Which hand did you use to hurt her?" he asked.

    Jin Sitian¡¯s pupils contracted upon hearing the question.

    On his fingertips danced a frost de. Jiang Shuxuan looked at her right hand, where her fingertips were trembling. Without warning, the pure white frost de stabbed straight through the center of her palm. "Is this the one?"

    "Or is this the one?" Another frost de stabbed through her other palm.

    "Aaahhhh!" The pain was so immense that Jin Sitian started thrashing violently on the floor. Tears flowed down her face that was twisted in pain as she looked fearfully at her own two hands.

    "Aren¡¯t you afraid of heaven¡¯s will? Torturing a regr civilian like this?" Suddenly, a warm, gentle voice came from behind.

    Jiang Shuxuan turned around to find Tang Qingqiu leaned against the door frame. The corner of his lips was curled up, forming a smug smile and a hint of curiosity shed through his eyes.

    "Heaven¡¯s will?" Jiang Shuxuan murmured to himself. Walking out of the door, he peered at the boundless night sky. Compared to her, heaven¡¯s will did not scare him one bit.

    "So, you¡¯re just gonna leave like that?" Seeing how Jiang Shuxuan was about to leave, Tang Qingqiu couldn¡¯t help but ask. "Why are you leaving in such a rush?"

    "Gotta make dinner." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice echoed through the air. At the same time, the space around them warped before he vanished into thin air.

    "Make dinner?" Tang Qingqiu even doubted his own hearing. He then remembered the thread Zhu Yuan started on the forum. "Has he advanced into bing a househusband?"

    Tang Qingqiu stood there for a while, looking down at the girl who was wailing in pain. He then recalled the merciless look in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes. "He really isn¡¯t afraid of heaven¡¯s will it seems..."

    What Tang Qingqiu didn¡¯t know was that in the near future, not only would Jiang Shuxuan go against heaven¡¯s will, he would also be several degrees away frompletely annihting this entire realm. And the girl, whom he thought was weak and dainty, was in actuality, much more ruthless than Jiang Shuxuan...

    ***

    By the time Jiang Shuxuan reached home, the soup he had been brewing was already ready for consumption. He tasted a spoonful of it and satisfied with its quality, he shut off the me before whipping up two stir-fry dishes in a jiffy.

    As he was just a beginner in cooking, his clumsiness had resulted in him identally knocking over a bottle of cooking oil.

    Haha, who was observing Master Jiang cook outside the kitchen went: £¨¡Ño¡Ñ£©

    And yet, the sound of ss shattering against the kitchen floor never came. Slowly peeling its eyes open, Haha was astonished to find the bottle of oil floating in mid-air.

    Master Jiang has invented apletely new way of cooking in the kitchen. Using only his will, the oil, hisdle, and salt... pretty much everything that was involved in the recipe floated up into the air. Whatever he needed, he could just reach out and grab.

    Gu Xiqiao was speechless at the sight in front of her.

    ¡¯I know you¡¯re really capable but use that somewhere else instead of in the kitchen.¡¯

    "Brother Jiang, you should just leave this to me." Gu Xiqiao felt weird seeing Jiang Shuxuan, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, work like this in the kitchen. She thought to herself, this must be Master Jiang¡¯s first time touching such equipment.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached out and scooped a spoonful of salt from its container. His eyes were fixated on the fiery wok below. "No, I¡¯ll be done soon. Don¡¯te in here."

    Looking at her own hand, Gu Xiqiao manipted the chi slightly. When her hand recovers, she¡¯ll never allow Jiang Shuxuan back into the kitchen again!

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had picked up a couple of skills from the head chef was impressed by himself. ¡¯...I¡¯ve just learned to cook.¡¯

    "Haha, you eat first." Gu Xiqiao grabbed the bag of dog food she bought from the supermarket yesterday and poured it into Haha¡¯s beloved bowl.

    Haha thought to itself, ¡¯No thanks. I¡¯ve already emptied an entire bag of dog food from stress-eating just now!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed Haha¡¯s head with a worried expression. "Don¡¯t you love this brand? Why aren¡¯t you eating? Are you feeling sick?"

    Jiang Shuxuan, who felt loved moments ago reminded himself, ¡¯I knew it! There¡¯s nothing in this world that I hate more than dogs!¡¯

    Haha, who has been emotionally neglected as ofte smirked. ¡¯Ahahahaha, look at this coquettish b*tch!¡¯

    Satisfied from being showered with concern, Haha began digging in on its favorite dog food. It gave Xixi a look that roughly tranted as, "You jealous of me?"

    "Chirp! Chirp chirp! Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!" (Slut! Tell me how you managed to seduce our Beauty Qiao!)

    Haha slowly munched on its dinner. "Woof! Woof! Woof!" (Call me daddy then I¡¯ll tell you how!)

    Xixi answered immediately, "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (Love me harder daddy!)

    Haha shot the dumb bird a nce. "Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!" (First, you¡¯ll have to be a dog.)

    Xixi: "..."

    Now that Haha was eating, Gu Xiqiao stood up and spared Xixi, who was looking at her like a predator, a nce. She reached up to give it a gentle head rub. "Don¡¯t snatch Haha¡¯s food away, you got that?"

    Xixi: "Okay."

    ¡¯I knew it. I am adopted aren¡¯t I?¡¯ thought the feather ball.

    Gu Xiqiao was about to speak to Jiang Shuxuan when her phone rang suddenly. Retrieving it from her pocket, she nced down to find that it was a call from Professor Jiang. She answered the call.

    "Professor Jiang?"

    "I think you¡¯ve had enough fun staying at home, haven¡¯t you?" Professor Jiang had never met a student as unmotivated as Gu Xiqiao throughout his entire teaching career. She had the brains but for some reason, she refused to push herself beyond her own limits. But, he was partly at fault for this too. He gave her this task, with the assumption that she would neverplete it. Now that she did, he had no choice but to keep his word and fulfil his promise of allowing her time off from school. He felt nothing but regret for doing so ever since. "A member of our alumni ising back to hold a conference at the faculty building. He¡¯s one of the most sessful students our university has ever produced. You muste, you understand? Call me tomorrow!"

    Before Gu Xiqiao could turn him down, he had already hung up the phone.

    "..."

    She suddenly recalled her exchange with Zhu Yuan. Was he the alumni member Professor Jiang was talking about?

    A transparent board materialized in front of her, disying everything there was to know about Zhu Yuan.

    Name: Zhu Yuan.

    Gender: Male.

    Level: Grandmaster level healer.

    ***

    What followed was Zhu Yuan¡¯s achievements, including all his contributions to the internationalmunity. Gu Xiqiao was amazed by what she read. She knew that her System had a rating category that started with Starter Level, Intermediate Level, Advanced Level, Elite Level, Master Level, Grandmaster Level, and finally, God Level.

    ording to the system, most humans on Earth were under the Advanced level and Elite Levelers were as rare as a phoenix. Master levelers were almost non-existent and to her surprise, Zhu Yuan was a grandmaster?!

    How old was he?

    ***

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s conference began at 9 am and ended at 11. Upon reaching the entrance of her university, Gu Xiqiao noticed how unusually crowded the ce was. The people she met were all well-known practitioners who must¡¯ve attended this event out of admiration for Zhu Yuan.

    Finally, Gu Xiqiao understood how popr Zhu Yuan actually was. There wasn¡¯t even the need for her to ask where the conference was being held; she arrived at the great auditorium by merely following the crowd.

    Arriving just outside the hall, she did not expect the ce to be so cramped. There were teams of police stationed there to maintainw and order. There was a circle of staff surrounding the entrance.

    Upon closer inspection, she realized that one needed a ticket in order to get into the hall.

    Gu Xiqiao did not have a ticket. She was about to give Professor Jiang a call before a voice came calling out to her from behind. "Ah, Student Gu, you¡¯vee too?! Hurry on in, students here don¡¯t need a ticket to enter. Just sh them your ID card and they¡¯ll let you in!"

    Gu Xiqiao thanked her kind coursemate before heading into the hall. To her surprise, the people in the auditorium were much more orderly than what she saw outside. The students were all sitting ording to their sses and upon locating her ss, she walked towards her peers.

    "Xu Jing, aren¡¯t you in journalism? Why are you here?" Gu Xiqiao almost burst outughing when she saw Xu Jing waving towards her amidst the sea of med students.

    Xu Jing patted her seat clean before pointing towards the camera that was slung over her neck. "Come on, how could I overlook such an event?! Oh right, you must not have heard about Zhu Yuan¡¯s rumors. Would you like me to fill you in on the details?"

    "Thanks but no thanks." After all, there wasn¡¯t anything that she didn¡¯t know about Zhu Yuan now.

    "Suit yourself." Xu Jing couldn¡¯t hold back her excitement. "I¡¯m all giddy whenever I think about meeting Zhu Yuan in person!"

    Gu Xiqiao shot her a nonchnt nce. "What is there to be giddy about? It¡¯s not like your a med student."

    "Hey, what do you know? Zhu Yuan¡¯s the most sessful person this university has ever produced! His name spans the entire globe! Didn¡¯t you see the row of foreign professors sitting in the front? Apparently they have all justnded herest night, just to participate in this conference." Xu Jing sighed. "Can¡¯t you just let the man have his conference? I¡¯m telling you, this is gonna be a once in a lifetime experience."

    "Have you seen Sun Jiajia?" Xu Jing pointed in the direction of Sun Jiajia, who was seated two rows in front of them. "I heard she spoke with Zhu Yuan yesterday. That¡¯s the reason why there are so many sitting beside her. They¡¯re all hoping to get a chance to speak to Zhu Yuan. What do you think?"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at them. "Fools!"

    "Ahhhhh! Look! Zhu Yuan looked over! He really looked over in her direction! I knew I should¡¯ve sat with Sun Jiajia!" Xu Jing started yelling like a fangirl.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was the one Zhu Yuan was smiling at, thought to herself, ¡¯As I thought, a stupid idol has stupid fans!¡¯

 Chapter 135 Commotion

    <h4>Chapter 135 Commotion</h4>

    Zhu Yuan was surprisingly very well-dressed today. He sported a crisp white shirt and a well-fitting suit, then paired with a head of well-kempt hair. He seemed noble, almost heroic even; not the annoying frat boy that Gu Xiqiao had bumped intost night.

    The way he was dressed now finally reflected how aplished he actually was in his career. Gu Xiqiao even heard some girls behind her gasp uponying their eyes on Zhu Yuan.

    "This was quite a while ago but I remember someone asking me, ¡¯Is there any need for traditional Chinese medicine to continue developing?¡¯ Well I¡¯m here to tell you today, that the amalgamation of Chinese and Western medicine will be the way forward!" Zhu Yuan scanned his eyes across the attendees. There were keen eyes, ready to grab at whatever new information he threw at them, there were some who were merely here to check out themotion, and finally there were the foreign experts who havee from every corner of the world to listen to his speech.

    They shared one thing inmon¡ªall of them wanted to see him.

    His voice was powerful and his gaze, mboyant. This, coupled with his words caused an uproar among the crowd below.

    Gu Xiqiao listened to his talk very carefully. Zhu Yuan then disyed his own research to show an example to the attendees. This was an international award that he had just received recently.

    "What a genius!" Despite Xu Jing not being a med student, she would react as if she was one from time to time.

    The med students¡¯ reactions were even more exaggerated than Xu Jing due to their deeper understanding of his scientific concepts.

    Even after his speech had ended, most of the attendees were still keen on hearing more from him. They were reluctant to leave their seats even after Zhu Yuan had walked off the stage. There were plenty of journalists here today, including people from the national broadcasting station. Upon seeing Zhu Yuan, they flocked around him, pointing their mics at his face in an attempt to get him to answer their questions.

    "Mr. Zhu, what made you decide to make a sudden appearance in A University?"

    They came with the expectation that Zhu Yuan would refuse to answer their questions but to their surprise, he stopped walking and smiled towards the journalists. "I am pursuing new life goals now. I believe, not long from now, there will be a revolution in the medical world."

    These journalists wanted to ask just what he meant by that but before they could open their mouths, Zhu Yuan had already turned and left. He walked at a brisk pace. The journalists, who wanted to catch up to him, were held back by security.

    Realizing that he had left, Gu Xiqiao prepared to return to her dorm room. Xu Jing on the other hand, was adamant about staying here. "Let¡¯s go, he won¡¯te back no matter how long you stand here."

    "I know." Xu Jing would turn back once for every three steps she took. Journalists working for the national broadcast already found it an impossible task to interview him, what more to say of her, a petty student? She then pondered what set this legendary man apart from your average joe. Would she stand a chance to meet him if she stayed around Sun Jiajia more?

    Xu Jing was about to speak after they entered their room when a fiery red bird swooped in from the window andnded on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder.

    "Hi, pretty girl, nice to meet you!" Seeing that someone else was present, Xixi waved its wings and greeted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s friend.

    The way it spoke made the bird seem almost as sentient as a human. Waving back at the bird stiffly, Xu Jing turned towards Gu Xiqiao. "Beauty Gu, your bird is so cool!"

    Gu Xiqiao responded to thepliment with a smile. Then, her phone started ringing. It was Professor Jiang¡¯s call. "Professor Jiang."

    Professor Jiang sighed in relief after hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice. "You must still be on campus, aren¡¯t you? Come to theboratory."

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao did not ask what was going on.

    ***

    On the other side, Zhu Yuan was standing there motionlessly while reading the report. His eyes were a dull shade of gray until he reached a point where a blinding glow finally appeared.

    The other half of the report contained much more information than the first half. Not only was there a better, more detailed exnation on the progress of cell fusion, it also mentioned about mutations at the end.

    This was a ground-breaking discovery for the medical world. If such a process was to be used on human subjects, then it would mean a speedier method for treating patients with blood issues instead of making them wait around for suitable donors of bone marrow or blood.

    Zhu Yuan read the report over and over as his heart continued racing. There were still plenty of unanswered questions for him.

    For example, what were the chances of cell rejection happening? Could cells from different hosts truly fuse seamlessly together? Under what condition was the process done for this to happen?!

    "Professor Jiang! I want to meet that person! Right here! Right now!"

    Professor Jiang understood very well Zhu Yuan¡¯s current emotions. So, without further dy, he called Gu Xiqiao¡¯s number and got a positive response from her.

    Over the phone, Zhu Yuan found it hard to make out whose voice it was Professor Jiang was speaking to. However, it sounded like a woman¡¯s voice, and for some reason, her voice sounded vaguely familiar.

    Zhu Yuan was shocked upon realization that the spectacr research was spearheaded by a female. Not that he was a sexist or anything though. It¡¯s just that the number of sessful female researchers working in this field was incredibly low.

    "Great, she¡¯ll be over in a jiffy," said Professor Jiang upon hanging up the call.

    "Right." Zhu Yuan started reading the report all over again. From time to time, he would look up from the research papers over to theb door.

    There were a couple of other research students in theboratory. They all looked at Zhu Yuan excitedly, momentarily forgetting what their respective tasks were.

    Who¡¯s Zhu Yuan you might ask? Well, he is the most aplished student this faculty had ever produced. Bach then, A University had two miracles happen to them. Apparently, there were rumors that he had an insanely-talented master from whom he learned his skills. However, no ordinary man was able to get this confirmed by Zhu Yuan himself. Still, there were a lot of his fellow peers that followed him like a prophet.

    Professor Jiang chased these research students off to one side. "Hurry up andplete your jobs. If you have a question, ask away. If not, don¡¯t stand around, blocking the lights."

    These students¡¯ faces glowed when they heard the Professor¡¯s words. What a rare asion! To receive a lesson from the one and only Zhu Yuan!

    "..."

    Zhu Yuan wondered to himself, ¡¯When exactly did I agree to that?¡¯

    Still, these were all the future pirs that would hold up his dear mothend. And so, he willingly shared his knowledge with these kids. However¡ª

    "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s right. What you¡¯re saying is different from what Little Gu said."

    "Senior, Little Gu said this is a problem with mediation..."

    "..."

    The same questions were thrown at him unrelentingly.

    Zhu Yuan realized that gradually, the way these students looked at him had changed. No longer was there a look of admiration on their faces. This dealt a heavy blow against his pride, which was worse as he was a narcissist.

    ¡¯Little Gu? How dare this b*tch challenge my authority!¡¯

    He was about to interrogate them about who this person was when he noticed how their eyes were all fixated on the window of theboratory.

    Instinctively, Zhu Yuan followed their gazes.

    Theboratory hadrge ss windows that allowed its users to look into the corridor. Right now, at the end of the corridor appeared a skinny figure who was walking towards their direction. Perched on her shoulder was a red bird. Her pale white face glowed like a piece of white jade underneath the corridor lighting.

    Slowly, she walked into theboratory. Looking up, she revealed her crystal clear eyes, which instantly drowned theboratory in a sea of stars.

    ¡¯Why is she here?¡¯

    This was Zhu Yuan¡¯s first reaction.

    Then, he suddenly recalled her saying that she was a student here at this university. Now, it was much more probable to see her here.

    ¡¯Wait a second, thisboratory is only used by research students!¡¯

    "Little Gu!"

    "Student Gu!"

    "Goddess! What brings you here today?"

    Zhu Yuan realized that in the blink of an eye, only half remains of the crowd that flocked around him moments ago. They had all headed towards Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡¯What the hell is going on?¡¯ Zhu Yuan was dumbfounded.

    "So you¡¯vee." Professor Jiang wiped the angry look off his face and proceeded to chase off the students who flocked around her with a warm smile on his face. Then, he looked over to Zhu Yuan, who had been overwhelmed by confusion. "Here¡¯s the person you¡¯ve been waiting for."

    Zhu Yuan understood every single word that Professor Jiang uttered but his mind failed to register what it meant when they were linked up into a sentence.

    So the person behind this cell-fusion research was Gu Xiqiao? But wasn¡¯t she just a freshman here at this school? How was this possible? In his mind, he had already created the image of a middle-aged mister when he read the amazing report. Then, when he heard the voice over Professor Jiang¡¯s phone, he quickly changed this into the image of a mature, middle-aged beauty.

    No matter the situation, he had been so sure that this person would be someone older than him. After all, the report was written so well and with such fine use of words that he figured, must be from someone with at least a PhD in medicine.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that the person that he was prepared to prostrate before was Gu Xiqiao, a person much younger than him!

    This dealt an even heavier blow than before. He could feel his face growing stiffer by the moment.

    "So, this report was written by you?" Zhu Yuan looked at Gu Xiqiao. Although he already knew the answer to this, he couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up and smiled at him. "Yep, by the way, the ointment you formted works wonders! Look, my wound¡¯s already healed."

    The two wounds on her palm had already closed up. Feeling that the bandaging was a pain in the butt, Gu Xiqiao removed it beforeing here to theboratory. Jiang Shuxuan had noticed that scars had already formed where her wound once was.

    After getting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s affirmative answer, Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look at her even more. He was twenty when he received his first international award. This caused a massive wave in the medicalmunity. She must be pretty young right? No doubt, she¡¯d receive this year¡¯s international award just like he did back then!

    He had always been Rong Feishuang¡¯s disciple ever since he was a young boy; it wasn¡¯t a surprise for him to be so aplished in the field of medicine. But how on earth was Gu Xiqiao able to pull this off at such a young age?

    "Little Gu, I need you to repeat this experiment one more time." Seeing how Zhu Yuan had gone silent, Professor Jiang gave Gu Xiqiao directions for her next step.

    Because she had done this experiment countless times before in the virtual training ground, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands moved like magic when she carried out the experiment one more time. Coupled with her strong mental strength, she couldplete the entire experiment without fail even if she had her eyes closed.

    As she worked, she would casually turn around and smack the annoying Xixi off to the side.

    The people here in thisb seemed to have grown ustomed to seeing such a scene. The same however, could not be said in Zhu Yuan¡¯s case. He stared at Professor Jiang nkly. "So she conducts her experiments like this?"

    ¡¯Look at her, I don¡¯t think you can be any moreid-back than that! If her experiment seeds, I think I might just die from shame!¡¯

    "Well, get used to it." Professor Jiang sighed dejectedly, "Azy slob! That¡¯s all she is! It frustrates me to look at her attitude!"

    After that, Professor Jiang stormed out of theboratory furiously.

    "What¡¯s up with him?" Zhu Yuan asked someone standing nearby.

    The person was a girl who wore a meek expression. "Professor Jiang¡¯s been acting like that ever since he got yed by Gu Xiqiao. Back then, as an exceptional case, he took her in as his own student. And then she suddenly dered that she wanted some time off. In response, Professor Jiang gave her a task that he expected was never gonna be aplished¡ªcell fusion. He even promised to give her a vacation for the rest of the semester. Guess what? She did it in just a few days!"

    The girl¡¯s face became flushed the more she spoke about this.

    "Isn¡¯t she just a freshman here? Why¡¯s he setting the bar so high for her?" Zhu Yuan asked while looking at Gu Xiqiao patiently dripping PFG into the petri dish. It must take at least a PhD student to be able to take on such a task, no?

    The girl became even more excited when she heard this question. "Senior Zhu, you may not know this but when she was epted into this school she was the top ranker in the country, with a near-perfect score of 747 in the national finals. With no extra score points, might I add! You know how crazily-high they set the exam difficulty but she scored a whopping 96 points in her trials!"

    Zhu Yuan understood how unusually high A University¡¯s standards were as he too, experienced it first hand. Back then, when he first sat for their exam, he found it almost impossible to cope with how broad the sybus spanned. Even so, he managed to get every answer right but because his answerscked depth, he was only awarded 88 points. That might seem low but he was the highest-scoring student in his entire batch.

    Then, even the news reported about how talented this medical prodigy was.

    Getting 88 points in an entrance exam to A University, China¡¯s best institution, was enough to cause ripples across the country¡¯s medical educationmunity. This was his first time stepping out into the public¡¯s attention as well as his first step towards the international stage.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s score of 96, which was so much higher than his, her national top ranker award as well as her breakthrough discovery in cell fusion. Why didn¡¯t he hear any of this before? He whipped out his phone and searched for news articles about this but it was an unfruitful event.

    The girl chuckled when she heard his question. Then, she exined with admiration in her eyes, "There really were lots of journalists trying tond an interview with her, but she turned every one of them down."

    Zhu Yuan did not expect to hear this answer. He started looking at Gu Xiqiao suspiciously. She had her head lowered as she continued working on her experiment. Nothing on her face screamed of arrogance nor self-contentment. No matter how he looked at her, she didn¡¯t seem like the sort of person who had such glorious achievements under her belt.

    Nowadays, a person who turns down the prospect of fame and wealth like her was already a dying breed. Even he had failed to turn down a life of hedonism. To think that someone in her early twenties would actually have such a matured view.

    Zhu Yuan felt that he had gained a new direction in seeking the meaning of life.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s experiment was nearing its end when Zhu Yuan walked up to her with the report in hand. "There are a few things that I don¡¯t quite understand in this report. They¡¯re all marked by me already."

    Then, he walked over to the microscope and began observing the cell fusion in action.

    Gu Xiqiao started scanning through the report. Then, she stole nces at Professor Jiang, who was standing further away.

    Professor Jiang pretended as if he had not seen her looking over. He must¡¯ve done something like this countless times in the past, she figured.

    As supposedly the best doctor in the world, Zhu Yuan already had a good grasp on what this report was talking about but there were some key points that he found hard to understand. And so, he had them highlighted so Gu Xiqiao could decode it for him. Most of them were information that Gu Xiqiao had gotten from the database within the virtual space, which was also beyond theprehension ability of earthlings. She had to spend a great deal of time researching within the virtual space before she could understand what the concepts were.

    Naturally, she did not get overwhelmed when Zhu Yuan brought up his issue. Patiently, she sat in front of theputer, typing out a simplified version of the concepts that he was unsure of in the report.

    In the time it took for Zhu Yuan to finish observing the cell fusion process, Gu Xiqiao had alreadypleted and printed out three whole pages containing answers to Zhu Yuan¡¯s questions.

    Zhu Yuan started reading the moment he received the papers. These were all words that he was familiar with but for some reason, everything sounded obscure in the way Gu Xiqiao typed it. "Perhaps you can type it in a more humannguage next time"

    "It won¡¯t be anymoreplicated than what you read at Delxun forest," replied Gu Xiqiao with a smile.

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s gaze shot up immediately at Gu Xiqiao. His eyes were filled with shock and disbelief. Only a handful of people knew that his career in medicine was inherited in that forest. Even his master had made sure to destroy all evidence of him ever being in that forest.

    So how did she know? Who told her about his identity?!

    Gu Xiqiao thought to herself, ¡¯...hey don¡¯t look at me like that, I only know what I know because of the system. I am innocent so don¡¯t kill me!¡¯

    With the wave of her hand, Xixi, who was busy terrorizing theb students flew over andnded on her shoulder. Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone to check the time. It was a little over 12 pm now. Guessing that Jiang Shuxuan was already waiting for her in his car, she didn¡¯t want to waste her time here any longer. "You guys go on with your research, I¡¯ll be leaving now!"

    ¡¯Traitor! Howzy! What a waste of talent! Feel the wrath of heaven youzy slob!¡¯ thought Professor Jiang to himself when he heard Gu Xiqiao announce her departure.

    This all happened in his mind so naturally, Gu Xiqiao was unaware of it.

    She had just received a call from Jiang Shuxuan, saying that he was waiting for her on the opposite side of the street at the university entrance. One step after the other, she marched slowly to her destination. Xixi pped its wings and up in the air it went, circling nonstop above Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head. The youngdy walked down the path with a bright smile on her face, creating what seemed like a scene ripped straight out of a fantasy movie.

    There were still a couple of journalists lingering around the campus and one of them couldn¡¯t stop himself from snapping a photo of the picturesque scene.

    And so, in just the blink of an eye, her photo had gone viral all around the inte.

    Arge crowd had formed near the university entrance. As Gu Xiqiao slowly approached the spot, she narrowed her eyes to find a couple of familiar faces¡ªthey were all her ssmates, with the exception of Xu Jing.

    "What are you guys doing here?" Gu Xiqiao stopped in her tracks.

    Seeing the ss pet here, her ssmates all greeted her. Long time no see, but it appears that their ss pet had grown even prettier now!

    Although they had missed the chance to see Zhu Yuan, seeing their cute ss pet was a pretty good alternative after standing there under the hot sun for what felt like an eternity.

    It was rare for Gu Xiqiao to attend sses even once a week; they hardly met her nowadays and there existed only a couple of high-definition photos of her on the inte.

    Perhaps this was their destiny. If that¡¯s so, then a picture or two wouldn¡¯t hurt, right?

    "We¡¯re waiting for Zhu Yuan," answered Xu Jing with a camera in her hands. Under the blistering heat, her face was glowing red, like a tomato. She wiped the sweat off her face before ncing at Sun Jiajia.

    "Sun Jiajia said that Zhu Yuan was gonna go through here. We¡¯ve been waiting here for an hour now but there seems to be no signs of him."

    Doubt had sprouted in her heart, that Sun Jiajia was actually acquaintances with Zhu Yuan. However, since everyone had agreed to do it, she had no choice but to follow their decision. They have been waiting there for an hour and have not even seen Zhu Yuan¡¯s car pass by let alone Zhu Yuan in person.

    On the other hand, there wasn¡¯t a single drop of sweat on Gu Xiqiao. Her body was as dry as bone, and the moment she spoke, her words felt to them like a cool breeze, instantly invigorating her ssmates.

    "Yeah, Beauty Gu!"

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao truly was refreshing to these students.

    "Go home, Zhu Yuan¡¯s noting today." Gu Xiqiao started thinking. She used three whole days in the virtual space to understand the alien concepts. Considering that Zhu Yuan was slightly more intelligent than her, it should take him at least one or two days right?

    Morale instantly hit the floor when the crowd heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s advice.

    Then, a harsh voice shouted out from the crowd. "When I say that he¡¯lle, he will being! How do you know that he¡¯s noting?" shot Sun Jiajia back with a hostile look on her face. With a parasol in her hand, she stood on the bench, on which she was further made taller by her high-heels as she looked down condescendingly at Gu Xiqiao.

    "How do you know that he¡¯ll being?" asked Gu Xiqiao with narrowed eyes.

    No matter how highly she thought of herself, Sun Jiajia knew well that at this point, she was only fooling herself. With a sarcastic voice, she dered: "He told me over the phone!"

    "Well can you tell me his phone number?"

    "Are you asking me this just because you want his number?" Sun Jiajia again, looked down at Gu Xiqiao with a self-righteous look on her face. "Listen here: in your dreams!"

    Gu Xiqiao could no longer hold back herughter. She then pulled out her phone and scrolled down her contacts list until she finally arrived at a phone number. "This is his number. Would you like to call him to check if he¡¯sing or not?"

 Chapter 136 Stripping Off Sun Jiajiaâ€™s Painted Skin

    <h4>Chapter 136 Stripping Off Sun Jiajia¡¯s Painted Skin</h4>

    Sun Jiajia blinked at Gu Xiqiao incredulously, as if the very notion of her having his phone number offended her. "Are we just supposed to believe you when you say that it¡¯s his number?"

    She didn¡¯t know Zhu Yuan personally, and the two of them hadn¡¯t even spoken even so much as one sentence with each other. It was just a coincidence, that day when her coursemates saw them in close proximity of each other and mistook them for being acquaintances. When she was asked whether she knew him, she nodded for some reason that she didn¡¯t know herself, but it was true that anyone who lies would have to cover up their lies with many more.

    And so the entire thing snowballed until she didn¡¯t know how to deal with it anymore, and so she could only have everyone wait here at the entrance. Wouldn¡¯t Zhu Yuan leave through this route after he finished his speech?

    Her prediction proved to be wrong when they stood here for an hour and only saw Gu Xiqiao.

    She had already nned to say that Zhu Yuan was busy¡ªNo one knew him personally after all, but she hadn¡¯t expected Gu Xiqiao to step in.

    She heard that Zhu Yuan had juste back from abroad, and to her, the world outside the borders of China was too far away and too alien to her, so she thought that of course, Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t know Zhu Yuan either, and must be here just to call her bluff and humiliate her on purpose!

    She looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s orbs that seemed to be able to peer into her very soul, and she stood there undecided on what she should do.

    Seeing her reaction, Gu Xiqiao only smiled and looked at the other. "Go back, everyone, the sun is blistering hot at this time of day. Especially you girls, do you want to get sunburn? Zhu Yuan hasn¡¯t left the school yet, and he¡¯s probably going to stay here for another couple of days, so if you guys really want to meet him that much I would say the best option is to butter Professor Jiang up."

    Between the two girls, the others definitely believed Gu Xiqiao more. Her poprity in A University couldn¡¯t be surpassed at the moment, and it could be seen by how only posts about her stayed on the front page of the school forum when all the others were pushed down by news of Zhu Yuan¡¯s speech.

    They were already quite dubious about Sun Jiajia¡¯s ims that she knew Zhu Yuan as she didn¡¯t have particrly good grades nor a high status or background, but they had wanted to meet him in person so much that they didn¡¯t want to let go of even the bleakest opportunity.

    Now that Sun Jiajia¡¯s lies were exposed, they all looked at her with varying expressions wordlessly before bidding Gu Xiqiao farewell.

    "Hey, let¡¯s go back and butter Professor Jiang up!"

    "Nah, we¡¯re not Beauty Gu, after all, I¡¯m scared that he might throw a bunch of thesis papers onto us..."

    "Well it¡¯d be better than staying here, my skin is almost going to peel!"

    Some of the girls in the group came here in a rush, so they didn¡¯t bring umbres to shield them from the ruthless sun rays, and they all looked at Sun Jiajia thoughtfully.

    If she nned to have them all stand here in the sun on purpose, then she was a truly frightening person...

    They had to make sure not to get involved with her in the future!

    Sun Jiajia had never been stared at with such gazes. Back in her hometown, she was the smartest student in her school, and even the local news interviewed her, but here in A University she was outssed in every single way, especially by Gu Xiqiao that was like an indomitable mountain blocking her way, and with her only edge in terms of grades gone, she was ignored and given the cold shoulder.

    Now that she had be pretty, her lifepletely changed and she finally got some friends, but it would all be reset after today!

    As embarrassment and anger shed on her face, Sun Jiajia knew that all her hard work was for naught.

    The moral of this story, kids, is to not bite off more than you can chew!

    As the others left, Sun Jiajia¡¯s head remained lowered as she stared at the asphalt wordlessly, before she heard the loud sound a roaring engine and looked up towards the road. With a smile, as if what had transpired earlier was just a dream, she strutted over. "My boyfriend¡¯s here, so why don¡¯t we eat together? All our ns to eat together were foiled in some way or another, and it¡¯s lunchtime anyway."

    As she spoke, a red Ferrari stopped at the entrance of the university, and its ostentatious colorbined with its streamlined shape showed that it was definitely quite expensive.

    The door of the car opened, and a young man with hair dyed blond stepped out and attracted the gazes of many young girls nearby.

    Gu Xiqiao immediately stopped her internal musings that the car looked pretty decent.

    The young man walked over, and Sun Jiajia nced at Gu Xiqiao and Xu Jing. "He¡¯yang, these are two of my roommates. Let¡¯s invite them to lunch?"

    Wen He¡¯yang picked off his sunsses and looked over, and his nonchnt gaze brightened when he saw Gu Xiqiao.

    The girl didn¡¯t even give her a single nce, was she really disinterested or was she ying hard to get? Wen He¡¯yang was intrigued, and he smiled at being faced with a challenge.

    Sun Jiajia hadn¡¯t expected that Wen He¡¯yang would have reacted in such a way, and the smile on her face crumpled immediately. "Hey Gu Xiqiao, where¡¯s that insanely rich boyfriend of yours?"

    Once he heard that this girl that a boyfriend, and a really rich one at that, Wen He¡¯yang¡¯s brows furrowed unconsciously.

    "Sun Jiajia!" Once Xu Jing heard Sun Jiajia¡¯s tone, she red and her and wanted to speak further, but was stopped by Gu Xiqiao.

    "He¡¯s going to be here soon." Gu Xiqiao looked at Sun Jiajia expressionlessly, her skin glowing under the sun and her aura making it hard for anyone to even think of defying her. "We already told you that I¡¯ll be treating you this time!"

    She was going to strip away Sun Jiajia¡¯s painted skin!

    "I¡¯ll be treating! Treating! Treating!" Xixi parroted while it was perched on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder,

    Its red feathers shone in the sun like fire, and it looked extremely beautiful.

    "Where¡¯s your boyfriend?" Sun Jiajia looked around and chuckled happily when she didn¡¯t see the military-grade jeep. "He¡¯yang came here for me and even pushed away his car race, and that boyfriend of yours isn¡¯t even here on time, he seems awfully willing to let you suffer in the blistering heat like this."

    "He¡¯s here." Gu Xiqiao looked into the distance, and her expression softened, her eyes brightening for a second as she smiled warmly.

    Wen He¡¯yang finally knew what unparalleled beauty was, and for a moment, he could see flowers blooming in the air.

    He was stunned for a long moment but then he realized that the girl wasn¡¯t looking at him, and he followed her gaze to look behind him, and his pupils constricted slightly.

    It was a ck Bugatti, and just from the looks of it it seemed quite normal, but he knew that it was a subtle extravagance, as it was clear to him that it was custom made, and what astonished him the most was the number te attached to it.

    F*ck! His eyes were blinded by the brightness!

    "Gu Xiqiao, did you get a new boyfriend again?" Sun Jiajia knew that the car that came for herst time wasn¡¯t this one, and for a second, she felt both jealous and relief. "How do you change boyfriends so quickly?"

    "Change boyfriends?" Wen He¡¯yang asked.

    "Right." Sun Jiajia looked at the car in front of her and muttered. "Thest time, it was a military-grade jeep..."

    Before she could continue any further, her words became stuck in her throat.

    The door of the car had opened, and a lean and regal figure stepped out of the car, and as he raised his head slowly and looked over in their direction, his dark orbs reflected the sunlight and made whoever looked at them feel like they didn¡¯t belong to a human. He stood there elegantly, his sculpted features clear as his very presence seemed to sweep away all the shadows.

    Wen He¡¯yang¡¯s glow was like a firefly inparison to the moon as soon as the man stepped onto the scene.

    Sun Jiajia waspletely stunned. When she guessed that Gu Xiqiao had gotten a new boyfriend again, she felt a vindictive sense of glee, but when it was Jiang Shuxuan that stepped out of the car, she was both excited and depressed.

    So she hadn¡¯t gotten a new boyfriend after all?

    "Let¡¯s go eat at the Royal Hotel." Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t really have an appetite when the person she was going to eat with was Sun Jiajia, so she picked a random one off the top of her head.

    Sun Jiajia spoke up: "Let¡¯s go to the Garden of Eden. He¡¯yang, you have a membership there right?"

    Wen He¡¯yang nced at Gu Xiqiao and puffed his chest slightly. "Yeah I have one, let¡¯ go eat there!"

    "I said the Royal Hotel, are you two going to eat with us or not?" Gu Xiqiao looked at the two, her brows furrowed.

    "Yes!" Sun Jiajia agreed immediately.

    Wen He¡¯yang nced at Jiang Shuxuan, not saying any further.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in satisfaction, and Jiang Shuxuan brought her and Xu Jing over to the hotel.

    Xu Jing sat there nervously on the back seat of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car, her limbs frozen awkwardly, not daring to move a muscle with Jiang Shuxuan right in front of her. Beside her, Xixi looked over at her with a clear look of disdain.

    Xu Jing: Is this bird a y¨­kai? Why am I being looked down on by a bird?!

    The Royal Hotel was quite nearby, so they got there in less than two minutes, and they sat down in a private room while Gu Xiqiao ordered some dishes.

    It was peak hours, but the speed at which the food was served was surprisingly quick.

    "We still don¡¯t know what this... Gentleman¡¯s name is?" Sun Jiajia broke the silence.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at her. "His surname is Jiang."

    Sun Jiajia pondered over the information, before looking at Jiang Shuxuan with an expression of realization. "Are you a local, Mr. Jiang?"

    Jiang Shuxuan only continued to peel off the shell of a prawn, not caring to reply.

    The table was plunged into silence again, and Sun Jiajia couldn¡¯t even pull off an awkward smile.

    "He¡¯s from the Imperial Capital, yes. Do you have any other questions?" Gu Xiqiao asked with a smile, supporting her chin with her palm.

    Her gaze was as clear as always, and Sun Jiajia felt so exposed that she lowered her head flusteredly, not daring to meet her gaze, while Gu Xiqiao continued staring at her.

    "Eat, Xu Jing." Before you lose your appetite.

    "He¡¯yang, I don¡¯t feel so good... Can we go now, please?" Sun Jiajia felt more and more panicked the longer she was stared at by Gu Xiqiao, and she looked up at Wen He¡¯yang pleadingly.

    Wen He¡¯yang was already ufortable with the entire situation, especially when he looked at Jiang Shuxuan and felt it hard to even breathe.

    And so, he stood up and led Sun Jiajia with him to leave.

    The couple had barely reached the exit before the Gu Xiqiao spoke, "Sun Jiajia, you must pay your dues."

    A white spark shed from her fingers, and the door mmed shut with a bang. Sun Jiajia yelped in fear and tugged at the door as hard as she could, but it couldn¡¯t be opened.

    Gu Xiqiao stood up and sauntered over with a harmless smile on her face, but Sun Jiajia felt immense fear as she stared into those orbs, as if it were a monster instead of a girl.

    She suddenly realized that she shouldn¡¯t have gotten into any contact with this girl when even Bai Xinran couldn¡¯t defeat her!

    The girl raised her hand slowly, and purple lightning shed from her palm.

    Xu Jing had never thought that she would be a witness to such a supernatural scene, but the next thing she saw was the skin on Sun Jiajia¡¯s face peeling and melting off, revealing the rotten, ck meat underneath, and the entire scene was gory and horrific.

    And so, the poor girl puked into her bowl.

    Wen He¡¯yang was the closest to the horrific view, and he immediately let go of her hand like a hot potato and fled to the corner where he proceeded to throw up too.

    He was a couple with such a monster? Upon thinking of the times he kissed her cheek, he threw up so much that even bile juice came out.

    "It¡¯s fine, she just had a failed stic surgery, don¡¯t be scared." Gu Xiqiao smiled and reassured Xu Jing.

    Xu Jing: If you¡¯re going to treat me like I¡¯m dumb, at least find a better reason?!

    ¡¯This world is insane," thought Xu Jing as she threw up so much that she cked out.

    [Beauty Qiao, I think Big Jiang is the only person that can withstand you.] The system spirit nced at the disgusting scene, starting to pity Jiang Shuxuan to some extent.

    Gu Xiqiao: "If you take that back, we can still be friends."

    The system spirit: [If you ept the role for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, we can be BFFs!]

    Gu Xiqiao: Is all that¡¯s left of our rtionship just interest and benefit?

    With a sigh, she told the taxi driver: "Take me to Studio City, please."

    The system spirit: [Mwah, I love you, Beauty Qiao!]

    Gu Xiqiao: "Be good and call me daddy."

    The system spirit: ...Something seems to have gone wrong with her head.

    ***

    -Studio City-

    On the set of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, Li Yu was standing there in brocade robes, his head slightly tilted upwards and as handsome and fresh as always, but shing in his eyes was regret and sadness as deep as the sea. A tear escaped his orbs and slid down his cheek slowly like a pearl.

    The people on set all looked at this scene stunned, and from his eyes, they could see Princess Qixia¡¯s death.

    The next second, amotion started up near the gates, and everyone¡¯s attention was immediately attracted, and their sad expressions turned to ones of excitement.

    Li Yu sighed at the atmosphere being broken just like that, like thest time a certain someone came, and he looked over in the direction of the entrance too, where a thin figure was walking over.

 Chapter 137 One Movie, One Goddess

    <h4>Chapter 137 One Movie, One Goddess</h4>

    "Hi, everyone. We meet again." Gu Xiqiao waved at everyone on set.

    Do any of the readers know what it was like to get greeted by an unparalleled beauty? Everyone was dazed for a few moments and waved back at her dumbly before they caught themselves in the act. Were they really acting that dumb??

    "Er Qiao!" Xiao Yun had juste out from the makeup room, and she immediately spotted the girl that had be the center of attention. "Why are you here?"

    After a short silence, everyone on the set returned to their duties, the people in charge of props ran around busily while Li Yu¡¯s makeup artist touched up the makeup on his face as he prepared to take another shot. Cheng Zhou saw Gu Xiqiao and his expression brightened visibly, letting the assistant director handle the camera for a few moments while he walked over.

    He was incredibly confident in Li Yu¡¯s abilities, so he knew that it wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem even if he wasn¡¯t there to take charge.

    "Ms. Gu, have you thought it over?" He asked Gu Xiqiao politely.

    Gu Xiqiao looked right back at him with her signature clear gaze and nodded. "I can try, Director Cheng, but I¡¯ve never acted before, so if it turns out that I can¡¯t do it, I¡¯ll quit."

    Acting depended on born talent to a degree, and if she was really so terrible at it, she wouldn¡¯t be able to act well even if she had the virtual training grounds.

    Cheng Zhou smiled brightly as if she didn¡¯t say that second half of the sentence. It was way too hard to look for a suitable actress for the role of Princess Qixia, after all, which was why he had chose Jin Sitian in the first ce, even though she couldn¡¯t act well to save her life!

    ording to his personality, he would have continued to hold a grudge over this matter had she not agreed, because she was the spitting image of Princess Qixia that he had in his mind.

    She was definitely most suited for this character!

    In any case, Gu Xiqiao looked much more suitable for the role than Jin Sitian, and even if she couldn¡¯t act either, the audience would probably have a better time epting her character.

    "Alright, then go and get into your costume, and we¡¯ll see how it goes okay?" Cheng Zhou waved her away to the makeup room, but deep down he was still worried that the girl might have even more terrible acting than Jin Sitian.

    Xiao Yun led her to the makeup room. "Sister Yu, help her with the makeup for Princess Qixia, please."

    As a tritagonist of the drama, she actually had rtively little scenes, so she only had two character costumes¡ªOne set of official robes, and one set of casual clothing.

    Sister Yu stared at Gu Xiqiao for a good moment before she nodded slightly, gesturing for her to sit down and get started on the makeup.

    As a makeup artist, she knew exactly how to entuate and show off the traits of a person¡¯s face, especially such a diamond in the rough as this one.

    "I got you Princess Qixia¡¯s script, take a look at it. Remember, don¡¯t panic." Xiao Yun handed Gu Xiqiao the script, before quickly rushing off to shoot her next scene.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped through the pages of the script, before her consciousness went into the virtual training grounds.

    ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was a movie set in a warring historical era, and it was a story of the conflict among four kingdoms. The crown prince of the southern kingdom had always been flippant and had never been bound by any rules, and when he was of age, he went on a journey and met the female protagonist.

    The southern kingdom was suddenly attacked by an enemy kingdom, and the only ones left were the protagonist¡¯s old father, the emperor, and Princess Qixia who stepped onto the battlefield, and jumped off of the walls of the city once the enemy seeded in their siege.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s scenes ended here, and what happened after was the female protagonist working together with the protagonist toy conquest over the three kingdoms and hence the entire country, bing an emperor and living happily ever after with the female protagonist.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s role as the deuteragonist was as Princess Qixia¡¯s servant, and the character¡¯s cold personality matched well with that of her own. She followed the princess onto the battlefield, and after her mistress died, she helped the protagonist against his enemies, and finally she died on the battlefield in honor to save the female protagonist.

    The military strategy portion of the original novel was extremely interesting and the plot was woven tightly, so the original novel had countless fans too.

    Strategies and plots that exploited the hearts of men eventually wove a web that would lead to the conquest of the entirend, and it could make the people that looked at the story unfold feel a sense of historic tension.

    Gu Xiqiao sat there and read through the entire novel.

    Her character only had a few scenes, and after she finished reading through both the source material and the script, she stood up and changed her clothes into Princess Qixia¡¯s ceremonial robes with a single intent, before walking around.

    "What do you think, system?" She asked.

    [Very mediocre. I advise you to learn from the basics, from the way a princess of that time period of talks and holds herself, to her aura and temperament. One by one.] The system fluttered around Gu Xiqiao andmented.

    Gu Xiqiao: At least it didn¡¯t say that I was irredeemably terrible at it...

    As the most intelligent artificial intelligence in the world, the system immediately gathered audio clips and information of actors and actresses acting out simr roles, and Gu Xiqiao watched all of them seriously. If she agreed to learn, then she had to do her best.

    As the time in the virtual training grounds ticked by, it had only been less than a few seconds in the real world. In the virtual space, Gu Xiqiao had already done Princess Qixia¡¯s signature motion of looking up at the starry sky and sighing for more than a thousand times, until the system was already sick of it. [Why the heck do you keep doing this?]

    "I¡¯m trying to understand her, to get into character..." Gu Xiqiao stood up and looked into the distance, her gaze changing from cool nonchnce to brave indignance.

    The system spirit stared at the girl practice dazedly, seeing her change from inexperienced to having a grasp of Princess Qixia¡¯s character, and every single step and nce was reminiscent of an actual princess.

    It was easy to say that one could achieve anything through hard work, but it was exceedingly difficult to devote so much time to perfecting a single task. Normally a single scene would already be considered boring if practised and reshot for more than ten times, but Gu Xiqiao practised her motions for a thousand times!

    For context, all of Princess Qixia¡¯s scenes barely amounted to more than ten minutes after adding them all together.

    The system spirit couldn¡¯t help but think back to when Gu Xiqiao¡¯s soul made its way here when she first died, and back then she was the same. Nonchnt, patient, and hardy, she stayed there in the void for an uncountable amount of time, and it proved her worthy of the system.

    To seed, she had to withstand loneliness and istion that would drive anyone else mad.

    After the system spirit gave her the okay upon seeing the final product of her acting, she got out of the virtual training grounds.

    As her mental power became stronger and stronger, she didn¡¯t even have any signs of being tired or fatigued after being in the virtual space for extended periods of time.

    "How long was I in there?" She asked as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

    The system spirit tilted its head. [Around a month, give or take.]

    A month, huh? Gu Xiqiao remembered how she could barelyst half a month in the virtual space back when she started before her mental power would crumble.

    "Alright, and we¡¯re done." Sister Yu helped tidy Gu Xiqiao up, and in a rare event, she smiled. "Go and get your photos taken."

    "Thank you." Gu Xiqiao nodded at her politely, her jet ck hair flowing as she did.

    While Gu Xiqiao was getting prepared, another bunch of people came to the studio.

    "Director Cheng, I¡¯ve heard news that Jin Sitian has been kicked out of your crew." The one that was speaking was a shrewd-looking woman in her thirties. "Our Zixian is very interested in this character, and if you agree for her to act in this movie, we will invest twenty million yuan into your production, how does that sound?"

    Twenty million yuan was already enough for an entire crew for a smaller movie.

    If it were in the past, Cheng Zhou would definitely have been undecided, as this money could have been used to get better facilities and sites so that he could recreate the scenes that he wanted, but now that he had the help of Tang Enterprise, funding was already the least of his worries.

    Between twenty million and one billion, the choice was obvious. "I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s not that we don¡¯t want to work with you, but we¡¯ve already chosen someone for the role of Princess Qixia."

    "You¡¯ve already chosen someone?" Peng Zixian¡¯s manager had never heard news of him having auditions for the role after Jin Sitian was booted out, so she thought that he was giving her a hard time on purpose. In any case, who would refuse twenty million? "Director Cheng, our Zixian doesn¡¯t lose to Jin Sitian in looks nor acting ability!"

    She urged Cheng Zhou to look at the direction of the crew, where a woman with wavy hair was standing in a red dress and talking with Li Yu.

    Li Yu seemed to have just ended a shoot, but he was decently polite and even friendly as he talked with her.

    Peng Zixian was an up-and-rising star that came into the spotlight after a web drama. No one knew how exactly she became popr, and it seemed as if she became the center of attention overnight, much luckier than Jin Sitian was.

    But after seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s beauty, he knew that no one in the entire industry could make him waver in his choice.

    "Look, there she is." Cheng Zhou smiled as he saw a figure walking out of the makeup room. "She¡¯s our Princess Qixia... Her actress."

    Cheng Zhou took a while to speak the twotter words when he saw Gu Xiqiao.

    A in and elegant white dress, with ck lotus flowersced with gold thread embroidered on the fabric, and a golden sash around her waist, while a beautiful jade pendant the color ofrd hung from her neck, symbolizing her identity as the princess. Her jet ck hair was tied up with a thin silk ribbon, while her eyebrows were drawn in a curved fashion. Her lips that had always been pale-colored were now as red as roses, and the bright color contrasted greatly with everything else on her color palette, giving her a noble look as if she were really a princess.

    With clothes the color of snow and lips as vibrant as fire, she had a regal aura that made it hard for everyone in the crew to look at her directly.

    Everyone knew who Gu Xiqiao was, and their impression of her was an elegant and dainty young woman, but when they saw her standing there, the first person that came to mind wasn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao herself, but Princess Qixia who took a stand against the enemies of the kingdom in herst moments.

    Jin Sitian and Peng Zixian became immediate afterthoughts!

    Even Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t expect there to be such an effect, and he repressed the urge to howl like a wolf in happiness as he looked at Gu Xiqiao. He had expected that he would have needed to train her for a few days, but it seemed to be an unnecessary concern!

    Cheng Zhou was so satisfied and content with her portrayal of the character just by standing there that he smiled and chuckled, and it was the first time he had been so visibly happy in all this while he was in the studio.

    Peng Zixian¡¯s manager was stunned for a few moments when she saw Gu Xiqiao, and she drew a nk when she tried to connect the face she saw before her to a name in the industry, so she was probably a newbie. "So you¡¯ve got an amateur, Director Cheng?"

    "Yes, I¡¯m terribly sorry." Cheng Zhou smiled, and it was clear as day that he was in an extremely good mood.

    "Sorry for interrupting, we will be taking our leave." Peng Zixian¡¯s manager nodded and didn¡¯t push the topic any further. She had heard rumors that the crew had problems with funding, but it seemed as if it wasn¡¯t the case.

    Peng Zixian and the manager got back onto their car.

    "An airdropped amateur?"

    The manager nodded slightly. "Yes, and probably with a sugar daddy behind her back too."

    "Well, I guess it can¡¯t be helped." Peng Zixian nodded, her eyelids hooded.

    "Er Qiao..." Xiao Yun had just gotten done with her own scenes for the moment, and she was in disbelief as she looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s current state. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they had been friends for such a long time, she wouldn¡¯t believe that this person in front of here was the same person!

    "Hm?" Gu Xiqiao looked over and blinked, and in a single moment she returned to her ordinary self. "What do you think?"

    Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s familiar demeanor again, Xiao Yun nodded affirmatively. "Yes, what you did just now was excellent!!"

    Gu Xiqiao breathed a sigh of relief. She probably would have cried if all her hard work was in the wrong direction!

    "Quick, let¡¯s get done with your scenes while you¡¯re in the right condition!" Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao return to her regr self, Cheng Zhou was scared that she couldn¡¯t regain the regal aura from before, so he immediately rescheduled everything else to get started on her scenes.

    The director¡¯s word wasw in the studio, so no one disagreed with his choice.

    "Senior Li has a strong aura while acting, so don¡¯t get taken off guard and get nervous okay? Director Cheng has shouted at people that did that before..." Before Gu Xiqiao started officially shooting her scenes, Xiao Yun reminded her of some matters that she had to take into mind. "As for which camera you need to look at, Director Cheng has more than twenty cameras pointed at the scene, so you just need to act however you like."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, and Xiao Yun retreated to watch on the sidelines nervously.

    Cheng Zhou got onto the director¡¯s seat, and waved everyone into position. "All cameras at the ready, scene fifty eight, action!"

    The scene that Cheng Zhou chose for Gu Xiqiao to act out first was the scene where she jumped from the city walls. There weren¡¯t a lot of lines, and it was heavily dependant on her acting ability. If she acted this scene well, it would be able to move people to tears, but if she didn¡¯t, the unparalleled beauty Princess Qixia wouldn¡¯t be any different than any other face in the crowd.

    The reason why Cheng Zhou was so picky about the role of Princess Qixia in the first ce was because her characteristics as written in the novel were too perfect and wless, in both looks and personality.

    Qixia had a lot of fans in her short run in the original novel, so if the actress for this role wasn¡¯t picked carefully, the crew would be hated on even if the other actors did well in their roles.

    The moment the camera started rolling, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s presence itself changed. Her clear gaze became resolute and sorrowful as they were cast downwards slightly, as if she really were looking down from the vantage point of the city wall. From her gaze alone, one could see the enemy troops marching towards the city from down below, while she was the only person left on the city walls as it snowed.

    A teardrop slid down the side of her face, and she didn¡¯t make a sound, neither a change in her expression as the entire atmosphere around her changed to one of an unspeakable sorrow, making everyone on set hold their breath.

    The cool voice brought with it and undeniable strength as if shouted, "I have no regrets dying on the battlefield in honor with our troops, my only hope is for Brother toe back one day andy waste to Jiang Kingdom!"

    She looked at the dark sky that stretched for miles, and as she stared at the snow that slowly covered the barrennd with a white nket, she slowly closed her eyes.

    And jumped.

    Nowadays, the general audience seemed to care less and less about actual acting ability, but instead the poprity of the actors and actresses portraying the roles of the characters, and more often than not, people recognized characters as the people acting as them instead of the characters themselves.

    The ones that would get awards nowadays were mostly the ones that acted exaggeratedly but had more poprity, instead of the ones that devoted themselves to the art of performance, and that was just the truth of the current situation.

    Someone had said before that the highest realm of acting was when the actor could act in such a way that the audience would not be able to see the actor themself, and make them feel as if they were the actual person themself instead of being an act.

    Gu Xiqiao achieved that splendidly, bing Princess Qixia from soul to external appearance the moment Cheng Zhou yelled "Action!".

    One of the girls that was an original fan of the novel was there in the crew, and she couldn¡¯t help but cry. "Boohoohooo Princess Qixia is dead! She died just like that! The crown prince was going to arrive in just a moment, all she had to do was hang on! I hate you, screenwriter!"

    The man next to her was shaken back into reality by the volume of her voice, and she poked her shoulder. "Stop that! Do you want to get a cut from your sry?"

    The girl sniffled and wiped her tears and snot, finally remembering that it was the studio, and she smiled bashfully. Thankfully enough, everyone was taken aback by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s acting, so no one med her.

    Cheng Zhou was shaken out of his mind. It had been a gamble when he asked her to y the role of Princess Qixia, but he never thought it would have such an effect.

    In the past, he could only see such impactful acting when Li Yu acted together with extremely experienced actresses, and now he was surprised out of his mind!

    To have her act was the best choice he had ever made since deciding to direct this movie!

    Upon hearing that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s family might be disapproving of her acting, he immediately arranged for all of the scenes that had her in them to be shot, and no one was against this decision.

    Li Yu wasn¡¯t unhappy in the slightest, even though his scenes were pushed back and postponed, and upon seeing him chat with Gu Xiqiao happily, Cheng Zhou put down hisst bit of worry.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Jiang Shuxuan was dealing with the cleanup work at the hotel after Gu Xiqiao had left. He was the only one left on scene, and because it was quite a terrible incident that involved Gu Xiqiao, he decided to deal with it personally.

    This world had a side to it that was unknown to normal humans¡ªAncient martial arts, ninjas, vampires, exorcists... Hence, every country had its own special departments to deal with these supernatural happenings, hidden from the lens of the surface world.

    Jiang Shuxuan took out his phone and called an unknown recipient, then continued sitting there peacefully in wait.

    And so, the ones that came to help all saw such a scene: There was a body by the door that seemed to be a... Woman? Its face was melted off and rotten ck, and the entire room smelled pungent, while another man and a girl was passed out at the side.

    Such a scene was too gory, and with the scent, the normal person would probably have passed out or gotten sick.

    But their boss was there sitting at the table and eating his meal elegantly and slowly, as if he were sitting in an exquisite pce.

    Of course, the actual scene around him was disgusting beyond belief.

    "Boss." The leader walked towards Jiang Shuxuan, and even though he had his fair share of creepy moments, he was still immensely disgusted by the rotten face...He wouldn¡¯t have dinnerter, that¡¯s for sure.

    Their boss was truly a different breed.

    Jiang Shuxuan put down his chopsticks and wiped his hands with tissues. "Take that woman and investigate thoroughly on the mastermind behind this. As for those two, just make sure that they remember nothing from today."

    "Roger that, Boss." After Jiang Shuxuan gave his orders, they all started carrying out their duties.

    They checked on the faceless woman¡¯s body with many types of tools and apparatus, before making research notes and looking back at Jiang Shuxuan. "Boss, this sort of technique seems to be from priests from abroad..."

    "Priests?" Jiang Shuxuan observed Sun Jiajia carefully, before a cold frost emanated from his finger.

    The temperature of the room lowered as the pure white frost circled around Sun Jiajia, before Jiang Shuxuan shook his head slightly. "It¡¯s not likely that it¡¯s done by a priest, and this isn¡¯t the only case of this happening either. I would say to investigate more on evil aura."

    Everyone at the scene was fans of Jiang Shuxuan, so they followed what he said and agreed immediately. The person in charge of notes nodded seriously and wrote down what he said, highlighting it and underlining it as he did.

    The manager of the Royal Hotel heard that something was amiss, so he came down to check on what was happening. As soon as he got to the entrance, he was blocked by two burly men in ck suits outside the private room, and upon seeing that they couldn¡¯t be trifled with, he immediately put on a shrewd smile.

    "Is there..." Before he could say any further, he was stopped by one of the bodyguards.

    "We will be securing this hotel for a while, and you can im any losses directly from the government." The bodyguard took out a piece of paper and wrote down a phone number with a pen, before smacking it onto the manager¡¯s body reassuringly.

    The manager knew that things were serious since it had to do with the government itself, and as he was about to call a higher-up to report this matter, his boss rushed over hastily.

    "Hello, is Mr. Jiang inside?" The boss asked one of the bodyguards politely.

    "You can¡¯t go inside." The bodyguards replied stoically.

    "Of course, of course." The boss nodded understandingly and stood there outside the door patiently, greatly shocking the manager that was looking on at the entire scene.

    Inside the room, Jiang Shuxuan stood up and prepared to leave upon seeing that everything had been dealt with. "Update me on any further discoveries."

    "Yes Boss!" They had gotten news that boss wasn¡¯t going to deal with any matters in the ancient martial arts world for a while in the near future. In the past, they weren¡¯t even needed for certain operations, just Jiang Shuxuan was enough!

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded as he thought to himself that he should cultivate more helpers so that he would have more free time in the future.

    Theckeys looked on as their boss ¡¯identally¡¯ stepped on the hand of the blonde man passed out on the floor...

    Since when did their boss be like this? Baffled.jpg

    The moment he stepped out the door, his phone rang, and upon hearing that it was the special notification that he set, he took out his phone and switched it on, before standing there in ce, stunned.

    On the screen of his phone was a photo sent by Gu Xiqiao, and the subject of the photo was both unfamiliar and foreign to him. She had the same delicate features, and dressed in a white dress and with lips the color of blood, she looked into the camera with a regal and noble aura.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood there at the door for a full moment, staring at the picture.

    The boss outside immediately came forward upon seeing Jiang Shuxuan. "Hello, Mr. Jiang, I¡¯m..."

    "If you have anything to say, go talk with the ones inside." Jiang Shuxuan tucked the phone back into his pocket, and as soon as she spoke, his figure had vanished from the doorway.

    He seemed to be walking slowly, but in a sh, he disappeared out of sight.

    ***

    -Studio City-

    After getting the sponsorship of Tang Enterprise, Cheng Zhou¡¯s standards towards decor and setting became much higher, like using real flowers instead of fake ones, for example.

    Because Gu Xiqiao¡¯s scenes were all being taken at once, it was eventually a scene with both her and Li Yu.

    As the crown prince and the princess, both Qixia and Nan Qiubai were well versed in martial arts, so that they would both be able to protect themselves from assassins, and step onto the battlefield when the time came.

    "Camera one, camera three, ready!"

    Li Yu immediately got into character, the crown prince swinging around his sword as if it were an elegant but dangerous dance, and his body moved with the sword. When he swung his sword, there seemed to be an arrogant but regal aura that emanated from him, and when he finally stopped and sheathed his de, the audience could finally see his handsome face.

    "Your mastery of the sword is bing better by the day, crown prince," Concubine Zuo Qiuxiangmented as she handed him a handkerchief, and deep in her orbs was a deeply suppressed infatuation.

    Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang¡¯s character was quite lovable. As the childhood ymate of the crown prince, she knew him better than everyone else, to a point where she knew what he was thinking with a single nce.

    Later on, she would step onto the battlefield together with Princess Qixia, and would be sent to find Nan Qiubai, oveing trials and tribtions only toe back to the dead body of Princess Qixia.

    Later on, Nan Qiubai would swear to the heavens to destroy the three kingdoms with the help of the female lead that was intellectual equals with him, and Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang stepped back to the sidelines as a supporting role, knowing she couldn¡¯t measure to her, before dying to save her.

    And so, her life came to a halt.

    Xiao Yun was very much in character for this scene, and even Gu Xiqiao could feel the love in her gaze.

    Until Cheng Zhou shouted "Cut!" everyone on set didn¡¯t have enough of the shing of acting between the two.

    The next sequence was the fight between Princess Qixia and Nan Qiubai, and the fight choreographer showed Gu Xiqiao how the entire fight was supposed to go down. "Do you understand?"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, and the fight choreographer didn¡¯t press her because he knew that she wasn¡¯t a professional in the first ce. "Let¡¯s go over this one time, and I¡¯ll point out any mistakes you have."

    Nan Qiubai had just finished practising his sword, and was standing underneath a peach blossom tree, petals falling in the wind. Seeing a familiar figure walk closer from a distance, he bowed with folded hands and a smile. "I heard Master say that your swordsmanship has improved, may I have the pleasure?"

    Princess Qixia unsheathed her de, and swung it beautifully in the air before raising her chin slightly. "You may."

    Both Cheng Zhou and the fight choreographer were greatly surprised by Gu Xiqiao. It wasmon knowledge that Li Yu was well versed in swordsmanship andbat, so he always excelled in action scenes, but now he was evenly matched with her.

    Neither of them knew that martial arts andbat were right up Gu Xiqiao¡¯s alley.

    The crew of Empire Under Siege had quite the following on social media, so as soon as news of Jin Sitian being booted came out, so did a bunch of haters.

    Jin Sitian was quite pretty, after all, so she had a lot of fans that loved her for her appearance.

    Under the official Weibo of Empire Under Siege, there were dailyments of:

    "Are you bullying our Tian Tian for not having a sugar daddy? Is the crew not going to exin this?!"

    "I¡¯m only here for my God Li, I don¡¯t care about anyone else ??"

    "+1, ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ for our goddess!"

    "Is there anyone that can be better than acting and prettier than our Tian Tian in the entire industry? You owe us an exnation!"

    "I heard that there was an airdropped amateur, poor Tian Tian! QAQ"

    "I¡¯m just a passerby that doesn¡¯t really care about Jin Sitian, but the crew needs to revise their actions."

    "Poor Tian Tian...QwQ"

    ...

    That was until that night, when the official Weibo of the crew posted a bunch of pictures.

    Many people came across this post, and soon after, thements section was filled with:

    "AAAAAAAA"

 Chapter 138 Turmoil In Weibo, You Were Born To Ac

    <h4>Chapter 138 Turmoil In Weibo, You Were Born To Ac</h4>

    Cheng Zhou wanted to give these fans a massive shocking visual impact.

    When ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ first released some of their promotional preview pictures, Princess Qixia that was portrayed by Jin Sitian received severe critiques from the fans of the original novel. The characters in ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ were all very much alive and full of depth, there were practically no antagonists in it, only passionate and intense characters, which in itself was a highlight of the entire work.

    Apart from the male lead who attracted the most fanbase, one of other female character¡ªPrincess Qixia, was also amazing. When the fans of the novel first read about the death of Princess Qixia, most of them were imagining skinning the author and chopping him up with a knife because it wasn¡¯t necessary for her to die in the first ce.

    So once there was news about how the novel was going to be turned into a drama, the fans of the novel were very much looking forward to it. Then when they saw the director of the movie was Cheng Zhou and who the male lead was, their anticipation increased another notch.

    Butter, there was some massive disbelief when they heard that Cheng Zhou had used a neer with no prior acting experience to y the second female lead, and the third female lead was an entertainer that was only known for her pretty face and nothing else in the entertainment industry.

    When the promotional pictures came out, the second female lead had the forbearing affection deep in her pair of cold eyes, and Xiao Yun had really proved her strength with it. The fans were all going crazy on Weibo, screaming that this was exactly the ¡¯Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang¡¯ that they love¡ªthe independent, strong, and unconventional woman!

    There were no problems or critiques for the rest of the crew selection, except for Jin Sitian who yed the role of Princess Qixia.

    As the number one beauty in the novel, there were many discussions among the fans regarding the selection of the actress for Princess Qixia before the release of the actual list. There were even some who had made polls on Weibo, only everyone¡¯s opinions had differed, and finally one person concluded: For such a stunning, amazing and gorgeous woman, I don¡¯t think anyone in the current entertainment circle is suitable. Those who are good in acting don¡¯t have the looks, and those who are great in appearance don¡¯t have the skills. They simply can¡¯t disy the temperament that Princess Qixia has.

    Thisment had been liked by countless people. That¡¯s right, the celebrities nowadays, including those first-rate ones, relied on their looks to earn the money, and not their acting skills.

    So in the end, everyone wasn¡¯t bothered too much by Jin Sitian¡¯s problem. Since no one could fit the role of Princess Qixia, at least they had found someone with a gorgeous face that was pleasing to the eyes.

    Then the actress was changed in the middle, and this made Jin Sitian¡¯s fans angry. They felt that their idol had been wronged, and Jin Sitian herself had yet to update her blog for a good few days. Various thoughts like ¡¯Tian Tian has been oppressed by the people in the crew¡¯ lingered on their minds for a long time.

    So all day, there were manyments in the Weibo forum, all talking about how they needed to seek justice for their idol. And then a post came out on the crew¡¯s official Weibo page.

    The Crew of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯: I think we have found our perfect Princess Qixia @ For A Millennium [JPEG] [JPEG]

    The first picture showed a woman in a red princess dressing, her face as pretty as a picture, fair appearance, elegant arch of eyebrows. She was looking up slightly, revealing a pair of obsidian eyes that glittered, clear and sparkling. It made everyone who saw the picture catch their breath in their throat.

    The second picture had a woman in a snow-white piece of clothing, her eyes tightly shut. Her ck hair tumbling down her back like a waterfall, the skin on her body was white and gave off a soft glow, and theyer of snow on her skin gave her a frosty ethereal feeling. Her lips were extremely pale, and in a cold, white world, she was all alone in the silence.

    Once the two pictures were out on the, the Weibo crowd was silent for a few minutes, and Cheng Zhou only saw a fewments popping up here and there.

    That wasn¡¯t right, he himself couldn¡¯t contain the excitement and awe when he saw the pictures, how could the response from the fans be so lukewarm?

    Just when he thought maybe it was a problem with his phone instead, it started vibrating and ringing non-stop, all indicating that notifications from Weibo were pouring in.

    He immediately refreshed the page.

    "Can you not be so cool! Production crew, can you still say you won¡¯t rise to the heavens?! Princess Qixia is so beautiful! Gorgeous! There is no one better than this!"

    "Ahhhhhh! My Qixia, that is definitely Qixia!"

    "Wuuuu!! Is the second picture the death of Princess Qixia? I really want to bawl my eyes out! ??????

    "The screen is dirty, I need to lick it clean!"

    "My momma is asking me why am I bowing while swiping Weibo!"

    "Am I the only one who has gone to the link from the crew¡¯s Weibo?"

    "For A Millennium? It doesn¡¯t seem like a stage name that I¡¯ve seen before?"

    "And it¡¯s even a new ount..."

    As everyone was licking their screen at the delicious pictures that had been released, Jin Sitian¡¯s fans started their trolling behavior after seeing them react like this.

    "This person reced our Tian Tian? Some neer without a single fan that came through the back door?"

    "Although I don¡¯t want to say it, the entertainment industry is really so shoddy."

    "Tian Tian has been bullied to the point that she¡¯s on the verge of quitting the industry, and you guys treat her like this without any form ofpensation?"

    "The crew really put in a lot of effort though, this picture has been photoshopped really great?"

    "Hehe, don¡¯t talk nonsense if you¡¯re not a pro at this, this picture doesn¡¯t have a single trace of being edited. As for your Tian Tian, the picture that you guys posted at that time was the one that was photoshopped before!"

    The two types ofments kept popping up in the discussion, and soon it caught fire and raged on. Soon, it was pushed up to one of the top Weibo discussion lists.

    At the same time, Li Yu had shared the crew¡¯s Weibo¡¯s post.

    Li Yu: My sister, Princess Qixia, please take care of her, everyone ??

    This Weibo post immediately attracted all of Li Yu¡¯s crazy fans.

    As an actor that was well known for his looks and skills, Li Yu had tens of millions of fans following him, and these fans were those that were the die-hard loyal kind. Unlike other artistes on Weibo, all his posts were followed withments that were peaceful and in harmony.

    Seeing that the male god had posted such a post in Weibo, these fans immediately stood up to stand up for him. How strong were Li Yu¡¯s fans, you ask?

    It¡¯s hard to say, but seeing the fans of Jin Sitian abusing all the other fans in thements, the fans of Li Yu soon came in and swept them all away with their own scolding.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have many scenes, and the entire movie wasn¡¯t all that long either. When Jin Sitian was ying Princess Qixia, Cheng Zhou had done his best to shorten her screen time little by little, and finally was only left with just ten minutes. Now that he was extremely satisfied with the person ying Princess Qixia, he added back all the original screen time that she was meant to have. However, Princess Qixia was not a character in the novel that had many scenes in the first ce, and even with the adding back here and there, she only had a total of fifteen minutes screen time.

    In addition, the scenes of her against her opponent were Li Yu and Xiao Yun, and there was basically no need for retakes. Especially when she was shooting with Li Yubiao, which made the onlookers very satisfied with their performances when they were shooting.

    After two to three days on set, she had finished her part in the movie. When Cheng Zhou had asked her to register for a Weibo ount, she thought about it, and instead of using her real name, she used the cover name she had always been using.

    "Er Qiao, let¡¯s follow each other!" Xiao Yun said as she came over with her own official Weibo ount that thepany had registered for her.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and logged into her Weibo, and followed Xiao Yun¡¯s ount.

    "You already have two million fans?!" Xiao Yun eximed in surprise when she looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone screen. Her own Weibo only had tens of thousands of fans over the few days, and half of them were bought by thepany, while the other half were fans that came over from the crew¡¯s official Weibo.

    But Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo had just opened right? There were no posts, no news, even her homepage had nothing, and her avatar was still empty.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at her. "They all crowded over from Brother Li¡¯s Weibo. You can only say that his fans really are very strong and loyal."

    She was on the hot spot once in Weibo, when the two beautiful, amazing pictures made their appearance. She was on the top rankings and hot topics list in Weibo for the whole day, and got more than a million fans during that time. Adding on the post that Li Yu had posted, she gained another million followers from there.

    This really was a world where they only looked at your face.

    "And you and Senior Li are actually following each other!" Xiao Yun had flipped to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s following list, and there was an indicator that showed Li Yu was also following her back.

    Gu Xiqiao took her phone back and turned on the camera, switching it to the front camera. "Don¡¯t be so excited about it, let¡¯s take a selfie."

    Ka-chak!

    Gu Xiqiao took a selfie with Xiao Yun, and although she was only here for a short couple of days, she had been very happy. The people in the production crew were very friendly and warm, and so she took a group picture with them as she was leaving the set today.

    She also specially took a picture of her together with Cheng Zhou and Li Yu.

    Everybody on the production crew loved Gu Xiqiao. After all, who doesn¡¯t like a stunning beauty? What more, she had a very cute and lovable gorgeous bird, Xixi. Every person it called out to would either be ¡¯beauty¡¯ or ¡¯handsome¡¯, and it was very lively¡ªit¡¯s poprity was evenparable to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s.

    Even Cheng Zhou had been won over by it, and he couldn¡¯t resist adding a scene for Xixi in his movie.

    So for the first time after opening her Weibo ount two days ago, Gu Xiqiao finally posted something on it.

    For A Millenium: I¡¯m very happy and had fun during these two days, thank you everyone. [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    Because of her inner obsessivepulsive disorder, she made sure that the pictures were lined up neatly in a nine-square grid.

    The first picture was the selfie of her and Xiao Yun, followed by Li Yu, Cheng Zhou, Xixi, and then the rest of the crew.

    The fans who were following her refreshed their own feed to find a new post by her on Weibo, and suddenly their entire person was just crumbled onto themselves.

    "Ahhh! Goddess, you are my goddess! Your appearance without makeup is not the same as the princess, at all! But it¡¯s even more stunning and gorgeous than the princess!"

    "I can see the wonderful face of my godly Li just by following the goddess, GJ!"

    "Ahhh! You be quiet! Love is just one word! After so many years on the inte, I finally found my destiny!"

    "Ahhh! That bird is so so so so cute! Why do I get a feeling from its eyes that it¡¯s practically screaming ¡¯you petty mortals¡¯!"

    "The bird is a beauty, and the owner is even more beautiful."

    "The Princess Qixia that you brought to life and your normal photos are really on two different ends of the scale in differences, now I finally believe that you really were the one that yed Princess Qixia! You brought her soul to life! ADMIRATION!"

    "Other than Li Yu, you are the only other artiste that I admire."

    As this post on Weibo kept consistently gettingments from the fans, it ultimately ended up with Gu Xiqiao on the hot topic list once again.

    Seeing the tens of thousands ofments that Gu Xiqiao was getting every minute, Xiao Yun could only stare utterly dumbfoundedly at Gu Xiqiao.

    "Stop looking already, your manager is here." Gu Xiqiao kept away her phone when she saw a young man approaching them slowly. He was wearing gold-framed sses, with a refined appearance and a bright spark in his eyes.

    Xiao Yun nced over to what Gu Xiqiao was looking at, and then she lowered her voice and spoke to her, "I really can¡¯t believe that my manager has changed to Xiang Kun."

    Ever since the person in charge of Tang Enterprise mentioned that her manager¡¯s surname was Xiang, Xiao Yun felt weird. She knew that when she signed the contract, her manager¡¯s surname was Li, and was just an ordinary manager.

    And who was Xiang Kun? He was one of the golden top managers in Tang Enterprise!

    He had been the one to have brought in Li Yu! He didn¡¯t bring in many other artistes, but the ones that he did went on to being top of the line artistes, and even the lowest one he had was still a popr first-rate artiste.

    So when Xiang Kun appeared today, Xiao Yun felt as though she had been hit by a sledgehammer.

    "Xiao Yun, Director Cheng is calling for you." Xiang Kun said, his tone friendly and a warm smile on his face that could make anyone lower their guard.

    Xiao Yun bid Gu Xiqiao goodbye, and then she left.

    Xiang Kun didn¡¯t look at Gu Xiqiao until Xiao Yun left their sight. At first when he had been notified by thepany for this job, to babysit a newbie, he had refused. He had even gone all the way up to Tang Qingqiu, because although he was a manager in the Tang Enterprise, he was also a part of the management of it, and he was close to Tang Qingqiu.

    So when even Tang Qingqiu had requested his help to bring Xiao Yun around, he decided to give him face even though he was feeling dissatisfied about it. When he returned to the country and met with Xiao Yun, all those feelings disappeared.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s appearance and acting skills were far beyond the average level in the entertainment industry, with a little bit of polishing and a few good parts in great movies, the days when her poprity would boom wouldn¡¯t be too far, he thought.

    However, it was Gu Xiqiao that surprised him even more. "Are you sure you won¡¯t considering under my management?"

    Xiang Kun feltpletely unlike himself, other than Li Yu, this was the second time he was taking the initiative to try to reel in somebody, and the other party waspletely uncaring about him.

    "Aren¡¯t you good friends with Xiao Yun? Wouldn¡¯t it be great if the both of you could win an international award together?" He persuaded patiently. When he came to the set today, he was very satisfied watching Xiao Yun and Li Yu¡¯s scenes together, because Xiao Yun could hold herself well without being overwhelmed by Li Yu¡¯s intimidating aura, and her acting skills were fantastic.

    And then when he saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s scene with Li Yu, he was stunned speechless. She had improvised on the scenes with Li Yu on the spot! This was extremely difficult to do, even for the actress Song Guanjing.

    When he learned that Gu Xiqiao was a neer that hadn¡¯t sign on anypany nor had any managers, the calctive mind of his going a hundred miles an hour. However, when he mentioned this to her, the girl had lookedpletely indifferent.

    "Mr. Xiang, I¡¯m a med student. The entertainment industry is not suitable for me." Gu Xiqiao sighed, putting down her phone and looking at Xiang Kun with an indifferent expression.

    Xiang Kun¡¯s mouth twitched. "With such great acting skills? And a gorgeous appearance? You¡¯re practically born to be in this industry! And you¡¯re telling me you want to study medicine?!" Such a person who was born to be an actress actually said she wanted to study medicine, was there a mistake somewhere?!

    "A lot of people say the same thing," Gu Xiqiao replied, smiling.

    Shen Nianzhi had said that she was born to paint, Luo Weng had said that she was born to do finance, Xiao Yun and the others thought that she was more suitable for research, and today someone said that she was born to act. Later, when Yao Jiamu learned that she was promoted to Fleet Foot from her brush with lightning, he would say that she was born for ancient martial arts.

    "I¡¯m really not joking with you." Xiang Kun was unwilling to let such a gem go, he felt that Gu Xiqiao was deliberately being evasive. "Be under me, and by this time next year, you¡¯ll definitely be a superstar!"

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head, and looked at Xiang Kun, narrowing her eyes a little. "Mr. Xiang, have you not slept welltely? Especially at night, you can¡¯t really get a good sleep, or you¡¯ll wake up frequently after nightmares and can¡¯t go back to sleep, and you¡¯re now on medication?"

    They were just talking about entering the entertainment industry a second ago, and now the topic had switched to himself. Xiang Kun was taken aback, and the expression in his eyes changed quickly, closely looking at Gu Xiqiao now.

    He had been having insomnia symptoms for almost half a month now, and just yesterday he was still seeing a psychologist abroad.

    Although he felt that it was fine to not sleep so many hours in a day, because he felt that his mental powers were strong enough to endure it, the situation with his insomnia and nightmares still made him frustrated, and so he finally went for treatment with a psychologist.

    No one knew about his situation though, not even his family members.

    He didn¡¯t expect that Gu Xiqiao would be able to see through the entire matter in a moment, and it made him suspicious, had she been digging around for his information?"

    "Don¡¯t make that sort of expression." Gu Xiqiao smiled lightly when she saw his guarded face. "I¡¯m not interested in you at all, but I¡¯m just trying to prove to you that I¡¯m a med student. You have sort of discolored patches on your face, and it seems to be faint, but it¡¯s obvious that it¡¯s a recent development. You will find that the color is slightly redder than a normal person, which is a sign of heart problems; you are a little sluggish, although you behave in a spirited manner, your pupils are in a dted state. I think yourplexion is still fine, and you don¡¯t have any major problems in your body on usual days. Thinking about all your symptoms, it could only be insomnia and nightmares that cause you to be in this state. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s been about fourteen days since you¡¯ve had this problem, am I right?"

    Listening to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s detailed exnation, Xiang Kun waspletely dumbfounded, staring at her in a daze.

    Did she really know or was she blindly guessing? This was nothing short of amazing! The psychologist that he had been seeing couldn¡¯t even diagnose his symptoms clearly, and even the most sophisticated machines in the world couldn¡¯t help. How could she have known it so clearly by just looking at him?

    "You really know? Just after looking at me at a nce?" He continued to stare at Gu Xiqiao, the uncertainty and doubt was clear in his eyes, but his heart inside was wavering.

    Gu Xiqiao pulled out a string of obsidian bracelets from her pocket (actually it was from her Inventory) and rolled it around in her hands. "Have you forgotten the four traditional methods of Chinese medicine? Look, listen, question, and feel the pulse. The first is always ¡¯look¡¯."

    "You¡¯re studying traditional medicine?" Xiang Kun guessed, did she really know what he was sick with just a nce?

    "No, I¡¯m studying clinical medicine." Gu Xiqiao shook her head. She looked at Xiang Kun¡¯s twitching mouth, and immediately followed up with an exnation. "Although I study Western medicine, I¡¯m also good in Chinese medicine."

    Looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s earnest expression, Xiang Kun decided that her words were true. "It¡¯s okay even if you¡¯re studying medicine. You cane to the site asionally, treat it as a hobby. It¡¯s a huge loss to the industry to lose you. My upation is not just a manager, but because I love the industry, I also asionally bring in a few artistes in."

    Of course, once your poprity has been established and risen, then you would just be thrown to other managers or agents.

    "I will try." Gu Xiqiao said, touching her nose awkwardly.

    "That¡¯s right, since you¡¯re studying medicine and diagnosed my insomnia, what do you think of my condition? Can I still be saved?" He nced at Gu Xiqiao, his heart skipping a beat at the anticipation of her answer.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was solemn as she answered, "You¡¯re in a critical state."

    Xiang Kun: "..."

    "Just kidding, trying to ease the tension." Gu Xiqiao smiled as she passed the obsidian beads in her hands to him. "These are beads that I have soaked in various medicinal materials from my ancestors. Wear it on your hand to exorcise the evil spirits, I guarantee that you will have a good sleep."

    The system spirit looked up from what it was doing in the void, and said, [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯ve changed.]

    ¡¯How so?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao asked.

    [This was obviously something that you bought at a bargain from the system shop. You weren¡¯t like thisst time.]

    ¡¯People change.¡¯

    [I haven¡¯t, I¡¯ve been cute and I always will be~]

    ¡¯Humans.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao emphasized.

    The system spirit, who wasn¡¯t a human being: [...]

    Xiang Kun looked at the beads in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands that she was holding out to him, and from what he could see, it was just a string of ordinary beads. However, the beads were unusually ck, and when he squinted his eyes to take a closer look, he thought he could see purple lights running inside them. He knew then they weren¡¯t any ordinary beads.

    As he reached out to take it, a small red shadow suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

    The speed was too fast, and he couldn¡¯t bring himself to react at all, and the bracelet that he was reaching out for was snatched away by this red shadow.

    Piak!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand reached out to smack down the red shadow.

    Xiang Kun could only see the red shadow being smacked out of the air and onto the ground, and when he could see clearly again, he realized that it was just a red bird. Taking a closer look, he was surprised again¡ªWhy did the bird look like the mythical beast, the Vermillion Bird?!

    Being smack to the ground so mercilessly by Gu Xiqiao, Xixi felt aggrieved and refused to get up.

    "Chirp chirp chirp!" (Why are you giving this wonderful bracelet full of profound energy to this bitch in front of me!)

    Haha had a bowl, and it had nothing, it really waspletely unloved!

    Gu Xiqiao ignored it, bending over to pick up the beads and handing it over to Xiang Kun. "Sorry, my pet is quite naughty."

    Xiang Kun waved off her apology, but he resisted the urge to look at Xixi again. The bird really really looked like the Vermillion Bird, he couldn¡¯t help but think, there was just a slight difference, which was the size of it.

    The myths state that the Vermillion Bird was as big as a mountain.

    As soon as the beads made contact with his skin, he could feel a refreshing sensation spreading through his body. His head that felt slightly muddled was suddenly clear, and the mild throbbing headache that he didn¡¯t even realize he consistently had was also gone, and a realization came across his face as he stared at Gu Xiqiao in undisguised surprise. However, Gu Xiqiao merely picked Xixi up as she lectured it, apletely harmless expression on her delicate face, as though she didn¡¯t know that her bracelet had such a powerful effect at all.

    The crew that was cheerful and lively suddenly plugged into an awkward silence, most of them had shut their mouth, looking at the main entrance with an indecisive manner whether or not to look.

    Xiang Kun was still holding the beads in his hand, and was staring dumbfounded at the entrance. This was a really dumbfounded stare, he swore that he had never been so surprised in his life!

    After being friends with Tang Qingqiu for so long, he obviously had the honor to meet Jiang Shuxuan once. He was apletely mysterious existence, and even his own family hardly saw him. So Xiang Kun couldn¡¯t believe that he was able to see his idol again? And why was he here?!

 Chapter 139 Gone Crazy From Trying To Be Popular

    <h4>Chapter 139 Gone Crazy From Trying To Be Popr</h4>

    The person walking slowly from the door had his head lowered, but you were still able to make out the delicate and elegant features on him. The crisp white shirt that was buttoned all the way up to his neck, cuffs rolled up revealing slender arms, and his back was tall and straight. He walked a few steps before stopping, raising his eyes to scan the people around him, as though looking for a specific person.

    When he raised his head, the deep, dark onyx eyes that were revealed made people feel like they had fallen into a dark pit of snow and ice when they looked into them.

    From the first day Gu Xiqiao hade to the set for filming, every single person here hade to know Jiang Shuxuan. Generally, the stage crew wouldn¡¯t allow any onlookers during the shooting, but for him, none of the crew members dared to drive him out.

    I mean, look at him. From the strands of his hair down to his fingernails, what part of him didn¡¯t scream out a wealthy and aristocratic aura?!

    However, this person looked cold and his personality was even colder, but he was also extremely polite, not disturbing anyone on the set. Sometimes, if it wasn¡¯t for actually seeing him in person around the stage, everyone wouldn¡¯t have remembered his presence as they couldn¡¯t feel him, and that was an extremely mysterious thing.

    He was obviously a man that was as stunning as an ancient picture, a man who would catch the eyes of everyone with the light he radiated around his person, and yet they could sometimes ignore him subconsciously?

    This was a problem, and it was a problem that everyone present couldn¡¯t solve.

    Xiang Kun finally came to his senses, watching the man making his way through the set slowly. He was so excited that he could barely hold the beads that were in his hands properly. They say that sometimes when a person is excited, they tend to share it with the person nearest to them.

    Gu Xiqiao was another person that Xiang Kun particrly admired today, and he couldn¡¯t restrain his excitement. "Do you see that, that! That is a true god! Sigh, why am I even telling you this, you surely don¡¯t know who he is, even I¡¯ve not seen him more than a handful of times."

    He recalled that she wasn¡¯t someone from the ancient martial arts world.

    "Ah! He¡¯s looking over here! He¡¯s heading here!" Xiang Kun got even more excited when he saw Jiang Shuxuan pause at the door, and walked in, realizing that it wasn¡¯t a mistake that this was the ce he meant toe!

    And then he suddenly thought, why would Jiang Shuxuane here? The people around here should have nothing to do with him, then his eyesnded on Li Yu, who was still in the middle of shooting and realized. ¡¯Ah, he must be here to see Li Yu.¡¯

    If you were to talk about the people who had the slightest bit of connection with Jiang Shuxuan here, there would only be Li Yu.

    It was hard to me Xiang Kun for being so excited, it was difficult enough to see Jiang Shuxuan once in your life after all. In The Forum, you could see that as long as there was news about him, it could stay on the homepage for many days. Thest time when a shot of his back was taken in the Jiang family house, the post was still hot and still going strong.

    The production crew paused for a while, and then they recovered, going back to what they were doing before, taking props, applying makeup and the like.

    Xixi could feel Master Jiang approaching, and so it flew up immediately to perch on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder obediently, in an effort to show that his position in his pce would not be shaken.

    At this time, Xiang Kun suddenly felt the chilling pressure that Jiang Shuxuan exuded disappear entirely, and you wouldn¡¯t even see him if you didn¡¯t have your attention on his person.

    And then he was stunned again, when he saw Jiang Shuxuan heading in their direction, instead of towards Li Yu like he originally thought.

    Two meters, one meter...

    He passed him!

    "Are there any more scenes to be shot?" The past few days when Gu Xiqiao had been filming, he would always take the time toe here to watch. ording to his own words, he liked to watch her in action while she was filming. It was only because today there was some progress on Sun Jiajia in the Special Defense Force, so he had to leave for a while.

    Gu Xiqiao put away her phone into her pocket and looked at him, blinking. "I¡¯m done with all my parts."

    There was only about ten minutes in the entire movie of her scenes anyway, and she had been filming for about three days. From her own estimation about what she knew about the industry, that was more than enough time.

    Hearing that, Jiang Shuxuan felt regretful. He wouldn¡¯t have gone back to look into the matters if he had known that today was thest of her scenes.

    After Xiao Yun finished her current scene, she came over. "Er Qiao, there¡¯s a end-of-shoot feast tonight, are you going?"

    She came to pass a message from the director.

    "Pass on my thanks to the director and the crew, I¡¯ll not be going." She was just the third female lead, it wasn¡¯t like it was very significant.

    Xiao Yun knew that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t really like crowds, so she had already guessed that she wouldn¡¯t want to go.

    Xiang Kun finally snapped out of his daze at this time, and he nced at Jiang Shuxuan, before to Gu Xiqiao, who was smiling cutely and at the same time beautifully. He felt like he was looking on the scene from outside of his body, and he had even wanted to pretend as though he had something to discuss with Li Yu just to try to be closer with Jiang Shuxuan, who would have expected that Jiang Shuxuan had simplye to find Gu Xiqiao instead!

    Gu Xiqiao was packing her things up, and suddenly seemed to remember something. She looked at the beads in Xiang Kun¡¯s hands. "Remember the hand that takes the possessions of others is shortened[1], Mr. Xiang."

    "What do I need to do?" Xiang Kun felt his own mouth move without much thought, a mechanical voiceing out.

    Gu Xiqiao became serious suddenly. "I¡¯m bribing you to take good care of our Xiao Yun, she will be relying on you in her future path."

    Xiang Kun: Can you not say bribery so openly.

    Before he could react, the two people in front of him had vanished from his sight.

    "Wake up!" Cheng Zhou saw that Jiang Shuxuan had gone, and he patted Xiang Kun on the shoulder. He and Xiang Kun had worked together many times, and two were close. "You seem to know that person?"

    "How can I not know?" Xiang Kun replied, still slightly in a daze. In the ancient martial arts world, who didn¡¯t know the famous Jiang Shuxuan? But there wasn¡¯t any need to borate about that here. "That Gu Xiqiao, do you know her?"

    Among the ancient martial arts world, he had never heard of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name, it was as if she had appeared out of nowhere.

    At first, he had thought that she was that famous little demon girl, but that girl was supposed to be training in the tower recently, and she was also from a branch family of the Jiangs, so her surname was definitely not Gu?

    Although Xiang Kun was a manager in the entertainment industry, that was just something he did on the side. Cheng Zhou was also aware that his identity was something moreplicated than just a simple manager, and he also knew that Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity was something he shouldn¡¯t get involved in, so he didn¡¯t ask much about it.

    ***

    Xiang Kun took the obsidian bracelet and returned home. In the beginning, he didn¡¯t have much expectation towards the beads that Gu Xiqiao had given him. But after seeing Jiang Shuxuan, he was slightly more anticipating. Since she was a girl that was together with Jiang Shuxuan, she wouldn¡¯t be just a simple girl now, would she?

    He only came to realize how terrifying the power of the bracelet was when he was preparing for bed that night, he had taken it off to take a bath, but the instant the beads left his skin, an invisible pressure pressed down on him, making him unable to breathe through it all of a sudden.

    With a flushed face as he struggled to catch his breath, he grabbed the bracelet, and as soon as he touched it, the pressure lifted as suddenly as it came.

    He could only stare at the bracelet in his hands with an astonished look on his face.

    ***

    "Didn¡¯t you say that you had problems sleepingst time? Tell me about it, I¡¯ll work on it before I return to theb again." In the office, Zhu Yuan yawned as he looked towards Xiang Kun.

    "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s been resolved." Xiang Kun said, touching the obsidian beads on his wrist.

    Zhu Yuan rolled his eyes. "Were you just pulling my leg?"

    He had been holed up inside A University¡¯sb these days. If it weren¡¯t for Xiang Kun, he wouldn¡¯t have wanted to leave it in the first ce.

    "This time I really wasn¡¯t," Xiang Kun replied,ughing a little. "I met somewhat of an expert and she managed to solve it. She seemed to be involved with the Jiang family too, are you interested to know?" He smirked, with a face that clearly said ¡¯if you want to know, then beg me for it¡¯ as he looked at Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s mind was fully upied with experiments and cell fusion, and he wasn¡¯t the least curious. Xiang Kun could hold his breath and wait all he wanted.

    Tang Qingqiu took a sip of tea as he nced at Zhu Yuan. "Have you managed to hook up with some beauties these days?" It looked like his entire body had been sucked dry.

    "Isn¡¯t that a far cry from facts? Do I look like that kind of person?" Although he obviously liked beautiful women, he was still very clean thank you very much.

    "Or, could it be...?" Tang Qingqiu raised an eyebrow.

    "Of course not. I recently met a like-minded medical genius who actually managed to work out cell fusion... Sigh, it¡¯s not like you would understand even if I exined it to you. The knowledge in it has far surpassed our current medical knowledge." Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help but let out a heavy sigh at this, he hadn¡¯t left A University¡¯sbs in four days now.

    But when he thought about Gu Xiqiao, he hadn¡¯t seen her in the time he was at A University. Catching a glimpse of her was harder than climbing the sky, and he finally understood Professor Jiang¡¯s hardship and helplessness.

    Such a medically gifted and talented student, and yet sozy. Even he was hard-pressed not to just open her head to take a peek inside her brains.

    Hearing Zhu Yuan¡¯splimenting tone was the first for Tang Qingqiu, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel a little curious. "You¡¯re feeling inferior to her?"

    "Yes, definitely. I have seen what is most definitely the most talented person in my life, and I feel that if my master was still around, he would happily throw me away in exchange to take her in as his disciple instead." The more Zhu Yuan thought about it, the higher the possibility was. With Rong Feishuang¡¯s temperament, meeting azy bum like Gu Xiqiao, he would certainly have his share of fun with her if he took her as his disciple.

    Speaking about talents, Xiang Kun also had something to say about it. "You don¡¯t say, I met a very talented person on set yesterday, but she doesn¡¯t even want to consider entering the entertainment industry!"

    His own hobby and interest were to bring in artistes that caught his eyes, but Gu Xiqiao refused to cooperate, and Xiang Kun was still feeling depressed about the entire thing.

    "Is it... Xiao Yun?" Tang Qingqiu thought for a while, before recalling the name was something like that, right?

    "No, it¡¯s her friend." Xiang Kun thought about the obsidian beads that she had given him, and felt that her identity was still not something that was simple. She had to be a descendant of some master, a kind of existence that would make waves in the ancient martial arts world. That would most likely be the reason that she wasn¡¯t interested in the small entertainment industry circle, he could understand that. However, it was still such a heartbreaking thing.

    Her friend? Tang Qingqiu thought hard about it, but he could only think of Gu Xiqiao. But seeing the look on Xiang Kun¡¯s face which indicated that he didn¡¯t want to talk more about it, he let the topic drop.

    He would just go and ask Jiang Shuxuan about it another day, he was very curious about Miss Gu anyway.

    The three of them were unaware, the subject of their topic seemed to bepletely unrted, but it was all centered on the same person.

    ***

    Currently, the subject of their topic was sitting at home, scrolling through Weibo.

    Gu Xiqiao had almost three million fans and followers on her Weibo now, and that was in just a few days. Of course, Li Yu¡¯s contribution to that fanbase couldn¡¯t be overlooked. And obviously, it was because of her own good looks that she could get the fans, otherwise, they probably wouldn¡¯t even bother about her.

    The new post that she had made about the production crew also already had about seven to eighty thousandments under it.

    Being warm and gentle to her own fans, Gu Xiqiao pointed and took a few pictures of Haha. When Xixi saw this, it immediately went to photobomb and wrestled for the spotlight.

    And so the result of the picture was like this: A dog as white as a freshly fallenyer of snow that was not as great as those purebreds out there, but when its ck beady eyes looked over, it was sparkling like a thousand gems. When you look at them, it is incredibly full of life and joy. Because it just drank some water, its nose was moist, and its eyes looked adorably pitiful, making people not able to resist reaching out to touch their screen, as though by doing so they could touch the real thing.

    On top of the dog¡¯s head sat a small ming red bird, and the red was vivid in contrast against Haha¡¯s white fur. It had grabbed onto a wful of fur, striking a handsome pose.

    "Ahhh! So cute and adorable! I really want to bite them!"

    "Wuuuuu, do you still need some dogs in the house, beautiful? Those that are well behaved and educated, and ain¡¯t picky with food, those kind?"

    "No selfie, bad review! PS: Dogs are cute, but birds are another level of noble and majestic!"

    "Hehe, it¡¯s just a mongrel breed and you guys are falling over yourselves over it? Our Zixian is a L?wchen breed, and that is what I call good-looking. Really don¡¯t understand your peasant mind and eyes!"

    "I heard that a L?wchen is very expensive, she¡¯s just a neer, I don¡¯t think she got that much cash to throw."

    Thesements were quickly swept away by the fans that were enraged over it. So what if it¡¯s a mongrel? Mongrels and local breeds will eat your food, drink your water, and sleep in the bed in your house! Mongrels are the local dog of our country China!

    Although it was just a mongrel, it was very lively and spirited, and its small size was adorable. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t have attracted the likes of so many people.

    Soon, a pro came to deliver a p in their faces. "Pay attention to the rice bowl next to the dog. The outside is brightly zed, the body is white and delicate, and the porcin seems dense. The ze is also even and clean, it reflects the light off very nicely. It¡¯s definitely the official kiln of the Qing Dynasty, and I guarantee it¡¯s worth at least three million if it goes out on the market."

    Using an antique as a dog¡¯s bowl?! What kind of insanity was this? The onementer who had mocked Gu Xiqiao slinked away in shame after thatment, and the next day, Gu Xiqiao was once again on the list of hot topics again.

    This was not just your regr dog.

    The first thing the people who click into the link saw was the white, snowy fur, and then they were subsequently blinded by the dog bowl.

    And then they would go over to the original post from Weibo¡¯s front page, and these people would all leave the samements:

    "Beautiful, do you stillck some dogs in your house? How about those who are educated and well behaved? Don¡¯t need any wages, just a bowl like that?"

    The more popr a person got, the more unnatural and weirder people would appear. Those that came to her profile also saw her previous Weibo post, and some of them couldn¡¯t help but feel sour at it.

    "A neer who just wants to ride Li Yu¡¯s tailcoat, it¡¯s not like we see Li Yu taking care of you personally, and you even expose your dog¡¯s picture. You even dare to show off an ugly mongrel? Have you gone crazy from trying hard to be popr?"

    [1] A Chinese idiom that roughly means that if you receive a gift from someone, you would find it hard to reject a favor from them when they ask for it.

 Chapter 140 Shocking Mutuals Lis

    <h4>Chapter 140 Shocking Mutuals Lis</h4>

    That nastyment posted was immediately replied. "Didn¡¯t you see the promotional pictures of her in ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯? Didn¡¯t you see Li Yu¡¯s Weibo post about it? I think you¡¯re the one who¡¯s gone crazy trying to be popr!"

    "Hehe, I thought that that dog bowl would be able to exin everything."

    "Right? She¡¯s just a newbie posting Li Yu¡¯s picture, riding on his coattails. If you can, then why not ask Li Yu to post another post, huh?"

    "The movie isn¡¯t even out yet and it¡¯s so popr already,e and exin the backstory of the newbie, won¡¯t you @ck Dog Entertainment Circle"

    With the banter going back and forth, the topic of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was once again bumped up in a short few minutes, into the top three trending again.

    Cheng Zhouughed when he saw that. "That¡¯s good, we can save money on buying traffic to get into those top spots now."

    Gu Xiqiao had fanned the fire twice now, bringing ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ to appear twice on the trending list, making them appear at the top of the hot search when people clicked on their name. In the past, the production crew would have to spend a sum of money to buy traffic to bump their post up into the trending list, it wasn¡¯t as easy to get bumped up so simply as it was these days.

    ***

    Xu Qing was an assistant to the makeup artist on ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, and she would usually browse through Weibo when she had nothing to do. Today, she clicked into the profile of her newly worshipped goddess and found a cute dog picture looking back at her. She then scrolled to thements, seeing that it started out normal and fine, but then the direction changed suddenly within a span of a few minutes.

    "Using underhanded methods to do away with a popr actress like Jin Sitian, do you dare to use your real name, For A Millenium? Or are you afraid of being embarrassed once you don¡¯t have a nickname to hide behind?"

    "You dare to ride on Li Yu¡¯s coattails? Are you aware of your own status? Making trouble like this in the entertainment circle, your kind of people should get kicked out of it immediately!"

    "A newbie should be aware of your own ce as a newbie."

    Xu Qing scanned through the rest of thements quickly and found that thetestments were all along the same lines, and the speed of each one was fast, one after another being posted. She instantly realized that someone must have hired some Inte Water Army[1] to badmouth Gu Xiqiao, how could this be tolerated?!

    This matter already involved a wide range of people, and knowing that Xiao Yun was a neer who had the backing of Tang Enterprise, as well as having a good rtionship with Gu Xiqiao, she approached her first.

    "Miss Xiao, have a look at this." When she found Xiao Yun, she was busy memorizing her lines.

    Taking the phone from Xu Qing¡¯s hand, Xiao Yun¡¯s eyes were drawn to the headline at a nce, "Let¡¯s talk about the newbie who chased away Jin Sintian, absolute insider info!".

    Standing up abruptly, the chair she was sitting on ttered to the ground loudly. Xiao Yun¡¯s face was ck. Gu Xiqiao had joined the movie and production crew because of her, she needed to resolve this matter properly. She would not let Gu Xiqiao receive any grievances. "Director Cheng, is there still a copy of the recording the other day, I need it."

    Cheng Zhou was in a discussion with Li Yu, and when he heard Xiao Yun¡¯s words, he was taken aback. "What¡¯s the matter?"

    "Please take a look at this." Xiao Yun said, showing him the post and headlines on the phone.

    Seeing the topic title and content, Cheng Zhou was astonished. Hadn¡¯t this matter already been settled and done with? Those people have already converted fully to be Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans, and just yesterday he wasmenting how good she was at attracting a huge number of fans. How did it turn into something like this so suddenly today?

    He swiped to look at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s first Weibo post on her page, and the number ofments had already reached two hundred thousand, and that was an extremely abnormal amount.

    Scrolling down to see thements that were mocking her, he noted that a lot of them were newly made ounts. Cheng Zhou then realized that someone was deliberately trashing Gu Xiqiao.

    These were all those scums who wanted justice for Jin Sitian, and many people who didn¡¯t know the story behind this had already started to boycott the production crew of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯.

    Cheng Zhou immediately pulled the recordings of the surveince the other day to reveal the truth, but to his horror, only that particr one was unable to be yed back, while the others were all fine.

    It wasn¡¯t only Cheng Zhou that felt something was wrong now, even Xiao Yun knew that somebody powerful was pulling the strings behind the scene.

    Li Yu was standing to the side, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Miss Gu doesn¡¯t have any contract with anypanies, and for Tang Enterprise to handle this matter wouldn¡¯t be nice either. However, the person behind the scenes is hidden very well, we can¡¯t handle this alone."

    The Weibo post had risen to a new level of poprity in the trending and hot topics list, and countless people were asking for an exnation from the production crew.

    Even the official Weibo of the movie didn¡¯t escape this disaster.

    At this time, Li Yu, who has tens of millions of fans, suddenly reposted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s recent Weibo post.

    (Verified)[2] Li Yu: Looking forward to working with you again. @For A Millenium [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    Those people who had posted and supported thement "Right? She¡¯s just a newbie posting Li Yu¡¯s picture, riding on his coattails. If you can, then why not ask Li Yu to post another post, huh?" was given a literal p in the face with this, and for a while, they were stumped on how to continue their n.

    The actor had blindsided them with this, and Li Yu was not the same as Gu Xiqiao, he had countless die-hard fans. These people dared to nder Gu Xiqiao on her Weibo, but they didn¡¯t dare to do the same to Li Yu, because they would definitely be shred to pieces by Li Yu¡¯s fans.

    They didn¡¯t understand why Li Yu would suddenly repost Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo post, and with such a familiar tone too!

    In contrast to those assholes, Li Yu¡¯s fans had once again climbed over to the original post from Li Yu¡¯s Weibo.

    "So blessed, OP (original poster) is so beautiful, isn¡¯t she literally a match for our God Li? Ptui, I shouldn¡¯t have this kind of thoughts! I¡¯m the one destined for Li Yu, I will recite this a hundred times!"

    "I don¡¯t care, I will like whatever my god likes, no matter how much you nder her, I will believe in my god!"

    "Have you seen the Weibo post by OP? There¡¯s a live God Li inside there, ahhhhh, are they on set? Why do I get so much loving feels from it?!"

    And so, the topic that was on fire and unstoppable was toppled over just like that.

    Li Yu Official Fan Group, General Supervisor: Everyone has worked hard, please hold on for another night. If there are still trollers then mow them down with no mercy, our god has been single for thirty years, and there¡¯s finally some headway, we will not be defeated by those evil forces!

    White Jade: Thinking about how he was sick and alone in his house makes my heart break!

    Green Jade: Hihihi, although I love our male god, I hope that he will be healthy and well, he¡¯s so hot and warm...

    ***

    Li Yu¡¯s fans were all loyal, and this was probably the reason why Li Yu was extremely tolerant and caring towards his fans usually, and his fans were also far more sensible than some of those without brains.

    However, ck Dog Entertainment Circle suddenly posted a new Weibo post.

    (Verified) ck Dog Entertainment Circle: Regarding the truth about the newbie who bullied Jin Sitian, at 8 am tomorrow, we¡¯ll expose the entire truth, just wait for it!

    This post instantly attracted the attention of many people, and they were looking forward to it, vibrating with excitement as they waited for the long night to pass, wanting to know the truth behind that Weibo post.

    ***

    As for the development of this matter, the omnipotent system had already broadcasted the entire thing to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao went upstairs to grab herptop. "Why are you so excited?"

    The system replied faintly, [Probably because I don¡¯t really love you today.]

    Gu Xiqiao was silent a while, before replying thoughtfully, ¡¯Oh, so we actually had some love between us?¡¯

    [...]

    It felt an ominous foreboding feeling that something was going to go badly for someone, most likely for it.

    "I¡¯m just wondering how we havee to this, how did wee to this extent today? Where did the cute, adorable system go?"

    [...]

    Gu Xiqiao let out a heavy sigh. "Little system, I think the remaining five thousand points should be used to let Brother Jiang advance his level..."

    [Master! I yield!] The system spirit gave a pitiful crying face as it raised its head, admitting defeat.

    Pausing for a while, Gu Xiqiao smiled lightly. ¡¯Good system.¡¯

    After grabbing herptop, Gu Xiqiao received a call from Xiao Yun while she was upstairs.

    "Er Qiao, I¡¯m not really sure how to handle this matter, and I¡¯m discussing it with Mr. Xiang. He¡¯s been in the entertainment circle for a long time, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll have a way." No matter how mature Xiao Yun¡¯s acting skills were, she was still just a girl who wasn¡¯t even twenty-years-old yet. Being able to remain calm after facing such a chaotic mess was already considered to be not bad.

    Gu Xiqiao chucked. "The most important thing for you is to focus on making a great movie right now, I can manage the rest by myself, don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll contact Director Cheng, I have my ways too."

    Xiao Yun opened her mouth to reply to that, but she couldn¡¯t think of anything else to say. Gu Xiqiao was growing step by step, Wu Hongwen and herself needed to do some growing up too, otherwise, the chance of all of them standing together would be slim, right?

    Wu Hongwen has already begun to familiarize himself with his family business, and had started working hand in hand with Yao Jiamu. The entire underground in the Imperial Capital had been dominated by the two of them.

    She was the only one left that felt that she was still standing in the same ce that they had all started at, not moving forward at all.

    Having no mood to look at her script, she picked up her phone to swipe through thetest developments of the mess they were caught up in. Scrolling through Li Yu¡¯s Weibo, she was surprised to find that the situation had eased up a lot. Li Yu¡¯s fans had really yed their role well.

    After browsing through a bit more, Xiao Yun finally felt her heart settled down a bit more.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao held theptop in one hand as she typed with the other. "System, is this the only way to restore the recording?"

    [In theory, yes.] The system spirit blinked rapidly. [But you could probably find another way to do it, thest decryption route you gave Yu Ning is a good breakthrough point for that.]

    Seeing those slender white fingers dance over the keyboard, the system spirit suddenly felt nostalgic. When it had just returned to reality with Gu Xiqiaost time, their second mission was to help Jiang Shuxuan retrieve his stolen files. At that time, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know anything about hackers, and now she was able to hack into the surveince of the Studio City all by herself, and even restore the destroyed recording.

    She was growing slowly but surely, and there were lesser things that she needed to rely on the system for as time went by.

    The system spirit hugged its legs tightly to itself. This was also one of the reasons for its bad mood recently, it was afraid that there woulde a day when Beauty Qiao would no longer need it.

    "Done!" Gu Xiqiao managed to restore the scrambled portion of the recording, ensuring the audio and video quality was clear enough that people wouldn¡¯t be able to find any ws in it.

    She opened the video, watching it once to have ast check, and then she zipped it up, prepared to send it to Director Cheng.

    Then, she was suddenly struck by an interest to find out who was actually the one who was ndering her. Logically speaking, Jin Sitian didn¡¯t pose much threat to her, so who else in the entertainment circle had beef with her?

    She didn¡¯t even know whether the other party had the means to pay the price of ndering her.

    Gu Xiqiao followed the traces of the tampering in the surveince recordings, and managed to touch the surface of the host. It seemed that the other person was also aputer expert, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy the recording without any physical presence in the ce in the first ce. The person had used a fictitious IP, but their capabilities weren¡¯t even one-tenth of Yu Ning¡¯s, and Gu Xiqiao managed to crack down on them fairly quickly.

    Taking over the other person¡¯sputer without any feelings of guilt, she turned on the webcam and was faced with two faces that she had never seen before.

    Gu Xiqiao nced once, and then tilted her head in confusion. "What did I ever do to these people?"

    [Maybe they¡¯re just jealous of your beauty.] The system spirit also took one nce, and thought that was a convincing reason.

    Why, thank you so very much for your praise!

    The matter may be moreplicated than she thought, Gu Xiqiao felt that she hadn¡¯t offended the other party before. Knowing that she would have to investigate further, she massaged her temples in slight annoyance, and proceeded to send the surveince video to Cheng Zhou.

    ***

    In Tang Enterprise, Tang Qingqiu stood in front of the ss windows that covered the entire walls, listening to his assistant¡¯s report.

    "You said that Cheng Zhou has already managed to get his hands on the surveince recording?" Tang Qingqiu raised an eyebrow at the information, feeling surprised. When he had investigated thest time, he had secretly given a call to the surveince team in Studio City, and basically no one else knew about it. The initial n was to announce the video tomorrow morning using the Tang Enterprise name, making it a favor for Jiang Shuxuan at the same time, but Cheng Zhou seemed to already be one step ahead of them. "Didn¡¯t the administrator say he couldn¡¯t restore the video?"

    "That¡¯s what they said," Qin Heng replied, taking off his sses. "But have you forgotten thepany that you¡¯ve had your eyes on recently, the one that had gone head to head with the Bai family?"

    "You¡¯re talking about... Nine Heavens?" Tang Qingqiu asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

    Qin Heng smiled in reply and continued, "They can bring out even the most impossible things like virtual helmets, and even n to have a virtual world to y the game in, there has to be no shortage of talentedputer geniuses in there. I heard a while back that God Lo has disappeared after returning to China, and I think that Nine Heavens have recruited him into theirpany. Based on his capabilities, how big of an issue is restoring a video in his hands?"

    "So you¡¯re saying that Cheng Zhou has some connections to Nine Heavens?" There was some merit in that thought, and it was interesting too. Tang Qingqiu knew that Nine Heavens is a newpany, but they were aloof and reserved. There were only so fewpanies that managed to obtain a partnership with them in the Imperial Capital.

    Seeing the sparkle in Tang Qingqiu¡¯s eyes, Qin Heng was secretly puking blood inside his heart. Don¡¯t think that by pretending to be tall, dignified and majestic that you can hide everything under a lid. Qin Heng was already well aware that Tang Qingqiu secretly yed the game, ¡¯Nine Heavens¡¯. Not only does he y the game, there was even a luxurious virtual helmet in his break room!

    Although these thoughts were running in his mind, Qin Heng maintained his respectful image on the surface. "But maybe it¡¯s not Cheng Zhou that has the connection with Nine Heavens."

    "Oh?" Tang Qingqiu probed, raising his eyebrow again. His face had doubts on it, why would Nine Heavens give their assistance for free if he didn¡¯t have any connections to them? Thepany didn¡¯t seem to be the generous kind.

    "Miss Gu." Qin Heng took out his mobile, flipping it to Weibo. "She and the official Weibo of Nine Heaves are following each other."

    They followed each other? Tang Qingqiu took the offered phone, a surprise evident on his face. It wasn¡¯t because of their mutual following that stunned him, it was the name that Gu Xiqiao was using...

    For A Millenium!

    Hold up, something¡¯s not quite right here.

    Tang Qingqiu nced up at Qin Heng, asking quietly, "Tell me again, what¡¯s the new artiste name that Xiang Kun had signed on?"

    "Xiao Yun," Qin Heng replied easily, wondering why this topic was brought up suddenly.

    "Xiao Yun." Tang Qingqiu repeated the name several times in his head, and as though he had thought of something, he dismissed Qin Heng distractedly.

    Unsure of what kind of wacky idea his boss had suddenly thought of, Qin Heng nodded lightly, thinking that there was nothing else to be discussed, he left the office, returning to his own office, once again ving away his soul to this abominable capitalist.

    ***

    The next morning, ck Dog Entertainment Circle who threatened to expose everything yesterday posted a new video.

    (Verified) ck Dog Entertainment Circle: This is the newbie who¡¯s climbing up the ranks and getting more and more popr, all I can say is, Jin Sitian and her assistant are really pitiful. Link: Video Address

    As soon as this Weibo post was posted, there were tens of thousands ofments in a few seconds. Thements were mainly talking about how arrogant For A Millenium was, and she had bullied Jin Sitian, and how Jin Sitian, as a neer without any backer had been pitifully chased out of the production crew.

    In the video, it disyed the moment when Jin Sitian stormed out from the crew. Her face was pale and extremely miserable, arousing the sympathy of countlessizens in an instant. People who didn¡¯t know the full truth, were easily led astray by this scene.

    Most of the people who were just passing by started to head to the official Weibo of "Empire Under Siege" to leave scoldingments, demanding exnations from them, and some evenmanded for the crew to take Jin Sitian back into the movie, and chase For A Millenium off instead.

    ***

    However, the production crew of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ didn¡¯t seem the least worried or anxious about the situation at all.

    Cheng Zhou sat calmly in the set area, sipping on his tea as he watched Xiao Yun and Li Yu act out their scene together. He leisurely waited for time to pass, up till the clock struck noon, when their official Weibo had already garnered close to two million fans, then he sent out the video serenely, not even typing anything in his post.

    After posting the video, he was even more at peace. Yesterday, when Gu Xiqiao had sent him the video, he had overturned a cup of tea in astonishment. He had initially thought that they were in a dilemma without the video, and he didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to hand him such a surprise out of nowhere. This feeling simply felt like he was riding on someone else¡¯s coattail, and it felt surprisingly good.

    Theizens online kept postingments under that Weibo post, right until the official Weibo of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ released a video.

    They continued to curse as they opened the video, before getting stunned at what they saw. It was obviously a surveince recording, disying a middle-aged man who clearly looked like a vile character who got into a position of power, and had be conceited and arrogant by the way he carried himself.

    "Director Cheng, I¡¯m sure Mr. Tian¡¯s secretary has already informed you yesterday that he will make an additional investment of twenty million into this drama as long as Xiao Yun is off the cast. Otherwise, he will withdraw his one hundred million investment."

    The video went on to also show Jin Sitian, whose face was slightly distorted. "Why are you still here?! Where¡¯s Director Cheng! Get him here!!"

    And finally, it also disyed the appearance of Qin Heng and the happenings after that.

    The entire video was not long at all, just about two minutes, but it was enough for everyone to open their eyes to the actual truth behind it.

    "So, it¡¯s obvious that this was Jin Sitian abusing her power to bully someone else, but the tables were turned on her instead?"

    "It¡¯s just Jin Sitian and her assistant that is so two-faced! If it were me, I wouldn¡¯t let those kinds of people be in the cast!"

    "I can¡¯t believe that Jin Sitian debuted an image of a dignified actress, but then she has a bad temper behind that face. Listening to her tone, she seems to be proud of having a sugar daddy behind her?!"

    "I feel sorry for that newbie. Have you guyspletely forgotten about For A Millenium? That means that she¡¯s innocent in the entire thing okay?"

    "+1, she obviously didn¡¯t do anything, but everyone and everything has been bombarding her with shit that can probablyst for thirteen generations of her family. There were more than four hundred thousand people on Weibo harassing her and scolding her. If it happened to me, I definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it..."

    "Looking at her pictures, she doesn¡¯t seem to be any older than seventeen or eighteen too. Hey keyboard warriors, are you guys really trying to kill a youngdy in her prime?"

    At thatment, it turned into a reflection and repentance of countless people who had harassed or abused Gu Xiqiao. They crawled back to her Weibo, leavingments of apologies and everything else along the same lines.

    ***

    The person behind ck Dog Entertainment Circle was a young man. He had painstakingly got to where he was today, managing this ount in this position. Yesterday, he had received an anonymous call, sending him a video to broadcast today. After thinking about it, he thought that it would bring him up into the top ten among the celebrities by doing it.

    He didn¡¯t expect the tables to turn like this today?!

    He dialed back the number that had called him, and started shooting questions the moment it was answered.

    There was a female voice on the other end who answered, and she was silent for a while before replying, "I¡¯ll transfer the agreed amount of money to your ount either way, that¡¯s all then."

    Bang!

    ck Dog Entertainment Circle instantly threw the phone down, shattering it on the floor. Money? Was this a problem of money? He had been running this ount for close to eight years, gathering over seven million fans and the entire thing was burned now. F*cking hell, he grabbed his hair in frustration, feeling the regret overwhelming him.

    ***

    Because of this turmoil, many of those who had first ndered Gu Xiqiao had now be her die-hard fans, and the ount For A Millenium had reached almost four million fans.

    She had only been on Weibo for a few days, and has close to four million fans, she definitely was the luckiest newbie ever.

    Then one die-hard fan suddenly came to a realization.

    "I just suddenly realized that having attention as a beauty is scary as hell..."

    "When you say it like that, I also feel the same..."

    The fans had been converted by others who had been bragging about Gu Xiqiao came back after going through her friend list. "..."

    "What¡¯s up? Was there anything weird in her list?" Some of the others didn¡¯t understand their silence.

    "Cheng Zhou, the extraordinarily talented director with the strangest temperament; Sister Yu, a well known makeup artist in the entertainment circle; Li Yu, a top notch actor... it¡¯s not that strange to have these people on her mutual friend list."

    "But! Look at the others, Nine Heavens, it¡¯s Nine Heavens, you know?! Don¡¯t tell me that none of you y the Nine Heavens game! They are mutuals with each other, that beauty and them!"

    "And this person, Zhu Yuan, do you know who that is?! That¡¯s the youngest surgeon in the world, the most talented doctor in history!"

    [1] T/N: On the Inte in China, an Inte Water Army is a group of Inte ghostwriters paid to post onlinements with particr content.

    [2] on Weibo, celebrities have a v before their names to indicate they are verified members

 Chapter 141 Cyberspace, The Uprising Of The Bai Family

    <h4>Chapter 141 Cyberspace, The Uprising Of The Bai Family</h4>

    During the heated discussion on Weibo, the subject of that discussion was currently in the kitchen.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat in the living room, her phone in his hand as he unlocked it using her password with practised ease. The interface of WeChat appeared instantly, a dialog box disyed on it.

    Er Qiao: Thanks.

    Li Yu: No problem, looking forward to shooting again with you ??

    At the end of this conversation, Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes. He went through the chat logs, and finally ended up in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo, which disyed the massive amount of fans and followers that she had.

    "Oh oh oh, I¡¯m f*cking shallow, that¡¯s why I ship this cp Li and Gu! You guys can¡¯t stop me!"

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t know what "cp[1]" meant, but from the belowments he could guess vaguely at the meaning of it. He pondered for a moment, then he picked up his own phone to register a Weibo ount, then he went back to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone and made them mutuals.

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had always found any type of chat app bothersome and had never downloaded any of it before downloaded two apps that night, WeChat and Weibo.

    After verifying his phone number, Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t aware that at that moment of verification, the app had sent out friend requests for him, to all the people in his contact list that had a WeChat ount tied to their numbers in their own phone.

    So, these good friends of his discovered a terrifying matter that night.

    Master Jiang installed WeChat?!

    Master Jiang actually installed WeChat!

    Master Jiang not only installed WeChat, he even personally sent out friend requests!

    The group of people epted the friend request with trembling fingers, and replied with: "Is this... Master Jiang?"

    Tang Qingqiu had also received the request, WeChat had already be popr at the beginning of the year, and he had been rmending it to Jiang Shuxuan for quite a while, but that noble and majestic person had coldly ignored him. Now what was going on here, he looked up to the sky and squinted his eyes, fully convinced that the sun wasn¡¯t going to set in the east today.

    Well then, what had inspired this change in the usually unmoveable Master Jiang?

    Tang Qingqiu: Is this the actual person?

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at the sentence, and then slowly replied: How can I delete and block all of you?

    Tang Qingqiu: ...ha, haha!

    Seeing that Tang Qingqiu was ying dead and not going to tell him how, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother to ask further. Since he had already added them, so be it then.

    That night, countless high ranking officials from the Imperial Capital and in the ancient martial arts world all posted a simr screenshot: A memorable moment [JPEG]¡ªadditional context, Jiang Shuxuan requesting to add you as a friend.

    Many people who didn¡¯t understand the significance: Why, what¡¯s happening, who was this Jiang Shuxuan? Is he some special person or something? Why are you all posting the same screenshots?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao who was in the kitchen was unaware of the fact that Jiang Shuxuan had already made them mutually follow each other.

    Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯tpare to her in terms of cooking. It would take him two hours to make a meal, while she just needed half an hour, one meat, two vegetables, one soup and some steamed rice.

    "The matter about Sun Jiajia has some progress again, I¡¯ll be going over tonight to take a look. Will you be going?" Jiang Shuxuan said suddenly as they were eating.

    ¡¯Can you not bring up such disgusting matters when we are eating?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head to look at Jiang Shuxuan. "How will you exin this to the school?"

    Sun Jiajia had vanished with no trail, and it was about time to cate the school, otherwise there would be an official investigation into the matter. If her parents came looking around it would also be difficult, and if the media got involved, who knew what kind of scandal would arise from it.

    "Yi Bing has dealt with it," Jiang Shuxuan replied. As to how it had been dealt with, he had no idea. He had already handed the entire matter over to the Special Defense Force, so those people would know how to handle themselves anyway.

    "Yi Bing[2]?" The name sounded weird in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s thoughts.

    "Someone from the National Special Defense Force," Jiang Shuxuan said without much thought. "Their organization specializes in safeguarding the peace of China. Anything that concerns the ancient martial arts world and other secr matters are under their jurisdiction."

    In certain perceptions, this agency had supreme authority, and the decisions they made couldn¡¯t be interfered with even by the country¡¯s leaders.

    They had to be extremely cautious when recruiting people into this agency due to that. The previous leader of the Special Forces was someone who had his eyes set on Jiang Shuxuan at one nce, not only because he was strong and able to hold his own, but also because he had a righteous face and able to endure hardship, which was a far cry from those second gens who have been spoiled since young.

    And that was how Jiang Shuxuan had been roped into the Special Defense Force.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything yet, and Xixi kept flying around in circles at the side: Has Xixi heard something that Xixi is not supposed to? Will Xixi need to be silenced?

    Smack!

    Jiang Shuxuan flexed his fingers, his handsome face still stunning and calm, and his voice was slightly cool as he spoke, "Don¡¯t fly around everywhere during a meal, your stray feathers will fall into the food."

    Xixi, pretending to be dead: I am the great, immortal, divine beast, The Vermillion Bird! Have you ever seen one that sheds its feathers! You¡¯re obviously just finding a chance to get rid of me!

    With Sun Jiajia involved, Gu Xiqiao felt that she should intervene in this matter, so she followed Jiang Shuxuan back to the national base after they finished their meal.

    However, when she reached the door of a shop, her entire person felt that something was off.

    "This... is the national base?" She heard her voice be slightly erratic. To be honest, she was slightly disappointed.

    Jiang Shuxuan however, was calm and nodded his head. "It¡¯s here, go on ahead." Just as his voice came out, the old door let out a long creaking sound before opening on its own.

    Gu Xiqiao was a person who had seen many unbelievable things before, so she recovered fairly quickly. It was the base of the National Special Defense Forces after all, hiding it in the city, it was actually quite ingenious to hide it in an old teahouse.

    There were many people in the teahouse, and most of them were ying mahjong. There were people of all ages here, Gu Xiqiao even saw a five-year-old boy who was watching the game!

    She couldn¡¯t help but take another nce at him, staring nkly and looking at the adorable child.

    A few old men were sitting near the child, teasing him, "Xiao Liu, you should start training from this age on, grow some muscles on those little bones, and you¡¯ll have thousands of girls falling at your feet in the future."

    The boy named Xiao Liu seemed to think about it for a while, before looking up at them with an innocent face as he replied, "But I don¡¯t want to grow chicken feathers, can I not grow them?"

    "..." It was the old man¡¯s loss.

    Gu Xiqiao gave a lowugh at that, and followed Jiang Shuxuan upstairs. The space around them distorted a little, and those old men who were ying mahjong couldn¡¯t see them anymore.

    Xiao Liu looked towards the stairs, and scratched his head. "I must have seen wrongly, these eyes are getting blind."

    There wasn¡¯t much difference between the downstairs and upstairs, and Jiang Shuxuan led her to the innermost room of the ce.

    Pushing open the door, they were greeted with a retro and luxurious type of decoration inside. In the centre of the room, there was an intricate drawing of a circle with a five-pointed star on it, and above it was anotherplex pattern that seemed quite ancient.

    "Stand here." Jiang Shuxuan said, guiding her to stand at one corner of the star, and two stood at different corners.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know what exactly happened next, she only knew there was a sh of white light, and they were moved to an entirely different ce.

    She spread out her senses, but she couldn¡¯t feel the outside atmosphere at all. "System, what is this ce?"

    The system spirit was also bbergasted in the void space. [Beauty Qiao, this ispletely beyond my cognition. The information in the database is iplete, and I can¡¯t find anything on it. Maybe I¡¯ll only have ess to it once I get upgraded.]

    "This is a cyberspace, a space left behind by the ancient powers." The star pattern underneath their feet was still visible, exactly the same as the one she had seen back in the teahouse. Jiang Shuxuan continued to exin, "The Forum has records that these cyberspaces are a world on its own. The stronger your mental power is, therger the space. This is the space left behind by a powerful person for the Special Defense Forces, and it¡¯s the one and only cyberspace in China."

    Gu Xiqiao was slightly appalled, the space was not actually that big. There was ground under her feet, and white clouds above her head. The only thing missing was the sun, and the huge glowing pearl in the sky seemed to be acting as it.

    Jiang Shuxuan led her to the oval building in front of them.

    "The space isn¡¯t that big, just about five miles in radius, and there aren¡¯t any special functions. For those with abilities that reach the sky, they can control the flow of time and space, transforming anything within their space, and it¡¯s an endless sky for them." Jiang Shuxuan knew that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t understand these things, so he was exining it slowly to her. "But those are just legends, if there existed the power to control time and space, they would surely receive heaven¡¯s punishment."

    The existence of this cyberspace was already impossible, and if you add on the power to control time and space, it would be intolerable to the heavens.

    At the end of his exnation, Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps suddenly. Wasn¡¯t that the description of her virtual space?!

    "What¡¯s wrong? Why have you stopped walking?" Jiang Shuxuan said, ncing back at her.

    Taking a deep breath, thinking that she would study itter, Gu Xiqiao shook her head. "It¡¯s nothing."

    The two of them walked into the oval building.

    "Boss, you¡¯re here... ah." A young man whose face lit up with joy when he saw Jiang Shuxuan startled when he saw a young girl standing beside him, who was this?

    Jiang Shuxuan merely nced at him. "Take us to Sun Jiajia."

    The young man still had a confused look on his face, but he turned to lead the two of them inside.

    Sun Jiajia was locked in an iron covered room. She was still alive, but was already a little mad in the head. Suffering from a massive impact all of a sudden, and then being isted immediately from the outside world, it was no wonder if she didn¡¯t go a little bit insane from that.

    Most of the people who saw her terrifying appearance and smell the stench on her body wouldn¡¯t hesitate to retreat as soon as they could.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in front of Sun Jiajia, her hands in her pocket with an indifferent expression on her face.

    "Eh, Er Bing, who is that?" A group of people who had received word had gathered around, and one of them couldn¡¯t help but ask that question to the young man that had led the two here.

    Yi Bing shook his head. "I don¡¯t know, Boss brought her in."

    "Yi Bing, thetest update," Jiang Shuxuan nced at Yi Bing, asking suddenly.

    Feeling the chill in the air, Yi Bing restrained himself from shivering and internally waged war for a while, staring at Gu Xiqiao before looking back at Jiang Shuxuan. "Boss, we¡¯ve found out who was the mastermind behind this. It¡¯s someone from Ennd who has been possessed by evil spirits. They like to collect faces of young girls, and put it onto their own faces. Until now, they have collected about nine faces in total."

    Jiang Shuxuan was silent for a while. "Can she still be saved?"

    Yi Bing didn¡¯t know why Jiang Shuxuan was asking this question. "I¡¯ve already contacted the divine doctor, Doctor Rong. He was adamantly clear on the fact that there is no way she can be saved."

    "I¡¯m not asking you." Jiang Shuxuan said, sparing Yi Bing a nce.

    ¡¯If you¡¯re not asking me then who else are you asking?¡¯ thought Yi Bing, whose face was full of confusion and bewilderment.

    And then a clear, melodious voice rang out. "It¡¯s possible."

    The girl standing in front of Sun Jiajia turned, revealing a stunningly delicate face with elegant features. Yi Bing couldn¡¯t think of any words to urately describe her, so he could only say that she was beautiful. She was indeed stunning, but that beauty did nothing to hide her youth.

    "But, the divine doctor, Doctor Rong said..." Yi Bing started to say, looking at the indifferent expression on the girl¡¯s face in front of him. Even though he couldn¡¯t bear to continue what he was saying, he didn¡¯t want her to not be able to do what she said after this. Even the doctor that was known to be extraordinary and divine, the Doctor Rong, who could bring someone back from the dead said that there wasn¡¯t any way to save that girl, what could this girl do to save her from that fate?

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, ncing at him for a moment. Without saying anything, she lifted her hand slightly, a thinyer of mist floated on her palm. And then, a huge wave of natural energy gradually spread throughout the ce, with her at the center.

    Yi Bing and the others could only watch as the ck mangled flesh on the girl¡¯s face that Doctor Rong had said there was no hope for, slowly started to grow new flesh over it.

    [Beauty Qiao, in actuality, you could have saved Sun Jiajia from the beginning, right?] The system spirit guessed as it watched.

    ¡¯Little system, you¡¯ve really read my mind.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao replied.

    The corner of the system spirit¡¯s mouth twitched, so the reason for not saving Sun Jiajia earlier was because she was being petty? Die, give back to them their upright and adorable Beauty Qiao that used to be oh so righteous!

    Gu Xiqiao remained indifferent. ¡¯Now she will know that not everything is things she should be concerned about!¡¯

    [Then why are you saving her at all?] The lines of Beauty Qiao¡¯s thoughts were something that it couldn¡¯t keep up with anymore.

    ¡¯The people of China can only be bullied by one of our own, I won¡¯t stand for other countries bullying us.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao retracted her hand, looking at Sun Jiajia who had reverted to her normal appearance. She let out a heavy sigh. Ah, it wasn¡¯t easy for someone to have entered A University from a small urban town after all.

    Yi Bing was in a trance from the beginning of the process, and even after Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao left, he was still unaware of his surroundings. He looked towards the person in the iron room after he finally came back to himself. Just now, that person was a dark, faceless monster. And now, just a few minutester, she grew back a new face?!

    "Yi Bing, Doctor Rong is looking for you." Yi Tiao walked in from outside, handing a piece of paper to Yi Bing. "He said he already has a n to transfer this person to South Asia to try out something."

    "Yi Tiao, look at her." Yi Bing said faintly, ncing at him.

    Yi Tiao didn¡¯t understand what he was talking about, but he turned his head to look at what Yi Bing was pointing out to him, and he startled badly. "That... this... she?!"

    Yi Bing took a deep breath to calm himself, it had been an hour, it was more than enough time to have recovered himself. He used the five-star teleportation array to leave the cyberspace and into the teahouse, when his phone rang. He took it out to find that it was Doctor Rong.

    "She¡¯s been cured?!" On a beach in South Asia, Rong Feishuang, who was enjoying his sunbathing, suddenly jumped up from where he sat. "Will you guys stop treating me like a jackass? Two days ago you were begging for my help, and today she¡¯s been cured?!"

    "I¡¯m not lying, Doctor Rong. It¡¯s a girl, Sigh, I don¡¯t even know who she is. Our boss is the one who brought her over." Yi Bing replied honestly.

    Rong Feishuang couldn¡¯t help himself. "You wait, I¡¯m heading back right now!"

    Yi Bing, who had been hung up on: "..."

    ***

    After returning home, Gu Xiqiao had nned to y for a while, but then she received a call from Luo Weng.

    "There¡¯s some movement from the Bai family, they¡¯ve contacted a few otherpanies, and I¡¯ve been observing for a long time," Luo Weng paused for a while, before continuing, "Are they nning to overthrow Nine Heavens?"

    "I¡¯lle into Nine Heavens tomorrow." Gu Xiqiao ced down her virtual helmet as she said that. When they had initially started their discussion, Gu Xiqaio had already hacked into the surveince cameras, so she knew exactly what was happening. "They had the n to, initially. Let them make the trouble they want, we¡¯ll let them know what it means to "draw water with a wicker basket" when the timees."

    Completely and utterly futile.

    Luo Weng hung up the phone, and was silent for a while before letting out a sigh. Well, she knew all about it then.

    In the past few days, he had been paying close attention to the movements of the Bai family. They seemed to have hired an extremely senior financial and liquidation analyst from abroad, and had been desperately raising funds, selling tens of billions of shares at a low price to start a turmoil in the stock market. People may not be able to see what the Bai family was up to, but he knew that they wanted to take advantage of the turmoil in the stock market to get something from nothing, and swallow up Nine Heavens!

    Luo Weng already had measures in ce when he knew about it. Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t been in thepany for a few days, and from what he had heard from Yao Jiamu, she had found something new to y with. He called to inquire about it, and as expected...

    She already knew everything.

    Luo Weng nced up at the sky. In this way, Boss Gu really stressed him out.

    ***

    At the same time, in the Imperial Capital hospital, Bai Ting was looking at his daughter who wasying on the bed. She was dumb now, not even knowing how tough or talk. She was so different from the Bai daughter that he had treasured in his hands. "Xinran, don¡¯t worry, once Dad has taken care of Nine Heavens, I will make sure that roommate of yours will pay the price for making you like this. After all that is done, I¡¯ll bring you abroad to find a doctor who can cure you."

    Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes widened in horror when she heard the words from Bai Ting¡¯s mouth, and she tried her hardest to say something, but all that came out from her mouth were a string of garbled words, not a single clear word could be uttered.

    Seeing his daughter¡¯s miserable state, Bai Ting¡¯s eyes shed with hostility. "Don¡¯t worry, Dad wille pick you up soon."

    Tears fell from Bai Xinran¡¯s eyes, and she started to struggle even harder. Bai Ting¡¯s figure soon disappeared from her sight, and she could only scream herself raw futilely inside her mind. ¡¯No! Don¡¯t mess with her! No! Don¡¯t!¡¯

    [1] CP means couple

    [2] T/N: In Chinese, Ò»±ý means ¡¯one biscuit¡¯ or ¡¯biscuit one¡¯.

 Chapter 142 Nine Heavens Is Playing The Long Game

    <h4>Chapter 142 Nine Heavens Is ying The Long Game</h4>

    After Bai Ting left, he intensified his efforts, heading back to the headquarters to meet with that senior financial analyst.

    This golden senior analyst had been hired from abroad at a very high price, and he was a very talented student in America. After graduating from Stanford University, he made a name for himself by taking in cases that looked impossible to turn around, and sessfully did so, beating the stronger opponents in the process. Now that the Bai family was expanding, adding on this analyst, it would be a simple thing to clean up this smallpany that was just emerging.

    Not to mention, they also had investments from the otherpanies.

    "President Bai." The financial analyst was a blond, middle-aged man that had deep lines on his face. In front of him sat aptop with what looked to be extremelyplicated numbers and data on the screen.

    Bai Ting had not seen pictures like it before, they looked to be stocks, but at the same time not. He hesitated before opening his mouth to speak, "Mr. Norbert, how many days do we need to acquire Nine Heavens?"

    He couldn¡¯t wait to see Nine Heavens crumble into bankruptcy, from the time they had started robbing his goods, and when some other financial analysts wrotements who were more biased towards the side of Nine Heavens, he was already at the end of his patience.

    Over the past few days, he had been in contact with people in the police department, trying to pin the evidence all on Nine Heavens in order to cause their stock prices to plunge.

    However, they had not been able to find the location of the shipment, so that n of theirs had gone down the drainpletely.

    Norbert pressed a few buttons with his fingers as he said, "President Bai, don¡¯t be rash or impatient, these people from Nine Heavens are all stupid."

    Looking at the fluctuations graph on his screen, Nobert¡¯s blue eyes were filled with contempt. "They don¡¯t understand how to extend their losses. If they don¡¯t replenish their shares, then even if I don¡¯t do anything next month, they will naturally kill themselves this way."

    When he came to China, his mentor had warned him to be wary, and that people of China were very cunning. It seemed like that was not the case at all in this situation.

    The people of China were still full of short-sightedness after all.

    "That¡¯s great then. If you have any other needs, please let us know, Mr. Norbert." Bai Ting nodded at him, and left the room with a big smile on his face.

    Norbert was a weird man in the sense that he didn¡¯t like it when there were onlookers watching him y with the stock market.

    "How is it going?" Those business partners of his were quick to ask when Bai Ting returned to the meeting room, their tone urgent.

    Bai Ting chuckled lightly, and spoke with full confidence in his voice, "Don¡¯t worry everyone, in just a few more days, all the resources of Nine Heavens will be ours."

    Hearings the words he uttered, everyone present in the room let out a collective sigh of relief, and sat back more rxed in their chairs as they discussed how the resources from Nine Heavens would be allocated among them, who would own the virtual helmets, and who would own the software?

    They discussed the matter for a long time, but came to no proper conclusion as they couldn¡¯t reach a consensus. Bai Ting sat on the chair at the head of the table, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smile. ¡¯When Nine Heavens has been acquired, all of you will have disappeared off the face of earth already.¡¯

    ***

    Meanwhile, in Tang Enterprise, Tang Qingqiu leaned back in hisfortable chair, spinning the pen in his hand slowly. He suddenly raised his head. "Qin Heng, what do you think of me acquiring the Bai family?"

    Qin Heng was initially reporting thetest developments of thepany to him, when the other party suddenly decided to throw a surprise into it. His hand shook slightly at the shock, and he took off his sses slowly. "Young Master, could you please repeat that again?"

    Tang Qingqiu pushed himself into an upright position, both hands on the table as he looked Qin Heng in the eyes, the wordsing out of his mouth slowly, "I said, how about we buyout the Bai family?"

    "..." Qin Heng was speechless as he continued to stare at Tang Qingqiu.

    Although the Bai family was iparable to the Tang family, the Bai family was still a big family. How could you acquire it just by saying you want to? It¡¯s easy to say, but difficult to do.

    Watching as Qin Heng stayed silent in his own internal struggle, Tang Qingqiu became even more interested. "Why are you like this, is that how little faith you have in me?"

    "Young Master, the Bai family is not small. You already know that their business has spanned across China, and they have a solid ce on the international stage." Qin Heng replied. "To acquire them or to absorb them is difficult, unless you can get your hands on all the shares in the hands of the various shareholders, but at that time, you would at most still only be a shareholder. Acquiring and overtaking? That is really too difficult."

    Even in a small business, as long as the managers didn¡¯t agree to transfer theirpany, it would be very difficult for Tang Enterprise to acquire them, let alone the Bai family, which was a family with quite a reputation in the Imperial Capital.

    "So you¡¯re saying, between the Bai family and Nine Heavens, you think that the Bai family has a better chance?" Tang Qingqiu asked, ncing at Qin Heng.

    Qin Heng smiled slightly. "It¡¯s not that I¡¯m optimistic about the Bai family, it¡¯s just the facts speak for themselves."

    In simple terms, the Bai family was in a great position of power. If they wanted to buy Nine Heavens and they didn¡¯t agree, then they could use all sorts of underhanded methods to make Nine Heavens be unable to survive in the Imperial Capital. And at that point in time, what could Nine Heavens do? Their foundation was too shallow to shake such a deeply rooted tree like the Bai family.

    When he thought about it, Qin Heng felt some pity for Nine Heavens. How would thepany be like once it fell into the hands of the Bai family? Suddenly, a bright spark lit in his eyes. "Young Master, it¡¯s impossible to buy out the Bai family, but it¡¯s possible to acquire Nine Heavens instead."

    Acquiring Nine Heavens was so much simpler than the Bai family, since Nine Heavens didn¡¯t have anyplicated business partners, and their foundation in the Imperial Capital was still weak. With just a snap of their fingers, they would be able to make sure that Nine Heavens would be unable to operate in the Imperial Capital.

    Moreover, Tang Enterprise had made contact with Nine Heavens a few days prior, and they didn¡¯t seem to have any intention to cooperate with them anyway.

    Were they being too arrogant or too confident? Qin Heng couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    Hearing those words, Tang Qingqiu raised his head to look at Qin Heng again, and smiled mysteriously. "Secretary Qin, how about we bet on that? The stakes are seven days leave. I¡¯m betting on Nine Heavens, and you¡¯re betting on Bai Enterprise. If you win, you can take the leave. If you lose, then you have to continue ving away your soul for the next half year."

    Qin Heng felt his heart pound against his ribcage at the thought, and he was thinking that Tang Qingqiu¡¯s smile was a little too twisted, but he wasn¡¯t sure the reason behind it. However, he was very excited regarding this wager. Seven days of leave, didn¡¯t that mean he could finally go on a holiday with his wife and daughter?

    "Alright? Let¡¯s go then. " Looking at Qin Heng¡¯s hesitant nod, Tang Qingqiu chuckled.

    Qin Heng felt a numbness in his heart, thinking that Tang Qingqiu was really acting weirdly, but he still couldn¡¯t figure out why. Seeing the man pick up his jacket and putting it on, Qin Heng was slightly surprised. "Go? Where are we going?"

    "Isn¡¯t the investment in ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ about a hundred million? With such a big investment, obviously I have to see the set with my own eyes." Tang Qingqiu said as he walked out the door first.

    Qin Heng who had been rooted to the spot, scratched his head. Was a hundred million a very big investment for Tang Enterprise? It was very strange for the young master to go to the theater in person, so very strange. Qin Heng snapped out his daze and hurried after the man.

    He felt that today¡¯s Tang Qingqiu was weirder than usual, but hey, it was better not to guess what was going on in that man¡¯s mind anyway.

    ***

    In the residential area, Gu Xiqiao nced at her Weibo, noticing that the notifications were going nuts. She had finally managed to change her options to ignore the notifications, but she decided to slowly scroll through thements, wondering what it was that excited the masses now.

    "Wowowow! Goddess, please post something on Weibo, I really wanted to know whether you¡¯re still here or not!"

    "Wuwuwu... is it possible she¡¯ll note on Weibo again?"

    "It¡¯s possible, she¡¯s just a child that came of age. Do you remember thatst case where a girlmitted suicide because of thements?"

    As soon as thatment came out, everyone was silent for a while, before a new wave ofment started flooding in.

    "Goddess, please just say something, anything, to let us know you¡¯re still here?"

    "Don¡¯t bother about those trolls! We will always be your support team! We will always love you!"

    "My heart breaks for you, wuwuwu, I hope that you don¡¯t take to heart all the happenings yesterday ????"

    "You have to be healthy and alive! I just started to ship the Li Gu cp!"

    "If I go to sleep, maybe there¡¯ll be some new updates tomorrow?"

    "..."

    Gu Xiqiao read through thements underneath the discussion topic, these were all people that she¡¯d never seen before. In contrast to some others, who had defended her in the beginning had stayed firm in their belief when the Inte Water Army came. Although theirments were quickly brushed down by the overwhelming number ofments, they had never given up.

    There was a slight bitter warmness that filled her heart.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed, and then she looked at thending at the window. There was her easel, and it held a half-finished oil painting.

    It was of a white mongrel, and a red bird that was being yful, with the golden rays of the setting sun shining down on them. Although the painting was notplete yet, theposition of the picture was peaceful and natural, with a vivid colorbination which was slightly subtle and unassuming, making people feel the gentle warmth radiating from it with just one look.

    Picking up her phone, she took a picture of this scene in front of her.

    Gu Xiqiao: I have been painting the entirest night, I¡¯m very well. ^_^ [JPEG]

    The system spirit scoffed from where it was in the void space. [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re such a liar.]

    The painting was clearly created when she woke up this morning and saw Haha.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled slightly. "You don¡¯t understand, this is called a white lie."

    [...] You can find a perfect reason for everything that you do anyway, right?

    The morning sun shone faintly through the ss window and sshed onto the drawing on the easel, letting the painting that was already radiating a gentle warmth be even more tender, which made the fans have a strong impression of the white dog and the red bird in the painting.

    The painting was notpleted yet, but the two cute creatures on it were so lifelike, especially the eyes of the white dog. Its eyes looked like they were staring into the lens of the camera, full of life and slightly watery. If it wasn¡¯t for its body that was still iplete, it couldpletely pass as the real thing.

    And also the red of the bird¡¯s features, it was so delicate, that even the fine lines of its individual strands were painstakingly drawn.

    "She finally posted something on Weibo! No matter what you post, it¡¯s okay as long as you¡¯re healthy and well!"

    "Oil painting! Ahhhh! Divine goddess, I havepletely be your most devoted fan!"

    "Completely able to pass off something that is not real to be so lifelike, able to act and paint, tell me goddess, will you be ascending to heaven?"

    Suddenly, ament appeared in the discussion.

    "This painting uses a one-off expression techniquebined with the usual ssical transparency techniques. The grass, sunlight, sky, dog and bird fully reflects the spatial colors and rtionships, as well as the texture in this picture. From a personal point of view, she has already reached the level of a master painter."

    "Oh great god above, tell me, have the paintings of my beautiful women really reached that level of skill?"

    "I think thisment will definitely get a lot of attention."

    These fans had very little knowledge about this after all, all they knew was that the painting was beautiful and vivid, and almost unreal at how real it was. However, if you wanted them to really assess it andment on it, it was impossible. No, as soon as thatment came out, it was quickly ranked as the topment in the discussion.

    Very soon, this Weibo post was once again quickly pushed to the hot topic of the day by the fans.

    When most of the people clicked into the Weibo post, the first thing they saw was the topment in it.

    ***

    Meng Zihua was a student from the Faculty of Art in B University and his major was in Optimization. When he turned on his Weibo as he usually did and saw this post, he didn¡¯t think that the painting was worth much attention, until he scrolled and read the topment of the post.

    Even the teachers in their faculty rarely reached the level of master painters, because oil painting didn¡¯t only depend on your hard work, but also your natural aptitude and talent for it.

    He could tolerate all kinds of things, but this was something he couldn¡¯t. He had initially wanted to post ament below the discussion, but then he was afraid that he would be mowed down by this person¡¯s fans. He decided to send a private message to thementer instead, to let this person know that not just anyone can be a master painter.

    The person who posted thement was someone with the username ¡¯Sunshine¡¯. Meng Zihua clicked into the person¡¯s profile, and was just about to click on the private message icon, when he was stunned.

    This ¡¯Sunshine¡¯ person was a verified ount on Weibo, and the certification was: Qiu Yang, an internationally renowned oil painting artist, runner up of the 14th International Biennial Award.

    Meng Zihua obviously knew who Qiu Yang was, he was a senior in B University, there were even pictures of him in the gallery of the art department. He was an oil painting genius, and his graduation painting was selected to enter the international contest in the year of his graduation.

    And he had be famous in one fell swoop.

    If it weren¡¯t for Mu Yunfan¡¯s existence that year, Qiu Yang would be far more famous than he was now.

    Even until now, the teachers in the Faculty of Art would sometimes mention Qiu Yang¡¯s name during sses unconsciously. He was really too low-key, he could have gone to study abroad after getting the award in America, but he had chosen to return to China instead, and opened a studio with a few friends.

    Thinking of all this, Meng Zihua went back to thement to have a read again. "This painting uses a one-off expression techniquebined with the usual ssical transparency techniques. The grass, sunlight, sky, dog and bird fully reflects the spatial colors and rtionships, as well as the texture in this picture. From a personal point of view, she has already reached the level of a master painter."

    The level of a master painter? Meng Zihua squinted as he took a closer look at the painting, but he still couldn¡¯t see any of the things that made it that way.

    However, Qiu Yang¡¯s words wouldn¡¯t be wrong, right?

    Meng Zihua clicked into the profile of the OP, and looked through the homepage of For A Millenium. He then flipped to the real pictures of the white dog and red bird, and was taken aback for a long while. He quickly flipped back to the oil painting again.

    It really... was really lifelike and simr.

    When you didn¡¯tpare it to the real thing, there wasn¡¯t much impact in the oil painting. But once youpare it to the originals... Meng Zihua¡¯s heart was pounding in his ribcage, if an iplete painting was able to make people feel the exquisiteness of the brush strokes, then what about when it waspleted?

    He saved the picture of the oil painting, followed For A Millenium¡¯s Weibo, and then he took the saved picture and went to look for his mentor.

    Under the flood ofments in the post, no one else saw this particrment.

    "Didn¡¯t you guys realize that in the painting, there¡¯s a shadow of two other people inside it?"

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan was sitting on a chair as he flipped through Weibo. When he swiped, hended on that particrment. After a pause, he gave a thumbs up.

    Once Gu Xiqiao was done with swiping through Weibo, she looked up at the time to realize that it was already past eight o¡¯clock. In a while, Nine Heavens would be opening for business. "Brother Jiang, I¡¯ll be heading into Nine Heavens today."

    "Nine Heavens?" Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes slightly. "I had nned to take you to see Aunt Tang and Shaoyuan today."

    Gu Xiqiao would call Tang Yanling once every few days, and you could also see Tang Yanling¡¯s circle of friends in WeChat, so she was quite updated with the recent happenings. She seemed to have quite the exciting lifetely. "I think it¡¯s better if we don¡¯t bother her for now."

    With Tang Yanling¡¯s personality, if Gu Xiqiao were to head over to her, she would be fussing over her non-stop, and she wouldn¡¯t be able to behave as seriously as she was now.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t push the matter when Gu Xiqiao said that, and he only nced at Xixi briefly, who was pping around in excitement.

    Xixi went silent immediately.

    It was wrong, it shouldn¡¯t have started gloating when Young Master Jiang was still around!

    ***

    In the eyes of everyone around, Nine Heavens should be in a restless state right now, and their senior management should be tossing and turning without a peaceful rest at night. They didn¡¯t know that the staff of Nine Heavens were still full of energy and life, all of them still having unimaginable enthusiasm and passion for the work in thepany.

    "Ah, Boss Gu, you¡¯re here!" Yu Ning had immediately proceeded to drag Gu Xiqiao down to thework room the moment he caught sight of her.

    However, the moment his fingers touched the slender arm, he felt an electric shock run through his hands. He shook his hand to get rid of the numbness, retracting his hands in a hurry. "It¡¯s not even winter yet, why are you harboring so much static in you?"

    "Maybe lightning is more fond of me." Gu Xiqiao nced at him.

    Yu Ning waspletely unfazed by it, it didn¡¯t matter if Gu Xiqiao was looking at him with contempt, but what was this? Was the bird actually looking at him with the same contempt and disdain in its beady eyes?

    Excuse me? On what grounds do you have the right to look at me like that?

    "Hurry up ande see the fruits of ourbor, I found a new route to go about it," Yu Ning said excitedly. "I think we¡¯re about to crack the entire source code."

    Well, it has been a long time since she had paid any attention to this matter anyway, and so Gu Xiqiao followed Yu Ning into thework room.

    Luo Weng, who had rushed over as soon as he got wind of her arrival: "..." Yu Ning this coquettish b*tch!

    In thework room, Gu Xiqiao read the 20% progress on theputer, and turned her head silently to look at Yu Ning. "This is your... so-called about to crack the entire source code?"

    "Even though it¡¯s only 20%, it wasn¡¯t easy. I walked into a detour two days ago too." Yu Ning nced at Gu Xiqiao. This source code also contained information about four-dimensional space and spatial folding. It was him that had tranted the entire thing into theirnguage. To be honest, he was feeling shocked and excited, the two feelings ovepping each other to the extent he didn¡¯t know which was more prominent.

    He had his suspicions that Boss Gu was actually some alien from outer space, because it seemed like this kind of information and data was definitely not something that belonged on Earth.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Alright, since your progress is so slow, would the Network department be willing to take another order?"

    "?" Yu Ning just looked at her in confusion.

    "Post production," Gu Xiqiao said with a smile. "Post production of a drama."

    Yu Ning looked mystified. "Post production? You want a bunch of hackers like us to waste our time on something like post production?!" He was one of the biggest names in the hacking world, and not only him, every single one of them in the Network department in Nine Heavens was too. Either they had a solid position in the hacking world, or they had a fantastic talent forputers.

    And now, Gu Xiqiao wanted all these people to do post production of a drama?!

    "Don¡¯t be so excited, Wang Bo has a few software in hand that concerns the post production for the drama. I trust that you guys will be quite interested in it," Gu Xiqiao said, looking at Yu Ning. "Most of the technology is quite rare, for example the four-dimensional space. Of course, this will be up to you guys to discover for yourselves."

    When he heard Gu Xiqiao talk about the software, Yu Ning was already baited into it. No, not only baited, right now, even if Gu Xiqiao wanted to stop him, he wouldn¡¯t give up on doing the post production for the drama!

    "Just to rify, if I take some of us to do the post production, you¡¯ll give us another four routes for decoding?" Yu Ning¡¯s face was serious, though there was a reluctant expression on it.

    Gu Xiqiao replied calmly, her melodious voice chillingly cold as she lifted one finger into the air. "One."

    Yu Ning¡¯s face lit up, there was hope! "Three!"

    "One." Gu Xiqiao was unmoved.

    "Then let¡¯s do it this way, two, and no less!" Yu Ning¡¯s face was pained.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, her porcin face a serene expression and her voice was gentle this time. "Just one, if you don¡¯t want it then I¡¯ll do the post production myself."

    "Deal!" Yu Ning said in the end with gritted teeth!

    He continued to stare at the thin, lean figure of Gu Xiqiao, biting his tongue to avoid letting out his inner thoughts. Was there such azy boss like her?! It would only take her probably another two days extra to give them that extra two decoding routes, why was she so cruel!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao walked to Luo Weng¡¯s office, and he was on the phone when she arrived.

    After a while, he handed the phone over to her with a stupefied expression on his face. "Uncle Mu¡¯s on the line."

    As she took the phone from his hands, Luo Weng was still hung up on the words that Mu Zong had just uttered. "Little Luo, we¡¯ve already sessfully annexed Gu Enterprise. Say, should we change the name to Nine Heavens then?"

    Luo Weng hadn¡¯t been able to speak, the words from Mu Zong¡¯s mouth were still echoing in his mind, they had sessfully annexed Gu Enterprise...

    They had only been in the Imperial Capital for a month! It¡¯s only still the extended holidays for National Day now!

    Gu Xiqiao said a few words into the phone before hanging up and looking towards Luo Weng with a solemn look on her face. "There¡¯s something I want to tell you."

    Luo Weng was stunned, he had never seen Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face having such a serious expression before. He thought that the words she would say next would be something like, maybe Nine Heavens wouldn¡¯t be able to beat the Bai family, but he never expected it to be what she said next.

    "I want Dalin to go back, to take over the Gu family." Gu Xiqiao said, her tone light.

    "Dalin?" Luo Weng didn¡¯t know what to say, letting Luo Wenlin return. So she had nned to axe the Gu family, in order for Luo Wenlin to head back and take over them.

    Gu Xiqiao was still looking at Luo Weng, who was still unresponsive, she rubbed her temples. "Let¡¯s shelve the topic for now, and handle the matter with the Bai family first."

    "Oh." Luo Weng finally came back to himself. He nced at Gu Xiqiao who was flipping through documents.

    From Mu Zong, to him, to Yao Jiamu, and Dalin, every single person who had met her was constantly changing. Sometimes when he woke up in the morning, he would still feel like his entire life was a dream. The Chen family had been destroyed, Luo Wenlin was cured, and it was not until he walked past the slums and saw the dested Luo Jiajin that he finally believed that his fate had really started to change.

    He remembered when he was younger, his mother had brought him to read his fortune. At that time, the fortune teller had told him that his life was going to be a rough road, and it would only start to turn around when he turned twenty eight or so.

    All those fortune telling stuff wasplete and utter bullsh*t.

    "There¡¯s a problem here." Gu Xiqiao said as she flipped through the documents in her hands quickly, picking out the problems almost instantly.

    Luo Weng took it from her and swept his eyes over it, turning the pages over a few times, his speed not any slower than her as he nodded his head. "I saw it."

    The secretary who just walked in was silent as she stared at them. ¡¯Do you know if you guys keep doing this to me, I will really leave one day?¡¯

    "Miss secretary." Gu Xiqiao greeted her as she finished reading through the pile of documents.

    The secretary nodded her head back in greeting as she silently turned on theputer on the desk. "I just received news of a speech from the Bai family on the inte."

    She turned the screen towards them, letting the two of them see. Gu Xiqiao nced at it in disinterest.

    "The Bai family have announced that they have hired a well-known senior financial analyst. At a nce, you can see that theizens seem to be more optimistic about them right now on the inte, and their stocks have reached the peak of its prices already." The secretary exined, her brows furrowing slightly. The Bai family¡¯s rise in cirction of fluid funds was not beneficial nor was it good news to Nine Heavens at all. She really did regard Nine Heavens as a family, no matter how odd the members of the family were.

    The stock market was in a state of unrest, and the industry that Bai Enterprise was in was also in the same state. The people in the Imperial Capital felt that it wouldn¡¯t be long before the fall of Nine Heavens.

    There were people trying to talk some sense into the financial predator who had been cooperating with Nine Heavens. "I know that you have gotten a partnership with Nine Heavens. Although I was envious about it in the beginning, now you can no longer be so stubborn about it. It¡¯s better if you avoid this storm that¡¯s brewing between Bai Enterprise and Nine Heavens."

    "We¡¯re all old friends by now, so let me tell you honestly. Do you really want the chance to cooperate with Nine Heavens? Then this is the once in a lifetime opportunity, they don¡¯t have any care for improving on perfection, but have more care at providing help when one most needs it."

    When he had gone to Nine Heavens thest time, he also saw that there was a group of internationally renowned financial analysts who were working there. They were not any less famous than the senior financial analyst, Norbert, who had been hired by the Bai family, and they wouldn¡¯t be so easily forced into a corner by them. In this situation, he guessed that Nine Heavens was ying the long game, which meant that they could possibly be making unpopr decisions in the short term to have a long-term payoff.

    Thinking back, it was a simr situation as thest time, when everyone was wondering whether or not Nine Heavens would be destroyed by the Chen family.

    Nine Heavens had been silent in the beginning, and it wasn¡¯t until the veryst moment that they pulled out and threw a heavyweight, causing the entire Imperial Capital to be caught off guard!

 Chapter 143 The Destruction of The Bai Family and The Uproar

    <h4>Chapter 143 The Destruction of The Bai Family and The Uproar</h4>

    In the office, Gu Xiqiao had finished watching Bai Enterprise¡¯s deration. "Little system, I always thought that for the Bai family to reach this heights, Bai Ting couldn¡¯t possibly an idiotic person, and wasn¡¯t someone you could afford to underestimate."

    [And now?] The system was feeling a pang of sympathy towards Bai Ting.

    "I¡¯ve overestimated him too much." Gu Xiqiao sighed.

    The me couldn¡¯t really be put on Bai Ting, she supposed. If there were shortcuts to be taken, why would he need to waste so much time and effort in using his brains?

    The Bai family had been using the same methods all the while to deal with the people who got in their way, killing them off without any visible presence, and then pretending to be all innocent and good in front of the public masses. Who would have known that the Bai family actually had so much blood on their hands?

    "The financial analysts in our team are ready to go anytime." Luo Weng closed theptop with a ¡¯ck¡¯, now there was news circting on the inte that Nine Heavens would be bankrupt soon. He nced at Gu Xiqiao, his gaze piercing. "Should we give them a chance to find their foothold back?"

    Since the Bai family had announced the hiring of their financial analyst, they had been trying to dominate the stock market of Nine Heavens, as though they could force Nine Heavens into bankruptcy if they had that one chance. These people seemed to have forgotten thest investment portfolio that had attracted a good many numbers of veteran financial analysts as well as top students into their folds.

    The mentioned financial analysts and top students have already read through the investment portfolios in Nine Heavens, and realized that a lot of them were not in cirction yet. If just one of them were to be circted out, it would definitely attract thousands of investors no matter which one of it got out.

    In fact, Luo Weng didn¡¯t understand this part. Gu Xiqiao had written out so many investment portfolios, but all of them were basically gathering dust in the office. If they were publicly known, it would cause another wave of turmoil out there.

    He had also asked the question to Gu Xiqiao, but all she said was that it wasn¡¯t time yet. If now wasn¡¯t time, then when would it be?

    Luo Weng had spent a long time looking over thepany¡¯s development ns in the long term, and he still couldn¡¯t figure out what Gu Xiqiao was thinking.

    "Let them test waters with the Bai family first." Gu Xiqiao stood up, seeing that Xixi was circling the secretary, she stretched out two fingers to smack the bird away. She looked towards the windows, her voice holding a hint of steel underneath it, "After that, take in any of the Bai people that can be used, and focus on developing the financial products. Uncle Mu will also being over by then, right?"

    Mu Zong had stayed behind in N City to handle the matters with the Gu family, since the matter was already almost at its end, Mu Zong will be able to hand over the entire thing to someone else who was capable.

    Once he arrived in the Imperial Capital, Luo Weng would then have less worries and could focus his entire person on bringing up the financial shares of Nine Heavens. He would also need to attend his ssester on, the education standard in A University was still top-notch after all.

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao finally intending to enter that industry, Luo Weng almost knocked over theptop in front of him. He had been interested for a very long time, and it wasn¡¯t only him. The entire group of financial analysts in thepany were all internationally renowned figures who had a deeper insight into finance, and they were waiting in anticipation to show off their skills and knowledge.

    ***

    Back at Bai Enterprise, Norbert was leaning back on his chair, his sharp gaze fixed on the precise numbers on theputer screen as he took a sip of his coffee. Onest step, just one morest step before he would be able to instantly bankrupt the entire Nine Heavens. His eyes were filled with arrogance and contempt as he scoffed. "Stupid Chinese people."

    [Beauty Qiao, this guy is calling you stupid.] The system spirit made a transparent panel materialize in front of her to let her see the scene live.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes narrowed, a vindictive smile appearing on her delicate, porcin face. The light reflected on her face then, making it hard for people to take their eyes off her. "Don¡¯t you think he¡¯s digging his own grave impatiently?"

    [...]

    The system had also not met anyone as stupid as this, everything was going so smoothly, in fact, too smoothly. Didn¡¯t this Mr. Norbert feels any doubts about the entire thing at all?

    "Let our financial gurus loose then," Gu Xiqiao said as she nced out to the busy traffic down on the road from the window, sighing slightly after saying that. After so many years, it was time to step into the international spotlight once again.

    ***

    Share traders and investors had their eyes fixed on the big board of the stock market index, where there were red and green lines running across it. The lines that represented the shares of Nine Heavens had been consistently dropping over the past few days.

    Countless people have sold the shares in their hands the moment the Bai family had announced the news, and the stock market seemed to be filled with those who had painstakingly acquired the shares, and were now selling it out without second thoughts.

    Most of the people also sold their shares once they managed to reach the breakeven point.

    It wasn¡¯t expected for a share that was at its peak just a few days ago to be plunged down to the bottom in just a few days. With just one sentence, the entire stock market now seemed to be an unusually high-risk venture, and the investors were extremely cautious with their investments.

    "Young people shouldn¡¯t stubbornly hold onto the shares in their hands, take advantage of those old fools who are willing to buy Nine Heaven¡¯s shares and just quickly dispose of them." The stock market was full of veteran share traders, and they were all familiar with each other. Seeing a young man holding onto the shares of Nine Heavens stubbornly, they couldn¡¯t help but try to talk some sense into him.

    The young man looked at the big screen, where it was still disying the content of trades from yesterday afternoon. The stock market didn¡¯t open until 9.30 a.m, and it was now only 9.25 a.m..

    "Thank you for the advice, uncle." He nced at the older men around him, giving them his thanks. However, he didn¡¯t sell the shares in his hands, and his eyes were still on the board.

    The clock struck 9.30 a.m..

    The screen started to change.

    The stock market today wasn¡¯t good, basically all the lines were falling slightly, and there wasn¡¯t much increase. But the line that had consistently been in the limit down[1] over the past days had hit the limit up[2] once it was opened today, and it wasn¡¯t a gradual change either.

    Hitting the limit up in the stock market made all opportunity for arbitrage[3] to be lost instantly, and those people had no chance to react at all. Nine Heavens didn¡¯t seem to be interested in giving these people any chance to arbitrage again.

    In the end, only those who had held onto the shares of Nine Heavens all the way from the beginning had were left with the ownership of the shares that were now a rare sight in the market.

    ***

    News of Nine Heavens resuming trading in the stock market swept through the city so quickly that even Norbert didn¡¯t get the chance to react to it.

    "Mr. Norbert, didn¡¯t you say that the shares of Nine Heavens would plummet?! Why have they resumed trading as usual?!" Bai Ting had burst through the doors, his words holding an aggressive tone.

    Norbert nced at the rising lines on his screen, and he was caught off guard for a moment before he smiled lightly. "They¡¯re fighting a losing battle here, don¡¯t worry so much about it."

    Bai Ting was convinced with Norbert¡¯s words, and taking it as reassurance that everything was still going well, he walked into the conference room to appease his business partners.

    The Li family is one of the people who were in cooperation with Bai Ting, but he was harboring a huge amount of doubt in his heart. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt that something was seriously wrong with the entire situation. With the anxiety running through him, he returned to his own office and dismissed his secretary with a wave of his hand.

    He closed and locked the doors of his office, pulling out his phone as he intended to make a call to the Xu family who was also working with him.

    "Boss Li." Therge chair with its back towards him suddenly turned, revealing a young, beautiful face with a melodious voice and a gentle smile.

    Boss Li looked like he had seen a ghost as all the blood drained from his face as he stuttered, "Wh, who, who are you?! Why are you here?!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile remained on her face. "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Li. I¡¯m just here to show you something." She turned the screen of theputer beside her towards Boss Li.

    Bai Ting could be seen on the screen, and he was in a sealed room in some hut. His face waspletely different than the gentle and polite one he had normally. He looked extremely terrifying, as well as slightly mad. "After this is all done, I will make sure the Li family, Xu family, and every single one of those useless idiots die!"

    There were many videos yed, including how Bai Ting intended to kill the Li family.

    "Boss Li, inside here you will find some documents. Whether to withdraw from the cooperation with the Bai family at this time, it¡¯s entirely up to you. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t mind ruining years of your blood, sweat and tears." Gu Xiqiao stood up, pushing a document towards him.

    She then left the room. Those who were working outside didn¡¯t seem to notice the strange girl that walked out right in front of their eyes.

    Boss Li was still feeling the shock coursing through his body, but he took the documents that she had left and flipped through them. As he read them, the expression on his face changed. Not even bothered to think about why the girl had appeared here in the first ce, he immediately made a call to the Xu family.

    And so, that was how the smuggling incidents of the Bai family were revealed.

    As a big family, how could they havemitted no crimes at all? But what they didn¡¯t expect was those crimes that they had hidden so well would suddenly be revealed to the public in an instant!

    With the shares of Nine Heavens at limit up, Bai Ting couldn¡¯t keep it in anymore. Norbert, who was looking at the screen at the side, was still studying it as heforted Bai Ting, "President Bai, please believe in me. Nine Heavens will soon be bankrupt, and at that time, they will be crying and begging you to have mercy on them."

    As soon as he said that, the finance director came through the door in a hurry after a hasty knock on the door. "President Bai, the finance staff have just recalcted and there is a massive loophole in our finances!"

    The secretary also hurried in soon after. "Bai Enterprise¡¯s stock has dropped to the limit down, the Li family and some others have alsopletely withdrawn their fundings. What do we do now, President Bai?"

    "..."

    The bad news kepting in, breeding like flies, and it threw the entire Bai Enterprise building into chaos.

    Norbert was much smarter than Bai Ting, and he immediately came to a realization that while Bai Enterprise was trying to conquer the finances of Nine Heavens and trying to annex them, their opponent had already prated into the core of Bai Enterprise, and was destroying them from all directions!

    It was ridiculous how arrogant and proud he was for being ahead of them, and his face reddened with anger. "Chinese people are really sinister after all!"

    The Bai family was a prosperous wealthy family that was well renowned in the Imperial Capital, with such a turmoil, the economic shock to the Imperial Capital was not small at all. When news broke out, it seemed that almost all thepanies in the Imperial City received the news first hand: There was no saving the Bai family from this economic crisis that they hadnded themselves in.

    Just that morning, Bai Ting had vowed that Nine Heavens would disappear from the Imperial Capital, and he had even passed this deration onto all the major media in the Imperial Capital.

    In the morning news, Bai Ting¡¯s face had upied more than half the screen. Not a few hourster, what the h*ll had happened? Bai Enterprise was in an economical crisis? This was the Bai family, how could they have an economic crisis?!

    Knowing that something was obviously wrong, Bai Ting didn¡¯t bother holding any shareholders or management meeting at the news, but immediately returned to Bai Vi instead.

    In that secret hut, there were still some Soul Extinguishing Seals left behind by the Taoist priest. During these years, when he had encountered any problems, he would unconsciously rely on the power of the priest.

    There were still five talismans left, and his face was grave as he engraved the name ¡¯Nine Heavens¡¯ onto it meticulously.

    ***

    "Do you know what¡¯s a rebound?" Gu Xiqiao stopped at a red light.

    The system spirit was there, as always. [Of course.]

    "Hm, well, let¡¯s do it then," Gu Xiqiao said lightly.

    The system spirit shuddered in pity. Five unlucky talismans, it really felt sympathy for Bai Ting.

    ***

    Half an hourter, Bai Xinran saw Bai Ting being carried into the hospital. She looked at Bai Ting, who was unconscious and lying on the bed, she heard that his entire person had fallen into the sewers. Her face was full of tears, she had not been able to sleep a wink sincest night, constantly keeping up with the news. After worrying so long, this had happened so quickly in the end.

    At the same time, after waiting for news of Bai Enterprise¡¯s bankruptcy, the entire secr world was in an uproar.

    When the Chen family had been destroyed thest time, it hadn¡¯t caused this big of an impact or chaos. The Chen family was born into the underworld after all; moneyundering, bribery, drugs and a lot more hical matters, being caught and called out by Nine Heavens was nothing big.

    But this time it was the Bai family, who was a first-ss tyrant in the Imperial Capital. They had countless people who looked up to their existence, and they went bankrupt, just like that?!

    All the other tyrants in the Imperial Capital were lost in their thoughts, they just couldn¡¯t believe it. After repeatedly confirming the news, they were forced to believe that it was all truth. The Bai family¡¯s bankruptcy was a done deal in the industry, and they were done in by a newly emergingpany.

    Some were panicked, if they really could kill off the Bai family, then what about smaller business like them?

    What would Nine Heaven¡¯s next step be? Would they be aiming to sit at the top of the Imperial Capital?

    That was impossible, right? But now, even the Bai family had been defeated... was Nine Heavens really going to ascend to the heavens?

    Thest time, they were guessing whether Nine Heavens would emerge and rise in power, and not even a monthter, Nine Heavens had indeed done so, and not only that, they had also cast a shadow over the hearts of thergepanies in the Imperial Capital. With such a tyrannical and cruel explosive power, who would dare to mess with them?

    ***

    "How devious of them, if they had such strength, why didn¡¯t theye out from the beginning? Why did they wait until thest minute when they were already backed into a corner before revealing everything and cleaning out the Bai family in one fell swoop? How could they have endured it all the way till then?"

    Seeing his friend in such a state, the financial predator couldn¡¯t help but smile. "And that¡¯s what I meant by giving help at the right time. Since you didn¡¯t listen to me, I can¡¯t do anything about that."

    "..." How was he to know that in just a month, Nine Heavens could be so cunning. If there was ever a next time, he will make sure to extend help in the right time to avoid such a loss of opportunity!

    At a nce, it seemed that everyone and anyone was trying to guess what the next step for Nine Heavens was. Were they nning to conquer the peak of the Imperial Capital?

    As mysterious as ever, no one in Nine Heavens came forward to offer any word of exnation, and continued to maintain their low-key profile, not cooperating with anypanies.

    If Luo Weng, who was now preparing to develop their financial products, were toe out to offer any exnation, it would just be to say that their boss had found something new to y with, and was preparing to invest in movies, and was not bothered with the running of Nine Heavens.

    Even if he said all that, not a single person would believe him anyway, right?

    ***

    ¡¯Little system, hurry up and find me a better movie.¡¯

    The omnnipotent system that was being used like a sledgehammer to crack a nut, scoured the entire inte on earth with a reluctant look on its face, using a calcted speed of one hundred million a second to find a script for a certain someone.

    As Gu Xiqiao talked with the system, she walked towards Studio City, and the set of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯. Just as she reached the set, she bumped into Tang Qingqiu.

    "Big[4]... Cough, hello." Tang Qingqiu greeted her stiffly.

    Big? What was this ¡¯big¡¯ about?

    [1] T/N: A limit down is the opposite to a limit up, and it sets the maximum amount that the price of a stock will be allowed to decrease in a single trading session.

    [2] T/N: A limit up is the maximum amount that the price of a stock will be allowed to increase in a single trading session.

    [3] T/N: Market arbitrage refers to the simultaneous buying and selling of the same security in different markets to take advantage of a price difference.

    [4] possibly big sister

 Chapter 144 Cooperation Matters, And The Film Queens Appearance

    <h4>Chapter 144 Cooperation Matters, And The Film Queen¡°s Appearance</h4>

    "Who was the person that walked in with you just now?" On set, Xiao Yun asked Gu Xiqiao in front of the vanity mirror.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she thought about it. "I don¡¯t really know." For some reason, that person acted as if they were already acquaintances.

    Xiao Yun stared at Gu Xiqiao coolly. "You don¡¯t know who he is and yet he smiled at you like that?"

    "I¡¯m pretty confused too." Gu Xiqiao picked up the scriptying by Xiao Yun¡¯s hands. On it, each line was highlighted in different colors, an indication of how hard Xiao Yun was actually working.

    "But I do know who the person by his side was." Xiao Yun recalled the peculiar look in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. "That person was Qin Heng, a secretary working for Tang Enterprise. Besides the president, he¡¯s the one making the calls in their business.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped through a few pages of the script before returning it to Xiao Yun. "Have you be dumb or something? Apart from the president, is there anyone else he would treat with so much respect?"

    Xiao Yun¡¯s senses suddenly returned to her. "Then h-h-h-he¡¯s... the boss of Tang Enterprise? Our boss?"

    Gu Xiqiao of course, was not going to answer such a retarded question.

    Tang Qingqiu¡¯s arrival instilled cautiousness throughout the entire film crew. Because of Qin Heng, many of them had a rough idea of who this man actually was. The Tangs were a secretive bunch and this was their first time seeing the man behind the scenes, and a young man at that!

    "Why do you only have your assistant here? What about your agent?" Gu Xiqiao scanned around the room to find no signs of Xiang Kun anywhere. What a bother. She had already bribed him but his performance at the job was way too crappy for what she paid.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingers twitched. She started wondering if she should retrieve the obsidian beads right now?!

    "Mr. Xiang¡¯s went over to wee the Film Queen¡¯s arrival." Xiao Yun¡¯s eyes lit up with anticipation. "Song Guanjing, you know her? She¡¯s the female lead of this film. I¡¯ve only seen her on the TV screen. Wonder what she looks like in real life."

    Song Guanjing debuted at the same time as Li Yu. She, too, once worked under Xiang Kun. As it has been a while since theyst met, Xiang Kun was given the task to wee her back to the country this time.

    A new thought popped into Xiao Yun¡¯s mind. "Say, you think that guy from Tang Enterprise is here to meet Song Guanjing?" The more she thought about it, the higher the likelihood that she was right.

    Many of the people working here thought the same thing too. The president could havee here at any point in time but why specifically today? He must be here to see the film queen himself; there must be something going on in the dark between them.

    Xixi flew off from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulders, as the film crew continued chasing it enthusiastically.

    If he wanted to meet Song Guanjing, wasn¡¯t meeting her at the airport much easier? Why did he choose to do it on the set? This, Gu Xiqiao felt, was a clear indication that he wasn¡¯t here for that reason.

    "Xiao Yun, your scene¡¯sing up. Chop chop!" One of the crew members pulled open the dressing room¡¯s door to hurry her.

    Gu Xiqiao went with Xiao Yun to the set. She observed the filming process before leaving to find Cheng Zhou. This was her main objective for being here today. She wanted to sell the services of post-production by a bunch of great gods from Nine Heavens to the director.

    Tang Qingqiu was conversing with Cheng Zhou when she approached them.

    Tang Qingqiu had an air of elegance around him. It was obvious that Cheng Zhou was behaving unnaturally while speaking to him. His hands were stiff, making the director stick out of the scene awkwardly like a sore thumb. There were lots of nobles with whom the director had interactions with in the past and this case should not be any different either. This was where the oddity was found.

    Fortunately, the president¡¯s eyes were locked onto the cameras and he didn¡¯t talk a lot in the conversation. This made Cheng Zhou feel slightly better.

    Although Tang Qingqiu was the biggest partner of this film project, Cheng Zhou never expected to meet with the man himself throughout the entire process. After all, the president was notoriously secretive. He kept a low-profile, appearing rarely in mass media. In fact, this was the director¡¯s first time meeting Tang Qingqiu in person. Apart from fear, Cheng Zhou also felt a sense of disbelief.

    "Miss Gu." Tang Qingqiu was surprised to see Gu Xiqiao approach them.

    Perhaps it was the way he spoke, or the way he reacted but Cheng Zhou noticed a stark difference in how Tang Qingqiu interacted with Gu Xiqiao and himself. For some reason, he was much more respectful when addressing Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡¯Wait, did my senses get messed up?¡¯ thought Cheng Zhou to himself in the dark.

    Cheng Zhou was already able to sense this difference in attitude, what more to say of Qin Heng, who had worked with Tang Qingqiu for the past decade. He suspiciously eyed his own boss before turning to look at Gu Xiqiao. Something set her apart from any other person. This was the first person he had seen Tang Qingqiu acting so friendly towards someone. It was almost as if he was kissing up to her?

    "Nice to meet you," said Gu Xiqiao once more.

    She had said the same exact words back at the entrance to the film site. However, why did he know her name?

    Tang Qingqiu was deep in thought for a moment before he replied with a dead serious expression, "Pleasure to meet you for the first time. My surname¡¯s Tang. I¡¯m Tang Qingqiu."

    Qin Heng was shocked upon hearing his boss say that. The outside world only knew of Tang Enterprise, not who it belonged to. Tang Qingqiu was quite an arrogant person. This was his first time seeing him reveal his name in front of a stranger. Even in front of his own employees, bringing up the name ¡¯Tang Qingqiu¡¯ was a rare asion.

    Which begs the question, just who was this girl standing in front of him?

    ¡¯Tang Qingqiu? Why does that sound so familiar?¡¯

    A transparent board materialized in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, on which was disyed every bit of information the system could find about Tang Qingqiu.

    Gu Xiqiao then warmed up to him by directing a smile at him. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tang."

    He was Tang Qinghong¡¯s brother, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s cousin, and Tang Yanling¡¯s nephew.

    Though, Gu Xiqiao spected that Tang Qingqiu must not know about her rtionship with Tang Yanling. So why did he know who she was?

    "Director Cheng, I¡¯ve something to tell you," said Gu Xiqiao to Cheng Zhou.

    Tang Qingqiu responded swiftly. "Well then, I¡¯ll leave you and Miss Gu to speak alone. I¡¯m going to head out and take a look at things around here."

    This confirmed Qin Heng¡¯s suspicion that the boss was treating this girl differently from any other person.

    "Boss, you know who this Miss Gu is?"

    "Know?" Tang Qingqiu searched his mind for a while. "Not exactly. But, I have been her admirer for quite a while now. As expected, she was just like what the rumours had alleged."

    The aura that she emanated was definitely imposing, especially her mental strength. The only other personparable to her was Jiang Shuxuan.

    Qin Heng was thoroughly shocked upon hearing what his boss had said. He was perfectly aware of Tang Qingqiu¡¯s unusual identity. Back then, while theirpany was still in its infancy, he and Tang Qingqiu had met with many state leaders and administrators. Surprisingly, these men treated Tang Qingqiu with incredible respect, which was also why Qin Heng had stayed so loyal to thepany.

    Never has it crossed his mind that Tang Qingqiu would treat another girl with so much respect. He even said he was an ¡¯admirer¡¯ of her.

    Qin Heng looked back at the young girl who was speaking to the director.

    ¡¯Seems like another person I can¡¯t afford to offend in the future,¡¯ thought Qin Heng to himself.

    Suddenly, the phone in his pocket started ringing. Qin Heng nced at the caller ID before walking over to one side to pick up the call.

    His expression was dull but there was a deep sense of bitternessing off of his body. It was so strong that even Tang Qingqiu picked up on it.

    "Whose call is that? Why the long face?" Tang Qingqiu asked.

    "It¡¯s my assistant. Apparently, Bai Enterprise has just announced their bankruptcy." Qin Heng¡¯s voice sounded as sober as it ever gets.

    He felt reluctant when answering the boss¡¯ question. Qin Heng recalled the bet he had made with Tang Qingqiu, and the seven-day vacation that he got for himself. It had only been a matter of hours and the Bai family was going bankrupt? Even giving birth wasn¡¯t so quick right?

    Tang Qingqiu¡¯s head turned around. "They¡¯re going bankrupt?" There was disbelief in his voice.

    Although he knew that the person behind Nine Heavens was incredibly powerful, this speed was simply impossible, no? ording to his estimation, it would take Nine Heavens at least one month topletely shatter the Bai family. That also included the time it would take to resolve issues they would face with acquiring sufficient financial capital.

    He never expected to hear such news so soon from Qin Heng¡¯s mouth.

    "Yeah, Bai Ting is just aplete disappointment!" Qin Heng said bitterly. His seven-day vacation was gone. Also, how the hell did a family sorge and well-established go bankrupt in such a short span of time? Where was their emergency funds? Where are the assets passed down by their ancestors?!

    While he was frustrated, Qin Heng also realized how powerful Nine Heavens was. The Chen family¡¯s downfall was expected but the Bai family? Who in the right mind would ever expect this to happen? Now that they were brought down, who else would dare to look down on thispany?

    Wasn¡¯t it only an insignificant startuppany? How did they manage to pull such a huge feat off? Qin Heng admitted to himself, the person calling the shots in thispany was quite a powerful one. He wondered when in the future would this demon finally emerge from the dark.

    "And you were so optimistic about trying to acquire Nine Heavens?" Tang Qingqiu thought back to Qin Heng¡¯s pompous speech earlier in the morning. This was the perfect time to tease him about it, he thought.

    Acquire Nine Heavens? Qin Heng shuddered. "No, I said that because I wasn¡¯t aware of how powerful they were."

    His assistant had sent over a detailed report on the current situation. Qin Heng flipped through it for a while before telling Tang Qingqiu, "The one in charge of Nine Heavens is a master tactician. Their offensive against the Bai family was wless. Although the Bai family was bankrupt, it had been structured so that anyone who is nning to predate on their assets would get utterly crushed by Nine Heavens itself."

    Bai Enterprise was a big fat goat. The goat might have died but its meat was still plenty edible. Everyone wanted a piece of its fatty meat and they were all looking at this incident unfold with keen eyes.

    And yet, Nine Heavens has already issued a warning that they still possessed a mighty trump card. Whoever that dared to steal a piece of meat for themselves would be sent straight to jail.

    Of course, no one knew whether this was true or not. But at this point, there was virtually no one who dared to challenge Nine Heavens¡¯ authority. After all, the fight had just concluded with the Bai family¡¯splete annihtion. As such, no one truly dared to defy their warning.

    "Boss, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise to dere Nine Heavens as the enemy," said Qin Heng solemnly. "We can only join them as an ally."

    Be their enemy and you won¡¯t even know who to look for after being destroyed.

    Tang Qingqiu turned back to look at the set. "You can stop thinking about that now. You know how vicious theirpany is. You¡¯re lucky enough to have escaped unscathed after what you¡¯ve done against them. And now you¡¯re still thinking about being their ally?"

    "..."

    ¡¯Maybe he¡¯s right?¡¯ thought Qin Heng to himself.

    "But..." Tang Qingqiu sighed helplessly. "I would really like to meet the person behind the scenes at Nine Heavens."

    Every move they made was well-calcted to further increase the capability of theirpany. You could drive them into a corner and they would turn the tide every time at thest second.

    Qin Heng nodded his head. "Yeah, it¡¯s hard to find someone who¡¯s more mysterious than you."

    Although Tang Qingqiu was secretive, everyone knew who he was. His involvement in the entertainment industry was no longer a secret.

    However, the leader of Nine Heavens had yet to reveal their face, what more to say of their identity, or whether they were a man or a woman. Nothing was known about who the puppetmaster was.

    Only a wise old geezer could handle maintaining such a low-profile, thought Qin Heng.

    ***

    Gu (Old) Xiqiao (Geezer) exined her inventions to Cheng Zhou. It took the director quite a while to react to her statement. "So you are offering to help find a post-production team?"

    "Yeah. Aren¡¯t you aiming for the film award at the end of November?" Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. "But filming would end by October at the earliest, no? You think you can still make it after adding post-production to the equation?"

    This was a burning issue Cheng Zhou was facing right now. He did have a post-production team working for him but it would take him quite a while to get the final product right. That also included some major editing done to some of the scenes in his film.

    If he was to release the film just in time for the awards, he would have topensate by sacrificing the visual quality of the film.

    He was incredibly excited when he heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s offer to find him a post-production team. However, he was a little skeptical when she said how amazing their work was. After all, it would take at least one to two years for even the most seasoned team to perfect aplete Hollywood blockbuster.

    Just what could a teamplete in a single month?

    He tried to turn her down indirectly.

    Gu Xiqiao still maintained that smile on her face. "Do you remember the surveince footage I gave you a few days ago? Alright, I¡¯ll be honest with you, after my friend infiltrated into the surveince system of the filming site, we managed to restore the footage after locating it. Wouldn¡¯t you want such a talented post-production team working for you, for free? Anyways, it¡¯s just an alternative. If you¡¯re not satisfied with their work, you could also use the post-production team you have working for you."

    Cheng Zhou was surprised after hearing Gu Xiqiao bring up the surveince footage matter. "You¡¯re saying they¡¯ll do it for free?"

    The post-production process for a film was no walk in the park. It involved picture splicing, adding realistic sound effects... also, they needed to pay attention to the effects used in the film overall. In short, a lot of effort goes into this and yet Gu Xiqiao¡¯s saying that they¡¯ll do all that free of charge?

    "Free of charge?" Gu Xiqiao raised her brow. "Not really. The main objective is to bribe you."

    "Bribe me?" Cheng Zhou looked at Gu Xiqiao with a puzzled look on his face. He didn¡¯t understand what she meant by the word ¡¯bribe¡¯, nor did he understand why she said the word so calmly.

    "Well, it¡¯s like this Director Cheng. If you think you have any good projectsing up in the future, you have to get Xiao Yun to work for you. She¡¯s a hard-working pretty girl, don¡¯t you think?" Gu Xiqiao looked at Cheng Zhou with a genuine expression.

    What would you feel when a moe-moe girl gives you this look?

    Cheng Zhou thought to himself, ¡¯Crap, I¡¯ve been defeated by moe power. That hit must¡¯ve caused at least 10k HP in damage.¡¯

    "To tell you the truth... I was hoping that you would bribe me for your own sake." Cheng Zhou¡¯s thoughts were in line with Xiang Kun in this regard.

    He was willing to give the newbie a try. He admired Xiao Yun¡¯s abilities; even if Gu Xiqiao did not ask him to, he would undoubtedly still give her a shot at a sessful career in acting. However, he did not feel like talking to Gu Xiqiao as of now.

    In front of the camera lenses, it was like Gu Xiqiao¡¯s purpose of being born into this world was to be an actress. Cheng Zhou was hurt when he realized that the bribe was for Xiao Yun and not herself. Cheng Zhou disappointedly waved his hand. "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll send all the film clips to you in the end. You should go now."

    At this point, he didn¡¯t feel like looking at her face too.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Cheng Zhou. It didn¡¯t seem like he took her post-production proposition seriously. This, she felt, made her heart ache.

    Sigh. Hopefully, Yu Ning would impress the director with his editing skills.

    Yu Ning, who had just received a deciphering route from Gu Xiqiao sneezed in hisb. He scratched his head.

    ¡¯Who¡¯s thinking about me?¡¯

    Her main objective here was to tell the director about this. She felt that her offer would feel much more sincere if she was to give it in person. She waited for Xiao Yun¡¯s scene to end before bidding her farewell.

    Because the cutie pie of the set had arrived, Cheng Zhou made sure to add a couple of scenes with Xixi acting.

    Its owner truly was born to act. Even her pet was a great actor. What¡¯s more, the bird was far more enthusiastic in front of the camera than its owner. Cheng Zhou sighed with a dejected look on his face. He didn¡¯t want to think about this matter anymore; his heart would only ache even more.

    He added a lot of scenes for Gu Xiqiao and he had even promised to change the script to amodate her character and yet, thiszy slob rejected his offer just because of her studies?! She was walking around town every day like a hobo and yet she dared to mention her studies?

    Cheng Zhou felt depressed thinking about it.

    ¡¯Aren¡¯t you a med student? Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know about you secretly making oil paintings at home! If you¡¯ve so much time to do that, why don¡¯t you have the time to appear on camera for just a couple of minutes?¡¯

    And so, the wounded Cheng Zhou continued babbling on in his heart.

    "Director Cheng, Guanjing has arrived." The producer told him over the phone.

    In an instant, everyone on set knew about Song Guanjing¡¯s arrival.

    ***

    "Boss, Miss Song is here." Seeing Tang Qingqiu¡¯s listless face, Qin Heng had to remind his boss about the situation.

    "Oh," responded Tang Qingqiu absent-mindedly. He was staring at the red bird that was pping around in front of the cameras.

    He had seen it perched on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder just now. For some reason, the unique bird seemed familiar to him.

    Just then, he recalled the divine beast, the Vermillion Bird that was recorded in ancient scripture!

    He saw the Vermillion Bird flying in front of Gu Xiqiao, before she reached out to smack it gently with her pale, delicate hand.

    Stop doing that girl! That¡¯s the Vermillion Bird! Tang Qingqiu watched in horror as Gu Xiqiao nonchntly smacked the bird down onto the ground.

    The Vermillion Bird rarely made its appearance. It seems like Gu Xiqiao was its current owner. But why was she abusing it like that? Also, wasn¡¯t it a sacred creature? He knew a great deal of people who would treat this bird like a precious gem, unlike Gu Xiqiao.

    Wasn¡¯t she afraid of angering the bird? The Vermillion Bird could spout enough fire in one breath to engulf the entire filming site in mes.

    And yet, the Vermillion Bird didn¡¯t seem to mind her abuse as it got up from the ground. In fact, it looked like it had already grown used to being abused by her. It pped its wings and flew up to her shoulders, continuing to act like a cute little songbird.

    Just like Qin Heng from before, Tang Qingqiu was dumbfounded. He finally understood how he felt back then.

    ***

    Song Guanjing followed Xiang Kun into the filming site. She had been working in a fantasy blockbuster in America recently and had justnded back in her home country hours ago. She did not expect to see the boss, Tang Qingqiu so early on aftering back to China.

    She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes. She looked at Xiang Kun, recalling how her ex-agent was acquaintances with Tang Qingqiu.

    Xiang Kun nced back at her, then at the familiar figure of Tang Qingqiu. In an instant, his eyes lit up before he shuffled over excitedly.

    "President Tang." Xiang Kun could afford to ignore Tang Qingqiu but Song Guanjing could not.

    She was lucky enough to meet with Tang Qingqiu a few times while working under Xiang Kun but of the times they met, he would always be cold and unapproachable. However, Song Guanjing acknowledged the difference in their social statuses and thus, did not want to forcefully approach him.

    After all, he was way too influential for her own good.

    Tang Qingqiu silently nodded at Song Guanjing as a greeting.

    As the multi-purpose secretary, Qin Heng stepped in and spoke with Song Guanjing for a while, even asking her for an autograph for his daughter back home.

    Song Guanjing did as requested before leaving to look for Xiang Kun. She wanted to ask just why did Xiang Kun ignore Tang Qingqiu like that.

    "Miss Gu!" Because there was filming going on, Xiang Kun called out with a hushed voice. Song Guanjing eavesdropped on him. Apart from excitement, his voice sounded... respectful?

    Song Guanjing was shocked. She knew that Xiang Kun stood toe-to-toe with Tang Qingqiu but for him to use honorifics, just who was this girl he was talking to?

    She turned her head to see a face that was hard to describe using words alone. She had been working so long in the entertainment industry but she had never onceid eyes on such a pretty face before.

    Her face was like white jade and her eyes, as clear as crystal, or like a breath of fresh air. She sparkled underneath the lights, appearing so beautiful that it hurt to stare at her directly.

 Chapter 145 Tang Family Feud, And A Game-Changing Treasure

    <h4>Chapter 145 Tang Family Feud, And A Game-Changing Treasure</h4>

    With such looks, no way she wasn¡¯t a big hit in the entertainment industry. Song Guanjing stared at the girl standing in front of her for a while before her senses finally returned. Judging from how cautious Xiang Kun was acting, this girl must be no simpleton. In fact, she was probably the sort of person who looked down on people working in the entertainment field.

    "Mr. Xiang." Gu Xiqiao nodded her head slightly at the agent.

    Her voice sounded clear but gentle. In any other context, it should have beenforting to hear her speak.

    And yet, hearing Gu Xiqiao call out to him made Xiang Kun tremble with fear. There was still the bracelet on his wrist that was made out of ck obsidian beads. It has been a few days since hest experienced nightmares. His sleep schedule no longer disturbed, he slept like a babyst night and the food he ate tasted better than ever. The better he felt, the more he found Gu Xiqiao to be an extraordinary person.

    Thus, he had decided to pass this bracelet down to his children as a family treasure.

    "You can stop referring to me as Mr. Xiang. I am slightly older than you after all. Just call me Brother Xiang. Likewise, you can call me that too, Xiao Yun." Was being called ¡¯brother¡¯ any better than before? Anyhow, it didn¡¯t matter to Gu Xiqiao.

    "Brother Xiang," repeated Gu Xiqiao.

    Xiang Kun was ted upon hearing her call him ¡¯Brother Xiang¡¯. Song Guanjing was shocked to see that look on his face during that moment.

    Everyone in the industry knew that Xiang Kun was a gold-tier agent who has only had A-list celebrities working under him. However, his contracts with these celebrities would neverst longer than two years. With his wide connections and a near endless pool of resources, two years¡¯ time was more than enough for him to turn a rookie actress into an A-list celebrity.

    This was her first time seeing him suck up to another person. Of course, Song Guanjing was at a loss for words. She shifted her gaze over to the young woman and when their eyes met, she shed her a warm, gentle smile. "Nice to meet you two, I¡¯m Song Guanjing."

    Xiao Yun shot up from her seat instantly. "Nice to meet you too, Sister Song. My name¡¯s Xiao Yun."

    "Xiao Yun?" Song Guanjing scanned her from head to toe. She was no doubt, a looker and what caught her eye was the cold, distant vibe Xiao Yun gave off. "You should be the rookie Brother Xiang¡¯s working with. I guess we¡¯re colleagues then. You can refer to me as your ¡¯senior¡¯ from now on."

    Li Yu, who had just finished acting in a scene too, walked over. Back then, he worked alongside Song Guanjing under Xiang Kun. Hence, they were already well-acquainted with each other. "Guanjing, the director needs you to head over to the dressing room and put some makeup on."

    Song Guanjing sighed. "I¡¯ve juste back and he¡¯s already making a ve out of me. I guess little has changed about Director Cheng."

    "You should hurry up too. Else there¡¯ll be no end when Director Cheng starts babbling away." Remembering how Cheng Zhou was murmuring to himself just now, Li Yu jabbed at his old friend.

    "Seems like he¡¯s in a pretty foul mood today, doesn¡¯t he?" Song Guanjing smacked her forehead. This was one of Cheng Zhou¡¯s issues. Whenever he gets pissed off, it would turn into an ordeal for the people working under him. "Which one of you did that to him?"

    Li Yu looked over in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. "No one, he¡¯s just a little frustrated, I think."

    Frustrated? Song Guanjing seemed skeptical about it but she headed for the dressing room nheless. No way in hell was she going to risk getting a lecture by Cheng Zhou.

    "Please let me practice my lines with you. The next scene¡¯s going to be me and Senior Song and I¡¯m a little scared that I might not handle the pressure," pleaded Xiao Yun as soon as she saw Song Guanjing leave.

    Gu Xiqiao replied, "... You didn¡¯t seem afraid when you first acted with Li Yu, so why are you afraid now?"

    There should technically be zero difference between a film king and a film queen, right?

    "You don¡¯t know this but." Xiao Yun sighed a long sigh. "Senior Song is different from Li Yu. Thetter¡¯s a really gentle person. We both can control our auras so they are in perfect harmony no matter what scene we are acting in. Senior Song¡¯s not the same. For some reason, I feel tremendous pressure when standing in front of her."

    Song Guanjing was a one-of-a-kind type of beauty. She was an elegant woman, the type of elegance that would make your knees weak from sheer intimidation. She must¡¯ve probably been born to emit such a strong aura.

    "Go ahead then. I¡¯ll be standing right here." Gu Xiqiao remained seated as she looked back at Xiao Yun with a deadpan expression.

    Xiao Yun pushed the script toward her.

    Gu Xiqiao pushed it back. "I don¡¯t need it."

    "No, I need you to check if I¡¯ve messed up the words." Xiao Yun pushed the script in her direction the second time.

    "I¡¯ve got it all in my head." Gu Xiqiao then made an expression that said ¡¯if you don¡¯t hurry up and practice, we¡¯ll run out of time soon.¡¯

    Understanding what Gu Xiqiao was implying, Xiao Yun immediately raised her head. "So you¡¯re telling me that from flipping through my script, you¡¯ve already memorised every single detail in the script?"

    "I¡¯ve always thought that these were extremely easy to remember." Gu Xiqiao was serious when she said this. This script contained even less content than the pile of documents she had on her desk at Nine Heavens.

    Xiao Yun, who had been desperately memorizing her lines thought to herself, ¡¯If you continue acting like that, I¡¯m afraid our friendship will be no more in the future.¡¯

    Li Yu, who was observing their exchange was surprised. "..."

    ¡¯Is she for real?¡¯

    Xiang Kun, who was still nearby froze in his tracks. Silently, he wept in his heart. ¡¯Look at this person, she¡¯s great at acting, has an incredible memory and is unrivaled in terms of looks. Why the hell did she choose the path of bing a doctor?!¡¯

    "Why do you look as if your wife had just passed away?" asked Tang Qingqiu curiously.

    Xiang Kun gave him a re. "Bah, the only dead person here is your wife!"

    "Care to repeat that again?" Tang Qingqiu loosened his wrists. His expression was serious and intimidating; he was totally not joking about it.

    Xiang Kun was quite obviously shocked. ¡¯I was just joking, why you gotta be so serious?¡¯ The witty Xiang Kun decided to switch topics to save his butt. Nosily, he asked, "Qingqiu, I heard that you came here to meet Song Guanjing in person?"

    "From whom?" asked Tang Qingqiu with a raised brow. No way in hell was he here to meet Song Guanjing. In fact, who was Song Guanjing to him? ¨r(¨s¨Œ¨t)¨q

    "The media of course." Xiang Kun whipped out his phone and showed today¡¯s headlines on the media section of the news.

    ¡¯Film Star, Song Guanjing Returns To Mothend. A Mysterious Man, Suspected To Be The President Of Tang Enterprise Gives Studio A Visit!¡¯

    Tang Qingqiu thought to himself, ¡¯Those darned paparazzi can never run out of nonsense to talk about can they?¡¯

    Realizing that nothing good woulde out of him staying there, Tang Qingqiu thought it was time for him to leave the ce. The film crew, who had been working like zombies, were finally resurrected as soon as the president left.

    And yet, their mood once again, received a heavy blow as Gu Xiqiao too, left the scene shortly after.

    The makeup artist and her assistant were reluctant to see Gu Xiqiao leave. "Goddess! You must remember to keep visiting us, okay? We¡¯ll be right here waiting for you!"

    Even Xixi had been given N amount of kisses before they left.

    It was already quite a while after Gu Xiqiao left when Song Guanjing was done with her photoshoot. She was a bit regretful to not see her one final time before she left. Suddenly, she remembered something.

    "Brother Xiang, who was that youngdy from before?"

    ¡¯Why did you appear as if you were afraid of her?¡¯ was what she wanted to ask him but she did not have to courage to ask such an outrageous question.

    "She is, as I have said, the one who was born to be an actress." No, as soon as he was reminded of this fact, his heart would start throbbing in pain. Xiang Kun was carrying a great deal of sadness on his shoulders. It seems like Cheng Zhou was the only one who understood his own pain.

    Song Guanjing already knew about the girl who Xiang Kun told her was an insanely talented young girl. She also knew about Xiang Kun¡¯s hobby, which was to turn rookie actors and actresses with potential, like her, into a movie star.

    And yet, it was also rare to see Xiang Kun being so attached to a rookie. There were countless others waiting to work under him; to think that there was someone in this world that willingly turned down an opportunity to work under him.

    She thought back to that girl¡¯s face. Song Guanjing was sure that based on her looks alone, it would only take a few minutes before she became a nation-wide sensation.

    But, even if she was a rookie, even if she refused to work under him, there was no reason for Xiang Kun to be afraid of her, right?

    Song Guanjing eyed Xiang Kun, who went silent after that. Fine, she¡¯d go with the assumption that the youngdy had a pretty high social status. After all, people like that were not umon in the Imperial Capital. Song Guanjing didn¡¯t want to dwell too long on this either. However, she was definitely curious about how great that girl¡¯s acting skill was to make Xiang Kun insist that she work under him.

    ***

    Around the same time, at the legacy base of the Tang family, back in the ancient martial arts world.

    A group of men formed into a massive circle, with a handsome young man in the epicenter of said circle.

    "There is no other choice. We have already informed the Jiang family and subsequently, we have already received their reply. Someone will being by in a moment," said an old man with a long flowing white beard, dressed in a traditional Tang dynasty attire. "Yanling, I have wronged you. I really never expected that your son would be unsuitable for our Tang family¡¯s practices."

    Tang Yanling peered at Yin Shaoyuan, who, despite being unconscious, still had a healthyplexion. No one knew the specific reason for Yin Shaoyuan¡¯sa and those who were close to Tang Yanling had started panicking. And yet, the victim¡¯s mother was as calm as a still body of water.

    "Hmph! Nothing but false pretense!" yelled the young man who was standing nearby.

    "Silence!" bellowed an elder man. "She is the daughter of our family¡¯s patriarch!"

    The young man gritted his teeth and responded aggressively. "Am I wrong?! She is someone who had been expelled from our family a long time ago. Twenty long years have passed and now she¡¯s back to snatch our resources?! What right does she have to do so? All because she¡¯s the daughter of the leader?! Her son¡¯s condition is precisely because he¡¯s the mixed-breed between our family and an outsider! He¡¯s unconscious because the legacy base is rejecting him! The Jiang family? I find it weird that the Jiang family¡¯s even sending someone over!"

    Tang Yanling had finallye back after so many years, only to upy space in the legacy base; naturally, there would be dissenting voices against her actions.

    While his voice wasn¡¯t particrly loud, everyone present on the scene could hear every word clearly. The answers they had in their heart was also equally clear.

    Their leader¡¯s decision, they felt, was gravely wrong. They might have treated Tang Yanling with respect but they still felt like they had gotten the short end of the stick. In any other case, marriage with an outsider was frowned upon, with the person being cast out from their family like a piece of rotten wood.

    When news broke out that Tang Yanling was marrying an outsider, there were quite a few thatughed at her in the dark. Now that she has returned, her son¡¯s current state was said by many to be a result of divine retribution.

    As such, they treated the situation as if it was nothing major.

    "Could you repeat that?" A hand came out of nowhere and gripped tightly on the young man¡¯s neck. Craning his neck backward, he saw Tang Qinghong¡¯s face, apanied by his ice-cold voice.

    Tang Qinghong was the most aplished young man the Tang family had ever produced in recent years. The same held true for the rest of the ancient martial arts world. No one ever doubted that he would be the next leader of the Tang family.

    "No, please, I won¡¯t say it again Young Master Tang, I swear!" The young man started pleading for his life in an instant. Even if Tang Qinghong was to strangle that man to death, no one else would dare make a sound in protest.

    Like a piece of garbage, he threw the man aside. Slowly, Tang Qinghong walked over. "Aunt." He started speaking in a respectful tone to Tang Yanling.

    Tang Qinghong¡¯s attitude towards her was also partly the reason why these men would treat Tang Yanling with respect on the surface. Still, the feelings they harbored toward her couldn¡¯t be any different under the surface. They knew that strength was how one ruled the ancient martial arts world; Tang Yanling¡¯s family was weak, so no way they were going to bow down at them willingly.

    Not to mention the fact that she was using up arge part of their resources every day she continued to stay here.

    There were already some who were starting to plot against Tang Yanling. However, it seemed like there was some great treasure she was holding that shielded her against their chi, rendering their tricks utterly useless.

    They figured that it must¡¯ve been a protective talisman given to her by the leader.

    How biased could that man be?! This led to a growing sense of discontent among the men gathered there. The Tang family had only a handful of prized treasures and to give them both a piece of the loot only made them even more envious of Tang Yanling and her son.

    Tang Yanling smiled at Tang Qinghong. No matter how much pressure she was going through, she would never show it on her face. She¡¯d always remind herself that this was the Tang family. Although she wished to bring Yin Shaoyuan out of this ce as soon as possible, these people were still his rtives; this was still Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s safe harbor.

    She was also well-aware of what the rest were thinking. However, she had no other choice. Luckily, there was Tang Qinghong here to support her. Though, she was unsure why Tang Qinghong was treating her so nicely and why the Tang family as a whole was so amodating toward her. During such desperate times, she no longer cared so much about this.

    "J-Jiang... someone from the Jiang family has arrived!" Suddenly, a man came stumbling in with an excited look on his face.

    Has someone from the Jiang family trulye? The juniors of the Tang family also began discussing quietly upon hearing this. They did not expect things to turn out this way. It also raises a question¨Cwho from the Jiang family did they decide to send this time?

    As if he could read their minds, the man announced solemnly: "He is the Keeper of The Seven Frost Swords!"

    The scene went dead silent in an instant.

    That video that floated around The Forum started ying in their minds as soon as they heard that name. The man who destroyed an entire realm with just a sword in hand. The strongest man in the ancient martial arts world, the one who no one in the world could match up to.

    "Why is he here?"

    "Is something wrong with my hearing?"

    "I feel my blood flowing backward now..."

    Before they could finish speaking, a figure appeared in the distance, slowly walking toward their direction. He was not wearing the majestic clothes most of the people here in the ancient martial arts world was wearing. Instead, he wore only a casual white shirt and a pair of trousers. His figure was tall and slender, his gaze, cold and distant. As he walked, the moisture contained in the air around him froze into frost crystals.

    They went silent as he slowly approached them.

    A pair of eyes scanned the horizon. Although he had kept his sword sheathed the entire time, these men were so intimidated that they kept their heads down, not daring to look directly at the man.

    "Young Master Jiang," said the white-bearded elder respectfully who rose from his seat to greet Jiang Shuxuan personally.

    Apart from Jiang Shuxuan, the Jiang family was simr to the Tang family in almost every regard. His powers alone had greatly exceeded that of most of his peers, as well as a couple of other elders. The Seven Frost Swords was a treasure that was handed down by the Jiang family for over a millennium. He was the only one who sessfully mastered the family art.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded in response before turning toward Tang Yanling. His expression warmed up instantly as he greeted her, "Aunt."

    "Shuxuan, quick, take a look at him. What¡¯s happening with Shaoyuan?" Finally, someone whom she could rely on had appeared. Tang Yanling felt like if this went on any longer, she¡¯d be having a mental breakdown.

    The rest, including Tang Qinghong, were dumbfounded at what they heard. What did Tang Yanling call Jiang Shuxuan just now?

    She called him by his name? Even the elders had to refer to him using the honorific of ¡¯Young Master¡¯. Why on earth was Tang Yanling entitled to refer to him by name?

    "Don¡¯t panic. You sit down here, I¡¯ll try my best to see what¡¯s wrong with Shaoyuan." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s finger twitched and out came a wooden recliner. If Gu Xiqiao was here, she¡¯d instantly recognize it to be his favorite chair to do his reading on.

    Tang Yanling calmed herself down as she climbed onto Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s chair, observing him as he worked.

    On the surface, Yin Shaoyuan seemed to be in a rtively normal condition. Using his mental strength, Jiang Shuxuan checked on his current physical condition before a stunned look appeared on his face. "The restriction in his body has already disappeared. To jump so suddenly into the Bone Refinement realm, did any of you feed him anything unusual? He¡¯s currently digesting a ball of energy."

    The elder was shocked upon hearing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words. "You¡¯re saying that he¡¯s already reached the Bone Refinement realm?"

    How was this possible?! The men were caught by disbelief. How did he manage to attain Bone Refinement from being in aatose state? Some people dedicated their entire lives to obtain this ability and would always end up in failure!

    "I remember now! Qinghong fed him a pill before!" said the elder as he peered at Tang Qinghong. His eyes were fiery with rage. If it truly was the work of this pill, then it should be used on the elders... upon realizing this, the elder changed the look on his face as he smiled at Tang Qinghong.

    The rest too, looked at Tang Qinghong with glowing eyes.

    Tang Qinghong retrieved a bag of pills from his pocket. "You talking about this?"

    The elder looked over to see Jiang Shuxuan nodding his head slowly.

    This was a game-changer! As expected!

    Excitement swelled up among the men in an instant. If a piece of trash was able to reach the Bone Refinement realm through the use of this pill, it was hard to say to what heights they would reach.

    Tang Qinghong never thought the pills would possess so much power. He remembered how calm Gu Xiqiao was when she handed over to him this bag of pills. Perhaps that was why he thought nothing of them before this happened.

    She must be pretty close to Yin Shaoyuan to give him such a huge bag of precious items, no?

    Sensing the wild thoughts of the men around him, Tang Qinghong chuckled at Tang Yanling. "Aunt, this is what Miss Gu handed over to me. She wanted me to hand it to Shaoyuan 49 of these pills. Since he¡¯d already eaten one of them, there are still 48 of them left in this bag."

 Chapter 146 The Tsundere Sweetheart Jiang And Chaos At The Hotel

    <h4>Chapter 146 The Tsundere Sweetheart Jiang And Chaos At The Hotel</h4>

    The entire Tang family turned their heads in the direction of Tang Qinghong as soon as he said that. The once scornful look in their eyes disappeared in an instant. Now, their facial expressions reflected the inner-conflict they were going through.

    They were shocked to see the bunch of pills sitting in the center of Tang Qinghong¡¯s palm. Such items that could help one level up in the ancient martial arts world would typically only be found in the legacy bases of powerful families. If people like them needed it, they would have to go looking for it themselves. The key thing here was that even if they possessed such an item, it was unheard of for it to work so well that one could enter the Bone Refinement realm whilst being unconscious.

    They knew very well how precious these pills were. Much to their surprise, instead of belonging to Tang Qinghong, Tang Yanling was the rightful owner of this bunch of pills.

    If it was back then, it didn¡¯t matter to them if they belonged to her or not; they would forcefully make her hand the pills over to the Tang family, so that they could be used on members who had the potential for further growth. Why waste the pills on some piece of trash? However, seeing how Jiang Shuxuan had Tang Yanling¡¯s back made them go silent.

    At the very least, no one would dare to go through with this plot, for now.

    Tang Yanling stared as Tang Qinghong ced the bunch gently on her palm. It took a while before her senses returned, upon which she was surprised to find how much weight the seemingly small bunch of pills had to them. This entire event yed out like a dream in front of her. She looked up at the young man, eyes wide open. "Qinghong, you said that person was... Miss Gu?"

    "Yes, your goddaughter, Aunt," replied Tang Qinghong with a friendly smile.

    "Oh." Tang Yanling nodded. Then, she stared painfully at the bunch in her hand.

    Jiang Shuxuan was standing nearby, watching their interaction. "Why don¡¯t you store it in a box?" Then, a white sh appeared at his hand before a container carved from jade materialized in his palm.

    "..."

    Tang Qinghong was speechless. He remembered the way in which Gu Xiqiao had given these pills to him. He thought that it was on purpose; perhaps she wanted him to store it in his pocket for some unknown reason, which was why he did not use a container nor a pouch to carry them up until now.

    He was astonished when he peered at the box. Just one look was enough to tell him that there was already a restriction spell casted onto it. Besides Tang Yanling, no one else could open the box.

    Tang Yanling looked at Yin Shaoyuan, who was lying motionlessly on the floor before turning toward the handsome Jiang Shuxuan. Her mouth opened and closed but words failed toe out.

    She would remember this forever.

    "Well then, it¡¯s time for me to leave now Aunt." Jiang Shuxuan looked at his wristwatch to check the time. It was 12pm sharp, the hour when the sun was at its highest point in the sky; it was gettingte for him now.

    No one stood in his way when he left. They all stared in silence at his receding back as he disappeared into the bright light outside.

    The dense atmosphere that had shrouded the entire ce dissipated in the blink of an eye. Finally, the minds of the Tang family members started functioning again after he had left.

    "Yanling, the thing in your hand..." The elder dressed in the Tang-dynasty robes started thinking about the pills. His mouth curled up into a sinister grin, he kept his eyes locked onto the jade box the entire time he spoke to Tang Yanling.

    Tang Yanling¡¯s expression was gentle and calm as she tucked the jade box into her pocket. She was no fool. She knew just how badly she and her son were viewed in the eyes of the Tang family. She had not taken a single thing from them throughout her entire stay here.

    There should also be no issues with Yin Shaoyuan entering the legacy base as she herself had been deprived of that chance when she was younger.

    "That¡¯s right, Second Young Lady, why not keep the jade box in the ancestral hall?" The men who were treating her with contempt mere moments ago were now acting very cautiously around her.

    Tang Yanling smiled at them in a friendly manner. "This is a gift from my own daughter. Why would I ce it in the ancestral hall?"

    This was the first time she was able to speak in such a frank manner to the people here at the Tang family. It was as if the title of "Second Young Lady" had returned to her the instant she became the owner of these magical pills. Despite not sharing the same blood, she felt much closer to Gu Xiqiao than any of these fools.

    Tang Yanling gripped the jade box in her pocket as she finally made her mind up. From now on, this would be the status quo in rtion to her and the ancient martial arts world.

    Finally, an opportunity has opened itself up in front of her; no way was she going to sit here and wait for her death. If Gu Xiqiao had decided to give her a helping hand, it would be downright wrong to give up so easily!

    Tang Yanling¡¯s words hit the men around her like a tidal wave. Even the facial expression of the wise elder had grown bitter.

    She has been through constant struggle because of them. Now that the tables had turned, was there a reason for her to care about their wellbeing?

    Now that Yin Shaoyuan was in safe hands, she prepared to head home. Take a shower, eat a hot meal before finally calling home to tell them she and her son were well. She¡¯d have a good night¡¯s sleep and Yin Shaoyuan should be up and aboute next morning.

    After Tang Yanling left, the young man snorted grumpily. "We weren¡¯t sucking up to her, why does she have to act all high and mighty like that?! So what if it¡¯s a couple of magic pills? Can¡¯t she share some with her own family? What is the meaning of this? Monopolizing on such a precious treasure!"

    "I will report this issue to the n leader," said the elder slowly after letting out a long, disappointed sigh.

    "That¡¯s right. The leader must be informed of this! A member of the n not looking out for her own people! This is selfish and outrageous!" The rest added on.

    It seems like they have all forgotten what happened just a few days ago, when they refused to recognize Yin Shaoyuan as a part of their great family.

    They had forgotten the meaning of the saying, "a man¡¯s wealth is his own ruin by causing the greed of others".

    ***

    At the film production site.

    Tang Qingqiu walked slowly toward the spot where his vehicle was parked. He was sporting a pair of dark sunsses, leaving only his masculine jawline visible to nearby pedestrians. Who couldn¡¯t help but look at him twice. Perhaps he was a well-known movie star that they did not know about?

    "Young Master Tang? What are you doing here?"

    Someone¡¯s voice came from the other movie production team working on the opposite side of the ce where ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was being filmed.

    Only a handful of people recognized who he was. To be able to call his name, it must be someone he knew personally. Tang Qingqiu slowed down and turned toward the source of that voice. Upon seeing a familiar face, he paused for a moment, unable toe up with the person¡¯s name.

    Knowing that Tang Qingqiu was struggling to recall her name, Peng Zixian smiled at him. "You might have forgotten about me Young Master Tang. I met you at a party that I attended with my father."

    Tang Qingqiu was even more confused now. He nodded slightly at her before turning to leave.

    "I wonder why he¡¯s here." Peng Zixian asked her agent as she watched Tang Qingqiu walk further into the distance.

    Her head was lowered, making her face barely visible at eye level. However, her voice sounded extremely indifferent, as if the question had been muttered unconsciously.

    A new thought popped into her agent¡¯s mind. "I¡¯ve just got news that the president of the Tang Enterprise hase here personally to meet the movie star, Song Guanjing in person. In fact, she¡¯s working for the film project, ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, which is conveniently opposite of where we¡¯re working."

    Peng Zixian got her answer now. Silently, she put on her sunsses before leaving the ce.

    ***

    "Qin Heng, say goodbye to your vacation time." The car was just meters away in front of them but for some reason, Tang Qingqiu felt that it was the perfect time to break this news to him.

    Qin Heng, whose heart was stabbed again remained silent.

    "..."

    Qin Heng didn¡¯t feel like talking about this anymore. His heart was bleeding profusely after all.

    What he originally had in mind was that since both sides have been devastated from all the fighting, it was the perfect time for him to get in Nine Heavens¡¯ good graces so they could profit off future joint-projects. In reality, Nine Heavens hadid out such a foolproof n that he found it to be near-impossible to start approaching them.

    Sigh. Seems like the opportunity to work together was never going toe.

    Qin Heng opened the driver¡¯s door and prepared to slide back into his seat. All his efforts this morning had gone down the drain. God knows how much work he still has to do after this.

    And yet, Tang Qingqiu remained standing by the open car door. His eyes were staring straight in front of him as he froze in his tracks.

    "Boss?" Qin Heng had no idea what Tang Qingqiu was up to. Shutting the door, an odd expression surfaced on his face before he nced back at Qin Heng. "It¡¯s nothing. You start the car first. Looks like an acquaintance of mine. I¡¯ll go check it out myself."

    Within a split second, he recognized the distinct contours of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s ck Bugatti. To confirm his suspicion, the number te on the car was also incredibly distinct.

    Putting his sunsses back on, Tang Qingqiu approached the car. He wanted to knock on the car window but it had already rolled down the moment he lifted his arm.

    The elegant, refined and matured face of Jiang Shuxuan entered the view, sitting behind the steering wheel.

    "What are you doing here?"

    There was no doubt that the person was Jiang Shuxuan but Tang Qingqiu was astonished to find him here at the filming studio. Considering his background, it was hard to imagine that he would appear in such a ce.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked down at his wristwatch before giving Tang Qingqiu a brief nce. "Is there a problem with me being here?"

    Tang Qingqiu shook his head. "No, not at all."

    He was different from the rest of the Tang family. Tang Qingqiu was far inferior to Tang Qinghong in terms of their ancient martial arts qualifications. As such, Tang Qingqiu relied on building the corporate empire that was Tang Enterprise to make up for his shorings. Despite this, the Tang family refrained from meddling with Tang Qingqiu¡¯s matters as he was a close friend of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s. Apart from that, he also maintained connections with many powerful people back in the ancient martial arts world.

    A lightbulb lit up in Tang Qingqiu¡¯s mind when he recalled seeing Gu Xiqiao in the cast of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯. Out of curiosity, he asked Jiang Shuxuan, "Ahem, I have a question for you. Are you here to pick Miss Gu up?"

    He was already expecting the answer to be yes but Tang Qingqiu was still surprised when Jiang Shuxuan nodded to his question.

    ¡¯He really is here to pick Miss Gu up?¡¯

    Tang Qingqiu rubbed his chin. He thought to himself, ¡¯If the Jiang family was to know of this matter, no doubt, they would react like ants on a hot stove.¡¯

    Seeing the arrogant, tyrannical Jiang Shuxuan waiting in his car for a girl he cared about, it shouldn¡¯t be weird for Tang Qingqiu tough in his face, right?

    "Boss, what are youughing at?" Tang Qingqiu was acting weird when he returned to Qin Heng, who was waiting in the car. His chuckling was incredibly mischievous, so much so that the assistant couldn¡¯t help but wonder what on earth was going on.

    Tang Qingqiu slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Oh, it¡¯s nothing. You can start driving now."

    How could he possibly say that he wasughing at Jiang Shuxuan?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had just walked out of the set. Within just a few minutes, she had sessfully located Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car. Climbing into her seat, she beamed at him. "Brother Jiang, you¡¯re pretty early today, aren¡¯t you?"

    No matter how cold of a person you were, you simply couldn¡¯t stop yourself from smiling back at such a carefree young girl¡¯s smile. This was especially so for Jiang Shuxuan.

    And yet, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression was unchanging today. As usual, he started operating the vehicle. His face was sullen, and his eyes seemed to be devoid of any emotions. The interior of the car was shrouded in a tense, dead silence.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. She wondered if she had done something wrong that angered him.

    "Miss Gu?" Suddenly, his low voice broke the silence, like the mellow tone of a cello.

    It took Gu Xiqiao a while before she responded to him as she was totally not prepared to hear him speak. She suspiciously eyed the handsome face beside her. Scratching her head, she thought to herself, ¡¯Miss Gu? Where¡¯s the punch line?¡¯

    Red light, he stopped the car.

    Seeing how she was struggling toe up with an answer, Jiang Shuxuan finally opened his mouth. "I went over to pay the Tang family a visit today. I even met Aunt and Shaoyuan."

    ¡¯Hm, and?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao stared seriously at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡¯Why did you turn out this way after that?¡¯

    "Tang Qinghong took out a bunch of pills." Green light. Jiang Shuxuan continued driving. His voice however, was drowned out by the sound of honking from a car behind them.

    Gu Xiqiao did hear what he said. She blinked a few times. "That¡¯s right, I gave it to Brother Yin. I heard he was unconscious and when Tang Qinghong came looking for me, I said that the pills were effective in treating his condition, so I gave it to him."

    "Are you even that close to him?" Jiang Shuxuan shot her a look.

    Rubbing her nose, Gu Xiqiao replied, "No, not really."

    "Then why did hee looking for you?"

    "..."

    ¡¯Someone¡¯s life was at stake so was there a problem with himing over in search of me?¡¯

    "It¡¯s 1 pm and I still haven¡¯t eaten yet! God I¡¯m so hungry!"

    Cleverly, she swapped the topic into a harmless one.

    Although they did provide food at the filming site, and the uncle in charge of their meals would always remember to give her an extra chicken leg, Gu Xiqiao tried not to eat the meals there. Mainly, this was because of Cheng Zhou and Xiang Kun¡¯s unbearable gazes.

    As expected, Jiang Shuxuan went silent after that. Gu Xiqiao was searching for something in his car and out of nowhere, he pulled out a bag of chips before shoving it in her face.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes lit up as soon as she saw the bag of chips. She wanted to say something but upon realizing that Jiang Shuxuan was probably going to ignore her, she shut her mouth and ripped open the bag of chips wordlessly.

    Xixi, who was hanging out in the back observed the situation keenly. It understood that this was the worst possible time to piss Master Jiang off. Too bad, whenever such a situation developed, it would turn into cannon fodder, where his anger would be directed toward.

    It was afternoon already. Instead of returning to their vi, Jiang Shuxuan picked an insanely high-end hotel where they would have their lunch.

    The name of the hotel was stated inrge, gold-ted characters. Since she had done her research in calligraphy, Gu Xiqiao studied the three characters, all written boldly and exuding a sense of magnificence. No doubt, this must¡¯ve been done by some famous calligrapher; it was a step above many other subpar hotels.

    Underneath the main name were two very small characters. Gu Xiqiao had to strain her eyes in order to make out what words they were¡ªTang Enterprise.

    So it was a Tang family-owned hotel. No wonder it looked so extravagant on the outside. No matter from which angle you looked at the building, it had the words "I am insanely rich" written all over.

    Jiang Shuxuan disliked having the valet park his car for him; he personally drove his car into the garage while Gu Xiqiao was told to go upstairs with his card to wait for him.

    The building was a surprisingly tall structure. The beautiful waitress brought her to the 21st floor where they had to turn left and right before reaching their destination.

    ng! Krash!

    Just as she turned around a corner, she saw a waitress, who was pushing a food cart, slip and fall, sending the food that was already on the table flying all over the floor. The waitress in front of her too, had fallen over. Standing in front of them was a pretty woman, who red angrily at the waiters.

    "Where¡¯s your head waiter?! I demand to see your head waiter! How can he allow workers like these in this establishment?! Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m on the phone here?! Look at this! This is my new bag, and my shoes! All covered in juice! You think you canpensate me for this?!" The woman was well-dressed, which allowed her to blend right into the morous atmosphere of this hotel.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m terribly sorry! I am the head waiter! This is entirely our fault. We willpensate you for this mistake!" The waitress lying on the ground was silent. Instead, it was the waitress that was leading Gu Xiqiao who spoke up and apologized for the incident. Seeing the food on the floor, and her colleague, she couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Even for the food alone, it must cost her an arm and a leg, no?

    As a head waitress, she knew that the oue of this depended solely on the customer. If the customer was a good person, they wouldn¡¯t mind the situation too much. At most, she¡¯d get her wages cut for the losses incurred. However, encountering a difficult customer was pure bad luck for people working in the service industry; she was entirely at her mercy.

    The woman looked up at the head waiter. With an impatient voice, she yelled, "Compensate me? You think you can do that? Where¡¯s your manager?! I demand to see the manager! I¡¯m not gonna leave until you get fired!"

    The woman then whipped out her phone and started yapping away. It seems like she was familiar with the manager. The head waitress took her walkie-talkie out and reported her situation over to headquarters.

    "I¡¯m terribly sorry, but I have something to deal with here. I¡¯ll get someone else to bring you to your private room, would that be okay?" asked the head waitress with an apologetic look.

    The main reason she did this was because she felt that Gu Xiqiao was a rtively easygoing customer. Although she showed little expression on her face, her years of working in the service sector had allowed her to distinguish between difficult customers and well-mannered ones, like Gu Xiqiao here.

    [Ding! Daily Mission activated: Help the waiter, Su Qing find out the truth behind the ident!]

    [Mission Completion Reward: 20 points!]

    The sound of the system filled her ears once more. Gu Xiqiao was momentarily taken aback but she quickly stood to the side. She began fiddling with her phone, indicating that she didn¡¯t mind being held up for a moment.

    The woman spun around the moment she heard what the head waitress was saying. She saw Gu Xiqiao, in her T-shirt and jeansbo. The woman looked at her with disdain but only for a moment she proceeded to look away secondster.

    Gu Xiqiao kept her eyes fixated on the waitress who had fallen to the ground. She kept her mouth sucked in, refusing to say anything. The waitress was beautiful. In fact, Gu Xiqiao was impressed by how high the standards were for the employees here at the hotel.

    "I want her to apologize to me!" The floor manager rushed over in an instant. As soon as he appeared, the woman started yelling and pointing her finger at the helpless waitress on the floor.

    The manager responded with a courteous smile. "Understood, understood. I will get her to apologize to you right away, Mrs. Dai. Xiao Qing! Hurry up and apologize to Mrs. Dai!"

    To his surprise, the waitress looked up at her manager coldly and loudly announced, "I¡¯m not doing this anymore!"

    ¡¯Bold one huh? But she¡¯s too young, too rash. Even if she¡¯s quitting, she¡¯ll continue being targeted if she doesn¡¯t change her game n soon,¡¯ thought Gu Xiqiao.

    "If you¡¯re going to quit, you better pay up for my purse and my shoes. 30 grand! You think you can fork out that amount?!"

    Su Qing looked up angrily at the person standing triumphantly in front of her. A grudge was forming in her heart but as a mere employee, there was nothing she could say to defend herself with. Clearly, it was the woman who had tripped her over but even if she told the truth, who would believe her?

    "Excuse me." Suddenly, a clear voice echoed down the hallway from behind.

    She spun around to see a pretty face, as if the person had just stepped out from a master painter¡¯s illustration. Even she, who had been praised for her looks ever since she was a child, was surprised at how beautiful Gu Xiqiao was.

    Gu Xiqiao swiped through her phone before shing a smile at the manager and the steaming woman. "I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯ve just hacked your hotel¡¯s surveince system. I will pay for any mental anguish you suffer but I must say, you¡¯ve got to look closely at what happened, Mr. Manager."

    Her phone had arge screen; everything that was on disy could be seen very clearly by everyone around her.

    The footage showed the waitress pushing her cart along when the woman suddenly stretched her foot out to deliberately trip the poor employee over.

    Gu Xiqiao even zoomed in on the high-heels that the woman was wearing.

    "Who are you?" The woman stepped forward, attempting to snatch away Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone. Owing to her quick reflexes, she was able to pull her phone back in time. On the other hand, the clumsy woman almost lost her bnce when her hand grabbed nothing but thin air. She almost exploded from rage. "Manager! I want you to get this woman out of this ce!"

    The head waitress sighed in relief and immediately gave Su Qing a reassuring look. Then, she whispered something into the manager¡¯s ears.

    The manager was wide-eyed from shock when he turned over to look at Gu Xiqiao, who was as calm as still water.

    "Mrs. Dai, we will be investigating this issue very soon. Rest assured, whoever¡¯s responsible for this will be held ountable," said the manager. Then, he said to the head waitress, "Hurry up and bring Miss Gu here to her room."

    The sound of a mission beingpleted rang out in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. The mission was over.

    "Comin! I will makeints about your behavior!" The woman¡¯s face was beet red from anger. "You..."

    She shut up before she could finish her sentence. A man was slowly walking over. She saw her husband following behind that handsome man, smiling cautiously like a mere underling. Never has she once seen her husband act this way around someone else.

    Jiang Shuxuan of course, knew about what was going on here. He walked over slowly, ignoring Gu Xiqiao as if she were aplete stranger. No doubt, he was still keeping up an act.

    He appeared extra-noble today, and paired with the scene of Boss Dai¡¯s sucking up to him, there was nothing they could say to change the situation.

 Chapter 147 The Tang Enterprise Joins The Alliance, New Script Found

    <h4>Chapter 147 The Tang Enterprise Joins The Alliance, New Script Found</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan deliberately ignored Gu Xiqiao this time. Instead, he asked very slowly, "What happened?"

    These people were all keen-eyed; just a look was enough for them to discern that Jiang Shuxuan was no ordinary man.

    The manager was not very familiar with Jiang Shuxuan but he was well-acquainted with Boss Dai. He was a big shot in the Imperial Capital, with many business connections. There were even rumors going around that he had links to a mysterious force operating in the country. The manager nced at the fuming woman, then at Jiang Shuxuan and Boss Dai. He spared not even a nce at Su Qing, who had gone silent.

    If Boss Dai was the only one there, at least the manager could warn him about his problematic wife. However, there was someone else standing beside him and no doubt, he must¡¯ve been a prominent figure in the Imperial Capital. After all, these people were not too umon; you could pull anyone on the streets to the side and you¡¯d be surprised to find that they held some sort of power here in the capital. This unfortunately, was beyond the manager¡¯s control.

    The woman was the quickest to react. She tidied up her appearance and a friendly smile soon broke across her face. Upon realizing that Jiang Shuxuan was no ordinary Joe, she added a few more nasty remarks about the waitress before ncing at Gu Xiqiao. Then, she started babbling away.

    She mainly did this out of envy. That pretty and young face, she must be a major slut!

    Her mistreatment of the waitress also stemmed from a single minuscule issue. It was because thest time they were here, her husband had shed the waitress a smile, and since then, she had been holding a grudge towards said waitress in her heart.

    "Silence!" Boss Dai stopped his wife from making any more ridiculous statements. He red at her angrily before turning over to Jiang Shuxuan with an apologetic look. "Women, amirite? I hope you won¡¯t mind her misbehavior, Mr. Jiang."

    What a joke, to allow Jiang Shuxuan, the man who possesses supernatural powers, to listen to a woman¡¯s nagging. Why would a man of his standing even need to listen to such puny matters? Boss Dai couldn¡¯t help but ponder if his wife¡¯s brains had been fed to the dogs for her to act this foolishly.

    To Boss Dai¡¯s surprise, instead of leaving the ce, Jiang Shuxuan froze in his tracks.

    "What did you say just now?" He paused as he stared straight into the woman¡¯s eyes. Then, he pointed at Gu Xiqiao. "What did you say about her?"

    The woman was abruptly taken aback. She struggled to respond to his question.

    Boss Dai too, failed to react in time. It was only after seeing Jiang Shuxuan point at Gu Xiqiao did he truly give the girl a look. He was thoroughly shocked as he did so.

    Judging on her looks alone, she seemed to also be a member of the upper ss. It was then that Boss Dai realized how he was knee-deep in trouble. So this was the girl his wife was hurling insults at just now?

    To confirm his suspicion, Jiang Shuxuan started talking again.

    "Come here," said Jiang Shuxuan as he waved at Gu Xiqiao. His face was dead serious. "I want you to apologize to Mrs. Dai. Foolish child, seems like you still have a lot to learn."

    "Ah!" Mrs. Dai cupper her hand over her mouth.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that this in Jane was rted to this extravagant-looking man? Mrs. Dai froze where she stood as her face became flushed from the intense awkwardness. Oh how much she wished to throw herself into a hole in the ground and disappear from the face of the Earth forever!

    Boss Dai¡¯s senses finally returned to him. His suspicion was proven correct. In the blink of an eye, cold sweat poured out of his pores. With a trembling voice, he apologized, "Mr. Jiang, my wife here doesn¡¯t know any better. Please forgive her for her terrible mistakes!"

    Boss Dai¡¯s heart grew even heavier after remembering the rumors he had heard about the Jiang family.

    The duo left shortly after, leaving the rest standing there dumbfoundedly.

    p!

    Boss Dai was so infuriated by his wife¡¯s actions that he gave her a good p across the cheek. "Do you know how much effort I have invested just to meet that man?! Now it¡¯s all gone down the drain because of you!"

    Mrs. Dai was a beauty; never in her life had she been treated in such a manner. She looked at her husband, face full of disbelief.

    Boss Dai received a call an hourter that almost made him copse onto the ground. He had put in an insane amount of effort over the past three years just so he could get into the ancient martial arts world. Now, that chance was as good as gone!

    "Little Qing, consider yourself incredibly lucky today," said the head waitress to Su Qing, whose mind had yet to process the entire event. Letting out a long sigh, she continued, "If you get the chance to do so, you should really thank that youngdy from before."

    Su Qing nodded. This she understood. It was not entirely umon to hear of employees in the service sector being put through hell by cruel customers. However, she was insanely lucky today to have had her ass saved by Gu Xiqiao.

    Even if she knew that the entire event was being recorded by the surveince cameras, what right did she have to retrieve the footage from security? Even the manager did not have the authority to do this. And yet, to think that the girl had managed to hack into the surveince system.

    The manager went silent after listening to the head waitress. He was deep in thought for a while before he finally opened his mouth. "Go tell the technicians to strengthen ourpany¡¯s firewall system!" How could he let a youngdy like her simply infiltrate their surveince system? What on earth were the technicians up to?!

    "..."

    ¡¯Aren¡¯t you supposed to be more worried about whates after this?¡¯ thought the head waitress to herself.

    Also, was it even possible to reinforce a system that was so weak that it could be easily hacked into by a young girl?

    Didn¡¯t thepany boast that their firewall system was procured from a well-known American tech firm?

    ***

    Tang Qingqiu received news about the incident as soon as he returned to his office. Somehow, this made him aware of a new aspect of Gu Xiqiao that he was unaware of.

    Not only that, this was also his first time seeing that look on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face even though they had known each other since forever.

    "Boss!" Qin Heng busted into his office whilst holding a phone. His facial expression was exaggerated, with a slight hint of disbelief as well.

    "Nine... Nine Heavens..." Qin Heng managed to utter two words before letting out a huge breath. He looked at Tang Qingqiu with a pair of glittering eyes.

    "What¡¯s up with Nine Heavens?" Tang Qingqiu was surprisingly tolerant of Qin Heng¡¯s stammering. This of course, was because he had mentioned the words ¡¯Nine Heavens¡¯, which piqued his interest.

    Qin Heng calmed himself down before announcing excitedly, "I almost didn¡¯t believe my ears just now. I called Nine Heavens¡¯ official number and expressed our wish to cooperate with them in the future. Guess what? They agreed! They somehow agreed to my proposition!"

    Tang Qingqiu shot up from his seat. "Can you say that one more time?"

    Qin Heng repeated what he just said back to Tang Qingqiu. He had called them, expecting to be hung up on but to his astonishment, for some reason, they agreed to his wish!

    By now, the Imperial Capital was already familiar with the two descriptions of Nine Heavens¡ª¡¯mysterious¡¯ and ¡¯cold¡¯. There were a great deal of people looking to work with thepany and most of them were on par, if not, more powerful than the Tang family. Despite this, Nine Heavens had turned down every single one of them. They made it clear that they did not need help from these families and at the same time, showed how they wouldn¡¯t bend down in the face of a seemingly more powerful adversary.

    Even the Bai family had been taken down; what was there for Nine Heavens to be afraid of.

    And thus, Qin Heng only wished to test his luck when calling up Nine Heavens but to his surprise, they agreed to his proposition!

    This oue was simply beyond his expectations. In fact, his mind had momentarily gone nk when he heard their reply.

    "Very well." Tang Qingqiu¡¯s eyes lit up, reflecting his keen interest in Nine Heavens. "I will personally discuss this matter with those at Nine Heavens. You hurry up and tell them the time and ce where we would meet up!"

    He was especially keen on knowing more about the online game that thepany had justunched. Ever since their move to the capital, he had always kept his eyes on thispany. Never once had they failed to impress him.

    Qin Heng was speechless.

    ¡¯Boss, can you be a little less enthusiastic about this? Do you want the whole world to find out that you¡¯re a mindless fan of Nine Heavens?¡¯

    "Fortunately Zhu Yuan has reported sess on his cell fusion technique. Said it would be a ground-breaking reveal. I¡¯m gonna introduce this investment opportunity to Nine Heaves. You think they¡¯ll appreciate our kind gesture?" Tang Qingqiu thought about it for a while. It did sound like quite a foolproof n.

    Zhu Yuan had been working like a ve for the past few days. Justst night, he uploaded on WeChat, announcing that his revolution had already taken ce; it was only a matter of time before the entire world gets rocked by the introduction of his new technique.

    And so, his decision was final. He would give Zhu Yuan a call tomorrow, requesting it to be a joint-project with him!

    "..."

    It was already past 3 pm when Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan reached home after lunch. She started speaking to Luo Weng and Jiang Shuxuan tried eavesdropping on their conversation but it didn¡¯t take long for him to realize that he understood only a fraction of what they were talking about. As expected from the two geniuses. He sighed in disappointment with himself before he looked out the window, no longer interested in their chatter.

    Silently, he poured some dog food out for Haha before sitting down beside the window to read his book.

    "Isn¡¯t Uncle Muing over? We should let him do the talking with Tang Enterprise," said Gu Xiqiao.

    Luo Weng was momentarily taken aback.

    "..."

    ¡¯Did you forget that this is yourpany?¡¯ thought Luo Weng to himself.

    Frankly speaking, it was tiring, working as Nine Heavens¡¯ employee. The bosses of other firms would fight for theirpany while on the other hand, the boss of theirpany was... interested in new things every day.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked over when she finally hung up the call. "Tang Enterprise?"

    Gu Xiqiao blinked, acting as if she didn¡¯t understand what he was saying. "Little Luo epted their proposition. I had nothing to do with it."

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her briefly before deciding to change the topic. "Would you like to meet Aunt Tang?"

    "At the Tang family home?" asked Gu Xiqiao.

    "Yeah."

    "Hell no!" Now was still not the time.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already expected her to give such an answer. As such, he changed the topic once again. "The elixir that Qinghong had. Did you really give them to him?"

    "... I originally nned to feed them to Xixi." Gu Xiqiao suddenly opened her mouth. Without second thoughts, she gave the pills to Tang Qinghong the moment she heard that Yin Shaoyuan needed them.

    Xixi on the other side thought to itself, ¡¯Tang Qinghong that bastard! I¡¯ll take his life! No one can stop me!¡¯

    Obviously, Jiang Shuxuan who did not expect this answer reminded himself "... from now on, keep these sort of things hidden. Else, it¡¯d only bring us unnecessary trouble."

    Fortunately, the one dealing with this was himself. If it was someone else, Gu Xiqiao would undoubtedly be stripped of her possessions to pay for the precious pills.

    "Understood." Gu Xiqiao nodded solemnly. The only reason why she did not hesitate when giving the pills was because Yin Shaoyuan was the one who had gotten injured.

    However, if that person really dide messing with her, she would not think twice before teaching him a good lesson.

    Jiang Shuxuan only lowered his head and continued reading.

    ***

    There were only a handful of powerful yers online as ofte. It seemed almost as if Smoke on Water, Brother Wu, Whispering Winds, and For A Millenium had made a pact to go into hiding together out of a sudden.

    And yet, these yers were all online today, with the exception of Brother Wu.

    [Team] Merciless Sky: "Ah, finally my permanent team¡¯s back. I just can¡¯t go on ying with a bunch of randos on the!"

    [Team] Whispering Winds: "I can stay online for a while. I have to go out tonight."

    [Team] For A Millenium: "I can¡¯t believe you still have time to y games!"

    [Team] Whispering Winds: "Well, it¡¯s definitely rare for work to end so early today! Senior Song ftw!"

    [Team] Smoke On Water: "^_^"

    Gu Xiqiao stared at Smoke On Water¡¯s yer ID while rubbing her chin. "Lil¡¯ system. My gut is telling me that this person is someone I know in real life."

    "[Beauty Qiao, stop talking in such a serious manner. You still won¡¯t fool me into thinking that you have not hacked into someone else¡¯sputer.]"

    Gu Xiqiao who was typing in a line of codes remained silent.

    A handsome and familiar face appeared on theputer screen as soon as Gu Xiqiao sessfully hacked into the mysterious yer¡¯sputer webcam.

    "... man, you won¡¯t believe this."

    So Tang Qingqiu has already long infiltrated into their ranks huh?

    This feeling...

    [Beauty Qiao, I¡¯ve just found a suitable script.] The system suddenly spoke out. [Wait a minute, this person is...]

    The system fumbled around for a moment. [You know what, I¡¯ll just send it to yourputer. Say, you two are bound pretty tightly by fate aren¡¯t you?]

    A string of data materialized on theputer screen. Gu Xiqiao nced at it before proceeding to type in a couple strings of digits. These were all precious informationpiled by the system.

    Gu Xiqiao was visibly stunned after she finished looking through the data.

    [Party] Merciless Sky: You guys go on ying. I¡¯m gonna go grab something to eat!

    [Party] Whispering Winds: So early?

    [Party] Merciless Sky: It¡¯s not early at all, it¡¯s 6 pm already. I have rtives who areing over tonight.

    [Party] For A Millenium: Where do you live, Merciless? Can I drop by and have a meal too?

    Although it seemed like a joke, Merciless Sky sent his own address over the chat nheless.

    If she was gonna joke about it, there was no reason why he couldn¡¯t, right? Either way, it¡¯s not like she would appear outside his house, right?

    ***

    The boy chuckled to himself after giving her his own address. "Little Wu! Dinner time!" yelled a woman¡¯s voice from outside his room.

    "Got it Mom!" Su Wu didn¡¯t seem very enthusiastic about dinner time. The ¡¯Merciless Sky¡¯ in real life was a well-read and artistic young man. Wearing a pair of sses, he seemed like the quiet type of person you¡¯d find in ss. How his name came about was also fairly straightforward; his father¡¯s surname was Su and his mother¡¯s, Wu. And so, his name was the lovechild of his parents¡¯ surnames.

    Apart from his parents, there was also his aunt who sat at the dinner table. She was a person whom Su Wu had nothing but despise for. Reason being that she always had something to say about him.

    "Little Wu, I don¡¯t wanna sound too naggy but didn¡¯t you graduate from a well-known university? Why can¡¯t you find a job? You gotta learn from your big brother, Dazhi, who¡¯s working for a foreignpany while earning more than eight grand a month!" And so, he never heard the end of his aunt¡¯s nagging. The ¡¯Dazhi¡¯ that she referred to was none other than her own son, who was a well-aplished breadwinner. She would always remember to brag about her son in front of her neighbors.

    Mama Su chuckled. "Dazhi is a good son indeed. Say, why don¡¯t you get him to rmend a job for Little Wu?"

    The aunt responded with a sharp-pitched voice, "Our Dazhi is a graduate of the incredibly famous, B University! He¡¯s on track to bing a rich man someday in the future. As for your Little Wu." The aunt eyed Su Wu with disdain. "I told you not to let him be a screenwriter! Has anyone expressed their interest in his script?! He¡¯d be better off working as a clerk or something!"

    "I don¡¯t feel like eating anymore. You guys go on!" Su Wu ced his chopsticks down and stood up from his seat.

    He then stormed into his room before mming the door shut.

    Then came the sharp voice of his aunt. "Sis, remember how I told you that your child won¡¯t amount to anything?!"

    Su Wu couldn¡¯t bear to listen to his aunt¡¯s crap any longer. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. Lighting one up, he angrily sucked in a lungful of smoke before blowing out a thick white cloud. His career had been stagnating for the past decade. Even if he was willing to hold out, his parents weren¡¯t.

    The sky was getting dark. He sat on the public bench for a long time, with a cigarette hanging between his fingers that was nearing its end.

    From now on, he would listen to his mother; he would go job-hunting for a secure paycheck.

    As for that script waiting for him in his room, he had burned it down into a pile of ashes.

    Emotionless, Su Wu remained seated there for a very long time, until a small mount of grey cigarette ash piled up beside his foot.

    Suddenly, a shining light prated the dark, forcing Su Wu to squint his eyes while raising his hand to block off the light. Looking over to the light source, he discovered that it was a car that was slowly rolling towards his direction. Even though he was no car enthusiast, there was no doubt that the car must¡¯ve been an expensive one.

    He even heard the gasps of a few who recognized what sort of car it was.

    Pinching the cigarette out, Su Wu rose up and prepared to head home.

    The extravagant-looking car stopped right beside Su Wu. He looked up in an attempt to get a better view of the vehicle when its windows came rolling down. He was astonished to find a young face looking back at him. The lighting here was dim but the first thing he could make out was a pair of shining bright eyes. Then, it was that wless face, as if it was ripped straight out of a painting.

    Since he was a scriptwriter, only one sentence echoed through his mind.

    She was as beautiful as a flower of clouds.

    She smiled at him whilst waving her hand. Her eyes were like a dense cluster of stars in the night sky. "Nice to meet you, Merciless Sky."

    Her voice was crisp and clear, like the sound of a flowing streaming from afar. Still, the vibe she exuded was distinct from the charm of a heroine from the south.

    It took a while for Su Wu to regain his senses. Merciless Sky? Isn¡¯t that the in-game name that he gave himself while he was going through his chuuni phase?

    The youngdy then pushed the car door open. Even under the cover of darkness, he was able to make out her slender physique, as well as her porcin-like skin.

    She stood up straight and smiled sweetly at Su Wu when she exited the vehicle. "Remember my face, I am For A Millenium."

 Chapter 148 Occupation of Nine Heavens, System Levels Up

    <h4>Chapter 148 upation of Nine Heavens, System Levels Up</h4>

    Su Wu was still in a dazed state even after they had arrived at the cafe. The phone in his pocket rang, which prompted him to answer the call. The voice on the other end of the line sounded like his mother. Only a couple of words were exchanged before he hung up the call.

    Shortly after doing so, he looked up at the young girl sitting across the table with a pure look of disbelief painted across his face.

    "Y-You really are the ultimate god?"

    Gu Xiqiao held up her chin with her pale, delicate fingers. "Do I not look like one?"

    Did she not look like one? She flew under his radar from the very moment they met for god¡¯s sake!

    Although the yer ¡¯For A Millenium¡¯ identified as female in the game, her skills meant that a great deal of other yers treated her with respect, as if she was a tough guy. On the other hand, real girls who y the game typically would suck up to other stronger yers; no way in hell could there possibly be a female yer like her, right?

    If the in-game party was to know about this, they would undoubtedly all go insane!

    "You know, I¡¯ve always thought that you were a dude who¡¯s ten times more macho than I am." Su Wu was thoroughly dumbfounded. The difference was way too big for him toprehend. Maybe things would be less confusing if she was any other girl. But for her to be such a pretty chick, it definitely gave him quite the shock. "Why did youe straight here?"

    He did send her his address as a joke but never in a thousand years would he expect her toe looking for him.

    "Of course, there are reasons for this." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she stole a nce at him. "Su Wu, I¡¯m gonna be honest with you. The reason why I¡¯vee today is to get ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯, that script you wrote."

    Wait a second. Su Wu was lost again.

    River¡¯s Lake? That was a script he had created three whole years ago. Not a single soul spared it a single look throughout the years and till today, it remains tucked away in the safety of his home. No one was supposed to know about it so why did she?

    Also, there was the matter of his name. He hopped onto a ck car that drove them here. The pressure he felt during the car ride was intense, presumably from the man behind the wheel. Due to the tense atmosphere, he failed to get a good look at the man¡¯s face. Because of how intimidated he was, his lips remained sealed the entire way. And so, he did not get her name nor did she introduce herself to him.

    This begs the question, how did she know his name?

    It wasn¡¯t weird for her to be able to locate him, nor was it impossible for her to know his name. However, what was weird was how she knew about the script for ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯.

    "You talking about ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯? I was nning on burning it but, I could bring it to you if you want."

    Su Wu suppressed the skepticism in his heart and gave his brief reply. He really was nning on burning it into ashes.

    A pair of shining bright eyes suddenly narrowed up. Gu Xiqiao raised her wless jaw and pointed it in his direction. "Burn? Why would you do that? Did you not pour your blood, sweat, and tears into producing it?"

    Su Wu tightened his grip on the porcin coffee cup. It was because he could not wait any longer. The days are flying by and his parents are getting older with every passing day. Even if they willingly offered to support him, he simply couldn¡¯t ept to see himself keeping up his stubborn act any longer.

    "It¡¯s because I don¡¯t feel like persisting on anymore. I¡¯ve had it with being a screenwriter." Su Wu lowered his head slightly, trying to hide the ongoing conflict in his eyes.

    "Take a look at this." Gu Xiqiao had already read about Su Wu¡¯s background; she knew the dilemma he was currently facing as well as how much stress he was going through. However, she found it hard to digest how a person could just make the decision to burn away something that you sacrificed so much for. "I believe you will be interested in this."

    Gu Xiqiao produced two folded wads of paper from her pocket and ttened them out before handing it to Su Wu.

    epting it, Su Wu was wide-eyed upon reading its contents. He did not expect this to be a contract.

    Still, you couldn¡¯t put the me on him for thinking so. Have you ever seen someone who folds up an official contract and tucks it away in her pants pocket?

    The look in Su Wu¡¯s eyes only intensified the more he continued to read the contractual terms. This continued until he reached the final word of the contract. Signed in jet ck ink was presumably her name¡ªGu Xiqiao.

    He raised his head immediately. "T-This... this is...."

    He found this situation hard to believe. His hands still trembling, Su Wu shut his eyes slowly and took a deep breath. Finally, when he calmed himself down, he asked, "Miss Gu, could you tell me what is the meaning of this?"

    "I believe everything¡¯s stated quite clearly on the paper." Gu Xiqiao chuckled. "I would like to buy the rights to that script of yours. In addition to that, I would like to turn ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ into a film."

    "How did you find me?" Su Wu¡¯s heart started pounding furiously the moment he got his reply from Gu Xiqiao. Forcing himself to remain calm, he stared at Gu Xiqiao. She appeared way too young, which inevitably raised question marks about her. Was she a conwoman or something?

    Gu Xiqiao understood this well. She had no choice but to show Su Wu a number on her phone.

    On it disyed the name, Cheng Zhou.

    "To demonstrate to you that I am genuine, I will put this call on loudspeaker," said Gu Xiqiao as she shed Su Wu a cheeky smile.

    Su Wu waspletely taken aback by how fast things were advancing. Although his attempts to join the entertainment industry was aplete failure, he still knew about who this Cheng Zhou person was. He was none other than the insanely-talented director; an entity that he could only stare up at like a mythical being. And yet, today, he watched as Gu Xiqiao tapped on his personal phone number.

    "Hello? Director Cheng?" There was a lot of noiseing from the background; he had probably left the filming set already.

    Cheng Zhou sounded happy to receive a call from Gu Xiqiao. "Ah, Little Gu. Are you calling to tell me you¡¯ll ept a role in my film?" If so, he must find a good script, he thought.

    "No, not that," Gu Xiqiao replied. "Director Cheng, I have a script here that I would like you to be the film director of." The reason why she picked him was primarily because he was the only director she knew personally.

    "Are you gonna y in it?" Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes lit up, the excitement clear in his voice.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression turned dark the moment he asked that. Rubbing her nose, she turned him down bluntly. "No."

    "Hmph!" Cheng Zhou¡¯s face twisted in annoyance. "No! No! No! All I hear is no from you! What¡¯re ya nning to do apart from acting you little brat!"

    "But if you find a suitable script in the future, I can y in it?" Gu Xiqiao came up with a temporary solution.

    "No, make that two." Cheng Zhou felt that this was an eptable deal.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed. "Best I can do is one. Else, I¡¯d just find some other director."

    "Wait! Please wait! One is enough! I¡¯ll send you your lines the next time I find a suitable story for you to star in!" Cheng Zhou feared that Gu Xiqiao would just move on without him and hung up the call as soon as he was done speaking.

    "..."

    Gu Xiqiao went silent. Had she been interacting with the wrong person? Somehow, it started to feel like Cheng Zhou was bing less and less reliable.

    Su Wu stared at Gu Xiqiao with a nk expression for a very long time. Then, he pinched his inner-wrist. Seeing the mark it left, he looked up at Gu Xiqiao. "Was that really the famed movie director, Cheng Zhou?"

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. "Do you believe me now?"

    Seeing her nod, a glow emerged in Su Wu¡¯s eyes immediately. "It¡¯s really him!"

    "... let me write a check for you." Gu Xiqiao pulled out a check from her pocket alongside a nk piece of paper and a pen.

    Su Wu was amazed how much stuff she could store in her pocket. Was she Doraemon? Was that pocket an infinite pocket of space that contained everything in this world?

    "Check? I don¡¯t need that!" Su Wu stopped Gu Xiqiao the moment he realized what she was doing.

    Gu Xiqiao eyed him as she scribbled down a line of digits on the check. "This is the deposit. It¡¯s proof that I am absolutely serious about this. I¡¯ll pay off the bnce after the contract¡¯spleted."

    She then scribbled down an address on the nk piece of paper. "I want you to meet someone named ¡¯Mu Zong¡¯ tomorrow at this ce. He will brief you about everything else."

    This film of course, would be sponsored officially by Nine Heavens.

    She made this decision on a whim. Before Su Wu could turn down her offer, he had already been sent home.

    He stood there underneath the aging structure for quite a while before he climbed up the stairs, back to his home. Old residential areas like this one were few and far between in the Imperial Capital. His aunt was at home watching TV while munching on fruits when he came back. When she heard him enter the apartment, she squinted at him.

    His mother was probably the only reason why she was acting so hostile toward him.

    "Little Wu, give Dazhi a call tomorrow. Get him to arrange an interview for you. He¡¯s the department manager so you should be able tond you a clerical job." The aunt spat out a piece of grape skin as she shot him a look of disdain.

    Ever since her son made it as a ¡¯somebody¡¯, this aunt of his became the core of their family. Whoever that was facing problems in their lives would all flock to her in search of a solution.

    Mama Su, seeing her son frozen in ce, walked over to pat him. "Hurry up and thank your aunt for this opportunity."

    "Mom, someone¡¯s interested in my script," announced Su Wu without warning.

    Mama Su¡¯s head jerked upwards the moment she heard that. "What did you just say?"

    "Why aren¡¯t you giving up?! Stop dreaming already!" The aunt shot up from her seat, ring at him with contempt in her eyes. "You¡¯re already in your thirties for heaven¡¯s sake! You¡¯ve got no house, no car, and not even a wife! To make things worse, you¡¯re still dreaming about striking gold!"

    Su Wu looked at his aunt in the eye. This was his first time acting so boldly. While she was only three years younger than his mother, the both of them seemed almost ten years apart in terms of age.

    "This is no dream." Su Wu then took out the check from his pocket and handed it over to his mother. "Mom, this is the deposit."

    Mama Su could see stars circling over her head when she nced at the series of zeros behind the single number on the check.

    The aunt yanked it out of Mama Su¡¯s hand and her face stiffened up upon reading it. "Are you bringing this home to fool your mom?"

    "We¡¯ll know if this is true or not when we go to the bank tomorrow." That car of hers was a whole other level of expensive and Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t seem like the sort of person to give bounced checks, right?

    "Aunt, I¡¯m turning down that clerical job. Say my thanks to my cousin, if you will." Su Wu smiled at his aunt.

    His mother had taken blow after blow from his aunt for her beloved son¡¯s sake. Today was finally the day for him to say ¡¯no¡¯ to her!

    "Don¡¯te begging at my feet next time!" His aunt then stormed out the door.

    "Little Wu, this..." Naturally, Mama Su was a little worried about this.

    Su Wu patted his mother¡¯s shoulder to give her some reassurance. "Please don¡¯t worry Mom. It¡¯ll be her turn to grovel at our feet now."

    Mama Su was hit by a wave of disbelief.

    The very next day, he followed the address that Gu Xiqiao had given him and arrived outside a skyscraper in themercial district. Looking up from the sea of people, Su Wu was awestruck by how majestic the scene was, especially when he saw the colossal name, ¡¯Nine Heavens Corporation¡¯.

    He walked to the front desk and uttered his name. The receptionist was quick to react; she politely brought him into an office.

    The ¡¯Mu Zong¡¯ fe he was supposed to meet was surprisingly young. He seemed no older than Su Wu himself.

    "So you are the Mr. Su that Miss Gu talked about?" Mu Zong raised his head as he took out a document. "Once you sign this, you¡¯ll be a part of Nine Heavens. Our elite employees will be given a suite in the penins area. In a moment, my secretary will let you pick the unit of your liking. Rest assured, there are lots of units from which you can pick one for yourself."

    Penins area? Su Wu¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he stared at Mu Zong. "Mr. Mu, y-you... are you joking or what?"

    Land was worth more than gold in the Imperial Capital. Even his aunt had to fork over a significant portion of her savings just so she could move into a slightly more attractive-looking but small residential area. She had earned the envy of her fellow neighbors.

    It came so suddenly for someone to announce that he would be given a unit and in the penins area at that!

    He thought that only high-earning supervisors could afford living in such areas.

    "No, I am not joking." Mu Zong¡¯s smile was warm and tolerant. Like Su Wu right now, he too was shocked when he initially worked with Nine Heavens. "You should know that the least Boss Gucks is financial capital."

    There were tons of rich people around the world but it seemed like she was the only one who stood out from the crowd. She was the only one who would willingly pay such a mind-boggling amount to purchase property, just so her employees would be more motivated and cooperative with each other. Likewise, they understood just how rare it was to work under such a generous boss who genuinely cared about their personal wellbeing.

    While her abilities impressed her employees, it was her personality that had truly earned their respect and won them over.

    There were so many research projects happening and not a single one she kept secret. Although she was a bit of azy slob, whenever they bumped into trouble, she¡¯d jump in and help, no questions asked.

    Every day these employees spent here, they felt themselves actually making progress.

    Except Yu Ning. This was mainly because Gu Xiqiao felt that there was no need for her to intervene in Yu Ning¡¯s job.

    Not a single soul reported that they have been mistreated ever since they started working here. With the exception of intensepetition between rivaling research departments, the employees here were like peas in a pod during normal times.

    Many were envious of the benefits employees receive here at Nine Heavens. However, because of how high the bar was set, it was virtually impossible for yourmoner to get hired by thispany.

    Only the employees here understood how great it was to work under Nine Heavens.

    Su Wu, still stunned, wobbled down the stairs. Before he left, Mu Zong said to him, "You are a very lucky man."

    That¡¯s right. He felt incredibly lucky right now. Su Wu wiped the sweat off his brows as a smile inadvertently broke across his face. He must go home now! To get his parents to move out of that 80 square meter house!

    ***

    "What fun little thing are you up to now?" Jiang Shuxuan had apanied Gu Xiqiao on her search for Su Wu, and was now driving them home after their brief exchange. Throughout the entire time, he remained patient about it.

    He now had a rough idea of how wide-ranging her interests were. At first, he was a little worried that she would find it hard to keep up with her studies. Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be reading constantly or spending time in theboratory? However, such thoughts were soon dismissed when he received that emotional phone call from Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan told this to him. "Medicine is Miss Gu¡¯s raison d¡¯¨ºtre! The proposal she gave truly is brave and novel! I have never seen anything like it! But she isn¡¯t answering my calls as ofte. Can you ask help me to ask if she would like to patent her work? And if she¡¯s willing to let them study it at the International Medical Laboratory? This thing will benefit humanity as a whole I tell you!"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. "I¡¯m looking for someone to y in a film. Would you like to be an actor, Brother Jiang? I will definitely let you y as a cool, tyrannical antagonist."

    Jiang Shuxuan waspletely unaffected by her nonsensical talk. "I¡¯ve just received a call from Zhu Yuan. You should hurry up and remove him from your cklist. He seems to have something important to discuss with you." He paused for a moment before adding on. "You can continue cklisting him after you give him a call."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded before calling up Zhu Yuan.

    In short, the call consisted mainly of Zhu Yuan babbling on and on about something while Gu Xiqiao would give her opinions from time to time.

    "It will take some time before the patent is approved. I have already sent the patent application for your cell fusion process. I¡¯ll send you a copy of its contentster on, see if there¡¯s anything you¡¯d like to add to it. There¡¯ll be a press conference some time in the future so you should prepare yourself." Zhu Yuan¡¯s patents were all handled by someone else; it was a rare asion for him to do it himself, in order to keep everything perfect.

    Gu Xiqiao promised to do things this way but in the end, something made her change her mind. "You should add your name into the patent. Also, you will attend the press conference yourself since you¡¯ve contributed quite a lot into this research project. If you¡¯ve nothing else to say, I¡¯m gonna hang up now!"

    As she had done a thousand times before, she hung up the phone and returned Zhu Yuan to her cklist.

    Zhu Yuan on the other end of the line: Thiszy brat!

    ***

    He was still in theboratory. Zhu Yuan hadpleted his study on everything left behind by Gu Xiqiao. However, he was still a bit reluctant when the time came for him to leave. This applied to every other person who worked with him in theboratory. It has been such a long time since they were given such a challenge.

    Zhu Yuan nced at Professor Jiang. "Why did you let her have this vacation?" People like her should be exploited severely, else they won¡¯t do their job properly. She, who went into painting, then acting was the perfect example of such a person.

    Cough! Although she still dominated everything she did, like painting and acting.

    Professor Jiang¡¯s hatred swelled up the moment he was reminded of this. "That child did it on purpose! You probably don¡¯t know this but when she initially received this job, she acted as if it was an impossible task for her! How dare she bluff her way into getting a semester-long vacation!" The professor felt like a clown after seeing a photo of her in her makeup.

    It¡¯s her! No one should believe her anymore in the future!

    Professor Jiang felt his heart throb in pain.

    ***

    Naturally, Gu Xiqiao waspletely oblivious to these remarks made about her in theboratory. Xixi and Haha were happily chasing after each other when she and Jiang Shuxuan returned home. Feeling her mood improve, she happily went over to finish her oil painting.

    What she didn¡¯t know was that a war of words was being waged between the dog and the bird.

    "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (Boohoo! Beauty Gu didn¡¯t bring me out with her today!")

    "Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark!" (Perhaps she has finally realized that you bring nothing to her but embarrassment.)

    "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (You looking for a fight?)

    "Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark!" (Come at me bro! I ain¡¯t afraid of you!)

    "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (How dare you talk back to your daddy! I¡¯m really disappointed in you now.)

    ¡¯What a dumb bird!¡¯ thought Haha.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s footsteps stopped briefly when he gave Xixi a death stare before looking away as if he was about to sigh in disappointment.

    Just who did Xixi learn this from?

    "Brother Jiang! Apples! Apples!" Gu Xiqiao, who was thinking about what to write suddenly yelled out.

    Jiang Shuxuan, who coincidentally was picking up an apple, responded. "In a moment."

    In a few strokes, the apple was sliced into equal bite-sized chunks which he brought over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mini table. "What else do you need?"

    "Nothing for now," replied Gu Xiqiao as she picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick.

    Apparently apples had be her source for inspiration recently.

    Jiang Shuxuan was about to walk upstairs to take a shower when he opened his mouth at the foot of the stairwell. "It¡¯ll be a few more days before Mrs. Zhang returns. Her daughter¡¯s getting married so she still has a lot of things to deal with."

    Mrs. Zhang¡¯s daughter is getting married? No wonder she¡¯s away for so long. Gu Xiqiao looked over to Jiang Shuxuan. "Did you prepare a big fat red packet[1]?"

    "I had someone do it for me. Would you like to head over for a look?" He knew that they were pretty close friends, and her rtionship with Mrs. Zhang was especially close. In fact, it wasn¡¯t too far off to say that she was a part of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s family, thus why Jiang Shuxuan said what he said.

    Mrs. Zhang was still in N City. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. "I¡¯ll wait and see." In any case, a gift must be prepared first.

    Although she really wanted to pay them a visit, Nine Heavens had just been established in the Imperial Capital; she still had to oversee the matters here. The system should be able to give her a live view of the ceremony when the dayes so no biggie, she thought.

    System: [...]

    Has my functions regressed to deal with such trivial matters?

    "Don¡¯t be like that, my little system. You should have enough points after thetest mission don¡¯t you?"

    System: [Yes daddy!]

    "..."

    ¡¯Where¡¯s your backbone?¡¯ thought Gu Xiqiao to herself.

    "Time to level up then..."

    A robotic voice then rang out in her mind. [5200 points have been sessfully deducted. The system is currently being upgraded. During the upgrade, the host will not be able to link up with the virtual space and all ongoing tasks will be interrupted.]

    [Beauty Qiao! You must protect yourself in the 3 days toe!]

    Gu Xiqiao thought she might not be able to get used to life without the system¡¯s constant bickering.

    A dark glow appeared in her bright eyes as she spun the pen with her delicate fingers. This upgrade would increase the system¡¯s operating capabilities significantly. She should be able to partially uncover the secrets behind the virtual space, no?

    ***

    The next day, Tang Qingqiu finally received news from Nine Heavens. One of their higher-ups was free this afternoon. Immediately, he called up Zhu Yuan, ready to talk to him about investing in his cell fusion process patent. ording to Zhu Yuan, this would be a global sensation. If he could make Nine Heavens a global sensation, it would be a clear indicator of his sincerity right?

    [1] In Chinese culture, red packets are usually given during festivities like Chinese New Year or during marriages to the bride and groom.

 Chapter 149 A Scuffle With The Haters, Lend Me Your Computer Please

    <h4>Chapter 149 A Scuffle With The Haters, Lend Me Your Computer Please</h4>

    Zhu Yuan was filling out an application form when he received a call from Tang Qingqiu.

    Usually, he would not even bother with answering the phone. However, due to Tang Qingqiu¡¯s persistence, he simply had no choice but to give in to him. It was at this moment that he understood why Gu Xiqiao put certain individuals in her cklist. If this continued any longer, he would not think twice before cklisting people like Tang Qingqiu.

    "Don¡¯t you want to patent your cell fusion process? I¡¯m gonna be your investor! Just tell me how much you need!" Tang Qingqiu sounded genuine about this.

    Zhu Yuan flipped through the papers to confirm its terms. "I gotta say, your proposal is really tempting but this decision is not mine to make. Unfortunately, I am not the owner of this patent nor am I responsible for discovering this process. You should find her if you want to go through with this n of yours."

    "What? You¡¯re saying that this isn¡¯t your creation?" Tang Qingqiu was shocked. "Then who is she?"

    "Didn¡¯t I tell you before? She¡¯s a prodigy student from A University." Zhu Yuan gritted his teeth upon telling him this.

    "Then what should I do now?" Tang Qingqiu¡¯s voice sounded despondent over the phone. He thought that he could use his connection with Zhu Yuan as a leverage for his n.

    Zhu Yuan booted up hisputer. "I¡¯m gonna send her number to you. You should talk to her directly about this. Though, I highly doubt that she would ept it so easily. There will be a hugepetition between investors should this patent be approved, and that includes international organizations so I wish you good luck."

    He was about to hang up the call.

    "Wait!" yelled Tang Qingqiu. "There¡¯s something else!"

    "Cut to the chase!"

    "... I heard your master¡¯sing back?" Tang Qingqiu thought back to the thread he readst night; it seemed pretty legit to him.

    "My master?" Zhu Yuan raised his brow. "Rx, he won¡¯t be after your asses for now. They¡¯re still holding onto him there and it¡¯ll be at least one month before he returns."

    He had no idea what his master was going through nor why he kept demanding to return but because his research was still iplete, there was no way they would let him back so early.

    Tang Qingqiu hung up upon receiving answers to his questions. It was after he had confirmed the time with Nine Heavens that he received a string of numbers from Zhu Yuan.

    This number... seemed familiar.

    Tang Qingqiu thought about his approach before deciding to use the Tang Enterprise as a big fat bait to lure the other party into his deal. Then, he finally tapped on the line of numbers.

    "Hello?" A cold and distant voice sounded from the earpiece.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice was so distinct that Tang Qingqiu recognized who it was in a split second. With a stiff voice, he replied, "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve dialed the wrong number."

    "..."

    Face devoid of emotions, Gu Xiqiao hung up the phone.

    "What¡¯s up?" asked Jiang Shuxuan.

    "Nothing, it¡¯s just a wrong call," replied Gu Xiqiao as she rubbed her nose.

    Tang Qingqiu proceeded to spam Zhu Yuan¡¯s phone with calls, one after the other. Zhu Yuan was so infuriated that he wanted to mail a bottle of sulfuric acid over to that bastard immediately! "Big brother, what the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?!"

    "Perhaps you have forgotten to tell me that the prodigy you spoke of is Gu Xiqiao?" Tang Qingqiu sank into his thoughts for a while after hanging up. People working in the medical field should be fairly careful when dealing with matters so ruling out all other possibilities, that person must really have been Gu Xiqiao herself!

    Thus, he decided to call Zhu Yuan to confirm his suspicion.

    "That¡¯s right! Of course I wouldn¡¯t say that!" Zhu Yuan suddenly came to his senses. "How do you know her?"

    "I¡¯m not particrly close to her but I am familiar with who she is." Tang Qingqiu was confused.

    "You know who she is but you are unaware that she is the owner of this patent?" Zhu Yuan found it hard to react to this situation.

    Tang Qingqiu searched his mind before answering, "Something tells me that only a handful of your people know about this matter."

    Considering how ¡¯earth-shattering¡¯ Zhu Yuan said this patent would be, it was surprising how little it was publicized on the news. In fact, he had never heard her talk about this. She was maintaining way too low of a profile for a person her age. How old was she? Twenty? Weren¡¯t people her age supposed to be going at each other¡¯s throats to be credited for such achievements? Even the older folks in research would make it a big deal if such a game-changing process was indeed formted.

    Thinking back, even Zhu Yuan was all the rage in the capital for his achievements. How could she be so calm about this?

    "It isn¡¯t just your premonition. It is simply the truth!" It was as if Zhu Yuan had finally found someone he could channel hisints toward. "She¡¯s nothing but a cker! That girl¡¯s got the brains but she refuses to be serious whenever actual work is concerned. I believe you¡¯ve got a taste of what I¡¯m talking about when she tried her luck in acting! God! Thinking about her makes my heart ache!"

    Tang Qingqiu did not expect Zhu Yuan to be such a chatterbox. However, what he said suddenly reminded him of Xiang Kun.

    "Don¡¯t you ever talk about this in front of Xiang Kun. He thinks that she¡¯s born to act. If you ever tell him that she¡¯s a member of your research team, no doubt, he¡¯de looking for a fight immediately." Tang Qingqiu was clueless as to how he was supposed to react to this.

    "You think it¡¯ll change anything? Let me tell you this, even if she¡¯s not working here at theboratory, no way she¡¯ll take her acting job seriously." Zhu Yuan rolled his eyes. It¡¯ll be a fairy tale if she one day decides to take her job seriously, considering how extremely fearful she was of solving problems.

    Tang Qingqiu hung up the call. He lit himself a cigarette and sucked in arge lungful of tobo smoke.

    Typically, this method was effective in calming down his emotions.

    They were standing from different positions so naturally, what they saw was different. Unlike Zhu Yuan who had decided that she was a lost cause, Tang Qingqiu started evaluating Gu Xiqiao.

    When he first bumped into Gu Xiqiao, he initially thought that there was no way she could be sessful in the years toe. This was because by staying with Jiang Shuxuan alone, it would have inevitably invited envious eyes from countless powerful people from the ancient martial arts world. However, he soon realized what a nightmare it would be to offend this little devil. What¡¯s more, there was an insanely powerful family who had their backs.

    Then, he got a taste of how immense her mental strength was the second time he bumped into her. Although he wasn¡¯t able to detect the chi waves contained in her body, he knew instantly after sensing it that she was no ordinary human.

    After hearing what Zhu Yuan had to say, he couldn¡¯t help but ponder if Gu Xiqiao had already surpassed the requirements for one to join the ancient martial arts world. In fact, it was also possible that she would create uproar in that world by doing so.

    If he actually knew about her ancient martial arts level, no doubt, he would fall from his chair out of surprise.

    It would not only cause an uproar in the ancient martial arts world if her identity were revealed but also the reshuffling of power in their domain.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao hadpleted her oil painting. Seeing how she wasn¡¯t going to snap a photo of it, Jiang Shuxuan picked up his phone and took it himself.

    A Flowing River: [JPEG] All done @For A Millenium

    His ount was almost microscopic. Virtually all his followers were automatically-generated bots created by the system so everything was eerily quiet when he uploaded the post.

    Gu Xiqiao shot him a nce. "Brother Jiang! I didn¡¯t know you were a Weibo user!"

    Jiang Shuxuan responded with an unamused look. "The things I have to do in order to stay up-to-date."

    Weibo wasn¡¯t the only new thing he had on his phone. He had also installed WeChat on his phone.

    After refreshing her news feed, Gu Xiqiao liked his new post. She was about to exit the app when her eyes suddenly noticed a message marked in red.

    The hottest, most-searched topic was rted to the movie star, Song Guanjing. The both of them were mutual followers and they even chatted for a while justst night.

    And yet, here was some bad press about Song Guanjing on the headlines.

    ¡¯Nudes of the suspected movie star, Song Guanjing in bed leaked. Rumors of her corrupt private life spreading like wildfire.¡¯

    ¡¯Here¡¯s some gossip about Song Guanjing¡¯s sugar-daddies.¡¯

    ***

    Rted articles started springing up like mushrooms after the rain.

    Somebody had obviously paid an Inte Water Army to ckmail Song Guanjing. Gu Xiqiao nced through the articles and came to the conclusion that her ckmailer was different from the one from before. Everybody was keen to know more about the movie star¡¯s private life. To make matters worse, the posters of these articles were all well-known Weibo users. Some were even media outlets, who specialized in reporting news about the entertainment industry. It took only a couple of seconds for Song Guanjing to be buried alive by ckmail.

    Countless people started sharing these articles, meaning the ckmail was going on with full effect.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brows were tightly knitted as she studied the entire thing, including videos, pictures and the nderous remarks about her friend. It seemed wless, as if everything had already been nned beforehand. The puppetmaster behind this was trying his best to end Song Guanjing¡¯s acting career once and for all.

    She had just returned from overseas? Why was someone trying to target her?

    "Brother Jiang, I¡¯d like to go to Studio City." If Song Guanjing¡¯s ckmailing got out of hand, ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ might very well be under threat too. Judging from Song Guanjing¡¯s personality, she probably would decide to quit the cast and Cheng Zhou would no doubt be strongly against this.

    She couldn¡¯t allow Xiao Yun¡¯s first movie to fail like this. Anyway, she was also nning to meet up with Ning Qing in Studio City to discuss a potential contract.

    Jiang Shuxuan had nothing going on in his life as ofte so apart from being her driver, he would also serve as her personal attendant.

    If the people back in the ancient martial arts world knew about how carefree Big Boss Jiang¡¯s life actually was, no doubt, they would start coughing up blood.

    ***

    Rumors of Song Guanjing exploded like a bomb, turning the entire frontpage of Weibo into a bloodbath. As if by sheer coincidence, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo ount too exploded from poprity.

    Gu Xiqiao had just started fiddling with Weibo and whichever post she liked would magically appear on the front page.

    And so, when the post of ¡¯A Flowing River¡¯ appeared in one of her liked posts, countless of her followers scrambled around excitedly.

    "Ahhhhh! Who¡¯s this lucky man?! Why is he in a rtionship with my goddess?!"

    "Stop talking smack! Look closely! This is an oil painting that my Gu Xiqiaopleted! Ahh! This work of art is so beautiful I might explode!"

    "Am I the only one who noticed the two shadows on the floor?! From his shadow alone, I can guarantee you that the owner of this ount is handsome as heck!"

    "Shadow! Just look at that slender shadow! I wonder if he¡¯s got the right proportions. I wonder if his face is equally as stunning as his lover¡¯s!"

    "I support the Li X Gu cp!"

    "Isn¡¯t it a fact that they are together?"

    "Li X Gu shippers are probably gonna die crying in their bathrooms!"

    ***

    The duo, who were on their way to Studio City waspletely oblivious to the heated discussion that was currently going on. Also, Jiang Shuxuan had no idea that his followers had already breached ten thousand in a matter of minutes. This expansion of his fanbase wasn¡¯t slowing down either.

    At the filming set of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, Cheng Zhou was sternly barkingmands at his cameramen.

    Song Guanjing changed into her own clothes before walking up to the director and shing him a smile. "Director Cheng, I think it would be best if you switched over to a new female lead. This situation is getting increasingly out of hand and the Tang Enterprise¡¯s PR team is still struggling to get this under control. Since I¡¯ve just started working with you, finding another actress for my role shouldn¡¯t be too much of a hassle, I think."

    She didn¡¯t expect her ckmailing to turn out so bad. Her opponent was well-prepared with enough evidence to back up their ims. The false news was so convincing that she would start to doubt reality if not for how sure she was that she did not conduct in the alleged activities.

    Even her co-workers started to give her weird looks after the rumors exploded all over the inte.

    The ¡¯evidence¡¯ spreading around the inte was simply too real.

    A turmoil of such proportions wasparable to the leaked nudes of a certain A-list celebrity from back then. It appeared that her career in acting would being to an end.

    Song Guanjing was clueless as to who would spend so much effort in trying to ckmail her.

    It must¡¯ve cost the person an astronomical amount to be able to fabricate the supposed ¡¯evidence¡¯ as well as to buy his way into the well-known gossip ounts. Even the mighty Tang Enterprise scratched their heads while attempting to locate ws in the false usations.

    "I have switched actors in the middle of a filming project before, but you should know that I absolutely won¡¯t get someone to fill in your shoes this time. I trust that you aren¡¯t the person they are talking about." Cheng Zhou was calm and collected when responding to Song Guanjing.

    No doubt, Song Guanjing was moved by the director¡¯s words but precisely because of this, she was adamant about leaving the cast.

    Cheng Zhou had spilled blood, sweat, and tears into this project; she simply could not put the effort of their entire team to waste. "The right to terminate our contract remains in my hand. Switch actresses, Director Cheng."

    "What are you doing! I want you to re-do this scene all over again!" Cheng Zhou started raging again. "Old Xiang! Come here now!"

    Xiang Kun was also aware of what was going on. After spending such a long time in the entertainment industry, he knew just how serious the matter was. In this regard, he was far more rational than Cheng Zhou. "Director Cheng, I would advise you to let her leave the cast. What she needs most right now is to step out of the limelight. You¡¯re aiming for an academy award aren¡¯t you? If so, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s suitable for you to use Guanjing in your film."

    Cheng Zhou smashed the pen he held in his hand into the ground furiously. He went silent afterward.

    The people present all looked over in horror. They started whispering to each other out of fear of angering the already steaming Cheng Zhou.

    Noon was soon approaching and yet the entire crew was already visibly bummed out.

    Suddenly, the appearance of two familiar silhouettes brought life back into their atmosphere.

    That beautiful face and that serene smile she wore, it inevitably gave the entire film crew a sense of reassurance.

    "What¡¯s up?" Gu Xiqiao smiled as she greeted her friends. She felt something off about the atmosphere here at the filming set. Also, she noticed Cheng Zhou¡¯s sullen expression. She turned to face Xiao Yun. "Is Director Cheng angry with something?"

    Xiao Yun sighed. "Senior Song¡¯s leaving the cast."

    Gu Xiqiao expected this to happen but she did not expect the movie star to be so decisive. It was only the very beginning and yet she was already so sure that she was going to quit the cast.

    ***

    "Director Cheng, I won¡¯t say anything much to everyone, you can let them know on my behalf after I¡¯m gone," Song Guanjing said to Cheng Zhou with a smile on her face. Her assistant had already packed her things. She didn¡¯t expect that she would have to leave the set after just a few days.

    "Why are you leaving?" asked a voice from behind.

    Song Guanjing spun around to meet a pair of shining bright eyes, like a sea of stars in the night sky. Still, the look in her eyes was not an usation.

    Song Guanjing chuckled to herself. She was satisfied with the oue. While a great deal of people were against her, she was relieved to see a handful still standing on her side. She was also surprised at how easily she was satisfied this time. "It¡¯s because of the news spreading around the inte that I don¡¯t have a choice but to leave this cast. It¡¯s for their sake."

    Many of her friends had started distancing themselves from her the moment news about her scandal broke out this morning.

    They all were just trying to protect themselves and although Song Guanjing understood why they did what they did, she couldn¡¯t help but feel her heart go numb. Some of them were close friends she had made five years ago. It was only a few days before this that they took a picture together. Who would¡¯ve thought that she would delete all posts rted to Song Guanjing and worse still, write a long paragraph, denying the existence of their friendship the moment this scandal broke out.

    Some even tried to use this as an opportunity to attract attention for themselves; the way they acted was far worse than the rookies she met from the cast of this movie. Song Guanjingughed cynically. The only silver lining about this incident was that she was finally able to see through the facade put up by her so-called ¡¯friends¡¯. She felt relieved that they severed connections with her. At least from now on, she wouldn¡¯t have to keep up the superficial act with these people.

    "The truth will speak for itself," Gu Xiqiao smiled when she sensed how blissfully helpless Song Guanjing was feeling. "Sister Song, you must have faith that justice will always be on the side of the righteous."

    Gu Xiqiao whipped out her own phone and showed Song Guanjing her own Weibo page. The discussion on the first page had already reached a whopping 800,000ments.

    There were a lot of haters writing nasty remarks about Song Guanjing but there was also a group of die-hard fans making theirst stand to defend their beloved movie star.

    "I have faith in Song Guanjing! Fellow fans unite! We must drown out the usations being posted by these haters so our Guanjing doesn¡¯t see their nasty insults!"

    "I have been her fan for so many years now, I don¡¯t care what she does, I will remain on her side forever and ever! That¡¯s right! Jing Jing! You¡¯ve braved so many storms in the past! You absolutely must persist through this, no matter what!"

    "..."

    Gu Xiqiao reposted Song Guanjing¡¯s first post on Weibo.

    For A Millenium: "Justice will forever be on the side of the righteous. Take a closer look at this." //@SongGuanJing: [JPEG]

    Song Guanjing held back from checking her Weibo ount the moment the scandal surfaced on the front page of the inte. Judging from the reactions of her "besties", she figured that her ount was probably already upied by her haters. What she didn¡¯t know was how lovable and loyal her true fans actually were.

    Now that she has seen their reaction, her eyes started welling up with tears.

    "Sister Song, what excuse do you have to not persist on?" asked Gu Xiqiao with a dead serious tone.

    "Yeah." Song Guanjing shut her eyes and raised her head to take in a deep breath.

    Cheng Zhou directed a smile at Gu Xiqiao. "That¡¯s the spirit! No recements for my current cast!"

    Gu Xiqiao stole a nce at Cheng Zhou and clenched her fists tightly. "Alright, the issue has been solved. Now, it¡¯s time to check on what rumors they have now fabricated. Um... does anyone here have aputer that I can use?"

 Chapter 150 Sinister Recording, Dont Even Think Of Turning Your Fortune Around

    <h4>Chapter 150 Sinister Recording, Don¡°t Even Think Of Turning Your Fortune Around</h4>

    "Miss Gu, I have one here!"

    Gu Xiqiao had just finished asking her question and a few people had already responded immediately, and a few of the staff wereing over in her direction withptops in hand.

    Song Guanjing suddenly realized that the eyes of the crew members who had been looking at her in suspicion at the beginning had suddenly changed.

    "Have I done anything?" Song Guanjing asked Li Yu quietly, who was standing beside her. "I feel like their attitude toward me has changed, or am I overthinking things?"

    Li Yu nced at Gu Xiqiao, smiling softly after hearing those words. "You¡¯re not overthinking it, they really have changed their attitude toward you."

    "?" Song Guanjing didn¡¯t understand, she knew that impressions of a person was difficult to change. Simr to thoseizens on the inte, unless there was any ck and white evidence, she was fated to bear this ck spot on her name for the rest of her life.

    "Don¡¯t worry too much about it," Li Yu said, pointing to Gu Xiqiao who had ced theptop on the table as he smiled again. "Those people are all her die-hard fans, you¡¯re basically in a situation of ¡¯love me love my dog[1]¡¯."

    "Her?" Song Guanjing looked toward Gu Xiqiao, the bafflement and confusion continuing to climb.

    Li Yu and Director Cheng were two very authoritative figures among the production crew, but the attitude of these two had not affected the crew in the slightest. How could this person who had only been on set for a measly few days be more influential than them?

    Li Yu didn¡¯t bother to continue borating, a mysterious smile appearing on his attractive face. "You¡¯ll understandter."

    He wasn¡¯t very close to Gu Xiqiao, as she was only on set for two days. During these two days, her capabilities at reading fortunes and doctrine skills have managed to win over the entire crew, and even the strictly impartial and incorruptible uncle who took care of their meals would add an extra chicken thigh for her every time.

    As for now, he was just curious, what was she up to? From what he could see, it looked like she was nning to find some evidence?

    Li Yu chuckled to himself, the anticipation practically vibrating off him.

    "Little Gu, what are you doing?" Cheng Zhou was extremely puzzled at her actions.

    Gu Xiqiao found a spot to sit down with theptop, and turned on her wireless hotspot on her phone. After connecting to theptop, she started to click on the browser. "Finding some gifts to return the favor."

    Cheng Zhou opened his mouth to ask, but then he suddenly recalled the video that Gu Xiqiao had sent him thest time, and his eyes lit up with excitement.

    He was not the only one who had his attention on her, the entire crew on set had their eyes on her, their eyes unblinking as they watched her move.

    "What do you think Beauty Gu is going to do?"

    "She looks good doing anything!"

    "Holy sh*t, hurry up ande see this!"

    "What the f*ck!"

    "Holy crap!"

    "So freaking awesome, is this hacking?"

    "..."

    The thin slender fingers danced across the colored keyboard, from this angle, you could only see her side profile, and her face was as smooth as jade. She squinted her eyes slightly, and you couldn¡¯t see the deep expression in her eyes. Under the lighting of the set, she looked extremely graceful and attractive.

    She sat therezily, an indifferent expression on her face which exuded a unique air about her, which was slightly different than usual. From the moment theptop had touched her fingers, her entire demeanor had changed, her wless face bing even more eye-catching, dazzling everyone present.

    Jiang Shuxuan leaned against the door, he was standing quite a distance away, but you could clearly see the gentle and warm expression on his face as he kept his eyes on Gu Xiqiao.

    He was staring intently at her, even more so than the others around the set.

    As one interface after another kept popping up on the screen in front of her, everyone¡¯s eyes bounced between looking at Gu Xiqiao and the screen, their surprise climbing higher and higher as the time passed.

    The first thing that had popped up on the screen was the Weibo interface, this was the Weibo of a well-known blogger. He was the one who had released the news of Song Guanjing this morning.

    Then there was another nk interface on the screen, and Gu Xiqiao typed in a bunch of codes in almost an instant, and then the Weibo interface jumped to the blogger¡¯sputer desktop screen.

    All of this was like watching a circus, everyone watched as Gu Xiqiao openly hacked into the blogger¡¯sputer, and proceeded to dig out many encrypted files.

    In the beginning, they were still able to gasp out some words to express what they were feeling, but eventually, they were all stunned speechless and numb as they continued to watch Gu Xiqiao work.

    "I found a recording." Gu Xiqiao finally stopped her fingers, shooting a smile toward Song Guanjing. "It should prove to be useful to you, I¡¯ve sent it to your WeChat."

    She even found a recording?! Beauty Gu, you were only on theptop for about twenty minutes!

    Song Guanjing flipped open her phone with a slight feeling of numbness, seeing the audio file that Gu Xiqiao had sent to her. She didn¡¯t even see her holding her phone, when did she send the file over?!

    Every staff on the set: Beauty Gu, if you told us you knew how to ascend to the heavens, we would all still believe your words!

    "Cough." Cheng Zhou nced at Gu Xiqiao, although he had some guesses, he could feel his view of the world crumbling inside his mind. He snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat. "Alright then, ces everyone, we¡¯ll begin to shoot the next scene."

    "Guanjing, you won¡¯t talk about leaving the crew now, right?" Cheng Zhou asked, looking toward Song Guanjing again.

    Song Guanjing was listening to the audio file that Gu Xiqiao had sent over to her, aplicated expression shing across her face as she did. "Director Cheng, I wouldn¡¯t leave even if you tried to make me."

    Gu Xiqiao was texting in WeChat at this time.

    For A Millenium: Yu Ning, dig out your moldy Weibo ount, I have something I need you to do.

    Yu Ning: I don¡¯t even remember my password for it anymore!

    For A Millenium: Find it. Immediately. Now. Chop chop.

    Gu Xiqiao was tempted to beat up Yu Ning, with his capabilities, it would only take him minutes, if not seconds to retrieve his password, if he really had forgotten it.

    Yu Ning: I don¡¯t care, I really don¡¯t remember it. I need a decryption route from you to trigger my memory!

    Yu Ning had a sh*t eating grin on his face as he sat inside the office of Nine Heavens, he was suddenly grateful for his unintentional actions at that time. When Weibo had just started, he had registered himself a hacker ount, hacking his way into the Weibo backend system to authenticate himself as ¡¯God Lo¡¯, and managed to make a super topic on his own homepage.

    He was the first hacker in history to register and authenticate himself, and the entire country couldn¡¯t do anything toward his ount. The ount still existed, and no one else could crack it. Neither was anyone able to find out any real information about this ¡¯God Lo¡¯.

    For A Millenium: Is fine if you don¡¯t want to then, I¡¯ll just cklist your Weibo ount now.

    For A Millenium: Don¡¯t expect me to give you any decoding routes in the future either. ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    Seeing what she had typed, Yu Ning, who had thought he had gotten a one up on her, immediately straightened up in a panic.

    Yu Ning: Understood Boss Gu, I¡¯ve already retrieved my password. What orders do you have for me?

    For A Millenium: Wait a while for someone will add you, remember to approve it. You can talk to her privately about the specific matter after that.

    Yu Ning: Don¡¯t worry Boss Gu, I will definitely carry out the task without ws. £¨¡Ñ_¡Ñ£©

    Gu Xiqiao exited WeChat after that. ¡¯What a retard!¡¯

    Yu Ning on the other hand, once he exited WeChat, ¡¯Lazy *ss!¡¯

    "Sister Song, the recording alone will not exin anything. I¡¯ll introduce you to a well-known hacker on Weibo, he¡¯ll be able to help you," Gu Xiqiao said as she sent Yu Ning¡¯s WeChat ID to Song Guanjing.

    Theizens would definitely use her of faking the recording if she were to do anything with it alone, but with Yu Ning backing her, it was a different matter. As a well known top hacker in the circle, Yu Ning had the power and authority. Let him find and reveal the source of the fake pictures and videos on the inte, the rumors would then naturally dispel on its own.

    Song Guanjing didn¡¯t know that the hacker Gu Xiqiao talked about was Yu Ning, and assuming that it was just an ordinary hacker, she wasn¡¯t too concerned about it. "Miss Gu, thank you."

    If you were to give too much gratitude, it would seem insincere. The dead end was broken by Gu Xiqiao this time, and Song Guanjing could only vow to keep this matter firmly in her heart in order to repay her someday.

    Gu Xiqiao gave her a gentle smile. "The evidence has already been found, as long as you make a Weibo post, adding on thepany¡¯s PR, this whole matter can be overturned."

    Her right hand squeezed her phone tightly, and her heart finally rxed a little. She would find a suitable time to post it out, and she also wanted to see what kind of expression her ¡¯girlfriends¡¯ would have at that time?

    "Director Cheng, how long more before this movie will finish its shooting?" Gu Xiqiao turned her head toward Director Cheng as she asked.

    Cheng Zhou recalled the matter that Gu Xiqiao had told himst night. "It won¡¯t be too long, I will send you all the clips once I¡¯m done with it!" He obviously remembered what she had said, especially now since he had seen her abilities with his own eyes, he was really looking forward to it.

    "..." He was so obviously reluctantst time, it¡¯s a bit too fast for him to change his stance, right? "The script has already been sent to your WeChat, remember to look over it."

    "I¡¯ll look at it tonight." At this point, Cheng Zhou seemed to think of something. "Shooting a movie is not some trivial matter, you have to n ahead properly. Don¡¯t look at how efficient ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was, we had to use an entire year to prepare the costumes and props for it prior to the start of shooting."

    Looking at the girl in front of him, she really was so young, and it made Cheng Zhou slightly apprehensive when he remembered how young she was.

    "Director Cheng, someone else has already arranged for all of it. The costumes and props are all in the middle of being customized and constructed right now," Gu Xiqiao said thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin. "I think I need to give you a bribe."

    "What the heck for?" Cheng Zhou was alert immediately as he narrowed his eyes at Gu Xiqiao. Every time she said something like this, he could feel the frustration eating at him.

    Gu Xiqiaoughed happily. "I have a candidate for the female lead in this script, can I bring her through the back door?"

    "Xiao Yun?" After thinking about the rtionship between Gu Xiqiao and Xiao Yun, he immediately assumed that it was her. If it was Xiao Yun, he didn¡¯t have a problem with her at all. He would look at the script againter, if the character didn¡¯t have too much of a difference, then it was fine to use Xiao Yun.

    "It¡¯s someone else." Xiang Kun had given Xiao Yun a role in a web drama, and Gu Xiqiao had faith in Xiang Kun¡¯s judgment. "A person who has the looks, but been in quite a string of bad lucks. It¡¯s definitely someone who will not let you down."

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, Cheng Zhou¡¯s curiosity was piqued. This was the first time he had heard Gu Xiqiao boasting about someone else, and damn it, he was moved. "When will I meet her?"

    "When ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ is done, then we can start anytime." Gu Xiqiao nced at Li Yu who was standing beside him. Using this actor to enhance Ning Qing as a stepping stone, would he be big enough of a foil?

    "Miss Gu?" Li Yu could no longer ignore the intense gaze that Gu Xiqiao was giving him, and he turned to meet those clear eyes of hers.

    It wasn¡¯t like he hadn¡¯t been the subject of intense scrutiny before, but Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze was far different than those others that he had been under before. Those clear eyes of hers didn¡¯t contain any impurity, but they looked at him like she was looking at a gold mine. It really wasn¡¯t an exaggeration when he said that, and he shuddered slightly inside.

    Gu Xiqiao turned away, thinking that she had to find a suitable opportunity for this.

    Moreover, Su Wu¡¯s script would definitely be a big hit, so dragging Li Yu in was definitely not a loss in his favor, right? Now, the real question was how to con him into it.

    "Director Cheng, I¡¯ll be leaving first." Looking at the time, it was about time for her to meet Ning Qing. That was the reason for hering here today.

    Cheng Zhou waved his hands dismissively, an expression of disgust on his face. "You¡¯re not even here to film anymore, you¡¯re just an eyesore to me!"

    "..."

    Jiang Shuxuan only got up when she walked over, and they both left together.

    "Who was that?" Song Guanjing had wanted to bid Gu Xiqiao goodbye, but she was taken aback when she saw Jiang Shuxuan. When his obsidian eyes hadnded on her, she felt like she was frozen in ce, a chilling feeling washing over her.

    But when he lowered his head, his face melted into a warm and gentle expression. It was twopletely different temperaments, but the transition had been so natural.

    "He¡¯s even more stylish than any other guy I¡¯ve seen in America? Let me tell you, Li Yu, don¡¯t be deceived by his thin figure, his body under that white shirt is definitely not any worse than those male models you always see. These are all observations based on my past experiences." Song Guanjing only has one hobby in her life, and that was to study and research the figures of men, and this was one of the reasons that people were able to exploit her weakness.

    Li Yu spared her a nce. "Experience from corrupting someone¡¯s life?"

    "... I just think that man has an unusual aura. What does Miss Gu do actually?" Song Guanjing said, ignoring his previousment.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, they¡¯re both on the same level of abnormal." Li Yu replied easily, turning his gaze away.

    Song Guanjing thought back to the words that Gu Xiqiao had said. "You said that Little Gu wants Director Cheng to shoot a movie, why would she get someone other than Xiao Yun to y the lead?"

    "It depends on who she¡¯s pulling in. I don¡¯t know who¡¯s the lucky one to have caught her eye." Li Yu lifted his hand to wave at her. "It¡¯s my scene now, you should change your clothes quickly, so that Director Cheng won¡¯t have to scold anyer."

    Song Guanjing contemted the words that Li Yu had just said, "It depends on who she¡¯s pulling in.". She always thought that Li Yu had a better understanding of Gu Xiqiao than he was letting on.

    The person who had caught her eye was indeed a very lucky person.

    Turning around to head to the dressing room, she almost mmed into Xiang Kun. "Brother Kun, what are you doing?" Usually he would go on and on about how great Gu Xiqiao¡¯s acting skills were and how he needed to convince her to develop her skills in the entertainment industry, but today he had vanished the moment she stepped foot onto the set area, what was up with that?

    Xiang Kun had not said a word since Gu Xiqiao¡¯s appearance, and he remained invisible the entire time, and now he raised his head as he said quietly, "How curious indeed."

    Song Guangjing didn¡¯t understand what was happening, and could only watch as Xiang Kun left without offering any exnation. The phone in her hand rang twice, and she looked at the screen to find it was her manager calling. After staring at it for a while, she picked up the call.

    "Guanjing, the matter is blowing up and spiraling out of control, especially when it¡¯s reposted by those extremely popr artistes, which is now affecting you even deeper now." The manager¡¯s tone was frustrated, if it was just the media that was spreading the news then that was still controble. What was more terrifying was the fact that Song Guanjing¡¯s so-called ¡¯besties¡¯ were all stabbing her in the back, which made all theizens who read the news more convinced of it.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, the matter is going to be resolved soon," Song Guanjing said quietly with her eyes lowered, her tone not any different than usual.

    ***

    At the same time, in another dressing room of a certain crew...

    "Sister Wen, will we be alright?" Wen Wen¡¯s assistant asked.

    A well-manicured hand touched the long, ebony locks, and Wen Wen¡¯s lips twitched slightly, mockery shing in her eyes. "With such a situation, do you really think Song Guanjing can turn the entire thing around?"

    When Wen Wen¡¯s assistant thought about it, she did make sense. Every time something like this happens, the actress would be forced into a corner with no way out, and although it wouldn¡¯t be any different this time, she still felt some anxiety about it.

    Seeing that Song Guanjing was about to plummet to the bottom, the people who were close to her were quick to cut ties with her, for fear that they would be dragged down together. Wen Wen and Song Guanjing were roommates during their college days, they had auditioned and joinedpetitions together, and finally, they had entered differentpanies. While Song Guanjing was regarded as a film queen by Cheng Zhou, Wen Wen was, until now, just a small-time actress who could barely get a few lines every time.

    It¡¯s impossible to say that she wasn¡¯t jealous, and Song Guanjing would talk about her experience abroad every time, in her eyes, that was just showing off!

    The envy and contempt umted in her heart over time would definitely erupt one day.

    Wen Wen went about her day, shooting her parts, and as soon as she was done and returned to the dressing room, she came back to her terrified assistant.

    "Sis... Sister Wen, Miss Song, she posted a Weibo post."

    "What of? Did she admit her wrongdoings?" Wen Wenughed coldly, taking the phone to look, the smile on her lips fading away as she read it.

    How was that possible?! It waspletely impossible for Song Guanjing to be able to do this! Who?! Who the hell had helped her?! She hurriedly scrolled through thements, and the phone slipped from her grasp, dropping to the ground with a loud ¡¯bang¡¯.

    It was over. That was the only thought in her mind.

    (Verified) Song Guanjing: I have submitted an application to the court regarding this matter, and I will definitely investigate all the way to the end! Recording link address

    (Verified) Song Guanjing: Justice is at the will of the people // (Verified) God Lo: I saw a few interesting videos and pictures today. The cropping and editing methods were too clumsy. I have restored the originals, no thanks needed.

    If the first post had garnered the attention of countless fans around, then the second post had sent the entire hackermunity into an uproar.

    Speaking of ¡¯God Lo¡¯, it was obvious how renowned the name was. He had once hacked into the military system of America, and specifically left his own name in it in an arrogant challenge for them to track him down, and even till the end they couldn¡¯t manage to find a hide of him.

    That incident was already known to be a legend these days, and countless enthusiastic and passionate youth blindly worship this person.

    Xiang Kun waspletely dumbfounded at the post. "Guanjing, you¡¯re actually acquainted with God Lo?!"

    Song Guanjing also had a dumbfounded look on her face. "I didn¡¯t know, it was someone Miss Gu introduced to me, she just said that he was a hacker." She didn¡¯t know the name ¡¯God Lo¡¯, but from all thements that were left on the post, it seemed like he was some sort of great person?

    Xiang Kun: ¡¯Why are the people around Gu Xiqiao all kinds of insane and crazy?!¡¯

    Thinking of that, Xiang Kun turned to nce at Xiao Yun. Fortunately, this person seemed to be normal, at least. Or so he thought, until the next second when Xiao Yun lifted a box with one hand, a box that he was sure needed at least two men to lift!

    ... that was a real quick p of reality to the face.

    ***

    "What did you want to say to Li Yu just now?" Jiang Shuxuan asked, seemingly casually as he drove the ck Bugatti.

    Gu Xiqiao did not suspect anything about his question at all, but when she recalled the conversation, she felt a little depressed. "I wanted him to take a role in the movie, but I couldn¡¯t find a good way to hit him up."

    "Hit him up?" ck eyes narrowed slightly, his tone rising a little.

    "The revolution has yet to seed."

    "..." Jiang Shuxuan nced at her from the corner of his eyes. "He¡¯lle begging for the role from you."

    "How would you know?" Gu Xiqiao said, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

    The corner of his lips quirked up, though the indifferent expression on his carved face didn¡¯t change. "Just a prediction."

    "Where are we going?" Although he wanted to say something else, he followed up with those words. Gu Xiqiao scrolled through her phone, before rattling out an address.

    She had miscalcted her timing. When she had left to look for Ning Qing, she found that the other had already returned home, so she could only head to her home to find her now.

    There was actually no rush to look for Ning Qing for the next few days, but Gu Xiqiao had read her fortune and found that today was one where she would have an encounter with some mean men, so she deliberately called Ning Qing to ask for her address.

    The low-key luxury car drove toward the indicated address slowly.

    ***

    Ning Qing¡¯smunity area was older than even Su Wu¡¯s, and the roads inside were extremely narrow, making it hard to park in front. Gu Xiqiao got Jiang Shuxuan to stop the car, and the both of them got off.

    Ning Qing was feeling extremely unlucky today, when she reached the set she waste, and the minor role that was promised to her had been given to others and she had gone for nothing.

    If that wasn¡¯t enough, thendlord that had promised her a five-year lease suddenly said that his son would be getting married and was saving money to buy a new house, so they were intending to sell this house. She hadn¡¯t found a suitable amodation yet, and she didn¡¯t have any money left. Where she was going to stay tonight was also another problem.

    Thendlord was an elderly couple, and looking at them, Ning Qing didn¡¯t have the heart to ask them for thepensation of breaking the contract. So here she was, dragging her luggage out with no money in her pockets.

    Behind her, the two pairs of elderly eyes were full of apologies.

    "Ning Qing, if you¡¯re willing to sign on with me, I¡¯ll arrange for you to enter thepany¡¯s apartments immediately!" Her former agent, and Jin Sitian¡¯s current manager was standing beside her.

    Ning Qing looked at him and smiled coldly. "Sign on with you? Do you think I¡¯m stupid like Jin Sitian? Letting you sell me off like some possession of yours?"

    "You!" Jin Sitian¡¯s manager was flushed red, since Jin Sitian had disappeared without a trace, he currently didn¡¯t have any artiste under him, and thepany no longer paid any attention to him, and none of the new artistes were willing to work with him.

    It was difficult for him, but he had managed to make some connections yesterday. The real estate tycoon that had been obsessed with Ning Qing still couldn¡¯t forget about her, and the mind of Jin Sitian¡¯s manager had immediately perked up at the opportunity.

    After so many years of being an agent and manager, how could he not have some sort of savings? He had spent a sum of money on bribes and management, it was not a problem with Ning Qing¡¯s arrogant behavior. If there was a first time, there would naturally be a second time. As long as a person was driven into a desperate situation, how would it be impossible to control her?

    Jin Sitian was gone now, and Ning Qing was his hope to turn things around.

    Looking at Ning Qing leaving, the manager¡¯s eyes shed. "Ning Qing, if you don¡¯t agree to this, don¡¯t even think about changing your fortune in this entire lifetime!"

    This was probably the most vicious and spiteful punishment for an artiste.

    Just as he said those words, a crisp chuckle sounded out.

    [1] T/N: To describe the case in which the love for a person extends even to the things or persons rted to him/her

 Chapter 151 The Tyrant And Prodigal Boss Gu

    <h4>Chapter 151 The Tyrant And Prodigal Boss Gu</h4>

    The manager turned to see two figures standing there, when he got a good look at one of them, he couldn¡¯t help but shrink back.

    "Do you want to know where Jin Sitian and Mr. Tian are?" The two figures were slowly approaching, and a cold voice spoke, making his entire body freeze up.

    The disappearance of Mr. Tian and Jin Sitian was sudden and without any trace, but thepany didn¡¯t even give a single statement about it. In the beginning, he had suspected that they had both escaped in fear of retaliation from Tang Enterprise, but it looked like that wasn¡¯t the case at all? Was it possible that their disappearance had something to do with the man in front of him?

    The manager¡¯s legs were shaking when he came to that conclusion, facing the two figures, there was a heavy pressure in the air that made it hard to breathe.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiang Shuxuan, the cold expression still on his handsome face. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. So what had happened to Jin Sitian and Mr. Tian in the end?

    Silently going around and doing these things, Gu Xiqiao felt like she had a new understanding of the man beside her.

    "Where, where are they?" The tremble of the manager¡¯s voice was not something you could miss.

    "In the sky." Gu Xiqiao smiled harmlessly. "Mister, do you really want to go up into the sky? But the words ¡¯never turning your fortune around¡¯ is really suitable to be applied to you."

    She snapped her fingers, and continued to stare at the manager. "What do you think?"

    The man already felt his body not responding to his thoughts, even when he opened his mouth, there was no sound. He looked at the angelic face of the beautiful girl in front of him in terror.

    "I think it¡¯s pretty good." Gu Xiqiao responded to her own question, immediately deciding that people whomitted too much evil were destined to have a rough life in the next half of their life. "Enjoy the rest of your life, mister."

    Although her tone was light, if you were standing near her, you could clearly see the seriousness inside her eyes. He suddenly realized that she was not joking about it at all!

    "Miss Ning." Gu Xiqiao turned her attention to Ning Qing, and seeing that she was pulling a box along, she said, "Can we find a ce to talk?"

    "Miss Gu?" Ning Qing was looking at Gu Xiqiao in a daze.

    Those threats that the manager had aimed at her, it was impossible to say that she was not afraid of it at all. Sometimes, when she thought about how she had stayed strong and firm for so long, it really hadn¡¯t been easy, and there would always be times where she thought about just giving in, but had managed to hold out at the end.

    Gu Xiqiao shed her a smile. "The car is parked out front, let¡¯s go."

    The group of three walked towards the outside.

    With a light flick of his fingers, a loud ¡¯bang¡¯ came from behind them.

    The sound was too loud to ignore, and Ning Qing couldn¡¯t help but turn her head in curiosity. The manager that had been standing upright had somehow fallen down face first onto the ground, and it looked like it hurt a lot.

    Seeing the state he was in, Ning Qing winced in sympathy.

    "Get in the car." Jiang Shuxuan had already opened the door, and seeing that Ning Qing was still staring in stunned silence, Gu Xiqiao nudged her with a smile on her face.

    "Ah? Oh!" She was still someone in the entertainment industry after all, and Ning Qing knew that this brand of car was low-key but still luxurious. She had been struck dumb for a bit, but she carefully climbed into the back seat.

    Gu Xiqiao also climbed into the back, and Jiang Shuxuan nced at her but said nothing.

    For A Millenium: How long will it take to hack someone?

    Yu Ning: It depends on what, but it usually takes about half an hour.

    For A Millenium: How slow!

    ¡¯My little system can be done in minutes, sigh, I really miss the little system.¡¯

    Yu Ning: ...That¡¯s considered slow? Really?

    For A Millenium: Alright then, help me hack somebody then~

    Yu Ning: ...

    Half an hourter, the manager received a text message. The bnce of his bank ount was only 211.56. His eyes rolled back as he fell down again, and he had just gotten up too.

    "Miss Gu, this is...?" Ning Qing looked at the papers in her hand, a startled expression on her face.

    The contract clearly stated that the other wanted to invest in her, and she kept flitting through the words, and they remained unchanged, she had not seen it wrongly.

    Gu Xiqiao shoved her phone back in her pocket. "It¡¯s a contract, Miss Ning. Ah, but I¡¯m not the one who cares about all these matters about signing a contract. I¡¯ll bring you to a ce to stay in a bit, and someone will meet with you to sign it. The conditions and requirements are all written down clearly, so you can take it back and go over it at your own time."

    "But... Why?" Ning Qing nced up at Gu Xiqiao. She knew that she was poor, having aplished nothing in the three years she had been in the entertainment industry, she basically had no value at all, why would Gu Xiqiao want to invest in her?

    "Don¡¯t you have your own dream?" Gu Xiqiao said, meeting her gaze. "I believe in my own eyes, Ning Qing. I will wait for the day when you received an international award."

    After a while, the car came to a stop in front of a peninsmunity.

    A young woman was waiting by the door. "Miss Gu."

    "Un, take her to find a room then," Gu Xiqiao said, nodding slightly to the woman. She then turned to Ning Qing, who was getting down from the car. "Well then, bye now."

    Ning Qing didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to have arranged for a ce for her to stay in a peninsmunity. The peninsmunity was not a top-notchmunity in the Imperial Capital, but it was much safer than most of the othermunities around. Those people who lived in these kinds ofmunities were usually people of high ranks, and back then in herpany, she knew that only first-rate artistes would be arranged to live in thesemunities.

    She never expected to see the day that she would be able to do it too.

    "Miss Ning, which floor would you like to live on?" The young woman led Ning Qing inside the building towards the elevator, a warm smile on her face.

    Ning Qing¡¯s eyes were round and wide. "I can choose which floor to live on?"

    "That¡¯s right, Miss Ning. This entire building belongs to ourpany, so you are free to choose any rooms, apart from those that have already been taken."

    ...It seemed that she had joined a freaking greatpany?

    "Then... the eighteenth floor[1], please." Let¡¯s start anew with a good omen then.

    The woman pressed the button for the eighteenth floor. "A new tenant has just moved into the eighteenth floor, and there are three rooms left."

    They reached the eighteenth floor soon enough, and when Ning Qing stepped out of the elevator, she saw a young man. He seemed to be surprised at the sight of her, but he recovered and gave her a light smile. "Hello."

    "Hello." Ning Qing returned the greeting without much thought, and remembering that they should be colleagues in the samepany, she continued, "My name is Ning Qing."

    "Su Wu." Su Wu returned easily, and pointed at the te in front of the unit. "I¡¯m living next door."

    "I¡¯ll be in your care." Ning Qing chose the unit next to his, and walked in to see the refined facilities in it. She felt like she was in a dream, and in her hands she still held the contract that Gu Xiqiao had given her.

    She slowly brought the contract up to cover her face, and a chokedugh came out from her mouth, and then another, and it soon became a cross between sobs andughter.

    ***

    Outside the door, Su Wu was waiting for the elevator. Thinking of Ning Qing who had just walked into the unit, he muttered under his breath, "I¡¯ll be in your care too, lucky one."

    He quickly obtained the property deed, and the house had also been renovated a while ago. Now, all he needed to do was retrieve his parents to stay here.

    Su Wu returned home quickly, and drove the ordinary Volkswagen that was thepany¡¯s standard vehicle, he reached his destination not long after.

    He didn¡¯t expect that he would find a bunch of other rtives in his house. His grandparents from both sides, and even his aunts were all present.

    "Little Wu, your aunt was just telling me that you didn¡¯t take the clerical work that she had introduced to you, and even said that you wanted to continue writing scripts. How are you going to have good future prospects at this rate? Look at your cousin, Dazhi, he even owns properties now, you need to buck up!" This was said by his maternal grandmother, who was a daughter of andlord in the old society. She had always been a dictator, and only favored Dazhi, the most promising grandson in her eyes, and she found Su Wu to be an eyesore.

    Su Wu didn¡¯t really care for such things, he nced around to find his paternal grandparents sitting on the sofa, shrunk into themselves and silent. His parents were sitting to the side, their expressions grave, but also silent.

    His aunt was sitting on the soda, drinking tea with her legs crossed. Her face had an extremely smug expression on it, and unexinable anger surged in Su Wu¡¯s heart.

    If it were the past, he would have gotten angry and drove these people out with his anger, but today, he merely smiled softly and said, "I have found work in apany, and I was even allocated a house now. Since you guys are here, why note along and take a look too?"

    "You? Allocated a house? It isn¡¯t a basement, is it?" His aunt nced at him, unabashed contempt clear in her eyes.

    Su Wu leveled a nce at her. "Whether you believe it or not, I don¡¯t really care. Why not see for yourself then?"

    The Su Wu today was different than usual, and his aunt and grandmother seemed to be stunned in the change of his attitude. Seeing Su Wu leading his parents downstairs, they looked at each other before following them down.

    There were all old neighbors here, and his parents had yed mahjong with them to pass time, and they had a good rtionship all around. They met many people along the way, and Su Wu would greet them and told them that he was moving house, and that he would invite them over for a drink soon.

    "I knew that Little Wu was promising the moment I saw him."

    "The elders of the Su family are blessed indeed!"

    "I said it before, how bad can a child who managed to test into a prestigious university be?"

    "..."

    The neighbors were happy when they heard the news, and they were also cheerfully discussing what sort of gifts they should bring to the Su family when the time came.

    Compared to his rtives, he didn¡¯t know how much better they were.

    "The youth shouldn¡¯t boast about themselves, let¡¯s see how you end up when you can¡¯t find the so-called house that you¡¯ve been allocated!" His aunt couldn¡¯t help but throw out an insult while they walked. When she saw that Su Wu was driving a brand-new Volkswagen, her eyes burned with envy. Because they had just bought a house, the car that she drove was only a pitiful second-hand car. This Su Wu, showing off so much!

    She drove her own car and followed behind Su Wu into the peninsmunity, and she was stunned when she reached the doors.

    "Su Wu really lives here?!" Su Wu¡¯s maternal grandmother couldn¡¯t help but exim in surprise.

    "How is that possible?" His aunt¡¯s shrill voice rang out. "Everyone who lives here are definitely people of higher status and are wealthy, how can he be living here! It¡¯s definitely just a pretense!"

    Seeing Su Wu drive straight in, his aunt immediately let go of the elerator.

    "Hello, please show me your permit." The security guard was very polite.

    The aunt, who didn¡¯t have a travel permit, nced at the security guard. "The man in front of me just now is my nephew, tell me, does he really live here?"

    "Ah, you¡¯re talking about Mr. Su? He just moved in yesterday." The security guard said cheerfully, he already had a good impression of the polite young man that was Su Wu.

    The words he said rang loudly in their ears, did he really live here?! It wasn¡¯t a lie?! Dazhi worked in such a big multinationalpany, and he didn¡¯t get such good benefits either. What kind of sh*t luck did Su Wu step in?! The aunt¡¯s face flushed in anger, and she turned her car around, driving away in anger.

    "Little Wu, you have to work hard and well in the future, don¡¯t let your boss down." Su Wu¡¯s parents looked at the exquisitely decorated house with surreal feelings inside them. After hearing Su Wu¡¯s affirmative answer, they continued to remind him again and again.

    Su Wu continued to nod his head in the right ces. "Yeah, I know, don¡¯t worry Mom."

    It was fortunate that he hadnded in Nine Heavens, he would definitely work harder than anyone else, and wouldn¡¯t disappoint anyone in thepany.

    ***

    Tang Qingqiu changed into something more solemn in the afternoon, and then he sneakily creeped into Xiao Yun¡¯s Weibo. After browsing for a little while, he went off to meet the manager of Nine Heavens at the agreed time.

    Both parties arrived on time, and Mu Zong was stunned for a while when he caught sight of Tang Qingqiu. He hadn¡¯t expected for the man toe in person.

    When Mu Zong had arrived at the Imperial Capital, he knew about all the big tyrants here. The Tang family was undoubtedly at the head of the Imperial Capital, and he even heard of some mysterious forces behind their strength.

    However, he was also well aware that Nine Heavens had done some earth-shattering things in the Imperial Capital in the short time they had been here. When he first came to know about them, he had been heartbroken. He had wanted to ask Gu Xiqiao why she didn¡¯t let hime and join the fun. Hearing Luo Weng recount the events in excitement, he regretted not being able toe over earlier.

    Tang Qingqiu always had such a majestic aura that he exuded, and it waspletely different from the other businessmen that he had encountered in the past. Fortunately, Mu Zong had been around Gu Xiqiao for quite a while now, and he had even met Jiang Shuxuan a couple of times. He recovered fairly quickly, and adapted fast too, and heposed himself to make sure he looked neither too humble or rude.

    "Mr. Mu, I actually wanted to meet with your president." With one look at Mu Zong, Tang Qingqiu already knew that he was not the driving force behind the scenes of Nine Heavens. A person of that capabilities wouldn¡¯t appear so humble in front of him.

    It wasn¡¯t only him, the entire Imperial Capital wanted to see the enchanting figure behind the scene of Nine Heavens, who wouldn¡¯t be interested?

    Mu Zong smiled apologetically. "I¡¯m sorry, President Tang, I doubt she would agree."

    "Why?" Tang Qingqiu was sad and regretful about it, he was really looking forward to seeing an idol, even if it was just a nce. "Can¡¯t we negotiate something?"

    Mu Zong thought about how Gu Xiqiao was as a person, and he couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh. "Lazy. She¡¯s just veryzy."

    Tang Qingqiu was caught off guard at such an answer, it waspletely out of his expectation. "..."

    If she was sozy, how was she able to develop Nine Heavens into what it was today? He really wanted to pull out the person behind the scenes to see what kind of god or deity they were!

    "President Tang, the coboration that we would like to enter with yourpany pertains to cell fusion." Mu Zong began their business discussion as he adjusted his sses.

    Tang Qingqiu, who was about to ept any coboration with Nine Heavens to get into their good books: WTF?

    "How did you even get the authorization for cell fusion?" Tang Qingqiu was still not able to reconcile the image of Gu Xiqiao being the patentee yesterday, and he didn¡¯t ask after her for the patent right and instead nned to talk about it after a few more days.

    He was stunned by Mu Zong¡¯s words, his face felt numb from the information given to him.

    Mu Zong thought about it for a while, he still wasn¡¯t aware of how big this coboration was. Initially, when Gu Xiqiao had first handed him this document, he still had major doubts in his heart. He wasn¡¯t sure if Tang Enterprise would turn their nose up at this, but seeing Tang Qingqiu¡¯s reaction, it seemed that this coboration was anything but simple.

    "Our boss sent it to mest night." Mu Zong said truthfully.

    "Who is your boss? We¡¯re all partners here, right?"

    Mu Zong apologized again, and said, "I¡¯ll ask her when I get back."

    "Alright." Tang Qingqiu sighed, mollified for the moment. He nced at Mu Zong¡¯s face, and found only a calm expression looking back at him, and he couldn¡¯t help but add, "This cell fusion is a major breakthrough in the medical field. When the timees, it will send waves in the global medicalmunity, so I think that we should first determine a team, so that theter chaos can be contained properly."

    "I can feel the sincerity and earnest feelings from the values of yourpany, I hope we have a good coboration." Tang Qingqiu stood up with a grave face. He had firste here with the wish to see the founder of Nine Heavens, but he didn¡¯t expect the other party to give him such a coboration n, and he still wasn¡¯t sure whether it was a good surprise or a terrifying thing. He discarded his initial disappointment.

    The patent was in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name, so she must be acquainted with the person from Nine Heavens, right?

    Tang Qingqiu quietly plotted inside his heart.

    Mu Zong, who waspletely unaware of how f*cking terrific and kick a*s the documents in his hands were: Boss Gu, you prodigal person!

    ***

    The prodigal Boss Gu had reached home at this time, and she gave a call to Mrs. Zhang. The two spoke about something for a while, and after hanging up, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

    Jiang Shuxuan was pouring some water into Haha¡¯s bowl.

    Xixi was flying around in front of Haha. Whenever it saw this morous bowl of Haha¡¯s, it really was so tempted to knock it over!

    "Brother Jiang, let¡¯s go to N City!" Gu Xiqiao suddenly opened her mouth after pondering seriously for quite a long while.

    Jiang Shuxuan straightened up from where he was, and turned to her. "Why the sudden decision?"

    "I just got off the phone with Mrs. Zhang, she said that her daughter had gotten married to a rich man." Gu Xiqiao said in a worried voice.

    "Isn¡¯t that a good thing?" Jiang Shuxuan asked as he washed his hands, raising an eyebrow.

    "Something was weird with her voice." Mrs. Zhang was a housekeeper, and her household had an average ie. Her daughter had married a rich man, and you could imagine how much the husband¡¯s family would dislike them due to the difference in their background.

    Gu Xiqiao always remembered Mrs. Zhang¡¯s kindness in her heart. She had seen the notes that Mrs. Zhang would write, on the things that she could or could not eat. Little by little, she would remember it seriously.

    She also understood Mrs. Zhang¡¯s stubborn behavior, when she thought about this part, Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t sit still. "Brother Jiang, let¡¯s go and pick Mrs. Zhang up, and take a look at how her daughter is doing, being married to that family. If he¡¯s not a good person, then let Mrs. Zhang drown him with money."

    [1] there¡¯s the number 8 in eighteen, which is the symbol of good fortune in Chinese. On the other hand, number 4 sounds like ¡¯death¡¯ in the Chinesenguage, so most building elevators would skip that number, going with level 3A instead of level 4.

 Chapter 152 Catch That Thief, Poor Relatives

    <h4>Chapter 152 Catch That Thief, Poor Rtives</h4>

    "How do you intend to do that?" Jiang Shuxuan asked with an indifferent expression on his face.

    Gu Xiqiao thought about it for a while. "I¡¯m thinking about what method would look a bit more cooler."

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his brows again. "Shouldn¡¯t you be considering how much money you need to use to look more like a tyrant instead?"

    "Do I look like that sort of person?" Gu Xiqiao retorted, looking at Jiang Shuxuan.

    The man took an apple and peeled, slicing it and offering to her instead of responding to her question. "Here, have some."

    Gu Xiqiao poked an apple and nibbled on it, picking up her phone and started browsing Weibo. Since getting a Weibo ount, it had been her favorite pastime to browse Weibo every night.

    As soon as she logged into Weibo, Gu Xiqiao was shocked by the terrifying amount of replies and likes on her ount. Apart from reposting Song Guanjing¡¯s Weibo, she hadn¡¯t done anything else today, right? These were all mentions and tags of her, notments directly posted under her posts.

    She flipped to several of those mentions of her.

    "Ahhhh, Baby Gu, hurry up and tell me whether you painted this or not! @For A Millenium"

    "I can smell the pride and boastfulness of A Flowing River practically oozing out from the screen, what a b*tch! Tell me goddess, that one of the two shadows we see is not actually you, right? @For A Millenium"

    "@For A Millenium There¡¯s someone who stole your painting here @For A Millenium"

    "Am I the only one who thinks they look fitting together? Just look at those shadows!"

    "..."

    They even spotted that? Gu Xiqiao felt her person shuddered slightly at that, and she flipped over to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s following list, it had soared to almost fifty thousand, and they had all crawled over from her Weibo. Thements under his post reached almost ten thousand, and it was still on the rise.

    Jiang Shuxuan was also swiping Weibo silently at the side, his lowered eyes concealed the mirth in them. But then his fingers paused suddenly, he hade across thement with ¡¯Baby Gu¡¯, and it was the most poprment by far.

    His eyes narrowed, and he quickly clicked on thement, easily pressing the ¡¯report spam¡¯ button on it.

    After doing this, his eyebrows remained furrowed as he continued to encounter thesements calling her ¡¯Baby Gu¡¯.

    WTF? When did this start?!

    He meticulously reported each and every one of it.

    Gu Xiqiao had intended to browse for a little while more, but then her phone vibrated and a WeChat notification popped up. She saw that the sender was Li Yu, and so tapped on it to read.

    Li Yu: I heard that you want to invest in a movie, what do you think of taking me in?

    It really was ¡¯ask, and ye shall receive!¡¯, she hadn¡¯t even needed to bait this big god of an actor, Li Yu himself came looking to hook up with her!

    Gu Xiqiao felt that she shouldn¡¯t be so aloof at this juncture, for fear that Li Yu would withdraw his interest if he were to think too long about it.

    For A Millenium: Sure~ Sure~

    Li Yu: Great, I¡¯ll let Director Cheng know tomorrow. ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ is about to be done, so I have plenty of time.

    After sending the message to Gu Xiqiao, Li Yu wiped the imaginary sweat off his face. In order to take up a role in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s movie, he had turned down two other partners and lost about thirty million yuan in that.

    For A Millenium: I¡¯ll be out of town tomorrow, when I get back I¡¯ll bring you to meet our female lead ^_^

    Looking at the expression that Gu Xiqiao had sent in the message, Li Yu always felt that her smile harbored some evil designs.

    Li Yu: Sure, I¡¯m free any time ^_^

    Gu Xiqiao swiped her phone a while more before lifting her head to look at Jiang Shuxuan. "Brother Jiang, Li Yu texted me just now."

    "Hm? What for?" Jiang Shuxuan responded, ncing up at her with the usual expression on his face.

    "To ask for a role in my movie." Gu Xiqiao continued to stare at Jiang Shuxuan, feeling like something was wrong with him. "What are you doing?"

    Jiang Shuxuan put away his phone calmly, and ignoring her question, he said, "I know, I predicted it. Now hurry up and take a shower, we have to get up early to head into N City tomorrow."

    Gu Xiqiao replied affirmatively, and she watched as his figure disappeared from her view in a rush. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, then shrugged, going upstairs to take a shower and sleep. While heading upstairs, she made a stop by Haha¡¯s dwelling to wish him goodnight.

    Xixi, who was left hanging at a corner, wasn¡¯t even spared a nce. With it being left alone like that, it really was adopted, wasn¡¯t it?

    Haha nced toward Xixi with a cold, arrogant look, and turned around to slip into the doghouse to sleep.

    "..."

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao woke up early the next day, and when she went down, Jiang Shuxuan already had breakfast bought and ready on the table.

    "Beauty Qiao, good morning." Xixi immediately flew out from his cage to greet her when he saw here down.

    Gu Xiqiao shed it a smile, her clear voice greeting it back, "Good morning, Xixi."

    Xixi was cured and overjoyed by the greeting, and flew toward the doghouse.

    "Chirp chirp chiiiiirp~" (Beauty Qiao said good morning to me~)

    "Woof woof woof." (Oh.) A cold, indifferent response.

    "Chirp chirp chirrrp!" (You¡¯re just jealous of me!)

    "Woof woof woof." (I just don¡¯t want to waste my time talking to a retard.)

    Xixi stayed silent at that, and vowed to go online more to change so that even Haha couldn¡¯t look down on it anymore.

    The bird and dog were loaded into the car together, crammed into the backseat of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car.

    "I haven¡¯t seen you going to sses much." Jiang Shuxuan suddenly remembered after he had driven onto the highway. In the beginning, he would pick her up from college, but she had been idling around the house the past few days, when she should be at her busiest. "Are you skipping them?"

    "No way!" Gu Xiqiao red at him. "Do I look like the kind that does?"

    Jiang Shuxuan thought about how shezed about usually, and even sitting on the sofa she would slump down into a puddle as though she was boneless, and then he replied to her with a straight face, "Yes."

    Gu Xiqiao: Then there¡¯s nothing to talk about ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    "You should be participating in clubs in your college days, getting along with ssmates or just generally getting to know more people." Jiang Shuxuan felt that Gu Xiqiao was too much of a loner, not socializing in groups, and he was slightly concerned about her situation in school. "When we get back from N City, go to your sses, stop skipping them."

    He had initially wanted to add on that skipping sses made it easy to fail when it came to the end of term, but then he recalled the results of her national finals, and went silent.

    But he was very sure Gu Xiqiao was skipping sses.

    In order to provide proper guidance to this child, he really was worried most of the time.

    "Haven¡¯t I got to know a lot of people in the capital already?" Gu Xiqiao said, holding up her fingers to count. "Director Cheng, Li Yu, Sister Song, Brother Kun, Ning Qing, Su Wu, Sister Yu..." And a whole bunch of the production crew.

    Jiang Shuxuan sighed. "Those are all the people from the production crew, they¡¯re not your ssmates."

    Moreover, the fact that Gu Xiqiao wanted to study medicine was something he didn¡¯t approve of in the first ce. And it was even a five-year-long course, but she was seemingly idle the past few days. She couldn¡¯t be tired of it already, right? She even had time to work on her oil painting.

    "If you don¡¯t want to study medicine anymore, you can switch to oil painting." There was a toll station in front, and Jiang Shuxuan slowed the car behind the queue.

    "I¡¯m on good terms with my ssmates too," Gu Xiqiao said, pulling out her phone and going into the Tencent QQ messenger a.k.a Penguin. She swiped to the group chat for her ss, and typed in, "Hi everyone! ^_^"

    And then swiped down immediately.

    "Hello, ss pet!"

    "I¡¯ve been awakened from my sleep, hello Beauty Gu!"

    "Beauty, look over here~"

    "Beauty Gu, when are youing to school?"

    "You¡¯re all on, careful not to let Professor Jiang smack you guys if he catches you!"

    "Professor Jiang will wanna smack Beauty Gu more when he finds out she started it£¨*^__^*£©"

    "Beauty Gu, let me show you how depressed Professor Jiang looks [JPEG]"

    "..."

    At this time of the day, it was still in the middle of ss. The usually silent group of ssmates were busy swiping their screens the moment Gu Xiqiao had started the conversation. Although she hadn¡¯t been in school for long, she was extremely attractive, though she looked aloof and cold. She was also friendly, if you asked her a question she would answer it perfectly.

    Everyone in ss knew the warmth that was underneath that cold exterior.

    In addition, she was already known as a big shot in school, and her influence wasn¡¯t something to be underestimated.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled cheekily as she turned the screen toward Jiang Shuxuan for him to read. "Aren¡¯t I popr?" She actually didn¡¯t know she would cause such a big impact, but everyone in ss was quite harmonious, she knew this from the time in their military drills already.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced up at Gu Xiqiao, he didn¡¯t expect that she would be so popr in ss.

    Having also been in university, Jiang Shuxuan knew that it was a diversified ce. People in sses were usually assigned the same dormitories, and they would find their cliques there. The rtionships in college were asplicated as those in society itself, and that was why he was worried about Gu Xiqiao. He feared that someone would try to make use of her with malicious intent, but it seems like there was no need to be concerned after all.

    "Then what about your studies?" Jiang Shuxuan asked as the car inched forward. "Are you not interested in medicine anymore?"

    "That¡¯s not it." Gu Xiqiao typed in a farewell in the chat before answering, "The professor granted me permission. He said that as long as the research report was done, I could take off for the rest of the semester, and juste back for the exams at the end of it!"

    If Professor Jiang could hear her now, he would definitely try to find a way to go back in time and choke himself to death before he could say those words again.

    "What kind of research can be exchanged to get leave for an entire semester?" Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t know that A University had this kind of method.

    Gu Xiqiao grinned. "Even if I told you, you wouldn¡¯t understand."

    Jiang Shuxuan recalled the conversation she had with Luo Weng the other night, and he was silent. It was true, he probably wouldn¡¯t understand anyway.

    After traveling for close to six hours, the car finally left the highway. It was noon by this time.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone, ready to give Mrs. Zhang a call. "Brother Jiang, let me ask where she stays."

    Before her finger could press the button, Jiang Shuxuan stopped her, shaking his head. "No need, I¡¯ve already found the address. They¡¯re holding the wedding in a hotel, the gifts have also been bought."

    "Huh." Gu Xiqiao looked at him. "Then what about the red packet that I¡¯ve prepared?"

    Jiang Shuxuan was silent for a while, before replying, "You could buy a bowl for Xixi." It had been jealous of Haha for a very, very long time after all.

    Xixi, who was sitting behind: Fortune hase so suddenly, it could feel its soul floating toward the heavens above~

    "Xixi? What does it need a bowl for, to beg for food?" Gu Xiqiao rejected the idea immediately, thinking inside that she would use the red packet to bribe Mrs. Zhang¡¯s inws if she needed to.

    "As long as you¡¯re happy." Jiang Shuxuan sighed, turning the car and driving in the direction of a hotel in the city center.

    The wedding of Mrs. Zhang¡¯s daughter was actually tomorrow, hence they didn¡¯t head toward where she was immediately. After getting off the highway, they continued to drive for about an hour, and the entire journey took almost seven hours in total. Even though the both of them were not mentally tired, the journey clearly took a toll on their body.

    It was mainly because Jiang Shuxuan saw Gu Xiqiao yawning.

    Before they had set off, Jiang Shuxuan had already booked a hotel with luxurious facilities. shing for his ID, an attendant came up to them with a smile. "Mister and miss, please follow me this way."

    As the two followed the attendant upstairs, Gu Xiqiao hooked her finger through his. "Did you book it yourself?"

    Being such an aristocratic, noble and man of a few words, it was hard to imagine Jiang Shuxuan making the call and booking a hotel in person.

    "Yes." Jiang Shuxuan nced at her. He couldn¡¯t believe it himself either, he had done everything that he would never have done himself in the past. It seems like whenever there were things that concerned her, he would be extra cautious and more prepared, not wanting to leave it to anyone else.

    In the ancient martial arts world, he was a cold, majestic man that stood above everyone else. Everything in regards to his amodation, food, clothing, and transportation were all handled by others for him, no one would have expected him to be how he was now.

    Jiang Shuxuan had reserved a master suite. It had two bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom. Although it wasn¡¯t very big, it looked extremelyfortable.

    After finishing up the meal that Jiang Shuxuan had ordered, Gu Xiqiao went into one of the rooms and slept immediately.

    While Jiang Shuxuan stayed outside, first feeding Haha, then feeding Xixi, and reminding Xixi to not let Haha run around too much. Xixi¡¯s spirit wilted upon hearing that.

    Gu Xiqiao slept all the way until the evening, and when she got up, she saw Haha lying down beside her bed. "Haha, let¡¯s go out for a stroll."

    There was a pedestrian street not far off from the hotel.

    Gu Xiqiao took Xixi and Haha to the night market for a stroll. Although it was called a night market, there were only threemercial streets which were filled with food, clothing, and some other gadgets, and there was still quite a crowd.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked beside her, staying close. There were a lot of people on the streets, and you could see his furrowed eyebrows, but there was nothing to be impatient about here.

    He wore his usual white shirt, the contour lines on his face as deep as usual, an indifferent expression on that attractive face of his. The lights of the night market were dim, and you practically couldn¡¯t see two meters in front of you, but the people who were walking back and forth couldn¡¯t help but take a second nce when they passed him.

    Gu Xiqiao went into a ten yuan shop and bought Xixi a bowl.

    Xixi: ... I really want to die right now.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t understand the mirth that threatened to bubble out of him, but he held it back when he thought about how Xixi might feel sad about it.

    Gu Xiqiao pretended not to see the resentment in those beady eyes, and she handed Haha over to Jiang Shuxuan, and proceeded to buy a big kebab for it.

    Biased! Xixi feels wronged, but it didn¡¯t say anything.

    Suddenly, a loud shout came from the middle of the crowd.

    "Brother Jiang, hurry," Gu Xiqiao said as she took Haha back into her arms. "Catch that thief!"

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her, but didn¡¯t move. After waiting a while, a faint light shed on his fingertips, and a figure fell beside him.

    It was a man, Jiang Shuxuan thought as he leaned down to pick up the bag that the man was holding with ease. The mighty unstoppable thief in the crowd was just a weak little chicken in his hands.

    There were people gathering around among the excitement. Although they didn¡¯t see clearly what Jiang Shuxuan had done, he had caught the thief, and it was enough to garner their adoration for him.

    "That¡¯s my bag, thank you kind..." The thief had stolen the bag from a young woman, and the makeup on her face looked quite exquisite, it was no wonder the thief picked her as his target. The things in her bag were extremely valuable, and she was almost on the verge of despairing when she saw someone stop the thief for her, and the gratitude in her heart swelled when she saw the scene unfold.

    Before she could finish speaking, she caught sight of the man¡¯s outstanding profile, and her words were caught in her throat, stopping abruptly.

    Jiang Shuxuan was not looking at her, but he handed the bag to Gu Xiqiao, taking Haha in exchange. There was no change in the expression on his delicate face.

    "Your bag." Gu Xiqiao handed the bag over to the woman.

    The woman finally came back to her senses. She smiled sweetly to Gu Xiqiao, but the corner of her eyes never left Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face. "Thank you, is that your brother?"

    Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow. "Miss, where are your eyes, and how on earth did youe to that conclusion?"

    She wanted to continue her insult, she couldn¡¯t be showing weaknesses at this sort of time after all.

    But then Jiang Shuxuan took out a handkerchief from his pocket and slowly wiped the hand that she had used to hold the bag just now, and then having done that, he pulled Gu Xiqiao away. He lowered his head to look at her face, the light reflection in his eyes as he spoke with a low and gentle voice. "Baby, don¡¯t be so nosy in the future."

    He didn¡¯t even spare a nce at the woman, and it was obvious that he was not the least attracted by her appearance from head to toe.

    The smile on the woman¡¯s face was frozen stiff as she looked at the two figures in disbelief. This was the first time in her life that someone had ignored her so thoroughly.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was being pulled away, felt like she was floating on air.

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao got up early, greeted Jiang Shuxuan calmly, and then proceeded to call Mrs. Zhang, saying that she wanted toe over to see them in person.

    Mrs. Zhang was startled for a long while, before giving her an address. She ended the call by telling Gu Xiqiao not toe.

    Naturally, she ignored it.

    The ce that the wedding was being held was not too far from the hotel they were at, and they arrived soon after Jiang Shuxuan drove them out. There were a lot of people today, and there were also various high-end cars in the parking lot.

    Gu Xiqiao found Mrs. Zhang with her daughter upstairs in the dressing room. When Mrs. Zhang caught sight of Gu Xiqiao, she was clearly surprised, before quickly wiping her eyes. "This child, really. Why have youe? Don¡¯t you have sses?"

    "To see you, of course." This was her daughter¡¯s dressing room, so Jiang Shuxuan was waiting outside. Gu Xiqiao looked at Mrs. Zhang¡¯s red-rimmed eyes. "Mrs. Zhang, what happened?"

    "Nothing happened." Mrs. Zhang responded with a weak smile. "I¡¯m just sad that my daughter is getting married."

    Mrs. Zhang¡¯s daughter looked delicate and graceful. When she saw Gu Xiqiao, she was taken aback. She never expected that the ¡¯Miss Gu¡¯ that her mother talked about would look so beautiful and refined, and didn¡¯t even look like any ordinary person.

    "I¡¯m going to get the wedding dress. Qiao Qiao, wait here for a while." Mrs. Zhang said to Gu Xiqiao, and hurried out of the room.

    She was surprised to bump into Jiang Shuxuan outside, and was still surprised as they exchanged a few words.

    "Mrs. Zhang has left, can you tell me what¡¯s going on now?" Gu Xiqiao said, turning around after closing the door. She looked at Liu Ying, Mrs. Zhang¡¯s daughter.

    Seeing the gentle expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, Liu Ying couldn¡¯t help the tears that pooled in her eyes, the grieve in her heart as she burst out, "I don¡¯t want to get married anymore."

    She was getting married to Qi Hao, who owned some assets in the country. The two had known each other since high school, and it had been seven years since then. The wedding had been dyed until this day.

    Qi Hao¡¯s parents disapproved of her family who came from a line of farmers, especially when they heard that Mrs. Zhang was working as a domestic helper sh nanny. They disagreed with the match immediately, and Qi Hao had worked on them for a long time before finally being able to hold this wedding. However, there was a condition, that was no one from her family would be able to attend, for fear that someone would recognize her as the daughter of a servant.

    Qi Hao had actually discussed this with Mrs. Zhang a few times, asking her to change her job, but Mrs. Zhang didn¡¯t agree.

    He had actually already done a lot, and although Mrs. Zhang was sad, she didn¡¯t say anything. Qi Hao sincerely loved Liu Ying after all.

    However, now when it was time for the wedding, Liu Ying had a change of mind, she didn¡¯t want to see her parents being wronged for something like this.

    "At this time, we should solve the problem." Gu Xiqiao took out the gift that she had brought, it was a diamond ne. She put it on her and whispered, "You have great parents. Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t be on the receiving end of the short stick today."

    Mrs. Zhang soon returned with the dress, and helped Liu Ying into it. After she changed her clothes, her eyes turned red again.

    The beginning of the ceremony came then, with Qi hao waiting outside, two children walked in first. A bridesmaid came after to lead Liu Ying out.

    The wedding was held directly in the hotel lobby, and a T-shaped red carpet was rolled out. At the head of the carpet, Qi Hao¡¯s parents would be there.

    On the other side, it was Liu Ying and her bridesmaids. It should have been Liu Ying¡¯s father who would hand her to Qi Hao, and her parents should also have been standing with Qi Hao¡¯s parents.

    However, Papa Liu and Mama Zhang could only stand at the side with a bunch of waiters, like ordinary spectators.

    "Madam, there seem to be two rtives from Miss Liu¡¯s side." A middle-aged man in a suit said to Madam Qi.

    Thinking it was Liu Ying¡¯s poor rtives that hade to take advantage of the wedding, Madam Qi frowned and said coldly, "Watch them. Don¡¯t let them suddenly appear in front of the guests."

    The middle-aged man had wanted to say that they didn¡¯t look like ordinary people, but Madam Qi suddenly stood up. "The distinguished guests have already arrived, hurry and proceed with the ceremony."

    Papa Qi was leading a young man over, apletely respectful attitude being disyed. Madam Qi straightened her clothes and stepped forward with a big smile on her face.

    Those that gathered here today were all partners from the Qi family business, and some politicians. This guest especially, was even more important than every single personbined here. Madam Qi didn¡¯t have time to think about those poor rtives from Liu Ying¡¯s family.

 Chapter 153 Are You Sure Youre Not Just Hastening His Death?

    <h4>Chapter 153 Are You Sure You¡°re Not Just Hastening His Death?</h4>

    Madam Qi walked two steps before suddenly pulling a waiter over to say something.

    "Young Master Wang, pleasee this way." Papa Qi was all respectful to the person he was talking to.

    A young man was beside him, with a smile on his face. He was only wearing a normal suit, but the aura he exuded definitely screamed ¡¯aristocrat¡¯, and this was definitely one of the big shots in N City.

    "Mr. Qi, it¡¯s your son¡¯s wedding today, you don¡¯t have to mind me too much."

    Papa Qi nodded his agreement with those words, but inside, how would he dare to do so? The Wang family was different from their kind of smaller families that started from the middle in life and slowly climbed up in status. Although Wang Jun was not old, his methods were quite sophisticated, and he was already the default heir to the Wang family.

    Papa Qi¡¯s boss, a politicalmissar was also sitting at the table, and he was sitting in the seat of honor. The moment he saw Wang Jun, he stood up, not even daring to make a squeak ofint as he respectfully invited him to take the seat instead.

    "Qi Hao,e and meet Young Master Wang." Papa Qi looked at his son, who was standing to the side and he couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    Was his son such an idiot? How could he have so little insight?!

    Wang Jun smiled as he turned to look, at first it was just a habit for him to nce around the ce, but then he suddenly saw a familiar figure.

    On the other side, a waitress was looking at Mrs. Zhang apologetically. "I¡¯m sorry madam, but Madam Qi has requested that you leave the scene."

    "Didn¡¯t she say we could stay here?" Mrs. Zhang had a disbelief expression on her face.

    "I¡¯m very sorry, but you need to leave." The waitress said, and seeing that they were unwilling to move, she took out his walkie-talkie as though to contact security.

    Gu Xiqiao was fiddling with her phone, but she raised her head when she heard the crackling noise. She calmly put away her phone, and pressed her hand on the waitress¡¯ arm that was holding the device. Her lips curled up, and her melodious voice floated out. "Miss, please wait a minute."

    The crystalmp reflected the light off the earnest expression on her porcin face, and the waitress was momentarily stunned by the dazzling smile.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled brighter, and the brighter her smile, the more the rage in her heart bubbled.

    "Miss Gu." Before Gu Xiqiao could make any move, a voice suddenly called out to her from the crowd at the banquet. She turned and was faced with a figure that she had some impression of.

    She thought for awhile before hesitatingly opening her mouth, "... Wang Jun?"

    Hearing his name from her lips, Wang Jun perked up, a spark shing in his eyes. "Idol Gu, you actually remember my name?"

    Papa Qi had initially been pulling Qi Hao over to familiarize himself with Wang Jun, but he didn¡¯t expect thetter to have left in the other direction.

    "Who¡¯s that?" Papa Qi asked, pointing at the group of people as he asked Mama Qi.

    If it was someone that Young Master Wang was acquainted with, it was definitely someone of higher statuses. They should have been invited to have a seat at the main table, how could they have been mixed into the normal crowd?

    Madam Qi looked over, and her eyes widened. She saw Mrs. Zhang was standing there, and she couldn¡¯t believe her eyes. "Isn¡¯t that someone from the Liu family?"

    Wang Jun walked till he stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, and then stopped cold when he noticed Jiang Shuxuan beside her. Although he didn¡¯t know Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity, even the head of their second-generation rich group, Yin Shaoyuan, treated this man with careful respect that he himself would be an idiot to ignore. "Mr. Jiang, h-hello."

    Jiang Shuxuan stood behind Gu Xiqiao, and spared Wang Jun a nce. He nodded slightly at the greeting, the impassive expression on his face as usual.

    When he raised his head from the nod, he narrowed his eyes at Wang Jun, and it made Wang Jun think that there was something unpleasant behind him, but then Jiang Shuxuan turned away quickly.

    Wang Jun didn¡¯t think that Jiang Shuxuan was being rude with the gesture, on the contrary, it made him excited. God knows that he had only met Jiang Shuxuan once, and had never spoken a word to him before because he didn¡¯t dare to.

    He had in fact been moody recently, he had initially wanted to turn down the invitation from Papa Qi today. However, his family had made quite a ruckus over this, and he had given in to avoid more quarrels.

    He didn¡¯t expect that he would get to see these two people here.

    Gu Xiqiao kept her ear on the conversation between Papa Qi and Mama Qi, and she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She suddenly smiled at Wang Jun, and gestured. "Young Master Wang, let me introduce you, this is Auntie Zhang, she¡¯s the mother of the bride today."

    "Auntie Zhang, nice to meet you." The usually unruly Wang Jun gave a respectful bow to Mrs. Zhang, and when he straightened up, he looked toward Gu Xiqiao. "Idol Gu, don¡¯t call me Young Master Wang, it doesn¡¯t sound right and it makes me afraid."

    She was the goddaughter of the Yin family, and someone had said that Tang Yanling was willing to destroy an entire family if they so much as said the wrong thing to this girl. Such ady calling him Young Master, Wang Jun was terrified if it ever got out.

    "Auntie Zhang, why aren¡¯t you at the seat of honor? The ceremony is about to start." Wang Jun said suddenly, as though he remembered where they were. "Please,e have a seat."

    "That¡¯s right, my inw." Madam Qi had reached them at this moment, and she slid her arm through Mrs. Zhang¡¯s own, a smile stretched out on her face. "You didn¡¯te out even though you¡¯ve reached, I thought you weren¡¯t here yet."

    No one could tell that both her legs were trembling, she had thought that it was just some poor rtives from the Liu family, but she didn¡¯t expect people with such high statuses, or that Mrs. Zhang would actually be acquainted with such big shots.

    Thinking about how she had almost sent people to chase them away, her heart pounded rapidly in fear, and the smile on her face got more stiff and forced.

    Fortunately, Mrs. Zhang didn¡¯t seem to care about this change. That Miss Gu also just nced at her, and didn¡¯t say anything more. Madam Qi secretly wiped the cold sweat that had leaked out.

    She vowed silently to treat the Liu family properly the next time she met them, and hope that they would be able to forgive and forget their past rudeness!

    If they were to pursue their actions, then it would likely be all over for their Qi family.

    Since they were linked to the Wang family, how low could their status be anyway?

    Papa Qi took a closer look and found that both the man and woman were sitting higher than Wang Jun, which seem to be the most natural thing to do, based on Wang Jun¡¯s expression. Papa Qi was taken aback, not being able to hide the shock on his face. When did N City have two additional big shots?!

    Forcing himself to recover from the shock, he turned a smiling face toward Papa Liu. "Inw, the ceremony is starting son. Go ahead and apany Ying Ying, alright?"

    Papa Liu had originally thought that he could only watch today as his daughter was handed over to Qi Hao by aplete stranger, he didn¡¯t expect to have the opportunity to do it in person. Qi Hao¡¯s parents were alsopletely different now, and the worry in his heart disappeared instantly. Mrs. Zhang nced toward Gu Xiqiao who was beside her, and knew that all of this was possible because of her. She squeezed the younger girl¡¯s wrist. "Thank you, Qiao Qiao."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, Auntie Zhang. Go on up, they¡¯re waiting for you." Gu Xiqiao straightened up, and helped Mrs. Zhang forward. She knew that Mrs. Zhang couldn¡¯t hold herself up at this point.

    Just a second ago, Liu Ying was already ready to take her parents and leave. The wedding was not worth it anymore, and she even ignored Qi Hao¡¯s begging.

    What Miss Gu said was right, you can wrong anyone else, but not your own parents. (T/L note: I don¡¯t remember her saying that...)

    Even if she had to give up on this rtionship that she spent nine years in, she wouldn¡¯t regret it. There would be heartbreak and distress, naturally, but she knew that if shepromised today, then her parents would never be able to stand tall and proud ever.

    She threw the bouquet in her hands away, but it never touched the ground. Liu Ying looked up to find Gu Xiqiao in front of her, appearing out of nowhere. She couldn¡¯t react for a while, staring at her with a dumbfounded expression.

    "Your father is already here," Gu Xiqiao said, cing the bouquet of beautifully arranged flowers back into the bride¡¯s hands. She also smoothened down the wrinkles of the white dress at the same time. "You have to look a little happier today, the Qi family will never treat you this way ever again. You cane with Auntie Zhang to the capital and y with me next time."

    Papa Qi and Mama Qi were people who were just a little bit more powerful, but that was also exactly the reason why they wouldn¡¯t dare to show any disrespect toward Liu Ying in the future after this.

    Qi Hao was different, but after nine years of ups and downs, what other hurdles couldn¡¯t they ovee in the future?

    When Papa Liu lowered Liu Ying¡¯s hands into Qi Hao¡¯s, she still cried.

    Gu Xiqiao returned to her seat, and then looked toward Papa Liu and Mrs. Zhang, suddenly opening her mouth to say, "Liu Ying is very blessed."

    Jiang Shuxuan took her hand silently, hearing the words that she wasn¡¯t saying.

    Wang Jun watched the proceedings for a while before he got bored, and so he turned to chat with Gu Xiqiao instead. "I was browsing Weibo this morning, and I saw the promotional video for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯. I¡¯m not sure if you know the drama, but there¡¯s someone in there that really looks simr to you."

    The reason for saying that she looked simr was because Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was quite recognizable, and he felt that it was familiar at first nce.

    But Wang Jun honestly wasn¡¯t able to recognize Gu Xiqiao, because when she portrayed Princess Qixia, whether it was the movement or temperament, the entire person was entirely majestic and noble. It waspletely unlike her usual attitude at all. In the video, she was Qixia, from the insides of her soul all the way to her outer appearance.

    People who watched it couldn¡¯t find a single trace of acting in her movements, Qixia was her, and she was Qixia. Both Cheng Zhou and Xiang Kun had said that she was born to act, exactly because of this talent she disyed.

    That was also the reason why Wang Jun couldn¡¯t recognize her. To be honest, if you weren¡¯t familiar enough with her, you would never think that she was Gu Xiqiao.

    Seeing the smile on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face and her not denying it, Wang Jun was intrigued. "Could it be, it¡¯s really you?"

    "I see the lines on your face have deepened, has something happened back home?" Gu Xiqiao said instead, avoiding the topic entirely, and switching to something else. Wang Jun had indirectly helped her out big time today, and there was a malicious aura floating around him, so obviously she wasn¡¯t going to just sit back and watch.

    When she said that, Wang Jun¡¯s brows furrowed. "Well, it¡¯s not like it¡¯ll hurt to tell you. I have an uncle who recently got into a car ident, and his legs need to be amputated. He doesn¡¯t know whether he wants to live or die because of that, and then my cousin met a young girl from god knows where suddenly, iming to be a descendant of Hua Tuo[1], saying that she could heal my uncle."

    "It¡¯s fine if she could cure him, but one night passed and it clearly didn¡¯t work. The doctor has also told my dad in private that my uncle¡¯s life is in danger if his legs aren¡¯t amputated soon." That was why Wang Jun was angry and frustrated, what was wrong with his cousin¡¯s mind?! He waspletely infatuated with the women, cing hisplete trust in her.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled as she raised her head to look at him. "Where¡¯s your uncle now?"

    "The city hospital." Wang Jun replied without much thought, and then he looked up in shock when he realized what she had said. "Idol, are you going to see my uncle?"

    "Yeah." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bright smile was still on her face, as though she had found something new to y with.

    "Oh! Then how about I pick you up tomorrow then?" Wang Jun said after a thought. "I was going to bring a bunch of older family members over to talk some sense into my uncle."

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head, her smile turning mysterious. "Tomorrow? We¡¯ll head over in a while."

    ***

    Wang Jincheng was lying on the bed, his both legs were a bloody mess, and some parts of it had started to cken too.

    The doctor had checked everything over once again, and his voice was grave and worried. "Mr. Wang, I¡¯ve already said it before, you can¡¯t be taken out of the ICU, and you can¡¯t simply be taking random medication. It¡¯s best if we amputate your legs, I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but the bacteria has already affected the upper part of your body. You will likely end up being partially paralyzed at best, and the worst case is you will die."

    "You¡¯re just talking nonsense! Where is Miss Hua, have here in! Chase this man out!" Wang Jincheng¡¯s face twisted into a nasty expression as he red at the doctor angrily, clearly in denial of the reality.

    Two ck clothed bodyguards came in, and ushered the doctor out of the room.

    At the same time, a young woman walked in. She opened her bag, and took out a set of needles with a solemn expression on her face.

    He looked at the woman holding the silver needle with deep sunken eyes, his dark brown eyes shed with desire to live, and he regarded Miss Hua as his greeted support in this time of need. "Miss Hua, when will I get better?"

    Hua Jingya looked at Wang Jincheng¡¯s legs with a frown. Why was it different from what was recorded in the medical books? Shouldn¡¯t the ck parts have receded today?

    Hearing Wang Jincheng¡¯s words, she furrowed her brows impatiently. "Don¡¯t distract me while I¡¯m doing the acupuncture, it will affect my uracy."

    Wang Jingcheng mped his mouth shut immediately.

    When Wang Jun arrived, the doctor was anxiously pacing outside the door. If something happened to Wang Jincheng in their hospital, the Wang family wouldn¡¯t forgive them even if it wasn¡¯t their fault! He was the chief doctor, he would be the first one to get it!

    Seeing the arrival of Wang Jun, it was like he found his resolve and savior all in one. "Young Master Wang, please go in and persuade your uncle, he will really die if it continues on like this!"

    Wang Jun kicked open the door immediately, and the bodyguards at the door didn¡¯t dare make any move to stop him.

    The young woman in the room turned her head around when she heard the crash, a cold expression on her beautiful face. "I already said not to disturb me, will you be responsible for the patient¡¯s condition if anything happens?"

    Gu Xiqiao stood beside Wang Jun, looking at the familiar face in the ward. It was a surprise to find that it was the young woman they had caught the thief for the other night.

    She had initially nned to be gentle, but she narrowed her eyes when she saw the girl. She then shoved her hands into her pocket and lifted her chin slightly to show a hint of arrogance. Her stunning looks and temperamentpletely dominated and overshadowed the woman who imed to be a descendent of Hua Tuo.

    She nced at the silver needles that had been inserted in Wang Jincheng¡¯s legs, and she spoke slowly with a soft voice, "Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, Yongquan, these are all dead acupoints. This miss, are you sure you¡¯re not just hastening his death?"

    [1] T/N: A famous doctor at the end of Han Dynasty.

 Chapter 154 Shocking Wave Through The Medical World

    <h4>Chapter 154 Shocking Wave Through The Medical World</h4>

    Hua Jingya never expected to see the two people in front of her again, and it caught her off guard.

    She first caught sight of Gu Xiqiao standing next to the door, and then Jiang Shuxuan, who stood behind her. The lights during the day were brighter than that night, and she could clearly see the beautifully marble-like silhouette of the man, the elegant arch of his eyebrows and the delicate features of his face. It waspletely different than the other night she had seen him, his obsidian eyes seemed to be a pool of never ending abyss. If you were to look into it, it would only send chilling frost into your heart.

    Hua Jingya could feel the cold rising at her back, and she took a deep breath. She turned her eyes to Gu Xiqiao, and remembered what she had just said. She shed her a kind, but conceited smile, and spoke as though she was exining to a child. "Thisdy can tell at a nce the acupoints of my needles, so you must also be someone within the same field. Then, could it be possible that you don¡¯t know about the acupuncture method called ¡¯break to stand¡¯?"

    She wasn¡¯t talented in other areas, and was only unique in terms of her medical skills. There were countless people who praised her on it since her childhood, and the master who taught her medicine had nothing else he could teach her, and pointed her toward the outside world, asking her to seek out the divine doctor, Rong Feishuang.

    Her master had said that with her peerless talent, Rong Feishuang would definitely not turn her down.

    But she hadn¡¯t been able to find the divine doctor up till now, and she had run into this patient. She followed all the steps in the medical records to treat him, and it had worsened out of her expectation instead of getting better. At this time, she could only use the secret technique that her master had taught her.

    "Break to stand?" Gu Xiqiao slowly walked to Wang Jincheng¡¯s side, and looked at the legs that clearly were beginning to rot. "Can you really cure these legs without any form of antibiotics?"

    Her face was like porcin, and her posture was elegant and straight. She wore a bright colored top, but it looked dull under the brightplexion of her face. Her voice was cold and majestic, and Hua Jingya could clearly sense the faint aura of supremacy from her person.

    No one had ever questioned her medical skills, and Hua Jingya frowned at Gu Xiqiao. "Antibiotics? I thought you were a traditional Chinese woman through and through, why must you be like those who admire Western medicine methods and all the other foreign methods? In terms of medicine, the teachings and knowledge that have been left by our ancestors are our treasures, and you should be using them and spread their teachings to educate the people. Antibiotics are the kind of things that only cure the symptoms, but not the root cause! They are more harmful than beneficial to the body, and have probably killed a lot of people!"

    Now that Western medicine was in the lead, it was harder for traditional Chinese medicine to shine now. The reason was because the people in the country leaned more toward Western medicine methods, because the effect was fast and good, being able to quickly cure a lot more diseases than the traditional Chinese medicine was able to.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t able to deny the exquisite and delicate art of traditional Chinese medicine, but it was too much to devalue Western medicine methods just because of those reasons.

    Without the existence of antibiotics, the viral flu in the early days during the founding of the People¡¯s Republic of China would have killed countless people. All of this was obvious to everyone, otherwise, why would their people choose Western medicine? They used their own eyes to witness it, after all.

    Western medicine had many drawbacks, this was an undeniable fact. However, they were also improving day by day. Their medicine knowledge, studies and research were getting more advanced as the days went by.

    On the other hand, the Chinese were not addressing the problems, and was blindly firm in their own opinions instead. The decline of Chinese medicine was not without reasons.

    She recalled the speech that Zhu Yuan had given previously, where he had said that the amalgamation of Chinese and Western medicine would be the way forward, and she wholeheartedly agreed with that. As a doctor, you must first have the correct values, and more importantly you had to listen to the opinions of those around you. Those who insist on doing things their own way were not called doctors, they were called executioners!

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t about to waste her time arguing with Hua Jingya. She raised her eyes and looked at Wang Jinsheng. "Are you sure you want Miss Hua to treat you?"

    Wang Jinsheng had no other options already, and he felt that he could only ce his trust in Hua Jingya. He turned his begging eyes on her. "Miss Hua, please save me!"

    Alright then, Gu Xiqiao took two steps back, indicating that she would no longer interfere.

    Wang Jun however, was not about to stand back and watch this happen. He looked at the terrifying state of his uncle¡¯s legs, and was about to coldly chase Hua Jingya out, but was stopped by a pair of slender hands.

    As a person who had gone through training before, Wang Jun was sure that his underlying strength was not so easily stopped by someone as petite as her, and was surprised to be halted in his steps gently and skillfully. His eyes locked onto another pair of clear ones, and the main thing was that she didn¡¯t even look like she exerted any power to hold him in ce.

    Even though he was already aware of how powerful Gu Xiqiao was, he didn¡¯t expect this level of greatness. If you were to put it in other words, he never expected himself to be as weak as a chickenpared to her.

    "Let her do her useless thing, your uncle will be fine, don¡¯t worry." Her voice was light and indifferent when she spoke.

    Although she was just a girl that was younger than him, Wang Jun felt himself being convinced by the tone of her voice and the confidence that she exuded, and so he let his hands fall and took a step back.

    Hua Jingya had seen how fierce Wang Jun had been, and she couldn¡¯t help but shrink backward. Although she was talented in medicine, she was still a weak woman, so it was natural for her to be afraid. At this time, she suddenly caught sight of a tall figure walking toward them, and she eximed in surprise, "Brother Wang Liang,e over here!"

    Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, the bodyguard stationed with Wang Jincheng had discreetly contracted Wang Liang.

    Wang Liang had a burly rough voice, and he boomed, "Jun, didn¡¯t I say not to disturb Miss Hua?!"

    It was no wonder they were father and son, both of them were brainless idiots. Wang Jun felt that he had no f*cks to give anymore at this moment in time.

    As he came closer, Wang Liang realized that apart from Wang Jun, there was another man and woman with him.

    The man leaned against the door, an imposing figure that radiated a chilling and cold aura. It felt like there was an invisible pressure pressing down on him, and when he looked over to the man, he was met with a pair of onyx eyes that were deep and frosty. Wang Liang quickly averted his eyes, not daring to look any longer. He felt his legs tremble slightly, and hastened his steps into the ward, only then did he wipe the sweat off his face.

    The girl standing in the ward had extremely attractive features, and her face was as smooth as jade. Wang Liang scratched his head, when the bodyguard had told him there was trouble, he didn¡¯t expect a pretty girl to be the cause of it. He couldn¡¯t help but soften his tone a little as he next spoke, "Miss, don¡¯t listen to Jun Zi¡¯s nonsense. Miss Hua is a descendent of the medical sage, Hua Tuo. She is very skilled in medicine, and she will definitely be able to save my father."

    Wang Jun sneered when he heard that. What descendent of Hua Tuo, there was no improvement at all since yesterday, how ridiculous!

    "A descendant of Hua Tuo?" Gu Xiqiao repeated, raising an eyebrow.

    Wang Liang¡¯s arrival made Hua Jingya feel more at ease. When she heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, she raised her chin proudly. "That¡¯s right, Hua Tuo is my ancestor. I¡¯m the descendant of the 123rd generation."

    As long as the words ¡¯Hua Tuo¡¯ was mentioned, there was no doubt the next word that came to mind was ¡¯divine doctor¡¯. Every time she mentioned she was a descendant of the great doctor, she would receive countless worship and admiration from the people around her.

    Now that she had mentioned the name, she was prepared to receive the adoring looks from the two, but she didn¡¯t expect them to bepletely indifferent to it.

    Instead, there was a mocking expression on the girl¡¯s face, as thoughpletely disbelieving her words.

    And the man had a faint smile on his face, as though he had heard something funny.

    Hua Jingya¡¯s face flushed with anger. "Those who are unrted, please get out. I will be using a unique acupuncture method that has been passed down through the Hua Tuo line!"

    Gu Xiqiao gave onest look at Wang Jincheng lying on the bed, before turning around to exit the room.

    Twenty minutester, Wang Jun was pacing outside the ward door. "I¡¯m feeling very anxious about this."

    "Jun Zi, Miss Hua is a descendent of Hua Tuo, my dad will be fine." Wang Liang seemed to haveplete trust in Hua Jingya.

    "Idiotic fool, shut up!" Wang Jun snarled. He didn¡¯t want to hear another word from Wang Liang.

    Sometimes, Wang Liang still had a healthy dose of fear of his cousin, and this was one of the times. He stopped talking immediately.

    Gu Xiqiao had pulled Jiang Shuxuan to sit on the bench nearby. He pulled out his phone, he had already wanted to watch the promotional video of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ the moment Wang Jun had brought it up back at the wedding.

    He opened Weibo, and he didn¡¯t need to look far for it. ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ had already taken the top spot on the popr topic list of Weibo on the front page.

    ¡ªPrincess Qixia, this is her soul within the actress.

    Cheng Zhou had written that when he made the Weibo post.

    When you clicked on the video, it would start with just a ck screen. It was then suddenly lit up by a bright spark, and the screen gradually flickers. The perfectbination of the sound and special effects made the people who were watching the video feel like they were right there on the scene itself, and it was mesmerizing.

    It was only a two-minute video, and Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t skip a single second of it, his eyes glued to the screen. Only in thest fifteen seconds, did he finally see a sh of red.

    A beautiful woman dressed in fine red clothes rode a stunning horse, hitting the target with an arrow. Then the wind blew, and flowers were falling all around. She turned her head, a bright smile creeping onto her face as she seemed to see someone she recognized. The sun shone faintly on her porcin face, and the camera zoomed in on her face. No matter how bright the red dress she wore, it didn¡¯t hold a candle to the radiance of her face.

    The video gradually panned out and changed, and another scene faded in. A inly clothed princess was standing next to the city wall, and although she was dressed in simple garbs, it did nothing to dampen her beauty. You couldn¡¯t find the words to describe the heartbreaking sadness she exuded, and you could only watch her, and feel your own heart break as the video continued.

    A crystal teardrop slid down from the corner of her eye, and she opened both arms slowly. The manyizens who were watching couldn¡¯t help but burst out loud when they watched this scene, "NO!"

    The white figure made the jump resolutely, and the frame dissolved into a big, white, snowy scenery. In the vast whitendscape, the pale white figure underneath the city wall was gradually covered in a freshyer of snow.

    The emotional sad music in your ear then slowly trailed off. At this point, the video ended, and the screen went ck again. The title of the movie then slowly rotated outward¡ªEmpire Under Siege!

    Thements below started off with all the fans of Li Yu and Song Guanjing, all fangirling and fanboying, licking the screens and keyboard smashing.

    Theterments changed however, after they had watched the video to the end, where the scene with Princess Qixiapletely blew the minds of everyone.

    "It was only fifteen seconds, Princess Qixia only made an appearance for fifteen seconds. Why are you guys like this (goodbye) (goodbye)"

    "Ahhhh! I will beat the crew up if they dare toe out, why do you guys have to be so cruel, even a big pack of tissues is not enough to wipe the river of tears that I cried!"

    "Li Yu is as handsome as always, and Jing Jing is also pretty. The newbie¡¯s acting skills are also remarkable, the only thing that shocked me was thest two scenes. It moved me deeply, as though I was given a glimpse of the real Princess Qixia."

    Jiang Shuxuan was silent for a long while. When he had seen the figure jump down, although he knew it was fake, he couldn¡¯t help the stab of pain and agony that went through his heart.

    "What¡¯s with your expression?" Gu Xiqiao was chatting with Xiao Yun on WeChat, and then she looked up to see a slightly depressed look on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face.

    "I watched the promotional video for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯." His voice was slightly lower than usual.

    "Oh, and?" Gu Xiqiao tilted her head to the side in confusion.

    "The scene where Princess Qixia jumps off the building," Jiang Shuxuan said, turning to look at her. His eyes were the same onyx ck, and a solemn expression on his face. "It¡¯s a little sad."

    "..." Brother Jiang, that was fake, okay!

    She stretched out her hand to rub the top of his head. "Brother Jiang, that was all fake. I didn¡¯t jump off a building." Her eyes were bright, and the corner of her lips lifted in a confident smile. "Even if I really did jump off, such a low wall is just a small case for me!"

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression darkened. "Nonsense."

    "..."

    After another ten minutes, there was still no movement from inside the room. Wang Jun couldn¡¯t stand it any longer, it was as though there was something wing at his insides, and he wanted to kick the door down in his anxiousness.

    His control was slipping, and he unconsciously sought out Gu Xiqiao to try to calm himself. "Miss Gu, Idol Gu, Hua Jingya is not out yet, how is my uncle now?"

    Gu Xiqiao checked the time on her phone, and then she turned to look at him. "Don¡¯t worry, there should be news in another ten minutes."

    "Ten minutes?" Now that he had an urate estimated time, it wasn¡¯t impossible to wait for it to pass. But how did she know there would be news at that time? He couldn¡¯t hold the question in and spoke it out loud.

    "This acupuncture method involves all thirty acupoints of the body, of which there are six dead acupoints. You have to be extremely careful when doing this, and looking at her speed of inserting the needles, it would take about another ten minutes for the effect to be seen. Your cousin should be going out to buy some medication right about now," Gu Xiqiao exined, keeping her phone, and raising her head to look at Wang Liang.

    Just as she finished speaking, Wang Jun saw Wang Liang leaving in a rush after receiving a call.

    He turned back to look at Gu Xiqiao, astonishment on his face. "You, how did you know that?"

    "Perhaps I may be a descendent of Hua Tuo too?" Gu Xiqiao said, blinking up innocently at him.

    She could even tell the moment Wang Liang needed to leave to buy medicine. Wang Jun took a deep breath, his faith in Gu Xiqiao on an even higher level now. Since she had said to wait another ten minutes, then he would do so.

    Ten minutester, Wang Liang rushed back in, drenched in sweat. He walked to the ward door and raised his hand to knock. Before his hand could reach the door, a shout was heard from inside the ward.

    Wang Jun flinched violently, his face changing the moment he heard the shout and he immediately rushed forward to kick the door open.

    In the ward, Hua Jingya was standing at the side, her face full of disbelief. She was the descendent of Hua Tuo, this set of acupuncture methods had been left behind by her ancestors and was peerless. As long as the needles were inserted, even the dead could be rescued from the gates of hell, how did this happen?!

    In just a short forty minutes, Wang Jincheng had been rendered unconscious, and his initially healthy face had started to turn a purplish blue hue.

    "Doctor! Doctor!" Wang Jun yelled after taking in the scene. A group of doctors was already on standby in a room nearby, and finally hearing something from this ward, they immediately got into action, pulling all sorts of equipment in.

    There were various sophisticated equipment that were being used, an artificial pacemaker, electrocardiogram (ECG)...

    "The patient¡¯s heartbeat is dropping!"

    "The patient is unconscious!"

    "The patient has no chance of surviving this!"

    The leading doctor took off his mask, there was no way they could save him, even if they brought him in for surgery now. He looked at Wang Jun apologetically. "I¡¯m sorry, Young Master Wang. We have tried our best. The bacteria has just spread to Mr. Wang¡¯s heart and lungs, there is nothing we can do to save him."

    Bacteria and viruses were already hard to control by itself, and the dys of treatment for the past few days had brought a lot of damage to his body. And then, not knowing what he had just gone through just now, the bacteria cells had suddenly spread at a massive speed to his heart and lungs.

    If it had stayed within the legs, they would still be able to halt the progress using medication, and cut off his legs to protect the upper part of his body from infection. But now, even the deities and immortals in the mountains wouldn¡¯t be able to save him.

    Wang Liang was standing stiffly at the door, his hand still holding onto the packet of Chinese medicine that he had bought from across the hospital. From the beginning, he had ced his entire trust in the hands of Hua Jingya. She was the descendent of Hua Tuo, she would definitely be able to save his father. He held onto that faith all the way till now, and when he heard the words the doctor had uttered, he still couldn¡¯t believe it.

    Wang Jinchengy on the hospital bed, his face blue and was different from a half-dead man.

    Plop!

    The medicine in his hand fell to the ground, and he took slow steps toward the bed.

    "A pity." The doctor sighed as he looked at the hollow eyes of Wang Liang. He already knew that this would happen, why would you put your faith in an unknown woman?

    Wang Jun couldn¡¯t contain the anger inside him, and his face twisted into an ugly expression. He gritted his teeth so harshly till the grinding sound could be heard. He took big strides to Hua Jingya¡¯s side and reached out to grab her neck. "Aren¡¯t you a descendent of Hua Tuo?! Didn¡¯t you say you could cure him without the need for amputation?! If my uncle dies, then you¡¯re going to be buried next to him, descendent of Hua Tuo!"

    Hua Jingya was being held by her neck, and her feet were also not touching the floor anymore. Her eyes were wide in fear, and she could feel herself choking, running out of breath.

    Panic and fear gripped her heart as she tried to struggle out of his grasp.

    She couldn¡¯t help but look toward Wang Liang for help, and Wang Liang, who was standing next to the bed, turned to her suddenly. His eyes were blood red, a furious spitting expression on his face. He approached her slowly, and her eyes widened even more, the fear growing worse as she struggled harder.

    "Alright, enough." A familiar clear, melodic voice came from behind suddenly.

    Wang Jun felt his grip loosen and he let go of Hua Jingya.

    Hua Jingya slumped to the ground, embarrassment clear on her face. She coughed harshly as she held a hand to her neck, the purple reddish hue fading from her face, and the tears slid down her face. Wang Jun ignored her, turning around to face Gu Xiqiao, who was walking into the room.

    Gu Xiqiao took a rubber band and tied up her hair, giving instructions to the doctors. "Prepare a surgery room for me."

    "What?" The doctor couldn¡¯t help but react dumbfoundedly.

    "Prepare a room for surgery, and sterile clothes too." Gu Xiqiao repeated her instructions.

    "Yes!" Seeing her calm look and remembering what Gu Xiqiao had said in the beginning, Wang Jun suddenly felt that everything that happened was within her predictions. He turned to the doctors and barked out, "Go, prepare the operating room!"

    The doctor had already reserved an operating theater for Wang Jincheng for a long while, but how could they let an outsider use their hospital¡¯s room just like that?

    "Why are you still here?! Hurry up!" Wang Jun grabbed the doctor¡¯s cor and lifted him up.

    However, he didn¡¯t dare to offend Young Master Wang. Thinking that Wang Jincheng was a dead man either way, dying on the operating table was no different than dying on the bed, the doctor nodded his head rapidly.

    Gu Xiqiao had changed out of her shoes and put on a surgical gown. The operating room was on the upper floor, and she walked slowly as she put on a mask, exposing only a clear pair of eyes. You could see how serious her expression was, and it was different than what people usually saw on her face. When she had changed into the gown, it seemed like she had changed into apletely different person too.

    She approached the operating room, and the ss door closed behind her, the thin figure disappearing from everyone¡¯s view.

    How could the doctor let an outsider like Gu Xiqiao enter the room herself? He brought his assistant and rushed into the room after her.

    Wang Jun stood outside the door, and looked up at the lit up sign above the door, indicating that the room was in use. Although there was a glimmer of hope in his heart, he already knew that the possibility of saving his uncle was slim, as the doctor had already informed him.

    Thinking of that, he pulled out his phone, wanting to break the news to his family.

    Wang Liang had dragged Hua Jingya to the front of the operating room, and although she cowered, she lifted her head to look at Wang Liang. She bit her lip, and courageously said, "The sickness has already prated his lungs, and there¡¯s no way he can be saved. The operation now only serves to drag out his torture."

    "Shut up!" Wang Liang mmed a fist into the wall, his eyes bloodshot.

    Hua Jingya dared not open her mouth anymore after that.

    There were benches on both sides of the operating room, and Jiang Shuxuan sat down on one of them. His expression was indifferent, as though he wasn¡¯t concerned in the slightest over Gu Xiqiao.

    The light was still on, and the entire ce was eerily silent.

    About ten minutester, the elevator door opened suddenly, and a few doctors in white coats rushed out. Wang Jun recognized the one leading them, it was the dean of the hospital. The dean had most likelye to see him, and Wang Jun straightened up to greet him, but the dean brushed past him into the operating room.

    There was faint excitement on the faces of the doctors that followed after him.

    What was happening? Wang Jun couldn¡¯t react for a moment.

    Jiang Shuxuan had raised his eyes in surprise. With a thought, he sent a trace of mental power to slowly prate the operating room. After a few moments, a strange expression appeared on his face.

    An hourter, the Wang family members came. Wang Jun nced over to them, and exined to them what was happening truthfully. His grandparents copse on the chair, a bewildered and dumbfounded expression on their faces.

    "If I had been firm in stopping that woman in the beginning, this wouldn¡¯t have happened," Wang Jun said, lowering his head. He med himself, he already knew that this woman was not to be trusted, and yet, why didn¡¯t he stop it from the beginning? It was because of that, that things had developed to this point!

    The one who med himself the most was Wang Liang, and he nced at Hua Jingya before speaking, "This was all caused by my stubbornness."

    "You child!" His grandmother cried.

    At the same moment, the light on top of the door went out. A doctor dressed in a blue sterile gown came out. "The operation went smoothly, the patient is safe."

    The people outside the operating room didn¡¯t have time to react to the news yet, before they saw a group of doctors trailing behind Gu Xiqiao as all of them came out from the room.

    "Miss Gu, I have recorded the entire process, may we share it with the other surgeons for future references?" It was the dean who said this. And the usually imposing and dignified dean was talking and looking at Gu Xiqiao with a look full of respect and admiration.

    Jiang Shuxuan had stood up, and Gu Xiqiao was taking off the mask and gown, passing it off to him. She smiled slightly at the dean. "Of course. If you have any questions, you may contact me any time. I¡¯ve already given them my contact information."

    "I¡¯ve never seen anyone extract the bacteria within ten minutes, and even calcting and administering the correct mix and dosage to counteract it!" The doctor beside the dean couldn¡¯t help but say. "If I didn¡¯t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn¡¯t have believed it! Miss Gu, how on earth did you do it?!"

    He seemed to be around forty or fifty years old, and yet when he spoke to Gu Xiqiao, he attached an honorific suffix to her name. It can be seen that that was how much respect and faith he had in her.

    "Myputer skills are really good." Gu Xiqiao said, smiling.

    The doctors: "..."

    A person with such superb medical skills is also good inputer skills, did they all need to invest time into developing their ownputer skills in the future then?

    When they saw one person talking to her, Gu Xiqiao suddenly didn¡¯t seem as aloof or unapproachable as they had thought, and one by one the other doctors started to ask her more questions.

    The questions were allplex, and the people who didn¡¯t know, just didn¡¯t know. Wang Jun saw that some of the doctors had taken out their phones and started recording the conversations instead of trying to follow what they couldn¡¯t.

    After they finished, Gu Xiqiao pulled Jiang Shuxuan into the elevator, heading downstairs to change her clothes.

    Wang Jun also finally reacted at this time, looking at the dean excitedly. "My uncle, he¡¯s fine now, right?"

    "Yes, Young Master Wang." The dean could clearly understand Wang Jun¡¯s feelings, and he reassured him, "The operation was very smooth. Your uncle didn¡¯t need to have any amputations, and now they¡¯re bandaging his wounds. In about another ten minutes, you will be able to see him."

    "How is that possible!" A shrill female voice came from the corner, full of disbelief. "The sickness had clearly entered his lungs and heart, it would have been impossible to save him!"

    The medical book passed down through generations in her family had clearly said that once the sickness had gone into the lungs and heart, there was no way to save the patient.

    The dean nced at her, he was already well aware of this woman who imed to be a descendant of Hua Tuo. He had thought that she really was a capable woman, but after sending Wang Jincheng halfway to his death, now she was turning around and questioning Miss Gu, who had saved his life?

    "Divine Doctor Hua, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but what you¡¯re unable to do, doesn¡¯t mean that others are unable to do either." The dean rarely spoke to people in such a contemptuous tone, but this so-called descendant of Hua Tuo was really unpleasant, and she even dared to try to discredit Miss Gu!

    The term ¡¯Divine Doctor Hua¡¯ made Hua Jingya feel that it was said in a way that it was more of a mockery than apliment, and she felt ridiculed. Her face flushed red in embarrassment, knowing that the dean was not lying to her. But how was that possible? Was there really people in the world who could snatch someone back from the depths of hell? From Hades himself?

    The dean no longer bothered with the woman, but turned to face Wang Jun instead. His tone was gentle and kind, but it was hard to hide the excitement on his face and actions. "Young Master Wang, is Miss Gu a friend of yours? She really is a magical person, her thoughts are bold and out of the box, she made a miracle happen! If this incident was publicized, it will definitely send the entire medical world into an uproar. There has never been such an incident recorded in the entire history of medicine! But Miss Gu is unwilling to make her name public."

    The dean felt it was regretful when he said this, and he was puzzled. Why did she refuse such a good opportunity to be famous?

    Hearing the reassurance that his uncle would be fine, Wang Jun was still in a state of disbelief. The entire team of doctors in the City Hospital had been helpless, he had even prepared himself for his uncle¡¯s passing, and now the dean had told him not only was his uncle fine, more importantly, he didn¡¯t even need to have the amputation to save his life anymore!

    ***

    At three o¡¯clock in the afternoon, a certified official doctor of N City Hospital posted on Weibo.

    The entire medicalmunity was plunged into chaos.

    Even themunity overseas was in an uproar, the dean receiving nearly thirty calls in just that afternoon, both domestic and foreign. All of them were from masters in the medical field, people he usually could only admire for their existence, but never seeing them in person.

 Chapter 155 Follow Up Of The Storm, Yin Shaoyuan Awakens!

    <h4>Chapter 155 Follow Up Of The Storm, Yin Shaoyuan Awakens!</h4>

    In ab in A University, Zhu Yuan hadpleted the report, and was confirming the time with the international organization. The person on the phone seemed to be a little absent-minded while dealing with him. There were many cases of cell fusions every year, and they were already used to dealing with people who called regarding this study. There were few who would patent this now, because there were just too many sessful ones before them, and applying for this patent now felt like they were just stirring a cold pot of rice.

    Knowing how these people thought, Zhu Yuan didn¡¯t bother to exin much. He would wait until the day of the press conference, and he would stun all of them with this discovery!

    After hanging up the phone, Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help but read through the report again, because it felt like he would find new insights every time he read it again. At this moment, Professor Jiang came over in a hurry. "Zhu Yuan, look at this!"

    Professor Jiang was waving his phone, a look of excitement on his face. You normally rarely see such a cheerful look on him, and Zhu Yuan took the offered device.

    It was a surgery video, with a longmentary in Weibo attached below it.

    Zhu Yuan nced through the words half-heartedly in the beginning, not paying much attention to it as he scrolled down the long post. But over the few minutes, his expression became more serious as he processed the words properly.

    The Weibo post was extremely long, recording the entire process of the operation. Some of the contents were simple and easy to understand, while others were obscure and difficult toprehend. Even Zhu Yuan seemed to struggle as he read, making guesses as he continued downwards, feeling a burst of inspiration as he did. He noted down the things that he didn¡¯t understand, nning to study itter on his own time, or wait till Gu Xiqiao returned so they could discuss it together. When he thought of her, he forwarded the Weibo post to her, wanting to hear her opinion on it.

    At the end of the long Weibo post, it wrote: Some of the words written are written down exactly as how it was spoken. Because we didn¡¯t understand the terms, we wrote it as it is, hoping that it will shed some light for everyone watching. However, I think we really should consider taking a minor inputer skills after this.

    Thest sentence gave off the feeling that the person who wrote it was sighing and mocking themselves, the view of the world for them must have really been turned upside downpletely for them to be that way.

    "Professor Jiang, do you know the contact information of this person?" Zhu Yuan was still reading, resisting the urge to watch it all over again as he wasn¡¯t paying attention the first time, but he turned his bright eyes towards Professor Jiang instead.

    Hearing those words, Professor Jiang¡¯s face was a little strange with excitement. "Zhu Yuan, watch the video again."

    Although he didn¡¯t get what Professor Jiang was trying to say, Zhu Yuan pressed on the video again.

    The video was edited, and yed at double speed, so it was only ten minutes long.

    However even then, you could clearly see the movements of the person in it, from the initial actions of inserting a few needles, extracting out the bacteria, and creating the suppressant mixture on the spot.

    Breaking down viruses and bacteria was also Zhu Yuan¡¯s forte, and he could see far more than most average people who didn¡¯t have an understanding in the medical field. He found the video infinitely more shocking than the text itself.

    After watching it, Zhu Yuan dragged a hand down his face, and went silent. He spoke after a long while, his tone dry, "The leading doctor looks a little bit familiar..."

    Professor Jiang met his eyes silently, and asked faintly, "Only a little bit?"

    It was more than just a little bit, this familiar figure had to be nagged two hundred times a day just to see a shadow of their person, and even if the person turned to ashes, they would still be able to recognize her!

    "Let me make a call." Zhu Yuan pulled out his own phone, and tried to make the call multiple times, but kept getting the message that the other side¡¯s phone was turned off. Suddenly, he remembered, and he gritted his teeth. "I forgot that she cklisted me!"

    "..." Professor Jiang felt a little bit of pity for him here.

    Zhu Yun immediately called Jiang Shuxuan instead, and this time, the call was picked up after two rings.

    The voice was deep and slightly cold, making Zhu Yuan trembled inside a little, but his overwhelming curiosity won over that feeling and he spoke, "Boss Jiang, is Miss Gu by your side?"

    "Wait a moment." There was silence on the other end for a while, then another cold, clear voice came through, "Hurry up and say what you want!"

    No respect at all!

    "Do you know that you¡¯ve shocked the entire medicalmunity?!" Zhu Yuan roared back, he was wondering how a genius would randomly pop up, and that it wouldn¡¯t be weird if it was her! "If you have time to y around outside, why note back to A University, do you want to pass the semester or not?!"

    Sozy, I¡¯ll fail yourzy a*s this semester then!

    "If I fail then it¡¯s fine too, it¡¯s a good time to switch my major to oil painting then." Gu Xiqiao ced the phone away from her ear, nonchntly replying to the threat, not feeling threatened at all.

    Professor Jiang had been listening from the side, but when he heard those words from Gu Xiqiao, he snatched the phone from Zhu Yuan immediately, a warm smile on his face and his tone gentle as he spoke, "Don¡¯t worry, go on and have all the fun you want, take your time, we¡¯re not in a rush! You¡¯ll definitely get an A+ at the end of the term!"

    Zhu Yuan looked at Professor Jiang incredulously. "Professor Jiang, why are you so spineless?"

    Useless professor!

    "What do you know!" An old friend from the art department had shown Professor Jiang a picture of an iplete painting a couple of days ago, with a heap ofpliments and praises for it. Although he didn¡¯t understand most of it, the important point was that the person who had done the painting was extremely talented, as their paintings basically came to life and had also reached an elite level.

    He was initially unconcerned about the painting his friend had shown him, but the post had blown up soon after. When Professor Jiang had returned home and flipped through his own Weibo, he found out that it was Gu Xiqiao who had posted the painting!

    That girl had a talent in oil painting, and Professor Jiang concealed the fact that he was acquainted with this very talented painter from his friend, for fear that his friend would try to poach her from A University.

    So when he heard that Gu Xiqiao said she would leave the medicine faculty, Professor Jiang immediately tried to restrain her from doing so. It was fine that she waszy, there was now another topic for them to research, and that would take up a period of time anyway. If they really managed to chase Gu Xiqiao off to change her major to oil painting with their nagging, it would be useless to regret and feel sad by the time that happens, okay!

    Zhu Yuan stared at Professor Jiang, and suddenly remembered that he still had questions that he had noted down in his book on the table, and he whined, "I still had questions on these two terms, how could you hang up the call just like that?!" The main point was that that was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s number, he simply didn¡¯t have the courage to make a call again!

    Professor Jiang: Suddenly it became my fault~

    ***

    Seeing that Professor Jiang had hung up the call, Gu Xiqiao, the girl who wasn¡¯t aware how much she had shaken up the medicalmunity, handed the phone back to Jiang Shuxuan.

    The couple were eating in a restaurant nearby the hospital. Gu Xiqiao had been unusually down throughout the wedding, and hadn¡¯t eaten much while there. She had looked calm and easy-going in the operating room, but in reality, arge portion of her brain cells had probably died, and the system spirit hadn¡¯t been there to help her with the calctions, she was practically feeling dead on her feet.

    She really, really missed the system right now.

    "Hurry up and eat." Jiang Shuxuan put away his phone. "If you can¡¯t finish, then we¡¯ll pack the rest and give it to Xixi and Haha."

    "Un." Gu Xiqiao picked up a piece of crab meat that Jiang Shuxuan had beaten out for her. "It¡¯s delicious, but can those two eat these kind of food?"

    Jiang Shuxuan: Never thought about it.

    In the end, Jiang Shuxuan had to ask the waiter to prepare some other food for Xixi and Haha. To be more precise, it was prepared for Haha only, because Xixi was a bird after all, and it could only continue to eat its own bird food.

    In the hotel, a dog and a bird were sitting down and watching TV seriously.

    Worried that the two would be bored, Gu Xiqiao had specially turned the channel to a random nonsensical drama series before they had left the room. Xixi and Haha werepletely engrossed in it, and when the hotel staff came in to clean the room, they couldn¡¯t help but feel like the entire scene was very weird with the two animals watching the TV so seriously.

    Hearing the sound of the door opening, both dog and bird turned their heads. When they saw the two familiar figures, Haha¡¯s tail wagged excitedly, thumping on the ground.

    Xixi pped its wings, wanting to say a few words, but then it saw Jiang Shuxuan pouring some packed meat into Haha¡¯s bowl, filling the room with a wonderful fragrance.

    Yesterday, Gu Xiqiao had bought a bowl for Xixi, and had ced it next to Haha¡¯s. Although the bowl was not as valuable as Haha¡¯s, it was still something that Beauty Qiao had bought for him. Seeing Haha happily eating a big piece of meat, Xixi suddenly felt like he was a little unloved child.

    "I¡¯m so sad, papa don¡¯t you love me?" Xixi flew over to Gu Xiqiao, blinking its beady eyes sadly as it looked at her.

    Gu Xiqiao understood Xixi¡¯s mindset, and shot back quickly, "Aren¡¯t you a bird? Do birds eat meat?"

    "Am I a normal bird?!" Xixi cried loudly.

    "You sure seem a bit more wacky than a normal bird," Gu Xiqiao said.

    Xixi was startled for a while, before it cried even louder. It knew that Beauty Qiao was just teasing it, she was not being serious!

    Heading Xixi¡¯s hysterical crying (screeching), Haha paused a while, and then raised its head. "Woof woof woof~" (I¡¯ll treat you to this, just stop screaming, okay?)

    "Stupid trash dog! You ruined my life!" Xixi shot back.

    Haha: Oh, I think the same way too.

    Xixi gave Haha an incredulous look. "You will have retribution, just you wait!"

    Jiang Shuxuan had gone to wash his hands, and he came back to a dejected and anguished Xixi bawling. A sh appeared on his fingertips, and he was about to smack Xixi when Gu Xiqiao suddenly raised her head. "Ten hours. If you don¡¯t speak for the next ten hours, this will yours."

    A brown pill suddenly appeared between two slender fingers.

    It was a very familiar pill, and Xixi¡¯s shrilling wail stopped immediately, its beady eyes brightening like diamonds.

    "Is that what you gave to Shaoyuan?" Jiang Shuxuan took it into his palm. He injected a pulse of mental power, feeling the huge amount of chi from it, and his expression turned grave. "Where did you get this from?"

    "I exchanged it," Gu Xiqiao said as she leaned over to him. The batch of pills that she gave Yin Shaoyuanst round had cost her roughly 2,000 points, and the system spirit had been heartbroken. "Is there any problem?"

    She wondered when would be a good time to introduce the system spirit to Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t pry further into her vague answer. "Don¡¯t simply take things like this out in front of others in the future." Those elderly who have been stuck in a bottleneck of their levels for a long time would definitelye out after her if they got wind of this.

    Now that the qualifiers were approaching, what would happen if people from other countries learned about this?

    He knew that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skills were not bad, and she was still hiding some other secrets, but some attacks were hard to defend from, and precautions should be taken where it could.

    "I know." Gu Xiqiao nodded solemnly, and then she added, "Brother Jiang, do you need this? I have as much as you want."

    Jiang Shuxuan fingered the jade pendant on his neck, and chuckled lowly. "I¡¯m good without it, keep it for Xixi."

    If this conversation was heard by anyone else in the ancient martial arts world, they would surely puke blood! In the ways of their world, a person was equivalent to a bird!

    ***

    In the Tang family residence, Yin Shaoyuan, who had been in aa for a long time, finally awakened.

    Tang Yanling finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his eyes open. Although she knew that he would definitely wake up, she still felt the growing anxiousness in her heart as the days passed without any signs of stirring from him. She could finally let go of the burden in her heart, even a tough woman like her had tears swimming in her eyes at this point.

    "Mom." Yin Shaoyuan raised his arm, feeling power coursing through his entire body. "Sorry to have worried you."

    Even though he had been unconscious, his five senses were still active all the while. He knew and heard everything going on during his unconscious state, only that he couldn¡¯t move or speak.

    "It¡¯s fine, as long as you¡¯re safe." Tang Yanling raised her head, and took out the jade box that had never left her side since she got it. "Qiao Qiao gave this to you, keep it properly. Make sure to give it your all!"

    Yin Shaoyuan narrowed his eyes, nodding his head as he held the box tightly in his hands.

    "The level of your ancient martial arts have surpassed most of the younger disciples of the Tang family now, and you have the opportunity to participate in the qualifying tournament. I only have one request, apart from Qinghong, don¡¯t lose to anyone else from the Tang family!" Tang Yanling looked at Yin Shaoyuan with a piercing gaze. "You should know that Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity is not something simple, and Qiao Qiao can¡¯t walk this path. We have already be the shield to cover her back in the secr world, and now we can also do the same in the ancient martial arts world!"

    Someone knocked on the door outside at this time. "Second Miss, Young Master Cousin, the elder would like to see you."

    The voice that spoke was respectful and humble, a far cry from how they were treated when they first arrived.

    Yin Shaoyuan chuckled darkly, and then he pulled himself up to walk with Tang Yanling to meet the n in the Ancestral Hall.

    Behind them, a group of younger disciples with envy and jealousy clearly on their faces were muttering, "Hmph, he just got lucky, what¡¯s with the arrogance? If those elixirs had been given to us instead, how can we be any worse than him?"

    Tang Yanling ignored them all, but Yin Shaoyuan stopped in his tracks, and shed them a smile. "Didn¡¯t you learn that luck is also part of your skills in life?"

    That smile was just asking for a beating!

    The faces of the disciples turned red with anger, and then ck with rage!

    However, what Yin Shaoyuan said was true, that was the luck of a person! They could only watch silently in anger, envy and jealousy, wishing that they were in his ce!

    This was the first time he had caught the eyes of so many members of the Tang family, and although Yin Shaoyuan was smiling, his eyes were chillingly cold. He suddenly stopped in his steps again, and turned to Tang Yanling. "Mom, if Qiao Qiao can pull out these impossible medicines, does she really even need us?"

    "..." Tang Yanling was speechless. How to answer that question, when she also felt that his words were incredibly reasonable?

    The ancestral hall was right in front of them, and Yin Shaoyuan gathered some chi in his hands to y with it as they continued to walk. In other words, he believed that Qiao Qiao should also be someone who was from the ancient martial arts world, and her identity might not be as simple as they had first thought.

    Sighing slightly, it seemed that he has a lot of hard work to do, otherwise, how could a weak a*s chicken be worthy of being the shield to cover her back?

    As expected, she made a bloody storm fall no matter where she went.

    Yin Shaoyuan continued to walk forward as his mind wandered. The calm and peaceful ancient martial arts world was going to be a lot of fun in theing days, and he was suddenly really looking forward to it.

 Chapter 156 The Baili Family, Return to the Imperial Capital

    <h4>Chapter 156 The Baili Family, Return to the Imperial Capital</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao went back home to take a shower at night, while Jiang Shuxuan sat outside reading a book. She nced at it sneakily and stuck her tongue out cheekily when she saw a bunch of symbols and ancient writing that she didn¡¯t understand, before stepping in to take a shower.

    Because Gu Xiqiao told Xixi to shut up earlier, it didn¡¯t fight with Haha at all while she was in the shower, no matter how much Haha tried to rile it up.

    The phone on the table rang and vibrated, and Jiang Shuxuan walked over and picked it up.

    "Bro Jiang!" Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eximed from the other side of the phone. "Where¡¯s Qiao Qiao? I couldn¡¯t connect to her phone."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone was ced right next to his, and Jiang Shuxuan reached over to try and switch it on, and upon seeing that it wouldn¡¯t switch on, he said, "The batteries of her phone ran out."

    "Ah, I thought something happened." Yin Shaoyuan breathed a sigh of relief, before thanking him profusely for helping their family out from before and preventing Tang Yanling from being bullied while he was unconscious.

    "I¡¯m not the one you should be thanking." Jiang Shuxuan nced over at the bathroom, before continuing, "Your grandfather hasn¡¯t been at the Tang familytely, have any of them been picking on you?"

    Since he had a box of pills that the entire ancient martial arts world would go crazy over, Yin Shaoyuan was probably given a lot of trouble by the Tang family.

    "I have a special anti-pirating technique!" Yin Shaoyuan boasted with some pride in his voice. Those people would have to win against him before they could get any of the pills!

    No one could try and kill another family member so they couldn¡¯t use more radical methods, and they all used restrictions and seals the most. Yin Shaoyuan was immune to even Murong Feixue¡¯s restrictions because of the jade bracelet that Gu Xiqiao gave him, so those of the youngsters in the Tang family were even less of a problem.

    The door to the bathroom opened slowly, and Jiang Shuxuan told Yin Shaoyuan, "She just finished taking her shower, I¡¯ll let you speak with her..."

    Jiang Shuxuan turned around and looked over at the bathroom, and he was stunned for a moment at the sight.

    Her hair was still damp after getting out of the shower, and she was drying her hair with her towel as she closed the door, a droplet of water sliding down her neck.

    She didn¡¯t wear the clothes provided by the hotel because she was slightly germaphobic, and she only wore a long t-shirt and short pants that only covered slightly above her knees.

    Her plump lips were slightly pursed, and for a second Jiang Shuxuan was mesmerized by her before he came back to his senses, Yin Shaoyuan going "Hey" many times over the line as he did. "You got a call from Shaoyuan."

    Gu Xiqiao threw away the towel and epted the phone. "You go take a shower too, Brother Jiang."

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded and walked into the room to get his clothes, before going into the bathroom to take a shower himself.

    "Brother Yin, you¡¯re awake." Gu Xiqiao walked over to the sofa and plopped downfortably, reaching for the book that Jiang Shuxuan was reading and flipping through it.

    Yin Shaoyuan just woke up the afternoon before, so he seemed to have wanted to have his fill of talking, and he basically gave Gu Xiqiao a Wikipedia report of all the families and authorities of note in the ancient martial arts world.

    Gu Xiqiao just sat there and listened, and before he could speak any further, Tang Yanling seemed to have snatched the phone and said, "Qiao Qiao, have you been drinking the medicinal soup while I¡¯ve been gone?"

    Of course, the answer to that question was negative, but Gu Xiqiao replied without skipping a beat. "Yes, of course."

    Her tone was quite sweet, and Tang Yanling thought that she wasn¡¯t one to lie so she immediately believed in her and even praised her.

    Gu Xiqiao sat there, epting the praises from Madam Tang with a guilty conscience.

    As she was about to hang up, Yin Shaoyuan snatched the phone back and asked, "Where are you, Qiao Qiao? I¡¯ll go to see you tomorrow! When are you gonnae y at the ancient martial arts world?"

    "I¡¯m at N City, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll go see you when I go back to the capital." Gu Xiqiao looked down at the desk. "As for the ancient martial arts world, now isn¡¯t the right time."

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t understand what she meant by that, but Gu Xiqiao always had her own ns, so he didn¡¯t press her for an exnation. In any case, he could use this chance to build a strong support system for her...

    They were about to leave after seeing Mrs. Zhang, but Jiang Shuxuan said that he had to go see another person.

    "You have rtives here? Did you get that pill this morning for him?" Gu Xiqiao nced over at him and asked.

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car by the road and exined: "Not a rtive, but a senior that has stepped out from the scene many years ago. I only knew he was staying here in seclusion quite recently."

    So it seemed to be an elder from the ancient martial arts world.

    If that was the case, "Brother Jiang, I won¡¯t be going with you."

    "Where are you going, then?" Jiang Shuxuan turned over and stared at her with his dark orbs.

    Why did she feel like she had a guilty conscience all of a sudden? Gu Xiqiao coughed, before saying, "I¡¯ll go buy a cup of milk tea."

    "Stay here, I¡¯ll go." Jiang Shuxuan reached for his wallet and stepped off the car.

    The car was stopped by the za, and there were milk tea shops on either side of the car. Upon seeing Jiang Shuxuan disappear into the crowd, Gu Xiqiao stepped out of the car.

    In the distance, she saw the tall figure standing in line in front of a milk tea shop, and the silhouette was particrly out of ce considering that the others in line were all young girls.

    Her phone rang, and it was Wang Jun.

    "My grandfather wants to thank you personally, do you have any time?" Gu Xiqiao left the operating room right after she finished, and neither Wang Jun nor his family had reacted before she disappeared. It was only when his uncle woke up this morning that his grandfather remembered that he hadn¡¯t thanked her directly.

    Gu Xiqiao replied, "I¡¯m about to return to the Imperial Capital... Hey, the ne is about to depart so I have to hang up, goodbye!"

    She hung up and switched off the phone with a single fluid motion as another car drove up, and as she was about to give way for it, the car stopped right next to her, the car window rolling down and revealing a familiar face.

    Wang Jun: "..." Where was the basic trust between humans?

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t awkward in the slightest, and she waved at Wang Jun. "I don¡¯t know why, but the ne said it would bete."

    "..."

    Did he look like he was an idiot to her?

    Having never dealt with someone like this, he sat there dumbfounded for a few moments before he could speak, "My grandfather really wants to show you his gratitude."

    Why did she leave like that, did she think of herself as a modern superhero that didn¡¯t ask for any gratitude and method to contact her? He had only gotten her phone number after practically interrogating Yin Shaoyuan for it.

    "Don¡¯t be like that, I already told you that I was going back to the Imperial Capital, didn¡¯t I?" Gu Xiqiao smiled and continued. "Now be a good boy and put your hands on that steering wheel, step on the elerator, and turn left at the next junction."

    Her smile was too bright under the sunlight, and Wang Jun unconsciously followed her orders and drove up to the junction before he came back to his senses, but the ck car had already driven away.

    "F*ck!" How could he have been swayed by her beauty so easily?!

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan drove out of the downtown area and stopped outside a siheyuan styled mansion, and the entire mansion had the aura of history and seemed quite imposing, and upon walking in, Gu Xiqiao felt a strong life force from the entire mansion.

    There were multitudes of herbs and flowers that were nted in the yard, and they seemed to all be cultivated with great care.

    A middle-aged man walked in a coarse sweatshirt walked out from inside, and coupled with the pouch that was tied to his hip, he seemed like a farmer that had traveled through time into the present.

    "Young Master Jiang, Master invites you to enter." The man bowed slightly towards Jiang Shuxuan, his expression respectful.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, before looking at Gu Xiqiao. "Do you want toe in with me?"

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. "No, I think I¡¯m going to take a stroll. Look at all these herbs!"

    Upon hearing her say so, Jiang Shuxuan nodded and walked into the mansion.

    The middle-aged man led Gu Xiqiao in, ncing at Gu Xiqiao discreetly as he did. He wasn¡¯t usually a curious person, but this was someone that Jiang Shuxuan had brought with him, after all.

    Upon feeling a gaze on her, Gu Xiqiao looked up and smiled politely at the middle-aged man.

    The man blushed in embarrassment upon being caught ncing at her, but he was even more curious about this girl. She could sense his gaze? But he didn¡¯t seem to feel any chi from her?

    Gu Xiqiao looked back at the nts in the garden, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she paced around, as if she were in deep thought about something, asionally crouching down and renting some of the herbs in another position using the hand shovel ced nearby.

    Inside the mansion.

    An old man with white hair sat cross-legged next to the low desk on the floor, and in his hand, he held a bunch of Buddhist beads with a chessboard in front of him.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked in and greeted respectfully: "n Leader Baili."

    "I¡¯m not a n leader anymore." The old man looked up, his face wrinkled from age. "Come and sit, these old bones want to finish this game of chess."

    Jiang Shuxuan sat down and reached for a white piece, and while there seemed to be no way out of the checkmate on the board, he ced the piece down on the board without any hesitation, turning the entire game from one that emanated death into one of life in a single moment.

    Baili Qu¡¯s eyes brightened before he picked up a ck piece and ced it on the board.

    Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t flustered in the least as he yed against Baili Qu, not even a change in his expression as Baili Qu drove him into a corner.

    It was said that one could see a person¡¯s character through the chess that they y, and Baili Qu sighed. "As expected of the strongest in the ancient martial arts world."

    "It¡¯s just a false reputation..." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyebrows moved slightly at the exaggerated nickname. "The people that gave me that name have never seen the true strength of the ancient martial arts world."

    "What are you being so humble for? If I was as strong as you were at your age, I would have already turned the entire ancient martial arts world upside down." Upon seeing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reaction, Baili Qu shook his head. "It¡¯s alright for you youngsters to be a little reckless, don¡¯t learn from the example of that wooden block of a father of yours."

    The next moment, Jiang Shuxuan set down another piece, blocking every step of Baili Qu with a single move.

    Baili Qu: "..."

    Baili Qu sighed and looked at this chess game that had a great turnabout, before standing up and leading Jiang Shuxuan to the living room. "Are you here because of the ranking battles?"

    "As expected of Grandpa Baili." Jiang Shuxuan stood up too.

    "Bah, enough trying to butter me up." Baili Qu sat down on the chair and poured out two cups of tea, before sighing again. "I¡¯ve used too much time and energy because of Bin¡¯er, do I seem like I have the time to care about the ancient martial arts world?"

    Jiang Shuxuan sat on the chair opposite of him. "I understand. If I see that person again on this year¡¯s battles, I¡¯ll catch him and bring him to the Baili family immediately."

    Upon hearing this, Baili Qu¡¯s expression darkened slightly. "Is there any use? What¡¯s done is done."

    The damage dealt onto Baili Bin was too vicious, to the point where even Rong Feishuang couldn¡¯t heal it.

    "By the way, did you bring that girl that¡¯s outside?" Baili Qu suddenly changed the topic.

    "Yes." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression softened slightly. "I¡¯ll introduce you when I have the chance."

    "No thank you, I don¡¯t want to get beaten up by that person from your family if I get introduced to her first!" Baili Qu didn¡¯t mind, and he asked, "She has strong mental power, which family is she from?"

    "She isn¡¯t from the ancient martial arts world." Jiang Shuxuan replied without a change in his expression.

    Baili Qu hadn¡¯t expected this answer, but if she wasn¡¯t from the ancient martial arts world, it meant that she didn¡¯t know ancient martial arts. "What a shame."

    "Grandfather Baili, I¡¯m here today for this, too." A small ss bottle appeared in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hand, and he handed it to Baili Qu. "This... Might help with those injuries of yours."

    This was a pill that he had asked Gu Xiqiao for that morning, and he was sheepish when he remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression that practically said, "Didn¡¯t you look down on my medicine? Didn¡¯t you say that you didn¡¯t want it, hm?"

    Ever since Baili Bin was impaired from the incident, Baili Qu had used a lot of his energy and even sustained internal injuries when he worked together with Rong Feishuang to save Baili Bin from the brink of death to the point where even his chi was depleted by half. In the process, his face had be wrinkled, a great contrast from before.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t know how much use Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pill would be, but he still gave it to Baili Qu in remembrance of the Baili Family¡¯s sacrifice for the ancient martial arts world.

    Baili Qu didn¡¯t think that his internal injuries could be cured, but he was still quite happy that Jiang Shuxuan had thought to give him such a gift. In any case, would Jiang Shuxuan give him just a regr item?

    "If this pill is of use to you, then please give have someone send me a message." Jiang Shuxuan stood up and prepared to leave, thinking that Gu Xiqiao might have already gotten bored by herself. "I have to rush back to the Imperial Capital, so I won¡¯t be bothering you any further."

    Baili Qu hummed. "Remember to bring that girl and show me the next time youe to visit."

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded in response.

    Outside, Gu Xiqiao was standing amidst a bunch of precious herbs and flowers in a floral skirt and a white jacket, and just by looking at the scene, it seemed like she was a fairy of the flowers that was even more eye-catching than the flowers themselves.

    Upon feeling a gaze on her, Gu Xiqiao turned around and looked over to the part of the mansion on the left, where the doors and shutters were closed tight.

    After a while, she looked back down and threw away the hand shovel in her hand.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked out of the middle part of the mansion with the middle-aged man trailing behind him.

    Gu Xiqiao looked over at the middle-aged man, before asking. "Uncle, did you nt these flowers and herbs?"

    The middle-aged man paused for a moment, before nodding, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "Yes, Miss."

    "Good, I moved some of the nts because they seemed too crowded." Gu Xiqiao smiled.

    "It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s alright."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t know what Gu Xiqiao was thinking about, exactly. She wasn¡¯t a talkative person in general and didn¡¯t want to get involved in the affairs of others, so the first thing she would do was get as far away as she could. It was strange, then, that she was so interested in these nts.

    Upon thinking of this, he nced over at the garden, and as soon as he set his eyes on the flowers, a passing nce became an outright stare.

    Gu Xiqiao spoke again, "Mister, can I have a pen and some paper?"

    The man didn¡¯t dare to ck off on a request by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯spanion, so he immediately took out the items that they used usually in their house¡ªA brush, high-quality xuan paper, and also an inkstone, but he wasn¡¯t sure whether Gu Xiqiao knew how to use the tool.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t care about it, and she had Jiang Shuxuan set down the paper while she took the brush and started drawing and writing on the paper.

    After a few minutes, she finished drawing the symbols and wrote some words at the bottom of the paper, before handing it to the middle-aged man and leaving with Jiang Shuxuan.

    The man didn¡¯t know what was drawn on the paper, but he knew how to read the words that she had written¡ªFive Elements and Eight Trigrams. These words were written fluidly and with spirit and was both bold and natural.

    Such great writing! The middle-aged man¡¯s eyes brightened slightly.

    Before he could look at it any further, however, the paper was snatched away.

    The door on the left opened with a creak, and a pale-skinned, handsome man in histe twenties came out from the mansion. The only regretful part of this scene was that he was sitting in a wheelchair, and he looked at the paper that he had taken from the middle-aged man.

    After a while, he wheeled himself around the garden and smiled excitedly. "I see, so that¡¯s it!"

    "Young master?" Ever since he was injured, Baili Bin because reclused and closed off, and this was the first time he had seen him smile since the incident.

    "Uncle Tai, I¡¯ll go see Grandfather." Baili Bin ced the piece of paper on hisp carefully before wheeling himself into the door in the middle.

    Baili Qu knew that his grandson had entered the room without even raising his head, and said, "Come look at this game of chess, see how the stalemate was broken."

    Baili Bin made his way over, and while he didn¡¯t see the process of the game, he could feel a frosty killing aura from the chess battle between the two, and it must have been an exceptional match.

    "As expected of Shuxuan, his style is hard to replicate." Baili Bin stared at the chessboard before shaking his head slightly.

    "That¡¯s true," Baili Qu looked at him and was surprised. "You seem to be in a good mood?"

    "Yes." Baili Bin took the piece of paper that Gu Xiqiao had left behind and handed it to Baili Qu. "That girl just resolved a question I had for five years."

    Baili Qu epted the piece of paper nonchntly, but as he looked at it, he was astonished and stood up immediately the chessboard that he had been preserving so meticulously scattering as he did, but he didn¡¯t feel regretful in the least as he looked at the paper with trembling hands.

    The Baili family were practitioners of seals and arrays, and the flowers and herbs in the garden were nted by Baili Bin in an array that bred life energy with life energy, which was the reason why there were so many flowers that weren¡¯t in season blooming there. In a way, the flowers and nts had created their own little world.

    That being said, since every nt had its own element and they counteracted and gave each other energy correspondingly, it was hard to achieve a bnce of the energy of the five elements to the point where the rampaging elemental energy affected the garden. Baili Bin was stumped by this problem and had been researching to no avail, and in the meantime, he could only set down a protective and stabilizing array.

    That drawing was the perfected array that they had been looking for, and the both of them immediately understood what was drawn.

    "She drew this after looking at it for such a short while?" Baili Qu asked his grandson in disbelief.

    Baili Bin nodded. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he saw the entire process with his own eyes, he wouldn¡¯t have believed it himself. He had always thought that he was gifted, but he had never expected to meet someone that was even more gifted than he was.

    "Such talent is reminiscent of a descendant of our family..." Baili Qu sighed. How had he not expected this of someone who was following Jiang Shuxuan? "She might be the descendant of a hidden master."

    "I feel..." Baili Bin pursed his lips. "That she looks like my aunt..."

    "Your cousin is at the Imperial Capital!" Baili Qu retorted. "It¡¯s one thing for her to look alike, but this talent.... If it were ten years ago, I would have taken her as my disciple."

    Baili Qu¡¯s expression was dejected as he said this. Baili Bin was considered a peerless talent back in the day that was only slightly below Jiang Shuxuan and was the irrefutable heir to the Baili family, but after he was injured and impaired, the entire Baili family was thrown into disarray.

    That girl was quite young, and with the ability to fix the Five Element and Eight Trigrams Array, she was much more talented than even Baili Bin. Now, hepletely believed it when Jiang Shuxuan said that she wasn¡¯t from the ancient martial arts world, or else she wouldn¡¯t be so nameless.

    Real gold never loses its luster, no matter where it¡¯s ced.

    ***

    Meanwhile, a certain someone didn¡¯t know that she had caused such an uproar with her drawing, and had already returned to the Imperial Capital together with Jiang Shuxuan.

    That night, she received two messages¡ªOne was the picture of the studio after all the shots of the scenes had been recorded sent by Xiao Yun. Come to think of it, from auditioning to shooting to everything in between, ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ had been in the woodworks for almost a month.

    The other message was sent by Cheng Zhou, saying that the scenes had all been edited, and asked her when she wanted to go get them.

    Since she promised to do the special effects for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s movements were quick.

    Not a while after Cheng Zhou sent her the message, his phone rang, and it was a young man on the other side. "Director Cheng, Miss Gu told me to get the film from you. I¡¯m outside your home right now."

    He opened the door and handed the film to the young man, sighing in slight dejection. "I thought that girl would havee and gotten it herself, honestly."

    He had even gotten the movie editors to work faster and give him the results as soon as they could, and he had told her as soon as he got his hands on the film!

    "Director Cheng, ording to Miss Gu¡¯s degree ofziness..." Yu Ning said upon finding someone with the same sentiments as him. "You really thought too much about it."

    Cheng Zhou remembered his own plights in dealing with Gu Xiqiao and pat Yu Ning¡¯s shoulder like arade. "Young man, you really understand."

    Yu Ning smiled before taking out a bunch of papers and handing it to him. "Right, this is the script that she wanted me to give you."

    Cheng Zhou epted the script before chatting with the other for a while and settling down to read through the script after sending Yu Ning on his way.

    In honesty, he only epted to direct this film because he owed Gu Xiqiao a favor, and also because he wanted her to act in another movie as the female lead. He didn¡¯t have many expectations for the film that she wanted to invest in.

    He had never expected the script to be on par with the top scripts in the industry, and so he flipped through the script again and again.

    The next morning, he announced that he would be opening auditions for his new film.

    As soon as this news came out, the entire entertainment industry was shocked. Didn¡¯t this entric director always rest for a year or two after one work? Why was he so productive this year?

    That being said, a lot of them were also intrigued by the opportunity.

    Gu Xiqiao got a call from Xiao Yun. "Er Qiao, I just found something out."

    "What is it?" Gu Xiqiao asked on her way to A University, having finally regained her conscience.

    Xiao Yun thought for a bit, before speaking, "I saw that Peng Zixian was going to join the auditions too."

    Upon hearing this name, Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps. "Well, it alles down to personal ability."

    "That¡¯s not the point." Xiao Yun lowered her voice slightly and continued: "Brother Kun said that Peng Zixian isn¡¯t a regr person that only stepped into the entertainment industry because she was interested in it, without telling anyone her true identity. Apparently she wanted to see where she could get with just raw talent."

    With just raw talent? If that was the case, then she shouldn¡¯t have spread this news in the first ce.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. "No worries, let her impress Director Cheng with that raw talent of hers if she can."

    She had already arrived at theb, and after greeting some familiar faces, she hung up and walked in to see Zhu Yuan¡¯s using expression.

 Chapter 157 Where did you Get This Counterfeit, Brother Jiang?

    <h4>Chapter 157 Where did you Get This Counterfeit, Brother Jiang?</h4>

    As one of the seniors came up to Gu Xiqiao with a bunch of reports, the others finally reacted, and in a single moment, she was sessfully surrounded by a bunch of seniors.

    Lin Xia walked onto such a scene when he came in with arge stack of research data. He had gone abroad a few days earlier for an exchange program, but when he came back and realized that Zhu Yuan had given a lecture, he felt as if he had lost a million yuan. If he knew that Zhu Yuan woulde back to give a lecture, he wouldn¡¯t have gone so far away.

    Thankfully, there were recordings of the lecture that he watched again and again, and the patents that he talked about in the video gave him great inspiration. Whenever he had any questions, he would ask Zhu Yuan.

    Even though Zhu Yuan had great achievements, he wasn¡¯t as high and mighty as everyone rumored him to be, and gave him the answers that he knew of.

    He was quite shocked upon seeing the bunch of research students swarm to Gu Xiqiao like bees.

    "Don¡¯t be too surprised, thatzy panda has finallye back to theb after such a long time, so of course everyone would gather around her like that. Who knows when she woulde back next?" After Zhu Yuan said so, he knocked on the table and shouted. "Hey, give her some space and leave once you¡¯ve gotten an answer, I need some time with her too!"

    The first sentence was said to Lin Xia, while the next was said to the feeding frenzy of research students that had surrounded Gu Xiqiao.

    Lin Xia stood there in slight awe at the scene. He knew that Gu Xiqiao was talented and had researched the way to carry out cell fusion that even he was stumped with, but how did her poprity boost like this in the few days that he was gone?

    The research students in theb were some of the smartest in A University and were all quite well known even outside the university. They were all quite prideful in their daily lives, but now they all didn¡¯t care about their dignity at all just for a chance to ask Gu Xiqiao a question first?

    How did the world change so quickly in such a few days?

    Lin Xia made a mental note to greet herter on as he set down the papers on the desk, before handing the report in his hand to Zhu Yuan. "Senior Zhu, this is a report that Professor Jiang let me see yesterday, but I don¡¯t understand a lot of it..."

    Professor Jiang told him to ask Zhu Yuan as many questions as he could in the time that he was here before he disappeared again.

    Zhu Yuan took the report and realized that Lin Xia was quite studious and diligent, marking all the points that confused him and making remarks with a red pen.

    Practically the entire report was marked in such a way, however, and after being with Gu Xiqiao for such a long time, Zhu Yuan felt as if he was infected by herziness too. Rubbing his head, he looked at Lin Xia. "You know where this report is from, right?"

    "This came out together with a video that went viral in the medical industry right? My friend from America sent a copy to me too, and I hear that it was tranted into many differentnguages too..." Upon saying this, Lin Xia chuckled. "But I can¡¯t imagine that to be an easy job, honestly."

    Many foreign doctors questioned the viability of this report, but they couldn¡¯t refute the truth of the report either.

    In any case, Chinese was anguage that had thousands of years of history and was broad and profound, and it was difficult to get the proper meaning through trantion.

    "Tch, how could they try to peer on our research without even learning Chinese?" Zhu Yuan raised his eyebrows. "If you knew that it was from China, then how could you have not recognized that the person in the video was her?"

    Zhu Yuan pointed at Gu Xiqiao, and Lin Xia blinked dumbly before he asked, "You mean Junior Gu?"

    It was true that he felt a sense of familiarity when he watched the video, but he didn¡¯t think much of it. Even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t have thought of Gu Xiqiao. She was just a freshman in A University, after all, and a clinical student at that.

    No matter how talented she was and how outstanding her grades were, it didn¡¯t cover up the fact that she was just a freshman that hadn¡¯t evene to theb a handful of times.

    It waspletely unbelievable to Lin Xia that she could write such a report.

    "Junior?" Zhu Yuan finally remembered that Gu Xiqiao was actually very much younger than he was, and he grumbled. "Why else do you think everyone is swarming around her like that? What a bunch of brats! Wait here, I have a few questions that I need her help with too."

    Lin Xia looked over at Gu Xiqiao, who looked as nonchnt as always, and from the angle that he was looking at her, he could only see her side profile that looked like a painting.

    No matter how mature she seemed, she was still extremely young.

    When he was at this age, he was probably still reveling in the admiration of the other students, but he didn¡¯t have such an achievement.

    Upon hearing the same questions, she raised her hand and made a pressing motion in the air.

    Even though she was thin and petite, she had a leader¡¯s aura, and in a single moment, everyone looked at her with full attention, not saying a word.

    "First of all, how did you guys know that it was me?" This was the part that Gu Xiqiao was the most confused about. In the video, she wore a surgical mask, and the only part of her face that could be seen was her eyes. Besides that, the video was most of her hands and Wang Jincheng.

    Immediately, everyone betrayed Zhu Yuan. "Senior Zhu told us!"

    F*ck! With a tug at her lip, she looked over at Zhu Yuan with a grudgeful gaze, before looking back at the research students. "I know everyone has a lot of questions, so I¡¯llpile some files... Is everyone in a group chat?"

    "Aaahhh! I¡¯ll make one right now on Wechat!" A girl immediately took our her phone and struggled to get close to Gu Xiqiao to get her ount ID, before adding everyone into the group.

    The girl¡¯s reaction was so quick that once everyone else btedly realized that she had her hands on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s contact!

    Everyone: How sly!!

    After getting everything settled with, Gu Xiqiao walked over to Zhu Yuan, who stood up and let her have the seat. "Here!"

    Gu Xiqiao made a document on theputer and started typing quickly, the keyboard cking like rain as she typed. Even Zhu Yuan felt tired looking at her type, so he only looked away and waited for her to finish patiently.

    Lin Xia stood at a side and waited until Gu Xiqiao finished typing the document before asking tentatively, "Junior Gu, did you really do that operation?"

    "No, of course not." Gu Xiqiao looked up at him. "I only applied some needles and found the antibacterial virus, the dean was the one that cut away all the rotten meat and stuff."

    Lin Xia felt relieved upon hearing the first part of the answer, but as she talked, he almost choked on his own spit.

    Gu Xiqiao printed out the document that she typed out, and looked over it a few times before handing it to Zhu Yuan. "There, remember to send one in the group. I¡¯ll be returning to my dorm room."

    He was convinced that she would definitely disappear for a while again after leaving, so Zhu Yuan said, "Wait, the cell fusion release conference ising soon! I¡¯ll send you the details through email, you have to make an appearance at the news conference!"

    "Make an appearance? Me?" Gu Xiqiao heard this and red at Zhu Yuan. "If you dare drag me there, we won¡¯t be friends anymore!"

    Zhu Yuan: "..."

    F*ck! Such a chance to be renowned was just a dream for others, but she didn¡¯t even have the slightest interest in it!

    "Didn¡¯t we already discuss this, Senior Zhu? You make an appearance at the press conference since you worked hard on this project too, and you can write both our names on the patent, how perfect!" Gu Xiqiao patted his shoulder. "Work hard, I have high hopes of you."

    Zhu Yuan stared at her leaving figure before rubbing his face expressionlessly, before looking at Lin Xia that was dumbfounded at the side. "Stop looking, she¡¯s someone that disappears whenever she likes. She¡¯s going to be gone for a week, minimum."

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao returned to the dorm, where two of the beds were already empty.

    Bai Xinran was diagnosed with dementia, and her belongings were already taken away by the Bai family.

    Meanwhile, Sun Jiajia¡¯s family came to go drop her out of school a few days ago, saying that she had to go back to the countryside and get married.

    Upon mentioning this, Xu Jing couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud. "You should have seen her face when Sun Jiajia came with her mom! What augh!"

    "She was originally a joke, anyway." Gu Xiqiaomented.

    Xu Jing: I have lost in the art of the poison tongue \u003e\u003c

    "Hey, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you about this, but I feel like I forgot something from that time I ate with the both of you..." Xu Jing mentioned, her expression serious.

    Gu Xiqiao looked through her luggage before taking out herptop and switching it on, clicking on the icon of a game. "Did you forget how much you ate? You probably ate two bowls of rice!"

    Xu Jing: "Nonsense!"

    Gu Xiqiao nced at her. "Maybe I forgot something too?"

    Xu Jing rolled her eyes. "Fine, enough about that. Did youe back today just to y games in the dorm?" She hadn¡¯t been to ss for many days, right?

    "My holiday, my rules." Gu Xiqiao stretchedzily. "But I have to go to the studioter."

    "The studio?" Xu Jing asked interestedly.

    "The audition site for ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯." Gu Xiqiao looked at the time. If she didn¡¯t get there soon, Director Cheng would probably want tomit murder.

    Xu Jing didn¡¯t have sses today, and the news of the film had been a hot topic on the inte, and now that Gu Xiqiao was going there, she asked curiously, "Could you bring family with you?"

    "I can bring my pets." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin and replied.

    Xu Jing: "..."

    ***

    At the audition site for ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯.

    "Miss, are you here for the audition? Please make your way there." The attendant at the entrance was enthralled by the sudden appearance of a beauty that was rare even in the entertainment industry.

    "Thank you."

    Such a beauty that didn¡¯t have any signs of stic surgery, and not even any makeup! This wasn¡¯t scientific! How could she have not heard of such a person before?

    Cheng Zhou had always been serious in overseeing auditions, and this time around he had even gotten Su Wu and another one of his old friends to help him out. Gu Xiqiao was the only sponsor this time around, so he had more freedom on choosing actors without getting swayed by any other sponsors.

    The person that was auditioning now was Peng Zixian, for the role of the secondary female protagonist.

    Cheng Zhou only looked at her acting for a moment before his eyebrows furrowed noticeably. It was true that there were a lot of people that didn¡¯t know how to act in the industry, but it was rare for such a person to show up at his audition!

    Peng Zixian finished her audition and stepped back, looking at Cheng Zhou politely.

    Cheng Zhou had wanted to wave her away, but his old friend suddenly scooted close and whispered. "Old Cheng, this girl is from the Peng family."

    The Peng family? Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyebrows furrowed even more. "Are you sure?"

    "It¡¯s just rumored, but apparently she wants to make a name for herself in the industry, so I think you should take notice of this."

    Cheng Zhou nodded, before looking back at Peng Zixian. "Go back and wait for further notification."

    As soon as Peng Zixian stepped out, her manager came up to her. "Zixian, how was it?"

    "I don¡¯t know..." Peng Zixian shook her head and recalled Cheng Zhou¡¯s cold expression. "I think Director Cheng didn¡¯t like my acting, and there are some actresses that are more popr than I am auditioning for the role."

    "Do I have to tell Young Master to give this crew a call?" The manager asked.

    "I already told you that I wanted to make a name for myself with my own ability, so don¡¯t." Peng Zixian¡¯s tone was cold. "Director Cheng hates people that go through the back door."

    "He hates that?" The manager scoffed. "Who doesn¡¯t know that the actress for the main female character this time around has been decided beforehand? Who knows how much money they gave the crew?"

    "Stop talking!" Peng Zixian led the manager away upon seeing someone in the distance.

    Upon seeing that it was Gu Xiqiao, she blinked before smiling at her politely.

    In response, Gu Xiqiao nodded at her.

    "Wasn¡¯t that the amateur that pushed you down from the role of Princess Qixiast time?" Peng Zixian¡¯s manager spoke again. ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ had been very popr even though it hadn¡¯t premiered yet, and it brought up the poprity of two newbies in the industry too.

    "Yes, that¡¯s her..." Peng Zixian nodded.

    "The internally decided main actress must be her!" The manager eximed through gritted teeth. "Who knows what dirty rtionship she has with Director Cheng?"

    "No, I saw her enter a luxury carst time, and it didn¡¯t seem like something that Director Cheng could afford..."

    "Then there¡¯s even more of a problem!" The manager¡¯s heart of gossip started burning. She knew of all of the youngdies in rich families in the Imperial Capital, but she had never heard of such a person!

    Peng Zixian only nced at her, not saying a word.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Jiang Shuxuan received a call from Baili Qu.

    "Shuxuan, this pill you gave me... It really worked!" Baili Qu¡¯s voice was trembling through the phone.

    This was the first time he felt a sign of healing his internal injuries after eight years.

    "That¡¯s good, I¡¯ll have another bottle of the pills sent to you tomorrow." Since the pill could increase one¡¯s ancient martial arts stage, Jiang Shuxuan already guessed that it would be of use to Baili Qu. "Grandfather Baili, Doctor Rong is going toe back in a few days. Ask him whether there is any way to cure youpletely with the help of these pills."

    Baili Qu¡¯s internal injuries were extremely deeply rooted to the point where Rong Feishuang felt guilty that he could help neither the grandfather nor the grandson, so he just went abroad.

    "If he knows about this, he¡¯ll definitelye back immediately!" Baili Qu knew of Rong Feishuang¡¯s tendency to value medicine over everything else. "Shuxuan, I know that the pills are precious, and I don¡¯t have anything good on hand, but I have an ancient array book. None of us could understand it after so many years, and that girl that tails behind you has great talent, so how about I give this to you as a gift?"

    That book was left behind by the ancestors of the Baili family, and even Baili Bin that was renowned as the most talented one in their family could only understand one-tenth of the book.

    Gu Xiqiao was truly gifted, and Baili Qu came to this decision after mulling over it for a long time. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gift was too precious, after all, so there weren¡¯t many things that the Baili family could gift him back in return.

    He hadn¡¯t expected Baili Qu to gift him such a thing.

    Jiang Shuxuan was quite surprised, and after he hung up, he received the yellowed book from a descendant of the Baili family.

    That night when he returned home, he gave the book to Gu Xiqiao solemnly.

    Upon seeing his expression, Gu Xiqiao looked over the entire book seriously, before blinking and flipping through it again, her eyelid twitching slightly. "Brother Jiang, where did you get this counterfeit? I have the real thing right here, do you want it?"

 Chapter 158 Level Up Success, Film Crew Faces An Obstacle

    <h4>Chapter 158 Level Up Sess, Film Crew Faces An Obstacle</h4>

    The book¡¯s yellowed pages reflected its age. Be that as it may, it was still a well-preserved book. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was solemn when she held it in her hands. She knew that keeping this book must¡¯ve been no easy feat. Though, she quickly detected something off upon flipping through its pages.

    She had read through countless books in the virtual space of the system. Many ancient books and scriptures were stored in it and she had read through most of them, regardless of the literature¡¯s category.

    There was nothing wrong when she scanned through the first few pages of the book. However, it soon became obvious that someone had tampered with the middle part of the book. It¡¯s fine when you¡¯re just reading it for educational purposes but if someone was actually cultivating themselves ording to its contents, a lifetime¡¯s worth of effort would go down the drain, just like that.

    Jiang Shuxuan was in a state of disbelief after hearing what Gu Xiqiao said. "How do you know it¡¯s fake?"

    This was an ancient piece of literature from thousands of years ago, handed down the Baili family through countless generations; it was their religion. There were no problems with it in the past so why did Gu Xiqiao im that it was a fake the moment she held it?

    Jiang Shuxuan began flipping through the book. Despite being well-read about formations, he scratched his head at what was wrong with the book.

    "Brother Jiang, you should stop reading that book. I swear, it¡¯s really a fake." If it wasn¡¯t for her seeing the real one herself, she would not realize that this was a fake.

    Slowly, Jiang Shuxuan lowered the book he was holding. Jiang Shuxuan denied the possibility of this book being tampered with the moment she made that im. Why? Number one, even if someone was plotting to do such a thing, no way that rascal would daremit such a sin under his watchful eyes. Number two, this book was incredibly old; it was near impossible to be able to replicate parts to match up with the rest of the book itself.

    After eliminating these possibilities, he was left with one single exnation¡ªthe book was a fake from the very beginning. If this was true, then the ancestors of the Baili family must¡¯ve been deceived by some great power. The tampering seemed so perfect that even he was unable to distinguish between what was real and what was false. Apart from the almighty ones, no one else could pull this off so wlessly.

    A false ancient scripture. No wonder the Baili family was unable to rise up and be a member of the ¡¯big three¡¯ families in the ancient martial arts world in the past millennium. Perhaps it was due to its existence that their family was cursed to eternal stagnation.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s heart skipped a beat. "You¡¯re not joking are you?"

    Gu Xiqiao wanted to say that the real one was kept within the system¡¯s virtual space but because it was currently still in the middle of leveling up. Perhaps the time has finallye for her to do this. "Let me think where the real one¡¯s at."

    Jiang Shuxuan shot her a nce. "I¡¯ll inform Grandpa Baili immediately."

    "Be more gentle when you speak, alright? It¡¯s bad to shock older people." Gu Xiqiao reminded him. Seeing how well-preserved this book was, no doubt, the Baili family must¡¯ve ced incredible importance on it.

    How could descendants of a millennium-old family ever doubt the legitimacy of a book that was passed down through generations by their ancestors? If anything, they would only doubt their own abilities.

    Jiang Shuxuan picked up his phone and went into his study room. Since he was the one who unveiled the book¡¯s dirty secret, the responsibility of dealing with it naturally fell on his shoulders.

    Gu Xiqiao followed him upstairs. Though, she went straight back to her room to take a shower.

    A cold, robotic voice suddenly echoed through her mind.

    "[Ding! System has sessfully levelled up! Congrattions to the host for obtaining [Evolution Talisman*1] for the Virtual Arena!]"

    "[Ding! Congrattions to the host for sessfully reaching the Elite Level! System reward: 500 points!]"

    "[Ding! Congrattions to the host forpleting a random mission! System reward: 300 points!]"

    "[Ding! Congrattions to the host forpleting a daily mission! System reward: 20 points!]"

    "[Ding! Congrattions to the host forpleting a random mission! System reward: 100 points!]"

    Finally, a level up.

    In the bathroom, Gu Xiqiao wrapped herself with a bathrobe.

    She wiped the condensation off the mirror and squinted to look at her own reflection. A pair of ink dark eyes stared back at her. Her face, which had been sprayed with steaming hot water, appeared clear and bright. Her pale, colorless lips were now a deep shade of red. Silently, she wiped the surface of the mirror with her delicate, pale fingers.

    [Beauty Qiao, stop being so silent. I¡¯m scared when you¡¯re all serious like that,] said the system, who was crouched down in the virtual space. The moment felt like this was its first time returning to this world.

    Gu Xiqiao slowly pulled the bathrobe up, covering her corbones. Her head was lowered and hershes were trembling slightly. Finally, when she raised her head, a serene expression returned to her face. Pushing the bathroom door open, she sighed. "Little system, you have no idea how much I missed you. Life without you was pure hell."

    The system¡¯s beady eyes lit up the moment it heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. It was so moved that it flew out from its space. It was about to express how much it missed her too but pulled the brakes after hearing what Gu Xiqiao had to say after that. "It¡¯s a major hassle, having to look things up on the inte myself."

    "..."

    The system was speechless.

    ¡¯F*ck!¡¯ It thought to itself.

    What a waste of emotions. In the end, you¡¯re still azy slob and nothing more.

    Gu Xiqiao dried her hair with the towel. She peered up at the system floating in mid-air, at its icy-blue hair, its transparent wings and those crystal-clear eyes. It was then that Gu Xiqiao realized how pretty it was. That made her change her tone instantly, as it would be disrespectful to continue speaking the way she normally would. "Little system, have your restrictions been lowered after leveling up?"

    The system pped its wings and circled around Gu Xiqiao before opening its mouth. "Has my body be more solid?"

    The voice echoing through the air sounded soft and cute. Gu Xiqiao thought to herself, if the system could continue appearing right in front of her, she would cease teasing it endlessly.

    "Yeah, a bit."

    "..."

    "I will love you much more from now on," added Gu Xiqiao with a smile.

    "... I¡¯ve checked the database," said the system expressionlessly. "I think I have a hunch on finding out the secrets behind the virtual space as well as my existence."

    Gu Xiqiao raised her brows upon hearing this. "Tell me about it."

    "I seem to be a living entity, from a much more advanced world..." The system¡¯s gaze was a little listless. "Beauty Qiao, your spection might turn out to be true. This virtual space isn¡¯t as simple as it may look on the surface."

    What the system did not say was that this domain might possibly belong to an almighty one from a long long time ago.

    This was against thews of nature. With this, Gu Xiqiao could shape her own fate with her own two hands, she could even alter the flow of time if she wanted to. Its own very existence remained a mystery. For some reason, it could feel that a part of its memory was locked away. Perhaps it would have to level up before the truth can be uncovered. And so, it refrained from revealing too much to Gu Xiqiao. She was far from being powerful enough; nothing good woulde out of telling her about this.

    "Beauty Qiao, you must continue hoarding points. Increase your power." The system¡¯s tone suddenly turned dead serious. In order to face uncertainties the future would bring, it must safeguard Beauty Qiao at all costs.

    Gu Xiqiao nced back at it. "You should issue more missions then."

    After that, she let out a sigh. "It¡¯s been over half a month and levelling up in ancient martial arts seems almost impossible."

    The system: "Have you been cking off?!"

    "Aren¡¯t you the one who forced me into acting?" asked Gu Xiqiao while she red at the system.

    "... this isn¡¯t an excuse forzing around."

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. "Maybe I¡¯ve reached a bottleneck."

    "Then next month it is! If you don¡¯t level up by then, don¡¯t even think about ordering me around like a dog!" The system spirit threatened.

    "Don¡¯t do that," Gu Xiqiao rose up. Her face was all serious. Without the system, there would be no joy in her life. "I will work hard and level up by the end of next month."

    People from the ancient martial arts world typically would spend 8-10 years trying to achieve what Gu Xiqiao was nning toplete in a month. No doubt, they would feel like strangling Gu Xiqiao if they ever heard her conversation with the system.

    Half a months¡¯ time? Wasn¡¯t it incredibly normal for people to not level up after ten whole years?!

    "Help me find a book." Gu Xiqiao suddenly remembered this issue. She searched her memory before repeating a name to the system.

    Just as she finished saying its name, an ancient-looking book materialized in front of her. It was almost identical to the one from before, that Jiang Shuxuan showed her but this one was exuding a bizarre aura, like a forbidden treasure would.

    Gu Xiqiao knew that this book itself was where a formation was located. The moment you turn over the first page, your mental ability would be fully immersed in its contents. Without the need to flip the pages over, you would still be able to understand what was written in its pages. This was a testament of how brilliant its creator was. It was also how she was able to make out that the book Jiang Shuxuan gave her was a fake copy.

    "Beauty Qiao, did you not read this one thest time? There are others simr to this, would you like me to get them for you?" Right after the system said that, books started falling from mid-air.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at them briefly before responding. "Leave them here. I¡¯ll use them to smack whoever that pisses me off in the future."

    "..."

    The phone at her bedside table rang. Picking it up, Gu Xiqiao discovered that it was a message from Cheng Zhou.

    Cheng Zhou: "Little Gu, I just wanted to discuss with you about the second female lead. That Peng Zixian, do you think I should pick her?"

    Gu Xiqiao figured that Cheng Zhou probably was aware of the rumors about Peng Zixian. It wasn¡¯t the business part about her family that was scary. It was her family¡¯s ties to politics that terrified him. A phone call to the right department and the film project, regardless of what it was about, would grind to a halt without questions asked. This was probably the thing that worried Cheng Zhou.

    For A Millenium: "If she isn¡¯t relying on her own abilities, then make her."

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s brows remained furrowed after seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reply. It was easy for her to say that. Considering how someone from ¡¯up above¡¯ has already spoken out about the matter, he had no choice but to give Peng Zixian some face.

    Cheng Zhou was going to call Gu Xiqiao directly but she sent him another message before he could do that.

    For A Millenium: "Director Zhou, pick whoever you think fits the roles best. There¡¯s no need to fear any other thing. Leave the rest to me. I am aware of Peng Zixian¡¯s background. Even if someone decides to back her up, they would not dare to make a move against anyone in the film crew."

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s hands trembled after reading Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reply. He lit up a cigarette and began a contemtion session. He was aware of who Peng Zixian was and it was precisely because of that, that he was struggling to make a decision. The rtionship between forces in the Imperial Capital was nothing short ofplex. What he feared most were families who had participated in the war that founded their nation. These people wielded great power. Even billionaires were not as terrifying as these people.

    Peng Zixian was one of their descendants.

    So why was Gu Xiqiao so confident that Peng Zixian wouldn¡¯t dare mess with the film crew, even with someone behind her back? Cheng Zhou understood that Gu Xiqiao was no bag of wind so could it possibly mean that she has something up her sleeve? Just what kind of a person was she?

    Cheng Zhou couldn¡¯t figure it out no matter how hard he tried. He then remembered the man who had apanied her to the filming set. For even Xiang Kun to be wary around him, he must be someone who possessed formidable authority.

    On the second day, Cheng Zhou received a call. "Hello Director Cheng, my name¡¯s Mu Zong. Miss Gu has asked me to speak to you about the next joint-project. We have already prepared the costumes and the funds are limitless. It is up to you howrge the budget will be. Though, you will have to pick on your own, which filming studio you will be using."

    "..."

    He should¡¯ve known that Gu Xiqiao would never handle matters herself.

    He was moved the moment he heard from Mu Zong that the funds would be limitless. How on earth did he manage to find such a great sponsor?

    The director and Mu Zong began discussing the project after meeting up. Cheng Zhou thought that his counterpart was just an ordinary middle-aged man.

    It was until a weekter that he read a financial news report about Mu Zong. The finance paper was a pretty significant entity and yet this report about him took up almost one-quarter of the entire paper. It was then that Cheng Zhou realized Mu Zong was the man behind all the ruckus caused by Nine Heavens in the Imperial Capital recently.

    Auditions for the cast of River¡¯s Lake had already ended. The actors and actresses chosen to star in this film were all ording to Cheng Zhou¡¯s personal tastes. In the end, Peng Zixian was not chosen as the second female lead. Many had their popcorn ready in anticipation of a spectacr show following this. They shook their heads at how foolish Cheng Zhou was. You could choose to hold your ground any other day but you still have to give Peng Zixian some face.

    And yet, Cheng Zhou continued doing things ¡¯his way¡¯, which prompted another close friend of his, who was also a director to talk some sense into him. "Old Cheng, didn¡¯t I remind you that this is Peng Zixian we¡¯re talking about. You can¡¯t just leave her hanging like this! Did you ignore what I said?"

    Cheng Zhou understood that his friend was just concerned about him. He lifted his coffee cup up to his lips while smiling.

    "Our boss promised to handle this issue."

    "How on earth is she going to do that?! Is your boss retarded?!" His friend started suspecting that Cheng Zhou must¡¯ve developed Alzheimer¡¯s. "Cheng Zhou, you absolutely must understand that there are powerful figures behind Peng Zixian. If things go on like this, you¡¯ll be nothing but a homeless pauper the next time I meet you!"

    The old boys in the entertainment industry knew precisely what Cheng Zhou¡¯s friend was talking about. Upon seeing the obsessive look in Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes, they couldn¡¯t help but let out a huge sigh. What a shame that the entertainment industry would be losing one more talented director.

    It was at this moment that another problem presented itself. The actor who was supposed to y the second male lead suddenly announced that he was refusing to work in this project. His excuse was that his schedule was too tightly packed. However, Cheng Zhou saw through his lie. That actor must¡¯ve thought that this movie, like a stillborn child, would end up failing even before it waspleted.

    "Mu Xing, this is Director Cheng¡¯s film you¡¯re talking about. Many pray hard and still fail tond a role in his films. What¡¯s more, your role is guaranteed to build up your fanbase. No doubt, you¡¯d be famous overnight. It¡¯s no easy job, impressing him so why are you turning this opportunity down?" The manager was shocked by the look in Mu Xing¡¯s eyes.

    Mu Xingughed mockingly. He pointed at the top of his head. "What second male lead are you talking about. I¡¯ve just caught wind that Cheng Zhou¡¯s pissed some big shot off. This crew¡¯s done for I tell you. You think I¡¯m just gonna sit here on this sinking ship?"

 Chapter 159 A Slap To The Face

    <h4>Chapter 159 A p To The Face</h4>

    "Director Cheng¡¯s call..." The manager¡¯s cell phone started ringing abruptly. He nced down at the screen before back up at Mu Xing. "What should I do now?"

    "What you should do now? Answer the phone of course!" Mu Xing¡¯s gaze was mocking. "Tell him that my schedule¡¯s way too packed."

    "But, Li Yu¡¯s also in the cast." The manager found it odd that Mu Xing was the only one who knew about this. Considering how important Li Yu was, he should have been aware about this from the very start. "I didn¡¯t receive news of him leaving the cast."

    "They¡¯re fools, I ain¡¯t one," replied Mu Xing in a whisper. "Not a lot of people know about this. I was informed about this by an important person that I met not long ago. Anyhow, just wait around and you¡¯ll see that they won¡¯t even make it past their project¡¯s starting ceremony."

    The manager went silent upon hearing that. What Mu Xing said was convincing enough that he took it as the truth.

    He answered the phone call and had a polite exchange with Cheng Zhou. In any case, muddy water absolutely mustn¡¯t be allowed to mix with soup!

    It didn¡¯t matter if they had to pay a hefty fine.

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s old pal looked at him with a sympathetic expression the moment he hung up the call. "What are you gonna do? Now that you¡¯ve lost your second male lead."

    "Old Liu, would you like to join this project? You¡¯ve read the script and you¡¯ve even praised it. Come join me, there¡¯s a vacant spot for an assistant director," asked Cheng Zhou to his friend.

    Old Liu gritted his teeth. Indeed, he had read the script and he felt bad thinking about the project¡¯s impending doom. "You know what? To hell with it! I¡¯m in!" He was really looking forward to working on this project. If they were joining forces, no way their adversary could topple them both, right?

    After working in the entertainment industry for so long, they had built up a robustwork of connections.

    "I knew you would say yes!" eximed Cheng Zhou with a beaming smile.

    Old Liu looked painfully at Cheng Zhou. How on earth was Old Cheng able to stay so calm? The fire was already scorching his brows and yet he didn¡¯t seem to mind it one bit. ¡¯Perhaps I have willingly jumped into a trap this time¡¯, he thought to himself.

    "Old Cheng, remember to save some space for me when we¡¯re out begging on the streets."

    "Ain¡¯t no way that¡¯s happening!" said Cheng Zhou as he patted Old Liu¡¯s shoulder. "Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll show you our film crew. Our budget¡¯s astronomical so you¡¯ll definitely love it!"

    Old Liu left with Cheng Zhou listlessly. His brain did not register what Cheng Zhou was saying. All he could think about was the issue involving Peng Zixian.

    Cheng Zhou drove all the way to where they were going to film their movie. They had just started renting the ce this morning. Because the studio was the only one in the Imperial Capital that had intricately-made artificial structures, the rent for this ce was through the roof. Usually, this ce was used for huge blockbuster projects only.

    Old Liu was stunned after stepping out of the car. "You robbed the bank or something?"

    "You¡¯re the only one who could do that!" Cheng Zhou red at him briefly before a smug look resurfaced on his face. "Our partners have already promised us limitless funding. We can use as much money as we want. You know what sorta person I am. If I have the money, I¡¯ll use it to get the very best results!"

    "Then what about profits?" Old Liu felt as if he had arrived at the wrong ce. Was this a scam?

    "No, I¡¯m not doing this for money." Yu Ning popped into Cheng Zhou¡¯s mind. "I¡¯m doing this to kiss someone¡¯s ass."

    "You¡¯re spending this much just to kiss an ass?" Old Liu looked at all the top-of-the-line equipment being operated by the film crew. He was shocked beyond words. It felt like he was looking at people who had just turned into overnight millionaires after selling their real estate. "How dare you use such trickery!"

    "You think I¡¯m that type of person?" Cheng Zhou paused for a moment to think about it. He really was the sort of person Old Liu was talking about. Still, he continued speaking. "Well that person fits what I have in mind like a hand in glove. You¡¯ll get it when you see her. I can guarantee you that it¡¯ll be worth it, kissing her ass. I¡¯m telling ya, she¡¯s perfect in both looks as well as acting skills."

    Cheng Zhou then went silent when Gu Xiqiao popped into his mind.

    Most of the crew were already present by now. Apart from the staff members, even the male and female leads had all arrived on set.

    A beautiful girl reading her script intently caught Old Liu¡¯s eyes immediately. From time to time, she would look up and speak to the young man beside her. Judging from her demeanor, she seemed like an easygoing person. On the other hand, Li Yu, the male lead, was waving his glowing sword around. Apart from them, there were a couple of other celebrities here too. Though, they weren¡¯t as popr as the aforementioned ones. They were all standing around speaking. Some would even crack jokes andugh; none of them seemed particrly tense.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s anyone else but why is Li Yu acting like this too? Is he unaware of you disagreement with Peng Zixian?" Old Liu could no longer suppress his curiosity.

    Cheng Zhou responded with augh. "You¡¯ve been working in this field for so long now, don¡¯t tell me you still think Li Yu¡¯s a simpleton?"

    Old Liu started thinking about his exchanges with Li Yu. He had a likeable personality but not much was known about his personal background. And so, Old Liu shook his head.

    "..."

    ¡¯Then I guess there isn¡¯t much I can say, is there?¡¯ thought Cheng Zhou to himself.

    They were supposed to hold an opening ceremony today to mark the start of their project. However, because of the second male lead¡¯s unexpected withdrawal, the ceremony was held back by half an hour. Cheng Zhou made a call and assured everyone that he would handle this issue himself; the ceremony will still be held.

    Old Liu was surprised to discover how orderly everyone was acting. Still, he couldn¡¯t help but steal nces at the actress whom his pal said was the one they were sucking up to. She looked like a seasoned actress and her temperament seemed well too. However, he had yet to see her act. For Cheng Zhou to praise her skills, she must¡¯ve been a real convincing actress.

    Noticing that someone was looking at her, Ning Qing put down her script and rose from her seat immediately. "Director Liu!"

    "Yeah, I presume you¡¯re Ning Qing?" Without making the entire situation awkward and tense, Old Liu started speaking immediately. "That male lead has left it seems."

    "That¡¯s right, Director Cheng¡¯s informed me about this a while ago," replied Ning Qing as she nodded. Then, she stepped forward and whispered into Old Liu¡¯s ear: "He said that we were destined to fail after angering Peng Zixian. Mu Xing left the cast right shortly after the incident."

    "..."

    ¡¯Why are you so calm even after knowing this?¡¯ Old Liu wondered to himself.

    As if she could read his mind, Ning Qing answered his question before Old Liu could even open his mouth. "Of course, I have faith in our boss."

    Just who on earth has given you such arge pair of bollocks? Old Liu stopped himself in the nick of time from asking her this question. As Li Yu entered his view, the assistant director¡¯s eyes remained fixated on the man the entire time. Chuckling, Li Yu reminded Old Liu, "Director Liu, the ceremony¡¯s starting now. What are you waiting for? Director Cheng¡¯s gonna start cursing us out any moment now."

    Since they were already well-acquainted with each other, the both of them conversed as they walked over to the area where the opening ceremony was being held.

    In the end, Li Yu pointed at the studio. "I expected your doubts to clear up aftering here."

    Here? Old Liu scanned his surroundings. Apart from a more massive expenditure, nothing in particr was out of the ordinary. Suddenly, he froze in his tracks. A ray of light shone through his mind. That must be it! This studio! It probably belonged to the state!

    ***

    The Peng family. A young man answered a call. "Zijie, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you but the person we¡¯re up against has a pretty solid background himself. Do you know who¡¯s backing them up?"

    Peng Zijie flicked the ash hanging off the end of his cigarette. "Who? Tell me."

    "Nine Heavens!" The voice on the other end of the line suddenly sounded more grave. "It¡¯s that Nine Heavens that ended the entire Bai family! You¡¯re involved with the military, aren¡¯t you? You might not know about this but you have to trust me. I really don¡¯t have any way to do this."

    "The Bai family?" Peng Zijie raised the pitch of his voice. "That Bai family? The business one?"

    The person on the other end of the line understood what Peng Zijie was trying to imply. "I know that you¡¯re gonna tell me, Nine Heavens is nothing but a business. But I¡¯ve received news that Nine Heavens once signed a contract with the state. It¡¯s first-level confidential stuff. Even with my level of security clearance, I am forbidden from seeing the contents of that contract. Though, I think you should be able to."

    "A secret contract with the state? What are they doing?" Peng Zijie mmed his fist on the tabletop. What he thought was just your run-of-the-mill filming crew had now evolved into something much more interesting.

    "I don¡¯t know about the specifics of their contract but you should know about the top-secret deal back in N City." The sound of documents being flipped open came from the earpiece. "I¡¯ve done my research on Nine Heavens. Seems like they started up in N City. Also, despite having a level-4 security clearance, I couldn¡¯t get anything about the person behind thispany.

    Level 4 security clearance was pretty high; national leaders were usually found at this level. For him to not be able to ess the confidential files, it must mean that the person they were up against was higher than a national leader.

    "I understand."

    Peng Zijie hung up the call after that.

    He brushed his fingers over his crew cut hair. Then, he dialled for another person on his phone. His call was epted after just two rings. "Zixian."

    "Brother?" Peng Zixian sounded surprised. "Why are you calling me today?" Peng Zijie normally turned his phone off when going out on missions.

    "I¡¯vepleted the task ahead of schedule. The organization¡¯s given me a week of vacation. How have you been recently?" Peng Zijie put out his cigarette and a smile gradually appeared across his face.

    "I¡¯m fine, I guess. I¡¯ve just joined the cast of a web drama yesterday."

    "If you need anything, you can just tell me. That bunch at home will never support your decision to go into showbiz. Just remember, big brother is on your side no matter what. I¡¯m just waiting to see you on the TV screen some day."

    "You can get on the screen more easily than me!"

    The two continued speaking for a while before Peng Zijie cut off his cell connection abruptly. He then picked up a dedicated phone and tapped out an incredibly strange string of numbers on the keypad. His call was answered the moment it started to ring. "Hello, this is operator 001."

    "I am Peng Zijie and I possess a level-7 security clearance. I would like to know every little detail about the person behind Nine Heavens."

    This was a state-run security bureau. Peng Zijie had no idea who was in this bureau but what he did know, was that the information they offered was incredibly detailed. Those secrets could be either from the regr world or the criminal underworld. They did their job so well that Peng Zijie would often wonder to himself if they possessed some sort of psychokic energy to be able to know so much and at such levels of detail.

    The voice went silent for thirty seconds before a reply was heard. "I¡¯m sorry Mr. Peng but this is above your level of security clearance."

    Above? Peng Zijie was momentarily stunned. He bit his lip and the look in his eyes grew darker. "I would like to know about the first-level secret contract between Nine Heavens and the state."

    "A level 5 security clearance is required to do so. Mr. Peng, the contents of this contract will immediately be sent to your special ount. Do remember to check it after this."

    Peng Zijie hung up the call. There was a notification from his ount. An evil grin broke across his face after opening the file on his phone. Something interesting would again, unfold in the Imperial Capital.

    ***

    [Beauty Qiao, someone is trying to retrieve information about you.] Gu Xiqiao had just ended her phone call with Jiang Shuxuan when the system suddenly alerted her.

    "Me?" She narrowed her eyes. "Who?"

    ¡¯To do such a thing, he certainly has balls.¡¯

    [Please wait.]

    A clear board then materialized in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. Everything about Peng Zijie was instantly disyed on the board.

    Look at this! With little system around, life was such a breeze!

    "I¡¯ll leave him be for now. I won¡¯t move if he doesn¡¯t." Gu Xiqiao spared it a nce but lost all interest upon discovering that he was not someone from the ancient martial arts world.

    Peng Zijie waspletely oblivious to the fact that the person he so desperately was trying to uncover already possessed everything there was to know about himself. Worse still, his enemy cared so little about him that she went on with her life, as if nothing had happened. He would probably break down in tears if he learned about this.

    ***

    In the afternoon, Cheng Zhou created a new post on Weibo.

    (Verified) ChengZhou: "The opening ceremony of the film project, ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ has ended sessfully. Thank you all for being here with me today! [JPEG]"

    So they¡¯ve seeded? This came as a surprise to everyone.

    Typically, his friends would share such a post to congratte him but now, apart from the crew members, no one in the entertainment industry dared to even like the post, what more to say of sharing it.

    Mu Xing was stunned when he was scrolling through Weibo. He then looked up at his manager.

    "See this? They¡¯reughing now. They¡¯ll be crying in the afternoon."

    The manager nodded his head, thinking what Mu Xing said was true.

    ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯, which he thought would not evenst through their opening ceremony had not only concluded said ceremony happily, they had even be a hot topic on the inte. Just like thest time, a lesser-known celebrity named Ning Qing had be famous in a matter of hours.

    Her exquisitely-taken photos, and more importantly, her mesmerizing face had increased her million-strong fanbase fivefold in the blink of an eye.

    Mu Xing reminded himself to stop scrolling through Weibo. Still, the urge to do the opposite was way too strong. Like a self-harm addict, he continued scrolling through the site. It wasn¡¯t a surprise for Li Yu¡¯s fanbase to grow after every film but this was Ning Qing for God¡¯s sake!

    She was just a nobody with only a million followers. How on earth was she able to achieve such a feat? He also had roughly the same amount of fans as she did currently.

    Envy! Mu Xing was envious! Still, he suppressed his emotions. He kept telling himself that they were heading towards a dead end. The happier they were, the worse they would feel after the fall.

    Unsurprisingly, this calmed himself down pretty quickly.

    Come afternoon, not only was there zero signs of ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ being sabotaged, they had even managed to finish filming the first scene. More and more fans started rallying together after every post the crew members made.

    This was a standalone film with no preceding materials, meaning it had no original fanbase to begin with. And yet, the project had be so insanely popr.

    Cheng Zhou was the only one who was worthy of being called Cheng Zhou. No matter what sort of film he was directing, it would all end up being major hits.

    By now, Mu Xing had started panicking. Still, Peng Zixian was still fresh on his mind. And so, he said, "At most, they¡¯llst a couple of days. Tomorrow! That¡¯s when they¡¯ll fall!"

    The manager nodded while reading through the messages being shared around Weibo.

    "I think so too."

    On the second day, not only was ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ still alive and kicking, they even uploaded a small clip on the inte.

    This time, Mu Xing had a gut feeling that something was off. He shattered the mug he was holding after reading Peng Zixian¡¯s post on Weibo.

    (Verified) PengZixian: "Congrats Director Cheng!" //@ChengZhou: "The opening ceremony of the film project, ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ has ended sessfully. Thank you all for being here with me today! [JPEG]"

    It was as if Peng Zixian had flipped a lever right after posting her congrattions on Weibo. Everyone who was rted to Cheng Zhou started sharing that post. Do you know what that means?

    It means that the poprity of the uing film, ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ was unrivaled!

    Mu Xing cursed under his breath after seeing how well the project wasing along. He then raised his voice at the manager. "Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and give Director Cheng a call! Tell him that our schedule¡¯s just freed up."

    If only he knew this would happen, he would never have opted out of the cast! Mu Xing stared at Ning Qing¡¯s follower count rise constantly. Even the extras were getting increasingly popr, what more to say of the female lead? Regret filled his heart in an instant. Oh how he wished to stop himself from doing what he did yesterday!

    The manager hurriedly whipped out his cell phone and gave Cheng Zhou a call.

    Cheng Zhou was in front of the camera when his phone started ringing. He wanted to reject the call but because Mu Xing was a fairly popr actor, he reluctantly answered the call with a nasty expression. "So, I assume you¡¯re gonna tell me that Mu Xing¡¯s schedule has just been freed up?"

    "That¡¯s right Director Cheng. Seems like we can work together again," said the manager with a bright smile on his face.

    "I¡¯m sorry but someone has already been picked as the second male lead. Do you know Yi Junyu? He¡¯s a really popr young man." Cheng Zhou spoke with azy tone as he sunk into his chair. "He called me up yesterday. Said he heard that there was a vacancy for the role of second male lead. He came running over the moment I said yes."

    Their conversation became so awkward that the manager¡¯s face turned purple from embarrassment.

    Bang!"

    With a kick, Mu Xing flipped over the table in front of him. "What the f*ck!"

    "Mu Xing! Can you be more rational about this!" The manager¡¯s face was dead serious. "Was the thing you said about Peng Zixian true?"

    "That person¡¯s a politician[1]! What do you think?" Mu Xing found the current situation hard to believe. Why did Cheng Zhou get away scot-free?

    The manager thought about it for a while before his expression suddenly turned darker. "I think we¡¯re left with only one exnation for this. The person backing Cheng Zhou must be someone who was even more terrifying than Peng Zixian. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise for you to hang around in front of Director Cheng for now. He might just end your career if you piss him off."

    Mu Xing did think about this. However, realization had only set in after being reminded by his manager. Fear followed shortly after. Looking up, he asked, "What should I do now?"

    "What should you do? Get your shi*t together and be a man."

    The manager let out a long sigh.

    If he didn¡¯t quit the cast yesterday, his followers should probably be in the tens of millions by now. He had screwed up royally now; he had offended Cheng Zhou. Countless people were willing to kiss Cheng Zhou¡¯s ass without questions asked and yet here he was. Mu Xing could almost feel his heart bleed as it throbbed in pain.

    He felt nothing but regret every time he was reminded of this.

    However, there was no such thing as a magical pill to quell this feeling.

    As Cheng Zhou hung up the call, Old Liu shot him a nce in contempt. "Aren¡¯t you the one who called up Yi Junyu?"

    Not only did Cheng Zhou im that Yi Junyu called him, he even said that the actor came running to him after hearing about the vacancy. ¡¯This guy¡¯s going down to hell for sure¡¯, thought Old Liu.

    "Well, you only need to know that a phone was used. Doesn¡¯t matter who called who, does it?" Cheng Zhou spoke shamelessly. "Look up at the camera."

    This was a scene involving Li Yu and Ning Qing.

    Old Liu thought to himself for a while before sighing. "This Ning Qing girl, she¡¯s a lucky one isn¡¯t she?"

    Indeed, she was a lucky one. Her film had a good script, she had good looks, a good opportunity, and she even managed to be a hot topic. There was nothing that shecked at the moment. Only a handful in the showbiz was as lucky as her. This film alone will probably be more than enough to propel her into bing an A-list celebrity.

    "Yeah, she has to thank her lucky stars." Cheng Zhou couldn¡¯t help but sigh too. Even Su Wu¡¯s luck wasparable to Ning Qing right now.

    There were lots of talents in this world but only a handful could ever make it out on top. For some inexplicable reason, these two were picked by Gu Xiqiao herself. After this film gets released, not only would Ning Qing be in demand, but Su Wu too, would undoubtedly be a famed screenwriter.

    In front of the camera lens, Ning Qing was looking up at Li Yu. A tear rolled down her cheek and without saying a single word, she conveyed her message to her partner through her bright eyes. Even through the lens, Cheng Zhou was able to feel the immense feeling of sorrow emanating off of her.

    "This Ning Qing is crazy talented! I¡¯m surprised how she¡¯s holding up while working with Li Yu!" Old Liu sounded excited. "I say, you¡¯ve got an eye for great actors don¡¯t you, Old Cheng?!"

    Li Yu, as an actor, was unrivalled in showbiz. Do you know why his fans are so loyal? Well, it¡¯s because his acting skills have long transcended into a whole other realm! Even the movie queen reported that she felt pressured while working with him on set. Who could make themselves hate a man who not only had good looks, but also an equally great personality?

    Even foreign blockbuster movies were looking to work with him.

    Cheng Zhou noted that Ning Qing¡¯s acting skills were not too far behind Li Yu¡¯s either but then someone else popped into his mind. Immediately, he started gritting his teeth.

    "Just wait till you see the person who tangos with Li Yu in front of the camera every day. You¡¯d start to think otherwise!" said Cheng Zhou angrily.

    "Tangos with him every day?" Old Liu was astonished. "Little Song¡¯s improved that much?"

    "What Little Song, no! I¡¯m talking about..." Suddenly, a familiar silhouette appeared in the corner of Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes. He grunted grumpily. "Look! She¡¯s here!"

    Old Liu peered in the direction Cheng Zhou was pointing towards. In an instant, he was stunned.

    To be honest, he was already plenty impressed when he firstid his eyes on Ning Qing. She didn¡¯t be so popr overnight for no reason; her beauty was distinct from every other actress in the entertainment industry. Even if we were speaking in terms of international films, Ning Qing remained a rare sight to behold. He found it hard to believe that she had been stagnating in her career for the past three years.

    And yet, the young girl standing next to the door made him change his worldview. Oh, so there were still girls out there that were on par with Ning Qing? No, she looked way more delicate than her.

    To put it simply, it was likeparing apples to oranges. They were both different types of girls.

    She was looking down at the white dog in her arms as she walked forwards slowly. It was until she arrived at the filming set when she slowly raised her head. The 11 am November sunlight was rtively bright and yet she seemed colorless underneath it. Her hair was jet ck and her clothes were of in colors. The sun had dyed her skin a pale shade of golden yellow. Her eyes seemed like it was straight out of a painting and her beauty was hard to describe using words.

    [1] (cultural trantion) politicians in China are highly regarded whereas politicians in the West are usually seen as crooks, liars and thieves.

 Chapter 160 Kissing Scene I

    <h4>Chapter 160 Kissing Scene I</h4>

    Nothing much has changed since thepletion of ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯. Most if not, all of the crew members that worked in the previous project could still be found here.

    A lot of them walked up to greet Gu Xiqiao the moment she arrived at the filming studio.

    "I see you didn¡¯t bring Xixi out today, Little Gu," said Xu Qing as she peered down at Haha who was chilling out in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arms. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from reaching out and giving its fluffy body a good poke. Haha, being the cute and lovable dog, allowed her to y with it as much as she wanted. "Isn¡¯t this the pet from your post on Weibo?"

    "Yup, this is it." Gu Xiqiao nodded. "Xixi¡¯s not at home today. I was worried that Haha would be bored out of its mind so I¡¯m bringing it along with me."

    "Haha?" Xu Qing was momentarily taken aback. It took her awhile to register that that was the name of this white dog.

    She muttered to herself quietly before looking up at Gu Xiqiao with the corner of her mouth twitching. Her naming sense was bizarre. Though, because Gu Xiqiao was a person whom she deeply admired, Xu Qing refrained from pointing this strange phenomenon out.

    Li Yu, who had just wrapped up his scene smiled unabashedly at Gu Xiqiao.

    Realizing the two leads had nowpleted their scenes, Xu Qing went off immediately to re-apply makeup on their faces.

    It¡¯s great to work with experienced actors. Cheng Zhou spent little time trying to direct them; most of the time, it was left to the veterans themselves to coordinate their steps. The two movie stars would take off immediately after they started discussing amongst themselves, meaning that Cheng Zhou would always be removed from the equation.

    "She... is she the one who acted out the scenes with Li Yu perfectly?" Old Liu seemed a little skeptical about Gu Xiqiao, who was acting all buddy-buddy with the film crew.

    She was indeed beautiful but she¡¯s way too young, wasn¡¯t she? She seemed younger than Ning Qing even.

    Still, she seemed to be well-acquainted with everyone working here. Surprisingly, even Li Yu wasn¡¯t as popr among his co-workers as she was right now.

    Cheng Zhou nced at Old Liu before sighing. "Just wait till you see her act. Then, you¡¯ll know what this pain is. This pain that only Xiang Kun understands."

    "What does she have to do with Mr. Xiang?" Old Liu was even more puzzled now. Wasn¡¯t Xiang Kun a manager?

    "I can¡¯t exin it in great detail but you just need to know that Xiang Kun has been secretly trying to drag that girl into our industry. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen him being so obsessed about someone else." Cheng Zhou gritted his teeth. If Xiang Kun was so eager to work with her, why not Cheng Zhou?

    Old Liu was aware of Xiang Kun¡¯s unrivaled fame. He was shocked after hearing what Cheng Zhou had to say. "Xiang Kun¡¯s nning to bring her into entertainment?"

    His understanding of Xiang Kun was the reason why Old Liu was even more shocked. That man was notorious for how high he set the bar. If not for that, he wouldn¡¯t have created so many A-list celebrities in the past. To say that Xiang Kun was obsessed with getting someone into showbiz was simply iprehensible to Old Liu. Perhaps Cheng Zhou had exaggerated it too much?

    Cheng Zhou smirked after noticing Old Liu¡¯s facial expression. "I assume you have not watched the teaser for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯?"

    If he had watched it, he would not have had that look on his face.

    As expected, Old Liu shook his head. "I couldn¡¯t find the time to watch it. All I did was share it on social media, that¡¯s all." He wanted to save it for the silver screen.

    Cheng Zhou: Then we have nothing to talk about now.

    "Keep your eyes wide open for what¡¯s toe." Something was going on in Cheng Zhou¡¯s mind but Old Liu had not a single clue what it was; the only thing he could see was the glint in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao approached them.

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s cunning demeanor faded away in the blink of an eye. He shot her an angry re, presumably because of her non-attendance of yesterday¡¯s ceremony. Was she still nning to invest in his film? He grunted grumpily before finally asking her, "Where¡¯d you run off to yesterday?"

    Well, she did spend arge portion of her time chilling out in the virtual arena!

    Of course, Gu Xiqiao could not tell Cheng Zhou about this. And so, she continued hugging Haha tightly as she responded to the director¡¯s question with a silent smile.

    Cheng Zhou, who had grown used to seeing her put up this act, coughed a few times before lifting his cup up to his lips. "Being the noble man that I am, I will forgive you for your mistakes. However! You absolutely must appear in a cameo today!"

    "Cameo?" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand froze in the air. She spun around and faced the director. "In the film that we talked about?"

    When she made the proposition for Director Cheng to handle this movie, she had agreed that she herself would y in one of his films in the future. ying in a cameo was hands-down, better than that! Or so Gu Xiqiao thought.

    Pfft!

    Before he could swallow the mouthful of water, it sprayed out of his mouth like a fountain. He had never done anything so disgusting before. Hurriedly, he pulled out a handful of napkins to wipe his papers dry.

    Gu Xiqiao instinctively hopped backward and did nothing to stop her look of disgust from surfacing on her face.

    "I¡¯m letting you appear as a cameo on this film! A cameo! Because of our friendship! Understand?!" Gu Xiqiao had pushed Cheng Zhou to the point where he almost startedughing out of frustration. She really was idealistic. How on earth could he make the protagonist of his film on par with a random passerby?

    "Friendship? You still think that sort of thing exists between us?" Gu Xiqiao returned Haha to the ground, allowing it to move around freely for now. "I thought the only thing that exists between us is a pact of mutual destruction?"

    Cheng Zhou, who was about to actualize said pact replied instantly, "So what¡¯s your answer?"

    His facial expression was indirectly saying to her, "If you¡¯re not going to ept it, I¡¯m gonna go on strike."

    Old Liu had never seen Cheng Zhou act this way before. His jaw was agape after observing their interaction. When on earth did his old pal turn into such a rascal?

    "What sorta cameo are we talking about? I have to think about it." Gu Xiqiao reached apromise.

    Cheng Zhou picked up his script. "You¡¯re gonna y as a demon girl. You¡¯ll only need to say five simple lines. Only one scene is involved. If you can¡¯t even do that, then I think our friendship ends today!"

    Gu Xiqiao sank into her thoughts for a while. She had read through the script once and this character that Cheng Zhou talked about appeared in her imagination secondster. It was just as he said, she only needed to say a handful of lines and there really was only a single scene involved. And so, she nodded in agreement.

    "Alright."

    A wide smile broke across Cheng Zhou¡¯s face immediately.

    "Director Cheng, I¡¯ll move my scene back so she can finish filming her scene earlier." Li Yu approached them gracefully and voluntarily offered to let Gu Xiqiao take his time slot. Although there was anticipation in his eyes, there was also a regretful look in them too. "I don¡¯t have any fighting scenes with this demon girl."

    Old Liu¡¯s interest was piqued after noticing how Li Yu was acting. You could lie with words but never with the reactions of so many. He too, was looking forward to seeing Gu Xiqiao act.

    There were three dressing rooms in the studio. Sister Yu¡¯s room was thergest out of the three. She usually did only the makeup of the male and female leads but it was a special asion this time. She was the one who did Gu Xiqiao¡¯s makeup personally.

    Old Liu wasn¡¯t the only one who was astonished to see this; even Ning Qing was surprised to see the VIP treatment Gu Xiqiao was getting. The rest of the crew members on the other hand, all acted as if this was normal, as if they had grown used to such a scene. They suppressed their curiosity and started preparing for the next scene.

    Sister Yu helped Gu Xiqiao with her makeup and her overall styling. She was a perfectionist; back when she worked for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, her routine would take upward of three hours from start to finish. Gu Xiqiao silently looked at herself in the mirror, then at Sister Yu who was working on her attentively. "Sister Yu, I¡¯m just ying a small, insignificant role. Just a basicyer of makeup is enough; let¡¯s not waste the film budget on me."

    Sister Yu¡¯s somber expression faded away as soon as she heard Gu Xiqiao say that. "Little Gu, as Director Cheng had said, thest thing that our projectcks is money, so no biggie!" She then directed a reassuring smile at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao thought to herself, ¡¯What in tarnation?! Did I just shoot myself in the foot?¡¯

    Sister Yu¡¯s gaze warmed up upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression. She then turned to Xu Qing and said: "Go get that red dress for me."

    The unlucky male and female leads had a grand total of five hups in the scene they were supposed to y in, meaning there were a total of five retakes for them.

    However, considering how well they usually fared, coupled with Cheng Zhou¡¯s good mood ever since Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arrival, they were not yelled at for this. Instead, the director made some remarks in a surprisingly calm tone. "Everything about Li Yu is perfect for this scene. However, something¡¯s wrong with your gaze, Ning Qing."

    "You two are going to jump off the cliff together. You two are surrounded by the Righteous Ones on the opposite side. You did well in every other aspect, like your movement and your tone but the emotions you¡¯re conveying through your eyes need some alteration. The roller coaster of emotions your character is going through must be projected from your eyes, from indignation, to despair and finally, to relief. Your key moment is that kissing scene. There¡¯s only one single scene throughout the entire film. I cannot ept retakes anymore; your expression needs to be more natural..."

    Director Cheng was finally allowed the chance to give them a lengthy lecture as the actors had been doing so well up until now. Finally, the time hase for him to act like a true director. He was fairly proud of himself after this. "Hey! Little Su! Aren¡¯t you the one who wrote this script? C¡¯mere! Tell Ning Qing about how her character¡¯s emotions progress through the scene!"

    If it was any other person, filming of this scene would¡¯ve already ended a long time ago. Ning Qing¡¯s performance wasn¡¯t bad either. In fact, Old Liu thought her performance was superb. Cheng Zhou was just acting too critical this time.

    Old Liu could no longer contain his feelings when Su Wu started exining the scene to Ning Qing. "I say Old Cheng, aren¡¯t you just nitpicking at this point? I only know a handful of other actresses who can do what Ning Qing did in that scene from before. Your standards are way too high, pal. I highly doubt that you can find anyone else who can pull off what you¡¯ve just described."

    "You don¡¯t understand. Ning Qing¡¯s a really good actress. She just needs some polishing, that¡¯s all. I¡¯m aiming to get her nominated as the film queen after this film gets released. At worst, I still want her to receive a rookie award!" announced Cheng Zhou with a smile.

    Old Liu was amazed. "I didn¡¯t expect you to have so much faith in her. What a lucky child she is."

    Cheng Zhou smiled but remained silent. He was impressed by Ning Qing¡¯s skill but that was only one part of the reason why he expected so much from her. The other part was because of Gu Xiqiao. More specifically, she was someone who Gu Xiqiao was trying to help. If Cheng Zhou cked off now, he would undoubtedly feel bad about it afterward.

    Ning Qing was, of course, incredibly lucky to find herself in such a circumstance.

    Su Wu had finally ended his exnation and that was when Cheng Zhou rose from his seat. "Alright, action stations! Let¡¯s get this right one final time!"

    This scene was as simple as ABC for Li Yu. He just needed to fight a gory battle and then be unconscious after being wounded by an enemy. Then, the female lead would bring him to the edge of the cliff, where they would be surrounded in every direction by the Righteous Ones, who was out for their blood.

    The male lead yed as a member of the demon sect. The female lead on the other hand, was the daughter of a martial arts alliance. Her feelings of love and hate were distinctly separated andrgely paid no heed to the irrelevancies in life. She did wander deep into the demon sect once only to be surprised by how little sins theymitted despite their ominous-sounding name. On the other hand, the ¡¯Righteous Ones¡¯ were just a blood-thirsty mob who used the excuse of moral righteousness to exterminate the demon sect for their own personal gain.

    The demon sect was then caught up in a bloody battle, leaving the male protagonist as the sole survivor of their group. The female protagonist rushed over, only to realize that she was in fact, one step toote. She then brought the unconscious protagonist to the edge of a cliff, located behind the base of the demon sect before courageously jumping down into the abyss below.

    Her pure white clothes were stained by dark red blood. She smiled unexpectedly and two lines of tears rolled down her cheeks. Slowly, she rose up and kissed the protagonist on the side of his lips. Then, she picked him up and jumped off the cliff together.

    Li Yu was nothing but a prop the entire scene; his insane skills weren¡¯t needed as he only needed to act like he had gone unconscious. And so, the spotlight was on Ning Qing the entire time. It was no wonder why Cheng Zhou expected so much from her.

    "Cut! Wrong! Something¡¯s just not right!" muttered Cheng Zhou with furrowed brows. "You..."

    Before he could start, he noticed how eerily quiet the entire scene had be. It sounded deliberately nned and it seemed familiar to him. Director Cheng took a while to process what was going on before finally turning back, towards the direction of the dressing room.

    Herrge red skirt had gold lining while silk-like ink-dark hair flowed down from the top of her head. A part of her hair was bundled and held up by a single wooden hairpin while the rest was allowed to flow like a rushing waterfall down her shoulders. There was a plum blossom marking between her brows, reflecting her identity and her lips were as red as a burning me. In contrast, her skin was as pale as freshly-fallen snow. She smiled at the crowd, standing proudly like a sprig of plum blossom during winter. Her eyes were watery and the corner of her lips were slightly curled up. That smile of hers exuded a subtle sense of evilness. In short, she was a person who radiated beauty from within, capturing the heart and soul of many others whoid their eyes on her.

    "What¡¯s holding you guys back?" The way she spoke was tactful; her voice was clear. It was theplete opposite of thezy slob Gu Xiqiao usually acted like. Her tone sounded extremely alluring, meaning whoever that heard her speak would inevitably find their hearts skip a beat.

    Su Wu was the one who was most affected out of them all. None of the actresses fit the characters in his story as well as Gu Xiqiao. It was as if the demon girl, who he created in his imagination had indeede to life. The demon girl who was an ally of love and justice, but was unfortunately shunned by members of the Righteous Ones.

    "It¡¯s perfect!" Director Cheng¡¯s senses had finally returned to him. "It¡¯s this feeling again!"

    "Oh ho, I think I have a female boner now," muttered Xu Qing under her breath.

    Sister Yu, who stood next to her lectured her. "Can you act a little more reserved?"

    Xu Qing replied: "... you think I¡¯m bad? Just take a look at Li Yu!"

    "Hey, I haven¡¯t updated my Weibo yet." Li Yu got up from the ground and grabbed the phone his assistant was holding. He then walked over to Gu Xiqiao and snapped a photo of them together.

    "..."

    The crew members were left speechless. What on earth was going on?

    "Hey, her makeup¡¯s freshly-applied. Quick! I want this scene to be filmed right this instant..." Old Liu struggled to regain his senses. Cheng Zhou was still barking out orders to the crew excitedly when he turned around. The demonic Gu Xiqiao entered his vision as soon as he was done issuing orders.

    She was still in that outfit and she still had makeup on. However, as if her backbone had melted suddenly away, she sank into herfy seatzily while holding that white dog in her embrace.

    "... that state she was in! Where has it gone?" Old Liu was heartbroken!

    Cheng Zhou was not surprised by this. "Rx, she¡¯ll return when the cameras start rolling."

    However, he also increased the speed at which he was working as he said that. He feared that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lethargy would carry over to the filming session if she was left to her own devices for too long.

    The filming studio was huge. They were currently filming in an outdoor setting, and there were sufficient extras to make this scene feel real. Cheng Zhou, standing in front of the camera, announced, "Get ready! Unit 01 and Unit 02! Act number 278 of ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯ ismencing¨Cnow! Action!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯szy expression faded away the moment Director Cheng finished his sentence. Life returned to her eyes and a seductive smile broke across her face in an instant. Slowly, she raised the sword in her hand.

    Peering down at her brothers and sisters who died tragically under the hands of the Righteous Ones, she wiped the blood off the corner of her lips. Painfully, she got back on her feet and there was only a handful of her men left to protect her. The glorious Demon Mountain had now been reduced to mere rubble. It was hell on earth for these folks. Death came swift, regardless of whether you were a demon sect elder, or if you were only a three-year-old innocent child.

    On the opposite side, there stood a group of brutes whobeled themselves the ¡¯Righteous Ones¡¯ cackled wryly.

    "Saintess, you have only cultivated the Divine Phoenix Scroll till the fifth level. You absolutely must not use this technique!" said an old man who sensed her rising powers. "Stop while you can! Let us old folks protect you! One day! You and the young master must avenge us!"

    Her power continued surging despite their warning. "Elder, how old¡¯s your grandson? Isn¡¯t today his third birthday?"

    A tear rolled down her eye and yet she forced it back into her eye. "I am the only one who can stop them now. You guys go. Leave this to me."

    The Divine Phoenix Scroll was the demon sect¡¯s supreme technique. It was their trump card which was also what the Righteous Ones were after when they attacked their base. She had only reached the fifth level for this technique, meaning death was imminent after unleashing it on their enemy!

    The elders and a couple of other demon apprentices who were under her protection scurried away for their lives. They would turn around frequently as they ran. In the end, what they saw was her lying in a pool of blood. They were so devastated that tears failed toe out of their eyes.

    She was so young. No more than sixteen.

    "I want more scenes for her!" Old Liu clenched his fists as he finally recovered from the shock of witnessing her unworldly performance.

    Cheng Zhou couldn¡¯t stop himself from reying that clip. Upon hearing Old Liu¡¯s demand, he replied, "More scenes? You think it¡¯s that simple?"

    He pointed at Gu Xiqiao. "Take a good look at that cker! You can demand more screentime for her and she¡¯d still take off her makeup and act like she hadn¡¯t heard what you said!"

    Old Liu felt a stabbing pain in his heart. "Why?" Her acting was a solid ten and no doubt, she really was born to act.

    "Because she¡¯s a med student," replied Cheng Zhou nonchntly. He had grown used to taking such blows. Seeing Old Liu being shot down was pretty amusing. For a moment, he felt superior to his old pal.

    Ning Qing was still stunned by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s performance. Cheng Zhou shot her a nce. "Little Gu, I want you to walk Ning Qing through this scene!"

    Gu Xiqiao was heading for the dressing room to remove her outfit. Her footsteps stopped for a moment when she heard the director¡¯s order but she continued walking as if she was deaf.

    Cheng Zhou was surprisingly calm about this. "This is Ning Qing¡¯s sixth retake this week. I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯ll be before she clears this hurdle. Sigh."

    Gu Xiqiao looked back at Cheng Zhou with a face devoid of emotion.

    ¡¯You win this round, Director Cheng!¡¯

 Chapter 161 Kissing Scene II

    <h4>Chapter 161 Kissing Scene II</h4>

    "Just tell me which scene it is. I¡¯ll give it a try." Gu Xiqiao pulled her wooden hairpin out, letting her silk strand-like hair down onto her red dress. There was still a smudge of artificial blood on the corner of her mouth. Slowly, she shuffled towards Cheng Zhou with azy expression on her face.

    One of the crew members handed her a wet towel, which Gu Xiqiao used to wipe her face clean. After that, she nodded slightly towards that person. "Thanks."

    "Ah, no! No need to thank me!" The youngdy who helped her was caught off guard by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s courtesy.

    "It¡¯s this one. Here, take a look," said Cheng Zhou as he pointed at a part of his script.

    Before Gu Xiqiao could look at it, a red silhouette swooped in at her face.

    "Ah! It¡¯s Xixi!"

    "Hurry on over Xixi!"

    Almost everyone there recognised who this red feather ball was. Why if it isn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao¡¯s favorite little pet.

    Xixi left the house with Jiang Shuxuan yesterday. For it to appear in this ce so suddenly, Gu Xiqiao had a feeling in her gut that someone else was nearby too. She spun around and there it was, a pair of dark, deep-set eyes staring back at her.

    Old Liu followed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze, to find a tall man standing underneath a tree. The sun was shining down from behind, making it hard for him to make out his face clearly; the golden yellow sunlight had casted a blinding haze around his face.

    This person had a distinct aura. It was hard for one to overlook his presence if he was standing there. However, perhaps because of Gu Xiqiao, Old Liu did not register in his mind that man¡¯s presence. Now that he had a good look at the man, it was impossible for him to go on ignoring him. "H-H-He, when did he arrive here?!"

    Cheng Zhou too, had just realized that Jiang Shuxuan was standing there the whole time. Since most of them were the same crew members from the previous film, they had already gotten used to how he woulde and go unnoticed like a phantom. He patted Old Liu¡¯s shoulder and said, "Get use to it."

    Then, he finally let Gu Xiqiao watch the scene herself. She turned around and nced down at the script. The se look on her face was now gone. "Are you sure about this, Director Cheng?"

    "I was." Cheng Zhou¡¯s face twisted in pain. Who would¡¯ve known that Jiang Shuxuan would suddenly pop in for a visit. He looked over at Li Yu, who was trying to give the man a nasty look. His decision was made then and there. "Sigh, I guess I¡¯ll have to put Ning Qing through the grinder for a couple of days. This scene¡¯s a real test of skill, I¡¯d say. We simply cannot mess it up."

    Whatever that Gu Xiqiao ordered him to do, he would do it well. She had requested for him to back Ning Qing up, there were lots of aspects which he could not ignore when approaching this issue. Especially so was to get her nominated as the film queen. This scene would be the climax of the film, which hopefully, would propel her into getting an award.

    Was that so? A pale finger rubbed against a pair of red lips. Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes as if plotting something in her mind. Then, with a snap of her fingers, Xixi and Haha who were ying around darted over in front of her.

    "Please give me a moment, Director Cheng." Gu Xiqiao pped Xixi aside before spinning around and walking over to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s dress was red, a color that she rarely wore. She had only worn this color twice back when she yed the character of Princess Qixia. Jiang Shuxuan personally had never seen her in this color before. Still, her glowing face was still the same old when she crept up towards him.

    She waspletely unlike the demon girl who she was ying just now. She did not die a tragic death, nor did she experience extreme grief. Without all that, there was still distress in his eyes when looking at her.

    She slowly marched over. Her lips curled up slightly when their eyes met. The gold parts of her dress shone underneath the sunlight and her skin, as pale as snow, glowed in contrast with her jet ck hair.

    A momentter.

    "Old Cheng, isn¡¯t she nning to change out of her clothes?" By now, Gu Xiqiao was already standing in the background, talking to Ning Qing about something. Old Liu recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s performance. "She¡¯s more suited to ying the demon girl character. She¡¯s a different type of girl from the female lead, I think..."

    No doubt, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s performance was earth-shatteringly good. Even she hoped for more screen time for Gu Xiqiao. However, because of the conflict between the demon girl and the female protagonist¡¯s nature, Old Liu found it hard to understand why Cheng Zhou was so adamant on getting her to y the character.

    Cheng Zhou signaled to one of the staff with his hands before patting Old Liu¡¯s shoulder.

    "Old Liu, just you wait and see."

    "Unit 2 and Unit 5! Ready¨CAction!" This scene was intended to be a live demonstration for Ning Qing but Cheng Zhou had it recorded nheless.

    Cheng Zhou had just finished speaking when the look in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes shifted without warning. Old Liu was stunned. He watched the young girl, dressed in red and sitting on the floor. Her eyes were filled with vigor and appeared so confident that she was hard to look at. Her pair of ink-dark eyes glowed red hot with fury before suddenly changing into eternal sorrow.

    "So, our Righteous Ones have stooped so low?" The way she spoke sounded in between a whisper and a helpless sigh.

    On her face was a smile, and yet an indescribable sense of grief filled the hearts of many onlookers.

    Reaching out her blood-stained hand, she caressed the face of the man in her embrace. The evil mist that wrapped around him had vanished without a warning, leaving only a pale, almost lifeless face.

    Slowly, she leaned over and solemnly pressed her lips against his.

    It was as if time had stood-still momentarily. As the two pairs of lips merged, the both of them could feel each other¡¯s turbulent breaths.

    Her lips were cold, but there was also a hint of sweetness. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mind had gonepletely nk while staring at this scene. He could feel his heart burning hot. He was eager to find some ce to vent his anger but he remembered, this was just a scene for a movie.

    His eyshes fluttered as an ufortable warmth crept up his face. It felt as if someone had pinched down on his heart painfully. It didn¡¯t help that Gu Xiqiao was in a trance-like state when they kissed.

    It was this moment that something sparked in their souls. The two of them were startled at the same time.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up, aware that she had screwed up by doing this scene too well. Luckily, Ning Qing didn¡¯t need the second half of the scene. She wiped her face clean and stared up expressionlessly at Cheng Zhou. "Is that enough?"

    Cheng Zhou was still staring nkly at the flip screen of the camera. His mind was still stuck in the bittersweet moment thatsted seven to eight minutes. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cold, intrusive voice broke that fantasy he was in.

    ¡¯Argh, what a mood spoiler!¡¯

    Jiang Shuxuan got up and straightened his long, slender body. He peered down at the face that seemed like it was carved masterfully out of jade. Reaching out his hand, he pulled Gu Xiqiao back on her feet.

    Gu Xiqiao dusted herself off before heading straight for the dressing room.

    She was wearing a in outfit when she reappeared from the room. Still, that was enough to awe the crew members in a different way.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car was parked outside the studio. The both of them got into the car.

    Apart from the crew members, there were also movie extras and side characters that worked for ¡¯River¡¯s Lake¡¯. All of them saw the inconspicuous luxury car they got into and some couldn¡¯t help butment about the noble-looking man.

    "Life¡¯s perfect if you¡¯re good-looking."

    Not only would life be perfect, there would even be people who actively kissed your ass.

    After saying that, she thought there would be many who would nod in agreement with her statement. To her surprise, everyone around her looked at her with contempt in their eyes.

    Old Liu stole a nce at the extra before turning over to Cheng Zhou. "Say, is that Miss Gu really..."

    "Tsk-" Cheng Zhou red at the extra. "Fine, I¡¯m letting the cat out the bag. Old Liu, the investor of our film is none other than the Miss Gu you¡¯re talking about."

    Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t wait to see Old Liu¡¯s response after saying that. Instead, he turned over to look at the scene from before and started lecturing. "Look! Look! See her gaze? I bet you never thought that such an expression was possible. She excels no matter what character she ys. Isn¡¯t it natural to say that she was born for this? I just don¡¯t get why she decided to study medicine!"

    It was because of seeing how talented she was in acting that Cheng Zhou felt devastated. Two dayster however, he swallowed his words after reading the medical article in the news.

    ***

    In the car.

    "I visited Grandpa Baili yesterday." Jiang Shuxuan started telling Gu Xiqiao about it as he drove his vehicle into a busy street.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at him. "Was he shocked?"

    Of course he was. Baili Qu stubbornly imed that their book was the real deal until Jiang Shuxuan brought the book which Gu Xiqiao had handed him out.

    "Grandpa Baili would like to meet you." At a red light, Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car. He then turned towards Gu Xiqiao. "Tell me, where did you get that book?"

    He felt a surmounting mental strength fluctuation when he flipped open the first page. If it was able to directly interfere with his own mental strength, Jiang Shuxuan believed that it must¡¯ve been the same for Baili Qu. The two books started out the same but soon diverged in terms of quality the further back you read.

    Baili Bin was insanely-powerful. In just half a day¡¯s time, he had already reached a higher state of awareness when it came to formations. He leveled up instantly, which was surprising considering how he had been struggling to do so for the past five years.

    Baili Qu, who neither believed in the authenticity of the real book nor wished to have it went silent immediately.

    "They¡¯ve returned to the Imperial Capital with me. Though, they¡¯re still in the ancient martial arts world. They would like to meet you for once."

    Gu Xiqiao put her phone down and glimpsed at Jiang Shuxuan. "It¡¯s kinda hard to exin how this book came about. Brother Jiang, be patient and I¡¯ll tell you all about it afterward."

    Green light. Jiang Shuxuan stepped down on the elerator as he responded with a quiet murmur.

    He knew that she had her own secrets but refrained from poking his nose into her business. He had seen glimpses of how capable she was, from the mysterious pill, to this book that she handed him. He had a premonition that if revealed, her identity would not only shake the ancient martial arts world but the entire human world as a whole.

    Baili Qu has always been calm and collected. However, this time, he was confident that the Baili family could rise up into bing one of the "big three" families in the ancient martial arts world. The source of this confidence was of course, this book.

    Jiang Shuxuan had no idea what the ancient martial arts world had in store for him. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that his knuckles started turning white. Before anything major happened, he must safeguard her from harm. Absolutely no one from the ancient martial arts world must know where she is.

    "What about Grandpa Baili? Would you like to meet him?" Came a low-pitched voice.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. "Nah."

    The time wasn¡¯t ripe yet. She still wasn¡¯t strong enough.

    Her reply was what Jiang Shuxuan was hoping to hear. He turned the steering wheel with a pair of glowing eyes.

    Suddenly, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone started ringing when she was staring out the window. Peering down at the screen, she discovered that it was a message from Xiao Yun, whom she had not seen in a long long time.

    Xiao Yun: "Er Qiao! I bumped into the boss of the Tang Enterprise while ying for the web drama today!"

    For A Millenium: "You¡¯re talking ¡¯bout Tang Qingqiu?"

    Xiao Yun: "Oh, so he¡¯s called Tang Qingqiu? I smell something fishy going on. Do you know who Peng Zixian is? She¡¯se to work with us! She¡¯s the second female lead for our story! I think Tang Qingqiu was here to see her!"

    For A Millenium: "Fool!"

    Xiao Yun, who was putting on makeup in the dressing room couldn¡¯t help but feel abandoned when she saw the phrase appear in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s chat bubble.

    Xiao Yun: "Can¡¯t we speak in a more civilized manner?"

    For A Millenium: " :) "

    Xiao Yun: "Just what on earth changed you?"

    For A Millenium: "Probably because our level of intelligence is miles apart."

    Xiao Yun: "Oh, how cold."

    Gu Xiqiao turned her phone off. She mumbled "Peng Zixian" to herself quietly as she thought about Xiao Yun¡¯s response. She sighed. "Oh, how silly she is."

    Jiang Shuxuan peeked at her.

    Gu Xiqiao sat upright and cleared her throat. "I¡¯m not talking about you!"

    ***

    At the International Medical Sciences Organization.

    This was a medical science academy funded by over fifty countries from all around the globe. There were different faculties, ranging from engineering to medical science. Even the lowest ranking members in this ce were academicians. Not all academicians could enter this ce, only a select few were granted ess to this establishment.

    Top doctors from every corner of the globe were all condensed in this hotspot. They all received the news at the same time.

    Zhu Yuan, an academician from China was inviting them to a press conference.

    "Cell fusion? I thought it¡¯s a press conference about that mysterious video! Like hell I¡¯m attending that crap!" said an aging American doctor. "China¡¯s been on a slump recently. We¡¯re talking about cell fusion here! They think they can get us to create free publicity for them by inviting us?! Apart from Zhu Yuan, they¡¯re all worthless to me!"

    "Zhu Yuan has already patented his cell fusion process. This time round, it¡¯s Gu, Xiqiao huh?" Another slightly younger doctor pushed his spectacles up his nose. "She¡¯s a freshman at A University. I guess she¡¯s seeded with the help of Zhu Yuan. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need for us to participate in this press conference if that¡¯s the case."

    Some other doctors agreed with him. They were all number one in their respective fields; they could cause uproar wherever they went. Their reactions might¡¯ve been different if it was Zhu Yuan or that doctor from that mysterious video.

    For a nobody freshman to invite them to her press conference, it sounded like a joke.

 Chapter 162 Major Disturbance

    <h4>Chapter 162 Major Disturbance</h4>

    At A University, Zhu Yuan answered a call. The person on the other end of the line had said something that made him chuckle quietly. "You guys will be set up as a research team when youe back. As for them, don¡¯t let a single one of them into the team."

    Zhu Yuanughed mockingly after hanging up. He had specially sent someone to invite guests over from the international organization and yet they were unwilling to even dispatch a single personnel to attend the conference. If that¡¯s the case, then he had no other choice but to build up his research team with his fellow Chineserades.

    He hoped that they wouldn¡¯t regret their foolish decision of opting out of this golden opportunity.

    Zhu Yuan: You must attend the press conference tomorrow.

    For A Millenium: You scared of being along?

    For A Millenium: Little baby, if you¡¯re that scared, go to Professor Jiang. He¡¯ll take good care of you.

    Zhu Yuan: Let¡¯s talk nicely, alright Grandma Gu? ~£¨£¾_£¼£©~

    Zhu Yuan: The press conference tomorrow is incredibly important. We¡¯re talking about a new scientific breakthrough for the international medicalmunity here. You absolutely must make an appearance there.

    For A Millenium: It¡¯s not that big of a deal. I believe in you little baby.

    Zhu Yuan: Truth be told, there are a bunch of stuff I don¡¯t understand well in the process. I was hoping that you would exin and give courage to our fellow Chinese medical personnel. They really need it.

    Gu Xiqiao stared nkly into empty space after reading that line. Her finger kept sliding up and down the screen of her phone. Zhu Yuan¡¯s words, "they really need it", truly touched her heart.

    Wasn¡¯t this the main reason why she chose medicine? To save the lives of others?

    For A Millenium: Address.

    Zhu Yuan, who was still in A University, responded one secondter with the location of where tomorrow¡¯s press conference was going to be held. Fearing that Gu Xiqiao would change her mind and turn it downst minute, he switched his phone off.

    Gu Xiqiao on the other hand, was still staring at her phone. He hadn¡¯t told her what the sequence was for tomorrow¡¯s event.

    "Stop zoning out," reminded Jiang Shuxuan while looking down at the te of fruits that were bing discolored due to being left out too long. He set the ss of milk he was holding down onto the table before urging her, "Eat up."

    "Oh." Gu Xiqiao picked up the ss of milk.

    Jiang Shuxuan stole a nce at her before heading upstairs. "I¡¯m gonna go take a shower...don¡¯t y with Haha while eating your apples alright?" Although the dog was visibly clean, its body was still a breeding ground for unknown pathogens.

    Haha, who was indirectly roasted went silent.

    ***

    In the study room upstairs, Jiang Shuxuan dialed the number whose call he rejected just now. On the other end of the line was a young man¡¯s voice. His Chinese ent sounded weird, exposing him as a foreigner. "I heard you were nning to push the Baili family up?"

    "More or less." Jiang Shuxuan lit up a cigarette and sucked in a lungful of smoke. That thing that Gu Xiqiao gave him enabled the Baili family to do so with unrivaled speed.

    After Baili Qu¡¯s recovery from his mysterious illness, the Baili family was soon to be another family who possessed a ferocious legacy.

    "They really are lucky aren¡¯t they? I hope to see Bai Libin¡¯s name in particr on the International Ranking List this year." There was anticipation in that man¡¯s voice.

    "If you¡¯ve nothing to talk about I¡¯m gonna hang up now." Jiang Shuxuan stubbed out his cigarette.

    "Ah--wait don¡¯t! I heard that a buttload of interesting things happened in the ancient martial arts world. I want toe back and take a look."

    Jiang Shuxuan squinted his eyes after hearing that. "Murong Feiye, don¡¯t forget your English roots. We, the people of the ancient martial arts world will take care of our own matters.

    "It¡¯s also incredibly simple if I want to deport you back to Great Britain."

    "...Don¡¯t get the idea that I¡¯m scared of you. I might have lost to you 3 years ago, but I have been constantly growing my powers since then. Just you wait! When the next ranking list gets published, you¡¯ll see my name at the very top!" Murong Feiye felt proud thinking about that. He represented the British people; he almost had his guts twisted in a knot when recalling his humiliating defeat under the hands of Jiang Shuxuan.

    "I¡¯m gonna hang up."

    "Hey-c¡¯mon, let¡¯s have a little conversation. I know why you hung up on me just now..."

    Jiang Shuxuan hung up the phone and opened up the window. A cold breeze blew in from the outside, clearing the smell of smoke out of his room. With a flick of his fingers, the cigarette buttnded perfectly inside the bin.

    ***

    At Tang Enterprise, Tang Qingqiu was looking down at his phone while listening to Qin Heng¡¯s report. Sudden;y, he looked up. "Remember, the press conference is being held tomorrow. How are the preparationsing along in the media side of things?"

    "Very well sir, Mr. Zhu has requested for this conference to have live coverage for the entire world to see." Qin Heng flipped through his notepad. "Nine Heavens has already obtained the right to broadcast for tomorrow¡¯s event."

    Tang Qingqiu raised his brow upon hearing this. "They¡¯ve done everything, what do we do?"

    Tang Qingqiu understood that while it sounded simple, it was actually pretty difficult to obtain broadcasting rights on an international level; not every country saw China eye-to-eye. Now that Nine Heavens has dealt with this sticky matter, the Tang Enterprise was left practically redundant with nothing to add to the project itself. And yet, they were still guaranteed 20% of their total profits?

    "We¡¯re responsible for security and maintaining order at the conference. Nine Heavens will not be physically attending the event." Qin Heng and Mu Zong were jointly-responsible for hosting this event. The duo had been making their own preparations for the past few days and it was during this period that Qin Heng witnessed Nine Heavens¡¯ true capability. For instance, their software manufacturing system has already reached the peak of what humanity was capable of currently.

    There were many countries who had their own disputes with the People¡¯s Republic of China.

    Be that as it may, these countries would all treat Nine Heavens courteously despite its Chinese origin. Qin Heng was lucky enough to speak to Mu Zong personally through a video conference. He had little idea what Mu Zong talked about in their meeting but he recalled how friendly his counterpart was.

    However, after observing Mu Zong¡¯smunication with his foreign partners, Qin Heng suddenly realized that they were able to do something which Tang Enterprise could not. Still, Nine Heavens was kind enough toe up with a long-term strategy n for their newfound ally in a surprisingly short amount of time.

    "Nine Heavens isn¡¯t going to attend the conference?" Tang Qingqiu reconsidrered his situation. "Aren¡¯t they gonna go observe the oue?"

    Qin Heng¡¯s mouth twitched awkwardly. "I think they¡¯re trying to avoid unnecessary hassle."

    "..."

    Tang Qingqiu slowly looked up.

    "Nine Heavens is now slowly incorporating what¡¯s left of the Bai family." Qin Heng thought about what Mu Zong has done as ofte. "Young Master, I assume that you¡¯re aware of howrge Bai Enterprise¡¯s foundation is. Initially, I didn¡¯t believe that Nine Heavens could swallow them whole. I thought that someone else would swoop in and take the kill. To my surprise, perhaps they are much more mysterious than I originally thought they were."

    Qin Heng emphasised on the word "mysterious". He was curious when he started out cooperating with Nine Heavens. However, through his interactions with said firm, he made shocking discoveries almost everyday.

    "Young Master, do you know who I bumped into when I visited Nine Heavens¡¯ headquarters?"

    Tang Qingqiu rose from his seat and looked inquisitively at Qin Heng. "Who?"

    "Remember the top-grade finance students from A University that we tried luring over? They were there, as well as a couple other big shot financial analysts who frequently appear on the front page of finance magazines." Qin Heng took a deep breath. "They are incredibly passionate about their work. I have never seen any firm like theirs. If you¡¯ve the chance, I think you should defintiely check them out. Maybe you¡¯ll derive some inspiration out of it."

    Most of the people he met at theirpany were all famous people in the outside world. If it weren¡¯t for this, Qin Heng would never believe that it was possible to bring together so many bright minds under one singlepany.

    The most important thing was that all of them appeared to be working in perfect harmony; they worked as if they could never run out of battery.

    "This Nine Heavens is a terrifying force it seems." Qin Heng added at the end.

    Tang Qingqiu gestured for him to head on down. Leaning back into his chair, he slowly flipped over the document that Qin Heng handed him.

    He let out a long sigh after reaching the end of the document. His curiosity about who was running Nine Heavens grew once more. It was to the point where he couldn¡¯t contain his emotions any longer. Rubbing his phone, he pondered if it was time for him to contact the Confidential Information Bureau.

    Then, someone knocked on his door.

    "Come in."

    Tang Qingqiu tidied up the pile of documents.

    The door was slowly pushed open before a young man popped out from behind. "Brother," he said while shing a smile at Tang Qingqiu.

    "Qinghong? Why are you here?" Tang Qingqiu stood up, bewildered. He patted Tang Qinghong¡¯s shoulder. "I thought you were at the training ground. I bet the nextpetition¡¯sing soon."

    He knew his brother quiet well. Back then, after receiving some unknown shock, and ever since obtaining the chance to visit the Jiang family¡¯s legacy base, he remained at the training ground for a very long time. He would note home for a few months at a time, which exined why Tang Qingqiu was so surprised by his sudden appearance.

    Tang Qinghong sat down on the sofa. "Brother, did you know that the leader of the Baili family has finally returned?"

    "Their leader?" Tang Qingqiu poured his brother a drink. "If that¡¯s so then where¡¯s Baili Qu? Has he returned too?"

    Yup," replied Tang Qinghong seriously.

    Tea was overflowing from Tang Qinghong¡¯s cup and he had to remind his big brother about it before that he realized it. Tang Qingqiu went silent after that. "Are... are you sure about this?"

    "Absolutely, brother. Something¡¯s changed for the Baili family. I met the patriarch today. His aura was much stabler than the previous times we met. I presume the cause of that to be his unexined illness." A lot has happened in the ancient martial arts world in the past two days. Even Tang Qinghong found it hard to keep up with all the changes.

    First was Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s box of magical pills, news of which had been leaked out by the Tang family. It caused a tidal wave ofmotion that swept across the ancient martial arts world. Luckily, due to the deterrence that Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s presence offered, no one dared to snatch the treasure away from Yin Shaoyuan. However, that wasn¡¯t enough to stop them from plotting to do so.

    And then, there was the abrupt return of the Baili family to the ancient martial arts world. He was able to catch of glimpse of Baili Qu from afar and the changes he went through were noticeable, even from a distance. He didn¡¯t seem as depressed as he was previously. The aura his body emanated was also far stronger.

    "Didn¡¯t the divine doctor say that there was no cure for his disease?" Tang Qingqiu noticed the dismay in his voice when he asked that question.

    "This is what I¡¯m gonna talk about next. Brother, the divine doctor¡¯sing back."

    Although the ancient martial arts world remainedrgely unchanged on the surface, with all this happening, they all knew that the peace they enjoyed previously had now daded away. The ominous magical pills, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s sudden emergence and the Baili family¡¯s return...this all pointed towards the possibility of a power reshuffle in their realm.

    "I¡¯m going back with you today." Tang Qingqiu picked up his coat. While talking to Qin Heng over the phone, he left alongside Tang Qinghong.

    Suddenly, something popped onto Tang Qingqiu¡¯s mind. "Does Shuxuan know about Baili Qu¡¯s return?"

    "They were the ones with whom the patriarch and Baili Qu returned." Tang Qinghong replied.

    ***

    On the next day, at A University.

    The atmoshphere at the unversity was different today. Imported luxury cars rolled in through the main gate one after the other. Apart fromrge men in ck business suits, there were also teams of sombre-faced journalists.

    "What¡¯s up with these journalists and bodyguards? Who¡¯sing to our university?" Onlookers started discussing the scene amongst themselves.

    "I don¡¯t know." The man beside him shook his head. "But the main door of the hall was sealed shut when I passed by."

    "They¡¯re this confidential?!"

    "I bet it¡¯s some leader, or maybe it¡¯s a formal function of sorts...."

    "..."

    Lin Xia, who was dressed in a formal suit stood at the entrance of the auditorium. Raising his arm, he nced down at his wrist watch. It was already 9.45 and despite Zhu Yuan and Professor Jiang¡¯s calls, Gu Xiqiao was nowhere to be seen.

    Lin Xia couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Gu Xiqiao had indeed forgotten about the speech she was supposed to give today.

    After working at theboratory for the past couple of days, he finally understood Professor Jiang and Zhu Yuan¡¯sints. Not once did Gu Xiqiao step foot in theirboratiry to check on her own work!

    The more he studied the manuscripts left behind by Gu Xiqiao, the more his fear of Gu Xiqiao grew. Despite howplete the information she provided was, Zhu Yuan was the only one who could make sense of her concepts.

    He remembered this line that Zhu Yuan said to him. "You just need to understand one or two levels deeper and soon enough, you¡¯ll achieve your own breakthrough. The information you see here has already breached themon scientificmunity¡¯s level of knowledge."

    Lin Xia continued thinking about these things frantically before finally, the familiar skinny silhouette of a young girl appeared in the distance.

    "My junior!"

    "No reason for you to panic." Gu Xiqiao showed him the time on her phone, indicating that she had arrived on time.

    Surprisingly, he was more panicked than she was, even thought she was supposed to be the star of today¡¯s event.

    Zhu Yuan was discussing matters with Professor Jiang when he looked up to find Gu Xiqiao, who arrived at the final moment. "God! You¡¯ve finallye!"

    He passed two printed A4-sized papers to Gu Xiqiao. "This is a speech I prepared for you. I forgot to send it to youst night. There isn¡¯t time for you to memorize it now, so you should just bring it to the podiumter!"

    Gu Xiqiao scanned through it before tucking it into her pocket.

    "Don¡¯t be nervous, alright?" Professor Jiang slowly instructed Gu Xiqiao. With so many cameras pointed at her face, he feared that she would suffer a nervous breakdown. "If you feel yourself panicking, just smile at us. Zhu Yuan wille to your rescue."

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao responded with a nod.

    10am.

    The stage lights of the auditorium turned on.

    A sea of journalists raised their cameras, focusing on a single person standing on the stage. Many of them were clueless as to why they were here. They had only received an order toe here to A University. It was after seeing reporters from the state newswork did they realize how important the even really was.

    The audience looked up to find a fresh-faced young girl staring down at them.

    At the International Academy of Medical Sciences.

    "President, I think you should watch the live broadcast, the one we were invited by Zhu Yuan to attend." This was a blonde hair, blue-eyed youngd.

    The president of the academy was in the middle of dissecting a research report from China. His brows furrowed upon hearing the young man speak. "I believe that everyone in this room knows what cell fusion is! Big deal if a bunch of Chinamen discovered what we uncovered decades ago!"

    With the exception of Zhu Yuan, a majority of doctors in China had a subpar performance. This was the truth that was acknowledged by many of this academy¡¯s members. To prove this point, very rarely were there members from China.

    This was an indisputable fact.

    However, it seems that apart from Zhu Yuan, yet another medical prodigy was rising up in China.

    "Find this Chinese person. Bring her here. China will overlook her significance as they had done with countless other talents like her in the past. We need people like her working in our team." The President disyed a clear screenshot obtained from a video.

    Only the person¡¯s outline was visible. However, it was quite clear that the person was a woman, and a young one at that.

    "President." The blondie interrupted the President¡¯s passionate speech. He slowly raised his head before staring at the President with discontent eyes. Finally, he opened his mouth, which trembled as he spoke. "The cell fusion we¡¯re talking about in this press conference rtes to cells from different hosts, different bodies. They¡¯re iming that all metabolic functions are normal after the fusion process. The cycle of cell aging and division is an infinite loop and most importantly, they¡¯re saying that this process guarantees no cell rejection. President, do you know what this means?"

    The President pushed him aside and ran the fastest he had ever run over to the broadcasting room.

    On the screen was a young girl. She was a solid ten even by American beauty standards.

    Slowly, she started speaking. "70% of all blood-rted disease patients can be saved. No more would they need to wait around for a bone marrow donor. We have organized a special research team, who coincidentally, is part of the audience as doctors. We will provide them with the technology as well as the training. I hope that we can deliver hope to suffering people from all over the world."

    As her speech ended, the auditorium went dead silent. Then, secondster, everyone stood up and started pping.

    They finally knew why they had attended this conference!

    Life as they knew it was about to be re-written!

    70% of all blood-rted diseases could be cured? What magical number was that?

    "Impossible!" screamed the president of the International Academy of Medical Sciences. "It¡¯s impossible for there to be zero cell rejection! What does she think this is? Pediatrics?! How could one possibly vite thews of nature?!"

    The girl then calmly presented two petri dishes. The cells contained within were erged and projected onto the screen behind her.

    "On the left is the experiment I did 1 month ago. On the right is a normal cell culture. I believe that anyone present, who has a good understanding of biology understands what is happening." Gu Xiqiao introduced her concept to the audience calmly while obtaining cells from two different mice.

    Despite there being countless cameras pointed at her, she remained calm, methodical, and meticulous as sheid out her exnation to the audience. While she exined, she did a live demonstration of this cell fusion process for the audience. "The most essential thing you have to get right is the concentration...yeah, and we¡¯re done."

    On the projection screen, the two cells had be fused together. Three minutester, they started splitting like a regr cell would.

    Lin Xia, who had seen her do this once was in a state of disbelief upon seeing how effortless the process actually was.

    They watched her go through the process from start to finish in one single session.

    The president of the International Academy of Medical Sciences suddenly choked up. Stood around him were all men who were crazy about the subject of medicine. Medicine and science reigned supreme above everything else. Whileymen found it hard to understand what was going on, these people knew every step she was taking.

    The only thing on his mind right now was, go to China! And find that little research team!

    However, this was beyond their control. There were no guarantees that they would be epted uponnding in China. Over the phone, the Chinese had made it quite clear to them, "Because members are urgently needed to form our research team, only attendees of the conference are allowed to join. I am incredibly sorry about this."

    Upon hanging up, one of the men cursed, "I can¡¯t believe how selfish the Chinese are acting! Aren¡¯t they supposed to benefit the whole of mankind?! How dare they have the audacity to refuse to share their resources!

    "But they¡¯ve invited us yesterday and we turned it down ourselves. I heard that no matter what country the doctorse from, as long as you were an attendee, you¡¯re allowed ess to the researchb." said another doctor with a regretful look on his face. "If only I knew that they were talking about this sort of cell fusion, I would¡¯ve gone regardless of what you said!"

    "These Chinese are way too cunning. They didn¡¯t make the first move, fooling us into thinking that it was just your regr cell fusion! Cunning bastards they are!"

    "I never expected another prodigy to suddenly spring up after Zhu Yuan! How terrifying can China get?!"

    "I bet the medical ranking list is gonna change again!"

    "They¡¯re way too strong!"

    Countless well-known medical schrs from all around the globe were flocking towards China. An ancient civilization that was once humiliated as backward and barbaric has finally resurfaced in front of everyone.

    This video was broadcasted live around central squares in every nation, allowing everyone to witness this magical moment.

    Many in a US airport froze in their tracks. The young girl looked up at the camera lens, at the entire world with her bright eyes. Slowly, a smile broke across her face. "And so, the history of mankind will be rewritten. I wee everyone to our great nation, China."

    Shen Nianzhi, who was dragging her suitcase suddenly stopped and stared down at the screen in disbelief. "S-She¡¯s really seeded..."

    "Shen Nianzhi, the teacher¡¯s waiting for us in the lobby." Mu Yunfan caught a glimpse of the person on her phone. His eyes remained fixed on her face for a while as a frown slowly emerged on his face. He looked away, unwilling to spare her even a single second of attention.

 Chapter 163 Omen Of A Troublemaker

    <h4>Chapter 163 Omen Of A Troublemaker</h4>

    Shen Nianzhi nced down at the screen. This time, the camera had panned over to another person.

    She pursed her lips and looked back up after hearing what Mu Yunfan said.

    They arrived at the lobby shortly after. Sima Jun was seated inside, waiting for them. Shen Nianzhi was fairly excited to meet the man in person.

    Although Sima Jun did not ept her as his apprentice, he didn¡¯t hesitate to give her lots of useful information about painting. This time, she was able to apany them personally to a grand painting biennale in the United States of America, which allowed her to gain a deeper level of understanding on the topic.

    "The results for this biennale have finallye out," announced Sima Jun while looking at Shen Nianzi. "The panel of judges have decided that the first prize goes to the participant, For A Millenium."

    Sima Jun¡¯s gaze was prating. With pursed lips, Shen Nianzhi went into deep thought. She had promised Gu Xiqiao to not let anyone know about her identity. However, she felt that if she remained any longer under Sima Jun¡¯s eyes, this secret would explode like a busted dam. To win the first prize of an international award was something she absolutely had to tell Gu Xiqiao about, else she would miss this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

    After all, who would give the first prize to a participant who remained anonymous throughout the entire process?

    "Mr. Sima, please give me some time to think about it."

    Shen Nianzhi sighed.

    She thanked Sima Jun for giving her the opportunity toe to such a ce. However, she also couldn¡¯t forget about the help which Gu Xiqiao so selflessly gave her. And so, she decided to fly home to contact Gu Xiqiao. The fame and fortune which receiving the first prize would bring was something no ordinary person could simply turn down.

    Sima Jun sensed her wavering spirit when she spoke. Still, he nodded his head. "This is an incredibly rare award. You musty out to her the pros and cons of receiving this award when you get back home. Make sure she understands everything."

    This award was what most artists were aiming for in their career. It was almost impossible not to move one¡¯s heart when receiving it. Even Sima Jun himself would not choose to ignore it as For A Millenium had been doing up until now.

    A boarding reminder from the PA system echoed through the airport.

    "Grandpa Sima, Brother Mu, why are you guys still here?!" asked a bubbly twenty-something young girl who slipped into the VIP waiting room unnoticed.

    Sima Jun rose up from his seat and picked his walking stick up. "We were just leaving."

    Meng Yufan held out her arms, trying to grab Mu Yunfan¡¯s wrist only to grab empty air in the end as he had stepped out of the way at thest second. Upon realizing that he had dodged her hug, a cold expression surfaced on her gorgeous face.

    "Brother Mu!" Meng Yufan stomped her feet angrily at the ground. "Grandpa Sima, did you see what he did?!"

    "Yufan,e with Grandpa. Brother Mu needs to hold his painting. It¡¯s his treasure you see. Even your beloved grandpa was not allowed to touch his art." Sima Jun smiled apologetically at Meng Yufan.

    Laying beside Sima Jun¡¯s foot was a framed piece of art; it was the painting that Gu Xiqiao had picked to enter this year¡¯s biennale.

    Mu Yunfan picked the painting up and grasped it tightly with his hands. On his face was a dignified look when looking down at the painting. Gradually, that deadpan expression warmed up, like a devil that had just entered into a trance.

    Meng Yufan gritted her teeth upon seeing how enthralled Mu Yunfan was by the painting.

    Ever since he went to N City, something about him changed, Meng Yufan felt. Back then, he used all his focus when he painted; very rarely did he ever zone out in the middle of painting. That changed after he went to N City. Frequently, while halfway through his painting, he wouldy down his brush and stare unendingly at his painting.

    There were many times she wanted to tear his painting apart but failed to do so because of how intense he was staring at it.

    Underneath the painting were the words: For A Millenium.

    Meng Yufan looked down at the ground in an attempt to hide the hatred in her eyes.

    ¡¯If you still haven¡¯t made an appearance then why not keep it that way forever and ever?¡¯

    Shen Nianzhi trailed behind the group. She was facing a dilemma. How should she break the news to them that the owner of that painting was Gu Xiqiao? It seemed like Mu Yunfan had a deep-seeded hatred for her. And yet, he was so obsessed about uncovering the identity of the anonymous artist, "For A Millenium".

    These two were in fact, the same person. And yet, he harbored feelings of hatred and admiration for who he thought were two different people.

    There was also Meng Yufan, who was pretty possessive over Mu Yunfan. She was extremely domineering, which was made worse by how powerful her family was. If she were to find out about Miss Gu, God knows what she¡¯ll do to her out of jealousy.

    What a sh*tshow! Shen Nianzi let out a long sigh.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll think about it after I reach the Imperial Capital, I guess.¡¯

    She could recall Luo Weng telling her that Gu Xiqiao was studying medicine at A University.

    Since she was studying arts at University B, it would be pretty easy if she wanted to rendezvous with Miss Gu.

    ***

    At A University, Gu Xiqiao left the stage after her speech had ended, paying no heed to the standing ovation she received.

    pping its transparent wings, the system danced in front of her face.

    She slowly raised her head. "Little System, it¡¯s time to unleash the power that¡¯s within you."

    System: ¡¯I guess that means I have to encrypt all the information that she wants to be encrypted.¡¯

    However, this matter could not be solved by merely having the system encrypt the information for her. This research on cell fusion had already taken the medical world by storm. To be able to eradicate the possibility of cell rejection, it showcased just how terrifying her mind was, what more to say of her noble dream to save humanity.

    No doubt, countless people would flock towards her for due to such a life-changing discovery.

    "Why did you add my name to the patent?" Zhu Yuan broke through the barricade of reporters and arrived behind Gu Xiqiao. "Have you lost your mind? This is your research! Your process!"

    Zhu Yuan almost couldn¡¯t stop himself from prying Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head open when he saw the indifferent expression on her face.

    "Well, you were also involved in this research. You discovered the solution to the fusion process did you not? You prepared most of the report, did you not?" Gu Xiqiao patted Zhu Yuan on the back. "Keep it up, champ."

    "Those are minor problems. Look, this patent is incredibly important to you..." Zhu Yuan was halfway through his sentence when he was interrupted by Gu Xiqiao.

    She whipped out her phone. "Alright, alright. It¡¯s time for me to meet my friend now. See you!"

    Professor Jiang had juste out of the back door and he was stunned when he heard them talk about the patent.

    He had never witnessed such a scene before, throughout his entire career in scientific research. People were willing to tear out each others¡¯ throats just for the sake of fame and glory; who on earth would let her credits go to someone else?

    Professor Jiang would not have batted an eye if it was Zhu Yuan shrugging the award off since he was already considered a veteran in his field. This was Gu Xiqiao they were talking about. It was her very first award, or at least it should have been. Who would¡¯ve thought that she would turn it down just like that.

    Worse still, she added the name ¡¯Zhu Yuan¡¯ behind the patent.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were on Zhu Yuan now. Because he was a renowned genius, they would not even believe it if he told them that Gu Xiqiao was responsible for 90% of this scientific breakthrough. This was because shecked poprity; the masses had more confidence in Zhu Yuan.

    "After all the effort wasted on changing the patent owner¡¯s name to her¡¯s!" Zhu Yuan pinched the middle of his brows. "Everything had already beenid out for her. Is she dim-witted or something?"

    How could she just hand the golden ticket to fame and fortune over to someone else so effortlessly? Zhu Yuan sighed.

    Though, a weird feeling was swelling up in his heart.

    "She¡¯s not dim-witted. Nor should you overlook the role you yed in this research." Professor Jiang patted Zhu Yuan on the back with a smile on his face. "You should be very busy after this. I believe you still have to deal with the research team. Quite a number of big shots are looking to meet you too."

    Wasn¡¯t it Gu Xiqiao¡¯s own idea to create a research group?

    Zhu Yuan was caught between a rock and a hard ce. As much as he wanted to, he simply could not reject the role that hadnded on his shoulders. He had yet to fully understand the report that Gu Xiqiao handed him previously. There were also many secrets about that girl that he had yet to uncover. In any case, staying here was his best option. At least it was a ce where he could draw inspiration for his next grand project.

    And so, he had to suck it up.

    He sighed. When did the dignified poster child of the medicalmunity turn into a ve?

    Suddenly, his phone rang. It was a special ringtone. Zhu Yuan hastily took out his phone and answered the call. "Master?"

    "Little brat, you¡¯re at A University aren¡¯t you?" The voice on the other end of the line was clear; it didn¡¯t sound like the voice of a sixty to seventy-year-old geezer.

    Zhu Yuan immediately understood why Rong Feishuang was calling him. Thus, he hurriedly gave him an exnation. "Yeah, but there are lots of twists and turns here. Um, Master? Would you like to ept another apprentice?"

    He was trying to pitch Gu Xiqiao to his master.

    "What on earth are you talking about a boy." Rong Feishuang murmured to himself. "Y¡¯all keep meddling with Western Medicine, I have not the slightest clue on how to teach you kids these days. But, from what the people in the ancient martial arts world said, I am apparently the descendant of Hua Tuo.

    "You? A descendant of Hua Tuo?" Zhu Yuan rolled his eyes. "Don¡¯t tell me you believe in that!"

    Rong Feishuang red at him, though neither could see each other¡¯s expressions. "Hey! You little bastard! How dare you humiliate my ancestor!"

    "Fine, fine, as long as you¡¯re happy with it." Zhu Yuan suddenly remembered that golden needle that Gu Xiqiao had used in the video. Perhaps she also knew about this. By now, you could tell Zhu Yuan that Gu Xiqiao could fly and he would believe it regardless. And so, he opened his mouth. "Master..."

    "Cut me some ck! I¡¯m gonna board the ne now! I¡¯mnding at 4 pm. Remember to pick me up."

    Then came a beeping sound after Rong Feishuang hung up the phone. Zhu Yuan remained there, frozen in his tracks. Perhaps he had misheard what his master said.

    ording to his estimations, wasn¡¯t there half a month¡¯s time before he returned? Why was heing back home when his time still wasn¡¯t up yet?

    Could it be that while he was toiling away in A University¡¯sboratory, something major had happened in the outside world? Feeling that something wasn¡¯t right, Zhu Yuan called up Tang Qingqiu. Just when his call was answered, Professor Jiang called out to him. And so, he hung up the call and put away his phone.

    ***

    At the filming studio, where Xiao Yun was working.

    "Xiao Le, where¡¯s my script?" After putting on her makeup, Xiao Yun returned to find her script missing from where she had initially left it.

    The drama she was filming was a thriller with countless fans of the original work. Usually, many people refrained from watching web dramas because of how poor their quality was. However, she had been assigned to work in this project by Xiang Kun.

    Each episode of this web drama is released once they were done filming and editing it.

    Xiao Yun was the main female character in the story.

    Everything had been going well so far. However, for some inexplicable reason, Xiao Yun could sense that something bad was brewing under the surface. There were countless hurdles she had to clear as ofte. Massaging her temples, she prayed that this was just her imagination.

    "Xiao Yun." A warm, gentle voice called out to her from behind.

    Xiao Yun looked back to find the breathtakingly beautiful Peng Zixian. Immediately, she rose from her seat. "Miss Peng."

    Since she was still considered a neer, whereas Peng Zixian was already a popr star, Xiao Yun felt that it could only be right if she treated Peng Zixian as her senior.

    "Oh, no need to be so courteous. You can call me Sister Peng." said Peng Zixian with a smile. She then blinked at her yfully. "Your assistant seems pretty anxious. Has anything happened?"

    "Oh it¡¯s nothing." A smile broke across Xiao Yun¡¯s stoic face.

    Peng Zixian nodded in response. "Alright, find me if there¡¯s anything wrong. I¡¯ve finished my scenes for today. I¡¯m gonna go change back into my clothes now."

    Xiao Yun remained standing as Peng Zixian entered the dressing room.

    Peng Zixian arrived on set at 9 am. It was currently a little over 12 pm and yet she had already wrapped up her scenes. On the other hand, she, the main character, had toe earlier to the set and leave muchter than Peng Zixian.

    It was then that Xiao Yun understood what Xiang Kun told her was true.

    "What¡¯s the matter, Sister Yun?" Xiao Le was Xiao Yun¡¯s assistant. She turned around, seconds away from bursting into tears. "My script¡¯s nowhere to be found!"

    "You should give Brother Kun a call. He should have a copy somewhere." Xiao Yun took in a deep breath. Fortunately she had already memorised some lines in advance. She did have a vague impression of the lines that came after that.

    Xiao Le immediately called Xiang Kun¡¯s number.

    "Why are you calling Brother Kun? Isn¡¯t he here?" A clear voice came from behind out of the sudden.

    Hearing her voice calmed the panicking Xiao Le down quite a bit.

    Xiao Yun looked back to find Gu Xiqiao standing not far away from them.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s jaws were agape. The film crew were incredibly strict about outsiders visiting their set. No one should know who Gu Xiqiao was. So why was she able to sneak right in? She remembered the uncle who was working as the lunchbox provider cum doorman for their set. His face was scary and his attitude, even scarier; even Peng Zixian could not escape his wrath thest time. "What did you do?"

    Gu Xiqiao searched through her mind before answering, "I smiled at him?"

    Xiao Yun: What the heck?!

    At the same time, the system¡¯s voice echoed through her mind. [Ding! Daily Mission Activated: Help Xiao Yun find her missing script! Missionpletion reward: 20 points!]

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡¯Oh, so you¡¯ve returned to normal, little system?¡¯

    Help Xiao Yun find her missing script? Gu Xiqiao chuckled. "Xiao Yun, I see darkness shrouding all around you. I sense the bad omen of a troublemaker."

 Chapter 164 Dont You Regret This!

    <h4>Chapter 164 Don¡°t You Regret This!</h4>

    "How elusive." Xiao Yun¡¯s gaze towards Gu Xiqiao was filled with discontent. "So you¡¯re finally satisfied ying around in N City?"

    She had never seen a college student living as leisurely as Gu Xiqiao was currently. Even Wu Hongwen was busy with his club and the student council.

    "What are you talking about? N City? That¡¯s like ages ago, no?" Gu Xiqiao scanned the faces of the crew members around them.

    Because of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s unannounced appearance, Xiao Yun gave Xiao Le a look, telling her to not call Xiang Kun¡¯s phone for now. This wasn¡¯t a big deal; she didn¡¯t want Gu Xiqiao to worry about her own concerns.

    Xiao Yun passed a bottle of water provided by the crew members over to Gu Xiqiao.

    "Why are you here today?" she asked.

    She recalled Gu Xiqiao telling her that she woulde to visit her a couple of dayster.

    "Well, I went to school today. Since your school¡¯s pretty near mine, I figured I should pay you a short visit." Gu Xiqiao twisted the bottle cap open and thanked Xiao Yun for her generosity before chugging the water down. Her mouth was parched after giving that lengthy speech on stage.

    Xiao Yun nodded. She took what Gu Xiqiao said at face value. That was until she received a call from Wu Hongwen that night. It was only then that she realized Gu Xiqiao had muddied up the clear pond that was the international medicalmunity. Renowned medical schrs from every corner of the globe were all rushing towards China in search of a new opportunity.

    Gu Xiqiao downed the entire bottle of water in one go.

    "Slow down. Is this the first sip of water you¡¯ve ever taken in your life, jeez." Xiao Yun looked down at her belly, scratching her head at where all that water went.

    Gu Xiqiao recapped the bottle and beganining. "I talked all morning and not a single soul passed me a bottle of water."

    That was because her audience had been thoroughly shocked by her speech.

    "Little system, where¡¯s her missing script?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she wlessly dunked the bottle into a nearby bin.

    By now, the system had more or less grown used to the intimidating aura permeating throughout the Imperial Capital; it was able to leave its original form in any given time now. It patrolled around the set for a while upon hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s question before finally returning to give a report. "Beauty Qiao, it¡¯s in a bag in the dressing room. I¡¯ve just checked the owner of that bag. Seems like it belongs to¡ªPeng Zixian?"

    "Peng Zixian..." Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes and began thinking about her next move.

    "Go fetch that script over."

    ording to Xiao Yun, Peng Zixian was nomoner. She could expose Peng Zixian and her mischievous acts but no doubt, it would only serve to invite reprisals in the future. As Xiao Yun was happily working here, Gu Xiqiao did not hope to cause too much trouble for her friend.

    After all, scheming rats like Peng Zixian were hard to avoid.

    The system wanted to turn Gu Xiqiao¡¯s order down but dared not do so. Could it get any lower than this? Being ordered to steal from someone else?! When was it designed to do such a lowly thing?

    Still, it had no choice but to bow down to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s intimidation.

    Peng Zixian was in the middle of removing her makeup. Her bag was hung on one of the racks in the dressing room. None of the people in said room were able to detect the system. It flew right in front of their faces and proceeded to retrieve the script from Peng Zixian¡¯s bag unnoticed.

    The system ced the script in a trash can in front of Gu Xiqiao. With an emotionless expression, it said to Gu Xiqiao, "Praise me!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze remained fixated downwards. "Little system, I like you more this way!"

    ¡¯Half-assed response! 0/10 worst praise ever!¡¯ thought the system to itself.

    Ignoring the system¡¯s protests, Gu Xiqiao wagged her finger at Xiao Le, gesturing for her toe over. Pointing down at the trash can, she said, "I remember Xiao Yun¡¯s the female protagonist, no? Is this her script?"

    Xiao Le did not expect to find the lost item here, especially after turning over the entire ce while in search of Xiao Yun¡¯s script. She nodded her head with an astonished facial expression. When did her script pop up here and why?

    "Careful from now on." Gu Xiqiao reminded her.

    Xiao Yun was initially skeptical that her script had been found so quickly but she didn¡¯t ask any more questions after seeing the deadpan look on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face.

    Peng Zixian had just finished removing her makeup and changed into her own clothes. She saw Xiao Yun attentively memorizing her lines on the script immediately after stepping out of the dressing room. Xiao Yun¡¯s next scene was scheduled to start at 1 pm. It wasn¡¯t surprising to see an actress memorizing her lines before her scene, at least, in the eyes of the crew members around them.

    And yet, Peng Zixian froze in her tracks after witnessing the scene. Wide-eyed, she stared at the script Xiao Yun was holding.

    Before she could get a close look at the script, a figure popped up in front of her abruptly. Looking up, she came face-to-face with a bright and beautiful face.

    "Miss Gu? I assume you¡¯vee to pay Xiao Yun a visit?" A smile unconsciously broke across Peng Zixian¡¯s face.

    Gu Xiqiao responded with a smile. "That¡¯s right? Seems like you¡¯re finished with your scenes?"

    Her smile was bright and sunny and yet Peng Zixian felt an inexplicable fear swelling up in her unconscious mind. For some reason, she could sense that Gu Xiqiao was able to stare straight into her soul. But how was it possible? She had taken the extra step to remain as discreet as possible! Even her dear brother would not believe that she would do such a thing.

    She felt a slight sense of relief when she remembered this.

    "Yeah, I¡¯vepleted all my scenes for today. If you¡¯ll excuse me, Miss Gu." Peng Zixian bowed slightly at Gu Xiqiao and left with her heels cking at a brisk pace.

    "Goodbye." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her fingers together.

    Peng Zixian and her manager were only a couple of steps away when suddenly¡ª

    Snap!

    One of her beautifully crafted 9 centimeter-tall high heels suddenly snapped loudly into two parts, sending Peng Zixian head over heels. Everything happened in a split second; even her manager couldn¡¯t register in time what had happened.

    Peng Zixian was well-known in showbiz for being a well-refined noblewoman. At the very least, she was able to keep up that image in front of her fans, who gave her the nickname, "Miss Aristocrat".

    And now, she was sprawled out on the ground like a leaping frog, her hair in a total mess. The golden shot of her panties were on disy for everyone to see as her legs were as far apart as they could go. To make matters worse, the sound of her fall had attracted the attention of the crew members around her. Their eyes were instantly filled with schadenfreude at the sight of Peng Zixian screwing up.

    Why? Well, Peng Zixian enjoyed special treatment from the director of this web drama. No matter when she arrived on set, he would always hastilye up with some scenes for her to y in, putting every other actor on hold.

    Xiao Yun had to wake up at 5 am every morning just to arrive here on time. Despite this, her scenes always had to be pushed back just for the sake of amodating Peng Zixian. Every night, she had to ve away until 11 or 12 am before she was allowed back home. Many of her fellow co-workers were aware about this unjust phenomenon.

    Inparison to the cool, stoic Xiao Yun, their dislike for Peng Zixian, who acted all high and mighty was far greater.

    Seeing her in such a pitiful state was¨C¨Cso satisfying!

    Peng Zixian could sense that she was being ridiculed from every direction. She was so filled with rage that her face was turning blue. She pped away the director¡¯s hand, who was offering to pick her up. With a hostile expression, she limped out of the main entrance. This was her first time being publicly humiliated like this!

    "Moral of the story," Gu Xiqiao said to Xiao Yun. "Pick better quality shoes to wear."

    Xiao Yun thought to herself, ¡¯Although I¡¯m not as skilled in ancient martial arts as Yao Jiamu, didn¡¯t I feel a surge of chiing from her body just now?¡¯

    Still, she was clueless about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s intentions for targeting Peng Zixian. Technically, this should be their first time meeting, no?

    To her surprise, Gu Xiqiao waited patiently for Xiao Yun until it was nearly 11 pm when she was finally done with her scene.

    While Xiao Yun was in the middle of her scene, Gu Xiqiao called Xiao Le, her assistant over. "Is it typical for her to work until sote at night?"

    To be frank, she had already sensed Xiao Yun¡¯s weakened mental strength just now. She knew a career in acting was no walk in the park. However, acting in a web drama should have been way easier as they did not have a fixed release date like a movie would. Even when Xiao Yun was working on ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯, she was not as fatigued as she was right now!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face darkened upon hearing the director¡¯s order for a retake.

    Finally, Xiao Yun¡¯sst scene of the day came to an end. Whilst Xiao Yun was in the dressing room, changing clothes, Gu Xiqiao slowly snuck up on the director. On her way there, many of the friendly film crew and extras smiled and waved at her enthusiastically.

    That¡¯s right. In just a single afternoon, Gu Xiqiao had already won the hearts and minds of these people. Her poprity had already surged ahead of Xiao Yun¡¯s. She was an attractive girl and her personality was bubbly and lovable. With just a snap of her fingers, she left them dumbfounded by how perfect she was.

    "Director, I believe Xiao Yun¡¯s acting was perfectly on point. Why did you have her repeat the scene nine whole times?" Gu Xiqiao asked in a genuinely curious tone.

    rmed, the director spun around to face Gu Xiqiao. Upon closer inspection, she didn¡¯t appear like she belonged to this industry. And so, he waved his hand in the air. "What do you know?! Xiao Yun¡¯s facial expressions are problematic. Although this is technically a web drama, the quality of my production is firmly on par with cinema blockbusters! I might be strict with her but it¡¯s for her own good! Else she¡¯de under fire of the diehard fans!"

    His voice sounded impatient. He had just caught wind a few days ago that Peng Zixian was no ordinary actress. And it just so happened that she was assigned to his project. That, coupled with Tang Qingqiu¡¯s sudden proposition to join forces solidified his suspicion that she was a powerful person. It was certainly a rare asion for the Young Master Tang to visit such a small production team. As such, he paid extra attention whenever Peng Zixian was concerned.

    As a director, his observational skill was perfectly described by the word ¡¯meticulous¡¯. He had already sensed Peng Zixian¡¯s contempt towards Xiao Yun ever since her arrival.

    As a neer with no solid background, it didn¡¯t take the director much effort to suppress her. Xiao Yun was forced to swallow her dissatisfaction, which allowed the director to step further over the line. The self-proimed boss was feeling more and more pissed off, seeing the blondie questioning him.

    Still, Gu Xiqiao was even more pissed off at him!

    Even Cheng Zhou found nothing wrong with Xiao Yun! The audacity of this scum to order her friend to repeat the scene nine times! Gu Xiqiaoughed coldly.

    What kind of a sh*tshow had Xiang Kun forced Xiao Yun into epting?! She rubbed her fingers across her phone. Since Xiao Yun was still busy removing her makeup, she decided to give Xiang Kun a call.

    "Miss Gu?" Xiang Kun sounded surprised when he answered her call.

    Gu Xiqiao did not skip the formalities. "Where have you been recently, Brother Kun?"

    Xiang Kun went silent as he peered down at the beads on his wrist. Thinking that she probably was also from the ancient martial arts world, he replied, "I¡¯m in the ancient martial arts world. Seems like we¡¯re going through a major change here."

    Gu Xiqiao sounded like she had only called to ask where he was, and then ended the call abruptly, which left Xiang Kun puzzled.

    "What happened?" asked Tang Qingqiu who was standing beside him.

    Xiang Kun¡¯s face was as clueless as he was. "I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯m surprised that she and Xiao Yun are still on set at this hour... I have to call up my old friend. I didn¡¯t expect a web drama to have such a tightly-packed schedule."

    Just as he finished his sentence, Tang Qingqiu left with a key in his hand.

    "Hey! Why are you leaving now?! How should I exin this to Grandpa Tang?!" Xiang Kun yelled as Tang Qingqiu¡¯s back slowly receded into the distance. "... how odd."

    The filming site of the web drama Xiao Yun was ying in was situated rather close to A University. It could be considered a high-end studio, with an all-natural setting. The only issue with this ce was its limited parking space. Cars could only be parked on the opposite side of the street.

    Gu Xiqiao did not drive here today. She hitched a ride on the car that Xiao Yun was provided with by herpany.

    Unfortunately, her car decided that today was a good day to die. It¡¯s engine would not start no matter how much they tried.

    "How unlucky can I be?!" Xiao Yun¡¯s jaw was agape. "You know what? Let¡¯s take a taxi home, Er Qiao."

    This ce wasn¡¯t as developed as the central business district; taxis were few and far between in such a location. They had to resort to hailing a ride through an app.

    [Host, a wire in the enginepartment has been disconnected. It¡¯s fairly easy to reconnect it.]

    The system¡¯s voice echoed through her mind.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Xiao Yun, who was scrolling through the app, looking for an empty ride. She initially wanted to pop open the engine cover and reconnect said wire but then changed her mindst minute. "No need for that, Xiao Yun."

    "Huh?" Xiao Yun put down her phone and looked up with a confused expression.

    "Let¡¯s go hitchhiking." Gu Xiqiao raised her hand to wave at a passing Mercedes Benz.

    The car was already slowing down when the duo entered the driver¡¯s view. Then, as the driver¡¯s window came rolling down, a handsome, familiar face popped out. "It¡¯s prettyte, Miss Gu. I¡¯m surprised to find you still out and about at this hour."

    It was Tang Qingqiu.

    "Mr. Tang, Xiao Yun¡¯s car is busted. Would you be so kind as to send her back to her apartment?" asked Gu Xiqiao politely.

    With a stern expression, Tang Qingqiu replied, "Why of course."

    "Great. You should get going then." Gu Xiqiao looked back at Xiao Yun, who remained frozen in her tracks. "Brother Jiang¡¯sing in a jiffy. You should leave with Mr. Tang, your apartment¡¯s part of his route anyways."

    Watching as the car drove away slowly, the smile on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face faded. "Little system, you said there were surveinces around here?"

    "That¡¯s right, Beauty Qiao. I¡¯ve detected a couple of surveince devices nted around Xiao Yun¡¯s car. Seems like they were deliberately left to observe Xiao Yun¡¯s actions. Would you like me to jam her signal?" asked the system who floated in front of her face.

    "Jam her signal?" Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. "Nah, let her be."

    Gu Xiqiao would have to spare her if she was stopped.

    And so, the next few days were rather normal for Xiao Yun. She was allowed to leave by seven or eight in the evening.

    Until the third day.

    Tonight, everyone was forced to stay on set until two in the morning.

    "Sister Yun, why do I feel so gloomy?" Both of them had never been forced to work past midnight before. From all the work, Xiao Yun started to feel a tingling numbness spreading from her arm.

    "It¡¯s alright." Xiao Yun had only blinked once when Gu Xiqiao suddenly appeared by her car. She was momentarily taken aback. Why was she here? She hurried over. "Er Qiao¨C"

    Before she could start speaking, both of her eyes closed shut and onto the ground she copsed.

    Within the pitch-dark room, a low, hoarse voice announced, "Young mistress, I have brought them over."

    Slowly, the person spun around on her chair. Her soft voice pierced the silence. "Why are there three people?"

    "I was afraid that these two would alert others about this, so I brought them here."

    Click!

    The lights in the room came on. Surprise surprise, the woman seated across the room was none other than Peng Zixian!

    "You have done well, Peng Da. Now, get out." Peng Zixian was satisfied with this bodyguard of hers. He was selected by her beloved big brother due to his superhuman abilities. The reason why she picked him for the job was due to rumours about Xiao Yun being incredibly powerful.

    Over the past few years, countless poor souls who had crossed Peng Zixian were silenced by Peng Da, her trusty bodyguard.

    There were three individuals in the room. Peng Zixian slowly walked over to Xiao Yun¡¯s side and kicked the chair she was tied to, over. Despite being unconscious, her beauty was unmistakable. The dagger she held tightly in her hand glimmered underneath the ceiling lights.

    An evil look surfaced on Peng Zixian¡¯s face when she raised the arm that was holding the pointy dagger.

    Right before she plunged the dagger down into Xiao Yun¡¯s body though, her hand froze up mid-air. Peng Zixian was stunned. Xiao Yun, who she thought was supposed to be unconscious opened her eyes. That look in her eyes was so dark that it frightened even the murderous Peng Zixian.

    "This isn¡¯t funny, not one bit, little system." Seeing Xiao Yun, who was feigning being unconscious, wake up, she too got back on her feet.

    The system spirit, who had just finished scouting out the ce, flew back into the room. "Seems like fun to me, Miss Gu. There¡¯s a bunch of bodyguards outside. You can fight your way through this."

    Peng Zixian was wide-eyed upon realizing that these three had sessfully deceived her. Xiao Yun had a vice-like grip, mping down on her wrist. No matter how hard she struggled, she failed to break through her deathgrip.

    "Miss Peng, I don¡¯t recall ever having a feud with you." Xiao Yun loosened her grip. Because of how weak her stance was, she fell t onto her back the moment that happened.

    She looked up the moment she heard Xiao Yun¡¯s words. "No feud? We¡¯re born to be enemies!" Peng Zixian cackled as she struggled back onto her feet. "Xiao Yun! As long as you remain in the Imperial Capital, you will never escape my grip! Come in Peng Da!"

    Enemies? Xiao Yun¡¯s jaw almost dropped to the ground. She had never seen such a crazy woman before. When had they be enemies?!

    Could it be due to her being picked as the protagonist of this web drama? But if Peng Zixian wanted to y as the protagonist, she could just pressure the director into choosing her with little to no effort, right?

    Xiao Yun scratched her head at this problem.

    Peng Zixian¡¯s eyes were toxic, looking at the innocent Xiao Yun. "Why do you get his attention by doing so little?! I can stand in front of him and he won¡¯t even spare me a single glimpse! What else do you have going for you apart from your face?!"

    "Him?" Xiao Yun located the keyword in a matter of seconds.

    Peng Zixian had no intentions of answering her question as Peng Da had already burst into the room. Peng Zixian slowly backed off. Standing in her nine centimeter-high heels, she was slightly taller than Xiao Yun, who was wearing t-bottomed shoes. Her voice sounded hysterical when she screeched, "Since you¡¯ve woken up, that¡¯s even better! I want you to see using your own eyes, see the fame, wealth and your own friends slowly distance themselves from you! I¡¯ll ruin your image! I¡¯ll let him see your true colors! See if he¡¯d still ept you after that!"

    Xiao Yun could feel the pressure from Peng Da the moment he stepped into the room. Still, she was even more surprised by Peng Zixian.

    Peng Zixian, who was well-mannered every second of the day had now seemingly lost her rational mindpletely.

    "Bring her to me Peng Da!" It was Peng Da¡¯s turn to move now.

    Peng Da nodded to his mistress¡¯mand before approaching Xiao Yun. With each step, she could feel his aura growing more intense. Xiao Yun looked up at him with dread in her eyes. She had experienced the same aura back when she sparred with Yao Jiamu.

    "Tsk." Suddenly, a figure appeared behind Peng Da¡¯s back. He swiftly spun around to find himself staring at a pair of bright eyes.

    "You¡¯re a pretty brave one aren¡¯t you? Using ancient martial arts against me and all." Chi expanded from the tip of her fingers as she said that.

    Suddenly, it felt to Peng Da as if a heavy mountain was pressing down on his shoulders. With fear in his eyes, he yelled at Peng Zixian, "Go! Young mistress! Run!"

    He had gotten a taste of what¡¯s toe from this young girl standing before him. Peng Da was considered by many as a first-rate master back in the ancient martial arts world. And yet, this girl was still able to immobilize him. No doubt, she must be an ancient martial artist herself! He had never felt so vulnerable, even when facing off with that brat back in the ancient martial arts world! This could only mean one thing! She was stronger than that girl from before!

    Peng Da¡¯s heart sank when he arrived at this conclusion. Peng Zixian had made a grave mistake, crossing such a person!

    Up until now, Peng Da remainedrgely invincible against his opponents. He was Peng Zixian¡¯s ultimate weapon. Seeing her weapon being put out of service so easily, Peng Zixian shuffled backwards out of fear. Gu Xiqiao picked up the dagger that fell out of her hand. Now towering over her, she asked, "What were you nning to do against Xiao Yun?"

    Peng Zixian¡¯s fingers started trembling. This was also her first time being confronted like this. These past few days have been crappy for her and her schemes. Due to this, the resentment in her heart had slowly built up. Still, her trump card was not Peng Da¡ªit was her identity, her family. ring back at Gu Xiqiao, she proudly proimed, "I am a member of the Peng family! You can¡¯t touch me!"

    She was the descendant of their country¡¯s founding fathers. Nearly everyone in her family had high-ranking positions in either the military or in the government. Because of their grasp over the country¡¯s military, the head of her family was regarded by many as a powerful warlord in the Imperial Capital.

    "The Peng family?" Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows. "Very well, I¡¯ll let you off this time." Let¡¯s see if your familyes grovelling at my feet for forgiveness, or choose inevitable death!

    "Don¡¯t you regret this!" yelled Peng Zixian as she ran out of the room.

    In her mind was a set of instructions that was, go home! Find Big Brother! And tell him about the humiliation she had suffered today! Then, these two would finally know what the meaning ¡¯hell on earth¡¯ was!

 Chapter 165 Can You Just Let Her Go?

    <h4>Chapter 165 Can You Just Let Her Go?</h4>

    It was almost four in the morning now. Peng Zixian stomped on the elerator, driving back home at her car¡¯s maximum speed. Due to her wearing high heels, driving at such a speed guaranteed death if not for the streets being deserted at this hour.

    Her Lotus sports car rolled to a stop outside a high-end residentialmunity.

    This was where Peng Zixian lived. The Peng family had their own manor. However, because of the problematic interpersonal rtionships there, Peng Zijie refused to call it his home. Simrly, she had moved out of that ce due to personal reasons.

    The security guard had initially mistaken Peng Zixian as a madwoman and almost called out for backup. Fortunately, someone was a huge fan of the celebrity. He was able to recognize her in the nick of time, avoiding unnecessaryplications.

    It was still early, and it was rare for Peng Zijie to have any vacations. Last night, he went out for a couple of drinks with his pals and had only returned at two in the morning. At 4 am, after barely squeezing in two hours of sleep, he was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing.

    Picking it up, he peered down to discover that the caller ID belonged to Peng Zixian. Answering the call, he heard her scream, "Brother! Save me!"

    Peng Zixian¡¯s voice over the line was trembling. She squeezed word after word out of her mouth in a panicky tone. Peng Zixian¡¯s heart sank the moment his mind registered what was going on. Speaking slowly, he tried to get his sister to calm down. "Don¡¯t panic. Zixian, slow down and tell me where you are right now."

    "Brother, please, open the door. I¡¯m standing outside." Peng Zixian had copsed outside his door. She had the keys to his house but she had identally left it in her car.

    A heavy weight slid off Peng Zixian¡¯s shoulders upon hearing that. He walked over and opened his door, only to find Peng Zixian in an almost unrecognizable state sprawled in the ground outside. At that moment, her eyes were filled with fear.

    "Zixian, Big Brother¡¯s here. Don¡¯t panic. Tell me, what happened to you?" Peng Zixian wrung dry a wet towel and wiped her face clean.

    Peng Zixian grabbed her big brother¡¯s arm and looked up with a pair of cold, merciless eyes. "Brother, I want Xiao Yun killed. And that Gu Xiqiao too! I want them both dead! Brother, you think you can do that for me?!"

    Her eyes were filled with anticipation, staring up at himself.

    "So your senses have returned?" Peng Zijie took in a deep breath. "Tell me, why do you want me to kill them? What about Peng Da?"

    Peng Zixian reached up and covered her eyes. "P-Peng Da... Peng Da¡¯s..."

    There was no way he couldmunicate with her in this state. Peng Zijie called Peng Da¡¯s phone. Peng Dayuan was the son of the Peng family¡¯s head butler. His family has been serving as Peng Zijie¡¯s for countless generations now. Peng Da had close to limitless potential after he was born, which was also why had been epted as the disciple of the strongest man in the ancient martial arts world.

    After he had received his education, he returned to serve under the Peng family as one of their bodyguards. Subsequently, Peng Zijie had arranged for him to work beside his little sister, Peng Zixian.

    Ten minutester, Peng Zijie returned. He looked at his little sister with scrutiny. "Were you trying to harm a female celebrity tonight? Zixian! I expect nothing but the truth from you!"

    Peng Zixian was stunned by her big brother¡¯s reaction. A whileter, she looked up at Peng Zijie and replied, "That¡¯s right!"

    "Why?!" Peng Zijie¡¯s voice sounded harsh.

    "Brother, Tang Qingqiu was the reason why I chose to work in the entertainment industry. I didn¡¯t mind it when Tang Enterprise refused to sign a contract with me. I knew he didn¡¯t like teaming up with other powerful families. And so, I remained there, working under a false identity in anotherpany. I, the young mistress of the Peng family, have reduced myself to such a state for him! And yet! He proceeds to fall in love with a nobody! Brother! I want justice!" Peng Zixian started bawling her eyes out after this.

    That¡¯s right, she felt bitter at not getting what she wanted. Her unrequited love has however, started fermenting into something greater, into a mental disorder.

    Peng Zijie was a little heartbroken, seeing his sister being neglected like this. "Young Master Tang isn¡¯t the only fish in the sea... I want you to seriously rethink this matter. Let me handle the rest, alright?"

    "But Brother! I don¡¯t want to see Xiao Yun anymore!" Peng Zixian suddenly looked up.

    In the midst of an ever-changing political environment, if those two were to leak this secret out, no doubt, it would turn into a weak point for potential enemies to strike at.

    Luckily, these two were just regr celebrities. A lightbulb lit up in Peng Zijie¡¯s mind. If his little sister didn¡¯t want to see Xiao Yun ever again, then he should just pay her a sizable amount and make her leave the Imperial Capital. Although he felt bad for that Xiao Yun girl, Peng Zixian was still his beloved little sister.

    And so, Peng Zijie called someone on his phone and barked out some orders.

    A triumphant look appeared on Peng Zixian¡¯s face upon hearing him speak.

    "Alright, this thing should blow over pretty soon. Go take a shower and get some rest." He had a room specially prepared for Peng Zixian in case of times like this.

    Peng Zixian remained seated on the sofa for a while before heading into her own room obediently. A wry expression surfaced on her face the moment the door clicked shut behind her back. "Xiao Yun! Although I can¡¯t take your life, I¡¯ll make sure you leave the Imperial Capital in tears!"

    In the living room, Peng Zijie was about to hit the sack when his phone rang again. A man¡¯s voice started speaking after he answered the call. "Zijie, what¡¯s up with the tasks you¡¯ve been giving me recently? Did you piss someone off or something?"

    "Why would you say that?" Peng Zijie had returned to his room, and he made sure to lock the door.

    "That girl, who you¡¯re targeting," The man paused for a moment. "Do you know who she is?"

    "Are you talking about Xiao Yun? Isn¡¯t she just a minor celebrity? Is there something special about her?" Peng Zijie¡¯s brows furrowed up. This thing may be moreplicated than it seems on the surface if he¡¯s making such a remark.

    "Xiao Yun? Nah, she¡¯s not the one I¡¯m talking about. She¡¯s just a regr university student from N City."

    Peng Zijie was relieved after hearing that but that feeling onlysted a few seconds. "That friend of hers though, she isn¡¯t amoner! Zijie, if it wasn¡¯t for our fateful friendship, I would¡¯ve thought that you were deliberately sending me to a ughterhouse!"

    "What?" Peng Zijie¡¯s voice tensed up after hearing that.

    "That friend of hers is Gu Xiqiao. She¡¯s a student at University A! The revolutionary medical press conference earlier today, she¡¯s the main character behind that event!"

    "Isn¡¯t she just a doctor? You should be able to deal with that, no?" Peng Zijie lit up a cigarette and smoothly drew in a lungful of smoke. Then, he slowly blew out a cloud of smoke.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s true if things were this simple! But it¡¯s rare for someone her age to achieve such a feat on her own! I gave the Confidential Information Bureau a call. Turns out she has level 8 security clearance!" His voice was shaky when he talked about this.

    Typically, only someone from that ce could possess a security clearance this high.

    The cigarette Peng Zijie was holding fell onto the ground. However, he was beyond shocked to even realize this had happened.

    He walked out of his room and hammered on Peng Zixian¡¯s door. "Zixian! Come out! Now!"

    Peng Zixian had just taken a shower. Her hair was still wet when she opened the door innocently. "Brother?"

    "Tell me, have you done any outrageous things in the past?!" Peng Zijie¡¯s expression was terrifying, which made Peng Zixian tremble in fear.

    Peng Zijie took a deep breath. "You wille with me tomorrow. We¡¯ll meet Xiao Yun and we¡¯ll ask for forgiveness from her, understand?!"

    Level 8 security clearance. No doubt, Xiao Yun¡¯s friend was more powerful than him. If she were the type to seek revenge, he feared that it would be impossible for him to protect his little sister.

    "You want me to meet that b*tch Xiao Yun?" Peng Zixian, who initially thought that she had won the battle, stared at her big brother in disbelief.

    "Brother, have you gone insane? She¡¯s just a nobody! Why should I beg her for forgiveness?"

    "Listen up, Zixian." Peng Zijie¡¯s face was dead serious. "Xiao Yun may be a nobody but her friend isn¡¯t."

    Gu Xiqiao immediately came to Peng Zixian¡¯s mind when she heard that. That girl, who, without moving, was able to disarm Peng Da. Immediately, that gut-wrenching fear returned to her. With hope in her eyes, she said, "Brother, you¡¯re a general aren¡¯t you? Aren¡¯t you the only heir of the Peng family?"

    "No, it¡¯s futile. Even I cannot offend such a person." Peng Zijie shook his head.

    "I don¡¯t believe this!" Asking her, the young mistress of a noble family to bow down to a stupidmoner? Preposterous!

    Peng Zixian mmed her door shut.

    Peng Zijie massaged his temples with an annoyed expression. Trouble filled his mind and he struggled over this issue till dawn.

    After all¡¯s said and done, she was still his little sister; Peng Zijie could not ignore her situation like this. He picked up his car keys and headed out the door. At this hour, Xiao Yun and her friend should already be at the filming studio.

    ***

    At the filming studio of the web drama.

    Xiao Yun didn¡¯t sleep wellst night. She arrived on set earlier than usual.

    "Er Qiao, I think I can handle this myself." Gu Xiqiao was a notoriouslyzy person. However, after catching only two to three hours of shut eyes, she forced herself up at such an early hour to apany her friend to her workce. This made Xiao Yun sigh.

    Gu Xiqiao waved her hand. "No, you¡¯re not the primary reason I¡¯m here today."

    "Huh?"

    Xiao Yun was puzzled.

    Her brain felt like mush right now, especially after hearing what Peng Zixian had said to herst night, which caused her great distress.

    She had only feigned unconsciousness just to find out who was targeting her in the dark. When she found out that it was Peng Zixian all along, she was astonished. What Peng Zixian said made her scratch her head too. For some reason, she felt that Gu Xiqiao should have a pretty good idea what she was talking about. However, her friend would only respond with an amused smile every time she asked her what was going on. It frustrated Xiao Yun so much that she wanted to bang her skull against the wall.

    Despite how early Xiao Yun left her home, the time at which she arrived on set was still consideredte.

    The director frowned at her. "I deliberately assigned your scenes to be at the very first and yet here youe, runningte and all. Do you know that we have been waiting for you for twenty minutes now? Just tell me if you¡¯re tired of ying the protagonist! There¡¯s a line of more disciplined actresses waiting to fill you shoes, y¡¯know?!"

    Xiao Yun apologized instantly. "I¡¯m terribly sorry director, this won¡¯t happen again!"

    She was sincere when she apologized. Still, that didn¡¯t stop the director from babbling endlessly about her.

    Gu Xiqiao noticed that the cameras were already rolling for the first scene. She couldn¡¯t help but intervene. "Director, I do recall that today¡¯s first scene involves her and Peng Zixian. I don¡¯t see that girl around, do you?"

    "What do you know?" The director shot her a nasty re. "You aren¡¯t part of our production team, are you?! Security! Security! Get this person off out studio!"

    What came was not security, but a tall, handsome young man. He proudly sported a crew cut and his facial features were attractive. One could easily tell that he was a powerful man just by looking at his overall demeanor.

    "Are you the director of the web drama my Zixian is working for?" His voice was low and husky.

    The Director felt his heart pumping when the man looked straight at him. "Yes, may I ask who you are, mister?"

    "I¡¯m her big brother. I¡¯m here on her behalf to request for some vacation time." Peng Zijie was a soldier. He was dead serious whenever it came to missions. Realizing that Peng Zixian wasn¡¯t going to appear at her workce soon, he might as well get her some time off.

    The director was stunned after hearing that he was Peng Zixian¡¯s brother. In the blink of an eye, a courteous smile appeared on his face as he assured Peng Zijie that there was no problem with his request.

    Peng Zijie then looked over to Gu Xiqiao, who was speaking to Xiao Yun. "Nice to meet you, Miss Gu, can we speak in private for a moment?"

    Perhaps he was unconscious about this but his voice sounded much less assertive when he spoke to Gu Xiqiao.

    The director took notice of this and he turned around to look at Gu Xiqiao with shock in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao only turned around when she finished speaking with Xiao Yun.

    To be honest, there were only a handful of times Peng Zijie had seen such a beautiful person in his life. Even his sister paled inparison to Gu Xiqiao, who had taken his breath away in an instant. He did see photos of her before and even then, he was already astounded by how pretty she was.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that she looked way more mesmerizing in real life.

    "Sure, let¡¯s talk outside." Gu Xiqiao motioned to him. She hade here primarily to wait for Peng Zijie.

    Thus, the both of them left the studio.

    The director only spun back around when the both of them disappeared outside the entrance. He looked at Xiao Yun with kindness he had never shown before. "Xiao Yun, may I ask who that friend of yours is?"

    "She¡¯s just a regr friend of mine," replied Xiao Yun.

    Surprisingly, the director did not respond with hostility to her blunt reply.

    He remembered how sh*tty his attitude had been toward her and it was then that fear started growing in his heart. It made him ufortable.

    It totally did not cross his mind that the in Jane that was Xiao Yun would have such a friend!

    ***

    Outside, Peng Zijie struggled to produce words from his mouth and it was only when he noticed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s growing impatience when he forced himself to speak. "Miss Gu, aboutst night¡¯s incident. Look, Peng Zixian isn¡¯t as bad a person as you think she is. I-It¡¯s just that she... she has some mental issues that need to be dealt with. Please, could you just overlook this issue? Maybe you can just let her go, just this once?"

    Although he wasn¡¯t prepared to say this, he had no other choice when her bright eyes were staring straight into his soul.

 Chapter 166 You Deserve This

    <h4>Chapter 166 You Deserve This</h4>

    Only a handful of people would understand what Peng Zijie was talking about. Even in his own family, the only ones who knew about it was him and Peng Da.

    Peng Zixian was presumably unaware of her own condition. He wasn¡¯t prepared to tell anyone else about this. After all, Peng Zixian was known to many as the young mistress of the mighty Peng family. No doubt, if this information fell into the wrong hands, the public would soon know about this.

    He thought that Gu Xiqiao would be shocked but to his astonishment, she merely responded to this with a in smile.

    "Mr. Peng, I do sympathize with Miss Peng¡¯s less than ideal mental health. However, this has be a convenient excuse for her to hurt others and get away with it scot-free." Gu Xiqiao said as she spun her phone in her hand. Looking up, she observed Peng Zijie¡¯s eyes grow duller by the second.

    Hearing her say that, Peng Zijie¡¯s eyes widened. "You knew about this?!"

    His voice turned sharp all of a sudden.

    "Well, more or less," Gu Xiqiao nodded. "It was hard not to notice."

    She sighed, thinking about her encounter with Peng Zixian. Unfortunate people were a dime a dozen in this world and most of them bore no ill will even after going through terrible ordeals. What set Peng Zixian apart from these people? Was it really necessary for her to harm others just because she drew the short end of a stick?

    Peng Zijie¡¯s voice grew hoarse. "Zixian¡¯s life the past few years have been rough. She has been through a lot of suffering already, could you please forgive her this time?"

    "Her life? Rough?" Gu Xiqiao snorted. "Mr. Peng, do you know what your sister didst night? Yes! She¡¯s your sister and of course you¡¯ll be on her side! What about Xiao Yun? Do you still remember how you treated those people seven years ago?!"

    Peng Zixian had her brother, so she could bully Xiao Yun, who had no one? If Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t been there yesterday night, she didn¡¯t dare to imagine what Xiao Yun would have had to suffer through?

    Seven years ago, those men were put through living hell! Hints of bloodlust appeared in Peng Zijie¡¯s eyes the moment memories from back then returned to his mind.

    "Good, looks like you do remember that incident." Gu Xiqiao tapped on an email on her phone. "However, I bet you didn¡¯t know what Miss Peng did before that. Mr. Peng, please check the email that you received."

    Peng Zijie¡¯s phone rang. He looked down to discover a new email from a stranger. In an instant, he understood that it was something Gu Xiqiao had sent him.

    This was a detailed ount of Peng Zixian¡¯s crimes. Apart from Xiao Yun, his little sister had used a multitude of methods to eliminate seven innocent girls, one of which, was once her assistant. The reason: staring at Tang Qingqiu for one second too long.

    Peng Zijie was left speechless. He stood there in silence, frozen like a statue.

    He waspletely oblivious to all this.

    "Two days. I give you two days¡¯ time Mr. Peng. Get Peng Zixian to admit her crimes. Alternatively, you can put her behind bars yourself. I want you to think about this long and hard." Gu Xiqiao tucked her phone away and returned to the studio.

    It took Peng Zijie a while to regain his senses. After his brief exchange with Gu Xiqiao, his body had be stiff, like a corpse. Although the sunlight wasn¡¯t very intense, he was slightly feverish. Why did things turn out like this? Was the person in that email really his beloved little sister?

    ***

    Xiao Yun was in the middle of filming a scene when Gu Xiqiao returned to the set. The director was staring enthusiastically at her, without ordering her to repeat her scenes as he did before today.

    Everyone was given some time to rest after filming of that scene ended. Seeing Gu Xiqiao nearby, he waved at her. His heart was trembling in fear; he knew perfectly well why it was a bad idea to mess with a stranger in the Imperial Capital. The way he treated others was well-nned. Never would he ever expect that he would screw up today.

    In his defence, who would¡¯ve known that this young girl, dressed in t-shirt and jeans was such a powerful figure? With a beaming smile, he greeted her.

    "So you¡¯ve returned, Miss Gu?"

    "Yeah. I¡¯ve one thing to tell you, director." Gu Xiqiao scrolled through her phone. "You¡¯re gonna have to find a new female second lead for this web drama of yours."

    A new female secondary character? The director was stunned. Did that mean she wanted to kick Peng ZIxian off the cast?

    Fear swelled up in his eyes.

    "But we upload as we film the episodes for this web drama. Miss Peng had already appeared in previous scenes before. What about the discussions they are going to have on Weibo..." The director was slightly worried. It was no easy task, trying to switch out an actress halfway through a project. Worse still, Peng Zixian was a pretty popr celebrity, with a fairlyrge fanbase. There were many positivements about her performance; his entire cast would sink into darkness if he was to remove her from the drama so abruptly.

    Apart from that, he also feared a reprisal from her big brother. He didn¡¯t seem like a regr man.

    "Well, the more controversial you are, the more popr you¡¯ll get. Don¡¯t worry about this. Considering that fact that Xiao Yun¡¯s in your cast, I wouldn¡¯t want her career to fail, would I?"

    The director sighed in relief upon hearing that. "Fine, I will make the necessary adjustments after this. Do you have anything else to say, Miss Gu?"

    "Nope." This incident was now sessfully dealt with; Gu Xiqiao no longer had a reason to stay here any longer.

    Her phone that was in her pocket rang twice. She picked it up to find that it was Jiang Shuxuan calling.

    "Hello? Brother Jiang?" She bid Xiao Yun farewell before leaving the studio.

    Jiang Shuxuan had just returned home. Xixi made a series ofints the moment he stepped through the front door, one being that it hadn¡¯t been fed for an entire day now. "Where are you?"

    "I¡¯m at the studio. I¡¯ming back immediately." Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose when she heard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s unamused voice. She remembered cing Xixi and Haha¡¯s food next to their beds before she left.

    "I assume you didn¡¯t drive there. I¡¯m picking you up." Jiang Shuxuan had just finished feeding his pets when that pink little car in the garage popped onto his mind.

    There were two traditional streets not far away from A University. Gu Xiqiao had heard about them before but never had the chance to visit said ces.

    It wasn¡¯t too far away. The streets were sparsely upied when Gu Xiqiao arrived there.

    "Beauty Qiao, what are you nning to buy?" asked the system who flew circles around her body. Gu Xiqiao stole it a nce when she shoo-ed it away. "You go y on your own, I¡¯m gonna go do some shopping. Brother Jiang¡¯sing in a jiffy."

    To be honest, traditional streets like these appeared more or less the same no matter which part of China you were in. Gu Xiqiao scanned the ce for a while before discovering some subtle differences. Apart from this ce being slightly more crowded than the traditional street back in N City, the things here were also... pricier.

    [Ding! Daily Mission activated: Help your target, Hua Youlin out of his predicament!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 50 points!]

    [Ding! Random Mission activated: Help your target, Hua Youlin inherit his family assets!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 800 points!]

    Gu Xiqiao was standing in front of a mini stall, holding a cdon wine cup when the system¡¯s voice echoed through her mind. The mission came so suddenly that it surprised her. The stall owner, seeing her stare so intently at one of his merchandise started promoting his items. "Ah, you got a good eye, missy! This is a cdon wine cup dating back to the Northern Song Dynasty. It¡¯s worth hundreds of thousands of yuan in the market. If you¡¯d like, I can sell it to you for a fingertip¡¯s worth of that value!"

    What he meant by a "fingertip¡¯s worth" was about ten thousand yuan.

    An elderly gentleman¡¯s voice came suddenly from behind her back. "Youngdy, you seem pretty youthful. I guess you¡¯re our students at A University. Don¡¯t be fooled by this peddler. This thing¡¯s nothing but a piece of garbage. It¡¯s worth nothing on the market."

    A bewildered look appeared on the stallowner¡¯s face the moment he heard someone else expose his trickery. However, that look faded away the moment he recognized the old man¡¯s face. "Professor Gu."

    Professor Gu was a renowned archaeology professor working in A University. He frequented these streets in search of rare items that made an appearance once in a blue moon. In fact, the street peddlers here were already well-acquainted with the old professor. Once in a while, they would let the professor appraise any unusual goods they unintentionally bought.

    "Thanks, Professor Gu." Gu Xiqiao put down the wine cup. In actuality, there was no intention to buy the wine cup in the first ce. She merely picked it up randomly.

    Despite his old age, there was still the twinkle of youth in Professor Gu¡¯s eyes. He nced at Gu Xiqiao. Somehow, her face seemed familiar. Though, he couldn¡¯t recall where exactly he had met her before. And so, he opened his mouth. "Are you majoring in archaeology at A University?"

    "No," Gu Xiqiao was momentarily taken aback. Then, responded with a smile. "I¡¯m just a little curious about this cup."

    It wasn¡¯t umon to find young people interested in picking antique items nowadays. Professor Gu gave her a friendly reminder. "It¡¯s fine and all if you¡¯re just buying a trinket or two but never get fooled by these peddlers, youngdy."

    The professor was naturally protective of A University¡¯s students.

    Gu Xiqiao thanked the professor and with a wave of farewell, she left the stall.

    "Missy? What about this wine cup?" The stall owner was still adamant about selling his merchandise.

    "Thanks but no thanks," replied Gu Xiqiao with a smile.

    On the clear board in front of her, a red arrow was disyed. It was pointing in the direction of a back alley located ahead of her. She found her target after turning two corners.

    The old street parallel to the two traditional streets was considered to be off the beaten track. Despite this, there was a surprisinglyrge crowd gathered there.

    Gu Xiqiao knew her mission target was standing in that crowd. Still, she stopped a distance away, trying to eavesdrop on theirmotion.

    "Of all the time, why are you being soft-hearted now?!"

    "This is a sin! They¡¯re a happy family! Sigh."

    "Old Chen¡¯s family are honest folks! Just look at how earnest the kid looks! You can¡¯t me me for hesitating. Sigh, I really do pity Old Chen."

    "Why isn¡¯t the ambnce here yet!"

    These were probably his neighbors. Gu Xiqiao was able to make out roughly what had happened. In the middle of the crowd were three people. Lying on the ground was an old man. Sitting beside him was a younger man and next to that man, a boy whose lips were pursed¡ªhe was her target, Hua Youlin.

    There were still silver needles protruding from the old man¡¯s body.

    The old man must¡¯ve copsed while walking outside with his son. That was when Hua Youlin stepped into the picture. The son looked anxious. However, seeing how genuine the boy looked somehow made him decide to let him treat his father. Who would¡¯ve thought that his father would stop breathing after being stabbed with a couple of needles.

    Hua Youlin was trapped by surrounding onlookers. Many thought that he would attempt to run away but the truth couldn¡¯t be further than that.

    "Uncle, isn¡¯t the old man¡¯s face a little too rosy for a dead man? Although his chest isn¡¯t rising and falling, he doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s in great danger. Look, he wouldn¡¯t be staying around here if he¡¯s a murderer would he? Maybe he¡¯s really trying to treat the old gramps?" Gu Xiqiao intervened to defend Hua Youlin.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s assurance seems to have worked fairly effectively in crowd control. It was a testament of how privileged attractive people were in this world.

    Hua Youlin paused suddenly. He stole a nce at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cold, distant face. Still, her eyes were warm; there was trust in her eyes. He remained stunned for a moment before he kneeled down beside the old man.

    With no better alternatives, the old man¡¯s son left it entirely to Hua Youlin to treat his father.

    Slowly, he removed the silver needles from the old man¡¯s body. He then shifted his focus over to some other meridian points on his body.

    Gu Xiqiao noticed instantly that the points he chose were all dead points.

    Immediately, she was reminded of that trick Hua Jingya had used to resuscitate seemingly dead people. However, Hua Jingya¡¯s technique was much more brutish,pletely the opposite of how refined this boy¡¯s technique was.

    Life slowly returned to the old man as his rib cage moved up and down at a consistent rate. Much to the relief of everyone around him, he opened his eyes and coughed twice. His son stared at Hua Youlin in disbelief. "I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m terribly sorry! I don¡¯t know how to thank you for saving my father!"

    Well, the easiest way for one to express gratitude was through cold hard cash. And so, the old man¡¯s son fished some banknotes out of his pocket.

    To his amazement, Hua Youlin stood up and without taking the money, he left without a word more.

    [Ding! Congrattions onpleting the mission! The system rewards you 50 points!]

    Gu Xiqiao tailed Hua Youlin stealthily. She rubbed her chin as she observed his every action. He seemed to be around the age of eleven, perhaps twelve. The clothes he wore were tattered and they were slightly soiled. In contrast, his body was surprisingly clean, albeit appearing slightly malnourished.

    Hua Youlin stopped and spun around to look directly at Gu Xiqiao. He stared at her with his ink-dark eyes, as if asking her why she was following him.

    The kid¡¯s eyes were dark and pure.

    The two locked gazes for quite a while before Hua Youlin caved in. "Thank you."

    The crowd from before were totally dominating the situation; they had already pushed him past the point of fighting back. He had given up defending himself and if not for her, he would once again be shunned by the entire world.

    "So you can speak after all." Gu Xiqiao continued rubbing her chin. "Why don¡¯t you tell me your name?"

    "Hua Youlin," he patiently pronounced every syble very clearly.

    "Hua Youlin," repeated Gu Xiqiao. This time, the system hade flying back. It floated beside Hua Youlin for a while before announcing, "Beauty Qiao, this kid¡¯s impression of you is 85% in the positive! What did you do to get this score so high?"

    ¡¯Nothing much really.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao stared at the clear board on which Hua Youlin¡¯s information was disyed.

    An orphan who was chased out of his home by his own rtives.

    When Jiang Shuxuan arrived, he discovered that it wasn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao alone who was waiting for him. Standing beside her was a young boy. "Who¡¯s this?"

    Gu Xiqiao smiled back at him. "Brother Jiang, let¡¯s go grab some lunch first."

    Since it was lunchtime, Jiang Shuxuan did not turn down her suggestion. However, he did spare the kid a slightly longer than average stare.

    Gu Xiqiao patted Hua Youlin¡¯s head and pointed toward Jiang Shuxuan. "Call him big bro."

    Hua Youlin looked up at Jiang Shuxuan before he shrank silently into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.

    Sigh, what an unlovable brat.

    Surprisingly, Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t bothered by him one bit. He drove over to a restaurant that was located on the edge of A University. This ce served traditional Chinese food and the menu was written on bamboo slips. For the sake of authenticity, even the words printed on the bamboo menu were in traditional Chinese.

    They wanted to let Hua Youlin order some dishes himself but they suddenly remembered that it was likely he wouldn¡¯t understand traditional Chinese. And so, Gu Xiqiao started reading out the menu to him verbatim.

    Hua Youlin stared down at the table before picking up the menu just after Gu Xiqiao read the second menu item. He proceeded to order two dishes on his own.

    "You know how to read these words?" Gu Xiqiao was surprised.

    Hua Youlin nodded.

    After the meal, while Hua Youlin was at the restroom, Gu Xiqiao took the opportunity to ask Jiang Shuxuan, "Brother Jiang, would you mind if I brought him back home with us?"

    Jiang Shuxuan looked up at her. "Yes I would."

    "...?" Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t prepared to hear such an answer from him; she thought he would agree right away. "Why?"

    Jiang Shuxuan contemted his answer. Well, just for that kid, she sat in the backseat when the front passenger seat was her favorite spot. Also, during their meal, she moved all the way to the other side of the table just to sit with him. And now she wanted to bring him home?

    Hell to the no!

    Looking up, he was trapped by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes which were filled with anticipation. This was the decisive hit that dealt the final blow. "Fine, we¡¯ll bring him home."

    "Then you should give him an ID card. He¡¯s still an unregistered person." Without a personal ID nor a household registration, you were considered an unregistered individual in China. After they were done with lunch, Gu Xiqiao wanted to bring Hua Youlin clothes shopping. This of course, made Jiang Shuxuan look at the kid with more resentment in his eyes.

    Clothes shopping? For a snot-nosed brat whom she had just met?! As if bringing him home wasn¡¯t enough?

    However, seeing how excited Gu Xiqiao was, he had no choice but to take blow after blow in silence. He stopped his car wherever the girl ordered him too.

    For some reason, Hua Youlin felt a wave of cold air creeping behind him. He reached around to touch his back.

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Gu Xiqiao nced at him.

    Hua Youlin shook his head, thinking that it must¡¯ve been his imagination.

    Gu Xiqiao and Hua Youlin waited for Jiang Shuxuan outside the massive shopping mall. The car park must¡¯ve been packed to the brim; it was five minutes and he was still nowhere to be found. He was probably still cruising around, looking for an empty spot.

    Then, someone she was not waiting for had arrived before Jiang Shuxuan.

    A car stopped at the intersection and from it emerged a woman whose hair was in aplete mess. Like a mad hag, she looked around for a while before noticing Gu Xiqiao who was standing by the mall¡¯s entrance. Her eyes lit up before she came running over to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes narrowed. She recognized that the woman was none other than Peng Zixian. Instinctively, she pushed Hua Youlin behind her back.

    With tears rolling down her cheeks and snot dripping from her nose, she begged Gu Xiqiao for forgiveness. "Miss Gu, please forgive me! I know I have wronged you and I won¡¯t do it again, I swear! What I did wasn¡¯t intentional! I really mean it! I¡¯m just 25, I don¡¯t wanna spend the rest of my life behind bars! Please, I swear that I will be a better person from now on, please let me off..."

    She cried desperately, so desperately that she was on her knees halfway through her stuttering.

    There were a lot of people walking around the mall and every single passerby stopped in their tracks to observe the dramatic scene that was unfolding.

    Naturally, they thought that Peng Zixian was the victim since she was on her knees. Unconsciously, they all sympathized with her. From what she was saying, it was most likely a brutal war between two women. Still, how much hatred do you have to harbor toward someone to send them to jail?

    Peng Zixian¡¯s cries intensified when she heard the onlookers whisper amongst themselves. Disgustingly, tears and snot were dribbling down her chin. Although this sight of her was downright embarrassing, she had sessfully gained the support of the people around her.

    Jiang Shuxuan had just parked his car and before he could rendezvous with Gu Xiqiao, he was greeted with this very scene. His footsteps paused for a moment and his brows became furrowed. He nned to march right over but then a voice near his ear stopped him. "Jiang, is zat the person Qingqiu spoke of?"

    He instantly recognized who it was from how badly he butchered the Chinesenguage.

    Turning around, he came face-to-face with a man whose facial features were distinct. He wore a pair of dark sunsses and he had a chiseled face. His nose bridge was high, like that of a Westerner¡¯s. He looked like he came straight out of a weekly fashion magazine. "Nothing seems out of ze ordinary with dis youngdy." Well, except for how attractive she appeared.

    Murong Feiye took off his sunsses, revealing his deep set eyes and his fiery gaze. "Although dat woman¡¯s got an ugly crying face, she still seems pitiful, no? Jiang?"

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at him for a split-second before marching forwards.

    "Ay! How long has it been since west met! Aren¡¯t ya supposed to wee your old friend? Where¡¯s the enthusiasm?!" Bewildered at being given the cold shoulder, Murong Feiye red at him. Though he had long grown used to being treated like this by his friend. Silently, he stood there, staring at the scene from afar.

    Sensing someone approaching, Peng Zixian looked up to discover a pretty face looking down at her. His thin lips were pursed and his facial expression was cold, unamused. Standing by her side, the man seemed even more dazzling when the blinding rays of sunlight shot past his shoulders.

    "Let her go." Two words pierced the air.

    Peng Zixian failed to react in time to that order. She felt a pain in her fingers and autonomously, her grip on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wrist loosened up.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wrist was thin and frail. Peng Zixian used all her might when she mped down on her wrist. Due to how fair Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skin was, the redness where Peng Zixian¡¯s hand once had be all the more noticeable.

    Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t bear to look at it. He pulled a pure white handkerchief out of his pocket and used it to dab Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wrist clean.

    Finally, Peng Zixian was able toe up with another reaction. She reached out and pulled the corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s clothes. "Miss Gu, please forgive me will you? Please, I won¡¯t do it ever again! Mister, I beg you, please help me persuade Miss Gu! She wants to send me to prison! She wants me dead!"

    Her eyes, which were fixed on the ground, were filled with malice. No one should be so heartless as to turn her down, right?

    If her own brother thought that she was a toxic person, what about this man? Would he think the same of Gu Xiqiao too?

    Perhaps.

    Jiang Shuxuan rubbed his fingers gentle across Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reddened wrist. Hearing her voice, he turned around and red mercilessly at Peng Zixian. "You deserve this."

 Chapter 167 Scarier Than Jiang Tong

    <h4>Chapter 167 Scarier Than Jiang Tong</h4>

    She deserved this?

    Peng Zixian¡¯s crying suddenly stopped. Looking up at the cold, impassive man in front of her, she couldn¡¯t believe the words that hade out from his mouth.

    Shouldn¡¯t he be doubting Gu Xiqiao? Why was he reacting this way?

    Gu Xiqiao reached out to poke Jiang Shuxuan on the back. "Brother Jiang, let¡¯s go in..."

    She had said that she would give Peng Zijie two days, so she would keep her word.

    Jiang Shuxuan paused, they were in a public area, and it was an extremely rare day where Gu Xiqiao was very happy. He didn¡¯t want any bloodshed to happen today. And so with a gesture of his finger, he led her into the mall.

    ***

    In an area not far away, Murong Feiye was lost in his thoughts. He had known Jiang Shuxuan for a very long time, and he had never seen any other expression on his face before.

    In his eyes, Jiang Shuxuan was calm and collected no matter what situation he found himself in. Even when the Japanese hade to provoke the ancient martial arts world in China, there had been no changes in his expression. With just a man with a sword, the pinnacle-stage ninja was easily cut down by his de.

    But today, he had actually seen the fire in his eyes?

    Murong Feiyue couldn¡¯t bear to keep this information to himself, so he made a call to Tang Qingqiu. As soon as the call got through, he spoke, "Qingqiu, I need ta tell you something fun..."

    "If you have anything to say, I¡¯ll listen to itter. I¡¯m not free right now." Tang Qingqiu hung up straight after he said that.

    Murong Feiyue was left dumbfounded, staring at the phone in his hand. He seemed to have heard a female voice on the other side of the call, it was clear, melodious yet a little cold.

    Dang.

    Why did it seem like all those rough, single men all had found their youthful springtime after he had returned to the country?

    ***

    Peng Zixian was dragged to Peng Zijie by two men in ck.

    No matter how angry and frustrated he felt toward her, Peng Zixian was still his little sister. After Peng Zijie finished his cigarette, he blew out a puff of smoke before slowly opening his mouth to speak, "Zixian, I have already arranged everything. You¡¯ll be taking a private jet to America tonight."

    Hearing his words, Peng Zixian¡¯s initial lifeless eyes shed with a determined light.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had bought a lot of clothes for Hua Youlin before returning.

    Hua Youlin had never seen such a high-endmunity before, so when he was brought here by Gu Xiqiao, he was a little confused. But then he was quickly distracted by another thing, there were two pets on the left side of the door.

    It was a white dog, and a ming red bird.

    "Chirp chirp chirp!" (Stupid dog, hurry up ande see!)

    Haha lifted its headzily. "Woof." (A person.)

    "Chirp chirp chiiiiiirp!" (Look, look at how Beauty Qiao is rubbing his head, rubbing his head! Ahhh not another coquettish bitch!)

    Haha was indifferent as it responded coldly, "Woof woof woof." (Whatever you say, whatever you say.)

    Xixi continued on, not thinking there was anything wrong with the way Haha responded to it. "Chirp chirp?" (I¡¯ve been dealt a painful blow, I want to be hugged, to be kissed, and raised high in the air!)

    And it finally felt the cold, indifference that Haha had directed at it. "Chirp chirp chiiiiiirp?" (Why are you ignoring me when I¡¯m talking to you? I only have you left now!)

    "Woof woof woof." (I love watching TV, it makes me feel the happiest when I¡¯m watching.)

    Xixi: ... Stupid trash dog Haha!

    "Miss Gu, what are they doing?" Hua Youlin asked as he pointed toward the TV, feeling a bit out of it. There was nobody in the room, but the TV was on? And it looked like the dog was watching the TV?

    Was that for real, or was this to pull his leg?

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Haha and Xixi, and then she rubbed Hua Youlin¡¯s head again as sheughed lightly. "Silly boy, they¡¯re watching TV of course." Then she turned toward Xixi. "Xixi,e greet Brother Youlin."

    Xixi responded reluctantly, "Hello Brother Youlin. Beauty Qiao, I¡¯m hungry!"

    It had apletely human expression on its face.

    Youlin, who was startled out of his wits: Why are there still monsters after the founding of the nation[1]!

    "I¡¯ll let you eat soon." Gu Xiqiao was satisfied with Xixi, and seeing Jiang Shuxuane in with a pile of clothes, she asked, "Brother Jiang, did you give Xixi food this afternoon?"

    When Jiang Shuxuan heard this as he walked in, he shifted his darkened gaze onto Xixi.

    Xixi¡¯s mind went nk at that, and it squawked, "Quack? What am I doing here? Why am I here?"

    Haha, who sat beside it: What do I do if my neighbor is constantly retarded?

    Gu Xiqiao picked up a bag of clothes and led Hua Youlin to the bath. Huo Youlin was still a little tensed up, and Gu Xiqiao was afraid that he wouldn¡¯t know how to use the things in the bathroom, and exined to him in a lowered voice. Her tone was gentle, and although the expression on her face was cold, Hua Youlin could feel the warmth and kindness radiating off her person, and he felt his own heart warm at the gestures.

    He closed the bathroom door and opened the shower, and mist filled the room as the water heated up. Under the warm spray of water, a sense of bitterness well up in his eyes.

    At five o¡¯clock in the afternoon, a man dressed in a ck suit came to deliver a document. Gu Xiqiao received it and found that it was an entire archive, filling up the nks of Hua Youlin¡¯s childhood. She read through it andmitted each word to memory.

    Hua Youlin fell into a deep sleep after taking a bath.

    At the same time, the system spirit who had been wandering outside, finally returned home.

    "Beauty Qiao, Big Jiang is so scary!" It cried out the moment it reached Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bedroom. "I swear I felt him looking at me the entire time since I walked into the living room, and he just kept on looking at me!"

    Gu Xiqiao replied somewhat disdainfully, "Don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t fall for you."

    System: "..." The point it was trying to emphasize was how could Big Jiang see it!

    "What are you doing?" The system spirit asked, noticing that Gu Xiqiao was sitting in front of theputer and tapping away. "Huh? You¡¯re hacking into the Security Department? You didn¡¯t take me with you!" It used to be the system doing these kinds of things for her in the past.

    Although it meant that Beauty Qiao was growing up and maturing, the system was happy, but the fact that she didn¡¯t really need the system made it feel a little lost too.

    "Lil system, let¡¯s go have some fun." Gu Xiqiao said as she pressed the ¡¯Enter¡¯ key, and chuckled at the screen.

    ***

    At eight o¡¯clock that night, Peng Zixian was at the airport. She was wearing a mask, sunsses, and a coat. It¡¯s not like she had never dressed like this before, since she was a popr star and paid great attention to her privacy. But was this situation the same as previously?

    At that time, she was still eye-catching and sought after by thousands of people, but now she was like a lost stray dog.

    Fleeing abroad? What a joke, she was the daughter of the Peng family, and now she needed to run away?

    "Young Master, the ne is ready." A bodyguard came over and informed him softly.

    Peng Zijie nodded in return. He turned around and looked at Peng Zixian. "Zixian, I paid a high price in order to send you to America. I hope you are able to find a good doctor to heal you."

    "I know, Brother." Peng Zixian lowered her eyes, hiding the coldness in her eyes.

    This was her brother that was rted to her by blood, the one who had supreme authority in the Imperial Capital. However, now facing just a single woman, he wanted to send her abroad. He was even thinking of throwing her into jail just this afternoon, were any other brothers all like this?!

    "Farewell." Peng Zijie watched Peng Zixian¡¯s disappearing figure, turning around and sighing.

    There were still a lot of things that have yet to be resolved, and dealing with Peng Zixian was just one of the aftermaths. With the information held in Gu Xiqiao hands, he needed to handle that one personally, else he would be in deep trouble. But he wasn¡¯t concerned about all these right now, Peng Zixian was safe abroad, and he has no worries.

    Turning around, he looked up to see a familiar figure. The person gave him a faint smile. "Mr. Peng, you¡¯re the one who didn¡¯t keep your word."

    As soon as the words fell, Peng Zijie felt a cold chill up his spine. He snapped his head back and saw Peng Zixian, who had just boarded the ne, being pressed down on the ground in front of him by two ck suit men!

    When he opened his mouth to say something, he suddenly found someone walking toward them slowly. He was dressed in a crisp white shirt, and his deep eyes were as chilling as the aura that he radiated as he walked. Even when he walked in the darkness of the night, he was particrly eye-catching.

    "M-Mr. Jiang." Peng Zijie now knew why he couldn¡¯t find out anything regarding Gu Xiqiao.

    If she was involved with this person, then that would exin everything.

    Peng Zijie wanted to say something, but then he caught the hatred that was boiling in Peng Zixian¡¯s eyes when she looked at him. Hatred? Peng Zijie was dumbfounded when he managed to identify the emotion in her eyes, he had done so much for her, and he was even prepared to face the consequences without care for his own wellbeing, and she actually held contempt for him? For whose sake did he sacrifice so much for?

    Jiang Shuxuan was acquainted with Peng Zijie. When he had led a few teams from the special forces before, Peng Zijie had been a very promising character. He opened his mouth to speak, "Don¡¯t concern yourself with the what follows after this."

    If a talented person like this disappeared from the country, it would still be a big loss to themselves.

    Peng Zijie nodded in a daze, he could feel his heart grow cold. He had exerted so much effort, and what had he got in return? A look full of resentment, aimed at him by the person that he had given his all for.

    ***

    Peng Zixian, who was being held in prison, had copsed to the groundpletely. But no matter how much noise she made, no one paid her any attention.

    Finally, she tried softening her tone, begging for the person outside the cell to let her make a call.

    The person in prison knew that her identity wasn¡¯t anyone simple, so as long as she stopped making those godforsaken noises, he passed her a phone.

    Half an hourter, a middle-aged man in a suit walked in. Seeing Peng Zixian, he asked, "Miss Peng? You were looking for me?"

    Peng Zixian grabbed the bars of her prison, looking straight into his eyes. "I know all of Peng Zijie¡¯s secrets. As long as you kill someone for me, I will tell you everything. You will be the sole heir to the Peng family!"

    "Why should I believe you?" The man straightened up, a slight interest shing in his eyes.

    "Peng Tao, Peng Zijie is the reason I¡¯m sitting here, rotting in this disgusting ce. Is that enough?" Peng Zixian growled out, her teeth gnashing together in anger. After thinking a while, she rattled off an address to Peng Tao.

    "Alright, deal!"

    Peng Zixian could feel the hope surging up in her, and not only hated Xiao Yun now, she also felt a healthy dose of hate toward Gu Xiqiao.

    So what if she was in prison? The corners of her mouth quirked up as she smiled darkly. She could still kill her somehow!

    Her uncle¡¯s methods were so underhanded and vicious, once you fell into his hands, it was almost impossible to get away!

    Peng Zixian waited for news with satisfied feelings, and when the call finally came, she didn¡¯t expect to hear Peng Tao¡¯s angry voiceing from it. "Peng Zixian, I really must have lost my mind to believe your words! Gu Xiqiao is an ordinary person? Do you know who the person she was with?! The Jiang family!!"

    Peng Tao hung up roughly without saying anything further.

    And Peng Zixian, who had been waiting in anticipation for good news, was left with a stiff, cold smile on her lips.

    The prison door opened with a ¡¯creak¡¯, and she turned, meeting a grim, solemn face.

    She was startled, and before she could react, a blinding white light shed in front of her, and she felt a sharp pain through her hand.

    Her voice was muted, and she couldn¡¯t make any sound when she tried to shout.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at the figure that was rolling around on the ground, a frosty re in his deep onyx eyes.

    "Jiang, that was some big move." It was the same lingering, slightly awkward voice that spoke. "When Qingqiu mentioned that you even went against the heavens, I thought he was just exaggerating." Looking at what was in front of him, it clearly was not an exaggeration at all, in fact, it didn¡¯t do it any justice at all.

    Murong Feiyu¡¯s heart skipped a beat. "Was this for the sake of thedy in the afternoon?" He had thought that Jiang Shuxuan was just fooling around.

    He had expanded so much effort just for the sake of that girl? First he used his own power and connections to intimidate the Peng family, then he came in person to torture a person, turning her hope into despair.

    He was really serious about this. Murong Feiye¡¯s eyes widened just a fraction as he came to this realization.

    Only Peng Zixian was left on the ground of the dim, dirty prison. He wasn¡¯t even sure if she was still alive. Murong Feiyue was silent for a while, before pulling out his phone and making a call. It was picked up after two rings.

    His lips curled slightly. "Miaoxue, I have good news and bad news."

    "Bad news first." Murong Miaoxue, who had just exited the training tower, wiped the sweat off her face as she replied.

    "There seems to be an extra person standing at Shuxuan¡¯s side, it looks like your chances are even slimmer now." Murong Feiye said slowly. "However, it seems like that person isn¡¯t someone from the ancient martial arts world, so you have an advantage there. Of course, provided that demon girl actually gives up, you probably won¡¯t have a snowball¡¯s chance in hell anyway."

    Hearing those words, Murong Miaoxue was startled for a bit, before saying softly, "Cousin, you¡¯re wrong. Even though she isn¡¯t from the ancient martial arts world, she¡¯s far more terrifying than Jiang Tong."

    [1] T/N: The term originated from the ban circting from the administration of radio, film and tv in 2014. ¡¯After the founding of China, animals are not allowed to be trained to be refined (i.e human-like)¡¯. The inte often used this term to tease animals that are cute and smart and often act like humans among others,ter on.

 Chapter 168 Why Wont You Meet With Me?

    <h4>Chapter 168 Why Won¡°t You Meet With Me?</h4>

    Murong Feiyue knew his cousin¡¯s personality very well. She was arrogant by nature, and extremely strong in terms of strength. Even when she was faced with Jiang Tong, she never had a kind word to say. With a personality like that, this was the first time he had ever heard anything like thating from her mouth. Someone who was far more terrifying than Jiang Tong?

    Jiang Tong was in the top twenty of the Youth Ranking List, and she fought to fame, being known as the ¡¯demon girl¡¯ by everyone. She was the first woman to seed in cing among the top twenty on the list, and her reputation was not any lower than his own. Murong Feiye could admit that if she used her secret moves on him, he would also be caught in a tight spot. Jiang Tong was already on another level in the ancient martial arts world, and because of her high reputation, everyone assumed that she was the most suitable for Jiang Shuxuan.

    Murong Feiye knew that Murong Miaoxue wasn¡¯t lying to him when she uttered those words, there was no point for her to. But if that were the case, then why didn¡¯t Jiang Shuxuan bring the girl out to meet the others of their brotherhood? They had gone through so many things together, if any one of them really fell in love and found a partner, there was no reason for them not to bring them out and introduce them.

    But from what he saw yesterday, it seemed that Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t want him to see her.

    Murong Feiye paused for a bit. "Listening to what you just said, I¡¯m not itching to see and get to know her."

    He had initially returned to the ancient martial arts world due to the turmoil that was happening, but he didn¡¯t expect to have dug up something more interesting. A smile stretched on his face as he thought about how fun it was going to be.

    "I hope you don¡¯te to regret your decision," Murong Miaoxue said before hanging up the call, clenching her fist tightly. She had improved quite a lot over the past few months, at least, to the extent that it wouldn¡¯t be too one-sided if she had to face the demon girl.

    Only, every time she recalled that day, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s indifferent face and the terrifying pressure on her person, and being locked in the empty space, a shiver would shoot down her spine.

    It wasn¡¯t enough! She wasn¡¯t strong enough yet!

    Determination burned in Murong Miaoxue¡¯s eyes, and after drinking a ss of water and taking a short break, she entered the training tower again.

    Not far away, Jiang Tong looked at Murong Miaoxue quietly, her thoughts deep. The girl beside her couldn¡¯t help butment, "Murong Miaoxue has been entering the tower day and night, but she still can¡¯t reach your level, Tong Tong. I don¡¯t know where she gets the thought that she canpare to you at all!"

    Jiang Tong¡¯s lips curled up at those words. "Forget about her, let¡¯s go in."

    She only had Jiang Shuxuan as her goal in mind right now, everything else was just insignificant in her eyes.

    ***

    The next day, Peng Zijie walked into the visitor room of the prison, looking at Peng Zixian with no emotion in his eyes.

    Peng Zixian pressed herself against the ss, with a desperate gaze at Peng Zijie as she cried out, "Brother, Brother, just let me out from here, will you? This is not a ce for humans, look, look at my hands!"

    Peng Zixian raised her bloodied hands to show him, and it seemed like in just one night, she had aged years, and she felt extremely battered and exhausted.

    "Brother, they gave me stale buns to eat, and locked me up with those mad women whomitted crimes. They asked me to lick the floors and use my own towel to clean the toilets!" Peng Zixian couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She was a dignified daughter of a noble family, why did she need to suffer such embarrassment? She was being oppressed by the group of prisoners.

    Now she was full of regret. She had stayed up all night and reflected on her actions, and she regretted targeting Xiao Yun, which in turn had provoked Gu Xiqiao!

    Thinking that Peng Zijie would look at her in distress after hearing all her words, she was surprised to find that his gaze had not changed in the slightest.

    Peng Zijie pulled out his phone from his pocket, flipping it to an email that he received yesterday night. Even without any signature on it, he knew it was Gu Xiqiao who had sent it to him. He clicked on the attached audio file, ying it out loud.

    "I know all of Peng Zijie¡¯s secrets. As long as you kill someone for me, I will tell you everything. You will be the sole heir to the Peng family!"

    Peng Zixian fell to the ground instantly in shock, looking at Peng Zijie nkly. Her lips trembled as she tried to find the words to say.

    "Because of you, the Peng family was almost at death¡¯s door. I really regret my decision to rescue you seven years ago." Peng Zijie kept his phone, looking indifferently at the sister who had him wrapped around her fingers in the past.

    Peng Zixian was dragged back down to prison, and as she looked at Peng Zijie¡¯s resolute back, thest ray of light vanished from her eyes.

    Walking out of the prison, Peng Zijie opened the email again, clicking on the reply button. Thinking of the man¡¯s face, he was slightly dazed, then he wrote out solemnly, "Thank you."

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao closed her email without any expression on her face, and proceeded to call Luo Weng after.

    "Boss Gu, just the person I was looking for!" Luo Weng was excited to receive a call from Gu Xiqiao. He and the bunch of financial analysts had been doing their research on the financial field, and had some preliminary findings that they wanted to share. The more they studied the two ns given by Gu Xiqiao, the more shocked he became. "It¡¯s about the arbitrage portfolio that you gave usst time. Actually we¡¯ve already been stuck at one part for a long time, and we can¡¯t seem to reach a consensus."

    "Tell me about it." Gu Xiqiao opened a new document on herputer, one hand holding the phone and using the other to type.

    Luo Weng began to chatter on endlessly, including his own thoughts on it, as well as the opinions of some others. He has a great memory, and he could remember all that was said by the financial analysts word for word.

    After he was done speaking, Gu Xiqiao continued to type several more lines of words before asking, "Is there anything else?"

    Even though he had only said everyone once, he knew that Gu Xiqiao remembered everything for sure. After thinking a while more, he was confident that he didn¡¯t miss out anything, and shook his head. "That¡¯s all for the time being."

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao scanned through the words that she had typed once more, seeing nothing wrong or omitted, she typed another line of code.

    Alright? What was alright? Before Luo Weng could react, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s faint voice came through the phone again. "Look up at yourputer, have you received it?"

    Looking up instinctively, Luo Weng was taken aback when a page suddenly popped up on his screen, a wall of dense text on it.

    He roughly read through the words and found that it answered all of the doubts that he had just voiced.

    It hadn¡¯t been that long since the questions were raised, right? He thought that it would take her at least an hour to get back to him, not this soon!

    Luo Weng: Tell me, what do I do when I get heart attacks from my boss every day?

    Even with Luo Weng¡¯s intelligence, the few pages of documents still took him a little time to read through and digest. Once she estimated that he was done with it, she started talking about his own matters. "Dalin is in middle school, studying his second year, right?"

    "That¡¯s right." Luo Weng was still looking at the documents that Gu Xiqiao had sent over. He had actually read through it several times already, but there were some areas that he needed time to go over slowlyter on. He felt his hand tremble slightly when he heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s question, steeling himself for what she would say next.

    "I have a little friend, about twelve years old. I intend to send him to the school, he may be a little withdrawn." Gu Xiqiao had decided to send Hua Youlin to school, since it would be better for him to mix around with other children of the same age group and interest. Otherwise, this introverted attitude of his would probably be a problem in the future when he needed to socialize.

    As expected, Brother Jiang was his cold self toward him, and she herself didn¡¯t have much time to apany him. It was the easiest this way.

    As for the mission, she would wait till he was back to normal before thinking about it again.

    Sending a child to school? Luo Weng was shocked when he heard it, but he recovered easily after remembering Gu Xiqiao¡¯s character. "I need to announce to the finance department that Nine Heavens have finally entered the international world in the afternoon, and I¡¯ll be quite busy then. I¡¯ll bring Dalin over at night, they should be able to get along well since they¡¯re the same age."

    Luo Weng has been leading a team of financial analysts and has been studying financial products for quite a long time. They were initially already internationally well-known analysts, and they had gained a lot of knowledge over the past few days and were already on the way to breach the field internationally.

    Even though they had learned a lot more, and it would be easy for them to earn the same amount here should they decide to venture out and open a firm on their own, such cases were not rare after all, none of them had the intentions to leave Nine Heavens.

    The first reason was because of the welfare and benefits that Nine Heavens provided for them. They were all given amodations in the same building, and would always see faces of their colleagues when they opened their door. There were familiar faces when they walked into the elevator, and this experience was actually quite novel to them. They knew everybody on each floor, and when inspiration hit in the middle of the night, they could knock on the other¡¯s door and excitedly express their thoughts. They had to say that this was the first time they had ever worked in such afortablepany.

    Secondly, it was because of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s forward thinking. The financial talent of her and Luo Weng was really strong, especially Gu Xiqiao, which terrifies them. Every time they thought, ¡¯Ah, this is her limit.¡¯ she woulde up with even more jaw-dropping ns and ideas.

    Every day in thispany was a surprise, and every day they were developing and improving themselves further. Even though they had been here less than a month, they had already regarded this ce like home.

    Nine Heavens was all the rage now, and it was inevitable that there would be peopleing around to try to poach them. However, no matter how high the price they gave, none of them had ever seeded, and this matter remained as an unsolved mystery to the otherpanies.

    The otherpanies were extremely jealous of Nine Heaven¡¯s performance, and were dumbfounded when thepany released a piece of news in the afternoon.

    (Verified) Nine Heavens: The Finance department has seeded to align our products at international standards, and are now selling to nine countries. The contract signing with other countries is still in progress, so stay tuned.

    This Weibo post caused an uproar.

    The people in China had always known that foreigners looked down on China¡¯s economy, especially in terms of the country¡¯s financial aspect, they were several decades behind some countries, after all. The financial market of China was still young, and even the materials that were used to teach finance in universities were all tranted from materials obtained from other countries.

    It wasn¡¯t like there weren¡¯t financial institutes in China, but rather, they were more for domestic and local use, because the foreigners look down on the products of China.

    However, today, what had they found out?

    Look at the list of countries that had entered into an agreement with Nine Heavens, they were all developed countries in the world, Ennd, Korea... The fact that they were willing to sign a contract with Nine Heavens only told them one thing¡ªthe countries had acknowledged Nine Heaven¡¯s skills!

    Those financialpanies in China couldn¡¯t help but cry a river inside, thinking, ¡¯Aren¡¯t you supposed to be an intepany?! Why the frick are you butting heads and stealing our rice bowls? What happened to the basic trust between people?!¡¯

    Although there were people with those thoughts, the majority of the poption were still proud of this feat. They were earning money from the foreigners after all, it used to be the other way around, and now the tables have turned! It was such an excitable feeling!

    ***

    In Tang Enterprise, Qin Heng handed over a document as he said, "Young Master Tang, that¡¯s all I have, do you want to have a look at it?"

    Tang Qingqiu raised an eyebrow, confirming again. "You said that the medical research group that was established by Nine Heavens, they handed everything to you, not sending even a single person from their side?"

    Qin Heng nodded his head. "That¡¯s right."

    "They just gave the entire thing to us, just like that? There¡¯s so much profit to be made from this, aren¡¯t they afraid that we would do something like misappropriating the funds or something?!" Tang Qingqiu still couldn¡¯t get over his astonishment.

    "It doesn¡¯t look like they have any interest in this field," Qin Heng replied, thinking back to Mu Zong¡¯s attitude when they spoke. He choked out the next words with slight difficulty, "And I feel that... they might have just been toozy to bother managing this."

    "It¡¯s a global sensation, and such a good publicity opportunity," Tang Qingqiu said, blinking his eyes rapidly. "And they¡¯re really willing to just give it up?"

    It was just a little weird, if you thought about it.

    "Young Master Tang, take a look at this and you¡¯ll probably understand why." Qin Heng pulled out the most bottom piece of paper, handing it to Tang Qingqiu. "First, they created the online game, ¡¯Nine Heavens¡¯, and then the virtual helmers, and finally their newest financial products. Young Master, I really think that Nine Heavens don¡¯t need the publicity from the cell fusion. They¡¯ve already attracted the attention of the world just using the things they have created themselves."

    Taking the paper that Qin Heng handed to him, Tang Qingqiu was reluctant to admit that his secretary was right. Before he knew it, Nine Heavens had already wrestled a strong foothold in the international world, and they didn¡¯t need anymore publicity to raise their image.

    "So what, this cell fusion cob is just given to Tang Enterprise? Free publicity for us?" Tang Qingqiu still couldn¡¯t believe this piece of news.

    Qin Heng nodded unabashedly. "Young Master Tang, you haven¡¯t been dealing with the matters of Tang Enterprisetely, so you may not know about this. A few of our finance people had gone over to Nine Heavens for a brief interaction, although it was only one day, after returning, their performance results basically doubled."

    There was another piece that he didn¡¯t say, and that was after their people had gone for a few more training sessions in Nine Heavens, some of them were even reluctant to return.

    "So you¡¯re saying that Nine Heavens is deliberately ying nice with me?" For their department to double their performance, it showed that Nine Heavens had not spared any effort in teaching the people from Tang Enterprise.

    Qin Heng nodded his head again.

    Tang Qingqiu said nothing as he flipped through the reports on his desk, and suddenly sighed. "I really want to know who is behind the scenes of Nine Heavens!"

    The poprity of Nine Heavens had increased step by step, and the employees inside thatpany were miles better than everyone else outside. Tang Qingqiu was really itching to know what kind of person was able to develop Nine Heavens to what it was today.

    Qin Heng: Okay boss, you don¡¯t have to keep repeating yourself, aren¡¯t you tired of repeating the same sentence countless times?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao sneezed suddenly. ¡¯Someone¡¯s talking about me again.¡¯

    "I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s Big Jiang." The system was smug nowadays, materializing whenever it had free time to fly around. Since it didn¡¯t need to sleep at night, it had also finished exploring the shopping area yesterday night already.

    ¡¯Nonsense,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao said, ncing at the system spirit. ¡¯Brother Jiang is just upstairs, okay.¡¯

    When the system spirit spoke, Xixi had started staring at Gu Xiqiao. For a long time, it felt that something was off, and so it flew to her side to speak to her. "Chirp chirp chiiirp?"

    "... Xixi, I¡¯m not Haha. Can you use humannguage to speak with me?"

    "..." It had really forgotten, staying so long with just Haha forpany had really made it stupid! Xixi thought angrily.

    "Beauty Qiao, I said that I keep feeling that there¡¯s this strange aura in the room." Although the elixir that Gu Xiqiao gave itst time failed to let him advance, its power had still increased quite a bit, and its five senses were sharper than ever, and it could feel the aura that was lingering in the air.

    Gu Xiqiao straightened up when she heard Xixi¡¯s words. "You can feel it?" She suddenly recalled what the system spirit had saidst night. If Xixi could feel it, then Jiang Shuxuan must have already felt it and known about it too.

    But he had not said a word about it.

    ¡¯System, what do you think is going on?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao was slightly confused. The system spirit was just a bunch of data, how could even Xixi feel its presence?

    The system spirit¡¯s icy blue eyes were filled with confusion. "Beauty Qiao, I¡¯m not sure, and there isn¡¯t any information in the database either." It hesitated before continuing, "After I upgraded, it feels like I¡¯ve forgotten something important."

    ¡¯Then don¡¯t think about it anymore, when you reach the highest level, we¡¯ll know eventually.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao sighed.

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was ignoring it again, Xixi pped its wings and flew back to sit on Haha¡¯s head, feeling slightly grieved at the dismissal that it had received.

    It had initially wanted toin to Haha, but before it could open its beak, Gu Xiqiao had walked over suddenly, a familiar brown pill in her hand.

    Xixi: £Ü£¨£þ¦á£þ£©£¯ Beauty Qiao loves me, she loves me!

    Haha, who heard Xixi¡¯s inner happy thoughts: At this time, you just need to keep smiling and pretend ^_^

    Such a mentally retarded bird, Haha was the only one who would not be separated from Beauty Qiao.

    Gu Xiqiao also took Xixi¡¯s food from where it was kept, and fed it.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan was upstairs, looking at the screen of his phone, which was filled with messages from WeChat.

    Murong Feiye: Shuxuan, I¡¯m suddenly real curious about that little beauty at your side, when will you bring her to meet us?

    Jiang Shuxuan: Never.

    Murong Feiye was stumped, wasn¡¯t he intending to ever bring her to meet his good friends? He thought about it for a while, before shooting a message to Tang Qingqiu.

    Murong Feiye: Aren¡¯t you curious about the little beauty beside Shuxuan?

    Tang Qingqiu: I¡¯m more curious about Nine Heavens.

    Murong Feiye: ...

    Nine Heavens? Yet another new term that he had never heard of before this.

    After cklisting Murong Feiye, Jiang Shuxuan went downstairs with his phone in hand.

    Hearing the light noise that came from the stairs, the system spirit flickered and disappeared into the air immediately, turning back into a string of data and returning to the void space.

    It was still more afraid of Jiang Shuxuan, feeling like there was nowhere to hide when he was around.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked down steadily and slowly, and Gu Xiqiao happened to nce up at him, her clear eyesnding on his tall figure. Her eyes gleamed, and curved up as she smiled brightly at him.

    A slight pause, and then Jiang Shuxuan walked to her side. "Where¡¯s Hua Youlin?"

    "I told him the matter about sending him to school this morning, and he seemed to be very interested. I asked Uncle Mu to get him a set of textbooks for the first year, so he should be studying them." Gu Xiqiao said, the smile still on her lips.

    "First grade? Sending him to school would be good." Saying that, hepsed into a short silence, before continuing, "Something came up in the ancient martial arts world, I need to head back for a while. It¡¯ll probably be about seven days."

    After returning to the Imperial Capital, he had been by her side every single day. Even though there were times when he needed to leave to settle some matters in the ancient martial arts world personally, he would deal with it quickly and hurry back. But today was different, something had happened at the trial tower, and it concerned the survival of the entire ancient martial arts world, he needed to hurry back.

    "Are you leaving right now?" Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips, her voice low.

    Jiang Shuxuan hmmed.

    "Then I¡¯ll walk you down." Gu Xiqiao ced Xixi¡¯s food in its bowl, and turned to follow Jiang Shuxuan down.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t refuse, and the two took the elevator down straight to the parking lot. The car was parked not far from where they emerged, just a few steps, but he stood rooted to the spot after they got off the elevator.

    Gu Xiqiao was the one who broke the silence between them, looking at him while saying, "Brother Jiang, the sooner you go, the sooner you¡¯ll return."

    "Yeah." Jiang Shuxuan replied, but his gaze was on her. His eyes were a deep pool of onyx, and a heavy emotion hung in them. Being stared at with such a heavy gaze, even Gu Xiqiao would fidget under it.

    "It¡¯s actually..."

    Before she could finish her sentence, she felt an armnd on her waist. Her eyes widened, and before she could react, a chilling coldnded on her lips.

    After a beat, a soft sigh sounded beside her ears. "I¡¯m going."

    Gu Xiqiao could only nod nkly.

    The ck car pulled out of the parking lot slowly, and Gu Xiqiao made her way back upstairs. Open the door, close the door.

    "Sister Gu, what¡¯s the matter with you?" Hua Youlin had coincidentallye downstairs to get a ss of water, and bumped into Gu Xiqiao, who was still in a daze.

    Gu Xiqiao seemed toe back to her senses at his voice, and a finger came up to her lips. "I¡¯m just thinking why isn¡¯t Dalin here yet."

    Hua Youlin recognized the name, she had told him that someone named ¡¯Dalin¡¯ would be bringing him to school, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel a little nervous inside. The hand that held the ss tightened unconsciously. "School probably hasn¡¯t let out yet."

    It was only four o¡¯clock, and it was indeed not the end of the school day yet. Gu Xiqiao walked over to the sofa, watching the TV with Haha.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t head straight for the ancient martial arts world, but went home to the Jiang family house to change his clothes. The clean and slender fingers buttoned his shirt one by one.

    The butler knocked on his room door. "Young Master, Miss Jiang Tong is here to see you."

    "No," Jiang Shuxuan replied coldly.

    The butler nodded, and made his way out of the room. But before he could close the door, a voice came from behind, "You¡¯re obviously here, why won¡¯t you meet with me?"

 Chapter 169 How Do You Intend To Regain Your Face?

    <h4>Chapter 169 How Do You Intend To Regain Your Face?</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan hooked thest button, and lowered his eyes. The deep obsidian eyes were void of emotion, his figure tall and slender, and his back straight. He raised his eyes, and coldly said, "Get out."

    Jiang Tong stood in the same spot, pursing her lips while looking at him. She refused to move.

    She wasn¡¯t tall, and her figure was petite and thin, it was hard to imagine that such a small girl held a strong power in her body. She stubbornly stayed where she was, opening her mouth to ask, "I said, you¡¯re obviously here, why won¡¯t you meet with me?"

    It seemed that she had started to rarely see him since the beginning of this year. Last time, it was difficult enough to get the news that he had returned to the Jiang family house. She had called the Jiang family house right after she exited the trial tower, but he never took the call. And now, she had broken away from her reserved and aloof mask, rushing over here from the ancient martial arts world, and he still wanted to avoid seeing her?

    Why wouldn¡¯t he want to see her? Jiang Tong didn¡¯t understand. There were so many other people in the ancient martial arts world that yearned for her, and she was now at his side, but he didn¡¯t want her.

    Seeing that she was not leaving, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother saying anything further. He rolled up his sleeves and walked out the door in big strides, heading for the entrance. His face looked like a perfect expression that was carved from marble, only it was too cold and stiff which made others not dare to look at him directly.

    "Jiang Shuxuan!" Jiang Tong had seen Jiang Shuxuan ignore her, and she reached out to grab his wrist. Before she managed to touch him, pain shot up her hands. She snatched her hand back and took a step back, looking at him with an incredulous expression on her face. There was even a hint of tears flickering in her bright, clear eyes.

    Jiang Shuxuan ignored Jiang Tong and strode downstairs. A crowd of people had already started gathering outside the Jiang house. When the crowd saw Jiang Shuxuan, they all straightened up higher. Although they were standing in a uniform manner, there was no hiding the fanatical worship that gleamed in their eyes when they looked at the man.

    A girl soon walked out after him from the house, she was pretty and young, attracting the attention of the gathered people outside once again.

    They all knew who Jiang Tong was without any introduction.

    The Jiang branch families were never ced in high regards in terms of talents, and they were normally engaged to deal with the moreplicated matters on the outside. No one expected a monster like Jiang Tong to appear from nowhere suddenly, defeating all the other people in the same generation as her in her first familypetition. She then went on to be promoted and entered into the Youth Ranking List which took ce once every three years.

    Her strength was publicly recognized, and she was also the girl that was closest to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s power.

    "Miaoxue, look at that smug look on Jiang Tong¡¯s face!"

    Murong Miaoxue was dressed in her usual fiery red dress, her face beautiful and fair, only the arrogance that was usually on her face was absent.

    Hearing the words from the people around her, Murong Miaoxue¡¯s lips curled up slightly. She looked towards the two people, although they were walking together, Jiang Shuxuan and Jiang Tong were separated by a distance of at least one meter. Back then, she was only filled with jealousy, seeing Jiang Tong being able to stay by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side all the time, and had never noticed this distance between them. Jiang Tong had never appeared any closer than one meter to Jiang Shuxuan!

    Murong Miaoxue¡¯s eyes were frosty as she smiled faintly, thinking of Gu Xiqiao. "Don¡¯t worry, the day where she cries wille soon."

    She was really anticipating the day that Jiang Tong would meet Gu Xiqiao.

    Jiang Tong¡¯s eyes happened tond on Murong Miaoxue at this time, and she looked at her face, a feeling of jealousy burning inside her. Apart from a prettier face, Murong Miaoxue couldn¡¯tpare to her at all, whether in terms of talents or strength, shepletely dominated her in all aspects. But even with just a single aspect that outshone her, Jiang Tong couldn¡¯t help the jealousy in her.

    Murong Miaoxue shed her a cold smirk, before turning her head, ignoring Jiang Tong.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was in Nine Heavens the next day, and Yu Ning stood in front of her. He gave her a bag of... something, smiling as he said, "Thankfully, we didn¡¯t let you down."

    The bag held the post-production of the movie that Gu Xiqiao had entrusted to him. All the master hackers in theb had banded together to make it, using the high-tech products in thepany was way ahead of the entire world.

    "Thanks, you¡¯ve worked hard." Gu Xiqiao said, reaching out to take it.

    Yu Ning ced both hands on the table, bringing his face in front of her, his eyes sparkling brightly, "It was very hard work, do you feel like giving us another decryption route, as an extrapensation to us?"

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him with an indifferent expression. "Then what¡¯s the point in me hiring you guys?"

    "... Let¡¯s have a discussion then, I don¡¯t want another decoding route. Tell me, what¡¯s your view on the virtual world?"

    "The virtual world?" Gu Xiqiao looked down as she pondered over the question seriously, and replied with a solemn expression, "To be honest, I don¡¯t understand much of it. The source code is too obscure, for it to be able to hold a three-dimensional space and the human consciousness is already unbelievable. I¡¯ve been studying it all this while, Yu Ning, and it¡¯s been very tiring and difficult."

    It was rare to see her so serious, and Yu Ning believed her words. "Then let me know if you find anything from your research."

    "Of course. I¡¯ll be going to meet with Director Cheng then." Gu Xiqiao said, smiling, before taking the bag and leaving.

    The system spirit circled around Yu Ning¡¯s head, sympathy in its eyes. "Mentally retarded children are really pitiful, you really believe what Beauty Qiao just said."

    After a long while of turning her words over his head, Yu Ning suddenly remembered how easily Gu Xiqiao had given him the decryption route every time, and she never once had the look of it being a difficult task to do.

    She¡¯s been studying it all this while? And it¡¯s very tiring and difficult?! Only her?!

    Yu Ning finally realized that Gu Xiqiao had led him on by his nose and had cheated him! He! Had! Been! Cheated!

    Luo Weng, who had rushed over when he got word that Gu Xiqiao was around, gave a light re when he only found Yu Ning in the office. ... Useless! So useless!

    Yu Ning: ...

    WTF, how was this even his fault?!

    ***

    "Beauty Qiao, the director of Xiao Yun¡¯s movie is going to die from his anxiety and panic." The system spirit said, while sitting in the passenger seat.

    Gu Xiqiao was driving her little pink car. A beautiful girl and a sleek car, the rate of heads turning around to look at her was 100%. "How is Xiao Yun?"

    "She¡¯s super calm, saying that it¡¯s bad now, but eventually it¡¯ll blow up anyway and be popr." The system spirit tilted its head. "It¡¯s the director, he hates you from the bottom of his heart right now."

    "... How many additional followers does Xiao Yun have on Weibo now?" Gu Xiqiao asked after a pause.

    "About three to four million." With a flick from the system spirit¡¯s finger, a transparent panel with Xiao Yun¡¯s Weibo appeared in front of her.

    Three to four million, it was about there now. No matter how much more this matter blew up, they wouldn¡¯t get any more fans. "Let¡¯s head over to Xiao Yun first, then to Director Cheng." Gu Xiqiao happily decided.

    ¡¯Well, the two of them are in for a surprise this afternoon then,¡¯ The system spirit thought.

    ***

    Speaking of Xiao Yun, after their production crew had released the updated version of the day¡¯s episode, they received an unprecedented attack from theizens.

    It was all because of the change in cast, and Peng Zixian¡¯spany had not issued any statement on it, and only her manager had posted an insinuating Weibo post. To sum up her post, there were three main points to it, acting beaten down, sullying Xiao Yun¡¯s name, and garnering attention for her own Weibo.

    Peng Zixian had a lot of fans, and although most of them were only fans of her face, due to her usual perfect image, she still received a lot of praise. Adding on the fact that she had recently be more popr, she also gained a lot more fans who watched the web drama.

    So when Peng Zixian¡¯s manager posted such a Weibo, therge number of fans turned into keyboard warriors. Part of them were Peng Zixian¡¯s loyal fans, while the other part of them were keyboard warriors who spewed all kinds of so-called righteous things likepassion, duty, propriety and integrity. Poor Xiao Yun who was not as well known was faced with countless nders on Weibo.

    "Hehe, I thought that she was an ambitious newbie, but I never expected her to be so disgusting!"

    "Our Zixian is gone, why don¡¯t you just die, Xiao Yun?"

    "I¡¯m not a fan of Peng Zixian, but I still like the drama that she ys in."

    "Peng b*tches, don¡¯te to the Weibo of our Treasure Yun to make trouble!"

    "In this situation, it¡¯s time to call @ For a Millenium"

    "Do all of Xiao Yun¡¯s fans have shit for brains? How can you guys like a star with such a bad personality?!"

    "The kind of fans that a star has says a lot about the star!"

    "I¡¯d just like to say, I¡¯m a fan of the original work, but I also think that Xiao Yun¡¯s acting skills are good..."

    "..."

    Empire Under Siege had yet to be released, and Xiao Yun¡¯s poor one million fans were indeed loyal, but theirbat effectiveness against Peng Zixian¡¯s fans and other randomizens werepletely iparable.

    It wasn¡¯t only Xiao Yun¡¯s Weibo that was filled with nder, even the official crew¡¯s Weibo was filled with them. Seeing the terrifying number ofments increasing, the director of the web drama started to panic.

    He went to find Xiao Yun at this time. "Xiao Yun, your friend said that there wouldn¡¯t be any problems, but look at thements! If this goes on, our crew will be done for!"

    The director felt like his hair was going to go white at this rate. The web drama was initially supposed to be directed by another famous director, but he had to go America temporarily, so he painstakingly used up his life savings to buy the copyright for this drama, and it had been smooth in the beginning. Later, when Peng Zixian came in, he had been a little excited when he found out about her identity. With someone like her in the crew, it would open a lot of doors for them. Everyone in the entertainment circle knew Peng Zixian¡¯s identity, after all.

    The director had dreamed of winning the best award, and he didn¡¯t even have time to smile in his dreams before Gu Xiqiao came to inform him that Peng Zixian would no longer be acting in it. At that time, he didn¡¯t feel like Gu Xiqiao was a person to be provoked, and had changed the cast.

    Gu Xiqiao had also promised him that nothing would happen, and he didn¡¯t expect that just three days from then, when a new episode was aired that it would cause such a big disturbance.

    All thements on Weibo were scolding the production crew.

    The director was starting to regret, the impact of this incident was so big, it must be someone from the Peng family behind the scenes, causing a big uproar. If he knew this would happen, he wouldn¡¯t have agreed to what Gu Xiqiao had said!

    He had thought that Gu Xiqiao was some big shot, and had been convinced by her words. And at that point of time. It did seem like it.

    "Director, isn¡¯t this better? It¡¯s helping give the crew free advertising." Xiao Yun was diligently memorizing her lines,pletely uncaring about the nders about herself.

    Seeing heridback expression, the director got angry. "Of course it¡¯s easy for you to say, this crew isn¡¯t yours. If you lose the role in this drama, your friend can easily find another one for you. But this is my only chance, and I¡¯ve invested everything I have in this, do you even understand?!"

    This is his only chance for aeback, he wouldn¡¯t allow any mistakes at all. He had fawned over Peng Zixian along the way, and Tang Enterprise, and even Gu Xiqiao, wasn¡¯t it because he wanted the drama to have more attention and publicity?

    However, it seems that he had made a wrong step somewhere, and he was about to lose everything! He was dissatisfied! So dissatisfied!

    Why did he believe Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words then? How could he so easily believe in a stranger¡¯s words?!

    "Director, what other ns do you have right now?" Xiao Yun said, lowering her manuscript. "At this time, everything said will be wrong either way. It¡¯s better to just make a good film, and get less criticism."

    If we talk about being unlucky, was there anyone else who was more unlucky than Xiao Yun? The nder against the crew wasn¡¯t even one third of what she received, and she was still calm about the entire thing, unlike the director.

    What she said wasn¡¯t wrong, they had already changed the cast, what else could they say now? The director sat down in front of the camera, a gloomy and depressed expression on his face. His face darkened.

    "Again, again!" When the director was in a bad mood, he would start to take it out on the rest of the crew.

    The members in the crew also didn¡¯t dare to protest when he was like this, they just swallowed down the anger in their hearts, thinking from the bottom of their hearts, do they still wanted to stay in this crew? It had already been smeared to this point. If Tang Enterprise withdrew due to this matter, then all of their efforts would be wasted.

    These wild thoughts were all in their minds as they started up the shoot again, but they were interrupted suddenly by a clear voice from the person at the door, "The scene is already well done, why would you shoot from the top again?"

    The voice was very recognizable, and the director knew who it was immediately. Even though he was extremely dissatisfied with Gu Xiqiao, he didn¡¯t dare to let it show on his face. But he didn¡¯t talk with the initial caution that he had in the beginning either. "Miss Gu."

    He tried to show a smile on his face, but his tone was still forced.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t care much for it, giving him a smile. "Come now, it¡¯s just one buffoon acting out, does that make it worth to have such expressions on your entire crew?"

    Only Xiao Yun looked calm, and Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin in thought. When Peng Zixian¡¯s manager had posted that Weibo, she had already known and didn¡¯t make any move to stop it, in order for Xiao Yun to garner more fans. She knew that she could easily clear up the matter if she handled it personally, but it seems like her method had scared the director?

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the director again, chuckling lightly as she took out her phone to type something, before talking to the director, "Sorry, let¡¯s do it this way then. I¡¯ll give you three proposals, how do you intend to regain face?"

 Chapter 170 Did You Steal It?

    <h4>Chapter 170 Did You Steal It?</h4>

    "Miss Gu, what do you mean?" The director was looking at the three lines that she had typed in her phone, and his heart was beating hard in his ribcage. Although he understood what she had written, he still couldn¡¯t believe it.

    Gu Xiqiao took back her phone and kept it away, fixing her gaze on him. "It¡¯s just what it means, expose all the dirty things on Peng Zixian and her manager. The nder and rumors regarding this production crew will naturally die down then, since their influence over it will also be gone."

    "No, no, I can¡¯t do that." The director gave Gu Xiqiao a faint look, snapping out of it as he waved his hand. Doing that to Peng Zixian¡¯s manager was fine, but to Peng Zixian herself? No bloody way.

    No matter what, Peng Zixian was still a member of the Peng family. The Peng family was a well-known family in the Imperial Capital, if any of these ckmail materials leaked out from their hands, the Peng family would definitely be agitated. Thinking about that, the director looked at Gu Xiqiao again, saying with an earnest voice, "I know that you are acquainted with Peng Zixian¡¯s brother, but leaking dirty secrets about Peng Zixian on the and making it blow up is literally digging your own grave. The Peng family isn¡¯t someone you should provoke at all."

    Gu Xiqiao had already spoken of doing things to this extent, and the director was still cowed. Her face took on her usual indifferent look as she spoke to the director, "Director, do I look like someone who would crack a joke like this?"

    She clearly didn¡¯t look like it, but she was oh so young! She was only about twenty years old, definitely still among youth that listened to their parents¡¯ words, right?

    "Miss Gu, have you discussed this matter with your family? You should let them know, respect their opinion on this too."

    In his eyes, no matter how high Gu Xiqiao¡¯s status was, it wasn¡¯t possible that it would be one that had an extremely far reach. There were just that few families with high positions in the Imperial Capital after all, and the Peng family were among the many chaebols[1], there were not many who would dare to anger them.

    That was the reason he said those words, Gu Xiqiao was still young, what can she do? If she really provoked the Peng family, if they didn¡¯t dare to touch her, then they would turn to the production crew who had no connections to back them up!

    "He respects my opinion very much." Gu Xiqiao said with a solemn expression on her face. "Moreover, I¡¯ve already sent this piece of news to some of the well-known Weibo bloggers, and they should be publishing it about now."

    The director seemed to feel faint, imagining arge group of soldiers storming in and arresting their entire production crew.

    His hands trembled as he pulled out his own phone to open Weibo, refreshing the front page. His eyes were pulled to the hot list once he had done so.

    "The Things That You Can¡¯t NOT Say About The Actress Peng"

    Pressing on the topic link, he was directed to the pinned topic of the ount owner. The blogger was a big V, and because there were so many things to write, the blogger had used a long Weibo[2] to show the seven things that he wanted to list. The first was about how Peng Zixian dug out her assistant¡¯s eyes, the second was about how she got someone to mess up the face of a student from A University, whotermitted suicide. There was also evidence on how she had hired Inte Water Armies to nder Song Guanjing... It went on listing several more things that she had done, and thest one was about how she threatened to utterly wreck Xiao Yun¡¯s image.

    All the things shown here were logical and backed up with evidence, some of it even had stamps of the police, which indicated that it waspletely real. This was theplete truth, and none of it were jokes.

    It was to the extent that the police were involved, and had be a criminal case. Regardless, she was still filled with bloodlust, using her cruel methods to hurt others, was Peng Zixian sick in the head?

    So when the fans on Weibo saw the post, the first thought in their mind was to deny that everything here was the truth. However, the evidence was solid, there was even an audio recording of Peng Zixian attempting to disfigure Xiao Yun¡¯s face. In the recording, her voice was cold and vicious,pletely unlike the beautifuldy that they knew.

    Theizens were outraged, thementsing in hot and fast in the discussion thread.

    "Is Peng Zixian really crazy?"

    "Wow, the world is really nuts! Even a psycho like her can be a star!"

    "I really sympathize with Xiao Yun, being treated like that by a psycho, and even having to deal with all the hate from you all on the inte..."

    ***

    Peng Zixian¡¯s manager was sitting in the office, looking at the Weibo post by the blogger, not really caring much for it. She knew who Peng Zixian really was, and she hadn¡¯t been seen in the past few days. She assumed that something hade up in her family, and didn¡¯t think that anything was wrong. Sheughed coldly. "They really are so bold, daring to release something like this about the daughter of the Peng family on Weibo. They really are tired of living."

    She called the blogger first, and after the call was connected, she started speaking, "You better delete that Weibo post about Zixian, otherwise just wait till you get sued!"

    The Weibo blogger was a middle-aged woman. After receiving the threat, she made the logical decision of calling Gu Xiqiao. Hearing reassurance from the other party, she felt relieved and didn¡¯t delete the post.

    Peng Zixian¡¯s manager continued to sit in her office. She knew how much Peng Zijie dotted on Peng Zixian, so she was sure that once he caught wind of it, the ones that would suffer were them.

    Peng Zixian¡¯s assistant sat beside her, ncing at her face, "Sister, you are really amazing. My Weibo followers have increased by tens of thousands."

    "Don¡¯t worry, it will rise even more soon. Mr. Peng will make an appearance soon." Peng Zixian¡¯s manager seemed to be pleased with the situation. "At that time, this Weibo post will also be proved to be faked..."

    Before she could finish speaking, the door to the office was pushed open, and a few policemen came through. The one in the lead took out his ID and held it up. "Hello, we¡¯re police from the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Miss Zhao Ruo, you¡¯re involved in a criminal case by association, please follow me back to the police station."

    ***

    Back in the set of the web drama, the director was in shock after he saw that Gu Xiqiao had really leaked out the information to others. The rtionships in the Imperial Capital were quiteplicated, and the Peng family was one of the bigger powers and influences here, was she nning to hit them right in their faces with this?! "Miss Gu, you better hurry and get that person to delete the Weibo post!"

    Gu Xiqiao just gave him a smile, ignoring what he just said.

    The director was horrified, and remained jittery throughout the entire day. When night fell, no one from the Peng family came for him. No one came for him on the second day either, and the Weibo post was also still up and fine.

    On the third day, the N City police station released a Weibo post, stating that they had arrested Peng Zixian and her manager.

    When he read the news, the director was stunned to the point that the phone slipped out of his hands and onto the floor. The phone had cost him nearly ten thousand yuan, but he didn¡¯t feel any heartache for it at all. His eyes were wide. Even Peng Zixian was arrested? And the Peng family was doing nothing?

    He thought of Gu Xiqiao, the girl was more and more mysterious the longer he thought about it.

    "Director, your phone," Xiao Yun said, handing the device back to him.

    The director straightened up immediately, taking it from her hand. "Thank you."

    Xiao Yun was slightly surprised, since when had the director be so polite?

    She didn¡¯t know that it was because the director was scared shitless inside, because he was afraid if Gu Xiqiao was unhappy, she would also pull him into the sinking boat. If that was the case, then how could he not be careful when dealing with Xiao Yun?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao left the web drama site, walking toward the set that Cheng Zhou was.

    Cheng Zhou was currently shooting, and he seemed very dissatisfied with the scene. He was scolding a neer with a dark expression on his face, to the point that the others around him didn¡¯t dare to say anything. He took a mouthful of tea, ready to continue teaching the neer a lesson when he caught sight of Gu Xiqiao from the corner of his eyes. She was standing at the side, watching Li Yu and Ning Qu¡¯s scene. His eyes lit up, pushing the matter with the neer to the side as he walked toward her.

    The neer that he had been reprimanding was someone who was ying a male supporting role. He had screwed up in the previous scene that he had with Ning Qing, and that was why Cheng Zhou was berating him. He had been going on for almost five minutes, and knowing Cheng Zhou¡¯s character, he would go on for half an hour before he would be satisfied. He didn¡¯t expect that the director would leave just five minutes after his tirade, and was that a skip in his steps? Cheng Zhou wasn¡¯t even that friendly and amicable toward Li Yu, right?

    "What¡¯s up with the director?" He asked one of the staff members standing next to him.

    He didn¡¯t expect for that person¡¯s eyes to lit up too, pointing in the direction Cheng Zhou was walking toward. "Oh, it¡¯s because our goddess is here."

    The neer turned to look at the direction the staff was pointing at, and saw an elegant side profile, as pretty as a picture, and his breath caught in his throat.

    "Who is she?" The neer¡¯s voice had taken on a slightly dreamy tone. "Is she part of the crew? Why haven¡¯t I seen her before?"

    "Don¡¯t think about it too much, and memorize your lines properly. The goddess yed the role of the demon saint, where she only had a couple of shots. Those scenes have been done and over with a while back." The staff took out his phone and took two quick pictures before leaving reluctantly.

    The neer was still rooted in his spot, staring nkly in the same direction.

    "Director Cheng," Gu Xiqiao greeted as she watched Li Yu and Ning Qing¡¯s performance, a satisfied expression on her face. "Ning Qing¡¯s acting skills seem to be even more exquisite than before, your guidance is to bemended."

    Ning Qing¡¯s previous acting skills weren¡¯t bad per se, she was willing to work hard to keep up, able to take on the hard work to improve herself and her aptitude wasn¡¯t bad. Cheng Zhou was invested in her, and Li Yu would also offer pointers and advice because of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s involvement with her. With all of this happening, it was weird for Ning Qing to not improve.

    "That¡¯s also because she has a good foundation from the start," Cheng Dao replied, waving a hand dismissively. He wasn¡¯t about to go further into this topic with her. "Why have youe here today?"

    "The editing for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ has been done, so I wanted to bring it over for you to have a look." Gu Xiqiao handed him the things that she was holding in her hands.

    Cheng Zhou nodded his head. "Oh."

    After ten seconds, he properly processed what she had said. "Wait! What?! What did you say?!"

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him, shing him a smile. "I said, the editing for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ has been done, even the post-production has beenpleted. You can start to arrange the clips, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve brought it for you. If you have anything that you¡¯re not satisfied with, we can still amend it."

    Since it was all Yu Ning¡¯s work, she didn¡¯t feel any pressure at all.

    But.. this, this was given to her just a few days ago?! Cheng Zhou was still stunned speechless, his jaw falling to the ground. It hadn¡¯t even been half a month and the editing was done? Even the post-production?! Even the special effects?!

    For everything to bepleted, it usually would require at least two to three months, and this was talking aboutrge-scale studios doing the job. For example, even the miracle that had been created by Ennd, they had taken two months to rush out a fantasy blockbuster in order to make it in time for one of the awards that year.

    But could this bepared to them? Ennd¡¯s post-production studios were by far thergest in the world, and their staff and technology there were thetest and best. It wasn¡¯t surprising for Ennd to be able to do it, but for them toplete it in less than a month?!

    Cheng Zhou was now slightly afraid to take the bag that she was holding out to him. It was a product from half a month, he suddenly felt like it probably wasn¡¯t worth watching. He stared at Gu Xiqiao with a dull expression, bemoaning in his heart. Fortunately he still had time, and he could probably rush it using his own studio, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t make it in time.

    Seeing the thoughts clearly on the director¡¯s face, Gu Xiqiao smiled, her eyes curving upwards as she said in a serious tone, "Director Cheng, you need to take a closer look at it when you go back. If there is anything you¡¯re not happy with, you can let me know and I¡¯ll fix it."

    Although she didn¡¯t watch the entire movie, Gu Xiqiao had faith in the abilities of Yu Ning and the other hackers. You can say that she believed in every single person in Nine Heavens. Since it was Yu Ning who handed her the film, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems, and that was the reason she was confident to hand it over to Cheng Zhou without further checking.

    "Fine, fine, fine. I¡¯ll definitely watch it properly when I get back." Even though he didn¡¯t hold out much hope, he could at least watch the result of his own filming, and to be honest, he was slightly anticipating it.

    Gu Xiqiao was only satisfied after seeing his expression changed.

    Ning Qing and Li Yu had finished their scene, and they both walked over to Gu Xiqiao when they saw her standing there.

    "When are youing back for another shoot?" Li Yu asked, looking at her with a warm look, a bit of hope in his voice. He was very talented in acting, and he also had a lot of passion for it, so when he met someone like Gu Xiqiao who could keep up with him, his acting skills were also slowly improving.

    Li Yu could finally understand the director¡¯s depression regarding her, a person with such talent for acting had gone to study medicine instead. But then he recalled the medical press conference a few days ago, then he shook his head to erase those earlier thoughts.

    Alright, so she was also extremely talented in medicine.

    Li Yu was acquainted with Zhu Yuan, so he was well more informed about this matter than your average person. The cell fusion patent had both the names of Gu Xiqiao and Zhu Yuan. Though most of the people around would think that the majority of the work was from Zhu Yuan¡¯s research, he knew that the research only got a major breakthrough because of Gu Xiqiao, and Zhu Yuan was basically only along for the ride!

    "Cough, let¡¯s talk about it some other time." Gu Xiqiao covered her mouth with her slender hands to hide the cough. "So Ning Qing, how are you doing, have you gotten used to it yet?"

    The next scene was a match between Li Yu and the neer, where Cheng Zhou was personally overseeing, and only Ning Qing and Gu Xiqiao were left there.

    "Miss Gu, I¡¯ve been very well here, thank you." Ning Qing¡¯s eyes reddened slightly when she said that. From the beginning she had felt disbelief, to being depressed and dejected. After receiving the warm care from the crew, and all sorts of pointers from her seniors, she was afraid that she would wake up one day and find that it was all just a dream.

    Her fans on Weibo had also slowly been growing, and it was already reaching over ten million, mainly due to Li Yu and the production crew¡¯s publicity, and those few Weibo posts that made it to the hot topic list. Ning Qing knew that Li Yu and the others were treating her well due to Gu Xiqiao, but she was still extremely grateful, especially toward Gu Xiqiao.

    The lineup for the cast and crew were also great. You could take any one of them and they would have some status in the entertainment industry. They could easily boost any neer on the crew, and when she thought about it sometimes, she was really, really lucky.

    Gu Xiqiao merely smiled. "What is there to thank me for, you¡¯re a member of Nine Heavens, of course I have to be nicer to you guys."

    Su Wu ced down whatever he was doing on hand, walking toward them. "Gu...Miss Gu." He had almost wanted to call her great god, but then he dismissed the thought immediately. Calling her the way the other members of Nine Heavens did was fine enough, right? "Have you been gaming recently?"

    "You¡¯re still ying games even when you¡¯re part of the production crew?" Gu Xiqiao shot back. "You can¡¯t be sozy, oh, youth!"

    Su Wu: ...

    ¡¯You mean I can¡¯t even take time to rx a little?¡¯

    Also, if we¡¯re talking about beingzy, who iszier than you? After being in Nine Heavens for a while, he now had a better and deeper understanding of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s person.

    Su Wu let out a sigh now and again, the upper management of Nine Heavens was also the same. When he had went for his morning jog the past few days, he would bump into some of the people from upper management, especially Mr. Yu. Don¡¯t be deceived by his cold and unfeeling expression, as long as someone mentions Gu Xiqiao, he would grit his teeth and resemble a volcano that was going to erupt.

    And Su Wu finally reached an urate conclusion, and that was... Gu Xiqiao really was just like that!

    So when he heard her call himzy, the first reaction was to give her a look that said ¡¯Are you kidding me?¡¯.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know about the thoughts that were running through Su Wu¡¯s mind, but if she did, she would definitely not hesitate to beat him up. Why would you want to keep such an unlovable child?

    The three of them were well acquainted, and Ning Qing didn¡¯t have any scenes to shoot currently, so they found a bench to sit down and chatted.

    Until they were startled by Cheng Zhou¡¯s roar. "Didn¡¯t I already say that the expression of horror here can¡¯t be so exaggerated, you have to pay attention to the details when reacting. You¡¯re ying the role of the most proud disciple of the martial arts sect, you don¡¯t have to be afraid of a demon. And you, Li Yu, can¡¯t you hold back your momentum a little?"

    Li Yu immediately lowered his head, admitting his mistake. After saying his piece, Cheng Zhou let out a sigh. Indeed, Li Yu¡¯s acting skills were a little too good, and if he didn¡¯t hold back the other cast members wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with him.

    "Little Gu,e here!" Cheng Zhou berated the neer a little more before turning around to discuss with Old Liu, and calling for her after.

    Gu Xiqiao went to his side without a word, and Cheng Zhou rapped his hand on the table. "Go and act out this scene with Li Yu, let the neer get the feel of it."

    This was the best idea he coulde up with.

    Gu Xiqiao: ...

    Li Yu¡¯s eyes brightened up, looking toward Gu Xiqiao like a child wanting candy.

    "What does Director Cheng mean?" The neer asked the girl standing beside him, if he remembered correctly, she was one of the makeup artists in the crew.

    Yu Qing was holding her phone in her hands, a face full of anticipation once she heard what Cheng Zhou had said. "Hush, watch how cool our goddess is."

    The neer: I¡¯m a guy, and that little beauty is a girl, and also... she didn¡¯t even change her clothes. More importantly, she would be facing Li Yu, that was the most terrifying part of the entire thing, would she be scared to tears?

    However, he was stunned in the next second when the demeanor of the girl in jeans and T-shirt changed entirely the moment her eyes locked with Li Yu¡¯s. Her face was still the same, but the way she carried herself waspletely different.

    Her eyes were still sparkling clear, and her face still as pretty as a picture, but the aura around her had changed. If you were to say that she was an exquisite beauty just now, it was as if she had morphed into a different person now. Her clear eyes slowly had a hint of frost creeping into them, a cold arrogance appearing on her delicate face, it was awe-inspiring to watch the changes happen right in front of him.

    It was still the same gorgeous face, but her temperament was unlike the girl he saw a few minutes ago.

    Through her demeanor, he could see the image of a rigorous and arrogant young man, the proudest disciple in the martial art sect in her.

    That was how he felt when he looked at her.

    "Director Cheng, how bout a deal. After this time, use Ning Qing to y the parts in the future. Your guidance in shooting is great, so you don¡¯t need me at all." Although Gu Xiqiao was happy to give the asional guidance, she wasn¡¯t a professional in this industry in the end. Everything came from the practise she had done in the virtual space, unlike Ning Qing and Li Yu, who were the ones with real natural born talents.

    Hearing her words, Cheng Zhou shot back angrily, "It¡¯s because I¡¯mzy, I don¡¯t feel like directing at the moment."

    ... Fine, you win.

    Looking at the time and noting that it was still early, it would be boring to return home to no one, so Gu Xiqiao opted to stay and watch the crew¡¯s acting.

    Up till she received a call.

    "Hello, are you the guardian of Hua Youlin? Something hase up regarding him, pleasee to the school."

    Hua Youlin had gone to school with Luo Wenlin two days ago, and he seemed happy thest she saw him. Although he was still slightly withdrawn, he would be better once he got used to things. Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect to receive a call from the teacher. Something had happened to Hua Youlin? What had happened?

    She hurriedly said goodbye to Cheng Zhou and left the set, driving her car to the school.

    As she drove along the road, she passed a milk tea shop in the square. Thinking for a bit, she stopped and got down, buying a cup of hot milk tea. Hua Youlin had seemed to like the beverage a lot.

    In the milk tea shop...

    "Murong Feiye, hurry up and say what you want, I¡¯m really busy." Tang Qingqiu looked upset, he knew that once Murong Feiye came back, it would be nothing good. Look at him, he still hadn¡¯t corrected that problem of eating sweets, especially sweets from roadside stores. Can¡¯t you at least find a ce to eat them in private? Fortunately the ss was one way, you can see out from inside, but the people on the outside couldn¡¯t see inside, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t havee in in the first ce.

    Murong Feiye was staring out the window with a daze look on his face, when he suddenly snapped up. "Qingqiu, look at that person!"

    Tang Qingqiu followed the direction of where Murong Feiye had indicated, catching sight of a familiar face outside the ss. No matter what angle you looked from, she was extremely beautiful. "Feiye, weren¡¯t you curious about the girl beside Shuxhan? That¡¯s her."

    "Vat?!" Murong Feiye stood up, the chair falling back with a ¡¯bang¡¯. It was obvious that he was stunned. Thest time he had been too far away from Gu Xiqiao, and he couldn¡¯t see her properly, all he could make out was that she was extremely pretty. Today, there was only a distance of two meters, and apart from reaffirming the fact that she was gorgeous, he also discovered something else. "Qingqiu, don¡¯t ya think she looks a lil like Aunt Baili?"

    Murong Feiye turned to get a better look, but the girl had already gotten into a pink car and vanished.

    "Aunt Baili?" Tang Qingqiu said, searching his memory for the said woman, but he couldn¡¯t really recall her face. "I don¡¯t really think so."

    Murong Feiye had calmed and sat back down, taking a sip of his milk tea. "I forgot dat Aunt Baili has been abroad for years now, and tis only normal if ya forgotten her face. I see her almost on a daily basis, so believe me, I¡¯m not wrong about it."

    Thinking about it a little while more, he shook his head. "Nah, I can¡¯t take it, I¡¯m going back to the ancient martial arts world to find Bin!"

    There are so many people in the world that look alike, don¡¯t be so overly excited like this. And also, don¡¯t iritate Bin." Tang Qingqiu was slightly worried, Baili Bin had rarely met with them ever since his leg was injured.Right now he had just returned to the ancient martial arts world, and there was already a lot ofmotion going on. He was afraid that Murong Feiye would do something that would rub Baili Bin the wrong way, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from it.

    "Okay, I¡¯m not dat stupid. Also, didn¡¯t that divine doctor Ronge back too? I heard that Granpa Baili¡¯s old illness may be cured, maybe Bin¡¯s leg can be cured too? I¡¯m still waiting for dis year¡¯s Heaven and Earth Ranking so that I can go against him!" Murong Feiye¡¯s flickered and disappeared before his eyes in just a second.

    Tang Qingqiu looked at the table full of sweets, and thought about that other matter that he needed to handle today. So he sighed, and asked the waiter to pack the remainder, carrying the load of desserts toward the crew to fort¡¯ them.

    As soon as he stepped out of the shop, Qin Heng called him. "Young Master Tang, just to let you know, the scoundrel who attacked Miss Xiao is no more."

    Tang Qingqiu, who was about to rush in to save the damsel in distress: ...

    WTF? Who had made a move so fast?! Didn¡¯t they leave any change for him to appear at all?

    "I contacted the blogger, and she said that Miss Gu was the one who gave her the information directly. Young Master Tang, Miss Gu had directly disclosed Peng Zixian¡¯s criminal evidence." The entire matter was crisp and neatly handled, it was loads more awesome and cooler than what Tang Qingqiu was going to do!

    Tang Qingqiu took a deep breath. "Is she not afraid of offending the Peng family?"

    Qin Heng replied cautiously, "I think it¡¯s more of the other way around?" Haven¡¯t you seen, they don¡¯t even dare to let out a single squeak even after all that has happened?

    After recalling the terrifying mental power that Gu Xiqiao wielded, Tang Qingqiu nodded to himself: Yes, that sounds about right.

    But why did he feel so sullen about it then?

    Next time, he would be sure to discuss with her, to let him deal with these kinds of matters in the future.

    ***

    In the middle school, a group of people had gathered in the principal¡¯s office.

    "Principal, I want this matter to be thoroughly investigated." A wealthy middle-aged woman had an ugly expression on her face, especially when she looked at her son¡¯s face full of swollen bruises, her heart broke at the sight. She turned her eyes on the other child standing at the side, a cold glint in her eyes. "Students who fight should be expelled!"

    "Mrs. Dai, please have a seat first. I will exin the situation." The principal¡¯s head was full of sweat. There were many high-end and aristocratic schools in the Imperial Capital, and their ordinary school naturally also had a few noble children, and Mrs. Dai was one of them, and this was a particrly difficult situation that they had been caught up in.

    He turned toward Hua Youlin, who had his head lowered, not speaking a word. "Student Hua, would you tell me why you beat Student Dai?"

    "He¡¯s jealous that I have thetest Pear phone!" That pig-headed Student Dai shouted out immediately, looking at Hua Youlin with disdain. "He grabbed my phone and even hit me, it hurts! Mom, you have to teach him a lesson!"

    "Hush child, sit down. Mummy won¡¯t let you be wronged." Mrs. Dai stood and looked toward the principal. "You heard my son¡¯s words, is this kind of student still worth being a student?"

    The principal looked back at Hua Youlin, the expression on his face changing slightly. "Student Hua, did you really beat Student Dai up because you were jealous of his phone, and even tried to grab it from him?" This was already considered as violence on campus.

    "That¡¯s not it!" Another boy came in from outside, and he was slightly taller than Hua Youlin. His eyes were clear and bright, and he opened Hua Youlin¡¯s backpack, pulling out a tablet andptop from inside, throwing it on the table. "Youlin has everything of his own, he wouldn¡¯t be jealous of a Pear phone!"

    "How can he have all these things? Principal, Hua Youlin is our ss student, and he¡¯s just an orphan, he definitely stole all of this!" Before anyone could speak, Hua Youlin¡¯s ss teacher spoke out.

    The teacher was a young woman, and seeing Luo Wenlin pulling out all the items from Hua Youlin¡¯s backpack, she spoke up immediately.

    You couldn¡¯t me her, Mrs. Dai¡¯s family is rich and powerful, every year they would send money and countless gifts to Miss Chen, unlike Hua Youlin who was an orphan from what she knew from his file. It was natural for her to take Student Dai¡¯s side over his.

    After thinking of all this, she gave Hua Youlin a stern look. "Hua Youlin, tell me, where did you steal all of this from?"

    [1] T/N: family run business-conglomerate

    [2] T/N: Long Weibo refers to how the author of the post uses pictures instead of words, since they are limited to 140 characters in a single post.

 Chapter 171 Holographic Film, Zhu Yuans Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 171 Holographic Film, Zhu Yuan¡°s Invitation</h4>

    "Miss Chen?!" Luo Wenlin looked at Hua Youlin¡¯s teacher in shock and disbelief.

    Miss Chen turned around, giving him a stern look. "Luo Wenlin, you¡¯re one of the top students, I hope that you won¡¯t tell lies." No matter whether Hua Youlin had stolen the things, it didn¡¯t matter. Between Hua Youlin and Student Dai, it was obvious who held more priority in this matter.

    Mrs. Dai looked at the principal with a smug expression on her face, a thinly veiled threat in her voice when she next spoke, "Principal, these sort of students will just bring harm to the society when they grow up. I think it¡¯s best to nip it in the bud, don¡¯t you think so too?"

    The principal groaned internally, and giving a more gentle look to Hua Youlin, he prompted him again, "Student Hua, do you have anything else to add?"

    "Principal, I don¡¯t think there is anything further that needs to be exined." Miss Chen was the teacher of the two children, and had the most say at the moment. "Hua Youlin¡¯s misconduct and violence on campus, these two matters are just too big to ignore. If we let him go, the other students will definitely have things to say."

    She had received so many gifts from the Dai family, so it was obvious she needed to help Mrs. Dai in this matter. As for Hua Youlin, he was just a lowly orphan, and she didn¡¯t care about him. How much waves can a small shrimp like him make?

    "Then I¡¯ll wait for your news." Mrs. Dai nodded with satisfaction. She had recently been in a bad mood, her husband¡¯s business hadn¡¯t been doing as well as before, and he had even found a young woman to apany him. She really has no face to show in front of the others in the Imperial Capital.

    Today when she heard about her son getting bullied, and hearing what Miss Chen had said, that the other child was an orphan, it was just the right time for her to use him as a punching bag to release her frustrations.

    Why were these few people talking as though the entire school knew about what was happening with Hua Youlin?! Luo Wenlin panicked, turning to see Hua Youlin who had his head lowered and not speaking a word. He pulled his own phone out of his pocket, dialing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s number, which was picked up after one ring.

    "Hello, Dalin." Gu Xiqiao had just parked the car. Hua Youlin¡¯s teacher didn¡¯t give her the address, but the system spirit knew the way anyway, and directed her to them.

    "Sister Gu, please hurry, they want to expel Youlin..." Luo Wenlin¡¯s voice trembled slightly after hearing the familiar voice. He had been a weak child since he was young, and had never been to school. But when he came to school, the ssmates that he got to know were all kind and warm, and he quickly became acquainted with everyone.

    He had thought that Hua Youlin would be the same, getting to meet kind people in his ss. He didn¡¯t expect that before thest ss in the afternoon, he would hear from his ssmates that Hua Youlin had gotten into a fight with someone and had been brought to the principal¡¯s office.

    He was now faced with a crowd of aggressive, bullying people. Luo Wenlin had not been through such a situation before, and he was terrified inside his heart, but he had to endure it. He was older than Hua Youlin, he could show fear or be weak at this time! But after hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice, he couldn¡¯t help the trembling that started.

    "Dalin, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be there soon." After finishing up the call, Gu Xiqiao walked towards the principal¡¯s office. Her steps seemed to be slow, but she reached the administration building in a blink of an eye.

    Hearing Luo Wenlin¡¯s call, Mrs. Dai said in a sharp voice, "He has a sister?"

    "Just the two of them siblings." Miss Chen said, knowing what Mrs. Dai meant, she hurried to add on, "The younger brother is not sensible, so let his elder sister be the one to ask forgiveness from you."

    Mrs. Dai nodded in satisfaction at that.

    "Sorry, I want to know what happened?" Before the person arrived in their line of sight, her voice was out first before she appeared at the doorway.

    When Miss Chen saw her, she opened her mouth to speak, "Miss, not only did your brother steal from his ssmate, but he also bullied his ssmate. Look at how beat up Student Dai is by him!"

    Gu Xiqiao raised her gaze to look at Miss Chen, her deep eyes piercing. "Stealing?"

    "Wh-what¡¯s with that look? The evidence is right here!" Miss Chen pointed to the things on the table. She needed to maintain a good image in front of her, and Mrs. Dai was very generous after all, a single piece of jewelry from her was worth more than a year of her own sry.

    Seeing the things on the table were all that had been bought by her for Hua Youlin, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want to talk much, and nced at the principal instead.

    This was the first time the principal had seen Gu Xiqiao. He had thought that Hua Youlin was an orphan, and that his sister should be one too. He never expected his sister to be Gu Xiqiao, the genius that had recently made an appearance in various news and reports!

    "Principal, may I ask a few questions?" Gu Xiqiao said.

    "Of course, of course." The principal nodded his head rapidly, bowing as he did. How could he refuse her?

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her head and asked Hua Youlin a few questions softly. After hearing her voice, only did Hua Youlin finally raise his head to look at her. "Sister Gu, do you believe me?"

    "If I don¡¯t believe you, who else would I believe?" Gu Xiqiao took his hand as she said that. "Don¡¯t worry, nothing will happen. Trust me."

    Mrs. Dai was stunned when she saw Gu Xiqiao walk in. The Dai family had fallen to what they were today because of this girl standing in front of her. That was also the reason why she didn¡¯t make such a big fuss when Boss Dai went out and found a mistress. She was full of fear when sheid eyes on Gu Xiqiao, and she didn¡¯t dare to utter any word as she hugged her son closer to her.

    Compared to the domineering and despotic she was disying previously, it was like apletely different person now.

    "Principal, these are all things that I bought for Hua Youlin. I will have someone send over the receiptster. As for the fight between them, it was Student Dai who first initiated the fight, and it was also Student Dai that started to insult first. I have the video of the surveince in my hand, and I will send it to you. I hope that you will settle this matter properly." With Hua Youlin¡¯s exnation as well as the system spirit¡¯s hacking into the surveince, Gu Xiqiao easily understood what had happened.

    The principal looked at Mrs. Dai, who didn¡¯t even dare to let out a single fart in front of the young girl here, and he knew immediately that Mrs. Dai also knew who Gu Xiqiao was. Hua Youlin¡¯s sister was not some ordinarymoner. "Miss Gu, rest assured that I will deal with this matter fairly."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, taking Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin out, not giving Miss Chen another look.

    "Principal?! You¡¯re letting them leave just like that?!" Miss Chen frowned.

    The principal looked at Mrs. Dai, before looking at Miss Chen. "Miss Chen, you should go back and reflect on yourself. Based on your remarks just now, you better pray that Hua Youlin¡¯s sister doesn¡¯t pursue this matter."

    The principal¡¯s words held a lot of meaning behind them, it was basically telling her indirectly that Hua Youlin¡¯s sister was not a simplemoner, but weren¡¯t they just some orphans? Miss Chen shook in her shoes, and turned her gaze towards Mrs. Dai, who also had a look of fear on her face.

    She knew everything was over that instance.

    Miss Chen walked back to the office in a daze, not even replying to the people who had greeted her on the way.

    She had only been sitting for a while, before she received notice from the school stating that she was dismissed due to ndering of students, handing out physical punishments, and epting bribes worth more than hundred thousand yuan.

    From this day on, there was no other school in the Imperial Capital who would be willing to employ her.

    Mrs. Dai kept her head down all the way. She had thought that Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t seen her, and nothing unusual happened when she reached home. She saw that Boss Dai was going about as usual, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like Gu Xiqiao really had not seen her!

    However, from the second day onwards, she found that Boss Dai came backter andter, and the frowning on his face got deeper over the days. She had secretly listened at the door of the study and found out that the Dai family stocks had plummeted and were facing bankruptcy.

    She fell to the ground, dumbfounded.

    Later, Boss Dai somehow found out that this incident was rted to her once more, and divorced her immediately.

    ***

    Aftering out from the principal¡¯s office, Luo Wenlin returned to ss, while Gu Xiqiao took Hua Youlin home. She passed him the milk tea and asked, "Why didn¡¯t you exin yourself just now?"

    "It¡¯s not like they will believe it anyway." Hua Youlin drank a sip of milk tea with his head lowered, replying in a low voice.

    "Brat." Gu Xiqiao nced at him, thinking about what to do with his temper. "Why is your face swollen?"

    She didn¡¯t notice it when they were back in the office just now, and when she saw it she stepped on the break, a frosty glint in her eyes. She pulled out a bottle of medicine and handed it to him, "Wipe yourself!"

    "Oh!" Although he didn¡¯t know where she pulled the medicine out from, and her tone was cold, Hua Youlin didn¡¯t feel unhappy at the treatment at all.

    On the contrary, he was ted.

    He had thought that she would give up on him today, so he didn¡¯t bother to exin anything. What¡¯s the point of exining himself, when no one had believed a single word he had said since a long time ago? He had also been driven out by his nsmen and was no longer a member there due to that.

    He didn¡¯t expect her to actually believe him, and she took all the words he said at face value.

    Feeling his eyes burn slightly, Hua Youlin took a sip of his milk tea.

    "I¡¯ll change your ss for you tomorrow. Dalin says that you¡¯re almost done with your year one studies, how about putting you in his ss?" When they got home, Gu Xiqiao opened the door as she asked Hua Youlin.

    Hua Youlin picked up Haha, who was at his feet while nodding silently.

    Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone to call Mu Zong, and he agreed to the extra work without much hassle. But then a strange feeling arises in his heart suddenly, when did he be a stay-at-home daddy that specialized in handling all these types of matters?

    ***

    After a busy day, Cheng Zhou returned home to shower and eat. He was going to sleep then because he was tired after a full day of work.

    As he got into bed, he suddenly remembered the things that Gu Xiqiao had given him, and he got up from bed immediately. Although he didn¡¯t hold out much hope, he still wanted to look at the effects that had been added, since it was an entire movie in there after all.

    He opened the bag and looked in it, finding that there were quite a few things in it. Apart from the original DVD, there was also a piece of paper with words written on it.

    [Usage instruction: This is a four-dimensional film, simr to a holographic projection. It is better to wear the sses while watching, the effects will be more pronounced. Each sses has a button that can allow the user to use the ¡¯bullet screen[1]¡¯ function, which can be kept open or closed depending on the user¡¯s preference. In addition, the sses are twenty-five dors each (big sale). If you wish to purchase it, please call Manager Mu at Nine Heavens Corporation at 155***.]

    The format of the note looked like an advertisement, and the shape of the paper was also simr to those decorations that were hung on the doors. He was well aware of thepany Nine Heavens, it was apany that was rising fast in the world. He heard that a manager had finally shown up to represent them, and everything was handled by him.

    Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. Nine Heavens gave him a weird impression, being so cold and arrogant in the eyes of the outside world, but here, why were they so... amusing?

    Although he felt that the sses were a bit funny, he still put them on before taking the movie upstairs. As a director, his house had a special screening room.

    Closing the door, he turned on the projector, the image projecting on the white wall in front of it, and started to watch.

    The movie started out pitch ck, and nothing could be seen on the wall. After a second, the heart thumping music started, and even Cheng Zhou couldn¡¯t help the excitement and adrenaline that surged up within him. Figures then gradually appeared on the wall.

    Cheng Zhou was taken aback for a moment, the figures that appeared looked so real, just like the words on the paper had said, it was a holographic projection. What he saw was not a t projection, but it feels as though the watcher was in the era of the movie itself, standing with the heroes and heroine, feeling all of the hatred and love that they felt.

    And the special effects that Cheng Zhou was so worried aboutpletely blew his mind. Although it wasn¡¯t a fantasy drama, the sword fighting scenes were so extremely wonderful that he couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the projection.

    Nowadays, more money was spent on securing the actors and actresses, instead of the special effects of the movie itself, other than those blockbusters in America. In China this was even more so, as most of the studios eithercked the funds or the technology.

    Cheng Zhou watched the movie three times that night. If it wasn¡¯t for the rm going off, he would have continued watching it.

    He had to admit, this was a movie with the best effect, smoothest editing, best acting skills he had ever had the pleasure to watch. Just watching this movie made all those other movies from America look like crap!

    As expected from Nine Heavens, after making their virtual helmet popr all over the globe, now they even came out with a holographic movie. It would most likely cause another wave through the world, and it was difficult to admit, but only Nine Heavens would be the only one who could make this happen, otherpanies would not be able to replicate their sess.

    Cheng Zhou reluctantly turned off the power, and then grabbed his phone to make a call. The voice on the other side was angry when they picked up, "What the hell Cheng Zhou?! It¡¯s only five o¡¯clock in the morning! Even if you don¡¯t need to sleep, I do!"

    Cheng Zhou ignored the scolding tone, excitedly saying, "When¡¯s the most recent movie screening date? Arrange it for me!"

    "Movie screening? Who are you helping to find this out for?" The other side was stunned before replying.

    "It¡¯s not for anyone else, it¡¯s for myself. It¡¯s the film that I¡¯m using to participate in the International Awards¡ª¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯!" Cheng Zhou had a great big smile on his face, obviously in a good mood.

    "... Are you sure you¡¯re not sleep talking? Didn¡¯t ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ just finished shooting not long ago?" Feeling like Cheng Zhou was just pulling his leg, that person got angry again, wanting to hang up the phone.

    Cheng Zhou lowered his tone and said, "We¡¯re old friends already, so I won¡¯t hide it from you. My movie¡¯s post-production was done by Nine Heavens, thepany that has been on the financial news recently. There¡¯s also another surprise I want to show you, I¡¯ll bring the video over to you tonight, you¡¯ll definitely be shocked!"

    After he hung up the phone, Cheng Zhou¡¯s hand was still shaking. It was a real... real big surprise. Even if this film didn¡¯t win the award, it would still cause an uproar with how fabulous it was.

    He couldn¡¯t push down the excitement in him, as soon as he thought about, a new bout of anticipation would surge up again, and he couldn¡¯t wait to see the expressions of those people who watched the movie.

    A four-dimensional movie, and the first holographic projection ever, how could the storm toe be calm?

    He also wanted to give a call to Gu Xiqiao, but then when he thought about it, she definitely knew about it, and so he dismissed the thought. But he quietly proceeded to write out a transfer for arge sum of money to her bank ount.

    He still needed to go for filming, and although he had been up all night, Cheng Zhou was filled with energy, and was in a good mood. You couldn¡¯t see any tiredness lingering on his face at all.

    ***

    In the morning, after dropping Hua Youlin off into Mu Zong¡¯s care, she received a text message. Before she could read it, the system spirit floated into existence in front of her. "Beauty Qiao, this is sent by Director Cheng. After watching the movie that you did for him, he transferred arge sum of money to you. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯spensation for the hard work, and although it¡¯s a huge sum of money, it can¡¯tpare to the technique that had gone into the editing. Yu Ning is really good."

    The four-dimensional technique that had gone into the editing was something that Yu Ning had managed to research from the source code, and the holographic projection and sses used for ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ were all items that were beyond the current level of technology, and couldn¡¯t be measured with money.

    "Yu Ning is great indeed, but he¡¯s just a littlezy. But I guess it¡¯s fine to bezy, since a lot of things in the world are invented byzy people after all. Lil system, please transfer the money to Yu Ning, let him and his hacker team have it as a bonus for a job well done." The phone rang again, and it was an unfamiliar number this time.

    Logically speaking, anyone who knew her number should be someone that she knew, so she didn¡¯t think too much as she answered it after putting on the Bluetooth headset. "Hello."

    "You¡¯ve finally answered." Zhu Yuan felt that he wasn¡¯t in an easy position on his end, he had tried to call Gu Xiqiao using his phone, but it just couldn¡¯t get through. Afterwards, he recalled again that she had consistently cklisted his number, so he could only borrow another phone to make the call. "I found something interesting, can youe over?"

    "Something interesting?" Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow. Jiang Shuxuan had been away for a while, and she had been feeling boredtely. She had initially thought to go to college, but when she heard Zhu Yuan¡¯s words, it managed to pique her curiosity. "Sure, give me the address."

    Zhu Yuan rattled out the address, hanging up the phone immediately after and cklisting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s number on the phone he was holding. He was afraid that she would suddenly call back and said that she didn¡¯t want toe after all!

    "My grandfather..." The person beside him who took back the phone struggled to speak. "Weren¡¯t you the one who managed a breakthrough in thetest cell fusion research, even with that, it won¡¯t be able to save my grandfather?"

    "Who was the one who told you that I was the one who researched the cell fusion?!" Zhu Yuan gritted his teeth. "What nonsense!"

    "Forget it, Su Wen. I¡¯ll bring you to meet somebody. It¡¯s not that your grandfather is incurable, I have an idea but I¡¯m not 100% certain of it, that¡¯s why I need her help." Zhu Yuan said, patting the man on his shoulder as he led them out.

    "Her?" Su Wen didn¡¯t know who this person Zhu Yuan was talking about, but he contained his curiosity and walked with the doctor to the entrance, waiting by the roadside for the person to appear.

    Five minutester, he saw a very familiar little pink car.

    [1] T/N: function which allows viewers to post on-screenments in videos, movies etc in real time (ording to dictionary)

 Chapter 172 Overestimating Yourself

    <h4>Chapter 172 Overestimating Yourself</h4>

    Looking at the sleek pink car, Su Wen thought of Gu Xiqiao at this moment, though he squashed the thought down immediately in the next moment. How could it be her? Meeting her during that summer vacation was already a chanced fate, the world was big, how could he think it was her every time he saw a pink car?

    Su Wen sighed lightly, and turned to Zhu Yuan again. "Doctor Zhu, the method that you talked about, will it really be able to save my grandfather?" This was his main concern now.

    Even the doctors in America were unable to do anything, and everything they did didn¡¯t help. Su Wen was already close to giving up when he bumped into Tang Qinghong, and the other party had managed to find Zhu Yuan for him.

    Although Su Wen was not part of the medical industry, even he had heard of the name ¡¯Zhu Yuan¡¯ before this. He didn¡¯t expect that Zhu Yuan woulde over and observe his grandfather for almost half a day, his face solemn the entire time.

    "It¡¯s one of the things that I¡¯ve recently researched, but I don¡¯t dare to say that it will work for sure." Zhu Yuan had really learned a lot during his time in thebs at A University. Disregarding what he had learnt, those few advanced and bold pieces of research have managed to open his mind and broaden his horizon a lot more than he was previously.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Rong Feishuang¡¯s sudden return, Zhu Yuan would definitely not have willingly left thebs of A University even a single step. Although he wasn¡¯t good in other aspects, his talent in medicine was undeniable. After thoroughly studying the research that Gu Xiqiao had given them, he was able to draw his own inferences from it, and his thoughts were once again opened up even more.

    The case of Su Wen¡¯s grandfather was not the first in history, but there had never been a cure for it. Zhu Yuan had initially wanted to give up, but then he recalled a report that Gu Xiqiao had handed him before, and a sh of inspiration came to mind, a very bold one.

    Hearing Zhu Yuan¡¯s words, Su Wen¡¯s hopes were dashed. His eyes drooped downwards, and just as he started to feel depressed, the pink car came to a slow stop in front of the gates.

    Su Wen raised his head slightly, stunned. He didn¡¯t dare to imagine that the person who was in it really turned out to be Gu Xiqiao, so he couldn¡¯t react when the familiar stunning face came into view.

    Her face was still delicate and elegant, a pair of clear, twinkling eyes looking right at him. When their eyes met, it felt like the only thing he could hear in his ears was the sound of his rapidly beating heart.

    Zhu Yuan was speaking animatedly and teasing Gu Xiqiao, a smile on his face when he noticed from the corner of his eyes that Su Wen was in a daze, staring at the girl. His eyes sharpened into a re immediately, stomping hard on Su Wen¡¯s foot.

    Such a little boy dared to fantasize about her, didn¡¯t he see that even a yboy like him didn¡¯t dare to flirt with her? Did Su Wen want to be cut down by Jiang Shuxuan?

    Su Wen felt the pain shoot up from his foot, and was startled out of his daze, smiling for the first time in the past few days. "Miss Gu."

    "So this ce turned out to be your home." Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect that the world to be so small that she would end up meeting an old face. Seeing him made her recall the events that had transpired in Baixing Vige, and although there were quite some twists and turns during that time, her face softened as she thought about it.

    Su Wen, who had been anxious and tense, felt himself calm down after seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. He couldn¡¯t really pinpoint the reason for it, just that when he recalled the calm face in the raging fire, it gave him a boost of confidence and warmth.

    Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help his eyes widening as he stared at the two, not expecting them to know each other, but it seemed like they weren¡¯t that close. They had probably met a few times due to chance encounters.

    The main reason for calling Gu Xiqiao over today was for Su Wen¡¯s grandfather, so Su Wen led them into the house once again. As they walked, he couldn¡¯t help but nce at Gu Xiqiao. He didn¡¯t guess that the person Zhu Yuan was waiting for was her. During that time in Baixing Vige, he had been taken away in a rush by Tang Qinghong, and didn¡¯t even manage to say a word of goodbye to her before leaving.

    Su Wen¡¯s grandfather was lying on the bed, still unconscious and in aa, his left hand having a tube in it to receive blood. The medical reports on his condition and case were by the bedside, and Gu Xiqiao picked them up, flipping through them quickly. She lifted her head to look at Zhu Yuan after a while, her brows furrowing. "Do you already have a n?"

    "I really can¡¯t hide anything from you." Zhu Yuan said, the corner of his lips lifting up. "The operation that you did in N City on extracting the bacteria gave me some inspiration. Grandpa Su has acute septicaemia, and I think he¡¯s been infected by provirus. People at his age seldom get infected by this, and treatment is incredibly difficult. But if we extract the infectious bacteria first and develop the antibacterial serum, gather the blood cells that have killed the bacteria and then change the blood, do you think that will work?"

    Gu Xiqiao mulled over his words, immediately understanding what Zhu Yuan was talking about. First control the bacteria and then perform a major blood exchange. It sounded like something impossible to do, but if it really did seed, then there would be less fatality in the world due to septicaemia. "You actually managed to think of this much, color me impressed."

    "It¡¯s nothing, definitely nothing that you wouldn¡¯t have been able toe up with." Zhu Yuan had heard many praises directed at him before, but this was the first time he had been praised by someone younger than him. Although he was ecstatic, he still kept himself humble.

    He could only think of these methods because of the detailed information that Gu Xiqiao had given him in the research, and Zhu Yuan still remembered how stunned he was when he first received it. Now even when facing their own apprentices, masters would always choose to hide some parts of their knowledge, due to the saying of ¡¯Teach the disciples, starve the master¡¯, which meant that when the disciples master the knowledge of the master, the master would lose their jobs.

    However, Gu Xiqiao was different. She didn¡¯t omit or hold back any information at all. She would exin everything in her report when she was in thebs back in A University, not bothering to hide anything for herself. Just as she had said, she just wanted more people to be alive in the world, and it was precisely because of this principle of hers that he was willing to stay in A University and help oversee the research team of hers.

    The fact that she was a highly influential person in A University was not without reason. Humans were selfish by nature, but he couldn¡¯t feel any hint of this from her at all. She not only shared so much precious information with everyone, she didn¡¯t even hesitate to exin all of it in detail when she was asked to.

    He had also seemed to have been influenced by this attiude of hers, sparring no effort in answering questions that were directed to him by the people in thebs to the best of his knowledge.

    Gu Xiqiao was unaware of the thoughts that were running through Zhu Yuan¡¯s mind, and her own was on other matters. She pondered for a while before raising a few suggestions of her own.

    The two of them were deep in discussion, using a lot of technical terms. Su Wen didn¡¯t understand most of it, but he tried to keep up. He knew that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s medical skills were on another level of greatness, as she was the only one who could save the girl during their time in Baixing Vige after all.

    "Grandpa Su isn¡¯t able to wake up." Zhu Yuan felt slightly regretful after his discussion with Gu Xiqiao. "If he was awake, we would be able to know more things."

    "Who said he can¡¯t?" Gu Xiqiao nced at Su Wen¡¯s grandfather, before her gaze shifted to the ss on the table. Su Wen immediately realized what she meant, hurriedly pouring a ss of warm water for her.

    Sure enough, once she took the ss, she turned it in her hands for a little while, before her slender fingers flicked the cup, handing it back to Su Wen after.

    Su Wen fed his grandfather the water meticulously, and Zhu Yuan watched the entire scene with a face full of confusion. He looked towards Gu Xiqiao, then towards Su Wen, and then he suddenly registered what Gu Xiqiao had said, bursting out, "You¡¯re saying that you can wake Grandpa Su up?"

    How was this possible?! His master, Rong Feishuang had also been here before, but he had been helpless in this matter, and could only help Grandpa Su to barely hold onto his life, and now you¡¯re saying that Gu Xiqiao could wake Grandpa Su up?!

    Not being able to think about why she had said that in the first ce, Zhu Yuan just sat down at the side, his eyes trained on the elderly man who was lying on the bed.

    Su Wen was feeding his grandfather the water slowly, and when he was done, his grandfather¡¯s eyes remained tightly closed with no indication that he was waking up. He took a deep breath before standing, trying not to feel too disappointed. Even the divine doctor, Doctor Rong had not been able to treat him, so he shouldn¡¯t have had his hopes too high.

    Turning around slightly, he suddenly caught sight of his grandfather¡¯sshes moving, and he was taken aback. Su Wen stiffened, turning around fully to meet with a familiar pair of eyes that was tired, but filled with warmth and affection for him.

    Zhu Yuan stood up abruptly, almost knocking over the table that was beside him in his rush. He had woken up? He had really woken up?! Zhu Yuan turned to Gu Xiqiao, the awe and bewilderment clear in his eyes as he asked, "How did you do it?!"

    Grandpa Su had obviously been unconscious, and had woken up after being fed just a ss of water. Zhu Yuan was a doctor for god¡¯s sake, he obviously didn¡¯t believe that was all it took.

    Of course, it was due to the profound chi and natural energy that Gu Xiqiao possessed, but she merely shed him a smile as she said, "Extraordinary talent?" That wasn¡¯t wrong, right?

    Zhu Yuan: "..."

    ***

    At the same time, in the ancient martial arts world, Rong Feishuang had somehow gotten news that Jiang Shuxuan had returned, and he had rushed over as soon as he could.

    The main reason that he returned this time was because of Baili Qu, but another part of it was also due to his own personal interest regarding the condition of the girl that Yi Bing had said that had been cured by an unknowndy. Rong Feishuang was incredibly curious, searching out Yi Bing the moment he was back, but the other had remained stubbornly silent on the matter.

    He was so angry to the point that he force fed Yi Bing arge amount of very effectivexative before he finally faltered and told Rong Feishuang the entire story. Yi Bing really didn¡¯t know who the woman was, only that Jiang Shuxuan had brought her.

    After getting the answer, Rong Feishuang then inquired about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s whereabouts, and found that he had returned to the ancient martial arts world, so he came here looking for him. Rong Feishuang was a little like Zhu Yuan in this respect, getting quite fanatical and hyped up about medical knowledge and studies.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan was in a hut next to the trial tower. The furnishings in it were simple and minimal, having only a table and a stool. There was a drawing on the table, which was the blueprint of the trial tower.

    There was a loudmotion happening outside the door, and it seemed like someone wanted toe in. All of his guards were considered to be elites and were well known in the ancient martial arts world, with them outside watching over things, Jiang Shuxuan was not worried.

    His mental power was strong, so he didn¡¯t need to wait for someone to report to him what was going on outside for him to know what was happening.

    Rong Feishuang, who had been arguing with the guards outside suddenly heard a voice in his mind. ¡¯Doctor Rong, I know the reason for you to seek me out, but now is not yet the time, please head on back for the moment.¡¯

    It was obvious who this cold, frosty voice belonged to. He was well aware of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s temperament, and since he said ¡¯not yet the time¡¯, it meant that Rong Feishuang still had a chance to meet this person. Although he felt agonized at the fact that he had to wait longer, he also knew that he couldn¡¯t force Jiang Shuxuan to do anything he didn¡¯t want to, so he could only return to the Baili family with slight dejection.

    ***

    "Divine Doctor Rong." Baili Bin was arranging a formation in the yard, and greeted Rong Feishuang respectfully when he saw him.

    Rong Feishuang felt regretful, looking at Baili Bin as he was now. He used to be an amazing and brilliant martial artist, but Rong Feishuang was not able to save Baili Bin or Baili Qu before this, which was the reason why he went abroad, filled with guilt. Coming back this time, Baili Qu¡¯s condition had improved, and although Baili Bin¡¯s legs were still the same condition, the aura of depression around him was no longer present, and there was a little more light in his eyes now.

    A rare look of patience crossed Rong Feishuang¡¯s face as he looked at what Baili Bin was doing. "Are you studying formations again?"

    "Yeah." Baili Bin¡¯s gaze returned to the stone table in which he had ced stones to calcte the formation. Ever since Jiang Shuxuan had given him the ancient book a few days ago, his formation attainments had increased in leaps and bounds, and it felt like the whole world was within his hands.

    Just reading into the book a little, there was already such a huge improvement. If he really was able to master the entire book, it wouldn¡¯t even be a dream to make it into the Heaven and Earth List.

    "Study well, I¡¯ll be waiting for you to create another miracle this year!" Rong Feishuang said encouragingly, and then heading off to find Baili Qu.

    Baili Qu¡¯s hidden illness was getting better by the day, and there seems to be a flow of natural energy circting in him. As Rong Feishuang poked him with his needles, he asked, "Old Baili, are you sure you didn¡¯t encounter any mysterious matters recently?"

    Such a strong force of natural energy was practically unprecedented.

    "I¡¯m not sure, but you can ask Shuxuan, the one from the Jiang family." Baili Qu didn¡¯t mention the elixir, as he knew that it wasn¡¯t something that wasmon at all. This person that he didn¡¯t know had given their Baili family the elixirs and an ancient book. If either of it got out into the ancient martial arts world, it would definitely cause havoc. This person had earned the favor of the Baili family for helping them to rebuild their reputation, and they weren¡¯t like those who would forget the kindness shown to them. He only hoped that one day when the Baili family rose again, that they would be able to repay this mysterious benefactor.

    Hearing Baili Qu¡¯s words, Rong Feishuang didn¡¯t pursue further on this matter. There were many secrets in the ancient martial arts world, and knowing too much wasn¡¯t always a good thing.

    "The entire ancient martial arts world has rumors about how the Baili family is rising up once again, with the help of the Jiang family. I heard that your grandson managed to tie with Qinghongst time. The waters of the ancient martial arts world are getting muddier and muddier." Rong Feishuang was amazed at Baili Bin¡¯s progression, but he was also worried at the same time. There were too many things happening at once in the ancient martial arts world at this time, and a lot of cards had to be reshuffled. He didn¡¯t think that it was a good sign.

    Baili Qu obviously knew this too. He watched as Rong Feishuang pulled out the silver needle, and the energy flow in his body was once again unblocked. "It is indeed. Didn¡¯t that person from the Murong family also return?"

    "The ancient martial arts world is the world of the youth after all." Bailoi Qu sighed again.

    Rong Feishuang finished pulling out all the needles, and gave a sigh. "The ancient martial arts world has nothing to do with me, I just want to meet the person that Yi Bing was talking about. I¡¯m just sad that I couldn¡¯t."

    "Didn¡¯t youe back because of those descendants of Hua Tuo?" Baili Qu asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "I don¡¯t even know if they are the real thing, but the person that Yi Bing was talking about is definitely real," Rong Feishuang replied as he kept away his needles. He continued to chat about random topics with Baili Qu, when his phone suddenly started ringing.

    Seeing Rong Feishuang answer the call with familiar ease, Baili Qu couldn¡¯t help the surprise that crossed his face. "You¡¯re actually using a phone?"

    "I also know how to y Weibo and WeChat, unlike you antiques." Rong Feishuang smirked, raising his eyebrows triumphantly. Then, something the other party on the phone said made him stand up abruptly, his eyes widening. "What? What did you just say? He woke up?!"

    Rong Feishuang exchanged a few more words with the person on the phone, and then he turned to Baili Qu. "I can¡¯t y chess with you today, my apprentice has just told me that someone who was unlikely to ever wake up has woken up. I have to go!"

    Rong Feishuang had always been someone who came and went like the wind, and he disappeared as soon as he said that. Baili Qu was well aware of his temperament, and he just smiled without feeling offence at his abrupt departure.

    There were noises outside the house suddenly. As the Baili family had declined over the years, their location had shifted to the outermost part of the ancient martial arts world, which was not far from the trial tower. Baili Bin had visited the trial tower a few days ago, and that was also when he had fought against Tang Qinghong to a tie, which made him famous.

    "What has happened?" Baili Qu walked out, feeling that something was odd. Although something was happening at the trial tower, it had been quiet here. It was rare that it would be so noisy.

    Baili Bin listened intently, then a smile broke out on his face. "Someone ignored the warning and entered the trial tower conceitedly. They¡¯re now unconscious."

    Baili Qu couldn¡¯t help but chuckle lowly. "How bold, daring to go against Shuxuan¡¯s order."

    Hearing this, the corner of Baili Bin¡¯s mouth curved upwards into a slightly mocking smirk. Wasn¡¯t there always a price to pay? Did they think that they were that significant of an existence?

    ***

    A group of people walked towards the trial tower, and the one in the lead is a middle-aged man. He was surrounded by everyone present, and he had a frustrated look on his face, but also a hint of arrogance on it.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s guards naturally knew who this person was. It was Jiang Tong¡¯s father, Jiang Lian. To summarize, Jiang Lian was a person who lucked out, giving birth to such a talented daughter, which gave him a rise in his status. A branch family that originally was in a shabby settlement in the outermost perimeter of the Jiang family had seeded in turning the tables and bing a central figure, all because of having a brilliant daughter.

    The ancient martial arts world had always respected talented martial artists. As the most talented woman of this generation, she was matched up with Jiang Shuxuan by the people around them naturally. Jiang Shuxuan was just too high up there, and if there was anyone who was qualified to stand with him, it seemed that there was only Jiang Tong who met the criteria.

    As the person standing at the peak of the ancient martial arts world, Jiang Shuxuan was a person that everyone admired and looked up to. To be able to have just a slight rtionship with him was already extremely difficult and rare.

    And that was the reason why the elderly in the ancient martial arts world were extremely cautious when dealing with Jiang Lian¡¯s family. Jiang Tong was not anything much in their eyes, it was Jiang Shuxuan that terrified them. Since Jiang Lian has some rtion to Jiang Shuxuan, it was natural for them tomand respect.

    Jiang Tong had fallen unconscious after entering the trial tower, and Jiang Lian was in a panic. He immediately rushed over to seek out Jiang Shuxuan, and the person guarding the trial tower also rushed over with him after getting the news, afraid that Jiang Shuxuan would treat everyone as guilty by association should anything happen to Jiang Tong.

    There were also some other children who had followed Jiang Tong into the trial tower, and they were also unconscious. Jiang Lian had told the parents of those children that he would get Jiang Shuxuan to look at them too, and when they recalled Jiang Lian¡¯s identity, they were convinced and even ecstatic that there was a solution, and so they followed Jiang Lian together.

    The guards were also aware of who Jiang Lian was, and they didn¡¯t dare to dilly dally, heading inside the house to report on the situation immediately.

    In the house, Jiang Shuxuan was looking at the drawing on the table intently. After a long while of staring, he took off the jade pendant on his neck, cing it on a gap on the drawing as his eyes narrowed.

    A knock on the door came, and the guard informed him that Jiang Lian had arrived.

    Jiang Shuxuan waved his hand absent-mindedly, indicating for them to enter.

    As soon as he saw Jiang Shuxuan, Jiang Lian prattled on about why Jiang Tong was injured, and why was she unconscious?

    The chilling aura that exuded from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s person was immense, and he didn¡¯t bother curbing it in the slightest. There were few who dared to look at him directly, and Jiang Lian was no exception. Jiang Lian lowered his head after finished talking, waiting with anticipation and satisfaction in his heart, thinking that Jiang Shuxuan would be anxious and worried, and would hurry to check on Jiang Tong with him after this. At that time, this fact would definitely cause a stir in the entire martial arts world, and their family would rise one step further. This excited him the more he thought about it!

    Jiang Shuxuan kept away the jade pendant, and the expression on his face didn¡¯t change at all when he next spoke, "Jiang Tong didn¡¯t abide by the order, breaking thew and entering the trial tower without authorization, even inflicting harm by bringing people in with her, which is a serious crime. However, due to the high ranking she has on the Youth List and her contention for resource rights for the ancient martial arts world, she will be exempted for the three points. Let it be known that Jiang Tong¡¯s family will leave the Jiang family¡¯s core district starting today, and their resources will be cut in half. For the others who followed Jiang Tong, reduce their resources by 20%, and if they repeat this again they will be given more severe punishments."

    Jiang Lian, who had been waiting happily for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reaction felt like the entire earth had crumbled away from under his feet. The words that had been spoken were thundering in his ears, and each word served to causeyers andyers of sweat and chill to climb up his back as he spoke.

    Their family had to leave the central area? And their resources cut in half? Why! Didn¡¯t everyone say that his daughter was close to Jiang Shuxuan, and had a great rtionship, and that she would be the next Mrs. Jiang and the matriarch of the Jiang family?! How did it be like this?! Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t have any mercy at all, could it be... could it be that the rumors from outside were all false?!

    As soon as he thought about it, Jiang Lian broke out into more cold sweat, his legs feeling like it could no longer hold him up. He was terrified, to the point that his face was as pale as paper. He had already forgotten the initial reason he hade in here for, his heart beating rapidly in his ribcage as he sank down to the ground, utterly gobsmacked.

    Jiang Shuxuan lowered his eyes, not a hint of emotion in his eyes as he intoned coldly, "Take him out."

    The head of the guard reacted immediately, pulling Jiang Lian who had curled into a ball off the ground and out of the house.

    When he had spoken, Jiang Shuxuan had deliberately not lowered the volume of his voice, hence everyone around had heard the words he uttered, and they couldn¡¯t help but nce at each other.

    "Jiang Lian, you¡¯re really too full of yourself. If my son doesn¡¯t wake up tomorrow, I will definitely request for Young Master Jiang to settle this matter!" They had thought that Jiang Lian would be able to stir Jiang Shuxuan into making a move, but looked like it was all for nought.

    What nonsense about him confirming to be the father-inw, it was clearly all just a joke!

    Jiang Lian could feel the judgemental gazes on him from the people around, and his face flushed in embarrassment. He never imagined that his daughter and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s good rtionship was all fake, an illusion created by his own daughter!

    He had never been so humiliated and embarrassed in his entire life, and Jiang Lian¡¯s family had practically be the butt joke of the entire martial arts world in that instant.

    Jiang Shuxuan was not concerned much about these matters, and even if he heard of them, he would just give an indifferent expression.

    She had only just gotten a ce in the Youth List, and then proimed herself as the ¡¯little demon girl¡¯. Presumably, she rode roughshod over the people in the ancient martial arts world because of that, and if she really was a rare, talented genius, then that was fine.

    However, he was used to seeing the impossible things that Gu Xiqiao did, and Jiang Tong waspletely inadequate if you were topare them, and there was practically noparison to begin with.

    You can only imagine the arrogance and content Jiang Tong felt once the news spread through the ancient martial arts world that she had just managed to advance into Fleet Foot.

    Gu Xiqiao had also advanced into Fleet Foot level, and she had even incorporated the power of thunder and lightning. Coupled together with the profound chi and endless natural energy within her, either one of those was practically an impossible feat in the ancient martial arts world. Even then, she didn¡¯t stay content with just that.

    As he thought of her, Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help but reach up to rub the warm jade pendant between his fingers. He could still feel the endless chi that poured out of it, and the image of her face appeared in front of his eyes, a bright smile apanying it. Every move of hers was reyed clearly in his mind¡¯s eye.

    Especially thatst soft, warm touch that lingered on his hands, as well as the incredulous look in her eyes. Jiang Shuxuan reached up to touch his lips, a little daze. The more he thought about it, the deeper the memory etched into his mind.

    ***

    Jiang Lian returned home to find Jiang Tong already awake. When the ident had happened in the trial tower, there was another girl in front of her that had blocked her, so her injuries were not too serious.

    The reason why Jiang Lian was asked to seek out Jiang Shuxuan, was only because she wanted to see him.

    Seeing Jiang Lian returned with such a grave look on his face, Jiang Tong felt something was off. "Dad, where is he?"

    Since it was his talented daughter, Jiang Lian calmed himself before he spoke, "Tong Tong, tell me, are you really close to Young Master Jiang?"

    Jiang Tong was surprised at the question, and she felt her mouth going dry as she answered, "Dad, why are you asking that?"

    He knew his daughter well, and seeing her reaction, he could guess the truth. With the truth right in front of his eyes, his spirit just crumbled then as he fell onto the stool next to her bed. "Tong Tong, you¡¯ve really brought cmity upon our family! Not only is he taking back half of the resources, we even have to move out from the central area by tomorrow!"

    Jiang Tong felt the darkness creep into her vision as her head swam at the words. She steadied herself with difficulty before opening her mouth again, "H-he really said that?"

    "Moreover, there was a group of people from the ancient martial arts world around..." Jiang Lian trailed off, not saying anything more, but Jiang Tong could guess at what he was trying to say. By tomorrow, this matter would spread throughout the entire ancient martial arts world, and the illusion that she had created over the years would thus be broken.

    When she went out tomorrow, she would undoubtedly be the subject of gossip for countless people.

    She couldn¡¯t take the continuous shocks, and the fake dizziness that she had pretended to have became real as she processed her father¡¯s words.

    Jiang Lian panicked when he saw her swaying. "Tong Tong, you have to be fine! This method was not sessful, but we can still talk to Mrs. Jiang, she will definitely stand on your side!"

    In just an instant, their entire family was in a deep mess.

 Chapter 173 Mighty Momma Jiang

    <h4>Chapter 173 Mighty Momma Jiang</h4>

    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you were back, Baili Bin?!" Baili Bin was studying on arrays and seals when a suddenmotion came from outside along with someone saying something with awkward-sounding Chinese.

    His hand pausing for a moment as he held a stone, Baili Bin turned towards the entrance to see the handsome face of a mixed-blood. "Feiye?"

    Murong Feiye stepped into the yard in a few steps, before walking in circles around Baili Bin and saying, "You¡¯ve improved, I¡¯m sure you can make it into the ranking battles this year."

    Upon hearing this, Baili Bin¡¯s expression became depressed and he looked down at his legs. "How could I do that when I¡¯m like this?"

    "I thought you would have changed this time around, but you¡¯re still the same!" Upon hearing this, Murong Feiye smacked his palm onto the table in frustration, and he was about to say something before he remembered Tang Qingqiu¡¯s words and swallowed his words back into his stomach. "...Are you going to leave the ancient martial arts world again?"

    "No." Baili Bin shook his head slightly as he looked at thepleted array on the table. "I¡¯ll just stay here and help out the youngsters of the Baili family."

    Murong Feiye was satisfied when he heard the first part, but he held down his words again after hearing thetter part. "Fine, but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for today... Do you still remember that aunt of yours?"

    "Of course." Baili Bin picked up another stone and ced it on the table. Even though his aunt hadn¡¯t been back in China for a long time, they had always kept in contact.

    "Okay, good. Lemme tell you something interesting." Murong Feiye whispered as if he was about to say something controversial. "I saw someone that looked just like your aunt the other day."

    Upon hearing this, Baili Bin paused for a moment as he remembered the elegant face that had eyes that seemed to have a gxy in them before he looked down slightly. "It¡¯smon enough for people to look alike in the entire world."

    It wouldn¡¯t be strange if it were just simrity in terms of looks, but with that talent, too...

    "Aren¡¯t you curious in the least?" Murong Feiye didn¡¯t know how Baili Bin was so nonchnt about it. "Were you not curious at all about what she did in the two years that she was gone, and how she lost her memory?"

    "She already nned to spend the rest of her life in Ennd, and she won¡¯t being back." Baili Bin waved his hand dismissively as if he didn¡¯t want to continue on the topic any further. "No need to talk about this anymore."

    "Alright, if you say so." Murong Feiye rubbed his nose awkwardly. "I¡¯ll be going in to see Grandpa Baili."

    After he walked in, Baili Bin¡¯s gaze moved up and he sighed, not setting down the stone in his hand for a while before he pulled out the piece of paper that Gu Xiqiao left him the time she came here.

    Even after mulling over it for a while, he still couldn¡¯t calm himself.

    ***

    After he got a call from his disciple, Rong Feishuang immediately rushed towards the Su family. He had diagnosed Master Su¡¯s sickness before, and even he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. Even though he was well known as the divine doctor, his specialty was more on creating antidotes and poisons, as well as traditional Chinese medicine, hence his hands were tied with Master Su¡¯s sickness in particr.

    Thankfully he had a jack of all trades in his disciple Zhu Yuan, and while he was displeased back when he started studying western medicine right after he finished learning traditional Chinese medicine, but as time went by he realized that western medicine had its pros too.

    Zhu Yuan knew what Master Su¡¯s sickness was just by looking at his symptoms, and while he didn¡¯t know how to cure himpletely he knew the direction he should have gone in. Rong Feishuang didn¡¯t know about western medicine at all, but after Zhu Yuan exined it to him, he made some medical pills and used several arrays to help keep Master Su in the realm of the living.

    In the end, he couldn¡¯t do much because it simply wasn¡¯t his profession.

    That day, he suddenly received a call from Zhu Yuan saying that Master Su came to, and he was extremely shocked. ording to his knowledge, Master Su¡¯s thoughts were incoherent and he was only hanging onto life by a thread because of the pills he gave him, and such a person that couldn¡¯t even open his eyes properly was awake?

    Rong Feishuang¡¯s first reaction was one of disbelief!

    Then again, Zhu Yuan had no need to trick or lie to him, so he could only go to the Su family to see it with his own eyes.

    When he got there, Zhu Yuan was still there, and his gaze was immediately attracted to the old man lying in bed. Even though Master Su was still pale and weak, he seemed to be in good spirits as he talked with his grandson.

    "Divine Doctor Rong." Upon seeing Rong Feishuang, all of the members of the Su family that were present all stood up and bowed at him respectfully.

    "No need for all there formalities." Rong Feishuang wasn¡¯t a stickler for all this, and he only walked towards his disciple with a surprised expression. "Were you the one that did this?"

    Zhu Yuan was looking at the research results left behind by Gu Xiqiao, and when he heard Rong Feishuang¡¯s voice he stood up. "Master, you¡¯re here!"

    After a moment, he reacted and replied, "I¡¯m not the one that saved Master Su, his savior was someone else."

    "Who was it?" Rong Feishuang asked curiously.

    "The one that saved him was the genius freshman from A University that I told you about before, she¡¯s amazing." There weren¡¯t a lot of people that could impress Zhu Yuan, so Rong Feishuang was immediately interested, but then he sighed upon realizing that she was a western medicine student.

    Zhu Yuan realized what he was thinking immediately, and was about to tell him that she knew traditional Chinese medicine too before Rong Feishuang spoke again, "What¡¯s that you have in your hand?"

    "Oh, this is the medical n that we researched together," Zhu Yuan said, passing him the papers as he did.

    Rong Feishuang epted the papers and then was stunned for a moment, before staring at it seriously.

    Zhu Yuan: Does he understand everything? :O

    After a while, Rong Feishuang seemed to have scanned through all of the papers before saying, "Rich and bold strokes with a distinct aura that¡¯s almost out of this world, what wonderful writing!"

    Zhu Yuan: ... He thought he really understood what the research documents were saying!

    After being cut off like that, Zhu Yuan forgot what he was going to say, and Rong Feishuang went over to check on Master Su¡¯s pulse instead. The moment his fingers touched the elder¡¯s wrist, his expression turned into one of shock. "What a strong life force! What did you two do, Zhu Yuan?"

    "I didn¡¯t do anything." Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t feel the life force in Master Su¡¯s veins like Rong Feishuang could, and he could only detect his general health condition through machines and apparatus.

    "Well don¡¯t leave me hanging, what did she do?" Rong Feishuang asked.

    Zhu Yuan thought for a bit, before replying carefully, "She... fed Master Su a cup of water...?"

    Rong Feishuang: "..." I¡¯m old but not senile, could you not?

    What Zhu Yuan said was the truth, but Rong Feishuang didn¡¯t believe him...

    "You youngsters like to bully old people like me nowadays." Rong Feishuang sighed. "As expected of growing old and useless, not only did that youngster from the Jiang Family bully me but my own student too..."

    Zhu Yuan: "... I¡¯ll help you contact her, but I¡¯m not sure whether she woulde to see you." Zhu Yuan obliged, but even he wasn¡¯t sure about it.

    It was hard to get a hold of Gu Xiqiao, and Zhu Yuan was actually quite respectful of her ability and foresight. Every step of hers seemed to be calcted beforehand, and as he was being prideful for stepping one step forward, she had already calcted the next hundred steps beforehand and wasn¡¯t prideful in the slightest when she achieved anything.

    ***

    After getting out of the Su family, Gu Xiqiao drove back, and because she didn¡¯t have anything else to do, she took out herputer and logged onto the game.

    It was as lively as always in the game, and ever since virtual helmets became moremonce, more and more people started ying this game and realizing how fun it could be.

    Upon looking through her friend list in the game, the ID ¡¯A Flowing River¡¯ was grayed out, and while Xiao Yun and Su Wen weren¡¯t online, Wu Hongwen and Tang Qingqiu were.

    And so Gu Xiqiao led the newbies in the guild around through every dungeon from low-leveled to high-leveled, killing every boss so quickly and easily that the newbies couldn¡¯t even react before they were brought to the next dungeon.

    After sweeping through all the dungeons, Gu Xiqiao was about to log off before an unfamiliar ID messaged her.

    [Common]: Do you really not know how to do oil painting?

    This was the second time that this person had asked her this, who was it? Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly and tapped on her keyboard, hacking into the webcam of the sender.

    A good-looking face popped up on her screen, and while she had already expected it, but as soon as she saw this face, Gu Xiqiao tapped on her keyboard and a bright light emerged from her character in the game.

    ***

    The character with the ID ¡¯Common¡¯ immediately dropped to the ground, more dead than ever.

    In a vi in Imperial Capital, Mu Yunfan watched as his own character was insta-killed with a frustrated expression.

    "Brother Mu, I want to hold an art exhibition!" The door was pushed open along with a chipper voice.

    Mu Yunfan switched off hisputer and hummed dismissively. "Don¡¯te in, I¡¯ll be right out."

    Meng Yufan stood there at the door, looking in at the painting that was hanging on the wall with jealousy. Mu Yunfan¡¯s study was very minimalistic¡ªWith only a simpleputer and a few painting tools and more or less nothing else, she was still never allowed inside this room.

    Mu Yunfan and Meng Yufan went downstairs, where Sima Jun was waiting.

    "Teacher, how is it?" As soon as they got downstairs, Mu Yunfan immediately asked Sima Jun. They had been busy ever since they got back in the country with interviews and their hands were full preparing for the biennale.

    Sima Jun sipped his tea and shook his head. "Shen Nianzhi has just gotten back to B University, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get news in the next few days."

    Mu Yunfan suppressed his emotions as he poured himself a cup of tea, but he couldn¡¯t stop his fingers from trembling ever so slightly.

    Meng Yufan lowered her head to hide her emotions. If they couldn¡¯t find her, then let it be that way forever!

    ***

    At the same time, Madam Jiang rushed back home, kicking the chefs out of the kitchen in preparation to cook dinner for her son.

    Before she could start, the butler came up to her and said, "Madam, Miss Jiang Tong is here."

    "Jiang Tong?" Madam Jiang didn¡¯t hear any rumors because she just came back. "Let her in and invite her for dinner tonight."

    Jiang Tong waited outside the door in anticipation, wanting to tell the news that she had gotten to Mrs. Jiang immediately.

    The butler immediately invited her in cordially, and after thanking him she walked inside to find Madam Jiang in the kitchen. In her eyes, Madam Jiang had always been elegant and graceful, and far beyond reach. When did such a person cook with their own hands and step into the oily and hazy kitchen?

    "Tong Tong, what good timing. I¡¯ll be cooking dinner today, and Shuxuan will being back too...Hm, Feiye came back to China today too, so maybe you youngsters can have a good chat, yes?" Mrs. Jiang mentioned nonchntly.

    Jiang Tong was actually not that familiar with Madam Jiang, but since she was talented and stood out within the younger generation especially as a girl, Madam Jiang knew of her and had a favorable impression of her.

    "Auntie Jiang." Jiang Tong remembered the rumors about her that were circting in the ancient martial arts world, and in fear of Madam Jiang disliking her, she immediately told her the gossip she heard, "I heard that Young Master Jiang has close rtions with someone in the outside world, a regr girl."

    Madam Jiang¡¯s hands paused for a moment, her gaze bing cold as she hummed dismissively.

    Jiang Tong didn¡¯t see her change of expression, and she continued to speak, "If he continues doing this, it will displease the elder council! Auntie Jiang, you have to constrain him so that he doesn¡¯t walk onto the wrong path, it wasn¡¯t easy for him to get to where he is today!"

    She looked at Madam Jiang with a worried expression.

    Madam Jiang put down the veggies in her hands and turned around with a cold re. "Enough! No matter what my son does, educating him is my responsibility, who are you to point fingers and direct our family matters?"

    Madam Jiang had always been the image of a perfect noble matriarch, but as soon as she became angry, she proved that she was indeed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mother with a cold, piercing gaze that sent chills up Jiang Tong¡¯s spine.

    Jiang Tong hadn¡¯t expected her to react in such a way, and she was stunned still for a moment.

    At this moment, the butler spoke from outside. "Wee home, Young Master."

 Chapter 174 Jadelike Beauty

    <h4>Chapter 174 Jadelike Beauty</h4>

    When she heard the butler¡¯s voice, Jiang Tong became even more panicked than before, Jiang Lian¡¯s words echoing in her ear. That person outside would never let their family off the hook!

    She only came here today because she knew that Jiang Shuxuan only rarely stepped into the Jiang Manor, and she only came to see Madam Jiang, but not only did the woman react in such a way, he came back at this timing too!

    If Madam Jiang was still one to let people go based on past graces, but Jiang Shuxuan was truly cold-hearted, and he wouldn¡¯t give anyone a second chance. This was something that Jiang Tong knew for sure.

    "Where¡¯s my mother?" The cold voice rang outside, but it seemed to prate through the walls. Even at home, he was still as cold as ever.

    "Madam is in the kitchen..." The butler paused in his sentence for a moment, as if he wanted to say something.

    Jiang Shuxuan took off his jacket and handed it to the butler, folding up the sleeves of his shirt as he walked towards the kitchen.

    The moment he arrived at the door to the kitchen, he saw someone that didn¡¯t belong here and he paused, his expression suddenly bing colder and harsher.

    Upon seeing Jiang Shuxuane back, Madam Jiang nced towards Jiang Tong before saying, "Butler, please see this visitor out."

    She had been quite happy about being able to cook for her son in such a long while, but she hadn¡¯t expected the wet nket in the form of Jiang Tong to dampen her spirits.

    Who did she think she was, stretching her hands into their family. Did she think that she was dumb enough to be swayed by her words?!

    Jiang Tong finally reacted, and Madam Jiang¡¯s disdainful expression coupled with what happened that afternoon almost made her ck out from regret and shock, but she bit her lips and forced herself to stay awake. She couldn¡¯t just leave like this, she wouldn¡¯t get another chance like this ever again!

    "Young Master Jiang, my father was just too worried about me..." The more afraid she was, the clearer she was with her words, and just from her tone, it seemed as if she was suffering from a great injustice.

    Jiang Shuxuan only raised his hand to stop her from continuing with what she was about to say. "Ignoring the secret order and bringing people into the trial tower, almost destroying the bnce of the entire ancient martial arts world that has been kept for thousands of years... You should be thankful that your ancestors were the protectors of the tower, or else you would have been dead by now."

    "Butler, take her away and watch them move out of the core district. They are not allowed to ever set foot in this ce ever again." Jiang Shuxuan gave the butler a meaningful gaze, and the butler had the servants take Jiang Tong away from Jiang Manor.

    Jiang Tong was as stunned as a wooden chicken, not fighting back or reacting at all for that matter as she was taken away.

    After that, Madam Jiang picked up her vegetables again and nced at Jiang Shuxuan. "Are you still with that girl from the outside world?"

    Jiang Shuxuan walked into the kitchen and nodded without a second thought.

    "Absurd!" Madam Jiang¡¯s expression darkened and she mmed the innocent veggie back onto the kitchen counter.

    She could keep her calm facade when it was in front of Jiang Tong because she was just an outsider and she would take Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side over hers any day, but now that he acknowledged it himself, she just couldn¡¯t keep her anger down.

    All of the servants nearby almost stopped breathing and made their way out quickly and silently, not daring to eavesdrop on family matters such as this.

    "I¡¯m not fooling around, Mother. I¡¯m serious." Jiang Shuxuan took some vegetables and started chopping them up rhythmically.

    After the butler sent Jiang Tong away, he came back to the scene that was filled with the scent of gunpowder and didn¡¯t know what to do for a moment.

    "You¡¯re serious? This is your way of being serious? Ever since you were little, I¡¯ve always told you to not interact with anyone from the outside world!" Madam Jiang shouted, her expression as if she was about to have a heart attack. "Don¡¯t you know that you can¡¯t..."

    "Madam!" The butler was shocked and immediately went over to support her, cutting off her words as he did. "Young Master has learned how to cook since thest time he came back, let him cook dinner for today, yes? Please calm yourself down, Madam."

    The butler helped her over to sit on the sofa in the living room, and all of a sudden she remembered what happened thest time and looked over at the butler. "Did you already know this since thest time I came back?"

    The butler was silent, neither confirming nor denying her words.

    Thest time Jiang Shuxuan came back, he could see that the young man was extremely serious about his rtionship judging from his attitude and rare tenderness, so he lied to Madam Jiang.

    "Madam, you know how Young Master is. He can¡¯t be swayed from any decision he makes, not even the elder council. In any case, his position and power are high enough that he doesn¡¯t need the help of anyone in that regard..." The butler said with a low and steady tone.

    In response to this, Madam Jiang only shook her head with a somewhat nked out expression. "It would be fine if that were the only problem, but the legacy of the Jiang family cannot be tainted. The heavenly will..."

    The butler couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying because she was muttering at that point, but Jiang Shuxuan was already done with the first dish so he immediately went over to help serve it on the dinner table. As he did, he discreetly leaned towards Jiang Shuxuan and said, "Don¡¯t distress Madam any further, Young Master."

    Jiang Shuxuan stood there for a moment, his fingers touching the jade pendant that was handing on his neck before he walked towards Madam Jiang and crouched down in front of her. "Don¡¯t worry, Mother, I¡¯ve already gone against it twice." He pointed towards the sky.

    Madam Jiang was shocked greatly as she stared at him in disbelief, before getting up from the couch and checking up and down on her son with trembling fingers. "Let me see if you have any injuries, you brat, did you think it was easy to raise you? You¡¯ve never worried me at all in all these years, and the one time you do it¡¯s with something as big as this..."

    "I¡¯m fine, please don¡¯t be worried." Jiang Shuxuan held Madam Jiang¡¯s hand and looked at her with a steady gaze. "I won¡¯t let anything happen to me."

    "What about her...?" Madam Jiang muttered as she sniffled. The girl that he liked was just a normal person, how could she deal with it...

    Jiang Shuxuan only smiled, a rare gentle expression blooming on his face along with a tint of pride. "Her? I think the naturalws of the world are more afraid of her than the other way around."

    "Huh?" Madam Jiang evidently hadn¡¯t expected such an answer, and she couldn¡¯t react for quite a while.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t exin any further and only smiled at her before going back into the kitchen.

    He had really changed...

    Her son had always been as cold as ice, and had never smiled like that before, not to mention cook? What kind of girl was it that brought such change in him?

    But this was the heavenlyw they were talking about, and after some thinking, she called Jiang Han that was currently in some unknown corner of the world.

    How wonderful would it be if they were born in a regr family? If they were, her son wouldn¡¯t have to carry such a burden at such a young age, and not even have freedom of choice for such an important thing in his life.

    The members of the Jiang family couldn¡¯t do as they pleased.

    At the moment, Madam Jiang didn¡¯t know how much of a cheat character her future daughter-inw was.

    In the kitchen, Murong Feiye rubbed his chin as he looked at Jiang Shuxuan cook. "You started doing these things, how unbelievable!"

    "There¡¯s more than just cooking," Jiang Shuxuan replied. Feeding dogs and feeding birds... And giving dogs baths, he learned a lot!

    Murong Feiye: "... You weren¡¯t possessed, by anything, right?"

    Jiang Shuxuan only turned around and fixed him with an unamused stare.

    "What, do you want to fight? I¡¯m not afraid of you you know!"

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t even want to spare another word with this person, focusing on thest steps of his current dish and tasting it.

    Not bad, he should make this for Gu Xiqiao sometime.

    There were still some dishes left, but Jiang Shuxuan seemed to have lost the motivation to cook, leaving the rest to the helpers as he walked upstairs with his phone in hand, holding the jade pendant tightly.

    He had been extremely busy with the matters of the ancient martial arts world these few days, and after the confrontation with Madam Jiang he couldn¡¯t help but feel down. That was until the phone call connected, and the familiar cool yet warm voice spoke to him from the other side of the line, sending warmth to the bottom of his heart.

    ***

    "Brother Jiang, please don¡¯t burn yourself out." Gu Xiqiao could discern the fatigue in the young man¡¯s voice. This was the first time he had called him while he was busy instead of after everything was done with at the quickest speed, so something must have happened.

    For him to call her out of the blue tonight, something must have happened, and Gu Xiqiao felt her heart ached slightly at the thought. After she hung up on the call, she stood there by the window and stared outside worriedly for a long while.

    "Beauty Qiao, do you want me to help you see what Big Jiang is doing?" The system spirit asked, feeling quite sad upon seeing its host in such low spirits.

    Gu Xiqiao breathed deeply. There was nothing she could do right now except improve herself as much as she could.

    After getting herself out of her funk, another phone call rang, but from Cheng Zhou this time.

    "Gu!" Cheng Zhou¡¯s voice was tinged with excitement. "¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ has passed preliminary censorship, and it¡¯ll be premiering the day after tomorrow!"

    "That quickly?" Gu Xiqiao was quite surprised. Wouldn¡¯t it be at least half a month after this?

    "The distributors were so swept off their feet by the movie that they gave us their a reserved position! I already posted about it on Weibo, go look?" Cheng Zhou seemed to have been busy, so he hung up after telling her the news.

    Gu Xiqiao sat on the sofa and tapped on Weibo, reposting Cheng Zhou¡¯s post of the movie premiere.

    For A Millennium: //@(Verified) ChengZhou: Empire Under Siege will premiere tomorrow midnight. [link]

    Then came Li Yu¡¯s repost, Song Guanjing¡¯s repost, and the reposts of the staff and cast.

    Most movies started promotions at least one week earlier, but even though this one only started promoting the day before, it still caused a great buzz.

    The next day, every movie theater was filled to the brim with people waiting to see ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯. Most of these people were fans of Li Yu and Song Guanjing, some were fans of the original novels, and there were even a few fans of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s.

    At the same time, four-dimensional sses were provided at everyrge cinema.

    This sort of technology was immensely interesting for the youngsters, and another interesting point was the danmakuments that could be toggled on and off.

    "AAAA LI YU IS SO HANDSOME!!!"

    "Who¡¯s this actress that ys Princess Qixia? Can someone tell me?"

    "Her Weibo @ is For A Millenium, join our beauty¡¯s harem!"

    All thements, in the beginning, were talking about the actors¡¯ pretty faces, until the first climax of the film came.

    The unparalleled beauty Princess Qixia jumped off the city walls with a smile that made it seem as if she had let go of all her ties in the mortal world, and everyone¡¯s eyes were attracted to that beautifulst hurrah of the princess.

    Everyone thought back to the lively beauty at the beginning of the movie, and that princess was lying in the snow quietly as if she were asleep.

    In therge snowy fields, she was alone.

    Because of the virtual sses, this scene was even more realistic, and the audience felt as if it had happened right in front of their eyes.

    "B*stard crown prince, the princess is dead!!!"

    "Why didn¡¯t youe back sooner? She didn¡¯t need to die!"

    "..."

    At that moment, they all seemed to have forgotten that the crown prince was their favorite Li Yu.

    Thest emotional point was when Concubine Zuo Qiuxiang died, and many people even cried.

    The movie yed until two past midnight, but many people didn¡¯t even want to leave, instead buying tickets for the next viewing as they sniffled. Some girls even boughtrge packs of tissues and popcorn, inviting all of their besties toe to see this movie together with them.

    All of the screenings were packed to a brim, and after a single night, the movie was a smashing sess!

    The two leads for the movie became even more popr, but the ones that got the most attention were two side characters!

    Haters and keyboard warriors existed everywhere, and upon seeing them be popr because of this one movie, they all started spreading hatements out of nowhere.

    "Not even one movie critic has given a solid review yet, they definitely had bots and bought tickets themselves!"

    "I heard that those two went in through the back door, I¡¯m jealous that beautiful people can have it so easy..."

    "How disgusting! Let¡¯s not give in to the dark side of the industry!"

    At this moment, a renowned movie critic posted on Weibo.

    "I¡¯m sorry for posting this reviewte, but this movie was too alluring that I watched it three times...In all honesty, I just wanted to see a movie directed by Director Cheng and purely went there because of Li Yu and Song Guanjing¡¯s poprity, but I never expected the one that surprised me the most was a rookie¡ªThe actress of Princess Qixia. It has been a long time since I¡¯vest seen such impactful acting, she¡¯s truly a god-given talent... In conclusion, she¡¯s a beauty like jade, with a smile that could turn cities upside down."

    After that came pages upon pages of posts from critics all over China that suddenly remembered they had a job to do.

    After so many good reviews on the movie, all of the haters¡¯ faces were smacked hard, yet none of them dared to say anything more.

 Chapter 175 International Pressure, Gold Prize

    <h4>Chapter 175 International Pressure, Gold Prize</h4>

    The reviews by the snobbish film critics set off another climax for them. Regr movie-goers who read these reviews all had the same question¡ªjust what kind of a movie was it that brought them down to their knees?

    And so, these people all bought cinema tickets out of curiosity. Nearly every one of them came out of the theater with tears in their eyes. Hell, there were even some that re-joined the line to watch the movie one more time.

    There were only a few screenings and it wasn¡¯t until after the movie was released nationwide did they finally understand how powerful this work of art was. Tickets were sold out on the very first day of the film¡¯s official release. From 10 in the morning till 12 midnight, the theater remained packed with enthusiastic viewers.

    Some of the more fanatic ones were dissatisfied, even after re-watching the movie multiple times in a single day. For some reason, different emotions were stirred up in every sitting. The first time, they were blown away by the movie¡¯s production quality, as well as how skilled every actor and actress in the movie was.

    Then, people started feeling the essence of this film the second and sessive times they re-watched it. They felt the intertwining of familial love, friendship and romantic love like mes and smoke in the story. With the empire literally under siege,plex emotions permeated through the film, filling the theater with a hard-to-describe sort of atmosphere.

    The box office reported over a 100 million yuan¡¯s worth of ticket sale on the first afternoon of the movie¡¯s release. By how well-received the movie seemed, it was no surprise that they would break through to 200 million yuan in no time. Although most of the fans came to watch the two protagonists, it was interesting how much the side-characters had gained their attention, especially on Weibo.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s affairs in the ancient martial arts world had already been dealt with by now. It was midnight when he came out of the shower and prepared to hit the sack. However, he heard a notification sound from his phone. Whipping out his phone, he went onto Weibo. Gu Xiqiao was the only person whom he was following on the social media tform; every notification he received was about her and her only.

    The number ofments and likes were all "99+". Most of the posts were rted to ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯. Jiang Shuxuan straightened his back and swiftly, he navigated his way to the hot topic list. Smack on number one was the film, ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯.

    Within two days, there were already over 300 million posts and counting, all discussing the film.

    Jiang Shuxuan read some of it before he got on his feet. Picking up his coat, he went downstairs.

    "Young Master, where are you going?" The butler sounded suspicious of Jiang Shuxuan.

    "I have one final thing to do at the trial tower. I won¡¯t being back tonight." Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice from outside the door was loud and clear.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao herself did not know how much praise this film was receiving. Her and Xiao Yun¡¯s followers had been growing exponentially over the past couple of days. Their follower count had long breached ten million.

    There was arge mob of followers urging her to post something on Weibo. Gu Xiqiao saw their requests and thought about it for a while. Then, she took a picture of Xixi and Haha.

    For A Millenium: I¡¯ve just given Haha a nice, long bath. Seems like it has learned how to act like a boss. Who was it that taught him this? [JPEG]

    A new thread started with this very post.

    "My goddess, you were too perfect ying as Qixia! I¡¯ve been crying for two whole days now!"

    "My goddess! My one and only Qixia! \u003c3 \u003c3"

    "You¡¯re the best actress I¡¯ve ever met! You¡¯ll be my only love in this life \u003c3"

    The followingments were somewhere along these lines.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhh! She¡¯s updated her timeline! She¡¯s finally posted something! Hurry up and send more pictures of Haha!"

    "What about Xixi? It¡¯s nowhere to be found in this shot! Maybe it¡¯s crying in the bathroom while the photo was taken! LMAO!"

    "Where¡¯s the face of my dear goddess? 0/10 would not follow again! Goodbye!"

    "After scrolling through her entire Weibo, I, her new follower, do dere that the names Xixi and Haha are incredibly interesting names! LOL!"

    This went on until her Weibo post was retweeted.

    A Flowing River: Maybe it¡¯s because I gave it a shower recently. You should stop using milk-scented shampoo on him. He doesn¡¯t like it that much nowadays. Y¡¯know what? Just leave the dog as it is. I¡¯lle over tomorrow. //@For A Millenium: I¡¯ve just given Haha a nice, long bath. Seems like it has learned how to act like a boss. Who was it that taught him this? [JPEG]

    It was then that Gu Xiqiao noticed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s post on Weibo. She liked his post before reading what the post actually was. He¡¯s returning tomorrow? Didn¡¯t he say that it would be at least a week before hees back?

    Reply @A Flowing River: Isn¡¯t it at least two more days before that?

    Reply @For A Millenium: I worked overtime today. Gotta catch some sleep now, nightie night.

    Reply @A Flowing River: Get some rest. Goodnight.

    She liked his reply, something which all of her fans saw. Their interaction soon climbed up into the popr page of Weibo.

    Her old fans said:

    "Tfw no gf to wish me nightie night. I guess I¡¯ll be hitting the pub alone tonight guys. ??"

    "The great Jiang isn¡¯t at home tonight! 0/10!"

    "Turns out the real lord was Haha all along! Even the great Jiang is a servant of our almighty lord, Haha! Hey, great Jiang, you still have room for an extra pet in the house? I¡¯m talking about one that¡¯s well educated and behaved, the type that¡¯ll make your heart go UwU from all the moe cuteness that¡¯s even better than Haha! ??"

    Her new fans reacted:

    "Argh! what the hell did I just read?! WTF!"

    "Where did this horny b*tch crawl out from? This pure goddess is mine and mine only! ????"

    "I think something¡¯s wrong with Weibo! Nevermind, lemme refresh it!"

    "So you¡¯re saying that this is the main pce?"

    ***

    Because ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was the first film both Gu Xiqiao and Xiao Yun starred in, Wu Hongwen invited the both of them out to watch the film together. It has been quite a while since the three of them got together like this.

    That wasn¡¯t much of a problem for Xiao Yun and Gu Xiqiao as they had been working together in the film previously; nearly every day they would get the chance to see one another. As for Wu Hongwen, apart from his studies, he still had to train with his family. Perhaps because of his mind-numbing schedule, he had been hanging out with Yao Jiamu for the past couple of days.

    "Er Qiao, I don¡¯t think you know this but Yao Jiamu¡¯s be really strong nowadays. Nearly half of the underground organisations in the Imperial Capital have been flushed out by his forces. Though, I think he¡¯s been facing a major hurdle recently." Yao Jiamu had initially agreed to hang out with them today but because of this ¡¯hurdle¡¯, he painfully let the opportunity go. Wu Hongwen then added, "But, no matter how strong he is, he¡¯s not as potent as you."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s poprity skyrocketed at A University; despite not belonging to the Faculty of Medicine, he could feel how influential she had be as ofte.

    Now that even Xiao Yun¡¯s career in acting has taken off, what more to say of Yao Jiamu, he was the only one left that had yet to blossom. ¡¯Yep, I think I¡¯ll cut my gaming sessions by one hour from tomorrow onwards. I¡¯ll study my ass off and finally move my family over to the Imperial Capital!¡¯ Wu Hongwen pledged to himself.

    The three of them picked seats in the back corner of the theater. Wu Hongwen was still daydreaming before the reel started rolling. Shortly after though, his soul became captured by the film¡¯s artistic beauty.

    Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t get over the film even after they had exited the theater. "These 4D sses are produced by Nine Heavens, I presume? Good heavens, from virtual helmets to 4D sses, nothing they produce are short of game-changing!"

    Xiao Yun sighed. "These fans are still obsessed about the film itself. Just wait till they realize how great this holographic projections are, no doubt, yet another frenzy will kickstart once that happens."

    "To be honest, I¡¯m really curious about who on earth is behind all these gadgets in Nine Heavens. Perhaps they¡¯re from N City too?" Wu Hongwen was a little stupefied by the products that thepany was pumping out. Since he was studying management, he understood perfectly well how difficult it was to run apany of this scale.

    Gu Xiqiao who was sipping her milk tea remained silent.

    ¡¯... you guys may not believe it but, that person¡¯s standing right in front of you two.¡¯

    It was then that Gu Xiqiao realized how little these two knew about the truth. She nced at the admiration and reverence in their eyes. Hm, seemed like it was better to keep it that way.

    "Anyhow, now that we¡¯re all together, why don¡¯t we pay Yao Jiamu a little visit?" suggested Wu Hongwen out of the blue.

    Xiao Yun looked over at him. "You¡¯re so eager to get your ass handed to you by him aren¡¯t you?"

    ¡¯... can¡¯t you let this slide for once? Where¡¯s the love between friends?¡¯ Wu Hongwen thought to himself.

    "You guys go on ahead, I have something urgent to tend to. I¡¯ll visit him after I¡¯m done." She wondered how Big Boss Bai was doing nowadays.

    After dealing with Big Boss Bai¡¯s matter back then, she did give Yao Jiamu a call. However, judging by his tone, it didn¡¯t seem like Big Boss Bai cared a whole lot about the Bai family.

    It was a shame that the four of them could not meet up today. Thus, the three of them parted ways there.

    Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun¡¯s prediction was correct. ¡¯Empire Under Siege¡¯ was tranted into multiplenguages and was screened in cinemas across the world. The 4D holographic sses indeed, took the world by storm after the movie¡¯s release.

    After the virtual helmet, China¡¯s poprity once again surged after the 4D holographic sses¡¯ were released. After all, they were the only ones who possessed such pieces of technology. Many foreign IT masters procured these sses from the ck market. What was originally worth less than a hundred yuan in China went over what was considered reasonable in the market.

    Not only was it able to project holograms, it could also disyments being made by the audience in real time. The IT masters all rushed forth to break down such an advanced piece of equipment.

    In the end, just like before, none of them were able to figure out how the system worked. Even after taking the entire thing apart, nothing particrly eye-catching was found, well, apart from a microchip. Wait a minute, this sounded familiar!

    The virtual helmet from a few months ago instantly came to mind when they saw this. After spending tons of money in the ck market, none of them were able toe up with a usible exnation even after months of research. It seems like trying to dissect these sses was an impossible task, what more to say of other moreplex systems from Nine Heavens.

    Despite being already aware that all the magic was found in this microchip, not a single soul was able to sessfully reverse engineer this seemingly alienponent.

    In the words of a renowned IT master, "I thought that Nine Heavens¡¯ virtual helmet was just a once-in-a-lifetime sort of invention. The sudden emergence of these holographic sses has confirmed my suspicion that Nine Heavens is truly a force to be reckoned with. Their sess, as I see it, is inevitable. What they are producing, we have failed time and time again to replicate. I am incredibly intrigued by what the East hase up with. Perhaps it is time for me to go out for a stroll."

    The holographic sses ran out of stock almost instantly. With so many cinemas worldwide, it was impossible for them to have enough items for everyone. Apart from the cinemas in the Imperial Capital, nearly everywhere else failed to procure these magical sses. If it was any otherpany, no doubt, they would find a way to squeeze the maximum amount of profit out of this. However, being Nine Heavens, they posted an announcement on Weibo.

    "Due to limited funding, we announce sadly that production of our holographic sses will cease as of today."

    Again! Peoples¡¯ reactions were the same all over the world. They said the exact same thing months ago! Can your lie be anymore obvious?! Why don¡¯t they give another excuse? At least that¡¯ll make the pain more bearable than this! Limited funding? You guys are internationally funded for god¡¯s sake! With tens of millions of dors flowing around every single day! You dare call this limited funding?!

    However, Nine Heavens was still Nine Heavens; they still maintained their ssic sacrosanct image. Their announcement was final. You could protest all you want and regardless of how intimidating you are, these people would neverpromise.

    Nine Heavens has always been autonomous when it came to situations like this and their fans have long grown used to their attitude. Surprisingly, they had produced enough sses for their domestic market before their sudden announcement. And so, a discussion began on Weibo.

    "Look! The official WeChat ount for the USA has voiced out their opinion! LMAO! I feel so bad for the Americans!"

    "Guys! Hurry up and pin this Korean discussion on top of the thread! What should I do?! I feel so good right now!"

    "I think something¡¯s wrong with my head. For some reason, I feel all giddy inside when I see Nine Heavens push these crooks around!"

    ***

    Instead of meeting Yao Jiamu with Xiao Yun and co, she went straight for Nine Heavens¡¯ headquarters.

    "Qiao Qiao, it¡¯s the third time the embassy¡¯s contacted us!" In the office, worry was written all over Mu Zong¡¯s face. America, the UK, Korea, and five other great nations had started pressuring China. The impromptu eight-nation alliance shared onemon goal¡ªto get China to start producing the holographic sses for them. Not only that, they wanted Nine Heavens to tell the entire world about their secret production process on the basis that the technology belonged to humanity as a whole. They imed that the technology Nine Heavens possessed is not from this age, and poses an existential threat to the world atrge.

    What the hell is this? A neo-Eight-nation Alliance[1]? Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes as a dangerous look surfaced on her face. "Uncle Mu, there¡¯s nothing you should worry about. You¡¯re still within China, they won¡¯t do a thing to you."

    Gu Xiqiao already had a pretty good idea on what these countries were up to. No doubt, this entire fiasco was because of that unbreakable microchip that the IT masters across the world failed to exin. On the basis that Nine Heavens could produce a weapon using this system to threaten human existence, they filed an officialint to the United Nations. Their request¡ªto make Nine Heavens unveil the secrets behind that chip.

    "I¡¯m worried that our country will copse from international pressure." Mu Zong¡¯ brows were knitted. China was far from being number one in the world; they feared that the state would sell Nine Heavens out. In the end, they were nothing but a privatepany. No matter how powerful they were, the state reigned supreme over all.

    With so many countries pressuring China into submission, Luo Weng¡¯s financial empire that spanned across international borders would likely be crippled too.

    "No biggie, Uncle Mu." Gu Xiqiao called someone on her phone and shortly after, the secretary came into the office with the document she asked for. "Have faith in Nine Heavens. They could oppress us all they want. We¡¯ll just have to trigger a financial downturn within their own borders."

    Gu Xiqiao waved her hand, gesturing for the secretary to leave the room before she flipped the document open for Mu Zong to read. "These are top secret agreements between Nine Heavens and the state. It¡¯s all signed by Yu Ning with the Confidential Information Bureau."

    "Here, these are the medical contracts between Nine Heavens and the top-fifty strongest nations across the globe. You will be responsible for this. You¡¯ll understand when you read it."

    "And this is the contract that Luo Weng had just signed. It¡¯s proof that Nine Heavens Finances has sessfully integrated into many major countries."

    My Zong had actually known about this. However, he had not thought about it that much. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s every word made his heart pump faster. It appears that Nine Heavens has been moving silently in the dark, slowly spreading its influence all over the world.

    "If the statees to us, saying that they wanted in on our research, I would never object to their requests. But those greedy bastards? We¡¯ll let them protest all they want. The only thing that matters is who prevails at the end. Those bastards are only doing this out of self-interest. Why aren¡¯t they protesting America¡¯s nuclear program, which seems to be a far bigger threat to humanity than mere holographic sses. Again, when they built their own satellites to spy on the rest of the world, why didn¡¯t they build some for their fellow human beings? Why didn¡¯t they share the secrets behind the inte with the whole world back when it was invented? Where were they when Chinese researchers toiled away in theirbs? Where was the technical support that they demanded now? In the end, they are nothing but selfish crooks who want everything for themselves and nothing for others. No doubt, if it was America who invented the holographic sses, the same oue would¡¯ve happened."

    Gu Xiqiao tucked her hair behind her ears. The way she spoke was calm, but each word she uttered sounded powerful and moving.

    Mu Zong did not expect Gu Xiqiao to say such a thing in response. Though, what she said really did make sense. In fact, anger had been sessfully sowed into his heart. He thought that if the embassy bastards were to step foot in hispany again, he would not hesitate when chasing them out!

    There was no good reason for Nine Heavens to give away something they had worked so hard to produce to other countries, free of charge. What a joke! How dare they piss her off. They could release viruses and bring down the inte worldwide if they wanted to.

    "I¡¯m gonna go meet Yu Ning and Luo Weng," said Gu Xiqiao as she walked out of Mu Zong¡¯s office.

    Mu Zong started reading through these documents after she left. These countries were quick to react, which resulted in him losing his cool momentarily. He figured that it must¡¯ve been a psychological technique they were employing against them; attack Nine Heavens while they are overwhelmed. Using the deadlybination of coercion and temptation, it would only be a matter of time before Nine Heavens¡¯ research team surrenders to them.

    What they failed to predict was that Gu Xiqiao had already prepared for their prediction. She was ten steps ahead of them and no matter the oue, there was already a solution prepared.

    Mu Zong looked at these signed documents before suddenly realizing, perhaps she had already foreseen this, which exins why she so calmly allowed him to sort himself out?

    Only a handful knew about Nine Heavens¡¯ current situation. Mu Zong patiently awaited the arrival of the United Nations¡¯ personnel. Although they already had taken the necessary precautions, he hoped that his own country would not disappoint him at the most crucial moment.

    Although Gu Xiqiao did not have a fixed schedule, she would visit Nine Heavens every once in a while. She would hold discussions with the employees here, exining to them what knowledge she possessed. Her lessons were thorough and by the end of every session, they would¡¯ve figured out the problem with ease. Thus, these people would always be excited to see Gu Xiqiao here at the headquarters.

    "You sent twenty million to my ount?" In thework patching room, Yu Ning was on his chair, talking to Gu Xiqiao as he typed line after line of codes into theputer.

    "Yeah, a reward for your hard work." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingers moved at lightning speed as she typed, and despite this, she was still able to hold a conversation with Yu Ning.

    Yu Ning searched his mind for a while before responding. "How dare you use money! You think you could just insult our hard work like this? Can you even repay what we did using cash?! You¡¯ve deeply hurt me and my team. Only the source code routes can..."

    Gu Xiqiao shot him a re. "Just, stop your pointless dillydally."

    Yu Ning cursed out loud in his mind.

    ¡¯... f*ck.¡¯

    "What¡¯s this?" Yu Ning looked over at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s screen. As soon as she hit the ¡¯Enter¡¯ key, the entire screen turned green. It looked like a virus. He was curious as it looked like a pretty helpful software.

    A menacing grin broke across Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. "A supervirus."

    Yu Ning had seen countless viruses in his career as a hacker. However, hearing the word ¡¯supervirus¡¯ caught his attention instantly. He spun around immediately. "What are you nning to do with this supervirus?"

    "With so many business rivals, we¡¯ll toss this virus at whoever that dares challenge us in the future. It¡¯ll save us lots of hassle too." Gu Xiqiao smiled with anticipation in her eyes.

    Yu Ning: ... this shameless smile belongs to our revered boss Gu? God save us all!

    "Well then, I¡¯ll be leaving now. If you¡¯re tired of source codes then you can study this virus very carefully. I guarantee that you¡¯ll find something of interest to you within." Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone and left the ce. She hoped that the day when the virus was called upon never came. But... she looked forward to that day too?

    Knowing that whatever Gu Xiqiao created was no ordinary thing, Yu Ning hastily started scanning through her supposed ¡¯supervirus¡¯.

    There were little problems on Luo Weng¡¯s side. As he was a natural talent, he and his group of financial analysts were fairly cheerful.

    "Miss Gu, the matter with the countries you had us stationed in are more or less dealt with now. It¡¯s just that, do you really want to release those top-tier financial products to them?" Luo Weng was a little puzzled.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped though the document. "What I¡¯m aiming for is for them to never leave us." With such high returns, who could ever possibly turn this opportunity down?

    Luo Weng found it hard to understand as he had not been ustomed to economic warfare. The one typically dealing with foreign powers was Mu Zong after all. Suddenly, he recalled something. "Oh, that¡¯s right, Shen Nianhzi wanted to contact you, said it¡¯s a very urgent matter."

    Shen Nianzhi? Memories of that girl were still fresh in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. It was probably something to do with painting. Rubbing her chin, she asked, "Is it really that urgent?"

    "Yeah, at least it sounded like it was." Luo Weng remembered how serious Shen Nianzhi¡¯s voice was over the phone.

    "Fine." Gu Xiqiao sighed. She wanted to go home early today though. "Ask her if she¡¯s free at 3 pm. You know what, I¡¯ll just contact her myself. You go on with your job."

    Gu Xiqiao proceeded to dial Shen Nianzhi¡¯s number. After a brief exchange, the two of them agreed to meet at a cafe.

    After only a few months, much has changed for Shen Nianzhi. Still, Gu Xiqiao seemed to be the same old Gu Xiqiao, with a slight hint of humility in her excited voice.

    "Miss Gu, your painting has been selected as the Biennale Award in the international segment! Though, you have to make an appearance during the event. If you¡¯d like, I will bring you to Mr. Sima right this instant!" There was a lot of excitement in Shen Nianzhi¡¯s tone. Her eyes too, were glowing with anticipation.

    The Biennale Award, the most prestigious award an artist could ever obtain in his or her lifetime. It was a signifier that the person receiving the award was a person who was worthy of it. With it came to fame and fortune, meaning it was highly unlikely Miss Gu would turn such a golden chance down.

    [1] T/N: Eight-nation Alliance¡ªa multi-national military coalition set up in 1900 to defend legations and Christian missionaries attacked by Chinese Boxer rebels.

 Chapter 176 Cant Stand I

    <h4>Chapter 176 Can¡°t Stand I</h4>

    However, Shen Nianzhi had always felt a sense of unease about this. She remembered a few months back, when she informed Gu Xiqiao about Sima Jun¡¯s intentions of epting her as his disciple, how she bluntly turned such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity down, saying that she wanted to be a doctor instead.

    Right now, using that very same pair of crystal clear eyes, Gu Xiqiao stared back into her soul. Although her expression seemed warm and epting, Shen Nianzhi pursed her lips. She unconsciously wished to stop listening to what her friend would say in response.

    Of course, she still listened to every single syble that Gu Xiqiao would utter.

    "If you really want me to go, then you best forget about it. Mr. Sima¡¯s achievements are undoubtedly impressive. As for me, I¡¯m just a small side character. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be wise for me to ept the award." Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile faded away immediately after that. She thought she had long gotten over that issue; seems like her mood for the rest of the day had been destroyed.

    ¡¯I knew it!¡¯ Shen Nianzhi almost started yanking her hair out. ¡¯She rejected the offer! This girl¡¯s rejected an important opportunity! Again!¡¯

    Again?

    Fame and fortune was now a low-hanging fruit, dangling right in front of her face. If she epted this award, her name would spread all over the globe. She only needed to appear at the awards. Shen Nianzhi¡¯s emotions were riled up thinking about this. And yet, Gu Xiqiao herself said no to this offer! Did she fully understand what this meant?!

    "Miss Gu, I know that you are aspiring to be a doctor. But you¡¯re really talented in painting. I don¡¯t wish to see you waste away something you¡¯re born with." Shen Nianzhi¡¯s expression was dead serious. She really was thinking about this in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s best interests.

    This feeling of hers was further intensified after her trip overseas, which has broadened her horizons by quite a bit. She learned a lot during this trip, and it made her fully appreciate just how great a painter Gu Xiqiao was. There were only a handful of artists China had ever produced. It pained her greatly to hear one of these people turn down the award.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s facial expression softened up after sensing the concern in her voice. She added a little more sugar in Shen Nianzhi¡¯s coffee. Smiling subtly, she replied, "More so than anyone, I am aware of my own decisions. Trust me when I say I like painting, it is by far, my most favorite hobby. Even if I don¡¯t be Sima Jun¡¯s apprentice, even if I don¡¯t attend the Biennale, painting will remain my favorite pastime. I will never give up on it."

    Shen Nianzhi¡¯s tense face loosened up upon hearing what Gu Xiqiao had to say. One word at a time, her mind registered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words.

    If the world of art could be described at an ocean, it would be an incredibly deep one. After spending a few months abroad, she has finally achieved enlightenment. Unfair treatment was unavoidable, even for people as great as Sima Jun, what more to say of herself? She could not guarantee that she would remain a pure ss of water forever.

    Never would she expect that Gu Xiqiao possessed such a profound idea toward art. Art to her was just art. None of what she did was for the sake of fame or glory.

    If someone was to tell her what Gu Xiqiao did today, she would just shrug it off with augh. How on Earth was it possible for someone to remain so indifferent to a golden ticket for sess?

    And yet, this seemingly joke-like scenario was ying out in real life in front of her. Despite being announced the winner of an International Biennale, nothing said could move the mountain that was Gu Xiqiao.

    Shen Nianzhi finally realized how serious Gu Xiqiao¡¯s conviction was.

    After she bid her friend farewell, Shen Nianzhi covered her eyes with her palm. Through the slits between her fingers, sunlight prated and shone into her eyes. For the rest of the day, she remained in a dazed state. Her phone rang for half an eternity before she realized what was going on and answered it.

    After staying one month abroad, it was safe to say that it has been a while since shest met Luo Weng and the rest of her friends. And so, with Luo Wenlin tagging along, Luo Weng reserved a private table at a restaurant for dinner.

    "You¡¯ve changed a lot," said Shen Nianzhi as the eyed the well-dressed Luo Weng, as well as the brand-new car he arrived in. His face was confident and attractive, no longer the shade of drab gray that he once had. He now waspletely the opposite of the boy whom she grew up with at the orphanage.

    Luo Wenng ordered a few dishes. "Well, I guess you haven¡¯t seen Yao Jiamu then. He¡¯s the one who¡¯s changed a whole lot. Though, he has something to deal with today, he couldn¡¯t make it for tonight. We¡¯ll meet up someday in the future."

    Hearing Luo Weng say that intrigued Shen Nianzhi. She couldn¡¯t believe that so much had changed in the span of just a single month.

    "Me and Yao Jiamu, are really lucky fes," said Luo Weng suddenly.

    He and Yao Jiamu? Shen Nianzhi had no idea what he was talking about. Still, she didn¡¯t want toe off as being too intrusive. She was more worried about how to break the news to Mr. Sima.

    What she didn¡¯t know was that a few dayster, she would be another member of the ¡¯lucky fes¡¯ Luo Weng spoke of.

    ***

    After the meal, with mixed feelings, Shen Nianzhi arrived at the Sima family house.

    "What did you say? She rejected the award?" Sima Jun could not believe his ears. He stood up immediately upon hearing that, sshing piping hot tea all over his body and the table. "Are you absolutely certain that she said that?"

    Shen Nianzhi nodded. "That¡¯s right, she wants to remain anonymous." With pursed lips, she continued. "Would it be possible for us to return that painting to her?"

    Mu Yunfan was sitting nearby. He had been waiting there since the afternoon when he heard Shen Nianzhi had gone off to find Gu Xiqiao. To his disappointment, despite waiting for such a long time, Shen Nianzhi came home empty-handed.

    In just a split-second, a dejected look surfaced on his face. His heart sank like a boulder thrown into the ocean. Without saying a word more, he went upstairs to his study room at the center of which the oil painting of the vige was hung.

    Downstairs, Meng Yufan dug her nails into her palm as she lowered her gaze.

    "Nianzhi, give me some time to process this situation." Sima Jun let out a great big sigh. No one in the right state of mind could ever turn down an award at a Biennale, no matter which ce it was being held at.

    He could notprehend just what sort of person could stand so firmly in the face of such great rewards. Countless people threw themselves at Sima Jun¡¯s feet, begging to be epted as his apprentice. It was eptable that she turned down such an opportunity. But the Biennale award? That was some next level stuff.

    Was she still sane? After all, this award was like the icing on a cake; nothing bad could evere out of epting it.

    Shen Nianzhi walked out the door in silence after hearing what Sima Jun had to say. Loosening her grip, Meng Yufan rushed outside to catch up with Shen Nianzi. "Shen Nianzhi, will you tell me who this For A Millenium person is?"

    "I¡¯m sorry but that is confidential." Shen Nianzhi paused, turned around and shook her head. She recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s despondent expression whenever she talked about the world of art. Maybe she really disliked this ce?

    And so, her lips remained tightly sealed.

    "Can¡¯t you tell me that?" Meng Yufanughed. Then, with a warm and gentle voice, she continued, "There will be an art exhibition three dayster in the Imperial Capital. Renowned artists from all over the world will be invited here. There appears to be three participants from B University. Did the dean of your faculty enter the exhibition in your stead?"

    Shen Nianzhi knew what she wanted to say right after hearing Meng Yufan¡¯s words. This exhibition would be her first step into the oil painting industry. It was of extreme importance to her and Meng Yufan was threatening to take that chance away from her!

    "Tell me who she is, and you¡¯ll get your ce in that exhibition. If you refuse, don¡¯t even think about entering any sort of exhibition from now on." Meng Yufan¡¯s gaze at Shen Nianzi was mocking.

    She was the daughter of the art faculty¡¯s dean. Not only that, she enjoyed a close rtionship with Sima Jun. She could choose to go with either one and the oue would be one and the same¨CShen Nianzhi would be made a pariah of the art world. This was especially easy considering how little support Shen Nianzhi had They could breathe out effortlessly and she¡¯d topple like a house of cards.

    "Of course, if you tell me who that person is, I¡¯ll let you have what is yours." Meng Yufan smiled sweetly at Shen Nianzhi. Sess was already in her hands; she thought that this offer was something Shen Nianzhi could never refuse.

    "Miss Meng, I will never tell anyone about the person¡¯s identity." Shen Nianzi¡¯s face was ice-cold when she stared back at Meng Yufan. She had already witnessed firsthand how cruel this young girl was; right in front of her. She had crushed a kitten to death with her high heels. No doubt, if she leaked Gu Xiqiao¡¯s information to her, she¡¯d do something crazy toward her friend.

    Shen Nianzhi suddenly felt fortunate about her exchange with Gu Xiqiao earlier today. She felt relieved that she did not drag Gu Xiqiao into such a mess.

    Seeing Shen Nianzhi¡¯s back receded into the distance, Meng Yufan¡¯s face darkened. "You think I¡¯m joking? You¡¯ll be on your knees begging for forgiveness in a couple of days!"

    Meng Yufan whipped out her phone and called someone.

    ***

    [Ding! Random mission activated: Help your target, Shen Nianzhi!]

    [Mission Completion Reward: 300 points!]

    Gu Xiqiao, who was in the middle of painting paused for a moment.

    "Little system, what¡¯s up with Shen Nianzi?"

    "Please wait for a moment." The system spirit materialized in mid-air. "Ah, found it. You just need to look at surveince to know what¡¯s up, Beauty Qiao."

    Suddenly, a clear panel appeared in front of her face. On it was disyed the scene of Shen Nianzhi and Meng Yufan¡¯s confrontation.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips curled into a smile. She lowered her eyes to hide the icy-coldness contained within. "Little system, I originally had no intentions of entering the art world. After all, I really do love oil painting."

    The system, which danced around the air shuddered.

    ¡¯Please stop joking Beauty Qiao!¡¯

    Being distracted like that, Gu Xiqiao put down her paintbrush and prepared to bring Xixi and Haha out for a stroll.

    She had just changed into her shoes and before standing up, someone knocked on the door. It was pushed open right after that.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up to discover a pair of soul-catching eyes staring back at her. His face was the same old, stone carving-like piece of art and his eyes were as distant as ever. His crisp white dress shirt was buttoned all the way and it seemed extremely neat. Still, hints of fatigue managed to break through his tidy image.

    She stood up. Pain was felt in her heart, seeing him in such a state. God knows how much effort and energy he expanded toplete that task ahead of schedule. To be able to drive him, who was seemingly as strong as an ox into fatigue was something she rarely encountered.

    "Brother Jiang."

    "Yeah." Jiang Shuxuan responded with a hoarse voice. He took the girl into his arms and that was when he felt a familiar and reassuring warmth that seemed to be able to calm the sense of unease in his heart.

    The November weather was getting colder. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s body felt cooler than usual. Gu Xiqiao took in a deep breath before looking up at him. "Have you eaten yet?"

    Jiang Shuxuan did not respond to her question. He looked down in silence. At that moment, he wanted to ask her a question. There was a man, who was born into this world to shoulder a great burden. The duty was something he absolutely cannot shirk. There was no saying how long he had left to live, especially when facing surmounting pressure day in and day out. Would she still desire a man like that?

    Although this question was at the back of his tongue, words failed toe out of his mouth.

    "No." It took him an eternity to utter this word. He loosened his grip on her and looked down at the floor.

    So he hadn¡¯t eaten yet? Gu Xiqiao nagged about it briefly before opening the fridge and whipping up something warm for him to eat.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked over and plopped down on the sofa. Haha walked up to his feet and stared up at him with a pair of dark beady eyes.

    "I¡¯ll wash you at night." Jiang Shuxuan suddenly announced.

    Haha went silent.

    As usual, Gu Xiqiao was the one who washed Haha afterward. When dinner was finally ready, Jiang Shuxuan was already out cold on the sofa.

    Fatigue was painted across his face and even in his dreams, his brows were furrowed. Gu Xiqiao reached out to smoothen the creases on his forehead as she sighed.

    ¡¯Little system, when is the next level up for my Ancient Martial Arts?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao was getting restless after seeing this.

    It was rare to see Gu Xiqiao act this way. The system spirit triedforting her. "Don¡¯t you worry Beauty Qiao. There is a process behind everything. Reaching the next level bes harder after every level up. It requires you being in the right ce and the right time..."

    The system went on and on about this. As its lecture came to an end, it suddenly noticed how silent Gu Xiqiao was. And so, it flew down in front of her face and it was then that it realized, she had fallen asleep!

    And it thought that she finally had a change of heart! This brat!

    ***

    The next day, what Mu Zong was worried about finally arrived. The internationalmunity was actively pressuring China into releasing the chip Nine Heavens produced to the world atrge.

    These were all developed nations with high GDPs that were using the United Nations to pressure China. It is conceivable how much stress Nine Heavens will have to face in the days toe. However, Mu Zong did not panic at the thought of this. After hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s remarks, the initial fear in his heart toward their new oppressors was now as good as gone.

    In an orderly manner, Mu Zong began giving out emergency orders. His calm demeanor had a positive effect on the morale of Nine Heavens¡¯ higher-ups.

    "I believe that you all understand why I havee here today. Nine Heavens¡¯ existence poses a threat to our peoples¡¯ privacy. They have reported this matter to the United Nations and after serious deliberation, we have arrived at the unanimous decision to force Nine Heavens to unveil their secret chip to the world. Of course,pensation will be provided ordingly afterward." The man speaking represented the Americans. The United States of America was the sole superpower in the world as of today. They were at least fifty years ahead of China in terms of scientific progress.

    What they achieved in the realm of biochemical weapons research alone dwarfed what the entire world had donebined.

    When America spoke, nearly everyone would echo what they say.

    Facing pressure from eight different nations, any country, regardless of how powerful they were, had no choice but to bow down, what more to say of a private corporate entity? There was simply no way for them to retaliate against a nation.

    On the surface, he was talking about protecting his peoples¡¯ privacy. However, wasn¡¯t this the ssic case of the American ¡¯carrot and a big stick¡¯ method? They were notorious for being international bullies after all. How dare China resist their demands! The Chinese ambassador was so enraged by this that his face turned beet red. How dare they have the audacity to bring this matter to their doorstep! He simply could not stand it!

 Chapter 177 Sweet Sweet Karma

    <h4>Chapter 177 Sweet Sweet Karma</h4>

    "Look, ourpany firmly believes in personal freedom. I still have to consult the higher-ups of ourpany, get their opinion on the matter. If they agree to your request, then there¡¯s nothing I could say to change the oue. I hope you all understand that although we aregging behind in scientific research, I will absolutely never allow you to trample over the fruits of ourbor!"

    Liu Guosheng¡¯s voice was clear and his words reverberated loudly through the room. The way he spoke sounded like he was taking ast stand.

    An interpreter tranted his words into English for the United Nations personnel verbatim.

    How dare this little Asian stand up to them!

    Although none of them spoke Chinese, they were well aware of Liu Guosheng¡¯s stance based purely on his tone when he spoke.

    They stared at Liu Guosheng with their faces full of disbelief, especially the representative of the American engineering department. He had never met someone who refused to bow down to America in his life. Was something loose in his mind?

    The Engineering representative¡¯s face twisted out of rage. Fine, if negotiations didn¡¯t work, then there¡¯s no choice but to bring out the big guns. He was about to issue an ultimatum when someone whispered into his ear. "Perhaps they just need to find a way down from their position. Let¡¯s use them to lure out the man behind Nine Heavens. They¡¯re just a private establishment, are they not? No way they would dare cross the world¡¯s strongest nation would they?"

    It did make sense. And so, the representative¡¯s tense expression loosened up a bit. He looked over to his Chinese counterpart and requested to hold a discussion with Nine Heavens¡¯ legal representative.

    Mu Zong and a bunch of his men were all busy researching about this when news finally arrived at their headquarters.

    "Uncle Mu, Miss Gu left a software at my ce yesterday. It¡¯s pretty interesting. I can directly send a virus over to any ITwork of whoever is trying to mess with us, no matter which corner of the Earth they are in." Yu Ning chuckled. Out of curiosity, he had studied the virus that Gu Xiqiao left at hisboratory. It was a brand-new kind of virus that spreads rapidly wherever it is sent to, disabling whatever tricks their opponent had employed.

    Although it was a dirty tactic through and through, it was still pretty cool. Ever since working at Nine Heavens, cases of hackers infiltrating the Chinese National Security Agency had pretty much ceased. Yu Ning rubbed his thumb around his fingers.

    Mu Zong¡¯s mouth twitched awkwardly upon hearing what Yu Ning said.

    "Why are you guys so scared?"

    How weird!

    Luo Weng shook his head. "I¡¯ve just caught wind that this situation might just evolve into an all out conflict. We must keep our cool. Just yesterday, Miss Gu helped me sort out our financial centres around the globe."

    It sounded to him like they were nning to expand beyond their country¡¯s borders.

    "They¡¯reing for us just because of the chip." Mu Zong looked at Yu Ning.

    "If that¡¯s so then they still have to be able to understand what the hell¡¯s going on within thatponent!" Yu Ning was surprisingly confident about this. If they wanted the chip, sure, they could have it! But, can they manage toprehend how it functions? Suddenly, an idea popped up in Mu Zong¡¯s mind. "Uncle Mu, gimme a moment!"

    Yu Ning dashed back in front of hisputer, into which he inserted the chip they were talking about. Then, after a few taps of his keyboard, he sessfully imnted the virus into said chip.

    A few minutester, Yu Ning reappeared in the meeting room where he handed the item over to Mu Zong. "Uncle Mu, take this. You should give this to that ITpany¡¯s representative. Have no fear! I¡¯m not afraid of them unveiling our secrets! Hell, I¡¯m interested in seeing what they¡¯re capable of!"

    Where on Earth would Mu Zong find the guts to face these big shots? It should¡¯ve been the perfect job for Gu Xiqiao. After all, that personality of hers made her fearless of whoever she was facing.

    Still, Gu Xiqiao had alreadye over yesterday and gave them the solutions to this issue. It wouldn¡¯t be right to push her into the ring whenever times got tough. If that¡¯s the case then what purpose did they serve, being here at Nine Heavens?

    "You want me to give this chip to them?" Mu Zong didn¡¯t understand what Yu Ning was trying to do. Are they just gonnapromise with these bastards so easily?

    Yu Ning shook his head. "It¡¯s a chip made specially for them with a couple other ¡¯secret-ingredients¡¯. Just you wait, they¡¯lle begging at our feet in no time."

    Mu Zong was a little calmer after realizing Yu Ning¡¯s not-so-innocent intentions. And so, he willingly epted the chip. "And I thought I had to chase them out with a dirty broom."

    ¡¯Chase them out with a dirty broom? What year is this old man?!¡¯ Yu Ning and Luo Weng looked at each other awkwardly. The both of them were surprised to discover that Mu Zong was prepared to resort to such a thing.

    In an instant, the men in the meeting room started acting all high and mighty when they saw Nine Heavens¡¯ employees arrive with the mythical chip in hand. See? They¡¯re afraid of us!

    You just needed to pressure these rats and they¡¯lle scurrying out of their hidey holes. They¡¯ve no other choice than to subserviently hand over the darned chip! With his nose pointed toward the ceiling, the American representative said, "As set out before this, our techpany will provide 10 million dors aspensation to Nine Heavens."

    10 million? What is this, a joke? You could pick any software that Nine Heavens created and they¡¯re all worth more than 10 million dors. What did this guy think they were? A bunch of beggars?

    Mu Zong lowered his head, attempting to hide the disgust in his eyes. What Qiao Qiao said was correct. These people were nothing but obnoxious bullies. Since he knew about the secret behind the chip, it¡¯d be the greatest show to watch in theing few days. He wanted to see them cry!

    "Mr. Mu, I don¡¯t care if you don¡¯t want the chip. We will protect Nine Heavens¡¯ rights and interests." After the team of foreigners left the meeting room triumphantly, Liu Guosheng grew increasingly worried.

    Mu Zong leaned over slightly. "Sorry for bothering you."

    What he wanted was for these people to get the chip back to theirboratory as soon as possible.

    After getting what they came here for, these scientists left without turning back. And this was when their next problem arose. The person who received the chip was none other than the arrogant American tech master. Of course, upon receiving it, he would bring it straight back to hisboratory.

    While the others were enraged by his actions, none of them dared to make a squeak. Although hard to notice, these people started bing more and more estranged after this incident.

    Theboratory that received both the chip and a detailed code file started work immediately. All of the technicians were top-of-the-line researchers and their project kicked off smoothly. Everything was going so well in fact that they seemed to be on track to sess.

    They¡¯ve even appeared on live television, where they exined, "Our techb is studying the virtual world and it would not be long before the resultse rolling out. Nine Heavens is truly a disordered bunch! If we had this chip, we would¡¯ve created aplete virtual world a long long time ago!"

    A tidal wave swept through the tech world after this was made public on the inte.

    Nearly every tech worker cursed under their breath at how shameless this bunch was.

    Simultaneously, a heated debate sprung up on Nine Heavens¡¯ official website.

    "Didn¡¯t you guys say that you would start research on a virtual world? Where has that gone? Even the Americans have said that they are on the brink of sess!"

    "You¡¯ve let us down big time Nine Heavens!"

    "Aren¡¯t you supposed to hop out at this moment and say that you havepleted the virtual world? Why aren¡¯t you guys making any announcements?!"

    "No! What you¡¯re doing isn¡¯t right Nine Heavens! This is the moment when you smack them across their big fat faces!"

    "Hey! Wake up! The Americans have already announced the release of their virtual world!"

    "Yo, did you guys forget the countless times Nine Heavens turned the game around at the veryst second?"

    "No matter what, I still have faith in them!"

    These fans were almost fanatic when it came to their loyalty toward Nine Heavens. There were too many miracles to be counted ever since their arrival at the Imperial Capital. They were the new-age idol for aspiring entrepreneurs. Because of how much hope they had on Nine Heavens, it was natural that they were even more disappointed right now.

    The international ITb had by now, created a virtual browser and subsequently, started a live broadcast for the entire world to witness this miraculous moment.

    The whole of humanity was watching this very scene. The leading technician started speaking in fluent English. "Just press the ¡¯Enter¡¯ key and you¡¯ll be brought to the website where you can install the virtual world on your browser."

    The camera zoomed in on his finger when he said that. Confidently, he pressed on the "enter" key and then¨C¨Cthe entire screen turned ck.

    What happened? He was stunned. This time, a man ran with all his might back to the office. "T-The... everyputer in ourb has been infected with a virus! It happened right when you started the virtual browser!"

    What?! The team leader was stupefied. How the hell was it possible for all that to happen at the same time? Unless, they had been working on a frickin¡¯ virus this entire time! If that¡¯s the case then they would no doubt, be aughing stock!

    No, something¡¯s not right. He read the chip¡¯s contents a line at a time. Everything was correct from the very start. No doubt about it now. The cunning Nine Heavens had bamboozled them!

    Bastards! Despicable bastards!

    This entire scene unfolded before the very eyes of millions of viewers from all over the globe.

    It was at this time when Nine Heavens issued an announcement.

    (Verified) Nine Heavens: "Our virtualwork is now 60%pleted. As research involves rigorous testing, it will take a lot of time before our product is released. We will not publicize what we aren¡¯t absolutely sure of. As for Nine Heavens¡¯ capability, I believe both the virtual helmet and the holographic sses is proof of just that!"

    What they said was more or less the truth.

    "That¡¯s the Nine Heavens that I know!"

    "I have a virtual helmet at home! I can¡¯t wait for the day the virtual world gets released!"

    "Ahhh 60%?! Does that mean we¡¯ll get to see it next year?!"

    "Why are you acting so emotional dude?"

    "Just look at their faces! ^_^"

    Even after quite a while, the top-tier tech masters failed to patch up thework ckout that had already spread throughout the country. The virus they had identally activated was pretty much bulletproof. It astounded even the greatest minds in theboratory.

    For the first time in forever, their minds registered fear. Back then, they were only jealous of Nine Heavens¡¯ rate of development. This was the only reason why they lodged a report against the firm. ording to them, the secrets to creating a virtual world would be uncovered as soon as they got their hands on the chip. After that, they would create a superputer. However, the minds behind Nine Heavens now made them slightly worried.

    If they gain the edge in creating either a virtual world, or an AI supeputer, then no doubt, they would lead humanity in scientific research!

    How could they not be envious of what Nine Heavens aplished in such a short amount of time? Everything that rolled out of their factories were all game-changing devices that raised the scientific standard ever higher.

    Out of pure selfishness, these IT masters from different countries joined forces to threaten Nine Heavens.

    It never crossed their minds that their American team member would vanish into thin air right after getting his hands on the chip. Though, after what has happened, every other country let out a sigh in relief. Thank god that greedy rat took the chip for himself. If not, they themselves would also be caught in the crossfire.

    After relief came the dreaded sense of powerlessness. It seems like their prediction was indeed correct. Nine Heavens¡¯ research progress was truly terrifying. Just like that, they had shut down an entireboratory halfway across the globe.

    The IT masters who worked alongside their American counterparts all started regretting their actions. Beads of cold sweat started rolling down their foreheads. If only they knew how well-developed Nine Heavens was inworks, they would never have attempted to bully them. It felt like they had been sucker-punched. Although it was obvious that the blow came from China, they had no proof and thus, no way to get back at their assants.

    To think that they had live-streamed their own embarrassing defeat under the hands of Nine Heavens! What a blunder!

    The software engineers were getting more and more desperate as realization set in on them. They should never have challenged the darn Asians! Especially Nine Heavens!

    To add insult to injury, they had nowhere to voice theirints after receiving such a heavy blow.

    This was when an international financepany stepped in. Nine Heavens¡¯ Finance Branch had silently expanded across the globe. Before everyone was aware of it, they had already be a key economic lifeline to many nations, big or small.

    Their virtual helmet as well as their holographic sses had stolen the show; although not many knew about this, they have long consolidated their position as an international entity.

    By now, wise men understood that it was time for a reshuffling of powers amongstrge international corporations.

    "Look at these Americans! Have they no balls?" mocked a Japanese who was reading a newspaper.

    His friend looked over at him with disbelief. "No balls? No! Suzuki-san, it is unwise to underestimate Nine Heavens. I believe you have already met with the American engineers. They¡¯re fairlypetent aren¡¯t the..."

    "Fine, fine, it¡¯s just a small virus." Suzuki waved him off. "They fight without honor."

    "You..." The man beside him tried to exin the situation to him but Suzuki had already left before he could start speaking.

    And so, the man let out a sigh before returning to hisputer.

    ***

    "This is my first time receiving so many calls from national leaders. I¡¯m starting to feel like a pretty aplished man." Mu Zong said to Gu Xiqiao over the phone.

    Gu Xiqiao was slicing fruits in the kitchen. Outside the window, she could see a bright streak of lightning, followed by the low rumbling of thunder. She smiled. "Things should return to normal after this. Still, I¡¯m surprised by how you guys took the bull by its horns."

    It was good news though. It served as a warning against anyone else that was thinking about messing with Nine Heavens.

    And so, the two of them talked for a while before hanging up. Gu Xiqiao then brought the te of perfectly sliced fruits out.

    Sitting in the living room was Luo Wenlin and Hua Youlin. The weekend was here and Luo Wenlin had been sent over by Luo Wng to study together with Hua Youlin. The two kids were surprisingly talkative whenever they were put together.

    Gu Xiqiao was satisfied by Hua Youlin¡¯s development. At the very least, he wasn¡¯t as gloomy as he appeared when she brought him off the streets.

    "Dalin, I don¡¯t really understand this question." Hua Youlin asked while chewing on his pencil.

    Luo Wenlin looked over and discovered that it was abined question at the end of a biology practice sheet. "Oh, this question is beyond our level of knowledge. I didn¡¯t do it either."

    "Then what should we do? I wasn¡¯t paying attention when the teacher was speaking." Hua Youlin¡¯s brows were furrowed.

    Upon hearing this, Luo Wenlin flipped open Hua Youlin¡¯s sheet to discover that most of the problems were left nk. "Woah, what are you doing? You left so many nk? Why didn¡¯t you ask for help?"

    "From who?" Hua Youlin peered down at Haha who was snuggled beside his feet. "Him?"

    "Sister Gu of course!" Dalin found it hard to believe his friend. "You¡¯ve got such a great teacher, why don¡¯t you ask her for help? She¡¯s a genius I tell you!"

    "She knows how to solve these problems?" Hua Youlin seemed skeptical at first. He knew that Gu Xiqiao loved painting so he just assumed that she was an artist. Would an artist know a whole lot about science?

    Luo Wenlin¡¯s expression was somber. "She¡¯s insanely smart."

    Hua Youlin was shocked to hear this. "More so than your big brother?"

    Luo Wenlin stuttered for a moment before replying, "Yeah, slightly."

    After spending a couple of days together, Hua Youlin noticed how Luo Wenlin revered his big brother. To that boy, his big brother was the smartest man on Earth. And yet, to hear him say that brought up lots of questions in Hua Youlin¡¯s mind. He looked up at Gu Xiqiao, who had brought them fresh fruit. "Sister Gu, I¡¯ve a few questions I don¡¯t know how to solve."

    "Which one?" Gu Xiqiao picked up his practice sheet, which was more or less empty.

    Since Hua Youlin was still in junior high, Gu Xiqiao solved the biology questions in just the blink of an eye. Shortly after reading through the practice sheet, Gu Xiqiao handed it back to the boy. Remembering that he was just starting school, she started exining the problems in a soft voice.

    Then, noise came from upstairs.

    The three of them looked up simultaneously before Jiang Shuxuan walked down the stairs.

    "Brother Jiang, you¡¯re awake." Gu Xiqiao shed him a smile.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded at her before fixing his gaze on the boy, who was huddled close together with Gu Xiqiao.

    Hua Youlin straightened his back and with a straight face, he said to Gu Xiqiao, "It¡¯s alright, I think I¡¯ll figure out the rest myself." In reality, there were still lots of answers that remained unanswered.

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao picked up Haha and sat down on the dining table.

    After washing his face, Jiang Shuxuan sat down and began eating his meal.

    "Brother Jiang, I¡¯m going outter." Gu Xiqiao said as she brushed her fingers across Haha¡¯s fur.

    "Yep. Wait till I finish up though." This meant that he wanted to tag along.

    Halfway through his meal, he suddenly looked up. "When we were at N City, I remember you talking about holding an art exhibition. Are you still interested?"

    Every painting she created was exquisite and incorporated ingenious techniques. It wasn¡¯t right to leave them at home, collecting dust.

    It was back then, when she painted Yu Man¡¯s portrait that this idea dawned on her. The dean of the art academy wanted to use this painting of hers to enter apetition but in the end, Gu Xiqiao rejected his offer.

    "I don¡¯t have enough material to do that myself. But, I think I¡¯ll manage if we can get together a couple of other artists." A glow returned to her eyes. Some strands of her tied-up hair fell down onto the side of her face. It made him notice how wless her skin was, how much it looked like freshly-fallen snow.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached out and gently ced her hair behind her back. The back of his hand brushed against her plush, delicate skin as he did so.

    A warmth started spreading down into his hand from his fingertips.

    The ce where Gu Xiqiao wanted to go was B University. Since it was rtively nearby, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t feel the need to drive his vehicle. And so, with a ck umbre in hand, the both of them headed out the door into the rain.

    There were only a handful of pedestrians around due to the heavy rain. No matter how cautious you were, you could never predict where the wind would blow next. It was inevitable that you would get wet walking in the rain. Due to this, most people found it easier to just stay indoors.

    Only two silhouettes could be seen strolling calmly in the rain. The downpour was so heavy that you couldn¡¯t even see their faces. Still, that didn¡¯t seem to faze them. Fortunately, the pitter-patter of rain gradually died down as a ray of sunshine pierced through the dark grey canopy above.

    "Uncle Tai, don¡¯t they look like them?" The two of them were no far behind the duo. The man sitting in the wheelchair looked up with a puzzled expression.

    The middle-aged uncle, who was holding the umbre, blocked the raindrops that were blowing in their faces. "Can¡¯t see very clearly. It¡¯s been years since Ist saw the young mistress."

    Baili Bin sighed. "My memory is as hazy as yours. You were the one who looked after the legacy base after all."

    He stared back at the receding backs of these two that were walking in front of him. His brows raised when he suddenly spoke out: "It¡¯s true, it looks like them."

    "Let¡¯s go then."

    Uncle Tai, pushing Baili Bin on his wheelchair, entered the residential area. Before leaving, they turned around to look at the duo onest time but by then, they were already nowhere to be seen.

    ***

    At B University, Shen Nianzhi walked out of the director¡¯s office with a defeated look on her face. Although she was holding an umbre in her hand, she did not open it up. She let the rain drip down on her head, blending in with her stinging hot tears.

    "Shen Nianzhi, I don¡¯t know why the director gave me this opportunity. I am really sorry." Her roommate, who was holding a pretty-looking umbre caught up to her. Although she sounded apologetic, her gaze was painfully mocking.

    After taking a good, long look of Shen Nianzhi¡¯s dejected expression, the roommate skipped away with her high heels clicking loudly on the ground.

    Shen Nianzhi raised her umbre slowly and left the ce.

    "Miss Meng, we¡¯ve done what you told us to." A middle-aged man came walking into the office, directing a congrattory smile at her.

    "Very well," responded the other person.

    She wanted to see just how pure one could remain in the face of desire. Would Shen Nianzhi remain that stubborn?

    The reason why Shen Nianzhi was so popr in B University was due to her closeness with Grandpa Sima. Now that that was taken away from her, she was sure that Shen Nianzhi woulde groveling at her feet for forgiveness!

    A cold grin broke across Meng Yufan¡¯s face. She looked up at the painting with glowing eyes. One day, one day...

 Chapter 178 You Wanna Strike Her Off?

    <h4>Chapter 178 You Wanna Strike Her Off?</h4>

    "Shen Nianzhi, someone¡¯s waiting for you downstairs." She had juste out of the shower after returning to her dorm room. Feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically, all she wanted was a good night¡¯s sleep. However, even that wish was taken away when her housemate pushed her door open and informed her about her unexpected visitor.

    Her housemate was speaking in such a friendly manner that she found it weird. Because she had taken time off and it had been two months since shest stepped foot in her school, most of her ssmates and housemates were treating her particrly coldly. This was more so for her housemates. It seems they have already made a pact; whenever she was nearby, they would start acting strangely. And yet, here she was, speaking to Shen Nianzhi as if they were the best of friends.

    Shen Nianzhi had no idea who that person waiting for her was. She thanked her housemate and headed downstairs immediately.

    After she left, another housemate of hers who waszing on her bed asked nonchntly, "Now you¡¯re concerned about her?"

    "The two looking for her downstairs didn¡¯t seem like they were regr people." Her housemate was still in a dazed state. Although she didn¡¯t manage to catch a glimpse of the man¡¯s face, she did take a good look at the young woman who was standing next to him. Something about her appearance feltfortable. That girl was shockingly beautiful and for some reason, she seemed pretty familiar.

    She was the type of person people gravitated toward automatically.

    And so, her impression of Shen Nianzhi improved after seeing this friend of hers. As the Chinese proverb goes, one who loves a house, loves the crow that stands upon its roof too.

    "Someone¡¯s looking for her?" The girl on the bed sat up instantly.

    That girl then flipped her closet open to put on some fresh new clothes. Her housemate was surprised by the sudden ruckus. "Why are you acting so surprised?"

    The girl that was initiallyzing on her bed waved her housemate goodbye before dashing out the door. At the same time, she dialed a phone that she had recently saved into her phone.

    ***

    Meng Yufan had just returned to Sima Jun¡¯s vi. Mu Yunfan did not return to his home; he had been staying here, at his master¡¯s ce so that he was the first one to receive any updates.

    Fortunately, Shen Nianzhi had not leaked who that person was. With an innocent smile, Meng Yufan went upstairs to Mu Yunfan¡¯s room.

    "Miss Meng, Mr. Mu¡¯s in his study room. I don¡¯t... I don¡¯t think you should go in at the moment." The cleanerdy went stopped Meng Yufan when she was reaching out to grab the door handle of Mu Yunfan¡¯s room.

    Meng Yufan tried incredibly hard to suppress her twisted mind from breaking loose. She directed a sweet smile at the servant.

    "Yufan? Why are you here today?" Walking out of his bedroom, Meng Yufan was the first person Sima Jun saw, which puzzled him. With a gentle and concerned voice, he said to her, "Look at the downpour outside. Go take a hot shower and get a change of clothes. You don¡¯t want to catch a cold would you?"

    "Grandpa Sima, I¡¯vee here for something today." Meng Yufan clung onto Sima Jun¡¯s wrist and led him downstairs. "I would like to enter apetition with this painting of mine."

    "Painting?" A glow appeared in Sima Jun¡¯s eyes. If it¡¯s something worthy ofpetition, then it must be a fairly special painting. Meng Yufan was born into a family of artists, not to mention the two years she had spent in America learning about the subject. In other words, her skills were by no means, mediocre.

    "You should show me your painting the next time you¡¯re here."

    "Oh, I¡¯ve already brought it here." Meng Yufan picked up a painting and ced it over the table, presenting it to Sima Jun.

    The subject of her painting was a scene in the countryside. Oil paintings were judged by the artist¡¯s technique and choice of colors. In this regard, Meng Yufan was prettypetent for a person her age. The perspective and depth of her painting was also well-done. To a certain extent, it could be considered a pretty rare piece of art.

    "You absolutely must not bring that to thepetition!" Suddenly came a gloomy voice from behind.

    It took Meng Yufan by surprise. She spun around and found herself face-to-face with Mu Yunfan. Up close, she could see every little detail on his handsome face, even his bloodshot eyes.

    "W-Why?" she asked.

    Mu Yunfan stared coldly at Meng Yufan for a long while. Reaching out a slender finger, he pointed at that painting. "You dare say that you came up with this on your own? This painting is a tant knock-off of ¡¯Looking Homeward¡¯ in the study room!"

    The worst sin you could evermit in the world of art was the act of giarism. What made this worse was entering apetition with a giarised piece of art. Thepetition they were talking about was going to be thergest one in China this year. What Meng Yufan was nning to do was downright a crime!

    "Brother Mu! Why would you say that? This is apletely different painting!" Meng Yufan responded with a pained expression. "I can¡¯t believe you think of me as that sort of person!"

    Mu Yunfan red at Meng Yufan silently. Sima Jun stared long and hard at this painting before voicing out his opinion. With knitted brows, he said, "The way she¡¯s expressing her emotions on this piece of art is different from the one you¡¯re referring to. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re just being over-sensitive, Yunfan?"

    Upon hearing his master¡¯s remark, Mu Yunfan massaged his temples for a while before quietly muttering, "I¡¯m sorry."

    After that, he picked up his keys and left the ce. It was still raining cats and dogs outside when he drove straight toward the heart of the city. Stopping at the city square, he lit a cigarette and fixed his eyes straight ahead. He scanned the area in front of him aimlessly before zeroing in on a milk tea store.

    The milk tea shop hadrge ss panels which had fogged up due to the rain. Although it was a little hazy, he was still able to make out Shen Nianzhi¡¯s silhouette behind the window. He wanted to walk right up to her until he saw the person who was sitting across the table.

    The person suddenly raised her head and stared in his general direction. Her eyes were bright and her jet ck hair was contrasted with her snow-like delicate skin. Even without makeup, she was as pretty as a scroll of flowers. She was the most eye-catching thing in his field of vision.

    Mu Yunfan felt his heart skip a bit. Within a single second, he recognized who that person was. And instantly, his brows furrowed up.

    What a waste of good looks.

    He drove off into the distance. Leaving Shen Nianzhi, who he wanted to meet behind, he tried to ignore the palpitations in his chest.

    ***

    In the milk tea shop, Shen Nianzhi peered at where Gu Xiqiao was looking. "What are you looking at Miss Gu?"

    "Oh it¡¯s nothing." Gu Xiqiao shook her head. "The reason why I¡¯m meeting you here today is to talk about an art exhibition."

    "Art exhibition?" Shen Nianzhi¡¯s expression darkened as soon as she heard that word. Still, she quickly regained herposure. "You¡¯re thinking about hosting an art exhibition? I will definitely be there to support you then!"

    "No," Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiang Shuxuan who was still standing in line. "I heard from Dalin that there are many Chinese paintings at your home. Would you like to have an exhibition of your own?"

    In herst life, Shen Nianzhi had only gained her fame when she was in the third year of university. In fact, she was on par with Gu Xijin. It seems like the trajectory of her life was going to undergo a change once again.

    Shen Nianzhi was stunned. She stared listlessly at the girl in front of her. Artists were an incredibly picky bunch, you could give them the most perfect item and they¡¯d still manage to locate a w within it. And yet, the face of the young girl seated in front of her was perfect. Her skin, her eyes, there seemed to be a veil of mist that added to the mysteriousness of Gu Xiqiao. She was so perfect that Shen Nianzhi found it hard to look directly at her.

    From the very beginning, Shen Nianzhi did not treat Gu Xiqiao as her fellow peer. On an unconscious level, she treated the person as someone like the dean of a faculty. That was the level of respect she had for Gu Xiqiao.

    It took Shen Nianzhi a while toe to her senses. "What do you mean, Miss Gu?"

    "Exactly what I just said." Gu Xiqiao handed a name card over to her. "Call the number on this card. He¡¯ll help you with everything."

    Shen Nianzhi took the fancy-looking card. Embossed in gold was the name¡ªMu Zong.

    ***

    At the headquarters of Nine Heavens, Mu Zong sneezed. He pulled out a napkin to wipe his nose. "Something¡¯s not right. Is someone plotting against me again?"

    "Alright, I¡¯ll be heading back to study that virus Miss Gu so kindly blessed me with. FYI, the only person who can take you down in Boss Gu herself." Yu Ning tidied up a pile of documents and patted Mu Zong on the back sympathetically before leaving his office.

    Luo Weng calmly got up from his seat and with a somber expression, he reminded, "Uncle Mu, take care of yourself. I¡¯ll be off to pick Dalin up."

    Mu Zong thought to himself, ¡¯Didn¡¯t we agree that we would go together? Why are you guys leaving now to do your own things? £¨¦á¦ä¦á)¡¯

    His phone vibrated. Holding it up, Mu Zong confirmed that it was a message from Gu Xiqiao.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan had just bought a box of cake when Gu Xiqiao finished speaking. She picked up her half-finished cup of milk tea and left the shop.

    The rain was gradually letting up. Jiang Shuxuan opened up his umbre and subsequently pulled her close to him. Then, he started speaking. "Zhu Yuan was looking for you a moment ago."

    "For what?" Gu Xiqiao rolled her eyes. No way he came up with a solution so soon right? It had only been two days after all.

    "Divine Doctor Rong wants to meet you." Jiang Shuxuan said as he lowered his head to look at her. She was sipping on her milk tea, and her lips looking pale. But her beauty was undeniably shining through, and such a person would turn heads no matter where she went.

    She was approaching the ancient martial arts world one step at a time. It was only a matter of time before he couldn¡¯t keep her a secret any longer.

    "Divine Doctor Rong?" Gu Xiqiao responded abruptly. That was Zhu Yuan¡¯s master. He was a renowned healer and his name frequently appeared in the ancient martial arts forum. Naturally, she was curious about who this mighty miracle doctor was.

    "Can I meet him?" Gu Xiqiao looked up.

    Her eyes were so enchanting, how was it possible for Jiang Shuxuan to turn her down? "Of course."

    He was just Rong Feishuang. She had already met pretty much everyone he was close friends with back in the ancient martial arts world.

    When they returned home, Luo Wenlin was still studying with Hua Youlin. Jiang Shuxuan tucked away his umbre and upon seeing Haha¡¯s droopy eyes, he immediately went over to prepare some chow for the mutt.

    Luo Wenlin had already left when he returned to the living room. Gu Xiqiao sat next to Hua Youlin, exining the problems on his practice sheet patiently to him while tapping her delicate fingers on the table.

    Jiang Shuxuan had an excellent sense of hearing. He tuned in fully on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gentle voice, allowing it to resonate throughout his body.

    "How many paintings are you going to enter into thepetition?" he asked out of the blue.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up and pondered. "I guess one?"

    She was referring to the portrait she painted of Yu Man. She wanted the show that piece of art to everyone.

    After she replied, she went back to tutoring Hua Youlin.

    On the second day, Hua Youlin woke up to discover that there was no breakfast waiting for him on the table.

    "..."

    Haha looked up from his bowl.

    "Bark bark bark bark bark!"

    Hua Youlin could not understand dog-lingo and so, Xixi tranted it for him. "Haha said that you¡¯re a trash-ass b*tch and that you deserve what you get!"

    "I think you¡¯re the one saying this, aren¡¯t you?" Hua Youlin stared emotionlessly at the feather ball.

    Haha thought to itself, ¡¯What on earth happened to this poor little boy? Whoever that did this to him, give him his innocence back! Sniffle,e to papa little one. Tell me what you¡¯ve gone through.¡¯

    ***

    The grandiosity of the oil painting exhibition at the Imperial Capital wasparable to the recent International Biennale. Painting enthusiasts from all over the world came here just to see the artwork that was on disy.

    Because of how important this event was, even Meng Yufan wanted to take part in it.

    At the International Biennale, only two paintings were submitted. One belonging to Mu Yunfan and the other, to ¡¯For A Millenium¡¯. She herself had not the chance to take part in thepetition.

    And so, she could not let this chance pass. She had no idea howrge the scale was for this uing exhibition at the Imperial Capital, but she knew that both Sima Jun and Mu Yunfan were going to be the judges. Apart from them, there were also a couple of other big-shots in the art industry.

    If they were attending this exhibition, then this local Biennale must¡¯ve been a pretty significant event. Meng Yufan swore to herself that she would stand toe-to-toe with Mu Yunfan by the end of this exhibition.

    Knocks rang out on the door of the person in charge of this uing exhibition. In came a young man who greeted, "Mr. Wu."

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Mr. Wu looked up. He was looking through the list of candidates that have signed up for the exhibition.

    "Miss Meng had just called us. She said she wants to participate in this event."

    Mr. Wu shook his head. "The candidate list is already maxed out."

    "We can strike one of them off the list." The young man made a slicing gesture with his finger. "She¡¯s Miss Meng we¡¯re talking about. Her father¡¯s a member of themittee."

    It was then that things started making sense. Mr. Wu had no choice but to give his father face. "Who does she wish to strike off?"

    The young man pointed at the final entry of the candidate list. "This person here."

    "Her?" Mr. Wu was amused. "Do you know why this exhibition is being held here at the capital? This entire battle, it was designed for the purpose of singling out a specific individual. The rest of the candidates are just to cover up the truth. Now you¡¯re asking me to strike that very person off?"

    Are you looking for a war?

 Chapter 179 A Brief Cha

    <h4>Chapter 179 A Brief Cha</h4>

    Mr. Wu was the man in charge of this uing exhibition. He once was the president of China¡¯s National Oil Painting Association. This exhibition was something he came up with on the whim. Even so, countless great painters were participating in the event. There was a significant portion of participants who thought that this event was hosted for the sake of promoting his apprentices.

    Even the young man in front of him thought this initially. However, after this exchange, he was forced to change his thoughts. Cautiously, he asked to confirm that there was nothing wrong with his hearing. "You¡¯re hosting this exhibition in order to single out this individual, and everyone else is irrelevant?"

    "What do you think?" Mr. Wu posed a rhetorical question. He swiped his finger down the roster. "See these people? You can add them up and they¡¯d still be worth less than this person right here."

    His finger then returned to a three-word name, printed in bold ck ink over paper¡ªGu Xiqiao.

    "I¡¯ll overlook today¡¯s incident. A word of advice, young man. Have more control over your impulses. Remember, only fools rush in. You were this close to ending your career today." Mr. Wu lectured the young man sternly.

    Powerful people roamed the Imperial Capital. You could point at anyone on the street and the person would likely be someone who could end your life with a snap of his or her fingers. One could never be too sure who his enemies were.

    The young man wiped the cold sweat off his brows. Thinking back to how arrogant he sounded when he suggested striking that Gu Xiqiao candidate off the list, his knees buckled under pressure. "P-President Wu... thank you!"

    His voice was trembling, reflecting the fear in his heart.

    The task of hosting this art exhibition fell onto Mr. Wu¡¯s shoulders. He had connections to the big shots of the art world and the event would be held at the state-owned convention center. In other words, it was a grand event and was also proof of how powerful Mr. Wu himself was, what more to say of the people backing him. However, it seemed that someone of even greater significance had appeared on the horizon.

    The young man¡¯s heart was beating so furiously it felt like it was going to pop right out of his mouth at any given time. Upon exiting the office, he propped himself up against a nearby pir. Sweat was dripping down his forehead as he thought about how grave his mistake was.

    He took out his phone and called Meng Yufan. "Miss Meng! You can tell it straight to my face if you despise me, I swear I won¡¯t pester you anymore in the future. But! It¡¯s not right to send someone to their death like this! Look, if you need any help in the future, look elsewhere."

    ***

    Meng Yufan was gazing at her artwork when she received the call. Staring at the smooth brushstrokes on the ink painting, she gently dragged her fingertip across the canvas. After hearing what the man said, the smile on her face gradually faded. "What do you mean by this?"

    Her question was only met by silence. Turns out the person had already hung up the phone. When she called his phone again, he had already switched his device off.

    "Sh*t!" Meng Yufan threw her phone onto the cold hard ground. What was he talking about?

    ¡¯Son of a b*tch!¡¯ She tightened her fist. Meng Yufan had a copy of the list of candidates that were participating in the uing exhibition. Most of them were well-known artists, with the exception of the veryst entry. She had checked that candidate¡¯s background. She was an orphan.

    "Miss." Mr. Mu has always been at odds with the master. Let¡¯s try negotiating with that candidate. I don¡¯t think a mere orphan would dare to stand in your way." The butler reminded her.

    Meng Yufan regained herposure. That¡¯s right. They had a scuffle prior to this because of another student from B University. She was finally aware of her own position now.

    Backing out of this exhibition was not an option for Meng Yufan. Her issue could be resolved by just raising the budget slightly to buy an additional spot for herself. Who cares if a pitiful orphan refused to give way to her? Meng Yufan consoled herself, repeating in her mind that everything was A-okay.

    ***

    "Beauty Qiao, someone called you. I saw Master Jiang answering the call for you." The rain had finally let up. The air had been cleansed by the heavy downpour; it was rare to see such pretty weather in the Imperial Capital. Gu Xiqiao brought Xixi and Haha outside for a nice afternoon stroll.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t very keen on knowing who called her phone. Still, she narrowed her eyes upon seeing the caller ID.

    At this hour, there weren¡¯t many people walking around the quiet suburbs. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes immediately picked up a figure sitting at a granite table. He was an extremely handsome man with fair skin and possessed an air of brilliance around him. His face alone was enough to make girls fall head over heels for him. Too bad, this man was sitting in a wheelchair.

    As if he could sense someone looking at him, Baili Bin peered over in the direction of Gu Xiqiao. He locked gazes with a pair of crystal clear eyes, which he was so familiar with. Suddenly, his body jolted visibly.

    Something was rustling around his feet. Looking down, Baili Bin discovered that it was a white dog, circling around his ankles. The cute fluffball looked up at him with a pair of beady, watery eyes.

    "Apologies. It¡¯s a naughty boy." The clear voice of a woman echoed through the air. Looking back, he saw a feminine figure, dressed in white pick the white dog up.

    "What a cute dog you got there." Baili Bin looked up at Gu Xiqiao and shed her a warm, gentle smile.

    "Sing it any more praises and it¡¯ll head right up to heaven," responded Gu Xiqiao cheekily. She patted Haha¡¯s head, a gesture for it to quiet down. Then, she looked back at the man in the wheelchair. "Nice to see you again, uncle."

    "Miss Gu." Uncle Tai was taken aback by her unexpected greeting. He did not expect her to remember who he was.

    "Nice to see you too," he replied.

    Sensing the young master¡¯s gaze, a chill ran down Uncle Tai¡¯s spine. He started introducing his young master to Gu Xiqiao with a dead serious expression. "Miss Gu, this is the young master whom I am serving under."

    "Nice to meet you, my name¡¯s Baili Bin." Baili Bin outstretched his arm.

    [Ding! The system has detected that Baili Bin has a favorability level of 80% for the host. Would you like to add him to your good friends¡¯ list?]

    [Ding! Random mission activated! Help cure mission target, Baili Bin¡¯s legs.]

    [Mission Completion Reward: 100 points!]

    Favorability? 80%? Was there a glich in the system or something?

    "Nice to meet you Mr. Baili. I¡¯m Gu Xiqiao." Gu Xiqiao shook his hand. As she did so, she got a good glimpse of his legs.

    Baili Bin retracted his hand and with his other hand, he fiddled with the pebbles on the tabletop. Looking down, he started talking. "I¡¯m close friends with Jiang Shuxuan so I won¡¯t mind if you call me Brother Baili."

    "Brother Baili." Gu Xiqiao changed the way she referred to him instantly. That seemed to make him feel morefortable.

    Baili Bin appeared to be ted. He looked up from his wheelchair and started chatting with her. The two of them spoke mostly about their family members. What surprised her was how he never ¡¯crossed the line¡¯ when speaking about such a private matter. Nothing in their conversation made Gu Xiqiao feel awkward or ufortable.

    After about twenty minutes of talking, the both of them exchanged numbers. Rising from her seat, Gu Xiqiao prepared to head home. Before she left, she looked down at the pebbles on the table. After ying with them for a moment, she announced her departure. "It¡¯s time for me to go home now, Brother Baili."

    Baili Bin responded with a smile. Squinting his eyes, he noticed a red streak hurtling toward their direction. Before he could alert her, Gu Xiqiao had already raised her arm.

    Smack!"

    The red streak had already smashed into the ground when he heard the noise.

    "I¡¯m sorry for startling you, Brother Baili." Gu Xiqiao sighed. It was probably a bad idea to let Xixi have its way any further. "Get up. Apologize to him."

    Baili Bin¡¯s eyes were far keener than any ordinary human¡¯s. In an instant, he recognized the bird on the ground by its shape and color. That bird must be it! The Vermillion Bird, as he had read in the historical archives.

    "I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m sorry," repeated Xixi as it struggled onto its ws.

    No doubt, that was the Vermillion Bird he was looking at. Baili Bin took in a deep breath to stifle the surprise in his heart. "This bird is an incredibly valuable creature. You must take good care of it. Don¡¯t bring it out here for no good reason." If he was able to recognize who this bird is, there must¡¯ve been a great deal more who could do the same. It has been centuries since the Vermillion Bird wasst seen. The bird¡¯s sudden appearance must¡¯ve made countless people jealous of Gu Xiqiao.

    More importantly, the appearance of the Vermillion Bird signified a shift in the stars¡ªsomething big was about to happen.

    "Chirp chirp chirp!" (Hurry and look at what just said about how valuable I am! He¡¯s so handsome so handsome so handsome!)

    "Woof woof woof woof!" (If you¡¯re not so retarded I may be inclined to bother.)

    "Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp" (I¡¯ll be terrified of myself if I were to get serious!)

    Haha was at a loss for words.

    "Thank you."

    Gu Xiqiao nodded before leaving with Xixi and Haha.

    His advice was pretty irrelevant. Whoever that daredy his or her hands on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bird was destined to die at the end!

    From behind, Uncle Tai observed Gu Xiqiao as she smacked Xixi out of the air again. He was not as emotional as before now. "Young Master, isn¡¯t that the Vermillion Bird?" It¡¯s not just a pet, right?

    "Yeah." Baili Bin nodded. "Let¡¯s go home."

    Uncle Tai reached down to push Baili Bin¡¯s wheelchair when he discovered that the young master was staring wide-eyed at the table.

    Baili Bin quickly disrupted the formation and returned it to its initial state. "*The Limitless produces the Delimited, and this Delimited is equivalent to the Highest Limit, or Taiji. The Taiji produces two forms of Liangyi... the Seven Nights gives birth to Bagua and Bagua to Nine Halls, which leads to Infinity. What she¡¯s hinting at isn¡¯t the natural passage of evolution. I can¡¯t believe she¡¯s managed to crack the code!"

    (*T/N: He¡¯s saying a bunch of Chinese Taoist concepts like a spell.)

    With each word he says, the pebbles would shift around. The formation wasplete the moment his mouth stopped moving.

    "Uncle Tai, let¡¯s hurry home!" His eyes were glowing.

    He had always used pebbles as a medium to create his formations. The Baili family had gained a firm foothold ever since their return to the ancient martial arts world. He had gone over to take a look at the incident at the pavilion. This time, there was a problem with the evolutionary formation; it was unable to cope with such a massive shift in energies.

    Jiang Shuxuan used brute force to plug the gap, which awed everyone there. At the same time, worry was also felt in their hearts. They were saved this time because Jiang Shuxuan was in the Imperial Capital, with them. What if he wasn¡¯t able to make it in time the next time this happened?

    After spending a couple of days at the trial pavilion, Baili Bin discovered the leak in the formation. Using pebbles, he made some deductions, attaining enlightenment at the very end.

    He never thought that he would be enlightened once again today. He was so excited that he produced a muffled but happy voice from his throat.

    Even before he lost control over his legs, Uncle Tai had never seen Baili Bin so ecstatic before. In his eyes, Baili Bin was a stoic, expressionless man. Even in his adolescence, he had never seen him smile before.

    As Uncle Tai pushed Baili Bin along, a car rolled to a stop in front of them. The window was slowly rolled down.

    "Baili! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re here!" It was Zhu Yuan¡¯s voice. Baili Bin looked up to find his friend staring back at him with an expression of disbelief.

    Zhu Yuan did hear that Baili Bin had returned to the ancient martial arts world but he never got the chance to meet him. And so, he thought that it was just another baseless rumor. After all, he remembered how much suffering Baili Bin was put through before he decided to leave this ce for good.

    Outsiders would assume the cause of Baili Bin¡¯s condition was due to his legs. In reality, the injuries he had on his legs paled inparison to the hellish ordeal he was put through back then.

    Baili Bin paused and squinted at Zhu Yuan. "You¡¯re living here too?"

    "No, I¡¯m here to meet someone." It was best not to talk about this matter, else he felt that he would suffer a mental breakdown from anger.

    "We should meet up some other day then." Baili Bin tried to leave after saying that.

    Zhu Yuan scratched his head and murmured to himself as he watched the pair disappear into the distance. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

    He looked down at the text message again. It didn¡¯t seem like something was wrong with the address. And so, he started looking for the specific house.

    ***

    At the Meng family.

    "Youngdy, you should calm down. She¡¯ll give you her ce the moment you utter the master¡¯s name," said the butler as he poured Meng Yufan a cup of tea.

    They had done this countless times before.

    Meng Yufan lifted the teacup. A mocking look surfaced in her eyes., "Did she answer the call?"

    "I suppose she¡¯s intimidated by the master¡¯s name." The butler chuckled.

    Meng Yufan, being the charitable person that she was, added, "Let¡¯s nominate her for next year¡¯s exhibition."

    In any case, Meng Yufan must obtain the first ce in this year¡¯s art exhibition!

    Just as the two were eagerly awaiting good news to arrive, Meng Yu, who was supposed to be at the art academy burst through the door.

    "Dad? Why are you home so early?" Meng Yufan rose from her seat with a puzzled expression.

    "You good-for-nothing piece of sh*t!" Meng Yu pped his daughter right across the cheek.

    Meng Yufan was stunned by this blow. Copsing onto the sofa, she looked up with disbelief in her eyes. "Dad?"

    "Dad?" Meng Yu¡¯s hands were shaking with rage and his eyes, bloodshot. "You dare call me your dad? Do you know how royally you¡¯ve screwed up today?! Striking off someone¡¯s name! Who taught you that?!"

    "W-Well she¡¯s j-just an orphan..." Meng Yufan stuttered.

    Meng Yu exploded before she could finish her sentence. "Orphan?! Who told you that?! Do you have any idea who you¡¯re messing with?!"

 Chapter 180 Documents

    <h4>Chapter 180 Documents</h4>

    Meng Yufan had abused her power to do this sort of thing many times in the past, and she had never thought that she would get into trouble for it. Back when she had stolen Shen Nianzhi¡¯s position, she had a thorough background check of her and confirmed that she was an orphan.

    She had also screened Gu Xiqiao¡¯s background before, but she only got some basic information and data. As sly as she was, she wouldn¡¯t move with so little information, but after she learned that this girl knew Shen Nianzhi from one of Shen Nianzhi¡¯s roommates, she immediately thought that it was no problem.

    After all, what sort of person with any power and self-respect be friends with Shen Nianzhi?

    At least, that¡¯s what she thought at the time.

    In hindsight, who would have such a clean background? It must have been put there as a cover-up!

    Upon thinking of this, Meng Yufan¡¯s face paled, and she crawled up from the ground, her hands trembling as they gripped onto Meng Yu¡¯s clothes like a lifeline. "D-Daddy, I didn¡¯t mean to..."

    "We will apologize to themter, understood?" She was his only daughter left behind by his wife that died from childbirth, so she had always been spoiled by the entire family that would give her the moon and stars if she wanted them, causing her to have the personality she had today.

    Meng Yu greatly regretted not throwing her to live at Sima Jun¡¯s back when she was little.

    She and Mu Yunfan were childhood friends, and even her name was given to sound like his on purpose, but they had such a difference in demeanor and character!

    Upon seeing Meng Yu¡¯s expression that was filled with rage, Meng Yufan nodded, not daring to say another word.

    ***

    At the same time, Zhu Yuan finally found Gu Xiqiao¡¯s house.

    He tidied himself up and knocked on the door, and the one that opened the door for him was a young boy.

    Wait, did he get the address wrong? Zhu Yuan stepped back and checked on the house te, before checking on the address that he had been sent on the phone before smiling. "Little boy, does Gu Xiqiao live here?"

    Hua Youlin looked at Zhu Yuan, not saying a word and stepping back in a gesture to invite him in.

    Were kids nowadays so mature? Or was it just because he lived together with Gu Xiqiao? Zhu Yuan walked into the house, and he finally met the first ¡¯person¡¯ he knew. "Hi, Xixi."

    Xixi nced at him, before squawking, "Beauty Qiao, Zhu Yuan¡¯s here! Beauty Qiao, Zhu Yuan¡¯s here!"

    Zhu Yuan had seen Xixi in theb before, and back then it only said simple words like ¡¯Beauty¡¯, and it was quite simr to a regr parrot. This was the first time that he saw it look at him with such intelligent eyes and call his name.

    \u003cI think I saw a yokai bird, should I call the cops? Waiting online!\u003e

    "What do you want?" Gu Xiqiao asked with a side-eye nce as she twirled a pen in her hand.

    "You- you- you!" Zhu Yuan walked over and saw her doing middle school physics. "If you have the time to do this, why would you not go to theb? If you were my master¡¯s student, he would probably smack you! Is it really alright to ck around all day like this?"

    Didn¡¯t she know how many people wanted to see her at theb?

    "But I¡¯m not, am I?" Gu Xiqiao waved Hua Youlin over and showed him the steps to the physics question. "If you have the time toe here, why don¡¯t you go to theb instead?"

    "Thank god you¡¯re not his student!" Rong Feishuang would probably get a heart attack from this student.

    After Zhu Yuan spoke, he handed her a bunch of papers. "Have a look at these papers."

    Gu Xiqiao epted the papers while she wrote the answer out, and after she finished writing, she stood up and flipped through the pages quickly before returning it to Zhu Yuan. Zhu Yuan didn¡¯t ept the papers, only looking at her with a grudgeful stare. "Hey, I spent a lot of time on this! Don¡¯t you think you should read through it?"

    "I did." Gu Xiqiao poured two cups of water and handed one to him, while she drank out of the other. "It¡¯s a decent medical n for sure, but there are some ces you need to improve on. Page two, second line, you should increase the PEG dosage. You didn¡¯t seed on the first try, so Grandpa Su¡¯s cell permeabilization is weaker than Su Wen¡¯s. Page seven, third line from the bottom..."

    "In conclusion, there¡¯s a lot of careless mistakes." Such mistakes shouldn¡¯t have happened especially from Zhu Yuan. In medicine, all things had to be strict and with zero mistakes, because what depended on it were the patients¡¯ lives.

    Zhu Yuan flipped a page every time she spoke, and after she finished, he looked up at her with an astonished expression, but he couldn¡¯t say anything.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had just finished making this medical n the night before, he would have thought that Gu Xiqiao memorized everything beforehand.

    "So you just, flipped?" Zhu Yuan felt as if his soul was leaving his body.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. "I have strong mental power."

    Jiang Shuxuan had such an ability too, but was this really an exnation?

    The number of people that had such mental power in the ancient martial arts world was less than one could count on one hand!

    The more he interacted with this girl, the more Zhu Yuan felt as if he was taking up spare space in the universe. Where were this girl¡¯s limits? "Beauty Gu, I think you¡¯re suitable to be my master¡¯s student now just from this memorization ability! He loves to make people memorize books, and he would be giddy if he had you as a student."

    How strong would her mental power have to be to scan through everything like that in such a short time?

    Back when he first knew her, he was still worried about her and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s future.

    Thinking back on it, he felt that he was still too young! What he should have been more worried about was whether she would tear the entire ancient martial arts world apart. Knowing Jiang Shuxuan, he would probably lend her a knife as she did!

    Medical books? Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she asked Zhu Yuan some more questions about those books, were there any ones that were left from far in the past?

    Zhu Yuan felt as if he had made the wrong decision ining here today, so he quickly changed the topic. "Anyway, what do you think about that medical n?"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression became serious as started discussing with Zhu Yuan about the medical n with pen and paper in hand.

    Jiang Shuxuan was about to go downstairs, but he paused as he saw this scene and leaned on the handrail. He didn¡¯t understand what the two were saying, but he was still attracted by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side profile.

    Her expression was aplete contrast from her usualid-back style, and such an expression made her seem solemn and dignified.

    The two of them conversed for quite a while before they were done.

    "Your ideas are really creative!" Gu Xiqiao praised. No wonder Zhu Yuan was known internationally as a medical genius, there were a lot of things that she didn¡¯t even think of.

    Zhu Yuan only stared at her with the same grudgeful stare. "Speak for yourself."

    She was so ahead of her time that it was unheard of.

    Even though he was a little prideful for being praised by her, he felt that he couldn¡¯t amount to even a puff of smoke inparison to her.

    "Right, my master wanted toe with me today." Zhu Yuan suddenly remembered. "But he got wind of some interesting news on the way here, so he went on his way."

    "What was it?" Gu Xiqiao asked.

    It was a good thing he didn¡¯te, he was older than she was after all, so it would be more polite to go see him from her end.

    As a renowned divine doctor, she was extremely respectful of Rong Feishuang.

    In medicine, experience was the most important. No genius could be a good doctor without practice, and this was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s edge in that she had the virtual arena.

    But Rong Feishuang¡¯s experience was umted from decades upon decades of practice.

    Zhu Yuan replied, "We heard that Hua Tuo¡¯s descendant came to the Imperial Capital, and when he heard this, my master was extremely excited and seemed to want to take her as a disciple. That person just returned to China and made an appearance today at the night market."

    In all honesty, Zhu Yuan believed in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ability more than some descendant of Hua Tuo, so he was honestly not that interested in that person.

    If Rong Feishuang knew of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s terrifying talent, he wouldn¡¯t bat an eysh at that descendant of Hua Tuo.

    "A descendant of Hua Tuo?" Gu Xiqiao immediately remembered Hua Jingya that she met in N City.

    "What was her name again... Hua... Something Ya... Right, Hua Jingya!" Zhu Yuan replied.

    "The news actually came from the underground, from a mafia group in Imperial Capital led by this person called Big Boss Bai." Zhu Yuan told her all the news he knew. "Apparently she saved someone important, so these triads are treating her like a goddess!"

    Plop!

    When he heard what Zhu Yuan said, Hua Youlin lost his grip on his book, and even though he picked it up quickly, his head was lowered and no one could see his expression.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. "Divine Doctor Hua, huh? I should get to see her in action when I have the chance."

    Zhu Yuan was about to say something before he saw a lean figure walk over, and he immediately stood up straight, his expression turning respectful as he bowed.

    "Boss Jiang!"

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, before looking at Gu Xiqiao. "Qingqiu is looking for me, so youe with me and we go to the art exhibition togetherter?"

    Tang Qingqiu...

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin and thought of Xiao Yun, before agreeing.

    Then, the two of them left.

    Zhu Yuan sat there with a dumbfounded expression, before looking at Hua Youlin. "So they just left you alone at home?"

    Hua Youlin nced at him. "Are you not a human?"

    Zhu Yuan: ...

    Why was he reminded of a certain poison-tongued someone?

    "Fine, let¡¯s change the topic. Who are you? Why are you living here, I¡¯ve never heard Beauty Gu talk about you..." Zhu Yuan asked many questions.

    Hua Youlin ignored him as if he were just a breeze.

    Zhu Yuan: ...

    ***

    At Tang Enterprise.

    Tang Qingqiu flipped through a bunch of documents as two people stood in front of him nervously.

    One of them was a middle-aged man, and the other was a young woman with a noticeably red mark in the shape of a palm on her face.

    Yes, it was Meng Yu and Meng Yufan.

    The door was pushed open again, and Qin Heng walked in. "Young Master, Mr. Jiang and Miss Gu are here."

    As he spoke, two people walked into the room.

    "Alright, they¡¯re here. Say what you want to say." Tang Qingqiu looked up and fixed the father-daughter duo with raised eyebrows.

    He couldn¡¯t understand why Jiang Shuxuan wanted to have an art exhibition out of nowhere until he was sent one of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s paintings.

    Ah, so it was to appease a beauty!

    What was more fun was how someone wanted to take the ce of Gu Xiqiao in the exhibition! He didn¡¯t know what sort of bad luck they had, but they picked the exact person that the exhibition was carried out for!

    Were they too sick of living a good life?

    Meng Yu was quite brave in his own right to step onto his doorstep, so Tang Qingqiu only allowed the drama to happen.

    "Mr. Jiang, my daughter was too immature, please ept our respect..." Meng Yu broke out in a cold sweat as he came face to face with Jiang Shuxuan, and he didn¡¯t even dare to raise his head as he handed him the precious artwork that he had collected.

    "Do I know you?" Jiang Shuxuan asked.

    He was expressionless, but those who knew him knew that he was burning with rage.

    Sometimes, the intrusive thought of what Gu Xiqiao would have gone through if he hadn¡¯t met her back then. Would she be all alone in the Gu family, and have been met with such injustice even if she managed toe to the Imperial Capital? Every time he thought of this, his heart ached.

    When he heard these words, Meng Yu trembled and paled considerably.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t give them any further attention, only telling Qin Heng to take them away lest they say anything to make Gu Xiqiao unhappy.

    The two immediately started begging and even shrieking for forgiveness, but with a wave of his hand, the door was mmed shut with a bang.

    "This is what you called me here to do?" Jiang Shuxuan asked with an unamused expression.

    Tang Qingqiu: .... Yes

    But he didn¡¯t dare to say it out loud, following his sixth sense that Jiang Shuxuan was in a fit of rage.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Tang Qingqiu with a smile. "We¡¯re actually going to go to the art exhibition together with Xiao Yun, the actress that¡¯s under Brother Kun. Do you want toe with?"

    "But I..." Tang Qingqiu¡¯s eyes brightened, but he nced over at the bunch of documents that Qin Heng told him to see on the desk and hesitated.

    "No problem." Gu Xiqiao walked over and took out a pen, before starting to write and scribble on the pages.

    Five minutester.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go." Gu Xiqiao smiled again. "Xiao Yun¡¯s almost here."

    Tang Qingqiu stared at Jiang Shuxuan expressionlessly: Where did you get this joker from?

    Qin Heng saw this scene when he came in, and his expression soured.

    Young Master could bezy, but why did he let Miss Gu draw on the documents like that? It would have even been better if Qin Heng did it himself!

    Tang Qingqiu pretended not to see Qin Heng¡¯s expression.

    After the three of them left, Qin Heng took the documents back into his own office.

    He flipped open the first document curiously, and there were a few ces with underline and some notes written underneath.

    Tang Qingqiu had practiced writing too, and Qin Heng had been jealous of his good looking writing before, but the words that were written on this document were even prettier than his.

    He was first attracted by the pretty words, the next was the contents of the words themselves.

    After he looked through it, he stood up all of a sudden and stared at the document with trembling hands.

    Then he picked up the next document, and even though there were just a few words, each sentence pointed out the problem within the lines of the documents and added on advice and ways to ovee those problems.

    After a few hours, Qin Heng finally finished reading through all of the documents, and he only realized so much time had passed only when his secretary knocked on the door to remind him that it was time for him to get off work.

    He thought about it for a bit and stuffed all of the documents into his bag, wanting to go through all these documents again at home, before sending Tang Qingqiu a message.

    Tang Qingqiu saw the contents of the message and he was stunned.

 Chapter 181 Mysterious Painter

    <h4>Chapter 181 Mysterious Painter</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan andpany had already arrived at the exhibition center, and upon seeing the aloof figure at the entrance, Tang Qingqiu gulped and felt his heartbeat speed up a little. He got off the car and waited for Gu Xiqiao toe over from where they parked their car.

    Suddenly, he realized that there was a man right next to her and the two of them were engaged in a conversation, and it was a rare moment where Xiao Yun was so expressive.

    Tang Qingqiu was stunned for a moment, and without waiting for Gu Xiqiao he marched over with a somewhat thunderous expression, which changed into a gentle one as soon as he entered Xiao Yun¡¯s field of vision. "Ms. Xiao, who¡¯s this?"

    "Hello, Mr. Tang." Xiao Yun hadn¡¯t expected to see Tang Qingqiu here, but she still introduced the two men to each other. "This is my friend, Wu Hongwen."

    "Enough with the formalities, we¡¯re all friends here." Gu Xiqiaomented as she appeared behind Tang Qingqiu like a ghost.

    Even though Gu Xiqiao was the only one who knew about oil painting, the others were quite interested in the exhibit too, while Xiao Yun even asked for permission to leave the studio.

    There were a lot of paintings by well-known artists being exhibited, but everyone was attracted by the oil painting that was hung in the middle.

    As if it were on purpose, this painting was ced directly in front of the entrance of the exhibit.

    The painter had used oil paints and ultra-realistic methods to create this painting tenderly and delicately, capturing the essence of a regr middle-aged Chinese woman on the canvas. As they met her gentle gaze, everyone stopped there in awe.

    It was quite clear that the painter poured their emotions into this painting.

    "I thought my student was the one who would have stolen the show..." In the office at the end of the corridor, an old man with snowy white hair sighed.

    Mr. Wu sipped some tea, his eyes not leaving the surveince footage of the camera that was pointed at the painting hung up in the middle. "If one is gold, they will shine sooner orter. No rush, Old Woo."

    This old man was Professor Woo from B University. He was very skilled, but he hadn¡¯t been lucky for the past few years, even though he had students that would have been considered the best at any other time.

    One of them was Qiu Yang, and if it weren¡¯t for Mu Yunfaning out of nowhere, he would have be world-famous.

    After a few years of silence, Professor Woo finally got another great student Meng Zihua, and he was finally going to have his grand debut after three years of teaching, but Professor Woo hadn¡¯t expected the one to be astonished to be himself.

    This was the sorrow of being born in the same generation as geniuses. If it were any other generation, Meng Zihua and Qiu Yang would have risen to the top, but now they were only apaniments.

    "Who is this ¡¯For A Millennium¡¯? I should have heard of them before..." Professor Woo spoke suddenly. "Is it another one of Mr. Sima¡¯s students?"

    Perhaps Sima Jun was the only one who could teach a student with such talent.

    "No, she¡¯s not." Mr. Wu replied. "This person refused to be Mr. Sima¡¯s apprentice, and she¡¯s unbelievably young. If we¡¯re lucky, we might get to see her today."

    "She refused to be Mr. Sima¡¯s apprentice?!" Professor Woo asked in disbelief.

    Who was Sima Jun? He was widely acknowledged as the man at the top of the art world in the country, with the greatest techniques and tons of experience under his belt evenpared with the entire world, and there was someone that didn¡¯t want to be his apprentice?

    Mr. Wu smiled. "You¡¯ll see."

    Professor Woo felt as if there was a kitten pawing and scratching at his curiosity, and he almost shouted at the other for being so coy about it.

    But all he could do now was suppress his curiosity and wait.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Mu Yunfan stood like a statue in front of that oil painting. He hadn¡¯t wanted toe here when the sponsors of this exhibition contacted him but agreed because Sima Jun said that it was a special case that he couldn¡¯t refuse.

    He hadn¡¯t expected to see this painting here.

    He stared at the painting with a thoughtful gaze, but if one looked close enough, his gaze was pointed at the name of the artist underneath¡ªFor A Millennium.

    He stood there for a while before pursing his lips and turning to walk away.

    There were many people in the exhibition hall, but it wasn¡¯t noisy or rowdy in the least, and even if anyone talked, they would speak with a low voice as to not interrupt the others.

    Many of the people were guessing the age of the painter, while others were guessing the painter¡¯s gender.

    The major consensus was that it was a man that was above thirty-five years old...

    [Beauty Qiao, I give them a hundred points for this guess!] The system spirit didn¡¯t fly out because it was scared of Jing Shuxuan, so it just stayed in the void and yed games. [No need for any improvement!]

    Gu Xiqiao only smiled and walked with the others.

    "The person in charge of the exhibition is looking for you, do you want to see them?" Jiang Shuxuan epted a call and asked.

    "Who¡¯s asking?"

    "A chairman, and a professor from B University." Jiang Shuxuan replied with a low voice.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her ear before coughing and replying, "Let¡¯s go, then."

    After the two of them left, Tang Qingqiu was left with Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen. Socializing had always been his strong suit, and after a while, he got very well acquainted with Wu Hongwen, thetter even calling him bro after knowing that he was Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s cousin.

    He heard a notification ring from his phone, and because he wasn¡¯t all that interested in art, he took out his phone to see a message from Qin Heng.

    Qin Heng: Young Master, you have to recruit Miss Gu into ourpany if you have the chance!

    Tang Qingqiu: ... She¡¯s a medic student.

    Qin Heng: That¡¯s not the point¡ªLook at this!

    [Qin Heng has sent you a photo.] [Qin Heng has sent you a photo.] [Qin Heng has sent you a photo.]

    Tang Qingqiu created Tang Enterprise by himself, so it spoke volumes of his ability on its own. Different from everyone else in the Tang Family that waspletely focused on ancient martial arts, he ran off to the outside world to create apany by himself, and back then it had almost given Master Tang a heart attack from anger.

    The photos that Qin Heng sent were the documents that Gu Xiqiao checked, and after looking at the words written, Tang Qingqiu immediately straightened his posture and replied.

    Tang Qingqiu: Are you sure she did this?

    Qin Heng: Yes, and on every single document that was on your desk too.

    Tang Qingqiu knew better than everyone that Gu Xiqiao had checked all these documents in just a few minutes. He had thought that she was just scribbling so he hadn¡¯t thought much of it until he was sent these photos.

    Tang Qingqiu: You aren¡¯t tricking me, right?

    Qin Heng: I know this is hard to believe, but you¡¯ll understand when I send the documents to youter.

    As his first secretary and confidant, Tang Qingqiu didn¡¯t actually question Qin Heng¡¯s words, but just found them a little hard to believe.

    "Say, would Miss Gu agree if I tried to recruit her to mypany?" Tang Qingqiu asked the duo.

    "Of course not, she studies medicine." Wu Hongwen replied without a second thought.

    Tang Qingqiu knew this, but he didn¡¯t want to give up on this. "But I feel she would be really suited for ourpany..."

    "You should stop that line of thought, Mr. Tang. You should know that Brother Kun practically begged her for her to budge and enter the entertainment industry." Xiao Yun replied as she nced at him with pity.

    Tang Qingqiu: "..."

    Wu Hongwen pat his shoulders with an impish smile. "Condolences, Bro Tang."

    If it were another time and ce, Tang Qingqiu would probably fight him right then and there.

    Meanwhile, Professor Woo and Mr. Wu were still discussing when someone knocked on the door, and with a "Come in," by Mr. Wu, the door was opened and two people walked in.

    Mr. Wu immediately stood up and greeted respectfully, "Mr. Jiang, Miss Gu."

    He didn¡¯t know of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity, but he was told to bepletely cordial and respectful, as well as to be careful with his words.

    Even though Mr. Jiang looked like a difficult person, he was still quite polite and wasn¡¯t as cold as he looked.

    Mr. Wu wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead before turning around and poking Professor Woo that was still spacing out. "Old Woo, didn¡¯t you want to see the artist behind that oil painting? Meet Miss Gu."

    Professor Woo was stunned after Mr. Wu told him the surprising fact.

    This girl was too young!

    The girl that came in was wearing a pastel yellow cardigan thatplimented her demeanor, and when she looked over at him, the light flickered in her eyes like a pool.

    Right, it wasn¡¯t surprising that such a person could have created that painting.

    "Professor Woo." Gu Xiqiao bowed and greeted politely, these old artists were the treasures of the country after all.

    Professor Woo was even more taken off guard by her humility, having had expected her to be arrogant and proud like other geniuses of her age, and he had even been prepared to endure any bad behavior from her end because of her talent, but she was actually very respectful and polite.

    "Miss Gu, it might be impolite to ask, but who is your teacher?" Professor Woo wanted to know who could teach such a splendid student.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. "I don¡¯t have a teacher, and I¡¯m a medic student from A University.."

    Professor Woo blinked dumbly at this reply.

    Before he could say anything, a call came in from Xiao Yun, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression immediately changed when she picked up the phone. "Sorry Professor Woo, talk next time. My friend is in trouble."

    "No, no, it¡¯s fine." Professor Woo waved in a gesture that he understood, while his other hand clutched his chest as if he were about to have a heart attack.

    After the two left, he immediately dialed up the phone number of a friend of his from A University.

    "Old Jiang, I saw an unparalleled genius today, the most talented youngster that I have ever seen! She doesn¡¯t lose to Mu Yunfan in the least, but she¡¯s a medicine student at your university! No, this can¡¯t do! I¡¯ll have her transferred to our university immediately!"

    On the other side of the phone, Professor Jiang continued to reassure and calm him down. Why was this scenario so familiar?

    ***

    The reason why Gu Xiqiao went out in such a rush was that Yao Jiamu was hurt, and currently admitted into a hospital.

    She clicked open her friend list, and thankfully Yao Jiamu didn¡¯t have any other problems other than some loss on his chi and blood.

    What perturbed Gu Xiqiao about the situation was that Yao Jiamu was part of the mafia, and a somewhat well-known one at that because of his fighting ability. Normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt him with his ancient martial arts, but he was suddenly hurt so badly that he was admitted into a hospital?

    The car stopped in front of the entrance to the hospital.

    Gu Xiqiao stood there and waited for Jiang Shuxuan to park as she discussed with the system spirit about Yao Jiamu¡¯s condition, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief after the system spirit showed her his medical report.

    Jiang Shuxuan still hadn¡¯te yet, but she saw someone that she didn¡¯t want to see the most.

    "Brother Mu, she¡¯s the one that stole my chance! Daddy became like this all because of her!" Meng Yufan suddenly grabbed Mu Yunfan¡¯s arm when she saw the girl standing at the entrance, her tone filled with malice and rage.

    Mu Yunfan looked over, seeing the visage of the girl that would be the center of attention no matter where she went.

    His expression turned from dazed to disgust in a moment as he furrowed his brows tightly, thinking of Meng Yu that was still lying on a hospital bed as he walked toward her and stood in front of her. "You¡¯re the one that harmed Uncle?"

 Chapter 182 Meeting Hua Jingya Again

    <h4>Chapter 182 Meeting Hua Jingya Again</h4>

    Mu Yunfan came from a famous family, and had always been a kind, gentle pampered son of a wealthy family. However, now he had developed a cold and aloof appearance, holding everything close to his own heart, not wanting to share it at all.

    The reason was because Mu Yunfan was kidnapped by his family enemies when he was just five years old, and he had also wandered alone for a period of time. During this time, he came to understand the cruel world, seeing the bullies and arrogant faces of the shameless people that he came across.

    The first time he had seen Gu Xiqiao, it was when she had rejected the suggestion of his butler for a ride when he was stranded at the side of the road. The second he saw her, she was bullying a Japanese girl...

    Each meeting with her was unpleasant, evoking the darker emotions within his own heart. These thoughts kept flooding his rational mind, and that was also why he became angry when he heard Meng Yufan¡¯s words, rushing forward angrily without much thought.

    One was a girl that left bad impressions on him every time they had a chance meeting, while the other was a childhood friend of his, who do you think he would believe?

    He stared at the beautiful face, her clear eyes were bright and reflecting the light, not a trace of timidness in them.

    Hearing Mu Yunfan¡¯s words, Meng Yufan suddenly changed as though she had found the strongest support pir she could. "It¡¯s you who hurt my dad!" He had been ndered by her, and now he was dismissed, even being admitted to the hospital because of his high blood pressure from all the above. "Pay me back a father!"

    A lie would eventually be true if repeated a hundred times, and Meng Yufan¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as she said, raising her hands, rushing toward Gu Xiqiao.

    Mu Yunfan was stunned at that, not expecting her to actually raise her hands against the other even though she had shouted it. Although Meng Yufan was an arrogant girl, she had never done this sort of thing in such a public area.

    Bop!

    There were some onlookers at the entrance of the hospital, and most of them thought that it was the beautiful girl that had been knocked down. Due to the shing lights, they could only see clearly after a while, and realized that it was that girl that started the fight that had fallen down instead.

    "You dare to hit me?!" Meng Yufan couldn¡¯t believe it.

    "Why not?" Gu Xiqiao stood, a condescending look on her face as she looked toward Meng Yufan, contempt clear in her eyes. "The fight is done, consider our feud over. I didn¡¯t have any designs for you at first, but you¡¯re the one who insists on rushing headlong into me."

    "As for me taking your chance? Don¡¯t ce such a burden on my shoulders." Gu Xiqiao took out her phone, fiddling with it for a while, before a voice recording yed out. "You should know the best, who¡¯s the one who did it, hm?"

    The audio was yed on loudspeaker, and it was a conversation between two people, being Meng Yufan and her butler. Mu Yunfan looked toward Meng Yufan who was still on the ground, disbelief clear in his eyes. Of course he recognized the voices, it was definitely Meng Yufan.

    But Gu Xiqiao was not done yet. Looking down at Meng Yufan on the ground, she continued, "How many other despicable things have you done just because you are Meng Yu¡¯s daughter? Ignoring what you did to me, weren¡¯t you the one who stole Shen Nianzhi¡¯s opportunity? Didn¡¯t you also unite the students to drive out a neer from the world of oil painting? ... Andstly, you said that I harmed your father? It¡¯s because all of these have been exposed that your father has been driven up the wall by you! Meng Yufan, with gods above us as witnesses, do you dare to swear to the heavens that any of the things I¡¯ve just said are wrong?"

    Her words flowed like a beautiful song as she stood with her back straight, an elegant and graceful pose as she spoke. Her clear, sparkling eyes seemed to be able to see through all of the ugliness in the world.

    Mu Yunfan suddenly felt like a scoundrel, and he lowered his head, not daring to look into those pure eyes.

    Thinking back to the words that he had just spit out at her, a burst of embarrassment crept into his heart. Being nced at with her all-seeing eyes, he felt his face flush.

    In the beginning, Meng Yufan had got up, fully intending to w that b*tch¡¯s face, but she had to take a step back at every word Gu Xiqiao had hurled at her. When Gu Xiqiao had finally finished her piece, Meng Yufan had copsed to the ground, as if the strings holding her up had been cut. She had no strength in her limbs anymore, and those previously vicious eyes were now filled with panic instead.

    There were a lot of people who had gathered around, and some of them held some sympathy in their eyes for Meng Yufan in the beginning. However, after listening to all of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, their eyes gradually grew colder, and disbelief as well as scorn filled their eyes, as they continued to talk amongst themselves.

    Boom!

    A thunderstorm started immediately after that without warning, and just as the downpour started, an umbre was stretched over her head just in the nick of time. Gu Xiqiao looked up to find Jiang Shuxuan beside her, not noticing when he had arrived at all.

    She nced toward Meng Yufan onest time, her voice indifferent as she spoke, "Meng Yufan, the heavens are always watching what humans are doing. I hope you remember that and turn over a new leaf."

    The rain hade suddenly, but Mu Yunfan didn¡¯t bother searching for cover. He walked slowly toward Meng Yufan, a dull tone from his mouth, "Was everything she said the truth?"

    "Brother Mu, Brother Mu, you have to believe me..." Meng Yufan reached out to tug the corner of Mu Yunfan¡¯s shirt, a ray of hope shining in her eyes. She didn¡¯t have anything now, only her rtionship with Mu Yunfan and Sima Jun. Panic gripped her heart painfully. If even Mu Yunfan didn¡¯t care for her, then she really would have no chance to do anything anymore.

    Mu Yunfan looked into her eyes, not needing a verbal answer from her at all. Wasn¡¯t the answer already in his heart?

    Every word that person had said still echoed in his mind over and over, snapping him out of his daze and into a feeling of shame and guilt.

    He turned to the other direction, seeing the thin figure who was being held under an umbre. A child that seemed to be in a hurry ran into her then, the soup in the thermos in the child¡¯s hands spilling on her. However, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t get angry, but instead spoke some kind words toward the child.

    The expression on her face was gentle, and the wrinkles from her furrowed eyebrows during her confrontation just a while ago were no longer present. She lookedpletely different from the aggressive impression she presented just now, and even the mist from the cold of the rain did nothing to conceal her beauty.

    Mu Yunfan looked at the scene for a while more, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. He didn¡¯t even know if it was due to self-deprecating or a bitter smile. He slowly pried Meng Yufan¡¯s fingers from his clothes, and then he turned to leave.

    Meng Yufan¡¯s eyes widened, the blood draining from her face as she watched Mu Yunfan walk out of sight.

    ***

    "Brother Jiang, where did you get the umbre?" Gu Xiqiao asked as she took off the soup-stained coat. She didn¡¯t let her mood be dampened by those two useless people, she was alive and having fun in life this time, after all.

    As they reached the hospital building, Jiang Shuxuan kept away the umbre. "When I came out, I expected it to rain, so I brought it along."

    Gu Xiqiao: Liar! Your hands were clearly empty when we left this morning!

    Jiang Shuxuan pretended that he didn¡¯t see the questioning gaze that she sent his way, taking off his own coat to put on her instead.

    There was still some warmth in the coat when she put it on, and Gu Xiqiao smiled as she curled her hands around the soft material. The both of them were well aware of their feelings already anyway, it was just not said out loud. With that, the two of them continued walking toward the elevator.

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s ward was on the twenty-seventh floor. It was a single room, and there was a group of people already gathered inside.

    "Xiao Mutou, I heard that you were injured, and my first reaction was happiness. Do you think I¡¯m abnormal?" Wu Hongwen nced at Yao Jiamu, confirming that the other was well, he then sat down at the side to peel an apple, and his tone was slightly gloating.

    It was hard to me him, because Yao Jiamu had always been beating him up, it was rare to see him in this frustrated state for a change. Was it possible to not be happy?

    Not mentioning Wu Hongwen, even Xiao Yun had a look of excitement on her face. Although she was a little anxious when she was rushing over, seeing that Yao Jiamu was fine, she had calmed down.

    Yao Jiamu nced at him and said, "I feel like strangling you."

    Thoughtless so-called friends!!

    "It¡¯s actually quite a serious injury, if it wasn¡¯t Young Master Yao. If it was anyone else, the person would probably be dead." A soft voice came from somewhere beside him.

    "Miss Hua, it¡¯s okay. Little Mu has a stronger than average body, even if another five or ten knives came at him, he would still be fine. See, he still has the energy to strangle me." Seeing that it was Hua Jingya, Wu Hongwen¡¯s tone was slightly more respectful. He had heard from Yao Jiamu¡¯s underlings that this Miss Hua is a divine doctor, and because of Gu Xiqiao, he was more respectful of the profession of doctor. "Speaking of which, Xiao Mutou, you¡¯re so capable now, Being able to get out of such a predicament, the title of ¡¯Young Master¡¯ is really powerful, huh?"

    Hua Jingya pursed her lips and smiled. Because she had saved a member of the Bai gang, she was now quite well known in the streets. If this continued on, she would be able to achieve her goals soon.

    She was the admiration of countless people in the Bai gang, and those fierce underworld members who saw her also greeted her with a respectful ¡¯Miss Hua¡¯ whenever she saw them.

    Being on friendly terms with a divine doctor who might save your life one day, who would dare to cause trouble with her?

    Because of this, Hua Jingya was an extremely sought after figure, and was the center of attention whenever she went.

    Being regarded as a guest of honor by Boss Bai, her status among the Bai gang was no less than a division leader.

    "Young Master Yao, Miss Gu has arrived." Ah Gen said as he knocked on the door, with an excited expression on his face.

    "Let her in!" Yao Jiamu¡¯s eyes also brightened, sitting up immediately.

    Hua Jingya narrowed her eyes at their reaction, feeling a little puzzled. She knew Ah Gen, Boss Bai¡¯s right hand, and he was usually an unsmiling face. Except for being a little respectful toward Yao Jiamu, there was no other person that he ced importance in, and that included herself.

    Her gaze swept across the room, and it seemed that everyone else was also excited and anticipating this ¡¯Miss Gu¡¯s¡¯ arrival.

    The door was already wide open, and she seemed to hear Ah Gen calling out ¡¯Miss Gu¡¯. She raised her head, and was immediately met with a stunning face.

    The girl who walked in was wearing a ck coat, and it made her already pale face stand out more like snow. Her eyebrows were a delicate arch, and her beauty was indescribably ethereal. The features of the man next to her seemed to be carved with a knife, and he wore a white shirt, but even such ordinary clothing was unable to hide the aura and impression of him being on another level than normal people.

    How familiar these two people were! Hua Jingya remembered the pain of being held by her throat by Wang Jun. If it wasn¡¯t for her own superior medical skills, she would have been useless already.

    The two of them didn¡¯t look at her, walking toward the bed instead.

    "You really get more childish the longer you live." Gu Xiqiao said as she looked toward Yao Jiamu lying on the bed, her tone full of disapproval.

    Yao Jiamu scratched the back of his head, his face flushed. The usually solemn and cold man suddenly turned into a boy-next-door, talking more meekly, "It¡¯s not that, I just didn¡¯t express it better, and those people were just too shameless..."

    Wu Hongwen shoved a cut piece of apple into Yao Jiamu¡¯s mouth, not being able to bear such a look on his face anymore. "Just admit that you¡¯re weak, and even quibbling won¡¯t change this fact!"

    He offered the remaining apples toward Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. "Er Qiao, Boss Jiang, do you want some apples?"

    Gu Xiqiao pushed the te back to him. "No way, we don¡¯t even know if you washed your hands after you went to the toilet."

    "Cough cough!" Yao Jiamu¡¯s face turned red as he tried to swallow the apple and choke it out at the same time.

    "Young Master Yao¡¯s wounds will be aggravated and reopen if this goes on. It¡¯s just been bandaged." Hua Jingya suddenly said.

    The room fell into an awkward silence at this, and Wu Hongwen stood suddenly, smiling brightly as he walked toward her. "Miss Hua, I¡¯m going to change Xiao Mutou¡¯s dressing now. We¡¯re not that close so this might be a little ufortable, so could you wait outside for a while?"

    Ever since Gu Xiqiao had entered the room, all the gazes that were initially focused on her were now on the other girl instead, and this already made Hua Jingya feel a stab of dejection in her heart. Now hearing Wu Hongwen say what clearly was nonsense, she clenched her fist tightly, but left the room with her head held high.

    Just as the door was about to close, she turned her head to look in, just to meet Gu Xiqiao¡¯s dark and deep eyes. She shivered at that, before closing the door resolutely.

    She didn¡¯te out of her daze until they broke eye contact.

    Ah Gen was standing outside, not looking at her. Hua Jingya suddenly opened her mouth to ask, "Aren¡¯t you going to monitor those people inside? I¡¯m afraid of what will happen if Young Master Yao gets hurt a second time."

    Yao Jiamu had gotten injured this time for Boss Bai¡¯s sake, and Hua Jingya knew. She was also well aware how loyal Ah Gen was toward Boss Bai and Yao Jiamu, so she had thought that he would go in immediately once he heard her words, but Ah Gen merely nced at her, replying in a deadpanned voice, "Miss Gu is inside."

    In other words, he was implying that since Miss Gu was inside, he could rest assured that nothing of the like would happen.

    Hua Jingya gave him a stiff smile at his answer, turning to leave after. Her nails dug into her palm painfully. Why was this person appearing everywhere?!

    What the hell was she actually capable of?

 Chapter 183 Unpleasant Meetings

    <h4>Chapter 183 Unpleasant Meetings</h4>

    "Why do I have a feeling that Hua Jingya is a bit unpleasant to look at?" Wu Hongwen said suddenly, his eyes still on the door that had just closed.

    Yao Jiamu nced at him, nodding slightly. "Just a little."

    "I feel that Hua Jingya doesn¡¯t like Er Qiao," Xiao Yun said thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes. "Er Qiao, do you know her?"

    Hearing Xiao Yun¡¯s words, Gu Xiqiao spared another nce at Yao Jiamu¡¯s wounds before chuckling slightly. "There have been several chance meetings with her. Why didn¡¯t you let her treat your injuries?"

    The front part of her reply was to Xiao Yun, thetter part was directed at Yao Jiamu.

    "I think her appearance at that time was just too coincidental." Yao Jiamu furrowed his eyebrows. This Hua Jingya, when she had firste to the Bai gang, she had saved somebody. Later on, she proposed a medicated bath that could strengthen bodies, and she already had a ce in the gang, and was sought after by many people.

    Yao Jiamu finds something about the entire situation weird, but he couldn¡¯t pinpoint the reason why.

    "Don¡¯t think too much about it," Gu Xiqiao said, reaching into her pockets to dig around for a while, before taking out a small bottle and throwing it at him.

    He caught it with one hand, finding the bottle to contain the same kind of medicine that Luo Weng had once given him before. Knowing that the effects of this medicine were extraordinary, he put it away silently. He was thinking that he should bring Gu Xiqiao to walk around in the gang one day, see if those guys would change their goddess or not!

    Adding on those martial art techniques that Gu Xiqiao had thrown at him to strengthen his own body, how could it not be better than those medicated baths that Hua Jingya had suggested?

    Thinking of it suddenly, he asked, "Is there any shortcut that can make someone strong in a short span of time?"

    "Going against the naturalws like that, everything you do will have a hefty price to pay." Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t the one that replied, but Jiang Shuxuan.

    His voice was deep and solemn, echoing heavily within Yao Jiamu¡¯s mind. Thetter raised his head to look at the former, and was stunned for a long time before being able toe back to his senses.

    Although the few in the ward were no longer as apprehensive toward Jiang Shuxuan as before, they were still more reserved when he was around. Gu Xiqiao hade over initially to see how badly Yao Jiamu was injured, and seeing how he still had the energy tough and jump around, she threw the medicine at him and went home with a relieved heart.

    "Then, I¡¯ll be leaving too. There¡¯s still a lot of things to be done in the student council." Wu Hongwen got up, stuffing the remaining apples into Yao Jiamu¡¯s hands.

    Xiao Yun picked up her bag and stood too. "I¡¯ll be filming tomorrow, and after that I have to rush back for ss. Hope you recover soon."

    Everyone left at the same time, leaving Yao Jiamu alone and he felt some sadness welling up in him.

    "Was I just abandoned?" He asked faintly, looking toward Ah Gen.

    "Yes you were, Young Master Yao." Ah Gen said without trying to disguise the truth.

    Yao Jiamu: What do I do when my heart hurts? Straightforward boy! Let me tell you what good you are!

    ***

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen followed after Gu Xiqiao, going down the steps together. When they reached the entrance, the rain was still beating down heavily. They stood in front of the hospital, thinking that they probably had to run in the rain, but a ck car came to a stop in front of them unexpectedly.

    The window of the car rolled down, revealing a familiar face. Gu Xiqiao threw a ck umbre out from the car at them, and Wu Hongwen reacted quickly, grabbing the item.

    "Xiao Yunzi, have you noticed..." Wu Hongwen started as he watched the car drive away. Opening the umbre, the two friends walked into the night. "It feels like the distance between us and them is bing wider once again."

    He waspletely lost in the short conversation between Yao Jiamu and Jiang Shuxuan previously, as though they were worlds apart.

    He hadn¡¯t felt like this in a very long time.

    Disregarding Gu Xiqiao, he felt that it would be difficult to even surpass Yao Jiamu now, and it made him feel helpless. He always thought that he had been giving his all, thinking that he had been improving, butpared to Gu Xiqiao, his progress was just too slow.

    Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t help but touch the pocket that held his phone, deep in thought.

    Xiao Yun was also silent for a while, before finally opening her mouth, "Work harder."

    She didn¡¯t have anything else, only her patience and persistence that others couldn¡¯t match up to. She knew the gap between herself and them, but she never had the idea to give up. Even in terms of ancient martial arts, all she did was keep on practicing to catch up.

    After thinking a while more, she added, "And y less games."

    Wu Hongwen: His gaming time had already been cut down to an hour a day. If he had to shorten it more, what was the meaning in life then?

    After a beat, he sighed long and loud. ¡¯Fine, let¡¯s reduce it by another five minutes then, but why does my heart hurt so much at the thought?¡¯

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao sat in the passenger seat, ying games on her phone, until Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s phone started ringing. His phone was in his coat pocket, and she pulled it out, seeing the words ¡¯Baili¡¯ on the screen.

    She swiped down to ept the call, and ced it beside Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s ear.

    "Shuxuan." Baili Bin¡¯s voice on the other side was a bit dry, but there was also a slight tremble in it. "The hole in the trial tower has been closed."

    Screech!

    The car stopped suddenly, and there was a fire in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes. The hand clutching the steering wheel tightened as he asked in a deep voice, "What happened?"

    No one had more understanding of the hole at the trial tower than himself, and the things that had been left behind by their ancestors were just too high-end, and even for him, he had resorted to using brute force to plug it temporarily. And now, Baili Bin was saying that there was a solution?

    Baili Bin said a few words, but then he scratched his head. "Forget it, I can¡¯t exin it in a few words over the phone. Come over and you¡¯ll understand. The ancient martial arts world is in chaos right now, and these young people are just too hot-blooded. The only person that can control them is you."

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hearing was good, and she heard the entire conversation clearly. She seemed to have heard a mention of herself in the conversation, but it was vague, not understanding what it meant.

    Trial tower? Was it a very powerful thing?

    Jiang Shuxuan took the phone from her and ced it back, his eyes staring at Gu Xiqiao. His eyes were unwavering, and it was a little too bright for her, or maybe too smoldering. She called out cautiously, "Brother Jiang?"

    "It¡¯s nothing." Jiang Shuxuan took a deep breath, restarting the car.

    The car came to a stop in the parking lot, and Jiang Shuxuan reached out to help her undo the seatbelt, but he didn¡¯t let go after. "I need to go out for a bit, wait for me toe back."

    They just reached home and he had to leave again? Gu Xiqiao was slightly stunned, looking at Jiang Shuxuan in a daze.

    "It won¡¯t be too long this time, I¡¯ll be back tomorrow." Jiang Shuxuan rubbed the top of her head, saying in a soft and gentle voice.

    Gu Xiqiao got down the car, biting her lip. "Then, I¡¯ll see youter, Brother Jiang."

    "Go on up." Jiang Shuxuan came down from the car too, watching her walk toward the elevator. The elevator door closed, and started going up before stopping on a floor. A few seconds after, his phone rang.

    "I¡¯ve reached."

    Jiang Shuxuan took a deep breath again, getting in the car and leaving the parking lot, his eyes darkening.

    He couldn¡¯t... hide it much longer, could he?

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao received a message from Yao Jiamu that he had been discharged from the hospital. She read it twice to be sure, and then raised her head. "Little Hua, clean up, we¡¯re going out."

    Hua Youlin, who had been doing his homework, put down his pen as he looked up. "Can we bring Xixi and Haha?"

    "Nope," Gu Xiao replied after thinking a while.

    "Oh." Hua Youlin got up, looking at the two pets, giving them an expression that said, ¡¯I tried my best, there was nothing I could do.¡¯

    Xixi: Rubbish! Useless! Hua Youlin, Xixi had high hopes for you!

    Gu Xiqiao ignored Xixi¡¯s pitiful eyes, grabbing her keys and taking Hua Youlin out.

    Because Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t around, Gu Xiqiao was once again in her little pink car. It¡¯s not like she disliked her little pink car, after knowing that it was Jiang Shuxuan that had chosen the color, she hade to slowly ept this car.

    It was just Hua Youlin who was sitting in the passenger seat with a stiff face.

    "What are you thinking about, such a look on your face?" Gu Xiqiao asked, ncing at his face.

    Hua Youlin nced back at her with a pensive expression. "Sister Gu, I¡¯m thinking about a very serious life problem."

    Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow at him, motioning for him to continue.

    "Will riding in a car of this color affect my tall and mighty image?" Hua Youlin¡¯s face waspletely straight and serious when he said it.

    "... Child, first of all, you need to actually have a tall and mighty image."

    The system spirit floated in the air. "Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re too poisonous. So poisonous toward such a cute and naive Little Hua. Have you ever thought about his young and innocent mind?"

    ¡¯Would you like to try it instead?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao asked.

    "..." Thanks but no thanks.

    Gu Xiqiao was a bit short-tempered these days, it was better not to provoke her too much.

    Gu Xiqiao drove the car to the east side of the city, where Boss Bai¡¯s nest was. There was a narrow road ahead, and since she hade here once before, she knew that there was no ce to stop the car. So she turned to Hua Youlin. "I¡¯ll be heading to the parking lot now, do you want to go together, or do you want to get down and wait, o great mighty and tall one?"

    Hua Youlin gazed at her for a while, before silently getting out from the car, using action to demonstrate his own lofty and formidable image.

    That was fine, she¡¯d head over to the parking lot herself then.

    He waited for a while, and seeing that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t going to being anytime soon, he took out his phone to y a game. Gu Xiqiao had downloaded it for him yesterday night, and just as he pressed the ¡¯Start¡¯ button, a gentle voice from behind him suddenly. "Hua Youlin?"

    The voice was very gentle, but to Hua Youlin¡¯s ears, he felt numb the moment he heard it, a monstrous hatred shing in his eyes. He would never forget this voice even if he died!

    "It really is you, I thought I was wrong." Hua Jingya walked toward him slowly, a graceful smile on her face. She looked at Hua Youlin¡¯s dressing thoughtfully. "Looks like you¡¯re doing well."

    Hua Youlin bit his lip harshly, tasting the blood in his mouth, but the pain was ignored as he continued to look at Hua Jingya with eyes full of contempt.

    Hua Jingya ignored his hateful gaze, and touched his head affectionately, saying in a soft voice, "Hua Youlin, trash must know their own ce. You have to be obedient, otherwise, who knows what I will do to your ¡¯Sister Gu¡¯?

    Although the touch was soft, he could only feel like it was a slimy poisonous snake that was caressing his head. He was trembling, but it was not due to fear. He raised his head and stared back at Hua Jingya with a pair of bright, ck eyes.

    Hua Jingya had always thought that he had died in a ditch somewhere, until she saw the pink convertible just now, recognizing Hua Youlin and Gu Xiqiao immediately. She didn¡¯t expect to see Hua Youlin alive and well after so many years, and he even seemed to have some boldness in him now.

    They were the two people that she hated most in her life, especially that Gu Xiqiao. Hua Jingya didn¡¯t know that her hatred for a person could reach this extent, and she didn¡¯t have the chancest time, but this time, she would bide her time slowly. She wanted to see Gu Xiqiao knocked down little by little, getting hated and disgusted by everyone in the world. When she thought about it, a feeling of tion would rise in her heart.

    Oh, how she really looked forward to the day when it happens!

    "You wouldn¡¯t dare!" Hearing Hua Jingya¡¯s worlds, Hua Youlin¡¯s eyes were filled with fear. He knew just what this b*tch in front of him was capable of! She really had the capability to do what she said!

    He reached out and gave her a hard push.

    However, he never had the chance to.

    Hua Jingya grabbed his hand, gripping it harshly. It was like watching a clown dancing. Ever since Wang Jun had held her by the throat, she had paid attention to her own limitations, drinking medicinal concoctions every day, and she was unlike the weak chicken she was back then. "You know full well whether or not I dare to."

    "I didn¡¯t know that Miss Hua is familiar with our Little Hua." Azy voice suddenly came from behind her.

    Hua Jingya stiffened, lowering her eyes to conceal the disdain in them and loosening her hold. There was another person in front of her in the next moment, and she raised her head to meet that stunning face once again!

    "Miss Gu," Hua Jingya greeted, letting go as she chuckled. She looked around, but didn¡¯t see a peep of Jiang Shuxuan. Rolling her eyes, she said, "Is Mr. Jiang not apanying you today?"

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t like the fact that she brought up Jiang Shuxuan, and only gave her a cold grunt, before taking Hua Youlin¡¯s hand and walking away, ignoring her.

    She looked extremely majestic and noble as she walked away.

    Hua Jingya had grown used to being sought after by the people in the Bai gang nowadays, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ignorance was something that she couldn¡¯t tolerate. She curled her lips coldly, dialing a number. "Uncle, Divine Doctor Rong called me yesterday. Prepare the Hua family to enter the ancient martial arts world."

    Those useless members of the Hua family only knew how to guard and keep their skills to themselves, and not make better use of their talents. This time, she would make the Hua family shine, let Gu Xiqiao see her capabilities, and those people who never looked in her direction, to look at her with looks full of admiration and awe!

 Chapter 184 - A Bunch Of Police Officers Outside

    <h4>Chapter 184: A Bunch Of Police Officers Outside</h4>

    Hua Youlin was led to walk step by step by Gu Xiqiao, the warmth their joined hands gradually thawed the ice that had built up in his heart, calming him down.

    It was like there was nothing to fear, as long as she was there with him.

    And she didn¡¯t ask him anything, not a single word.

    Hua Youlin couldn¡¯t help but tighten the grip he had on her hand.

    Gu Xiqiao spared him a nce, and then realized something. This child really must be a tsundere.

    There was a courtyard in front for them, and Yao Jiamu was already waiting for them the moment he got word that Gu Xiqiao had arrived. He grinned when she appeared in his line of sight, waving. ¡°Boss Bai is waiting in the back room, go on ahead!¡±

    Although he had recognized Boss Bai as his godfather, he was still calling him ¡®Boss Bai¡¯ all day long, not changing the way he addressed him at all.

    Boss Bai wasn¡¯t concerned by it either, since he was used to being called ¡®Boss Bai¡¯ anyway. Being called ¡®father¡¯ would be too elegant, and he wouldn¡¯t stand for it, it would be even worse if he was called ¡®godfather¡¯ too.

    Ever since Gu Xiqiao had cured Boss Bai in that one fell swoop, he had not seen her in person again. Later on, he received a message from Gu Xiqiao to cut off all goods supplied to the Bai family. At that time, Boss Bai felt that Gu Xiqiao was extremely bold, tantly challenging the Bai family like that, but he didn¡¯t hesitate to follow her instructions.

    Although he was a little anxious in the beginning, it was the Bai family after all, how many people can challenge the Bai family ande out alive in the Imperial Capital?

    However, seeing Yao Jiamu¡¯s calm look, he was beyond curious, how much confidence did Yao Jiamu have in Gu Xiqiao?

    Up till the day when news of the Bai family going bankrupt, and that many of their members had been punished. He was stunned for a long time. How did the Bai family go bankrupt? Were they really destroyed by a girl who was less than twenty? While the outside world was in an uproar, he was also in an unstable state.

    As he was once a member of the Bai family, he knew more than anyone, that the most terrifying part of the Bai family was not politics or business, but a mysterious force that even he feared.

    But Gu Xiqiao managed to overthrow them without so much as a blink? Needless to say, from that moment on, he had a new understanding of just how strong Gu Xiqiao was.

    Not only did she possess the supernatural powers needed to cure his ¡®illness¡¯ back then, her methods were also extremely meticulous, covering every corner. Boss Bai felt that she wasn¡¯t any regr being.

    ¡°Miss Gu,e and take a look, these are the things that I¡¯ve gotten people to bring over.¡± Boss Bai waved his hands, signaling for the people to carry out the boxes upon boxes that held antiques in them to the yard for Gu Xiqiao to see.

    The yard was full of people who were from the Bai gang, training. All of them were strong in terms of strength, bulky with muscle and they look very intimidating.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at them, then slowly walked toward the antiques. They seem to be all top-grade items, and her slender white fingers grazed and examined the items inside. Suddenly, her finger moved, and a golden tortoise glowing with a cold light was unearthed. She turned to Hua Youlin, narrowing her eyes as she said, ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Hua Youline shook his head immediately, with one look you could tell it looked like some gaudy thing that rich people wore, why the heck would he like it?!

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you do, this is yours,¡± Gu Xiqiao muttered to herself, pretending not to have heard him, and shoving the small tortoise into her pockets.

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± Then what was the point of asking me just now?

    If the system spirit had heard Hua Youlin¡¯s words, it would definitely retort with: Of course it was just to make a fool out of you, child.

    ¡°These things are all customary,¡± Yao Jiamu said, and thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°I¡¯ll send someone to send it to your hometer.¡±

    There were so many antiques, and someone with a discerning eye could tell how valuable it all were with just a nce. The items were definitely not cheap,parable to an entire fortune of a family in the Imperial Capital. Other than those bigger families, only Boss Bai would be able to spend so much money on procuring these antiques.

    The people who were training in the yard had their eyes which were full of admiration trained on Gu Xiqiao. They had never seen her before, so they naturally didn¡¯t know who she was, but looking at how cautious and respectful Boss Bai was treating her, they could tell that she wasn¡¯t any ordinary person.

    When Hua Jingya came back, she walked into this scene.

    A few days ago, she remembered Boss Bai searching for these things, and she had thought that he was doing it for her sake. She had helped the Bai gang so much after all, giving them medicated baths to triple the strength of the Bai gang¡¯s people. Even Rong Feishuang was surprised, and this was also an area that Hua Jingya was extremely proud of. She was the only one in the world that could make this medicated bath!

    The Hua family had been away from the world for a long time, and money was the first resource she needed when they emerged once again. This was the solution she came up with after a month, and so she managed to enter the Bai gang, and her objective was their finances and resources.

    But she didn¡¯t expect that Boss Bai would be dimwitted to the extent that he would give all these treasures to Gu Xiqiao. What a waste of all those valuable items on someone who probably didn¡¯t know half the meaning of all these items here!

    Hua Jingya let out an angry breath, feeling her heart bleed at the pile of antiques that she saw in front of her. She stood there and stared for a while, and turned to leave without saying anything.

    From the corner of her eyes, Gu Xiqiao watched as Hua Jingya left. She turned slowly toward Boss Bai, her eyes bright as she said, ¡°Boss Bai, be careful of vile people and traitors.¡±

    Beware of vile people and traitors? What did that mean?

    Boss Bai didn¡¯t really understand her words, and he looked toward Gu Xiqiao, wanting to ask about it, only to find the other once again among the pile of antiques, not borating further on her statement.

    Boss Bai would always ce importance on the words spoken by Gu Xiqiao. For her to say them, there must be a reason behind it.

    Vile persons were pervasive and unpredictable, and even if Boss Bai wanted to prepare ording to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, he would eventually be disrupted and be caught off guard.

    Three dayster, a group of traitors were uncovered in the Bai gang. There were some from the lower levels, and even the higher levels. They not only flinched money from the gang, they also took away a part of the forces and secrets from the gang. Money was nothingpared to the secrets that were taken, as the secrets itself could potentially bring ruin to the entire gang.

    The person who had initiated the rebellion was Hua Jingya, and she took the group of people from the Bai gang to join the Qingyun gang, who wasparable in strength to the Bai gang.

    ¡°Miss Hua, wee to our Qingqyun gang.¡± The boss of the Qingyun gang was a middle-aged man full of malicious aura. He had a scar that nted across his face, and a smile that was terrifying. ¡°Boss Bai didn¡¯t see the treasure right in front of his eyes, we definitely won¡¯t be making the same mistake!¡±

    The leader of the Qingyun gang was named Li Xiang. In terms of notoriety, he was more well known than Boss Bai¡ªhis methods being extremely bloody and viscous. Even saying his name in the underworld was not encouraged.

    During this period, the name Hua Jingya had also spread on the streets, and his nt in the Bai gang informed him that there was a divine doctor in the gang that could make a medicated bath to triple the strength of a person!

    Boss Bai didn¡¯t cherish this amazing and alluring opportunity, which indirectly pushed the person to join their Qingyun gang. The boss of the Bai gang who had never been at a disadvantage was also just a human who made mistakes, and Li Xiang¡¯s eyes were full of disdain when he thought about it.

    ¡°Miss Hua, word on the street is that you can make this miracle medicated bath...¡± When Li Xiang mentioned this, the eyes of everyone in the room lit up, their smoldering gazending on the young woman.

    Hua Jingya enjoyed the attention of everyone in the room on her, and she turned the wine ss in her hands slowly. Taking a breath, she opened her mouth, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll let you see it tonight.¡±

    At midnight, everyone present was rowdy and excited. The entire Qingyun gang was in a celebration mood and causing an uproar.

    Li Xiang looked at the bulging muscles of his subordinates with an extremely pleased and excited smile on his face. ¡°Haha! Miss Hua, you¡¯re really a divine doctor. The day for our Qingyun gang to move forward in the world is not far off now!¡±

    Hua Jingya had a smug smile on her face as she listened to his words. ¡°Moving forward in the world, then for the first step, shouldn¡¯t it be to erase the Bai gang?¡±

    As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the two shared a nce, a sinister smile appearing on their faces as they did so.

    The strength of the underworld had shifted, and the Bai gang who used to stand toe-to-toe with the Qingyun gang fell instantly from the ranks. The sudden change in it exploded in the streets, and the people could faintly guess that the underworld of the Imperial City had once again changed, and facing such a time, the most important thing was to know which side to stand on.

    And it seemed that almost everyone was standing on the side of the Qingyun gang.

    Divine Doctor Hua, the magical medicated bath. These were the only two things that attracted everyone¡¯s attention, what else could be stronger than this?

    ***

    At the same time, the Bai gang was in an uproar. Yao Jiamu had gotten word of it and rushed over with his own people.

    Although he had acknowledged Boss Bai as his adoptive father, he didn¡¯t want anything from him, he just wanted to follow behind him to gain experience. Even the smaller gangs that had been relying on the Bai gang had taken advantage of the chaos to join forces with the Qingyun gang, making it more difficult for the Bai gang that is already worse off.

    ¡°At this time, it looks like you¡¯re the only one who¡¯s still willing toe.¡± Boss Bai said, his eyes shing suddenly.

    It had only been a day, and Boss Bai looked like he had aged so much.

    Yao Jiamu felt his heart clench when he looked at the older man, and he directed his own men to chase away the mob that had gathered in the nightclub.

    Boss Bai¡¯s eyes still held a glint as he straightened up, a little surprised. ¡°Your subordinates are pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Yao Jiamu was proud when this fact was mentioned, these were the people who had trained with the techniques that Gu Xiqiao had given them after all, so their strength was definitely notparable to other regr people.

    ¡°Young Master Yao, please have some tea,¡± Ah Gen said respectfully, pouring him a cup of tea.

    ¡°Pfft, you still have the heart to be drinking tea at this time.¡± A sneer came from outside the door, and a man walked in after. He had a shaved head, and arge green dragon tattoo on his neck. This was the Bai gang¡¯s former division leader, an orphan that Boss Bai had taken in¡ªBai Jianbin. He should be filled with gratitude toward Boss Bai, and it was unexpected that he would betray the older man like this.

    Yao Jiamu nced at Boss Bai subconsciously. He knew that Boss Bai didn¡¯t have any children, and had always seen Bai Jianbin as his own son.

    However, there was not a single trace of emotion on Boss Bai¡¯s face, just a cold, chilling indifferent expression as he watched themotion in front of him.

    ¡°B*stard!¡± Yao Jiamu couldn¡¯t help it, he raised his fist toward Bai Jianbin, knocking him down with a single punch. ¡°You were taken in and raised by Boss Bai, how could you be such a ungrateful dog, Bai Jianbin!¡±

    Bai Jianbin took the punch and went down, but he looked at Yao Jiamu with a look full of disbelief. He had already soaked in the medicinal bath in the Qingyun gang¡¯s ce yesterday, so his strength and speed had definitely improved. He didn¡¯t expect that even with that, he was still no match for Yao Jiamu.

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s fist had felt like an extremely heavy hammer when it came at him.

    Hearing Yao Jiamu¡¯s words, Bai Jianbin spit out the blood in his mouth as he retorted fiercely, ¡°You¡¯re saying that I¡¯m cruel and unscrupulous? What right do you have to say that?! He treats me like a dog without a home to return to! I wanted to take the medicinal bath, and he didn¡¯t agree! I wanted the nightclub, and he didn¡¯t agree either! But whatever he does, he brings you instead, and even acknowledged you as his godson! Gang Leader Li is different. The first person he let into the medicinal bath was me! Compared to Boss Bai, he¡¯s so much more generous!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± What a useless, brainless dog sh*t! What good cane from a medicinal bath that triples your strength overnight? Didn¡¯t he even stop to think, for whose sake did Boss Bai do everything for!

    Yao Jiamu felt his heart go cold for Boss Bai. Even if it were a dog, you would still feel affection for it after ten years of raising it.

    ¡°Yao Jiamu, don¡¯t let it get to your head. Gang Leader Li already has the secrets of the Bai gang in his hands. It won¡¯t be long before you guys get jailed, maybe even tomorrow.¡± Bai Jianbin¡¯s eyes shed with delight as though he had thought of something happy, and his smile became more and more contemptuous.

    ¡°You leaked those secrets?¡± Yao Jiamu clenched his fist, feeling like even his bones were rattling with anger.

    ¡°So what?¡± Bai Jianbin shot back coldly, scanning the surrounding people in the room. In the end, because he was still afraid of Yao Jiamu, he left with his people. They were just a gathering of some insignificant ants, just wait for tomorrow, they would be the ones crying.

    ¡°You guys should go,¡± After Bai Jianbin left, Boss Bai spoke, ¡°All those who stayed behind are those who have lived and died with me before. There is still some money in the safe, take it and leave tonight, leave the Imperial Capital. Consider it as thest gift as your boss.¡±

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m not leaving!¡± Ah Gen eximed, shaking his head. He looked around the empty nightclub with a fierce determination in his eyes. ¡°This is my home.¡±

    After his resolute statement, the others were also even more adamant not to leave.

    Boss Bai looked at Yao Jiamust. ¡°They can stay, but you can¡¯t. That Miss Gu of yours really is something else, she could actually predict that there would be traitors in the Bai gang. Being what she is, it won¡¯t be hard for her to help you. Just remember not to dip yourself in the waters of the Imperial Capital after this.¡±

    Wait? What did Boss Bai just say?

    Yao Jiamu was stunned. ¡°You said that she predicted this?¡±

    Boss Bai sighed heavily. ¡°Thest time she was here, she warned me that there would be vile people and traitors in the gang. I took those words to heart and weeded out a few, and I was especially cautious of Hua Jingya. However, I didn¡¯t expect the person to betray me would turn out to be Bai Jianbin.¡±

    Bai Jianbin had been raised by Boss Bai, and his words were quite high in authority within the Bai gang. He would usually be in the center of tackling any issues that arises within the gang, and he also held countless secrets in his own hands.

    When he betrayed the gang, he not only took a part of the gang with him, but he also took those secrets with him,nding a big blow on Boss Bai that had taken him by surprise.

    Boss Bai had always regarded Bai Jianbin as his own son, who would have expected him to be the one to betray the Bai gang?

    ¡°Boss Bai, wait a moment!¡± Yao Jiamu¡¯s eyes burst with hope as he pulled out his phone in a hurry, making a call. The call connected after a single ring.

    A clear, melodious and cold voice came through the phone, and Yao Jiamu felt inexplicably moved when he heard the familiar voice. ¡°Miss Gu, something has happened in the Bai gang.¡±

    ***

    Hearing that it was Yao Jiamu¡¯s voiceing through, Gu Xiqiao scratched her nose. ¡°I understand, wait a while, I¡¯ming soon.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao hung up the phone, and called out toward the upstairs, ¡°Brother Jiang, I¡¯m going out for a bit!¡±

    ¡°Bring Xixi.¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied to herment, reminding her. By the excited tone in her voice, he knew that she had found something interesting to y with again. And so that was the reason he let her go, as long as she didn¡¯t bring down the entire Imperial Capital.

    Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem even if she did demolish the entire Imperial Capital.

    Xixi opened its wings to fly over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder immediately, and Gu Xiqiao gave it a look. ¡°Don¡¯t make any noiseter.¡± Boss Bai and the others were regr people, it would give them a heart attack.

    ¡°I know, Beauty Qiao. Let¡¯s go let¡¯s go let¡¯s go!¡± Xixi squawked out as it nced at Haha smugly.

    Haha ignored its gaze, taking a drink of water from the bowl. Haha even turned purposefully, letting Xixi see its behind instead.

    Xixi: ... Using this trick every time, is it meaningful anymore?

    Haha: It doesn¡¯t need to be a new trick, as long as it¡¯s useful. ^_^

    When she arrived at the nightclub, Gu Xiqiao was stunned. The floor of the nightclub was empty, while the luxurious ballroom and bars, tables, and chairs were all in a mess.

    Yao Jiamu thought that she was in shock, and immediately moved to reassure her. ¡°It¡¯s okay, only the things were smashed, no one was hurt.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him, replying quietly, ¡°How much money will it take to repair all this...¡±

    The corner of Yao Jiamu¡¯s mouth twitched a little. ¡®... You were worried about this?!¡¯

    ¡°Little Yao, you can take all of this.¡± Boss Bai and a group of people appeared from the upstairs, with Ah Gen following behind him, holding a safe in his hands. ¡°There are also a few antiques in here, you can have any that you like, Miss Gu. It was originally intended for you in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Boss Bai, what are you intending to do?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, blinking. Why did it sound like he was instructing for things after his funeral?

    ¡°The Bai gang is going to be dissolved.¡± Boss Bai sighed, looking around the club.

    Seeing Xixi flying around the safe in Ah Gen¡¯s hands, Gu Xiqiao was getting dizzy from its antiques, so she reached out to smack it down before turning to Boss Bai, a smile on her lips. ¡°What are you talking about Boss Bai, we¡¯re just about to begin.¡±

    With those words from her, Yao Jiamu finally felt some relief enter his heart as he breathed a sigh of relief, his tensed shoulders rxing. He knew that she already had a n, from the way she was acting.

    ¡°Miss Gu, what do you mean?¡± Boss Bai was lost for words, astonishment on his face.

    ¡°I say, how about absorbing the Qingyun gang into the Bai gang?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes swept around. ¡°At the moment, there seems to be twenty three members left in the Bai gang. I believe that they¡¯re all your elite subordinates, staying by your side in life and death situations. I don¡¯t need to ask anymore about the degree of their loyalties, nor where they lie. So, Boss Bai, answer me this, do you want to spread the Bai gang across the globe?¡±

    This girl in front of him stood with azy expression on her face. Her gaze was clear and bright, filled to the brim with quiet confidence. She wasn¡¯t even twenty years old yet, and nothing could conceal her youthfulness, and yet here she stood, speaking without reserve about expanding the Bai gang across the world?!

    When Boss Bai finally processed the words that had been said, he almost couldn¡¯t hold in the burst ofughter that threatened toe from his mouth. What a bold and impressive deration! He met those clear eyes with his own, and said, ¡°Miss Gu, I know that you have done impossible feats, but...¡± He sighed, gesturing to the messed up nightclub around them, trying to make her see the reality in front of them all. ¡°Look at the state the Bai gang is in now. We have so few people left, and the life of the Bai gang is basically in the hands of the Qingyun gang already. I can hardly even protect myself, much less the gang.¡±

    Spreading and expanding across the globe? That was just too wishful thinking.

    ¡°The remaining people are the ones that I want,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, shing him a smile. ¡°Boss Bai, tonight, I invite you to watch a great show. After that, let me know your decision.¡±

    Boss Bai was bewildered, he opened his mouth as though to say something, but Gu Xiqiao turned around. ¡°Xiao Mutou, call Luo Weng. Get him to send me what I want; this uncle, run to the police station for me; Ah Gen, find me aptop that I can use, as long as it¡¯s able to run...¡±

    She listed her orders clearly, and after Yao Jiamu finished his call, he pulled up a chair and table for her.

    ***

    Luo Weng was cooking for Luo Wenlin at home. Yu Ning and Mu Zong were also there with them.

    After the short call, Luo Weng instructed Yu Ning, ¡°Go to the study and send the thing on myptop to Boss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Using me as a ve just because he¡¯s feeding me!¡± Yu Ning muttered under his breath, getting up to send the items to Gu Xiqiao as instructed without furtherint. At a nce, he saw apressed folderbeled with ¡®Boss Gu¡¯s Special File¡¯, and he attached it and sent it off to Gu Xiqiao.

    After he sent it off, he unzipped the file and looked through it, a stupefied look on his face. ¡°Luo Weng, these boring things are the reason you¡¯ve been so busytely?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t help it, if Boss Gu has an order, you wouldn¡¯t dare to object, right?¡± Luo Weng also had a suffering expression on his face. Recently, Mu Zong had taken the dealings of international affairs from him, so he was free. And that was when he was snapped up by Gu Xiqiao to do this work.

    ¡°She really doesn¡¯t attend to her actual work, it¡¯s almost been a week since she stepped foot into Nine Heavens. I¡¯m confident she has found something new to y with!¡± Yu Ning pouted.

    Luo Weng brought out another dish, adding his agreement to Yu Ning¡¯s words. Mu Zong took the dish and set it on the table, giving them a light smile. ¡°Miss Gu is old at heart, you guys have to understand.¡±

    Yu Ning: ...

    Luo Weng: ...

    ***

    At the same time, at the Qingyun gang¡¯s base.

    ¡°Boss Bai has sent people to the police.¡± Bai Jianbin reported, as he had been the one paying attention to the movement of Boss Bai and the remaining members, his eyes dancing mockingly.

    ¡°The police?¡± sneered a brawny man with a white tiger tattoo on his body who stood beside Li Xiang. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me he intends to report it to the police, and let them call the shots? When did Boss Bai be so naive?¡±

    As soon as the words were said, everyone else who was sitting down below roared withughter. A gang leader taking the initiative to find the police, what a joke!

    Li Xiang sipped on a ss of wine, letting out a sigh. ¡°The only pity is Yao Jiamu, he¡¯s such a talent.¡±

    ¡°What pity? Just wait for him to kneel to you and cry for mercy!¡±

    ¡°All of this has to be credited to our Miss Hua.¡± Li Xiang said, raising a ss to Hua Jingya.

    Hua Jingya smiled, but before she could reply to that, she was interrupted by a young man who staggered in from the door. ¡°There¡¯s a bunch of police officers outside!¡±

 Chapter 185 - Counterattack!

    <h4>Chapter 185: Counterattack!</h4>

    ¡°Boss Bai, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m not loyal. But you also know how many subordinates I have under me, and I can¡¯t just ignore that they have to make a living too.¡± A bald man wearing only a shirt in the November weather, while many others were wearing coats and jackets. The shirt he wore exposed the green tattoo on his arm.

    Boss Bai looked at the man in front of him coldly, these were the smaller gangs who were his vessels, and had been blessed by the Bai gang all this time. At this time, when the Bai gang was suffering, they didn¡¯t wait long before jumping ship into the Qingyun gang. He took out a cigarette, and Ah Gen hurried forward to pull out a lighter to light it.

    ¡°Every man has their ambitions.¡± Boss Bai took a deep puff of the cigarette, a faint expression on his face. ¡°Go on, get out of here.¡±

    Although Boss Bai¡¯s name was not as bloodied as Li Xiang¡¯s, he was still someone from the underworld, how could there not be blood on his hands? The bald man was a bit stunned at the dismissal, and he was also slightly fearful of the people that Yao Jiamu had brought. Their stern eyes were all on him, and he couldn¡¯t stand the intimidating gazes after a while, turning to leave with his own group of people.

    ¡°Boss, if you talk to Boss Bai like this, when the timees, will he...¡± One of the subordinates of the bald man looked a little worried at that.

    The bald man snorted at the words. ¡°Boss Bai? He¡¯s not the same Boss Bai that he was. Don¡¯t worry about it, after tonight, he¡¯ll just be another stray dog on the streets, maybe even in prison. We should take the chance today, and hurry into the ranks of the Qingyun gang. If we¡¯re toote, we¡¯d be looked down upon by the otherster...¡±

    Before he could finish his words, he was met with an astonishing sight.

    The Bai gang and the Qingyun gang both upied the east side and west side of the Imperial Capital respectively. The two gangs had never gotten along, and were like oil and water.

    The bald man had alsoe to the Qingyun gang after receiving reliable information, even Bai Jianbin had left the Bai gang. Anyone on the streets with eyes could tell that this was the end of the Bai gang, and although some felt regretful that it was happening, they had to stand on their sides immediately, and he was also of the same mindset.

    ¡°Boss...¡± His men muttered, his voice trembling.

    They had rushed to the Qingyun gang base immediately in excitement, but when they reached the street where the gang was located, they saw arge number of police officers. They weren¡¯t regr officers either, but arge team of special ops.

    Throughout the history of the underworld, there had never been such a big case like this. Sometimes, the police had to lurk and dig for a very long time just to painstakingly find sufficient evidence to capture a drug lord. So no matter how exaggerated the Qingyun gang and the Bai gang got, the police would be hesitant to move because they couldn¡¯t gather enough evidence.

    The fact that there were so many police officers dispatched, and even the presence of the special ops could only mean one thing here, and that was the police had finally gotten hard, solid evidence against the Qingyun gang!

    But, how was that possible?

    Shouldn¡¯t all this be happening to the Bai gang?!

    Cold sweat slid down the side of his face as the regret swelled up in his chest. The only one who would dare to touch the Qingyun gang would only be the Bai gang. It was ridiculous to think that the Bai gang would be destroyed just like that, and he was even mocking them a second ago! If they had even anticipated the Qingyun gang¡¯s move like this, what more a smaller gang like his? He could easily be crushed if he wasn¡¯t careful with his words!

    He didn¡¯t expect the Bai gang, who was clearly at a huge disadvantage with all their cards held against them, to be able to turn the tables like this in the end.

    Since when had the Bai gang be so terrifying?

    ***

    At the Bai gang¡¯s base, Boss Bai walked in slowly, seeing Yao Jiamu moving things at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s instructions dutifully, and he was unsure why he felt that it was a funny scene to walk into. ¡°Little Yao, you should take your people and go, and also Miss Gu. The police should being soon.¡±

    Yao Jiamu nced up to see Boss Bai, and his expression brightened immediately. ¡°Boss Bai, you¡¯re here just in time,e on over here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, hurry up and leave!¡± Seeing Yao Jiamu¡¯s happy expression, Boss Bai pressed the side of his temples, trying not to frown too hard. How could he still be so excited and happy at this time? Was there something not right in his head? He hadn¡¯t seen Yao Jiamu like this before though?

    There were also the remaining members of the gang, who, before he left, were wearing brave and righteous expressions on their faces. They were now all crowded behind Gu Xiqiao, a flushed, excited expression on each of their faces too.

    Boss Bai: He had only stepped out for a few minutes, why did it felt like he had left for a century instead?

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head at this time, and her face glowed under the light, her slender, jadelike hands turning theptop around for him to see.

    On the screen, a scene from the west of the Imperial Capital was ying.

    Boss Bai was familiar with thends of the Qingyun gang, so he recognized the ce at a nce. His eyes widened when he managed to understand what was going on. What was he seeing? He was watching the members of the Qingyun gang being arrested one by one.

    Gu Xiqiao tapped her fingers a few times on the keyboard, giving Boss Bai a close up of the faces of Li Xiang, Hua Jingya, and Bai Jianbin.

    The cigarette in his hand fell to the ground, and Boss Bai could only stare at Gu Xiqiao in disbelief and a jaw-cked expression on his face.

    The Qingyun gang had a few of their leading figures arrested in one night, and among them included Li Xiang. This incident caused a stir in the Imperial Capital. On this night, the people on the streets had been gloating and rejoicing in the Bai gang¡¯s misfortune, but the end was such an unexpected dramatic twist instead!

    The people on the streets were also in a state ofplete disbelief.

    Up till the next day, when the People¡¯s Tribunal released the evidence of the Qingyun gang¡¯s case file. The smuggling and trafficking of drugs were made public and transparent, showing all the people the concrete evidence. These policemen had lost countlessrades in order tobat these crimes, and their joy had been indescribable when they received the tip off, and that their continuous fight had finally borne fruit. To prevent any leakage before the raid, they had specifically reported straight to the higher ups, who immediately arranged for the team of special ops.

    The news of Li Xiang¡¯s sentence to death by shooting quickly spread. Countlessizens apuded the news, and the family members of those policemen who had lost their lives for the anti-drug cause were crying as they watched justice finally getting served for their lost loved ones.

    This incident caused waves for a while.

    This time, it didn¡¯t just uncover and destroy a boss of a big gang, but also some government officials that had been colluding with them.

    There was once again, another reshuffling of power in the political ranks.

    Regr people who were watching the news unfold were all excited, but the people down on the streets were terrified. The updates came on after another, the next one always more terrifying and frightening than the previous. Who was Li Xiang? He was the leader of the Qingyun gang. Even a person like him was going to be shot to death.

    On the other hand, the Bai gang who had been on the verge of dissolving were still alive and well. Not only were they well, but they were also busy recruiting new people recently!

    Disregarding the fact that they were recruiting new people, they were obviously an underworld gang, but the police department had even issued them a pennant!

    What did this mean? The people around them really couldn¡¯t understand the reason for this.

    The Qingyun gang had set up such an borate plot, and the Bai gang had walked more than half of it before suddenly turning the entire thing on them. Being able to do so, it was a testament of how incredible the Bai gang was. They were usually operating silently in the shadows, it was unexpected that when they made a move, it would cause an entire reshuffling of the underworld.

    Those smaller gangs who had hurriedly cut ties when they heard that the Bai gang was going to be destroyed were now regretful of their hasty decisions. Right now, the Qingyun gang was gone, and the Bai gang was the only big gang standing tall and strong. The smartest decision would have been to stand by the Bai gang. Moreover, the police department had even issued a pennant to them! Entering the Bai gang was an extra gold medal to avoid death right now.

    The bald man had finally gotten a chance to see Boss Bai, and he squeezed himself in immediately, a face full of smiles as he did. However, the smile slid off his face the very next second.

    The Bai gang had said that they were only epting two kinds of people for this recruitment, people who had remained neutral, and neers.

    Seeing the announcement criterias, the smaller gangs on the streets began to panic, because most of them were clearly attached to the Qingyun gang just a few days ago. They had thought that they wouldn¡¯t be rejected if they were to join the Bai gang once again, because the Bai gangcked talented people right now after all, who would have expected that they didn¡¯t want any of them at all!

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the manpower nor the resources right now, and the police also have their eyes on you, let¡¯s just see how you¡¯ll stand back up!¡± The bald man spat out fiercely.

    And just a dayter, they werepletely blown away. The Bai gang who had been ransacked by the Qingyun gang, not having any finances suddenly pulled it out from thin air, refurbishing the entire base of the Bai gang. And for those people who had stood by the Bai gang, and even the neers they had recruited, every one of them had a sum of money given to them each month. Not only that, they even had amunity to live in together, and everyone had their own ce to live.

    Although it was just an ordinarymunity, every person had a unit. Where did the Bai gang get so much money in such a short period of time?!

    With such good benefits, not a single person in the gang was jealous of each other. The only ones who were envious, were the people who the Bai gang didn¡¯t want to ept back into their folds!

    If you were to ask the bald man now whether or not he regretted his decision, he would definitely cry and beat you to death!

    ***

    ¡°Yao Jiamu, did youe to get me out of here? Did Boss Bai ask you to rescue me?¡± In a holding cell in the Imperial Capital, Bai Jianbin tried to rush over at seeing the familiar figure, but was held down by the policemen beside him, preventing him from moving.

    He had just joined the Qingyun gang, and hadn¡¯t even participated in anything rted to them, but he had been sentenced to a twenty-year prison sentence due to his involvement with them.

    Twenty years, when he came out his life was basically over! Not the mention, prison was a cannibalistic ce, he wouldn¡¯t be able tost in this ce for a second!

    He looked at Yao Jiamu, his eyes gleaming with hope. Although they were all in prison, the outside happenings were just too big to not reach them. Even the guards in the cells were talking about it, that they had caught a big worm this time, and they were all excited about this news. After hearing all that was happening, Bai Jianbin finally understood one thing.

    The destruction of the Qingyun gang was undeniably rted to the Bai gang.

    Yao Jiamu looked back at Bai Jianbin, shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s not Boss Bai who instructed me toe, but I wanted to see this useless hide of a wolf that you are.¡±

    He savored the desperate look on Bai Jianbin¡¯s face for a moment before continuing, ¡°Boss Bai had always treated you as his own child. You said that he didn¡¯t allow you to partake in the medicinal baths? That¡¯s because the baths were stimnts, and you will get addicted if you soak in it once. Haven¡¯t you felt unusual fatigue in your body these past few days? Secondly, you said that he didn¡¯t allow you to handle the nightclub matters. That¡¯s because he wanted you to start from the bottom, climbing up step by step, so that no one would be able to question your capabilities. Haven¡¯t you noticed that there is no one in the gang who would doubt me, but there are some who would doubt you? Unexpectedly, Boss Bai has wasted so much effort, and in the end you would still abandon the Bai gang...¡±

    Following his statements, Bai Jianbin¡¯s mind was hurling into a panic. Yes, it was true that he had felt unusually tired the past few days, and he had thought it was due to some sickness that he was exposed to while he was in prison, but he didn¡¯t expect it to be because of the medicinal bath!

    And Boss Bai, he didn¡¯t know that Boss Bai would treat him this way. If... If he hadn¡¯t left the Bai gang...

    Bai Jianbin felt his vision darkened temporarily, pain bursting out from his heart as the tears streamed down his face. He was taken back to his cell by the policemen while in a desperate state, when he saw Hua Jingya being dragged out. A sudden surge of hatred and resentment flooded him suddenly, and Bai Jianbin didn¡¯t know where the strength came from as he broke free from the policemen¡¯s restraint and he grabbed Hua Jingya by the neck. ¡°It¡¯s all because of you b*tch!¡±

    Hua Jingya was choked halfway to her death, and the handcuffs on Bai Jianbin¡¯s hands also scratched her face harshly. She touched the blood on her face, screaming in horror.

    ***

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, Boss Bai is outside.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was sitting in the nightclub, watching the Bai gang base getting rebuilt as the system spirit floated by her side, reminding her, ¡°Also, if you don¡¯t go back soon, Big Jiang will probably tear this ce down.¡±

    ¡°I know, don¡¯t worry so much.¡± Gu Xiqiao was writing something quickly with a pen in hand.

    Boss Bai stood outside the entrance, and before he could knock on the door, it opened by itself, letting him see Gu Xiqiao at the table. But how did the door open by itself? Before Boss Bai could think about it more, he saw Gu Xiqiao beckoning to him.

    ¡°Get someone to buy the medicine from this prescription and boil it in a pot. The medicinal bath has harmed a lot of people, give it to those who have soaked in the bath, whether or not they belong to the Bai gang.¡± Gu Xiqiao handed him a piece of paper, before handing him an ancient book. ¡°Strengthening the body isn¡¯t done in a day, and taking shortcuts is definitely not the way to go about it. Give this book to Xiao Mutou when hees back, and he will know what to do. I will take my leave first.¡±

    Boss Bai didn¡¯t even have the time to say anything before Gu Xiqiao left in a hurry. As soon as he looked down, he saw his hands holding the tattered book in his hands, and suddenly recalled Yao Jiamu¡¯s subordinates, how each of them seemed to have the strength of ten men.

    He pinched his hand, trying to assure himself that this wasn¡¯t a dream.

    He had thought that this would be the end of his life, and didn¡¯t expect that they would be able tounch a counterattack like this. Just as Miss Gu had said, they would be able to spread across the globe. He hadn¡¯t dared to think of it before, but it didn¡¯t seem too impossible now, did it? Walking to the entrance, he looked up towards the sky. The sun was not too bright, but it was equally dazzling in his eyes. It was a beautiful day.

    ***

    ¡°It¡¯s Big Jiang! I¡¯m leaving!¡± The system spirit saw the ck car approaching, and vanished back into the void space instantly.

    Gu Xiqiao lifted her head, seeing the car slowlye to a stop in front of her. The door opened slowly, and a handsome figure stepped out.

 Chapter 186 - Popular

    Chapter 186: Popr

    Jiang Shuxuan opened the car door. His clear eyesnded on the clothes Gu Xiqiao was wearing which made him furrow his brows.

    Gu Xiqiao quickly got into the car, sitting down in the seat obediently after seeing the look on his face.

    The temperature in November couldn¡¯t be said to be too low, but when a cold wind blew, it could still make people shiver from the chill.

    But she wasn¡¯t feeling cold as she had a strong chi within her circling in her body that could dispel the chill, but there was a kind of chill in this world, called ¡®The chills of Brother Jiang¡¯. Normally, she would remember to bring out a coat, but the call from Yao Jiamu this morning was urgent, and she had forgotten.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go.¡± She just pretended that nothing was wrong.

    Jiang Shuxuan felt some pain in his head starting, but he still stepped on the elerator, the car pulling out slowly. He wasn¡¯t aware of what she was busy with these days, but he had his guesses from the way the Imperial City was in an uproar, talking about the ¡®Bai gang¡¯ recently. The topic had reached the lower ranks of the regr people, and all the way to the upper ranks of the Imperial Capital.

    When he sent someone to inquire about it, he found out that everything was done by her.

    That was why he could feel the beginnings of a headache, and the stirring of a proudness in his heart. That¡¯s right, who else besides her would be able to do this kind of thing?

    The Qingyun gang was a big gang that had been around for a long time, and they also had an unknown amount of sources in the dark. The rampant drug lords inside the gang led the police force in the Imperial Capital on merry chases and were the cause of various headaches to them. Right now, it was as though the heavens had brought down judgment on them, leading them right into the hands of the police to be caught!

    There were many people who tried to find out the person who had initiated the entire scene, but they couldn¡¯t find any clues at all.

    However, this didn¡¯t prevent those people from celebrating.

    This was something to be proud of, after all.

    It looks like she was someone that likes to torment people like this all the time, her eyes were glittering with happiness nowadays.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, did you bring Xixi and Haha out?¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled out a bag of potato chips from one corner of the car, seeing the two pets in the back seat.

    Xixi: ... I thought you only had Big Jiang in your eyes!

    Haha blinked, then slowly got down from the seat. Gu Xiqiao reached out, pulling Haha into her arms.

    Jiang Shuxuan drove the car with a steady hand. ¡°I happened to be walking them when I picked you, I¡¯ll send them back in a while.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going back?¡± Gu Xiqiao blinked.

    Weren¡¯t they going to the cinema?

    Did he forget?

    She didn¡¯t manage to puzzle this out yet before seeing that they had reached the parking lot in theirmunity area, and Jiang Shuxuan took the two pets. ¡°I¡¯ll just send these two up, wait a while.¡±

    How could he let these two nasty things follow them?

    Gu Xiqiao was toozy to make the trip upstairs anyway, so she just nodded and watched him go.

    Looks like he didn¡¯t forget after all.

    This was the first time Murong Feiye did this kind of stalking of other people. Although it slightly ruined his image of being lofty and mighty, he still did it without hesitation, mainly due to his insatiable curiosity.

    Jiang Shuxuan had banished Jiang Tong¡¯s family to the borders thest time he was angered, and this matter would definitely affect his reputation. What more, there would definitely be people who feel some resentment toward him due to it. Jiang Tong had done some hard work for the advancement of their ancient martial art world after all. Don¡¯t look at how nobody dared to go against him at this moment, it wouldn¡¯t be long before there would be many of them who would think of various ways to get Jiang Tong reinstated back to her original position.

    In Murong Feiye¡¯s eyes, Jiang Shuxuan was a very sensible person. He had matured earlier than an average person since he was a child, and this was the very first time that he had seen him do something that was so childish and irrational.

    If he wasn¡¯t wrong, the reason Jiang Shuxuan had done it was for the sake of the girl beside him.

    That¡¯s why it was even more curious.

    Jiang Shuxuan had still yet to introduce Gu Xiqiao to them, but based on the other two, it looked like Baili Bin and Tang Qingqiu seemed to havee into close contact with her. He had also spoken to Tang Qingqiu before about this, and he would only answer him that she was an enigmatic and impossible to predict person. Baili Bin had not answered him, but his eyes had lit up when she was mentioned.

    They were both friends who had an unperturbed friendship, and Murong Feiye felt something persistently wing at his heart.

    Especially when Jiang Shuxuan was keeping him away like he was keeping a wolf away!

    Today he finally found a chance, he followed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car from quite a distance, but he figured that the other would definitely have picked it up. He was being so tant about it after all, and Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t called number one in the ancient martial arts world for nothing.

    The car had stopped in the parking area of themunity, Jiang Shuxuan left the car, but the girl was still inside.

    Murong Feiye¡¯s eyes lit up, he knew that this was his one chance, so he immediately found a ce to stop the car, and then walked toward the ck car, knocking on the window.

    The ss lowered slowly, and he was able to see the face that he had been curious about close up for the first time.

    He was a little dazed at the sight.

    Every time he had seen her from afar, he could only tell that she was very pretty. But seeing it up close like this, it was more overwhelming to see her delicate features.

    He had to admit, herplexion was excellent. There were no traces of makeup on her face, and her skin was white and wless. There was ayer of glow under the sunlight, and her eyes were clear, sparkling, and bright. Looking closer, there was also a hint of coldness underneath the sparkle.

    She didn¡¯t seem surprised at seeing aplete stranger.

    Murong Feiye was not a narcissistic person, but he was quite confident in his looks. There were many women in Ennd who wouldn¡¯t forget his face, and the rates of turned heads when he walked on the streets was 200%. However, it seemed that it¡¯s a little off today.

    His handsome face didn¡¯t faze her, but he was fazed by her beauty instead.

    Miss? Can you please give me some face at least?

    ¡°Hello, Miss Gu. My name is Murong Feiye, of course, you can also call me Murong.¡± Murong Feiye shed her a smile, this was his confirmed killer tactic which had yet to fail to attract any girl that he had directed it to.

    However, the other was calm and unaffected as she replied with an indifferent voice, ¡°Hello.¡±

    Hello? Just a hello?!

    Murong Feiye¡¯s mouth twitched as he continued, ¡°I¡¯m a friend of Shuxuan¡¯s.¡±

    There was a glint in her eyes at this mention, and Murong Feiye felt that he had found a breakthrough here, his eyes brightening immediately. ¡°I know him quite well, we grew up together, but I went off to Ennd after that. That didn¡¯t affect our friendship though, and I heard about you from Qingqiu. When I heard that Shuxuan had a girl beside him, I always thought that it was the demon girl, I didn¡¯t expect it to be you.¡±

    When he spoke about this, he noticed a sh of something in her eyes.

    ¡°Come to think of it, do you know the little demon girl?¡± Murong Feiye dark eyes shifted. ¡°In our ce, the little demon girl is held in the highest regard. I¡¯m sure you also know Shuxuan¡¯s identity is not some regrmon person, right? To be honest, I¡¯m not optimistic about the two of you together.¡±

    In his eyes, she looked very weak. He felt like he could snap that thin, delicate neck with little effort. How could such a soft girl like her hope to face the group of people from the ancient martial arts world in the future?

    Murong Feiye got more anxious the more he thought about it.

    ¡°Mr. Murong, Brother Jiang ising back soon. I think it¡¯s best you leave,¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips curled up, giving him a smile as she said.

    She had been aware that their car had been followed all the way, but since she knew, she also assumed that Jiang Shuxuan obviously knew too, and so she ignored it. She didn¡¯t expect it to be Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s friend, and it seemed to be a good friend at that.

    Even though he was a little rude, she didn¡¯t feel any malice from him the entire time. On the contrary, the system notification had informed her that there were 50 points favorability from him.

    So, this was probably a word of advice to her.

    Little demon girl. Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, pondering over this matter.

    Being taken aback by her gentle smile, Murong Feiye grew even more worried. The smile that he had practiced countless times in front of the mirror had not flustered her, but he had been flustered by hers instead. But then her words pierced through the haze in his mind, and he immediately returned to his car, driving away.

    If Jiang Shuxuan were to hear the words that he had just said, he would definitely be dead!

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan sent the two obtrusive things back upstairs, and he didn¡¯t linger once he was done. Taking Gu Xiqiao¡¯s coat for her, he went downstairs, ignoring the resentful eyes of Xixi and Haha that were on him.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already prepared the movie tickets, and while waiting for the show to start, he posted a Weibo.

    A Flowing River: [JPEG]

    There werements that came in immediately after.

    ¡°Two movie tickets, you¡¯re going to the movies with my Beauty Gu aren¡¯t you!¡±

    I love the jealousy in the tone of thements.

    ¡°Which cinema are you going to meet at today! Tell us!¡±

    Of course I won¡¯t tell you.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a high definition picture of the tickets, cheater!¡±

    No way I¡¯m going to show you guys.

    ¡°Ahhhh you morous asshole, you¡¯ve abducted my Beauty Gu again!¡±

    Sorry, she belongs to me.

    After replying to somements with a nk face, the movie they were waiting for had started, so Jiang Shuxuan led Gu Xiqiao inside.

    Although the movie had been in the theaters for a few days, there were still many who came to watch it. He put on the holographic sses, and he had his full attention on the screen the entire time, especially the scenes where Princess Qixia was in.

    Because it was a holographic projection, Princess Qixia¡¯s death scene was incredibly lifelike and real. The sound of crying and sobs could be heard faintly in the room. The snow-white figure blended into the white horizon, and slowly became covered with a freshyer of whiteness.

    He was well aware that it wasn¡¯t really her, and he had watched the video on Weibo many times, but he still felt distressed every time he watched this scene.

    His hand tightened suddenly, feeling his fingers trembling, and then he reached out to take hold of her hand instead.

    ¡°It¡¯s all fake, Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao said lightly in a soft voice.

    Although, she did already die once.

    In the dim cinema, his low voice replied to her, ¡°Hm, it¡¯s good that it is.¡± Only, no matter how many times he saw this scene, a stab of pain will still shoot through his chest, as if it had really happened before. ¡°Your acting is just too real.¡±

    If it was real, he didn¡¯t dare to imagine how he would react to it.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed his palm, a smile on her lips. ¡°Thank you for thepliment.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply to that, only holding her hand tighter.

    After the movies, they had wanted to drop by the supermarket, but a call from Professor Jiang interrupted them.

    ¡°Professor Jiang, can I bring someone along to theb?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked.

    The fact that she was willing toe was already a godsend, Professor Jiang wouldn¡¯t be picky with whatever condition she set. If it was anyone else, he¡¯d probably be more concerned about hiding the secrets of theboratory, but when it came to Gu Xiqiao, it wasn¡¯t necessary at all. He waspletely confident that nothing in theb would catch Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes!

    Moreover, the majority of the things in theb were things that she had taken part in.

    If the students in theb knew that he had forbidden her to enter theb just because she wanted to bring someone with her, they would definitely beat him to death!

    ***

    Although Jiang Shuxuan hade to A University before, this was the first time he had entered theb. This was where the most elite future talents gathered, and some of them were also Gu Xiqiao¡¯s coursemates. He suppressed his ring aura, but even with just his face, it was hard to overlook his entire person.

    When Professor Jiang saw Jiang Shuxuan, he was slightly shocked. He had assumed that Gu Xiqiao would be bringing with her an ordinary friend, someone like Xiao Yun, he didn¡¯t expect her to bring someone who waspletely not on the normal scale here.

    ¡°Hello, Mr. Jiang.¡± Professor Jiang immediately tempered his usual attitude.

    Jiang Shuxuan greeted him with both hands, because the man was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s teacher. Hearing the tone of call just now, he was able to tell that they had a good rtionship, so he replied politely, ¡°Professor Jiang.¡±

    This person was naturally born of nobility, and Professor Jiang wasn¡¯t expecting such a polite greeting back, and he was once again shocked.

    The people in theb were cautious with the appearance of Jiang Shuxuan in the beginning, but after a few minutes, they started to rx and act normally. They were all medical maniacs, and it was a rare chance for them to be able to meet Gu Xiqiao, since she rarely came. She was finally here, so it was natural that everyone wanted to sit down and discuss things properly.

    ¡°Beauty Gu, look at this. I discussed this once with Senior Zhu yesterday, but he went way too deep, and we weren¡¯t able to follow at all...¡± One of the guys hurriedly took the opportunity and squeezed himself in.

    Gu Xiqiao took the papers handed to her, and found that Zhu Yuan had brought Master Su¡¯s case into thebs. She thought about it for a while, tranting it into normal, human terms.

    Zhu Yuan rushed over as soon as he got the word, and he was still wearing a white coat, looking morous and handsome as usual. But that image waspletely ruined the moment he opened his mouth, ¡°This bunch of viins, I was the obviously the one that called her here, why are you guys taking advantage of this!¡±

    ¡°Please wait in line, Senior Zhu.¡± One of the ssmates smiled brightly as he said, and the other echoed his words.

    Although they were in awe and admiration, and slightly intimidated by Zhu Yuan at the beginning, after working together in theb for the past month, they had be familiar with each other. Zhu Yuan¡¯s cold exterior no longer existed, as though he had been affected by Gu Xiqiao. He would answer everyone¡¯s question and doubt with all his effort, and he would also bring in new materials to discuss with them.

    Zhu Yuan spluttered, and then turned around after feeling that he had been aggrieved. He had wanted to sit down and wait for the others to finish their discussion, but then he was startled the next moment, falling t on his trembling ass.

    Wait! He knew that his eyes might be blurring due to the long hours he had been putting in, but why was Jiang Shuxuan here?

    He blinked rapidly, and rubbed his eyes, blinking again. He was still here! Oh my god!

    He was tempted to immediately browse through The Forum!

    Jiang Shuxuan was leaning at the door, his eyes on Gu Xiqiao. She was surrounded by people, asionally being handed a few pieces of paper. Her expression remained indifferent and calm, while the other research students around her were looking at her with admiration and excitement.

    These people here were the cream of the crop, and the subject of admiration for countless people, and yet here they were, worshipping Gu Xiqiao.

    Even Jiang Shuxuan was slightly surprised at the sight of Zhu Yuan was the disciple of the Divine Doctor Rong, and he didn¡¯t learn any form of the ancient martial arts, but was a well-known genius doctor. Although he usually had smiles on his face, he wasn¡¯t an easy person to approach, and he was also known to be a womanizer. The person in front of him waspletely opposite to what he usually saw.

    Moreover, Gu XIqiao seemed to be more popr among the students here,pared to Zhu Yuan.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped open the papers that Zhu Yuan had brought, and started the experiment step by step as indicated on it.

    She would also still answer the questions the other students asked while she was in the middle of it.

    Twenty minutester, she was done with the experiment. Asking if there were any other questions and getting a negative, she confirmed it again before leaving immediately with Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°She¡¯s done, just like that?! Professor Jiang, I think my pride has seriously been hurt.¡± Zhu Yuan said with a deadpan expression.

    Professor Jiang naturally knew what he was talking about. Zhu Yuan himself had done the experiment the previous night, and he had taken about an hour. There had been no mistakes during it either, and Professor Jiang was already in awe of Zhu Yuan, praising him for the speed. And today, he didn¡¯t expect that Gu Xiqiao would top him so easily.

    Patting Zhu Yuan¡¯s shoulder, Professor Jiang said sympathetically, ¡°After getting so many blows, you¡¯ll eventually be used to it anyway.¡±

    Zhu Yuan: ... F*ck! Why did Professor Jiang¡¯s words make so much sense?!

    The painting exhibition in the Imperial City finally bore fruit, and the organizers had wanted to interview Gu Xiqiao, but she turned them down.

    This was the first time he had met somebody who would refuse such interviews, and Mr. Wu was surprised and confused. Wasn¡¯t the point of the exhibition to make a name for herself? But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn¡¯t figure it out, and so he went to seek her out personally.

    There was only one reason that Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t ept it, because she didn¡¯t want any troublesome things to follow.

    Up till the point where Mr. Wu came to talk to her personally, that she was finally persuaded to ept the interview.

    ***

    Sima Jun stared at the painting hanging in the center of the study, and sighed lightly. ¡°Yunfan, contract the international side tomorrow, and let them know that we¡¯re letting this painting go.¡±

    Previously when they would talk about this, Mu Yunfan would have a serious expression on his face, but today, it was a little dazed. Sima Jun was a little baffled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with youtely?¡± Could it be that he had been affected by the happenings of the Meng family?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, teacher. I¡¯ll think about it when I get back.¡± Mu Yunfan said,ing back to himself.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you¡¯ve also been working very hard recently. Go back and take some time off for yourself.¡± Sima Jun patted his shoulder, leaving with another sigh.

    Mu Yunfan took a deep breath, and proceeded to leave the room, heading to his car and driving home. On the way back, he saw that an interview was being disyed on the screen in the central square. When he caught sight of the person from the corner of his eye, he was taken aback.

 Chapter 187 - For A Millenium

    <strong>Chapter 187: For A Millenium</strong>

    There was a big disy screen in the central square of the Imperial Capital, which normally had advertisements or news on it. Today it was no different, and was showing an interview session. However, the pedestrians walking on the streets couldn¡¯t help but stop in their tracks when they caught sight of the screen.

    A clear and beautiful face was on the screen, and she seemed to have an ethereal glow about her. When she turned to look at the camera, her eyes seemed to draw everyone who was watching into the deep abyss.

    There was a line running across the bottom of the disy¡ªOil painting, For A Millenium.

    Mu Yunfan looked up to see the familiar face, and then he noticed the line beneath. If there was a mirror in front of him, he would definitely be able to see just how fast the blood drained from his face, leaving it pale and white.

    He pushed the car door open, not caring about whether or not cars were allowed to stop where he did. He walked in big strides to the big screen, the noises of the people around him were muddled in his ears. He walked in a daze, his eyes focused on the words ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ with a baffled expression on his face.

    The reporter on the screen was interviewing her, and it was a young boy. An interview in the art world was not as grand aspared to ones in the entertainment circle.

    ¡°Miss Gu, our newspaper tried to contact you in the beginning for an interview, but we were turned down three times before you finally epted it. Can you tell me the reason for finally epting it?¡±

    The girl on the screen seemed to think for a while, before opening her mouth to respond, ¡°I¡¯ve never thought about epting an interview, as I don¡¯t want to have multiple burdens on my life. But the chairman came to look for me yesterday, and I realized that I can also influence a lot of people through my work.¡± And so, that was the reason she came.

    ¡°We are all aware that your painting has been included in the international art exhibition,¡± said the reporter, picking up a tablet. ¡°This is ament from an internationally renowned oil painter master: The sun and lovees together in the dark. How did you manage to paint such a painting?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think too much about it.¡± She pondered about it for a while, her expression solemn. ¡°Borrowing someone else¡¯s words, I want these words to reach even more people in the world: Everything that doesn¡¯t destroy you will eventually make you stronger.¡±

    ¡°We also learned that you¡¯re a student of A University, and you entered as the top ranker...¡±

    This interview was definitely more sensational than any other before, because this was the first time Gu Xiqiao had agreed to one. From the time she gained the title of national top ranker, countless people have tried to get an interview with her. And then the cell fusion incident happened, she only showed up for the press conference for a short while. Many people tried to dig out her information, but unless you were extremely high leveled, no one could find anything on her.

    This was the first time that her life wasid bare for all to see.

    At the same time, the Weibo ount of ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ was certified, a ¡®Verified¡¯ added in front of her name, and descriptions: Gu Xiqiao, famous painter, Princess Qixia from ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯, Top student in A University Faculty Of Medicine.

    In an instant, all the countless fans of hers were shocked.

    ¡°Ahhhhhh! This is the national goddess! Do you remember those pictures that were viral on the inte a few months ago? That¡¯s her!¡±

    ¡°Wait, I found the original post!¡±

    ¡°As a fan of the Divine Goddess, why do I feel so worthless at the moment...??¡±

    There were also some passingizens who saw the interview that didn¡¯t know the entire story about her.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just an interview with a painter? Why are they making it seem like the entire world is at war, so hyped up!¡±

    ¡°Are these fans mentally retarded or something?¡±

    ¡°Young people nowadays, really. The only oil painter I admire is Qiu Yang!¡±

    Before these people who talked about Qiu Yang could say anymore, they discovered that Qiu Yang had posted a Weibo.

    (Verified) Sunshine: The real soul painter. //@ (Verified) For A Millenium: [JPEG]

    This was like getting a p in the face okay!

    Qiu Yang¡¯s fans: Idol, if you¡¯re like this, I¡¯m going to jump ship and fall for another!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans didn¡¯t bother engaging all those casual passersby and trolls. It was as though they had been influenced by their idol, choosing to silently watch as the truth unfolded itself.

    ¡°I heard that my goddess has started a Weibo, and I immediately downloaded it too. First, let me tell you that I¡¯m a student from the Faculty of Computer Science in A University. I was really angry when I saw all these strangers posting thesements, and I hacked into the university¡¯s database to find these. I think it will exin everything, see for yourself [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]¡±

    The first picture was of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s national finals¡¯ examination score, it was almost full marks at 747 points.

    The second picture was of her result in her first exam in A University, as well as the variousments of the professors.

    The third picture was of the oil painting.

    The fourth was the promotional picture of her as Princess Qixia from ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯.

    And thements on this were numerous.

    It was quickly pushed to the hot topic list, and those who were just observing were in for a big shock. They were initially only watching the discussion, and felt that these fans were just too much, describing Gu Xiqiao as such a perfect person that was impossible to find in this entire world.

    And so when thement with proof was shown, they werepletely speechless. There really existed such a person on earth!

    Gong Chen was one of the many who didn¡¯t believe thements, and after reading them, he started to investigate more deeply. He sneaked into the school where Gu Xiqiao had gone, trying to find anything that would blemish her name.

    After searching for such a long time, he finally realized, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Those who had been ssmates with Gu Xiqiao or worked with her before only had words of praise and admiration whenever her name was raised.

    Instead, he found other things. Videos of her saving people in N City, appeasing terrorists, and of her helping tutor her ssmates during their final year of high school. She even spent a lot of time organizing notes that had important key points for them to focus on...

    If he didn¡¯t dig hard enough, he wouldn¡¯t have found these videos. If she had really wanted to increase her reputation, these videos would have been more than enough to do it.

    Was there really such a perfect person in the world? That¡¯s not it, it¡¯s impossible to have such a perfect person exist.

    There were also several other short interviews after this one.

    The first was with a famous medical professor from A University, who was quite well known in the medical world. Hearing that a reporter wanted to interview him, he painfully gritted out through his teeth, ¡°Student Gu is an extremely talented person, basically a gift from the heavens. Only,ziness is harder to cure than cancer!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu is amazing.¡± This time it was the handsome and gentle Li Yu. ¡°But don¡¯t ce her on a pedestal like that, she¡¯s still a regr person. Everyone has ws in them, but only those who are close to her will know hers.¡±

    The actress, Song Guanjiang, also said words that werepletely unexpected, ¡°I¡¯m a fan of hers, her number one fan!¡±

    And finally, the chairman of the Imperial Capital Oil Painting Association, Mr. Wu only had a few words to say, ¡°You can truly see what is reflected in a person¡¯s heart in oil painting, and from hers, I saw an unyielding soul.¡±

    ***

    Mu Yunfan stood rooted in the spot. The interview was finally over, and it ended with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s oil painting on disy. There had been countless scenarios in his mind that would y out, but in the end he never expected... that it would be her.

    He had scoured the entire China, searching for anyone that might be this person, suspected countless people, but he never thought that the person he had been searching high and low for was the same person that he had hated all along!

    ¡°Do you also know Miss Gu?¡± A girl beside him said suddenly. Mu Yunfan could only hear a gentle voice, and an excitement that couldn¡¯t be concealed in her tone. ¡°My name is Ning Qing, you might not know me, but that¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just so excited and want to share a bit. Miss Gu really is a great person. There was a time when I almost, almost fell into a really dark ce, almost to the point where I thought that my whole life will be spent in that darkness. She was the one who pulled me out of that state, gave me hope and even a whole new life...¡±

    Know her! How could he not know her!

    Mu Yunfan covered his eyes with slightly trembling hands, raising his head feebly. He recalled the first unpleasant meeting with her, and all the other chance meetings after that. It seemed like fate was really ying tricks on him.

    How would he have suspected it was her! How was that possible?!

    The current him really hated his past self.

    A drop of tear slid from the corner of his eye, and Mu Yunfan still felt trapped in an endless pool of regret. He suddenly realized, the person that she didn¡¯t want to meet all along, was him, wasn¡¯t it?

    His phone rang over and over, and without seeing who was the caller, Mu Yunfan answered the call. Sima Jun¡¯s voice came from the other side.

    ¡°Yunfan, hurry and look at the report from the National Channel, they found For A Millenium! We don¡¯t have to withdraw the painting, I¡¯ve already sent someone to contact her...¡± Sima Jun¡¯s voice rang in his ears, yet Mu Yunfan didn¡¯t say anything. He wouldn¡¯t even remember what Sima Jun said to himter.

    When Sima Jun said the words ¡®For A Millenium¡¯, his mind nked out.

    ***

    [Beauty Qiao, Sima Jun wants to contact you.] The system said from the void space, looking at Gu Xiqiao who was sitting with it. [Do you want to answer?]

    ¡°Nope.¡± Gu Xiqiao was flipping through a bunch of materials, finishing one book in ten minutes on average. ¡°Little system, where do you think the Hua family descends from?¡±

    The system spirit shook its head. [I tried searching through the database, but I didn¡¯t find anything, Beauty Qiao. I think Little Huazi is more clear on these things.]

    ¡°Leave him to study in peace, I don¡¯t want to disturb him with this first. I will settle the Hua family.¡± Gu Xiqiao started on another book. ¡°Didn¡¯t Brother Jiang say that the Hua family was going to enter the ancient martial arts world? He would probably know.¡±

    She had heard from Jiang Shuxuan about the Hua family entering the ancient martial arts world. In the beginning, she didn¡¯t understand why he would tell her about it. Later on she realized that he had probably figured out Hua Youlin¡¯s identity, and that was the reason he shared the information with her.

    [Hua Jingya has been released from the capital¡¯s holding cell.] The system spirit said, frowning. With a wave of its hand, a screen appeared in front of it. On the disy was Hua Jingya, leaving the ce. The one that came to pick her up was an old man with a white beard.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled faintly. ¡°It¡¯s about time to get out anyway.¡±

    The system spirit had wanted to give her a shock, but it didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to have known about it, and its eyes widened. [You knew about it?]

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the system spirit. ¡°You¡¯re such a brainless lil system, you probably didn¡¯t think about it.¡± Under such heavy surveince, if it wasn¡¯t for her arrangements, they wouldn¡¯t be able to save that girl no matter how much money they had!

    [...]

    ¡°Didn¡¯t they want to have a ce in the ancient martial arts world, that¡¯s fine. But the master of the Hua family isn¡¯t just someone they can pick on their own.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand stopped suddenly, an indescribable smile curling at the corner of her lips.

    [...I really pity those people in the Hua family, catching her eyes like this.]

    ***

    At the same time, the Hua family were gathering in the Imperial Capital.

    ¡°Little Ya, we spent most of our fortune getting you out. Now we don¡¯t even have enough to start our business in the capital,¡± The old man with white beard said, his eyes full of sadness. He had been moved by Hua Jingya¡¯s words in the beginning, and that stirred him intoing to the Imperial Capital.

    Hua Jingya had said on the phone that she had found a ce to stay, but she didn¡¯t expect it to change just when they arrived, and she had even gone to prison.

    Hua Jingya¡¯s talent was outstanding, which was the hope the Hua family needed to rise up again. No matter what happened, they wouldn¡¯t just leave her in prison like that, and so they pooled all their resources together to rescue her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I still know some people. Before Unclees to the capital, the Hua family will definitely have a ce here.¡± Hua Jingya touched her face, her eyes deep in thought. Although Li Xiang was no longer around, she had kept her eyes out and was acquainted with a few other gangs. It looked like the only thing she could do was to change allegiance now, she still had the medical bath up her sleeves, she didn¡¯t believe that none of them would be tempted!

    Thinking about it, she immediately set off to find a medium sized gang. She didn¡¯t expect her first try would end up with a closed door in her face. Hua Jingya didn¡¯t even manage to get a meeting with the head of the gang. She could only reign in her temper and spoke to the doorman politely, ¡°My name is Hua Jingya, I can research an even better medicine to help you increase your men¡¯s strength tenfold!¡±

 Chapter 188 - Unexpected Reactions

    <h4>Chapter 188: Unexpected Reactions</h4>

    Hua Jingya had thought that she would be greeted with shock and excitement from the doorman, and just like before, treat her with admiration and respect, calling her the divine doctor.

    She didn¡¯t expect him to sh her a mocking look instead. ¡°Bah! Divine Doctor Hua? I think you¡¯re talking sh*t, and you even want to meet our boss!¡± The man held up the baton in his hand. ¡°My brother nearly died of a heart attack after soaking in your medicinal bath! If it wasn¡¯t for Miss Gu, all of us would be dead because of you. Divine doctor my f*ckin a*s. See if I won¡¯t beat the sh*t out of you today!¡±

    This was a strong muscr man, and once he heard Hua Jingya¡¯s words, his eyes had widened, his eyes rimmed red. He lifted the baton high in the air, and his muscles flexed. The stick looked like it was about toe down on her head in an instant.

    Hua Jingya couldn¡¯t help but take a step back in a hurry, looking at the man with disbelief on her face!

    How was that possible!

    She had been confident that these people were waiting to wee her back, and then she woulde up with another medicinal bath, getting even more admiration from the people, just the same as previously. But she didn¡¯t expect to get this kind of reception. She was a divine doctor, and now she was being chased and beaten?

    Getting out of that embarrassing situation with the gang, Hua Jingya¡¯s eyes shed dazedly, how could this problem have happened?

    She had soaked in the medicinal bath herself, and there shouldn¡¯t have been any mistakes with her method!

    She gritted her teeth as she thought, walking to yet another gang. The southern side of the Imperial Capital was a mix of strong and weak, and there were also gangs from the slums. In the past, she didn¡¯t think this ce was worth her time at all, but now she had no choice but toe here.

    However, what she didn¡¯t understand was the moment they heard she was Hua Jingya, heard that she could make medicinal baths, not only did they not worship her, they even chased her out of the door!

    She was the descendant of Hua Tuo, and she was beingbeled as a liar?!

    These fools who didn¡¯t know how to appreciate such greatness in front of their eyes!

    Especially while she was walking on the streets, she would hear the name ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ now and then. She slowly muttered the words under her breath, and that disgusting face floated into her mind. This was the person that she hated with her entire being at this moment!

    Qingyun gang was no more, instead, the Bai gang had risen up in its ce. Hua Jingya stood at the side of the road, slowly pondering over this. Should she go back?

    There were people walking past her, but none of them recognized her, taking her to be just an insignificant passerby. Hua Jingya gritted her teeth again at this scene. When she was in the Bai and Qingyun gang, everyone treated her with respect and admiration!

    Hua Jingya took a deep breath to calm herself, being that she had never been so neglected in her entire life before. She forcefully pushed down her anger, when a movement in front of her caught her eyes.

    She lifted her head, and saw a figure slowly approaching her. She was walking against the direction of the light, and her skin was as white as jade, and even the vivid colored bird on her shoulder looked darker under the light.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    The people beside her stopped in their tracks when they caught sight of Gu Xiqiao, and greeted her cheerfully.

    Just by seeing the scene in front of you, you can tell how popr this person was!

    Hua Jingya was shuffled to the edge, and she looked at the figure that was surrounded by the crowd in the distance. How could she not recognize that person, it was the person that she hated the most in this world, Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°If you¡¯re done gawking, then get out of my way!¡± A middle-aged man pushed Hua Jingya to the side. ¡°Miss Gu, Miss Gu, can I please have your autograph...¡±

    Being pushed to the side so abruptly, Hua Jingya almost lost her footing. But before she could see who it was that had pushed her, she was knocked into once again!

    Finally she managed to straighten herself with much effort, but saw that Gu Xiqiao had disappeared. The people around the area were still chanting her name though. Hua Jingya grabbed a random person and asked, ¡°Miss Gu? Just now, that person, Miss Gu, who is she?¡±

    Thedy that was grabbed suddenly was startled and confused, but she replied without missing a beat, the excitement clear in her eyes. ¡°Miss Gu is the one that donated the money that she was awarded for her patent to the hospital here. You know the Bai gang? They recently started distributing medicine at the gates, and that was also prescribed by Miss Gu. She¡¯s also the top ranker in thest national finals. My son really likes her, and has recently be very motivated...¡± Yada yada.

    Hua Jingya couldn¡¯t listen anymore, and she let go of her hand. Her lips were on the verge of bleeding with how hard she was biting down on it.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao...¡± The words were repeated over and over, her eyes shing with viciousness and jealousy that couldn¡¯t be contained.

    The phone in her pocket rang, and Hua Jingya took it out. The name ¡®Rong Feishuang¡¯ was disyed on the screen!

    The distorted face that was filled with jealousy instantly morphed into a pleasant one, and she picked it up immediately, using a trembling voice to speak, ¡°Divine Doctor Rong.¡±

    ¡°Miss Hua, I don¡¯t know if you have time to diagnose someone with me, this person has a bit of aplicated identity.¡± Rong Feishuang was furrowing his brows tightly on the other side. Recently, he had been inspired by his disciple, suddenly seeing a new breakthrough in Baili Bin¡¯s condition, and he was beyond excited about it.

    Especially after meeting Hua Jingya, he knew that the Hua family had a secret acupuncture method that was not passed down to outsiders¡ªGoing against the pulse, break to stand.

    If the two worked together, they might be able to cure Baili Bin!

    Rong Feishuang still felt a pang of deep guilt towards both the father and son pair of Baili, because he didn¡¯t manage to save them. Now that Baili Qu¡¯s condition had improved, there were still no changes in Baili Bin¡¯s condition. This made Rong Feishuang feel even worse, and the guilt ate at him, trying to find every means he could to treat Baili Bin.

    Now that he finally managed to find a way, how could he give up?

    Hearing Rong Feishuang¡¯s words, Hua Jingya¡¯s eyes lit up. At this moment, she couldn¡¯t be bothered with Gu Xiqiao, she tried to calm her excitement so that her voice wouldn¡¯t tremble too much. ¡°Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-floor pagoda, how dare I ignore your request?¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much, Miss Hua! I¡¯ve always heard that the Hua family are kind souls, and now it really seems to be well said!¡± Rong Feishuang was overjoyed. He had once heard that the Hua family¡¯s acupuncture techniques would reduce one¡¯s good fortune, but no matter whether or not it would be sessful, he wouldpensate them well for their efforts.

    He thought for a while more before saying, ¡°I hope that you can keep it a secret, Miss Hua. I will send the address to your phone. We¡¯ll talk more when we meet.¡±

    Hua Jingya hung up the phone, a big smile on her face that she couldn¡¯t hide.

    The patient that Rong Feishuang was going to introduce, he had said that his identity was a bitplicated, so it definitely wasn¡¯t some randommoner. Hua Jingya clenched her fist, so what if it was someone from the secr world, the ancient martial arts world was her goal!

    After receiving the address, she left immediately.

    ***

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, I found Hua Jingya¡¯s trail again.¡± The system spirit led the way in front of Gu Xiqiao, flying as it spoke.

    Gu Xiqiao checked the time on her phone, and said, ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°... Oh.¡± The system spirit felt like its usefulness was really spiraling downwards, and it only really looked forward to upgrading itself. Hurry up and upgrade, work harder to upgrade!

    Yao Jiamu had been waiting for Gu Xiqiao, and had been waiting half a day with no signs of her. Just when he thought she wasn¡¯t going to turn up, he suddenly saw the familiar figure. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯ting!¡±

    ¡°No way.¡± Gu Xiqiao showed him her phone screen, pointing at the numbers. ¡°It¡¯s just ten o¡¯clock now, I¡¯m on time, alright?¡±

    Yao Jiamu: ...

    He would beat the person who made him rush over here in excitement at eight o¡¯clock.

    Because of Gu Xiqiao, he had slowly integrated his subordinates into the Bai gang. However, these were all people who had been trained personally by him, and each one of them was extremely strong. Even just a disy of a little of what they could do had shocked Boss Bai, and he had given Yao Jiamu the neers to train.

    He was unwilling at first, but after receiving the tattered book that Gu Xiqiao had given to Boss Bai, he immediately agreed.

    ¡°There¡¯s actually women here?¡± Gu Xiqiao walked around with Yao Jiamu, and found that there were several women in the gang of nearly a hundred men. Wasn¡¯t this a gang? Howe they let women in?

    Yao Jiamu smiled. ¡°These people were all selected ording to their talents. I¡¯m teaching them everything from the book that you gave me, and if it¡¯s effective I¡¯ll retain them. Otherwise, I¡¯ll send them to Boss Bai to receive other training.¡±

    ¡°No, wait. What did youe for today?¡± Yao Jiamu stuffed the book into her hands. He had finally managed to get her toe here today, it was in order to look at his great achievements, and at the same time to get some pointers from her.

    The first book that she had given him at least had somements and exnation in it, but this book waspletely empty. ¡°The book is a little bit too deep for me, I don¡¯t understand a lot of things inside it!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re already pretty good to be able to finish that other book,¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head as she said, her chi surging. ¡°You¡¯re already at Bone Refinement level, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    He didn¡¯t expect her to be able to tell at a nce, and Yao Jiamu was taken aback. He scratched the back of his head, slightly bashful. ¡°Yeah, I just advancedst night.¡±

    He had wanted to give her a surprise, but she had seen through it herself.

    Gu Xiqiao opened the book that Yao Jiamu had handed to her. With a sh of light on her fingertips, a pen and paper appeared suddenly. She spoke as she scribbled, ¡°Get Xiao Yun and Xiao Wuzi toe here tomorrow, they haven¡¯t been here for quite a while. They¡¯ve been in the capital for about two months now, I believe they should have more or less handled the matters of theirs.¡±

    With Xiao Yun being a regr person, even if she was with Tang Qingqiu, the Tang family wouldn¡¯t look down on her.

    From now on, she would put an end to these situations!

    Yao Jiamu didn¡¯t react to her words, he just stared at her fingers. They were white and slender, and seemed to glow under the sun, moving like a flowing river. He felt like he had frozen in that moment. Such slender fingertips, how did a pen and paper appear suddenly?

    That was just too incredible!

    ¡°Young Master Yao,¡± A soft voice came suddenly from the side of his ear, and Yao Jiamu looked up to see a girl with short hair. She tilted her head to the side, looking at him with a smile on her face. ¡°Is this youngdy a neer?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t raise her head, flipping through the book quickly as she continued to jot down things on the paper.

    ¡°No.¡± Yao Jiamu frowned slightly, shaking his head.

    The girl wanted to say more, only to see Gu Xiqiao was done with the book. She shoved both book and paper into Yao Jiamu¡¯s hands, and shed the girl a smile. ¡°Hello, my name is Gu Xiqiao.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head was lowered previously, so the girl couldn¡¯t see her face. Now that she had straightened up, her snow-white skin glowed softly, and her face was as pretty as a picture. She suddenly felt like the sun that was above was incredibly dazzling, and she couldn¡¯t help the stutter in her voice as she replied, ¡°H-hello, my name is Lu Qi.¡±

    ¡°Have fun.¡± Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers, and a streak of fiery red shot over immediately. ¡°To be able to make it to this point, should be those who are trusted. Xiao Mutou, I¡¯ll lend Xixi to you to y. It¡¯lle back by itself once night falls.¡±

    Yao Jiamu instantly recalled the one night that his body had been beaten ck and blue by Xixi, and felt his entire person shudder. This wasn¡¯t lending them to y, this was obviously to beat them to the ground!

    Xixi nced at Gu Xiqiao with a dejected expression. ¡°Chirp chirp chirp~¡± (Beauty Qiao, don¡¯t leave me, I can¡¯t bear it!)

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t look back, and with a flick of her finger, a dark pill flew into Xixi¡¯s beak.

    Xixi swallowed it immediately and started squawking at Yao Jiamu. ¡°Chirp chirp chirp chiiiiiiirp!¡± Actually, it loved beating people to the ground!

    ¡°Young Master Yao, that was...¡± Lu Qi watched as Gu Xiqiao left, and was only able to snap back to herself after thetter was gonepletely. Then she looked towards Xixi, and she was dumbfounded.

    Yao Jiamu nced at her. ¡°Didn¡¯t you always want to know where the bookse from, and howe I¡¯m able to beat all your asses? Because she taught me.¡± But now it looks like he would be getting a beating from Xixi instead. What goes aroundes around, he thought.

    Lu Qi was rooted to her spot in astonishment, her jaw cked. She only recovered after a minute, with an earth-shattering scream, ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Then that was my idol just now!¡±

    ***

    At this time, Hua Jingya had finally arrived at her destination, which was a residential area in the city center.

    She took a deep breath before stepping inside, and was immediately stunned. A familiar figure appeared suddenly in front of her, lean and chilling. His back was to her, and she couldn¡¯t see his face, but she still recognized him. It was that Mr. Jiang that had been beside Gu Xiqiao!

 Chapter 189 - Chapter 189: We May Need To Go Somewhere

    <h4>Chapter 189: We May Need To Go Somewhere</h4>

    ¡°Do you still want to walk?¡± Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head, looking at Haha, who was at his feet.

    Haha raised its head, looking up at Jiang Shuxuan with itsrge, beady eyes. It tilted its head cutely to the side, barking twice: ¡°Woof woof~¡±

    How the heck would Jiang Shuxuan know what it meant, but he didn¡¯t bother too much about it. When he had returned in the afternoon, Gu Xiqiao was not back yet. He took a shower and intended to wait downstairs, but he didn¡¯t expect Haha to see through his intentions, and immediately bit his trousers, wanting to follow him.

    His image and reputation had really been ruined by Gu Xiqiao. In the house, he was still the highest authority, but only because Gu Xiqiao let him do as he wanted, while Xixi was helpless towards him. Now even Haha wasn¡¯t afraid of him.

    Sliding a hand into his pocket, while the other held his phone and the dog following behind him, Jiang Shuxuan stood facing the main road,pletely unaware that he had be a pleasant sight for people who came and went around him.

    The man standing on the cobblestone road in themunity area looked elegant and majestic, his eyes were deep and mesmerizing, while his facial features were delicate and wless. He only needed to stand where he was, and the other people around him would blend into the background, making the people watching him forget the noises of the crowd, and even the sounds of the car horns from across the streets seem to fade into the distance.

    ¡°Mr.Jia-¡± Hua Jingya was stunned for a moment, and then she took a step forward. Before she could walk over, a warm and gentle glint entered his eyes, and his cold, indifferent face melted into a soft look.

    He walked in her direction, and Hua Jingya stood where she was, her heart thumping in her chest wildly. Her fingers trembled in excitement, but the next moment she raised her hands to cover her face because of the unhealed scar on it, but his gorgeous eyes were fixed on her face.

    Five meters, three meters, two meters¡ªHua Jingya was about to open her mouth, but then he walked right past her.

    Her face paled instantly.

    She stood rooted, and there were a few women around her with undisguised glee in their eyes, sneaking nces at her whileughing at her not knowing her position. Hua Jingya¡¯s face darkened.

    She bit her lip and turned her head slightly, seeing the familiar face that disgusted her to the core!

    Her phone rang again, and Hua Jingya took it out to see it was Rong Feishuang calling. She answered the call in a hurry, and giving onest look to the two behind her, she then left hastily.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, why did you bring Haha down with you?¡± Gu Xiqiao picked Haha up in her arms. ¡°And why are you here waiting for me?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Haha, calmly saying, ¡°It dragged me down here.¡± Having said that, he even showed Gu Xiqiao the marks that Haha had left on his trousers.

    Haha: ... I really misjudged you, I can¡¯t believe that you would be like this, Jiang Shuxuan!

    Gu Xiqiao saw the marks on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s pants, and she turned to Haha. ¡°Haha, no more biting next time!¡±

    Haha: Woof~

    Jiang Shuxuan: ...

    Wouldn¡¯t it be weirder if Haha was here and not him! QAQ

    There wasn¡¯t anything in the fridge, so the two of them didn¡¯t go back home, but went to the supermarket that was located directly beside their ce.

    In the void space, the system spirit was ying games with its leg raised in the air. [Beauty Qiao, you still have three unfinished missions. One is Ning Qing¡¯s, one is Little Huazi¡¯s, and thest one is Baili Bin¡¯s. When that¡¯s all done, do you think I can get another upgrade?]

    ¡®It¡¯s still too soon to tell.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao picked up two packs of dog food, cing it in the cart. ¡®You need ten thousand points for the next one, it¡¯s a bit difficult.¡¯

    If there were no big missions to do, she wasn¡¯t sure when it would be before it could upgrade again.

    But every time a big mission came, it was a chain mission and concerned something deadly. Gu Xiqiao took a deep breath, she needed to start working harder on leveling up. She had this nagging feeling that her next chain mission wasn¡¯t that far off.

    ***

    Hua Jingya had found the building that Rong Feishuang was at.

    A room on the fifteenth floor.

    Hua Jingya felt that it was a bit strange, she thought that people on the top would be living in a manor or vi, and she didn¡¯t expect to be led to amunity building instead. However, she didn¡¯t think too much about it, because the door had just opened.

    ¡°Hello, Miss Hua.¡± It was a middle-aged man who opened the door. Although his face was kind, there was a kind of pressure that radiated from his person.

    She immediately knew that he wasn¡¯t any ordinary folk, and a calm smile was pasted on her face, though she felt anything but inside.

    The only people who could give her this feeling was someone from the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± A face appeared in front of her suddenly, his hair had already gone white, but there was a healthy glow on his face, looking like the image of an old man. ¡°Baili my boy, hurry up and put those things down. Let us look at your legs!¡±

    Rong Feishuang didn¡¯t really understand Baili Bin¡¯s obsession with readingtely, and he kept ying with those stones.

    Although his personality had be more upbeat recently, it was also a little strange. He really wanted to know what made him change this way.

    Could it be because there were signs of a revival of the Baili family?

    At Rong Feishuang¡¯s voice, Hua Jingya raised her head to find another person in the living room. He was sitting in a wheelchair, a very handsome and attractive face. He had an indifferent expression, and a sort of gentle feeling radiating from him.

    Dazzled by his good looks, it took a moment for Hua Jingya to notice that he was in a wheelchair, a pity shed in her eyes.

    Baili Bin ced down the book that was in his hands, and pretended that he didn¡¯t see the sh of pity in her eyes as he nodded slightly at her. ¡°Hello, Miss Hua.¡±

    ¡°Divine Doctor Rong, I know my legs the best, and I know they can no longer be saved,¡± Baili Bin looked at Rong Feishuang and said suddenly. There was no joy or sadness in his voice, as though this was a normal urrence.

    He had the orthodox formation inheritance now, and his achievements in formations have gone through massive breakthroughs, and evenpletely changed his understanding of formations as a whole. So what if his legs were an inconvenience? He was still himself, the abilities he possessed were still within him. After reading the news about Gu Xiqiao many times, the words that she said still resonated deeply with him¡ªEverything that doesn¡¯t destroy you, will make you stronger.

    If he didn¡¯t go through his sufferings, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to see through people¡¯s hearts. If he didn¡¯t suffer, he wouldn¡¯t have met these people in the Baili family.

    He had felt aggrieved for the past seven years. However, he could see clearly nowadays. He couldn¡¯t say what exactly changed him, but he liked where he waspared to the ancient martial arts world. Especially in the mornings, he would let Uncle Tai push him outside, and most of the time he would meet her on a morning jog with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Baili Bin knew in his heart that the book Jiang Shuxuan had given them was from Gu Xiqiao. Although none of the said anything about it, he would remember it in his heart.

    How can you forget this kind of grace that had been given?

    Hearing Baili Bin¡¯s words, Rong Feishuang was stunned for a moment, before jumping to his feet angrily. ¡°Baili Bin, are you just epting your fate? Don¡¯t you have any ambitions? Do you know how worried your grandfather and everyone else are?¡±

    ¡°Divine Doctor Rong.¡± Baili Bin sighed. Rong Feishuang and Baili Qu were close friends, and he knew that Rong Feishuang was a kind soul. But seven years had passed, and he had already experienced countless expectations and disappointments during those years, and he was already used to it.

    Well, fine. Nothing wrong with just one more time, he supposed. ¡°Please go on.¡±

    Uncle Tai pushed Baili Bin into the bedroom.

    ¡°Miss Hua, I know that there is an acupuncture method passed down in your family, I will need your help in a while.¡± Rong Feishuang stood outside the door, briefing Hua Jingya, a grave look on his face.

    When he went to see Hua Jingya a few days ago, she had demonstrated her genius talents in front of him on the spot. At such a young age, her line formation and method was simple and neat, and he was satisfied by what he saw. It felt like she would give him way less trouble than his own disciple too, and he had the intention to take her in at that moment.

    However, he was extremely picky in his disciples. He not only looked at their talent, but also their character. Although Hua Jingya had the talent, Rong Feishuang decided to observe a few more days before he decided on anything.

    If she could save Baili Bin, then he would ept her without a second thought.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your face?¡± Rong Feishuang suddenly realized the scar on Hua Jingya¡¯s face and asked.

    Hua Jingya touched the scar on her face, the one that had been inflicted on her by Bai Jianbin in prison. A hard glint shed through her eyes and she lowered them. ¡°Some small wound.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good for girls to have scars.¡± Rong Feishuang pulled out a small bottle, a really really small one, the smallest ss jar that you could find. ¡°This is a scar removal beauty product made by my disciple, take it and use it.¡±

    When he talked about Zhu Yuan, he spoke with pride in his voice.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± It was something that Rong Feishuang endorsed, so it can¡¯t be bad. Hua Jingya took it ecstatically, and carefully ced it in her pocket.

    The cut on her face had been deep, and she couldn¡¯t care for it properly while in prison. Hua Jingya had initially nned to go for dermabrasion, but it would leave a little bit of unnaturalness on her face, and she was worried about that. She didn¡¯t expect to have Rong Feishuang give her this, how could she not be excited about it?

    ¡°Divine Doctor Rong, Miss Hua, you may enter now.¡± Uncle Tai opened the room door, and stood at the side as he waited for them to enter.

    His eyes were full of excitement, and it was also slightly moist. He had practically raised Baili Bin, and seeing him in such a depressing state for so many years, the saddest people were him and Baili Qu.

    An energetic young man in the ancient martial arts world that suddenly encountered this kind of thing, and his entire future was turned bleak in an instant. Even his fiancee came to regret their engagement, how could anyone bear such blows to their person?

    Fortunately, after such a long period of being depressed, it seemed that Baili Bin had gradually started to recover. And Divine Doctor Rong had now mentioned that it was possible for the young master¡¯s legs to recover! Uncle Tai could no longer use words to describe his feelings, the only thought in his mind was that after today, there would be good news to tell Baili Qu!

    Hua Jingya followed Rong Feishuang into the bedroom, and with a nce she saw Baili Bin¡¯s exposed legs. More urately to say, they were no longer legs. The muscles havepletely deted, and only the green veins were vividly sticking out, and a bunch of blood vessels were intertwined together. It was a terrifying picture to look at, incredibly nightmarish.

    She took a step back in fright, and her eyes were wide with fear. Although she had seen her fair share of injuries and wounds, she had never seen such disgusting and revolting legs like this!

    Seeing her reaction, Baili Bin¡¯s face didn¡¯t change. Except for Rong Feishuang and Zhu Yuan, there were few people who reacted to his legs with indifference. Even his grandfather had been shocked when he saw it for the first time. He was already unbothered by it.

    Rong Feishuang nced at Hua Jingya, his brows furrowing slightly.

    He didn¡¯t say anything though, because when he thought about it, she was still a girl in the end, and that was a logical exnation. ¡°Miss Hua, is it possible to use your acupuncture method? Do you need anything special for it?¡±

    When using an ancestral technique, it was normal to sometimes need to ce an incense for it. Rong Feishuang had already had Uncle Tai prepare it in advance to save time, but he didn¡¯t expect Hua Jingya to shake her head. ¡°No need, saving people is the priority. Our Hua family doesn¡¯t have many rules regarding this.¡±

    Rong Feishuang watched as Hua Jingya pulled out a set of silver needles and he didn¡¯t dare to speak much after that, leaving the room immediately.

    This was a technique that was handed down in the Hua family, he naturally wanted to avoid arousing suspicion by staying inside. Outside the door, Uncle Tai was a bundle of nerves. ¡°Divine Doctor Rong, will the young master really be fine again?¡±

    ¡°The Hua family¡¯s acupuncture method, ¡®break to stand¡¯, adding on to the method that I started to study, it will definitely seed.¡± Rong Feishuang was confident, if it wasn¡¯t for Baili Bin¡¯s legscking the natural energy and lifeforce, he would have been able to cure him a long time ago.

    Only, Rong Feishuang wasn¡¯t aware that since the Hua family¡¯s acupuncture technique was such an impossible feat, it had to be performed by a legitimate heir with the precise techniques!

    The two stood outside the door for what felt like a year. Forty minutester, a scream suddenly came from the inside.

    Before Rong Feishuang could react, Uncle Tai had kicked open the door. As soon as he saw Baili Bin¡¯s ckening legs, his eyes widened. ¡°Young Master!¡±

    ***

    At the same time, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had just finished buying their groceries.

    Haha followed behind them, and Jiang Shuxuan was carrying arge bag as though it didn¡¯t weigh a single thing in his hands.

    Just as they reached the building that they lived in, Gu Xiqiao stopped suddenly, turning to Jiang Shuxuan with a smile on her face. ¡°Brother Jiang, we may need to go somewhere before we can go home.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan turned to her thoughtfully, ncing at the building opposite them, and his gleaming eyes narrowed. He held Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand tightly, and his voice came out low and deep, ¡°Let¡¯s go together then.¡±

 Chapter 190 - Get Used To It

    <strong>Chapter 190: Get Used To It</strong>

    Rong Feishuang did not expect to witness such a horrific scene the moment he stepped in through the front door. Baili Bin¡¯s legs, which were originally in an already atrophied and shrunken state, had be something much more gruesome. His legs were beyond salvation as they had be pure ck, like carbon.

    The reason why he was convinced to go with Hua Jingya¡¯s acupuncture technique was because he had read in historical archives, writings about her family¡¯s game-changing technique. Back then, even his master hadmented about how the Hua family has perfected the art of acupuncture. This was why he had not doubted Hua Jingya¡¯s actions, especially after she had demonstrated her work to him in person.

    What¡¯s more, Hua Jingya had once told him that she had already reached the peak of creating formations, using the countless lives she had saved to prove the validity of her statement. As a fellow traditional practitioner of medicine, there was no reason for her to lie about this, right? Rong Feishuang wholeheartedly believed in her work.

    And he thought that he¡¯d be able to see Baili Bin stand back on his own two feet after a couple of months.

    Never in a thousand years would he expect to see such a heart-breaking scene. Baili Bin was lying on the bed lifelessly; whether or not he was alive or dead was uncertain.

    ¡°Quick! Let me take a look!¡±

    Rong Feishuang sounded anxious. Without wasting an extra-second, Uncle Tai stepped aside to allow the healer to take a closer look at the young master. Then, he looked back up at Hua Jingya with an icy-cold look in his eyes. Since he had been cultivating ancient martial arts when he was a young boy, the pressuring aura emanating off his body was like none other.

    Hua Jingya, who was originally staring nkly at Baili Bin couldn¡¯t help but shuffle backward fearfully after being red at by Uncle Tai. Leaning against the wall, she peered back at Uncle Tai with timid eyes. Her body was trembling uncontrobly out of fear.

    ¡°Hurry up! Get Old Baili over here! And my disciple, Zhu Yuan as well!¡± Rong Feishuang¡¯s pupils shrank. Suddenly, a look of horror surfaced on his face as he continued working on Baili Bin. ¡°The restrictions within his body have broken down! Damn it!¡±

    It¡¯s over.

    Hua Jingya could feel her strength drain out of her body as she copsed onto the ground. As the descendant of a famed healer, it was natural that she could see Baili Bin¡¯s life force gradually leaving his body. She thought that she would return to the limelight of the medical world after today. How did things turn out like this?

    ¡°We¡¯re running out of time!¡± Rong Feishuang yelled as he looked up at Uncle Tai. ¡°Use every ounce of your chi! Keep his heart beating!¡±

    Uncle Tai could not afford to bother with Hua Jingya any longer. He immediately walked over to the bedside and in a more refined manner, he began transferring his body¡¯s chi into Baili Bin¡¯s body. Through his perception of mental strength as well as chi, Uncle Tai could also feel the life force slowly drain out from Baili Bin¡¯s body. Despite this, he continued pouring out his strength into the young master.

    ¡°If I cannot save the young master by the end of today, I will pay for the loss of his life with my own!¡± said Rong Feishuang as he put down his hand powerlessly.

    Uncle Tai nced at the dark mist that was gradually forming above Baili Bin¡¯s face. An indescribable pain swelled up in his chest. The young master was still alive and full of energy not even an hour ago. Even though he couldn¡¯t lift his legs, he was still conscious and healthy.

    His mind stopped registering what Rong Feishuang said from then on. It was as if the two people who were in the same room as him had stopped existing.

    Death permeated through the air in the room. Seconds passed by like hours as they stared wide-eyed at Baili Bin as life slowly flowed out of his body.

    ¡®It was all my own fault!¡¯, thought Rong Feishuang as he raised his hand.

    A wave of conflicting chi was about to smash into his chest. This was the only way it could make him feel slightly better during such a morbid situation.

    And yet, before he could lower his hand, an invisible barrier stopped him. Then, a clear voice came from behind. ¡°Healer Rong, there is no need for you to do this.¡±

    This voice? Rong Feishuang looked up immediately to find two extra people standing in the room. One of a man and the other, a youngdy. The man was handsome and the youngdy, equally beautiful.

    ¡°Uncle, please step aside. Let me deal with this.¡± Her voice was as calming as it was clear. Uncle Tai looked up and was astonished to see the young girl standing by his side.

    With disbelief in his voice, he asked, ¡°Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± Gu Xiqiao rapidly scanned Baili Bin¡¯s entire body. Her brows were slightly furrowed. With a flick of her fingertips, Uncle Tai¡¯s hand was moved away by an invisible force.

    And then, a terrifyingly astronomical amount of life-containing chi burst forth from her body.

    Both Rong Feishuang and Uncle Tai looked over at her body. Gu Xiqiao appeared to be covered in a veil of mist. Even with the naked eye, the ck mist above Baili Bin¡¯s eyes could be seen dissipating rapidly.

    ¡°What terrifying life force...¡± Uncle Tai¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

    Rong Feishuang too, was awestruck. ¡°This...¡±

    Stunned, Hua Jingya stared at Gu Xiqiao. She could feel a stinging warmth re up across her face. Her eyes were filled with nothing but contempt for the young woman.

    It was then that a ball of ck mist abruptly emerged from Baili Bin¡¯s body. It seemed to have a consistent shape. The moment it left its host, it headed straight towards Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body. And yet, while narrowing her eyes, sheughed. ¡°You still trying to escape?¡±

    She reached out into empty air and grabbed something. Before they could see what she was actually trying to do, a bamboo tube had already materialized in her hand. That ball of ck mist was subsequently sucked into said tube.

    The bamboo tube began to shake violently.

    Gu Xiqiao knocked on the wall of the bamboo tube. With a raised brow, she issued an ultimatum. ¡°Move again and I¡¯ll kill you.¡±

    The bamboo tube went still almost immediately. With a satisfied expression, she tucked the tube into the pocket of her coat. Turning around, she came face-to-face with Rong Feishuang and Uncle Tai, who were both staring at her dumbfoundedly.

    They still could not get past what they had just witnessed. However, their thoughts were quickly interrupted by someone else¡¯s voice. ¡°Master, what on earth is so urgent that I had toe immediately? Is something wrong with Mr. Baili again...¡±

    Zhu Yuan staggered breathlessly through the door. He was at A University¡¯s researchb when he was summoned by Rong Feishuang. Despite it being located not far away, he stomped on the gas pedal the moment he got into his car. He sounded out of breath. Before he could finish his sentence though, he went silent upon seeing Gu Xiqiao standing before Baili Bin¡¯s bed.

    ¡°Wha-what are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Is there something wrong with that?¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at him nonchntly.

    ¡°Well, technically, no. You go wherever you feel like going, don¡¯t you?¡± Zhu Yuan asked with a smile. The anxious look he initially wore was now long gone. Walking over to Rong Feishuang, his expression changed into one of sorrow and pain. ¡°Master, I see you managed to get her over. Was there a need for you to call me over then?¡± And so urgently at that. He had to abandon his half-finished experiment because of that dreaded call.

    Rong Feishuang slowly regained his senses upon hearing his disciple speak. He looked at Zhu Yuan, as if it was his first time seeing the man in his life.

    Rong Feishuang knew that this disciple of his was a fairly cocky fellow. There was pretty much no one he bowed down to nor did he ever see Zhu Yuan act this way toward another person like this.

    ¡°You know her?¡±

    ¡°Well, she¡¯s the one I told you about.¡± Zhu Yuan kept his eyes fixed on Gu Xiqiao. By now, she had already taken out a pack of silver needles. A glow then appeared in his eyes. ¡°I never thought you guys knew each other.¡±

    ¡°So it seems.¡± Rong Feishuang let out a great sigh. No wonder Old Man Su had such an enormous reservoir of life force in his body. It probably was from the life-bringing chi that her body contained. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly who she is but this Baili kid probably does. I have to say, this friend of yours is nomoner.¡±

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll introduce her to you afterward.¡± Zhu Yuan continued staring at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. The way he spoke sounded as if he was pompously praising himself. Rong Feishuang was seeing another side of Zhu Yuan; it felt like it was his first time meeting his disciple all over again.

    In the next second, his eyes were wide-open from astonishment.

    He had seen Hua Jingya work her needles. The way she did her work was clean and precise. And yet, what he saw now was enough to send chills down his spine.

    Finally, he understood what Chinese idiom, floating clouds and flowing rivers, meant. It seemed almost as if the needles were a fundamental part of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s biology itself. It appeared like a part of her own body. The way she inserted the needles was lightning fast. Rong Feishuang couldn¡¯t keep his eyes off her fingers. He had seen the way, and so, the entire atmosphere turned dead serious.

    As she inserted needles into Baili Bin¡¯s body, the handsome man beside her would pass her fresh, sterile needles one after the other. It seemed as if their minds had synced up as the pair worked like a well-oiled machine.

    Ten minutester, she started removing the needles. Baili Bin¡¯s eyelids fluttered the moment thest needle was removed. Slowly, his eyes peeled open, revealing a pair of gentle but slightly surprised gaze. ¡°Miss Gu? Shuxuan?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like there are any major problems,¡± announced Gu Xiqiao. After sighing, she smiled at Baili Bin. ¡°Brother Baili, Haha¡¯s waiting for us downstairs. We¡¯ll be leaving now. See you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, see you tomorrow,¡± answered Baili Bin instinctively. However, his memory was nk up until seconds ago. He had no idea what had happened to himself.

    Zhu Yuan was a little saddened to see the duo leave. ¡°With Master Jiang here, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m gonna make Beauty Gu stay for a while.¡± Zhu Yuan had been researching traditional Chinese acupuncture recently. By coincidence, he was able to catch a glimpse of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s out-of-this-world needle insertion technique. He wanted to get a lecture from her about the subject and yet Master Jiang probably would try to keep his woman to himself.

    Gritting his teeth, he cursed at Jiang Shuxuan, the insecure bastard!

    After a while, he heard his master¡¯s voice. Turning around, he discovered that Rong Feishuang had yet to wipe that stupefied look off his face. ¡°S-She, how did she pull it off?¡± Rong Feishuang started to feel as if his own voice was nothing but an illusion.

    He could understand why Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body contained such an enormous volume of life force. Rong Feishuang thought that this was what Zhu Yuan praised her for. What surprised him was the moment when she whipped out the packet of needles. The way her fingers worked seemed as if she had undergone tens of thousands of years¡¯ worth of training.

    If not for him witnessing firsthand Gu Xiqiao at work, Rong Feishuang would never believe that there existed someone in this world so skilled at this art. Even he was ashamed about himself, what more to say of Hua Jingya who is nothing but a speck of dustpared to that youngdy.

    How old was she? Judging from that clear face of hers, twenty? Perhaps even younger than that?

    For such a young person to be so skilled, how the hell was she unheard of in the ancient martial arts world? Even he had never heard about such a person back then. Hua Jingya, the half-assed healer was able to garner so much attention and yet nobody ever talked about this aplished young woman.

    Rong Feishuang suddenly understood why his disciple admired the youngdy so much.

    ¡°Master, you better get used to it.¡± Seeing how shocked his master was, Zhu Yuan immediately used what Professor Jiang said to him initially on Rong Feishuang.

    Baili Bin gradually got his bearings. He looked down at his legs. With a shaky voice, he said, ¡°Uncle Tai, I think I can feel my legs...¡±

    The entire ce went dead silent after he said that. Rong Feishuang, who had just calmed himself down was stunned once more.

    ***

    Outside the door, Gu Xiqiao was waiting for the elevator with Jiang Shuxuan. As the steel doors rolled open, the two were about to step in when a figure standing inside made them stop in their tracks. It was an old man with a wrinkled face. There was a turbulent look in his eyes, which he did not put in the effort to hide. However, he froze up in surprise upon locking eyes with Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°Shuxuan?¡±

    ¡°Grandpa Baili.¡± Jiang Shuxuan bowed as a gesture of respect.

    Baili Qu was about to say something when he picked up on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s presence, who was standing at the corner of his field of vision. His eyes widened. This was the old man¡¯s first time meeting Gu Xiqiao. Even before Jiang Shuxuan could introduce her to him, he knew instantly who this youngdy was.

    No wonder. Baili Bin¡¯s description of her was perfectly on point.

    ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse us, Grandpa Baili.¡± Jiang Shuxuan bowed again at the old man before leading Gu Xiqiao into the elevator.

    Baili Qu only regained his senses after the elevator doors rolled shut. Suppressing his curiosity, he suddenly remembered Ah Tai¡¯s call before barging into Baili Bin¡¯s house.

    ¡°You know Grandpa Baili?¡± asked Jiang Shuxuan who was looking at the floor numbers light up one after the other above the elevator door.

    Gu Xiqiao was also in deep thought about it. She couldn¡¯t seem to piece the puzzle together. ¡°It¡¯s our first time meeting.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan ruffled her hair and proceeded to not ask anymore questions.

    A white dog was already waiting for them before the elevator door opened up. Beside ity arge bag of things. Jiang Shuxuan picked the bag up. The trio then headed for the building on the other side.

    Unbeknownst to Gu Xiqiao, Baili Bin¡¯s room had exploded with excited chatter. Not only that, the ancient martial arts world was also about to explode.

 Chapter 191 - Who Is That Person?

    <strong>Chapter 191: Who Is That Person?</strong>

    Pretty much everyone in the ancient martial arts world knew about the Baili family¡¯s recent decline. After all, Baili Bin was a fairly prominent figure there. He was a prodigy that, like a phoenix, only appeared once every few centuries in the Baili family. However, even he was finished off by his enemy during the rankingpetitions. Quite a lot of people were shocked by how the events yed out.

    Even Rong Feishuang, the most renowned healer in the ancient martial arts world was unable to help with his injuries. And so, the peoples¡¯ hopes had been utterly crushed. The most they could do was sigh and express their condolences.

    However, this all was about to change today. Tang Qingqiu uploaded a post onto a group where his friends were gathered. It contained a single photo and a line below.

    Tang Qingqiu: Wee back. [JPEG]

    In the image was a young man leaning against a ss window. The setting sun behind him dyed his clothes a bright fiery red. Under the dying rays of sunlight, his face was unclear. However, they all recognized who the old man standing nearby was¡ªno doubt about it! He¡¯s Baili Qu!

    If that¡¯s so, then that man must be none other than Baili Bin. Although he wasn¡¯t standing very straight, he was back on his own two feet alright!

    Now that even the cripple had gotten up from his wheelchair, who could predict what else was in store for them in the future? It seemed that with Rong Feishuang¡¯s help, Baili Bin could finally stand up. If things went on the way it did, perhaps there¡¯s a chance for him to regain his former glory?

    This incident spread like wildfire around the ancient martial arts world. This time, it was incredibly obvious how the Baili family was rising back up from the ashes. They were recouping their strength at an rming rate. Back during the incident at the trial pavilion, Baili Bin used his formation to plug up the void. That alone was enough to send shockwaves rippling through their world.

    The ripple that was spreading through the ancient martial arts world right now was multitudes greater than that incident. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before his eventual return to his throne?

    It¡¯s as if no one could stop the Baili family¡¯s rise from their grave now.

    Amidst their shock, a significant portion of them had a question in mind. Didn¡¯t Rong Feishuang himself admit that Baili Bin¡¯s condition was beyond the point of saving? It¡¯s been seven years since then and most of the people in the ancient martial arts world hade to ept his statement as the truth. Why on earth then were his legs healed all so suddenly?

    Not only that, even Baili Qu¡¯s inexplicable yet chronic illness had been cured! Has Rong Feishuang been experimenting with all sorts of treatment in the past seven years?

    A thread had floated up into the front page of The Forum. The post mentioned the Hua family¡¯s arrival at the Imperial Capital. This family was well-known due to their roots in medicine, which was also brought up in the post. The OP even imed that he or she met the heir of the Hua family in person.

    In other words, this person was suggesting that perhaps, Baili Bin¡¯s legs were cured by the legendary Hua family?

    For a while, these people were getting more and more curious about the Hua family. When the actual family caught wind of this, they swiftly released news of opening a brand-new shop at the Imperial Capital in an effort to cash in on the free publicity. Unsurprisingly, their family business gained quite a lot of attention fromizens of the ancient martial arts world.

    ***

    ¡°The Hua family?¡± Zhu Yuan was still at Baili Bin¡¯s ce. He sneered when the thread popped up on his news feed. Then, he sent the thread to one of his group chats.

    Zhu Yuan said, ¡°Stop digging into this. The one who saved the Bailis isn¡¯t the Hua family. In fact, she isn¡¯t even from the ancient martial arts world. I¡¯m sure you guys will receive the greatest shock of your lives when I tell you about it. Please be patient in the meantime.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t care less if he had created yet another tidal wave that was about to sweep across the ancient martial arts world.

    Rong Feishuang was in the middle of examining Baili Bin¡¯s legs. Halfway through his examination, he looked up at Zhu Yuan. ¡°Could you please-¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Zhu Yuan turned him down before Rong Feishuang could finish speaking.

    ¡®Traitorous disciple! Do you even have an inkling about what I was going to ask!?¡¯ thought Rong Feishuang to himself.

    Zhu Yuan stared back at his master nonchntly before letting out a sigh. ¡°Fine. Also, how could I not know what is going through my master¡¯s mind? About this matter, I really am out of options. That girl will probably nevere back, I can guarantee you that.¡± She wouldn¡¯t even step foot in theboratory during ordinary times, what more to say ofing to meet his master after Baili Bin¡¯s issue was settled.

    Baili Qu was still in a state of shock. He looked at Baili Bin, who was taking his first few steps while being supported by Murong Feiye. Tears slowly swelled up in his eyes. Never in his life had he been so emotional before, even when Baili Bin received the injury that would cripple him for the next seven years. Even when Rong Feishuang dered that Baili Bin¡¯s injury was incurable, he was not fazed one bit. And yet, tears were rolling down his cheeks now.

    Perhaps this is what happens when you stumble upon yourst bastion of hope when all was truly lost. This feeling of his felt almost impossible to put into words.

    ¡°Old Rong, we, the Baili family owe you a favor this time. If there are any problems you face in the future, do not hesitate to ask us for help! We will never turn you away!¡± Baili Qu bowed at Rong Feishuang. However, before he could really bow, he was stopped by Rong Feishuang.

    ¡°Old Baili, although I wish to ept your gratitude, you have to understand that I am not the person who cured your grandson¡¯s ailment.¡± Rong Feishuang sighed. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you bumped into that boy from the Jiang family while on your way here?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about Shuxuan?¡± Baili Qu¡¯s eyes grew wide open. When did Jiang Shuxuan start healing people?

    Rong Feishuang shook his head. Then, he patted Baili Qu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m talking about that girl by his side.¡±

    ¡°What!¡± Baili Qu looked at him in bewilderment. At that instant, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face surfaced in his memory. His throat sounded dry when he spoke. ¡°So it¡¯s her.¡± How old was she?

    Murong Feiye looked up the moment he heard what Rong Feishuang said. ¡°You¡¯re talking about Gu Xiqiao?¡± How could it be?!

    Tang Qingqiu tucked his phone away before ncing at their faces. ¡°Why the surprise? She¡¯s a med student at A University. That girl even earned the respect of Zhu Yuan right here.¡±

    Seems like she¡¯s a swiss army-woman. Tang Qingqiu was awed by how much potential this youngdy had in her. He was initially thinking about employing her at his firm and yet it seemed that it would be quite an impossible task.

    Earning Zhu Yuan¡¯s respect? Disbelief made itself apparent on Murong Feiye¡¯s face. When he heard Tang Qingqiu say that, Zhu Yuan nodded to confirm its truth. Only then could he believe what he was saying. Thinking about his worries from a few days ago, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    ¡°Frankly speaking, I was rather worried that when she stepped foot into the ancient martial arts world, she would get instantly annihted by that demon girl and her friends. In hindsight, it seems like I was just thinking too much about it.¡±

    With skills in healing that was at least on par with Rong Feishuang, she probably could gain a firm foothold in the ancient martial arts world the moment she steps foot into their realm. Though, the Jiang family remained a difficult hurdle to clear.

    ¡°Pfffttt¡ª¡± Zhu Yuan choked on tea when he heard that.

    ¡°Mr. Murong, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re overthinking this.¡± Zhu Yuan ced his teacup down. As the smile on his face faded away while he shook his head, he said, ¡°It¡¯s inevitable that anarchy will descend upon the ancient martial arts world following her arrival. Instead of worrying about her, you¡¯re better off worrying about Jiang Tong and her friends¡¯ safety.¡±

    Zhu Yuan did not spare too much time lingering around there after that. He said his goodbyes to Tang Qingqiu before leaving the ce hastily in order to get back to his experiment that was waiting for him at theb.

    There¡¯s a high chance that Gu Xiqiao would appear at theboratory in theing few days. This was her style. She¡¯d pass on the treatment method to him in the form of a thorough lecture. No doubt, she would do the same for today¡¯s treatment. She was probably the only medical practitioner on earth who would do this right? Sharing her precious information with other researchers.

    ***

    Why were they all talking about her like this? Murong Miaoxue was already plenty fearful of Gu Xiqiao. Then came Zhu Yuan to ry all this information about her.

    Murong Feiye raised his brow. He remembered his meeting with her two days ago. The only thing he noticed about her was her remarkable beauty. If her skill in medicine was included in the equation, that left Gu Xiqiao with only a single potential w¡ªphysical weakness. With little to no training in ancient martial arts, of course he would worry about her future in the ancient martial arts world.

    Was she the same person as Murong Miaoxue had described to him?

    ¡°What Zhu Yuan said is not wrong. If she indeed enters the ancient martial arts world, then Jiang Tong and her friends would undoubtedly be outshined by her.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s mouth curled into a smile. A soft glow appeared in his eyes. cing a formation prodigy into the Baili family truly was a once-in-a-lifetime scenario.

    With Jiang Shuxuan as her escort, she could go anywhere she pleases.

    ¡°Are you sure we¡¯re talking about the same person here?¡± Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t help but be skeptical about this.

    Baili Bin peered down at his feet. A momentter, he chuckled. ¡°Murong, didn¡¯t you keep pestering me about why my formation skills improved so drastically?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Murong Feiye¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Especially that formation you created back at the trial tower. I just can¡¯t seem toprehend how you managed to pull it off.¡±

    If Baili Bin used this formation against him, the match would probably end up in a deadlock.

    ¡°It was her who switched that formation for me,¡± answered Baili Bin bluntly.

    Murong Feiye stopped smiling immediately. He stared at the smiling Baili Bin nkly and froze up for a couple of seconds.

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had already reached home.

    [Beauty Qiao, Hua Jingya is currently at the temporary meeting ce for the Hua family.] Baili Bin¡¯s legs had been cured, Rong Feishuang and co were stunned beyond words. No one paid any heed to Hua Jingya, who had silently slipped away in the nick of time. Still, no matter how far she ran, she could never escape the eyes of the system.

    The system yed the entire scene out for Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes as she rinsed the vegetables at the kitchen sink. Jiang Shuxuan was originally walking around downstairs but he was pushed upstairs to tutor Hua Youlin in the Englishnguage. He probably was going to be there for a while.

    Looking at the chicken soup, which she had simmered down perfectly, her bright eyes turned hazy underneath the misty lighting of their kitchen. ¡°Little system, how about we pay the Hua family a visit for fun?¡±

    [Um, didn¡¯t you n to let Little Hua...] Before the system could finish its sentence, Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers. Their entire environment changed in a split second. It was only after this rapid change that it uttered its final few words. [...deal with it.]

    ¡°Well, technically I did.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she looked at the que on which the words ¡®Hua family¡¯ was written. The calligraphy was pretty impressive, she thought.

    ¡®What? And when exactly did you change your mind?¡¯ pondered the system.

    The Hua family was holding a meeting at the moment.

    Hua Jingya¡¯s uncle, Hua Zihou had just arrived. He was the one in charge of nning their family¡¯s rise in the Imperial Capital.

    ¡°Little Ya, what do you think about this proposal of mine?¡± asked Hua Zihou. Hua Jingya was on the main seat, staring listlessly into the air. Her uncle couldn¡¯t help but frown at this very sight. He was initially against the idea of their family expanding into this territory. The Hua family had their rules they had to abide by. However, as Hua Jingya was the heiress of the family, her words were the rule. He was powerless against her will.

    The look in Hua Jingya¡¯s eyes was as deep as the ocean. ¡°I want our family to rise up this very instant!¡±

    Her fellow family members agreed unanimously to this. If they had no choice but to enter the Imperial Capital, then they must do so decisively.

    ¡°The youngdy is right.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s time for the people to witness the Hua family¡¯s...¡±

    ¡°Apologies for barging in, gentlemen.¡± Suddenly, before the elder of the Hua family could end his sentence, the voice of a woman interrupted him, followed by her entry into the meeting room.

    The core personnel running the Hua family all turned their heads in her direction. The closer that figure approached them, the stronger they could sense her overwhelming mental strength. It was so overpowering that they struggled to breathe. And yet, they still couldn¡¯t get a good glimpse of her face. All they could see was a blurry vision of her face.

    ¡®System, how long will it take to send every information about Hua Jingya over to the police?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao entered the Hua family as if no one was there to stop her and proceeded to bring their heiress away.

    [One minute, Miss Gu.]

    Gu Xiqiao threw Hua Jingya onto the ground. Ignoring the frightened and resentful look in her eyes, Gu Xiqiao curled up her fists.

    One minute. That was all it took.

    The Hua family members froze up out of shock until the mysterious intruder left the ce. However, it was already toote when they regained their senses. Hua Jingya was nowhere to be found!

    Where she sat only a piece of paper was left behind.

    They had never witnessed such a scene before. The Hua family was spooked. They couldn¡¯t even see clearly that person¡¯s face and under their very noses, she brought Hua Jingya away. Deep fear apanied the look of helplessness on their faces.

    The same question was on their minds. Just who did Hua Jingya manage to piss off?

    Who was this person?

    Why were they unable to see her face when she was standing right in front of them?

    The Hua family had no answers to these questions. However, what they knew was the fear they had in their hearts. Finally, they understood that the Imperial Capital was not a ce where they ruled supreme.

    If that person wanted to, she could have wiped out their entire family effortlessly.

    Hua Zihou forced himself to calm down. Picking up that piece of paper on Hua Jingya¡¯s seat, he flipped through it. Then, a furious expression surfaced on his face.

 Chapter 192 - New Neighbors

    Chapter 192: New Neighbors

    ¡°Gu... Gu Xiqiao?¡± Hua Jingya was thrown onto the ground in an ungraceful manner. It was only then that she got a good glimpse of that person¡¯s face. A horrified scream echoed through the suburbs.

    Night had already befallen the Imperial Capital. Although there were street lights around, Hua Jingya could not see clearly her abductor¡¯s face despite her standing only five meters away. She did make out a pale face and a pair of familiar ink dark eyes.

    Standing in front of her, her abductor towered over Hua Jingya

    Hua Jingya slowly tried to get up on her feet. However, it was an effort in futility as her legs felt like they were electrocuted once more. The girl who was smiling sweetly at her yed with a ball of purple electric sparks in her palms. It was at this moment that Hua Jingya understood how terrifying her foe was. And yet, she steadied herself. ¡°Miss Gu, doing this will only earn you the Hua family¡¯s vengeance.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. The sparks in her hand flickered more intensely. Wide-eyed, Hua Jingya kept her eyes glued onto that ball of lightning in horror.

    The paralyzing pain that she anticipated did not arrive. Hua Jingya slowly peeled her eyelids open to see yet another figure standing in front of her.

    ¡°Does this youngdy not understand that people from the ancient martial arts world are forbidden from interfering with the secr world?¡± Shi Haizhe slowly raised his head, taking a good look at the pretty face of the girl who was standing before him. A split-secondter, his expression tensed up.

    A glow returned to Hua Jingya¡¯s eyes. It was as if she had seen the final straw that would save her life. Hastily, she clung onto the man¡¯s clothes.

    Gu Xiqiao furrowed her brows. ¡°How troublesome.¡±

    She raised her hand and swiftly deployed a barrier.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    After a couple of dull thuds, she brushed her hands clean as if announcing that her work here was done and that she was satisfied. The hem of her coat drew an arc in the air, into which she climbed. What was left a secondter was just a trail where she once stood.

    Shi Haizhe froze up instantly. All he could do was watch Gu Xiqiao abuse Hua Jingya. He was stopped by an invisible barrier the moment he tried to reach out and stop the poor woman¡¯s ordeal.

    Since when did such a terrifying character start roaming around the Imperial Capital? Shi Haizhe was baffled by both the sparks in that girl¡¯s hand as well as this unbreakable barrier she had casted on his body. Peering in the direction of where she left, a blinding ray emerged in his eyes.

    Even Murong Miaoxue paled inparison to her skills. She seemed to be pretty young. For such a young one to possess such great strength, if she wasn¡¯t a part of the ancient martial arts world, she probably was a member of the reclusive aristocrats.

    Suddenly, the wails of police sirens filled the air. Two patrol cars stopped beside him. The policemen that emerged from their vehicles were here to bring Hua Jingya away.

    It was after this that Shi Haizhe discovered the barrier around him had disintegrated. He stood there for a while in a dazed state beforeughing to himself quietly.

    That girl from before probably casted this barrier on him to stop him from saving a damsel in distress. Still, astonishment swelled up in his chest after hisughter. To be able to maintain control over her barrier over such distances, and with so much precision as well! This was his first time experiencing such a thing.

    ¡°Sir! Please save me!¡± Hua Jingya was still clinging onto Shi Haizhe¡¯s clothes, as if he was a piece of driftwood out in the middle of the ocean.

    Shi Haizhe nced down at her and slowly, he brushed her hand off. ¡°Pardon me but may I know the reason for this youngdy¡¯s arrest?¡± Recalling Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, Shi Haizhe thought that she wasn¡¯t the type of person who would push an innocent civilian around.

    The problem most likely stemmed with this woman who was clinging onto him.

    Although it was standard protocol not to leak any information out, the policeman sensed Shi Haizhe¡¯s dignified aura and so he was willing to let loose some bits of information. ¡°Well, for starters, illegally concocting a drug-like stimnt, murdering two innocent people and subsequently taking over their property... stuff that¡¯ll guarantee her life imprisonment without parole!¡±

    Even as a policeman, he had never seen such a vicious woman before. He looked down at Hua Jingya with disgust in his eyes.

    Every word the policeman said made Hua Jingya¡¯s face grow paler. There was only one thought in her mind at the moment. It¡¯s all over. They knew now! They knew about her now! The image she had painstakingly kept up has been utterly shattered now! Then the Hua family... her family probably knew about this too!

    Hua Jingya copsed onto the ground, paying no heed to the pain as she did so. What hurt more was the fact that her family most likely would refuse to save her. Unconsciously, she felt that her life was doomed!

    It was only now that Hua Jingya started to suspect she had been under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s scrutiny the moment she stepped foot in the Imperial Capital.

    Her eyes, which were filled with hope and anticipation now turned into despair and regret.

    Swiftly, the policemen brought Hua Jingya away in cuffs.

    Shi Haizhe¡¯s intuition wasn¡¯t far off from the truth it seems. He pulled out his phone and stared at the direction in which Gu Xiqiao had left. Taking in a deep breath, he started thinking to himself, with the Imperial Capital being such arge ce, would they ever bump into each other again? Still, there must be rumors about her back in the ancient martial arts world, right? Wrong. Not even a single trace of information was found when he investigated the mysterious Gu Xiqiao after returning to his world.

    His phone started ringing. He answered the call as he headed towards a nearby hotel. It was only seconds into the call when his brows became tightly knitted. ¡°Shi Haixuan, weren¡¯t you the one who insisted on withdrawing your marriage into the Baili family? You¡¯re only regretting your decision now, when they¡¯re rising up? How on earth do you think that this will change a thing?!¡±

    He was hung up on after saying that. Shi Haizhe sneered at how shameless Haixuan and the people on his side were.

    Shi Haixuan was his half-sister; they had always been at odds with each other.

    The reason why she called him was probably due to the rumors currently spreading around the ancient martial arts world. She probably heard that he was close acquaintances with Baili Bin, hence why she called him so abruptly.

    Although he had no idea who healed Baili Bin¡¯s legs, no matter from where he viewed it, whether in Baili Bin¡¯s shoes, or from his own family¡¯s perspective, he was thankful for that arcane healer.

    ***

    On the other end of the line, Shi Haixuan mmed her phone into the ground furiously. ¡°Piece of garbage!¡±

    ¡°Now now, calm down Haixuan,¡± urged the middle-aged woman beside her. ¡°It¡¯s only a rumor. Do you remember? The famed healer, Rong Feishuang said that his legs were incurable. It¡¯s not possible for one¡¯s legs to get cured so suddenly. I say, this is nothing but a hoax.¡±

    ¡°But Mom! Look!¡± Shi Haixuan presented an image on her phone. ¡°He really is standing up!¡±

    The middle-ageddy snorted at the photo. ¡°So what if he stood up? He spent 7 years just to do this? God knows how long before he starts walking! Who knows? Maybe some adverse side-effects will show upter on? Back then, the only reason why you weren¡¯t married was because of the Baili family¡¯s state of affairs. If not for Baili Bin¡¯s assets, how could I ever possibly agree to your marriage?! My child has the looks, the potential, and skill in ancient martial arts! I¡¯d have to be brain dead if I agreed to her marriage with a bloody cripple!¡±

    It was only then that Shi Haixuan started to calm down. Still, there was worry on her mind. ¡°But it seems like the Baili family¡¯s rising up again.¡±

    Pretty much everyone in the ancient martial arts world already knew about this. Especially after the whole situation at the trial tower.

    All her friends had nothing but praise and admiration for Baili Bin whenever they spoke of him. Shi Haixuan was a little flustered during their conversation. There was an indescribable sense of regret in her heart.

    ¡°The Baili family? They¡¯re nothing but a paper tiger! Look at it this way, as long as our family remains standing, we can crush them anytime we wish to. Don¡¯t worry and just wait till your chance of marriage arrives, alright?¡± The middle-aged woman patted Shi Haixuan¡¯s head. When she walked out the door though, her eyes were cold and hostile.

    ***

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had sessfully located an empty room. She snapped her fingers.

    Her figure warped in the air and once again, she reappeared in the kitchen at home. The meat that was braising in the casserole was perfectly done. Shutting off the me, she summoned the pair that was upstairs down for dinner. Turning around, she found Xixi who had just returned from the window.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao! They¡¯re too weak!¡± Apart from Yao Jiamu, no one could survive its three deadly techniques. ¡°But still, Yao Jiamu¡¯s quite the fighter!¡±

    ¡°Are you guys going to continue tomorrow?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao.

    Xixi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Why of course! I¡¯ll teach them a lesson or two!¡± They should be proud to be taught a lesson by this magnificent beast!

    Hua Youlin who overheard Xixi the feather ball speaking, shuddered in fear.

    After the meal, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s phone rang.

    Gu Xiqiao was taking a shower upstairs so Hua Youlin answered it for him before passing the device over.

    ¡°Shuxuan, is Miss Gu at your ce?¡± It was Baili Bin¡¯s gentle voice. ¡°My grandpa expresses his wish to meet her someday...¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡± Jiang Shuxuan knew from the get go what Baili Bin was nning. Instantly, his request was shot down.

    After hanging up, he thought about how he didn¡¯t have time to y with them because he needed to bring Haha out for a walkter.

    What a waste of time.

    ***

    Baili Bin, who was hung up on, looked up at Tang Qingiqu with a helpless expression. ¡°You¡¯re right, he really is adamant about not letting us visit her.¡±

    ¡°Get used to it,¡± said Tang Qingqiu as he patted his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ll find out over time that the Jiang Shuxuan of today ispletely unlike the Jiang Shuxuan of yesteryear.¡±

    After all, he had experienced this firsthand.

    Although disappointed, Murong Feiye still had his own ns. ¡°Qingqiu, prepare a house for me here. I will be staying here long term!¡±

    ¡°Smart move.¡± Xiao Yun passed by this ce frequently, which was why Tang Qingqiu felt that Murong Feiye¡¯s n was pretty solid. He called Qin Heng immediately. Through whatever means, he absolutely had to secure two houses in this area.

    Rong Feishuang was reading through the document Zhu Yuan had sent him. When he heard them talk about this matter, he looked up and said, ¡°Count this old boy in as well.¡±

    ¡°The air here is a little better than the air back home.¡± Since his grandson¡¯s home had two extra rooms that were empty, it was suitable for him to stay here as well.

    Baili Bin who was listening to their exchange remained silent.

    ¡°...¡±

    Unbeknownst to the residents of this suburb, they had gained an insanely-talented ancient martial arts team overnight as their neighbors.

    ***

    The next day.

    Hua Youlin got up and was about to leave for school when Gu Xiqiao patted his shoulder. ¡°Here, wear this.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Hua Youlin looked at that gold turtle that exuded a trashy-energy. His entire body felt repulsed by the thing. And yet, he couldn¡¯t turn down Gu Xiqiao, especially after meeting her eyes. Silently, he put the turtle ne thing around his neck. He said a prayer to God, hoping that he would not turn into the school¡¯sughing stockter on.

    Gu Xiqiao did not go for her regr jog this morning. Instead, she was fiddling with something in the study room.

    Jiang Shuxuan was the only one out jogging at the moment. He then bumped into a couple of familiar faces.

    Rong Feishuang, Baili Qu, Baili Bin, Murong Feiye, and worse, Tang Qingqiu.

    ¡®Perhaps it¡¯s time for us to move away from this dreaded hellhole?¡¯ thought Jiang Shuxuan to himself.

    With two elders present, Jiang Shuxuan had no choice but to greet them.

    Rong Feishuang looked at him with glowing eyes. ¡°That person Yi Bing talked about, is she Miss Gu?¡±

    That incident was still fresh in his mind. There were two patients whom he failed to save in his lifetime as a healer. One was Baili Bin and the other was the case which Yi Bing passed over to him. That person was a goner, he thought. Perhaps he would have survived if that girl from yesterday was present?

    Jiang Shuxuan paused for a moment. Looking directly at Rong Feishuang, he nodded.

    Ah, as expected. Rong Feishuang took in a deep breath to suppress the excitement that was pouring out of his heart.

    He was already plenty proud of his disciple, Zhu Yuan. Now, it seems that a girl far more talented than his disciple has appeared.

    Tang Qingqiu smiled after hearing Rong Feishuang¡¯s question. ¡°I¡¯ll be off to thepany now. Grandpa Baili, Doctor Rong, you guys have a nice long chat. If you¡¯re really interested in Miss Gu, I highly suggest that you search ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ on the inte.¡±

    He left the group after that.

    Murong Feiye whipped out his phone immediately. He had just finished typing the word ¡°For¡± when ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ popped up in the suggestions bar underneath. Fuelled by curiosity, he quickly tapped said bar.

 Chapter 193 - Dream Disciple

    <strong>Chapter 193: Dream Disciple</strong>

    Murong Feiye stumbled upon an ocean of information the moment he tapped on the search suggestion.

    ¡°The owner of a cell fusion patent?¡±

    ¡°National idol?¡±

    ¡°Genius artist?¡±

    ¡°Prodigy of the national examination?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Are they all talking about the same individual? Murong Feiye tapped on a random video, which turned out to be a promotional clip for the film, ¡°Empire Under Siege¡±. For a few seconds after the clip had ended, he remained frozen in ce. Then, he quickly reyed the video.

    He was a fan of American big-budget production films; he had little to no interest in locally-produced entertainment and media. They were typically over-sensationalized, which he thought made a piece of art lose its meaning. However, this film was an exception. Every single character in the promotional clip was equally maic.

    Since Li Yu was the main star of the film, Murong Feiye thought that the spotlight would focus mostly on him. To his amazement, every other character was more or less on par with him. Especially¨Cthe actress who was ying the character of Princess Qixia. If not for thements section, he would not have believed that the elegant and alluring princess, who was dressed in bright red, was Gu Xiqiao.

    Her bright eyes reminded him instantly of the Milky Way. Her red lips paired so well with her blood-red outfit that it stunned Murong Feiye.

    ¡°What did you find?¡± Seeing Murong Feiye freeze up like that, Baili Bin couldn¡¯t help but give him a shake.

    Murong Feiye regained his senses and immediately closed the video yer. Tapping on another video of an art interview, he passed his phone over to Baili Bin. ¡°Prepare yourself.¡± So many great awards. You could give either one of them to a normal person and that person would undoubtedly bathe in glory for the rest of eternity.

    Never in a thousand years would he expect that a seemingly regr girl like Gu Xiqiao would possess so many achievements under her belt.

    Baili Bin took the phone from his hand and nced down at the video. Seems like someone was interviewing Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve seen this one before. She, she really is something else.¡± He was much calmer than Murong Feiye in response to this.

    In that moment, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words repeated itself in his mind. It appears that the saying, ¡°annihtion and strength¡± had be the motto of a great deal of young people.

    Considering how young that girl was, it¡¯s impossible that she had reached such heights overnight. She must have made an unthinkable amount of sacrifices in exchange for her achievements. A pain rose in his heart thinking about this.

    ¡°What? Lemme take a look!¡± Rong Feishuang was in the middle of a game of chess with Baili Qu when he overheard the young men¡¯s conversation. Stealthily, he snuck up on their backs.

    Baili Qu didn¡¯t particrly mind when his opponents cheated or tried to undo his move. What he did not expect was for Rong Feishuang to run off when their match was not even remotely over! ¡®What a disappointment,¡¯ Baili Qu sighed. He made a note to himself to never y with this man ever again.

    Fuelled by curiosity, he squeezed in to catch a glimpse of what they were looking at.

    The video was shot from multiple angles, with multiple cameras. Finally, it showed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s painting. On it was thepassionate and sincere face of a rural vige woman. The young reporter then asked, ¡°Is the subject of this painting a person made-up, or is she an actual person you have met?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my adoptive mother,¡± answered the stunningly-beautiful young girl. ¡°She deserves all the gratitude I can offer. However, I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to see her again in my lifetime.¡±

    The reporter was surprised to receive this answer. It never crossed his mind that the light-hearted interview would take such an emotionally-heavy turn. It was only a momentter that he responded with a, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry to hear that.¡±

    Rong Feishuang stood there, holding the phone like a statue.

    ¡°Healer Rong?¡± Concerned, and with a raised brow, Baili Bin called out to Rong Feishuang.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Rong Feishuang passed the phone back to Baili Bin and once again, a cheeky smile returned to his wrinkled face. Then, he turned away before announcing his departure.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna head off to A University to join Zhu Yuan.¡±

    Ever since he was a child, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words had to be taken seriously. If he said that he would never allow them to meet Gu Xiqiao, then the chances of them doing so were pretty much nil. As such, the only other option he had was to go looking for Zhu Yuan.

    Still holding onto the phone, Baili Bin looked at Rong Feishuang receding into the distance as thoughts shed through his mind.

    ¡°Baili, hypothetically-speaking, if I and Jiang Shuxuan got into a fight,¡± said Murong Feiye with an eager look on his face. ¡°Who would lose and who would win?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± answered Baili Bin. It has been such a long time since hest participated in the rankingpetition. ¡°Though, I can say for sure that your chances of winning are slim, very slim.¡±

    ¡°Preposterous!¡± protested Murong Feiye with a smug look on his face. ¡°Back then, I was only an inch away from kicking his ass! After that match, I trained day in and day out. Hell, even the great leader of my family couldn¡¯t defeat me!¡±

    His rate of improvement shocked the elders of his n. Although he was a little sloppy, Murong Feiye was surprisingly confident in his abilities. How could he possibly not defeat Jiang Shuxuan? At the very least, a spar with him would end up in a deadlock, right?

    With an excited look on his face, he rubbed his fingers together.

    Baili Bin shook his head slightly. ¡°You refuse to delve into formations, and ording to my n¡¯s reports, your mental strength isn¡¯t as terrifying as Shuxuan¡¯s. Broaden your horizons by even the slightest margin and you¡¯d realize just how far ahead of you Jiang Shuxuan is.¡±

    You think bing the strongest man in the ancient martial arts world is such a piece of cake?

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Murong shook his head in defeat. Sticking his hands into his pocket, he said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna go watch a movie.¡±

    The only reason why he got up so early today was to see Gu Xiqiao in person. Since it didn¡¯t seem like she¡¯s gonna make an appearance any sooner, there was no reason for him to idle around here anymore. He thought that it¡¯d be a good chance for him to watch ¡°Empire Under Siege¡± at the cinema.

    The smile on Baili Qu¡¯s face faded away upon realizing that two of his friends had left. In his mind, a scene kept reying. ¡°Yesterday, we bumped into Miss Gu when we arrived. What you said was true, the resemnce... really is uncanny.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa, stop thinking too much about it. You too, said that my cousin is in the Imperial Capital...wait no, has already returned to Great Britain. You¡¯d always bump into a Doppelganger or two.¡± Something had affected Baili Qu but Baili Bin on the other hand, refused to believe in it.

    A reaction like Baili Qu¡¯s could only be invoked by meeting that girl in person.

    Baili Qu took in a deep breath to calm himself down. Still, the matter remained stubbornly in his mind.

    Although he explicitly stated that he did not believe in Baili Qu¡¯s suggestion, he immediately called up Tang Qingqiu when he got home. ¡°Qingqiu, do me a favor.¡±

    The golden rule of the ancient martial world was to never interfere with matters pertaining to the secr world. And so, the Baili n¡¯s forces were concentrated solely in the ancient martial arts world. Tang Qingqiu was the very exception to this rule. He had sessfully established a corporate empire in the outside world. As such, whenever one needed outside information, Tang Qingqiu was your best bet.

    ¡°You want her information?¡± Tang Qingqiu was a little surprised when he heard what Baili Bin said. ¡°Listen, Baili, you¡¯ll never get...¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Baili Bin seemed to have read what was going on in Tang Qingqiu¡¯s mind. ¡°I just want to know her history. Especially her family, where she was raised and all that. It would help a great deal if I get to know more about her.¡±

    This time, Tang Qingqiu suddenly remembered what Murong Feiye told him. Aunt Baili? Seemed like Murong Feiye wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed how Gu Xiqiao was the spitting image of Aunt Baili. Tang Qingqiu pondered about it for a while before handing the matter over to Qin Heng.

    What he did not know was that this investigation would soon unveil yet another shocking discovery.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, someone¡¯s trying to look up your information. Would you like me to suppress them?¡± Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t in the study room, so the system was allowed to float around the room freely.

    Gu Xiqiao was sketching something with her pencil. Her eyes narrowed the moment she heard the system¡¯s warning. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°...huh, it¡¯s Tang Qingqiu?¡±

    ¡°Tang Qingqiu?¡± Gu Xiqiao put her pencil down. ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s not digging for Xiao Yun¡¯s information instead of mine?¡±

    The system raised its hand and out came a clear panel in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. ¡°It really is you. In fact, he¡¯s tracing you all the way back to N City.¡±

    ¡°Leave him be.¡± Gu Xiqiao continued working on her sketch. ¡°We¡¯ll let him check whatever¡¯s appropriate. Though, you should suppress sensitive information that he stumbles upon.¡±

    At A University.

    ¡°Zhu Yuan!¡± Professor Jiang rushed over hastily.

    Zhu Yuan was still grinding his experiment. His hands did not tremble even the slightest when he heard Professor Jiang¡¯s thunderous roar. ¡°What did you discover this time?¡± he asked without looking up.

    Professor Jiang stood still and inhaled deeply. ¡°Little Gu sent me a document!¡±

    What? Zhu Yuan immediately put down the apparatus he was holding and instead, grabbed the paper Professor Jiang was holding. He thought that she woulde over in a few days¡¯ time. Who would¡¯ve thought that she¡¯d send Professor Jiang her manuscript only one dayter?

    ¡°Did she call you?¡± He asked as he flipped through the pages frantically.

    ¡°Yeah¡± responded Professor Jiang. ¡°She said that this might be a little hard to understand, which is why I¡¯m here.¡±

    Zhu Yuan flipped the first page over. ¡°I bet they won¡¯t understand this too. Did you tell her toe over?¡±

    ¡°...I forgot to do that.¡±

    ¡®...Garbage professor!¡¯ thought Zhu Yuan to himself.

    Arge crowd had already formed around Zhu Yuan by the time Rong Feishuang arrived at A University.

    He initially wanted to walk right up to Zhu Yuan. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that he had grown a tad bit unfamiliar with his own disciple.

    There were many people gathered in theboratory. Rong Feishuang watched as a girl with a piece of paper asking Zhu Yuan some questions. He thought that the boy would turn her down coldly but to his amazement, not only did he give thorough exnations, he did so in a friendly manner.

    ¡°Master?¡± Zhu Yuan was surprised to see Rong Feishuang here at his workce. He shoved the pile of documents over to someone next to him. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°What are you kids doing?¡± Rong Feishuang looked over at the students who were engaged in a heated debate. He was taken aback by how this was the first time he had gone under so many peoples¡¯ radars.

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s eyes lit up a split-secondter. ¡°You came at the right time, Master. Miss Gu has just sent a manuscript, containing her treatment process from yesterday. Why don¡¯t we look at it together? It involves a formation too! You know how weak I am at traditional Chinese medicine!¡±

    ¡°Will she being by today?¡± Suddenly, an equally bright glow appeared in Rong Feishuang¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Nope,¡± replied Zhu Yuan with a sigh. ¡°I called her but my call never got through.¡±

    He had already grown used to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tactics.

    ¡°But take a look at this first master.¡± Zhu Yuan yanked the papers out of the person¡¯s hands and passed it over to Rong Feishuang.

    Absent-mindedly, he took hold of the papers. It seems like his mind was somewhere else. His mind didn¡¯t really register what Zhu Yuan had just said. However, as he read through the papers, his eyes grew wider and his facial expression became dead serious. He did not move a single muscle until he read the writings till the very end.

    Written with great detail on the paper were methods of acupuncture. It also contained an illustration for every part where the needle was to be inserted, its steps, and the effects of doing so.

    His mastery of traditional Chinese medicine was sky-high; even foreign practitioners were impressed by his work. Picking up where he left off yesterday, a look of disbelief returned to his face.

    After re-reading the writings, he concluded that the insights provided were incredibly unique. Some of them seemed almost to have been written by some old veteran of Chinese medicine.

    If not for seeing Gu Xiqiao work in real life, he would have thought that you were lying if he was told that this was written by a youngdy who was barely twenty.

    Such a talent, with just a little bit of polishing...

    ¡°So she gave you her secret acupuncture technique just like that?¡± asked Rong Feishuang. This was the most precious treasure a doctor could every his hands on. Even he had some tricks which he kept as a safely-guarded secret. On the other hand, not only did she reveal her technique, she even provided a thorough exnation of how the process worked.

    Was she in stupid or was she just so generous?

    Amused, a smile appeared on Zhu Yuan¡¯s face. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Rong Feishuang nced at him. Suppressing the excitement that was swelling up within him, he asked: ¡°You seem like you admire her a lot don¡¯t you?¡±

    This was his first time seeing Zhu Yuan react this way about someone else.

    So much about Zhu Yuan had changed within the span of a month. The crappy yboy attitude that he once possessed was now nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not the only one.¡± Zhu Yuan proceeded to point at everyone present in theboratory. ¡°Master, if you came here two months ago, these people would flock to you in an instant. Don¡¯t you feel a little lonely now?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Let¡¯s not venture into that topic, alright?¡¯ begged Rong Feishuang in his mind.

    He furiously flipped through the papers again. Zhu Yuan was weak as hell whenever he stood next to that girl!

    ¡°Look at her. Now look at yourself.¡± Rong Feishuang used to be proud of his aplished disciple. Now, such feelings had turned into deep disgust. He¡¯d evenugh in his dreams if he had a disciple like Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°...¡±

    After mutually hurting each other, both master and disciple stood there, bathing in awkward silence.

    ¡°Darn brat! I demand to see her!¡± yelled Rong Feishuang while ring at Zhu Yuan. It didn¡¯t matter if it was because of these papers, or something else, it was imperative that he met her right this instant!

 Chapter 194 - Whos Miss Gu?

    <h4>Chapter 194: Who¡¯s Miss Gu?</h4>

    The problem was that he himself couldn¡¯t see Gu Xiqiao even if he wanted to!

    Zhu Yuan nced at Rong Feishuang. ¡°Don¡¯t you always go around doing medical checkups for free around this time of year?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m about to leave that I want to see her before I go...¡± Rong Feishuang sighed softly as he looked at the lively youngsters in theb,ing to a sudden realization that he truly was old and past his prime. ¡°Not only did she save Baili Bin, but I¡¯m also indebted to her too.¡±

    His decision to let Hua Jingya try to treat Baili Bin almost caused irreversible damage, and if it weren¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao, how could he face Baili Qu?

    ¡°Master, this isn¡¯t your fault. The Hua family had always been renowned for birthing generations of good doctors, and anyone else would have believed in them too if they were in your shoes.¡± Zhu Yuan knew what Rong Feishuang was thinking. ¡°Miss Gu probably doesn¡¯t even care about it.¡±

    She had always been rxed and nonchnt about everything, or else he wouldn¡¯t have gotten that cell fusion patent.

    At the end of the day, all she cared about was the patients¡¯ well-being and health more than anything else.

    Rong Feishuang looked back at him seriously. ¡°That might be the case, but I can¡¯t take advantage of her.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Zhu Yuan nced at his phone. ¡°She probably won¡¯t being today, but I¡¯ll try my best to convince her toe tomorrow.¡± Hopefully she won¡¯t bezy when the timees!

    Rong Feishuang nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could leave, he saw two foreigners enter theb in a rush. ¡°Why are there foreigners here?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu created a small research team, and these two are the only foreigners in it.¡± Zhu Yuan replied. ¡°Master, give us a couple of years, and thisb and research team will definitely shock you!¡±

    Many people in the International Medical Association wanted to get in the team to no avail, but these two were picked out by Gu Xiqiao herself. Even though no one knew why she did this, everyone believed in her so they didn¡¯t hold any prejudice toward the two foreigners.

    Even without Zhu Yuan saying so, Rong Feishuang knew that it was just a matter of time before this research team created by Gu Xiqiao would impact the entire world.

    After escorting his master out of theboratory, Zhu Yuan was met with the two foreigners. ¡°Mr. Zhu, CIOMs just released news that they had a breakthrough in cell fusion technology and that they are about to create a research team too! Many people are heading there as we speak!¡±

    ¡°Do the two of you want to go back?¡± Zhu Yuan asked with raised eyebrows.

    The duo immediately shook their hands in refusal. ¡°Oh goodness no! Of course not!¡±

    After all, not only have they alreadypleted research on cell fusion, but were researching more advanced technologies with each passing day!

    ¡°It¡¯s just that Miss Gu gave us something earlier...¡± The other foreigner showed Zhu Yuan a few sheets of paper with a bitter expression. ¡°She says to practice ording to these instructions...¡±

    Perhaps only Gu Xiqiao would have the bright idea of having two foreign doctors practice Chinese kung fu.

    Zhu Yuan took a quick nce at the papers before patting their shoulders. ¡°If that¡¯s what she said, then you two have to practice even if it makes you cry! Doctors need healthy and strong bodies too, good luck.¡±

    Thank goodness he didn¡¯t have to practice anything like that since he was originally from the ancient martial arts world!

    He had no idea that he would get a special parcel from Gu Xiqiao that night.

    [Beauty Qiao, is your goal to create the medical team with the most battle prowess in the world?] The system spirit asked, ducking back into the void as if to say that even it didn¡¯t know how to follow Gu Xiqiao¡¯s train of thought anymore.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in front of the canvas, deep in thought. ¡°The medical team with the most battle prowess in the world...¡± She was greatly enthused by the idea.

    Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and upon opening the door there was a fit-looking young man in a ck suit and sunsses.

    The young man stood there nervously at the door, and was startled when the one that opened the door was a youngdy that seemed to have an air to her that was both alluring and cold, and it was hard to even look straight at her.

    He finally knew what the dubious stare Yi Tong gave him before he came here meant. ¡°Hello, Miss, I¡¯m looking for Boss...Boss Jiang.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded and opened the door wider to let him in, and as she was about to turn around and call Jiang Shuxuan, the man in question had already made his way down the stairs.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at Jiu Tong with a cold stare. ¡°Jiu Tong, what are you looking at?¡±

    A shiver immediately ran from head to toe, and Jiu Tong immediately snapped his gaze away from Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡®F*ck! Why is Boss so scary?!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao took out a pot of tea from the kitchen before resuming her work on her painting, while Jiu Tong sat on the sofa, and if one didn¡¯t know better, they would have thought that it was made of needles instead of cloth from his expression.

    At the same time, he was greatly surprised that Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t have any indication of having the girl leave anytime soon as he gave his report.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao,¡± Jiang Shuxuan called out. ¡°Come look at this.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao broke out of her artsy world and looked over in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s direction, seeing a ck cube.

    [Ding! Chain Mission Activated: Resolve the problems that the ck cube has brought to the ancient martial arts world!]

    [Mission Aplishment Reward: 10000 points!]

    [Mission Failure will result in death!]

    Gu Xiqiao listened calmly to the mechanical system notification that sounded in her head as she walked toward the table, sending her mental power surging toward the ck cube as she did.

    Jiu Tong stared in confusion at Jiang Shuxuan, not knowing why thetter called Gu Xiqiao over before he felt arge and epassing mental pressure that almost suffocated him, and he had only felt mental power of such a degree from Jiang Shuxuan!

    Jiu Tong broke out in a cold sweat as he looked at the thin girl, his eyes widening uncontrobly.

    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± Upon seeing Jiu Tong¡¯s pained expression out of the corner of her eye, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose sheepishly and retracted a portion of her mental power. ¡°Brother Jiang, can you let me keep this so that I can research it?¡±

    Such mental power and control...

    Half-dead Jiu Tong: I thought Boss was already scary enough, but this girl doesn¡¯t lose to him at all in that department!

    Murong Miaoxue had already started her ascent in the ancient martial arts world and was currently battling nonstop with the demon girl.

    If those people knew that such a scary, mysterious girl was by Boss¡¯ side, would they cry to death?

    Jiu Tong immediately respected Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Alright, but make sure to prioritize your safety.¡± A jade container appeared in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hand out of nowhere, and he put the ck cube into the box before handing it to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I¡¯ll be heading to the site where the incident happened, you want toe with?¡±

    It was a rare event that Gu Xiqiao was so interested in something, so he plotted to bring her there with him.

    There were a lot of ¡®strangers¡¯ in the housing areately, so he couldn¡¯t let her out of protection with peace of mind.

    She wanted to go, but she remembered that she had something else to do so she declined with a sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll go when I have the chance, I have to fetch Little Huater.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan: ...I should have thrown him away from I had the chance!

    Hua Youlin suddenly sneezed and nced over at his deskmate. ¡°Are you making fun of my golden turtle?¡±

    Deskmate: ¡°...Why would you think that? Your gold turtle is beautiful!¡±

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± He didn¡¯t think it at first, but now he was even more suspicious!

    After the bell rang, Hua Youlin kept his things and walked down the stairs together with Dalin, who was quite surprised. ¡°Sister Gu came to fetch you today?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had always had Luo Weng bring fetch Hua Youlin together with him, after all.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Hua Youlin nodded. He didn¡¯t know the reason she did so, but he was still quite happy.

    The two split at a fork in the road.

    Hua Youlin walked toward the other road that wasn¡¯t as jammed with vehicles as the main entrance of the school was, and where people were sparse.

    He actually breathed a sigh of relief when she told him that she would fetch him there.

    It would have been fine if she hade with Jiang Shuxuan, but if she came by herself, she would definitely drive that pink atrocity...Pink car. What? Who talked smack about her car? Not him!

    At the same time.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already returned to the ancient martial arts world. He was actually quite cautious of the ck cube that appeared out of nowhere and didn¡¯t really want to hand it to Gu Xiqiao when she asked for it. He knew that she was strong, but he couldn¡¯t help worrying, but at the same time he didn¡¯t want to refuse her, so he gave it to her along with a jade box of seals.

    That way, it could protect her from the ck cube and summon him there whenever an ident might ur.

    Upon thinking of this, he rubbed the jade pendant hanging on his neck to calm himself down.

    Jiu Tong came back together with Jiang Shuxuan, and he was about to return to his base before he was stopped by the butler. ¡°Mr. Jiu Tong, Madam would like to invite you in.¡±

    ¡°Butler Jiang, please call me Mr. Jiu.¡±

    Butler Jiang: ¡°Alright, Mr. Jiu Tong.¡±

    Jiu Tong: ¡°...¡± And so he wordlessly walked into the Jiang Manor.

    ¡°Madam Jiang.¡± He bowed his head politely. Jiang Shuxuan was their boss, so they weren¡¯t confined to the rules and customs of the ancient martial arts world.

    As a member of the Special Defense Force, they even had more power than the general popce of the ancient martial arts world.

    To put it another way, other than getting on the good graces of the Jiang family, many people would also try to butter them up because they had ess to Cyberspace too.

    Of course, the members of the Special Defense Force answered to no one but Jiang Shuxuan, and even if it were Madam Jiang that were questioning them, they wouldn¡¯t even bat an eysh.

    Madam Jiang already knew of this, of course, so she didn¡¯t bother much on his attitude and only asked: ¡°Did you see anyone else when you went to Shuxuan¡¯s ce today?¡±

    ¡°No, I did not.¡± Jiu Tong replied without even a change in expression.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Madam Jiang squinted slightly, her sudden cold demeanor the spitting image of Jiang Shuxuan.

    But what was it whenpared with Miss Gu¡¯s mental pressure? Jiu Tong didn¡¯t waver in the least. ¡°Yes, Madam.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you can go now.¡± Madam Jiang waved him away, knowing that she couldn¡¯t make these underlings of Jiang Shuxuan budge...But that was a good thing, at least.

    Jiu Tong stepped out of the door and pat his sleeves, mulling over whether he should ask Boss for praiseter on.

    Jiu Tong finally got to where Yi Tong and the others were, but before he could return, he was blocked by someone that he recognized immediately. ¡°Miss Tong.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Jiu.¡± Jiang Tong was quite respectful of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s underlings, and she smiled sweetly. ¡°Did youe back with Bro...I mean, Young Master Jiang?¡±

    Ever since that incident, she didn¡¯t dare to call him Brother Jiang anymore.

    Jiu Tong looked at her before shaking his head. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t seen Boss in days.¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s eyes darkened before she mustered up a smile and replied, ¡°Thank you, Mr. Jiu.¡±

    Jiu Tong waved off her thanks and watched as she left.

    ¡°Apparently she¡¯s about to make a breakthrough to Fleet Foot, and she beat Murong Miaoxue with just a few moves yesterday, are you sure about tricking her?¡± Someone asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s about to level up to Fleet Foot?¡± Jiu Tong nced at him, before whispering by his ear. ¡°Jiu Bing, if Miss Gu came to the martial arts world, those two wouldn¡¯t even have a chance, even if they worked together!¡±

    Miss Gu? Who was that?

 Chapter 195 - Protection of the Golden Turtle

    <h4>Chapter 195: Protection of the Golden Turtle</h4>

    Yi Bing walked over with a dark expression upon seeing that the two were still whispering to each other. ¡°Alright, get a move on, or else Boss is going to be mad!¡±

    Yi Bing was their leader with the strength to back it up, and the duo immediately stood up straight and nodded seriously.

    After the three of them fell in, Yi Bing suddenly turned his head around and looked at Jiu Tong with an incredibly serious stare. ¡°Did you see Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Jiu Tong replied with an expression of awe. ¡°She was even scarier than you described her to be!¡±

    Jiu Bing breathed deeply, suppressing his curiosity and making a mental note to ask Jiu Tong about itter.

    Yi Bing was part of the ¡®Yi Generation¡¯ under Jiang Shuxuan, and every one of them was taught by Jiang Shuxuan himself. This was the first time he saw such an expression on Yi Bing¡¯s face, so he was even more curious about the mysterious Miss Gu.

    They quickly got to the site where the incident urred¡ªA deep cave by the borders of the ancient martial arts world and the secr world.

    A few days ago, there were reports that living beings in a hundred-mile radius died off for no reason, and as the Special Defense Force, they quickly decided to evacuate everyone who lived in the area. Under closer inspection, they came across the mysterious ck cube.

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few years, but your gadgets have improved!¡± Murong Feiyemented as he looked at Yi Bing¡¯s detection device that had a vague, gray glow.

    Yi Bing knew who Murong Feiye was, and he replied, ¡°Technology is improving with the times after all, but this device was actually left behind from the old days. Young Master Murong has always been abroad, so you wouldn¡¯t know.¡±

    This item was actually modified from an old magicpass, and it acted like a radar of sorts that detected changes in maic fields in an area.

    Right now at the spot they were at, not only were the maic fields a mess, but also the natural chi and evil aura too. Of course, the primitive item couldn¡¯t detect all of it, so Yi Bing mused internally about how useful an item that could detect all that would be.

    Yi Bing sighed, knowing that it was wishful thinking on his part. Such changes in the evil aura of an area were rare even in the ancient martial arts world, so it would be difficult and unpractical to create such an apparatus.

    Murong Feiye, after hearing his words:...As expected of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s underling, not being curt with him in the least.

    Hmph, he¡¯d do better to go see Jiang Shuxuan instead!

    Jiang Shuxuan was standing at the entrance of the cave, his dark orbs staring straight into the endless darkness as his trench coat fluttered in the ominous breeze that blew out of it.

    ¡°So this is the number-one mission that no one dares to im on the forums?¡± Murong Feiye stood beside him and stared into the mysterious cave too, and only after a second, he could feel his mind going numb as goosebumps popped out on his arms.

    ???

    Murong Feiye turned around and stared at Jiang Shuxuan aghast. He couldn¡¯t even stare at it for a few seconds, but the other had been staring at it for a long time even before he got here!

    Jiang Shuxuan turned around and touched the jade pendant hanging from his neck, feeling a gentle warmth originating from the essory and blocking most of the mental pressure that came from the cave. He was quite shocked too, but it wasn¡¯t time to think about that.

    ¡°Have you notified the Baili family?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked.

    Murong Feiye rubbed his nose sheepishly. ¡°No, but I told Yi Bing to do that just now...¡±

    He had actually just finished watching a movie, so he could only be considered half-awake, and he only snapped back into reality after being attacked by the mental pressure that the cave gave him.

    ¡°Well remember to do it yourselfter.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said and turned around to walk toward the cave. ¡°I¡¯ll go check inside.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Murong Feiye immediately reacted and reached out to grab him. ¡°We haven¡¯t even learned what¡¯s inside there, do you have a death wish?¡±

    But he didn¡¯t even get to touch Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s clothes as the lean figure dissolved into the darkness of the cave, along with a cold voice. ¡°If I don¡¯t go in, who will?¡±

    Murong Feiye didn¡¯t know how to reply and looking around, he suddenly realized that this was the ancient martial arts world, and Jiang Shuxuan had his own shoes to fill.

    ***

    Imperial Capital Prison.

    ¡°Head elder, you¡¯re finally here!¡± Hua Jingya had almost gone insane after being locked up with all of these women that took advantage of her endlessly, throwing their workloads onto her and bullying her whenever they had the chance.

    She couldn¡¯t take it any further, and she had thought that the Hua family already gave up on her when an elder from the Hua family came on that day. She cried in regret, wanting to go back to the past and choke that ignorant self of hers to death. ¡°Elder, please help me ask Miss Gu for forgiveness, please? I still have the needle techniques that were passed down from our ancestors...¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± The elder from the Hua family finally got a piece of useful information, and he looked at Hua Jingya with a solemn expression. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu is....¡± Hua Jingya started to speak, but when she wanted to say more, it was as if she were grabbed by the throat, not able to say anything at all.

    ¡°Who is she?¡± The elder asked Hua Jingya.

    Hua Jingya immediately remembered what Gu Xiqiao was capable of, and she didn¡¯t dare to say anything, only fixing the man in front of her with a pleading gaze.

    Seeing that she didn¡¯t say anything, the elder sat down and handed a bunch of papers to her dismissively, as if she were a worm. ¡°Hua Jingya, we know all about what you¡¯ve done. As expected of you, I should say. Hua Zihou has already told the entire n of your wrongdoings, so you¡¯ve already be a sinner and a traitor! Stay here in jail for all we care!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Hua Jingya red at him poisonously, before she leaned in and whispered, ¡°Do you think that you can take over the Hua family without me in your way? Let me tell you a secret¡ªHua Youlin isn¡¯t dead! Isn¡¯t that a surprise? Not only is he not dead, and he¡¯s studying right here in the Imperial Capital...¡±

    The elder suddenly stood up, his expression a mixture of disbelief and happiness. ¡°Thank you for telling me about this!¡±

    He wasn¡¯t dead now, but that didn¡¯t mean that he wouldn¡¯t die in the future!

    The elder quickly left to take action before Hua Zihou could learn about this information.

    As she looked at his silhouette disappear out of the door, she remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ruthlessness and looked at the door with a pitying sneer. ¡°Since you won¡¯t take pity on me, I¡¯ll wait happily until you get your just desserts!¡±

    ¡°No.15487, get going, you have work to do!¡± The boss of the cell shouted as she pushed her without holding back. ¡°Did you not eat? Faster!¡±

    ***

    Hua Youlin was walking on the path, and upon thinking that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be so early, he slowed down his steps and took out his phone, scrolling through it leisurely. Suddenly, someone appeared in front of him, and after looking up, he immediately stepped back.

    ¡°So you didn¡¯t die after all...¡± The head elder looked down at Hua Youlin with a cold glint in his eye.

    ¡°H-Head elder?¡± Hua Youlin didn¡¯t expect to see this person in the Imperial Capital. After going through so many trials and tribtions, he wasn¡¯t the innocent child that he was before, so he continued to step back as he held his phone, preparing to call Gu Xiqiao.

    The head elder already knew what he was going to do, so he waved his hand toward the young boy. Upon getting the signal, a bunch of burly men walked toward Hua Youlin, their bulging muscles andrge figures contrasting greatly with Hua Youlin¡¯s stature.

    Then, Hua Youlin was plucked up from the ground like a helpless chick, and his phone was snatched away immediately.

    ¡°Hua Youlin...¡± The head elder¡¯s eyes were filled with a cold and dark frost as he reached toward Hua Youlin¡¯s neck. ¡°It¡¯s about time for the Hua family to change hands, see what it turned into in the hands of you people!¡±

    Before he could touch the boy, a transparent barrier appeared in front of Hua Youlin, and the head elder felt an impact on his right hand that numbed him and sent it flying a few meters away.

    The burly man that was holding Hua Youlin captive was sent flying away too, while everyone looked at the boy in shock.

    Hua Youlin was surprised by this sudden turn of events too, and his first reaction was to touch the golden turtle pendant on his neck, feeling a warm stream of energy flow up his fingers and calming him down.

    ¡°You brat, what sorcery did you use!¡± The old man staggered up and red at the boy, but he didn¡¯t didn¡¯t dare to move anymore, only waving for the others behind him to attack. ¡°I don¡¯t care how you do it, I don¡¯t want to see him in China ever again!¡±

    These people were the remnants of the Qingyun Gang, and because the Bai Gang didn¡¯t ept them, they were shunned by every other gang so as to not get on the Bai Gang¡¯s bad side, and they could only be regr gangsters. The head elder was quite generous when he hired them, and after they finished this job, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about money for years.

    They have done this sort of thing in the past anyway, so it was even easier for them to do it toward a young boy, and the police wouldn¡¯t even be able to get evidence that it was them.

    ¡°Take him away!¡± The burly man crawled up from the ground and ordered hisckey to grab Hua Youlin.

    This time around, the golden turtle didn¡¯t act out any miracles, and Hua Youlin was carried up helplessly again by theckey. That being said, he didn¡¯t cry or struggle, as if he wasn¡¯t worried in the least.

    ¡°Wait, give me that golden turtle that¡¯s on his neck.¡± The head elder ordered.

    Hua Youlin¡¯s expression finally changed upon hearing these words, and he immediately grabbed the golden turtle tightly. Even though he wasn¡¯t used to this trashy golden turtle yet, this was the first gift that he had been given by Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Hmph, you have a tight grip, I¡¯ll give you that.¡± One of the men twisted open his fingers forcefully, leaving the young boy to look on helplessly as his eyes turned red. This was the second time that he was so helpless!

    The head elder looked at the golden turtle with a greedy gaze, knowing how precious such an item was, but before he could touch it, a rxed voice rang out behind him, ¡°Touch it once, and you¡¯ll suffer the consequences.¡±

    The voice was barely heard, but it sent shocks through his brain.

    Everyone looked toward the source of the voice, and the entire scene was plunged into silence for a moment.

    Gu Xiqiao walked over with her head lowered, and no one could see her expression well, but she seemed to glow with an otherworldly light as she walked, and as she walked, the men seemed to be suffocated.

    She made her way over and picked up the golden turtle that had fallen onto the ground, and even in such a situation, one couldn¡¯t help but think how pretty the golden turtle looked when coupled with her porcin fingers.

    ¡°Sister Gu.¡± Upon seeing the familiar face, Hua Youlin immediately calmed down, and even though she was a thin girl standing in the middle of a bunch of muscly men, he was filled with courage as soon as he saw her.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him, and the boy immediately crawled up from the ground to take the golden turtle from her, before wearing it with a solemn expression, a clear contrast from his disdain when he first got the pendant.

    Sister Gu? The head elder immediately remembered what Hua Jingya said and immediately came to the conclusion that it was a trap, his expression paling noticeably.

    ¡°You people...¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at them, but before she could say anything, they all dropped to their knees with a thunk.

    Their faces were filled with fear as they begged, ¡°Have mercy, Miss Gu, we won¡¯t do it ever again...¡±

    Hua Youlin held Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand as he red at these people, while Gu Xiqiao led him away, ignoring these people as they left the scene.

    After the two of them left, the men all dropped to the ground, panting for breath as they recovered from the near-death scenario.

    ¡°My good fellows, who was...¡± The head elder stood up and wiped his forehead that was beaded with cold sweat, but before he could say anything more, he was kicked down onto the ground again ruthlessly.

    ¡°You stupid old f*ck! You might have a death wish, but we still want to live! Do you have any idea who that was?!¡± As if he hadn¡¯t finished venting his anger, he stomped on the old man again. ¡°Everyone knows that thest person that you could anger is Miss Gu, and you wanted us to kill her family? Are you sick of living?¡±

    Every gang and triad in the area treated her like a goddess, and even Young Master Yao that was on the rise acted like a mereckey in front of her, while even Big Boss Bai that had be the head of the underworld in Imperial Capital ordered everyone to call her Miss Gu with respect!

    They didn¡¯t even dare to meet her, lest get into trouble with her, but now they were in trouble and more! How could they not be angry?!

    Upon hearing this, the head elder sweated again in fright. ¡°Please, teach me how to resolve this!¡±

    ¡°Pfft.¡± The leader looked down at him with a scary expression, before sneering. ¡°You want to resolve this? What a joke! It¡¯s only a matter of time before your family crumbles to dust!¡±

    As if they already knew what the elder was about to face in the future, the men didn¡¯t even bother to deal with him anymore. Now, all they could do was run and leave the country if they had the chance, or even ask the Bai Gang for help.

    As for the elder, even if Big Boss Bai didn¡¯t do anything, there would be loads of people willing to deal with him!

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the residential area by A University, Baili Bin received the results of the investigation from Tang Qingqiu along with a video call.

    Baili Bin was quite surprised. ¡°That was quick.¡±

    He thought it would have used around half a month at least.

    ¡°These aren¡¯t really secrets, after all.¡± Tang Qingqiu had aplex expression on his face as he looked at Baili Bin across the screen. ¡°Don¡¯t be too shocked when you see it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Baili Bin had always second-guessed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, and when he saw Tang Qingqiu¡¯s expression, he knew that things weren¡¯t as simple as they seemed.

    Tang Qingqiu breathed deeply. ¡°I sent all the information to your e-mail, but isn¡¯t it ironic that we don¡¯t know such widely known knowledge in the mortal world?¡±

    As if everything were controlled by an unseen hand, none of them noticed things that were right under the sun.

    Baili Bin couldn¡¯t help his curiosity any further, and he immediately logged onto his e-mail, where a document had been sent from Tang Qingqiu.

    He looked at the document that was marked as urgent for a moment, taking a breath before he clicked on it with sweaty palms.

    The document was quiterge, so ten minutes passed before it was fully downloaded.

    The wait was torture for Baili Bin, and after it was ready, he immediately clicked it open.

    ¡°Young Master!¡± Before he could take a look at it, Uncle Tai rushed in. ¡°Young Master informed us that something happened in the ancient martial arts world and that you and Master should get there immediately!¡±

 Chapter 196 - Shen Nianzhis Fate

    Chapter 196: Shen Nianzhi¡¯s Fate

    ¡°Murong?¡± Baili Bin was only one click away from seeing the contents of the document, but he turned and looked at Uncle Tai.

    The elder¡¯s expression was serious as he replied, ¡°Yes, Young Master. Master has already gone back to the Baili family to ask for usage of the Baili Family Arcana.¡±

    The Baili Family Arcana?!

    It was at this point that an expression of shock made its way onto Baili Bin¡¯s face, upon knowing that they were going to unseal the family arcana that had been kept unused for more than a decade, and he set everything aside to prepare for his trip to the ancient martial arts world.

    ***

    ¡°Sister Gu, you were so cool back there!¡± Hua Youlin looked at Gu Xiqiao with an expression of worship. Those men that could manhandle him like that were all like mice in front of a cat when Gu Xiqiao was there.

    To a boy of his age, Gu Xiqiao probably was the very image of a superhero.

    Gu Xiqiao nced over at him and started up the car. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that hard.¡±

    ¡°I see you brought Haha too.¡± Hua Youlinmented upon seeing the familiar dog on the backseat of the car.

    ¡°Yeah, it was probably bored.¡± Gu Xiqiao drove the car onto the main road. Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t at home, so Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t feel safe letting Haha stay at home by itself, so she brought it out for a spin instead.

    Hua Youlin reached over to the backseat and carried Haha into his arms. ¡°What about Xixi?¡± He hadn¡¯t seen the bird in two days.

    Gu Xiqiao suddenly felt as if Hua Youlin was better in the past, the way he didn¡¯t speak a lot in contrast to how he seemed to never shut up now, and if someone gave him a megaphone he would probably use it to shout to the entire world. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to see Xixi now.¡±

    As the car drove towards the city center, Hua Youlin continued to chatter on. ¡°Sister Gu, why are we going in this direction? Aren¡¯t we going back home?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be having dinner outside.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the rows of shops as they passed them by. ¡°What do you want for dinner?¡±

    ¡°Ah, we won¡¯t be eating at home?¡± Hua Youlin was a little disappointed, having be a fan of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s cooking after just a few days.

    ¡°Brother Jiang won¡¯t being home today.¡± (read: I won¡¯t be cooking.)

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡±

    He wanted to fight Jiang Shuxuan, but then again, if he wasn¡¯t home, that meant that he could ask Sister Gu whenever he had problems with his studies! He wouldn¡¯t need to sit together awkwardly with that statue anymore!

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s Dalin!¡± Hua Youlin saw a familiar silhouette by the road, and he patted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder excitedly. ¡°Sister Gu look! It¡¯s Dalin and Brother Luo!¡±

    It¡¯s not as if they hadn¡¯t met before, why was he so excited?

    Gu Xiqiao sighed and resignedly parked her car by the road, and Hua Youlin practically pranced out of the car.

    Shen Nianzhi didn¡¯t expect that she would be able to hold an art exhibition of her own one day and in the Imperial Capital of all ces. Not only that, but the ones that would join the exhibition were also all people that she couldn¡¯t even imagine, and she had been in a dazed state ever since she saw Mu Zong.

    Even she as an art student knew what the Nine Heavens Group was.

    She didn¡¯t have a lot of hopes for the name card that Gu Xiqiao had given her and only called out of politeness¡¯ sake, but she didn¡¯t expect to be told that they were willing to sponsor her to hold an art exhibition, as well as an art studio of her own.

    It was as if a gift had fallen onto her from the sky.

    In that building, she met Luo Weng too, and when he saw her, he stretched out his arm in greeting with a smile. ¡°So you¡¯re the lucky one that Uncle Mu told me about, wee, Nianzhi.¡±

    Everything passed by after that like a blur for her. She hadn¡¯t evene back to her senses from how she got an art exhibition for herself, and now after three days of the exhibition, she was already quite well known in Imperial Capital, and even an international art organization stretched out an olive branch for her.

    In this time, not only did she get to know Mu Zong, but Yu Ning, Su Wu, Ning Qing, and the others, and the most that she heard them talk about was the topic of Gu Xiqiao. From them, she learned about all the exploits of the girl that was around the same age as she was.

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that one of those extraordinary events was happening to her right at that moment, she couldn¡¯t even believe it.

    ¡°Shen Nianzhi, congrattions.¡± She was talking with her three roommates, and the one that congratted her was a girl in a red jacket that seemed genuinely happy for her.

    Shen Nianzhi bowed politely and smiled. ¡°Thanks, I was just... Very lucky.¡±

    One of the other roommates grumbled with a weird tone, ¡°I saw you with a middle-aged man the other day...¡±

    They knew about Shen Nianzhi¡¯s background, and how she got her name crossed out of the art exhibition from before because of Meng Yufan, and now she was holding an art exhibition for herself? There was definitely something unsightly going on behind the scenes!

    Shen Nianzhi didn¡¯t care at all about theirments and was even quite pleased about the fact that she got the chance to ride on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s coattails. Every time she thought of how lucky she was, she wanted to run around the field in glee, because if it weren¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao, there wouldn¡¯t be the Shen Nianzhi of today.

    ¡°How shameless!¡± The two roommates muttered upon seeing her smile, grumbling inwardly in jealousy¡ªWhy couldn¡¯t they have been the lucky ones?

    The red-jacketed girl nced at the two. ¡°Alright, enough of that, don¡¯t just say that grapes are sour just because you can¡¯t taste them!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you dislike Shen Nianzhi too? Why did you change so quickly?¡± The girl in the red jacket had a better family than the two others, so they didn¡¯t dare to argue back against her.

    Why? Perhaps it was because of that sight she saw on that rainy day...

    That girl that Shen Nianzhi met that day left a deep andsting impression on her, and she unconsciously found it hard to believe that a person with such a clear gaze would associate with someone bad.

    She was about to turn around and leave the scene before she saw them.

    Two silhouettes appeared at the entrance, one of them being the girl that she saw in the rain with a distinctzy yet elegant aura that she couldn¡¯t forget.

    When Gu Xiqiao appeared, there was a suddenmotion from all the people that knew who she was.

    Shen Nianzhi turned around to see Gu Xiqiao, and she walked over with a surprised expression. ¡°Miss Gu? I didn¡¯t expect to see you here!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I just wanted to take a look around.¡± Hua Youlin had already met with Luo Wenlin, so Gu Xiqiao chose to chat with Shen Nianzhi instead.

    Luo Weng jogged over to the two girls. ¡°Are you free today?¡± Did she not think of going to Nine Heavens instead ofing to this art exhibition? Did she not know that Yu Ning, no, every employee in thepany nagged about her not being there every day?

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°Of course I¡¯m busy! I was just fetching Little Hua, and I have to go see Yao Jiamuter...¡±

    Just judging by her tone, it sounded as if she had a long day up ahead, but Luo Weng knew her well, so it was clear to him that she was just lying through her teeth, but he was already used to it as this point.

    Ever since letting Mu Zong handle matters with Shen Nianzhi, she hadn¡¯t been updated on how everything was, so it was a relief that things were going quite well, and after she asked Shen Nianzhi about her future ns, she nodded and turned around to leave.

    ¡°Thank you, Miss Gu.¡± Shen Nianzhi sent her off with a respectful expression.

    If it weren¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao, she didn¡¯t know how many years she would have to work before she got to where she was today.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled in response. ¡°You would have been able to get to this point even without me.¡± Back in her past life, Shen Nianzhi didn¡¯t have an easy path of ascension, but soon enough, she stood up on her own two feet and could even hold her own against Gu Xijin.

    Gu Xiqiao attracted the attention of many people nearby that were excited at her appearance at this ce because of that news report of her that was the talk of the town, but no one dared to go up to her and say hello.

    Only after she left did they chatter excitedly about her.

    Mu Yunfan stood there and stared until the pink car drove away, before looking off in another direction.

    After sending Gu Xiqiao¡¯s car off, Shen Nianzhi saw Mu Yunfan out the edge of her gaze, and upon seeing this young man that helped her quite a lot back in America, she walked towards him and bowed politely. ¡°Mr. Mu.¡±

    Once she got closer to him, she realized that something had happened to him, judging from how he seemed to be apletely different person aspared to a few days prior.

    The Mu Yunfan that she knew was a cool and well-dressed perfectionist, but the man in front of her was a mess, from the way he wasn¡¯t shaved to his clothes that weren¡¯t ironed, he seemed to be aplete contrast to the person she knew in her memories, and for a moment, she didn¡¯t even believe it was him.

    ¡°Shen Nianzhi!¡± Before Mu Yunfan could speak, another shrill voice rang out beside him.

    Shen Nianzhi looked over, and with her artist¡¯s eye, she realized that this woman that seemed to be at least ten years older than she was was Meng Yufan!

    What happened to her?!

    ¡°Miss... Miss Mu...?¡± Shen Nianzhi asked with hesitation.

    Meng Yufan looked around at the grand art exhibition around them, and even though one couldn¡¯t perceive what she was thinking through theplex emotions that shed through her eyes, her tone was as mocking as always. ¡°Shen Nianzhi, I¡¯ve underestimated you!¡±

    ¡°I should thank you, Miss Meng. If it weren¡¯t for your help, I wouldn¡¯t have met Miss Gu!¡± Shen Nianzhi smiled as she looked at Meng Yufan.

    Come to think of it, if Meng Yufan hadn¡¯t done anything to her, she wouldn¡¯t have be a member of Nine Heavens Group! She wouldn¡¯t have met so many good friends, nor been given so many blessings!

    Mu Yunfan finally reacted upon hearing that name, and he looked at Shen Nianzhi with a bitter expression as he spoke, ¡°She... She was the one that helped you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mr. Mu.¡± Shen Nianzhi sighed as she looked at this man that was a shadow of who he was before.

    Upon hearing her words, Mu Yunfan breathed deeply to calm himself down, stopping himself from asking her, ask her why she didn¡¯t tell him sooner! But as soon as he thought of this, he scoffed at himself. He was the one that was blind!

    ¡°Congrattions on your art exhibition,¡± Mu Yunfan could only mutter, before he turned around and left, Meng Yufan hot on his trail.

    ***

    These days, she didn¡¯t have any ce to call home in the entire Imperial Capital, and even those ¡®friends¡¯ of hers that buttered her up and sang her praises only mocked her and bullied her when they saw her.

    As the truth of what the Meng family had done came to light, all of their property was confiscated, and their entire family could only live in the slums.

    How could she stand living in such a way?

    Upon meeting Mu Yunfan, she stuck onto him like glue, but the man didn¡¯t even give her a second nce. She wouldn¡¯t take such ¡®cruelty¡¯, so she continued to shout and cry, ¡°Brother Mu! Brother Mu!¡±

    Mu Yunfan finally stopped walking and stood there in ce, and before Meng Yufan could react, he turned around and fixed her with a freezing re. ¡°You disgust me.¡±

    And he was the one that disgusted himself the most.

    These words seemed to be like a bomb that imploded by her ears, and Meng Yufan was stunned, standing there as if she was paralyzed, never having heard such harsh words from Mu Yunfan before.

    As her hopes were crushed, she flopped onto the floor weakly, devoid of any hope for the future.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world.

    Yi Bing stood at the entrance of the cave, a white glow emitting from his hand as a strong presence filled the air.

    A sword that gleamed with a chilling glow was stabbed by the entrance of the cave haphazardly, its golden edges shone dangerously and stopped anyone from getting close. ¡°No one can step into this cave¡ªBoss¡¯ orders!¡±

    Even if Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t there in person, his Seven-Frosted de intimidated anyone that set their eyes on it.

 Chapter 197 - Girl Against Heaven

    <h4>Chapter 197: Girl Against Heaven</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Baili Bin hastily hurried over to the scene in which the two were facing off. Uncle Tai had already given him a brief description of what was happening but even so, he was still shocked beyond words the moment he arrived.

    Chi was swirling around the pitch dark wormhole and above his head was a thickyer of dark clouds. From time to time, screams of thebatants could be hearding from within the cloud cover. It sounded so mortifying that it made peoples¡¯ hearts go numb.

    Murong Feiye peered up at the respected elder standing near the opening, his gaze bing duller by the moment. Turning over to face Baili Bin, he said with a bitter smile, ¡°Baili, trouble¡¯s brewing...¡±

    Baili Bin remained silent. He produced a couple of pieces of jade from his pocket before making some calctions on hisp.

    A whileter, he looked up with disbelief in his eyes. Coincidentally, his eyes met Baili Qu¡¯s.

    Baili Qu was nearly eighty years old as of this year. One could discern his agedness from his eyes, which right now, peered back at Baili Bin tenderly.

    Baili Qu¡¯s mouth did not move. As if their minds were connected, Baili Bin understood in the blink of an eye what Baili Qu was implying.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Baili Qu slowly made his way towards the cave entrance. ¡°An evil force is behind this cave¡¯s creation! It has a radius of one hundred li, for now. After 49 days of development, it has be quite literally, purgatory in the human realm! If we do not break it now, in a matter of days, even the entire capital will be swallowed up, what more to say of this hundred li radius!¡±

    ¡°Amithaba.¡± An abbot who responded by chanting the name of the Buddha rose up. ¡°Does the head of the Baili family have a solution for this?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Baili Qu¡¯s voice was firm. ¡°I will break the formation with my flesh and blood.¡±

    After announcing his decision, a white bearded Taoist elder approached the cave entrance. ¡°Mr. Yi, let us head on in.¡±

    Yi Bing recognised who this old man was. He was a high-level Taoist practitioner, famous throughout China.

    ¡°Murong boy, have you any wine? I have not had many hobbies in my life, but wine certainly is something that I enjoy!¡± Baili Qu¡¯s smile was unexpected. Surprisingly, there was still a glow in his eyes.

    The people gathered here today were all high-level individuals from the ancient martial arts world. Their conversations had stopped the moment they realized the weight of the situation they were in. Murong Feiye was a little hesitant but he produced an expensive-looking bottle of fine wine nheless. After filling a cup with said wine, he presented it with both hands to Baili Qu.

    After that came the Taoist elder and the men who followed behind him.

    ¡°To all great masters,¡± For once, Yi Bing¡¯s face was respectful and somber. ¡°Yi Bing understands your righteousness but Yi Bing absolutely cannot allow you all tomit such a selfless act.¡±

    Standing behind Yi Bing was a group of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s followers. Emanating off each one of them were incredibly daunting auras. Even Baili Qu and his allies did not look down on this lot.

    Baili Qu sipped a mouthful of wine while he looked at the Seven-Frosted de that was producing a freezing aura within the cave. He then responded with a heartyugh. ¡°Mr. Yi, I know that you won¡¯t listen to any other person¡¯smand other than Shuxuan¡¯s. We will lie here waiting. If by tomorrow morning, he still fails toe out, we will force our way ine hell or high water!¡±

    With his head lowered, Yi Bing went silent. As long as Big Boss Jiang¡¯s sword was here, he wasn¡¯t afraid that these people would breach their defensive perimeter.

    The mob from earlier this morning did not faze him. Even if they had a hundred times more men, there was no fear in his heart.

    What he was worried about, was the truth in Baili Qu¡¯s words.

    ***

    After bringing Hua Youlin out for a meal, instead of heading straight for home, Gu Xiqiao brought him to the slums where poverty-stricken people lived.

    ¡°Sister Gu?¡± With Haha in his arms, Hua Youlin exited the car. ¡°Are we here to pick Xixi up?¡± Gu Xiqiao did talk about picking Xixi up earlier but he did not expect her toe all the way back there.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Gu Xiqiao as she shut the car door. She then led the way with Hua Youlin following closely behind.

    The sky was already turning dark but there were still quite a lot of people roaming the streets. Again, Hua Youlin witnessed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s charm at y. It didn¡¯t matter if it was a woman, old man or child, they would all greet her with a ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ as they walked down the street.

    Even the scar-faced meatheads smiled at her in a friendly manner, as Hua Youlin stared wide-eyed at the scene.

    ¡°This is for you.¡± Gu Xiqiqao could not refuse the enthusiastic four to five year olds who flocked around her. She received a lollipop from a generous toddler, which she then shoved into Hua Youlin¡¯s hand. ¡°You¡¯re wee,¡± she said.

    Hua Youlin held onto the lollipop in a daze. Despite his listless demeanor, his heart was growing increasingly restless.

    At the end of the slum was arge courtyard. This was where Gu Xiqiao was heading towards.

    There was a young man guarding the courtyard gate. His eyes lit up the moment he recognized Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Yep. Keep up the good work.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded towards him. And then, without hindrance, she brought Hua Youlin into the courtyard.

    Outside the door.

    A group of people stared enviously as the two stepped through the courtyard gate. Yao Jiamu was bing more and more popr on the street for his brutality and power. Taking into ount the Bai triad¡¯s monopoly, he and Big Boss Bai had now be the rulers of the capital underworld. This also meant that countless people flocked towards them for protection and assistance.

    This was especially so after Yao Jiamu¡¯s announcement to handpick individuals to join his crew. The number of people joining the Bai gang spiked after this. However, only a hundred-or-so men made it through the rigorous selection process.

    Followers of Yao Jiamu only needed three days of training before they started noticing how powerful they have be. Setting aside the lucrative benefits as well as aplimentary ce to stay, merely gaining this amount of strength was apelling enough reason for these men to join his ranks!

    There was a great deal of people from other provinces looking to join the gang. However, Big Boss Bai was insanely picky; it was not an exaggeration to say that only one out of every hundred men gets selected by him.

    With so many people trying out, most went home empty-handed. As such, when these people saw that a girl and a child went into the courtyard, they were very surprised.

    A young man spoke out suddenly. His ent sounded a bit odd, indicating that he wasn¡¯t a local. ¡°Didn¡¯t they say that yer can¡¯t go in so easily? Why¡¯d the two of them manage to get in?¡±

    The people around him then red back at him with contempt in their eyes. ¡°Do you know who that person is? That¡¯s Miss Gu!¡±

    Miss Gu? Is she a celebrity or sumthin¡¯? The young man was puzzled.

    The crowd then started filling in the details that he missed. ¡°You don¡¯t know who Miss Gu is? At the very least, you should know who Young Master Yao is right? What about Big Boss Bai?¡±

    The young man nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s it. You probably know about Big Boss Bai¡¯s official announcement from a few days ago, right?¡± These people were bbering non-stop.

    ¡°Ah!¡± It was then that the young man got his bearings. ¡°So she¡¯s the Miss Gu?¡±

    Of course, he had heard from many mouths that nearly everyone here in the Imperial Capital had links to the criminal underworld. Even the Devil was afraid of crossing Miss Gu. This was all just hearsay and it was his first time seeing the woman in person. In his imagination, Miss Gu was probably some middle-aged ruthless wench.

    What he saw today instead, was a warm, gentle youngdy whose eyes were as clear as still water. Her face was so pretty it reminded him of an ink painting. She was theplete opposite of the ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ he had in mind, who was closer to a monster than a human.

    ***

    Dusk had arrived but nearly every corner of the slum remained brightly lit.

    Yao Jiamu had purchased every courtyard in this district and nearly everything was razed to the ground. What¡¯s left was a handful of public resting spots, orrge open areas for training his men.

    Xiao Yun was busy with filming and she could onlye over at three in the afternoon. Wu Hongwen on the other hand, made his way here immediately after receiving a message from Yao Jiamu.

    ¡°Xiao Mu, you¡¯re getting pretty strong here aren¡¯t ya?¡± His eyes lit up as he scanned the line of people practicing drills underneath the podium.

    Yao Jiamu tossed a booklet into his hands. ¡°That¡¯s enough. This is the book both you and Xiao Yun are going to follow.

    Wu Hongwen had been struggling as ofte. He acknowledged that the gap between him and both Yao Jiamu and Gu Xiqiao had been growingrger. He was still pondering if he should take Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s advice, to train within the ancient martial arts world. However, Yao Jiamu¡¯s message came right before a decision could be reached.

    Inparison to Gu Xiqiao, how powerful would the lot in the ancient martial arts world be? Seeing Yao Jiamu¡¯s strength grow so drastically made Wu Hongwen dash all the way here without stopping.

    ¡°Finally, the time hase for me to pwn the neers.¡± Wu Hongwen looked at the fresh-faced rookies eagerly.

    Yao Jiamu nced at him before pointing at a specific individual. ¡°Your opponent would be that thing.¡±

    Wu Hongwen peered over to find a hulking red figure with fiery-red feathers approaching him. ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Good god what the hell is that thing?!¡¯

    ¡°Young Master Yao, are you expecting new recruits?¡± Whilst Wu Hongwen was busy struggling against the behemoth, Lu Qi noticed two new faces in theirpound.

    Yao Jiamu spared her a brief nce. ¡°They¡¯re not recruits. Like me, these are people who Miss Gu had taught personally.¡±

    Lu Qi stared in horror at the duo who was exchanging blows with Xixi. ¡°T-They¡¯re allowed to fight head-on with Xixi just like that?¡±

    Apart from Yao Jiamu, no one else here, including herself could match Xixi in battle, even if it was limited to a single wing. These two seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight against Xixi, which baffled her.

    ¡°Just how powerful is Miss Gu?¡± Lu Qi¡¯s eyes were filled with an indescribable sense of shock. In her eyes, Yao Jiamu was an incredibly powerful person and Xixi¡¯s sudden appearance was truly bewildering. Considering how well these two performed inbat, she couldn¡¯t help but wonder, just how much more powerful is Miss Gu?

    Yao Jiamu shook his head when he heard Lu Qi¡¯s question.

    ¡°It¡¯s safe to say that she¡¯s very very strong.¡±

    Not too far away, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen, through the power of teamwork, had sessfully mmed Xixi down onto the ground.

    Hua Youlin¡¯s lollipop almost dropped out of his mouth when he saw this scene the moment they approached the sparring grounds. ¡°Big sis Gu, I think I¡¯m in a dream right now.¡±

    What the hell was that sedan-sized thing?! Why on earth did it have feathers?! Ahhh! It spurts out fire too?! Wasn¡¯t there aw that banned the experimentation on animals after the founding of the People¡¯s Republic of China?!

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Yao Jiamu noticed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s presence, which was also when his eyes lit up. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao greeted him with a nod. ¡°I¡¯m just here to check if Xiao Yun and her friend are getting used to their new lifestyle.¡±

    Wu Hongwen approached them with a sour face the moment she ended her sentence. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve sunk so low to being bullied by a damned bird!¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m your regr type of bird?¡± asked Xixi contemptuously.

    ¡®Worse! I¡¯m getting looked down upon by the bird!¡¯ thought Wu Hongwen to himself.

    ¡°I bet that¡¯s Xixi.¡± Xiao Yun patted the dust off her clothes while looking up at Xixi.

    ¡°Xixi?¡± Wu Hongwen froze up. Something had gone wrong with the world tonight, he thought.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. She then sensed the aura that was emanating from their bodies. It felt much more refined, and so she started speaking again. ¡°Looks like this sorta training works pretty well on you two.¡±

    ¡°Beauty Qiao! Praise the Lord for I can continue to decimate these two in battle!¡± Xixi pushed Xiao Yun aside and rushed straight for its mistress.

    Then came a scene which Lu Qi could never erase from her memory. The invincible Lord Xixi was swatted away by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm as if it was just another housefly.

    Where itnded a good five meters away, the bird left a massive crater in the ground. That, and Xixi¡¯s unlovable feathery face.

    The impact made a deafening sound, which made hundreds of heads turn. In the seconds that followed, the scene was filled with nothing but dead silence.

    Yao Jiamu was not an exception. He was the one who tangoed with Xixi the most; he knew just how ferocious that bird was in battle. Here he was upon receiving praise from Gu Xiqiao, thinking that it was just a matter of time before he caught up with her.

    The gap between him and her was not small. In fact, it seemed like it had grown muchrger.

    Staring at Gu Xiqiao, there was only one thing that could describe his expression at the moment.

    Sheer horror.

    ¡°Xixi! Xixi! Will you expand for me?¡± As Gu Xiqiao drove home, Hua Youlin kept demanding that Xixi erge its tiny little body.

    Proudly, Xixi responded, ¡°This car¡¯s too small! It¡¯s not enough to contain my might and glory!¡±

    Hua Youlin realized that it was right. ¡°... then, why don¡¯t you transform when we get home!¡±

    The system then emerged out of nowhere. ¡°Beauty Qiao, what are you nning to do with the pills that you handed over to Yao Jiamu?¡± At the rate at which things were progressing, Yao Jiamu and his men would undoubtedly be a rising force within the ancient martial arts world.

    If that¡¯s so, then a terrifying scene awaited them in the future.

    ¡°We¡¯ll take one step at a time,¡± said Gu Xiqiao as she drove her car steadily.

    Jiang Shuxuan did note back that night either. Hua Youlin was thrilled. He put down his bag the moment he stepped through the front door and took over Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s role of feeding the pets.

    Gu Xiqiao on the other hand took a shower before entering her room. She unwrapped a jade box, which she opened to examine closely. ¡°Little system, does the virtual space contain information about it?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The system hovered above the jade box with a dead serious expression. ¡°Beauty Qiao, I think there¡¯s something special about this thing.¡±

    Upon opening the jade box, a chilling atmosphere enveloped her entire room in an instant. Gu Xiqiao immediately formed a barrier around the box to prevent a regr human from making contact with this alien aura.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely unusual.¡± Gu Xiqiao picked up a ck cube. It was so dark that it made her skin appear almost white in contrast. Her eyes wandered around its edges. ¡°I can feel the rhythm of the fluctuations within.¡±

    Her consciousness entered the virtual training grounds. Sitting on the floor cross-legged, she waved her hand before two piles of books materialized beside her. Looking down, she flipped through the pages patiently.

    As if sensing the tension in the air, the system sat down beside Gu Xiqiao and like her, it flipped through the pages in search of something.

    Dawn, when the first rays of sunlight prated the misty cloud cover.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was sitting on top of her bed opened her eyes abruptly. Her shining eyes glided across the cold light. She had not slept even a wink but nothing on her face indicated signs of exhaustion. ¡°System, check my friends¡¯ list.¡±

    Disyed on the clear panel was a satellite shot of the Imperial Capital. There were more than a dozen green dots floating around the map but Gu Xiqiao was fixated on one lone dot. Her expression became grave in the blink of an eye.

    ***

    The ancient martial arts world.

    Baili Qu was facing off with Yi Bing. However, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s Seven-Frosted de remained standing at the entrance of the cave; no one dared to move it.

    The sun had already risen above the horizon in most ces but only this spot remained dark and ominous. The sound of rumbling thunder echoed through the skies, as the cloudyer grew thicker and thicker.

    Boom!¡±

    The sky was split into two when a thick pir of lightning stabbed into the ground.

    ¡°Mr. Yi! We¡¯re running out of time!¡± Patience was running out for Baili Qu and his men. As the atmosphere of evil rose, even he found it challenging to maintain his physical form any longer.

    Yi Bing looked up at the stars. ¡°n Leader Baili! The situation cannot be contained any longer! It¡¯s futile trying to go in there! Please lead the people of the ancient martial arts world away to somewhere safe!¡±

    Boom! A bowl-sized opening appeared in the skies above from which a bolt of lightning struck.

    Baili Qu turned around just in time to see the lightningnd somewhere above Baili Bin and his men¡¯s heads. Horrified, he yelled out, ¡°No!¡±

    Baili Bina and Murong Feiye were able to react in the nick of time. They raised their sacrificial life-saving trump card and instantly, rainbow-colored sparks formed by chi sttered in every direction.

    However, everyone there recognized the futility of a human¡¯s struggle against nature. How could man stand a chance against heaven?

    Baili Bin looked up as the lightning bolt descended towards him. A look of regret surfaced in his eyes.

    He had not gotten the chance to read that letter yet...

    At that moment, a massive being appeared in front of him.

    It had red feathers, which glowed underneath the lightning bolt. The creature looked up at the sky and let out a deafening shriek from its beak.

    It sounded a little, excited?

    Beside it was a petite figure that gradually became clearer to the eye. She wore in clothes and had a head of jet ck hair. Peering up at the lightning above her head, her pale-white face turned transparent from the blinding pir of light. Still, fear was absent in her eyes.

    Everyone was stunned the moment she appeared. The storm that was brewing at the mouth of the cave had vanished into thin air; tranquility had been restored. What followed was a terrifying amount of pressure that spread out from ground zero of the storm.

    These people could never wipe the scene off their minds for the rest of their lives. The lightning, which they thought was futile to fight against was being held onto like an item in that young girl. The scariest moment came when she casted the entire thing in the opposite direction.

    Boom!

    Silence ensued.

    The girl then slowly turned around and walked up to the cave entrance.

 Chapter 198 - Two Monsters

    <h4>Chapter 198: Two Monsters</h4>

    Her in-looking clothes and ink-dark hair pped in the air despite the absence of a strong wind. Purple sparks danced at the tip of her pale-white fingertips, shocking everyone present at the scene.

    Her footsteps when she approached the cave entrance was slow. The look in her eyes darkened and her expression grew colder and more distant.

    The sky was overcast with dark clouds and the air was so thick that these people felt like they were on the brink of asphyxiation. A raging wind swept through the area with the exception of a hundred meter-wide spot where she stood.

    Baili Qu could finally respond when she walked right up to the cave entrance. Watching Gu Xiqiao with eyes filled with awe, he warned her, ¡°Miss Gu, this is a dangerous ce. Do not venture in there no matter what!¡±

    His warning seemed to take on the effect of snapping everyone out of their mental daze.

    Murong Feiye¡¯s eyes shifted down from her face to her palm. He watched as sparks jumped about the inside of her palm. It was at that moment that he finally understood what Murong Miaoxue was talking about. ¡°She really is far more terrifying than Jiang Tong!¡±

    ¡°Amitabha, you might have merged with the force of the lightning strike, you might have it under your control, but you simply cannot do the same with that thing inside. There is no return once you step into the cave. I advise you to let us old geezers handle this issue.¡± The abbot returned to his senses. Tightening his clutch on a string of beads, he continued, ¡°You are ourst bastion of hope. I cannot stand aside and watch as you march towards your death.¡±

    ¡°Another catastrophe will befall the ancient martial arts world in the near future. Youngdy, please turn back now.¡± The old Taoist elder sighed as he stared up at the never-ending gray clouds.

    Gu Xiqiao did not move even a single muscle. Xixi was trailing behind her step by step. Suddenly, a smile broke across her cold face, making her seem all the more peerless. Then, she started walking towards the cave again. ¡°So what if I can¡¯t return?¡±

    ¡°No! You mustn¡¯t go!¡± Baili Qu panicked when he realized that Gu Xiqiao was not in the mood to negotiate. He grabbed her wrist firmly. Horror was painted all over his face. He knew very well that anyone who wandered into that ce would never re-emerge. In fact, he was already prepared to sacrifice himself the moment he came to know of this phenomenon.

    Nobody could have foreseen that Gu Xiqiao would step in at this very moment. Saving Baili Bin was only a part of the reason why he wanted to stop her from going in. Instead, it was her innate potential that was the ultimate reason why he was hellbent on stopping her.

    In the blink of an eye, he felt his arms go numb, which baffled him so much that he stumbled backward.

    ¡°Do not panic Grandpa Baili, I¡¯m sure that Yi Bing would also stop her from going in.¡± While Baili Qu was busy persuading Gu Xiqiao to stay behind, Murong Feiye pushed Baili Bin over.

    Baili Qu sighed in relief upon hearing these words. That¡¯s right, Yi Bing and his men only listened to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯smand. If they refused to allow Baili Qu and his allies in, then the same should probably hold true for Gu Xiqiao.

    Baili Bin watched as Gu Xiqiao approached the cave. With pursed lips, he murmured under his breath: ¡°Not necessarily so.¡±

    Not necessarily so? Yi Bing¡¯s mind had not even registered what Baili Bin said when Gu Xiqiao had already reached the mouth of the cave. Yi Bing, who has been putting up a fierce resistance against them bowed respectfully while he greeted her. ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    The men behind him, including Jiu Tong who had all met Gu Xiqiao prior to this bowed in a simr fashion.

    ¡°Mm.¡± Gu Xiqiao responded. ¡°I wish to enter the cave.¡±

    Yi Bing looked up at Gu Xiqiao. Without even a word of protest, he stepped aside, allowing her into the cave.

    The jaws of Murong Feiye, Baili Qu and the rest of the ancient martial artists all dropped onto the ground as they stared in horror at the scene.

    Didn¡¯t they im that they listened to no one else but Jiang Shuxuan? Didn¡¯t they promise to not let a single soul past their barrier? When the hell did Yi Bing and his men get so subservient?

    These people were not expecting such a turnout of events. Yi Bing heeded themand of someone other than Jiang Shuxuan? Who the hell was this youngdy? Yi Bing refused to bow down, even to these powerful elders. And yet! They had allowed this young girl to venture into the cave without questions asked.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Blood drained out of Baili Qu and his men¡¯s¡¯ faces. ¡°You won¡¯t be able toe back out!¡±

    Murong Feiye saw the slender figure pause for a second before marching on resolutely into the depths of the dark chasm. He admired how much this bright-eyed youngdy was willing to give for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s sake.

    ¡°Xixi! Get out!¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes the moment she stepped into the cave. She then flung Xixi out of the cave. The Seven-Frosted de from which a chilling aura was emanated suddenly floated over to the center of the cave. Electric sparks merged with the weapon, sending chills down these peoples¡¯ spines.

    Even Yi Bing was forbidden from entering this ce, what more to say of Baili Qu.

    ¡°If I don¡¯te out, please take good care of Haha, Little Hua, Xiao Yun, and the rest.¡± A soft voice suddenly echoed into Xixi¡¯s ear canal.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao!¡± Xixi raised its head abruptly and proceeded to let out a deafening shriek. It¡¯s already hulking frame grew evenrger. Now, its size wasparable to that of a great mountain. The pills that Gu Xiqiao fed it, apanied by the training she provided worked with great effect. It spat out white hot balls of mes in an effort to incinerate the formation that was casted over the cave entrance.

    Its adventure with Gu Xiqiao hadsted only a couple of months. In that short period of time, Xixi had been triggered countless times but at an unspecified point, it had already grown used to staying around Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side. It had picked up a habit of fighting for her attention with Haha, as well as learning to cope with receiving death res from Jiang Shuxuan...

    She had dispelled the loneliness and darkness that enveloped its entire being. It was not afraid to face death together with Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Beauty Qiao! Don¡¯t you forget that Master Jiang has ordered me to protect you. How will you feed Xixi in the future...¡±

    Baili Qu and his men were moved by the mountain-sized Vermillion Bird¡¯s reluctance to give up.

    ¡°Everyone! Let¡¯s use every ounce of our strength to break this formation over the cave entrance!¡± yelled Murong Feiye.

    His order snapped everyone out of their introspection. The monster wind finally returned after Gu Xiqiao left the ce. These men wanted to use this as a chance to showcase the might of their ns. And so, they all agreed to break the formation together.

    With the exception of Baili Bin, who sighed softly. ¡°It¡¯s no use. Only she can break a formation that she herself created.¡±

    Murong Feiye looked down at him in disbelief. ¡°Even you?¡±

    Baili Bin was the most aplished individual in the modern ancient martial arts world. His position at the top was solidified after sealing up the void at the trial tower.

    ¡°Her attainment in formations is miles ahead of mine. In reality, it was her who plugged the hole at the trial tower,¡± replied Baili Bin with a bitter smile. He could struggle for ten more years and he¡¯d stillg behind the Gu Xiqiao of today.

    Baili Bin was not a liar. What he said must be the truth.

    The men standing outside the cave went silent instantly. On their faces was nothing but pure shock.

    How old was she only? About twenty? Not only was she incredibly capable in ancient martial arts, she even excels at formations? How powerful she must be in order to make even Baili Bin feel insecure about his skills.

    ¡°Old Rong would like to ask one more question. Is that girl from before the infamous demon girl of the Jiang family?¡± asked the abbot who was clutching his beads. The Jiang family was already known to produce children with insane strength. It would be insanely terrifying if they had produced two kids of such capability at the same time.

    The elders¡¯ initial expressions returned to their faces upon hearing his question. They had heard rumours that the little demon girl failed to perform as well in the youth ranking list. However, it now seems like she could rise to the very top at any given moment.

    There were also rumours that the little demon girl was in good graces with Jiang Shuxuan himself. It now seems like the rumours were true after all.

    ¡°Demon girl?¡± An odd smile appeared on Murong Feiye¡¯s face. ¡°She¡¯s no demon girl. No, she¡¯s a monster who appeared out of nowhere. I say, she¡¯s the heiress of some almighty one.¡±

    Jiang Tong? She probably weighed less than a strand of hair against Gu Xiqiao.

    ***

    In the cave.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, why didn¡¯t you let Xixi in?¡± Taking the lead, the system floated in front of Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao realized the moment she stepped in that she had entered another realm. The rate at which time flowed here was different from the outside world. Not only that, new illusions seemed to spring up with each step she took. Of course, this was not a problem for her. She could tear down the deception at any time she wished to. However, she was more worried about when she would bump into Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°For a ten thousand-point mission, I can¡¯t be too sure can I?¡±

    The system then realized the truth in her statement. ¡°Mission difficulty increases with the reward given at the end. 10,000 points is...¡±

    ¡°Heh heh heh...¡± A gracefulughter echoed through the cave suddenly. It made Gu Xiqiao, who was also a woman, get goosebumps all over her body.

    ¡°What a ruthless youngss, breaking my formation.¡± Something flickered in front of her eyes before a pink-colored figure slowly materialized where the flickering happened. The woman¡¯s enchanting face was shrouded by a thin, light veil. Behind her body were seven separate tails that wagged back and forth constantly.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes as she scanned her eyes up and down this feminine woman. Her expression was stone cold when she replied in an equally cold tone, ¡°You are naught but a spirit.¡±

    The woman did not expect Gu Xiqiao to see through her deception so early on, which seemed to have enraged her. ¡°What a group of nasty humans!¡± That man who came in earlier was the same as this young girl!

    A ck fog suddenly emerged, covering her body, which grewrger by the second. In a matter of seconds, she had turned into a massive dark silhouette. ¡°In a foreign realm, everything bes unpredictable. What can you do to challenge me?¡±

    ¡°What can I do?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what can you do to bring me down?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Her words repeated in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. All of a sudden, she realized that the formations she had broken down on her way here had returned to their original state. In a foreign realm, even reality could be warped by the host¡¯s will. It was uponing to terms with this that Gu Xiqiao realized yet another truth.

    This was probably why Baili Qu was so fearful of this ce. Whoever that wandered into this space would instantlye under her control, like a puppet!

    rity returned to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. This was a trap set specifically for the ancient martial arts world!

    It was a trap tailor-made to remove the strongest man in the ancient martial arts world.

    If she did not enter the cave today, Baili Qu and his men most likely would have been annihted the moment they stepped into this trap.

    ¡°Ha ha! Die human!¡± The ck fog turned into a terrifying face, whose mouth was wide open. She did not swallow up Gu Xiqiao whole. Instead, she wanted to give her predatory side a little treat. The evil thing wanted to enjoy looking at the horror on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face.

    Her favorite scene was seeing the look of horror on these puny humans¡¯ faces.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up defiantly. ¡°You think you¡¯re the only one who possesses a foreign realm?¡±

    A suffocating amount of pressure expanded from her body the moment she ended her sentence. [Beauty Qiao, I¡¯ll use all my energy to project the virtual training grounds onto where you¡¯re standing. The time limit is thirty minutes. After that, I will have to rest for seven days. Before I do that, there is one condition you absolutely must fulfill. Stay alive.]

    ¡°What?!¡± Seeing the flow of time suddenly change in the space around the tiny human, shock appeared on the dark face immediately. However, it was toote. She then discovered that her own realm had beenpletely suppressed by her opponent.

    How is this possible?! How can there be another foreign realm?! The dark face was dumbfounded.

    With electric sparks dancing in her palm, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were bright and clear amidst the darkness. A strobe of lightning with the thickness of a human thumb wrapped itself around the dark shadow, making it copse into the ground.

    Thud!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a little too harsh?! You still nning on trapping the ancient martial arts world?!¡±

    Thud!

    ¡°Tell me! Where is Brother Jiang!¡±

    The dark shadow had already returned to its original form. She red viciously at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I will never tell you where he is, hahaha... even if you take my life, there¡¯s still a boss...¡±

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    ¡°Then die.¡± Gu Xiqiao dispatched her instantly. The pink figure then slowly dissipated into darkness, turning into a mist that was a mix of pink and ck. What¡¯s left in the air was the painful wails of the dying entity.

    That pink-clothed woman probably expected Gu Xiqiao to give mercy.

    Her control over the realm vanished alongside her.

    The man, who was standing in the middle of a void raised his head. He put down the talisman he was holding and took a while to take in the situation he found himself in. He did not know whether he shouldugh or cry at the moment. He sighed slightly before reaching out to tear a hole in front of him, from which he climbed out of.

    He left behind him a five-star formation.

    If someone else was here, he or she would undoubtedly be scared to death upon seeing this formation.

    Two monsters were at y here. One directly took the life of the host of this realm while the other took his time experimenting before he finally destroyed this realm from the inside!

    This was a whole new level of terrifying. If someone else was to know about this, a new tidal wave would no doubt sweep through the ancient martial arts world.

    The air fluctuated for a moment before Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s tall figure finally re-emerged.

    His eyes scanned the space. He saw the dissipating pink mist before something or more correctly, someone entered his line of sight. Jiang Shuxuan froze up.

    Gu Xiqiao was leaning against a massive boulder. Her snow-white face was now covered in a shade of pink. Her lips, which were the color of plum blossoms, were now blood-red. Gazing at her watery eyes, Jiang Shuxuan found it almost impossible to describe every aspect of her in words.

    Jiang Shuxuan finally understood what the word ¡®fascinating¡¯ meant. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath in an effort to remove the distracting thoughts from his mind. Finally, he approached her slowly.

 Chapter 199 - All Is Not Lost

    <h4>Chapter 199: All Is Not Lost</h4>

    When her icy cold fingertip made contact with his scorching face, Jiang Shuxuan felt his heart seize up and the look in his eyes darkened.

    He watched Gu Xiqiao narrow her eyes as a cold aura swept over him. There was a hint of confusion in his gaze as he stared into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s crystalline eyes. Still, he swiftly pulled her down onto solid ground.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s movements were a little stiff. Her eyes were blurry and a subtleyer of pink appeared across her usually pale-white skin. He froze up when the warm air her nose exhaled hit his face. A warm feeling has taken over the unbearable chill.

    He opened his arms and embraced her tightly. Peering into her dreamy eyes, he bowed down and gave her a long hard kiss.

    Her tied-up ink dark hair has been loosened up. It flowed freely behind her head, draping down from her jade-like slender neck. Her beautiful face was indifferent, which made Gu Xiqiao all the more alluring, as if she was shrouded in ayer of mist.

    Time stood still for what felt like an eternity.

    He took a deep breath. Despite the fire in his eyes, he managed to maintain his coolposure. With a low and cold voice, he told her, ¡°Let¡¯s pay Doctor Rong a visit shall we?¡±

    He was reluctant to let anyone else catch a glimpse of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s beauty.

    With dreamy eyes, she looked up at him. Her stinging hot fingers grabbed onto his arm. Satisfied, she let out a sigh of content. ¡°Brother Jiang, I¡¯m still conscious...¡± Her voice trailed off halfway through her sentence.

    Considering how immense her mental strength was, this level of trickery was far from enough to deceive her mind.

    This was just an instinctive reaction, if you will.

    A slightly hoarse voice spoke into his ear. Jiang Shuxuan looked up with burning determination in his eyes. He proceeded to lunge upwards.

    Gu Xiqiao only felt a slightly cool body press up against hers. The heat in her body did not subside. In fact, her body temperature seemed to have increased.

    Gu Xiqiao felt as if a tidal wave of heat had swept over her limp body.

    Her body shook uncontrobly. However, the noise that came out from her mouth was blocked by someone else.

    The seemingly sober Gu Xiqiao had really fallen unconscious this time.

    A snow-white veil descended upon the unending sky, leaving only two tiny lingering silhouettes visible.

    ***

    Outside the cave.

    The temperature had dropped to freezing point. Purple sparks in addition to that shining blue de hilt remained at the mouth of the cave; not a single soul managed to make even a dent in them.

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll be able to make their way out?¡± asked Murong Feiye who walked over with a glowing longsword in his hand. He focused his gaze on the sealed up dark cave. For the past seven days, the image of the distant and peerless Gu Xiqiao kept appearing in his mind.

    The look in Baili Bin¡¯s eyes was unwavering. ¡°They¡¯ll make it out, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    This was less of a reply to Murong Feiye¡¯s question and was more about convincing himself.

    One week had passed and the mouth of the cave was still sealed by blinding sparks. Even the dark clouds that gathered above the cave had disappeared. The pure ck squares emanating evil energies had returned to being regr rocks and most of the people from the ancient martial arts world would agree that the cmity had already been resolved. And yet, the two that had ventured into that hole had yet to reappear.

    Jiang Shuxuan had only been gone for seven days and a mysterious force had already emerged around China¡¯s national border, and was constantly on the prowl to infiltrate the ancient martial arts world. At the same, a terrifyingly powerful prisoner had escaped from a special detention center and was currently on the loose, harassing and harming innocent civilians wherever he went.

    The people that originally surrounded the mouth of the cave had traveled away, to the edge of the ancient martial arts world in order to resist the outsiders. Even Murong Feiye had no choice but to defend his homnd.

    China as a whole, including the ancient martial arts world had descended into chaos.

    These urrences were weird. Why did they all pop up simultaneously when Jiang Shuxuan entered the cave?

    What made this all the more suspicious was that not a single country with special defense forces was willing to lend a helping hand after the ancient martial arts world sent out a cry for help.

    The domain that Jiang Shuxuan protected up until a week ago had turned into aplete shitshow.

    ¡°Uncle Baili, won¡¯t you tell me where Shuxuan is?¡± asked Madam Jiang frantically the moment she located where Baili Qu was.

    Baili Qu put down the piece of jade in his hands. The entirety of the ancient martial arts world was facing an existential threat. Only a handful of people willingly stayed behind to support him. Looking back at Madam Jiang, he bowed his head deeply. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry Madam Jiang.¡±

    Madam Jiang stumbled backward as her mouth trembled. She reached out to the door to prop herself up. A haze enveloped her mind, struggling toe to terms with what Baili Qu had just said.

    ¡°n leader Baili.¡± Yi Bing hurried over with a somber expression. ¡°The US, Japan, Great Britain... they¡¯ve all turned down our request for assistance.

    Of course, Baili Qu had already foreseen this happening. Still, his face turned green the moment he heard such grave news.

    ***

    The World Federation for Special Organizations was holding an emergency meeting that very day.

    ¡°We must send assistance to China. As the ancient Chinese proverb goes, ¡®The teeth will feel the cold once the lips die¡¯. The origins of this mysterious force is unknown. We must work closely together on this case,¡± said the leader of Great Britain.

    The Japanese leader then snorted. ¡°You¡¯re not fooling anyone here. We all know how close you¡¯ve grown with the Chinese. I believe everyone knows that Jiang Shuxuan has already been taken down. We refuse to wade in muddy water!¡±

    ¡°I second that.¡±

    ¡°Seconded.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Almost everybody else agreed upon hearing said speech. Jiang Shuxuan had only been gone for seven days and China¡¯s ancient martial arts world had already turned into dust. None of them were willing to participate in the bloodbath. After all, the world¡¯s total resources had been cut by half this year.

    By abandoning China, they would all stand to gain massive amounts of resources.

    What¡¯s more, with the unexpected loss of the mighty Jiang Shuxuan, China was no longer a ce worthy of their cooperation.

    The President of the Federation then announced their final decision. No assistance was to be sent to China.

    After the meeting, the leader of Japan patted the back of the British leader, whose expression was as dark as it could go. With eyes full of mockery, he said, ¡°Although I despise you for working together with the Chinese, I must say, I feel sympathy for you right now. You¡¯re on the same boat as them. You British are facing a great threat too.¡±

    In their eyes, China¡¯s ancient martial arts world was on the brink of destruction. The best course of action was to put as much distance between themselves and the Chinese. That mysterious force was definitely not a sign of good news. It would be foolish to seem connected to the Chinese.

    The British leader nced at him before leaving with a disgusted snort.

    ¡°What they¡¯re saying is very true.¡± Small nation delegates who were friendlier to the British stepped forward to voice out their concerns. ¡°China no longer remains something worth assisting. You absolutely must refrain from dirtying your hands any further. Do you think you¡¯ll be able to stop the fires of war once it reaches the UK?¡±

    Their words were sensible. The British leader went silent for a moment before deciding to give Murong Feiye a call.

    ***

    Murong Feiye¡¯s expression darkened the moment he saw the caller ID on his phone. He was still at the mouth of the cave.

    ¡°Are you sure that this is your final decision?¡± he asked.

    The British leader sighed. ¡°Apologies, really, but I¡¯m afraid our alliance with China hase to an end. Of course, our doors will always remain open for you.¡±

    The British leader sighed in relief after hanging up. It wasn¡¯t all that bad severing ties with China either. Back then, when Jiang Shuxuan was still around, he was able to get his nation to be on good terms with China through his connection to Murong Feiye. However, now that their country was doomed, it was indeed, better to stay as far away from them as possible.

    At the very least, it wasn¡¯t worth pissing off a mysterious force who could bring even China to its knees in a matter of days.

    If Jiang Shuxuan was still here, they¡¯d still be able to put up a good fight. However, since his departure, China was no longer a viable partner to the British.

    Of course, the less mess they make in the process the better.

    Japan, on the other hand, was using its satellites to gain a live view of the current situation within the ancient martial arts world. They watched as pockets of theirnd got swallowed up, bit by bit.

    ¡°Not all hope is lost, ¡± said Baili Bin, who also was aware of the current situation. He held up an ancient book he was holding. ¡°I have a n. I believe it can help save the ancient martial arts word.¡±

    ¡°What n?!¡± Murong Feiye looked up in disbelief.

    ¡°A formation,¡± replied Baili Bin bluntly. Despite the soft glow in his eyes, he still possessed a resilient soul. A golden ray of light shimmered the moment he flipped over the first page.

    A massive wave swept over Murong Feiye, who felt as if he was in a trance within a fraction of a second. His eyes widened, he asked, ¡°This...this is...¡±

    Baili Bin nced at him before closing the book back up. Turning around in his wheelchair, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± replied Murong Feiye who dragged his feet heavily behind him.

    Before leaving, he looked back at the cave. He was merely ncing at it out of instinct when his footsteps came to a halt. He saw the de move slightly. His voice came out of his throat almost instantaneously. ¡°Wait up Baili!¡±

    Baili Bin¡¯s arms stopped moving as he turned around, just in time to see a blinding white ray shine out from the dark cave.

    The purple sparks that sealed the cave had now disappeared. The de glowed brightly as it had been resuscitated. It flew out of the cave and danced about in a lively manner.

    Figures slowly emerged from the dark cave. His expression was indifferent and his handsome face, cold as usual. The pure white short he wore was spotless. He appeared to be holding a human in his arms, who was wrapped up using his dark coat.

    The man seemed so familiar that both Murong Feiye and Baili Bin¡¯s eyes watered up immediately. ¡°You¡¯ve finally returned...¡±

    They were this close to making ast stand.

    ¡°What happened to her?¡± Murong Feiye regained hisposure and noticed the girl in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arms.

    JIang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes. ¡°She ranked up. The chi in her body¡¯s still a little chaotic. Minor tweaks must be conducted.¡±

    That shouldn¡¯t be too big of a problem. Letting out a sigh in relief, Murong Feiye¡¯s facial expression finally returned to normal. He then proceeded to bring Jiang Shuxuan up to date with what was happening to the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°Enough said. I know what¡¯s going on.¡± Jiang Shuxuan peered at the horizon. A fiery red figure suddenly appeared far away in the never-ending sky before it reappeared right in front of him at lightning speed.

    It¡¯s Xixi!

    cing Gu Xiqiao on Xixi¡¯s back, Jiang Shuxuan barked out an order.

    ¡°Send her home. I¡¯ll be back in a moment.¡±

    Xixi let out a deafening screech before flying off into the distance.

    The glowing white sword once again entered his grasp. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression changed into something so intimidating that no one dared to make direct eye contact with him.

    ¡°Let us...¡± Murong Feiye had not even said ¡°go¡± when his figure disintegrated into thin air.

    Murong Feiye was left speechless.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Damn! He¡¯s as unlikable as usual!¡¯

    ¡°Say, don¡¯t you think he¡¯s a major show-off?¡± Murong Feiye turned to ask Baili Bin.

    These two seemed to have had their backbones returned to them the moment Jiang Shuxuan returned. Even their stoic expressions have returned to their faces. Baili Bin picked up his book and replied: ¡°He¡¯s no show-off. He¡¯s the real deal. Let¡¯ go now.¡±

    ***

    Near the border, the people of the ancient martial arts world were retreating with hopelessness on their faces.

    Suddenly, an icy cold aura descended upon the battlefield. The figure of a man materialized mid-air.

    A man and his sword.

    Power surged all around the white sword as the tides of war turned in their favor.

    ¡°Lemme guess, he¡¯s be more powerful?¡± Murong Feiye¡¯s face was nothing short of shocked when he rushed over hastily.

    Despite feeling a sense of relief, Baili Bin was also thoroughly shocked. Who would¡¯ve thought that a few yearster, he would be able to see the sword in action again. ¡°That is correct. He¡¯s much more powerful than before.¡± How on earth did Jiang Shuxuan manage to cultivate so much strength?

    This scene would soon spread beyond China¡¯s borders.

    Some men in the US gathered around to see the scene in the video. Their look on their faces wasn¡¯t too amused.

    The Jiang Shuxuan they were watching appeared to be, much stronger than before!

    The onlookers started panicking. Initially, when they heard that the ancient martial arts world was falling apart, they refused to send assistance, which was desperately needed. Some even coveted the ancient martial arts world¡¯s resources. The ¡°assistance¡± that they sent was far from being professional.

    It¡¯s all over now, they thought.

    The British leader was in an even greater state of despair. He of all the people, was the one with the most regret.

    Out of fear for the ¡°mysterious force¡±, not only did he lose Murong Feiye, an important ally, he also lost his connection with the ancient martial arts world. To think that he was even gleeful about it.

    Seeing that overwhelmingly powerful sword on the screen, realization had only set in that he had just lost a powerful ally.

    Sweat marks appeared on his back. The man¡¯s hands trembled in fear and regret was so overbearing that it felt like his heart was being sliced open. He whipped out his phone and decided to give Murong Feiye a call. No matter what, he absolutely must regain his ally.

    Murong Feiye sneered when he saw the caller ID on his phone. ¡°Say Baili, how shameless can the leader of a great nation be?¡± he asked.

 Chapter 200 - Painful Discovery

    Chapter 200: Painful Discovery

    Baili Bin watched as the battle drew to an eventual end. Faintly, he muttered under his breath, ¡°How pitiable.¡±

    How pitiable, the leader of a great nation who was willing to stoop so low.

    After that, he turned around and left the ce in his wheelchair.

    It was at this point that he realized his strength was far from enough. The ancient martial arts world just wouldn¡¯t be what it was without Jiang Shuxuan.

    Murong Feiye was deep in thought as he watched Baili Bin¡¯s figure gradually recede into the distance. In that moment, his eyes were full of confusion.

    ¡°Feiye, we were able to hold out for so many days before Shuxuan¡¯s return thanks to you. Your role in this must not be forgotten.¡±

    Murong Feiye did not dare to inte his ego upon hearing this. ¡°n Leader Baili, even if I wasn¡¯t here, the end result would be the same. Ah Bin already knew from the get-go what would happen in the end, what more to say of Uncle Jiang¡¯s return.¡± Even if he refrained from meddling in the conflict, Uncle Jiang alone could probably save the entire ancient martial arts world in the nick of time.

    Baili Qu patted his shoulder. ¡°Young man, such humility will bring you nowhere.¡±

    Murong Feiye bowed his head and let out a bitterugh. He wasn¡¯t trying to be humble.

    The Jiang family.

    Madam Jiang was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. She kept pacing around the ground outside the door, whilst peering out from time to time.

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t my Shuxuane home yet?¡±

    Even their butler was starting to get panicky. Still, seeing Madam Jiang¡¯s condition made him suppress his emotions from surfacing. ¡°Young Master might still be dealing with the aftermath, please stay calm Madam.¡±

    ¡°No! I must go and take a look!¡± said Madam Jiang whose patience had finally run out.

    Although she had already caught wind that her son was alive and well, she still had not seen him in person yet. How could she remain calm like this?

    It was at that point that a tall figure emerged from outside the door. Despite being a middle-aged man, his face remained as handsome and as masculine as before. Withrge, triumphant strides, he marched over to his home.

    ¡°Master,¡± greeted the butler instinctively.

    Madam Jiang froze up in shock. As she stared at the man in front of her, a bitter feeling from the depths of her heart rose up immediately. With reddened eyes, she cursed at him, ¡°Asshole! Of all the time, why now?!¡±

    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t cry on me. I have returned have I not?¡± Jiang Han¡¯s expression changed instantly. Anxiously, he hurried over to his woman¡¯s side. He had never seen the irondy act like this before, which made his heart ache ¡°Now now, stop crying. It¡¯s all my fault, I know.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯vee back, what about Ah Li?¡± Madam Jiang wiped away her tears. Looking behind Jiang Han, she saw no signs of that man.

    Jiang Han brought her into their home. ¡°Ah Li¡¯s condition will remain as it is for now. Did you not keep urging me toe home? Well, here I am.¡± He remembered herining to him over the phone that Shuxuan was a disobedient child, that she could no longer control their child...

    Madam Jiang gave him an angry re before tears swelled up in her eyes again. ¡°Did you see Shuxuan on your way here? Is he still alright?¡±

    ¡°... I did bump into him on the way here.¡± Jiang Han snorted the moment he heard Shuxuan¡¯s name. Didn¡¯t she just say that she had abandoned that child? Now she¡¯s concerned about his well being?! ¡°Rx, he¡¯s stronger than ever.¡±

    Madam Jiang let out a sigh in relief after hearing from her husband that Jiang Shuxuan was alright.

    ¡°Remember the thing you told me about Jiang Tong?¡± Jiang Han suddenly recalled this matter in the middle of their conversation. ¡°I also bumped into Jiang Tong just now. That gal broke into tears immediately upon seeing me.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Tong...¡± Madam Jiang let out a sigh, but not in relief when she heard Jiang Han mention her name.

    Rumors about Jiang Shuxuan spread like wildfire around the ancient martial arts world. Only Jiang Tong remained loyally by her side, protecting her for the past few days. Even if they had been at odds with one another in the past, this event had rekindled their rtionship. Madam Jiang had decided to end the ongoing feud with her family.

    ¡°Seems like her physique has reached a new peak. To achieve such a breakthrough at such a young age, she¡¯s pretty capable isn¡¯t she?¡± said Jiang Han with eyes full of satisfaction with the young girl.

    ¡°So what if you¡¯re impressed by her?!¡± responded Madam Jiang with a re. Her eyes were full of worry. ¡°Your son isn¡¯t satisfied with her. He has disregarded the Jiang family¡¯s ancestral precepts! Ignoring the heavenly rule, he has brought with him ass from the secr world back here!¡±

    Thereafter, she patiently dissected the sequence of events regarding Jiang Shuxuan to his father.

    Jiang Han was stunned. Suddenly, a glow appeared in his eyes. ¡°He really said that?¡± That boy¡¯s really his son! He¡¯s got balls for sure!

    Madam Jiang nced at the gleeful look in his eyes as she swallowed whatever that she had on her mind.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave this talk for another time shall we? He¡¯s still our son. No matter what decision he makes, we have to support him.¡± Jiang Han stood up and sighed. ¡°After all, this year has been an ordeal for him. Alright, there are still some things out there that I have to tend to. I have to go and take a look.¡±

    After that, Jiang Han once again left the Jiang family mansion.

    Madam Jiang stood at the door, staring at his back until he disappeared into the distance, as if something was on her mind.

    ¡°Madam, Miss Jiang Tong called. She¡¯s requesting to meet you, how about it?¡± asked the butler who had picked up the phone for her.

    Madam Jiang thought about her answer for a while before shaking her head. ¡°Say that I¡¯m in bed.¡±

    The secr world, perhaps it was time for her to pay them a little visit.

    People from various families knew about Jiang Han¡¯s return. It appeared that him, n Leader Murong as well as the Tang family were running the affairs in the ancient martial arts world.

    Noting that the big three families have now gathered around, Yi Bing was sure that the ancient martial arts world was in safe hands and so heid down his responsibilities near the borders of their domain.

    ***

    In a random room at a small residential district nearby A University.

    The figure thatid on the bed moved. Her long, curving eyshes twitched before her eyelids sprung open, revealing a pair of icy cold, glowing eyes underneath.

    [Ding! Congrattions to the host, who has unlocked a perfect circtory system. The system awards you 1000 points!]

    [Ding! Congrattions to the host forpleting a chain mission, the system rewards you 10,000 points!]

    A robotic voice echoed in her mind abruptly. Focus finally returned to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes as she regained herposure. ¡°Little system, are you still sound asleep?¡±

    The system floated out of the virtual space and blinked a couple of times. ¡°Beauty Qiao, I¡¯ve been asleep for a week now. I think that¡¯s plenty of sleep already. Think we woke up at the same time too.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded silently. She then looked over at Haha who was sprawled out on the bed. It looked back at her with a pair of dark, watery eyes. It let out a weak whimper when it sensed her gaze. It¡¯s dark beady eyes rolled around, as if tears were really about to flow out.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart softened when she saw Haha like this. She instantaneously picked it up and embraced the little mutt.

    Almost simultaneously, a crisp-sounding ¡°hmph!¡± came from atop her head.

    Looking up, Gu Xiqiao caught sight of the colorful Xixi. Rubbing her nose, she greeted the bird.

    ¡°Xixi.¡±

    Xixi red down at Gu Xiqiao coldly. ¡°...I will never let you off so easily!¡± Also! Haha you damned slut! How dare you take advantage of Beauty Qiao¡¯sa and climb onto her bed!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head was tilted and she wore a puzzled expression when she apologized.

    Xixi: ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Why do you sound as if you¡¯re unsure about your apology?¡¯

    It flew down and stood at the end of her bed. Using its beady eyes, it looked up seriously at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Beauty Qiao, from now on, no matter what happens, never abandon me! I...I¡¯m a very useful bird!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was taken aback for a moment. Then, she broke out inughter. She produced a brown pill between her fingertips as a warm expression emerged on her face. ¡°Yep, I¡¯ll never do that again. It¡¯s my fault this time.¡±

    Xixi stared at the pill between her fingers whilst thinking to itself. ¡®Do you think I¡¯m the sort of bird who would get tempted by such materialistic things?¡¯

    Yup!

    Yes it was!

    ***

    In the opposite building, Baili Bin had already returned. Having recovered from the initial shock, he returned to his room.

    It¡¯s been seven days and hisputer screen was lit. He remembered that he had shut the device off before he left. Looking at the screen, it seems like the document from before had been opened.

    ¡°Young Master, Master says that Lord Jiang Han has returned. There will be a celebratory banquet tonight. Would you like to attend said event?¡± asked Uncle Tai from outside the door.

    Baili Bin snapped out of his reverie and gave a blunt reply, ¡°I won¡¯t be going.¡±

    It sounded like Uncle Tai was on the phone. Though, Baili Bin paid him no heed and instead, directed his focus over to the document.

    The document was meticulously organized by Tang Qingqiu. It¡¯s recordings date back to when Gu Xiqiao was only a child and each stage of her life was divided into various files.

    The first document contained information about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s biological mother.

    She was born twenty years ago, as the child of a celebrity¡ªWen Xi.

    Baili Bin recognized instantly that this person was his aunt.

    Having found his answer, Baili Bin no longer wondered why his aunt, who was supposed to be a movie star was treated as if she was a lowly porn star back in N City. So she had given birth to Gu Xiqiao. Skipping over this document, he immediately opened up the file containing detailed information about Gu Xiqiao herself.

    There were records of Yu Man picking her up from the vige and her subsequent life there. It also contained records of her return to the Gu family.

    ¡ª¡ªBecause she was picked up on a bridge near a river[1], and because her surname was Gu, she was blessed with the name, Gu Xiqiao.

    What a simple and casually-picked name. Baili Bin felt a pain in his heart when he realized the history behind her name.

    If not for these documents, he would not have known that there were still arge group of humans struggling in the dark in this world.

    It was then that he recalled a phrase on the inte that described Gu Xiqiao¡¯s existence.

    ¡°A speck of starlight amidst total darkness.¡±

    The document was incredibly long. The more he read through it, the harder it was to maintain hisposure. He could not imagine how painful it was when her adoptive mother died. What sort of emotions did she experience? What expectations did she have when she returned to the Gu family? How painful it must¡¯ve been for her at the end.

    Not only were there writings in this document, there were also a couple of footage too.

    He looked at her stick-like figure as she stood alone in front of the camera. Baili Bin couldn¡¯t help but raise his hands over his eyes to block the terrible scene that was ying out. He struggled to stop his tears from flowing out.

    By then, he was incredibly thankful for Jiang Shuxuan. If it wasn¡¯t for him, he couldn¡¯t even imagine what Gu Xiqiao looked like now.

    Uncle Tai knocked on the door twice. Instead ofing out, Baili Bin remained in his room.

    He, who never smoked, had already consumed half a pack of cigarettes. Every corner of the room was filled with smoke. The end of his lit cigarette glowed every time he inhaled a puff of smoke. He sat there, watching the lights outside listlessly.

    He thought about his aunt¡¯s daughter, the pretty youngdy. As the only baby girl in his n, she was spoiled to the core by his family members. Whatever she wanted, they would give.

    It was heaven and earth inparison to Gu Xiqiao, who never even received a single gift during Chinese New Year.

    Picking up his phone, he dialed an overseas number. It rang for a while before the person on the other end of the line picked up his call. Without waiting for her to speak, he asked, ¡°Aunt, do you know that you have another daughter?¡±

    Halfway across the globe in Ennd, the smile of the young woman who unintentionally picked up the phone suddenly froze up.

    [1] T/N: River in mandarin=Xi, Bridge in mandarin=Qiao, hence Gu Xiqiao

 Chapter 201 - Return To China

    <h4>Chapter 201: Return To China</h4>

    When she received Baili Bin¡¯s call, Fu Xuejun was happy, because her cousin had always treated her coldly. She had always wanted to make a good impression on him, but had not been able to do anything about it.

    However, she didn¡¯t expect to hear the words when she picked up the call.

    ¡°Cousin, you¡¯re... making a joke?¡± Fu Xuejun¡¯s lips twitched upwards. She didn¡¯t dare believe it, but she also knew that her cousin would never lie. To make this phone call was already a testament of how much of a truth this was.

    But, how was that possible?

    The other side clearly didn¡¯t expect for her to be the one to answer the call, and he hung up immediately, leaving only the dial tone ringing in her ears.

    Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t calm down after hearing those words, and she sat down on the sofa, staring out the door in a daze.

    When Baili Wenxi and Fu Wei came back, she was still in the same state. ¡°Jun¡¯er, why haven¡¯t you gone to bed?¡±

    Baili Wenxi was already over forty, but she still looked as beautiful as ever, as though age had not left a single mark on her wless face. This was especially obvious in her eyes, which were incredibly mesmerizing. Although she had retired from the film industry for more than twenty years, the internationally renowned director had still not given up on the idea of her taking on a role in his movies.

    However, Baili Wenxi had not taken on any roles, though she asionally attended film festivals as a judge or an award guest.

    Tonight, she had been out at an international film festival. She had been invited as a judge, and Fu Wei had apanied her.

    ¡°I was waiting for you toe back first, mummy.¡± Fu Xuejun looped her arms around Baili Wenxi¡¯s, and then instructed a servant, ¡°Bring some of the desserts that I made for Mommy and Daddy.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already said to leave these things to Auntie and the others, why are you still doing it by yourself?¡± Although Fu Wei was harsh in his words, his eyes were full of affection and love. He didn¡¯t have many desires in his life, and the greatest pride he had was marrying Baili Wenxi, and having his daughter, Fu Xuejun after that.

    He didn¡¯t have much knowledge on the path of ancient martial arts, so he left it to pursue things that he was more interested in, mainlymercial business. After those things happened to Baili Wenxi, he transferred his business abroad.

    And then they had Fu Xuejun, who received the attention of the Fu family since she was young because she had managed to advance to Bone Refinement level at such a young age.

    Fu Xuejun was a smart child since she was young, consistently skipping grades with her high intelligence. Although she was only seventeen years old, she was already an outstanding student in Stanford University. As a father, he couldn¡¯t be any prouder.

    And because Baili Wenxi liked Chinese food, Fu Xuejun had purposely gone to learn how to cook, and woulde home asionally to make them food when she could.

    She had both the looks and the brains, and was also sensible, she was the ideal child of someone else in the eyes of people around her.

    Baili Wenxi rubbed her head gently. ¡°Jun¡¯er, we might need to return to China soon.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Fu Xuejun was startled, and she couldn¡¯t help but think of the call that Baili Bin had made a while ago. An ufortable feeling wed at her heart, but she forced a smile onto her face.

    ¡°Something has happened between Ennd and the ancient martial art world. It wouldn¡¯t be good for us to stay here.¡± Fu Wei exined. ¡°You can still remain here and continue your studies in Stanford though.¡±

    Fu Xuejun was flustered for a moment, before saying determinedly, ¡°No, I¡¯ll go back too.¡±

    ¡°I knew you would say that from the beginning,¡± Fu Wei said, after getting the confirmation from her. ¡°I¡¯ve already spoken to my assistant, and have sent your details to A University. They are eagerly awaiting your arrival.¡±

    As a top student from Stanford University, how could they not?

    ¡°By the way, in the film festival this year, I saw a very soulful actress with your mommy.¡± Fu Wei suddenly recalled. ¡°Although she was just the third lead, she was miles better than the female lead. Especially that pair of eyes, it¡¯s very simr to your mommy¡¯s. If we have the chance after we go back, we definitely must arrange a meeting with her.¡±

    Facing an actress that looked very much like Baili Wenxi, Fu Wei couldn¡¯t help but be amazed and also admire this actress.

    Fu Xuejun smiled at that, and headed upstairs to sleep. The smile slid off her face as soon as she turned away.

    ***

    Downstairs, Fu Wei was still discussing with Baili Wenxi about the actress that had caught their eye.

    In tonight¡¯s film festival, the most outstanding part of the entire festival was not any of the celebrities, but the neer that had never produced a film, and the newbie actress that yed a female third lead.

    ¡°I feel an inexplicable kindness every time I look at her.¡± Baili Wenxin said, her gaze far away.

    Fu Wei¡¯s heart moved a little at his wife¡¯s look. ¡°It feels like the two of you have a tied fate, how about we take her in as a goddaughter after we return?¡±

    The more he thought about it, the more the idea seemed feasible. With such great acting skills and only ying a third lead, especially that jumping scene on the city wall, Fu Wei had honestly felt his heart stop when he watched that scene. ¡°And then we¡¯ll look for some good resources for her. With such a talent, she must be some kind of best actress.¡±

    It had been about a decade since they had gone back, and Fu Wei was slightly looking forward to it. Not only because of the actress, but thepany ¡®Nine Heavens¡¯ that had been taking the world by a storm was also in China.

    As a fellow businessman, he was extremely curious about the person behind the scenes of Nine Heavens.

    What kind of people were they, that they were able to strategize and develop Nine Heavens into what it was today?

    Baili Wenxi didn¡¯t say anything further, she just turned on her phone and flipped to China¡¯s Weibo, searching for ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯.

    Then she followed the trail all the way until she found the name ¡®For A Millenium¡¯.

    ***

    After hanging up the call with Fu Xuejun, Baili Bin didn¡¯t try to call again, but gave Baili Qu a call instead.

    ¡°Grandfather, there¡¯s something I want to show you.¡± His voice was a little dry when he spoke.

    Baili Qu replied from the other end of the phone, and then continued with, ¡°Just send it over. Oh right, I¡¯m sending someone over to pass you some things, bring it over to... Miss Gu tomorrow.¡± He knew about Gu Xiqiao from Zhu Yuan, and heard from him that the girl preferred antiques over money, and so he had turned the entire Baili family upside down, and finally choosing a few antiques to send over.

    Baili Qu was from the ancient martial arts world, and he wasn¡¯t really familiar with high technology likeputers. Regarding the file that had been sent over by Baili Bin, he had to get a younger man from the family to help him download the file.

    Night had fallen, and his room was still pitch ck.

    He was in a simr state to Baili Bin at that time, looking at the document over and over.

    Although he already had some suspicions in his heart, he still felt dazed when he read the proof in front of him.

    ¡°n Leader, it¡¯s the young mistress¡¯ call.¡± A voice came from outside the room.

    Baili Qu was silent for a while, before replying, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Miss says that they will return to China in three days.¡±

    ¡°Alright. After theye back... let them stay in the young master¡¯s smallmunity.¡± Baili Qu¡¯s voice didn¡¯t waver, and only replied in an indifferent tone. He turned his head back to continue looking at the documents that Baili Bin had sent over to him.

    After sending the documents off, Baili Bin couldn¡¯t calm himself, and so he asked Uncle Tai to push him down to take a walk to clear his mind.

    ***

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had already woken up and taken a shower. She then saw Hua Youline in with a small bowl in his hands.

    ¡°Sister Gu,¡± Hua Youlin greeted happily, seeing that she was up. ¡°I made some porridge, please have some.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was touched by the gesture, but then she narrowed her eyes when she remembered the date. ¡°You didn¡¯t go for your afternoon sses?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Hua Youlin ced the bowl of porridge down carefully, lowering his head and reaching out to hug Gu Xiqiao around the waist, his voice trembling as he said, ¡°Sister Gu.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t seen Gu Xiqiao for seven days, Xixi hade to find him suddenly during the afternoon when he was in school. He had rushed home immediately, and saw Gu Xiqiao lying on the bed, unresponsive. She wouldn¡¯t wake up no matter how many times he called out to her.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t Brother Jiang back yet?¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s voice was dull as he asked.

    Although he always said that he didn¡¯t like Jiang Shuxuan, he still missed him in times like this, especially during the time when he couldn¡¯t wake Gu Xiqiao up.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed his head fondly, thinking that she had indeed not raised this child in vain. Hearing him mentioned Jiang Shuxuan, she was a little startled, but replied after a few minutes, ¡°Brother Jiang still has something to do, and he¡¯ll be back tomorrow.¡±

    The space in the cave still needed to be dealt with, and it would need a long time before they could settle these matters.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Hua Youlin replied sullenly, and then he followed behind Gu Xiqiao as she walked, not leaving a big gap between them as they walked.

    ¡°How about you take Xixi and Haha for a walk while I clean up the house?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, looking down at the younger boy.

    Hua Youlin didn¡¯t move. ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Gu Xiqiao turned off her phone. ¡°Let¡¯s go down together.¡±

    Seven days of absence meant that she had countless calls and messages on her phone. She asked the system to send a general message to everyone that she was safe and sound, before taking the boy, dog, and bird downstairs.

    For a smallmunity building, the facilities were quiteplete. There were many people who exercised in the morning and evening, and most of them were children and elderly.

    Gu Xiqiao had not been walking long before she bumped into Baili Bin.

    He looked at her with those gentle eyes of his for a long while.

    ¡°Brother Baili?¡± Gu Xiqiao prompted after a long moment of silence, raising an eyebrow at him.

    Baili Bin came back to himself at the sound of her voice, and then shed a smile at her, his handsome face shining brightly. ¡°I¡¯m just surprised, Miss Gu, you¡¯ve achieved a lot in your young age.¡± After Jiang Shuxuan hade out today, he had given the order to everyone present, not allowing them to mention a lick of word about Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t as big as it seems, it¡¯s all just exaggerated to bluff people. You don¡¯t have to call me ¡®Miss Gu¡¯, it¡¯s a bit unbearable. Just call me by my name, Brother Baili.¡± Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips and smiled, and her skin glowed underneath the street light. ¡°How are your legs?¡±

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had bumped into an acquaintance, Hua Youlin yed with Xixi and Haha at the side, but he kept Gu Xiqiao within his line of sight all the while.

    ¡°It¡¯s much better.¡± Baili Bin smiled warmly at Gu Xiqiao, a gentle expression on his face. ¡°Un, then I¡¯ll call you Qiao Qiao, alright?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao thought for a moment before pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket and a pen.

    She scribbled a few lines on it, and handed it over to Baili Bin.

    Bailin Bin took the paper, and scanned through it. His eyes paused after a while, admiring her handwriting that was vigorous and powerful. She was obviously a girl, but she wielded her pen like a dragon soaring into the sky, clearly disying her talents on this piece of paper. It was like she was from an influential family and a master.

    ¡°This is the prescription for nursing them, I should have given it to you earlier, but I didn¡¯t manage to find the time.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, scratching her nose in slight embarrassment. She had raised the topic with Jiang Shuxuan before, but he would ignore her the moment she mentioned Baili Bin¡¯s name.

    She only found the opportunity now.

    Baili Bin folded the paper carefully, and ced it in his pocket. He lifted his head, wanting to say something else, but a few elderly people had jogged over at this time.

    ¡°Little Gu, why didn¡¯t we see you these few days?¡± These elderly people asked one after another.

    And so Baili Bin didn¡¯t have another chance to continue his conversation with Gu Xiqiao, as the people who came to talk to her came one after another. Most of them were elderly and children, and in modern times now where neighbors didn¡¯t really get along, Baili Bin was seeing this kind of scene for the first time.

    It seems that everyone in the area knew her.

    He looked at Gu Xiqiao, who was talking to an elderly grandfather, her eyes soft and gentle.

    When Jiang Shuxuan returned, he saw Baili Bin who was staring unmovingly at Gu Xiqiao, and his face darkened in an instant.

    He stood calmly and without a word between the two, blocking Baili Bin¡¯s view of her.

    ¡°Brother Jiang?¡± Gu Xiqiao was surprised when he appeared. Why had he returned so soon?

    Jiang Shuxuan squeezed her hand, not looking at her. He exchanged a few words with Baili Bin before taking her away.

    Seeing his return, Hua Youlin took Haha and Xixi in his arms as he hurried over.

    Baili Bin watched the two figures, the elegant posture. It was just a view of his back and that was enough to feel the majestic aura radiating off him, and he only returned to his senses when Uncle Tai held up a phone that was ringing in front of him. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Ah Bin, it¡¯s me.¡± A gentle, smooth voice came from the other side. ¡°I¡¯m returning with your uncle to China soon, and Jun¡¯er will be studying in A University. We should be staying in yourmunity when we arrive.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Baili Bin didn¡¯t mention Gu Xiqiao again, though his face was gentle, his voice was indifferent. ¡°Cousin is very good, I¡¯m sure the teachers in A University will be happy to have her.¡±

    Baili Wenxi didn¡¯t respond to that, and continued in a softer tone, ¡°Ah Bin, I¡¯ve found a doctor for you, it¡¯s an internationally renowned doctor who¡¯s quite prestigious. They recently had a new breakthrough in cell fusion, would... would you like to try it?¡±

    Over the years, she had worked quite hard for the sake of Baili Bin.

    Baili Bin¡¯s heart softened, feeling touched. ¡°Thank you, Aunt. I haven¡¯t told you something. Aunt, my legs are almost healed.¡±

 Chapter 202

    <h4>Chapter 202: New Arrival</h4>

    It took a long while before Baili Wenxi came back to her senses after hearing those words, and her breathing was slightlyboured. Ever since Baili Bin¡¯s legs had been injured, she had been scouring the world for famous doctors. Even though the divine doctor, Rong Feishuang had given his diagnosis, she still didn¡¯t give up.

    Now hearing the great news that his legs were almost healed, her entire being was overjoyed. ¡°I wille tomorrow to see you!¡±

    Baili Wenxi had always been a person that was swift and decisive in her reactions, and after the call, she immediately began her preparations to return to China.

    In that instant, the entire Fu family in Ennd was swept up in the rush.

    ***

    Baili Bin put down the phone, instructing Uncle Tai, ¡°Have Qingqiu prepare a ce for them.¡±

    Tang Qingqiu had just returned from the ancient martial arts world when he received the news. He had only been back for a few days, and Qin Heng had given him the umted pile of paperwork while he was gone. Tang Qingqiu sighed as he resigned himself to reading the documents properly, and thought about how if he had Gu Xiqiao¡¯s speed, he would have been done with these in just a minute.

    The preparation of the amodation was naturally handed over to his assistant who was the jack of all trades, Qin Heng.

    Qin Heng adjusted his sses as he thought about how hot that smallmunity building was going to get at this rate.

    ¡°By the way, are you not nning on shooting that web drama?¡± Tang Qingqiu called Qin Heng back again to ask.

    Web drama? Qin Heng searched his memory to recall what this was about, and instantly replied, ¡°The web drama is still being filed, but recently Miss Xiao is only scheduled for morning slots, and the rest of the afternoon is left to the others.¡±

    ¡°Did I ask about Miss Xiao?¡± Tang Qingqiu waved his hand with a look of disgust on his face. ¡°Hurry up and get out!¡±

    Qin Heng¡¯s mouth curved up slightly. ¡®Boss, if your eyes didn¡¯t light up at the mention of Xiao Yun, I might still be inclined to believe you!¡¯

    Once the door was closed, Tang Qingqiu rubbed his chin and sighed again. On hisputer screen, the search on Baidu read ¡®Ten Ways To Chase A Girl¡¯. It seems he had found several methods to try, but looking at the pile of documents on his desk just gave him another giant headache again.

    Picking up his phone, he sent a message in WeChat.

    Tang Qingqiu: I want to hire Miss Gu for ourpany.

    One minuteter, he received a reply.

    Jiang Shuxuan: Get lost.

    What? Was this something Jiang Shuxuan would say? Telling him to get lost?

    WTF?

    Tang Qingqiu immediately dialed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s number.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan was in the kitchen when the call came, and he didn¡¯t intend to pick up the phone initially. However, Gu Xiqiao was looking at him with those suspicious nces, and so he could only give in and pick up the call, walking to the other side of the room.

    ¡°Shuxuan, I actually have something to tell you.¡± Once the call was answered, Tang Qingqiu¡¯s voice floated over. ¡°It¡¯s about Miss Gu!¡±

    His fingers paused slightly, hovering above the ¡®End Call¡¯ button, and nced at Gu Xiqiao, who was teaching Hua Youlin about his physics homework. He walked up the stairs, phone in hand. ¡°Then talk.¡± He was always serious when it came to Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Do you know Aunt Baili?¡± Tang Qingqiu found a folder among the pile of documents, and thinking about it, he knew that he had to tell Jiang Shuxuan about it. Otherwise, when he found out about it in the future, the first thing Jiang Shuxuan would want to tear down was his Tang Enterprise building.

    Jiang Shuxuan had walked into his study at this point of the call, and he narrowed his eyes at the name. ¡°Aunt Baili? I don¡¯t have any impressions of her.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I thought so, since you¡¯re so busy. I also have only seen her a handful of times.¡± Tang Qingqiu¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°A few days ago, Baili requested me to check Miss Gu¡¯s background, which I¡¯ve just sent to you. Have a look.¡±

    ¡°You looked into her?¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes narrowed even more, his voice sounded like it was dripping with ice.

    Tang Qingqiu: ¡°...¡± I really didn¡¯t mean to.

    Slender fingers tap on the screen to open the document, and the first sentence he read sent him into a stunned silence. ¡°Is this true?¡± She was Aunt Baili¡¯s daughter?

    ¡°There are still a lot of unknown variables in this document,¡± Tang Qingqiu said, tapping his fingers against the desk. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t investigated, I wouldn¡¯t have known that Aunt Baili had been in N City for two years, and more importantly, gave birth to Miss Gu. Shuxuan, I found this matter out quite easily, and I think someone is pulling the strings behind this entire matter.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± A frosty re appeared in his deep inky eyes, and his voice was dangerously low.

    ¡°There one more thing, Aunt Baili will being back to China tomorrow, and they¡¯ll also be living in your smallmunity. She will definitely meet with Miss Gu sooner orter.¡± Tang Qingqiu said in a low voice. ¡°Baili knows about this matter, you guys bettermunicate properly about this entire thing, I¡¯m washing my hands off this.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan hung up the phone, his lips pursed tightly, and then he sent a message to Yi Bing.

    ***

    Yi Bing, who was far off in the ancient martial arts world received the message, and his face dropped as soon as he read it, as though he had nothing left to live for.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Yi Tiao asked when he walked over and saw the expression.

    Yi Bing¡¯s face was expressionless when he lifted his head. ¡°Boss said, he¡¯s leaving the rest to us here.¡±

    Yi Tiao: ¡°...¡± He had said he would just be going home for one night, why did he be like this once he went back?

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan turned his attention to the documents once again, his cold eyes still narrowed. They hadn¡¯t been back for more than ten years, so what if they came back, what could they do?

    Downstairs, Hua Youlin was already done with his work and had cleared his things away, getting ready for bed upstairs.

    Gu Xiqiao sat on the soda, sending some messages.

    Zhu Yuan: Oh great goddess, pleasee to theb tomorrow ©Ñ©Ò©n©Ñ©Ò

    For A Millenium: Ok.

    Zhu Yuan: !

    Zhu Yuan: I¡¯ll prepare the stuff immediately! Oh great one, what time will you being tomorrow?

    For A Millenium: Probably in the afternoon.

    Zhu Yuan: Understood, great one!

    Having done with the conversation, Zhu Yuan went offline immediately, for fear that she would continue and send a message stating that she changed her mind and wouldn¡¯t go to thebs tomorrow.

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao made her way to theboratory in the afternoon as she had said. Jiang Shuxuan naturally followed her.

    Everyone in theboratory was already familiar with Jiang Shuxuan, and seeing him appear with her was now a norm and they weren¡¯t too concerned about him anymore. They would even greet him politely when he appeared.

    Once Gu Xiqiao stepped into theboratory, she was immediately surrounded by everyone. The moment she made contact with them, theid back impression that she gave off faded, her eyes sharpened with a glint, and her face morphed into a look of confidence, and her entire person radiated with an extraordinary feeling.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood beside the door, his dark, onyx eyes watched Gu Xiqiao¡¯s every moment without wavering.

    ***

    At the same time, a pretty figure stood outside of the gates of A University.

    The woman¡¯s face was delicate and cute, and she attracted the attention of everyone around her immediately.

    Her beauty turned heads when she walked, and she stopped a random guy with a bright smile. ¡°Excuse me, where is the Faculty of Economics and Management?¡±

    The guy¡¯s face turned red at being addressed by a prettydy like her. ¡°Go straight from here and turn left, you will see the building immediately.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Fu Xuejun smiled again, then walked forward in the indicated directions. In her hands, she held the Stanford University transcript and rmendation letter.

    Last night, Baili Wenxi and her had rushed back from Ennd. After resting for the whole morning, Baili Wenxi had set out to the ancient martial arts world to look for Baili Qu. So she decided toe to the school alone first, to meet the director of the Faculty of Economics and Management to hand in her transfer notice.

    A University was just another second-rate university in the world, while Stanford University was an internationally renowned university.

    She had initially been expecting the different looks and gaze from the teachers and students of A University, but she was surprised to find that they only showed a look of surprise for a moment, before returning to normal.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you bring Student Fu on a tour around campus so she can familiarize herself with the area?¡± The dean of the Economics and Management faulty said to a sophomore student who he called over. Before they left, he asked another question, ¡°Has Luo Wenge back?¡±

    The sophomore who wore sses adjusted it before shaking his head. ¡°Director, Student Luo hasn¡¯t been in for half a month.¡±

    ¡°What!¡± The dean said, his eyes wide. ¡°When did he be sozy?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡± The student exined. ¡°Student Luo said that the recent sses haven¡¯t been any challenge, unlike the research projects that their boss had given them.¡±

    Dean: ¡°...¡±

    Fu Xuejun had been ignored during this entire conversation, and her smile got a bit strained. Even in Stanford, she had been a celebrity on campus. People would point and admire her wherever she went, and she had never been ignored like this before. Luo Weng? Who was that?

    ¡°Excuse me, who was the student that you and the dean were talking about previously? Can they not need toe to school?¡± Fu Xuejun smiled as she asked the boy who was leading her around.

    Fu Xuejun had an oval, delicate face, with extremely fair skin and beautiful features. When she smiled, it felt like spring had sprung up in the air. The boy¡¯s face was flushed at the smile directed at him, and he replied, ¡°Student Luo is a freshman in our year. When he tested in, he came close to scoring full marks on the test.¡±

    ¡°Almost full marks?¡± Fu Xuejin was surprised. ¡°That¡¯s great.¡±

    ¡°Student Fu, you¡¯re great too. I heard from the dean that you once won the International Economics Award.¡± The boy replied with an admiring shine in his eyes.

    Fu Xuejun smiled, but she didn¡¯t answer. She looked up and was suddenly taken aback. A young man in formal attire was walking over in their direction, and although his head was lowered slightly, she could make out the clearly attractive features that he had on his face. The people he passed greeted him as they walked, and he would also nod back politely.

    Just as she was about to ask who it was, the boy next to her lit up. ¡°Student Luo, why have youe today?¡±

    Luo Weng halted in his steps, ncing at the boy. His perfect memory immediately recognized this person. ¡°Senior.¡± He greeted, shing him a small smile. ¡°I came back today to look for Student Gu.¡±

    ¡°Eh? Beauty Gu is back?!¡± The boy¡¯s eyes widenedically.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Speaking of which, Luo Weng was feeling a stab of pain and grief. He was wondering why Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t been to Nine Heavens these few days, and it was because it turned out that little cockroach Zhu Yuan had conned her intoing to A University!

    The two exchanged a few more words before Luo Weng left, walking towards the Faculty of Medicine.

    From the beginning to the end, he hadn¡¯t spared a single nce at Fu Xuejun.

    However, Fu Xuejun didn¡¯t have a trace of anger on her face at all. She brushed her fringe a little as she smiled confidently, it presented a challenge like this, after all. ¡°So he¡¯s Luo Weng?¡±

    If she could make waves while she was abroad, then doing the same within the country would naturally be the same.

    The boy nodded his head. ¡°He¡¯s our god in the Faculty of Economics and Management. Although hees off as a little arrogant, he¡¯s actually very easy-going and down to earth. I hope you won¡¯t take to heart his cold exterior.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Fu Xuejun replied, shing him a smile again. ¡°And what about the ¡®Student Gu¡¯ that he was talking about?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you mean Beauty Gu!¡± The boy lit up even more if possible at the mention of the girl, he took out his phone and showed her the forum of A University. ¡°My Beauty Gu, have a look!¡±

    Within a few minutes, the forum had been filled with quite a few posts.

    ¡°I met Beauty Gu on my way there, I can¡¯t feel any greater today! Only, can someone please tell me who that sh*thead next to my goddess is? (smiley) [JPEG]¡±

    In the picture, there were two figures. You couldn¡¯t see the girl¡¯s face, but only her lean back.

    The man beside her had his head slightly tilted, looking at the direction of the person who had been taking the picture. He was wearing a ck windbreaker, some strands of his hair falling onto his forehead. His face had elegant and delicate features, and his eyes were a deep, dark obsidian. There were also hints of frost in them, and it glinted dangerously.

    Fu Xuejun only felt her heart freeze as she looked at the picture.

 Chapter 203 - Investigations

    <h4>Chapter 203: Investigations</h4>

    ¡°Under what circumstances can a human cell regenerate? It really is so incredible and mysterious.¡± A girl suddenly eximed out in theboratory.

    Gu Xiqiao brought them over to a mannequin, taking out her set of gold needles from her pocket. ¡°In theory and logic, it should be impossible. Have you learned the set of acupuncture methods that I gave you guysst time?¡± If it wasn¡¯t for her profound chi and life force, it would have taken a very long time to treat Baili Bin¡¯s legs.

    ¡°I have!¡± A boy squeezed himself in front immediately with excitement written all over his face. He had spent three days memorizing the acupoints, and he was sure that he hadn¡¯t been this serious since the time he had to study for his national finals.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled, her eyes curving. She handed a needle to the boy. ¡°Show me how.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was leaning very close to him, and the boy could almost feel the warmth that radiated from her boy, as well as the long eyshes on her eyelid when she lowered her head. He gulped, and took the offered needle from her. He looked at the pair of clear eyes that were on him, and he felt his nervous heart calmed down.

    Taking a deep breath, he began to focus on the points to insert the needle.

    The others who were around him couldn¡¯t help but scream in their minds: Damn it! All of them had memorized that set of methods! Curse this preemptive asshole!

    ¡°When did they be so obedient?¡± Professor Jiang said, watching this scene with just a little sadness in his heart. ¡°When I taught them this before, they didn¡¯t look like they had much interest at all?¡±

    Why was it when Gu Xiqiao threw it out casually, they were all so eager to learn it, and even did it in such a short time?

    After Zhu Yuan sent a message off to Rong Feishuang, he gave a nk look to Professor Jiang and said, ¡°Professor Jiang, just get used to it.¡±

    The words that Professor Jiang had initially said to him were now being thrown back at him.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, I can¡¯t leave anytime soon. Could you pick up Little Huazi?¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she managed to make her way out of the crowd, walking up to Jiang Shuxuan as she scratched her nose. ¡°When you get back, we can go out for dinner together?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head, staring at her wless face for a long while before responding, ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave first. Stay further away from that person.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao followed his gaze, and realized that he was looking at the boy who had been the first one to volunteer just now.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...okay.¡±

    At the time Jiang Shuxuan left, sses at A University had just let out. His build was tall and lean, with attractive features and an elegant pose. He was not the same as those warm guys that were popr, but he attracted tons of attention regardless due to his looks. In the past, not many dared to look directly at him, but today, a lot of people were staring openly at him. Not only that, there were many who were chattering when they caught sight of him.

    ¡°Look! That¡¯s that asshole who stood beside Beauty Gu!¡±

    ¡°Did you see Beauty Gu¡¯s gaze, it was so warm and gentle!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao attracted a lot of fans, and there were some who posted a whole stack of photos in Weibo. ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ easily became a hot search topic again, and went on to the hot topic spot once again. Countless fans were jealous of the lucky man who had stood beside her.

    Jiang Shuxuan browsed Weibo as he walked, the corners of his mouth curling up coldly as he saw the topics and discussions.

    His car was parked by the school gates, and there was a familiar white shadow that caught his eye in a corner.

    With a turn, he changed the direction and walked toward it.

    Not far from the campus, Fu Xuejun watched the boy who was leading her around the campus bend down to pick up a snow-white dog. It was definitely not anything purebred, and she knew it was a mongrel at a nce. It definitely wasn¡¯t a poodle, that was for sure. ¡°Is this your dog?¡± she asked casually.

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± The boy carefully picked up the dog and gave her a grin. ¡°It belongs to Beauty Gu, I¡¯ll send it up to her in a while... Haha, what happened to your leg?¡±

    Before he could finish his words, he saw that Haha¡¯s left front paw was bloodied.

    Haha could feel that the person who had picked it up was not malicious, and it whimpered pitifully. Its big, beady eyes were damp and shining, and the boy felt his heart melt at the sight. ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll bring you to Beauty Gu right now!¡±

    ¡°Give it to me.¡± A shadow appeared above them suddenly, followed by a slightly muffled voice which had a tinged of coldness to it.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s heart jumped at the voice, and she raised her head to meet a pair of ck, onyx eyes. At this time, the sun had started to set, and the orange hues of the sunset seemed to leave his face glowing.

    The dark eyes that seem like an abyss gave her a passing nce without any changes, and finally stopping on the dog that the boy held in his arms. He reached out to take the dog from him, and saw the blood on the dog¡¯s leg. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrowed slightly at it, but he looked toward the boy and said faintly, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Just as he turned around, Fu Xuejun suddenly opened her mouth, ¡°Mister, your dog needs immediate treatment, otherwise it would be susceptible to an infection.¡±

    Her voice was soft and gentle, her face a delicate picture and giving off a pretty demeanor. Such an image was easy to catch the attention of boys.

    Haha immediately reached out to scratch Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s sleeves, looking at him with a pair of using eyes. ¡°Woof woof woof!¡± (If you dare to stop, our friendship ends here!)

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t stop, but his own jet-ck eyes were looking at Haha. ¡°Why did youe out, where¡¯s Xixi?¡±

    ¡°Woof woof woof~¡± (Xixi went to find Beauty Gu.)

    Naturally, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t understand what Haha said. However, it wasn¡¯t like he had expected an answer from it anyway. He nced at Haha¡¯s leg, getting into the car. He then pulled out a bottle of medicine from nowhere, and he suddenly had a suspicion. Was Haha deliberately doing this to get attention from Gu Xiqiao?

    She would be distressed when she went back to this after all.

    ***

    Seeing the man ignoring her, Fu Xuejun didn¡¯t have any visible reaction on her face. Instead, she became even more interested in him. ¡°Senior, thank you for bringing me around today. I¡¯ll take my leave first, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡±

    The boy smiled at Fu Xuejun and nodded. ¡°No worries,e earlier a little tomorrow.¡±

    Fu Xuejun left A University back to her temporary amodations. When they had returned this time, her mother had gotten a ce to stay at a smallmunity and was still tidying up at this time. She hadn¡¯t wanted to stay with so many people, so she took her bags and booked a hotel instead, and would wait for her father toe and ask him to prepare another ce for her instead.

    In the hotel, she took a shower before settling down in front of aputer. As soon as she turned it on, someone video called her, and she picked it up after ncing at who it was.

    A face with sharp edges appears on the screen. His eyes were icy blue like the sea, a shine in them. The bridge of his nose was high, and it was undoubtedly a very handsome face.

    ¡°You¡¯ve returned to China?¡± The man¡¯s face darkened.

    Fu Xuejun lit a cigarette, taking a deep puff. She nced at the man. ¡°Do I need to report to you wherever I go?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± The man quickly regained his bearings and adjusted his emotions. ¡°Honey, didn¡¯t you ask me to investigate your sister...¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not my sister!¡± Fu Xuejun interrupted before the man could finish his sentence, a look of disgust shing in her eyes. She was already feeling contempt for a person who she had yet to meet. ¡°Hurry up and send me her information.¡±

    The man reached out a finger to his lips and chuckled. ¡°Alright, but isn¡¯t there something you should say to me first?¡±

    Fu Xuejun rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m hanging up.¡±

    ***

    In Ennd, Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes darkened as the call was cut. He took out a cigarette and lit it, puffing on it for a long while. After a long while, he chuckled to himself as he made another overseas call. ¡°Murong Feiye, I¡¯ll be returning tomorrow.¡±

    Ptui!

    Murong Feiye spat out the wine that he had been drinking after hearing those words. ¡°Why, are youing back to stir up more things?¡± As though there weren¡¯t enough problems in the ancient martial arts world?

    ¡°Fu Xuejun has already gone back today,¡± Wanqi Jue said indifferently.

    Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t help the sneer that escaped his mouth when he heard this. ¡°She came back, so now you¡¯reing back? I really didn¡¯t expect that she¡¯s still hanging onto you like this. Listen to a brother¡¯s word, there is no tree worth hanging onto in a ce that has no grass. Or you could inform her of your true identity, I guarantee you that she will run into your arms immediately!¡±

    Wanqi Jue rubbed his temple somewhat frustratedly. ¡°Murong.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll not say anything more.¡± Murong Feiye also knew that he had crossed the line. He knew that it wasplicated between Wanqi Jue and Fu Xuejun. ¡°Thene back tomorrow, we¡¯ll pick you up.¡±

    After hanging up the call, Wanqi Jue snuffed out the cigarette in his hands, thinking of Fu Xuejun¡¯s face in his mind.

    He himself didn¡¯t know why he had fallen for such a little girl, he had initially only wanted to help her in the beginning in order to repay her kindness. But when he went to Stanford University a few times to listen to her speeches, he had found himself taken in by her confidence and arrogance.

    An extremely smart woman who didn¡¯t lose to any man, a top student at Stanford University which was a top university in the world. She had created miracles one after another while she was in the university, and had even caused countless foreign men to bow down at her abilities.

    Even he wasn¡¯t spared by her.

    The lingering smoke in the air had dissipated, and Wanqi Jue regained a smile as he called his subordinates to prepare for departure tomorrow. He also sent the information to Fu Xuejun at the same time.

    He was initially surprised when he first received Fu Xuejun¡¯s call, he didn¡¯t know that she had an elder sister. When he started digging, he found that she was just an ordinary girl, and the most interesting was only that she was admitted into A University. Compared to Fu Xuejun who was in Stanford University, the two couldn¡¯t be living in different worlds.

    Fu Xuejun browsed through the documents quickly once she received it, and after reading it, the fear in her eyes disappeared slowly, followed by a light mockingugh.

    She had thought that someone of the Baili family would be something special, but it seemed like there was nothing to it.

    ***

    [Beauty Qiao, there¡¯s someone else who¡¯s trying to ess your information again.] The system suddenly said from the void space.

    Gu Xiqiao was currently discussing the research ns with Zhu Yuan. Hearing this, her face had no visible changes as she asked, ¡®Did you give it to them?¡¯

    [Of course not.] The system spirit said, a proud look on its face. [The earth¡¯s entire inte is basically transparent in my eyes. I covered up all the turbulence you caused in the capital, all he found was just some things in N City.]

    It was all a simple matter to let someone know what it wanted them to know, and what it didn¡¯t want them to know.

    Of course, provided it wasn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao and Yu Ning.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s crazy powers aside, she didn¡¯t imagine that even Yu Ning would be this scary.

    This made the system even more worried about its position in the pce.

    ¡®Not bad,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao praised.

    The little system was still extremely useful, and particrly in this area. It was the best method to control things on the inte, and if it wasn¡¯t for the system, everything that she did would have been known across the country and she would probably be very famous from all of it.

    Although, her fame now wasn¡¯t that bad.

    The system was naturally happy to be praised, but was still a little puzzled. [Beauty Qiao, Baili Bin has found out about your rtionship with Baili Wenxi, and has also told Baili Qu.]

    Thinking of the antiques that Baili Bin had given her the other day, her hands paused in what she was doing. ¡°Who else did he tell?¡±

    [No one else, even Baili Wenxi doesn¡¯t know this.] The system replied immediately.

    ¡®Alright.¡¯ The indifferent expression still remained on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face.

    Although she had once wanted to know who her biological parents were, a long time ago, after she had died once, she didn¡¯t have the interest to find out anymore, even if the system could easily find the information.

    The only thing she regretted was not being able to save Yu Man.

    [Beauty Qiao, this group of people has also moved into yourmunity area.] The system carefully observed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze. Although she didn¡¯t look like she cared, the system spirit was extremely concerned about the matter, and that was the reason it easily decrypted the locked files and sent them to Tang Qingqiu.

 Chapter 204 - The First Time

    <h4>Chapter 204: The First Time</h4>

    When Jiang Shuxuan came back, he brought with him two kids.

    One was Hua Youlin, and the other was Luo Wenlin.

    This is the first time they were stepping into a university in the Imperial Capital, so they were all excited about seeing the campus.

    Luo Wenlin knew that both Luo Weng and Gu Xiqiao were studying here, a determination lit in his heart and he said, ¡°I will also study in A University in the future!¡±

    ¡°I want to be in the same school as Sister Gu too!¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s eyes sparkled as he said that too.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at him. ¡°With just English and Physics?¡±

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± He didn¡¯t have anything to reply to that.

    He so wanted to snap aeback that was ambitious and mighty, that wasn¡¯t English and Physics enough? But he was scared as heck, and just... decided that silence was a better option.

    The three of them walked toward theboratory. They had just taken a few steps and then they caught Luo Weng and Gu Xiqiao heading in their direction.

    ¡°Yu Ning has finished the research into the source code,¡± Luo Weng updated Gu Xiqiao as they walked about the recent happenings of thepany¡¯s affairs.

    Hearing his words, Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow. It was about time he did, ording to her estimation. ¡°Are we preparing to build the virtualwork?¡±

    Luo Wengughed lightly. ¡°He¡¯s preparing it, but it¡¯ll probably take another month.¡± Yu Ning had in fact exined everything in a lot of jargon to him, he and Uncle Mu had not understood a single word, just the end sentence where he said it would take another month toplete.

    Nine Heavens was not going to release this piece of news, but when it was ready to run, it would definitely shock the entire world.

    Those people who had been consistently shocked would be... used to it by now anyway, after so many times.

    ¡°Not bad,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, her lips curling upwards. Yu Ning really had a good head on his shoulders.

    ¡°Oh right, there¡¯s a new student in our college.¡± Luo Weng suddenly said. ¡°It¡¯s a high-achiever student from Stanford, and the dean showed me her information today. It¡¯s very good indeed, and she¡¯ll be making a speech tomorrow for our department.¡±

    Hearing these words, Gu Xiqiao lowered her eyes without saying anything.

    ¡°Actually...¡± Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was not participating in the conversation, Luo Weng couldn¡¯t help but scratch his nose. ¡°The dean has seen the portfolio that you gave me, and he asked me if I could ask my boss to give a speech too.¡±

    ¡°And your answer?¡± The delicate eyebrows lifted.

    Luo Weng gave a sigh. ¡°I said no.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao let out a satisfied expression. ¡°Little child really knows the way.¡±

    Stopping in his steps, Luo Weng watched her back as she walked. Sometimes he really felt that Gu Xiqiao was really too old on the inside. Everyone on the outside was still trying to guess who the person behind the scenes of Nine Heavens were, and they wouldn¡¯t expect to be someone who was still in school.

    If it was anyone else, the matter would probably have been leaked to the public a long time ago.

    Low-key.

    This was the only word that Luo Weng could use to describe her.

    Gu Xiqiao walked to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side, and with a nce she saw Haha in his hands, and the blood on its leg, and her heart clenched. ¡°What happened to Haha?¡±

    ¡°It sneaked out by itself,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied, looking at her. He wanted to tell her that there was only a little blood, but seeing the frown on her face, he refrained. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already applied some medicine and the wound is closed.¡±

    Long, lean fingers smoothen out the frown on her face, and then he opened the car door. ¡°When we get backter, we¡¯ll give him a bath.¡±

    As soon as the three of them got into the car, Xixi flew in. It actually wanted to act cute and pampered in front of Gu XIqiao, but then it saw Haha¡¯s leg and its expression turned solemn. ¡°Chirp chirp chiiiirp!¡± (Haha! What happened?!)

    ¡°Woof woof woof~¡± (I was bullied by a snot-nosed brat. It hurts, I want to cry.)

    ¡°Chirp chirp chiiirp!¡± (Don¡¯t cry, next time I won¡¯t leave you alone when we go out!)

    ¡°Woof woof woof!¡± (I knew you were different from those assholes out there!)

    ¡°Chirp chirp chiiiiirp!¡± (Son, what would you do without your dad?)

    Haha: ¡°...¡± Xixi was only normal for three seconds.

    Gu Xiqiao pped Xixi who was making a racket away, and seeing that Haha was in her arms, Xixi flew and sat in the back seat aggrieved, going to Hua Youlin instead.

    ***

    On the other side, Baili Wenxi had gone to the ancient martial arts world to find Baili Qu, and had gone back to the smallmunity they were staying at after. She had initially wanted to see Baili Bin, but the hour waste, and she was afraid to disturb his rest, and so she only went to see him the next morning.

    Baili Bin was already downstairs at this time, since he came to themunity area, he would always take a morning walk.

    Today, he didn¡¯t expect to bump into Baili Wenxi.

    ¡°Aunt.¡± Baili Bin greeted and gave her a warm smile.

    Baili Wenxi¡¯s eyes were red-rimmed, it had been almost twenty years since she saw Baili Bin in person. She had never returned ever since she left for Ennd, and only the old housekeeper in the Baili family would send her photos each year. She didn¡¯t expect him to still be able to recognize her.

    She hurriedly responded, and seeing that Uncle Tai was about to help Baili Bin stand, she came forward. ¡°Uncle Tai, please let me.¡±

    Uncle Tai didn¡¯t step back, but he lowered his head. ¡°Miss, the young master is a bit heavy.¡±

    He was no longer estranged, after all.

    Baili Wenxi watched Uncle Tai help Baili Bin to do his walking practice, it was only when she saw with her own eyes that he was able to stand, that the stone in her heart was finally put down.

    ¡°Mommy, Cousin.¡± Fu Xuejun greeted them with a yawn as she walked over. She had been woken up by Baili Wenxi¡¯s call early this morning, telling her that she needed toe greet her cousin.

    Fu Xuejun actually didn¡¯t have much care in her heart, this cousin of hers had always been indifferent to her, and was no different than a stranger. She wasn¡¯t about to try to cozy up to someone who clearly wasn¡¯t interested in reciprocating.

    She was also well aware of his temperament, and it seemed like everyone was the same. Even her grandfather wasn¡¯t an exception, and so she wasn¡¯t too bothered about it.

    Baili Bin just nced at Fu Xuejun faintly. ¡°Cousin.¡± The voice was cold, and there wasn¡¯t much emotion in it.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s movement stilled, and she looked at Baili Bin closer. Why did she feel that Baili Bin¡¯s tone was colder than usual?

    Was it her imagination?

    ¡°Cousin, my dad will be holding a banquet in the capital tomorrow, and there¡¯ll be many celebrities and noblesing. Do you want to go?¡± Fu Xuejun said as she stared at Baili Bin¡¯s face, suddenly recalling this matter.

    ¡°Jun¡¯er!¡± Baili Wenxi had furrowed her brows, and her tone was slightly harsh.

    Baili Bin had never attended a banquet ever since his legs had gotten injured. He had rarely appeared in front of people since the incident, much less banquets. Fu Xuejun had always been smart and knew how to read the situations, how could she be so insensitive today?

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s face didn¡¯t change much. ¡°Thank you for your kindness, Cousin, but I will pass on it.¡±

    Fu Xuejun shed a smile at her mother, as though trying to assure her that she didn¡¯t mean anything bad. After that, she turned to Baili Bin again, an apologetic smile on her face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Cousin. I just wanted you to find a future wife that is better than Shi Haixuan at the banquet.¡±

    The air suddenly dropped to a chilling temperature.

    Baili Wenxi looked at Fu Xuejun with an incredulous look, not understanding why her daughter was saying such words.

    Uncle Tai looked at the girl with a very cold look in his eyes. If it wasn¡¯t the fact that she was Baili Wenxi¡¯s daughter, he would have made his move already. Nobody had dared to bring up the name ¡®Shi Haixuan¡¯ in front of Baili Bin, and this Fu Xuejun dared to do so right after she came back? What kind of ulterior motive did she have?

    The tense atmosphere was interrupted by a sudden, clear voice.

    ¡°Brother Baili.¡± It was a young girl, and the voice was soft and gentle.

    Baili Bin turned his head, the indifferent expression on his face disappearing instantly. His lips curled up into a gentle smile, and his handsome face brightened up like a hundred flowers were blooming. ¡°Good morning, Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Baili Wenxi, who practically had her heart hanging by a thread finally let go discreetly, and turned her eyes to where Baili Bin was looking at.

    She was extremely curious about who this person was, to be able to make Baili Bin change so much in an instant.

    Even Fu Xuejun was surprised, the few times that she had returned to the Imperial Capital, she had seen Baili Bin a few times. Although Baili Bin was not warm or kind to her, he had remained polite and courteous all the while. That was the reason why she thought her cousin had always been like this.

    But looking at him now, it seemed that it wasn¡¯t so.

    She turned to look too.

    It was a young girl wearing sportswear, and because she had just run in the morning, there was a freshyer of sweat on her forehead. Her eyebrows were a delicate arch, and her face was as pretty as a picture. The most outstanding feature on her face was her eyes, they were bright and looked like they were sparkling. Although her face held an indifferent expression, there was a hint of gentleness and warmth in her eyes, coupled together with a sharpness that made people afraid to meet her eyes directly.

    Fu Xuejun dropped the phone that she held in her hand in shock.

    Baili Wenxi was also stunned, the picture that she saw on her phone really didn¡¯t do any justice to the person in real life.

    Baili Bin watched their reaction from the corner of his eyes, and his mouth pulled downwards slightly, but he ignored them both. He turned gentle eyes toward Gu Xiqiao, and motioned to Uncle Tai to help him back into the wheelchair.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see Haha or Xixi today?¡± Baili Bin said, the gentle smile still on his lips.

    ¡°Haha was injured yesterday, so I didn¡¯t bring it out.¡± Gu Xiqiao reached out to feel Baili Bin¡¯s pulse. ¡°How do you feel today, Brother Baili?¡±

    ¡°I feel great.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s eyes went softer, if that was possible.

    Uncle Tai also let out a breath of relief, he was extremely overjoyed when he saw Gu Xiqiao walk over, and he couldn¡¯t help but mutter, ¡°Miss Gu, you need to talk to Young Master, he only went to bed at three o¡¯clock in the morning!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°Brother Baili, you can¡¯t keep this up...¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t do it the next time.¡± Baili Bin shook his head in defeat,ughing as he did. He nced at Uncle Tai, he was so nosy. ¡°It was just a one-time thing yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Have you drunk your medication?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked.

    Uncle Tai remembered it suddenly, and he straightened up. ¡°Miss Gu, please watch over the Young Master for a bit. The medicine should be ready now!¡±

    Baili Wenxi finally recovered from the daze that she was in, and she looked toward Gu Xiqiao, and then toward Uncle Tai who was rushing off.

    Uncle Tai had not disyed such trust, even toward the eldestdy like her.

    Who in the world was this girl, and why did Uncle Tai trust her so?

    And also, how could she look... so much like her?

    ¡°Cousin.¡± Fu Xuejun lowered herself to pick up the phone that she had dropped on the ground, and then she smiled at Baili Bin. ¡°Who is this young miss, why don¡¯t you introduce her?¡±

    The matter that she most worried about has not happened, it seems. Baili Bin had not called her mother again after she had picked that call up, otherwise her mother wouldn¡¯t be reacting this way.

    Bai Libin nced at Gu Xiqiao, only to see an indifferent expression on her face, as though she hadn¡¯t seen the two people in front of her before. There was a feeling of distress that welled up in him for no particr reason.

    He didn¡¯t bother about what Fu Xuejun had said, and as soon as he raised his head, he caught sight of another figure walking toward them. There was some difort on the other man¡¯s face, and Baili Bin started smiling again immediately. This was indeed the first time that he had seen Jiang Shuxuan like this.

 Chapter 205 - Better Than Her?

    <h4>Chapter 205: Better Than Her?</h4>

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao,¡± Baili Bin didn¡¯t answer her, but instead directed his attention toward Gu Xiqiao. She was looking at Fu Xuejun. ¡°Hello.¡±

    Fu Xuejun was surprised, she didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to react this way. ¡°Hello, Miss Gu.¡± She nced at the clothes that Gu Xiqiao was wearing, and smiled as she continued, ¡°I just came back from abroad, so I don¡¯t really understand the culture in the capital yet. Miss Gu, are you also from the capital?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied easily, her expression indifferent and cold, but her tone not giving any impression that she was being impolite.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s heart beat harder in her chest at the answer. ¡°Then, you¡¯re still a student, Miss Gu? Is your family alright with youing to the capital alone?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t have any family.¡±

    ¡°Is... Is that so.¡± Fu Xuejun¡¯s heart froze, feeling a chill from the smile on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. But when she looked again, her face had cleared up, leaving only the gentle, indifferent expression on her face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    While they talked, her gaze was fixated on Gu Xiqiao.

    Beautiful.

    Although she was only wearing ordinary sportswear, it did nothing to hide the beauty of her face. Even as a girl herself, Fu Xuejun was unable to find any ws in Gu Xiqiao, but she didn¡¯t feel any jealousy in her heart at all.

    Having good looks without anything great inside, that was something people called a flower vase.

    In this era, flower vases would only be ythings to the aristocrats.

    She had gone through the information that Wanqi Jue had given her. After reading it finished, relief had coursed through her. She had initially thought that with Baili Bin¡¯s involvement, the girl must have some special existence. But in the end, she was just a girl that had been raised by a country woman? Compared to people like Fu Xuejun who had been receiving various kinds of education since their childhood, they were practically from different worlds.

    Even if Baili Wenxi recognized her, she probably wouldn¡¯t have any thoughts about it. She would naturally let her know the difference between Gu Xiqiao and their family when the time came.

    She just couldn¡¯t understand Baili Bin, leaving an upright cousin sister like her and not wanting anything to do with her, but instead wanting a wild type like Gu Xiqiao?

    What benefit could someone like that give to the Baili family? Without the support of their Fu family, could the Baili family stand up against the Shi family?

    He really couldn¡¯t tell the good from bad!

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes darkened at the thoughts that ran through her mind.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± The expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face didn¡¯t change at all. ¡°I didn¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Fu Xuejun didn¡¯t bother continuing on that line of conversation, and instead said, ¡°I still have a speech to give at A University. Mom, Cousin, Miss Gu, I¡¯ll excuse myself to get ready first.¡±

    She really didn¡¯t understand why her mother had called her toe over here so early in the morning.

    As she said those words, she paid attention to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression, and as expected, the other looked like she was surprised.

    Being able to give a speech as a new student in A University was already an honor.

    Fu Xuejun was bored now with the interaction, she had expected to encounter aplicated and difficult person, but she didn¡¯t expect the girl to be so low-key and boring. If she knew, she wouldn¡¯t have bothereding back in person.

    Baili Wenxi finally came back to herself. From the time Fu Xuejun had raised the topic about the banquet in front of Baili Bin, she had already intended to teach her a lesson. But then this girl appeared in front of them suddenly, and Baili Wenxi fell into a trance, not bothered about Fu Xuejun at all.

    When she said that she ¡®had no family¡¯, Baili Wenxi felt her heart ache. She continued to stare at Gu Xiqiao, and when the girl finally looked toward her, Baili Wenxi twisted the corner of her own clothes nervously.

    She wasn¡¯t this nervous, even when she had received an international award onstage on the first time.

    When those clear eyes looked at her, she could see the brightness in them, like the stars shining in the dark night, and the blue skies that reflected in them.

    Before Baili Wenxi could speak, she saw the girl straighten up, her eyes looking past her to something behind her. ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± she said.

    She didn¡¯t know why, but a feeling shot through her, and she wasn¡¯t sure whether it was disappointment or relief. Baili Wenxi followed her gaze and looked back, and she was met with a cold figure walking toward them. His steps were unhurried and stable, his head slightly lowered.

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nodded, narrowing his cold eyes at Baili Bin, before turning toward Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Why have you been here so long?¡± He had been waiting at the intersection for a long time, but she had not turned up.

    ¡°Uncle Tai went upstairs for a while.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°I¡¯m helping him to look after Brother Baili.¡±

    ¡°Brother Baili?¡± Jiang Shuxuan grabbed her hand and nced at Baili Bin. ¡°Does he still need you to look after him, how old is he now?¡± Was he some three year old that needed a nanny?

    ¡°Brother Jiang!¡± Gu Xiqiao chided lightly.

    Jiang Shuxuan rubbed her head gently. ¡°Go back and eat first.¡±

    Baili Bin noticed that Jiang Shuxuan was still carrying two buns in his hand, and he immediately could imagine the other lining up at the shop to buy the food. ¡°Qiao Qiao, why don¡¯t you head back with Shuxuan to eat first.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll leave first.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head, seeing that Uncle Tai was alreadying back toward them, she left with a peace of mind with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Themunication between the three of them were particrly harmonious, making it impossible for outsiders to join in. Fu Xuejun had been staring at Jiang Shuxuan the entire time, trying to contribute to the conversation, but she couldn¡¯t¡¯ find the chance at all. She could only watch the two leave in the end.

    She was in a daze for a long time.

    ¡°Cousin, that person...¡± Fu Xuejun turned toward Baili Bin.

    Baili Bin¡¯s smile vanished the moment Gu Xiqiao left his sight. ¡°Weren¡¯t you heading back to get ready for your speech at A University?¡± Having said that, he turned away to exchange a few more words with Baili Wenxi, before Uncle Tai began to push him back.

    He only came out every morning now with hopes that he would bump into Gu Xiqiao nowadays, after all.

    And now that he already met her, there was no need to stay any longer.

    Uncle Tai had respected the young mistress that was Baili Wenxi, but after hearing the words that Fu Xuejun had said, the impression of the entire family had gone down the drain, and he didn¡¯t even bother saying anything before they left.

    This entire family couldn¡¯t evenpare to Miss Gu.

    Who do you think you are?

    Fu Xuejun watched Baili Bin, but her heart was thinking about the other two who had just left. A re of irritation well up in her, she had thought that someone like her wouldn¡¯t be worthy of her attention, but Gu Xiqiao turned out to be really something else.

    That man just now, it was obvious to see that he was a handsome man that was in a high position, but why would someone like him be together with that girl?

    After being so thoroughly ignored once more, Fu Xuejun still didn¡¯t feel frustrated about it, and her lips curved up into a smile.

    Only one day aftering back and bumping into him twice, they really had some fate between them.

    ¡°Jun¡¯er,¡± Baili Wenxi finally regained her bearings, turning her attention toward her daughter with stern eyes. ¡°Why did you talk about those things to Bin¡¯er just now?¡±

    ¡°Mommy, as soon as I came back, I heard that Shi Haixuan was going to marry into the Gu family, seeing Cousin as useless. Didn¡¯t you say that his legs were better now? The Shi and Gu family are also still poking at the Baili family, I can¡¯t bear to see Cousin treated like that!¡± (T/N: Just to rify, this is not the same ¡®Gu¡¯ that is Gu Xiqiao¡¯s family)

    The exnation seeded in slightly soothing the stern expression on Baili Wenxi¡¯s face, but she still continued in a stern voice, ¡°Jun¡¯er, we still have things to consider in these matters. Next time, don¡¯t talk to your cousin about this. He hasn¡¯t had it easy for the past few years, do you understand?¡±

    The year when the engagement was cancelled, the Baili family naturally understood the Shi family¡¯s reasoning, but that didn¡¯t mean that they forgave them for it. Especially during that time, it was a very serious blow dealt to Baili Bin.

    And because of that, Baili Wenxi had a particrly bad impression of the Shi family.

    When Fu Xuejun saw Baili Wenxi¡¯s gentle expression once again, she knew that her mother had let go of the matter, and looped her arm around the older woman¡¯s. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore, I will apologize to Cousin next time I see him. Also Mom, I¡¯ve decided that I will live here.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you didn¡¯t want to in the beginning, because there were too many people here?¡± Baili Wenxi was a little surprised at the sudden change of mind.

    ¡°You¡¯re living here with Daddy, will you be able to rest assured if I were to live alone outside?¡± Fu Xuejun said, grinning brightly.

    Before today, she didn¡¯t want to live here at all. But after seeing that man today, she changed her mind instantly.

    Not only that, she needed to have a good rtionship with Baili Bin. She hadn¡¯t wanted to bother in the past to cultivate this rtionship with her cousin since it seemed like a wasted effort, but it seemed like Baili Bin wasn¡¯t a lost cause after all, if he could have a close rtionship with that girl just now.

    Baili Wenxi shook her head as sheughed at Fu Xuejun¡¯s words. ¡°I initially had nned to have your dad find a housekeeper, but it looks like that¡¯s not needed anymore. I¡¯ll have someone bring your bags overter. The ce is a bit small, and if you feel unused to it, you can still move outter on.¡±

    Although in terms of tutoring she was very strict, Baili Wenxi spoiled Fu Xuejun in other matters. Fu Xuejun smiled again and said, ¡°Thank you, Mommy. Then let¡¯s go eat now, I have a speech today, will you being to watch?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t go this time, you¡¯ve riled Bin¡¯er up just now, so I will visit him again after this,¡± Baili Wenxi said, shaking her head again.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Fu Xuejun didn¡¯t push the issue and lowered her head instead. She knew that Baili Wenxi was not going to visit Baili Bin because of the reason that she had said, but was going to ask more about Gu Xiqiao.

    That was fine.

    No matter what happened in the end, a person like Gu Xiqiao who didn¡¯t know anything would affect her at all.

    ***

    After having her breakfast, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone rang, and it turned out to be someone who hadn¡¯t contacted her for quite a while, Xu Jing.

    Xu Jing: Ahhhh, you came to school yesterday and you didn¡¯t even tell me, Beauty Qiao!

    Gu Xiqiao: I was afraid to disturb you.

    Xu Jing: I¡¯m surprised, you actually learned to make excuses. Will you still be able to ascend to heaven?

    Gu Xiqiao: My logics stands shoulder to shoulder with the sun~

    Xu Jing: ... Are you trying to pick a fight with me?

    Thinking for a while, she really hadn¡¯t been back to ss for a long time, and so she replied: I¡¯ll go to schoolter, for ss.

    Xu Jing: Great! There¡¯s going to be some event at ten, a speech by a top financial student. I¡¯ll find you after I¡¯m done with it, you¡¯re not allowed to run off!

    Xu Jing: I heard it¡¯s some new student, a freshman from Stanford University. It sounds awesome, she has the looks and smarts. The school forum exploded with discussions the moment a notice was sent from the uni.

    After Xu Jing sent that message, she was called away by the president of the journalism department. She was now a hot shot in the department, and the president would always take her to any big happenings. She was the only person in the entire university that could contact Gu Xiqiao and Luo Weng, after all.

    ¡°Student Luo?¡± When Xu Jing had reached the venue, there were already a lot of people gathered around. She noted that the first row seemed to consist of the head of departments, and it looked like the university ced a great importance on this one girl from Stanford University.

    She didn¡¯t expect to see Luo Weng here, however, and that was a real surprise!

    Luo Weng turned his head, and he naturally remembered Xu Jing with his exceptional memory. Recalling that she was also Gu Xiqiao¡¯s roommate, and had a good rtionship with her, he shed her a smile as he greeted her, ¡°Good morning.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re also here?¡± Xu Jing naturally knew Luo Weng¡¯s reputation in the Faculty of Economics and Management, but she didn¡¯t expect that he would turn up for this.

    ¡°Just for a look see.¡± Luo Weng was also reluctant, he¡¯d rather be back in Nine Heavens studying the arbitragebinations that Gu Xiqiao had given to the group of analysts. As for Fu Xuejun¡¯s international achievements, he didn¡¯t think it was worth being called genius. You could take any ns from Nine Heavens and every single one would be far superior to whatever Fu Xuejun had done.

    That was why he never intended to listen to this speech, but because the head of the management faculty had requested for his presence, he couldn¡¯t deny it.

    With the presence of the higher management of the Faculty of Economics and Management, coupled with Luo Weng¡¯s appearance, the people who came to listen to the speech were chattering excitedly. This proved that the transfer student from Stanford University wasn¡¯t just somemoner, and they were anticipating it even more.

    At this moment, Fu Xuejun stepped onto the stage.

    Seeing the crowded auditorium, her confidence didn¡¯t falter a single bit.

    From the heads sitting in the front row to the entire student body who was in the auditorium, every one of them couldn¡¯t help but be impressed by her attitude.

    Xu Jing held up her camera the entire time, until Fu Xuejun was finished with her speech before she finally put it down. Looking at the time, she rushed out in a hurry after.

    When Fu Xuejun walked out of the lecture hall, everyone surrounded her, and there were many who were eximing and excited about her presence. There were even two more female students beside her.

    ¡°Student Fu, you¡¯re awesome! A Stanford University student!¡± Both the girls couldn¡¯t help but exim.

    Fu Xuejun was used to these kinds of praises, so her expression didn¡¯t change much. While listening with half a ear about the current school gossip from the two girls, she made her way toward the faculty building.

    Until she saw a familiar figure.

    She recognized her immediately, it was Gu Xiqiao. When she thought about it, the other should be a student here too.

    ¡°Do you both know her?¡± Fu Xuejun said, stopping suddenly, pointing at Gu Xiqiao. She was only asking out of curiosity, she didn¡¯t expect the two to actually know her anyway.

    Because she thought that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be someone who was well known.

    Unexpectedly, the two girls froze suddenly, surprised coloring their faces as they eximed, ¡°That¡¯s Beauty Gu!¡±

    ¡°Beauty Gu?¡± Fu Xuejun pursed her lips, thinking it was a strange way to call somebody.

    Seeing Fu Xuejun¡¯s look, the two girls exined in detail to her. ¡°You¡¯ve just transferred here, Student Fu, so you wouldn¡¯t know. Beauty Gu is our school¡¯s pet! She¡¯s awesome, she entered the school this year as the top ranker in the national finals, and she¡¯s in the Faculty of Medicine. Only a freshman, but she¡¯s been recruited by Professor Jiang into the nationalbs...¡±

    ¡°The research on cell fusion with Senior Zhu thest time, they managed to win the highest international award and the entire world was reporting about it. She¡¯s definitely my idol, do you think I should go and ask for an autograph...¡±

    The two girls kept chattering on, and their words echoed in Fu Xuejun¡¯s ears. She had heard a familiar term, cell fusion.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t cell fusion thetest topic for the international medical organizations?¡± She asked, a little doubtful.

    Baili Wenxi had been searching for thetest medical advancement abroad, and right before they returned to China, she had inquired about thetest medical study by the international organization, cell fusion. The study had achieved various results and could be described as a research that was an impossible feat, and even a person who didn¡¯t study medicine like her couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge and admire it.

    Now this girl was saying that Gu Xiqiao was involved in that research? How could that be possible?

    ¡°You may not know, Student Fu,¡± The girl was still exining, a proud expression on her face, ¡°But the patent belongs to Gu Xiqiao and Zhu Yuan. Initially when it was going to be first publicized in A University, the international medical organization didn¡¯t believe it was anything big and thought it was just a waste of time, and sat on their arrogant a*s on their high horse, refusing toe for the reveal, and could onlyter see the reportster on. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re regretting it inside their hearts now!¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Fu Xuejun replied with a forced smile on her face.

    She recalled this morning, when she had bragged about giving a speech in A University in front of Gu Xiqiao. She had thought that the expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was surprise, but it seemed like it wasn¡¯t so?

    Obtaining an international medical patent, interviewed by reporters across the country and international coverage.

    Compared to her, Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t bad at all!

    Thinking about her triumphant feelings of being better than this person before this, feeling proud that she was indeed on top of her, her face flushed angrily.

    Gu Xiqiao must have beenughing inside at her the entire time this morning?!

 Chapter 206 - Differences Between Them

    Chapter 206: Differences Between Them

    At this moment, Gu Xiqiao suddenly turned her head towards her direction.

    Being looked at by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pair of bright, clear eyes, Fu Xuejun wanted to throw up on the inside, but she still forced a smile on the outside.

    The phone in her pocket rang, and it was absolutely perfect timing. Fu Xuejun took it out to answer, cing it at her ear.

    ¡°I¡¯m at the airport in the capital,¡± A low, husky voice came from the other side, affection clear in it as though he was talking to a lover. ¡°Would you want to pick me up?¡±

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao walk away, Fu Xuejun wasn¡¯t really listening to the person on the call. ¡°Don¡¯t you have your secretaries around for this kind of thing, it doesn¡¯t need to be me, right?¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t bepared to you.¡± Wanqi Jue chuckled. ¡°Who has made you mad again? Come and vent it out at me.¡±

    Hearing those words, Fu Xuejun stopped in her tracks. ¡°I saw my so-called sister today.¡±

    ¡°She made you angry?¡± Wanqi Jue¡¯s tone changed to a more serious one, his voice raised slightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that, but the other gave me a shock. Forget it, my ssmates are with me, I¡¯m hanging up.¡± Fu Xuejun hung up after saying that, and left with the girls.

    The girls didn¡¯t have the courage to ask for an autograph from Gu Xiqiao in the end, and they could only mourn the lost opportunity inside.

    After taking a few more steps, she saw Luo Weng and the head of facultying out.

    ¡°That¡¯s our most talented man in the economics faculty, Luo Weng. He entered the academy with close to full marks on the test,¡± said the girl beside Fu Xuejun with a glint of admiration in her eyes. ¡°He¡¯s the only other person in the entire A University that doesn¡¯t need to attend sses.¡±

    ¡°The only other?¡± Fu Xuejun felt that she didn¡¯t want to know who the other one was, but she couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Then who¡¯s the other one?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s Beauty Gu! Both of them received unprecedented grades in the traditional entrance exams, so they were granted this exception.¡±

    Fu Xuejun had to try really hard to maintain the smile on her face, as Luo Weng and the head of faculty had bumped into them at this time.

    ¡°Dean, Student Luo,¡± Fu Xuejun greeted with a smile.

    Luo Weng nodded his head, turning to the dean. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave first, dean. I still have some matters to attend to.¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright.¡± The dean nodded as he waved him off, hurrying him to leave. Out of sight, out of mind after all.

    After Luo Weng left, Fu Xuejun looked at the dean for a while before opening her mouth, ¡°Dean, I heard that I missed an exam?¡±

    Not expecting Fu Xuejun to ask such a thing, the dean was surprised before pasting on a smile in a hurry to answer her. ¡°Does Student Fu also want to give a try for our traditional entrance exam?¡±

    ¡°If I could, that would be for the best. I am a student of A University after all,¡± Fu Xuejun said, smiling.

    Hearing her say so, the dean didn¡¯t say anything much, but asked her toe to the office after dinner. When she came, he handed her three test papers. ¡°We have three main courses, and the time limit is five hours. Good luck, Student Fu.¡±

    Fu Xuejun took the papers and started them on the spot.

    With just three papers, she didn¡¯t think that it would even take her two hours toplete it. But when she went through the questions, it felt like she was a blind person in new surroundings. The hand that held her pen trembled a little, and it took several minutes to calm herself.

    The further she got into the papers, the more sweat broke out on her forehead.

    When she was done, even her back was drenched in sweat.

    She didn¡¯t expect that questions would be that hard, and every single one of them wasplicated and technical. Not only that, it also involved various kinds ofprehensive knowledge. When she was done writing, her mind felt like it had been fried.

    ¡°Done?¡± The dean raised his head to look at Fu Xuejun.

    Fu Xuejun handed the papers to the dean, her expression a little stiff. She had only spent three hours on the exam, and didn¡¯tplete everything. But she didn¡¯t want to continue anymore, because... she didn¡¯t know how to.

    The dean saw her look and said soothingly, ¡°It¡¯s alright, Student Fu. These topics are quite extensive, and only a few people would pass the exams in their year.¡±

    These words made Fu Xuejun rx a bit, but she was still nervous as she watched the dean mark the papers.

    No one is more familiar with these papers than the dean. He reviewed them quickly, and finally gave Fu Xuejun scores that weren¡¯t too high, but weren¡¯t too low either.

    77, 72, and 69.

    ¡°Not bad, the only one who could obtain impossible results is Luo Weng. There isn¡¯t anyone else.¡± The dean said exaggeratedly.

    Hearing those words, Fu Xuejun finally breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°How much did Luo Weng get in his?¡±

    The dean gave Fu Xuejun a long look before replying, ¡°Two of it 92, and thest one 88.¡±

    Fu Xuejun gasped, she had done the exams and naturally knew how terrifying the tests were, especially the two discussion questions at the end. It was aplete paradox, those questions, and impossible to start. Luo Weng scored 92 for two, and 88? How much more impossible could he be?

    She was only convinced of Luo Weng¡¯s capabilities at this moment.

    After Fu Xuejun had left, another teacher in the office turned to the dean and asked, ¡°Dean, didn¡¯t you just embarrass the girl just now? 77, 72, and 69 aren¡¯t bad results, and you didn¡¯t have a single word of praise?¡±

    ¡°The child was too eager for a quick sess.¡± The dean nced at the papers in his hands again. ¡°What are seventy and sixty plus points? Don¡¯t talk about Luo Weng, that other student in the medicine department who scored almost full marks in all three subjects, that¡¯s what I call good!¡±

    The difficulty of the exams was the same across all departments in the university, and the questions were all meticulously put together by the teachers from all subjects. The papers were logical, and the grade reflected a student¡¯s ability to be intuitive.

    ¡°Dean, you¡¯re joking.¡± That teacher shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re actuallyparing her to the other students?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± The dean thought about it, and logically speaking, the results from Fu Xuejun¡¯s papers would have been ced as one of the top students in previous years, but because there were two very outstanding students in the school this year, they had overshadowed everyone else.

    ¡°However, why did you suddenly arrange a speech for Fu Xuejun?¡± The teacher was a bit puzzled, the dean didn¡¯t seem to ce much importance on the girl, so why did he do that in the first ce?

    The dean ced the papers down. ¡°Didn¡¯t Luo Wenge yesterday, I saw him holding a merger and acquisition n in his hands. Sigh, you didn¡¯t see it. It was such a rigorous, acute, and broad n. I asked him if he could give a speech, with this topic as his graduation thesis, but that kid refused! Really, I didn¡¯t have any choice but to find a temporary reprieve.¡±

    Thinking about this, the dean was angry till he couldn¡¯t express it. When Luo Weng first came, he had been respectful and polite. It hasn¡¯t even been a few months since then, how did he suddenly be so sly?

    Giving him full credits in advance, wasn¡¯t it good for him to graduate? He could still stay in school after to attend graduate school anyway. That kid really was something else, daring to say that students like him needed to attend sses properly!

    At this time, the dean suddenly remembered theints and rants that Professor Jiang always came to him, and he finally understood how it felt to be helpless!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had finally turned up at university, but she hadn¡¯t been to the medical faculty, but went to ss with Xu Jing instead.

    When Xu Jing attended sses, she didn¡¯t look at any books. She just had a notebook and wrote everything down.

    Gu Xiqiao was holding her book, flipping through them one by one. Her appearance shocked everyone in the journalism department, because this person was someone you usually hear about but not see. They were involved in journalism, it was obvious they would be curious.

    However, the girl kept her head down and was looking at the book intently. With such a cold exterior, nobody dared to bother her, and so they went to bother Xu Jing instead.

    ¡°Xu Jing, why did you bring her here?¡± The person sitting behind poked Xu Jing in the back.

    Xu Jing replied for the one hundred and eighth time, ¡°Because our Beauty Gu is too bored!¡± She had been ready to skip sses to go out and y with Gu Xiqiao, but the other had heard that she still had one more ss, and insisted on apanying her!

    ¡°Can I interview her after ss?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Xu Jing snorted, Gu Xiqiao could only be interviewed by her, the other as*holes could all just get lost!

    The chattering was naturally noticed by the teacher. The teacher for this ss was a female teacher that wore sses. She rapped her knuckles on the table, pointing at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. ¡°I seem to hear talking from there, so I want to ask this student a question. Why do the various big media corporations coexist rather than overtake each other in this era? This student, please answer.¡±

    She was pointing straight at Gu Xiqiao.

    Xu Jing had a look of bewilderment on her face. She wanted to stand up to tell the professor that Gu Xiqiao was not a student from their department, but then she realized that Gu Xiqiao had already stood up.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t think much before directly answering, ¡°Because the various media have their own characteristics and advantages. The cirction of newspapers isrge, it¡¯s suitable for people in the city to read while they are on their way to their destination, and in the office...¡±

    She spoke freely and easily, and Xu Jing was dumbfounded.

    How could this little girl answer better than her? This waspletely illogical!

    ¡°That¡¯s a good answer.¡± The female lecturer nodded her head. ¡°What is your name, and which ss are you from?¡±

    ¡°Professor! She¡¯s not from our department, it¡¯s Beauty Gu from the medicine faculty!¡± Before Gu Xiqiao could answer, the people sitting below had eximed.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name was quite well known, and even the professor had heard of her. She adjusted her sses and leveled a calm look at Gu Xiqiao, before saying in a serious voice, ¡°Student Gu, do you want to join our journalism faculty?¡±

    As soon as she said that, the students in the lecture hall all broke out in excited chatter, pping the table in excitement and agreement.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Professor Jiang would beat her to death.

    After the bell rang signaling the end of ss, no one in the lecture hall left the ss. All their eyes were fixed in a daze on Gu Xiqiao.

    Xu Jing looked at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Beauty Gu, when did you learn my major?¡± She had even wanted to give her an answer to use just now, but she was shown up instead!

    ¡°No, there was an answer in the ¡®Introduction To Journalism¡¯ book just now. The second paragraph on page 231,¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she followed Xu Jing out, her voice soft and calm.

    Xu Jing pulled out the mentioned book from her bag, turning to the page and saw the exact same words that Gu Xiqiao had said during ss.

    Xu Jing: ¡°...¡± What do you do when you really feel like beating her to death?

    The students around them also heard that, and were pulling out their own books to check. After reading it, they were all stunned speechless.

    After a while, a brand new post appeared on the school forum.

    OP: Last time, I didn¡¯t believe in the word ¡®genius¡¯ before, but now I finally do. Have some pictures before my story! [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    They were all pictures of Gu Xiqiao flipping through a book. The pictures taken by the students in the journalism department were always impressive, and of high quality.

    And thements below it were like this.

    Anon 1: Firstly, those are beautiful photos! Then silent sympathy to the kids in the journalism department. Are you guys okay? Condolences from sophomores from the medicine faculty.

    Anon 2: +1 on the photos. +1 on sympathy. Didn¡¯t expect our Beauty Gu to bulldoze you guys in the journalism dept!

    Anon 3: As a student from the medicine faculty, all I can say is, get used to it. I want toin at the same time, Beauty Gu, if you¡¯re so free, why didn¡¯t youe to theb instead QAQ

    Anon 6: Hey hey hey, what are the guys on top here talking about, why don¡¯t I understand any of it, or am I just not able to keep up with the times? Isn¡¯t this post to show off the pictures of my beauty?

    Anon 12: Still waiting for OP to borate.

    Anon 55: I¡¯m back, to continue where they left off, OP watched Beauty Gu flip through that book which took only twenty minutes. The time she took doesn¡¯t matter. The key point is that she remembered everything inside it! Every single word! WTF? As a student from the journalism dept, I¡¯ve been beaten down to the ground,pletely smashed!

    The post became popr quickly, and several hundred anonymousments were up in just an instant.

    Fu Xuejun, who was in a gloomy mood after the exam, sneered as she scrolled past this post. It was just an exaggerated joke.

    Photographic memory? Genius?

    ***

    At the same time, in the Tang residence.

    ¡°Mr. Jiang, I am honored to meet you. I hope that I haven¡¯t caused you any trouble bying back this time.¡± Wanqi Jue was introduced to Jiang Shuxuan and Tang Qinqiu by Murong Feiye.

    Jiang Shuxuan felt the sincerity in Wanqi Jue¡¯s words, and stretched out his hand. ¡°Of course.¡±

    Wanqi Jue shed him a smile after shaking hands. He had heard of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s name for a long time, but he didn¡¯t expect the other to be so young, and doubts in his heart naturally began to build. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to exchanging blows against Mr. Jiang in thepetition this year.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied indifferently, but his eyes were focused on the phone in his hands.

    On it was a message he had received from Gu Xiqiao: Brother Jiang, I¡¯ll be picking Little Huazi up with Xu Jing and heading out to eat. Don¡¯t wait up for me!

    Irritation swelled up within him.

    Wanqi Jue could feel that Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t want to continue the conversation, and so he didn¡¯t stay long.

    After he left, Tang Qingqiu turned to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°What do you think it means, with Wanqi Jueing back?¡±

    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t interfere with China.¡± Jiang Shuxuan put away his phone. If it brought trouble to the ancient martial arts world, or threatened the ordinary world, then don¡¯t me him for sending the guy packing back to Ennd.

    ¡°Not necessary. Isn¡¯t Ennd trying to reconcile their rtionship with us? Don¡¯t you think that using Wanqi Jue would be a good point? Ennd has many of our ancient martial arts people anyway.¡± Tang Qingqiu thought a bit more about that. ¡°Also, Aunt Baili has returned too, and it looks like she has the intention to settle down here long term.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan got up and took his coat, the indifferent expression still on his face. ¡°Don¡¯t bother about them.¡±

    Alright, if you say so.

    ¡°Uncle Jiang has also rushed back these few days, you¡¯re not going back to see him?¡±

    ¡°If he sees me, he¡¯ll be even more annoyed.¡± Jiang Shuxuan walked out the door after wearing his coat, his voice vanishing in the air.

    Tang Qingqiu thought about his words, and yeah, that made sense.

    Only, he couldn¡¯t help but have some worries in his heart. It seemed that many people in the ancient martial arts already knew the existence of Gu Xiqiao.

    ***

    ¡°When do you n on leaving this time?¡± Murong Feiye asked, looking at Wanqi Jue.

    Wanqi Jue took off his sses, getting into his new, sleek sports car. ¡°It depends on how fun things get here!¡±

    Having said that, he stopped on the gas pedal and sped out, causing everyone that he passed to yelp out in rm.

    Murong Feiye: ... F*ck!

    Wanqi Jue had called Fu Xuejun many times, but not a single one went through. He lit up a cigarette in annoyance, stopping the car on the opposite of an arcade. He smoked as he got down from the car with his long legs, walking into the ce.

    The arcade city was full of people ying inside, and it was mainly games for children.

    Wanqi Jue didn¡¯t know much about China, and was immediately disappointed when he walked in to see it was just an arcade city. Just as he wanted to walk out, he caught sight of a child.

    The kid kept ying the same game, losing every time when not even a minute had passed since the kid started the game. He yed with perseverance, a bunch of game coins in his hands.

    There were at least a few hundreds of them.

    Wanqi Jue saw a few harmful teenagers eyeing the kid. He shed them a sinister smile, and leveled them with a nce.

    The few teenagers had intended to take the kid¡¯s money, but they were scared away by Wanqi Jue. They felt that they shouldn¡¯t provoke this man, and so they left in a hurry.

    ¡°Not like that, here, let me.¡± Wanqi Jue patted the child on the shoulder, gently pushing him aside.

    Hua Youlin was stunned, raising his eyes to watch Wanqi Jue in silence, and then stepped to one side to let him y. He¡¯d been ying the game for almost half an hour, and he couldn¡¯t pass at all. If someone had to help him pass, then it was better if the stage wasn¡¯t passed at all.

    Wanqi Jue slipped the game coin in, and ten secondster, he died.

    He was startled, not believing that it had happened, and he inserted a coin again. Ten secondster, he died again.

    After repeating this for twenty times, Wanqi Jue couldn¡¯t hold back the expression on his face. ¡°I...¡±

    He wanted to say something as an exnation, but then a slender, white hand reached in front of him. There seemed to be a sort of ethereal glow to the hand under the dim lights, and he watched as those long fingers inserted the coin into the machine.

    Two minutester, the stage was passed.

    He raised his head, and coincidentally, the other turned their head too.

 Chapter 207 - Everywhere

    Chapter 207: Everywhere

    Wanqi Jue had never been a master at controlling his expressions. Compared to the meager fare that Chinese girls were, he much preferred the young foreign girls with bigger busts and butts. More importantly, he had always felt that he was someone who put more emphasis on what was on the inside. Otherwise, why would he like Fu Xuejun?

    However at this second, he felt that he had been wrong about himself all this while.

    There really were such beautiful people in the world who could let you forget to breathe.

    But those cold, clear pairs of sparkling eyes, peach-colored lips, and wless skin that had not a single trace of makeup on it, it was a kind of radiance that was indescribable.

    More importantly, she looked a bit familiar.

    ¡°Great god, you¡¯ve already been ying this for nearly an hour.¡± He saw her pull out a phone, handing it to the kid next to her.

    Hua Youlin¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the time on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone, and he blinked before pointing to Wanqi Jue who stood beside him. ¡°Sister Gu, I only yed for two minutes. The rest of the time, he was ying!¡±

    Those eyes turned to him, a cold glint shing in them.

    Wanqi Jue immediately pushed away those crazy thoughts in his mind, and also ignored Hua Youlin¡¯s nonsense. He straightened up, disying his most graceful attitude as he stretched out his left hand. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Wanqi Jue.¡±

    ¡°Hello.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, and finally said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Then she took Hua Youlin out of the ce. ¡°Your Sister Xu has been waiting for you at the restaurant.¡±

    ¡°Wait, Sister Gu! Teach me how to clear that stage first!¡± Hua Youlin grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sleeves, looking back at the game console with reluctance in his eyes. This was the first time he had entered an arcade, and everything inside was a novelty to him.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed his head gently, a warm smile on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t dream about it darling, you won¡¯t be able to learn it even if you tried.¡± Being a klutz was something that you were born with after all.

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± You will lose me if you continue to be like this.

    Wanqi Jue watched the two people leave, and lowered his hand. He didn¡¯t feel the least bit annoyed or ignored. The ¡®thank you¡¯ that she said kept echoing in his mind, and he couldn¡¯t help but think. Was she thanking him for apanying the kid? Or something else?

    He somehow felt that she was not thanking him for the former, then he recalled the group of teenagers when he first came in. Was it because of that then?

    But that was impossible, how could she have known? Wanqi Jue shook his head, walking out of the arcade with long strides and into his car.

    He didn¡¯t ask for their names, and just brushed it off as a chance meeting.

    The first impression that China left on him was that it was beautiful.

    After this incident, his irritable mood instantly became sunny.

    ***

    Xu Jing took Gu Xiqiao to roam the shopping mall just now, and because Hua Youlin didn¡¯t want to go shopping with them, he quietly went downstairs to the arcade city to wait for them. When he arrived at the restaurant and saw the big piles of bags on the chair, he felt that he had made a very wise decision.

    The three of them had their meal while chatting excitedly. As they came out of the restaurant, they bumped into a group of people who wereing up, with Fu Xuejun in the lead.

    After Fu Xuejun had followed Fu Wei, she had learned quite a bit of people skills from him. In the afternoon, she had gathered a few people from ss to have a meal, and also presented them with a few VIP cards. In just a single day, she had won over quite a few people.

    At night, she had brought them to the famous Royal Hotel on this side of China, and also reserved arge private room. She was spending money like running water.

    ¡°Miss Fu, what does your family do?¡± These people have changed the way they called her from ¡®Student Fu¡¯ to ¡®Miss Fu¡¯. They naturally had an inexplicable fear for the rich and powerful after all.

    Fu Xuejun smiled lightly. ¡°Our family business is in Ennd, but we will move the main base back to the capital soon.¡±

    ¡°An aristocrat of Ennd!¡± Someone eximed immediately.

    ¡°Not really, it¡¯s just a small business.¡± The more she said that, the more humble her ssmates felt she was. Judging from her mannerisms and speech, she wasn¡¯t just anybody ordinary. She was most likely from a long line of influential families.

    ¡°Do you know what Luo Weng does outside?¡± Fu Xuejun asked suddenly. ¡°I invited him out this afternoon, but he said he was busy. It can¡¯t be that he¡¯s attending sses, right?¡±

    ¡°Actually, we don¡¯t really know. Our Student God is always missing in action. Even the dean has a hard time contacting him.¡± A male student scratched his head. ¡°But since he took arge number of high-achieving students from our department, he should be starting a business.¡±

    Fu Xuejun nodded her head thoughtfully, that made sense.

    From what she had managed to inquire, she knew that Luo Weng was an orphan. He was leading a business now, and it should be difficult at this age, right? Fu Xuejun thought about Fu Wei who was moving the main business to the Imperial Capital, and the fact that he would be short on talents. If they could draw Luo Weng over to the Fu family, it would achieve the results of hitting a few birds with one stone.

    Mulling over this n in her head, she looked up to see a familiar face.

    She smiled and greeted Gu XIqiao, and the other nodded back. Since the two weren¡¯t close to begin with, they didn¡¯t talk much.

    Gu Xiqiao left the ce first.

    ¡°Miss Fu, so you know Beauty Gu too!¡± A girl beside her eximed, her eyes shining. ¡°So it¡¯s true that influential people will know each other!¡±

    The topic then shifted from her to Gu Xiqiao in an instant, and Fu Xuejun frowned on the inside, not wanting to talk about the other. ¡°Miss Gu also lives in the neighborhood near the university. I bumped into her this morning.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know how expensive the school district in the Imperial Capital was, but no matter the price, it should be something that Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t afford at this time.

    Especially that smallmunity that they lived in. The people who lived there were either rich or extremely influential, so the only exnation was the house was not hers.

    Just this morning she had passed Gu Xiqiao off as someone who was insignificant and not affecting her, in just a short span of time, she discovered that the other probably had abilities that were far beyond her own.

    Or it was likely that the other hade to the Imperial Capital in order to return to their family.

    Thinking about it, Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes darkened. She needed to consider this matter a bit more deeply.

    ***

    A University wasn¡¯t far from where they were, and they only walked for a few minutes before they reached the gates of the university.

    ¡°Beauty Gu, just send me off here is enough.¡± Xu Jing passed a few bags that she was holding to Gu Xiqiao. She had already seen the tall figure not far away, and she covered her mouth, hiding a wide smile. ¡°I¡¯m rushing to deal with two press releases after this.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao watched Xu Jing disappear from her sight, and then turned around to find her hands feeling lighter, as a few bags had been taken by Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°Is your phone out of power?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know, it¡¯s with Little Huazi.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned around to nce at Hua Youlin, who was a few steps behind them, and he was still ying a game on her phone. ¡°Did you call me?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips as he gave Hua Youlin a nce. ¡°Aunt Tang called you, but you didn¡¯t pick up.¡±

    Tang Yanling? It¡¯s been quite a while since shest saw her, and since she had met a few unpleasant people, when he mentioned Tang Yanling, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face brightened up. ¡°Mama Tang is back?¡±

    Her eyes were sparkling like the stars in the night sky, and his dejected mood of being ignored the whole day was instantly washed away. Jiang Suxuan gave her a small smile, his cold expression immediately warming up as he replied in a low voice, ¡°Aunt is meeting a friend now, she¡¯ll be over at night.¡±

    It was fortunate that he had prepared several more rooms when he was preparing their amodation, it seems that Tang Yanling would be staying for a while.

    Although he was resentful that there would be one more person to take her attention away from him, it was rare to see her so happy. When he had first received the call from Tang Yanling, he was still thinking about whether he should assign something for the Tang family to do, so that Tang Yanling and Yin Shaoyuan would have to stay a few more days in the ancient martial arts world. ¡®Ah, forget it then,¡¯ Jiang Shuxuan thought to himself.

    ***

    At the same time, in a coffee shop.

    ¡°Mom, why haven¡¯t I heard that you have friends in the capital before?¡± Yin Shaoyuan narrowed his eyes as he drank his cup of coffee. He leaned back on the chair, not bothered about his image at the moment.

    Tang Yanling gave him a disapproving look. ¡°Then have you heard that I was still part of the Tang family?¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°...¡± You are right. ¡°Qiao Qiao¡¯s noting, and since I don¡¯t know your friends, can I go find mine? I¡¯m talking about Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen!¡±

    Thinking of Wu Hongwen¡¯s refusal to enter the ancient martial arts world, Yin Shaoyuan still didn¡¯t understand the other. He looked at the address that Wu Hongwen had sent to him, and he couldn¡¯t restrain his curiosity.

    He always felt that Gu Xiqiao was nning something big, and with Wu Hongwen¡¯s character, he would never deny him.

    ¡°Go on then.¡± Tang Yanling never expected Yin Shaoyuan to follow her obediently all the time, and waved her hand dismissively. ¡°Don¡¯t lose the gift that I bought for Qiao Qiao!¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± Yin Shaoyuan thought about the car that was filled to the brim with gifts. There were clothes that Tang Yanling had picked out herself, a pile of medicinal materials that she had collected from various ces, each one of them was carefully prepared. Compared to Gu Xiqiao, he felt like he was the child that had been picked up from the streets.

    Tang Yanling waited in the same ce for another five minutes, before the person she was waiting for finally turned up.

    The person was wearing a purple cheongsam, and a coat with a simr color to match. The years didn¡¯t seem to leave a single mark on her wless face, and it remained bright and youthful.

    Tang Yanling stood up, looking at her steadily. ¡°Wenxi.¡±

    ¡°I never expected to see you again.¡± Baili Wenxi looked at Tang Yanling in surprise. It had been twenty years. ¡°You¡¯re still the same.¡±

    There weren¡¯t any wrinkles on Tang Yanling¡¯s face, and there was a healthy flush on her cheeks. She didn¡¯t look like a woman who was almost fifty years old.

    The two chatted for a while, the estrangement from not meeting for a long time slowly fading away.

    ¡°You too. Have a seat.¡± Tang Yanling stirred her coffee with a spoon, and suddenly said, ¡°I heard you have a daughter, why didn¡¯t you bring her along?¡±

    Baili Wenxi paused in picking up her coffee at Tang Yanling¡¯s words. ¡°She¡¯s having dinner with her ssmates. She should be done about now, I¡¯ll ask her to drop by on her way back.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice, I can meet her.¡±

    Though her mouth said this, Tang Yanling was sending a WeChat message to Gu Xiqiao: Yu Shiguang Cafe,e and pick me up in twenty minutes! Shaoyuan has driven the car away!

    She had also used exmation marks to emphasize the point, thinking that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t ignore it.

    Then, recalling that she couldn¡¯t connect to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone previously, she sent the exact same message to Jiang Shuxuan. After ensuring that that was done, she lifted her head to speak, ¡°Wenxi, do you remember N City?¡±

    ¡°N City? Of course I do. When you got married in N City, I sneaked out of the ancient martial arts world.¡± A sh of nostalgia appeared on Baili Wenxi¡¯s face as she recalled the memories.

    The look really wasn¡¯t the Baili Wenxi that Tang Yanling knew, and her heart sank. She really had forgotten. Tang Yanling didn¡¯t know exactly what had happened that year, only that something had happened in the Baili family. At that time, she was also butting heads with the Tang family.

    Neither of them had the time to care for the other.

    It was only a few days ago when Jiang Shuxuan revealed the truth to her that she finally knew.

    She couldn¡¯t believe it initially, she had thought that Gu Xiqiao was just coincidentally simr in appearance to Baili Wenxi, but now it didn¡¯t seem like it was a coincidence after all.

    But Baili Wenxi had forgotten, how could she forget such an important matter?

    Tang Yanling lowered her eyes, her mood plummeting at the thought.

    The two continued to chat for twenty minutes before Baili Wenxi¡¯s phone rang, and a smile appeared on her face. ¡°My daughter is here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking forward to this.¡± Tang Yanling ced the cup in her hand down, and followed her out.

    Fu Xuejun looked like she had rushed over and had called her mother, and Baili Wenxi had asked her to wait at the intersection.

    There was nothing to it in the beginning, but then she caught sight of Gu Xiqiao!

    Why did this person pop up everywhere? Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the other party deliberately wanted to show up in front of her mommy? Thinking about it, she felt sick to her gut, like she had swallowed a fly.

    ¡°Miss Gu, why are you here?¡± She stepped forward in her high heels and stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, though even with her heels she was only as tall as thetter. After scanning the surroundings with and not seeing the chilling figure, Fu Xuejun felt her heart calm a lot.

    Gu Xiqiao put away her phone, and was slightly startled at the appearance of the other girl. She stared at Fu Xuejun, thinking to herself, it couldn¡¯t be that she thought Gu Xiqiao was following her, right?

    ¡°Looking for somebody,¡± She replied, and then she leaned back against the streetlight to y her games, acting as though there was nobody in front of her.

    Looking for somebody?

    Fu Xuejun immediately thought of her mother, but she couldn¡¯t say anything about her guess, and could only hold back the words as she walked forward a few steps. Just then, Baili Wenxi appeared with another woman beside her.

    ¡°Mommy!¡±

    Seeing Fu Xuejun, a warm smile spread on Baili Wenxi¡¯s face. ¡°Jun¡¯er, this is your Aunt Tang, hurry and greet her.¡±

    Baili Wenxi rarely spoke to her in such a serious tone, and although she was rarely in China, it was natural that she knew about the three major families in the ancient martial arts world, namely Jiang, Tang and Murong. The person in front of her held the surname Tang, so Fu Xuejun recognized that she wasn¡¯t anymoner and was more respectful, ¡°Hello, Aunt Tang.¡±

    Compared to the Tang family, the Baili and Fu family really were nothing.

    She didn¡¯t expect her mother to know such a person, and she was a little dazed at the revtion.

    The three major families in the ancient martial arts world, internationally speaking, they were all ranked at the top.

    ¡°Your daughter is very good,pletely unlike that unruly boy of mine.¡± Tang Yanling said, taking out a gift as she spoke. She had already prepared a gift for Fu Xuejun early on, a customized diamond.

    Baili Wenxi smiled. ¡°A moon eye stone. Jun¡¯er, hurry and thank your Aunt Tang. This is a priceless treasure in the market.¡±

    Seeing Tang Yanling¡¯s indifferent expression in the beginning, Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t tell if the other liked her much, and she was a little doubtful.

    But hearing Baili Wenxi¡¯s words, Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes lit up.

    If those were priceless diamonds in the market, then she must hold some significance in Tang Yanling¡¯s heart.

    And it wasn¡¯t a small ce either, and her lips curved up slightly.

    If only she knew, the gift that Tang Yanling gave her was among one of the things that the older woman had prepared for Gu Xiqiao. Yin Shaoyuan had felt that the diamond didn¡¯t match Gu Xiqiao¡¯s temperament in the end, and so Tang Yanling removed it from the pile of gifts for Gu Xiqiao. She added a few pieces of jade in it instead. Since she happened to meet Fu Xuejun tonight, she gave the gift to her since she had it on hand.

    Completely just an afterthought.

    ¡°It just happens that my daughter is also here.¡± Tang Yanling saw the girl leaning against the streetmp not far from here, and her face brightened up with joy as she called out, ¡°Qiao Qiao,e here!¡±

    The figure seemed to be startled for a moment, before making her way over obediently.

    Her figure was calm and unobtrusive, the surroundings around her seem to melt away underneath the street light.

    Tang Yanling loved this aspect of hers.

    Having not seen her for a while, she embraced Gu Xiqiao with enthusiasm, going on about how she must have lost weight again. After a moment, she realized that she was still in public, and so she swallowed the other words that she wanted to say. She straightened up, adopting her usual noble persona and gently touched Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head. ¡°Wenxi, this is my daughter. Qiao Qiao, greet your Aunt Baili.¡±

    Thetter part of her sentence was naturally aimed at Gu Xiqiao.

    Baili Wenxi wanted to ask Tang Yanling didn¡¯t she just have a son, howe a daughter came out of nowhere suddenly?

    Until she caught sight of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, and she was stunned once again, forgetting what she wanted to say.

    Ever since she met Gu Xiqiao in the morning, she had been in a trance the entire day. She didn¡¯t expect to meet her again so soon.

    Seeing the polite expression on the child¡¯s face, and a demure greeting, ¡°Aunt Baili.¡± She didn¡¯t know why her heart melted suddenly. Baili Wenxi couldn¡¯t exin the feelings inside, and she resisted the urge to reach out to rub the top of the child¡¯s head too.

    Just looking at the obvious distance in her eyes, Baili Wenxi felt a stab of pain go through her heart. She kept her hands down determinedly.

    Raising her head properly, a calm and still expression was on her face as she next spoke, ¡°Yanling, this is?¡± She obviously didn¡¯t believe the nonsense that Tang Yanling had spoken.

    The girl in front her definitely wasn¡¯t Tang Yanling¡¯s daughter.

    This was what her intuition was telling her.

    ¡°This is my goddaughter that my son found for me.¡± Tan Yanling¡¯s face held a sh of triumph as she boasted. ¡°Although he usually doesn¡¯t have much tact, he finally managed to do something that fully satisfies me!¡±

    ¡°Your name is Qiao Qiao, right?¡± Baili Wenxi finally brought herself to look at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, and from the corner of her own eyes, she caught sight of a transparent-like jade bangle on her wrist, and her expression froze.

    She was well aware that that jade bracelet belonged to the Tang family, and it was one of the treasures in the ancient martial arts world.

    Tang Yanling had given it to her, just like that?

    Even for Baili Wenxi, this was an extremely shocking matter.

    Facing an older person, as well as being Tang Yanling¡¯s friend, Gu Xiqiao was very polite, but distant at the same time. ¡°Yes, Aunt Baili.¡±

    Feeling Gu Xiqiao¡¯s alienated attitude and indifferent face, Tan Yanling realized that she probably didn¡¯t like the two in front of her. So she said, ¡°Wenxi, let¡¯s continue our talk another day. I will take Qiao Qiao back first, this girl isn¡¯t wearing much, and her hands are cold.¡±

    As she said that, she squeezed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, feeling the chill creeping into them.

    Anyway, she had achieved what she wanted to today.

    Whether you were Baili Wenxi or Fu Xuejun, you could tell how obvious Tang Yanling liked Gu Xiqiao.

    Fu Xuejun watched the two walk away. They didn¡¯t walk for long before a ck car drove up to them, and through the ss window, she could see a familiar face.

    The tall man got out of the car to open the door for both of them.

    People on the streets were rushing by, and Fu Xuejun still held the moon eye diamond in her hand, her breathing a little unstable. She had initially thought that she was receiving some special treatment from Tang Yanling, but she didn¡¯t expect to be overjoyed for only a second before being thrown down to the ground.

    How was Gu Xiqiao so close to Tang Yanling?

    She recalled the indifferent expression that Gu Xiqiao had on her face as Fu Xuejun watched her leave.

    Thispletely overturned all the knowledge that she had of Gu Xiqiao.

    She was obviously an orphan from the countryside, how did she suddenly be Tang Yanling¡¯s goddaughter?

    Fu Xuejun had thought that Gu Xiqiao was just another clown on the road, and wasn¡¯t concerned about her in the least. But just a day after meeting her, the other had utterly crushed her confidence.

    Recalling the information that Wanqi Jue had sent her, Fu Xuejun¡¯s face darkened in anger. She finally understood, the information had been deliberately hidden!

    Once again, it felt like she was the butt of a joke!

    She kept putting herself at a higher position, and unexpectedly, the other was looking at her like she was a jester instead!

    This made Fu Xuejun feel extremely ufortable. She was the apple of her parents¡¯ eyes in Ennd, and also a celebrity in university. The nobles of Ennd also treated her politely.

    After returning to China, she couldn¡¯t bear the difference in the statuses she held.

    Especially Baili Wenxi¡¯s reaction, which made her panic inexplicably inside.

    ¡°That person,¡± Baili Wenxi said, her memorying back to her as she looked at the man who had returned to the driver¡¯s seat of the car. ¡°It¡¯s Jiang Shuxuan!¡±

    Fu Xuejun repeated the name under her breath, feeling like it was somewhat familiar. She suddenly raised her head in shock, only seeing the back of the car as it left.

    The name ¡®Jiang Shuxuan¡¯ was not only well known in the ancient martial arts world, even in Ennd it wasn¡¯t that strange to hear his name. Although she didn¡¯t pay much attention to the ancient martial arts world, Fu Xuejun had naturally heard of his name. She didn¡¯t expect that man to be Jiang Shuxuan!

    ***

    Tang Yanling returned to themunity area with Gu Xiqiao, and sent a message to Baili Bin¡ªThank you. By the way, be careful of the Shi family.

    Baili Bin was slightly astonished to receive the message from Tang Yanling, not the front part, it was thetter part that surprised him. He looked at the message for a while before lifting his head to call for Uncle Tai. ¡°Has there been anything going on in the Shi family?¡±

    Uncle Tai hadn¡¯t expected the young master to bring up the matter of the Shi family, and looking at Baili Bin¡¯s unwavering face, he calmed himself. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Young Master. The Shi family isn¡¯t a big threat to the Baili family.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s to say, there is something happening?¡± Baili Bin replied, looking at him.

    The intricacies of the forces in the ancient martial arts world were no lessplicated than those in the secr world. They were respected due to the strength they wielded, but a family couldn¡¯t survive purely on force alone. They also needed wealth and powerful resources to support a family.

    The Shi family and the Gu family had been suppressing the Baili family without a trace in the past, and that was why the Baili family had been deteriorating with each passing year.

    But now that the Baili family had garnered fame in the ancient martial arts world, the trace of oppression from the Shi and Gu family were slowly getting obvious. They still knew how to hold back previously, but now it seemed that they didn¡¯t bother to hide their ruthless side.

    With two families joining hands to press down on the Baili family, the Fu family who was rted to them by marriage hadn¡¯t made any statements regarding this for a long time. They were probably still weighing whether it was beneficial for them to help the Baili family or not.

    Fortunately, though it was difficult to support the Baili family, it was not impossible.

    Uncle Tai was well aware of these things, but he didn¡¯t want Baili Bin to worry about it. He wanted the young master to focus on recovering his body, and so he brought out a bowl of Chinese medicine. ¡°Young Master, it¡¯s time for your medication.¡±

    As expected, after seeing the bowl of medicine, Baili Bin didn¡¯t mention the Shi family anymore.

    ***

    In the building next door, Fu Xuejun had used Baili Wenxi¡¯s ount to log into The Forum. After browsing through and obtaining some useful information, she contacted the Fu family.

    As the most outstanding person in the Fu family in the century, she had a great say in the family matters.

    The fact of the Fu family not giving any help nor cooperating with the Baili family was entirely due to her say.

    It didn¡¯t matter that Baili Bin didn¡¯t care for her now, she would wait. Wait until the Baili family couldn¡¯t take it anymore, only then would she make her move.

    What she could give the Fu family far outshined what Gu Xiqiao could offer them.

    Although Gu XIqiao was favored by Tang Yanling, she was still just a goddaughter in the end. She wouldn¡¯t be able to interfere in the ancient martial arts world either.

    After all, in the ancient martial arts world, the strength you held was the more important thing.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes shone brightly under the light as she mulled over her grand ambitions and schemes.

 Chapter 208 - Not Needed?

    Chapter 208: Not Needed?

    Fu Wei returned with Fu Enterprise to the country, and sent out his business cards with invitations, inviting celebrities and nobles from the upper echelons of the Imperial Capital.

    Fu Enterprise was arge internationalpany, and to be suddenly stationed in the Imperial Capital caught a lot of people by surprise. Because of Fu Enterprises¡¯ special status in the Imperial Capital, nobody dared to underestimate them.

    The Fu family were holding a banquet today, and all the top brass of the Imperial Capital would attend, to give the Fu family face.

    Fu Wei sat in the car, listening to his secretary report on the progress of the banquet. He turned and saw a figure outside the car, and suddenly shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±

    His voice sounded urgent, and the driver, not knowing what was going on, stepped on the breaks immediately.

    The car stopped, and the pitter-patter of the rain outside could be heard in the silence. He nced at the secretary and asked, ¡°Do we have an umbre?¡±

    As a secretary who was capable of anything, he had already checked the weather reports earlier and had prepared an umbre beforehand.

    ¡°Give her the umbre.¡± Fu Wei said, looking at the figure outside the car window.

    Although the secretary didn¡¯t understand the reason behind Fu Wei¡¯s order, he still got out of the car and handed the ck umbre to the girl standing at the side of the road.

    Seeing an umbre appear in front of her suddenly, Gu Xiqiao was taken aback. She was holding Haha in her arms, and she raised her head to see a young man in front of her.

    Finally being able to see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, the young man was stunned. He mechanically ced the umbre in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand and turned around to leave, his face seemingly looked like he had seen a ghost.

    The ck car drove off slowly.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the car as it left, her eyes deep in thought.

    Suddenly, a shadow fell on her, and the umbre in her hands was taken away and reced with a cup of hot milk tea.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at the extra umbre in his hands, seemingly unhappy about it.

    He had just left for a moment!

    ¡°You¡¯re going to the cave sideter on.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised the phone in her hand, shing a smile at Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head to look at her, his face darkening. ¡°Did they look for you already?¡±

    Speaking of this, Gu Xiqiao wanted tough a little. The one called Yi Bing had somehow managed to get his hands on her number from somewhere, and he had expressed his grievance the moment she had picked up the call. ¡°If Yi Bing didn¡¯t tell me, I wouldn¡¯t know that you hadn¡¯t been there for a long time.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was silent at that, not wanting to reply.

    It had been a while since he had been there.

    ¡°What are you up toter?¡± The two of them walked to the car and he opened the door for her.

    ¡°Zhu Yuan mentioned that Divine Doctor Rong is looking for me.¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, and thought about it for a while before deciding not to get into the car. ¡°Take Haha back home, Brother Jiang. A University isn¡¯t far from here.¡±

    Hearing those words, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face darkened further. He gave his umbre to Gu Xiqiao, and threw Haha into the backseat.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly as she watched him drive away with obvious reluctance.

    Two minutester, the smile on her face vanishedpletely. She pulled out her phone, dialing Luo Weng¡¯s number.

    Zhu Yuan had indeed told her that Divine Doctor Rong was looking for her, but the meeting time had been set for five in the evening. It was currently still morning.

    Receiving a call from Gu Xiqiao, Luo Weng was caught off guard. ¡°Boss Gu?¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Calcting some reports,¡± Luo Weng replied honestly, ncing at theputer screen in front of him.

    Gu Xiqiao thought for a while before continuing, ¡°Fu Xuejun gave you a call today,¡± She stated, instead of asking.

    She did give him a call, and he even told the people in the office. But how did Boss Gu know about it?

    Thinking of what Fu Xuejun had said to him, Luo Weng sneered. ¡°She wanted me to join Fu Enterprise, and gave me a lot of benefits to entice me.¡± Obviously, he turned down the offer.

    The Imperial Capital had been flooded with news of Fu Enterprise for a while now, and Fu Xuejun had been the limelight in A University at the same time.

    Fu Enterprise had a high status with a mysterious background, and was a noble family from Ennd. They were considered to be another uprising ¡®Nine Heavens¡¯, so when they heard that Luo Weng had refused Fu Xuejun¡¯s offer, his ssmates had thought him to be crazy.

    Only a few of them knew the truth, and they were quiet about it.

    ¡°Hm. I¡¯ll be heading to thepany for a while in the afternoon.¡± Gu Xiqiao let out a sigh of relief.

    Fu Enterprise¡¯s main business was inte and finance, and their structure was very simr to Nine Heavens. Opening a business like this in the Imperial Capital was basically digging your own grave, and before this she hadn¡¯t cared about it.

    She believed that Mu Zong and the others would be able to handle these things well, and even if they didn¡¯t, she could still step in in the end to save the entire thing.

    She knew that the people behind Fu Enterprise were from the ancient martial arts world, and were quite influential in the Imperial Capital. Even the top brass would give them a lot of face and leeway.

    But Nine Heavens was also not far behind, especially the group of people that Yao Jiamu was currently leading. Yin Shaoyuan had also specifically described to her that Yao Jiamu could probably take his bunch of people and walk through the entire ancient martial arts world with them with ease.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t very clear on the division of strength in the ancient martial arts world, the only person she had in contact with the ce was Jiang Shuxuan, and The Forum. However, the two weren¡¯t a goodparison to use to represent the entire world, mainly because Jiang Shuxuan was just too strong.

    After getting information from Yin Shaoyuan, she came to know that the ancient martial arts world was not how it once was. Most of the families were already in decline.

    But it wasn¡¯t only China, the special forces around the world were changing much in the same way.

    That was the reason why there were often people going crazy, because they weren¡¯t able to control their powers.

    It sounded great on the surface, that there were three great families in the ancient martial arts world in China, but in reality, everyone knew that only the Jiang family was supporting the entire world.

    In other words, when something big happens, there was only one person who could handle it.

    And because of this, Gu Xiqiao was indifferent to the Fu family, although she had known much earlier on.

    But because of what happened today, she thought about the umbre she had received and let out another sigh.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Yu Ning right away!¡± Luo Weng¡¯s eyes lit up. After waiting for so long, Gu Xiqiao was finallying to visit Nine Heavens. Before he hung up the phone, he suddenly remembered something and asked, ¡°By the way, did you cklist Director Cheng?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Maybe? She couldn¡¯t remember!

    ¡°Sigh, Boss Gu, Director Cheng has gone through Yu Ning, and he finally managed to reach me too.¡± Luo Weng didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry, and he felt that Gu Xiqiao¡¯szy attitude really needed to be changed. ¡°When you have the chance, go and look for Director Cheng in person. Ning Qing mentioned that their movie is almost done.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao hung up the call.

    She suddenly recalled the fact that she still owed the director a movie? Was this considered to be digging her own grave?

    ¡®Little system, you mentioned that Fu Wei¡¯s favorability towards me was 70, is it possible that there¡¯s a bug in the system?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao walked forward slowly, holding the umbre in her hand.

    She walked slowly, but in the next second, she was already a hundred meters ahead.

    The system spirit manifested in front of her, pping its transparent wings. ¡°How can the great system have bugs!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao sighed again. ¡®Then how do you exin that?¡¯ It made her hesitate to make a move on the Fu family, but Fu Xuejun really was too unpleasant to leave alone.

    Digging into Nine Heaven¡¯s walls at one moment, and the next she was trying to dig for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attention!

    These werepletely unbearable!

    ¡°Fu Wei is a good person.¡± The system spirit waved its hand, a transparent panel appearing in the air with some shing text on it. ¡°He has set up charitable funds all over the world, and has helped many people.¡±

    The pages jumped and changed quickly.

    If it was anyone else, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to read and understand the things shing so quickly in front of them.

    But Gu Xiqiao looked at it all with a serious expression on her face, and it looked like she could see everything clearly.

    The system spirit was astonished for a moment, seeing her like this. It hadn¡¯t been controlling its speed when it started, and just when it thought it should slow down a little, it realized that Gu Xiqiao was following every single thing clearly!

    After its moment of surprise, it adjusted it to a higher speed, and Gu Xiqiao still kept her eyes on the panel without blinking.

    It showed that she was still able to keep up at this speed.

    In the end, the system spirit gave up on further testing Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, how did your mental power grow so fast?¡± It was a little sad again, because it was afraid that one day, Beauty Qiao really wouldn¡¯t need it anymore.

    It would be nice if it had a real body like Xixi and Haha.

    What happened if the host developed too fast and didn¡¯t need the little system anymore? Hold on, this was urgent!

    Gu Xiqiao had finished reading Fu Wei¡¯s information, and replied easily, ¡°Don¡¯t know, it just got better the more I practiced.¡±

    ¡®You should just hurry and mow down all those people in the ancient martial arts world!¡¯ The system thought to itself, this girl was really just too terrifying.

    ¡°He¡¯s a good person.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ¡°But then, why did he give birth to this kind of... daughter?¡± She really couldn¡¯t think of any other words to describe Fu Xuejun.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s personality was neither like Baili Wenxi or Fu Wei.

    The system spirit inserted, ¡°In the eyes of the outside world, Fu Xuejun is the image of a perfect goddess.¡±

    ¡°You just said ¡®outside¡¯.¡±

    The system spirit thought about it a bit more, trying to find words that were used on earth. ¡°... it¡¯s possible that it¡¯s the next door kingdom.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Little system, why did you even think to that point? What have you been experiencing these days?

    The system spirit floated next to Gu Xiqiao, and grew slightly afraid at the smile that it saw on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, a chill running down its back. ¡°What are you thinking, Beauty Qiao?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking...¡± Gu Xiqiao stopped suddenly, squinting at the empty street. ¡°I seem to have found something interesting again.¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    ¡®Why have you stopped, Yin Shaoyuan is waiting for you!¡¯

    Ten secondster, the system spirit paled, all color drained from its face as it stared at Gu Xiqiao in horror. There was only one thought in its mind. Beauty Qiao, she seemed to really not need it anymore.

 Chapter 209 - Dont Drag Us Down With You

    <h4>Chapter 209: Don¡¯t Drag Us Down With You</h4>

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s techniques were extremely strange, and it seemed that it was an instant before he reached the empty street, falling next to her.

    Lowering his head slightly, he could see her delicate and beautiful face and she lifted her eyes to look forward. She had azy expression on her face, looking as though she didn¡¯t know of the danger that was going to befell her in the next moment.

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s heart pounded as he leaned over to softly say in her ear, ¡°Close your eyester, and don¡¯t be afraid.¡±

    He had deliberately lowered his voice to seem soothing and hypnotizing, simr to a lover¡¯s whisper. It was a fascinating trick that was easy to dazzle people with and extremely useful, even Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t escape from it.

    After saying that, he turned to see her face, only to find that little had changed. It was still the same indifferent and clear look on her face. She even raised her head to look at him, her bright eyes not having the slightest hint of anything in them.

    ¡°?¡± This didn¡¯t look right!

    Before he coulde back to his senses, the girl in front of him was already lowering the umbre in her hand to the ground. When she straightened up, a cold glint appeared in her eyes.

    The space around them fluctuated suddenly, and a heavy pressure of something unseen pressed down with a thunderous aura. Wanqi Jue couldn¡¯t help but take a step back, and after stabilizing himself, he raised his head, something shing in his eyes as he did.

    The girl who was only a few steps from him, her clothes were fluttering even though there was no wind, and purple lightning was crackling in her hands.

    The sky on this side was gloomy and uncertain, but she stood tall and straight, the purple light dancing on the tip of her slender fingertips.

    Five purple lightning shot out instantly, and the five shadows fell down embarrassingly easily. They stared at Gu Xiqiao with a look of shock on their faces.

    They had thought that it was just a regr person from the ordinary world. They had scrambled to grab this task to try to impress the youngdy, and they didn¡¯t think of this girl to be significant at all. But they never expected that not only did the other not move, she only relied on her mental power to stop all their movements!

    The talents of the five of them weren¡¯t that great, but they had been in the ancient martial arts world for a long time and naturally had some tricks up their sleeves. Even against a genius like Jiang Tong, they would have a few tricks to use on her and hold their own, but they couldn¡¯t even hold out against this girl for a second!

    When did the ancient martial arts world have such a monster?

    More importantly, this person could easily kill them off with just a finger, but she didn¡¯t do it, and was dragging it out instead!

    Under the pressure of the lightning that couldn¡¯t be resisted, her mental powers and illusions, they already felt that death was better than this. At this moment, they were feeling regret from the deepest corner of their heart. Why did they have to take this task? Why did they listen to Fu Xuejun?

    They wanted to open their mouth and beg for mercy, but they couldn¡¯t make a single sound.

    ¡°Did you think the people from the secr world are easy to bully?¡±

    Boom!

    ¡°Did you think yourselves to be so great?¡±

    Boom!

    ¡°So you¡¯re only good at bullying people from the secr world!¡±

    Boom boom boom!

    The five were beaten to an inch to death, and they couldn¡¯t even tell where they were at.

    Wanqi Jue, who was standing to the side with wide eyes, couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing in front of him.

    After a long while, Gu Xiqiao lowered her hands, and the distorted space was instantly cleared. She leaned over to pick up the umbre that she had left on the ground, and opened it. Her face was still indifferent, her hair fluttering in the soft breeze and her snow-white face glowed slightly under the light.

    The rain was letting up, and the dark clouds in the skies had started to disperse. It seemed like she was the only person left under the clear sky and she walked forward slowly, umbre in hand.

    When she reached the intersection, she stopped suddenly, a light voice ringing out in the empty space. ¡°Mr. Wanqi, please pay attention to your safety before tomorrow.¡±

    Wanqi Jue finally came back to his senses and reacted, repeating the words she just said underneath his breath. He raised his head to ask something, but then he realized that there was no sign of her on the street any longer!

    ¡°Really...¡± Wanqi Jue wanted to sigh, but uttered those words instead. He couldn¡¯t spit out any other words anymore, the shock was embedded too deeply in him.

    He had initially thought that in the China ancient martial arts world, only Jiang Shuxuan could make him jealous of his strength. He didn¡¯t expect to encounter a girl that would have a power that was not any less terrifying than the man.

    She was so young!

    When he was her age, he was way far behind her.

    Wanqi Jue took a deep breath, and turned to the five people lying on the ground. His crystal blue eyes were cold. ¡°Who sent you?¡±

    There was mental pressure in the voice he used to speak that wasparable to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, and using just that little was enough to make the five unable to resist. They confessed everything. ¡°We¡¯re from the Fu family, and it¡¯s the young miss who sent us. She wanted us to... to make sure Miss Gu didn¡¯t appear in the capital for a while!¡±

    He used ¡®Miss Gu¡¯.

    ¡°The Fu family? The young miss?¡± Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes narrowed further, applying more pressure in his voice. ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡±

    ¡°Fu... Fu Xuejun.¡± The five of them were scared out of their wits, and they looked at Wanqi Jue, the horror clear on their faces. With Gu Xiqiao gone, they thought that could breathe a sigh of relief. They didn¡¯t expect this man to be no less terrifying than her!

    What kind of bad luck did they have!

    The contempt and hatred toward Fu Xuejun increased even more in their hearts.

    Fu Xuejun? It really was her? How could it be?

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s mind was in a mess, the beautiful, wless face appearing in his mind. Then he suddenly remembered!

    That girl, wasn¡¯t she the girl that he investigated for Fu Xuejun? The other daughter of Baili Wenxi?

    If that was so, then Fu Xuejun¡¯s actions could be exined.

    Wanqi Jue pursed his lips tightly, leaving the ce in slow strides. There wasn¡¯t any expression on his face, and he had initially wanted to go to the Fu family¡¯s banquet. However, he was not in the mood right now as his heart in a turmoil.

    Before meeting Gu Xiqiao, he didn¡¯t feel much regarding this elder sister of Fu Xuejun that suddenly came out of nowhere. He even had the thought of helping Fu Xuejun teach her elder sister a lesson. Now, it all seemed like a joke!

    He chuckled lightly, but there was no smile in his eyes.

    The five people on the ground only dared to crawl up after the two finally vanished from their sights, and they looked at each other with fear in their eyes.

    They were silent, when suddenly, one of their phones rang.

    The man picked it up, his face twisting into an ugly expression before he said, ¡°It¡¯s the young miss.¡±

    ¡°Ptui! What young miss!¡± The other person grabbed the phone, his eyes full of resentment. ¡°Not knowing how big the world is, and thinking she is all that. She didn¡¯t even know the details or information of the person she targeted, letting us rush in to die on our own!¡±

    People in the ancient martial arts world respected power, so even though Gu Xiqiao had beaten them up, they didn¡¯t hold any grudge toward her. Instead, they had inexplicable feelings of worship toward Gu Xiqiao.

    ***

    Once the call connected, Fu Xuejun shed a warm smile at the celebrity beside her before walking into a corner to take the call. Before she could say anything, a mocking tone came from the other end, ¡°Young miss, do you know who the other party was? You actually asked us to deal with her? Fu Xuejun, I don¡¯t care if you want to die, but don¡¯t drag us down with you! If yound yourself in big sh*t, I don¡¯t want to die with you!¡±

    The voice that spoke was no longer respectful, but full of mockery and anger.

    Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t even let out a word before the harsh words were thrown, and the call was hung up without waiting for any response from her.

    An angry haze shrouded her pretty eyes. When did people treat Fu Xuejun like this? As the most outstanding descendant of the Fu family, she was always sought after no matter where she went. This was the first time someone from the Fu family had shown her such disrespect!

    ¡°What a waste of space!¡± They couldn¡¯t even handle an ordinary person like Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I¡¯ll let you off today.¡±

    Fu Xuejun took a deep breath to calm herself, before stering a smile on her face. Before even managing to take two steps out, she saw the Fu Enterprise secretary walking over in a rush. ¡°Miss, President Fu requests your presence upstairs.¡±

    ¡°Why so sudden?¡± Fu Xuejun asked hesitantly, looking at the expression on the secretary¡¯s face. Wasn¡¯t Fu Wei meeting with someone from the top management of Nine Heavens right now?

    The secretary nced at Fu Xuejun, and said carefully, ¡°Miss, the president... he didn¡¯t look very happy.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I know.¡± Fu Xuejun felt flustered at the words, but she calmed herself the best she could, heading upstairs.

    As they headed up, an elegant man with sses was making his way down.

    ¡°Mr. Mu.¡± The secretary stopped walking, greeting him politely.

    Fu Xuejun was taken aback. Although Fu Wei¡¯s secretary was usually a very approachable person, it was rare to see him disying such respect.

    Because he had been brought up by Fu Wei personally, his position in the Fu family was not any less than her own. There was also a time when Baili Wenxi had wanted to formally adopt him, but had been turned down by the secretary himself.

    Apart from Baili Wenxi and Fu Wei, it was rare for him to even treat her with such respect. Thinking of this, she couldn¡¯t help but nce at this Mr. Mu.

    The person carried himself with elegance, and was a refined-looking man. The eyes behind the sses were sharp, and he looked to be about in his mid-thirties.

    How was it that he was able to make Fu Wei¡¯s assistant treat him with so much respect?

    Thinking that this person definitely was not some randommoner, she too nodded at Mr. Mu with respect.

    After that Mr. Mu went down, only did Fu Xuejun turn to the secretary to ask, ¡°Who was that?¡± She had a guess inside her mind, but she didn¡¯t dare to believe it.

    ¡°That was Nine Heaven¡¯s senior executive.¡± The secretary said, watching Mu Zong leave before continuing upstairs. Just as Fu Xuejun was going into the room, he couldn¡¯t help but urge her, ¡°Miss, hurry up and enter. Don¡¯t keep the president waiting.¡±

    In the Fu family, the one who knew Fu Wei the best was this secretary, apart from Baili Wenxi.

    And that¡¯s why, Fu Xuejun became more apprehensive at his words. She opened the door slowly, and Fu Wei¡¯s calm voice came from the silence around the room. ¡°Close the door.¡±

    Fu Xuejun closed the door obediently, and pasting on a smile like usual, she looked at Fu Wei. ¡°Dad, you were looking for me?¡±

    Fu Wei picked up a piece of paper, looking at Fu Xuejun with no expression on his face. ¡°Jun¡¯er,e and look at this.¡±

    It was a piece of paper, a typed out report from the looks of it in in letters. After ncing at the content, Fu Xuejun¡¯s face turned red. She grabbed the paper in a hurry, her face paling drastically after her eyes swept through the words. Her nails were tearing through the part of the paper where her fist was clenched.

    How was that possible! Her mind was in mayhem.

    ¡°I want to know what you did that made all the elders of the Fu family band together and remove your status as the heir to the Fu family, as well as your ce in the Trial Tower.¡± Fu Wei¡¯s eyes were sharp behind his sses, but it also held disappointment. ¡°Do you know how much the Fu family gave for this cement?¡±

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know.¡± Fu Xuejun¡¯s mind was in a panic. She was in the Imperial Capital, and could only rely on the Fu family. If the Fu family had cut her off as the heir, and even her cement in the Trial Tower, then what did she have left?

    Thinking of this, she clung to Fu Wei¡¯s sleeves and looked at him with pitiful eyes. ¡°Dad, I didn¡¯t mean to! Please help me!¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re wrong, then you¡¯re wrong.¡± Fu Wei gently pried her hands off him. ¡°Jun¡¯er, I regret all the indulgence that I have given you. You¡¯ve even made a move against an ordinary person. Jun¡¯er, when did you be like this?¡±

    Fu Wei closed his eyes in pain, not wanting to look at his daughter¡¯s face, fearing that he wouldn¡¯t be able to harden his heart if he did. He had always thought that she was the best behaved daughter in the world, so he and Baili Wenxi had always been indulging in her whims and pampering her every chance they had. He didn¡¯t expect that she would develop into this kind of character.

    ¡°Dad...¡± Fu Xuejun looked at Fu Wei¡¯s expression, her lips trembling, but not able to say another word.

    This was the first time Fu Wei had this sort of expression. He really didn¡¯t care about her now.

    Fu Wei didn¡¯t want to stay in the room any longer, and he stood to leave. ¡°It¡¯s not the most terrible thing, to not be the heir. The most valuable thing about a person is their character.¡±

    The door closed behind him, and only Fu Xuejun was left in the room. The regret and dissatisfaction welled up in her immediately!

    Her hands trembled as she picked up the paper again, reading each word carefully. She had thought that an ordinary person was nothing to be concerned with, but she didn¡¯t expect to receive a blow that she would never recover from. Now Fu Xuejun was beginning to regret the things she did, to the extent that she could feel it like physical pain.

    No, wait. There was one more person.

    Wanqi Jue!

    Fu Xuejun took out her phone with shaky hands, searching for Wanqi Jue¡¯s number before pressing on it.

    ¡°The number you have dialed...¡±

    How could this be? This was the first time Wanqi Jue had not picked up her call.

    Fu Xuejun cut the call immediately, dialing again, but received the same cold voice.

    Over and over again.

    Fu Xuejun tried until she finally understood, even Wanqi Jue was ignoring her.

    The phone slipped from her hand onto the floor, and her face paled even further. She was... finished, it seemed.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world, Jiang Shuxuan walked out of the cave with Yi Bing behind him.

    ¡°Boss, we¡¯ve measured the velocity of time. The ratio inside the cave to the outside is 1:7. In other words, while one day has passed in the cave, seven days have passed on the outside.¡±

    The flow of time like this could be reversed using a secret method.

    Which was to say, one day outside equals to seven days inside.

    Cultivating for seven days inside only equaled one day outside, this was the biggest strength of cyberspace.

    ¡°It¡¯s a suitable ce for cultivating and training.¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised his head to look at the cave. ¡°It can bepared to the speed of the Trial Tower.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it can bepared to the Trial Tower.¡± Yi Bing shook his head. ¡°This cyberspace is just too weird, I went in with Yi Tiao not even an hour, and our mind was already a little confused. Don¡¯t talk about training, staying in there itself would be a problem.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m from a fox n (T/N: likely just means he¡¯s cunning) after all, and I can¡¯t control myself sometimes.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said lightly. ¡°Record the location down first, I¡¯ll think of a way to use it.¡±

    There were too few resources that were avable in the ancient martial arts world now. Except for the Trial Tower, the others were all worthless.

    This cyberspace was very useful, the difference in the flow of time would allow them to reach a new level of improvement. Only, it wasn¡¯t just anyone who could use it. Even Jiang Shuxuan found it hard to deal with it.

    Hearing Jiang Shuxuan himself say the words, Yi Bing felt slightly regretful. He really did covet the cave, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have bugged Jiang Shuxuan toe over, to the point that he even went through Gu Xiqiao.

    When Jiang Shuxuan hade in the beginning, he had even changed the way that he usually tormented him.

    Yi Bing scratched his nose, sighing heavily.

    ¡°Boss, Uncle Jiang is here!¡± Yi Tiao shouted from a distance. Behind him was a tall and upright figure, who was very simr to Jiang Shuxuan, only his face looked more mature than him.

    Jiang Han nced at Yi Tiao and Yi Bing, these kids really didn¡¯t know how to hold back in front of him, smiling constantly. They were only serious when they were faced with Jiang Shuxuan.

    This made it seem like he had no authority or was threatening at all! Jiang Han was a little distressed at the thought, his son was like that, and so his subordinates were the same. Really!

    ¡°Dad.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at Jiang Han, some suspicion in his eyes. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t Ie and see you? I¡¯ve been home for a few days, and yet you¡¯ve note home once.¡± Jiang Han looked back at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Do you have a problem with me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the same even when you¡¯re not at home,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied easily. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to change positions with me, I cane home every day.¡±

    Jiang Han thought about his son¡¯s usually tightly packed schedule, and immediately mmed up, changing the topic instead. ¡°Cough... I just wanted toe and tell you, your mom has gone out of the ancient martial arts world today.¡±

    A cold glint entered his eyes as Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You should be able to guess,¡± Jiang Han replied, looking at him meaningfully.

    Jiang Shuxuan straightened up suddenly. ¡°I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    Just as he said those words, he vanished into thin air.

    Jiang Han: ¡°...¡± This ungrateful son!

    Yi Bing: ¡°...¡± Boss, you¡¯re not finished with this matter yet, is it okay to leave just like that?

    Yi Tiao: ¡°...¡± Was it only me who didn¡¯t understand anything at all?

    ***

    At the same time, in the Trial Tower.

    Tang Qinghong walked out of the Trial Tower, taking the towel from the old man to wipe his sweat, he took a deep breath. He was having trouble adapting to the intensive training in the Trial Tower after the reformation. He looked up and asked, ¡°Grandpa Tang, have my aunt and Shaoyuan return?¡±

    ¡°Second young master, the young master has not returned to train for three days.¡± Grandpa Tang furrowed his brows. ¡°He has already lost out three days of training at his peak, if this goes on...¡±

    Grandpa Tang was worried, Yin Shaoyuan was now well-known in the Tang family, and had performed well in the Trial Tower. The Trial Tower in the ancient martial arts world was the best ce to train, the time ratio to the outside is 5:1. Yin Shaoyuan had been away for only three days, but it was in actuality half a month.

    His strength would definitely fall far behind the others.

    The mistress and young master were definitely weird, why would they leave at such a critical point of time?

    The other people on the outside tried to forget about the Trial Tower because they didn¡¯t have the chance to use it, but here Yin Shaoyuan was wasting the opportunity that he had been given.

    Grandpa Tang couldn¡¯t help but let out a heavy sigh.

    Hearing those words, Tang Qinghong also frowned deeply. It was going to be the qualifying selection soon, and although Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s strength was advancing in leaps and bounds, without actualbat training, it wouldn¡¯t matter no matter how strong his strength was, and that was disregarding the fact that other people were also improving as the days passed! Thinking about this, Tang Qinghong immediately gave a call to Yin Shaoyuan.

    After a few rings, the call connected. ¡°Shaoyuan, why haven¡¯t you returned?¡±

    ¡°Cousin, I¡¯ve decided to train outside. Give the cement in the Trial Tower to someone else who needs it!¡± Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s voice was a little excited.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Tang Qinghong frowned harder. ¡°There is no better ce to train than in the Trial Tower, you¡¯ve improved so much in less than a month, and you¡¯ve made a name for yourself in the Tang family. At such a critical moment, you actually leave instead? Have you lost your mind?!¡±

    ¡°Cousin, I know this more than anyone else, believe me, I won¡¯t harm myself.¡± Yin Shaoyuan understood Tang Qinghong¡¯s kind intentions, so he made a point to exin it to him.

    After a while, Tang Qinghong hung up the phone. He knew that Yin Shaoyuan was a logical person, but he still couldn¡¯t believe his words.

    There was a better ce to train other than the Trial Tower in this world?

    However, he didn¡¯t bother saying anything else, walking out of the Trial Tower. It was better to talk to grandpa and let him decide.

    After the two left, a group of people came out of the Trial Tower. The one in the lead was a young man. ¡°Yin Shaoyuan has left the Trial Tower, that¡¯s... really the greatest news ever.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Young Master Wu, do you think Yin Shaoyuan canpare to you? He¡¯s just an ordinary mongrel, after leaving the Trial Tower, what else can he use to go against you? You¡¯ll definitely be selected to participate in the ranking matches!¡± The people beside the young man said, not hesitating to tter him.

    Hearing these pleasant words and praises, Tang Wu sneered. ¡°The state he¡¯s in right now suits him the most.¡±

    He would wait to see the look that Yin Shaoyuan had when he came begging him for mercy!

 Chapter 210 - Poor Yin Shaoyuan

    <h4>Chapter 210: Poor Yin Shaoyuan</h4>

    Yin Shaoyuan hung up on the phone before looking over at Yao Jiamu eagerly. ¡°Wanna fight?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather fight with Xixi.¡± Yao Jiamu huffed and replied.

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°...¡± He knew that Yao Jiamu made theparison on purpose, but he couldn¡¯t say anything in retort.

    The two of them were on the same ancient martial arts stage, but to Yao Jiamu, beating him was as easy as beating a dog, so Yin Shaoyuan was both miffed and intrigued by that implication.

    It wouldn¡¯t have been weird for, say, Tang Qinghong to be able to beat him up with one hand tied behind his back because he had stayed in the trial tower for so many years, but Yao Jiamu had only started learning ancient martial arts! How could such a person beat him so easily?

    Yin Shaoyuan was filled with curiosity, at first.

    Then, not a dayter, he realized why that was the case.

    He had wanted to return to the trial tower after one day here, but after seeing the reality of what was happening on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s end, he was shook to his core.

    That was especially when he saw a big, red bird the size of a car that could fight and speak.

    He couldn¡¯t even defeat this bird that could seal all his chi with a single p of its wings and render him powerless, what was this creature?

    The moment he felt his world view crumble was when someone called it Xixi.

    Xixi? Yin Shaoyuan thought that was just a regr bird that Gu Xiqiao kept as a pet, but it was a legendary beast??

    He and Tang Yanling had nned to amass forces so that they could be a strong protective shield for Gu Xiqiao in the ancient martial arts world, but as he looked at the training arena filled with people, he wiped the sweat off his forehead with a numb expression from all the shock.

    If it really came to that, they would probably be the ones that were protected instead!

    ¡°Ms. Gu!¡±

    ¡°Ms. Gu!¡±

    ¡°Er Qiao!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s mind was wandering when amotion broke out, everyone smiling brightly and looking over in his general direction, and when he looked back too, he saw Gu Xiqiao that was walking towards them.

    The young woman was holding a ck umbre in her hand, and in her clear eyes shone gxies.

    ¡°Big Brother Yin,¡± she greeted, smiling softly.

    Yin Shaoyuan was stunned for a moment upon seeing the younger sister of his for the first time in two months, then he smiled brightly and pulled her in for a tight hug. ¡°Qiao Qiao!¡±

    How did she be even prettier in just a few months?

    Meanwhile, Xixi, Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun came over to her too.

    The other hundred pairs of eyes were attracted to Gu Xiqiao, but after they were shouted at by Yao Jiamu, they went back to focusing on their training, only stealing admiring nces over in her direction from time to time.

    ¡°Do you have an array here?¡± Yin Shaoyuan had be more knowledgeable after being in the ancient martial arts world for almost two months, and when he arrived here he felt a certain mystical aura to the entire training area that covered it like a veil, and it reminded him of the Trial Tower.

    He couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it, but the sense of familiarity was definitely there.

    Even though this was an open-air arena, it wasn¡¯t affected at all by the weather outside, as if it were its own secluded world.

    Upon hearing Yao Jiamu say that this ce was created by Gu Xiqiao, he was extremely shocked. The trial tower was the treasure of the ancient martial arts world that had training grounds inside that warped time and space, but it was only fitting for its reputation as the birthing ground of many masters in the ancient martial arts world. In fact, it was even treated as one of the ancient martial arts world¡¯s trump card.

    Meanwhile, this training ground was created by Gu Xiqiao alone.

    Along with it was the fact that almost everyone in this ce had prowess that surpassed their ancient martial arts stage. Without using any chi, a Beginner trainee from here could fight him to a standstill with sheer technique and prowess, and this was the reason that cemented his choice to stay here.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied. ¡°There¡¯s five arrays that feed endlessly off of each others¡¯ energy here, actually. I could teach you, if you want to learn?¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan almost choked at the dismissive exnation. Five arrays that fed off each others¡¯ energies endlessly? Even the Baili Family wouldn¡¯t be able to do something on that scale so easily!

    ¡°I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to learn it even if I tried.¡± Yin Shaoyuan coughed into his fist as he looked up at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I don¡¯t have the natural talent for it.¡±

    ¡°Well do you want to try fighting with me?¡± Gu Xiqiao quickly changed the topic, looking up and down at Yin Shaoyuan. ¡°From the looks of it you¡¯re already in the Tendon Forging stage, but Xiao Mu told me you were quite weak?¡±

    It had been quite some time after all, and she wanted to see where he could improve.

    ¡°Fight?¡± Yin Shaoyuan looked up and down at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s thin frame. ¡°Are you sure...?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°It¡¯s alright,e at me with all you¡¯ve got.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan hadn¡¯t had the chance to actually win against anyone after he came here¡ªFrom Yao Jiamu, Xixi, to even the weakest, Xiao Yun, he was beaten up as easy as pie, and he had been waiting for someone who he could win against.

    Even though he had been beaten for three days in a row, but he had improved immensely too.

    ¡°Ah, but arrays are forbidden!¡± Yin Shaoyuan eximed, suddenly remembering that the girl was an expert in that field.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao handed her umbre to Xiao Yun, before turning back and looking at him. ¡°En garde?¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan was quite excited about it. ¡°I¡¯ll hold back, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    At this moment, hepletely missed the pitying looks the others gave him.

    A space was cleared out for them, and Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s expression turned serious as he looked towards Gu Xiqiao that was still in a resting position, energy converging in his palm in an effort to showcase his strength. ¡°This is the strongest secret technique in the Tang Family, the Void Lightning Spell, careful!¡±

    As he spoke, he started moving his hands quickly in mysterious-looking motions, and a strong presence started to emanate from him.

    Gu Xiqiao only stood there motionlessly as she looked at his motions until he finished all of them, as if in thought.

    ¡°This is a very strong move even though I haven¡¯t perfected it yet!¡± Yin Shaoyuan looked up at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes squinting in concentration.

    Under the blue sky, the girl suddenly started moving her fingers in archaic motions too, her fingers like porcin as

    ¡°What is Er Qiao doing?¡± Wu Hongwen was surprised that Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t just beaten the young man up already.

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s eyes were stuck to the scene like glue, before he muttered, ¡°...She¡¯s copying his technique.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    At the same time, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s expression started to turn from confident to shock as the girl copied all of the movements that he did moments agopletely, and the energy that she generated seemed to be even stronger than his.

    Gu Xiqiao suddenly raised her head, and said, ¡°Come!¡±

    It was the fight between two Void Lightning Spells.

    A bright, white sh appeared all of a sudden with a boom, and the next moment, a small crater appeared under Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s feet.

    The dust settled after three minutes, showing the young man buried halfway into the dirt and practically fried, the dust and soot concealing his handsome face as he looked over at Gu Xiqiao that didn¡¯t even have a speck of dust on her body, thetter looking at him with a smile. ¡°Big Brother Yin, are you okay?¡±

    Wu Hongwen came over and helped him up, and as he wiped himself with a piece of cloth, he replied emotionlessly. ¡°Not at all.¡±

    Why was he so innocent?

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it, Oh Great Young Master Yin, Er Qiao was already holding back.¡± Wu Hongwen grinned mirthfully, before tilting his head in the direction of the trainees. ¡°Don¡¯t you see those jealous gazes?¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°...¡±

    He wasn¡¯t blind, he saw the pitying gazes sent to him too!

    He moaned in pain as he rubbed his arms, feeling pain all throughout his body that was much greater than when he fought with Tang Qingqiu.

    As disheveled as he looked right now, he knew that his image waspletely shattered.

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯m going to make a breakthrough for my Void Lightning Spell...¡± Yin Shaoyuan clung onto Wu Hongwen¡¯s neck as he reyed the scene from earlier in his head, and as he remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s movements and the spatial energy that she invoked, he felt his understanding of the technique increase!

    There were seven stages to the Void Lightning Spell, and he was only on the second stage, but this was already the cream of the crop whenpared to the others in his generation.

    The technique was too difficult, and it had high requirements to the user¡¯s physical constitution and theirtent talent.

    Basically, only the people that could actually learn this technique were almost exclusively ones that could train in the trial tower, and it was also why Tang Qinghong was worried for Yin Shaoyuan.

    Yin Shaoyuan had seen Tang Qinghong use this skill once, sting a small hill in the process, and while it was definitely shocking, it didn¡¯t hold a candle to this.

    What sort of genius would be able to learn their opponents¡¯ skills while they were casting it like this?

    Yin Shaoyuan felt quite distraught, and a sense of weakness welled up in his heart.

    His poor heart couldn¡¯t handle more of this!

    ¡°So you get why those people are jealous of you now, don¡¯t you?¡± Wu Hongwen exined. ¡°Even I¡¯m jealous of you, honestly. Er Qiao¡¯s the type to either fight once or not at all whenever shees, and it was either me or Xiao Yun who got this special treatment in the past, but now you got it!¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan breathed deeply, before looking over at Gu Xiqiao who was in the middle of a conversation with shock.

    ¡°Big Boss Bai has already controlled all of the forces on the south, and is now focusing on going national.¡± Not only was Yao Jiamu busy with training everyone, he also had to help Big Boss Bai expand his sphere of influence. ¡°Another bunch of people were sent here yesterday, and even though they¡¯re not as talented as the ones that are already here, they¡¯re more than qualified to stand guard at all our branches.¡±

    ¡°You know about that yakuza group in Japan that¡¯s recognized by the public, right? Work in that direction, and the motto of the Bai Gang is to maintain the peace and safety of the world.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

    Yao Jiamu: ¡°...¡± Why was he not surprised that Gu Xiqiao came up with that idea?

    One of the ways that a gang could survive was by expanding their influence and permeating into every organization and changing their public image.

    Yao Jiamu naturally knew about the only yakuza in Japan that was recognized by the public which did charity andmunity service, as well as disaster relief in an effort to gain the trust of the public.

    ¡°But we¡¯ve already be trusted in Imperial Capital.¡± Yao Jiamu mused, going along with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s suggestion. ¡°That time we gave the cops evidence and helped with their investigation, we even got a brocade g for them.¡±

    The incident had actually be quite well known in China, and ever since then the Bai Gang had truly started to expand, people from all corners of the world joining the gang and not even thinking of leaving upon being shown all the pros of joining it.

    ¡°Big Boss Bai has always been good at this sort of thing.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. For someone that was expelled from the Bai Family, creating the strongest force in the Imperial Capital was even harder than it sounded. ¡°I won¡¯t go see him today, then, don¡¯t want to bother him.¡±

    Yao Jiamu: ¡°...¡±

    Why does he feel as if Big Boss Bai would beat him up if he knew about this...?

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t privy to his thoughts, and she only pet Xixi gently before talking with Xiao Yun, her gaze stuck on the people that were training in the arena.

    ¡°You got a new role?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked in surprise. ¡°But not as the main lead?¡±

    Xiao Yun smiled mysteriously as she talked with Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Brother Kun epted the role for me, and even though it¡¯s not the main lead, it¡¯s much better than a regr lead role.¡±

    After acting in Empire Under Siege, her acting ability was approved by the public, and along with that came millions of followers on her Weibo ount, and along with her currently airing web drama, she was about to his twenty millions followers quite soon.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows in interest. ¡°It¡¯s a big production?¡±

    In any case, a role that was handpicked by Xiang Kun and had such a reaction from Xiao Yun wouldn¡¯t be anything simple.

    Xixi shuffled over andtched onto Gu Xiqiao again. ¡°Beauty Qiao, why didn¡¯t you bring Haha with you?¡±

    ¡°Haha can¡¯t run around with that wound on his leg, so he¡¯s staying at home with Mama Yin.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied.

    Xixi: Poor dog~

    That night when it returned home, it suddenly felt as if it¡¯s entire avian life was a lie when it saw the new and improved kennel Haha got.

    After checking on Yin Shaoyuan, Gu Xiqiao looked around and went out to have lunch with them, before giving Yao Jiamu another old book and leaving.

    She didn¡¯t drive here, but she refused Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s offer to give her a lift home.

    After seeing the thin figure off, Yin Shaoyuan nced over at the old book in Yao Jiamu¡¯s hands curiously. ¡°What is this?¡±

    Yao Jiamu leafed through the yellowed pages, and every ten pages or so, there would be a piece of paper that was filled with beautifully written words. ¡°Something that you can¡¯t learn in the ancient martial arts world, believe me.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Yin Shaoyuan became even more curious as to what this book was, was it even stronger than the ones passed down the ancient martial arts world?

    He found that somehow hard to believe.

    When he was bought to a room, he suddenly felt as if he lost his sense of reality.

    ¡°This, these books are...¡± Yin Shaoyuan inhaled deeply in disbelief as he looked around the room in awe. There were just a few books, barely more than twenty of them, and attached to these books were exnations and details¡ªMost of them were written in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s neat and tidy writing, some were written in Yao Jiamu¡¯s stubby handwriting, while the rest held handwriting that he recognized as Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s.

    He flipped through one of the books, then another, and another...

    ¡°So these books are just...ced around here without any protection?¡± He asked, btedly noting the dryness of his throat.

    Any one of these could cause argemotion in the ancient martial arts world!

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Wu Hongwen replied nonchntly.

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°...Aren¡¯t you guys afraid that someone would steal them?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re assuming that everyone cane in here, and those that can aren¡¯t stupid enough to steal from this ce.¡± Wu Hongwen replied with a chuckle.

    Yin Shaoyuan looked at these books as he breathed another sigh of relief from choosing to stay here.

    After half an hour, Big Boss Bai was filled with sorrow when he was told that he missed Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao was walking in the slums with her umbre in hand, greeting everyone that passed her familiarly and getting gifted a bunch of snacks as she did.

    She epted the offerings, not knowing whether tough at the situation, before sneakily keeping them into the system inventory while no one was looking.

    After twenty minutes, she came to the side of the road, and took out her phone to get a taxi.

    [Ding! Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Help the mission objective fix their car.]

    [Mission aplishment reward: 20 points]

    Suddenly, a system notification rang in her head.

    After that, the system spirit flew out and pointed over in the direction in front of her. ¡°It¡¯s that one, Beauty Qiao!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze followed the system spirit¡¯s finger all the way to a white car, and right at that moment a woman in a beige cardigan stepped out of it, looking at her car in distress.

    It was hard to tell how old the woman was just from her appearance.

    ¡°Do you have any tools? I can help you.¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she walked over.

    The woman turned around, and her eyes met the ones of a young woman that seemed to have walked straight out of a painting. ¡°Yes, but are you sure you can fix it?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao popped open the hood of the car familiarly.

    Upon seeing that she seemed to know what she was doing, the woman took out a toolbox from the trunk of the car and handed to this unknown girl.

    The girl bent down and started fixing it seriously, and motions that would seem crude when someone else did it looked particrly elegant when she did it, as if she weren¡¯t fixing a machine but a piece of art.

    The woman picked up the umbre that was set on the side of the car and raised it above Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head and smiled at her politely, and even though her fingers were practically coated with motor oil, she didn¡¯t even furrow her brows as she resumed fixing it.

    ¡°I should be the one thanking you! Ah, my surname is Shu, so you can call me Auntie Shu, if you don¡¯t mind?¡± The woman liked the girl quite a lot.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, before closing the hood of the car. ¡°Well, Auntie Shu, can you try and start up your car?¡±

    [Ding! Mission aplished! 20 points have been rewarded!]

    The woman didn¡¯t try and start up her car immediately, but instead took out a bottle of mineral water to let Gu Xiqiao wash her hands, along with a clean handkerchief.

    Gu Xiqiao thanked her before epting the handkerchief and cleaning her fingers one by one.

    After being together with Jiang Shuxuan for such a long time, one of the things she learned the most from him was his cleanliness.

    There was only a single bottle of water, so Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t clean up her hands thoroughly and even the handkerchief was stained with motor oil.

    Auntie Shu smiled and took back the handkerchief with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s alright, let me see if it worked.¡±

    She gave Gu Xiqiao her umbre, before reaching into her car and turning the key experimentally. Even though the girl seemed to be quite sure of her results, she was still to young, so the woman didn¡¯t have high hopes.

    The next moment, the car whirred to life.

    Auntie Shu blinked in surprised for a moment, before looking at Gu Xiqiao with an ted surprise. ¡°Good job, youngdy!¡±

    Upon being told by the girl that she was waiting for a taxi, the woman immediately volunteered to send her to her destination.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t refuse and got onto the car, telling Auntie Shu the address of Nine Heavens.

    The car drove into the city center and stopped.

    ¡°Thank you, Auntie Shu.¡± Gu Xiqiao got off the car and thanked the woman again.

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem, I wouldn¡¯t know what I could have done if you weren¡¯t there!¡± Auntie Shu waved it away, thinking that the girl was too humble.

    It was only after the girl disappeared from her view that she btedly realized that she didn¡¯t even have her name, but after that, she realized that it was because the girl didn¡¯t want to leave her name.

    Auntie Shu shook her head and chuckled, because it sure was the first time in a long while she had met someone that wasn¡¯t trying to butter her up for personal benefit.

    Then, the white car disappeared in the traffic.

    After scaling up on their operations, Nine Heavens Group bought an entire building, and Gu Xiqiao stood at the entrance for a while, looking at the buildings around it and confirming to herself that it was a ce with good fengshui for a business before walking in.

    There were two receptionists in delicate makeup that were unfamiliar to her, probably newly hired, and they were helping a middle aged man. The man had a thick ethnic ent and looked quite humble, and after listening in on the conversation for a while, she realized that he was here to apply for the position of bodyguard.

    The receptionists didn¡¯t know Gu Xiqiao, and one of them smiled at her politely and asked, ¡°Hello, is there anything we can help you with?¡±

    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here to see Manager Luo Weng.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded back politely, before telling them her reason foring here.

    ¡°Do you have an appointment?¡± The receptionist pulled out a notebook, flipping through it to see if there were any notes of such an appointment.

    The answer to that was affirmative, but it wouldn¡¯t have been noted down in that notebook.

    Gu Xiqiao was about to call Luo Weng when someone spoke up form behind her, ¡°God Gu, you¡¯re here! I thought Luo Weng tricked me!¡±

    Yu Ning walked over with a bright smile, starting to talk with her excitedly.

    Three of the most important people in Nine Heavens was Mu Zong, Luo Weng and Yu Ning, and the most mysterious of the three was Yu Ning who was in charge of the web development department.

    As the receptionists, they had only seen Yu Ning only once from far away, and this was the first time they saw the elusive man up close.

    More surprising to them, was how Yu Ning seemed like a respectfulckey in front of Gu Xiqiao.

    They looked at Gu Xiqiao for a long while, not knowing who it was, but soon enough they came up to the answer to that question and were stunned.

    ¡°Director Cheng gave you those clips, right?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked. ¡°This is the first lead role that Ning Qing acted as, so you have to put a hundred and twenty percent into it and make it as perfect as you can!¡±

    It was the best if they could premier it before the international movie awards, so that Ning Qing might get considered as one of the nominees of the best lead actress prize.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been very busy with the virtual world,tely...¡± Ning Yu grumbled, before looking at Gu Xiqiao with an expectant expression. ¡°If youe and help us, we¡¯ll definitely make this as quickly and as well as we can!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao only fixed him with a stare, before patting his shoulder. ¡°You can even deconstruct the source code, I¡¯m sure you can do it even if I wasn¡¯t there.¡±

    Yu Ning: ¡°...¡±

    The two got to the web development room, and all of the employees there were busy with work, a couple of them discussing heatedly sometimes, and Gu Xiqiao walked over to the hostputer and looked at the threads of code that were being calcted on it. ¡°Lil System, don¡¯t you think something¡¯s missing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Beauty Qiao. It isn¡¯t so simple to create and run a virtual world because it has to hold the consciousness of countless people, and there¡¯s too much data involved.¡± The system spirit knew the problem with a single nce. ¡°You should create an intelligent processing system that can keep the entire system stable and safe.¡±

    ¡°Are you an intelligent processing system?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the highest grade artificial intelligence in the entire world, of course I am!¡± After it said so, it floated there dumbly in the air, realizing that it had basically sold itself off.

    The young man sitting at the hostputer was You Huan, one of the freshmen at A University that was scouted by Luo Weng because of his talent, and when he knew that Luo Weng belonged to Nine Heavens, he was greatly surprised and in disbelief.

    He was brought to thepany in a dazed state, and upon seeing all the renowned hackers and programmers working there, he felt as if he was dreaming.

    On everyputer in the department held countless softwares and codes that surpassed his recognition, and after only three days he felt as if he was in apletely new world, and it was no wonder why everyone was so focused and enthralled.

    He was working on the virtual world just like everyone else, but they seemed to have run into a wall when the code couldn¡¯t even run.

    It had been three days since they were stuck like this, and even Yu Ning couldn¡¯t think of a way to resolve it.

    As You Huan was scratching his head in frustration, a hand reached over and took the mouse over from him.

    He raised his head and saw a familiar face, and for a moment he didn¡¯t even know how to react. ¡°Beauty Gu?¡±

    He knew who she was, because what student of A University would he be if he didn¡¯t, but he never expected to see her in this ce.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...Scoot over for a bit, will you?¡±

    You Huan got up from his seat, still dazed as he looked at her, and Gu Xiqiao sat down and started typing on the keyboard. ¡°As my lil¡¯ system, it is your duty to help me out! Let¡¯s get started on that intelligent processing system.¡±

    The lil¡¯ system: ¡°...Okay.¡±

    A page of code appeared on the monitor, and then it started rolling down quickly with data and code while those lithe fingers typed so fast on the keyboard that it was hard to even track with the naked eye.

    Everyone in the room had already surrounded her, and was watching her with awe.

    You Huan waspletely stunned. ¡°D-Did she just-¡±

    ¡°Solve all our problems we had in the past three days? Yes, yes she did.¡± Yu Ning replied, looking at Gu Xiqiao work attentively.

    After a final decisive tap on the keyboard, Gu Xiqiao got up from the seat. ¡°That should do it for the mainframe of an intelligent processing system.¡±

    Yu Ning: ¡°...¡± Now he feels useless!

    Everyone else: ¡°...¡± They were used to it, but it was still too much of a shock!

    Meanwhile, You Huan stood there as if he became a statue.

    Gu Xiqiao went to find Luo Weng, but neither Mu Zong nor Luo Weng were at their offices, so she sat there at Luo Weng¡¯s office before a secretary came up to her with a pile of documents.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡±

    The phone suddenly rang, and it was Zhu Yuan that called her.

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s tone was urgent as he spoke: ¡°Beauty Gu, my master and I have to go see someone important, can we meet tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to bring your silver needles.¡±

    Zhu Yuan hummed affirmatively in reply before hanging up hastily.

 Chapter 211 - Prophecy

    <h4>Chapter 211: Prophecy</h4>

    Mu Zong came back earlier than Luo Weng because his objective had been achieved even though the meeting wasn¡¯t over, and he rushed over immediately upon hearing that Gu Xiqiao was here at Nine Heavens.

    In the office, Gu Xiqiao had already finished reading all the documents and was typing up a storm on theputer.

    When Mu Zong pushed the door to enter, she had just finished typing everything out and was in the middle of printing.

    ¡°Uncle Mu,¡± she greeted with a smile.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, why did you suddenly change your ns?¡± Mu Zong looked at Gu Xiqiao strangely. They had conflicts with Fu Enterprise and were evenpetitors, but now Gu Xiqiao asked him and Luo Weng to work together with them?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, instead handing him the papers that she had just finished printing. ¡°I wanted to discuss it with you, but since you both weren¡¯t here, I printed everything out. Look over it carefully, yeah? I have ns, so I¡¯ll be leaving.¡±

    The papers were on a coborative n, and even though he couldn¡¯t read as fast as Gu Xiqiao could, he waspletely stuck to the document as soon as he started reading, to the point where he even forgot to sit down.

    Upon seeing his current state, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose and left.

    When Luo Weng came back to this scene, he looked over at the papers curiously and froze up in an instant.

    He could read much faster than Mu Zong, but after he got the papers from him, he looked over the entire stack again and again, not willing to put it down.

    ¡°Where is she?¡± Luo Weng was raring to discuss with Gu Xiqiao after reading through everything, but he didn¡¯t see the girl anywhere in the room.

    Mu Zong sighed. ¡°She left when I came.¡±

    Luo Weng: ¡°...¡± He wanted to fight her!

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao had already made her way to Hua Youlin¡¯s school, and upon seeing that there was still some time until school let out, she went to a random milk tea shop and sat down by the ss-pane window with a fresh cup of milk tea, scrolling down her phone as she did.

    She tapped open her Weibo, and she was quite surprised to see that she had already gotten more than twenty million followers!

    When did that happen?

    It was only after she scrolled through the top replies in her newest post that she realized why this was¡ªNot only were there fans of her beauty and her acting, but there were also many new followers that came to her page because of her achievements in art and medicine.

    There were fans from China, America, Ennd, and all across the world.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully before tapping on her phone again.

    (Verified) For A Millennium: [JPEG]

    Barely a secondter, the replies section exploded.

    ¡°I thought it was a selfie, but what in the world is this?¡±

    ¡°What do all of these symbols and words mean? I failed my science subjects in school!¡±

    ¡°Ah! So that was what it was! I know what I did wrong now!¡±

    ¡°No wonder we failed our experiments where we tried to recreate this virus, it was because of the molecr form for thest protein!¡±

    ¡°+1, but we didn¡¯t even get to that point before we failed!¡±

    ¡°I almost thought this virus was Eb, with a 50%~90% mortality rate! How could such a virus cause rapid cell division?¡±

    ¡°,,,¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I understand a word of what they¡¯re saying? Am I dumb? Am I the abnormal one?!¡±

    ¡°All hail our goddess, but I can¡¯t understand anything either... I want to cry QAQ¡±

    ¡°... Is it just me, or are the topments all renowned doctors? :O¡±

    ¡°There are also renowned artists too!¡±

    ¡°The topment is the head of the People¡¯s Hospital in Imperial Capital, one of the members of the WMA! He¡¯s the one that performed surgery on my grandfather!¡±

    ¡°... Not to mention all the people from the second to fifth topments... Just click into your profiles, you¡¯ll see what I mean...¡±

    A lot of people clicked on the profiles of these topmenters, then came back with terrified expressions.

    ¡°It¡¯s so scary to be uneducated these days, and now we have to vie for attention with all of these people?!¡±

    ¡°I feel kinda unworthy to be fans of someone together with all these people...¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao read through some of thements, before replying to one seriously, ¡°The Eb Virus isn¡¯t as terrifying as it sounds! In fact, this virus is actually a mutated strain of the Eb Virus, and we¡¯re actually undergoing research on its ability to spread, and it¡¯s already a great achievement for you to be able to crack the molecr form of the Eb Virus, keep on the good work!¡±

    She didn¡¯t know how thisment was pushed up to the topment immediately, causing heated debate in the medical world.

    At that time, her gaze was attracted to the road outside.

    [Ding! Daily Good Deed mission activated: Save the mission objective!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 20 points!]

    This area was close to both a middle school and a primary school, and it was around the time when school let out, so there were a lot of primary school students walking around the pavement.

    In the middle of the road was an extremely petite girl, and in front of her was a car that was barreling in her direction, seemingly having lost control.

    The next second, Gu Xiqiao disappeared from her position in the milk tea shop, and at that moment everyone closed their eyes in fear of witnessing what was about to happen.

    With a bang, the ck car bumped into the rails by the road, and judging from how the front of the car waspletely crushed, it was easy to see how strong the momentum was. If that car drove into a human being, they would undoubtedly be killed on the spot!

    Gu Xiqiao stood there and looked down at the girl in her arms. The girl had blonder hair and pale skin, and was staring at her with those doe eyes of hers that were filled with curiosity.

    From the looks of it, she seemed like a mixed-blood child.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your family?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked around, not seeing anyone that seemed to be the girl¡¯s parents.

    The girl stared at Gu Xiqiao, before eximing, ¡°You are gorgeous*[1]!¡±

    ¡°... Thank you.¡± The edge of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lip twitched before she set the girl down and asked again, ¡°Do you know where your family is?¡±

    The girl pouted cutely, before pointing at another direction. ¡°My brother¡¯sing!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked over at the direction which the girl was pointing at and squinted a little in an effort to remember who this familiar person was. ¡°Be careful the next time you cross the street, okay?¡±

    After she said that, she turned around and left.

    ***

    The girl hadn¡¯t expected Gu Xiqiao to leave just like that, and she reached out to catch her sleeve, but even though it seemed like she was right in front of her, she couldn¡¯t even touch it! The girl looked on as Gu Xiqiao left the scene, and then looked down at her own pudgy fingers in disbelief.

    ¡°Yin Aoxue, why did you run off by yourself?¡± A figure walked over and carried the girl into his arms, quite displeased.

    Yin Aoxue rolled her eyes, before replying, ¡°Shi Haizhe, you¡¯re the one that¡¯ste okay? I was almost run over by a car, thank goodness a gorgeous big sister saved me!¡±

    ¡°Almost run over by a car?¡± Shi Haizhe looked over at the car that was crumpled beside the road with an aghast expression. ¡°You were almost run over by that?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Thank goodness the pretty big sister was there to save me!¡± Yin Aoxue nodded, looking over in the direction in which Gu Xiqiao left with a regretful expression. ¡°I forgot to ask for her name!¡±

    At that moment, an ambnce came rushing onto the scene, and the driver was carried out of the car, his entire face covered with blood, and Shi Haizhe looked on at this scene with furrowed brows.

    He was about to go check on the situation and ask about who the pretty big sister Yin Aoxue talked about was, but then his phone rang.

    Fishing the phone out of his pocket, he epted the call and set the phone to his ear as he held Yin Aoxue¡¯s hand, and after he heard what the person on the other end said, he was greatly astonished and tried to drag Yin Aoxue away immediately, to no avail.

    ¡°Brother, you have to help me find the pretty big sister!¡± Yin Aoxue stood there with a pout, and as if she were an unmoving mountain, Shi Haizhe couldn¡¯t even drag her away even if he tried.

    Upon remembering her special ability, he crouched down and looked into her eyes, talking with a patient tone, ¡°I¡¯m going to take you to see your Uncle Wanqi! Doesn¡¯t our little Xue¡¯er like him the most?¡±

    Yin Aoxue was only six years old, but she was actually part of the looksmittee[2], and she adored people that looked good. Wanqi Jue was one of the most handsome people that she ever met, and hence her most favorite, and every time his name was mentioned she would get very excited.

    He had expected the little girl to be excited at the prospect of meeting the handsome man, but it was as if she was apletely different person. ¡°No, I have decided! That pretty older sister is my favorite person in the world from now on!¡±

    Shi Haizhe: ¡°...¡± So who was it?!

    ¡°I promise you that I will help you find your pretty big sister, but Uncle Wanqi is sick, you see? Don¡¯t you want to go visit him?¡± Shi Haizhe asked with a serious expression.

    Yin Aoxue: ¡°Well... If you say so...¡±

    And so the girl was dragged along by Shi Haizhe, looking back at the ce where she stood with Gu Xiqiao every three steps and sighing as if she had suffered a great loss.

    Shi Haizhe: ¡°...¡± How would Wanqi Jue feel if he saw this?

    ***

    Wanqi Jue was someone that knew how to enjoy life, and even his temporary living ce was a vi with its own flower garden, and it was clear with a single nce that every piece of furniture was extremely expensive.

    When Shi Haizhe got there, both Rong Feishuang and Zhu Yuan had already arrived on the scene.

    ¡°Divine Doctor Rong?¡± The man was quite surprised to see that even the divine doctor was there!

    In any case, if he was there, then there was no need to be worried about Wanqi Jue¡¯s injuries. He looked towards the bed, and even though the manying there was a little more sickly-looking than usual, he seemed to not have gotten any serious injuries.

    At that time, Zhu Yuan had just finished applying silver needles to him.

    ¡°Would it be hard to treat this in a short time?¡± Wanqi Jue looked at Rong Feishuang with his amethyst eyes that looked like whirlpools that drew people in.

    Rong Feishuang shook his head. ¡°Mr. Wanqi, you should know that you were injured to your organs.¡±

    Wanqi Jue looked down at his own hands with a cold expression. He knew better than anyone that he was hurt very badly because that international criminal didn¡¯t have any ns of leaving him alive in the first ce.

    When he was injured, his subordinates quickly sent his medical records to Ennd, and after their headquarters looked over them, they came to the conclusion that his injuries were untreatable.

    He had thought that he was about to be a cripple for the rest of his life, but he hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Shuxuan to get the elusive divine doctor Rong Feishuang to help him, and most important was that the man would be able to heal himpletely!

    The only prerequisite to his recovery was only that he did not use any of his ancient martial arts for one year.

    If it were any other time, this would be more than easy to achieve, but...

    ¡°The ranking battles areing up in two months.¡± Wanqi Jue looked at Rong Feishuang. ¡°You should know the importance of these ranking battles, and its prize, the Cyberspace. You know how important this is to the survival of my n.¡±

    Rong Feishuang was silent for a moment. ¡°Your body needs at least half a year to recover by itself before it can take any more chi flowing through it, or you will be irreparably crippled!¡±

    Even though he already knew the answer, Wanqi Jue lowered his head in despair, the whirlpools in his eyes turning into dead pools of water.

    At that moment, he suddenly remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words to take care of his safety before the next day came.

    Then, heughed at himself. How could someone predict the future?

    What she said probably came true just by chance.

    Zhu Yuan looked at Wanqi Jue¡¯s despaired expression and mulled over his words, before speaking, ¡°... Well, there¡¯s one way we could try...¡±

    Wanqi Jue raised his head expectantly, knowing that this student of Rong Feishuang¡¯s was one of the best doctors in the world too. ¡°What is it?¡±

    Rong Feishuang looked over at Zhu Yuan. ¡°Do you mean...¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhu Yuan nodded. ¡°If it¡¯s her, there might be a way to let him recover.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Wanqi Jue looked in confusion at the charades that were going on in front of him, but seeing as both doctors in front of him came to the same conclusion without speaking, there must be hope.

    Zhu Yuan looked back at Wanqi Jue with a mysterious smile. ¡°Someone that might be able to let you take part in the ranking battles.¡±

    [1] T/N: In the raw, the girl says this in English

    [2] T/N: The saying ¡®part of the looksmittee¡¯ refers to people that are superficial or value good looks more than the regr person

 Chapter 212 - A Deal You Cant Resist

    <h4>Chapter 212: A Deal You Can¡¯t Resist</h4>

    ¡°Perhaps?¡± Wanqi Jue looked at Zhu Yuan as whatever hope he had drained out of his face in an instant. If even Divine Doctor Rong was unable toe up with a viable n to tackle this problem, death must be the only conclusion. He sighed. ¡°I thought that he¡¯d be able to save me. I didn¡¯t expect to hear such news.¡±

    The bitter feeling of regret swelled up from the bottom of his heart. His family had been facing constant ostracization by the current British leader.

    If they chose not to participate in this uingpetition and subsequently fail to obtain precious resources, he could imagine just how difficult things would be for his family in the future.

    Zhu Yuan was also unsure about this situation. There was no guarantee that Gu Xiqiao would be able to get Wanqi Jue back into practicing ancient martial arts within a span of two months. Still, that did not stop him from trying to do so.

    He walked out the door and gave Gu Xiqiao a phone call.

    Shi Haizhe overheard their conversation and finally understood what was going on.

    He was shocked to the very core when he heard from the divine doctor that Wanqi Jue could not participate in the rankingpetition.

    One thing set him apart from both Rong Feishuang and Zhu Yuan. He was aware of Wanqi Jue and his family¡¯s position within the United Kingdom. Of course, that included the essential role that Wanqi Jue was ying. Now that he himself was injured, what would happen to the Wanqi family?

    ¡°Wanqi, does the leader of the UK know about your injuries?¡± asked Shi Haizhe with a dead serious expression.

    Instantly, he was reminded of the car ident from earlier today. For such things to happen simultaneously, he wouldn¡¯t believe it if you told him there wasn¡¯t a plot behind this!

    Wanqi Jue looked down at the ground. ¡°My family was looking for a doctor out on the streets. No way they wouldn¡¯t notice it.¡±

    ¡°I must return to the UK first,¡± responded Shi Haizhe who gripped Yin Aoxue¡¯s wrist tightly.

    Yin Aoxue, the usual oddball, was surprisingly obedient today. Despite her hand hurting from being squeezed too tightly, she said not even a word in protest.

    ¡°No, there¡¯s no need for that. It¡¯s futile, really. You won¡¯t get past those men, I¡¯m sure.¡± Wanqi Jue looked down at both his hands. ¡°I¡¯m afraid the Wanqi family can only run away from this conclusion for a hundred years. I fear that they¡¯d even cut off our final route of escape.¡±

    Shi Haizhe went silent upon hearing this. Judging from how relentless those people have been, this oue wasn¡¯tpletely unfeasible.

    For a moment, there was nothing in the ce but dead silence.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was waiting by the entrance of the middle school. The bell that signaled the end of the day had already rang. She saw Hua Youlin hugging onto a pile of books, strolling out of the entrance beside Luo Wenlin.

    ¡°Little Hua, over here.¡± Just in case Hua Youlin did not see her, Gu Xiqiao made sure to wave her hands at him.

    Hua Youlin noticed her the moment he walked past the school gate. Standing near the entrance, her unusually beautiful face attracted the attention of many students. Despite standing in the middle of a sea of humans, his eyes were able to locate her pretty face in just a couple of seconds.

    Waving Luo Wenlin goodbye, Hua Youlin jogged over to where Gu Xiqiao was standing.

    ¡°Big Sis Gu, why are you here?¡± It didn¡¯t seem like she had driven here. Were they gonna walk home today? For some unknown reason, he was a little excited to see her.

    Gu Xiqiao responded with a smile. She proceeded to point at a milk tea shop not far away. ¡°I just happened to be around the area. Say, do you want to get some milk tea with me?¡±

    Hua Youlin nced up at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Big Sis Gu, it¡¯s time to cut down on your consumption of milk tea. It only serves to add to your blood sugar level. It¡¯s also harmful to one¡¯s ability to retain memories. Long-term and consistent consumption of milk tea will lead to sodium cymate poisoning, which is aponent within...¡±

    h h h.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know whether she shouldugh or cry at the situation. ¡°Now now, I¡¯m not afraid of these things.¡±

    Recalling how unrivaled her memory was, Hua Youlin¡¯s mouth sealed shut immediately.

    ¡°Hey, you really don¡¯t want a cup for yourself?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao as she stopped near the milk tea shop.

    ¡°... Banana vored.¡± He could feel his will slowly being chipped-away by the temptation the banana-vored milk tea offered. In the end, he fell helplessly into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s trap.

    Poof!

    Gu Xiqiao disappeared into the milk tea shop to buy him his banana-vored beverage.

    She froze up upon cing the steaming hot cup of milk tea into Hua Youlin¡¯s hands. Looking behind the boy, the smile that was initially on her face disappeared in the blink of an eye.

    Hua Youlin followed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze after grabbing onto his milk tea. Turning around, he noticed a familiar figure standing not far away. That person started walking towards them at a snail¡¯s pace.

    Despite the freezing temperature, that man did not have a coat on. The only thing he wore was a crisp white shirt with its cuffs rolled up, which added to the ruggedness of his look.

    Jiang Shuxuan slowly walked up to their table. Seeing the umbre in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand, he instinctively reached for it. To his surprise, Gu Xiqiao tightened her grip on the umbre. He pulled but failed to get the umbre out of her hand. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    His ink-dark eyes focused on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. His expression was a little puzzled but his face remained handsome nheless.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled before passing the umbre handle over to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Brother Jiang, bring Little Hua back home with you. I have to meet up with Zhu Yuan first.¡±

    She raised her phone and showed Jiang Shuxuan the most recent text message she received.

    Jiang Shuxuan stared at her for a handful of seconds before mumbling a response.

    ¡°Hm.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll watch as you two go.¡± Gu Xiqiao shed him an innocent smile, as if nothing had changed between them.

    ¡°When are youing back? I¡¯ll pick you up.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao wiggled her phone around. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll give you a call when the timees.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her face and upon concluding that there wasn¡¯t anything different from before, he left with Hua Youlin.

    It was only after seeing their two silhouettes disappear into the distance that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s facial expression changed. Her initially cheerful smile turned instantaneously into a dark frown.

    ¡°Say, if I can predict Wanqi Jue getting injured, why can¡¯t I predict that he would show up?¡± Gu Xiqiao covered her eyes in an attempt to hide the coldness in her eyes as well as the tears that were about to roll down her cheeks.

    The system flew out to console her. ¡°Beauty Qiao, this isn¡¯t your fault at all. Even I find it impossible to detect Master Jiang¡¯s emotions. It¡¯s rtively normal that you can¡¯t predict his next move.¡±

    Normal?

    Was that really normal?

    Gu Xiqiao did note up with a reply. Step by step, she walked over to the address where Wanqi Jue was supposed to be at. Although her stride was small, she reappeared at a spot a hundred meters away in the next second.

    Amidst the noisy crowd, her existence was like a ghost.

    ***

    Zhu Yuan, who came down to wee her saw for the first time, how cold and hostile her expression could get. Standing next to her felt like standing smack in the middle of an ice cer. There was also an invisible pressure that made him struggle to lift his foot to take the next step.

    The room upstairs was filled with silence.

    Wanqi Jue was looking down at his own two hands while Rong Feishuang, upon receiving the needles that Zhu Yuan brought over, was continuously making calctions, constantly sniffing around for new methods to approach this problem. Reconnecting a broken chi channel was a hard enough task on its own. To achieve full sess within two months was something not even God was capable of!

    Rong Feishuang couldn¡¯t help but sigh helplessly.

    Shi Haizhe¡¯s heart sank even lower when he saw Rong Feishuang¡¯s reaction.

    With a ¡®click¡¯, the door popped open.

    It wasn¡¯t very loud. However, one could hear even the drop of a needle in the dead silence of the room. Out of reflex, everyone in the room spun around to look at the door.

    In came a youngdy. There wasn¡¯t an ounce of emotion on her face. Her expression was ice-cold and so was her gaze. It almost felt as if her face was shining like freshly-fallen snow under the sun. Amidst her mystifying good-looks was a hint of bitterness. Even so, the dark gray atmosphere that gued their room had brightened up significantly the moment she stepped through the door.

    Wanqi Jue too was momentarily taken aback. If not for his photographic memory, he would not have recognized who Gu Xiqiao was.

    One was elegant and refreshing, the other was as cold as ice. Twopletely different archetypes and yet as amazing as one another.

    Gu Xiqiao first walked over to Rong Feishuang. Respectfully, she greeted him, ¡°Divine Doctor Rong.¡±

    Her clear voice jolted everyone out of their mental daze.

    ¡°Pretty sister!¡± Yin Aoxue, who had remained silent for a while finally opened her mouth. Immediately after that, she attempted to break free from Shi Haizhe¡¯s grip but to no avail as he tightened his hands further around her wrist.

    Shi Haizhe too, looked over at Gu Xiqiao. He remembered instantly that he had met this youngdy before.

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her gaze. ncing at Yin Aoxue, her facial expression was surprisingly calm considering the situation they were in.

    ¡°Miss Gu really is a battle-hardened veteran in medicine. I don¡¯t think I am worthy of being called a divine doctor with you around. You can just call me Grandpa Rong next time,¡± responded Diving Doctor Rong immediately. Although this youngdy was barely twenty years old, her knowledge and grasp of medicine was as good as his. In some aspects, she had already exceeded what he was capable of.

    How could he be called a divine doctor then?

    ¡°Grandpa Rong¡± said Gu Xiqiao in a friendly manner. She then moved her gaze over to the table next to Rong Feishuang. Laid out across its surface were a couple of needles, all arranged in a specific order.

    She stared at it for a while, trying to hold herself back, which she eventually failed to. She started to shift the needles around.

    Rong Feishuang watched as her fingers moved the needles around. Suddenly, a glow appeared in his blurry eyes. Staring wide-eyed at the needles, he suddenly said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know it works this way too!¡±

    ¡°Take a look at Mr. Wanqi.¡± Zhu Yuan looked at the needles on the tabletop before realizing that this was precisely the acupuncture technique that Gu Xiqiao had taught him not long ago. He did not mull over it that much. Instead, he started briefing her on Wanqi Jue¡¯s illness. ¡°His meridian channels and muscles have been broken. Apart from that, his lungs have been damaged...¡±

    Wanqi Jue stared at the youngdy who approached him step by step. He discovered that when talking to her, Zhu Yuan was acting in a surprisingly respectful manner. Unconsciously, he ced himself in a more submissive position in rtion to Gu Xiqiao.

    To make the arrogant Zhu Yuan act so subserviently, his curiosity towards Gu Xiqiao was piqued. For a brief moment, he forgot all about the pain his body was going through.

    Suddenly, he felt a coldness in his wrists.

    Looking down, he noticed a jade-like fingertip resting on his inner-wrist. Her pale-white skin was so radiant it seemed to be emitting a bright white light.

    In the next instant, warmth flowed from her fingertips down into his arm and into the core of his body.

    He could feel his entire body being enveloped by a ball of warmth. His pain slowly dissipated while his chi, which was on the brink of death, gradually returned to his body.

    It wasn¡¯t only him who felt this; everyone in the room suddenly felt a tidal wave of life-giving energy sweep over them.

    Rong Feishuang held his breath as he awaited the final oue.

    ¡®Little system, scan his body now.¡¯ While directly injecting chi to restore his broken channel, Gu Xiqiao ordered the system to take a real-time scan of Wanqi Jue¡¯s body.

    A clear panel materialized in front of her face in the next moment. On it were details about Wanqi Jue¡¯s injury as well as an overview of the treatments that Rong Feishuang used on him.

    Gu Xiqiao retracted her hand. Peering back up at Wanqi Jue, she asked with a face devoid of emotions: ¡°How do you feel now?¡±

    ¡°Not bad at all.¡± Wanqi Jue touched his hand out of reflex and was overfilled with joy when he discovered that movement had indeed been restored. His blue eyes were honest when he said, ¡°My hand, it can move again.¡±

    As soon as he said that, silence ensued. They all looked with shock on their faces as Wanqi Jue raised his arm.

    The muscles in his injured hand had beenpletely torn apart. Rong Feishuang said that it would take at least a week before he could move it again. Shi Haizhe was bewildered by how fast Wanqi Jue had recovered. He had never heard about someone recovering in such a manner.

    It had only taken a few minutes at best. And yet, here he was, moving his hand around. If he wasn¡¯t aware of how serious Wanqi Jue¡¯s injuries were, he would¡¯ve used him of faking an injury right then and there!

    Zhu Yuan was sure that Gu Xiqiao had a n in her mind but never thought that it would take effect so quickly. Fortunately, he had grown used to such a scene. ncing at his master, he realized that Rong Feishuang¡¯s jaws had dropped almost to the ground.

    Never in his life had he seen his master react so dramatically. Zhu Yuan sighed in silence before looking back up at Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you can move your hand.¡± Gu Xiqiao seems to have already expected this to happen. She then produced a set of needles which she skillfully pierced into his skin. ¡°I heard that there¡¯s a feud between your family and the leader of the United Kingdom?¡±

    Although it was phrased as a question, she sounded like she already knew all about it.

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s pupils constricted. This was their family¡¯s safeguarded secret; only core members of their family knew about this. Where on Earth did she learn about this?

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look. I just want to make a deal with you,¡± said Gu Xiqiao bluntly. Upon sticking in her final needle, she looked into Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes and firmly added, ¡°Would you ept a deal if I reced the power that rules over the UK with someone from the Wanqi family?¡±

 Chapter 213 - Drifting Into A Trap

    <h4>Chapter 213: Drifting Into A Trap</h4>

    Rece the leader of the United Kingdom?

    Wanqi Jue felt like he was about to burst outughing at this suggestion. However, he refrained from doing so when he saw the dead serious look in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ink-dark eyes. Nothing suggested that she was saying this as a joke.

    ¡°I will try my best to let you recover swiftly.¡± chi flowed constantly from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. ¡°I just need to hear one thing from you. Would you ept or decline my offer?¡±

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s grin faded away from his face instantly. ¡°I¡¯ll take it.¡±

    No matter from which perspective you looked at this, he was on the winning side of the deal. Even he did not dare to even think about recing someone in charge of the entire United Kingdom with someone from his own family. And here she was, putting forth this proposition to him.

    Wanqi Jue was skeptical about her offer. In fact, he started to suspect that she had already lost her mind.

    He was left with no other choice. The leader of the United Kingdom has decided tobel his family as public enemy number one. Wanqi Jue had already prepared himself to face the worst oue when his family could run away from their enemies no longer. God knows how many talented young souls would be sacrificed then. Due to this, he waspelled to hold onto whatever strand of hope there was in front of him, even if it meant epting help from a youngdy.

    ¡°So, what do I need to do?¡± asked Wanqi Jue.

    ¡°Nothing. I¡¯ll contact you at night.¡± Gu Xiqiao waited for a couple of minutes before carefully pulling out the needles that were inserted into his damaged hand. The look in her eyes was cold and calcting. She was sure that someone would foolishly march towards their death soon.

    Rong Feishuang snapped out of his reverie the moment he caught sight of Gu Xiqiao resting her hands on Wanqi Jue¡¯s forehead. Somehow, he understood what she was trying to do which also led to his facial expression changing instantly. ¡°No! You can¡¯t do that no matter what!¡±

    ¡°Grandpa Rong, I have no choice but to press onwards.¡± Despite chi flowing out of her body at a constant rate, her face was still as calm as still water. The only noticeable difference about her was that herplexion was growing paler by the second. Her iron-will however, enabled her to ride through the hail.

    Rong Feishuang swallowed the condescending words of advice he was about to spit forth when he saw the look on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. He sighed. ¡°Little brat, hurry up and bring me my bottle of pills back from the ancient martial arts world!¡± All of a sudden, he had no idea what else he could say to her, and so he gave Zhu Yuan a hefty kick.

    Zhu Yuan knew perfectly well how much money and resources were poured into formting the vitality-restoring pills his master was talking about. Seeing how serious Rong Feishuang¡¯s face was, he nced at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face one final time before leaving the ce.

    Wanqi Jue had unconsciously closed his eyelids shut. As an overwhelminglyrge amount of chi poured into his cranium, the experience he was feeling was different from the one he felt prior to this. He felt as if his entire body was soaking in a warm pool of spring water. The pain that had spread all over his body gradually died out and at one point, he could even physically feel his own chi channel reconnecting itself.

    ¡°Divine Doctor Rong, what¡¯s happening right now?¡± asked Shi Haizhe who finally regained hisposure.

    Rong Feishuang stared intently at Gu Xiqiao, his face full of shock. ¡°She¡¯s burning up her own chi like a form of fuel. If this goes on, the root of his pain might bepletely removed. In fact, he may very well return to his previous state.¡±

    Shi Haizhe could not imagine what was going on in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. How swift could it ever get? What was originally a treatment n that was supposed to stretch over a month seemed like it was only going to take a single night under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s care. That of course, involved the risk of her wasting her body in the process.

    With pursed lips, Shi Haizhe watched the youngdy silently as she worked on Wanqi Jue¡¯s body.

    A short whileter, she finally moved her hand away.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was almost colorless by then. Her originally paleplexion now seemed almost see-through with her in such a state. Although her condition appeared rtively stable, Shi Haizhe got to know through Rong Feishuang¡¯s exnation that Gu Xiqiao was currently no better than Wanqi Jue himself.

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s tightly shut eyelids propped open. His dted sky-blue pupils once again constricted.

    ¡°From now on, I wille for a visit every three days.¡± Gu Xiqiao produced a pen and paper from her pocket, which she used to scribble something down. Abruptly, she looked up as her lips bent into a mile, ¡°Tomorrow, you can use half the strength of what you normally can exert. There¡¯s no need for you to worry about any effects either.¡±

    After scribbling down a couple of lines on the paper, she once again took out a white porcin bottle from her pocket before tossing it into his hands. ¡°Remember to eat a single pill after your fight.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow?¡± Wanqi Jue felt that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words carried two meanings. Just what did she mean by ¡®tomorrow¡¯? From the very start, he failed to keep up with her train of thought, no matter how hard he tried.

    Zhu Yuan hastily ran over before passing a simr-looking white porcin bottle over to his master. ¡°This is something to help with restoring your vitality. Although its effects are limited, it¡¯ll at least make you feel slightly better tonight.¡±

    Rong Feishuang wanted to ask Gu Xiqiao something about Yu Man but after observing the condition she was in, he realized that perhaps this wasn¡¯t the right time to raise such a topic.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Gu Xiqiao was a little surprised by the humble offering. She slowly grabbed hold of the bottle before passing the pills she had just prescripted over to Zhu Yuan. ¡°This is a medicinal bath that must be taken every day. I¡¯ll leave it to you for the moment. I¡¯m gonna leave now.¡±

    Zhu Yuan silently took it from her before sending her off at the door.

    When he returned, Wanqi Jue had already mbered out of his bed. Staring Zhu Yuan in the eyes, he asked, ¡°Has she gone?¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± responded Zhu Yuan with a nod. Then, he passed the paper over to Rong Feishuang.

    Upon receiving his answer, Wanqi Jue sat down silently on his bed. Shi Haizhe had told him a moment ago that in order to save him, Gu Xiqiao had made an incrediblyrge sacrifice, perhaps she might even lose her powers permanently. Thinking back to the immense level of mental strength she possessed, which was on par with his skills, an indescribable feeling filled his heart.

    ¡°Boohoo! How pitiful the pretty sister is!¡± Yin Aoxue started sobbing upon hearing Rong Feishuang¡¯s exnation.

    Shi Haizhe patted her head before turning towards Wanqi Jue. ¡°I¡¯ll send Little Xue home first.¡±

    Eyes still closed, Wanqi Jue responded with a silent nod.

    Shi Haizhe let out a helpless sigh. Without saying a word more, he brought Yin Aoxue away with him.

    Whatever that happened tonight was enough to send him into a state of shock for a very long time.

    ***

    On the way, the feisty littless kept demanding, ¡°Shi Haizhe do you hear me?! I want to see the pretty big sis right this instant!¡±

    ¡°Now, now, can you not make such a big fuss out of this? I¡¯m still driving a car alright?!¡± He navigated his vehicle over to the bottom of his apartment building. Shi Haizhe let out a sigh in relief before telling her, ¡°Get down.¡±

    Yin Aoxue¡¯s lips remained sealed all of a sudden. She kept staring out of the window and was adamant about staying in the car. Right before Shi Haizhe was about to explode, she finally said something. ¡°That nasty ugly monster¡¯sing now. Hurry up and chase her away.¡±

    She had a specific tier-list for people she bumped into casually. The bottom of her list wasbeled ¡®nasty ugly monster¡¯ while the top wasbeled ¡®beautiful people¡¯.

    The figure standing outside the car was the sort of person whom she despised the most. Shi Haizhe looked over to catch a better glimpse of the person only to realize that it was none other than Shi Haixuan. His brows furrowed up as he exited the vehicle.

    To be honest, Shi Haixuan was not even remotely unattractive. In fact, many would call her a beauty. After all, she was once the fiance of Baili Bin. But for some unknown reason, Yin Aoxue had developed a dislike towards her.

    ¡°Big brother!¡± Shi Haixuan seemed like she was in a pinch. A glint appeared in her eyes the moment she saw Shi Haizhe.

    He was visibly repulsed when she called out his name. Typically, he would feel happy when Yin Aoxue called him that. However, only goosebumps were produced whenever his sister called out to him.

    Ever since Shi Haixuan and her mother entered his family, her resentment towards him was down to the bone. Never in his life had she treated him so respectfully. ¡°Shi Haixuan, I don¡¯t buy your silly little act. Spit it out. I¡¯m a very busy man.¡± He already had enough problems on his mind. Her popping out of nowhere irritated him to an even greater degree.

    The tone in which he responded made Shi Haixuan¡¯s face freeze up for a moment. Still, she forced out a smile before pleading, ¡°Big brother, please save me! You¡¯re the only one who can save me!¡±

    Just this afternoon, turmoil had swept through the ancient martial arts world. Through cooperation, Jiang Shuxuan and Baili Bin managed to flush out a criminal wanted by the internationalmunity. His strength wasparable to the top three strongest members of their realm; his capability had far exceeded what a regr human could possibly ever achieve in their lifetime.

    This thug had injured quite a number of high-level martial artists and now that he has been brought to his knees by the two-man team, it was natural that this news would spread like wildfire around the ancient martial arts world. There was even an almighty one who recorded the scene down on video. The intensity of this battle was reflected in the extensiveness of the coteral damage which left virtually no ce unscarred surrounding the main battleground.

    Nobody doubted Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s power. What piqued their interest was the man in a green shirt standing next to him¨Cwhy if it isn¡¯t Baili Bin!

    In the footage, his formation was surprisingly unpredictable; his skill in using it was miles ahead of anyone else. Even the grandmasters, who were researching formations came to an agreement that his ability in casting formations had already reached the realm of transformation, which made him worthy of being called the ¡®most powerful man in the formation casting world¡¯!

    The people of the Shi family panicked when this conclusion was rolled out. For the past few days, they have been at odds with the Baili family, trying constantly to stop them from rising to the top. At one point, they were even on the brink of sess. Shi Haixuan had already begun making preparations for a celebratory feast. This news came like a bolt of lightning out of the blue, making them stupefied.

    Although being the most powerful man in the world of formation masters wasn¡¯t nearly as glorious as being the most powerful man in the ancient martial arts world, it was more than enough to showcase Baili Bin¡¯s abilities. Not only had his legs healed, but he was also now stronger than before!

    The Gu family was originally an ally of the Shi family in trying to crush the Baili family. When the news of Baili Bin¡¯s triumph came, they instantly pulled out their forces which they had deployed against the Baili family. Worse still, they had even abandoned the marriage of one of their family members with someone from the Shi family. Pretty much all diplomatic ties between the two had been severed overnight.

    Shi Haixuan was already mmed with feelings of regret when she heard that Baili Bin was back on his feet. She didn¡¯t know what words to use in order to describe her feelings when this footage was made public. The closest equivalent to what she was feeling was someone slicing her skin open, cut after cut. Being the most powerful formation master naturally meant that one would enjoy great glory and privilege after all.

    She did not dare to walk out of her home that day as she feared that she would beughed at behind her back.

    Back when Baili Bin lost function of his legs, her demanding to walk away from their marriage was not surprising to many. However, this rumor had once again surfaced to public attention. Some used the Shi family of kicking the Baili family while they were down, that they were ungrateful beasts...

    Shi Haixuan was trembling in fear this time. Now that the Baili family was back on their feet, her own family would undoubtedly hand her over in an effort to make peace. How on Earth would she remain standing in her family in the future?

    Amidst the fear and panic, she came looking for Shi Haizhe under her mother¡¯s advice. She hoped that he would give her a helping hand at such a crucial moment, on the basis that they were ¡®siblings¡¯.

    Shi Haizhe snorted after he heard her exnation. ¡°Shi Haixuan, don¡¯t you forget that YOU were the one who demanded to abandon the marriage. Don¡¯t you think that you should be the one facing the music? I did warn you against your foolish decision did I not? Now that the Baili family has risen up, youe running to me to beg for my help? Let me set things clear, Shi Haixuan. You aren¡¯t even worth a single dime to me inparison with my brothers!¡±

    There was not an ounce of warmth in his gaze. His eyes were instead, filled with mockery and disdain.

    Shi Haixuan stumbled backward as she watched him lead the young girl upstairs. After what she had been through, she did not have the courage to follow him upstairs.

    Now that Shi Haizhe t out rejected her, what was she supposed to do? With shaking hands, she called her mother. Her call was answered only after a couple of seconds. ¡°Mother, Shi Haizhe refused to help me! What do I do now?¡± She sounded as if she was on the brink of bursting into tears.

    ¡°That son of a b*tch!¡± The voice on the other end of the line was raging. Only sporadic breathing could be heard for a moment when she thought about their next n. ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯ve run out of ns. Do you know the Fu family?¡±

    Shi Haixuan was relieved when she realized that her mother still had cards up her sleeve. ¡°I know who they are but are they rted to the Baili family or something?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about that piece of trash, Fu Wei! As much as a piece of garbage he is, he has a prodigal daughter.¡± As if she had found a sound solution, calmness returned to her voice. ¡°His daughter¡¯s called Fu Xuejun. I heard she¡¯s just returned from overseas. She¡¯s probably studying at A University. This girl is the cousin of Baili Bin. Not only that, but she is also treasured well by her family. You should forge a solid rtionship with her. If things go ording to n, the Baili family would let things slide in consideration of their connection. Hell, you might even get the chance to chase that sonuvabitch Shi Haizhe out of the family once and for all!¡±

    ¡°Fu Xuejun,¡± repeated Shi Haixuan calmly. ¡°I know what to do now, mother.¡±

    ***

    Upstairs, after allowing Yin Aoxue to settle down, Shi Haizhe logged onto the ancient martial arts forum. After a couple of hours of scouring the inte, not a single article mentioned Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name. What he found instead was gossip about what the Shi family was doing. He couldn¡¯t help but sneer at it before sending a text message to Baili Bin.

    Shi Haizhe: I did say that I was waiting for your eventual return to glory. As expected, you did not let me down.

    Baili Bin: Well that¡¯s because the Baili family has produced a prodigy child.

    The Baili family? A prodigy? Was he trying to praise himself? Shi Haizhe was astonished by how thick Baili Bin¡¯s skin had be overnight. After he was done with Wanqi Jue¡¯s issue, he felt that he must pay his friend a little visit.

    He had no idea that by the word ¡®prodigy¡¯, Baili Bin was referring not to himself, but Gu Xiqiao.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had finished grocery shopping and was heading home.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, wee back. You bought so many vegetables, for what?¡± Tang Yanling with a coat on was waiting for Gu Xiqiao outside the little residentialpound. She let out a sigh of relief when she finally returned. The kind woman reached out to grab the groceries from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand when she made contact with her icy cold fingers. Thus started another round of endless nagging.

    Gu Xiqiao did not make any protests. Obediently, she followed Tang Yanling into her home. ¡°Mama Tang, I swear I won¡¯t repeat this again.¡±

    Tang Yanling¡¯s heart melted when she heard her voice. All of a sudden, the fire in her heart was doused with a massive bucket of water. ¡°Fine, fine, you head upstairs now. I¡¯ll whip up some piping hot porridge for you...¡±

    ***

    There was a ck car waiting behind the two of them.

    Inside the vehicle, Baili Wenxi stared at the two silhouettes. For a moment, she was taken aback. Fu Wei watched as the two figures disappear around the corner before issuing an order to his driver.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°What about little Jun? I haven¡¯t seen her yet. I heard from Dong Yi that you¡¯re making her go through a bunch of training?¡± asked Baili Wenxi. Dong Yi was Fu Wei¡¯s assistant, Fu Dongyi. One could safely say that she was raised by these two men, hence why Baili Wenxi treated them like family.

    Fu Wei sighed when he heard her talk about Fu Xuejun. ¡°It¡¯s hard for me to exin things here. I¡¯ll talk to you about it once we get home.¡±

    Baili Wenxi once again looked over in the direction where Tang Yanling and Gu Xiqiao disappeared from view. Quietly, she mumbled a response.

    ***

    ¡°Here, Qiao Qiao, drink some soup first.¡± Tang Yanling carefully brought out a bowl of hot soup for Gu Xiqiao once they got upstairs.

    ¡°Mama Tang, didn¡¯t I tell you to leave these things to me?¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up from her seat to hold onto the soup herself.

    Tang Yanling was a respectable person; how could she let her do such a task? On the first day, she suffered burns to her hand and even got a blister after that. Gu Xiqiao made sure to do the chores herself after that. Who would¡¯ve thought that Tang Yanling was the type of stubborn person who rarely ever listened to another person¡¯s advice? Gu Xiqiao felt helpless about this situation.

    ¡°Leave these things to you?¡± It was dark outside so she didn¡¯t get to see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face in detail. Now that there was good lightning above, Tang Yanling noticed that her face appeared to be drainedpletely of color. ¡°Qiao Qiao, what happened to you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Gu Xiqiao gulped down thest spoonful of soup before handing the empty bowl over to Tang Yanling. ¡°It¡¯s just my paleplexion.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± asked Tang Yanling suspiciously before heading back into the kitchen to wash up the bowl.

    After Tang Yanling left, Hua Youlin, who was doing his homework at his desk put down his books and approached Gu Xiqiao. Peering up at her, he said, ¡°Big sis you¡¯re lying! You¡¯repletely drained of chi for crying out loud. Even your vitality has beenpletely exhausted.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: I forgot that we had a little doctor at home! Darn it!

    ¡°Now, now, it¡¯s not that big of a deal. I¡¯ll go take a shower alright?¡± Gu Xiqiao patted his head and proceeded to head upstairs.

    Hua Youlin nced at Haha, who was lying next to his feet. ¡°Haha, Brother Jiang¡¯s been upstairs the entire time after his return. And big sis hase back in such a state...¡± He did not have the strength to cover this entire thing up.

    Haha looked back up at him with a pair of beady eyes.

    ¡°Woof!¡± it responded.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head was spinning when she entered her room. Instead of lying down on her bed and getting some rest, she pulled out herputer and began typing away on a nk document.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, what do you wanna write? Let me do it for you. What you need now more than ever is some rest,¡± the system urged. Its eyes were full of worry, looking at the state Gu Xiqiao was in.

    ¡®It¡¯s fine, I know the limits of my body.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao focused her eyes on theputer screen. Her typing speed, however, was only half of what she usually could do. ¡°Little system, I want you to send every bit of information you can get on the special organizations within the UK.¡±

    The system was the greatest supeputer on earth. Tens of millions of pieces of information were revealed the moment the search engine started.

    If it was any other day, the system would present every article it found to Gu Xiqiao. However, it knew what Gu Xiqiao was trying to do today, and so it picked only the most useful ones that would be sent to Gu Xiqiao¡¯sputer.

    ¡°What a good guy you are, little system.¡± Gu Xiqiao was surprised when she saw the notification pop up on herputer.

    The cold, distant look returned to her eyes when her fingers started tapping away on the keyboard.

    She did not mind when the leader of the United Kingdom messed with the ancient martial arts world. What she did mind was him messing with Jiang Shuxuan. She knew that he would let things slide in order to maintain international diplomacy but she couldn¡¯t!

    Don¡¯t you hold special power in your nation? Don¡¯t you just love the feeling of power? If that¡¯s so, allow me to troll your special organization for once! I¡¯ll let you feel what it¡¯s like to get squished under someone else¡¯s heels!

    The system had a deep-seated hatred for the current leader of Great Britain. However, when it saw the words that Gu Xiqiao was typing, it suddenly felt sympathy for that wretched man.

    ***

    In the UK, the leaders of their special organizations were in a meeting; these men were all loyalists to the current British leader.

    They were sure that the Wanqi family was falling apart. No matter how big of a ruckus the juniors of their family caused, it would all be an exercise in futility.

    ¡°Sir, Wanqi Jue has already been immobilized. At such a time, we might as well...¡± The man sitting next to the supreme leader drew a line across his neck. ¡°There¡¯s a saying in China that if you want to get rid of grass, remove its roots.¡±

    Everyone nodded in agreement when he said that.

    A grin finally appeared on the leader¡¯s face, ¡°Wanqi Jue has connections to people in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    ¡°In any case, the ancient martial arts world has already severed ties with us. It¡¯ll be much easier if we end the Wanqi family right here right now! It¡¯ll be one less power for us to worry about!¡± added another guy.

    ¡°Judging from how severe his injuries are right now, killing him wouldn¡¯t even make us break a sweat.¡± The leader groaned before finally announcing his decision. ¡°Then we¡¯ll send our level-six master over to China. Remember, do not kill him. I want him back on British soil before we do that.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    A team of men then left the room.

    After they left, the leader snorted to himself. He had already been nning this for years. Although he had lost a great ally from the ancient martial arts world in China, being able to kill Wanqi Jue was an equally good trade-off. ¡°Wanqi Jue, you¡¯re about to know what it means by wishing for your death.¡±

 Chapter 214 - Wait

    <h4>Chapter 214: Wait</h4>

    When Hua Youlin went upstairs, he found that the door of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room was tightly shut. Even the light that usually escaped from between the door gap was nowhere to be seen.

    The same could be said with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s room, except for the fact that the lights in his study room are still on.

    ¡°Big Brother Jiang.¡± Hua Youlin rapped his knuckles on the door of the study room. The door did not pop open immediately but the boy knew that Jiang Shuxuan must¡¯ve heard the knocks.

    After a minute or so, the door finally opened up.

    Jiang Shuxuan had changed into a new shirt. Looking down at the book Hua Youlin was holding, he stepped aside and allowed the boy to enter his room. ¡°Is there another question you need help with?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Hua Youlin remained silent.

    ¡®Do I look that dim-witted?¡¯

    ¡°Big Sis Gu has locked herself in her room all day long ever since she came home.¡± Hua Youlin pursed his lips. ¡°Her lights are off too.¡±

    ¡°I know that.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°It¡¯s bedtime. Go back to sleep.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Hua Youlin slowly slid into his own room.

    Something was definitely off here. Jiang Shuxuan shut off the lights in his room and walked over to the door of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room. The locked door remained static in front of him and yet, after a moment, with just a gentle push, the door swung open.

    The interior of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room was pitch ck, but that did not hinder his perception one bit. However, amidst the darkness, his facial expression changed for the worse.

    Gu Xiqiao was lying on the bed but his senses almost couldn¡¯t pick up on her aura. Normally, wherever this girl was at, he would always feel the ce brimming with life potential. Now, all that was left was a dead silence.

    Jiang Shuxuan slowly approached the side of her bed. Looking down, the top half of her face, which wasn¡¯t covered by her duvet, was terribly pale, a sight which made him feel a stabbing pain in his heart.

    She didn¡¯t seem to be sleeping well; her brows were tightly knit.

    Although she usually lets her guard down around Jiang Shuxuan, her insanely-sensitive perception would always detect him whenever hees into close proximity with her. This was his first time sensing how stagnant the air around him is.

    Balling up his left hand tightly into a fist, he ironed out the wrinkles on her forehead using his right hand. It felt icy the moment his fingertips made contact with her face.

    Gu Xiqiao unconsciously moved her body towards this sudden ball of warmth; she ced her head atop his wrist.

    Jiang Shuxuan peered down at her hands which were sticking out of her bed. He ced his fingers between hers and held onto her hands tightly. A surge of warmth was then consistently transferred into her body. That night, he remained by her bed, staying up all night guarding over her.

    Gu Xiqiao remained in aa for the next few days. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression grew darker and darker as the days passed by. Tang Yanling too, remained close to her bed. She did think about getting Rong Feishuang or Yin Shaoyuan toe help her out but was stopped by Jiang Shuxuan.

    He told her that everything was fine.

    And yet the bitter look on his face intensified day after day.

    Not only could Wanqi Jue walk like normal now, just a few days ago, he even managed to capture a level 6 operative sent from Great Britain. Though, he refrained from making this news public. Instead, he silently locked his enemy up and at the moment, one of his subordinates was giving him a situational report.

    His subordinate¡¯s face was filled with fury and disbelief. ¡°My lord, Wanqi Yun hasmitted treason!¡±

    After Wanqi Jue, Wanqi Yun was the Wanqi family¡¯s most outstanding child. If something unthinkable was to happen to the former, thetter was expected to carry on the role of expanding the Wanqi family¡¯s influence. Who would¡¯ve thought that he¡¯dmit treason so early on. What makes his betrayal worse is that he was now taking the side of the leader of the special organizations, their family¡¯s ultimate enemy!

    ¡°How are the others in the Wanqi family reacting to this?¡± Wanqi Jue¡¯s expression darkened. Initially, he thought that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s prediction was only mere hogwash. After all, he had seen firsthand what Wanqi Yun¡¯s character was like. This blow that reality dealt him was quite a heavy one indeed.

    ¡°A small part of them has decided to follow him. The rest still appear to be rather loyal.¡± His subordinate let out a sigh of relief when he said this. Betraying his own family, how cold-blooded could this Wanqi Yun get?!

    Wanqi Jue picked up the n that Gu Xiqiao had sent him. No longer able to hold out any longer, he read through it one more time.

    The leader of the United Kingdom had sent people into this nation to take him out. This was in her prediction. She was also anticipating some turbulence involving the special organizations within their country, which eventually came true. As for Wanqi Yun¡¯s betrayal, well...if that¡¯s so, then was it possible for him to expect someone from the Wanqi family to one day, lead the coalition of special organizations within the UK?

    ¡°Do not make a single move. Await my orders.¡± Wanqi Jue took in a deep breath. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s n ended right here. The final word printed on the document was the word, ¡°Wait.¡±

    Wait? For what? And for how long?! Wanqi Jue had not a single idea!

    Also, she was nowhere to be found despite her promising to show up every three days. Wanqi Jue had even contacted Zhu Yuan only to be told the same word. ¡°Wait.¡±

    And so, Wanqi Jue waited. For five days, he had been waiting. The only thing that ever came was a phone call from Murong Feiye. His voice sounded dead serious over the line, ¡°I heard you were wasted?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but I¡¯m back on my feet again now,¡± replied Wanqi Jue.

    ¡°Back on your feet?¡± For the past five days, Murong Feiye had been inside the trial tower under Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s identity. He caught hold of some rumors the moment he stepped out from that ce, originating from the UK that the Wanqi family was going to be purged. Then he heard about Wanqi Jue getting defeated badly. These ims were supported by evidence, so Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t stop himself from giving the man himself a phone call.

    He did not expect to hear such a reply from him though.

    ¡°Then how¡¯s the Wanqi family at the moment? Did you see that sh*t-eating grin on their leader¡¯s face?¡± Murong Feiye rxed upon receiving confirmation that Wanqi Jue was still alive and healthy. Then came his neverending series of whys.

    Wanqi Jue let out a sigh before responding. ¡°Murong, Wanqi Yun has betrayed us.¡±

    Myrong Feiye suddenly froze up mid-sentence. The tone of his voice grew increasingly sombre. ¡°Wanqi Yun has betrayed you?¡± Of course, he knew who this person was. Prior to his desertion, he could be said to be Wanqi Jue¡¯s right-hand-man; he was a person who knew all about his weaknesses. If he really had switched sides, then the Wanqi family was in grave danger.

    ¡°I initially thought that their leader was our sole enemy. Who would have foreseen Wanqi Yun¡¯s decision?¡± The thing that ticked Wanqi Jue off the most was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sudden disappearance. He had no idea from which end he should start tackling the problem.

    ¡°I¡¯lle over right this instant.¡± Murong Feiye hung up the call.

    ¡®Is there any difference in you being here?¡¯ Wanqi Jue¡¯s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing.

    ncing at it, a new email appeared on theputer screen. He immediately clicked on it and he was left stunned.

    The email was not sent from Gu Xiqiao. Instead, the sender of the email was Wanqi Yun, all the way from the UK. It contained a photo of a youngdy. Her body was covered in blood and her azure eyes were tainted with the shade of raw blood.

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    He could not bear to see his own family being hunted down like this, not while hiding in the safety of China¡¯s borders.

    By the time Murong Feiye arrived at the mansion, it was already empty. On the screen of theputer which was left as is, was the grotesque photo Wanqi Jue had just witnessed. Even from merely looking at the photo, he was able to connect the dots and figure out what was going on. mming his fist down on the door frame, Murong Feiye cursed under his breath.

    ¡°Wanqi Jue you absolute dumbass! How can you knowingly walk into a trap!¡±

    In the UK.

    Wanqi Yun was standing by the ss window with a ss of liquor in his hands. It had a deep brown color, like that of freshly drawn blood.

    ¡°Are you sure that Wanqi Jue isn¡¯t injured?¡± The leader appeared behind him with eyes full of skepticism.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡± Wanqi Yun nced at the face of his watch. ¡°Have you made the necessary arrangements which I have demanded?¡±

    The leader narrowed his eyes. ¡°Why yes of course. However, it appears that there is still arge part of the Wanqi family still unwilling to obey our orders. You aren¡¯t as weed in your family are you?¡±

    Wanqi Yun smirked when he heard that. He poured his ssful of liquor down his throat before giving his reply.

    ¡°I¡¯m just different from the rest of them.¡±

    News of what happened to the Wanqi family had now spread around the powers within the UK. Typically, no one would foolishly swoop in to save the day at such a moment. To speak out against their leader? Only a fool would do that! What¡¯s more, Wanqi Jue was now only a crippled man; no matter how you looked at it, it just wasn¡¯t worth it, extending a helping hand to him and his family.

    Not to mention the fact that the leader of the opposing faction was Wanqi Yun, a core member of the Wanqi family.

    The forces within the UK were extremely convoluted. Most of them were small pockets of powers, some under their leader, some backing the Wanqi family up, while the remaining remained neutral. In most cases however, they weren¡¯t impressed by the Wanqi family.

    Now that Wanqi Jue has been brought down, what else could the Wanqi family use to fight against the leader? This battle was over before it had even started.

    The moment Wanqi Jue stepped out of his aircraft, he saw a cluster of people who had painstakingly escaped the grasp of the tyrant leader approach him. Some of them broke down into tears when they saw Wanqi Jue himself. ¡°I was seeking help from the Krebs family and they chased me out!¡±

    The Krebs family was once a close ally of the Wanqis; their achievements were built upon the Wanqi family¡¯s help.

    They did not expect the Krebs to turn them down like that.

    Wanqi Jue already expected this to happen and yet its effect on his morale was still tremendous. He whipped out his phone and gave the patriarch of the Krebs family a call. It went through instantly. Before he could speak though, he heard a mocking voice over the line. ¡°I would like to make this an official statement. We, the Krebs family has decided to take the side of the great leader. Look behind you.¡±

    Wanqi Jue looked back and discovered that the crowd behind him had been chased off. A new group was now marching towards his position.

    At the forefront of this mob was Wanqi Yun.

    ¡°Hey, the most well-decorated person our Wanqi family has ever produced.¡± Wanqi Yun smiled.

    ¡°Wee back.¡±

    There was nothing weing in his smile.

    What he offered instead was mockery.

    A raging pir of me was burning amidst Wanqi Jue¡¯s blue eyes. No longer able to restrain his explosive temper, a wave of chi rose up from his palms, followed by a wave of mental strength that mmed onto the ground like a tidal wave.

    Seeing his reaction, Wanqi Yun brought out a person who was covered head-to-toe in blood. Squeezing that person¡¯s windpipe, he smiled back at Wanqi Jue.

    ¡°Wanqi Jue, should you move a single muscle, I¡¯ll send your aunt to meet God right this moment.¡±

    His voice was haunting.

    Staring at Wanqi Yun as his mental strength subsided, Wanqi Jue ordered, ¡°Hands off my aunt.¡±

    ¡°I heard your meridians were damaged. That doesn¡¯t seem to be the case today.¡± Wanqi Yun chuckled to himself. ¡°Alright, prove to me that your meridians have been destroyed and I¡¯ll let your aunt go. How about that for a deal?¡±

    Wanqi Jue did not say a word more after that before he mmed his palm towards his chest.

    Before any damage could be done however, a red streak swooped in and blocked the blow. Looking down, it appeared to be a red bird of some sort. ¡°Didn¡¯t Beauty Qiao tell you to wait?¡±

 Chapter 215 - Deader Than Dead

    <h4>Chapter 215: Deader Than Dead</h4>

    In the Wanqi mansion, a tall handsome man stood in front of a petite ming red bird, listening to the criticism that came from the animal.

    ¡°You¡¯re an idiot. Beauty Qiao expended so much effort to heal you, and now you¡¯re walking into death yourself!¡± Even though it was a bird full of feathers, Wanqi Jue could feel the anger and resentment radiating from it.

    He sighed,pletely epting the fact that this bird that could talk was real indeed. He also knew that the bird was a divine beast, but it never told him its name.

    ¡°Great Divine Beast.¡± Wanqi Jue knew that this was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pet, so he didn¡¯t dare to neglect it in the slightest. More importantly, the teleportation technique that the divine beast had used to transport all his people hadpletely won him over. ¡°I don¡¯t have the intention to die, it was just an illusion just now. My subordinates have already broken through to rescue the people.¡±

    Wanqi Jue valued lives more than anyone else, how could he do such things just because of one word from Wanqi Yun?

    But it was extremely dangerous just now, if they didn¡¯t have the help of the power of the divine beast, they would have had to sacrifice at least half the people to get out. Unlike now, when they could all retreat as a whole, just because Wanqi Yun had found his weakness.

    ¡°At least you¡¯re still salvageable.¡± Xixi pped its wings. ¡°Beauty Qiao has woken up this morning. Mama Tang hase over to check on her so she won¡¯t being. But her next step in the n should have already been sent to you.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have the intentions toe over at all, and it seemed that she had already predicted that something would happen, and before she dispatched Xixi over, she had already sought out Boss Bai, Yao Jiamu, Yu Ning, and many others.

    Xixi didn¡¯t know what Gu Xiqiao had been up to since she woke up, but it didn¡¯t dare to ck off from the task that Gu Xiqiao had given it. Now that Gu Xiqiao had woken up, Xixi was in good spirits, but in the few days when she was unconscious, Xixi had been worried out of its mind.

    Especially because Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t tell it anything! If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Xixi had gone home to see Haha that day and the dog had informed it, Xixi wouldn¡¯t have known at all.

    And that was why it had picked a fight with Jiang Shuxuan beforeing here.

    Of course, Xixi waspletely beaten to the ground.

    Thinking about this, Xiximented a little.

    ¡°She¡¯s woken up? What does that mean?¡± Wanqi Jue looked up suddenly, his piercing eyes on Xixi.

    Xixi red at him. ¡°Isn¡¯t it because she was saving you! That¡¯s why you have to value your life more, otherwise, before I even bother to teach you a lesson, others wille and hammer it into your head instead!¡± Xixi wasn¡¯t willing to say anymore on the topic.

    Wanqi Jue was silent when he heard the first sentence, his eyes dropping slightly as his face darkened. He pursed his lips rightly. ¡°Alright, I understand. I will guard my life properly this time.¡±

    Even a child can still be taught, and Xixi was satisfied with his answer, but then it got dejected in the next moment.

    There was nobody it knew in this group. Haha wasn¡¯t here, Beauty Qiao wasn¡¯t here, there was also no Little Wuzi for it to bully. Sigh, it really was such a cold, lonely life here.

    ¡°My lord, your aunt has awakened.¡± A subordinate knocked on the door, informing Wanqi Jue.

    Wanqi Jue turned around to go to his aunt, and after determining that she was fine, he went back to his room. The email that Gu Xiqiao had sent him was on hisputer, and clicking on it to open it, he chuckled lightly after a long while.

    Ever since he disappeared from the airport, Wanqi Yun and the leader never bothered him again. Wanqi Jue knew that they were nning something again, but he didn¡¯t continue to bother about them, but had gathered the remaining people from the Wanqi family.

    Wanqi Yun had taken a small portion of the people from the family, while a big portion of the others who had refused to ept Wanqi Yun had been rounded up and arrested by the leader on criminal charges.

    The Wanqi family were only left with the elderly, women and children now.

    The leader didn¡¯t dare to touch the Wanqi family previously due to their prestige, but now, not knowing what crazy thing had happened, they had gone and imprisoned most of the Wanqi family people.

    Wanqi Jue wanted to break in alone to rescue the Wanqi family people one by one, and kill off the leader at the same time. He restrained this impulse, because although he had the strength to do it, there were still some who were weaker than him in the Wanqi family. Sure, he could get away on his own, but what about the others?

    He couldn¡¯t just leave them there to die! If he was that sort of person, then he would have just killed the people who he didn¡¯t like in the first ce!

    Sometimes, when a person has so much burden, it was had to move when it restrained his hands and legs.

    Wanqi Jue knew that the leader knew what he was capable of too, and that¡¯s why he took so many hostages to control Wanqi Jue. Obviously, the effect was achieved.

    The special forces in Ennd were shuffling.

    The ancient and mysterious force of the Wanqi family was bound to be extinguished, this was obvious on the surface.

    Wanqi Yun had taken the Wanqi family people to seek refuge from the leader, and in his possession countless resources, while Wanqi Jue was all alone with just a few subordinates. If youpared to the leader, there was noparison at all, the oue was already obvious to everyone else.

    Wanqi Jue, once a stunning leader who made countless people in the special forces envious and jealous, had now fallen to such a pitiful state.

    Even Krebs, who had the strongest and solid rtionship with the Wanqi family, had taken refuge with the leader. In everyone¡¯ eyes, the oue was inevitable.

    Some people felt regretful at the situation, but no one was crazy enough to reach a hand out to Wanqi Jue at this time.

    As the most powerful person of this generation in Ennd, Wanqi Jue¡¯s status in Ennd¡¯s Special Forces was still far inferior to that of Jiang Shuxuan in China¡¯s ancient martial arts world. But it was still quite authoritative, and he had helped Ennd solve many problems before. Almost every family had been helped by him before.

    Even so, no one wanted to help him at this time, but instead were tossing rocks down a well[1].

    ¡°Lord Krebs, I heard that Wanqi Jue disappeared from the airport suddenly. There are rumors that Wanqi Jue had help from the gods, and they had obtained a supreme teleportation technique. Should we...¡± One of the Krebs family members was looking slightly worried at the news.

    Hearing those words, Krebs rubbed his chin that was full of beard, a dim light crossing his eyes. ¡°Teleportation? Wanqi Jue? He¡¯s not that person from China. Wanqi Yun has already obtained the mark of inheritance from the Wanqi family yesterday, no matter what Wanqi Jue has up his sleeves, he can¡¯t escape from the palm of the leader.¡±

    ¡°Wanqi Jue has already obtained the Seal of Inheritance?¡± The doorman repeated, shocked. The Wanqi family¡¯s mark of inheritance was Ennd¡¯s most mysterious and precious power. And it was because of this that the leader had always held some jealousy in his heart, and not made a move against them.

    Ignoring everything else, it was only because the mark that the leader had been afraid of. That was a testament of how terrifying the mark was.

    ¡°Not only has he gotten it, he has even shared the seal with the leader.¡± Krebsughed loudly. ¡°So tell me, what part of Wanqi Jue should we be afraid of now? With the Seal of Inheritance, even if he is a god, he would still need to surrender! What we need to do is to express our loyalty to the leader as soon as possible. If we¡¯rete, then we won¡¯t make it in time.¡±

    At Krebs¡¯ remark, the doorman also nodded his agreement. Indeed,pared to the mark of inheritance, Wanqi Jue wasn¡¯t anything at all.

    The news that the Seal of Inheritance had been received by the leader spread like wildfire across Ennd as well as its people.

    ***

    At the same time, it was also known to Wanqi Jue. Wanqi Yun had suddenly sent him a video.

    In the video, Wanqi Yun¡¯s face was full of mockery, resentment, and sarcasm.

    ¡°I was actually going to kill you straight at the airport, but then I changed my mind. I want you to watch as the Wanqi family disappears bit by bit, watch as your most trusted people betray you one by one, and watch those closest to you vanish one by one. All while you sit there, helpless to do anything.¡± Wanqi Yun shed a sinister smile at this point. ¡°The first one will be your niece, Yin Aoxue, who you tried to hide away in China. Good luck.¡±

    The screen turned ck, and Wanqi Jue¡¯s face twisted. He swept theptop off the table in anger, calling Shi Haizhe¡¯s phone immediately.

    Wanqi Yun was a cruel person, Shi Haizhe was definitely not a match for a master that was above level seven. For Wanqi Jue to say he wasn¡¯t worried was definitely a lie, and he was regretting the fact that he didn¡¯t bring Yin Aoxue with him now!

    ***

    At the same time, Wanqi Yun was waiting for his subordinate to get him a picture of Yin Aoxue. He wanted to send it to Wanqi Jue as soon as possible, and he wanted to see the look on Wanqi Jue¡¯s face when he received it. While he was waiting, his subordinate gave him a call, horror in his voice. ¡°My lord, there is a powerful woman by Yin Aoxue¡¯s side. All three of our level seven masters have been beaten by her! She used only one move, just one move!¡±

    The power structure in Ennd was divided into twelve levels ording to their ranks, but there had not ever been one who had reached the highest level. Even the strongest master in Ennd, Wanqi Jue, was only at level nine.

    The three level seven masters were Wanqi Yun¡¯s final trump card, and he had initially thought that sending those masters would make an easy task of killing off the girl, as well as handling Shi Haizhe. He didn¡¯t expect this to happen.

    Wanqi Yun was already on cloud nine imagining his sess, but then theputer in front of him turned on suddenly, a little with golden hair appearing on the screen. ¡°Hey ugly! Sister Gu, hurry and close the video, I don¡¯t want to look at this ugly guy! I want to talk to Brother Wanqi, he¡¯s way better looking than this ugly thing!¡±

    The video turned off then, and Wanqi Yun angrily mmed his hand down on theputer.

    Theputer was crushed in an instant, leaving on the crackle of electricity.

    Everything that came after that went downhill, as though it had been cursed. He had deliberately released the news of the Seal of Inheritance to divert Wanqi Jue¡¯s attention, and borrowed a level seven master from the leader to sneak into the Wanqi family to find Wanqi Jue¡¯s aunt, which he would take as a hostage to threaten Wanqi Jue.

    He had thought that it was a foolproof n this time, but he didn¡¯t expect to find a beast that could breathe fire appearing in between them. The people he had sent in were burnt to crisp, and a level seven master wasid to waste just like that! Fortunately for him, the leader looked the other way regarding the loss of a level seven master due to the Seal of Inheritance. But he could see that the leader was starting to get dissatisfied with him after losing a level seven master.

    Wanqi Yun then stopped his n on making Wanqi Jue suffer for a while. He¡¯d make Wanqi Jue kneel in front of him and beg for mercy at the end anyway!

    When he thought about it this way, Wanqi Jue felt so much better.

    Until a few dayster, when he listened to reports from his subordinates and found out that Wanqi Jue had somehow made contact with Ennd¡¯s secr world, and was even openly cooperating with them.

    Wanqi Yun and the leader felt that this was a move made by Wanqi Jue out of desperation, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t be doing something like this. What would he benefit from getting involved with the secr world? What could they do? Even if ten thousand of them came at him, he wouldn¡¯t need more than a finger to wipe them out.

    Moreover, these forces were not from the traditional forces of Ennd, but rather an emerging force from China.

    It wasn¡¯t only the leader and Wanqi Yun who thought so, even the people in power from Ennd thought that Wanqi Jun had driven into a corner by Wanqi Yun and had gone mad. Cooperating with people from the secr world, had Wanqi Jue gone out of his mind?

    Because of this, those who had initially thought that Wanqi Jue still had some hope to be saved, and wanted to watch the fire from the shore andter on throw a lifeline to Wanqi Jue all vanished those thoughts. They felt that Wanqi Jue was no longer a strong weapon, so what if he was strong in his own rights? Being burdened by a bunch of secr world people, it was better to just turn and take refuge with the leader.

    However, within just a few days of these remarks and thoughts, those who called the secr world people ¡®burdens¡¯ received a literal p in their faces.

    Not knowing what method these regr people had used, they not only got rid of the charges that had gotten the Wanqi family people locked up, they also managed to release everyone. All the evidence had been dug out, and although the leader knew it was fake, he couldn¡¯t find any reason to refute it, so he could only walk away with a ck face!

    Daring to fight against the leader so openly and direct, haven¡¯t you seen that even a master like Wanqi Jue hadn¡¯t dared to do so?

    The people in the power world looked at these regr people, thinking that they were definitely dead people walking. To dare to offend the leader like this, do they really not value their life anymore?

    And so the next day, there were people who couldn¡¯t wait to curry favor with the leader. They wanted to make trouble for these regr people, andpete with them, and even sign a death warrant for them.

    Although this person wasn¡¯t a great expert, he was still about the level of a level six master. He had thought that this was just a small matter to kill off these regr people with a pinky finger, but he didn¡¯t expect these ¡®normal¡¯ people to band together, and when they moved, it became a scene of ughter!

    Those few people who hade to make trouble were kicked back to their homes crying.

    Within a few hours, this incident had spread wings and flew through the entire world.

    The power world suddenly fell into panic, they didn¡¯t expect the regr people to be so terrifying, to be able to fell masters between the range of level five to six! After several inquiries, they found out those ordinary people were from China, and their organization was called ¡®The Bai Gang¡¯.

    The Bai Gang? What the h*ll was that? Why hadn¡¯t they heard of them before?

    No matter how, these people had really shaken up the power world. The people from the power world didn¡¯t dare to underestimate them any longer, and even those who had sympathized with Wanqi Jue¡¯s situation were now green with envy. What kind of luck did Wanqi Jue have, to be able to enlist the help of such powerful people!

    How great would it be if those people could be used by them?

    Once the remark was out, it was unstoppable. If you could reach this extent by using regr people, then what else could be achieved if they were instead reced by a bunch of level five masters? Would they be able to breakthrough and reach level ten?

    Thinking of this, the hearts of those in the power world couldn¡¯t help but tremble in excitement. They wanted to find a chance to single out somebody from China, but as though the China people could read their minds, they were never alone, and stuck together all the time.

    ***

    ¡°What shitty good luck!¡± Kreb¡¯s n leader mmed his fist on the table in front of him.

    Next to him, the doorman was also in shock. ¡°Master Krebs, what should we do now? With Wanqi Jue finding such power suddenly, if he really rises again, then our Krebs family will...¡±

    He didn¡¯t dare to continue his sentence, but Krebs knew what he meant. Once Wanqi Jue recovered, the first one he would not let go and forgive would be the Krebs family.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Krebs said, a sinister smile on his face. ¡°The leader has already gotten the seal of inheritance, he only needs to wave his hand to beat Wanqi Jue. As for those regr people in the Wanqi daily, there are so many people who are jealous of their secret ways right now, do you think the leader would let them go?¡±

    The doorman¡¯s heart jumped in his chest. ¡°You mean, the leader will kill all of those ordinary people?¡±

    Krebs nced at him, but didn¡¯t answer. His smile seemed to imply what the other had just said.

    No one in the world could escape the punishment of the seal of inheritance.

    ***

    At the same time, in the power circle of Ennd.

    The leader that had been in seclusion for many days had finally emerged once again.

    ¡°Leader, we are about tounch the final step. Which stage have you reached regarding the fusion with the Seal of Inheritance?¡± Wanqi Yun asked with a smile as he raised a ss of wine to his lips.

    Hearing the question, the leader smiled smugly. ¡°The highest limit possible, fifty percent.¡±

    Having said that, he stretched out his hand, opening his hand to show a ck half square symbol on his palm.

    When the mark emerged on his palm, the entire room was filled with an invisible pressure.

    Wanqi Yun couldn¡¯t bear the pressure, falling to his knees with a ¡®thump¡¯. ¡°Leader, with this seal, you are invincible!¡± There was envy in his downcasted eyes when he said that. When he had first gotten his hands on the seal, he had wanted to fuse it with himself. Unfortunately for him, the seal did not acknowledge him.

    He didn¡¯t expect the leader to seed, and Wanqi Yun felt the jealousy burning from the bottom of his heart.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try it,¡± The leader ced the seal on the ground, and the seal expanded to the size of a child of about seven to eight years old.

    Wanqi Yun looked at the seal and reached out to touch it. As soon as his fingers touched the dark, cold seal, a stab of pain pierced through his mind.

    He let go immediately, jealousy and shock in his eyes. Its power was far, far more powerful than he had ever imagined.

    The Seal of Inheritance only recognized one master at a time, and it was an ancient seal that was passed down in Ennd. Only, it had been missing for three generations, and it was unknown why it suddenly appeared in the Wanqi family, and falling into Wanqi Yun¡¯s handspletely by ident. Wanqi Yun had immediately brought it to the leader when it happened.

    ¡°Does this mean we can go for Wanqi Jue, leader?¡± A deep-rooted resentment burst forth on Wanqi Yun¡¯s face. He had been waiting for this day for too long.

    Wanqi Jue was just too powerful, and he was helpless against him. Now that they had the Seal of Inheritance, Wanqi Jue¡¯s doom was inevitable!

    The leader turned to look out the window,ughing loudly. ¡°I too, cannot wait.¡±

    Can¡¯t wait to see how Wanqi Jue would be beaten down like a dog.

    ¡°As for those people from China, I hope that leader, you would spare some of them. Their secrets to being so strong, if we can use those secrets on our own people in the power world, then even without the blessing of ancient martial arts of China, we will be able to have authority in the Special Forces world, and we may even be able to surpass the ancient martial arts world!¡± Wanqi Jue was no different than a dead person in Wanqi Yun¡¯s eyes, and because of that he was thinking further into the future. With Wanqi Jue dead, Wanqi Yun would be relying on the leader in the future. Being able to raise a good suggestion now and curry favor with the leader, coupled together with the favor that he had gotten due to the Seal of Inheritance, how could he not have a good life waiting for him?

    More importantly, the higher the authority Ennd had in the Special Forces world, then his own position would naturally be higher too. The resources he would be able to get would also increase, and once the qualifying tournament came around this year, he would surely get famous!

    With these thoughts in his mind, Wanqi Jue followed behind the leader as they went to look for Wanqi Jue.

    ***

    In the Wanqi house, Wanqi Jue was sitting in the garden. Opposite him, a middle-aged man sat. ¡°Boss Bai, I really admire the strength of your subordinates.¡±

    The admiration was clear on Wanqi Jue¡¯s face, as well as shock. Although Boss Bai and his people were all regr people, the strength that they all had demonstrated had been acknowledged by the Wanqi family, and even himself.

    ¡°It¡¯s all because of Miss Gu¡¯s remarkable abilities,¡± Boss Bai said with a light smile on his face.

    The reason they were here was to rescue the people from the Wanqi family, and now that their purpose had been achieved, it was only natural for them to return.

    ¡°Take me with you, Boss Bai!¡± Xixi suddenly flew out from the house,nding on Boss Bai¡¯s shoulder.

    Boss Bai¡¯s eyes widened, and he said with a solemn expression, ¡°Master Xixi, you can¡¯t leave yet.¡±

    Xixi¡¯s head drooped after hearing those words, looking dejected as though he was not loved at all.

    Wanqi Jue nced at Xixi, then took out a generous gift, and Boss Bai epted it without any further words.

    Boss Bai didn¡¯t refuse, because although they weren¡¯t wanting for money in the Bai gang, he didn¡¯t want to reject Wanqi Jue¡¯s good intentions.

    ¡°Master, bad news! The traitor Wanqi Yun hase with the leader!¡± A young man from the Wanqi family ran into the garden suddenly, a panicked expression on his face. ¡°The leader... the leader has the Seal of Inheritance of the Wanqi family!¡±

    Wanqi Jue, who initially still had a smile on his face was instantly rmed, the friendly expression on his face vanishing. ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    The young man repeated it again, and nced at Boss Bai with wide eyes. ¡°Those juniors have already been taken to the basement.¡±

    The basement was a room that Boss Bai and his people had dug with their own hands, and the Wanqi family had been confused at the beginning, as to what the purpose of the room was for. After finding out that Wanqi Yun couldn¡¯t even prate the room, they came to know how terrifying the room was.

    Especially today when Wanqi Yun¡¯s sudden arrival, they were ushered into the basement one by one by Boss Bai¡¯s people.

    Wanqi Yun had arrived unexpectedly, but the people that Boss Bai had brought weren¡¯t panicked at all, bringing the Wanqi family people into the basement in a calm manner. If someone had told them that Boss Bai wasn¡¯t aware that Wanqi Yun wasing today, no one would believe it!

    Wanqi Jue was already aware of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s capabilities, and he no longer felt that anything could surprise him anymore, so he walked out the door. Outside, Boss Bai¡¯s regr people were gathered. None of them had left, and there was no fear on their faces, but in fact, there was anticipation in it?

    Wanqi Jue knew that they weren¡¯t aware of the horror that was the Seal of Inheritance, so he tried to exin, ¡°... The leader is here for me today. Hurry and go into the basement, I¡¯m unable to fight against the Seal of Inheritance, and I won¡¯t be able to make sure you all are unscathed.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll just watch the show.¡± Boss Bai said as heughed lightly. ¡°Just do as you normally do.¡±

    Wanqi Jue opened his mouth to say something else, but something dark passed over his head and he looked up, his eyes widening.

    There was a sudden pressure in the area.

    Bang!

    The ck Seal of Inheritance fell right in front of Wanqi Jue, and dust rose up all around them.

    The sudden pressure around the ce made Wanqi Jue feel like ten thousand tons on his shoulder, and his legs were buckling under it, and beads of sweat rolled down his face.

    Wanqi Jue took painful steps towards the Seal of Inheritance, leaving a deeper imprint in the ground after each step. He reached out both hands to pick up the seal of inheritance, although his strong mental power helped him resist the spiritual power of the seal, the seal itself remained unmoved.

    ¡°Wanqi Jue, you actually want to move the Seal of Inheritance?¡± A sneer came from the top of his head suddenly. ¡°The Seal of Inheritance is heaven¡¯s will, and apart from its master, no one will be able to shake it at all.¡±

    Wanqi Jue raised his eyes and saw Wanqi Yun and the leader looking at him, with mocking eyes as though they were looking at an insect that they could easily crush.

    ¡°Although I can¡¯t move the Seal of Inheritance, you can¡¯t kill me either!¡± Wanqi Jue shouted, letting go of the seal suddenly.

    He knew that Wanqi Yun¡¯s words were right. Apart from its master, there was no one else in the world that could move the seal of inheritance. That was how strong heaven¡¯s will was in the world.

    But, did they really think that he had no other ways of preserving his own life?

    In order to kill him, the leader would need to enforce all the power he had in the power world, otherwise, don¡¯t even dream of it!

    Wanqi Yun had yet to respond when the leader made his move first. He waved his finger slightly, and the seal retracted, shrinking in size before returning to his palm. His gaze was still on Wanqi Jue, and then turning to see Boss Bai and his people behind him. ¡°Whether I will be able to kill you or not is one thing, but I can kill all the other people behind you with just a thought!¡±

    ¡°You dare?!¡± Wanqi Jue spat fiercely, ring at the leader.

    The leaderughed coldly, not deigning to respond to Wanqi Jue¡¯s words. The seal of inheritance in his fingers already flying towards the space above the heads of Boss Bai and his people.

    Xixi, who was on Boss Bai¡¯s shoulder saw the seal flying above their heads and its body erged suddenly. As it grew, a mighty power that wasparable to the Seal of Inheritance burst forth from it. Xixi raised its head upwards, letting out a deafening scream.

    The sudden appearance of the bird led to the leader letting out a startled gasp, but there was no mercy in his mind as he forced more power into the seal. Under heaven¡¯s will, how long could this birdst?

    Under such a threathening force, Wanqi Jue watched Boss Bai and the others who were under the protection of the red bird, bloodlust seeping into his eyes, the chi in his body rising bit by bit. The leader and Wanqi Yun who were so focused on the Seal of Inheritance, didn¡¯t notice the change in him at all.

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s consciousness was fading in and out, but he felt the power in his body rising, hurry, just a bit faster...

    ¡°Xixi!¡± He heard Boss Bai¡¯s shout, and Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes were blood red.

    The leader looked at the bird that was thrown to the ground, where it had returned to its smaller size. He could feel the power in the Seal of Inheritance, and the world really was now within his hands. He could already imagine the countless people kneeling in front of him, under his feet and rule.

    ¡°Go, Seal of Inheritance.¡± With a wave of his hands, the seal slowly pressed down on Boss Bai and his people.

    At this moment, Xixi, who had been lying on the ground suddenly jumped up and shouted, ¡°Beauty Qiao, if you continue to just watch the show by the sidelines, I¡¯m going to break up with you!¡±

    Beauty Qiao? The leader and Wanqi Yun were shocked. There was another person in the area, and they didn¡¯t feel her presence at all?

    Just when the two were looking around for this ¡®Beauty Qiao¡¯, they suddenly heard a voice.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that Xixi, I just wanted to see what the h*ll was this Seal of Inheritance.¡± The air fluctuated for a moment, and then a pale figure appeared in front of them. Her jet-ck hair rippled like mist, her cold face seemingly carved from jade reflected the sun rays, a jaw-dropping beauty that stunned everyone who looked at her.

    They watched as the figure walked forward, grabbing the Seal of Inheritance with her bare hands. Her slender white fingers contrasted against the ck seal.

    The legendary Seal of Inheritance that was said to not acknowledge or bend to anyone else¡¯s¡¯ will except its master, suddenlyy on her palm obediently. ¡°Huh, it isn¡¯t anything much, it is?¡±

    As the leader and Wanqi Yun watched this scene unfold in front of them, the word ¡®shocking¡¯ was not sufficient to describe their feelings. How could the Seal of Inheritance be controlled by another¡¯s hands, that even the leader, who was the master of the seal, was not able to recall it!

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, stop this nonsense. Hurry and avenge me!¡± Xixi stood on trembling feet, obviously heavily injured.

    Gu Xiqiao shot Xixi a look, and smiled suddenly. Turning her head, her eyes fell on the leader and Wanqi Yun. The seal flew over to the two.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do this, I¡¯m the leader of Ennd...¡±

    Before he could finish his words, the two of them were crushed under the Seal of Inheritance, deader than dead.

    Boss Bai and his people, who were still behind Wanqi Jue, could only watch this person standing in the yard, amazement clear in their eyes.

    [1] T/N: To hit someone when they¡¯re already down

 Chapter 216 - Return To The Imperial Capital

    <h4>Chapter 216: Return To The Imperial Capital</h4>

    ¡°Can¡¯t let them die so easily.¡± Just when the two were about to die, Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, recalling the Seal of Inheritance.

    Then she tossed it toward Wanqi Jue who was in a berserk mode. The red in Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes had yet to take over fully, was immediately pierced through by the Seal of Inheritance.

    Two dayster, under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s guidance, Wanqi Jue sessfully managed to integrate the Seal of Inheritance in him.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t let the leader and Wanqi Yun die a swift death, but made it so that they couldn¡¯t move, but their minds were clear and they could see everything happening but not say a word. They would watch every single step that the Wanqi family took as they ascended to the leading position in the power world of Ennd.

    At the same time, the news of Wanqi Jue being epted by the Seal of Inheritance swept through Ennd like wildfire.

    Even the details of what had happened in the Wanqi family couldn¡¯t be concealed from the eyes and ears of those people in the power world, and there were also some things that the Wanqi family had leaked out to others. They knew that a mysterious figure had appeared in the Wanqi family that day. Not only was this mysterious figure powerful, they were also able to control the Seal of Inheritance!

    This piece of news had thrown the power world into a panic.

    ***

    Today was the banquet celebration as Wanqi Jue ascended into his position.

    Wanqi Jun and the former leader were seated in front of a window as usual, and they were in clear view of Wanqi Jue taking his ce, as well as the Seal of Inheritance that he held. Their eyes were full of dissatisfaction and anger as they watched the proceedings.

    ¡°What rotten luck, on the day the new leader takes his ce, it¡¯s our turn to watch these two!¡± The guard who was on duty to watch the two stared out and down at the proceedings with admiration in his eyes, and shot cold looks at the two who were seated in the room.

    The former leader stared at the two guards in disbelief. He knew these two guards, they had once been stationed at the doors at his ce, and they had always bowed and shown respect to him previously. When did people start treating him like this? He red at them angrily, ¡°How dare you speak to me that way?¡±

    ¡°Not only do we dare to talk to you this way, we also dare to do this!¡± A guard kicked the chair that the former leader was sitting on, making him fall to the ground and poured a bottle of wine over the former leader¡¯s head. ¡°F*ck your leader position, our family hasn¡¯t had a single good day when you were sitting on your high horse. Now that we have a new leader, not only do we have a chance to be level five masters, but we also have money to receive. You pile of dog sh*t!¡±

    He then stepped on the man¡¯s face with his feet, the voice oozing with hate as he said, ¡°Now that you¡¯re out of the position, we can evenugh while we wake from our sleep!¡±

    After Ennd¡¯s supernatural world had been taken over by this former leader, the changes had been too great, and they even lost a great ally which was the ancient martial arts world in China and this move had greatly weakened them. Now that this person had been stripped of his position, Wanqi Jue had implemented a lot of exercises ever since he had ascended, and everyone had the opportunity to cultivate to the state of a level five master.

    And possibly they would be able to once again ally with China¡¯s ancient martial arts world.

    ording to rumors, there were some people from the ancient martial arts world in attendance of the procession today too.

    ¡°Hurry and go attend the ceremony, the leader has said that there is no need to watch these two trash.¡± A soldier pushed the door open as he said this, then hurried away once he had said his piece without a backward nce.

    The two guards happily went down once they heard. As for the former leader and Wanqi Yun in the room, who cared about them?

    Gu Xiqiao had done something to the former leader, making his entire person basically a vegetable. Hey in the same position on the bed, the wine already mixing into his hair. His eyes were fixed on Wanqi Yun below him, the resentment and hatred burning brightly in his eyes.

    Suddenly, a pale figure stood out from the crowd. The former leader¡¯s eyes widened when he caught sight of the figure.

    He naturally recognized who it was, it was the person who had yed with the Seal of Inheritance the other day.

    An inexplicable sense of fear swelled up in his heart when he recalled the day.

    He immediately turned his gaze away, bitterly saying, ¡°Wanqi Jue, you¡¯re such a lucky dog, how can you be this lucky!¡±

    Having said that, he returned to his state of helplessness. He was trying to think, what had he done to offend her? To be treated so cruelly, being forced to watch Wanqi Jue ascend into that position, while he would be stepped on for the remainder of his life. He could neither live nor die.

    What a joke, this sentence had been initially used to describe Wanqi Jue, but now it had been used on him instead.

    ¡°Yeah, who would have known?¡± Wanqi Yun sat motionless on the chair, his eyes on the inly clothed girl. If that person didn¡¯t exist, then Wanqi Jue wouldn¡¯t have been able to go against them, let alone inherit the position of leader.

    His eyes were full of dissatisfaction and unwillingness, as well as a trace of regret and jealousy.

    If Wanqi Jue could hear the words of the two, he would probably be proud. He had been abandoned by the gods, they didn¡¯t want him at all. But now Gu Xiqiao was his god, not only did she heal his injury, she also helped him stabilize the Wanqi family, and even ced him into a position that he never dared to even think about.

    In the past few days, he had been evolving and growing step by step. His growth was amazing, who could say it wasn¡¯t?

    ***

    Downstairs, Wanqi Jue was being surrounded by arge number of people from the supernatural world. There was nobody from the Krebs family present in that crowd, and the n leader of Krebs sat alone in the corner, looking at the crowd gathered around Wanqi Jue. Although he wore an indifferent expression on his face, his insides were twisting vehemently with regrets.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that victory would be in favor of Wanqi Jue, whom he had never looked favorably upon!

    ¡°n Leader Krebs, aren¡¯t you going to congratte our new leader?¡± The Albert family had always had a bad personal rtionship with the Krebs family. In the fight this time, the Krebs family who always had a good rtionship with the Wanqi family had left them, whereas the Albert family had stood by their side all the while in secret.

    Because of this, the Albert family¡¯s status had also risen with Wanqi Jue¡¯s rise to power, and it was obvious he hade over to proudly show off that fact in front of the Krebs family¡¯s face.

    The n leader of Krebs frowned, his face stiff. He muttered under his breath, congratte the new leader? It would be more strange if Wanqi Jue didn¡¯t just kill him with a single blow if he saw him, why would he send himself into an early grave by going up to the man?

    Seeing that the barb had gotten through, the patriarch of the Albert family returned to his seat with a content smile on his face, and winked at the hot blond woman who was seated beside him.

    The blonde woman was Albert¡¯s only daughter, Mandy, who is only twenty-five this year. She was powerful, and was quite well known in the supernatural world. Albert had hoped that Mandy would be able topete for a bit more fame, being able to be the leader¡¯s wife would be the best. Or if she couldn¡¯t be the leader¡¯s wife, then being in a good rtionship with the Wanqi family wouldn¡¯t hurt the Albert family either.

    The main point here was that Albert believed in his daughter¡¯s abilities.

    Mandy picked up a ss of wine, but she didn¡¯t directly head toward Wanqi Jue¡¯s side. Wanqi Jue was now a big figure in the supernatural world, and there were also a few other beautiful women hanging around him. She wasn¡¯t interested in that position, she had her eyes on someone else.

    A woman in in clothes was sitting in the corner, and she only had one word to describe her¡ªnd.

    It looked like she was someone from the East, but her fast was pale and she had a cold, indifferent look on her face. Her hair was not golden like theirs, but dark as ink that shone under the lights. There was a bird perched on her shoulder, its feather red like mes. Her snow-white face was especially distinct.

    Such a radiant person like her was just sitting quietly in the corner, as though she was an insignificant person.

    Mandy knew that this woman was not as in nor insignificant as she seemed to be, because she had seen this person before. Thest time when she identally broke into the backyard of the Wanqi family house, she clearly saw this woman there, and that Wanqi Jue was pouring her a ss of water.

    She thought about Wanqi Jue¡¯s expression at that time, there was definitely admiration and courteousness on his face.

    Mandy was a scheming woman, and before the other women had begun trying to flirt with Wanqi Jue, she had already found his information. She knew that he liked some oriental women, but it was something that he hid deep within his heart, and it was probably this woman.

    Except for being beautiful on the outside, she really didn¡¯t see any other merit in this woman? There was nothing outstanding about her body, and she didn¡¯t look like she had even reached the strength of a level one master?

    As she mulled over these thoughts in her mind, Mandy walked toward the woman.

    ¡°You¡¯re not from Ennd, are you?¡± Mandy sat down beside Gu Xiqiao as though she were familiar with the girl, raising her ss as she asked.

    The expression on her face was like someone who was asking for a good beating, and Gu Xiqiao nced at her as she gave her an indifferent hum. She continued to stare at the direction of the doorway of the hall.

    Mandy had hit nothing in her first approach, but she didn¡¯t get angry. She studied Gu Xiqiao for a while, before continuing, ¡°I don¡¯t know that ordinary people from China could enter Ennd¡¯s supernatural world.¡±

    ¡°Another ss of wine,¡± Gu Xiqiao ignored her, calling for another drink.

    The bartender who was walking around heard her words, and came up to her immediately.

    Mandyzily spoke, ¡°And for me.¡±

    With two sses to fill in front of him, one being the daughter of the patriarch of the Albert family who had recently been in the limelight, and another being a girl from China that no one knew, it was obvious who the bartender would attend to first.

    After he had filled her ss, there was nothing left in the bottle. The bartender leaned over to Gu Xiqiao apologetically. ¡°I¡¯m sorry miss, I¡¯ll get a new bottle right away.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± It wasn¡¯t like Gu Xiqiao wanted to drink wine, she just wanted to drown out Mandy¡¯s talking.

    ¡°Thank you, miss.¡± The bartender wiped away the cold sweat that threatened to drip down his face, favorable feelings toward this unknown girl growing inside.

    Mandy swirled her own grape wine in her hand, ncing at Gu Xiqiao with a contemptuous look in her eyes before turning toward Wanqi Jue¡¯s direction, not bothered with her anymore.

    Gu Xiqiao held the empty ss in her hand, reaching up to pat Xixi, who looked like it was threatening to breathe fire. It immediately stopped and settled down, ring at Mandy with its beady eyes instead.

    Mandy was dressed in a slender off-shoulder dress, and she suddenly felt a chill behind her. She touched her back, doubts surfacing in her heart.

    The lively feast that was full of chatter went silent suddenly, and it was an uneasy and tense kind of silence that descended. Everyone was subconsciously looking at the direction of the doors.

    There, two figures were slowly walking in. The one in the lead was an elderly man with a white beard who was nearly one hundred years old. He looked like those ancient old men in fairytales, and beside him was a man that was miles more eye-catching than him.

    His eyes swept through the room and then it paused in a specific direction before he turned away, continuing his walk steadily.

    Wanqi Jue and the other senior members of the supernatural world immediately came forward to greet the two figures.

    He was obviously from the East, and there was an aura radiating from him that was hard to ignore. Everyone knew that this person was from the ancient martial arts world.

    The whispers started up all of a sudden, an uncontroble excitement running through the crows. It had just been a rumor up to this point, but they didn¡¯t expect that Ennd¡¯s supernatural world to have really managed to once again strike up a friendship with the ancient martial arts world, how could they not be excited?

    Mandy was also excited, and she stood up with a ¡®thump¡¯, not bothered with the wine ss in her hand. The ss of grape wine was spilled onto Gu Xiqiao just like that.

    If it was like any other usual day, Gu Xiqiao would easily be able to avoid it, but today... She was also in a state of disbelief, she hadn¡¯t been able to react because of the surprise at seeing Jiang Shuxuan in person, and so the wine was spilled on her.

    It was a big patch of wine and a light color, and Gu Xiqiao looked at Mandy without much expression on her face.

    Mandy was in a hurry to hear the news, how could she be bothered with a nobody like Gu Xiqiao? She raised her hand to wave for a waiter, and threw a, ¡°I¡¯ll get the Albert family to reimburse you for the clothes.¡±

    This small incident naturally failed to attract anyone else¡¯s attention, but Wanqi Jue, who had been keeping an eye on Gu Xiqiao, naturally saw it. In his heart, though Jiang Shuxuan was important, these people didn¡¯t hold a candle to Gu Xiqiao (Goddess Gu), and so after exchanging a few words with Jiang Shuxuan, he strode over to her.

    ¡°Miss Albert, is this your etiquette?¡± There was anger in his tone, as well as mockery. He called for one of his subordinates to bring Gu Xiqiao down to get a change of clothes.

    The subordinate of his naturally knew who Gu Xiqiao was, and paid her the proper respect before leading her away. His attitude was no different than how Wanqi Jue had treated her.

    Gu Xiqiao felt slightly guilty, immediately pressing Xixi¡¯s head down as she followed the man¡¯s subordinate downstairs to change.

    Mandy hadn¡¯t been able to offer a word of exnation as she was stunned by Wanqi Jue¡¯s words, her brain repeated his words to process it. She didn¡¯t react for a long time, her mind in turmoil.

    It was just a ss of wine, why was Wanqi Jue looking at her with that expression?

    When she regained her senses, she was met with the face of her father, the patriarch of the Albert family, whose face disyed indescribable anger. ¡°What have you done? The leader had retracted all the resources that he had allocated to us, and even the ones that he was nning to give us! Do you know how people were looking at me just now?!¡±

    Albert looked at Mandy, the veins on his face visible from his anger. Initially, he had been relying on that grace that he had gotten from the Wanqi family for the support he had given them, and was respected in the recent days by everyone around him. But who would have known just a while ago, that Wanqi Jue would pull back everything given to them in front of everyone, which caused him to be looked at by those mocking eyes! He hadpletely lost all face that he had!

    What had she done?

    Mandy was still in a daze, it had just been a ss of wine. Although she had also belittled the girl, she didn¡¯t expect in a million years that Wanqi Jue would react this way.

    Albert looked at his daughter, who was still in a daze. His face was still red with anger and he turned and walked away from her.

    Seeing her father¡¯s disappointed an angry state, she panicked inside, but didn¡¯t know what else she could do in this situation.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was taken to a room to change clothes, and she went through the clothes in the cupboard. They were all morous evening gowns, and she dismissed them all, pulling out another simple yellow set of clothes from her inventory.

    After changing her clothes, she didn¡¯t return to the banquet due to that slight guilt she felt. Instead, she sat on the chair and took out herputer. It had been a long time since she had yed.

    The people in the game hadn¡¯t seen her for a long time, and immediately started chatting with her when she logged in.

    [Guild] [Elder] For A Millenium: Why don¡¯t I recognize everyone¡¯s name anymore?

    [Guild] [Leader] Smoke On Water: The system gave us name change cards, everyone has changed names.

    [Guild] [Elder] For A Millenium: I see =.=

    [Guild] Fallen Underwear Upstairs: Great god, I want to confess to you!

    [Guild] Merciless Sky: Pants, your name has never been so shiny, I respect you as a man!

    [Guild] I Love Watermelons: Tsk

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: Tsk

    [Guild] I Love Watermelons: Come to think of it, the ID of the great god is simr to my goddess¡¯ ID£¨¡Ñv¡Ñ£©

    [Guild] Fallen Underwear Upstairs: Ah!

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: What happened?

    [Guild] Fallen Underwear Upstairs: I was KO-ed by the great god ©Ñ©Ò©n©Ñ©Ò

    [Guild] [Elder] For A Millenium: Sorry, my hand slipped ^_^

    Everyone: ... Looks like she isn¡¯t someone you should provoke.

    Gu Xiqiao led the team from the guild into a dungeon raid. Not ying for so long, she took a while before she could get familiar again, like cutting through butter with a hot knife, she started her one-hit KO again. Then they reached thest stage of the dungeon.

    Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen came online at the same time, and when they came on, it was a debate of whether the user ¡®For A Millennium¡¯ was a man or a woman.

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: That technique was sharp and precise, it¡¯s not something a girl can do.

    [Guild] Fallen Underwear Upstairs: Being such a cruel and sadistic character, how can he be a girl ~o£¨£¾_£¼£©o~

    [Guild] I Love Watermelons: It¡¯s impossible that she¡¯s my goddess right ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    [Guild] Whispering Winds: ...

    [Guild] [Vice Leader] Brother Wu: ...

    [Guild] [Leader] Smoke On Water: ... Since you¡¯re all so curious, I¡¯ll organize an offline meet in B City. Whoever wants to sign up, I¡¯ll provide both amodations and meals.

    The atmosphere in the guild was immediately joyful, lodging and meals provided, this was indeed only someone rich and wealthy like Smoke On Wind would dare to do!

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she read the words that Tang Qingqiu had sent, were these two not dating each other yet? That idiot Tang Qingqiu, could it be that he hadn¡¯t confessed to Xiao Yun yet? What made Gu Xiqiao even more unsure about whether she shouldugh or cry was the reply that Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun sent.

    [Guild] Whispering Winds: I don¡¯t have the time

    [Guild] [Vice Leader] Brother Wu: +1

    [Guild] [Leader] Smoke On Water: ©Ñ©Ò©n©Ñ©Ò

    Gu Xiqiao knew that Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen were busy with training, especially Xiao Yun was even more busy, training and filming were both things that she couldn¡¯t drop, but she finally decided to silently pit hear guildmates against each together.

    [Guild] [Elder] For A Millenium: I¡¯ll go!

    A few secondster.

    [Guild] Whispering Winds: I suddenly find that I have the time actually.

    [Guild] [Vice Leader] Brother Wu: +1

    [Guild] [Leader] Smoke On Water: ...

    Tang Qingqiu: If it wasn¡¯t because I know that ¡®For A Millennium¡¯ is Gu Xiqiao, if it weren¡¯t for the fact I know that she was together with Jiang Shuxuan, I will definitely feel that this person ¡®For A Millennium¡¯ is a bitchy person who specialize in ying around with people¡¯s feelings!

    Gu Xiqiao would never know Tang Qingqiu¡¯s sourness in his heart, as she had started a private chat with Xiao Yun.

    Whispering Winds: Actually, we met Master Jiang at the training grounds, cough cough. I was shocked at that time, his face was so ck and dark, I can¡¯t help but say, Er Qiao, for you to provoke him to this extent, good luck to you, Amen!

    For A Millennium: I am sincerely asking you for advice right now.

    Whispering Winds: Sigh, let me ask something else first. Have you unblocked Director Cheng yet?

    For A Millennium: ... Let¡¯s change topics.

    Whispering Winds: ... Even Zhu Yuan hase to me.

    For A Millennium: Change again!

    Whispering Winds: ... Mama Tang has alsoe to me.

    For A Millennium: I¡¯m getting off.

    Whispering Winds: Actually, I don¡¯t think that Master Jiang is angry with you.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin, wondering if what Xiao Yun said was right. Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯t looked angry with her when he saw her just now... if he really was angry, sigh. Gu Xiqiao scratched her head, letting out a sigh.

    Whispering Winds: Er Qiao, I¡¯ve never seen you sloppy and twitchy like this. I have to say, so you also have these kinds of days!

    Gu Xiqiao: ... Is this still considered a friend? Block!

    ***

    The banquet had ended, and Wanqi Jue led Jiang Shuxuan and the elderly man into a meeting room. The three of them spoke quietly about the matter of cooperation, but it was basically only the older man talking about it, while Jiang Shuxuan was obviously distracted, even Wanqi Jue could see it.

    When it wasing to an end, Jiang Shuxuan suddenly stood up. His cold eyes on the two in front of him as he said, ¡°Apologies, I have something personal to see to.¡±

    Naturally, no one objected to his words. Wanqi Jue motioned to his subordinates to make sure that no one would disturb Jiang Shuxuan, and his subordinate immediately followed Jiang Shuxuan after receiving the instructions.

    Walking out, he headed toward a typical European style building.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood in front of the pond for a while, and Wanqi Jue¡¯s subordinate was puzzled at his actions, but he obediently followed behind.

    Suddenly, Jiang Shuxuan turned his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked forward.

    Behind him, the ornate gate had been opened, and a jade-like figure stood there.

    The cold, stiff expression eased immediately, as Jiang Shuxuan looked at the figure unwaveringly.

    ¡°Master Jiang, I¡¯m sorry...¡± As soon as the subordinate saw that it was Gu Xiqiao who had disturbed him, he wanted to exin to Jiang Shuxuan, but before he could finish speaking, Jiang Shuxuan had suddenly disappeared from in front of him.

    His jaw dropped as he looked around in amazement and bewilderment.

    Looking at Gu Xiqiao who had her head hung low and her hands pulling the corner of her clothes, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s anger disappeared instantly. Thinking about the things she had done in Ennd, he sighed. ¡°Have you yed enough?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go home, Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head, smiling at him. It wasn¡¯t as fun as she thought it would be, the Imperial Capital was still a little more fun.

    When Wanqi Jue arrived, he saw the scene of the two of them standing together, and he suddenly stopped.

    All the doubts and guesses in his mind came together.

    Why did Gu Xiqiao suddenly target the leader of the supernatural world of Ennd? She didn¡¯t have other motives, just that she wanted to teach the former leader a lesson on behalf of Jiang Shuxuan. Because the leader of the international mob came out suddenly and went against him, which unexpectedly ended up with Jiang Shuxuan getting injured, she didn¡¯t hesitate to take care of the entire situation without a care for herself.

    The reason why Jiang Shuxuan suddenly wanted to y nice with the supernatural world of Ennd, and the disy of support in the change of leadership, as well as his support toward Wanqi Jue. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words still held a lot of weight, otherwise, Wanqi Jue wouldn¡¯t have had such a smooth takeover.

    These two had done so much behind the scenes, yet neither of them came forward to admit it.

    After figuring it out, Wanqi Jue smiled suddenly. He looked toward the two figures that were approaching him with slight envy in his eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re leaving tomorrow?¡± Wanqi Jue¡¯s face was surprised. ¡°I haven¡¯t had the time to properly thank you both.¡±

    Gu XIqiao was about to open her mouth to say it was not needed, when Wanqi Jue suddenly smiled brighter at her. The past few days of managing things had shaved away the sharpness in him, and his smiles were now more gentle, like a peach blossom in the spring breeze. ¡°But it¡¯s alright, I still have a long, long time to repay you after all.¡±

    His voice was deep and low, his gaze like water. When he looked at people, his gaze made you feel like you were the only one in his eyes.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face darkened immediately, his first instinct was to p the person in front of him to the side, but he held back after thinking about it, pulling Gu Xiqiao out of the ce instead. How was this saving a person? It was obvious that she had saved a troublesome fly instead!

    They were leaving! Right now!

    Gu XIqiao: ¡°...¡± Dumbfounded.jpg

    Wanqi Jue returned to the elderly man, who stroked his beard as he said with an indifferent expression, ¡°This old man will wait for Young Master Jiang¡¯s return, and will go off with him.¡±

    ¡°Lord Elder,¡± Wanqi Jue started, a smile on his face, ¡°Mr. Jiang has just gone ahead and returned home.¡±

    ¡°...F*ck!¡±

    Watching the old man leave with the smile still on his face, Wanqi Jue suddenly received a text message from Gu Xiqiao: [The Seal of Inheritance has many secrets. I hope that you will use it wisely, if there is anything you don¡¯t understand, I can exin it to you.]

    Wanqi Jue shot a reply back: [Why are you helping me?]

    [My wish is to have world peace.]

    What did that have to do with anything? Wanqi Jue read the sentence over and over, and he asked the same question, but Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply. He tried calling her, but her phone was turned off.

    It was likely she was on the ne, which was what Wanqi Jue had thought.

    He didn¡¯t know, in this world, there was something else.

    It was called a ck list.

    ***

    At the same time, in the Imperial Capital, Fu Wei had just finished reading a report and he looked up to Fu Dongyi. ¡°Where¡¯s Jun¡¯er?¡±

    ¡°Miss has recently been at A University most of the time, and there¡¯s no other movement.¡± Fu Dongyi adjusted his sses, reporting Fu Xuejun¡¯s recent behavior.

    It was nice to have peaceful times, Fu Wei thought as he let out a breath of relief. He was afraid that Fu Xuejun would throw a tantrum, and now that the Fu family had removed her heiress status, it was also an endurance test for her. He hoped that she would learn how to control her temper from this.

    ¡°Has Director Cheng replied?¡± Fu Wei asked, suddenly remembering.

    Fu Dongyi knew what Fu Wei wanted to ask. ¡°Director Cheng has, he already has a suitable candidate for the female lead of the movie. No matter how much money we invest, he will not change the idea of his.¡±

    ¡°Is that so, well, you can go on down first.¡± Fu Wei waved his hand, letting out a small sigh. He recalled the girl that had superb talent in acting, and had thought about pulling some strings for her in the Imperial Capital. He didn¡¯t expect Cheng Zhou to already have a candidate in mind.

    He was also aware of Cheng Zhou¡¯s attitude, stubborn to the core, and that was why he didn¡¯t bother pushing the matter.

    He¡¯ll just have to find another opportunity.

    Fu Wei cheered himself up with the thought, and looked at the contract that Nine Heavens had given him. The more he read through it, the more surprise and shock he was. When he finished reading the contract, he realized that working hours was over.

    ***

    In a cafe, Fu Xuejun yed with the diamond ne in her hand. It was thetest designer design.

    ¡°Xuejun, this really matched your skin tone.¡± Shi Haixuan was looking at Fu Xuejun, a smile on her face.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Fu Xuejun put away the bracelet,cking interest. It was just a diamond ne, she had plenty of more expensive things back home in her cupboard, so it was natural that she wasn¡¯t the least attracted to these. ¡°I need to go home.¡±

    Hearing those words, Shi Haixuan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Are you going back to your cousin¡¯s house?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Fu Xuejun lowered her head. How could she go to the Baili house, with all those cold eyes on her? She¡¯s not crazy!

    ¡°Oh.¡± Shi Haixuan¡¯s face stiffened for a moment, before warming up again. ¡°Xuejun, don¡¯t forget what you promised me.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Fu Xuejun was frustrated, she picked up her bag and walked out of the cafe.

    Behind her, Shi Haixuan stood in the same ce for a long time, before picking up the call from her mother. ¡°... I know mom, I¡¯ll endure it.¡±

    She watched Fu Xuejun¡¯s departure, biting her lips. She had long heard that Fu Xuejun was favored by both the Fu and Baili family. Looking at it now, it didn¡¯t seem that it was so. But Baili Bin would probably listen to Fu Xuejun¡¯s words a little, as long as she maintained a good rtionship with the girl, Baili Bin would definitely look at her, right?

    Thinking of this, Shi Haixuan¡¯s eyes flickered under the light.

    ***

    Outside the house, Fu Xuejun opened the door of her car and sat in the driver¡¯s seat. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, not opening it for a long time.

    Yesterday night, she had overheard a conversation between Fu Wei and Baili Wenxi. The two of them were picking a role for Gu Xiqiao, and Fu Wei wasn¡¯t hesitant in investing a hundred million yuan just to give Gu Xiqiao the role of a female lead!

    The jealousy in her heart was threatening to burst out at any second now, and Fu Xuejun took deep breaths to calm herself. If this went on, when they found out Gu Xiqiao¡¯s true identity, then she really would be useless...

    No, it couldn¡¯t go on like this!

    Didn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao win both her parents¡¯ favor due to her superb acting skills?

    With that thought in mind, Fu Xuejun pulled out her phone to make a call. ¡°Dad, I want to be an actress!¡±

 Chapter 217 - Teach The Newbie

    <h4>Chapter 217: Teach The Newbie</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan walked together into themunity area. Xixi had already gone ahead of them, it had been a long time since it saw Haha, and Xixi couldn¡¯t wait.

    As they turned a corner, Gu Xiqiao suddenly stopped in her steps, turning slightly to look in the direction behind them with a thoughtful look on her face.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head as he asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Gu Xiqiao shed a smile at him, before giving him a reluctant look. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking about how big Mama Tang¡¯s ¡®wee¡¯ will be. Sigh, have you told her...¡±

    When she had left, she had only concealed her departure from Jiang Shuxuan, but she had informed Tang Yanling. Only, the older woman had told her to be back in three days, maximum. Now that she counted, it had already exceeded one, two, three, four... five days!

    It¡¯s over, she could see the countless bowls of soup that would be ced in front of her in the future!

    Anyway, she was the one who was meekly not contacting Tang Yanling in the first ce.

    ¡°Yeah, I contacted her while we were on the ne,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied. Hearing her words, he was happy. In the beginning, he had thought that Tang Yanling would be an eyesore, but after getting along for a while, he had changed his impression.

    When it was just Gu Xiqiao and him, if she didn¡¯t want to drink soup or anything, he would cave immediately every time she gave him a look.

    But it was different with Tang Yanling, Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t bring out her puppy look with the older woman, no matter how much she wanted to. He wondered if she would gain slightly healthier weight while Tang Yanling was staying with them for the month.

    Sure enough, as soon as they got home, Tang Yanling¡¯s eyes were on Gu Xiqiao, looking her up and down before starting on her rant.

    Gu XIqiao only hung her head pitifully, as though admitting her mistakes.

    Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t bear to see her in this state, but as he thought about it, if she wasn¡¯t taught or scolded like this now, she would probably be worse in the future. Hence, he hardened his heart and ignored the scene in front of him.

    Hua Youlin was hugging a notebook to his chest, looking at Gu Xiqiao with sparkling bright eyes. When she was done being scolded, he immediately rushed forward to give her a big hug.

    But just as his fingers touched her, he was dragged away.

    ¡°I will teach you any of the questions that you don¡¯t know.¡± He raised his eyes, and met a pair of cold ones.

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± Thanks, but he knew everything!

    However, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t have any ns to let the kid go. Thoughts of when they were sending this kid back to the Hua family was running in his mind as he led him away.

    Hua Youlin wanted to cry, he felt that the look Jiang Shuxuan was shooting him bore no good intentions tonight. So he hugged his books to his chest as he followed Gu Xiqiao around the house like a duckling following its mom the entire night.

    After dinner, Jiang Shuxuan went upstairs. Picking up his phone, he dialed a number. The other party seemed to have been waiting for his call, as it was picked up as soon as it went through.

    ¡°Mom,¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, walking towards the bookshelf and making a turn, pulling out an ancient text and sitting down in the chair to flip through it. ¡°You were looking for me today?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see you thest time I went to the city center,¡± Mama Jiang said, her office neither rushed nor warm. ¡°So I¡¯m going to see you the next time.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan turned a page before replying, ¡°If you want to see me, I can return home anytime.¡±

    Mama Jiang: ¡°...¡± Seeing him was just an excuse, she wanted to see what kind of vixen was staying in the same house as him!

    ¡°But son, thest time when I was on my way to see you, I met this very kind girl on the road. She¡¯s very pretty and also has a very good temperament...¡± Mama Jiang went on and on about this person, thepliments getting more and more exaggerated as time passed.

    Jiang Shuxuan responded at the appropriate times, but it went in his right ear and out his left. How could anyone look better than Beauty Gu?

    After she was done, Jiang Shuxuan hung up the call, returning to his book.

    But as he read, he felt slightly uneasy. He finally let out a sigh and stood, walking over to the bookshelf and changing the book in his hand for another ancient text that was about self-cultivation.

    ***

    Downstairs, Gu Xiqiao was teaching Hua Youlin his homework after they had eaten.

    She held her phone in her hands, and opening Weibo, she realized that Cheng Zhou had sent her messages. It had reached more than 99+.

    Director Cheng: Little Gu! If you¡¯re like this, you¡¯re going to lose the entire crew!

    For A Millenium: ...

    Director Cheng: Don¡¯t forget you owe me a movie!

    Director Cheng: !

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the rows of exmation points that were sent by Cheng Zhou, and was silent for a while. Then she thought about the words that have been said the other day, and replied.

    For A Millenium: Have you found a suitable movie, Director Cheng?

    Director Cheng: I¡¯ve always had one in my hands, it¡¯s a Xianxia genre. Take me out from your cklist, this drama has many points that need attention, and needs to be discussed in detail.

    (T/N: Xianxia ÏÉÏÀ is a genre of Chinese fantasy influenced by Chinese mythology, Taoism, Buddhism, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese folk religion, and other traditional Chinese elements.)

    Cheng Zhou was close to tears at this point, okay? Gu Xiqiao is the first artist to have ever blocked him in the many years he had been in this industry. But after he found out that there were in fact many other people on her cklist, he felt strangely alright, not the least angry, just a feeling of ¡®what can you do?¡¯ instead.

    Gu Xiqiao thought about it again for a while, and asked him to send her the script before pulling him out of the cklist, calling him directly.

    The two chatted on the phone for a long while, mainly because Cheng Zhou was exining the concept and feel of the movie that he wanted to her. Gu Xiqiao was still a young rookie after all, and although her acting skills were extraordinary, Cheng Zhou was still worried and excited before the auditions were opened.

    The image of the Xianxia drama was something that Gu Xiqiao had not acted in before, and it hugely differed from her own temperament. He really wanted to see how Gu Xiqiao would interpret the female lead of this movie.

    ¡°Come to the set tomorrow, we¡¯ll find the feel for it first,¡± Cheng Zhou said.

    Gu Xiqiao knew that she had kept the rest of the crew waiting for a long time, and she felt apologetic about it, and she sincerely apologized to him, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Director Cheng. Some things happened recently.¡±

    Cheng Zhou was fine, and said so, ¡°It¡¯s fine, I didn¡¯t n to shoot anytime soon as it¡¯s still early. Let the crew take a few days off. The reason I contacted you this early is because I was scared I won¡¯t be able to find you when the timees.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± So she was that sort of person in Cheng Zhou¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Oh right, Mr. Yu Ning has already given me the clips for ¡®River¡¯s Lake¡¯. I took both ¡®River¡¯s Lake¡¯ and ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯ to the film festival. You and Ning Qing are 100% confirmed getting a nomination. It¡¯s a bit difficult for Ning Qing to win the female lead award, because Song Guanjing is there after all, but it¡¯s not a problem for you to obtain the neer award,¡± Cheng Zhou mentioned as he recalled this matter.

    When the movie ¡®River¡¯s Lake¡¯ was released, he could already imagine how popr Ning Qing would be.

    An actress who had both the looks and talent weren¡¯t that many, and Cheng Zhou thought about if Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t exist, then Ning Qing would definitely be his first pick for the female lead for this movie.

    After hanging up the phone, Gu Xiqiao looked at the document that Cheng Zhou had sent her. She then went upstairs to the study, and printed out the script.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her, then put down his book and left the room quietly.

    After binding the papers together, Gu Xiqiao read the script slowly from the beginning. As the female lead, she had a lot of scenes, and the script was a lot thicker than the other roles.

    Previously, she would just casually flip through scripts, but this time she read each and every sentence slowly. Every scene was also practiced to perfection in the virtual arena.

    Taking out a marker from her inventory, she made notes and marked the lines that belonged to her.

    Even though she slowed her pace, she was done with the script very quickly. After reading it finished, she felt slightly bored.

    The movie name this time was ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯, and it was a tragic movie. The beginning was uplifting and happy, the middle was impressive and imposing, and the end was a tear jerker.

    A cup of milk appeared beside her hand, and Gu Xiqiao sipped from it. She then ced the script down and walked towards the window, and the lights were blinking outside. Gu Xiqiao knew that there was something wrong with her attitude at the moment, she was too involved.

    She took a deep breath.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± A warmth settled behind her, and there was a breath on her cheek. It was warm, and slightly moist.

    The steady and powerful heartbeat she could feel on her back slowly eased the tension in her shoulders, and she leaned back subconsciously into thefort. ¡°I just read through the script that Director Cheng sent to me, and was justmenting a little.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan tightened his arms around her. ¡°You¡¯ve epted another role?¡±

    His voice was slightly raised.

    ¡°Yeah, and it¡¯s the female lead.¡± She had initially wanted to continue and said that she would be busy from now on, when she suddenly recalled that there were two kissing scenes in the movie. She froze up, all thoughts of what she wanted to say suddenly gone from her mind, only one word left¡ªDie!

    She turned her head slightly, looking at Jiang Shuxuan without a word.

    Although she didn¡¯t say anything, it seemed the other had seen something in her eyes.

    A fire lit in him suddenly, and he leaned down to bite her lips. The moment his lips touched hers though, he couldn¡¯t resist as he lowered his head further and deepened the kiss, tightening his arms around her waist.

    ¡°It¡¯ste, go on and sleep.¡± After a long while, Jiang Shuxuan finally loosened his arms as he gazed at her with slightly narrowed eyes. His expression was... very happy.

    ¡°... Goodnight.¡± She straightened her clothes before picking up the script and walking out.

    Just as she opened the door, he grabbed her left hand suddenly. She turned, only to find him lowering his head as he adjusted the front of her dress, before giving her a gentle kiss. ¡°Goodnight.¡±

    Touching her red ears, Gu XIqiao tightened her hands on the script and walked out quickly. She bumped right into Tang Yanling who was in the corridor, holding a ss of milk.

    ¡°...¡± Gu Xiqiao really wanted to beat the sh*t out of Jiang Shuxuan right now!

    It was clear that he had done that on purpose!

    ***

    When the auditions for ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ began, it was quite a grand scene.

    There were several top actors and actresses who came for the audition, but Cheng Zhou ultimately chose Du Yixin as the leading actor, and Li Yu who hadpeted against him, also lost out.

    Du Yixin debuted about the same time as Li Yu, and in terms of acting skills, it could be said that he was just a little less talented than Li Yu. However, he was hard working and so far, his reputation was not any less than Li Yu¡¯s. Compared to the others in the industry, his position was already enough for him to be proud of, as he was hard working, and just debuted one yearter than Li Yu.

    He had a different image from Li Yu. Li Yu was a gentleman with a princely aura, and although he was a great actor, the male lead in ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ was a cold and ruthless immortal.

    Li Yu¡¯s image was not in line with the male lead, in fact, it wasn¡¯t a big deal to ce him in even if that was so, his acting skills would more than make up for it anyway. However, Cheng Zhou was an extremely picky person, and so he skipped over Li Yu and chose Du Yixin.

    Li Yu was so angry that he wanted to fight with Cheng Zhou directly!

    Du Yixin was also an artist under Tang Enterprise like Li Yu, and they had a good rtionship. When they bumped into each other, they would stop and chat.

    ¡°Director Cheng has already picked the female lead beforehand.¡± Cheng Zhou had notified Du Yixin to head to the crew and set. While he was on the way, Di Yixin bumped into Li Yu, and frowned as he said, ¡°Yesterday, I heard from the crew that he had chosen someone who is quite new, what is he thinking?¡±

    Li Yu nced at Du Yixin, a faint hint of envy in his eyes. ¡°You have to believe in Director Cheng¡¯s eyes, since even I didn¡¯t meet his expectations.¡±

    Thinking of this, Li Yu wanted to sigh again. He could probably guess that the female lead Cheng Zhou had chosen would be Gu Xiqiao, ah, the perfect heroine. The entire movie involved fight scenes, he really wanted to push Du Yixin down the sewers!

    Du Yixin looked at Li Yu¡¯s expression, his own indifferent as he said, ¡°You seem to know something?¡±

    ¡°The female lead hase to set today, you¡¯ll understand when you see it,¡± Li Yu replied, patting his shoulder lightly. He then put his sunsses on again, and walked away.

    Cheng Zhou, who was with the crew on set with bright eyes, looked down at his phone to see that he had received a WeChat message.

    Li Yu: Director Cheng, don¡¯t you have any other male roles, give one to me!

    Cheng Zhou: ... Get lost you little boy.

    ***

    When Du Yixin arrived at the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯, he felt that the staff were abnormally... happy? What was happening?

    He hesitantly walked in to join the rest of the crew.

    ¡°Brother Du,¡± A gorgeous woman in a ck dress and wool coat came over to greet him. This was the top popr artist in the industry right now, Sheng Yin. ¡°Do you see the woman next to Director Cheng?¡±

    Du Yixin followed her gaze, and saw the person that she was talking about beside Cheng Zhou. The girl had delicate features on her face, but there were countless faces like that in the industry and it wasn¡¯t considered to be very outstanding. He was slightly surprised. ¡°Is that the female lead?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Sheng Yin said, smiling mysteriously. ¡°Do you know Wenxi?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Du Yixin nodded. ¡°I grew up watching her movies.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s Wenxi¡¯s daughter.¡± Sheng Yin said, looking over with a sh of admiration in her eyes. Although Baili Wenxi had retired from the entertainment industry for so many years, yet everyone in the circle would still give her face, how could they not? With such a backing, even a flower vase would be able to go a long way. ¡°It¡¯s her first time in the entertainment industry.¡±

    What?!

    Du Yixin¡¯s head snapped up, looking towards Cheng Zhou.

    ¡°Go change your clothes and try this scene.¡± Cheng Zhou was setting up the camera, and he waved his hand for Fu Xuejun to act.

    How the h*ck did he know what was going on in this crazydy¡¯s head, suddenly stating she wanted to act, and even picking his crew out of everyone else¡¯s. Baili Wenxi was someone not easy to refuse, and he had also rejected the cast that she wanted to offer him the other day, so he caved and agreed to give her daughter a supporting role at the end.

    But since it was Baili Wenxi¡¯s daughter, he couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly anticipating her acting. He turned his attention to Fu Xuejun, aiming the camera at her.

    Kachak!

    ¡°Do you know how to act or not? You¡¯re acting as a little fox demon, not some zombie! Can¡¯t your movements be smoother! Didn¡¯t you wake up in the morning? Don¡¯t you know what you¡¯re doing?¡±

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s words were piercing and poisonous as usual, and Fu Xuejun, who had been waiting for his praise under the camera immediately turned sour.

    Baili Wenxi had already instructed her in this scenest night, and she had practiced countless times until her mother had been satisfied with it. Was Cheng Zhou deliberately nitpicking at her, and causing problems?

    Du Yixin took a step forward, ¡°Director Cheng, since it¡¯s someone who has never been on camera before, you can¡¯t be too demanding.¡± He really was in the opinion that this person wasn¡¯t too bad. Her movements and expressions were on point,pared to the first time he went under the camera, he didn¡¯t even know where his hands and legs went.

    ¡°I¡¯m demanding?¡± Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Little Gu...¡±

    Before saying anything, the person next to him who was arranging the clothes and props raised their head. ¡°Director Cheng, do you think everyone is like Miss Gu?¡±

    Cheng Zhou: Maybe? But mainly because I heard that this girl is Baili Wenxi¡¯s daughter, so there is an inevitable expectation inside.

    Only, the higher your expectation, the bigger the disappointment.

    He could have epted this level when there was noparison, but with Gu Xiqiao as the bar, he felt that Fu Xuejun was just not up to par. ¡°Fu Xuejun, please polish up the previous scene. Make sure you pass the next time!¡±

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s face flushed with anger, and her face only eased after Sheng Yin cated her by praising her in front of the other supporting artists.

    ¡°Director Cheng, the ¡®Little Gu¡¯ that you mentioned just now...¡± Du Yixin was good at grasping key points in a conversation.

    Cheng Zhou raised his eyes to look at him. ¡°What time is it now?¡±

    Du Yixin looked at his phone. ¡°It¡¯s 8.53.¡±

    ¡°There are still seven more minutes.¡±

    Du Yixin: Was there something wrong with his brain? Why didn¡¯t he understand anything that the director just said?

    Seven minutester, Fu Xuejun shot the scene for the Nth time.

    The atmosphere in the crew was strangely quiet for a moment.

    Du Yixin raised his head when he realized it, and at the end of the room, there was a thin, petite figure that was walking over.

    ¡°Eyes! Fu Xuejun, your eyes are all wrong! Please, can you not be so stiff? Ok?¡± Cheng Zhou¡¯s angry voice formed a sharp contrast with the silence that had descended on the area.

    The person that was arranging the stuff next to Cheng Zhou poked him before the director raised his head and caught sight of Gu Xiqiao, and the anger on his face and in his heart vanished instantly. ¡°Little Gu, you¡¯re here just at the right time. Teach this newbie what it means to be an actress!¡±

 Chapter 218 - This Really Wasnt Like Beauty Gu!

    <h4>Chapter 218: This Really Wasn¡¯t Like Beauty Gu!</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao felt that Cheng Zhou was really too venomous sometimes. Bute to think of it, what was a newbie? A newbie was a fresh bud of a flower, and it needed everyone¡¯s love and care to grow. Just as she was about to smile towards the person, she found that the neer was Fu Xuejun, and her face changed instantly.

    ¡°Director Cheng, I will demonstrate properly.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile vanished suddenly, a grave expression on her face as she nodded at Cheng Zhou.

    Cheng Zhou: ¡°...¡± This was the first time he had seen her so serious, and he was not quite used to it.

    This really wasn¡¯t like Beauty Gu at all!

    The crew members were all familiar with each other, and had been working with him for the past three movies that he had done. A small portion of them here were the kinds that tried to kiss up to Gu Xiqiao, and a lot of them were extremely loyal (brain dead) fans.

    They didn¡¯t know Gu Xiqiao that well, but they all knew that her reputation among the crew was good, and they were all fond of her. It might even be better than Li Yu¡¯s if they were topare them.

    She was friendly to everyone, even if you were just the janitor, she would give you a warm look and not just a passing nce. She didn¡¯t ce herself to be superior to anyone, and she was just a person that made everyone like her from the bottom of their hearts.

    For the first time, they could feel Gu Xiqiao¡¯s dislike for somebody.

    When Fu Xuejun first came, it was obvious she was a pampereddy. She was innocent and cute, thinking that with just her looks she would be able to act in a movie. Her expression was off, and her movements were stiff under the camera. Even the other crew members couldn¡¯t bear to continue watching her, and they didn¡¯t me Cheng Zhou for losing his temper.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t like her, so obviously the others didn¡¯t either. Gu Xiqiao made the entire crew turn their backs on her, just by showing up.

    Fu Xuejun who was sitting in the corner, looked coldly at Gu Xiqiao. She was able to reach this level with the guidance of Baili Wenxi, what did Gu Xiqiao have? Cheng Zhou was actually asking this girl to teach her?

    ¡°Miss Fu, Director Cheng¡¯s expectations of you are high. The saying goes, ¡®Love Well, Whip Well¡¯.¡± Fu Xuejun¡¯s assistant whispered into her ear. ¡°Director Cheng will understand when there¡¯s aparison.¡±

    The assistant¡¯s words instantly made Fu Xuejun¡¯s mood better.

    She sat in the same spot, waiting to see Gu Xiqiao getting scolded like a dog by Director Cheng.

    Sheng Yin stood beside the two, ncing at Fu Xuejun doubtfully.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Du Yixin watched as a staff member waited eagerly with his phone in hand, and had even dropped whatever he had been doing a second ago.

    It wasn¡¯t only the staff beside him, every other person in the vicinity had also pulled out their phones and were having looks of anticipation on their faces. Cheng Zhou was getting the others to prepare the stage in a mad rush.

    Having been with so many other crews, this was the first time Du Yixin was witnessing such a weird scene.

    The staff saw that it was Du Yixin asking him, so he turned and exined in a serious tone, ¡°Brother Du, I¡¯m preparing to record Beauty Gu. Then I¡¯m going to bring it home and lick the screen when I can.¡±

    Beauty Gu? The girl just now? Du Yixin thought back to her face just now, and she was indeed an ethereal beauty, but it was undeniable that she was very young. Could it be... she¡¯s the female lead?

    The staff beside him suddenly dropped his phone, and before Du Yixin could react, he realized that there was no sound of the phone hitting the ground.

    ¡°Little Song, how many times do you intend to change your phone in a month?¡± A clear voice spoke.

    Du Yixin slowly turned his head.

    And was momentarily stunned.

    The woman who stood a few steps away was dressed in in green clothes, not a wrinkle or hair out of ce. She was wrapped in white fox fur on the outside, her skin was pale and glowing, almost transparent. Her eyebrows were a delicate arch, and her eyes slightly squinting when she looked at people. Her eyes were a beautiful ripple, and her appearance was beautiful and ethereal.

    Arrogant, haughty, and stubborn, that was the female lead that Gu Xiqiao was ying, the fox demon¡ªFeng Qiqi!

    Du Yixin had a very good memory, and the first impression that Gu Xiqiao had given him was that she was delicate and elegant, nothing like the person who was standing in front of him right now who was dazzling beyond words.

    In this moment, he finally understood why Cheng Zhou had rejected all other suggestions and applications of the female leads, and had picked one himself instead.

    Little Song finally came out of his daze, taking his phone back.

    ¡°This feeling, take a few pictures of this makeup first.¡± Cheng Zhou immediately ordered the photographer, and other staff immediately rushed forward to help, shouting to and fro which made it obvious to everyone that this person was very popr in the set.

    This was a role that Gu Xiqiao had never yed before, and Cheng Zhou was slightly worried in the beginning that she might not have the right aura and temperament, and was prepared to drill her for a few days. Unexpectedly, Gu Xiqiao was Gu Xiqiao, and she was able to grasp the role with ease.

    His worries and concerns were all in vain in the end!

    Cheng Zhou had a sh*t eating grin on his face.

    In the corner of the set, Fu Xuejun¡¯s face was green with envy. She had thought that with Baili Wenxi¡¯s guidance, there would be a difference of sky and earth between her and Gu Xiqiao, but she didn¡¯t expect her to be the earth!

    As though that was not astonishing enough, something else that was more astonishing came up!

    When Gu Xiqiao was taking photos in her getup, every single item was prepared meticulously by the crew.

    But when it was Fu Xuejun¡¯s turn, either her sword wasn¡¯t there, or there was something wrong with her clothes. ¡°Can¡¯t you get everything ready?¡± Adding on Cheng Zhou¡¯s impatient frenzy, no matter how much patience a person had, Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t bear it.

    ¡°Miss Fu, the sword was in your hands just a moment ago. If you don¡¯t know where it is, how will I know?¡± The props manager said pointedly, as his heart thought, ¡®Don¡¯t think that I didn¡¯t hear you talking bad about Beauty Gu with the others just now!¡¯

    Fu Xuejun tolerated these situations, but when it was lunch time, she opened her box to find only two vegetables. When she looked up at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lunch, there were two chicken legs!

    She couldn¡¯t help but suspect that the entire morning had been orchestrated by Gu Xiqiao!

    Being bullied the entire morning, Fu Xuejun threw the lunch box to the side angrily. ¡°This is too much!¡±

    She took her assistant, intending to walk out of the door with a calm face.

    ¡°Miss Fu, think about it thoroughly. If you walk out that door, you won¡¯t be able to return.¡± Gu Xiqiao leisurely appeared behind her.

    Fu Xuejun remembered what Fu Wei had said to her, and she stopped in her tracks. She looked at Gu Xiqiao with a scowl.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was indifferent, as though she didn¡¯t care about her at all. It gave her a feeling of ying with a stray cat.

    ¡°What have you got to be so arrogant about? Your role was given to you by my father. Believe it when I say the moment I open my mouse, the female lead for ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ will be changed!¡± Fu Xuejun walked up to her as she recalled this fact, and her expression eased from its ugly twisted one.

    When did her role be something that was given to her by Fu Wei? Wasn¡¯t it something she and Cheng Zhou had agreed on before all this? Gu XIqiao was confused for a moment. She tugged her ears lightly, and lifted her chin at Fu Xuejun. ¡°Come again?¡±

    ¡°I said,¡± Fu Xuejun looked Gu Xiqiao in the eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that this role was given to you by my father. He invested a hundred million yuan in this production.¡±

    Thinking bout how her heiress status in the ancient martial arts world had been stripped because of this person in front of her, and how her position in her family would be reced by this person, a new wave of hatred and resentment surged up in her. Fu Xuejun red at Gu XIqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao: WTF?

    The entire funding of the crew and production was from Nine Heavens, when had Nine Heavens be Fu Xuejun¡¯s father?

    Although Gu Xiqiao was smiling on the outside, there was no warmth in her eyes at all.

    ¡®Lil system, does Fu Xuejun think my temper is so good?¡¯

    The system spirit floated into existence in front of her. ¡°Just ignore this brainless b*tch, Beauty Qiao. But Fu Wei really did discuss this with Director Cheng, and he rejected it.¡± Having said that, the system hacked and let Gu Xiqiao listen to a recording between Cheng Zhou and Fu Wei.

    Gu Xiqiao walked away thoughtfully after that.

    Behind them, Du Yixin and Sheng Yin came out from a hidden corner. He had heard the conversation between the two girls loud and clear, and he nced at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction with an indescribable expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to be beautiful these days,¡± Sheng Yin said suddenly. ¡°There¡¯ll be many praises for it.¡±

    Du Yixin turned to Sheng Yin, his brows furrowed and a cold expression on his face. ¡°That¡¯s true, but she also has great acting skills.¡±

    Being shot back by Du Yixin, she gave an awkward smile. She didn¡¯t know Gu Xiqiao that well, only that this person had been upying the Weibo hot topic list some time ago. Nowadays, the hot topic slots were basically bought with money, so Sheng Yin didn¡¯t pay much attention to it.

    Only, she didn¡¯t expect to see Gu Xiqiao in person among the ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ crew today.

    The water in the entertainment circle was too deep, and Sheng Yin felt that it was better not to dive in too deep. However, her attitude towards Gu Xiqiao became colder.

    The character that Du Yixin was ying was a ruthless immortal swordsman, Ji Zhang¡¯gui.

    In this scene, it was a fight between him and Gu Xiqiao. Right before the shoot started, he suddenly received a WeChat message from Li Yu.

    Li Yu: Don¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t let you know in advance. Remember not to let go of your swordter during the shoot.

    Du Yixin stared at the chat for a while, not understanding what Li Yu¡¯s words meant.

    Five minutester, both people took the stage.

    The pear blossoms filled the sky as the wind blew in the valley, signifying the first meeting of the female and male lead.

    The male lead had just saved a trapped child.

    Feng Qiqi was dressed in green cotton garbs, and kept away her hand fan the moment she caught sight of Ji Zhang¡¯gui. Slender white fingers reached out, lifting Ji Zhang¡¯gui¡¯s chin upwards. Her demeanor was cheerful, her tone light as she said, ¡°I am Feng Qiqi.¡±

    Her eyes were slightly hooded, but you could see the deep, obsidian eyes that were like an abyss. There seemed to be ayer of mist floating in them, and it made the heart of the person looking into her eyes pound rapidly in their ribcage, the light around them making the surroundings fade and seemingly like an illusion.

    ¡°Let go.¡± Ji Zhang¡¯gui looked at her indifferently, not affected in the slightest by the glow.

    ¡°Cut!¡± Cheng Zhou waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯s a bit too much, Little Du, your expression is slightly off. Pay attention next time.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Du Yixin returned to his seat slowly, watching Gu Xiqiao who was already on the stunt wires. There was no expression on his face, but he could feel how fast his heart was beating in his chest.

    The next scene was still Gu Xiqiao¡¯s.

    It was a fantasy fight scene. Cheng Zhou had always strived for perfection in his movies, and although it was just a fighting scene, he wouldn¡¯t add the slightest amount of anything into it. The scene would bepletely real, and other than adding in the fighting effectster on, no other special effects would be used.

    Du Yixin slowly came back to himself, looking at the crew members beside him. ¡°This is a fighting scene, where¡¯s the martial arts instructor?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu doesn¡¯t need one.¡± Someone answered with a smile.

    Another person turned around. ¡°The martial arts instructor will cry if he sees Gu Xiqiao!¡±

    This sentence surprised Du Yixin.

    The girl who was on the stunt wire had an indifferent expression on her face as usual. She drew the beautiful sword, and was tied in midair as though she was floating above the ground.

    ¡°OK! Ji Zhang¡¯gui, get ready.¡± Cheng Zhou waved his hand.

    Du Yixin stepped forward, and Gu Xiqiao had already released the stunt wires on her. Just as Du Yixin was about to be strapped in, a slender hand came out to stop him. ¡°Brother Du, this wire is broken.¡±

    Gu Xiqio picked up a section of the wires as she spoke, showing him the crack on it.

    Cheng Zhou was at her side immediately, and when he saw the cracks, his face paled rapidly as he looked towards Gu Xiqiao, fear stabbing in his heart.

    The props manager too, paled. ¡°I checked every single corner when Miss Gu went up, it was all fine!¡±

    ¡°I know, it¡¯s not your fault.¡± Gu Xiqiao patted the prop¡¯s master¡¯s shoulder as she assured him. ¡°When I went up it was fine, it might be because I¡¯m too heavy.¡±

    Although Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t seem concerned, Cheng Zhou was not letting the matter go so easily. In a production, this was something that was the most terrifying to see. If it happened once, who¡¯s to say it wouldn¡¯t happen twice?

    ¡°It¡¯s gettingte, let¡¯s call it a day for now,¡± Cheng Zhou said with a sullen face, vowing to investigate this matter.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Cheng Zhou, and he knew that he would be wasting effort in regards to this matter.

    But she didn¡¯t say anything, changing out of her clothes, her phone in her hands while she yed games.

    Du Yixin and Sheng Yin were not far behind her, and they saw Gu Xiqiao getting into a ck car. The distance was too far and they couldn¡¯t see the person in it, but everyone could still recognize these low-key luxury cars anywhere. There were even a few smaller groups that had eximed in pleasant surprise.

 Chapter 219 - You Know In Your Heart

    <h4>Chapter 219: You Know In Your Heart</h4>

    ¡°That car...¡± Sheng Yin was dumbfounded, half because of the car, and the other half was because Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother hiding it and got into the car in broad daylight.

    Was she not intending to hide it?

    Du Yixin nced at Sheng Yin, something shing in his eyes, and finally he just said, ¡°Look at the number te.¡± Compared to the license te, the car was nothing, really. Du Yixin lowered his eyes, and turned to follow his assistant to leave.

    Sheng Yin was still thinking about what Du Yixin had just said, only to turn around to see Fu Xuejun looking straight ahead. Her eyes were deep, and there was something off about her. Sheng Yin couldn¡¯t help but shudder. ¡°Miss... Miss Fu?¡±

    Fu Xuejun spared her a nce, nodding lightly at her. Anyone could feel the coldness that she was radiating.

    ¡°Sister Sheng, she doesn¡¯t ce you in her eyes at all, why are you still...¡± Sheng Yin¡¯s assistant had driven over to see Fu Xuejun¡¯s silhouette leaving, a bit puzzled as she asked. Sheng Yin was still someone with a name in the entertainment industry, with good looks and not bad acting skills. She was only slightly unlucky that when she debuted, she couldn¡¯t find someone to back her. Luckily she still managed to climb up, and although she couldn¡¯tpare to those first-rate artists like Li Yu and Song Guanjing, it was still more than enough.

    Now she was kissing up to this newbie, the assistant really didn¡¯t understand it.

    Sheng Yin got into the car and just stared out the window, why? Obviously it¡¯s because Fu Xuejun was born with something that she didn¡¯t have, but Sheng Yin didn¡¯t voice her thoughts.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao opened the door, climbing into the car.

    ¡°Why are you out so early today?¡± Jiang Shuxuan stepped on the elerator of the car, driving the car slowly into the crowd. It was only six o¡¯clock, and the sky had only just started to darken, the street lightsing on.

    She had initially told him she would be done at ten, but she hade out four hours early.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone, swiping through her phone to see who she should be chatting with. ¡°There was a small problem, so Director Cheng called it an early day for us.¡±

    ording to Cheng Zhou¡¯s attitude, he wasn¡¯t someone who would dy the shooting lightly. What had happened for them to wrap up early? Jiang Shuxuan felt that something was wrong, but he didn¡¯t press further, but ced the matter in his heart.

    Gu Xiqiao was currently chatting with Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan: Come out!

    For A Millenium: How did you know I¡¯m here?

    Zhu Yuan: Yesterday you said that you were busy until your head was exploding, and this afternoon you posted that you¡¯re so free?

    For A Millenium: ...

    She would never be so cheap again!

    Zhu Yuan: My master has been looking for you for a very long time, and he¡¯s been talking my ears off. If you don¡¯te, I¡¯m gonna be smothered by him.

    For A Millenium: ... Does Divine Doctor Rong have time now?

    Zhu Yuan: He must!

    Zhu Yuan was making a call to Rong Feishuang immediately after receiving her message. He had finally managed to get ahold of Gu Xiqiao, even if he didn¡¯t have time now, he had to MAKE time!

    ¡°Brother Jiang, stop at that cafe over there.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her clear eyes sparkling. ¡°Divine Doctor Rong is looking for me.¡±

    Thest time she saw Rong Feishuang, she had felt that his gaze on her was... very strange.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t ask anything, just pulling over at the cafe that she had indicated. He then leaned over to unbuckle her seatbelt for her. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll go and buy a bottle of soy sauce for Aunt Tang. Go ahead and wait for me.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, then pushed open the door to get down.

    Behind her, Jiang Shuxuan watched Gu Xiqiao find a seat beside the window. She waved at him through the ss before he drove the car away slowly. However, he didn¡¯t head for the supermarket as he had said, but back to the set.

    ***

    On the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯, Cheng Zhou and a group of staff were still present. He was frowning and talking to one of them, while some of the others were rushing around. Some people were checking the surveince, and there were some looking on the ground carefully with shlights in hand.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother containing his aura, and Cheng Zhou¡¯s head snapped up the moment he walked in.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Jiang Shuxuan nced at the shattered stunt wire in his hand, his expression darkening.

    Although Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t know Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity, based on how Xiang Kun and Tang Qingqiu treated him, he knew that Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t any ordinary noble. With that, he didn¡¯t dare to conceal anything from him either, exining everything that happened in the afternoon.

    The air around them seemed to drop another few degrees, and Jiang Shuxuan reached out toward the wire in Cheng Zhou¡¯s hands. ¡°Let me have a look.¡±

    The director immediately handed the wires to him.

    The fment on it had already cracked, and though the fracture wasn¡¯t neat, the distance between each crack was consistent. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes roamed over the wire for a moment, and he knew the reason for it. ¡°This, you don¡¯t have to check anymore. Director Cheng, please send me the names of all the crew members.¡± He rattled off an email address for Cheng Zhou.

    How can regr people investigate something that had been done by someone from the ancient martial arts world? Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes were lowered, concealing the frosty chill in them. From Cheng Zhou¡¯s words, he knew that this was an act that was targeted at Gu Xiqiao.

    Cheng Zhou nodded in a hurry and agreed. Even if Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯te, he didn¡¯t n to investigate anymore, because there really were no leads or evidence at all. They couldn¡¯t find anything, no matter on the set or the recordings. It made Cheng Zhou feel that it really was just an ident.

    Having settled the matter for the moment and giving his orders, Jiang Shuxuan left for the supermarket to buy the soy sauce.

    ***

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had only waited a few minutes before Rong Feishuang appeared.

    ¡°Miss Gu, I actually have a question for you,¡± Rong Feishuang paused for a long while before he continued, ¡°The painting that you drew, who was it?¡±

    Those pair of muddy eyes were staring at Gu Xiqiao, with anticipation in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand on the teapot paused, she didn¡¯t expect that Rong Feishuang would find her for this matter. She raised her head slightly, looking at the expression on his face a while before muttering, ¡°It¡¯s my foster mother.¡±

    ¡°Foster mother?¡± Rong Feishuang traced the opening of the teacup with a finger, a slight tremble in his voice. ¡°Your foster mother, she... where is she now?¡±

    With Yu Man being mentioned, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes clouded over slightly. She was silent for a while, before answering, ¡°She¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Rong Feishuang¡¯s hand trembled, knocking over the cup that he had been touching. The warm liquid spilled on the floor, but it seemed that he didn¡¯t notice. He sat in the chair in a daze, unmoving like a statue.

    Gu Xiqiao sat across from him, not knowing why he would suddenly look for her regarding Yu Man. She looked at his face carefully. ¡°You know her?¡±

    ¡°She... she¡¯s my daughter. Because of some disagreements, I... I kicked her out of the house...¡± Rong Feishuang¡¯s voice cracked, a disbelief look on his face. His hands continued to tremble as he tried to pick up the teacup again, but it shattered in his hands instead.

    He lowered his head, and was silent for a long while before saying, ¡°I want to see her.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head snapped up, and she looked at Rong Feishuang. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Divine Doctor Rong. I still have something to handle, I¡¯ll leave first.¡±

    In just a few conversations, she had once again changed his title from ¡®Grandpa Rong¡¯ back to ¡®Divine Doctor Rong¡¯.

    When she walked out, she found that Jiang Shuxuan had yet to return. She sat down beside a flowerbed, hugging her knees to her chest as she waited.

    ¡°Xuejun, what are you looking at?¡± Shi Haixuan followed Fu Xuejun¡¯s gaze, only seeing a girl sitting by a flowerbed. After a day of trying to get in contact with Fu Xuejun, she finally managed to get hold of the other girl, but she wasn¡¯t interested at all. She had mentioned Baili Bin several times, but Fu Xuejun hadn¡¯t reacted.

    Fu Xuejun walked slowly toward Gu Xiqiao, and said in a condescending tone, ¡°It¡¯s cold outside, why are you out here, Miss Gu?¡± Could it be that she had been abandoned? That was great then!

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, an indifferent expression on her face. She nced at Fu Xuejun. ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Words that werepletely uncaring about her sent a shock through Fu Xuejun. She squeezed the bag that was in her hands, cold sweat breaking out on her back.

    ¡°What the h*ll are you! Daring to speak to Xuejun like that!¡± Shi Haixuan nced at Gu Xiqiao, apletely unfamiliar person to her. Whether in the ancient martial arts world or the Imperial Capital, she had never seen this person before, so she should just be somemoner. She pointed her finger at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face as she scolded her. Her actions were because she wanted to be in Fu Xuejun¡¯s good grace.

    As expected, after hearing Shi Haixuan¡¯s words, Fu Xuejun¡¯s face eased. However, her heart still felt a slight fear, and she looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expressionless face. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    But after the words that Shi Haixuan had spoken, Fu Xuejun still felt slightly satisfied. ¡°I don¡¯t have time today, but I¡¯ll bring you to see my cousin tomorrow.¡±

    Hearing this, Shi Haixuan¡¯s eyes lit up. After being busy for so long, she was finally seeing a ray of hope at the end of a tunnel. ¡°Xuejun, thank you so much...¡±

    Before she could finish her words, she slipped suddenly.

    Bang!

    The two fell into the road on all fours. Since the two were not afraid of the cold, they were wearing skirts. Although they had worn thicker stockings, wearing skin-colored ones were as good as not wearing any in terms of appearance.

    Their hair was in a mess, and their postures were awkward, and they had even shed their underwear.

    Even a gangster standing at a corner whistled, using a lewd gaze to look at their... butts.

    Gu Xiqiao had also gotten up at this time, walking slowly. She nced at the two without any change in their expression, as if looking at ants.

    ¡°Hurry up and get lost!¡± Fu Xuejun said with anger on her face as the corner of her skirt was held down by Shi Haixuan.

    Shi Haixuan got up in a hurry, helping the other girl up once she had done so. Fu Xuejun grabbed the hand and stood, looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure. She could feel all eyes around on her, and some were even pointing at them and whispering. The flush on her face became darker with anger.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t wait long after when the familiar ck car pulled up slowly to her side.

    ¡°Brother Jiang.¡± Jiang Shuxuan got out of the car, opening the door for her. Before he could turn around to let her in, she had wrapped her arms around his waist.

    Holding her hands, he turned and ced his arms around her instead. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± His voice held a slight tone of panic underneath it.

    Gu Xiqiao took a deep breath, feeling the warmth seeping into her. She tightened her arms for a moment before dropping it. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Let¡¯s go home, Brother Jiang.¡±

    It¡¯s been nearly twenty years. Yu Man had always been alone. If a person wanted to find someone, wasn¡¯t twenty years more than enough?

    Even the Gu family could find her, how could Rong Feishuang not be able to?

    Jiang Shuxuan studied her expression, and gently rubbed the top of her head, ushering her into the car. After closing the door, he turned to nce at the cafe.

    ***

    The next day, Cheng Zhou didn¡¯t start work, but asked the props team to transport another batch of machines over. Gu Xiqiao was happy for the break, and got up in the morning for her usual jog.

    Haha ran ahead of her, being ustomed to the freedomtely. Everyone in the smallmunity knew it, Gu Xiqiao let it run around freely, until¡ª

    ¡°Ah! Where did this stupid doge from!¡± Shi Haixuan hade early in the morning to look for Fu Xuejun, and wasn¡¯t looking where she was walking at all, and seemed to have kicked something with her feet. She looked down, not knowing where the dog hade from. Her face darkened, lifting her leg and intending to stomp down hard on the dog.

    ¡°Just try it.¡± Her leg seemed to stop midair without her consent, and Shi Haixuan raised her head, seeing a beautiful face. The incident yesterday night was still fresh on her mind, how could she forget this face?

    Shi Haixuan smiled coldly. ¡°If I want to, I will step on it. What can you do?¡± If it was in the ancient martial arts world, she would still be slightly more mindful of her attitude. But this was the secr world, what was there to be afraid of?

    Gu Xiqiao picked Haha up in her arms, and smiled at Shi Haixuan. ¡°Soon, you won¡¯t be anything.¡±

    Shi Haixuan opened her mouth to retort, but she suddenly caught sight of Fu Xuejun from the corner of her eyes. Shen then decided that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t worth her time, and she spat out some harsh words before turning to catch up with Fu Xuejun. ¡°Xuejun, we¡¯re going to see your cousin today, right?¡± A look of anticipation was on her face.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s face was stiff when she saw the other girl, and then she recalled what she had arrogantly said yesterday night. Look for Baili Bin? It would be strange if he did bother about her! Fu Xuejun felt irritated inside, and wanted to find some excuse to deny her, but then Shi Haixuan was already dragging her forward.

    Shi Haixuan had seen Baili Bin, and he was dressed in sportswear, standing on the grass area. It seemed that he was punching, his figure tall and imposing. His punches were timed with the wind, and many passing women couldn¡¯t help but turn back every three steps they took.

    He looked even better than he did in the past.

    He really was standing up, Shi Haixuan thought with a dazed look. She pulled Fu Xuejun along as they walked to Baili Bin. Shi Haixuan couldn¡¯t help but exim, ¡°Ah Bin.¡±

    Baili Bin paused, his eyes sliding across from Shi Haixuan¡¯s face to Fu Xuejun, his gaze not lingering on either of them.

    ¡°Xuejun, talk!¡± Seeing that Baili Bin was about to walk away, Shi Haixuan couldn¡¯t help but shake Fu Xuejun. ¡°Ah Bin, don¡¯t go. I¡¯m a friend of Fu Xuejun, a very very good friend!¡±

    Embarrassment was creeping onto Fu Xuejun¡¯s face, and she opened her mouth to say stiffly, ¡°That¡¯s right Cousin, Haixuan is a good friend.¡±

    Baili Bin stopped suddenly, turning around to look at Fu Xuejun. ¡°I¡¯m not your cousin.¡±

    Don¡¯t mention Shi Haixuan, even Fu Xuejun was stunned at the deration. She didn¡¯t expect Baili Bin to embarrass her outright like this. If he wasn¡¯t her cousin, then whose was he? Gu Xiqiao¡¯s?

    Thinking about this, Fu Xuejun¡¯s face immediately changed. She smiled at Baili Bin. ¡°Cousin, you must be joking. Are you still angry with me about thest time, I...¡±

    ¡°Whether or not I am, you know it in your heart.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s gaze shifted to something behind her, a smile breaking out on his face. ¡°Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had walked over slowly, Haha still in her arms. ¡°Brother Baili, Mama Tang has prepared a lot of breakfast due to her trying out different dishes this morning, how about joining us for the meal?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± This was the first time Gu Xiqiao had initiated an invite to a meal, it was a good sign.

    ¡°Ah Bin!¡± Shi Haixuan panicked, hurriedly stepping forward, she tried to grab the corner of Baili Bin¡¯s clothes. Before she could, a figure appeared in front of her and said, ¡°Miss, have some respect.¡±

    Shi Haixuan naturally recognized that this was Uncle Tai, who had been by Baili Bin¡¯s side since he was young.

    Uncle Tai used to be all smiles for her before this, but there was only cold disgust in his eyes now.

    Under this kind of gaze, she couldn¡¯t help but take a step backward. Seeing Fu Xuejun beside her, her eyes darkened in anger. ¡°Miss Fu, you¡¯re really something!¡± After ying along for so long, Fu Xuejun really wasn¡¯t as favored as the rumors said. Listening to Baili Bin¡¯s words, hepletely didn¡¯t acknowledge Fu Xuejun¡¯s position at all!

    She had wasted so much time on a useless person the past few days, and with no progress at all. All she did was make Baili Bin even more disgusted! Thinking back to the rumors about the ¡®prodigaldy¡¯ of the Baili and Fu family that was favored, how she would be sure to have a bright future, and how she didn¡¯t ce anyone in her eyes at all, now look at her, she¡¯s not different than dog shit! Baili Bin didn¡¯t acknowledge her at all!

    It was no different than using an ordinary person, useless!

    Shi Haixuan thought of the woman just now, and her chest constricted. She had already offended her twice in the span of two days, it was obvious that the other girl wouldn¡¯t help her.

    Shi Haixuan became angry again when she thought about it. ¡°You¡¯re so great, Miss Fu. I¡¯ll definitely spread your reputation across the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s face was stiff, but when she heard Shi Haixuan¡¯s words, her face turned from red to green, and then ck.

    Even her fingertips were shaking in anger. How was she to know that Baili Bin would say such words?!

 Chapter 220 - Creating A Prodigy

    <h4>Chapter 220: Creating A Prodigy</h4>

    When Jiang Shuxuan came down, he saw Gu Xiqiao leading Baili Bin into the house. His heart tightened unhappily when he saw this, and said, ¡°What, you don¡¯t have food at your house now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as good as the one you have,¡± Baili Bin shot back, looking around the room. He ignored Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s coldness, and spoke modestly and politely, like a spring breeze.

    Uncle Tai, who had followed the two from behind, could only stay silent when he heard Baili Bin¡¯s words. Looks like the young master was indirectly saying that his cooking was not good!

    Tang Yanling had always heard of Baili Bin, but never met him in person before, so she was enthusiastic when she finally got to see his person and was very warm to him. She brought out a te of custard buns that had just been steamed, setting it down. ¡°Hurry and up, there¡¯s still more where that came from!¡±

    She then went back into the kitchen,ing out with a te of deep fried breadsticks.

    ¡°Aunt Tang, it smells great.¡± Smelling such a delicious fragrance even before eating, Baili Bin hadn¡¯t nned on dissing Uncle Tai intentionally, but it looked like it happened anyway.

    The deep-fried dough sticks were crisp and yellow, while the custard buns emitted a light aroma which made people drool.

    After a bite, the taste was much more delicious than its smell. It was delicious to the point that he would swallow his own tongue if he could just to savor the taste! Baili Bin busied himself eating, but made sure to look up at the older woman and said, ¡°Aunt Tang, you¡¯re amazing!¡± Generally, someone like Tang Yanling¡¯s status wouldn¡¯t need to step foot in the kitchen, but not only did she, she even made such delicious food.

    Tan Yanling brought out another stack of deep fried breadsticks,ughing as she shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t have that kind of abilities. It¡¯s Qiao Qiao who woke up early this morning to make these. I just watched her being busy in the kitchen, steaming those buns and what not.¡±

    This was apletely unexpected answer, and Baili Bin looked towards the direction of the kitchen. From here, he could see Gu Xiqiao who had just entered the kitchen, and Jiang Shuxuan, who followed after her.

    Being such a great cook at her age, the first thing that Baili Bin felt was not surprise or admiration, but a kind of unspeakable distress. Thinking back to the report that he had read, a child from an ordinary household would know how to cook some dishes at most. With such familiar ease in the kitchen, it wasn¡¯t a question of talent, but rather a long-term habit.

    An image of a little girl standing in front of the stove with a spat in hand came to mind, and Baili Bin¡¯s eyes stung a little, and he lowered his head.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the kitchen.

    ¡°This one¡¯s done. Hurry and take it out.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood behind Jiang Shuxuan, pointing to a breadstick.

    Jiang Shuxuan followed her instructions and slowly picked it out, and continued to flip the others. A whileter, he suddenly opened his mouth, ¡°I have to leave for a bit tomorrow.¡±

    The voice behind him was silent for a while, before replying, ¡°Has something happened again?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s been a few strange happenings recently. ording to Yi Bin¡¯s investigations, a lot of regr people have been caught up in it. It seems that some kind of forces are slowly seeping into the secr world.¡± Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother hiding any of the details from her, telling her everything that Yi Bin had told him.

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her eyes, knowing that the matter was moreplicated than it was. But she stayed silent, only letting out a long sigh.

    The two were also silent during the meal. When Tang Yanling mentioned that she needed to return to N City today, Gu XIqiao became even more depressed. ¡°Mama Tang, let me send you off.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be taking a flight that¡¯ll reach in two hours, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Tang Yanling said, peeling an egg for her. ¡°I contacted Mrs. Zhang the other day, and she¡¯ll be over today. I¡¯ll leave when she arrives.¡± She was worried about leaving Gu Xiqiao here alone, after all.

    After eating, Gu Xiqiao followed Tang Yanling upstairs to help her pack.

    Jiang Shuxuan and Baili Bin sat downstairs.

    After the two females disappeared upstairs, Jiang Shuxuan took out a cigarette from his pocket. Lighting it, he took a deep puff from it, and smoke filled the area. The pair of cold eyes glinted within the smoke, extremely chilling.

    If he had known that Tang Yanling was leaving today, he wouldn¡¯t have nned to leave tomorrow.

    ¡°When did you start smoking?¡± Baili Bin sat across from him, a surprised expression on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always been smoking.¡± Jiang Shuxuan took another two puffs before putting it out. He leaned over and passed a few papers in hand to Baili Bin. ¡°These are the names of the crew for ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯. When she was on the stunt wire yesterday, someone deliberately sabotaged it. I checked the wires myself, and there was some residual chi on it.¡±

    Cheng Zhou had moved fast, and sent him the list of names yesterday night. He had even included the names of the delivery people together with the actors and actresses.

    Jiang Shuxuan had handed the list over to Yi Tiao to investigate, and all motives and evidence had pointed to Fu Xuejun.

    It was as he expected, and while Jiang Shuxuan had wanted to take action with his own hands, Fu Xuejun was still Baili Wenxi¡¯s daughter, as well as Gu Xiqiao¡¯s rtive. He endured the urge, and instead intended to send someone to give a warning to the Fu family.

    Always aware of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s actions, Baili Bin of course knew that she had recently taken up a role in a new Xianxia drama. Hearing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, he grabbed the list quickly, his eyes scanning the words on the paper. His eyes fell on the name ¡®Fu Xuejun¡¯.

    ¡°I understand.¡± Baili Bin stood up, holding the paper in his hands tightly. His eyes were hard and cold. ¡°I will handle it.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan had already anticipated Baili Bin¡¯s answer. As he was sending the other out, he was silent for a while, before finally saying, ¡°I¡¯ll probably be away for a while. Help me look after her a bit.¡±

    There were so many extra people that had joined this smallmunity, especially the bunch of people with Baili Wenxi. Jiang Shuxuan knew with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attitude, she wasn¡¯t willing to trouble others if anything happened to her. She would either solve it herself, or ignore it, just like that time in N City.

    He knew that she thought of herself as a burden to others. Really, doing nothing would also make others feel heartache for her.

    ¡°Of course, be careful.¡± Baili Bin looked at Jiang Shuxuan, patting his shoulder. Thinking about it, Baili Bin was a little happy that the other had entrusted him with the task.

    But when his eyes looked at the paper in hand, the smile vanished from his face instantly. He went home, and gave a call to Baili Qu, before Fu Wei.

    ***

    Fu Wei, who had just hung up the phone, rubbed his temples in frustration. ¡°Dongyi, find Fu Xuejun and bring her back to me.¡±

    This was the first time that Fu Wei had called his daughter¡¯s name in full. Although his tone was calm, Fu Dongyi¡¯s heart still skipped a beat in surprise. He silently nodded his acknowledgement, and went out.

    When Fu Xuejun was called back by Fu Dongyi, she felt inexplicably uneasy. She shouldn¡¯t have done anything in the recent days, right?

    Well, there was one thing, but who had proof?

    When she thought about it, her heart calmed instantly as she knocked on the door.

    After knocking and walking in, Fu Wei was smoking, not looking at her.

    ¡°Dad?¡± Fu Xuejun spoke meekly.

    Fu Wei raised his eyes, ncing at her but stayed silent. After a long while, he finally spoke, ¡°I received three calls in just one morning. Would you care to guess who they were from?¡±

    Fu Xuejun was taken aback for a moment, and she studied her father¡¯s face, trying to gauge his feelings, but was unable to.

    However, Fu Wei didn¡¯t wait for her answer, as he continued, ¡°The Baili family, the Fu family, and Nine Heavens.¡±

    With every word that came out from Fu Wei¡¯s mouth, Fu Xuejun¡¯s heart sank deeper.

    ¡°Jun¡¯er, you¡¯ve always been such an obedient child. Sensible and filial since you were young, and you¡¯ve never let your mother and I worry about you before. Why have you be like this since we came back? It¡¯s fine with the Fu family not acknowledging you, but now even the Baili family has done the same! I had wanted to give you a ce in the Trial Tower through the Baili family, but now, you¡¯ve disappointed me.¡± Fu Wei looked at Fu Xuejun, his eyes conveying the disappointment that he felt towards her.

    When she heard Fu Wei¡¯s words, something snapped in Fu Xuejun¡¯s mind as she shouted, ¡°How did I be like this?! Isn¡¯t it you who changed first?! I¡¯m your daughter, dad, why are you always looking at someone else! That Gu Xiqiao hasn¡¯t done anything, but you and mom have picked out a female lead role for her, and even invested one hundred million in her. And me, when I said I wanted to act and wanted, you just gave me a supporting role, nothing else! You don¡¯t treat me like your daughter at all!¡±

    Fu Wei stared at his daughter, disbelief in his eyes. He didn¡¯t know that Fu Xuejun thought of him like that. After close to twenty years of raising her, he had given consideration towards her for every single thing in her life. Even a stone would have transformed to a living being with all the care he had given her. He didn¡¯t expect the words from her mouth, and he suddenly felt cold. He shakingly raised his hand and made a call, asking security to take Fu Xuejun out of the room.

    Only when Fu Xuejun was being dragged out by the security did she realize what she had said, and she only stood rooted to the spot, stunned.

    When Fu Dongyi saw her state, he couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. ¡°Miss, choosing a supporting role for you was to lessen any criticism aimed towards you. Have you forgotten that the madam practised with you until the middle of the night, and got a cold in the end. As for the investment, he didn¡¯t inject funds in ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ at all. Miss Gu got the role herself.¡±

    Hearing Fu Dongyi¡¯s exnation, Fu Xuejun finally reacted, grabbing his hand. ¡°Tell me, what should I do now?¡±

    ¡°Go to A University, study hard, and take over Fu Enterprise in the future.¡± Fu Dongyi took back his hand carefully, but still exined to her patiently. ¡°Your counsellor has called multiple times, saying that you have been skipping sses. If you continue to do so, you will be suspended.¡±

    A University! Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes lit up, she still had her talent in business! What was so great about being an actress? With Fu Enterprise¡¯s position in the Imperial Capital, as long as she could take over, what was she to be afraid of? She would be able to have Gu Xiqiao under her feet sooner orter!

    Fu Xuejun left Fu Enterprise building immediately with the thoughts in her mind. Behind her, Fu Dongyi watched her leave, and shook his head again. He then turned and returned to Fu Wei¡¯s office.

    ¡°Nine Heavens have terminated their contract with us.¡± Fu Wei sighed while looking at the document in his hands.

    Fu Dongyi¡¯s face changed. ¡°Why did they do that?¡± Wasn¡¯t the talks going well? Luo Weng had even contacted him this morning.

    Fu Wei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± There was no exnation for it, but he suspected in his heart that the matter should be rted to Fu Xuejun. With the cancetion of the contract between Nine Heavens and Fu Enterprise, their position in the Imperial Capital would be taking a plunge. Their stocks might even fall by at least a dozen points.

    ¡°Dongyi, if you have even half of Jun¡¯er¡¯s talent, then Fu Enterprise would have a sessor.¡±Fu Wei thought back to Fu Xuejun¡¯s disy just now, and couldn¡¯t help but get a headache from it. Fu Dongyi was a steady man, but he just didn¡¯t have the financial talent that Fu Xuejun had.

    Fu Dongyi: ¡°...¡± Luo Weng had already provoked him enough today, can you not add oil to the fire, President Fu?

    ***

    At the airport, Yin Shaoyuan watched as Tang Yanling was pulling Gu Xiqiao along, chatting as they walked. He asked quietly, ¡°Brother Jiang, why do I feel like I¡¯m the adopted child? And it¡¯s actually Qiao Qiao who is the real child!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at him in silence, pondering whether he should add salt to the wound or not.

    After sending Tang Yanling off, the three of them stood in the airport for a while before heading back. While Jiang Shuxuan went off to get the car, Yin Shaoyuan turned to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°There¡¯s been something going on in the slumstely, are you going to take a look?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head to look at the sky, and then shook her head. ¡°Maybe another day.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan was ying with his phone, and then let out a sigh at her answer. There was some hidden grudge in his eyes as he looked at the girl. ¡°Then I¡¯ll head on back first, remember to let me know before youe.¡±

    As soon as he left, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s car pulled up by her side. Gu Xiqiao stepped into the car, pulling out her phone once she was settled in.

    There was a bunch of news, and it was all from Luo Weng.

    Luo Weng: Uncle Mu said that the amusement park in N City hasn¡¯t been submitting their quota report, but since it involves0 the Wu family, he hasn¡¯t sent anyone over yet.

    Luo Weng: Fu Dongyi has no talent in finance at all. Boss Gu, are you sure you want us to train him? He¡¯s still from Fu Enterprise, he¡¯ll not be appreciate this training! Also, I have no idea where to start!

    For A Millenium: I¡¯ll be in Nine Heavens tomorrow afternoon, we¡¯ll talk about this then.

    After sending this message, Gu Xiqiao turned off WeChat and stared out the window.

    Obviously it was a yes, she wanted to let Fu Xuejun see everything that was initially at her fingertips burn awaypletely.

    She had initially nned on letting her off, but then Fu Xuejun dared to dangle like this in front of her. She clearly didn¡¯t know how stingy Gu Xiqiao was, or how she was extremely petty and could hold a grudge!

    Even if Fu Dongyi didn¡¯t have the talent, she would turn him into a prodigy.

    [Beauty Qiao, look at Weibo! It¡¯s exploding!]

 Chapter 221 - Turmoil On Weibo

    <h4>Chapter 221: Turmoil On Weibo</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao was already used to reactions on Weibo, or more urately, even if there was a big reaction, she wasn¡¯t really concerned anymore. But the system was too bored today, and gave a live broadcast of the happening of Weibo¡¯s grand asion to Gu Xiqiao, showing her all the relevant information.

    The reason was because of two Weibo posts that had been posted. Thanks to Yu Ning and his team¡¯s effort, ¡®River¡¯s Lake¡¯ had beenpletely edited. Even though they hadn¡¯t scheduled the premiere, Cheng Zhou had sent the film to the film festival. Adding on ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯, Gu Xiqiao was nominated for two awards.

    One nomination was for Best Neer Award, and the other was Best Female Supporting Award.

    When the news came out, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans exploded. A neer who performed in two movies, and was nominated for two awards in both in the film festival. This was a testament to her talents. The news announcement coincided with a poprity poll on Weibo, in which the winner would receive an invitation to the New Year¡¯s Eve party of Mango TV.

    Since Gu Xiqiao had not shown her face for a long time, her fans saw the opportunity to cast their votes. They were extremely hardworking at it, and her rank quickly surpassed the top ranking popr star, a female in Chinese opera, upying the top spot with arge margin.

    This made the fans of the young female Chinese opera unhappy. Where there were fans, there were ponds, and you could never have too little trolls.

    ¡°Here I was thinking what kind of famous person it was, but Gu Xiqiao? Who the heck is she? I¡¯ve never even heard of her! The votes are rigged for sure, I strongly request the official Weibo to clear it!¡±

    ¡°Yo, let me exin thement above. She¡¯s someone who specializes in acting as supporting female roles, third female leads and n numbers (smiley)¡±

    ¡°No matter how high the votes are, she¡¯s just a support! (smiley) (smiley) (smiley)¡±

    ¡°I heard that she was nominated for best supporting actress, it really suits her.¡±

    ¡°If you have the ability to take first ce, then use your ability and be a female lead in a movie!¡±

    The trolls and keyboard warriors were in full swing with their ridiculing, and the more they talked, the more sense they made. To the point that there was a topic named ¡®Let¡¯s talk about that actress who only yed a third female lead and is winning the poprity contest¡¯ that made it to the hot topic list. Some had evenmented on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo, and her fans were in a frenzy, not knowing what to say to stop the slew of insults.

    Just as the trolls were having the time of their life, the official Weibo of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ posted a Weibo.

    (Verified) Divergent Paths Official Crew: Feng Qiqi, please take care of us too. @ (Verified) For A Millenium [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ was a movie that was adapted from a game that had been popr on the inte. Cheng Zou had bluntly said before that ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ would be an amazingly expensive Xianxia movie, as he wanted to make sure that the scenery from the game was as close to the original as possible, and was also diligent in choosing his cast. The male lead and supporting roles in the movie were all top tier actors, and while the second female lead fell a little short, the third female lead was Song Guanjing!

    The line up of the cast was not in the least inferior to ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯ and ¡®River¡¯s Lake¡¯, and had even far surpassed the two movies. It was also an anticipated blockbuster film by millions ofizens.

    Only, the female lead had yet to be decided, and theizens were also anticipating the news. Everyone had voted for who they thought was the most suitable candidate, but most of the votes were almost equal. Because the role was difficult to y, theizens couldn¡¯t think of anyone who could actually take on the role.

    The crew released three pictures. The first one was her in in clothes, with white fox fur wrapped around her. Sunlight shone on her snow-white face, and her chin was lifted slightly, a malevolent gaze in her eyes. Her lips were curved upwards in a sinister smile, which was extremely attractive.

    The image of both righteous and evil was portrayed perfectly by her.

    Li Yu and Song Guanjing both reposted this Weibo silently.

    (Verified) Li Yu: @Cheng Zhou Remember to leave me a role, otherwise we¡¯re no longer friends! // @ (Verified) Divergent Paths Official Crew: Feng Qiqi, please take care of us too. @ (Verified) For A Millenium [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    (Verified) Song Guangjing: My Beauty Gu¡¯s movie, please look forward to it ^_^ // @ (Verified) Divergent Paths Official Crew: Feng Qiqi, please take care of us too. @ (Verified) For A Millenium [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    After these Weibo posts, the moring of those trolls and keyboard warriors came to an abrupt end.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans immediately gained confidence from their silence. As expected from Beauty Gu, to be able to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat!

    To those who said Beauty Gu didn¡¯t have a single leading role, was the weight of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ enough? Isn¡¯t it stronger than you Huadan? Do you have anything better to say? Oh, that¡¯s right, isn¡¯t your Chinese opera girl a second female lead in the movie? Are your brains alright?

    The trolls wanted to continue, but they couldn¡¯t find a single thing to refute it. They didn¡¯t think that Gu Xiqiao would be able to be the female lead of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ without saying anything, and even if they wanted to nder her, they couldn¡¯t say that the weight of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ wasn¡¯t enough. How could they say that? It was more than enough!

    They wanted to try to nder Gu Xiqiao¡¯s acting, but looking at the three pictures, there was hardly a thing they could criticize about. From her pose to her face, every single thing was wless and made people¡¯s heart beat while looking at it, what was there to say about it?! Also, can you not be so beautiful, they had to resist! They were here to nder her! As the troll silently tried to calm himself, his fingers had already tapped the ¡®follow¡¯ button.

    The system gave Gu Xiqiao each and every one of thosements,ughing joyously in the void space as it did so. [Beauty Qiao, thesements are making meugh so hard. Your fans really have such venomous mouths. Those pitiful trolls, they were clearly here to nder you in the beginning hehehe!]

    [But everything really is going viral. Both your films have been nominated. Look at this Weibo, it¡¯s a famous international judge at the International Film Festival. He¡¯s quite a queer person, and he¡¯s the one who announced the news of your nomination. He also admires you alot, being that he watched ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯ a few times.]

    ¡®It¡¯s only a nomination, not that I¡¯ve gotten the award.¡± Gu Xiqiao swiped open her phone to look at Weibo, after silently staring at the panel in front of her for a while.

    Thetest Weibo on the homepage has reached nearly two millionments, and the number of her fans had increased by two hundred thousand, and was continuing to increase.

    (Verified) For A Millenium: ... // @ (Verified) Divergent Path Official Crew: Feng Qiqi, please take care of us too. @ (Verified) For A Millenium [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    She didn¡¯t bother typing anyments while reposting, but just ¡®...¡¯.

    And thements to her post was like this:

    ¡°I think I cried at thest picture. Can you not tease me like this every time ??¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m licking the screen, don¡¯t disturb me!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, when I saw this, there weren¡¯t anyments!¡±

    ¡°Although I¡¯m happy that beautiful, you¡¯re acting once again, why the h*ll is it another tragic film! ??¡±

    ¡°D*mnit, I foresee another death scene that will start the waterworks. When will you stay alive, beautiful?! ??¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m definitely not normal, even my phantom limbs are hard after seeing the first picture ??¡±

    ¡°... silently +1¡±

    ¡°+10086¡±

    The list of hot topics on Weibo was firmly dominated by Gu Xiqiao, and it wasn¡¯t like the other topics were not rted to her either! This kind of limelight overtook every other artists and crew who were bing popr in the same timing as her, and it felt like sh*t. Could you at least leave one hot topic spot for them!

    When Cheng Zhou saw the poprity it had garnered, he felt like he was on cloud nine. It was nice to have Little Gu. Apart from having fantastic acting skills, he didn¡¯t even need to buy any spots on Weibo, or hire any Inte Water Army for the movie that he was making.

    ***

    Du Yixin was off today, and he was home, reading over the script in hand. Trying to sort through his emotions, he even gave Li Yu a call, wanting to ask advice from the other on ways to deal with the fighting scenes with Gu Xiqiao. That¡¯s right, after yesterday¡¯s blunder, he already knew that his acting skills were not up to par. She was the one who was leading every time they shot together, and she had even made him stumble more than a few times!

    He was still an actor at the end of the day, and although his acting skills were not as great as Li Yun, he wouldn¡¯t be suppressed by Li Yu. If someone had told Du Yixin a few days ago that he would meet someone who could shock him and made him screw up, he would haveughed them off. But after going through yesterday, he believed that he really was being pressured, and that was after the other party had deliberately held back.

    Du Yixin knew that something was wrong with himself, and so he gave a call to Li Yu for advice on how to ovee this. Li Yu was overjoyed when he heard.

    ¡°Sigh, if you can¡¯t do it, then let me do it instead. I actually sparred with her everyday...¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, Du Yixin hung up the call. He opened Weibo and stared at it nkly, and then he remembered that Cheng Zhou had mentioned that he would be releasing some makeup photos today. But when Weibo loaded, he was taken aback. Why were there so manyments tagging him?

    Before he could collect himself, he was once again shocked at the hot topic lists. The first thought in his mind was that Cheng Zhou had bought an Inte Water Army to bump the topic up to the hot topics, but when he scrolled through thements, it was all discussion of the fans, and there were even popr bloggers among them.

    At this point, you can clearly tell that these were all legit fans, and not Inte Water Armies that have been paid!

    And then he turned to the official crew¡¯s Weibo, reposting the post immediately before tapping into the profile of ¡®For A Millenium¡¯. After silently clicking ¡®follow¡¯, he was surprised once again by the number of fans in this ount. He knew that the other was just a neer, and this was the first time they were working together. However, looking at the number of fans that were close to twenty million, his cold facade almost cracked under the revtion. Was this really a newbie¡¯s Weibo?!

    There were so many other first-rate stars that didn¡¯t even have as many fans as her, right?

    Everyone in the crew had reposted this Weibo, and only a few were unable to. Du Yixin studied the list for a while, and noted that Sheng Yin was one of them that had not reposted it. Herst logged in for Weibo was three days ago, and he frowned. But he didn¡¯t concern himself with it for long.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t pay attention to the happenings in Weibo, but the system kept broadcasting everything to her, and up till they reached home, it had yet to stop.

    Mrs. Zhang had already returned, and was cleaning up the house when the two came in. When she saw them, she immediately brought out a te stacked with fruits.

    Jiang Shuxuan took off his coat, silently sitting down on the sofa as he reposted the same Weibo post that she had done, and continued down to read through thements.

    His own Weibo had reached nearly a million fans, and he was considered to be a small inte celebrity. Gu Xiqiao was once again hot, and as soon as his Weibo had been posted, it received dozens ofments.

    Gu Xiqiao brought theptop down from upstairs, and was typing away on it with Jiang Shuxuan by her side. His hand was on the sofa, his head lowered and his attention on his phone. His lips were pursed, as he swiped on his phone. The dim yellow light from the window reflected on his white shirt, making it look slightly golden.

    After typing a page, she raised her head suddenly, looking at Jiang Shuxuan. Then she took her phone, sneakily taking a picture of him.

    The next day morning, when Gu Xiqiao woke up, Mrs. Zhang had yet to. Only, Jiang Shuxuan had already left.

    It was still early, the sun had yet to rise, and even the street lights were still on.

    Gu XIqiao couldn¡¯t go back to sleep, so she decided to just wake up. She turned on her phone, and found the picture that she had taken yesterday in secret, and posted a Weibo.

    (Verified) For A Millenium: Harmonious passing, silent mountain rivers. [JPEG] (T/N: It¡¯s a Chinese saying that vaguely means the good years have passed and the mountains and rivers have returned to silence. It means to describe how youth has gone and life has lost its color and passion.)

    The figure in the picture was a bit blurry, but you could still see his outline. Fans who woke up early in the morning were immediately stunned by the picture.

    ¡°F*ck, what is this? Did you find this picture on the, Beauty Gu?¡±

    ¡°Although I can¡¯t see it clearly, with my professional eyesight, this guy is really really handsome!¡±

    ¡°Harmonious passing, silent mountain rivers. This is the most sadistic saying in ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ ??¡±

    ¡°The person in the picture should be a male model, he really has the feel! I can also feel the mysterious aura radiating from him, but I just can¡¯t see his face clearly! Bad one!¡±

    ¡°Am I the only who thinks that it¡¯s @ A Flowing River?¡±

    ¡°Up there, you¡¯re not the only one!¡±

    ¡°There should be some photoshop masters around right @ psgreatgod ??¡±

    There were also photoshop masters among Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans, and for the sake of seeing who the person in the picture was, they immediately downloaded the picture and made to sharpen and clear the filter on it. They had epted the task with confidence and said that they would immediately restore the picture for the other fans to see.

    A few minutester, the photoshop masters came back with ament.

    ¡°Goddess, you¡¯re actually the real photoshop great god, right? What kind of blur filter did you use, that none of us are able to remove it with the various methods that we tried using? ©Ñ©Ò©n©Ñ©Ò¡±

    Thisment made it to the top immediately.

    ***

    On the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯, Gu Xiqiao walked towards Cheng Zhou once she was done filming a fight scene with one of the other male supporting roles. ¡°Director Cheng, my next scene is scheduled at after two in the afternoon. I have something to do at noon, so I will leave for a while.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± Cheng Zhou was tolerant of Gu Xiqiao. He knew that while she waszy, she was also very responsible. She wouldn¡¯t ask to leave if it was just for something minor. ¡°Remember toe back on time.¡±

    Having said that, he smiled again. If even Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t on time, there wasn¡¯t anyone who would be more punctual than her in this world.

    After getting the permission, Gu Xiqiao immediately went to change out of her clothes and makeup.

    Du Yixin, who was holding the script in hand and was about to ask her something: ¡°...¡±

    It wasn¡¯t until she left for her dressing room that he silently looked at Cheng Zhou and asked, ¡°Li Yu told me yesterday, that he sparred with Miss Gu every day, was that true?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Cheng Zhou sighed when the matter was brought up, and he sighed again. ¡°Little Du, you have to work hard.¡±

    Du Yixin went silent for a moment. Li Yu¡¯s acting skills were at the pinnacle of the entire entertainment industry circle right now, and his talent was way too high. He initially thought that Li Yu had been joking yesterday, but he didn¡¯t expect that there was no exaggeration to his words at all.

    He looked at the direction of the dressing room, and let out a deep sigh.

    ***

    Sheng Yin was also in the dressing room, touching up her makeup. When she saw Gu Xiqiaoing in and removing her clothes and makeup, she was surprised. ¡°Miss Gu, you still have some scenes in the afternoon, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± As she let the makeup assistant remove her makeup, she replied faintly. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in the afternoon.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Sheng Yin smiled, but said nothing.

    After Gu Xiqiao went out, only did Sheng Yin¡¯s assistant speak, ¡± What the heck, she only got two nominations, and that¡¯s not even the awards yet and she¡¯s being so big-headed. Even Brother Du stays with the crew during his idle time, can¡¯t she wait also?¡±

    The costumes and makeup for this movie were extremely cumbersome, and it took at least two hours to put on. The artists woulde in the morning and put everything on, and go through the entire day without removing it to save time. Only when everything was done for the day did they change out, and so none of them would leave the set during the day.

    That was what prompted Sheng Yin¡¯s assistant to say those words when she saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s behavior. With such a self-important attitude, they wouldn¡¯t receive any favors no matter which crew they were ced in, especially towards the makeup artists. However, the crews were still all smiles as they said goodbye to Gu Xiqiao, some also telling her to be careful and remember toe back early and so on.

    Sheng Yin studied the makeup artists¡¯ face closely, noting that there was no difort or unhappiness on her face. However, although there was none on her face, it didn¡¯t mean that she didn¡¯t feel anything on the inside. Thinking of this, she chastised her assistant, ¡°Enough, stop it.¡±

    The assistant felt indignant, but she held it in, turning the topic to something else. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Miss Fu today, I heard from the others that she¡¯s quite the crew. But that can¡¯t be, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about there.¡± Sheng Yin looked at herself in the mirror, a cryptic sh in her eyes. Outside, the director was calling for her, so she stood up and left the room.

    ***

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had already reached Nine Heavens.

    At this time, Luo Weng was meeting Fu Dongyi in the parlor. Fu Dongyi didn¡¯t know why Luo Weng was looking for him, but it was for the sake of Fu Enterprise, so he came.

    ¡°Mr. Luo, why in the world are you looking for me?¡± Fu Dongyi asked the question for the hundredth and one time.

    Luo Weng was about to exin again, but then he raised his eyes, seeing a figure slowly approaching through the ss door. He stood up with a bang, and eximed, ¡°Coming!¡±

 Chapter 222 - Two Choices

    <h4>Chapter 222: Two Choices</h4>

    Here? Who¡¯s here? Fu Dongyi confusedly got up from his seat upon seeing Luo Weng standing up in excitement.

    He was actually quite exhrated to have been invited to the Nine Heavens Group again because as a businessman and Fu Wei¡¯s assistant, he had a better idea of Nine Heavens than anyone in Fu Enterprise.

    That was why he was both honored and uneasy upon being invited here by Luo Weng, and when he was invited here, Luo Weng didn¡¯t even speak to him much, only telling him to sit before flipping through his own documents, as if he didn¡¯t care that there was someone else in the room with him.

    It was true that he didn¡¯t need to do that in the first ce because Fu Dongyi couldn¡¯t understand what was written in the documents anyway.

    Looking towards the door, Fu Dongyi saw someone walk in through the door in a beige coat while scrolling through her phone, and she only looked up from her phone and put it away after she stepped into the room.

    ¡°Hello, Mr. Fu,¡± Gu Xiqiao greeted, holding out a hand towards him.

    Fu Dongyi stared at those porcin fingers for a while as he listened to Luo Weng introduce the girl in front of him, before he robotically reached towards her and shook her hand. ¡°Hello, Miss Gu.¡±

    He knew who Gu Xiqiao was, of course, but wasn¡¯t she just an actress? Why was she here?

    Even though he had a lot of questions to ask, he knew better than to pester the girl and he kept his mouth shut.

    ¡°Mr. Fu,¡± Gu Xiqiao sat down on the sofa and gestured for him to do the same, before continuing: ¡°The reason I have you here today is to offer you a proposition.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Fu Dongyi asked curiously.

    Gu Xiqiao took out a stack of papers and handed it to Luo Weng, before looking straight at Fu Dongyi¡¯s eyes. ¡°I want you to take over the Fu family.¡±

    ¡°Take over the Fu family?¡± Fu Dongyi immediately bounced up from the sofa. ¡°No, that won¡¯t do! The Fu family belongs to Miss, and I don¡¯t have the ability and talent to do so!¡±

    ¡°Talent won¡¯t be a problem. As long as you agree, we¡¯ll make it so that Fu Xuejun wouldn¡¯t even be able to be a match for you in no time!¡± Gu Xiqiao picked up the cup of tea that the secretary sent in before sipping on it slowly and smiling at Fu Dongyi.

    They could develop him to the point where even Fu Xuejun wouldn¡¯t be able to win against him? Were they joking?

    At this point, Fu Dongyi felt that Gu Xiqiao was making fun at his expense. He was very self-aware and knew exactly how much he was worth, which was why he never even had the thought of taking charge of the Fu family, even when Fu Wei seemed to have the intent of having him do so.

    Fu Dongyi looked at Gu Xiqiao with a bitter smile. ¡°Miss Gu, please don¡¯t make fun of me. I know that I can¡¯t even hold a candle to Miss Fu, and the Fu family is going to copse once ites into my hands...¡±

    ¡°You have two choices. The first is that you take over the Fu family, and the second, is to watch as I make the entire Fu family disappear from the Imperial Capital.¡± Gu Xiqiao set down her teacup and looked at Fu Dongyi with a gentle smile, but the words she uttered were bone-chilling. ¡°Which one do you choose?¡±

    Her proposition made Fu Dongyi pale considerably. He didn¡¯t know Gu Xiqiao¡¯s position in thepany, but judging from the way Luo Weng smiled and nodded at him when he nced at him, he could tell that Gu Xiqiao could do so if she wished.

    There wasn¡¯t a singlepany or enterprise that wasn¡¯t afraid of Nine Heavens, but thankfully for them, the group had set their sights abroad and didn¡¯t have any intention of expanding their influence in the Imperial Capital. That being said, if Nine Heavens wanted Fu Enterprise gone, they would definitely be able to do so.

    ¡°Miss Gu, I just want to know why you¡¯re asking this of me...¡± Fu Dongyi croaked.

    ¡°Well, the reason is simple.¡± Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly, before huffing coldly. ¡°Fu Xuejun infuriated me!¡±

    As soon as she said this, Fu Dongyi didn¡¯t know what to say in response. Judging from the contents of the argument between Fu Xuejun and Fu Wei that day, that girl had definitely tried some low tricks on Gu Xiqiao. That was because Fu Xuejun looked down on Gu Xiqiaopletely, and if she knew that Gu Xiqiao had so much influence over Nine Heavens, she wouldn¡¯t even dare to do so.

    ¡°I-I have to discuss this with Mr. Fu when I return...¡± Fu Dongyipromised.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up and smiled amiably. ¡°Come back here tomorrow, and I¡¯ll turn you into a genius that can put Fu Xuejun to shame.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Fu Dongyi nodded and replied, but he didn¡¯t believe that the mysterious girl in front of him could change his entire brain structure andck of born talent.

    Gu Xiqiao left after saying everything that she needed to, while Luo Weng sat there and flipped through the ns that Gu Xiqiao gave him before reaching over and patting Fu Dongyi¡¯s shoulder, his gaze betraying a hint of jealousy. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve gotten the attention of Boss Gu, you¡¯re going to be the object of jealousy in ourpany.¡±

    Luo Weng didn¡¯t know why Gu Xiqiao was so benevolent towards Fu Enterprise.

    Wait...Boss Gu?

    Fu Dongyi felt as if he was hallucinating as he looked at Luo Weng dumbfoundedly. ¡°Y-You- She- Boss- What?¡±

    ¡°You heard me.¡± Luo Weng smiled and confirmed his suspicions¡ªThere wouldn¡¯t be any use of keeping it from him in the future given that he was going to go through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s devil training anyway. ¡°Don¡¯t think that she¡¯s joking, she really has ns to make a genius out of you. See you at nine tomorrow, and I hope that you bring good news with you.¡±

    Luo Weng left, leaving Fu Dongyi standing there, shell-shocked.

    Fu Dongyi thought of the girl that was even younger than he was, his lips twitching a few times as he trembled.

    What did he say?! Gu Xiqiao was the boss of the Nine Heavens Group? A girl that was younger than he was??

    How was that possible?!

    Back when he first got wind of Nine Heavens, he had already had an admiration and deep respect for the founder of thepany, but that went for most of the people in their industry.

    Some of therge cases involving Nine Heavens Group had even been turned into teaching material by some universities as a textbook example of winning against a stronger opponent.

    One of the most renowned and experienced people in their circle once said that the person behind Nine Heavens Group could bepared as an intelligent monster, to the point where the entiremercial worldbined couldn¡¯t even win against them.

    In other words, if you had even had two brain cells, you would know not to trifle with this megalodon that could crunch you up in one bite and then some, and the Bai family was an example of what happened when someone did.

    That being said, the founder and boss of thepany werepletely shrouded in mystery because they had never shown themselves in public, and only the higher-ups in thepany had. Many people have guessed what sort of person was the mastermind behind the scenes, but no one would have known that the truth was so astonishing!

    A girl that was not even twenty years old yet!

    Fu Dongyi was immediately reminded of Fu Xuejun that was renowned overseas for being an unparalleled genius with many achievements, but afterparing her with Gu Xiqiao, she was nothing worth noting.

    One was still resting on herurels, while the other had already created amercial kingdom.

    Could there be a cruelerparison?

    Fu Dongyi was so shaken by this news that he walked out of thepany doors in a half-conscious state, only somewhat realizing that he was outside when a particrly cool gust of wind blew onto him.

    After Gu Xiqiao strolled around the entirepany, she came back to the Finance Department led by Luo Weng.

    Luo Weng suddenly remembered something. ¡°Do you think we should contact the Wu family about the matters with Baixing Vige?¡±

    ¡°No need, at least not for now.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, flipping through documents as she did.

    ¡°Alright. Also, I¡¯ve read this n of yours, but I¡¯m not sure if it will be effective in a short period of time.¡± Luo Weng waved around the piece of paper with Fu Dongyi¡¯s future ns on it.

    ¡°I have my ways.¡± Gu Xiqiao reached up and pat his shoulder. ¡°Perhaps he won¡¯t be practicing in Nine Heavens when he doese.¡±

    Luo Weng blinked dumbly. ¡°Not here?¡± Then where?

    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled mysteriously, before looking at her phone that showed that it was already half-past twelve. ¡°Well, it¡¯s time for me to take my leave.¡±

    One minute after Gu Xiqiao left, Yu Ning came barging in.

    Luo Weng looked at him with pity, before jeering lightheartedly, ¡°She¡¯s already given up on your Engineering Department, I see.¡±

    Yu Nine returned without a single word.

    A few minutester, Luo Weng sat at his desktop and was browsing through his documents before a bunch of non-dismissible advertisement banners popped up on his screen, and it was as if hisputer had been infected with a virus.

    Even if he thought with his toe, he knew that this was one of Yu Ning¡¯s schemes!

    Meanwhile, the secretary that hade to his office to give him some papers had already been used to the scene of the two being loving(sworn)rades(enemies).

    ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t go to the studio where Divergent Paths was being filmed but instead teleported to the border of the ancient martial arts world using a talisman.

    Yi Bing and Yi Tiao had already left together with Jiang Shuxuan, and the only one left standing guard was Yi Tong.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Yi Tong bowed respectfully.

    Not only was she his boss¡¯s precious treasure, but she also had the strength and ability to be worthy of this respect.

    ¡°Hello, Mr. Yi Tong.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled politely. ¡°Brother Jiang said that this cave is mine from now on.¡±

    Yi Tong bowed. ¡°ording to the rules of the ancient martial arts world, it is, yes.¡±

    This cave had been conquered by Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan, but Yi Tong guessed that Gu Xiqiao wore the shoes in their rtionship, so it wouldn¡¯t do him any wrong to say so!

    ¡°Ah, then I can use it right?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked into the cave as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. If her math was right, there was a one to seven ratio of the speed of time flow inside and outside the cave, so it was truly a treasure if it was utilized well!

    ¡°That won¡¯t do, Miss Gu! The miasma in the cave is too thick, and no one can stay in there for too long!¡± If anything happened to Gu Xiqiao, he¡¯d probably be skinned alive by Boss!

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I can deal with it.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved towards the few people at the site. ¡°Make way.¡±

    Yi Tong remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength, and so he only nodded and led Jiu Tong and the others away.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°Lil¡¯ System, can the inventory hold this cyberspace?¡±

    [The inventory won¡¯t be able to do that because it¡¯s too low-grade, but the Virtual Arena could!] The system spirit knew what Gu Xiqiao was nning, and was doing precise calctions. [The cyberspace that this cave holds is pretty low-grade, so you could absorb it into the Virtual Arena without any problems. All you have to do is cover the entire cave with your mental power, and I¡¯ll handle everything else.]

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. She had been keeping an eye out for this cave for a long while now, but she didn¡¯t have enough mental power in the past.

    Since thest time she passed out, her mental power had a drastic increase, and it was because of that that she was passed out for an entire week.

    Suddenly, a strong and terrifying surge of mental power burst out in front of the cave, the mental power so thick and strong that it seemed to warp space itself while the others looked on in astonishment. ¡°Y-Yi Tong is her mental power already in the perfect stage..?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yi Tong looked at Gu Xiqiao, not able to peel his gaze away from the sight. ¡°And she¡¯s stronger than thest time we met.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan had already been enough of a genius for them, and now there was someone that was on par and seemed to even be more of a monstrous genius...How could they regr plebeians live??

    ¡°How many days has it been?¡± Jiu Tong asked. ¡°How old was she, again?¡±

    Yi Ren replied with a stiff tone, ¡°She¡¯s in her first year of university...¡±

    ¡°The ranking battles areing up soon, aren¡¯t they?¡± Wu Tong asked. ¡°What do you guys think would happen then?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like my imagination would do it justice.¡± Yi Ren replied expressionlessly.

    All of a sudden, the entire cave disappeared with a loud, thundering rumble.

    Everyone looked on at this mystical scene with their jaws hanging wide open. What happened to the cave?? Where did it go??

    Gu Xiqiao walked over and nodded at them, before disappearingpletely.

    The next second, she blinked into existence at the training grounds where Yao Jiamu was.

    Everyone was still in the middle of training, while Xixi continued to bully Yin Shaoyuan with its fire breath.

    All of a sudden, a gust of wind blew in the arena, and a silhouette dropped down from the sky.

    Everyone stopped what they were doing in an instant as they looked at this scene, before rubbing their eyes again and again. Why was she still there?

    Gu Xiqiao stood up, before waving towards them awkwardly. ¡°Good afternoon, everyone.¡±

    Could Lil¡¯ System tell her why her coordinates were so off?!

 Chapter 223 - Peace Squad

    Chapter 223: Peace Squad

    ¡°The system lost half of its energy just by absorbing the cave! It¡¯s so hard to maintain spatial stability...¡± The system spirit floated out of the void and pouted at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡±

    Xixi was in the middle of spewing fire, and it turned over immediately in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction when she dropped onto the ground, so it didn¡¯t have time to stop the mes.

    ¡°Careful!¡± Yin Shaoyuan shouted, knowing that Xixi¡¯s mes were very strong, and with that pir of me shooting towards Gu Xiqiao who seemed to be unguarded, he truly had a great shock.

    As soon as he shouted out, the girl in question only flicked her finger, and the dragon-like me pir disappeared.

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°...¡±

    He looked around at everyone else¡¯s calm expressions, and for a moment, he thought that he was the one that was abnormal here.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you weren¡¯ting?¡± Yin Shaoyuan asked as if to cover up his embarrassment.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m here now aren¡¯t I?¡± Gu Xiqiao waved everyone off to their own devices, before walking over to them. ¡°You told me something happened, yesterday. What was it?¡±

    ¡°Many riots have happened in this city recently, and yesterday I led some people to help when one such riot happened in the slums.¡± Yao Jiamu¡¯s expression became serious as he exined what happened, ¡°There were less than ten people there, but they were very much stronger than a regr person. What¡¯s most confusing, or worrying, should I say, is that these people were all regr people before the riots happened...¡±

    It was because of this abnormality that he was quite anxious at the moment. These people in the arena were handpicked by him and taught by Gu Xiqiao, so for those rioters to be able to match them in battle was quite worrying.

    Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly, before saying, ¡°You said that there were many of these incidents in the Imperial Capital?¡±

    Yao Jiamu sighed and nodded. ¡°There are already three that I know of, and the victims were all innocent civilians.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I understand.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded and smiled. ¡°Split everyone in the arena into groups of ten and pick out a leader from each of these teams, and have them go on patrols to protect the civilians from getting harmed by these riots!¡±

    Upon hearing this, Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eyes brightened at the prospect of being able to fight. ¡°Qiao Qiao, can I go?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced over at him and shook her head. ¡°No, you have something more important matters to attend to.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Yin Shaoyuan was both disappointed and curious as to what Gu Xiqiao wanted him to do.

    ¡°That being said, they¡¯re not strong enough...¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin, before snapping her fingers and ordering Yao Jiamu, ¡°Go get a pot of water for me.¡±

    Yao Jiamu immediately had someone bring over a pot of water, and Gu Xiqiao sent a few gray pills into it, the pills dissolving as soon as they hit the water.

    Upon seeing this, Yao Jiamu knew what she was nning and dispatched someone to get a hundred bowls, before distributing the medical water evenly.

    ¡°Huh, I don¡¯t have much time.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at the time, before snapping her fingers again.

    The hundred people on the training arena all felt themselves being pushed aside by a gentle force, and before they could react, a strong aura spread out in the area and it dimmed, as something was blocking the sunlight.

    The next second, a thunderous bang rumbled in the arena, and after the dust settled, there stood a cave at the southern side of the arena, taking up over half of the space.

    Where did thise from?!

    Everyone looked around to find that Gu Xiqiao had disappeared, but it was clear that this was her doing.

    Yao Jiamu seemed to have already be used to this, and he was the first that reacted. ¡°... Aaand she¡¯s gone.¡±

    What was this cave even for? Yao Jiamu heaved an anguished sigh, before taking charge of the situation again.

    ¡°Young Master Yao! Is... Is this magic?¡± Someone asked dumbly.

    Yao Jiamu walked over to him and pat his shoulder, before looking at everyone else. ¡°If you are willing to work hard, everything is possible! Now, go get yourselves a bowl of water each!¡±

    Lu Qi stood there, still stunned by the scene from earlier. When could she be able to do something like that?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao arrived at the studio at two o¡¯clock on the dot.

    She nced at Song Guanjing and Du Yixin that were in the middle of their first take before walking straight into the makeup room, and Sister Yu immediately got her into costume and helped on her makeup. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face didn¡¯t need much touching up in the first ce because of her supple skin and good shape, so she finally decided on just tapping on foundation and doing some contouring to make her features stand out more under a camera.

    Hence, Gu Xiqiao was already done in a short twenty minutes.

    Outside, Song Guanjing had already finished her shoot, and Sheng Yin immediately came up to her. ¡°Sister Song.¡±

    They were all in the same industry, but Song Guanjing didn¡¯t feel anything towards Sheng Yin in general so she only smiled cordially. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to the scene we¡¯ll be takingter.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor!¡± Sheng Yin seemed to be quite excited at the prospect of acting together with Song Guanjing whose poprity had be on par with Li Yu after the incident. ¡°But I think our scene might have to be postponed...¡±

    ¡°Postponed?¡± Song Guanjing raised her eyebrows in question.

    Sheng Yin pursed her lips slightly, before looking towards the dressing room. ¡°Miss Gu left the studio earlier and only came back now to get made up...¡±

    In the industry, even the most high-brow actors and actresses tended toe on set to get prepared early in the morning and only left at night after all their scenes for the day werepleted, so as to not drag the progress of the shooting.

    Upon hearing this, Song Guanjing only looked at her with an unreadable expression, not saying anything in response.

    At that time, Gu Xiqiao had alreadye out of the dressing room in a light green ssical dress, with bamboo motifs embroidered at the hem of the dress. In her hand, she held a white, folded fan, and she was quite expressionless at the moment, which made her seem especially tired.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have any rest?¡± Song Guanjing walked towards her with a concerned expression. ¡°If you need some time, I can go tell Director Cheng.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Sister Yu walked out of the dressing room too. ¡°Yeah, she even closed her eyes and fell asleep when I did her makeup earlier.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t rare in the least for actors to be tired in the entertainment industry¡ªIn fact, it was even amon sight to see actors falling asleep in the middle of reciting their lines, but when it came to Gu Xiqiao, everyone seemed to be particrly lenient, and even Cheng Zhou asked if she needed some rest.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved the fan in her hand and smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She was only tired because she expended too much mental power.

    As they walked past Sheng Yin without even acknowledging her, Sheng Yin was so embarrassed that she wanted to bury a hole and hide, especially upon seeing Song Guanjing¡¯s expression.

    She hadn¡¯t expected Song Guanjing to be acquainted with Gu Xiqiao, and from the looks of it, they seemed quite close too. Sheng Yin knew that Song Guanjing was as straightforward as a stick and didn¡¯t fake her emotions at all, and she told Song Guanjing that Gu Xiqiao was acting high and mighty right to her face!

    ¡°Miss Sheng?¡± Sheng Yin¡¯s assistant asked carefully.

    Sheng Yin¡¯s expression was thunderous, but she responded. ¡°What is it!¡±

    ¡°Uhm.¡± The assistant took out her phone. ¡°Miss Fu called you when you were shooting, earlier.¡±

    ¡°Miss Fu?¡± Sheng Yin¡¯s expression brightened considerably, and after making sure that it was Fu Xuejun¡¯s number, she immediately scurried out with her phone in hand.

    Cheng Zhou checked on the wires again to make sure that there was no problem, before helping her put it on.

    Song Guanjing stood at a side together with Du Yixin. ¡°I only have one scene together with her, aren¡¯t I the tritagonist? Why do I only have one scene with her...¡± Song Guanjing continued to mutter in a regretful tone.

    ¡°Guanjing, are you unsatisfied with me?¡± Du Yixin squinted at Song Guanjing at this statement, because most of their scenes were with each other.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just that I¡¯ll always have new realizations when I act with her.¡± Song Guanjing sighed. ¡°Director Cheng was right, she really was born for acting. I think the only one that can allow her to unleash her true acting prowess is Li Yu, though.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t expected Song Guanjing to say this, and so she nced over towards Gu Xiqiao again, his hands clenching unconsciously. He knew better than anyone that when he acted with Song Guanjing, thetter always had to suppress her skills.

    ¡°Speaking of which, did you learn anything when you acted with her?¡± Song Guanjing asked.

    Du Yixin shook his head. ¡°She always takes the lead when we¡¯re in the same scenes, and she either discusses with Director Cheng or the crew or just sits there with her phone, so.¡±

    In other words, the two of them didn¡¯t have any conversation at all outside of their lines and roles.

    ¡°By the way, are you close with Sheng Yin?¡± Song Guanjing asked curiously.

    ¡°We¡¯re acquaintances, I guess.¡± Du Yixin replied nonchntly. ¡°She¡¯s my junior in thepany, but I¡¯m not really all that close with her. Why?¡±

    Song Guanjing: ¡°...¡± She can see that!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s scenes were more or less all epted in one take, and since Song Guanjing didn¡¯t have a lot of scenes, she took a chair and sat down to watch Gu Xiqiao act out her scenes after she was finished.

    ¡°Sister Guanjing, when are you going to go back home? It hasn¡¯t been safe around the city,tely.¡± After finishing her shoot, Gu Xiqiao took a cup of warm milk tea that a crew member bought her and sat next to Song Guanjing, staring at her.

    Song Guanjing couldn¡¯t help but rub her face self-consciously. There was nothing strange on it, right? ¡°I¡¯m going to go home soon.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nonchntly retracted her gaze, taking out a post-it note and setting her cup of milk tea on the table, before starting to fold it, her hands attracting the attention of the ones that passed by.

    These were a pair of good looking hands with lithe and pale fingers that were trimmed nicely, and under the shine of the studio lights, she folded the post-it note that was the size of a palm into a talisman the size of a penny.

    After she did, she handed it to Song Guanjing.

    ¡°This is for me?¡± Song Guanjing epted the folded post-it note before keeping it well upon seeing Gu Xiqiao nod. At that moment, her manager walked over. ¡°Guanjing, thepany is looking for you.¡±

    Song Guanjing nodded, before looking back at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°That¡¯s my cue to leave, then.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao stood up and sent her away with her gaze, and only after the figure disappeared did she sit back down and take out her phone, seeing the 99+ messages from Zhu Yuan.

    Even though she knew that she couldn¡¯t get mad at Zhu Yuan for what Rong Feishuang did, but she couldn¡¯t resist.

    Now that a few days had passed, she became much calmer and tapped open Zhu Yuan¡¯s WeChat...

    Zhu Yuan: ¡®This is a matter of life and death, Beauty Gu! You can¡¯t ignore me like this!¡¯

    Zhu Yuan had almost been driven crazy by his master in the past few days, the man carrying around a pot of wine and not caring about anything but getting drunk. Rong Feishuang still had a few patients in the Imperial Capital, and so Zhu Yuan had to take over their treatment while he was out ofmission like this.

    One of said patients was a national leader that had a very obscure disease that couldn¡¯t even be detected with any of his machines or apparatus, so he couldn¡¯t even think of a way to treat it. Rong Feishuang and Gu Xiqiao were probably two of the only people in the ancient martial arts world that could tell what was wrong, but the former wasn¡¯t in a good state of being while thetter didn¡¯t was too busy ignoring him!

    Gu Xiqiao had always been a little unreliable, but never when it came to matters that involved the wellbeing and health of others.

    Therefore, Zhu Yuan guessed that something went wrong when she met Rong Feishuang.

    He had thought that she wouldn¡¯t reply this time too, but the next second, his phone vibrated.

    For A Millennium: ¡®I understand.¡¯

    Zhu Yuan was so ted he almost cried.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Song Guanjing was in the car together with her manager, with the manager driving while she sat in the front passenger seat.

    All of a sudden, the brakes screeched.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Song Guanjing woke up blearily, and upon looking out the window, she saw a dozen people surrounding the car with metal bats in their hands, the metal glinting coldly under the street lights.

    Bang! The baseball bat swung down, and the front of the car crumpled, and the car door was ripped away from its hinges.

    Song Guanjing and her manager were dragged onto the ground, and Song Guanjing closed her eyes in fear as someone swung the metal bat towards their heads.

    There was a muted thunk, but not the pain that she thought that she would have felt, and Song Guanjing opened her eyes slightly to see the person that was about to swing the bat onto them sitting on the ground as if he were repelled by a strong force, his body charred as if he were struck by lightning.

    A minuteter, a car rushed onto the scene. Taking the lead was a woman who ordered the nine people behind her to beat the perpetrators up, before tying them up with rope.

    The criminals that seemed to have supernatural strength and power were all beaten up as easily as helpless chicks.

    ¡°Just leave them at the entrance of the police station, as Miss Gu told us to.¡± After tying them up, the woman waved for them to be hoisted onto the car before looking back at Song Guanjing.

    Song Guanjing immediately asked, ¡°Who are you people?¡±

    The woman hummed, before replying, ¡°Please call us the Peace Squad!¡±

    ¡°The Peace Squad...¡± Song Guanjing muttered, before looking back up and seeing the cars drive away.

    Meanwhile, the manager was stillying on the ground weakly. ¡°G-Guanjing, what happened...?¡±

    His voice was trembling as he asked, and even though he already knew that some such incidents had been happening recently, he hadn¡¯t expected it to happen to himself¡ªHe thought he was going to die!

    Song Guanjing suddenly remembered something and reached towards her pocket where she ced the talisman that Gu Xiqiao gave her, and all she could feel was a bunch of ash.

    ***

    At the same time, in the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°Why did youe back?¡± The elders of the Tang Family, and Jiang Family, and the Murong Family sat together at a table and were worrying over something when thew enforcement team that they sent out came back, and they all frowned. This team was created ording to the orders of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s subordinates in an attempt to keep things in order, but why did theye back so quickly?

    The leader of the team looked as if he was going to cry. ¡°We couldn¡¯t humiliate ourselves anymore!¡±

    There were many rioterstely, and every time their team got wind of something happening, the perpetrators had been defeated and sent to the police station before they could even get there, apparently by a team called the Peace Squad.

    They had thought that it was just a team made by civilians, so they lowered their guard towards the riots in the city, but when they actually met them they were all beaten easily by their monstrous strength and their usage of a strange, ck chi!

    After that, it was the Peace Squad that saved them, and the ¡®civilian team¡¯ that they looked down on earlier were all stronger than them!

    ¡°Elder, even the weakest one among of them could beat me, and they have many such squads patrolling the city! What would they need us for?¡± The leader of the team sat down on the floor, not willing to embarrass themselves any further.

    The other elders all looked at each other with astonished expressions.

    The team leader was at the Chi Induction stage, but he was considered to be higher than average in the ancient martial arts world, where the majority were only at the Beginner stage.

    If even their weakest could beat him, it meant that all of these squads had members at the Chi Induction stage at the minimum? Almost more than a hundred of them? Such power could even bepared with the three great families!

 Chapter 224 - Our Territory

    Chapter 224: Our Territory

    After finishing work at the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯, Gu Xiqiao walked to the slums after informing Mrs. Zhang that she wouldn¡¯t be home so early.

    The training arena was still brightly lit, and Gu Xiqiao stood there in front of the cave, rubbing her chin thoughtfully and thinking about ways to redesign it.

    Behind her, all the teams that didn¡¯t go out patrolling were looking at her with admiration.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, why did you get a cave over here?¡± Yin Shaoyuan stood next to her and looked at the cave together, but he didn¡¯t know what she was trying to do. They had tried to enter the cave that afternoon, but they were all blocked by the seal on the entrance of the cave.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°Big Brother Yin, you know about the Trial Tower right?¡±

    Upon thinking of the Trial Tower, the first thing that came to Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s mind was its the difference in the flow of time between the inside of the tower and the outside world, and since Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t mention that for no reason, Yin Shaoyuan turned around and looked at Gu Xiqiao with a shaken gaze. ¡°You... Don¡¯t tell me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this cave is actually a Cyberspace with a time ratio of one to seven with the flow of time outside, and if I reverse that, it¡¯ll be so that the ratio will be seven to one instead.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked towards the cave. ¡°I still need some time to fine-tune it, but you guys can go inside to train by tomorrow morning.¡±

    Yao Jiamu and Wu Hongwen heard this too when they were walking over, and they were stunned shock in ce to the point where they didn¡¯t react to Gu Xiqiao walking into the cave.

    ¡°Young Master Yin, did she say...?¡± Wu Hongwen felt a little short of breath as he reconfirmed what was real and what was fake in this world. Did the time in there really flow so that seven days in there equated to one day out here?

    Yin Shaoyuan inhaled deeply and reached to pat Wu Hongwen¡¯s shoulder weakly. ¡°Yes, just like the Trial Tower in the ancient martial arts world but better.¡±

    ¡°Will I be older quicker?¡± Xiao Yun asked.

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°... That won¡¯t happen. Thews of space and time are different inside the Cyberspace, and you¡¯ll age at the same rate as you would in the outside world.¡±

    ¡°The gap between us is too big...¡± Yao Jiamu felt an endless shock as he looked on at the cave. He had thought that the gap between them would decrease in time with his training speed, but he never expected it to berger andrger instead.

    Everyone was in silent agreement on this statement as they stood in front of the cave. Each one of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skills astonished them day after day, with each thing she did more unbelievable than the next.

    It was too scary.

    Yin Shaoyuan was the one who knew the most about how precious this cave was.

    The Trial Tower was the greatest treasure of the ancient martial arts world, created by an ancient warrior using a Cyberspace and taken care of through the generations, and most importantly, Gu Xiqiao was still extremely young! No one in the ancient martial arts world would believe that she could aplish such a feat!

    Everyone watched silently to see what would happen, until a bunch of clouds converged above the cave and sent vicious, purple bolts of lightning down onto the cave, but was blocked by a transparent barrier.

    Thismotion continued for half an hour, and the people in the arena looked on in bated breath until the clouds dissipated and revealed the moon once again, breathing a sigh of relief when Gu Xiqiao walked out of the cave.

    Under the dim lighting of the arena, purple lightning danced between her fingers as her hair danced even though there wasn¡¯t a breeze.

    When she walked out of the cave, she stopped and raised her hands, and the purple lightning that was in her hands magnified and formed the shape of a mighty dragon, flying up to coil up on top of the cave as if it were protecting it. Its mighty form inspired respect in those that looked at it, and in fact, it was created tobat and suppress the miasma inside the cave.

    ¡°Alright.¡± After doing all of this, Gu Xiqiao was truly,pletely, exhausted. She looked over at Yin Shaoyuan, and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t made any training grounds inside yet, so the only thing this cave has is a difference in the flow of time. You know about Cyberspace best, Big Brother Yin, so look over everything in my stead for a while okay? I¡¯ll be back in a few days.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Yin Shaoyuan looked at her pale, exhausted expression in distress and concern. ¡°Do you really have to push yourself like this? Let me send you home!¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved at him dismissively. ¡°They need you here.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan didn¡¯t relent, of course, but before he could stop her, she started walking, and even though she seemed to be walking slowly, she appeared a hundred meters away in the next second.

    Yin Shaoyuan: ¡°...¡± What, was he a flying cockroach?

    ***

    Meanwhile, in a southern city in China.

    ¡°Boss.¡± Yi Bing handed Jiang Shuxuan a ck cube with a serious expression. ¡°We found this in the vicinity, and from the looks of it, it¡¯s the exact same as the one we found near the cave.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan took the cube and fiddled with it in his palm, his pale fingers contrasting against the obsidian colored cube, and his head was lowered slightly, hiding the thoughts that were going through his eyes.

    ¡°Boss, Boss!¡± Yi Tiao ran in in a rush.

    Yi Bing nced at Jiang Shuxuan and kicked Yi Tiao when he saw Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrow slightly. ¡°What are you, a bull?¡±

    Yi Tiao rubbed his cheek and handed his phone to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Look at this video that Yi Tong sent me, Boss, Miss Gu...¡±

    Before he could even finish his sentence, the phone was taken away by Jiang Shuxuan.

    Even Yi Bing was curious about what it was that shocked Yi Tiao so, and like a curious cat, he slowly made his way behind Jiang Shuxuan and peeked at the screen of the phone, before bing stunned by the sight.

    On the screen, there was a silhouette that was quite some distance away, and even though their face wasn¡¯t clear, it was easy to tell that it was Gu Xiqiao just from her clear aura.

    They couldn¡¯t feel the mental power surge through the video, but they could take a good enough guess as to what was happening judging by how the dust and gravel were sent flying, and at the end of the video, the cave disappeared.

    Yi Bing¡¯s mouth hung agape as if he had seen a ghost.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change much, but the cold aura around him seemed to thaw a bit as he swiped and tapped a few times on the screen, before returning it to Yi Tiao.

    Yi Tiao kept the phone again, before reporting in a serious tone, ¡°Also, we have news from the eldermittee. They created aw enforcement team ording to Yi Tong¡¯s orders, but before they could do anything, an organization called the Peace Squad appeared in the capital all of a sudden, and all of them are stronger than the team leader! Boss, should we investigate? We don¡¯t have any records of such a powerful organization at all!¡±

    Such a terrifying organization appeared out of nowhere, and the eldermittee was almost at their wit¡¯s end, so they wanted to get Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s team to investigate,

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change in the slightest, and he looked at Yi Tiao. ¡°Tell them that it¡¯s not needed.¡±

    ¡°Not needed?¡± Yi Tiao looked at Jiang Shuxuan in surprise but didn¡¯t oppose his decision, as worried as he was. ¡°Will they listen to us, though?¡±

    The Jiang Family eldermittee in general seemed to be quite wary of it, in particr.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression only turned cold at this question, and he huffed. ¡°Don¡¯t mind them. Let them learn that they¡¯re just frogs under a well.¡±

    His phone vibrated in his pocket, and his brows furrowed slightly when he looked at it before he walked upstairs.

    Downstairs, Yi Bing immediately ran towards Yi Tiao. ¡°Quick, send me that video! How did that cave disappear like that?!¡± He had to work out what happened!

    Yi Tiao took out his phone and tapped into his videos file, but he couldn¡¯t find the video anymore.

    He blinked, before shutting down his phone and opening it again, then he looked towards Yi Bing. ¡°I think... Boss deleted it.¡±

    Yi Tiao: ¡°... F*ck!¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao had already made her way to the alleyway.

    The system spirit floated in front of her with a solemn expression. ¡°Beauty Qiao, you can¡¯t use any more of your mental powers! You have to rest!¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed and looked around at the dimly lit roads.

    She took a couple more steps before she heard the ring horn of a car along with bright headlights shining on her, and the next moment, a car stopped right in front of her. The windows rolled down to reveal a gentle-looking face, smiling at her. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a ride.¡±

    Half an hourter, the car stopped in the residential area.

    ¡°Thank you Big Brother Baili.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved goodbye before walking upstairs.

    After seeing her walk upstairs, he took out his phone and messaged Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡®I got her home safely! Don¡¯t hesitate to get me to help with this sort of thing okay?¡¯

    Upstairs, Mrs. Zhang was still waiting for her in the living room, and upon seeing her step in she immediately scurried off to the kitchen,ing out with a warm meal for her.

    After she ate, Gu Xiqiao yed with Haha for a bit before going to take a shower.

    After she got out of the shower, her phone rang and she picked it up upon seeing that it was Jiang Shuxuan, ¡°Brother Jiang!¡±

    ¡°Mhm. When are you nning to sleep?¡± The deep voice rumbled through the line.

    Gu Xiqiao sat in front of herputer. ¡°It¡¯s still quite early, so I¡¯ll watch some TV.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sleep toote,¡± Jiang Shuxuan reminded, before continuing, ¡°I¡¯ll get Baili to fetch you to the studio tomorrow, and I¡¯ll get Director Cheng to tell him when you get off work.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... Okay.¡±

    ¡°Those people from the ancient martial arts world will probably go look for your Peace Squad, tell them that they don¡¯t need to hold back.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression brightened upon being provided with a bunch of sandbags for Yao Jiamu and co.

    If Jiang Shuxuan said so, then don¡¯t mind if she took advantage of them!

    Gu Xiqiao hung up with a devious smile, fiddling with her phone.

    The ancient martial arts world, huh?

    ***

    The next day.

    Fu Dongyi went to Nine Heavens to look for Luo Weng. ¡°Mr. Luo, CEO Fu agreed.¡±

    He had been scared that the man would throw him out of Fu Enterprise immediately upon hearing the two choices, but he only smiled in response, calming Fu Dongyi¡¯s heart down.

    Both him and Fu Wei knew that Nine Heavens Group didn¡¯t speak empty promises.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Luo Weng picked up a bunch of documents and looked at his phone, where Yao Jiamu had sent him the address. ¡°Let¡¯s go, then.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Luo, I really don¡¯t have a lot of talent in this field...¡± Fu Dongyi knew about Luo Weng¡¯s terrifying genius and talent. ¡°In terms of natural talent, I¡¯m a million miles away from Miss Fu...¡±

    Luo Weng only patted his shoulder reassuringly. ¡°To my knowledge, she¡¯s already starting to take over some of the Fu family¡¯s businesses, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Fu Dongyi nodded, knowing that it wasn¡¯t a secret to the industry. ¡°She¡¯s really talented.¡±

    Fu Xuejun seemed to have been impacted by somethingtely and was soaking up business and management knowledge like a sponge. Right now, she was in charge of a project under Fu Enterprise, and her ability had be recognized by a majority of the employees and higher-ups in thepany.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Luo Weng smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll pity her in a few days.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao never pulled any punches when she attacked, and however high Fu Xuejun stood currently, the more painful would be the fall.

    Fu Dongyi was shocked by this statement, but Luo Weng didn¡¯t exin any further, only driving him towards the eastern side of town.

    Yao Jiamu was waiting at the entrance for the two of them. ¡°Come in.¡±

    As he spoke, he nced at Fu Dongyi. This person didn¡¯t seem to be all that special, why did Miss Gu give him such special treatment?

    Luo Weng and Fu Dongyi walked into the door and walked through the hallway before entering a training arena with a cave, and above the cave was a dragon made of purple lightning.

    Luo Weng had already seen pictures of this ce, so he could calm himself down, but Fu Dongyi waspletely baffled by the sight. Was this reality, or was he dreaming?

    Yin Shaoyuan walked out of the cave and looked at the both of them with a devilish smile.

    ¡°Wee to our territory¡ªthe Cyberspace.¡±

 Chapter 225 - An Elaborate Trap

    <strong>Chapter 225: An borate Trap</strong>

    Gu Xiqiao came out in the morning to Baili Bin waiting for her while leaning on his car.

    ¡°Thank you, Big Brother Baili.¡± Gu Xiqiao hopped off the car not far away from the entrance to the studio and waved Baili Bin goodbye.

    After Baili Bin¡¯s car drove away, Gu Xiqiao put down her hand and nced to the side, her smile fading slightly and returning to her usualziness and indifference as she walked towards the entrance.

    After she walked in, two people appeared out of a corner behind her¡ªSheng Yin and her assistant.

    ¡°Sister Sheng, what are you looking at?¡± The manager asked, not seeing anything along Sheng Yin¡¯s line of sight.

    Sheng Yin fiddled with her phone, her eyelids drooping slightly. ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice... The car Gu Xiqiao came here on was different than thest one?¡±

    The manager tried to think back to said car before a light bulb lighted up in his head. ¡°Ah! It was a Bugattist time, but the car that drove her here this time was a Maybach!¡±

    Upon hearing these words, Sheng Yin only curled her lips and smiled slyly, before walking into the crew wordlessly.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, that Sheng Yin took photos of you in secret!¡± The system spirit floated in front of Gu Xiqiao with a sulk.

    Gu Xiqiao was greeting the crew members with a smile, and upon hearing this, there wasn¡¯t a visible change in expression on her face, and she only hummed in an indication that she knew.

    The system spirit was still quite angry, and it clenched its tiny fists. ¡°Beauty Qiao, let me go hack Sheng Yin¡¯s phone!¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Gu Xiqiao saw Director Cheng speaking with Du Yixin and hurried off to the dressing room. ¡°In fact, it would be troublesome if she didn¡¯t take pictures instead.¡±

    There were quite a few makeup artists in the crew, but Sister Yu was the most renowned and skilled. When Sheng Yin arrived at the dressing room, she smiled in greeting at Gu Xiqiao who was being made up by Sister Yu before sitting down on another seat. Even though it was quite clear that she wanted to be worked on by Sister Yu, but there wasn¡¯t enough time to allow it.

    The characteristics of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s role, Feng Qiqi, was that of an unbearable rich youngdy early on until the character would be more developed throughout the movie.

    ¡°Little Gu, we¡¯ll get to the key part where the personality of your character changes in about two days, so you¡¯d better think about how to act it out properly. During the intermission, Cheng Zhou went over to Gu Xiqiao to talk to her about her uing scenes. ¡°Feng Qiqi is the soul of this movie, especially during theter scenes, and it would be a challenge for any actress.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t replied before a voice spoke up behind him. ¡°Director Cheng, are you telling that to her of all people?¡±

    Cheng Zhou blinked and thought twice about it beforeing to the conclusion that he was thinking too much, worrying about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s acting skills. If anything, the one he had to worry about the most was Du Yixin.

    After thinking of this, he turned around to see Li Yu walking towards them slowly.

    The visit from one of the best actors in the country undoubtedly raised the morale and excitement of the crew, and the extras were all huddled together and chattering about seeing him in the flesh.

    ¡°You¡¯re free today?¡± Cheng Zhou sighed as he looked at Li Yu. He had struggled over whether he should have asked Li Yu to take the role of the main actor back when he first created a role because of how he could match Gu Xiqiao in acting skill, but he could only choose Du Yuxin because thetter was a better fit for the character. ¡°Are you here to make fun of me?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Li Yu sat next to both of them. ¡°I came here to make a guest appearance on another set, so I came to check on the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ since I had the chance to¡ªSpeaking of which, do you have any side characters you can let me cameo as?¡±

    Cheng Zhou flipped through his script for the day, before shaking his head. ¡°No, not really...¡±

    ¡°Pity.¡± Li Yu shrugged.

    After the break was a scene between Sheng Yin and Du Yixin, and Cheng Zhou returned to direct and left Li Yu and Gu Xiqiao to chat with each other. ¡°I saw Qingqiu today, and he seemed to be quite heartbroken that you¡¯re acting in another movie.¡±

    Upon saying this, Li Yu looked into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. ¡°He said that you would be treated andpensated better if you went to hispany and that the job isn¡¯t even tiring.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that Tang Qingqiu had suffered heartburn upon hearing that she was acting, and Li Yu was quite curious as to which trait of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s made the picky man so set on employing her.

    ¡°He must be dreaming, then.¡± Gu Xiqiao scrolled her phone and smiled at Li Yu. ¡°The next time he talks about this, tell him that he can¡¯t afford my sry.¡±

    Asking the boss of Nine Heavens to be an employee at Tang Enterprise? If Tang Qingqiu knew of her true identity, he would probably choke himself to death.

    Li Yu heard this and immediately messaged Tang Qingqiu.

    Li Yu: Miss Gu said that you can¡¯t afford her sry.

    Li Yu had always replied to messages slow, but he practically replied to this one in a second.

    Tang Qingqiu: I can give her as much as she wants!

    Li Yu: Do you have more money than Young Master Jiang?

    Tang Qingqiu: ... right.

    Du Yixin had a unique air to him when he acted, and Li Yu observed his scene with Sheng Yin carefully before looking back at Gu Xiqiao when Cheng Zhou yelled ¡®cut¡¯. ¡°Du Yixin seems like an actor with decent acting, wouldn¡¯t you two work together well?¡±

    Why did Du Yixin alwayse to ask him about how he should act with Gu Xiqiao? Li Yu was quite confused.

    Gu Xiqiao nced over at the set, furrowing her brows slightly before she said in disdain, ¡°He¡¯s too dull!¡±

    ¡°Dull?¡± Li Yu looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s disdainful expression in confusion, but he finally understood why she said so when she acted with Du Yixin.

    This scene was the start of Feng Qiqi¡¯s change in character, and while she was still in her usual green dress, she was grabbing Ji Changgui¡¯s longsword that was impaled in her chest. The de dripped with blood as her clothes that stained her robes, dripping between her fingers and contrasting with her ghastly, paleplexion.

    It was the first time that she didn¡¯t have an arrogant and snobbish expression, and she seemed calm instead. Without the usual shade of arrogance, her beauty was less outspoken and more subtle, and she was currently staring up at the man in front of her with a never-before-seen seriousness in her orbs, along withplicated emotions that could burn everything. ¡°Ji Changgui, are you truly going to kill me?¡±

    After that, there was an awkward silence, the man in question not moving at all.

    ¡°Cut!¡± Director Cheng shouted angrily. ¡°What are you doing, Du Yixin?! Are you a wooden block?? Are you a fashion model? Act!¡±

    It was understandable that he was so angry, given how Gu Xiqiao had unleashed her acting abilitypletely, and even he was stunned by that gaze. It was fine if everyone was stunned, but Du Yixin was the single person that couldn¡¯t be frozen in ce like that! Cheng Zhou was so frustrated that he almost threw his phone at him!

    Du Yixin snapped back to reality upon being shouted by Cheng Zhou, and even though he was already used to being shouted at directors, he was still quite miffed that he was shaken like that.

    After Cheng Zhou shouted, Gu Xiqiao looked over at Li Yu that was sitting and watching nearby.

    Li Yu knew what Gu Xiqiao was trying to convey with the scene from earlier, and realized what Gu Xiqiao meant when she said that he was too dull.

    If it were him in Du Yixin¡¯s shoes earlier, he and Gu Xiqiao would have already started out-acting each other, and if it were any other actor, they wouldn¡¯t have been frozen in ce like that. Li Yu rubbed his chin¡ªIt wasn¡¯t Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fault that she and Du Yixin didn¡¯t develop much acting chemistry with each other.

    ¡°Yixin.¡± After Du Yixin stepped off set, Li Yu walked over and pat his shoulder. ¡°Why did you freeze there just now?¡±

    He had seen the script of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ before, and it shouldn¡¯t have had been so difficult for Du Yixin, not to mention that he was extremely fit for the image of the character too.

    Gu Yixin looked at Li Yu, before hanging his head in shame. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know? Li Yu¡¯s warm smile almost dropped off his face as he suppressed the urge to smack Du Yixin.

    But then, he only rubbed his fingers and thought about it for a bit, before walking over to Cheng Zhou and speaking into his ear.

    Du Yixin sat there with the script in hand as he looked at Li Yu walk in front of the cameras with a longsword.

    ¡°OK!¡± Director Cheng gestured, and while this was happening, many of the crew members had already surrounded the set and were taking videos of the scene excitedly.

    It was the same scene and the same dialogue.

    Li Yu¡¯s reputation didn¡¯te from nowhere after all, and even though his image wasn¡¯t fit for Ji Changgui, just by standing there ramrod straight, the sword in his hand seemed like a part of his body, and it was the very image of a cold and heartless immortal.

    Crimson droplets dripping down her fingers, Feng Qiqi looked up at him. ¡°Ji Changgui, are you truly going to kill me?¡±

    Ji Changgui¡¯s expression was still frosty, his eyes as deep as a winter¡¯s spring, and even though there wasn¡¯t a single change in expression on his face, everyone could tell that he was uneasy and conflicted.

    The sword in his hands impaled one inch deeper into Feng Qiqi¡¯s chest, and Feng Qiqi loosened her grip, her arms falling to her sides, and as the light in her eyes faded away, she stared at Ji Changgui with an unspoken persistence and delusion.

    And so, the scene ended.

    ¡°No!¡± Some of the girls that were taking videos with their phones started to cry and wipe their tears, and they screamed when the sword was pushed deeper.

    The props master snapped back into reality, before ring at them. ¡°Why are you people shouting? We¡¯re filming here!¡±

    One of the girls looked at him uninterestedly. ¡°Tell me that after you wipe away your tears.¡±

    The props master: ¡°...¡±

    Du Yixin looked at this scene, finally knowing what Li Yu meant when he said that hepeted in acting with Gu Xiqiao.

    Upon thinking of this, he inhaled deeply and walked over to Cheng Zhou. ¡°Director Cheng, may I have the rest of the afternoon off? I need to adjust my condition.¡±

    Cheng Zhou smiled when he saw his firm, determined gaze. ¡°Alright, see you tomorrow.¡±

    After the main male lead left, the other scenes werepletely disrupted, and so Cheng Zhou ended their work for the day early.

    Gu Xiqiao immediately messaged Baili Bin that she would be busy for a while, and to wait for her at the same ce he fetched herst night.

    After a short moment, Baili Bin replied: Okay.

    Gu Xiqiao breathed a sigh of relief upon not getting any extra questions, before getting out of costume and leaving.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the training arena.

    Even though he had already been in the cave for a long time already, Fu Dongyi was still in disbelief at what was happening to him.

    From the lightning dragon flying over the cave to the difference in the flow of time inside and outside of the cave, he felt as if he were in a fantasy novel.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    Suddenly, everyone in the arena greeted, and upon looking towards the entrance, Fu Dongyi saw Gu Xiqiao walking in their direction.

    It was this young girl that was not only the person behind the renowned Nine Heavens Group, but was also the head of such a mysterious force that inspired fear and respect.

    Those ns that she wrote up for him were easy enough for even him to understand, and the knowledge that was as fleeting as clouds were now transparent in front of her.

    The longer he knew her, the easier it was to understand that she was iprehensible by his meager mind, and he realized that the rapid development of Nine Heavens wasn¡¯t by chance.

    ¡°How is it going?¡± Gu Xiqiao walked towards Luo Weng and Fu Dongyi.

    Luo Weng raised his head and exined everything to Gu Xiqiao, seemingly not surprised in the least.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped through the pages as she listened to him, and at the same time she finished reading thest page, Luo Weng finished speaking too.

    ¡°Good luck, Mr. Fu.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at Fu Dongyi. ¡°Fu Xuejun¡¯s going to drag Fu Enterprise down into the mud soon enough, and you¡¯ll be the savior that brings it back to life.¡±

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had alreadyid a trap and was merely waiting for Fu Xuejun to step into it, but at that moment the girl didn¡¯t have the faintest idea, and was in the middle of making a bold deration, ¡°As long as everyone follows my lead, Fu Enterprise¡¯s assets will be doubled within a year!¡±

    After these words, all of the major shareholders in the room apuded Fu Xuejun fiercely. After the girl led several projects and brought many major profits, they were all convinced of her ability and leadership.

    Unbeknownst to them, it was all a trap by Gu Xiqiao.

 Chapter 226 - No Need To Pull Your Punches

    Chapter 226: No Need To Pull Your Punches

    Fu Xuejun waited until all the major shareholders left before she went over to the office.

    Inside the office sat Fu Wei, who was watching the screen on the opposite side of his desk intently. Fu Xuejun rapped her knuckles on the door for quite a few times before he realized that someone was at the door. Subsequently, he signaled for her toe in.

    The TV screen was showing an entertainment news story. The female protagonist in this story was someone whom Fu Xuejun was well-acquainted with¡ªGu Xiqiao.

    She did not expect her father to be watching news about her, and with eyes full of admiration too. Fu Xuejun inhaled deeply before taking a seat next to Fu Wei with a gleeful smile on her face. She hugged his arm and asked, ¡°Daddy, I came up with a n. Would you like to look at it?¡±

    Fu Wei shifted his gaze away from the TV screen and onto his own daughter. ¡°Let me take a look.¡±

    Fu Xuejun was pleasantly surprised when Fu Wei finally acknowledged her presence. Because of the incident from before, it has been a handful of days since they both met each other.

    After all, the Fu family was still under Fu Wei¡¯s firm grasp. If his response was not positive, there was nothing much she could do. As long as Fu Wei still cared about her, hope still existed. Fu Xuejun hastily ordered her secretary to bring her proposition over to her father.

    Fu Wei studied the proposition carefully. Nervously, Fu Xuejun kept her eyes glued onto his face in an attempt to detect any sudden changes in his facial expression. She has the Fu family and her ingenious mind on her side. As such, she was rather clear about which aspects she triumphed over Gu Xiqiao. If she managed to seize control over the Fu family and grow it to match the size of Nine Heavens, there would be nothing left to make her fearful of Gu Xiqiao.

    This proposition of hers was exceptional. To have such achievements under her belt at such a young age would undoubtedly earn her Fu Wei¡¯s respect, if she had submitted this document ten days earlier.

    However, Fu Wei had already seen how terrifyingly foolproof the n Nine Heavens offered to him was. Their policy was to minimize losses at all costs whilst simultaneously maximizing the benefits they would reap.

    The most crucial thing was that their n included alternate pathways for every possibility that might y out in the future. Of course, these pathways were written down in ink. When he initially received it, Fu Wei was so fascinated by it that he read and re-read it multiple times, unwilling to set it down. Nine Heavens was one hundred percent earnest about working together with him and this n was the perfect proof of that.

    Too bad the contract was unterally canceled by Nine Heavens. As if to add insult to injury, it urred on the same day as when Fu Xuejun had screwed up. That alone prompted Fu Wei to start pondering about it.

    Fu Xuejun stared at Fu Wei with eyes brimming with anticipation.

    Fu Wei¡¯s expression remained unchanged. He finally peered up at her.

    ¡°What do you think about this n of yours?¡±

    Instead of receiving apliment, what Fu Xuejun got was a question. Fu Xuejun froze up and was unable to react to the question in time. What did she think about her n? Why, it¡¯s the best of course! Even the major shareholders were thoroughly impressed by it, so much so that they sang nothing but praises for her. Confidence was oozing out of Fu Xuejun but she refrained from projecting her emotions for Fu Wei to see. Still, there was a conceited and arrogant look on her face.

    Fu Wei stayed silent. He picked up a document on his desk, a document which he had researched on and read countless times over the past couple of days.

    ¡°I want you to take a look at this.¡±

    Fu Xuejun patiently flipped through the pages upon receiving it. A stunned expression surfaced on her face a short whileter.

    It didn¡¯t take her too long to finish reading the entire set of papers. And by the time she did so, her face was flushed bright red.

    It was only a couple of minutes ago that she thought her n was seamless, perfect, and unsurmountable. Despite these two sets of documents having the same end goal, even she could make out the huge disparity in quality between them. The time it took to make one step in her n took the other n only one-hundredth of that time.

    There was so much difference between these two ns that one was iparable to the other!

    Looking up, Fu Xuejun met Fu Wei¡¯s immovable gaze. Here she thought that she¡¯d be able to get his attention through her proposition. Howughable. At that moment, she wanted nothing else but to hide in some unknown crevice.

    ¡°This is the project which the big cheese at Nine Heavens offered to me.¡± Fu Wei picked up the document set. ¡°Though, considering your age, what you¡¯vee up with is fairly impressive. Setting that aside, no onees close to the solutions Nine Heavens offers.¡±

    There was only a single Nine Heavens in this world after all.

    It¡¯s just that no matter how talented Fu Xuejun was, there was nothing she could do to pique Fu Wei¡¯s interest. Inparison, he had begun to show more interest in Fu Dongyi, who was undergoing an internship at Nine Heavens. He was really curious about how much Fu Dongyi had grown under the guidance of such a spectacr leader.

    He wasn¡¯t asking for a lot; he just hoped that Fu Dongyi would take the reins someday.

    Fu Xuejun picked up her own project n and left the office. Thinking back to the scene, she was so embarrassed that her face remained as red as a tomato. Her intent was to expand the Fu family¡¯s domain to challenge Nine Heavens¡¯. Deep down in her heart however, she understood that no matter how hard she tries, she would never be able to pull that off.

    Thus, she vowed to put much more effort into her work. Using the project n which Fu Wei had shown her as a frame of reference, she started amending parts of her own n. Step by step, she strived towards achieving perfection. This took the shareholders of the Fu family corporate empire by storm. They did not expect her n to reach such heights.

    As her reputation within the n rose, Fu Dongyibored on, trying to capture more precious knowledge.

    That was until he stumbled upon a document which he failed to understand no matter how many times he studied it. Passing it over to Luo Weng, he asked, ¡°Weng, what does this mean?¡± On the project n were multiple circles. His mind was spinning. Also, why did this scene feel so inexplicably familiar to him?

    Luo Weng started off reading it casually before he suddenly looked up with surprise in his eyes. He stared directly at Yin Shaoyuan who was in the middle of a conversation with Gu Xiqiao. With a face devoid of emotions, he yelled out, ¡°Boss Gu!¡± As much as he was surprised, he had already grown used to such situations.

    After all, Gu Xiqiao was able toe up with physics-defying items such as the Time Artifact. Inparison to that, this project n was nothing out of the ordinary.

    And yet, Luo Weng could not contain his amazement. Well, he does specialize in this subject and he was well aware of the degree to which Gu Xiqiao has already mastered the art of finances; outsider evaluations of Nine Heavens were all surprisingly high.

    Gu Xiqiao ended her conversation with Yin Shaoyuan before walking over. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Luo Weng shoved the document into her hand as he kept his eyes glued onto her.

    Her slender fingers nimbly flipped through the pages and she instantly recognized just what this thing was. She cleared her throat as she put away the document. ¡°Apologies, it seems like I have misced this item. No worries, go on with your work.¡±

    Luo Weng nced at her.

    ¡°...¡±

    How could one possibly misce a n that involved wiping out the Fu familypletely, especially with Fu Dongyi around? Are you really not trying to trigger him?

    ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao too, went silent.

    The inability to annihte the Fu family was one of the most painful experiences she has ever had in her life. Was there something wrong with writing out a hypothetical n just for the fun of it?

    As expected, Fu Dongyi was captured by the document the moment heid eyes on it. He was so fixated on it that he had even forgotten about lunch. Luo Weng was reminded of the researchers employed by Nine Heavens, especially those working under Yu Ning. Unsurprisingly, their department was the most passionate when it came to work.

    ¡°Let me take a look at that thing.¡± Upon confirming Fu Dongyi wasn¡¯t looking in their direction, he asked for the document so that he could take a good look at its contents. ¡°Sowing distrust, chain of rings, and all that, just how much do you despise the Fu family?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao ced the document into Luo Weng¡¯s hands before whipping out her phone. ¡°If I don¡¯t go to the extremities, how could I let off steam?¡±

    The cave was a self-contained space; it was impossible for one within to make contact with the outside world. Luo Weng grabbed his phone and said document before heading outside to give the Finances and Economic Department of Nine Heavens a phone call.

    ¡°Boss Gu hase up with something interesting. I¡¯ll pass it on to you guyster on...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao paced around in circles within the cave. Countless tiny pieces of jade appeared in her hand, all of which were antiques gifted to her by Big Boss Bai.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re thinking about turning this ce into a training ground?¡± The system popped up in front of her. Watching her footwork gave it some clues as to which formation she was trying to create.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes and searched her mind for a moment. Entering the virtual arena, she asked for some assistance.

    ¡°Little system, hurry up and look up tell me which formations are suited to this ce!¡±

    The system entered the virtual arena right after she said that.

    Countless books floated in the air around them.

    Thinking hard, Gu Xiqiao suddenly looked up with shining eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve got an idea!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The system seemed to have gotten dizzy from information overload.

    ¡°Remember the Trial Tower of the ancient martial arts world we saw on The Forum? I heard that it¡¯s thergest training center there. Wouldn¡¯t it be easy if we just modeled this ce after that one?¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up and returned to reality.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®If the people of the ancient martial arts were to overhear this conversation, they¡¯d definitely go bonkers. Replicating their Trial Tower, what a terrific idea,¡¯ thought the system.

    The levels 1-10 would be allocated for Beginner ancient martial artists.

    11-20 would be for Chi Induction.

    Thenes the levels for Bone Refinement, Tendon Forging, Fleet Foot, Tongmai, Xiantian, Houtian, and Enlightenment. As for the final threshold between 90-100, no one had ever stepped foot in this ce before. After all, it was a transcendent level.

    So far, the highest level the youth of the ancient martial arts world had ever gone was level 70, which was achieved by Jiang Shuxuan. He had sessfully gone past Xiantian and was a step away from reaching Houtian. This was ording to reports from five years ago. No one knew how much he had grown since then.

    Following close behind him was the little demon girl, Jiang Tong, who upon receiving some sort of stimtion, was able to break through the 61st level.

    Most people from the ancient martial arts world would stagnate around level 30; the aforementioned two were the exceptions to this.

    The training one would receive at the trial tower was straightforward. You only had to fight constantly and the difficulty of each level corresponds to one¡¯s ability. As soon as you step foot into the venue, a virtual opponent would materialize. Only after you have defeated said opponent can you proceed to the next level.

    In the ancient martial arts world, the level which you belong to was a much more urate gauge of your abilities than any other method.

    Some of the more boastful ones would im that they have reached the stage of Bone Refinement when in reality, they could not even break through the 10th level at the trial tower.

    Breakthroughs at the trial tower were usually achieved in rapid session. Some would opt to fight back-to-back with their opponents with no rest in between. This approach enabled one to cultivate skills at a much higher rate than normal training.

    The rest was incredibly simple; the only thing that Gu Xiqiao has to consider now was the virtual opponent.

    ¡°Yao Jiamu.¡± Gu Xiqiao approached Yao Jiamu. ¡°Did the Peace Squad encounter anything today?¡±

    Yao Jiamu sheathed the longsword he was holding as she shook his head. ¡°Apart from rounding up dozens of thuds, nothing out of the ordinary was encountered.¡±

    ¡°Good to know.¡± Gu Xiqiao picked out ten equally-sized jade pieces. ¡°Assign one of these to each squad leader. From now on, every squad leader that is dispatched must put this on. As ofte, you are bound to stumble upon some troublemakers.¡± ording to what Jiang Shuxuan said, the elders of the ancient martial arts world have already made their decision.

    ¡°Troublemakers?¡± A curious look appeared on Yao Jiamu¡¯s face.

    ¡°Their strength should be no higher than yours.¡± Gu Xiqiao grinned. ¡°Tell the peacekeepers to not pull their punches should they encounter these goons.¡±

    Yao Jiamu was shocked. Licking his lips, there was not an ounce of fear or dy in his eyes. With a burning fighting spirit, he responded, ¡°Of course!¡± After training for so long, finally, they could let loose their fists! He was looking forward to it!

    Gu Xiqiao was satisfied by his gung-ho response. ¡°Well then, it¡¯s time for me to leave. I¡¯ve already thought about the changes toe. But I do need a few days to do some research before then.¡±

    Noticing that Gu Xiqiao was about to leave, Yin Shaoyuan sent her off at the door.

    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking when he saw the look on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled.

    ¡°About how I¡¯d transform this cave.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan thought that she was talking about the exterior of this cave and so, he did not delve further into the topic. He instead started talking to Gu Xiqiao about other matters.

    If he were to know about her ns for this cave and that she was going to drop by the Trial Tower tonight, he would definitely drop onto the ground from sheer shock!

 Chapter 227 - Baiting Her Away

    <h4>Chapter 227: Baiting Her Away</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao turned down Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s suggestion to send her back personally. She stood there at the intersection holding her phone. She walked in circles for quite a while with a wild look in her eyes as if she was deep in thought about something.

    That went on until the ex-residents of this area recognized who she was. The moment that happened, they gasped out of surprise. Gu Xiqiao regained her senses upon hearing that. She then directed smiles at these people.

    ¡°Grandpa Wang, Uncle Wang, Auntie Li, nice to see you all here.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, my son¡¯s sitting for his finals next year, can you give him a word of encouragement or something?¡± Aunt Li looked at Gu Xiqiao with eyes full of anticipation. She was aware that Gu Xiqiao was the national top schr and thought that her luck in academics might rub off on her son.

    ¡°Oh, of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao fumbled around her pocket before producing a pen and a piece of paper. She then started writing down with swift and artistic strokes¨C¨C¡±As nature¡¯s movement is ever vigorous, so must a gentleman ceaselessly strive along. The earth in its devotion carries all things, good and evil, without exception. In the same way, the superior man gives to his breadth of character, purity, and sustaining power, so that he is able both to support and to bear with people and things.¡±

    Such powerful words, like that of a gentleman¡¯s. Such swift and nimble brushwork, like a dancing dragon in the sky.

    In no way did this writing seem like something that would be produced by a woman¡¯s hand, and by a girl of such a tender age at that.

    The strength in a woman¡¯s wrist was typically less than that of a man¡¯s, hence why their brushwork was more showy. However, the words on this piece of paper did not reflect who the author was.

    ¡°These words, they¡¯re really beautiful aren¡¯t they?¡± said Aunt Li the moment she received the piece of paper. She was surprised by how beautiful Gu Xiqiao¡¯s text was. ¡°It¡¯s much prettier than what my boy at home can do.¡±

    Grandpa Wang, who was standing next to her, took it out of her hands and read it. In a split second, a bright glow appeared in her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s been so many years since Ist saw calligraphy of this caliber! To be able to craft such beautiful words at such a young age, how terrifying this new generation has be!¡±

    Grandpa Wang¡¯s praises for Gu Xiqiao sounded identical to the voice of an angel for Aunt Li. ¡°No, don¡¯t you underestimate Miss Gu right here. We¡¯re just a bunch of ordinary folks, you and I. The next time we bump into Miss Gu, she¡¯d no doubt already have be a celebrity or somethin¡¯. Your grandchild is miles below where this youngdy is today.¡±

    Grandpa Wang nodded in agreement while he raised the paper up in the air to examine it further. He was a researcher in calligraphy after all. There has been a recent resurgence of interest in calligraphy but upon closer inspection at calligraphy exhibitions, much of the artwork on disy was too pompous and over-the-top. How could these youngsterspare to the ancient schrs and the contents that they had left behind?

    By merely ncing at it, Grandpa Wang knew instantly that Gu Xiqiao was not your average calligrapher.

    ¡°...¡±

    Uncle Wang, who was standing on the other side thought to himself, ¡®Don¡¯t you forget that the ones who you two said are miles below Miss Gu are your own son and grandson!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao continued marching forwards after that. Almost simultaneously, a familiar cold robotic voice rang out in her mind.

    ¡°[Ding! Congrattions, you have reached the Grandmaster Level in calligraphy! The system rewards you: 1000 points!]¡±

    Finally, a level up.

    The small tasks which Gu Xiqiao hadpleted over the course of the past couple of days had added up to over a thousand points. That, and the chain mission which the system had rolled out previously should round out to around ten thousand points. With her achievement now, there should be enough points for the system to upgrade itself.

    ¡°Hm, little system, I still have to make some inquiries in the ancient martial arts world, let¡¯s leave your upgrading for tonight, alright?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao as she rubbed her chin.

    The system responded instantly as it circled around Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body. It started thinking, after this upgrade, it should possess a body of its own.

    Then came the sharp noise caused by the friction between rubber and asphalt. The royal blue sports car drifted in a half-circle in front of her before grinding to a stop right next to her. The window was then rolled down, revealing Zhu Yuan¡¯s face with a somewhat resentful expression behind it. ¡°Beauty Gu...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao pulled the door open and hopped into the vehicle.

    With a face devoid of emotions, she hurried him, ¡°Spit it out.¡±

    Seeing the unamused look on her face, Zhu Yuan no longer dared to mess with her anymore. Instantly, he returned to being serious. ¡°This time, it is the state leader who has be ill. He controls most of the military might in the Imperial Capital. Seems like a steel-willed person but for some unknown reason, he has fallen unconscious. His symptoms are not too far from Su Wen¡¯s grandfather from before. The difference between them is found in their bodies. Su Wen¡¯s grandfather was considered healthy and the same goes for the leader too. However, ording to the doctor¡¯s diagnosis, he has been confirmed to be brain dead.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen him up close?¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. Brain dead. She had never stumbled upon this issue before.

    Zhu Yuan nodded. ¡°I did. My conclusion isn¡¯t too far off from the doctor¡¯s. He really does appear to be brain dead.¡±

    Saving someone from brain death isn¡¯t a walk in the park. The human brain is an incrediblyplex system which involves human will as well. Gu Xiqiao failed toe up with a solid n after thinking about it for a while. ¡°You think he¡¯s still worth saving?¡±

    ¡°In any case, we have to try before we reach any conclusions.¡± Zhu Yuan cautiously nced at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°This patient is someone who my master was once responsible for treating.¡±

    After he said that, he nervously awaited Gu Xiqiao¡¯s response.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression remained stoic; her response was subtle. Of course, she disliked bringing personal grievances into her professional work.

    Zhu Yuan let out a sigh in relief upon seeing this. For the past few days, he had only seen his master once. When they met, Rong Feishuang¡¯s bottle of hard liquor had never left his grip. He was so intoxicated that he failed to even recognize his own disciple.

    Zhu Yuan felt distressed by his master¡¯s condition and he disapproved of his decisions. He knew that his master must¡¯ve bumped into some major issue and Gu Xiqiao must¡¯ve been closely rted to it.

    His master was supposed to be in charge of multiple patients. At this time however, he cared only about his bottle of liquor at home. It was then that Zhu Yuan finally understood why his master refused to let him tag along with him. Rong Feishuang must have feared that he would be mentally affected by it too.

    Rong Feishuang¡¯s character was freedom-loving and easygoing, something which was ipatible for a divine healer.

    Zhu Yuan sighed.

    Slowly, he drove his car towards a militarypound.

    The level of security here was incredibly high. Defense mechanisms were not only on the surface but beneath the surface too. Everypound was armed to the teeth against potential intruders, like an imprable fortress.

    From this alone, it could be seen how important the people being housed here were.

    Gu Xiqiao got excited when she noticed this. Slowly, she opened up the map of this massivepound. Observing the security mechanism they have entrenched here, her eyes lit up. There were patrol teams moving around the perimeter every 60 seconds and there were armed guards hiding around every dark corner. The automated security system they had built in ce here was extremely high-tech. Every single move by the people within thepound was being tracked. The shadows cast on the clear panel in front of her eyes were quite obvious areas where infra-red sensors were covering.

    Breaking into this ce must¡¯ve been worse than breaking into a ho¡¯s nest.

    However, in the hands of the wrong person, this invincible defense system might just spell the end for everyone contained within its walls.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin while deep in thought about something.

    Zhu Yuan stopped his car outside the iron gate before bringing Gu Xiqiao into thepound. It seems like the men guarding the entrance were all well-acquainted with Zhu Yuan. There was no need for any security checks; he only looked at Gu Xiqiao briefly before saluting Zhu Yuan.

    ¡°Mr. Zhu.¡±

    This tall building was a bit aged.

    Before Zhu Yuan could walk through the front door with Gu Xiqiao, a handful of men hurried out to greet him.

    ¡°Mr. Zhu.¡± Standing at the forefront of the group was a young man with a crew cut. His stern eyes scanned across Zhu Yuan before shifting over to the girl standing next to him. The moment he saw her, his words got stuck in his throat.

    Zhu Yuan ignored that strange urrence and instead, nodded in his direction. ¡°Major General, let us head inside.¡±

    Peng Zijie nodded and without further demands, he brought his guests into the building.

    After they went in, another young man questioned him with a worried expression. ¡°Boss, why are you letting someone with an unknown background into our ce?¡± He was of course, referring to Gu Xiqiao. This period was not like any other; the entirepound was sealed shut. Not even a fly was allowed in without a permit. So why on earth was Zhu Yuan able to bring a stranger into theirpound? This made the young man scratch his head.

    Could it be possible? That his boss had only allowed her ess just because of her looks?

    Peng Zijie nced at him before giving him a blunt reply, ¡°If she was to make any sudden moves, you¡¯d all never be able to restrain her.¡±

    Right after saying that, he walked straight into the room.

    He left his group of men standing outside. The corner of the young man¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Is the boss trying to pull my leg?¡±

    These men were all special forces. They were internationally notorious for how tough their training was. Each individual was so strong that they could take on a hundred regr infantrymen without a problem. How could it be possible then, for what Peng Zijie said to be true.

    Questions were merely questions. They still had a job to do. Immediately, they returned to guarding the entrance. Whilst doing so, the young man couldn¡¯t suppress his curiosity and he looked into the building from time to time.

    Inside the room, several doctors in whiteb coats were running around, busy with their tasks. The ce was filled with sophisticated medical instruments, all shipped in from overseas.

    ¡°Doctor Zhu.¡± These white-coat wearing doctors all stopped what they were doing and greeted Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan picked up the medical record book brought over by one of the doctors. While flipping through the pages, he asked about the patient¡¯s recent conditions. Gu Xiqiao, who was standing nearby, used her mental strength to search for any abnormalities.

    These were all top doctors within China¡¯s borders. Some of them belonged to international medical associations. After Peng Zijie¡¯s report was submitted, the state had formed a small but highly-specialized medical team to treat the oldmander¡¯s illness.

    Peng Zijie had a lot of respect for these folks.

    The leading doctor was reporting on the patient¡¯s condition when he noticed the young girl standing nearby. He paused mid-sentence and was dumbfounded. ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    The metallic clinking of steel scalpels at work stopped right at that moment as the other doctors turned their heads over in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction.

    In the next moment, these doctors who were initially standing around Zhu Yuan all flocked around Gu Xiqiao with excited expressions.

    ¡°Why are you here, Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, I need you to take a look at this report!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The report which Zhu Yuan was holding was taken from his hands and passed over to Gu Xiqiao. The corner of his mouth twitched awkwardly at the sight of what was going on. He was sort of expecting things to turn out like this BUT STILL! How painful!

    ¡°Mr. Zhu, this is...¡± Even Peng Zijie was shocked. These were all leading practitioners in their specializations. They came from the upper echelons of the Chinese medicalmunity and hence, were highly-respected by people around them. After spending so many days here, never once had he seen them react this way towards another person. Even when Rong Feishuang arrived here, these people at most greeted him with honorifics. And now they seemed... almost fanatical in the way they showed admiration for Gu Xiqiao.

    Peng Zijie¡¯s brows furrowed up when thoughts of Rong Feishuang came to his mind.

    Zhu Yuan patted him on the shoulder. He seems to have long grown used to such a scene. ¡°Major General, they still have a lot more to talk about.¡±

    Peng Zijie¡¯s subordinate, who was standing at the doorway, was shocked by how things yed out for Gu Xiqiao. These doctors would usually look down condescendingly at them; their reaction today waspletely out of this world... unbelievable.

    Their gazes were directed at a single girl standing in the middle of the flock. Still, the girl didn¡¯t appear to be pressured or fazed by this. With a slight wave of her hand, the doctors stopped their endless banter almost immediately. It was quite apparent then that this girl was someone who had a lot of prestige to her name. Even Zhu Yuan was unable to do such a thing.

    Mind you, Zhu Yuan was well-known worldwide as a prodigy. Who was this girl? Why have they never heard of her before?

    Gu Xiqiao took the document which one of the doctors passed over to her. Looking down, she remained in that stance for a moment before she uttered something back to them. When she did so, the excited looks on these doctors¡¯ faces quickly faded away and soon, they were listening intently to what she had to say.

    Peng Zijie suddenly realized that Zhu Yuan, whose mind was initially wandering off had returned to his senses and he joined his fellow doctors on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lecture. This made Peng Zijie look over at Gu Xiqiao with growing curiosity in his eyes.

    A short whileter, when Gu Xiqiao¡¯s exnation came to an end, a look of excitement returned to these doctors¡¯ faces. Following her orders, they set out on their assigned tasks.

    Before she came, these doctors worked with tense and worried expressions on their faces.

    Now, their fighting morale was as high as it could get.

    Zhu Yuan walked up next to her. ¡°Beauty Gu, what should I do then?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him briefly before exiting the room. She was not in the mood to speak to him.

    Zhu Yuan felt as if he was in the wrong upon seeing her reaction. Unable to suppress his curiosity, he followed her out of the room.

    Outside, Peng Zijie¡¯s men had their eyes glued onto Gu Xiqiao; they failed horrendously at hiding their interest in her.

    Peng Zijie too, left the building. He ordered the butler to bring them some tea. ¡°Miss Gu, how is the oldmander faring?¡± Peng Zijie realized from his observation that Gu Xiqiao was probably the best person out of the medical team to answer this question.

    Gu Xiqiao picked up the cup of tea which the butler served to her. After saying her thanks, she looked back at Peng Zijie. ¡°Let¡¯s set that aside for now. What is more crucial at the moment is ramping up the security system of this base.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± A chill went down Peng Zijie¡¯s spine.

    ¡°This military base, its security system, it¡¯s already under the control of someone hostile.¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes as she took a sip of tea.

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Before Peng Zijie could respond, the youth behind him repudiated Gu Xiqiao¡¯s im. ¡°This security system was jointly-designed by me and the Ministry of National Defense. At any given point in time, this entire base is under my control. It is preposterous that someone else managed to take control over this base.¡±

    Peng Zijie looked at Gu Xiqiao, then at the young man. He had trust in his subordinates but he also had to consider her odd-but-effective methods from before. She wasn¡¯t the sort of person to make groundless ims. ¡°Miss Gu, how do you know this?¡±

    ¡®I knew it! He¡¯s been won over by her looks!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao ced her cup of tea down and shed a smile at that young man. Turning back to face Peng Zijie, she asked, ¡°Do you have aputer?¡±

    ¡°Get this girl aputer,¡± ordered Peng Zijie.

    ¡°But boss! Don¡¯t tell me you really believe what she said!¡± Peng Zijie¡¯s subordinates¡¯ brows were furrowed. They were on the same page as the young man; they thought their boss was head-over-heels for Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Don¡¯t let anyone fool you boss.¡±

    Compared to Gu Xiqiao, they of course are more convinced by the argument of a fellowrade who went through hell with them on the battlefield. What¡¯s more, thisrade of theirs was an IT-technician who had been hand-picked by the Ministry of National Defense and was considered one of the most-skilled individuals throughout their entire nation. Back then, he had managed to break high-security passwords one after the other; his position amongst his mates was the highest around here.

    Peng Zijie¡¯s brows scrunched up. Still, he contained his temper. ¡°I said, bring her aputer.¡±

    ¡°I have one here!¡± The young man jumped up after hearing that. As someone with an IT background, he made sure to always have aputer around him. This was theputer with which he used to monitor conditions around the military base. ¡°You can use mine!¡±

    He looked at Gu Xiqiao with eyes full of skepticism. The security system was incredibly well-hidden; for aplete outsider to raise this issue, he couldn¡¯t help but be doubtful of her words.

    Gu Xiqiao picked up the handheldputer the young man offered to her. Looking down at the screen, she opened up a mini keyboard and started typing away with her nimble fingers. The speed and precision with which her fingers moved were such that they couldn¡¯t even see her movements clearly.

    Zhu Yuan, while holding his teacup, stood idly behind Gu Xiqiao¡¯s seat.

    He knew that it took Gu Xiqiao only twenty minutes to calcte the structure and molecr form of the virus from before. Her skill on theputer was in short, as incredible as she was in medicine. The doctors from before had even started to consider whether they should get intoputer science after seeing her at work.

    Zhu Yuan then peered at the young man with eyes full of sympathy.

    The young man¡¯s eyes were glued onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingers as well as theputer screen. He, who was initially inattentive, was now 100% focused.

    Gu Xiqiao typed out her final line of code and tapped on the ¡®enter¡¯ key.

    Disyed on the screen were multiple surveince footage around the military base.

    Peng Zijie¡¯s teacup fell out of his hands when he saw this on theputer screen.

    The young man stared wide-eyed at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°You... the thing you said just now, you¡¯re absolutely serious?¡± In just a handful of minutes, she managed to hack into the Ministry of National Defense?! And with the elite programmers not noticing the breach in their securitywork at that! Even the mysterious God Lo from the hacker¡¯s world could not possibly pull this off within mere minutes, right!?

    This alone was more than enough to prove her capability to him. A look of embarrassment surfaced on the young man¡¯s face when he recalled how skeptical of her skills he was initially. With a burning me in his eyes, he peered up at Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Little missy, would you be interested in joining the Ministry of Defense?¡±

    ¡°...¡±¡®

    Zhu Yuan was speechless. Why on earth would there always be people from other industries trying to bait Gu Xiqiao away from the medicalmunity?! Was there anything he could do against this?

 Chapter 228 - Trial Tower

    <h4>Chapter 228: Trial Tower</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Gu Xiqiao ignored the young man¡¯s offer. His handheldputer was too small for her to operate it efficiently. She nced at the TV fixed in the middle of the hall. For a moment, she contemted before she synced up the visuals on theputer with the TV screen.

    Seeing the TV screen switch on by itself stunned the men who were standing behind Peng Zijie. These folks all had plenty of life experiences but this scene in particr felt almost magical to them.

    It¡¯s not like this is their first time seeing someone else deduce a password and subsequently infiltrate a security system undetected. What baffled them was the fact that it took her only a matter of minutes to do so. Even the most top-of-the-line experts who were hired by the Ministry of Defense took multiple days or even more time in order to do that.

    This young girl broke down a security system set up by the Ministry of Defense and a cooperating team of IT technicians within mere minutes.

    No wonder the big boss had so much trust in her. After witnessing her skill and talent, these men shamefully hid away the contemptuous look in their eyes.

    Pitting them two together, the young man¡¯srades couldn¡¯t help but nce at him with pitiful eyes.

    ¡°...¡±

    As the sole person in his team in charge of IT-rted matters, the young man went speechless.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored their little interaction. Her slender fingers continued dancing about on the keyboard. Her pale white skin contrasted well with the dark keyboard. Her hair covered whatever facial expression she had as she continued typing away on theputer.

    The surveince footage on the screen glitched as her fingers moved, making them turn their heads over at the television screen.

    Peng Zijie lit himself a cigarette which he held between his fingers. Staring at the television screen, his face was partially shrouded behind a gray veil of smoke that blew out from his mouth.

    Only the young man understood what was actually going on in front of their eyes. He finally acknowledged how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was. Infiltrating the Ministry of Defense¡¯s server was no easy task, let alone hacking into every employee¡¯sputer while staying under the radar.

    If she wanted to, disrupting the order of society within a short span of time would not pose a challenge to her in the slightest.

    Her flexibility on theputer had far surpassed any of the men around him. Even he himself had no idea to which degree her mastery of theputer had reached.

    The glitching of the footage finally stopped.

    Gu Xiqiao put down the handheldputer and rested her feet on the coffee table. She then looked up at the young man who was standing next to her. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this scene look familiar to you?¡±

    On the surveince footage was a man, shot from the back of his head. There were also chains of digits running through the screen of hisputer but because the left part of it was blocked by his body, the specifics of the code were unknown.

    ¡°This is the security system of this very base!¡± The young man stared at the footage anxiously before turning back to face Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Miss Gu...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand to stop him from speaking further. ¡°This security system was jointly-built with the Ministry of Defense and it is also the source of this problem.¡± Gu Xiqiao then spat out a line of numbers. ¡°This man¡¯s skills are far beyond what you all can handle. That number, call him and he might be able to help you.¡±

    The doctors upstairs should be wrapping up their examination right this moment. Both Zhu Yuan and Gu Xiqiao led the rest of the team up to the oldmander¡¯s ward.

    As they climbed the stairs, Gu Xiqiao sent a text message to Yu Ning.

    For A Millenium: ¡°You should be expecting a call from someer.¡±

    Yu Ning: ¡°... I can¡¯t believe you did it again!¡±

    For A Millenium: ¡°^_^¡±

    Experts in this field were extremely sensitive whenever it came to digits. Although Gu Xiqiao did not repeat the line of numbers, the young man already had it burned into his mind.

    He kept repeating the number in his mind. As he looked up at Gu Xiqiao walking in front of him, he exhaled slowly. He couldn¡¯t help butugh at the situation; the gap between him and her was simply toorge to bridge. To think that he was even offering a ce for her in the Ministry of Defence. She could ess their server at any given time as if she was going out for a walk at the park.

    ¡°Big boss, are we looking for new recruits?¡± The men standing behind Peng Zijie regained theirposure and finally spoke up. ¡°Sir, she seems much more skilled than Liu Zi! If she joins our squad, she¡¯d undoubtedly save lots of unnecessary hassle for us!¡±

    His fellow squadmates nodded in agreement following that statement.

    ¡°...¡±

    The young man, who was about to be casted away from his own team was at a loss for words.

    Peng Zijie stubbed his cigarette. His eyes scanned across the faces of his men. ¡°Do you all seriously think we¡¯re worthy of having her as our squadmate?¡±

    His men: ¡®... Well it¡¯s not a sin to imagine, right?¡¯

    ¡°Big boss, what should we do about our base¡¯s security system?¡± They returned to the age-old question. Goosebumps appeared down their backs when they realized that every single move they had ever made was being overlooked by some mysterious mole. Should he decide to mess with the switches, they¡¯d all be caught like a deer in the headlights.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t she give Liu Zi that number?¡± After putting out his cigarette, Peng Zijie proceeded up the stairs without further dy.

    Recalling how skillful Gu Xiqiao was from before, these men stopped being so tense.

    ***

    Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao was reading through the data disying the new discoveries these doctors have made. After flipping through a couple of pages, she finally opened up. ¡°He really is brain dead. However, we can use electrical stimtion pads on specific meridian points.¡±

    ¡°Electrical stimtion?¡± Zhu Yuan peered down at the bed-bound old man. ¡°You think it¡¯ll work?¡±

    It seems like they had no other choice but to wait for the patient to regain consciousness; every other treatment n had to wait until then. This was also the reason why Zhu Yuan had it tough. If his patient had, say, a problem with his heart, he¡¯d be able to patch him right up instantly.

    ¡°It¡¯ll work alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao reached out and felt the oldmander¡¯s pulse. The state of his body wasn¡¯t too far off from what she had expected. ¡°Zhu Yuan, you stay here with me.¡±

    The other doctors instantly red at Zhu Yuan enviously before storming outside.

    In the room, purple sparks danced around Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingertips.

    Zhu Yuan stared in disbelief at the lightning sparks. To be able to use special techniques of the ancient martial arts world, one must at the very least achieve the level of Fleet Foot. Not only that, it also involved one¡¯s luck, hence why users of such power were few and far between. Personally, he knew only two individuals who possessed such an ability.

    She can do it too? And judging from the way she¡¯s handling it, she¡¯s pretty well-experienced.

    How scary could this little girl get?

    Wasn¡¯t she a dainty youngdy when they first met? He was even worried that she¡¯d get into trouble when the day came for her to step foot in the ancient martial arts world. Now, it seemed like Jiang Tong and her friends were the ones he should be worried about.

    She did a terrific job hiding her skills! All Zhu Yuan thought about at the moment was how foolish he had been back then.

    The sparks split into ultra-fine strands of current which flowed into the oldmander¡¯s skull.

    ¡°Senior, someone from the ancient martial arts world is responsible for the oldmander¡¯s vegetative state.¡± Gu Xiqiao watched as dark balls of matter emerged from the old man¡¯s cranium. Narrowing her eyes, she funneled this ¡®thing¡¯ into a bamboo container used specifically to store such items.

    The dark matter floated easily into the container.

    Zhu Yuan exhaled when he heard what Gu Xiqiao said. ¡°It isn¡¯t too far from what I expected.¡±

    As soon as he said that, the t line on the heart rate-monitor started pulsing again.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Just like that? And he¡¯s saved?¡¯

    The doctors standing outside were shocked by the reading on the heart rate monitor. Since they were all madmen when it came to medicine, they all flocked around the oldmander¡¯s bed and started examining his body.

    ¡°This is a miracle in the history of medicine,¡± said an old doctor uponpleting his examination.

    Another one of them removed his sses with shaking fingers. ¡°If news gets out about this, no doubt, the medicalmunity would be swept off its feet once again.¡±

    Zhu Yuan thought about the recent series of events and he couldn¡¯t help but smile at it. ¡°Didn¡¯t the Americans copy us and built their own researchb? Perhaps, it¡¯s time to remind them of the disparity between us?¡±

    ¡°Speaking of that, where¡¯s Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°... she left.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao sent a text message to Baili Bin before waving a taxi down.

    That night, after dinner, Hua Youlin satfortably on the sofa with a physics textbook in his hands. Gu Xiqiao sat right beside him, patiently dissecting the topics he was puzzled by with a pen.

    Gu Xiqiao had been rather busy for the past few days. During this period, Hua Youlin had umted quite a lot of questions, which took her approximately two hours before every single question was answered.

    ¡°Sister Gu, why haven¡¯t I seen Xixi as ofte?¡± asked Hua Youlin who picked Haha off the floor.

    Spinning the pen around her fingers, Gu Xiqiao replied, ¡°Xixi has tons of stuff to do recently.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Please tell me what ¡®tons of stuff¡¯ a mere bird could be possibly busy dealing with.¡¯

    ¡°Do you have any other questions?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao with raised brows.

    Hua Youlin shook his head.

    ¡°... no, Sister Gu.¡±

    Very well.

    Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers and immediately went upstairs. Before she went up, she spoke loudly in the direction of the kitchen. ¡°Mrs. Zhang, I¡¯m heading upstairs to take a shower before I sleep!¡±

    Mrs. Zhang emerged from the kitchen holding a ss of milk which she passed over to Hua Youlin. ¡°Sweetie, what¡¯s happened to your Sister Gu today?¡± At this hour, she¡¯d typically be sitting next to the window, doing a sketch, or ying video games on herputer downstairs. Why is she hitting the sack so early today?¡±

    Hua Youlin thought to himself, ¡®... I¡¯d like to know what¡¯s going on with her too.¡¯

    ***

    Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao, who imed that she was heading to bed vanished into thin air the moment she locked her room.

    In the next moment, she re-appeared in the ancient martial arts world.

    There was a crowd next to the Trial Tower. They seem to be chattering about something.

    Located next to the Trial Tower was a pure ck piece of granite, on it was disyed their individual rankings. It also contained the records of every person who has ever stepped foot in the Trial Tower.

    Gu Xiqiao walked over to the granite and peered down at the names. To her amazement, she managed to find a couple of familiar names.

    Yin Shaoyuan, Level 37.

    Baili Bin, Level 45.

    Murong Miaoxue, Level 49.

    These were basically in the categories of Bone Refinement and Tendon Forging.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the top 3 names on the list.

    Tang Qinghong, Level 57.

    Jiang Tong, Level 61.

    Jiang Shuxuan, Level 70.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s ranking was from several years ago, when he had just cleared the level of Xiantian and was halfway through Houtian.

    Gu Xiqiao looked away and was thinking about leaving when something changed on the screen. It was the digits that came after Jiang Tong¡¯s name.

    Jiang Tong, Level 62.

    There was an uproar when that happened. ¡°She did it! Jiang Tong has seeded!¡±

    ¡°To leap from Level 50 to 61 in a single month! She has far surpassed Young Master Tang! As expected! Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s talent is revolutionary!¡±

    ¡°What can I say? She¡¯s the little demon girl after all. The way I see it, it¡¯ll be a couple more days before her family can once again move back to the core territory and regain their former glory.

    ¡°...¡±

    Murong Miaoxue was also standing nearby. She stopped by because she caught wind of Jiang Tonging here to slug it out at the Trial Towers one more time.

    In just one month, Jiang Tong, who initially was on the same level as her, lept from Tendon Forging straight to the level of Tong Mai. Even she couldn¡¯t deny the shock she felt when she heard the news.

    A beautiful young girl emerged from the Trial Towers. Instantly, she was surrounded by the masses.

    Noticing Murong Miaoxue, who stood at the edge of the crowd, she shed a smile at her. As of today, Murong Miaoxue was someone who was not worthy of her attention.

    The look of astonishment on the face of the girl standing next Murong Miaoxue had yet to fade when she said, ¡°Miss Murong, you can¡¯t afford to underestimate Jiang Tong.¡±

    ¡°And so it would seem.¡± Murong Miaoxue looked away emotionlessly. She was surprisingly quick to regain herposure after that shock. ¡°However, my target isn¡¯t her.¡±

    Standing in front of Jiang Tong at most would make her feel slightly pressured. Standing in front of Gu Xiqiao on the other hand would make her feelpletely defenseless!

    One would know right away the gap between these two characters.

    Gu Xiqiao watched the crowd that had formed around Jiang Tong as she rubbed her chin. ¡°To be able to achieve Tong Mai, not bad at all.¡±

    Not. Bad.

    She slowly made her way towards the Trial Tower. With so many people around, it was surprising when no one recognized who she was. As if she was a phantom, she walked into the Trial Tower undetected.

    A state of nothingness was all that was in front of her as soon as she entered the structure.

    ¡°Little system, throw me some of the Trial Tower¡¯s stats.¡± Gu Xiqiao observed a ck figure standing on the opposite end of the area. This was the first level and her opponent had just walked through the door.

    The ck figure was not too different from a real human being. It started attacking the moment it noticed Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao grabbed the ck figure¡¯s wrists and upon exerting her strength effortlessly, the figure disintegrated. Raising her brows in surprise, she said to herself, ¡°It¡¯s a body of energy, huh?¡±

    Two pathways appeared in the void behind the ck figure that has already disintegrated. One of it led to the exit while the other, to the next level. Gu Xiqiao nced at these two entrances before finally picking thetter.

    The battle on level two yed out exactly like the previous one. With just a swift move, the ck figure broke down instantly.

    On the 20th level, Gu Xiqiao destroyed the ck figure just as she did in the levels leading up to this one.

    Before proceeding any further, the system¡¯s voice broke the silence. ¡°Beauty Qiao, all the data has already been collected.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Gu Xiqiao peered at the pathway leading to level 21. Instead of pushing on, she left the ce immediately.

    ***

    Around the same time.

    The elders of the ancient martial arts world were in a meeting. ¡°Elder, the man in charge of the Trial Tower has an urgent matter to report.¡±

    ¡°Trial Tower? Let him in.¡± said the elder with a white flowing beard.

    Shortly after, a boy in a green shirt came in with a horrified expression. ¡°Elder, we have recorded someone rising from the 1st level to the 20th within ten minutes!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The elder was wide-eyed. A jump from level 1 to level 20 within ten minutes? The only person who was able to pull this off was Jiang Shuxuan. For a moment, he was deep in thought before he asked, ¡°Are you referring to Jiang Tong, from the Jiang family?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t impossible if it was her they were talking about. Seems like yet another prodigy was about to rise up within the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°No¡± The boy shook his head. ¡°Miss Jiang Tong was already outside the Trial Tower when that happened, and...¡± He looked down at Jiang Tong¡¯s battle records. It didn¡¯t seem like she was capable of pulling off such a feat.

    If it wasn¡¯t Jiang Tong, who was it?!

    The elders stayed up all night trying to locate the person who miraculously rose from the 1st level to the 20th in just ten minutes. They put in great effort in search of that individual but to no avail. This person seemed almost like a phantom, appearing and disappearing out of thin air. Even the records within the Trial Tower contained no traces of that champion.

    They had no choice but to give up the wild goose chase after searching continuously for a few days.

    ***

    Southern China, at the top of a mountain.

    ¡°Yi Tong, what are you smiling at?¡± Yi Tiao tucked away hispass and was packing things into his bag, preparing to leave when he noticed Yi Tong grinning at his phone.

    Yi Tong looked up and chuckled mysteriously. He then shoved his phone in front of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face. ¡°Boss, look at the document the elder has just sent you.¡± Since they were outside, it was impossible to print the document out, so he just showed it directly to Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan picked the phone up and began scanning through the lines. The more he read it a subtle smile broke across his chiseled face.

    When he reached the next document however, his fingers froze up.

    [Three days ago, an unknown individual broke into the Trial Tower and managed to clear 20 levels within a span of 10 minutes. The elders suspect it is the work of Young Master Jiang. Could you please ask the man himself if he is responsible for this?]

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his brows before seriously typing out two simple words.

    [I wasnt.]

    After that, he passed the phone back to Yi Tong. He then whipped out his own phone and sent a text message to Gu Xiqiao.

    [Were you frolicking in the ancient martial arts world?]

    Yi Tong got his phone back and Yi Tiao started exining. ¡°Previously, Big Boss advised the elders not to check on the Peace Squad. Of course, they ignored his advice and sent a team of enlightened disciples over. Not only did these guys leave empty-handed, they even got beaten to a pulp by the Peace Squad. I really wonder just what the hell sort of people these peacekeepers are. They¡¯ve got balls for certain! Stomping out the elders¡¯ forces like they¡¯re a bunch of cockroaches and all!¡±

    Yi Tiao contemted for a moment.

    ¡°When we get back, I¡¯d like to know more about these guys.¡±

    The both of them agreed to go together. Then they started chattering unendingly.

    ¡°Boss!¡± Yi Bing hastily ran over. ¡°Miss Cecily would like to meet you!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was waiting for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reply on the phone. His face did not change one bit when he heard what Yi Bing said. Bluntly, he turned around with pursed lips and said, ¡°No.¡±

    The air around Jiang Shuxuan warped after that and his figure disappeared into thin air.

 Chapter 229 - Do You Really Think Shed Care?

    <h4>Chapter 229: Do You Really Think She¡¯d Care?</h4>

    The film crew for the uing movie, Divergent Paths.

    Li Yu and Du Yixin had a lengthy discussion during their afternoon break yesterday. When they met once again today, thetter now seemed to have a much better grasp at acting. For the past couple of days, every scene he had with Gu Xiqiao was done in one go. Although he wasn¡¯t as good as Li Yu, he was faring at least much better than he did previously.

    This was especially after Fu Xuejun left. Cheng Zhou had found another film veteran who did a surprisingly good job, ensuring that the filming process went as smoothly as possible.

    After filming her scene, Gu Xiqiao sat down on a bench and started fiddling with her phone. She had received a text message from Jiang Shuxuan, which she finally replied to.

    ¡°[...Your Trial Tower, it¡¯s kinda magical isn¡¯t it?]¡±

    She looked up after sending her reply. Song Guanjing was sitting next to her and her mouth opened and closed, as if she was struggling to say something.

    ¡°Sister Song, it¡¯s alright, you can tell me what you¡¯re trying to say.¡± Gu Xiqiao put her phone down and turned over to face Song Guanjing with her chin resting on her hands.

    Song Guanjing did not speak for a moment. She took out a little pouch from her pocket.

    ¡°Little Gu, remember the talisman you gave me previously? It has now turned into this.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao peered down at the pouch she was holding. She found it slightly amusing. ¡°You¡¯re still holding onto it?¡± Not only that, she¡¯d even wrapped it up in a cute little pouch? The whole situation made Gu Xiqiao almost p her forehead.

    Song Guanjing stared at Gu Xiqiao with eyes filled with conflicting emotions. It was her first time realizing that this world she lived in wasn¡¯t all about science. That paper talisman Gu Xiqiao gave her that night, and the sparks that came out of nowhere, and now that it¡¯s reduced into dust...who else but Gu Xiqiao would know about these phenomena?

    ¡°Little Gu.¡± Song Guanjing wasn¡¯t gonna waste her time any more. A deadpan look returned to her face. ¡°Have you seen the rumors they¡¯re spreading around on the inte about you?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao searched her mind for a while and knew instantly what Song Guanjing was talking about. She responded with a faint smile. ¡°Of course.¡± Not only did she merely know about it, the system had made sure to disy every little detail of the article on the clear panel to her.

    Why was she still so calm despite knowing that? Song Guanjing sounded more anxious now. ¡°Little Gu, those people on the inte...¡±

    ¡°Sister Song,¡± Gu Xiqiao shed a warm smile at her. ¡°Director Chen¡¯s calling for you.¡±

    Why was she getting worked up about this when Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t?! Song Guanjing took in a deep breath and gritted her teeth. ¡°You know what, we¡¯ll talk about thister!¡±

    Sheng Yin, who had just wrapped up a scene stared at Gu Xiqiao, and the calm expression she had on her face. With her head slightly bowed, the mocking look in her eyes was hidden from the people around her. ¡°Let¡¯s see...if you can keep that smile on your face afterward.¡±

    After Song Guanjing was done with her scene, she came back to find no signs of Gu Xiqiao anywhere. That girl had run away!

    ¡°Guanjing.¡± Cheng Zhou saw the look on Song Guanjing¡¯s face and so he patted her shoulder. ¡°This isn¡¯t your first time filming with her, is it? You know that shees and goes like a phantom.¡±

    ¡°But Director Cheng...¡± Song Guanjing sighed. ¡°Take a look at this.¡± Song Guanjing showed one of the top trending articles on the inte to the Director.

    Director Cheng nced at it and smirked. ¡°Guanjing, so you¡¯re worried about these things?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m worried, but the rumours on the inte nowadays are just too outrageous.¡± Song Guanjing tapped the pages that led to another. The situation was getting out of control; Gu Xiqiao was definitely going to get defamed at this rate. ¡°Director Chen, why don¡¯t you seem fazed by this?¡±

    Didn¡¯t Director Chen treasure Miss Gu? Why was his reaction to this so lukewarm?

    ¡°If you¡¯re worried about this incident,¡± Director Chen reached out his arm and knocked on the table. ¡°Guanjing, think back to more than a month ago, what happened after some goons tried to defame you on the inte?¡±

    Song Guanjing froze up. Why couldn¡¯t she recall what had happened?

    That was thergest scandal that she ever got into throughout her entire career. Back then, she managed to catch wind of how powerful the people trying to crush her were; they were giants in showbiz, able to block out the sun with just their palms. It was also the reason why her ¡°friends¡± had left her one after the other. Some had even tried to kick her while she was down.

    At that moment, no one thought she¡¯d be able to make aeback.

    Throughout the entire entertainment industry, only those working in the crew of Empire Under Siege had faith in her. At the peak of her despair, she requested to resign from the Cheng Zhou¡¯s cast.

    The one who saved her ass at the final moment was Gu Xiqiao. They were closer to being ¡°strangers¡± than ¡°friends¡± back when this happened.

    How could she ever forget such an important event?

    ¡°I see you still remember what happened. I don¡¯t see a reason for you to mull over it any longer.¡± Cheng Zhou pointed at Song Guanjing¡¯s phone, which was showing a gossip article titled, ¡°Dark Secrets About The Celebrity Surnamed Gu¡±

    ¡°Trust me, the reason why this situation¡¯s getting increasingly out of hand is because of how little Gu Xiqiao cares about it. Just wait till she gets bored of staying neutral, it would definitely turn into a bloodbath.¡±

    A look of anticipation and excitement surfaced on Cheng Zhou¡¯s face when he said that.

    Being all concerned about this really was making Song Guanjing lose herposure. She recalled how terrifying it was when Gu Xiqiao used only twenty minutes to hack into the blogger¡¯sputer.

    Song Guanjing finally was able to calm herself down. Then, a wry smile broke across her face. When Miss Gu finally goes on the offensive, these hackers would probably run to their mothers with tears flowing down their cheeks.

    After all, Gu Xiqiao has always maintained a policy of non-interventionism. Should she intervene however, things would quickly turn sour.

    She wondered how the bloggers who were trying to defame Gu Xiqiao would react if they knew that she was the greatest hacker in the world.

    They were practically swinging their swords around foolishly in front of the God of War.

    Song Guanjing¡¯s smile reflected her calm heart. After confirming with the Director that there wasn¡¯t any other part she had to y today, she changed into her clothes in the dressing room and called it a day.

    ¡°Sister Song,¡± Sheng Yin bumped into Song Guanjing when she left the dressing room. Because of her blunder, talking bad about Gu Xiqiao in front of Song Guanjing, she did not dare to meet thetter face-to-face after that. Sheng Yin however, was surprisingly bold today. She initiated a conversation with Song Guanjing. ¡°Did you see what¡¯s happening on Weibo today?¡±

    Song Guanjing wanted to ignore her at first but she stopped and narrowed her eyes when she heard Sheng Yin¡¯s question. The look in her eyes was sharp and domineering. ¡°Miss Sheng, why not use your free time to hone your acting skills rather than chit chatting. It¡¯ll save the entire team quite a lot of time too.¡±

    Sheng Yin¡¯s face stiffened. She stared at Song Guanjing¡¯s back with a gloomy expression on her face.

    ¡°Hmph.¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to remind Song Guanjing of something. Seems like she couldn¡¯t care less about it. Fine, I¡¯ll let you act all high and mighty for now!¡± For some unknown reason, Sheng Yin¡¯s expression returned to normal.

    Song Guanjing came out after changing into a set of casual clothes. With something on her mind, she peered at Miss Yu. ¡°Miss Yu, has Sheng Yin had any issue with Miss Gu previously?¡±

    Miss Yu gestured for Song Guangjing to take a seat before she started removing her makeup. The makeup artist sneered when she heard her question. ¡°Issue? Nope, she¡¯s just ackey who¡¯s sucking up to someone of power. You should know who Fu Xuejun is right?¡±

    Fu Xuejun? Song Guanjing recalled that person making a storm in the entertainment industry quite a while ago. ¡°I heard she¡¯s the daughter of Wenxi. She did announce that she was going to enter showbiz. Isn¡¯t she also in the cast of Divergent Paths? Though, so much time has passed and she still hasn¡¯t shown up yet. The daughter of the famed movie star, huh? I¡¯d like to get to know her sometime soon.¡±

    Her mother was the first actress to go international. Of course, news of her daughter choosing to enter showbiz took the circle by storm too.

    ¡°What? The daughter of a movie star?¡± Miss Yu¡¯s facecked any significant expressions. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t expect too much, Guanjing. You¡¯re better off staying with Miss Gu than that girl.¡±

    Miss Yu shook her head. Fu Xuejun had not even a tenth of the talent her mother had. Even now, she still wondered if that girl really was the daughter of Wenxi.

    Song Guanjing did not ask further questions upon noticing Miss Yu¡¯s reaction. By now, she had a rough idea of what Sheng Yin was nning.

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had arrived at the training grounds. Luo Weng and Fu Dongyi were in the middle of a discussion. When they saw her show up, Luo Weng stood up immediately. ¡°Miss Gu, Dongyi is ready to train.¡±

    ¡°Appreciate your work.¡± Gu Xiqiao ced a finger against her lips. ¡°I wonder if sending him alone to save the Fu family will suffice.¡± She feared that instead of rescuing the Fu family, Fu Dongyi would kill them off one way or another.

    Luo Weng stretched out his hand and made a confident gesture. ¡°As far as I know, you could send two more Fu Xuejuns and they¡¯d still be overwhelmed by this guy.¡±

    Although only a couple of days had passed in the outside world, almost one month has gone by within this cave. To receive training over such a long period from the two most terrifying instructors, Luo Weng and Gu Xiqiao, even a dead log would blossom at the end of its training.

    Even Fu Dongyi was in a state of disbelief. Finally, the day had arrived where he could understand the seemingly iprehensible project n. What a brain-bursting arbitrage and this fantastical cave.

    Every passing day felt increasingly like a dream to him.

    ¡°Very well, though it¡¯s best to not go out today.¡± Gu Xiqiao lowered her hands and narrowed her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ll set out tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Miss Gu¡± responded Fu Dongyi with a nod. He did not question why Gu Xiqiao said so.

    Luo Weng nced at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I should be able to move around freely, no?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°Yep, you have worked hard for the past few days.¡±

    ¡°...feels like I haven¡¯t done much though.¡±

    It was Gu Xiqiao who whipped up the proposal and the same went for the project n. She had a good understanding of Fu Dongyi¡¯s capabilities and where his shorings were. As for Luo Weng himself, he felt like nothing but a mere decor item in the cave. At most, being here was like a change in his working environment. Working hard? Nope. He¡¯d even managed to score a look at a couple of new investment schemes from Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Something popped up in Luo Weng¡¯s mind suddenly. ¡°About Yu Ning, did you block him again?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose.

    ¡°...this matter is none of your business.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Luo Weng: ¡®I am just extending a helping hand to Yu Ning! The rest is up to God!¡¯

    Then, Wu Hongwen waltzed in excitedly. A glimmer appeared in his eyes when he saw Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Er Qiao!¡±

    ¡°You seem pretty happy?¡± Gu Xiqiao shed a cheeky smile at Wu Hongwen. ¡°You got pretty...¡±

    The look in her eyes changed in a split second. ¡°Messed up by the fight?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing but a flesh wound. Let me tell you this Er Qiao, those people from the ancient martial arts world?¡± Wu Hongwen wore a triumphant expression on his face. ¡°Ipletely annihted those guys!¡±

    ¡°Bullcrap,¡± said Xiao Yun who appeared behind him. She on the other hand, wore a look of disgust on her face. ¡°Who was it that just got his ass handed to him whole just now?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Wu Hongwen went silent.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao with a smile.

    Xiao Yun¡¯s face was dead serious. ¡°In the beginning, those who came to us peacekeepers looking for trouble were merely Chi Induction users. Seems like they¡¯ve started to incorporate higher-level fighters as we faced someone from the Bone Refinement level today. Thank God Yao Jiamu rushed in to save our butts on time, if not...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Wu Hongwen and she couldn¡¯t help but massage her temples. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you wearing the piece of jade I gave you?¡±

    ¡°Well, since we¡¯re fighting today, I was afraid that I¡¯d lose it.¡± The more Wu Hongwen spoke, the less he had the guts to continue talking.

    ¡°Rx, even if you lose it, you won¡¯t.¡± Gu Xiqiao felt a nagging urge to give that guy a b*tch p. With a sudden jerk of her fingers, she flicked a brown pill straight into Wu Hongwen¡¯s mouth. ¡°Bring it with you the next time.¡±

    Wu Hongwen nodded and asked a question at the same time. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± The pill didn¡¯t taste of anything. It liquefied instantly and went down his throat. All of a sudden, the pain in his body faded away, just like that.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t particrly feel like talking to her friend anymore. Her reply was rather blunt.

    ¡°Booger.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Although Wu Hongwen knew she was just pulling his leg, it still made him wince in disgust.

    ¡°Xiao Yun, when Yao Jiamu and his team returns, I want you to tell every single one of them to put on the thing that I gave them.¡±

    Xiao Yun nodded. ¡°You need not be too worried about this. With the exception of Wu Hongwen, they¡¯ll remember this for the rest of their lives.¡±

    ¡°Very well then.¡± Gu Xiqiao took her phone out and looked at the time. It was gettingte. ¡°I¡¯ll head on home now.¡±

    The three of them went down their own ways at the mouth of the cave. It was then that Gu Xiqiao noticed two missed calls on her notification bar. They were both from Zhu Yuan.

    She had been caught in his trap the moment she went onto WeChat.

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°Didn¡¯t you promise to hand me theb report? Beauty Gu, do you understand my feelings right now? ©Ñ©Ò©n©Ñ©Ò¡±

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°Peng Zijie wishes to apologize to you in person!¡±

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°He said that it wasn¡¯t intentional when he visited you at the filming site of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯!¡±

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°...Are you actually aware that I¡¯m sending you these text messages? God damn, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve blocked me on WeChat too?!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao responded to his wall of texts with a single message.

    For A Millenium: ¡°I¡¯ve been rather busy for the past few days. I¡¯ll be seeing you in the near future. Do not worry, you and your team can start researching the brain¡¯s meridian points first. I¡¯ve handed it to Dr. Nian already.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was prepared to switch her phone off after sending this text message. However, a new message popped up in the nick of time. It was from Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°[I¡¯ll bring you next time, also, are you in a feud with Baili? He told me that it¡¯s been two days that you haven¡¯t been picking up his calls.¡¯¡±

    Gu Xiqiao thought about it for a while before replying¨C¡±[No, it just so happened that I had something important to attend to with Zhu Yuan. When are youing back, Brother Jiang?]¡±

    It took Jiang Shuxuan quite a while to respond. ¡°[I still have a handful of days left. If you¡¯re bored, you can head on over to the Trial Tower and have some fun.]¡±

    Gu Xiqiao sent him a simple reply before tucking her phone away. Eyes forward, she walked slowly toward her destination.

    The system reappeared in front of her. ¡°Beauty Qiao, the Trial Tower¡¯s data haspletely been recorded. I will send it to yourputer now.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± Gu Xiqiao chuckled. ¡°Little system, why don¡¯t you upgrade now?¡±

    The system has been recording the Trial Tower¡¯s data for the past four days, meaning its upgrade was four days overdue.

    A robotic voice boomed in her mind. ¡°[Ding! 10,000 points have been sessfully deducted. The system is currently undergoing an upgrade. During a system update, the host will be unable to make contact with the virtual arena. All missions will be forcibly interrupted in this period.]¡±

    The system¡¯s silhouette gradually faded away from her vision. ¡°[Expect good news Beauty Qiao!]¡±

    Gu Xiqiao remained still. She responded with a single ¡°Alright.¡±

    In a residential district near A University.

    Fu Xuejun sat in the living room. It was rare for their family of three to be together in one room.

    ¡°Thepany director said that business performance has been fairly good. Impressive management, I must say.¡± Baili Wenxi was switching TV channels with the remote she was holding. She had a pleased look on her face. ¡°I heard you had an interview with the Finance Channel?¡±

    ¡°Mommy.¡± Fu Xuejun clung onto Baili Wenxi¡¯s wrist. She was grinning ear-to-ear and couldn¡¯t suppress the sense of self-satisfaction she was feeling.

    Baili Wenxi was searching for said channel to catch her daughter¡¯s interview when she came across an entertainment channel. She stopped immediately upon seeing a familiar face on the TV screen.

    ¡°And now, there have been rumors on the inte, supposing that the female lead of the uing blockbuster, Divergent Paths, has an incrediblyplicated private life. We have aizen providing photographic evidence of such activities beingmitted...¡±

    The female host kept on bbering about the matter unendingly.

    Fu Xuejun saw this andughed silently. She hadn¡¯t seen Tang Yanling anywhere for the past few days. She, who hailed from a prestigious family, probably couldn¡¯t stand being tainted by that girl.

    This was true for Baili Wenxi after all. Fu Xuejun understood her very well. After spending so many years in the entertainment industry, having a grain of salt in her eye waspletely uneptable. After this whole debacle ends, she was confident that whatever good impression Gu Xiqiao had made on her mother, it would alle crashing down.

    Smack!

    Baili Wenxi mmed the TV remote onto the table. Her expression had darkened significantly; she was royally pissed now.

    Great, just as nned. Although she didn¡¯t show it in her facial expression, Fu Xuejun was ted to see her mother¡¯s reaction. Rage, rage as much as you want. Now that Baili Wenxi had lost her faith in Gu Xiqiao, she had nothing to fear about her. Even if the truth was to surfaceter on, it wouldn¡¯t matter to her. The Fu family business was now firmly in her grasp.

    However, before that could happen, Fu Xuejun¡¯s face stiffened up.

    ¡°These paparazzi scum are truly deplorable! Why would they even care about someone else¡¯s private life?!¡± Baili Wenxi was pissed, not at Gu Xiqiao but at the paparazzi. ¡°This whole fiasco looks like it¡¯s a pretty big deal. I wonder how Miss Gu¡¯s gonna handle it. No wonder she seemed so down when I bumped into her this morning. I didn¡¯t know that she¡¯s struggling with this darned situation! No, I must give Ah Bin a call. I do recall him being fairly good friends with Miss Gu.¡±

    Baili Wenxi got up and went to her room to give Baili Bin a call.

    Fu Xuejun remained seated on the sofa. When she heard her mother calling Baili Bin, the smile on her face grew increasingly distorted.

    Her sharp nails dug into the flesh of her palms.

    Gu Xiqiao, how on earth does she manage to make the people she meets fold their principles in half?! Even Baili Wenxi had fallen for her trap?!

    And Gu Xiqiao, how dare she use such an underhanded move?! Meeting her mommy early in the morning? What a sly b*tch!

    Her mommy was still blissfully unaware that Gu Xiqiao was her daughter. If she were to know the truth...

    Fu Xuejun could no longer stand sitting there when the possibility of that happening popped up in her mind. ¡°Dad, I¡¯ll be heading down now.¡±

    Fu Wei lowered the financial newspaper he was reading. Upon thinking about it, he had decided to follow her down. He nned to have a good long talk with Fu Xuejun.

    Fu Xuejun hastily ran downstairs but at the entrance to their residential park, she bumped into a familiar figure.

    Her head was slightly bowed and the both of her hands were in her pant pockets. Her silhouette was thin and she seemed to be walking at a leisurely pace. Despite the sky gradually turning dark, her snow-white face was still visible to the eye. From time to time, she¡¯d look up and greet acquaintances and friends passing by.

    She¡¯d always be popr, no matter which part of the world she found herself in.

    This was what made Fu Xuejun despise her intensely. Reaching out her arm, she stopped the person from proceeding any further.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s footsteps came to a stop. She squinted to look at the person who had unexpectedly blocked her way. After scanning her up and down for what seemed like an eternity, a dead serious look appeared on her face. ¡°Miss, I must say, your gloominess indicates that a great disaster will soon befall you in the near future.

    Fu Xuejun stared coldly at the cool-looking face that resembled Baili Wenxi greatly. She leaned forward and whispered into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ear. ¡°...I¡¯m here to tell you one thing and one thing only. She¡¯s my mommy, not yours. You best not appear before her anymore. Otherwise...it¡¯s just a snap of my finger to make someone vanish from this capital!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face remained as it was. She stared back at Fu Xuejun emotionlessly. Before she could say anything though, a looming figure appeared out of nowhere.

    Baili Bin grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wrist. He shot the coldest, most hostile re at Fu Xuejun, something which she had rarely ever seen in her life. ¡°Miss Fu, bold aren¡¯t you?¡±

    As someone from the ancient martial arts world, his sensitive ears were able to pick up on Fu Xuejun¡¯s malicious whispers, which angered him greatly. If he hadn¡¯te out to meet her today, how would he ever know that she harbored such ill feelings toward Gu Xiqiao.

    Fu Xuejun did not expect to see Baili Bin here at this moment. Silently, she stumbled backward.

    Baili Bin did not wish to avoid a confrontation with her. He led Gu Xiqiao into the residential park with footsteps that were growing significantly louder. It was quite evident as to how much rage she had triggered within him.

    As he stepped past the gates of the residential park, he nced at the stunned middle-aged man standing nearby with the same look from before.

    Fu Xuejun took a deep breath and turned to look at the two figures. Seeing the person standing nearby only served to make the situation worse. After freezing up for a moment, she finally opened her mouth, ¡°Dad...¡±

    Fu Wei looked at Fu Xuejun with an indescribable expression. After a long pause, he finally said, ¡°Follow me back.¡±

    Fu Xuejun trailed slowly behind Fu Wei, appearing as if every ounce of energy had been sapped away from her body.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Baili Bin¡¯s icy expression. This was also her first time seeing him like this. She was puzzled by his reaction. For the time being, she did not dare to provoke him any further. Silently, she whipped out her phone and sent a text message to Mu Zong¨C¡±[Uncle Mu, are there any financial newsworks trying to interview Nine Heavens?]¡±

    Hmph! So what if they were Fu Enterprise? Did they really think she¡¯d care? Gu Xiqiao pouted grumpily.

 Chapter 230 - A Bump In The Joint Venture

    <h4>Chapter 230: A Bump In The Joint Venture</h4>

    ¡°Go on upstairs.¡± Baili Bin stopped beside the building, looking at Gu Xiqiao. His usually cold face was soft, and he gave a sigh after a while.

    He finally understood why Jiang Shuxuan was acting like a mother hen when it came to her now.

    If Jiang Shuxuan had been here to hear the words that Fu Xuejun had just uttered, he would most likely have made his move, and no matter what he did, it was an easy feat for him to just have her pped to death.

    If it was anyone else other than Gu Xiqiao, he was sure the person wouldn¡¯t have reacted the way she did.

    Gu XIqiao nced at Baili Bin. ¡°Brother Baili, thank you.¡±

    ¡°Hurry and go,¡± Baili Bin replied, nodding his head. He watched the elevator door closed slowly, his face instantly darkening after she was out of sight.

    ¡°Young Master,¡± Uncle Tai stood beside Baili Bin, looking at the light above the elevator doors that signaled it going upward. The surprise on his face had yet to ease. ¡°Miss Gu, she... she really is...¡±

    When Baili Bin had found out about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, the only person he had told was Baili Qu. He had never revealed his findings to anyone else in the Baili family, and Uncle Tai was hearing this for the first time. He still couldn¡¯t collect himself when they reached back to themunity area that they lived in.

    Baili Bin turned around, taking out his phone, only giving him a nondescriptive ¡®hm¡¯ in response.

    Hearing the affirmation from Baili Bin, Uncle Tai felt like lightning had struck his brain.

    ¡°Where is the fast boat that Grandpa had brought here?¡± Baili Bin stopped in his tracks suddenly, turning to ask Uncle Tai.

    Uncle Tai was in a daze as he replied, ¡°The fast boat was initially nned on being a gift to Miss Jiang Tong for breaking through the 62nd floor. It¡¯s one of the treasures that the Baili family has left, but the n leader intercepted the n of the n elders before it could happen. It¡¯s in your study.¡±

    He had thought that the reason Baili Qu worked hard on collecting all the interesting things for Gu Xiqiao, was in order to thank her for saving the young master.

    Today, Baili Qu had sent someone to deliver the previous treasure here. It was one of the most valuable treasures that the Baili family had left, apart from the ancient array book that had been handed down through the generations. The elders had wanted to give this treasure to Jiang Tong, most likely because they admired Jiang Tong¡¯s terrifying powers and potential. Being able to break through the 62nd floor from the 50th in just a month¡¯s time, that was already an amazing feat that shocked the entire martial arts world.

    People from all the major families wereing forward with gifts for their family, and the Baili family were no different.

    But he didn¡¯t expect Baili Qu to pull something like secreting the precious treasure away like this. After this incident, Baili Qu¡¯s reputation and prestige in the entire Baili family might be worse than before.

    ¡°Young master, ording to the news from the family, the elders seem to be extremely displeased with you and the n leader.¡± Now that he knew Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, Uncle Tai was more cautious. He had already liked Gu Xiqiao as a person, and even if she didn¡¯t have this prestigious identity, it was still worth it, giving her the fast boat.

    Baili walked into the opposite building, replying lightly, ¡°Don¡¯t bother about them, we have more important things to do.¡±

    Compared to those elders, of course the matter regarding Gu Xiqiao was more important. Uncle Tai hurried to catch up to the younger man.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao returned home and went into her room immediately. The data and information that the system had sent to her were all already entered into it. She immersed herself in the study of theplex data and began to do some calctions.

    Naturally, she wasn¡¯t aware of another bloody storm that had taken the inte.

    ¡®The Actress Named Gu, Lover Snatcher¡¯, ¡®Bullied Girl Forced Out From ¡®Divergent Path¡¯ Crew¡¯, ¡®For A Millenium, Get Out Of The Industry¡¯, ¡®Get Out Of ¡®Divergent Path¡¯ Crew¡¯...

    There were countless simr named topics popping out, and arge number of Inte Water Army had also appeared on the inte.

    (Verified) Famous Dig King: I heard that a certain actress is from A University, and an artist. However, her character leaves much to be desired. Pictures speak for themselves right? The first picture is a Bugatti, the second is a Maybach, and the third is a Ferrari. The fourth picture is a military Hummer. In just ten days, she has changed four cars. [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of this person early on, it¡¯s the neer that Director Cheng wants to promote right? Why is the inte being flooded with this person recently!¡±

    ¡°To the person whomented, there¡¯s evidence of her bullying a neer. Really a sh*tty person, attached link http...¡±

    ¡°How can this person still be in the circle? Get her out!¡±

    Arge wave of news sprung up on Weibo like bamboo shoots after a rain. This was the first time that Gu Xiqiao had been ndered to this extent.

    With such a big movement, the crew of ¡®Divergent Path¡¯ naturally also received the news, and a lot of people were looking for Cheng Zhou suddenly.

    ¡°Director Cheng, look at these keyboard warriors! Miss Gu hasn¡¯t signed on with any PR of anypanies, what do we do?¡± A young girl asked, her face flushed with anger as she showed Cheng Zhou her phone.

    The nder on the inte had no impact on the crew members themselves, and they still treated Gu Xiqiao the same way they usually did.

    Cheng Zhou had been woken up by a call from Song Guanjing this morning, and the other had told him the exact same thing he was hearing now.

    He nced at the phone, a calm expression on his face. ¡°Little Gu has sent me a message this morning. Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯s fine.¡± Worried about that girl? If she didn¡¯t dig a hole to bury someone, that was already considered to be good! You¡¯re worried about someone doing that to her?!

    After saying that, Cheng Zhou took out his own phone to show the girl the message that Gu Xiqiao had sent him. ¡°It¡¯s better to browse through Weibo when you have time, there should be a lot of nder in Little Gu¡¯s Weibo.¡±

    Seeing the ck and white text message, the crew members were assured. They obviously recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s capabilities thest time this had happened.

    So they turned to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo, and started picking fights with those trolls instead.

    On the other side of the set, Sheng Yin was reading her script. Her assistant hurried over, showing her phone to Sheng Yin. ¡°Sister Sheng, look at what Movie Emperor Li Yu and Movie Empress Song Guanjing have posted on their Weibo, they are standing firmly on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.¡±

    Sheng Yin took a nce, and sneered. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect them to be this loyal. However, there is no turning around this matter. Just wait, it won¡¯t be long before the female lead of Divergent Paths will be changed.¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Sheng Yin¡¯s assistant held the phone in her hands, a mixed expression on her face. .The entire crew was posting on Weibo, even the usually indifferent Du Yixin was also doing the same. If it wasn¡¯t for this, the two of them wouldn¡¯t have known how much loyalty Gu Xiqiao had inspired among the crew.

    Sheng Yin took up her phone again, posting another Weibo with a malicious smile on her face.

    ¡°Siste Sheng!¡± Seeing the Weibo post by Sheng Yin, the assistant couldn¡¯t help the surprised exmation. She was adding oil to the fire, and after this Weibo post, there would likely be another storm on the inte.

    ¡°Do you know Fu Enterprise?¡± Sheng Yin asked, tapping her fingers on the table as she looked at her state her assistant was in.

    Fu Enterprise¡¯s fame had sent a shock through the Imperial Capital in recent days, their new sessor¡¯s talents were agile and their strategies sound. The profits from the ns were also extremely high, and there were manypanies that were scrambling to cooperate with them, ording to the financial news reports. The assistant knew this of course, only that Fu Enterprise was a little too far away from her grasp.

    ¡°Miss Gu is the daughter of the Fu family, as well as the heir to Fu Enterprise.¡± Sheng Yin smiled at this. ¡°Do you think that Gu Xiqiao will be able to stand against her?¡± Now was the time to rise, she had been nning for so long, if today wasn¡¯t the day, then when would it be?

    No matter how talented Gu Xiqiao was, could she be on par with the entire Fu Enterprise, who was one of the chaebol in the Imperial Capital?

    Hearing Sheng Yin¡¯s words, the assistant rxed. ¡°Congrattions, Miss Sheng.¡± Rubbing shoulders with Fu Enterprise would ensure that they didn¡¯t need to worry about resources in the future, do they even need to worry that she wouldn¡¯t be poprter on?

    ¡°Cut! Sheng Yin, what the h*ll are you doing? If you don¡¯t want to shoot then tell us, I, Cheng Zhou, won¡¯t force you!¡± Cheng Zhou was pissed at Sheng Yin, they had been shooting this scene almost ten times, and every single time she made the same blunder. Cheng Zhou¡¯s patience had already run out.

    Sheng Yin had a bargaining chip in her mind, and she wasn¡¯t concerned about a minor third female role in Divergent Paths. With Fu Enterprise, she didn¡¯t need to worry about her future anymore. Hearing Cheng Zhou¡¯s words, she felt that he was deliberately insulting her, and so she said, ¡°Director Cheng, I need to rest today!¡±

    ¡°Sheng Yin, think about it properly,¡± Cheng Zhou controlled his anger, looking at Sheng Yin as he spoke in a lowered voice.

    Sheng Yin smiled mockingly at Cheng Zhou, not saying anything. She went into the dressing rooms to change her clothes, and left without even removing her makeup.

    After leaving the set, Sheng Yin immediately made a call. The other side picked up after a few rings, and she hurriedly said, ¡°Miss Fu, I¡¯ve done what you asked.¡±

    The two exchanged a few words, and after cutting off the call, Sheng Yin was satisfied Fu Xuejun had said that she would inject the investment into Divergent Paths immediately. Just wait, Cheng Zhou would be crying on his knees, begging her to return tomorrow!

    ***

    At Fu Enterprise, Fu Xuejun was quick to grab the reins at the top. Outsiders were all amazed at this business prodigy, especially at her age. Such skills at an age less than twenty, it had not only impressed the entire Fu Enterprise, but also others out in the world.

    If it was a veteran businessman who developed Fu Enterprise this way, they wouldn¡¯t be as surprised as they were. The reason they were surprised was because she was doing it at such a young age. In time when she has been immersed in the business world, she would definitely be an extremely formidable foe in the future.

    Today was a day to bid for Fu Enterprise¡¯s new investment case, and Fu Xuejun was heading the entire project. Countless people from otherpanies were at their doors, waiting for this.

    Jing Shenyu was also one of them. He had seen the ns that Fu Xuejun had drawn up, the profits from it would be huge, and more importantly, it was a government project. No wonder countless people were moring for it.

    Many people came to bid in the morning, and Jing Shenyu watched his opponents from the side as he waited for Fu Xuejun to arrive.

    At this time, his phone started ringing. It was that crocodile financial friend of his.

    ¡°I heard that you¡¯re going to be bidding for the joint venture with Fu Enterprise?¡± The friend got to the point right after he picked up.

    Jing Shengyu smiled. ¡°I¡¯m already at Fu Enterprise, wish me luck!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t.¡± His friend¡¯s tone was serious, there was no humor in it at all.

    ¡°I say, aren¡¯t we old friends? Are you trying to stop me from seeding? It was hard for me to get this opportunity, do you think I¡¯m the same as you, always able to secure a deal with Nine Heavens?¡± Jing Shenyu¡¯s eyes widened, if it wasn¡¯t that he had known his friend for more than ten years, he would have hung up the call already.

    ¡°I¡¯m saying this for your own sake.¡± The financial tyrant frowned, his voice lowered slightly as he continued, ¡°Didn¡¯t Fu Enterprise have a coboration contract with Nine Heavensst time? I just learned today that the contract has been canceled, so there is definitely something wrong with Fu Enterprise. Please don¡¯t jump on the boat.¡±

    Jing Shengyu hung up the phone, a thoughtful look in his eyes. He respected Nine Heavens, and he had a fear of them too, especially thepany¡¯s methods. If he were brutally honest with himself, even if there were ten Fu Enterprise, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to stand against Nine Heavens.

    When he thought of this, he made his decision, immediately getting up and leaving the ce.

    ¡°President Jing has been scared off.¡± The other investors in the area watched Jing Shenyu leave, and they smiled at each other. One lesspetitor was obviously a good thing in their books.

    At the same time they couldn¡¯t help but whisper inside, ¡®What a blockhead¡¯.

    Jing Shengyu, who had beenbeled as a ¡®blockhead¡¯ by the others stepped out of the building and into the blinding sun. Although he had lost a chance to make money, he somehow couldn¡¯t help but feel like a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

    The minutester, Fu Xuejun entered the building.

    ¡°Miss, apart from Dongfang Finance, all the reporters from the other financialworks are absent due to other engagements.¡± A middle-aged man behind her reported dutifully.

    Only Dongfang Finance? What were all the other reporters doing? Fu Xuejun frowned, but the bidding was more important right now, and she brushed away the concern she felt.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s desire of taking over Fu Enterprise was getting stronger now, especially after Fu Wei had learnt of Gu Xiqiao, she was even more nervous about the entire thing.

    Luckily, Fu Wei was busy investigating N City and had no time to look at Fu Enterprise. This bought Fu Xuejun the time that she needed.

    The bidding went smoothly, and Fu Xuejun selected three investors to enter the agreement with. ¡°The joint venture is already in progress, I hope that the funds can be invested as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss Fu. I have already transferred the funds to your finance department.¡± The three partners then signed the contract, and the funds exchanged hands soon after.

    The secretary whispered something into Fu Xuejun¡¯s ears, and her smile deepened. ¡°Happy to be working with you.¡±

    The four of them smiled at each other, preparing to throw a banquet in celebration of their coboration, when the meeting room door was thrown open suddenly. One of the directors of Fu Enterprise had burst in, a harried look on his face as he eximed, ¡°Miss Fu, there¡¯s a problem with the joint venture!¡±

 Chapter 231 - The Difference Between Cloud And Mud

    <h4>Chapter 231: The Difference Between Cloud And Mud</h4>

    In recent days, Fu Xuejun was exceptionally famous in the Imperial Capital. This was especially true in terms of her qualifications and capabilities in her financial talents, which made people sigh with envy when they looked at what she had aplished at a tender age.

    Fu Enterprise¡¯s joint venture n that was put up really moved the hearts of countless entrepreneurs, and their recruitment of investors and partners attracted a lot of people because of that. But in the end, only threepanies were lucky enough to be selected. They were the envy of many others out there.

    But less than an hourter, the news about the ws in the joint venture n had broken out, and all their ns in this period copsed one by one. Fu Enterprise¡¯s prestige had immediately fallen to rock bottom.

    As soon as the stock market opened at three o¡¯clock in the afternoon, Fu Enterprise¡¯s stock was suspended immediately.

    The person that was most shocked was still Fu Xuejun who had been managing Fu Enterprise for the past few days. With all the perfect investment ns and cases that she had been handling, her confidence level had mounted as each one was handled by her. For Fu Enterprise to suddenly have a problem now, was something that waspletely unexpected.

    All the major investment ns had problems, and they were all discovered at the same time. Fu Xuejun wasn¡¯t too concerned when the news broke out.

    At first, she was calm. ¡°What are you panicking for? I¡¯m still here!¡±

    Her recent performance had the people in Fu Enterprise cing their trust in her, and so they too calmed down and felt reassured when they saw her calm state.

    The questions came one after another, and Fu Xuejun was buried to her neck at work. It had been smooth sailing the past few days, and she had not needed to mind everything else like this until now. And the more busy she got, the more frazzled she seemed to get,pletely unlike the past few days.

    Funds problems, financial loopholes... these severe problems existed all these while, but why hadn¡¯t anyone managed to stumble across this problem while the ns were being drawn up?

    ¡°Miss! The entire finance department has resigned!¡±

    The Finance Department was well aware of the economic situation of the entirepany, and for them to resign like this could only mean one thing¡ªthat thepany was beyond salvageable. Staying on would be pointless, and they might even have to go through awsuit, so it was better to just leave early on.

    The news caused Fu Xuejun to tremble, her legs almost unable to hold her up.

    She had thought that they were minor problems at first, and was not overly concerned. But she didn¡¯t expect that she didn¡¯t even know where to start for these problems!

    Especially the three investors, who were still in the room with her, staring at the look of disbelief on her face. As well as the other employees of thepany, who were now looking at her with growing doubts on their faces. Fu Xuejun was going crazy inside, holding her phone as she tried to call Fu Wei. After a few times, the call finally managed to get through.

    The loophole in Fu Enterprises¡¯ finance had made thepany fall into huge debt in just a day, tethering on a dangerous position. The news caused an uproar in the outside world.

    The most unlucky would be the three investors who had just signed the agreement, as their funds had all been given to Fu Enterprise. They had just been dreaming about all the money they would be making from this joint venture, and now their dreams were all shattered. Receiving such a heavy shock, no one could ept it!

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think this scene is a bit familiar?¡± One of the partners suddenly spoke after a long silence.

    The second partner nodded his head, and brought up his fingers to count. ¡°Bai Enterprise, the Chen family.¡± It wasn¡¯t just familiar, it was exactly the same. This kind of decisive blow that could wipe out an established, bigpany within a few days. Other than Nine Heavens, who else could do this?

    Not to mention that in the entire Imperial Capital, the onlypany who could touch Fu Enterprise was Nine Heavens, who basically sat in the sky.

    As expected of Nine Heavens, when they made a move, it was rough, cruel, andpletely unforgiving.

    This was Fu Enterprise, the one with some mysterious, special forces backing them up!

    Nine Heavens was extremely bold indeed!

    The third partner was a real estate big shot, and his thoughts were simple at best. His face had paled dramatically, and even his voice was shaking as he said, ¡°This... could it be Nine Heavens?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Nine Heavens alright,¡± The first partner frowned deeply. ¡°Think about Jing Shenyu, doesn¡¯t he have a close financial tyrant who cobs with Nine Heavens?¡±

    ¡°No wonder! Before the bidding started, he had already left. What a sly fox!¡±

    ¡°Gentlemen, Fu Enterprise has a situation, and needs your help.¡± Once Fu Xuejun had finished her talk with Fu Wei on the phone, she immediately turned to the three partners. She thought that the three of them would agree and give her some face, based on her position.

    She didn¡¯t expect the straight out refusal from them, and even requested to break off the contract that they had just signed. ¡°Miss Fu, there are ws in the ns and you still asked us to invest. You¡¯re a fraud, and if you don¡¯t return the funds to us, we¡¯ll see you in court!¡±

    If Nine Heavens wanted to get rid of Fu Enterprise, how would they still dare to coborate with them?

    At the same time, they looked at Fu Xuejun with sympathy in their eyes.

    Fu Xuejun could only watch the three investors walk away, and it seemed like something had been pulled out from her too.

    She walked slowly out of Fu Enterprise in a daze, she still didn¡¯t understand, what problems hade from her ns?

    How did Fu Enterprise be like this overnight?

    A figure suddenly appeared in her line of sight, she was standing in the middle of the square, dressed in in clothes and looking down at the phone in her hand. Her hair hung around her like a silk curtain, standing under the sun, her beautiful face reflecting the sunlight and a shopping bag in her hand. It was obvious that she had just walked out of the mall, and she looked no different than usual.

    How could Fu Xuejun not recognize her? It was Gu Xiqiao.

    She was feeling fear and shock, anxiousness, and chaos. Whereas the person that she wanted to get rid of was still leisurely walking around. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s light-hearted attitude lit a fire within Fu Xuejun, and in a sh her anger had reached its boiling point. She took big strides to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side, her voice pitched high as she said, ¡°Gu Xiqiao, you still have the mood to be shopping?¡±

    Didn¡¯t she know that there was a bloody storm on Weibo?

    Brother Jiang, Brother Baili gave me something again today, and it¡¯s quite valuable.

    After sending the message, Gu Xiqiao looked up, seeing Fu Xuejun standing in front of her.

    Because she had been cultivating her ancient martial arts these few months, and the fact that she had advanced again, she had grown taller. Standing in front of Fu Xuejun, she didn¡¯t need to wear heels to look down on her, and she smiled. ¡°Miss Fu.¡±

    Even though Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything further, with just the way she acted, Fu Xuejun felt that the other was looking down on her while seated on her high horse. Fu Xuejun took a deep breath, looking at Gu Xiqiao and sneering. ¡°If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t have the face to step out of the house at all!¡±

    The smile on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face didn¡¯t falter, and the curve of her lips was so perfect. Compared to Gu Xiqiao, Fu Xuejun was like a shrew. Thetter¡¯s chest rose and fell heavily after her outburst, ring at Gu Xiqiao.

    Just as she opened her mouth to continue her tirade, her phone rang. ¡°Miss, President Fu has arrived at thepany.¡±

    Hearing this, Fu Xuejun ignored Gu Xiqiao, turning around to head back immediately.

    Gu Xiqiao stared at her leaving back, her eyes narrowed.

    ¡°That was Fu Xuejun?¡± Luo Weng asked as he hurried over, handing a roll of things to Gu Xiqiao. He followed her gaze and saw her retreating back. He wasn¡¯t concerned about her, but since Gu Xiqiao had been paying attention to Fu Enterprise, he had secretly read the information on everyone in Fu Enterprise.

    He arrived at a conclusion after that: As expected, if they didn¡¯t do anything, they wouldn¡¯t need to die.

    ¡°It was her.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied lightly, and began leafing through the documents that Luo Weng had just given her.

    There was nothing that needed attention now on Fu Enterprise, and after looking for a while, Luo Weng turned away, looking at her instead. ¡°Boss Gu, why did you suddenly want me to collect news on N City?¡±

    Especially when it concerned the Gu family.

    Because the system was in the midst of upgrading, and she had no way of getting news, that was the reason she went to him instead. Of course, it wasn¡¯t like she was going to tell him that.

    She cleared her throat. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that there was a problem with the tourist basest round, let¡¯s focus the next few days on this.¡±

    Hearing those words, Luo Weng was grave. He knew that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t kid about these things. ¡°I will take note of it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it then, I¡¯ll be leaving first.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved at him, turning around to leave as she had already seen Baili Bin¡¯s car.

    ¡°Heyyy, wait a sec!¡± Luo Weng said as he recalled something. ¡°Uncle Mu said that you epted another interview?¡±

    ¡°What did you think I was doing just now?¡± Gu Xiqiao repliedzily, giving him a look. ¡°They said it was some live broadcast or something. If you rush back now you might make it to watch the rerun.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Damn, the entire Imperial Capital was in for an explosion.

    Gu XIqiao left with the pile of papers in hand.

    Looking down at the phone, Jiang Shuxuan had already sent her a reply. Take it, don¡¯t need to be polite to him about it.

    Then she won¡¯t be?

    Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly, that speed boat really was a treasure. Although it had no offensive power, its defensive ability was strong and the vessel was fast. It was way better than a ne, and she didn¡¯t have to worry about safety when she sat in it. It was extremely suitable for a person like her!

    ***

    Fu Xuejun returned to Fu Enterprise, and Fu Wei was waiting for her in his office.

    ¡°Dad.¡± Fu Xuejun opened the door, her hands and feet were shaking when she did. She was afraid to see Fu Wei¡¯s angry and disappointed face once again.

    After entering, she found that Fu Wei¡¯s face was calm, and he was watching a programme.

    ¡°Jun¡¯er, look at this.¡± Fu Wei didn¡¯t wait for her to say anything, beckoning her toe forward.

    Fu Xuejun shuffled forward to his side, looking at what he was pointing at on the screen.

    It was an interview that was conducted by National Channel, and it was an interview with the president of Nine Heavens! This was the first time the president of Nine Heavens had shown their face, and the host was vibrating with excitement to express it in words. After saying some incoherent words, the camera then turned to the person who was the president.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes froze, her gaze glued to the screen intently.

    The person behind the scene of Nine Heavens had been extremely mysterious, having countless fans and was the idol of countless financial students. There had been so many spections about the person, saying that the person was a mythical existence that didn¡¯t actually exist, because Nine Heavens was practically a myth by itself.

    In a short period of time, Nine Heavens had not only taken a lead in China, but they had also managed to upy an extremely important position across the world, bing the economic lifeline internationally. Nine Heavens¡¯work had spread across the entire globe, and if anything were to happen to Nine Heavens, it would definitely cause financial turbulence in the world.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s capabilities had been unmatched previously, but even she couldn¡¯t help but admire the founder of Nine Heavens, no matter how confident she was in herself. This was especially true after reading the document that Fu Wei had given her, her respect for Nine Heavens had increased yet again.

    The mysterious person behind Nine Heavens really was a terrifying legend.

    The camera shifted to the founder of Nine Heavens.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s face twisted the second her eyesnded on the person, and she knocked over the tea that the secretary had been pouring for her. ¡°No... impossible, this is fake!¡±

    How could it be Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face! How was that possible?!

    Fu Wei only nced at his daughter, and she knew that she had reacted rudely, sitting down immediately. She turned her attention to the screen once again after taking a deep breath, but her hands and feet were still trembling.

    ¡°Excuse me, Miss Gu. You have always turned down interviews, why have you suddenly decided to agree to one?¡± On screen, the host asked curiously.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes lowered, and she thought about it for a while before answering, ¡°I used to think it would bring trouble, I still want to study here after all.¡±

    ¡°And now?¡± The host continued.

    ¡°I have to say something serious here, that is, you can¡¯t be too low-key as a person.¡± Gu Xiqiao, smiling as she looked in the direction of the camera.

    Fu Xuejun waspletely floored.

    She had never ced any significance on Gu Xiqiao, because the other had nothing to her name. She didn¡¯t expect her to turn out to be the founder and president of Nine Heavens!

    Thinking about how she was still threatening Gu Xiqiao just yesterday night, and even said she would rid her from the Imperial Capital? Gu Xiqiao must have beenughing at her from the inside, right?

    She even had the thought that if she controlled Fu Enterprise, she would be able to have Gu Xiqiao below her feet.

    Wanting topare with her and what she had, those thoughts seemed so ridiculous now!

    The other party was the founder of Nine Heavens, thepany which had a ce firmly etched in the world. Just when she was about to inherit and control Fu Enterprise, Gu Xiqiao had already taken Nine Heavens across the globe!

    The gap between them was simply like clouds and mud!

    The blood drained from Fu Xuejun¡¯s face, leaving her pale and even more shaky as she sat on the sofa. She had lost... utterly andpletely.

 Chapter 232 - A Familiar Face

    <h4>Chapter 232: A Familiar Face</h4>

    ¡°Sister Sheng, Miss Fu hasn¡¯t called.¡± Sheng Yin¡¯s assistant was concerned as they sat in Sheng Yin¡¯s home. ¡°Director Cheng also hasn¡¯t called.¡±

    Fu Xuejun had told Sheng Yin earlier that things woulde to fruition within a day, and then arge amount of resources in the entertainment circle would be in her grasp. After finally getting a once in a lifetime opportunity, she was so ecstatic that she even dared to give lip to Cheng Zhou. She was betting everything on Fu Enterprise, after all.

    Sheng Yin poured herself a ss of wine as she smiled contentedly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss Fu will require some time to settle things on her end. When the timees, Cheng Zhou will naturally be begging for us toe back.¡±

    Thinking about Fu Xuejun, the assistant tried to conceal her worries. Yes, with Fu Enterprise, what did they have to be afraid of?

    The two waited in silent confidence, but when the assistant swiped through her Weibo, her face was shocked. ¡°Sister Sheng, Director Cheng has changed the actress, it¡¯s Ning Qing!¡±

    ¡°This sh*tty dog Cheng Zhou!¡± Sheng Yin¡¯s chest exploded with anger. She looked at the Weibo post that Ning Qing had posted, and her eyes seemed to breathe fire.

    ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ was a film that was adapted from an online game, and it had a wide audience although it hadn¡¯t been broadcasted yet. It has made it to the popr and hot topic list again and again. Although she just held a supporting role, it was still something to brag about.

    It was a lie to say that she didn¡¯t feel any heartache at all, and Sheng Yin didn¡¯t expect Cheng Zhou to stick to his words. To change after saying it?

    Sheng Yinforted herself, there was no hurry. She still had Miss Fu, and the female lead role that was waiting for her. What was a supporting rolepared to that?

    The female lead role of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ was their end goal, and with Gu Xiqiao being ndered on the inte, ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ would have no choice but to change the actress under that pressure.

    Then, the official ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ Weibo released another promotional picture.

    (Verified) Divergent Paths Official Crew: The trailer has been edited andpleted. In response to the situation in the past few days, let¡¯s just say we have changed the female supporting role. Want us to change our female lead? Change our entire crew first! [Video link]

    After that, Cheng Zhou, Ning Qing, Song Guanjing and all the other members of the crew reposted this Weibo.

    There was a crusade going on below this post, and some people didn¡¯t even tap on the link to watch the video. Indeed, with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s recent reputation on Weibo, most of theizen¡¯sments were ¡®If you don¡¯t change the female lead, then we won¡¯t watch ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯, ¡®nder Gu xx forever¡¯ among others.

    ¡°Do you see?¡± Sheng Yin pointed at thosements, her eyes mocking. ¡°It won¡¯t even be afternoon before theye begging at my door for me.¡±

    Whether a movie will sell well all depended on the fans, if they weren¡¯t willing to buy the tickets, then who was the movie made for? From the reactions of theizens, they were not willing to buy tickets if Gu Xiqiao was in it.

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao fall harder as the minutes passed, Sheng Yin smiled happily. Even her heart felt lighter.

    The assistant had been swept away by the shock of the recement of the role, but now she smiled at Sheng Yin widely. ¡°Then I¡¯ll congratte you in advance, Sister Sheng.¡±

    The two swept their doubts away, as they anticipated the scene where Cheng Zhou woulde to them begging.

    Only, the next thing that happened was beyond Sheng Yin¡¯s expectations.

    Firstly, it was the trailer of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ that had been announced by Cheng Zhou. How could that videopare to those that were made by normal people? Although it was just a promotional video, it had been carefully and meticulously edited by Yu Ning and his team. Not to mention, their Boss Gu was inside the video, so the entire team had used all the knowledge and skills that they had acquired over the years to churn out this video.

    The exquisite pictures, magnificent special effects serve to further enhance the already amazing acting skills of the actors and actresses in the video. It gradually calmed the trolls and keyboard warriors on the.

    Thements on the inte gradually turned towardsments like:

    ¡°Although she has a bad personality, her acting is really good. Her appearance is also out of this world... wait I¡¯m here to nder her, not be her fan!¡±

    ¡°nder Gu xx forever...F*ck, I really can¡¯t continue to insult such a gorgeous face¡±

    And it continued to climb.

    And those advertisement jobs that Sheng Yin had received slowly canceled one by one, and Sheng Yin finally couldn¡¯t sit still. But when she thought about Fu Xuejun, she calmed herself as she turned to her assistant. ¡°Bring my phone.¡±

    She wanted to ask Fu Xuejun how things were going, but after several times of calling, the other didn¡¯t pick up the phone.

    Sheng Yin hung up, calling onest time. This time, her hand was trembling slightly.

    After several consecutive calls, still no one answered Fu Xuejun¡¯s phone, and she finally ced her phone down. All her jobs had been canceled in one afternoon, and Sheng Yin finally felt that something was wrong.

    ¡°Sister Sheng, look at this Weibo.¡± The assistant said suddenly, her voice trembling.

    Sheng Yin hurriedly took it, the wine ss in her hand thrown to the side and spilling on the sofa, staining it red.

    The assistant¡¯s face was paling rapidly, at a loss and devoid of theposure she held just a while ago. Her fear turned into anxiety. ¡°Sister Sheng, Miss Gu, she... She¡¯s the founder of Nine Heavens!¡±

    The name Nine Heavens was well known, whether inside or outside the circle. Even Sheng Yin and her assistant were well aware of the weight that thepany carried.

    But she didn¡¯t expect that this small person in her eyes, Gu Xiqiao, who she had been ribbing, would transform to be the founder of Nine Heavens?

    How was that possible?

    Sheng Yin read the news over and over, and another window that read ¡®Fu Enterprise In Crisis¡¯ popped up. She fell back on the sofa, frightened to the point that she felt her soul leaving her body.

    No wonder, it was no wonder Fu Xuejun wasn¡¯t answering her phone!

    Sheng Yin¡¯s face waspletely ashen, she had been waiting with confidence the entire day, but the news that came up made her feel like all the air was taken out of her.

    Thinking of the things that she had done recently, she immediately picked up her phone, opening Weibo in a panic.

    Seeing the topic on the frontpage, she felt faint and almost fell down.

    (Verified) Tang Enterprise Official: While I was having my lunch just now, I received a text from someone. Well, I¡¯ll exin the recent rumor that¡¯s circting on Weibo. [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] The first picture of the ck Maybach, the owner of the car is a good friend of mine. He¡¯s been absent these few days, and he¡¯s been the one picking up and dropping her off.

    The second picture, the Ferrari, the owner of this car shouldn¡¯t be unfamiliar, it¡¯s the medical genius Zhu Yuan. He has a sibling rtionship with Miss Gu, that¡¯s the way I would exin it. He was probably picking her up to treat an important patient that day, and you ask, why would Miss Gu need to treat a patient? If you don¡¯t know, how about going to Baidu and searching up ¡®cell fusion¡¯.

    The third picture, a military Hummer. It¡¯s already said to be military use, and you still dare to dig up anything on it? But I will still exin it to you, this belongs to the subordinate of that important patient that she had treated, and he was looking for Miss Gu to inquire about his condition that day. Back to the first picture again, I think those of you who are smart enough can guess who it belongs to, right?

    Before that, I once asked Miss Gu what her intentions were, and she said that she was fortunate enough to have a group of loving friends and fans. This should be thest movie that she will be taking part in. But I will say this, no matter how talented she is, how great the things she can endure, how many achievements she has, she is only still just a freshman at university.

    Long before this Weibo had been posted, many of the trolls and keyboard warriors who had been ndering Gu Xiqiao had already been shaken by her beauty and fantastic acting.

    Seeing this Weibo post, and it being posted by Tang Enterprise, who had a solid foundation and ce in the Imperial Capital, nobody would dare to question the authenticity of this Weibo.

    All the doubts and usations disappearedpletely, and within a few minutes, those malicious trolls and nderers had retreated entirely.

    Those ndered were quiet, and those passersby who were not ndering Gu Xiqiao had also gone silent. They were feeling super depressed, because as Tang Enterprise had mentioned, she was just a freshman attending university. After the silence, there were movements starting up, those who ndered became passerbys, and those passerby became fans, and fans became die-hard fans.

    ¡°Beauty Gu, we were wrong!¡±

    ¡°Beauty Gu, we¡¯re sorry!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my idol, I will always, always support you!¡±

    And there were also Gu Xiqiao¡¯s original fans who had stuck to her from the beginning, trying to defend her name on Weibo from start to end. They watched as all the new fans came in.

    ¡°Another bunch of coquettish b*tches here to grab attention from our Beauty Gu ??¡±

    ¡°My heart aches for our Beauty Gu ??¡±

    ¡°This should be @ A Flowing River¡¯s ce¡±

    ¡°+1, but don¡¯t you think that ¡®someone¡¯ that Tang Enterprise mentioned was referring to @ A Flowing River? Come on and tell us!¡±

    ***

    At the same time, a Weibo that Sheng Yin had posted previously in order to nder malicious spections about Gu Xiqiao was also being overturned by countlessments.

    Sheng Yin had already received a call from her manager, and before she could speak, a sharp voice spoke from the other end. ¡°Sheng Yin, what have you done? Rejecting Director Cheng¡¯s movie, and now you¡¯ve brought so much trouble to thepany. If you want to die, please don¡¯t drag me down with you, alright? You¡¯re always rushing in to provoke people, and now that you¡¯ve been used as an initiator, it¡¯s over. You¡¯ve been cold storage by thepany, I¡¯m also done for. Are you happy now?¡±

    She had thought that she would have a smooth and great road ahead of her because of Fu Xuejun, but she didn¡¯t expect to have a road of no return instead!

    After so many years, she had be close to being a first-tier star, so you can imagine how strong Sheng Yin¡¯s resilience was. Her outside image had always been good, and if she had held out for a few more years, getting into the first-tier circle wouldn¡¯t be a problem at all! With one moment of weakness, all her hard work and image that she built up was gone in an instant!

    The phone in her hands fell to the ground, and the words of nder and scolding had turned from Gu Xiqiao towards her on Weibo. Sheng Yin looked at the rumors circting the, fear and regret drowning her entire person.

    ¡°Sister Sheng.¡± The assistant was crying. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    What to do? What could they do?

    Sheng Yin covered her face with both hands, not saying a word. She knew, her entire life was over.

    Even if the people at Nine Heavens didn¡¯t say a word, many other people would pressure her.

    ***

    After Tang Qingqiu had posted on Weibo, he started a video call to Jiang Shuxuan, which was quickly received.

    ¡°Shuxuan, you have to be grateful to me this time.¡± Tang Qingqiu was in a good mood. ¡°How bout loaning me Miss Gu for a few days?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was sitting in the room, his slender fingers ying with a ck stone. When he heard those words, an eyebrow raised. ¡°Can you afford her?¡±

    What do you mean, can you afford her? It wasn¡¯t a big deal to pay her more! Tang Qingqiu was about to say that, but Jiang Shuxuan turned off the video instantly.

    Tang Qingqiu: ¡°...¡± F*ck, Jiang Shuxuan did a good job of passing thebour of dealing with these matters so beautifully!

    Qin Heng burst in suddenly, not even knocking the door as the expression on his face was a cross between shock and surprised.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Being in such a panicked state, that you don¡¯t even knock the door?¡± Tang Qingqiu raised his eyes, looking at Qin Heng.

    Qin Heng spoke in a dazed voice, ¡°Young Master Tang, the president of Nine Heavens epted an interview.¡±

    ***

    After hanging up the call, Jiang Shuxuan picked up another call.

    ¡°Mom.¡± He walked to the window, looking out at it with lowered eyes, his voice faint.

    Mama Jiang was driving on the other side of the call, and she was on a Bluetooth headset. ¡°I told you thest time that Jiang Tong had broken through the 62nd floor, and asked the housekeeper to prepare a gift for her. Have you taken it?¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan responded, his delicate brow arching up. ¡°She¡¯s just an outsider, it¡¯s not worth giving her such an expensive gift.¡±

    ¡°If she¡¯s not worth it, then who is?¡± Mama Jiang gave a big sigh, worried lurking in her beautiful eyes. ¡°62nd floor, that is only second to you. That treasure is suitable for a woman¡¯s use. Although I¡¯m not overly fond of Jiang Tong, the elders are right. Shuxuan, the ancient martial arts world is not the same as it was, it¡¯s better for it to be in Jiang Tong¡¯s hands, rather than collecting dust in the storage.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already got the housekeep to send it to my ce. Mom, it¡¯s useless for you to say anymore.¡± Deep, onyx eyes narrowed, and Jiang Shuxuan thought about the item. How could they give something good to an outsider? Of course he had to give it to his own people to use.

    Even Baili Bin was of the same thought, how could his mother not have the same mindset?

    Mama Jiang heard her son¡¯s tone, and knew that she was fighting a losing battle, but she wasn¡¯t bothered by it. ¡°Alright then, where are you staying? I¡¯ve been rounding themunity for half a day, and I¡¯ve not found the ce.¡±

    Suddenly, she caught sight of a clear and beautiful figure appearing in front of her. Mama Jiang¡¯s eyes brightened, hanging up the call immediately. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m hanging up, I see a familiar face!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had been hung up on: ¡°...¡±

 Chapter 233 - It Would Probably Scare You To Death

    Chapter 233: It Would Probably Scare You To Death

    Gu Xiqiao got out of the car, and turned towards Baili Bin. ¡°Brother Baili, you go on ahead first.¡±

    ¡°What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?¡± Baili Bin asked as he nodded his head, getting ready to start the car again. He was going to drive off before he suddenly remembered to ask.

    Gu Xiqiao checked her phone, and there was indeed a new message from Cheng Zhou. ¡°Six o¡¯clock, we can leave at five thirty.¡± Thinking about it, it was probably too early in the morning. Baili Bin had just recovered, and it felt like it was troubling him too much. Pursing her lips, she said, ¡°Brother Baili, you don¡¯t have to send me...¡±

    Before she could finish her sentence, Bali Bin had already closed the door, heading towards the parking lot of the opposite building.

    Gu Xiqiao watched his car go, feeling touched for a while.

    Before she could put her phone away, another message popped out. [Don¡¯t worry about Baili Bin, he¡¯s doing what he should be doing.]

    After looking at this message for a long time, she finally touched her nose before turning, intending to head upstairs.

    At this time, a voice came from behind her, slightly surprised. ¡°Miss?¡±

    It sounded a little familiar, and Gu Xiqiao turned around, seeing that it was indeed a familiar face. She raised her eyes in surprise. ¡°Aunt Shu?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you still remember me,¡± Madam Jiang said in a happy tone. She wore a royal blue jacket and a scarf of the same shade around her neck today. She looked young and beautiful, and you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell her age at all. ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to ask your name at that time.¡±

    ¡°My surname is Gu. Aunty, you can just call me Qiao Qiao.¡± Gu Xiqiao gave up on her n to head upstairs, and looked at Aunt Shu instead. ¡°You seem to be having some trouble?¡±

    ¡°Qiao Qiao then.¡± Madam Jiang looked at Gu Xiqiao, and the more she looked at the girl, the morefortable she felt. This child is well-behaved, sensible, and most importantly, beautiful. She was so much better than that stinky child back home. ¡°I¡¯m here to look for my son, but I can¡¯t remember which building he lives in.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at her. ¡°It¡¯s a smallmunity, why don¡¯t I apany you to look around?¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much!¡± Madam Jiang nodded happily.

    ***

    Baili Bin had parked the car, and when he came out, he saw the two walking around, looking for a unit. They looked peaceful, his face however... was slightly strange.

    He immediately sent a message to Jiang Shuxuan¡ª[I see Madam Jiang, she¡¯s in themunity, and she¡¯s with Qiao Qiao.]

    After sending the message, he didn¡¯t bother waiting for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reply, heading towards the two immediately. It wasn¡¯t like he didn¡¯t know about the happenings in the Jiang family, especially the rumors in the ancient martial arts world about Jiang Tong. This made Baili Bin fear a little as to the reason why Madam Jiang hade here.

    But he thought that Madam Jiang probably didn¡¯t know Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t be so peaceful.

    ¡°Grandma Wang, Uncle Qin.¡± Gu Xiqiao had bumped into many people along the way while she apanied Madam Jiang. However, because Madam Jiang was with her, they didn¡¯t stop for long, and just exchanged greetings.

    This made Madam Jiang look at Gu Xiqiao in surprise, was she that popr in thismunity?

    ¡°Aunt Shu.¡± Before Madam Jiang could open her mouth to ask, there was a gentle voice from behind them. Turning around, she came face to face with Baili Bin.

    ¡°Baili? Why are you here?¡± Madam Jiang was even more surprised.

    People in the ancient martial arts world generally lived in the ancient martial arts world, because the world was full of aura in the air, and there was the Trial Tower. It was the best ce to live, being nearer to it.

    Although Bailin Bin¡¯s demeanor was rough, his entire body was radiating with a gentle warmth. He knew how smart Gu Xiqiao was, and if he had called ¡®Madam Jiang¡¯ instead, she would have noticed. So he hadpromised, and called her ¡®Aunt Shu¡¯.

    ¡°I live here. Qiao Qiao, go home and eat first. I saw Mrs. Zhang is looking for you just now.¡± Baili Bin said with a light smile on his face.

    Madam Jiang was surprised once again. ¡°You know each other?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect that Madam Jiang and Baili Bin would know each other, but she didn¡¯t ask anything further about it. ¡°Then, Aunt Shu, Brother Baili, I¡¯ll head on home first.¡±

    She waved to the both of them before turning around to leave.

    Just as she walked two steps, she stopped suddenly. She turned to Madam Jiang, looking at her thoughtfully. ¡°Aunt Shu, when you go home, please pay attention to your safety.¡±

    She could only give her a reminder.

    Madam Jiang nodded her head. ¡°I will, thank you.¡± She just assumed that Gu Xiqiao was being polite.

    Seeing her react that way, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything else, turning around again to leave.

    ¡°Baili, looks like your leg really has gotten better.¡± When the thin figure had finally left their sight, Madam Jiang turned around to look at Baili Bin, who stood in front of her, with a sigh. ¡°By the way, how do you know Qiao Qiao?¡±

    And the fact that he looked at the girl with such a gentle gaze, Madam Jiang was very curious. If she wasn¡¯t wrong, wasn¡¯t that Miss Gu just an ordinary person?¡¯

    Baili Bin shed her a smile, but didn¡¯t answer her. He had a good rtionship with Jiang Shuxuan, which naturally meant that he was familiar with Madam Jiang. ¡°Aunt Shu, why have youe here today?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯vee to look at Shuxuan¡¯s residence.¡± The topic was changed immediately, and she turned around to look at the area. ¡°You live here, so you should know where he lives too, right?¡±

    ¡°Aunt Shu, if Shuxuan didn¡¯t want to let anyone know where he lived, do you think I would be able to know?¡± Baili Bin shook his head solemnly.

    It wasn¡¯t unreasonable to think that way, and deep inside, she knew her son¡¯s character well enough to know it was true. She waved her hand dismissively. ¡°Alright, then, I¡¯ll go home first.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you off.¡± Baili Bin said immediately.

    The two walked towards the parking lot.

    Just as they walked a few steps, they bumped into a familiar person again. Madam Jiang looked intently, and found that it was Murong Feiye. She was even more surprised than previously. ¡°Feiye?!¡± Wasn¡¯t he in the ancient martial arts world?! Why would he be here?

    Murong Feiye was tinkering with his phone when he heard his name, and a familiar voice called it. He raised his head. ¡°Aunt Jiang?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Feiye, what are you doing here?¡± Madam Jiang asked in astonishment. She had already been surprised to see Baili Bin, she didn¡¯t expect to see Murong Feiye.

    ¡°I have a ce here, and I asionally stay a few days.¡± Murong Feiye smiled, and then turned to Baili Bin. ¡°Yo, Baili. Have you seen Miss Gu? Wanqi¡¯s looking for her.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Baili Bin lied immediately in a hurry. ¡°Hurry up and leave, I¡¯m seeing aunt off!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if it¡¯s a no!¡± Murong Feiye nced at Baili Bin, why was he being so fierce? As if he was scared of him!

    Okay, fine. Baili Bin had improved leaps and bounds in his formations, and he was a little afraid of him. Thinking of that, Murong Feiye scratched his nose nervously. ¡°Aunt, I¡¯m leaving first.¡±

    As he walked off, he sent a text to Wanqi Jue: I couldn¡¯t find her, forgive me for being powerless!

    Madam Jiang watched him walk away in a daze.

    Another couple of steps, and a car came to a slow stop beside them. When the windows wound down, another familiar face popped out. The man stretched his head out of the car, an urgent look on his face. ¡°Baili, lend me Miss Gu for a little while, please. I have something important to ask her... eh? Aunt Jiang?¡±

    Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized that Madam Jiang was standing beside Baili Bin. Tang Qingqiu got out and bowed politely to her. ¡°Aunt, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°... I came to look for Shuxuan. Qingqiu, you live here too?¡± Madam Jiang was already shocked to the point that she had to force her words out.

    Tang Qingqiu nodded. Of course, the chance of seeing Xiao Yun while he lived here was high. Not to mention, the ce was lively too. It was a great ce to live at.

    Madam Jiang nodded her head silently at the confirmation. Baili Bin, Murong Feiye, Tang Qingqiu, and Jiang Shuxuan, the most outstanding of the young generations in the ancient martial arts world were all living in this smallmunity.

    After exchanging a few words with Madam Jiang, Tang Qingqiu nced at Baili Bin. ¡°I really have something urgent to ask Miss Gu!¡± Since Qin Heng had told him who the founder of Nine Heavens was, he had received the shock of his life, and he couldn¡¯t believe it in the beginning.

    But his second reaction to it was, if it was her, then everything made sense.

    The fact that Nine Heavens was able to obtain the rights to use the cell fusion research, and how did Gu Xiqiao manage to review the documents so quickly and urately. Why Jiang Shuxuan had told him that he ¡®couldn¡¯t afford her¡¯, to think that he really wasn¡¯t joking at that time, Tang Qingqiu really couldn¡¯t afford her at all! And the reason why Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t tempted at all by the amount of funds that he had offered...

    The more he thought about it, the more Tang Qingiqu wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it. He actually dared to ask the founder of Nine Heavens to work for Tang Enterprise?! Honestly! People earned a million dors per minute, maybe even more!

    ¡°Go on ahead and look for her, why did youe to me for?¡± Baili Bin looked at Tang Qinqiu. There was always some persistent a*sholes going after his sister, they had to go through him first, okay!

    Tang Qinqiu: ¡°...¡± If I could find her, why would I ask you in the first ce?

    Baili Bin turned and smiled at Madam Jiang. ¡°Aunt,e let¡¯s leave first. No need to bother about him.¡±

    Madam Jiang followed Baili Bin a little mechanically. She thought that she wouldn¡¯t be shocked anymore, no matter who else she saw after this.

    Just as soon as she had the thought, she saw Zhu Yuan walking towards them.

    At this moment, her mind was nk. She felt as though her person was floating in the air. All of these people together were basically half of the power in the ancient martial arts world, what was so charming about themunity here, that it attracted all of them to gather here?

    Madam Jiang started the car, and her mind automatically recalled that every one of them had the name ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ on their lips. This Miss Gu should be the same girl that had helped her the other day, right?

    Thinking of that, Madam Jiang immediately sent a message to Jiang Shuxuan¡ª[Son, thatmunity of yours is a lot of fun. I¡¯ve decided that I will move in with you!]

    ***

    After sending Madam Jiang off, the smile on Baili Bin¡¯s face vanished instantly.

    Walking back a few steps, Zhu Yuan and Tang Qingqiu were both still standing at the same spot that he had left them. He stretched out a hand to Tang Qingqiu. ¡°Where is the thing that I asked for?¡±

    Tang Qingqiu handed him a sealed envelope, and said, ¡°Can we negotiate? I think Miss Gu has blocked me, the calls aren¡¯t getting through.¡±

    Baili Bin took the envelope and turned around without saying anything. No negotiation.

    Behind him, Zhu Yuan nced at Tang Qingqiu silently, his eyes full of sympathy. ¡°Bro, have you also been cklisted?¡±

    Tang Qingqiu nodded his head, feeling unsatisfied. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Baili¡¯s ce.¡±

    That was Zhu Yuan¡¯s intentions, and he nodded. Following Tang Qingiqu, they reached Baili Bin¡¯s ce in a few strides!

    As for Baili Bin, he held the documents that Tang Qingqiu had handed him in hand, heading to the Fu residence.

    ***

    In the Fu residence, Fu Wei and Fu Xuejun had yet to return. The two people that he disliked were absent, and Baili Bin felt his heart ease at the revtion.

    ¡°Ah Bin, why are you here?¡± Baili Wenxi opened the door and saw that Baili Bin was the one outside. She was stunned for a while before stepping back to let him in. It wasn¡¯t weird for her to be surprised, it was the first time Baili Bin had taken the initiative to visit her after all.

    Baili Bin walked to the living room, and found that Baili Wenxi was watching a movie. The title of the movie was ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯, and he saw a pile of tissues on the table too. It looked like she had been crying while watching the movie.

    He had also seen the movie before, because it was the first movie that Gu Xiqiao had acted in. He had even bought a ticket to watch it in the cinema.

    Unexpectedly, Baili Wenxi was also watching it. Thinking of this, Baili Bin¡¯s face softened a little.

    Baili Wenxi poured a cup of tea for him. ¡°Ah Bin, have you eaten?¡±

    ¡°No need to trouble yourself, Aunt.¡± Baili Bin shook his head, pursing his lips. Then he ced the envelope on the table towards her. ¡°I came today because I think you have the right to know something.¡±

    Baili Bin¡¯s expression was grave, and Baili Wenxi clenched her hand unconsciously. She spoke somewhat nervously, ¡°Ah Bin, what is this?¡±

    ¡°I also found out just a while ago,¡± Baili Bin replied, massaging his temples. ¡°I actually didn¡¯t intend to say anything about it, but your daughter¡¯s behavior is too excessive. Uncle would also probably not tell you anything about this, and I can only make this trip here in person. No matter what has happened, you are still a member of the Baili family after all.¡±

    As soon as the matter of Fu Xuejun¡¯s threatening Gu Xiqiao was raised again, Baili Bin¡¯s expression turned cold.

    Baili Bin¡¯s expression was too grave and solemn, and Baili Wenxi was able to realize just how serious this matter was, to the extent that Fu Wei was involved. She opened the envelope.

    ¡°Aunt, I think it¡¯s better if you head to your room to look at it,¡± Baili Bin said, standing up ¡°Also it¡¯s better not to let Uncle know.¡±

    Having said his piece, he took out his phone and headed out.

    Just as he reached the elevator he bumped into Fu Wei and Fu Xuejun.

    ¡°Ah Bin.¡± Fu Wei didn¡¯t expect to see Baili Bin here, and greeted him immediately. However, Fu Xuejun looked liked a person who had lost her soul, standing beside him with a downcast head.

    Baili Bin greeted him with a stiff ¡®Uncle¡¯, and he brushed passed them into the elevator, ignoring Fu Xuejun as though he hadn¡¯t seen her at all.

    He had always been that way, and Fu Wei didn¡¯t think him being unusual.

    ***

    When Baili Bin reached home, he saw three people sitting in his living room. Zhu Yuan, Tang Qingqiu, and Murong Feiye.

    Uncle Tai had served them tea, and they were now sipping on it.

    ¡°Zhu Yuan, why do you look like you¡¯ve been f*cked over by life itself?¡± Murong Feiye eyed the said man with some curiosity in his eyes.

    Zhu Yuan gave Murong Feiye the stink eye. ¡°F*ck off!¡± He didn¡¯t bother paying further attention to him.

    Did Zhu Yuan always have such a bad temper? Man, he could evenpare to Wanqi Jue! With that, Murong Feiye turned to talk to Tang Qingqiu instead, only to find that the other man was also ignoring him!

    What was wrong with everyone tonight? Murong Feiye nced at his phone, and found that even Wanqi Jue had not replied to his text. Yes, looks like even he was ignoring him!

    ¡°You all scared Madam Jiang tonight,¡± Baili Bin said lightly, pushing open the door. He didn¡¯t look surprised to see them all.

    So many people from the ancient martial arts world appeared in such a smallmunity all at once, adding on that none of their status¡¯ were of the lower kind, it was obvious that it gave Madam Jiang a big fright.

    ¡°Speaking of which, I¡¯m suspecting,¡± Murong Feiye said, rolling his eyes. ¡°Is it possible that Aunt Jiang came here to look for Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Baili Bin replied, shaking his head. ¡°She probably knows that such a person exists, but she doesn¡¯t know who it is exactly. Don¡¯t leak it out.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Murong Feiye¡¯s eyes shed. ¡°If Aunt Jiang finds out, it¡¯s going to be so much fun, right?¡± He was just anticipating the show that would follow when it all came out.

    When he thought of this, his eyes shed with excitement again. ¡°When is Miss Gu going into the ancient martial arts world to y? I see that that little demon girl is very arrogant recently, reaching the 62nd floor and all.¡±

    ¡°If she enters the ancient martial arts world, it will surely be turned upside down,¡± Tang Qingqiu suddenly said nkly. The secr world had already been turned upside down by her not long after she arrived in the Imperial Capital. The Chen family, Bai family, and the Fu family had all been broken by her ys.

    Oh, not only the Imperial Capital, even the international level had been broken by her.

    If she entered the ancient martial arts world... Was that even enough to entertain her?

    Tang Qingqiu was already imagining the scene of Jiang Shuxuan cleaning up after her mess!

    When he voiced his thought, the remaining three delved into deep thoughts.

    Especially Baili Bin, because no one was more clear on how powerful Gu Xiqiao was among them. If she really did enter the ancient martial arts world, he was actually... Really looking forward to it.

    ***

    The subject of their discussion, Gu Xiqiao, was helping Hua Youlin do his homework at this time.

    Halfway through, she stood up suddenly with a solemn look on her face. ¡°Little Huazi, I have something to do. I¡¯ll be backter to teach you.¡±

    Having said that, she disappeared on the spot.

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± Sister Gu, my soul can¡¯t withstand such devastation!

    Mrs. Zhang, who was carrying two cups of milk came out and was confused when she saw only Hua Youlin in the room. ¡°Where¡¯s Qiao Qiao?¡±

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± It would probably scare you to death if he told her what really happened!

 Chapter 234 - Are You Lying To Me?

    <strong>Chapter 234: Are You Lying To Me?</strong>

    As Madam Jiang drove, she spoke through the Bluetooth headset in her ears to Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°I think yourmunity is outstanding and well suited for old people like us.¡± She said this one sentence to him in a solemn voice, and hung up the call without giving Jiang Shuxuan any time to reply.

    Jiang Shuxuan frowned slightly on the other end, his lips pressed tightly together. His fingers tapped against the table, and each tap made Yi Bing and Yi Tiao, who was waiting in front of him, more nervous as the time passed. They nced at each other, and then wordlessly lowered their heads even more.

    After a few seconds, Jiang Shuxuan sent a message¡ª[Control your wife!]

    Jiang Han shot back almost immediately¡ª[Can you control yours?]

    Jiang Shuxuan: ¡°...¡± He had noeback for that.

    ***

    After hanging up the call, Madam Jiang drove the car onto a highway. This was the highway towards the ancient martial arts world, and it rarely had anyone on it. Night had also fallen. She drove the car alone on the road with no fear.

    Suddenly, a ¡®bang¡¯ was heard.

    Something had fallen from the sky andnded on her car.

    Madam Jiang immediately mmed the brakes, and she was also able to make out the person who had fallen on her car. ¡°Elder?!¡±

    Elder Jiang, who looked slightly older, got up in an embarrassed manner. He straightened his clothes, and then bowed respectfully to her. ¡°Madam.¡± After saying that, a loud noise suddenly came from the northern side, and his face changed immediately. ¡°Madam, hurry and leave!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Dense, profound chi shook the air, and Madam Jiang immediately drew her magic weapon¡ªa bone fan. The air became terrifying after she drew her fan. ¡°Elder, why are you here?¡±

    Elder Jiang¡¯s face, which had initially been grave and serious, twitched a little at her words. Would he exin that he had been here to investigate the Peace Squad? That he wasn¡¯t able to find the bottom of it, and had been chased and beaten up by those thugs that had been causing the riotstely, and the people that he was investigating had been the ones that ended up saving him instead!

    Would he say all this? Of course not!

    Bang!

    Arge stone suddenly fell from the sky, and as soon as Elder Jiang raised his hand, Madam Jiang¡¯s bone fan had already flown out in an instant, shattering the huge stone.

    The elder saw a shadow that was getting closer to them, and his face panicked again. ¡°Madam, hurry and leave!¡±

    As a member of the ancient martial arts world, they were responsible for the protection of the secr world, how could she just leave at a time like this?

    The ck shadow arrived in front of the two like a whirlwind, Yao Jiamu was leading a bunch of men after it, and took a moment to nce at the two. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you two leaving yet?! Hurry up, we can¡¯t hold it back for long!¡±

    Following his words, the ck shadow expanded suddenly, and burst outwards. The ten sturdy men in front of them exuded a frightening aura.

    Just when Yao Jiamu and his men seem to falter, Madam Jiang¡¯s bone fan came up to block the attacks from the sturdy men.

    ¡°Five Elements Array!¡± Yao Jiamu got a moment, immediately drawing up the array on his men. The entire team had been personally trained carefully by him, and it was Gu Xiqiao that had taught them this array. As soon as his words were out, the others wiped the blood off their lips, standing in their position.

    Madam Jiang couldn¡¯t hold it anymore, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Her face was amazed as she watched Yao Jiamu and his men confront the ten sturdy men. ¡°Elder, who are these people?¡± All of them had reached the stage of Fleet Foot?

    ¡°The thugs that suddenly appeared in the capital.¡± Compared to those sturdy men, the elder was more surprised that a group of people at Chi Induction stage was able to hold back a group of people at Fleet Foot stage, it was practically unheard of! ¡°Why haven¡¯t the people from the eldermittee arrive yet!¡±

    Bang!

    A stronger, more profound chi suddenly surrounded them.

    Madam Jiang was forced back a few steps. She looked at the two opposing forces with a horrified look on her face. The collision of energy was strong to the point that it was rare to see such in the ancient martial arts world.

    Her arm was suddenly held by another person, and a clear, melodious voice rang out. ¡°Aunt Shu, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Qiao Qiao?¡± Madam Jiang turned around in a panic. ¡°Why are you here? Quickly, you must leave. This is not a ce for regr people like you!¡±

    After Gu Xiqiao hade to her side to support her, she raised her head to look at the battle.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± The strongest Five Elements Array was being repelled. Yao Jiamu and the others couldn¡¯t help the desperation that they felt, but they didn¡¯t expect to see Gu Xiqiao appear in the midst of their desperation, and they felt ted at her appearance.

    Miss Gu? Who were they calling out to? Both Madam Jiang and the elder were at a loss, but they also knew that this ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ must be a strong character.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, hurry and leave. Another person called ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ is appearing, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not someone who¡¯s good!¡± Neither of the party in front of them were people from the ancient martial arts world, and now there is another ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ who was appearing that they knew nothing about. Madam Jiang was looking around frantically, and then she pushed the bone fan into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. ¡°This will protect you!¡±

    ¡°Aunt Shu, don¡¯t worry.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the bone fan in surprise, before pushing it back towards Madam Jiang¡¯s hands.

    She stepped forward, walking towards the in between of the two fighting parties. The profound chi in the air around them was so strong that the others couldn¡¯t get any closer. She walked slowly, d in in clothes and her ck hair swaying in the wind. There was a frosty chill in her eyes.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Yao Jiamu and his men got up from the ground and stood behind her, as though they had found their backbone in her.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, her jade-like fingertips surrounded by purple lightning, her snow-white face reflected the purple light, making her face glow even more.

    ¡°She¡¯s the one they¡¯ve been calling ¡®Miss Gu¡¯?¡± Madam Jiang said in a daze, her eyes on the beautiful figure.

    ¡°It seems so?¡± The elder replied in the same dazed tone, and he watched as Miss Gu threw out a lightning bolt from her hands, striking those burly figures down.

    Lightning, coincidentally the nemesis to those evil things.

    The elder wiped his face, he really knew why the people from the peace team were so aggressive, they had probably learned it from this Miss Gu!

    ¡°Xiao Mutou, I leave the rest to you.¡± The ten burly men with Fleet Foot stage had tenfold strength when they had gathered together, and wereparable to someone on the Xiantian stage at their peak. She had also expanded a lot of effort and energy to strike them down, her face being more pale than usual. ¡°Little Huazi¡¯s homework isn¡¯t done yet.¡±

    Yao Jiamu snapped out from his shock, and he nodded. ¡°I understand, Miss Gu.¡±

    As soon as he said that, Gu Xiqiao disappeared instantly on the spot.

    After she left, Yao Jiamu ordered his subordinates to round up the ten men, and threw them at the elder¡¯s feet. They had also learned to almost be like Gu Xiqiao in all matters!

    When the people from the ancient martial arts world weren¡¯t around, they directly threw them at the police station. Now that there were people from the ancient martial arts world, it saved them the extra trip!

    The elder concealed his shock on the inside, and his lips twitched upwards at this. ¡°Mister Yao, join the ancient martials arts world!¡±

    Naturally, he was aware that Yao Jiamu was not from the ancient martial arts world. He had reached this level without the help of the Trial Tower, if he went in, how much further would he reach?

    And so, he passionately invited him again, ¡°With your strength, you will definitely be the fourth tyrant in the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    ¡°No way.¡± Yao Jiamu shook his head. ¡°We want to maintain world peace. Elder Jiang, you¡¯re wee to bring someone else to fight us next time.¡±

    Having said that, he turned and lead his men away.

    Elder Jiang: ¡°...¡±

    Ten minutester, the elders of the ancient martial arts world had arrived in a hurry with a group of people behind them. They were shocked when they saw the tragic battlefield and a shell shocked Madam Jiang.

    ¡°If we had waited for you toe, then you¡¯d only be picking up the bodies of me and Madam Jiang!¡± Elder Jiang looked at the people who hade from the Elder Faction, and found that they were notparable to the Peace Squad and ¡®Miss Gu¡¯. Their efficiency was just too low.

    The elder from the Murong family ignored his words, and asked, ¡°Which powerful person saved you?¡±

    ¡°The peacekeepers.¡± Elder Jiang sighed. ¡°Elder Murong, we don¡¯t have to investigate the Peace Squad any further.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± After Elder Tang had ordered the group of people to deal with the ten burly men, he heard the words that Elder Jiang had spoken, and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°The one who insisted on investigating them was you in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too big a blow,¡± Elder Jiang massaged his temple as he said that. ¡°The first time I fought with people from the Peace Squad, they didn¡¯t have the power to fight back. The second time I exchanged blows with them, they were able to easily escape my grasp. The third time we met, they were already able topletely crush me.¡±

    And this time, they had even saved him. If the people from the Peace Squad had not made their move, he would have already been dead the moment he came to face those burly men!

    ¡°Also, they have a weird formation. If they had used that array in the beginning, I probably wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance, but they didn¡¯t.¡± Elder Jiang gritted his teeth. ¡°I guess they had been using me as practice all this while!¡±

    Hearing what Elder Jiang said, Elder Tang and Elder Murong couldn¡¯t help but nce at each other.

    In reality, the leader of thew enforcement team, Lai, had refused to confront the Peace Squad. Now even an elder was wearing such a reluctant expression on his face.

    Elder Jiang seemed to have received such a heavy blow, just what were the origins of this Peace Squad? Elder Tang was deep in thought, the only thing in his mind was, he definitely didn¡¯t want to meet anyone from the peace team in this lifetime!

    At the same time, the matter was quickly being settled by all the elders present.

    There was such a powerful force in the ancient martial arts world that had appeared out of thin air, it was impossible for them to pretend that nothing had happened.

    ***

    Yi Tong knocked on the door, looking for Jiang Shuxuan.

    When he walked in, he found Yi Bing and Yi Tiao also inside, while Jiang Shuxuan was sitting down at his table, looking at his phone in silence. There was a chill in the air, while Yi Bing and Yi Tiao were desperately trying to signal to him to not provoke Jiang Shuxuan at this moment.

    However, Yi Tong was too excited, and he missed their attempt at warning him. Instead, he handed the document to Jiang Shuxuan happily. ¡°Boss, look at what the eldermittee has just sent!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan came out from his musing, and raised his, the cold glint in his eyes as his slender fingers took the documents.

    Flipping past a few pages, the chilling pressure in the air vanished instantly.

    The tightly pursed lips loosened, and he ced the document on the table. He then stood and went out of the room, phone in hand.

    ¡°Yi Tong, what did you bring in?¡± Yi Tiao and Yi Bing asked curiously. What was it that made their boss¡¯s face change so quickly? They were both almost scared out of their wits just now!

    Yi Tong was unusually excited as he pulled out his phone, showing the two a picture. ¡°Remember the Peace Squad that we were talking about the other day? Do you see how ck Elder Jiang¡¯s face looks? Don¡¯t you feel happy when you see it?¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Yi Bing had been the one who was more in contact with those elders, and he couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw the petnt look on Elder Jiang¡¯s face. ¡°Isn¡¯t Elder Jiang a serious old man? How did this happen?¡±

    He really did admire those people from the peace team!

    ¡°I heard that he had been irritated by the people from the Peace Squad. I¡¯ll wrap up the things I have on hand here, and then I¡¯ll go and meet the peackeepers. I think they¡¯ll be especially fun!¡± Having said this, Yi Tong furrowed his brows. ¡°By the way, while I was outside the city yesterday, I think I saw Miss Cecily.¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Yi Bing covered his mouth immediately. ¡°Don¡¯t mention that name in front of Boss!¡±

    Yi Tong; ¡°...¡± Just saying it is fine, okay? Who knows if you washed your hands or not?

    ***

    This evening, the elders¡¯mittee of the ancient martial arts world held a night-long meeting.

    And the three people in the Fu family were also in for a sleepless night.

    After reading the documents that Baili Bin had given her, Baili Wenxi sat on the bed, not responding to anything for almost the entire day.

    When Fu Wei opened the door to call her for dinner, she didn¡¯t move for a long while.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Fu Enterprise was involved in such a big incident today, and Fu Wei was still slightly downtrodden by the entire matter. But when he saw Baili Wenxi, his voice softened no matter how dressed he felt inside.

    Baili Wenxi raised her head, looking at Fu Wei suddenly. ¡°Are you hiding anything from me?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, my wife.¡± Fu Wei smiled lightly. ¡°How could I dare to hide anything from you...¡±

    Before he finished speaking, he saw the few pictures that Baili Wenxi had on the bed, and his face froze instantly.

 Chapter 235 - As Though Hope Had Appeared

    <h4>Chapter 235: As Though Hope Had Appeared</h4>

    The two have lived together for nearly twenty years, and without needing Fu Wei to say anything, Baili Wenxi could immediately tell that everything written on this paper was true.

    Baili Wenxi looked into her husband¡¯s eyes. ¡°You knew, you knew that... Miss Gu... is a daughter that I had borne?¡±

    Fu Wei opened his mouth, but no words came out.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Baili Wenxi took a deep breath. ¡°No wonder your reaction when I mentioned epting her as a goddaughter was so strong the other day.¡±

    She didn¡¯t say anything further, walking out of the room.

    Behind her, Fu Wei¡¯s face was pale. What else could he have said?

    Taking Gu Xiqiao in as a goddaughter? In what position could they do that? As the founder of Nine Heavens Network, would Gu Xiqiao even want the position of being the goddaughter of the Fu family?

    Or should he have told her that Gu Xiqiao was her biological daughter? But how could he dare to say it? Knowing that she had another daughter, and it was also a child that he had taken a liking to. However, Gu Xiqiao was the child she had with another man. He was going crazy with jealousy when he remembered this, how could he have dared to say anything?

    Fu Wei sat on the bed, staring nkly at the photos littered on it. These were evidence of him adopting Fu Xuejun, and the evidence that he had deceived her that he had once erased. Now, they had been dug out by somebody.

    He suddenly recalled Baili Bin who had been leaving when they bumped outside the elevator, and he covered his face.

    The phone in his pocket rang again and again. He took it out anxiously, intending to hang up the call, but then he saw that it was a call from N City and he picked it up suddenly.

    ¡°Gu family?¡± Fu Wei¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see the existence of the Gu family after a few days.¡±

    Throwing his phone to the side after that, he lit up a cigarette, sitting on the bed as he silently smoked.

    ***

    In the living room, Fu Xuejun, who had the soul sucked out of her, sat on the sofa, the screen still ying the movie ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯. When she saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s appearance on screen, her face twisted into an ugly expression.

    It wasn¡¯t until Baili Wenxi sat down beside her, that she kept her emotions in check.

    Baili Wenxi nced at Fu Xuejun, even though the child in front of her was not hers by blood, she had spent twenty years raising her, and feelings were impossible to be faked.

    ¡°Mommy, are you watching this movie?¡± Fu Xuejun brushed her hair back, a smile on her face as she looked at her mother.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Baili Wenxi turned her attention towards the screen, saying in a dazed voice, ¡°Miss... Gu¡¯s acting is very good.¡±

    Hearing those words from Baili Wenxi, Fu Xuejun felt her heart tighten. Why did she like Gu Xiqiao so much? ¡°Miss Gu and I are collegemates, actually. I heard that she¡¯s an orphan, an illegitimate daughter that was raised in the mountains by a vige woman. When she returned home, even her elder sister was chased abroad by her, and that her sister can¡¯t even hold a paintbrush now.¡±

    Fu Wei and Baili Bin already knew the existence of Gu Xiqiao, as well as her true identity.

    Fu Xuejun¡¯s fears were being realized one after another. The only thing that she could do now, was to make Baili Wenxi hate Gu Xiqiao. This was the only way she could hold unto her remaining lifeline.

    The information on Gu Xiqiao had been given to her by Wanqi Jue.

    ¡°Orphan?¡± Baili Wenxi repeated, still dazed.

    She recalled the information that Baili Bin had given her in the documents.

    Orphan, she had indeed been raised as an orphan. She didn¡¯t even know who her biological parents were.

    And even after returning to her biological father¡¯s house, she was squeezed in every possible way, and was ipatible with the family from start to end.

    No matter what she did, she had always been alone. Baili Wenxi suddenly recalled the dog that Gu Xiqiao was holding the other day. That would have been the only thing that she had taken when she left the house, right?

    Being taken back in as an illegitimate daughter that wasn¡¯t recognized as a proper child of the house, Baili Wenxi could only imagine the kind of life that she had been living during her days in the Gu family.

    That slender and obedient figure lingered in her mind, not disappearing no matter what. All these years, how had she been living?

    Thinking about this, a stab went through Baili Wenxi¡¯s heart. She turned to Fu Xuejun, and said slowly, ¡°Jun¡¯er, did you also know that Miss Gu is my daughter?¡±

    That¡¯s right, otherwise, why would Baili Bin hate Fu Xuejun all of a sudden. Why would he suddenlysh out at the Fu family, who he had been ignoring all the while, and why Fu Xuejun would say these things...

    Unexpectedly, Fu Xuejun was stunned when the words came out from Baili Wenxi¡¯s mouth.

    So, she knew too. It was only her that had been kept in the dark all these while.

    Baili Wenxi trembled with anger and she stood again, going out to find Baili Bin.

    ***

    The next day, early in the morning, Gu Xiqiao got up early for her morning exercise. Just as she stepped out of the house, she received a call from Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, a smile blooming on her face.

    Jiang Shuxuan knew that she needed to be at the set early today, and so he gave her a call without much thought. But when he heard her voice, he was slightly startled, only opening his mouth to reply after a while. ¡°You gave the ancient martial arts world people a scare yesterday?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be more mindful next time.¡± Gu Xiqiao scratched her nose, slightly guilty.

    ¡°No need to.¡± Jiang Shuxuan chuckled lowly. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao spoke with him a little while more, and as she turned to head downstairs, she saw that Baili Bin was already waiting for her downstairs. ¡°Brother Jiang, I see Brother Baili, I¡¯ll talk to you next time!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had been hung up on: ¡°...¡± He was starting to regret getting Baili Bin to drive her.

    After hanging up, Gu Xiqiao walked towards Baili Bin with a smile on her face. ¡°Morning, Brother Baili. Let¡¯s go up to my ce for breakfastter, and then we¡¯ll leave.¡±

    She still needed to head to the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ today.

    Baili Bin nodded in agreement, and he saw Baili Wenxiing downstairs from the corner of his eyes. He quickly averted his gaze, smiling and continuing to talk to Gu Xiqiao instead.

    Baili Wenxi looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s profile with bitterness in her heart.

    How would she say this?

    In Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, she had abandoned her for nearly twenty years. Although she had done so because she didn¡¯t even know the existence of such a daughter in the first ce.

    Gu Xiqiao began her jog without hesitating, and her expression didn¡¯t change at all when she passed Baili Wenxi.

    Baili Wenxi¡¯s hand that she was about to raise, fell to her side limply.

    ***

    Cheng Zhou had scheduled all of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s scenes in the front, and that was the reason Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shooting wasing to an end soon. It was possible that she could wrap it up in the next few days.

    After shooting a scene, Gu Xiqiao sat in a chair to rest while she yed with her phone.

    There was a message from Luo Weng on it.

    Luo Weng: Thetest news on Gu Enterprise has been sent to your inbox. By the way, you really don¡¯t intend to look for Yu Ning?

    Gu Xiqiao just replied with a ¡®Thank you!¡¯, ignoring theter part of his sentence.

    Cheng Zhou raised his head to see Gu Xiqiao ying with her phone, and his breath caught in his throat suddenly. All of the actors and actresses in the crew, including Du Yixin and Song Guanjing were all grasping at the time they had avable to recite their lines and study the plot, not having a second to themselves to rx, while she was ying with her phone and chatting with the other members of the crew.

    And when it came to filming, she was still better than anyone in the court. There were times when even Li Yu couldn¡¯tpare to her!

    ¡°You really don¡¯t intend to continue acting?¡± Cheng Zhou asked, feeling an inexplicable sadness welling up inside him as he thought about how soon Gu Xiqiao would be finished with her scenes.

    He was still and always would be firm in the fact that she was born to act, but she didn¡¯t take it seriously.

    Really, so aggravating!

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head slowly. ¡°I won¡¯t take on any more roles.¡±

    Cheng Zhou: ¡°... I¡¯ll raise your sry.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, but Song Guanjing did. ¡°Does she even need it?¡±

    Suddenly remembering Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, Cheng Zhou¡¯s entire person wilted.

    In the afternoon, Gu Xiqiao only had one scene to shoot.

    It was a scene with Du Yixin, and this was an extremely challenging scene. It was also the most interesting part of the movie. Cheng Zhou was afraid that the two wouldn¡¯t perform well, especially because he was afraid that Du Yixin would have a problem midway again. Hence, he made sure to arrange sufficient time for this scene.

    The feather-like snowkes fell one by one from the sky.

    A inly dressed Feng Qiqi stood in the snow, her face as pretty as a picture, and was highlighted even more by the white endless scene around her. Her usually arrogant face was in a grave expression this time, and she looked at the man who was holding a sword, standing opposite her. ¡°Is this enough?¡±

    Although there were no tears on her face, her dark eyes made people feel the endless sadness that was churning in them, and it made the people watching burn with an inexplicable overwhelming feeling of hurt and devastation.

    Those eyes that used to be so wanton and sly closed slowly, and finally she fell into the snow.

    Ji Zhang¡¯gui plugged his sword into the white ground, falling to his knees. He knelt in the snow, touching her face with his trembling fingers.

    Her face was ice cold.

    Ji Zhang¡¯gui picked her up in his arms, getting up slowly. He looked towards the people from the Sky Thunder Sect, his face glowering. ¡°Although she was a demon, she had never done a single thing to harm anyone. But you destroyed her entire n, and finally, sacrificed her for the world beneath the heavens. Tell me, Master, since when was the fate of the world entrusted onto a little fox demon? Where is the justice in this?¡±

    ¡°From today onwards, I am no longer a disciple of the Sky Thunder Sect.¡±

    Ji Zhang¡¯gui held Feng Qiqi in his arms, taking step by step as he left the area.

    Seven stepster, the meridians broke. ¡°Master, I¡¯ll return everything that you¡¯ve taught me.¡±

    He lowered his head, thinking of the words that he had once said¡ªHarmonious passing, silent mountain rivers.

    ¡°Feng Qiqi, I¡¯m bringing you home.¡± He muttered.

    And that was the end.

    After the shoot, Gu XIqiao went to remove her makeup, while Du Yixin went to Cheng Zhou. ¡°Director Cheng, I remember clearly that there were two kissing scenes in ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Kiss scenes?¡± Cheng Zhou nced at Du Yixin, blinking. His performance in thest scene was good, and it made Cheng Zhou happier to see him. ¡°If I remember correctly, didn¡¯t you say you won¡¯t do kissing scenes?¡±

    Du Yixin immediately remembered that he had indeed said that he didn¡¯t do kissing scenes when he first took the role, but Cheng Zhou had also rejected him upfront, saying that it was impossible to remove the scenes. But the whole movie was done, so where were the kissing scenes?

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, young man.¡± Cheng Zhou patted his shoulder. ¡°Even if you wanted to film a kissing scene with Miss Gu, you¡¯d have to ask that guy back home whether he¡¯d allow it in the first ce!¡±

    Honestly, thinking of shooting a kissing scene just because you saw how beautiful the person is? Can you not be so beautiful!

    The guy back home? Who was it? Du Yixin was surprised, it was the first time hearing this from Cheng Zhou¡¯s own mouth. At the same time, he remembered thements under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo. He went and changed out of his costume in a daze before leaving the set.

    As soon as he was out on the road, he saw Gu Xiqiao standing at the intersection, looking like she was waiting for a taxi.

    ¡°Stop the car!¡± Du Yixin said.

    The assistant stepped on the brakes immediately.

    Du Yixin rolled down the window, nning to call out to her. Before he could open his mouth, she had already managed to get herself a taxi.

    The taxi drove off slowly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Du Yixin said, rolling up the window.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had taken a taxi to A University. She sat in the backseat, ncing at the driver uncle who didn¡¯t spare her a nce. She immediately pulled out a document from her inventory.

    The driver identally nced at the rearview mirror at this time: ¡°...¡± Holy sh*t, he¡¯d just seen a ghost, didn¡¯t he?!

    As soon as the car stopped, Gu Xiqiao saw Zhu Yuan pacing at the entrance. She took out an appropriate amount of money and handed it to the driver before getting out of the car, walking towards Zhu Yuan. She missed the uncle¡¯s surprised expression as she did.

    ¡°Here, I won¡¯t go in.¡± Gu Xiqiao handed the document to Zhu Yuanzily. ¡°I¡¯ve written down all thements too, you should be able to understand them.¡±

    Zhu Yuan resisted the urge to open it immediately, knowing that if he did so, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop reading. He acted more reserved, as he cleared his throat. ¡°Then I¡¯ll head back to thebs first.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head.

    Zhu Yuan looked as though he was flying as he ran back to theb, a gust of wind blew up where he passed, causing everyone in the path to look at each other, confused as to what had happened.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but rub her temples as she turned to leave. However, there was a suddenmotion at the school gate. The sound of engine roaring pierced through the air, and she winced as she covered her ears. Who the h*ll was it, so exaggerated?

    The harsh rubbing of tires against the concrete ground screeched out.

    A ming red sports car stopped at the school gate, the driver, a young man took off his ck sunsses, revealing a pair of azure blue eyes and a devilish handsome face, causing the people around him to exim in surprise once they saw it.

    Fu Xuejun, who had followed the crowd towards outside, her face lit up when she saw who it was. As though she had seen a new hope, she called out, ¡°Wanqi, I¡¯m here!¡±

 Chapter 236 - A Kind Cousin

    <h4>Chapter 236: A Kind Cousin</h4>

    Fu Xuejun had been feeling unwell sincest night. The atmosphere in the Fu family was so heavy that she could feel herself choking in it, especially this morning when she had woken up to see the gaze that Baili Wenxi gave Gu Xiqiao. It shocked her, and she felt something leaving her little by little.

    Fu Wei was looking at her with heavy eyes, and she didn¡¯t know what was wrong. However, she couldn¡¯t stand being any longer in the Fu family house, as it had be like this overnight.

    Especially after she heard that after she had left, Fu Dongyi had returned to Fu Enterprise and took over the mess that she had left behind.

    What was so great about Fu Dongyi? He was just someone that had been picked up, what qualifications did he have to stand against the young miss of Fu Enterprise?

    But when she went to Fu Enterprise today, she found that the employees were looking at her with indifference, but were all looking at Fu Dongyi with respect in their eyes.

    Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t ept this, and so she returned to school. Unexpectedly, the people in the ss who had previously looked at her with admiration and respect refused to meet her eyes. She once again couldn¡¯t take the atmosphere and left, but then she saw Wanqi Jue instead.

    When they were previously back in Ennd, Wanqi Jue had always been responsive to her and stalked her movements. However, she had always looked down on his identity as an ordinary person, and she only half-heartedly responded to him all the time.

    Right now when she saw Wanqi Jue, after losing the Fu and Baili family support, it was like a new hope had appeared.

    Wanqi Jue got out of the car, his long legs and slender fingers were striking to everyone around them. His facial features were sharp and angr, unlike the rounded kind of the Chinese, but a more wanton kind of arrogance aura radiated from his person. He stuck out like a sore thumb, just by standing in the crowd like this.

    In Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes, Wanqi Jue had a low status. The only reason she had maintained contact with him was due to his attractive looks.

    She watched Wanqi Jue walk toward her, a smug smile appearing on her face. She could feel the countless envious gazes of the people around her, and her depressed mood from the past few days vanished. She was already prepared with what she would say to him when he reached her, first she needed toin about why he hadn¡¯t been picking up her calls, and then...

    Before her line of thoughts could continue, Wanqi Jue brushed past her, walking straight on.

    The smile that was on her face froze, she never thought that Wanqi Jue would ignore her, and she even heard snickering andughter from the girls around her.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Wanqi Jue strode to the front of Gu Xiqiao, a charming smile on his face, the charming luster forever present in his clear blue eyes. ¡°What a coincidence.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a coincidence, obviously. He had purposely sent someone to find out her location. He had gone to the set of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ first, but he didn¡¯t expect for his people to tell him that she had left the moment he arrived, and so he hurriedly drove here.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes as she raised her head, then she noted Fu Xuejun¡¯s face that had paled dramatically. The girl smiled suddenly.

    Wanqi Jue had rarely seen her smile, even those days that she had been in Ennd, her face had remained cold and indifferent. The only change in her expression was when Jiang Shuxuan had appeared, but other than that, he had never seen her with any other expression before.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, what a coincidence.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned away from Fu Xuejun. ¡°You¡¯re busy. I have matters to attend to, so I¡¯ll leave first.¡±

    ¡°Wait-¡± Now Wanqi Jue felt like he had stuck his foot in his mouth.

    Why did he say ¡®coincidence¡¯? Clearly it wasn¡¯t, he had purposelye to find her!

    After this time¡¯s ¡®coincidence¡¯, who knows when the next ¡®coincidence¡¯ would be?!

    ¡°Wait up, I¡¯ve been looking for you for something!¡± Wanqi Jue reached out to catch the figure, but the two of them seemed to be separated by a space in between them, and no matter how far he stretched, he couldn¡¯t touch her.

    The slender figure melted into the crowd.

    F*ck! Wanqi Jue¡¯s face darkened, and he turned around to chase after the figure.

    However, as soon as he turned, his sleeve was grabbed by someone. He lowered his head to see, and found Fu Xuejun staring at him. A confused look appeared on his face, as though this was the first time he was seeing her. ¡°Miss Fu, why are you here?¡±

    Miss Fu? He was actually calling her Miss Fu?

    Fu Xuejun felt that she was going crazy. Her world had been turned upside down ever since Gu Xiqiao appeared in her life, and now even Wanqi Jue was like this?!

    Her face twisted, the surprise at seeing Wanqi Jue at the beginning had disappeared by now. Only deep-rooted panic was left inside her. ¡°Wanqi, why are you calling me ¡®Miss Fu¡¯? Are we so estranged?¡±

    She looked at Wanqi Jue with a smile quick to appear on her face again.

    Wanqi Jue just stared at Fu Xuejun with his azure blue eyes, his clear eyes looking as though they could pierce through people¡¯s hearts, and Fu Xuejun couldn¡¯t help but let go of the sleeve that she had caught.

    ¡°Do you know that thest time you sent someone to kill Miss Gu, I was present? And all the things that you¡¯ve done recently, I also know about them.¡± Wanqi Jue looked at Fu Xuejun¡¯s gentle face, and he smiled suddenly. ¡°You right now, it makes me unable to believe that at one point of time in the past, you would have thrown your own life away if it were for the sake of saving mine.¡±

    On the contrary, Gu Xiqiao had really saved him before, from the Seal of Inheritance.

    Fu Xuejun looked at Wanqi Jue with wide eyes, taking a step backward.

    Wanqi Jue turned and walked toward his car, staring at the direction that Gu Xiqiao had left. Just as he was about to start the car, the steering wheel was held down by someone. He looked up to find Murong Feiye¡¯s using eyes on him. ¡°Wanqi, why have youe here? You made me wait at the airport for more than half an hour for you!¡±

    What a waste of his good intentions!

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you wait for me for gossip?¡± Wanqi Jue raised an eyebrow, his tone light.

    Murong Feiye was not embarrassed to be exposed to his true intentions at all. ¡°It¡¯s all the same, just an extension of my deep love for you. However, Qingqiu and the rest have already booked a room at Yuyuan. We¡¯re just waiting on you.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I know.¡± Wanqi Jue patted Murong Feiye¡¯s hand. ¡°Hurry up and let go, I still have something to do!¡±

    ¡°What is it that is so urgent?¡± Something so urgent that made hime here immediately, Murong Feiye nced to the side thoughtfully. Naturally, he caught sight of Fu Xuejun. Knowing all theplicated matters between the two, he thought that Wanqi Jue had rushed here for her.

    Wanqi Jue stepped on the gas pedal, and the car sped into the crowd immediately. However, his voice carried to Murong Feiye¡¯s ears. ¡°I¡¯m going to find Miss Gu!¡±

    Miss Gu? Gu Xiqiao?

    Murong Feiye stared at the disappearing car.

    He was going to follow after, but his phone rang in his pocket at this time. He pulled it out to find that it was Tang Qingqiu who was calling him.

    ¡°Hello... Wanqi? He went after Miss Gu.¡± Murong Feiye replied, slightly confused.

    As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Tang Qingqiu also became excited. ¡°Where did you see her? D*mnit, wait for me toe over!¡±

    Having said that, the call was cut.

    What the heck? Murong Feiye pulled the phone away from his ear, and he stared at the screen which indicated that the call had been hung up. He felt the entire situation was weird, why was everyone looking for Miss Gu at the same time?

    He held his phone and walked away from the area slowly, ignoring Fu Xuejun who stood to the side.

    Fu Xuejun was stunned. She had always thought that Wanqi Jue was just a businessman¡ªan outstanding one in Ennd. She didn¡¯t expect him to be so familiar with Murong Feiye, and it seemed that he was also close to Tang Qingqiu.

    The Fu family was still a member of the ancient martial arts world, and she obviously knew who Murong Feiye was, the proud son of the Murong family. They were well known in both Ennd and China, and those who mixed with him were basically part of the upper level of the ancient martial arts world.

    Then there was Tang Qingqiu, someone that you shouldn¡¯t provoke in the ancient martial arts world, ording to Fu Wei.

    Tang Qingiqu was just one of them.

    But how did Wanqi Jue know them? Wasn¡¯t he just an ordinary person and a businessman?

    Being in the same circle as Murong Feiye and Tang Qingqiu, he wouldn¡¯t just be some randommoner, right? As long she could grasp onto him, then who cared about the Fu or Baili family, or Nine Heavens, were all of thoseparable to one of the top ns in the ancient martial arts world?

    When she thought about it, Fu Xuejun¡¯s eyes sparkled.

    ***

    On the other side, Wanqi Jue was speeding away. He was driving, while Gu Xiqiao was on foot. Within a minute, he could see the figure he was looking for in the crowd.

    Just as he was about to m on the gas pedal to catch up, the green light in front of him changed to red, forcing him to wait in the spot for three minutes.

    The horns from the cars behind him red loudly.

    Wanqi Jue raised his head, watching the figure disappear quickly into the crowd. When he realized it, heughed, dumbfounded. Other than her, who else could change a green light to red?!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao went to pick up Hua Youlin from school directly after leaving A University.

    ¡°Sister Gu, only you are here to pick me?¡± Hua Youlin looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lone figure. After waiting for a long while, he didn¡¯t see the shadow of a car, and he felt that something was weird.

    Gu Xiqiao was famous right now, and even his ssmates had been able to recognize who she was.

    All the students that sat at his table were crazy fans of Gu Xiqiao, and if he hadn¡¯t taken the long way here, they would havee with him and pounced on Gu Xiqiao.

    Thinking of the possibilities like that, Hua Youlin¡¯s face was full of concern.

    ¡°Sister Gu, you don¡¯t have toe and pick me up next time. I¡¯ll follow Brother Luo back, or I¡¯ll take the bus back myself. Whichever one is fine with me.¡± Hua Youlin sighed.

    Themunity building that they stayed in was near to A University, and there were many buses that went to that area. It was really convenient.

    However, Gu Xiqiao had said that she personally picked him up in order to defend him from the Hua family. She didn¡¯t allow him to go home alone, and when he thought about it, it couldn¡¯t go on like this forever.

    ¡°What are you thinking about.¡± Gu Xiqiao rapped his head lightly with her knuckles. ¡°I¡¯m awesome.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Hua Youlin replied, and then he asked, ¡°When is Brother Jianging back?¡±

    Although when Jiang Shuxuan was around, the two would not see eye to eye. The older man would tease him about his low IQ, but he had been away for quite a few days already, and Hua Youlin felt slightly anxious when he wasn¡¯t around. Especially seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gloomy face and the recent rumors on the inte, he knew that he was unable to help even if he wanted to. He could only defend Gu Xiqiao¡¯s honor along with all her fans in Weibo.

    And so, Hua Youlin was desperate for Jiang Shuxuan to return for the past few days.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It should still be a while longer,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, rubbing Hua Youlin¡¯s head, her eyes lowered.

    Hua Youlin muttered something sullenly, and then he fell silent.

    After a while, he sneaked out his phone and sent a text to Jiang Shuxuan¡ª[Brother Jiang, when are youing back? Sister Gu and I miss you a lot. Also, Sister Gu is being bullied.]

    ***

    In a small town in the southside, a gloomy faced man pulled out his phone. When he saw the message, he was stunned for a long while. It took a while more before he finally pressed the keyboard a few times to reply¡ª[I won¡¯t be able toe back for a short period. Little Huazi, take good care of your Sister Gu.]

    Having sent the message, he raised his head, his sullen expression easing slightly. ¡°How long more?¡±

    Yi Tiao looked up, replying cautiously, ¡°Boss, we still have to wait for the person behind the scenes to appear.¡± Jiang Shuxuan had also invested a lot of time and patience for this, and he had been waiting for years. Unexpectedly, he had been getting impatient as ofte.

    As to how long more they needed, Jiang Shuxuan was the one most aware of it, right?!

    Seeing Yi Tiao being so honest, Yi Bing felt that his eyes couldn¡¯t roll back any further. He was already well aware of the boss¡¯ bad mood, and still he poked at him this way. Had his brains been given to the dogs as food?

    Don¡¯t you feel the chill that was radiating off from the boss?!

    Mommy! Yi Tiao, you piece of sh*t!

    However, there was someone even sh*ttier than him behind who came in in a hurry. ¡°Boss, Miss Cecillia has already arrived!¡± In order to meet the boss, that woman had also tried her hardest.

    Yi Tong couldn¡¯t help but wipe his face. Apart from Miss Gu, this was the second most terrifying person that he had ever met. It was no wonder she was among the top ten in the Youth Ranking List.

    Yi Bing had already squeezed himself into a corner. He wasn¡¯t afraid of anything but meeting those teammates of his that were like pigs.

    For example, the two in front of him!

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, his eyes focused on Yi Tong. The pair of obsidian eyes were like a deep endless pool. The man sat quietly, like an ink stain on a painting, and no one dared to question the terrifying strength of the man before them.

    Jiang Shuxuan unrolled his sleeves and got up, walking out the door slowly.

    The crisp white shirt contrasted with his onyx ck hair. His covered eyes made it difficult to read whether he was angry or happy.

    Yi Bing stood and followed behind Jiang Shuxuan, and turned back to nce at the other two who remained in the room, whose eyes were full of sympathy. Especially Yi Tong, he had already foreseen a miserable end in his mind.

    Ten minutester, Yi Bing came back once again.

    Yi Tiao and Yi Tong immediately surrounded him, wanting to find out the gossip. Yi Tong¡¯s eyes were sparkling as he asked, ¡°Yi Bing, so what happened? What did the boss say to Miss Cecillia?¡±

    Yi Bing looked at the two for a long while, before he only shook his head in answer.

    ¡°Hey, what does that mean?¡± Yi Tong asked, anxious.

    ¡°That¡¯s what it means, he didn¡¯t say a single word.¡± Yi Bing said, a nk look on his face. ¡°Not only that, he gave her a sound thrashing. You weren¡¯t there to see the disbelief look on her face, it was incredible.¡±

    It was simple a once in a lifetime moment.

    ¡°No way, the Boss didn¡¯t show the slightest ounce of mercy toward the fairer sex?¡± Yi Tong eximed in surprise. Although Miss Cecillia¡¯s strength was a little terrifying, she was still a beautiful foreigner from America with a great body and attractive face. Even himself, who had seen her countless times couldn¡¯t deny that she was a beauty that was extremely attractive. Even if the Boss didn¡¯t like her, he wouldn¡¯t be so harsh, right?

    Moreover, it was an associate that had been sent by America. How could the boss treat an associate like that? Yi Tong¡¯s mouth twitched a little at the thought.

    Jiang Shuxuan was bold as always, if it were any other country, none of them would dare to touch a single hair on Miss Cecillia¡¯s head. You didn¡¯t even have time to tter them, but why did he need to give them a beating like that?

    And this person was their boss, even admitting this fact was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

    ¡°Mercy toward the fairer sex?¡± Yi Bing nced at Yi Tong. ¡°Do you think those words even exist in the boss¡¯ mind?¡±

    Yi Tong: ¡°...¡± You are right.

    ¡°I have something to say.¡± Yi Tiao raised his hand quietly. ¡°I think it does exist, or have you forgotten Miss Gu¡¯s existence?¡±

    Not mentioning Gu Xiqiao was a good thing, but once she was brought up, Yi Tiao and Yi Bing could only stay silent. They had almost forgotten, there was not only one abnormal person in this world, but another even more abnormal person existed.

    ¡°Do you think that Miss Cecillia will let go after getting trashed like that?¡± No matter how strong a heart someone had, after getting a sound beating like that, anyone would have a broken heart, right?

    ¡°I say she won¡¯t,¡± Yi Tong replied, shaking his head.

    ¡°Not only would she not, she would probably try even harder to get his attention.¡± Yi Bing said, agreeing. After all, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s strength hadpletely dominated her. Although it wasn¡¯t his intention, his mood was probably very bad today, and so he had gone out to vent his anger.

    Poor Miss Cecillia, she became a punching bag for Jiang Shuxuan just like that.

    ¡°I¡¯m suddenly looking forward to Miss Gu¡¯s appearance,¡± Yi Tong said suddenly.

    If she did appear, then things would be lively here once again. Let¡¯s not talk about her confrontation with Miss Cecillia, just the thought of their moody boss being able to be less depressed and more normal was something that Yi Tong looked forward to.

    Yi Tiao nodded his head. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. But it¡¯s not like boss will allow her toe, how could he be willing to risk her!¡±

    Yi Tong nced at YI Tiao sympathetically. ¡°Yi Tong, it¡¯s better not to think about these things for now. There has been some happenings in N City recently, boss wants you and Miss Cecillia to head over there.¡±

    Yi Tong: ¡°...¡± What the heck, what had he done to earn the ire of their boss?!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t take Hua Youlin directly home, but brought him to the training base instead.

    Seeing therge, fire breathing and extremely busy Xixi, Hua Youlin finally understood why Gu Xiqiao had always said that Xixi was very busy. So a bird could also be as busy as a bee like this.

    Really, his entire point of view of the world had been shattered.

    ¡°Xixi, tell me, is it possible that you are able to rise to the heavens?¡± Hua Youlin stood under Xixi¡¯s feet, trying to crane his neck as far as he could to look at the bird.

    Xixi pped his wings slightly when he heard the words as it said, ¡°Little Huazi, I have always been able to do it!¡±

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± Oh really now.

    Gu Xiqiao hade here today to repair the cave. She had been studying the data of the Trial Tower that the system had sent her, and finally managed to find a model of the said tower that would work. Adding on that she had been in the Trial Tower the other day and able to feel the chi for herself, she already had a n in mind for transforming the cave.

    When Yin Shaoyuan returned with a group of people, he saw a crowd gathered in front of the entrance of the cave. Even Yao Jiamu and Wu Hongwen were present.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Yin Shaoyuan walked over, patting Wu Hongwen¡¯s shoulder as he asked.

    Wu Hongwen spared him a nce before answering, ¡°Er Qiao is inside, she said she wants to rebuild the cave.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan nodded, thinking that Gu Xiqiao was probably setting up more formations and arrays inside or something. She had deployed terrifying arrays after arrays throughout the entire training arena after all, so he didn¡¯t feel it was anything weird at all.

    After a while, Gu Xiqiao came out with light steps. She smiled faintly as she said, ¡°Go ahead and try it out. I¡¯m going home to eat.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan followed the group of people in, and the moment he stepped in, Wu Hongwen disappeared from his side.

    At the same time, a dark figure appeared in front of him, its strength wasparable to his own.

    The appearance of the ck shadow was extremely familiar, and Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eyes widenedically. ¡°F*ck, this crazy girl. She actually moved the Trial Tower from the ancient martial arts world here?!¡± Not only had she copied it over, this was an improved version of it! Those were Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s thoughts as he was sent flying out the door by a punch from the man in ck.

    Another sentence surged from the bottom of his heart as he flew through the air¡ªMotherf*cker, Qiao Qiao really was a terrifying person!

    The phone in his pocket rang, and he picked himself up painfully. He pulled it out, and saw the caller was Tang Qinghong.

    ¡°There¡¯s still half a month to the qualifying matches, are you really noting back?¡± Tang Qinghong was drenched in sweat as he just came out from the Trial Tower.

    Yin Shaoyuan shook his head, and then remembered that the other couldn¡¯t see him, and replied, ¡°Nope, wait a minute bro. Has there been any abnormal happenings in the Trial Tower recently?¡±

    He knew that Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t have known about the functions of the Trial Tower just like that.

    ¡°There is one thing, I heard that someone took ten minutes to go from the first floor to the twentieth. The elders were searching for the person for a long time, but they couldn¡¯t find them. Boss Jiang wasn¡¯t around, and some people are guessing that it might have been Jiang Tong.¡± Tang Qinghong said, his voice indifferent.

    Upon hearing Tang Qinghong¡¯s words, Yin Shaoyuan immediately knew that the person must have been Gu Xiqiao. Other than her, there was no one else in the world that was as nuts as her.

    As for Jiang Tong? Haha.

    Copying the details from the Trial Tower was one thing, she had also caused such amotion during the time. When he thought about it, the corner of Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s mouth twitched upward.

    ¡°So you¡¯re really noting back?¡± Tang Qinghong finally asked again.

    Yin Shaoyuan raised his head, looking at the cave in front of him. ¡°Nope, there¡¯s a better ce that I can trainpared to the Trial Tower. Also, Cousin, I think you should find Qiao Qiao. Maybe you can alsoe here instead.¡±

    This was way better than the Trial Tower! Let it not be said that he wasn¡¯t a kind cousin!

 Chapter 237 - What Did You Say?

    <h4>Chapter 237: What Did You Say?</h4>

    When they went home today, Xixi went with them.

    On the way back, Hua Youlin couldn¡¯t help but nce at Xixi, who had returned to its normal bird size. His thoughts wandered as the scene of Xixi breathing fire still lingered in the back of his mind.

    ¡°Xixi, aren¡¯t you busy today?¡± He didn¡¯t know why he would ask a bird this question. The moment the words were out of his mouth, Hua Youlin felt his entire person had gone bonkers.

    Xixi pped its wings and flew to the boy¡¯s shoulder, settling down on it with a triumphant expression. ¡°I want to go home and y with Haha! Haha is definitely lonely without me at home at its side!¡±

    Hua Youlin: ¡°...¡± I don¡¯t know how to tell you this, but Haha is very happy being alone, and spending time ying with Sister Gu.

    Just as Gu Xiqiao walked out to the intersection, she caught sight of Baili Bin¡¯s ck car. He was leaning against the car on the outside, looking at his phone. It seemed like he was texting someone, and he kept away his phone when she came over to him. He opened the car door for her, waiting for her to get in.

    ¡°Big Brother Baili, have you waited long?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, an apologetic tone. She had specifically told him that he didn¡¯t need to pick her up today, but unexpectedly, he hade anyway.

    Really.

    Baili Bin rubbed her head gently as a warm smile was on his face. ¡°Not too long, now hurry and get in.¡±

    Both of them got into the car, and Baili Bin drove out from the alley. When the light turned red, he stopped the car and turned to her with a serious expression on his face. ¡°Qingqiu and the others are having a banquet tonight, and it seems that... well, they all want to meet you. Do you want to go?¡±

    If it had been anyone else who had asked the question instead, Gu Xiqiao would have pretended that she didn¡¯t hear it at all. However, since it was Baili Bin who was asking, she replied, ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s eyes lit up, the smile on his face got slightly wider.

    The car finally stopped in front of an extremely luxurious clubhouse.

    Gu Xiqiao held Hua Youlin¡¯s hand, with Xixi on her shoulder as the three of them walked inside. Baili Bin went to the front desk for the private box number. The person at the front desk looked at them with surprised eyes, before respectfully leading them upstairs.

    There were quite a few people in the box, and they were all basically familiar faces.

    ¡°Pretty sister!¡± As soon as Gu Xiqiao stepped in with Baili Bin, a petite figure flew over to her immediately.

    Her arms were already open in preparation to receive the girl, but she didn¡¯t expect the figure not to fall into her arms, but was grabbed by another hand instead. Gu Xiqiao followed the arm to find that it was Hua Youlin.

    Yin Aoxue pped her arms, but realized that while she was usually strong, she couldn¡¯t move at all at this time. She hadn¡¯t been able to reach the prettydy, but had been caught by someone else instead. Her eyes widened, and found that it was a somewhat bigger child that held her, a cold expression on his face. His clear, deep dark eyes were looking at her intensely.

    Seeing the person looking back at him, Hua Youlin immediately let go, a disgusted expression on his face. He then took Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand again, ignoring Yin Aoxue.

    Even this strange looking person wanted his Sister Gu, you had to go through him first and see if he agreed, okay?

    This exchange led to Shi Haizhe and Wanqi Jue looking at Hua Youlin with a different perspective, a thoughtful look in their eyes. Yin Aoxue might look like a normal girl, but her strength was not any less than an ancient warrior in that little body of hers.

    Hua Youlin had so easily picked her up and held her at arm¡¯s length, which shocked Shi Haizhepletely. Wanqi Jue had also been shocked, but seeing that the boy stood next to Gu Xiqiao, the feeling disappeared instantly.

    There was a bird that was powerful at her side, so it wasn¡¯t strange to find that even an older child like Hua Youlin could pick up Yin Aoxue like that.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect, Ah Bin, that you really would be able to bring her here!¡± Tang Qingqiu raised his cup towards Baili Bin, his gaze turning to Gu Xiqiao after. It felt like he was meeting this person for the first time. If he didn¡¯t see it with his own eyes, he really wouldn¡¯t have believed that the NIne Heavens that he had always been admiring was in this harmless little girl called Miss Gu. ¡°Miss Gu, can you please remove me from your blocked list?¡±

    Tang Qingqiu was sad, but at the same time, he felt the entire situation was hrious. In his whole life, she was the only person who had cklisted him.

    There was such a thing? Gu Xiqiao was surprised, and pulled out her phone, flipping through the records. She finally found Tang Qingqiu¡¯s name on the list, and her lips curled up slightly. She shrugged helplessly as she looked back at Tang Qingqiu. ¡°Sorry, Big Brother Tang. I really didn¡¯t put your number on the list.¡±

    She had previously ced Luo Weng and Yu Ning on her cklist, because they liked to nag and pester her whenever possible, especially for certain things they preferred to rely on her. In order to change their mindset and this... problem of theirs, for them to be more independent, she had done it. And after that, she would mostly enter most people into the cklist anyway.

    However, she really wasn¡¯t the one who had blocked Tang Qingqiu. He¡¯s Brother Jiang¡¯s friend after all, right?

    And so, the only exnation left, which Tang Qingqiu also arrived at. Jiang Shuxuan was the one who had done it!

    This guy was really too much! Before he left, he asked for him to take care of his precious, but he sneakily blocked Tang Qingqiu¡¯s number on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone. Tang Qingqiu ground his teeth when he thought about it. He watched Gu Xiqiao, who was talking to Wanqi Jue at the moment, and he took out his phone, taking a picture with a ¡®click¡¯,

    Although the light was dim in the room, it didn¡¯t affect the quality of the image. The facial features of the man in the photo were still stunning, and his expression was extremely affectionate.

    The woman¡¯s expression was cold, and she was sitting next to a boy who was guarding his food zealously. Tang Qingqiu cropped out the boy, so the picture that had three people now were left with only the two in it.

    After he was done, the gloating man sent the picture to Jiang Shuxuan, who was thousands of miles away.

    Wanqi Jue had a lot of things to say to Gu Xiqiao. The first was thank you, then it was the issue on the Seal of Inheritance, and finally, the recent riots around the world. In the past, he would discuss this matter directly with the ancient martial arts world, but this time, he went to Gu Xiqiao instead.

    ¡°This matter wille to an end soon.¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, Brother Jiang... should be almost done with it, right?

    Her voice was calm, and her expression chilling cold. However, it was also very confident and convincing. Wanqi Jue could feel the anxiousness and uneasiness in his heart calm the instant her words were out.

    He still had things to say, but Baili Bin looked at his phone at this time, receiving a message. The corners of his mouth twitched, an affectionate expression on his face. ¡°It¡¯s nine already, Qiao Qiao needs to go home.¡±

    Nine? The night life had just begun, and he¡¯s saying she needed to go home?!

    Wanqi Jue and the others were about to protest, but then they remembered that Baili Bin was the only one who could move Gu Xiqiao, so they definitely couldn¡¯t provoke him at this time!

    The three of them walked out, and then only Tang Qingqiu remembered that he was looking for Gu Xiqiao for something tonight. He stared at Wanqi Jue, a cross between disbelief and exasperation. ¡°I still had things to ask her about?!¡± You b*tch, you took up so much time with her?!

    ¡°I also only had a few sentences with her?¡± Wanqi Jue raised his wine ss, smiling at Tang Qingqiu. Man, that face was just asking for a good beating.

    Tang Qingqiu resisted the urge to pound him to the ground.

    ¡°By the way, what were you looking for her for?¡± Wanqi Jue asked curiously, putting down his ss.

    Tang Qingqiu sighed. ¡°Weren¡¯t you also involved in the finance world for a time? Do you know about Nine Heavens?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I really admire the person who founded Nine Heavens.¡± Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes lit up when they touched on this topic. ¡°However, I couldn¡¯t find out anything about them, no matter how much I tried.¡± He was a little confused when he said this, wondering how it was possible at all to hide everything like this.

    In fact, he didn¡¯t have much talent for finance anyway, so he left it up to his subordinates to build up the business. At that time, he only needed a better-looking identity to approach Fu Xuejun after all.

    That was why he kept an eye on Nine Heavens, who rose up into the heavens and upied arge position in the world.

    It¡¯s just that he had been busy with the supernatural forces of Enndtely, and he hadn¡¯t had the time to manage hispany.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao is the founder of Nine Heavens,¡± Tang Qingqiu said suddenly.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Wanqi Jue nodded his head.

    One minuteter, he jumped up suddenly, pointing a finger at Tang Qingqiu. ¡°Y-y-y-you... What did you just say?!¡± He thought he had misheard, did Tang Qingqiu really just say that Miss Gu was the founder of Nine Heavens?! How was that possible!

    Wanqi Jue observed Tang Qingqiu¡¯s serious expression, not a trace of humor on his face. He suddenly realized he hadn¡¯t misheard, and it wasn¡¯t a joke.

    Although Wanqi Jue held high respect for Gu Xiqiao, disregarding the countless achievements that she had in regards to the ancient martial arts world, he didn¡¯t expect that she was also extremely talented in the finance field!

    Wanqi Jue flopped back onto the sofa, picking up the ss of wine that he had just put down, trying to calm the raging beating of his heart.

    He tried to calm himself, the other was someone who could subdue the Seal of Inheritance after all, it wasn¡¯t that strange for her to be the founder of Nine Heavens. But...

    Could these two things even beparable?!

    Shi Haizhe sat alone in a corner, watching Yin Aoxue reluctantly walk over from the door. He suddenly opened his mouth, ¡°Wanqi, did you feel that there was something strange with the boy just now?¡±

    Could anyone just pick up a crazy girl like Yin Aoxue with one hand?

    It was incredible!

    Wanqi Jue nced at Shi Haizhe, his voice faint. ¡°What was strange about him?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s...¡± Shi Haizhe tried to find the words. ¡°He picked up Xue¡¯er with just one arm?¡± Thinking about it again, he felt that he hadn¡¯t seen it wrongly.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Wanqi Jue picked up his phone to check the time, seeing that it was a little past nine. ¡°He¡¯s at Miss Gu¡¯s side after all, it would have been stranger if he hadn¡¯t been able to do it.¡± That ¡®normal¡¯ bird that was on her shoulder had also been able to resist the Seal of Inheritance after all.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Shi Haizhe was confused, and he wasn¡¯t able to formte a proper response.

    ¡°It means, didn¡¯t you always ask me how I managed to pull down the former leader and subdued the Seal of Inheritance? That was the person you just met.¡± Wanqi Jue patted Shi Haizhe¡¯s shoulder, and stood to take his leave. ¡°Xue¡¯er needs to go to school tomorrow, so I gotta leave for her to rest.¡±

    Tang Qingqiu thought about it for a while, and he too stood and left, phone in hand.

    ¡°Xue¡¯er, what did you uncle Wanqi mean by that just now?¡± Shi Haizhe asked, looking at Yin Aoxue with a grave expression.

    Yin Aoxue gave him a contemptuous look. ¡°It means, the person who pulled the ex-leader off his high horse was that pretty sister! The one who subdued the Seal of Inheritance was also that pretty sister! Shi Haizhe are you dumb?!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Shi Haizhe eximed in shock.

    To subdue the Seal of Inheritance and take down the former leader... This required not only intelligence, but also a very strong, super strength. The Seal of Inheritance wasn¡¯t so easy to subdue after all.

    Tang Qingqiu walked out with Wanqi Jue, and just as he stepped out, he suddenly saw a message that Tang Qinghong sent him.

    Qinghong: Brother, the elder received a letter yesterday. I¡¯ve sent you a photo. Take a look for yourself, they may take action. Be careful.

    Tang Qingqiu clicked on the picture that Tang Qinghong had sent, and when he saw it, it was him and Xiao Yun.

    The photo was slightly blurred, but you could make out the two figures in them. One of them was him, and there were quite a few pictures. It was obvious they had all been taken in secret.

    Upon seeing this, Tang Qingqiu¡¯s expression changed. He immediately sent a message to Xiao Yun¡ª[Miss Xiao, how have you been recently? Have you met any strange people?]

    Xiao Yun¡¯s reply was also fast¡ª[Thanks for your concern, President Tang. I¡¯ve been well.]

    As usual, her message was short and straight to the point. Tang Qingqiu suddenly envied the way that Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao got along. Thinking of this, he sighed¡ª[The security in the capital hasn¡¯t been goodtely, so be careful and take care of yourself.]

    This time, there was no reply.

    Tang Qingqiu put his phone away feeling slightly distracted. Out of the corner of his eyes, he found Fu Xuejun standing by the door of a hotel. He rolled his eyes and gave a kick to Wanqi Jue. ¡°Wait a moment, I¡¯ll get you something.¡±

    Having said that, he disappeared.

    Wanqi Jue stood rooted to the ground, waiting in ce without blinking. He had naturally seen Fu Xuejun, but he chose to ignore her.

    Not even a minuteter, Tang Qingqiu was holding a document out to him. ¡°I see that you¡¯re close to Feiye, can¡¯t bear to see you getting cheated.¡± Really, he had never met anyone in China that was as stupid as this guy!

    After handing it to him, Tang Qingqiu sent a message to someone as he walked away¡ª[I¡¯ve already given him the thing. No need to thank me, take it as my thanks to Miss Gu for taking care of Xiao Yun all this while.]

    It¡¯s not like he didn¡¯t know that Xiao Yun¡¯s skills had all been taught to her by Gu Xiqiao.

    A few secondster, a reply came¡ª[I¡¯ll let Qiao Qiao know.]

    Tang Qingqiu stared at the message for a while, then typed a reply immediately¡ª[No need to do that, Young Master Jiang!]

    If Gu Xiqiao was told, then wouldn¡¯t he be the shameless one?!

    ***

    Wanqi Jue opened the document that was given to him, flipping through it. His azure blue eyes were so very deep, and he lowered his head slightly, making people unable to see his expression properly.

    Fu Xuejun saw that Tang Qingqiu had left, and she calmed herself, walking slowly to Wanqi Jue¡¯s side.

    It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t feel anything at all for Wanqi Jue when he had done everything for her back then, it was his identity that she had a problem with, so she never reciprocated. But it was different now.

    She had heard Murong Feiye¡¯s conversation with Wanqi Jue that evening when they were in A University, and knew that he would be here for dinner tonight. She had immediately gone home and changed into the dress that she had worn the first time they had met. ¡°Wanqi, I...¡±

    She had everything nned out, first she would get Wanqi Jue. When her foothold in the ancient martial arts world was stable, then she would turn around and deal with Gu Xiqiao. She really, really hated Gu Xiqiao, all the way to her bones! She wanted to smash that face in and tear it to pieces!

    She gave him a warm, gentle smile. Just as she was about to continue, Wanqi Jue raised his head.

    There was an angry bloodlust in his eyes.

    Fu Xuejun was shocked, a stab of fear running through her as she took a step back.

    ¡°Miss Fu, I don¡¯t think that we have anything else to talk about.¡± Wanqi Jue closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them again, his eyes were back to normal. He gave her azy smile, the one he usually did. ¡°No, that¡¯s not right. I shouldn¡¯t even call you Miss Fu, since you were never the real heiress to the Fu family after all.¡±

    What was that supposed to mean? Before Fu Xuejun could collect herself, she was shocked by thetter part of his words.

    Her intuition was telling her that something bad was going to happen, just like the gaze that Fu Wei had been giving hertely, it made the uneasiness in her heart grow bigger.

    Wanqi Jue pushed the documents that were in his hands into hers, and then took out his sunsses, getting into the car and driving away.

    This look and attitude, it was exactly the same as when they had first met.

    When Fu Xuejun finally snapped out of it, she looked at the documents in her hands. When she saw the first two, she nearly fainted from shock.

    It was a paternity test, and the results were 0.001%.

    Even though she had lost the position of being the heiress to the Fu family, Fu Xuejun had never been in such a panicked state before, because she still had Fu Enterprise, and also Baili Wenxi. They were family after all, although the Baili family didn¡¯t like her, she didn¡¯t feel that it was any loss. She had believed that with the blood rtion to the Fu and Baili family, it wasn¡¯t something that was easily erased.

    But now, what did all of this mean?

    She wasn¡¯t the real child of Baili Wenxi and Fu Wei?!

    How could this happen? A burst of fear soared through her, and then despair followed right after. She felt that her entire life had been orchestrated by an invisible pair of hands.

    When she had firste to the Imperial Capital, everything was still fine. She was the subject of envy and jealousy by countless people, but what had happened to make it change? That¡¯s right, it all changed the day she started to target Gu Xiqiao. That was the turning point.

    She lost her position as the sessor of the Fu family, Fu Wei¡¯s trust, and then Fu Enterprise... And now, her strongest weapon of being the daughter of Fu Wei and Baili Wenxi were also gone. In contrast, Gu Xiqiao that she had always been looking down upon, now had everything that she couldn¡¯t have.

    The phone in her pocket rang loudly, and Fu Xuejun pulled it out, seeing that it was Baili Wenxi, she picked up immediately. Her tone was joyful as she greeted, ¡°Mommy!¡±

    ¡°Did you once send someone from the ancient martial arts world to assassinate Miss Gu?¡± Baili Wenxi¡¯s voice was calm.

    Fu Xuejun was taken aback, a sullen expression on her face. ¡°No! Mommy, listen to me. Wanqi was there that time, and he saved her, she wasn¡¯t hurt at all!¡±

    ¡°What if Wanqi wasn¡¯t there?¡± Baili Wenxi¡¯s voice was still light when she said it.

    Fu Xuejun was about to say something, but Baili Wenxi cut off the call. She tried to call back, but it seemed like her mother had turned off the phone.

    She fell to the ground on her backside, her face chalk white. Everything, everything had been destroyed today.

    ***

    ¡°Little Huazi, where did you learn that from today?¡± Gu Xiqiao held Hua Youlin¡¯s hand as they walked into the house, when she recalled the scene of him picking up Yin Aoxue a while ago. ¡°That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen it. You were obviously a sick person who couldn¡¯t carry anyone on their shoulder.¡±

    ¡°Big Brother Jiang taught me,¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s eyes were bright as he replied, a childish glee in them. Big Brother Jiang had told him before he left, if there was anyone who was going to hanky panky towards Gu Xiqiao, just kick them away immediately!

    However, it had been a little doll girl today, and so he obviously didn¡¯t kick her away, but carried her away instead!

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡±

    Just as she was about to say something, her phone rang.

 Chapter 238 - Return to Gu Manor

    <h4>Chapter 238: Return to Gu Manor</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao gestured for Hua Youlin to do his homework before picking up the phone.

    Tang Qinghong couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity any further so he called Gu Xiqiao, but when the call went through, he didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°...Miss Gu.¡±

    Upon hearing his voice, Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t surprised in the least and only told him an address.¡± Just let Brother Yin pick you up when the timees, or else you won¡¯t be able to get in.¡±

    After Tang Qinghong hung up on the phone, he ced the towel into the hands of his butler.

    ¡°Where are you going, Young Master?¡± The butler was surprised upon seeing that the young man was going to leave the Trial Tower, as he had always been hardworking. With the ranking battles right around the corner and the indomitable wall named Jiang Tong in front of him, Tang Qinghong faced unprecedented pressure. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to continue your training for tonight?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll go see Shaoyuan.¡± Tang Qinghong replied with a cheeky smile.

    Looking for Young Master Yin? That young master hadn¡¯t been training in the Trial Tower for a while now, was his young master going to be brought onto the wrong path by him?

    Upon thinking of this, the butler was immensely worried and he followed behind Tang Qinghong, trying to persuade him ¡°Young Master Yin is being foolish, you can¡¯t follow his footsteps!¡±

    ¡°I understand, Grandpa Butler.¡± Tang Qinghong took his coat and put it on, before going back to his home and getting into his car that he hadn¡¯t used in a while, and he was about to start the engine up when he saw a stumbling figure beside the road. ¡°Is that...Divine Doctor Rong?¡±

    The butler was smacking Tang Qinghong¡¯s car window in protest, wanting to dissuade him from trying to leave the ancient martial arts world, and when Tang Qinghong looked into the distance he followed his gaze to see that figure. After identifying who it was, he was quite astonished. ¡°My, how is Divine Doctor Rong in such a state?¡±

    The moment the butler was distracted, Tang Qinghong immediately stepped on the elerator and drove away, sparing a nce at Rong Feishuang as he did.

    Upon seeing Tang Qinghong drive away, the butler was baffled and immediately called Tang Wenbo: ¡°Master, you have to persuade Young Master toe back! He¡¯s gone to where Young Master Yin is, and from the looks of it, he might not evene back before the ranking battles...¡±

    On the side of the road, Rong Feishuang shook his pitcher of alcohol, seemingly disappointed to find that it was empty.

    He was the exact image of a homeless tramp on the streets in the secr world, with none of the aura of a divine doctor. The people that passed him by all looked at him in surprise, but none dared to provoke him.

    Rong Feishuang sat down and leaned on a rock with a cloudy gaze, before throwing away his pitcher haphazardly and taking out his phone, showing the long list of missed calls by Zhu Yuan. Without a second nce, he threw that away too, before sticking his hand into his pockets and fishing out a ckmunicator that was native to the ancient martial arts world.

    He looked at thismunication device for a moment, before pressing two buttons and speaking with a trembling voice, ¡°Manman, she¡¯s...She¡¯s dead.¡±

    After he said so, he threw themunication device away too, beforeying down and looking at the starless night sky.

    Zhu Yuan was quite worried when Rong Feishuang hadn¡¯t picked up any of his calls, so he set aside his work in theboratory and drove to the ancient martial arts world, only finding Rong Feishuang after a lot of effort.

    ¡°Master, can you tell me what is going on?¡± What was so bad that he didn¡¯t even care about healing people anymore?

    He looked at Rong Feishuang that seemed to have lost his spirit wordlessly and inhaled deeply, before looking down at the mobile phone and themunication device on the ground and picking them up. The indicator light on themunicator was still blinking red, and Zhu Yuan took a nce at who it was that Rong Feishuang messaged before he stood there dumbfoundedly.

    Gu Xiqiao hadpletely finished all of her scenes on the set of Divergent Paths, and the day she was going to leave, the entire crew was in low spirits.

    ¡°Are you really not going to act anymore?¡± Cheng Zhou asked pitifully, just like how a teacher would if a genius with 180 IQ chose to drop out of school to work.

    To this, Gu Xiqiao only smiled. ¡°Director Cheng, I really can¡¯tpare to Acting Emperor Li in terms of talent.¡± She only spent more time than anyone else in the cheat named as the virtual arena.

    Then, she went off to remove her makeup.

    Li Yu had just finished filming a scene and walked over to Cheng Dao who was down in the dumps, and the director looked up at him and asked with a bitter smile, ¡°She said that she doesn¡¯t have your talent. What do you think?¡±

    From all of her roles, he saw a single simrity¡ªAn irreceable aura and ingenuity that couldn¡¯t be replicated!

    Every time she and Li Yu acted together, it was as if they were two sword masters in a battle of skill and technique.

    Such a person told him that she didn¡¯t have any talent? How could she get to those heights without talent?

    ¡°Director Cheng, have you seen anyone with high status truly join the entertainment industry?¡± Li Yu shook his head.

    Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhou only fixed him with a withering stare. ¡°Aren¡¯t you such a person?¡±

    Li Yu: ¡°...She found something else fun.¡± Did he really want him to speak the truth?

    Cheng Zhou: ¡°...You didn¡¯t need to be so honest.¡±

    Li Yu fished out his phone. ¡°I had you get me a role that could be in the same scene as Miss Gu, and you made me act as a passerby?¡±

    ¡°Ahem, putting that aside, Old Liu has a new movie recently that I think you and Xiao Yun would be suited for.¡± Because Gu Xiqiao had asked him to take care of Xiao Yun, he had tried to several roles for her in the past, but a majority of them were turned down by Xiang Kun.

    Upon hearing this, Li Yu only nced at him before picking up his sunsses and following after Gu Xiqiao.

    The two of them were more familiar with each other than the entire crew, and when they walked away, they seemed like old, familiar friends.

    Du Yixin stared at the two receding figures without a word.

    Cheng Zhou pat his shoulder. ¡°Little Du, work hard, okay?¡±

    Du Yixin looked back at him and nodded expressionlessly.

    [Ding! The system has upgraded sessfully!]

    [Congrattions! The host has obtained the Virtual Training Arena Upgrading Talisman x1]

    [Ding! The host has aplished the mission, 50 points have been rewarded!]

    [Ding! The host has aplished a hidden mission, 200 points have been rewarded!]

    ...

    Gu Xiqiao had just separated from Li Yu at a fork in the road when the long-awaited mechanical voice rang out in her head.

    The pale blue system spirit floated around in front of her with arms akimbo. ¡°I¡¯m back!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, Lil¡¯ System.¡± Gu Xiqiao curled her lips and smiled. ¡°Why did it take you five days to finish upgrading this time, though?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to exin, but quick! Make me a host body!¡± The system spirit hurriedly reminded.

    As it spoke, the 3D model of a robot popped up on the system screen in front of her. ¡°This is the most versatile robot I found in the system database, and it suits me the best!¡±

    ¡°...Do you really think I know how to do everything?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips twitched. Wasn¡¯t making a robot something that only mechanics and engineers knew how to do?

    ¡°But you have the virtual space, don¡¯t you?¡± The system blinked innocently. ¡°With the ratio of time flow in there you can definitely learn how to make it, and you only have to learn how to make this specific robot, anyway!¡±

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, I can only feel the real world if I possess a robot.¡± At this, the system spirit sighed and continued with a depressed tone. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve existed as data.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao held her forehead and gged down a taxi, before getting in. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t put on that pitiful act with me.¡±

    After that, she told the taxi driver to send her to A University, and upon hearing that her destination was the best education institute in the country, the taxi driver¡¯s gaze was tinged with respect.

    The best ce to build a robot was definitely the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in A University. They hadbs and workshops that were on par with those in the Faculty of Medicine, and they had clinched many international awards too.

    In the taxi, Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes and immersed herself into the virtual arena.

    At first, she was quite confused when she looked at the robot assembly sketch, but the system found many books on her about mechanics, C programmingnguage, and the theory of automatic control, and even though she didn¡¯t need to brush up on her programming knowledge, she had nevere into contact with anything else.

    Studying all of this spent a lot of time.

    Thankfully, she hadted a lot of points when the system upgraded, or else she might have gone broke from the one point per day cost.

    When she got off the taxi, she had already been in the virtual arena for three months, spending ny points.

    After calling the dean of the faculty and getting permission from him, she walked over to theirb.

    Theirboratory waspletely different than that of the Faculty of Medicine, with various models and mechanical parts, and everyone in there was busy when she arrived.

    ¡°Beauty Gu, I can help with whatever you want!¡± Gu Xiqiao stood in front of a bunch of parts, and a bunch of students surrounded her.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled politely. ¡°I want to make a robot by myself, please don¡¯t mind me.¡±

    After she said so, they nodded in understanding.

    ¡°Well if you have any questions, you cane to ask me for help, I¡¯ll be in theb for the next few days anyway,¡± said one of the boys.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded, before looking at the bunch of parts in front of her.

    At the table next to them was a boy and a girl, who were the most famous people in their faculty. If Luo Weng and Gu Xiqiao weren¡¯t in this year, they would have be the most well-known students in the university. They had gotten an international patent back when they were in high school and were personally recruited by A University.

    Upon hearing what Gu Xiqiao said, the girl snorted. ¡°She wants to make a robot by herself? Does she think that robots can be made so easily? What was the professor thinking, letting a medicine studente into ourb! Won¡¯t she spill our secrets?¡±

    Her tone was quite condescending and it made the boy furrow his brow slightly, but he didn¡¯t say anything in return. It was true, after all, that robots were difficult to make.

    In actuality, most of the people in theboratory thought that Gu Xiqiao was just here to have fun and y.

    Not an hourter, they found themselves proven wrong.

    Gu Xiqiao started fiddling with the spare parts with her head lowered, and for a moment, it was hard to tell if her aura was colder or the metal was.

    As if they had a spirit of their own, the parts on the table seemed to fit together seamlessly in her hands.

    Without even a single pause to think, she knew exactly which parts to ce together when she touched them.

    As to not cause any disturbance, she specifically chose an isted position near the corner to do all this, and as she was working, she seemed like a painting that made it hard for people to move their gazes away from her.

    She wasn¡¯tpletely focused on what she was doing, and she would asionally pull out her phone and type out some messages.

    In such a condition, an exquisite robot took form in her hands. Unlike the crudely crafted robots on the market, this robot was like an ingenious work of craftsmanship.

    Then, she made her way to aputer and took out a PSP to program the robot, and as she ced her hands on the keys and prepared to type in the code, everyone watched on with bated breath.

    At that moment, she took out her phone and replied to a message before she officially started.

    Her fingers moved quickly as if they were flying, her eyes not looking at the keyboard whatsoever.

    They had all learned C programmingnguage before, but they had never seen someone start coding without a temte.

    It was after ten at night, and usually, people would have started to leave at this time, but none of them did today, looking at the girl in the corner of the room.

    The porcin finger tapped on the enter key, and the robot on the table moved. Not only did it move, it even bounced a few times before speaking with a robotic tone, ¡°Beauty Qiao, I¡¯m hungry!¡±

    Everyone else in theb: ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao gestured for the robot to follow her as she got up and prepared to leave, and when she stood up, she saw that everyone else was still in theb. Quite surprisedly, she asked, ¡°You guys haven¡¯t left yet?¡±

    No wonder the students in this faculty were well known, they were all so hardworking!

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t work yourselves too hard okay?¡± Gu Xiqiao waved them goodbye, before walking out of the door.

    She-

    Had she seeded?

    That robot that Gu Xiqiao made could move just like a sentient being, and could even talk?

    Was it a robot, or was it artificial intelligence?

    ¡°She made a robot just like that?¡± Someone asked, remembering her attitude when she was making the robot, the way she yed games and chatted with people on her phone, and not only did she seed in making a robot, and in such a short time too?

    Another person rubbed their face in disbelief. ¡°I thought that she was here to y, but are we the ones studying in this faculty, or is she?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you guys think that robot was very animated?¡± Someone asked. ¡°It was as if it had a mind of its own...¡±

    No one spoke after that, everyone was in utter disbelief.

    The duo didn¡¯t speak, and the girl, in particr, had the expression of someone that had seen a ghost. They knew better than anyone how hard it was to make a good robot, but she seeded just like that?

    ¡°Look at the source code she left behind!¡± Someone eximed when they saw theputer Gu Xiqiao used.

    The boy walked over to theputer, and the source code she used was left behind on a Word document, with several annotations and exnations underneath, and it was clear that it was left for them.

    The boy looked at the source code that she left behind, and his expression turned into one of shock before he called their professor with a trembling voice, ¡°Professor... I think we found our breakthrough in our experimental program, pleasee to theb quickly!¡±

    And so, the lights of theboratory were left on all night.

    The next day, the professor went to see Professor Jiang to get her to change her major. ¡°She can take it as a second degree! You should have seen that robot that she made!¡±

    Professor Jiang had quite a headache at how there were always all sorts of people that wanted to snatch Gu Xiqiao away from their faculty, but he still put on a smile. ¡°Professor Lin, you can ask Student Gu about this. We will respect her decision!¡±

    But actually, what he thought was, ¡®Would that Gu Xiqiao get a second degree? That reincarnation of a snail? Pfft.¡¯

    Professor Lin: ¡°...¡± If she agreed, would hee and look for him?!

    And so, Professor Lin left with wounded pride.

    After he left, Professor Jiang immediately took out his phone and called Zhu Yuan as he walked towards theb in their faculty. ¡°That brat was on campus yesterday, did she go back to theb?¡±

    ¡°She was here? Why didn¡¯t shee back to theb?!¡± As expected, Zhu Yuan reacted like an angry cat puffing its fur.

    Professor Jiang expected this, and replied, ¡°She went over to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering to make a robot, how would she have time for us?¡±

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was on her way to N City on a flying ark.

    ¡°Judging from the looks of it this flying ark is quite the treasure! Speed, defense, and looks, the Baili family sure treats you well!¡± The system spirit scurried around the deck of the flying ark, its mechanical eyes almost lighting up.

    Gu Xiqiao got to an isted ce andnded, smiling as she kept the flying ark. ¡°You can look at itter. Let¡¯s go back to Gu Estate.¡±

 Chapter 239 - Mysterious Disappearance

    <h4>Chapter 239: Mysterious Disappearance</h4>

    The weather in N City in December was cold and dry, and the winds that blew were blisteringly cold.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at these familiar streets, and for a moment it was as if she was dreaming.

    The road to Shanhe Manor Area was still quite devoid of any passersby except for the asional luxury car that drove by, bringing along with them several withered leaves.

    The gates to Gu Estate had been refurbished after they were struck by lightning, but it didn¡¯t look as nice as before, instead giving someone a sense of bleakness.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, let me do it for you.¡± The system spirit made its way over to the gates before ringing the doorbell.

    Someone came to the gates quickly, and Gu Xiqiao recognized him as the butler that always followed behind Master Gu.

    The old butler seemed to be hard of vision and not in the best spirits either, and when he opened the door, it took quite a while to recognize who it was, and he eximed in a trembling tone, ¡°S-Second Miss!¡±

    At first, when she was brought here, the butler and the rest of the staff didn¡¯t care much about her and even had a slight dislike towards her.

    After everything Gu Xijin did had been revealed, however, they came to thete realization that Gu Xiqiao was the one that was the victim in that scenario and that they were the ones in the wrong. It was true, what she said¡ªIf someone had the choice, who would be willing to be an illegitimate daughter?

    In the end, the Gu family was the one that had given her hope, then nipped all of it in the bud.

    It was only an inevitability that Gu Enterprise would be acquired by Nine Heavens, and another inevitability that it would be in such a situation when it lost its most suitable heir, but at least the members of the Gu family didn¡¯t have to sleep on the streets.

    The old butler rubbed his eyes before he spoke in an anxious tone, ¡°Second Miss, please leave! Don¡¯te back here again, okay?¡±

    ¡°I already told you people that I didn¡¯t belong to the Gu family anymore after that day. You can just call me Miss Gu.¡± Upon saying this, Gu Xiqiao walked into Gu Manor. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯te in here, Second Miss!¡± Upon seeing here in, the butler was greatly horrified. ¡°Quick, leave before theye here! Please, Second Miss!¡±

    As he said so, he tried to tug Gu Xiqiao out of the property.

    The gates weren¡¯t far away from the manor, and it was quite easy to hear themotion from inside the manor. With a walking stick in hand, Master Gu made his way out with some difficulty. ¡°Butler, what happened?¡±

    In a mere few months, Master Gu¡¯s physical and mental state seemed to have deteriorated greatly, to the point where he couldn¡¯t even walk properly with a walking stick, his limbs trembling weakly.

    ¡°Master, Second Miss is back! I warned her not toe in but she didn¡¯t listen to me!¡± The butler replied in dismay.

    ¡°You...What are you doing here? Leave, leave while you can!¡± Master Gu¡¯s expression turned into one of horror, his eyes bulging as he held his chest.

    Gu Xiqiao tugged on her jacket before looking at Master Gu with a calm expression as she ordered daintily and walked into the manor, ¡°Butler, please help Master Gu into the manor.¡±

    Upon seeing her actually enter the building both Master Gu and the butler reacted as if their very souls were sucked out of their bodies.

    ¡°You...Foolish!¡± The butler took out some pills and fed them to Master Gu, and thetter could finally breathe properly after that, but he only knocked his walking stick on thecquered floor as tears flowed out of his eyes. ¡°The butler told you to stay away, why did you stille in here?! You have always been stubborn, but stepping in here spells your doom!¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Gu Xiqiao acted as if she didn¡¯t hear any of that as she asked the butler, finding it better than looking at Master Gu.

    The butler replied with an expression of grief, ¡°Second Miss, a few days ago the Fu family sent some people here and threatened to not leave any of us alive. Now, no one can go out of the manor once they walk in!¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you call the police?¡± Gu Xiqiao furrowed her brows. She knew that Fu Wei would attack the Gu family some way or another, and she was here in N City in part to resolve this. The reason she did so was not only because of the mission that the system issued her but also because she was the only one that could bully the Gu family! Who were the Fu family to do this?

    In any case, the Gu family was her gift to Luo Wenlin, and she wouldn¡¯t let it be destroyed just like that.

    She hadn¡¯t expected Fu Wei to be so ruthless, to say that he won¡¯t leave a single person alive? The Gu family had fallen, but it was still a family with a lot of members and staff, and the total count woulde up to hundreds of people!

    It was too ruthless to the point where it didn¡¯t seem like Fu Wei was the one that did it.

    It was no longer a regr incident, but a conflict that involved the ancient martial arts world and the secr world.

    ¡°Call the police?¡± The butler¡¯s expression seemed to turn even more terrified at the notion. ¡°Second Miss, they¡¯re all immortals that can summon the wind and rain and fly! The police would be useless in this situation, nor would they dare to help!¡±

    ¡°Right, it¡¯s alright, you¡¯re not a member of the Gu family...¡± Master Gu suddenly remembered this, and at that moment, this fact that would make him feel so much regret that it hurt in the past only bought him happiness and made him rejoice. ¡°You¡¯re not a member of the Gu family, so you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Upon saying this, Master Gu looked over at the butler. ¡°Quick, go get Mr. Fu to let Miss Gu out!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± The butler¡¯s eyes seemed to shine with hope as Master Gu reminded him of this too.

    Other than butler and Master Gu, there were also several innocent youngsters from the branch families all huddled in a corner, shivering in fear.

    After a short while, a middle-aged man walked down the stairs arrogantly, and there were several people following behind him.

    ¡°Mr. Fu was left behind by those immortals to supervise us, and if he understands the situation, you may be able to leave unscathed!¡± Master Gu whispered. ¡°Miss Gu, please treat him with respect, even if it¡¯s fake. This is a matter of life and death!¡±

    ¡°Master said that everyone that walks into these doors shall be killed unless he wants to take them in as outer disciples.¡± The man scoffed. ¡°Killed without mercy!¡±

    ¡°Mr. Fu, please let Ms. Gu go, she¡¯s innocent!¡± The butler immediately got down on his knees and prostrated himself. ¡°I¡¯m begging you!¡±

    ¡°Scram!¡± The man only scowled and swung his leg in the butler¡¯s direction.

    The butler was just a regr person, so he didn¡¯t care if this blow caused fatal injuries.

    The butler closed his eyes, but the pain that he anticipated never came, and opening his eyes while trembling, he saw a robot that was eighty centimeters tall blocking the kick from Fu.

    Gu Xiqiao got up from her seat and looked around the manor with squinted eyes. The entire manor was enveloped in a killing array that would kill anyone that stepped out of the premises with sword chi. This sort of array would be nothing in the ancient martial arts world, but ced in the secr world, such an array made it impossible for any of the victims to fight back.

    They used this against regr people? A cold glint shed through her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with this.¡±

    Fu only looked at Gu Xiqiao with a sneer. ¡°The entire manor is enveloped with a heavenly and earthly array, and he¡¯lle for you people tonight! None of you will be able to run!¡±

    A pulse of chi surged in his body and he kicked at the robot again, but it waspletely useless, and his expression finally changed.

    ¡°An arrogant one, aren¡¯t you?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled dangerously and raised her hand, making a strand of purple lightning wrap around Fu and hung him over the gates of Gu Manor.

    After she did all of this, she turned around and left.

    ¡°No, Second Miss, you¡¯ll get...¡± The butler shook himself into reality and saw Gu Xiqiao walk toward the metal gates, and he immediately chased after her frantically.

    If they could live, who would want to die? Several people had tried to escape Gu Manor in the past few days, but they all died the moment they stepped out of the gates, then turned into minced meat.

    In other words, it was an unnecessarily gory way to die.

    That was the reason why the butler chased after her like that.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao stepped out the gates without a single scratch, and she raised her hand and waved with her back to the manor.

    The silhouette disappeared quickly, and the butler looked up at Fu that was wrapped up in a cocoon of purple lightning in confusion. Had their Second Miss done this?

    ¡°Second Miss is back!¡± At the same time, all the youngsters that were cowering a moment ago all jumped and cheered, crying in happiness and hugging each other from their narrow escape from death. ¡°We don¡¯t need to be afraid of those people!¡±

    Meanwhile, on the northern side of N City.

    A bunch of people seemed to be celebrating a great sess, and one of the young people looked towards the person that sat in the main seat with awe and admiration. ¡°Brother Lu, we¡¯ve taken over all of N City!¡±

    ¡®Brother Lu¡¯ was one of the ¡®immortals¡¯ that appeared in N City, and he had the ability to control water, fire, and fly.

    His appearance here caused great fear and admiration in this small city, and in a mere few days, he had already taken over all of N City.

    The man that was called ¡®Brother Lu¡¯ seemed to be around thirty years old, and he was quite buff and burly. Even in this cold weather, he only wore a single shirt as if it wasn¡¯t cold at all.

    ¡®Brother Lu¡¯ smirked and raised his cup, seemingly wanting to give a toast, but all of a sudden he realized that he couldn¡¯t move anymore.

    At the same time, the doors were pushed open and a figure that seemed like a young woman walked in, and it was as if she were surrounded by a haze, the way they all couldn¡¯t tell how she looked like other than the silhouette. That moment, they were terrified to realize that they couldn¡¯t speak nor move, and a clear voice resounded in their heads, saying, ¡°Sorry for interrupting, but I have to take this Brother Lu away. Please, by all means, continue.¡±

    After she said so, Brother Lu immediately disappeared.

    In a few minutes, all of the ¡®immortals¡¯ that appeared in N City were brought away by a mysterious person, and this immediately caused panic in N City. How could such strong and mysterious superhumans be whisked away just like that?!

 Chapter 240 - Who Did She Learn it From?

    Chapter 240: Who Did She Learn it From?

    Gu Xiqiao dragged Brother Lu and was about to throw him off to Gu Estate, but she quickly changed her mind.

    She threw Brother Lu to an abandoned warehouse before ncing at the robot by her legs. Knowing what she wanted, the system spirit nodded and pointed towards the air, and a semi-transparent map of N City appeared in the air in front of them along with several red dots on them.

    Gu Xiqiao checked on the coordinates before the air around her rippled and she disappeared.

    She still hadn¡¯t forgotten the time the system spirit sent her to the wrong coordinates.

    Lil¡¯ System: ¡°...¡± Could she have more faith? Like Zi Wei trusted Er Kang?*

    It was right around the time when school would let out for First City high.

    A bunch of students flocked out from the gates, and Gu Xiqiao quickly spotted Li Yanmei from the crowd.

    There were a lot of people there at the time, but Li Yanmei saw Gu Xiqiao immediately because of her distinct aura, and honestly, all she had to do was just follow the distracted gazes of everyone else around her.

    ¡°Little Gu!¡± Li Yanmei waved excitedly at Gu Xiqiao before jogging over.

    Gu Xiqiao kept her phone and smiled. ¡°Sister Mei.¡±

    ¡°Little Gu, when did youe back?¡± Li Yanmei smiled and greeted.

    ¡°Just a while ago, here to check on some things.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at the reference books that the other held in her hands. ¡°How has studying been going?¡±

    ¡°Those notes of yours worked like a charm!¡± Li Yanmei¡¯s eyes brightened. The teachers in First City High were all top-notch, and they had already started their revision sessions for the final year students with terribly difficultposite questions, and Li Yanmei didn¡¯t even have a clue what they were teaching because she came in halfway.

    Thankfully, she had the notes that Gu Xiqiao had given her, and the notes given were easy to understand and had a very gentle difficulty curve with questions and examples, and after using them, Li Yanmei could catch up with what the teachers were saying.

    This was further proven when she got into the top fifty in school during their exams, and this greatly shocked her teachers to the point where they thought she cheated, but their attitude made aplete one-eighty after they found out that she knew Gu Xiqiao and even had custom made notes from her.

    It was quite unavoidable that Li Yanmei was subject to a lot of neglect and cold shoulders,ing from a vige to the big city, and even though she wasn¡¯t bullied or ostracized by her ssmates, she wasn¡¯t particrly well-epted either as everyone was too busy with their studies.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t in school anymore, but there were still many rumors about her at school, and almost every teacher would say, ¡°If Student Gu was here...¡±

    This sentence was said at such frequency that almost every student in the school had heard of her name.

    After it was known that she knew Gu Xiqiao, there was an incredibly noticeable difference in how her ssmates treated her.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t ignore me, prettydy!¡± The system spirit bounced indignantly on the ground upon being ignored by everyone that passed by.

    Such an excellently made robot such as itself would have be the center of attention wherever it went, but the moment it was ced next to Gu Xiqiao, no one noticed it after their attention was solely held by her.

    Li Yanmei lowered her head, and her eyes widened slightly upon seeing the robot that was on the ground. ¡°Little Gu, what is this?¡±

    ¡°This is Lil¡¯ System.¡± Gu Xiqiao pat the metal head affectionately. ¡°Lil¡¯ System, greet Sister Mei!¡±

    The system spirit immediately waved its robot arms. ¡°Hullo, Sister Mei!¡±

    Li Yanmei: ¡°...¡± Was this robot a yaoguai?

    And so the two girls chatted with each other as they walked away from the gates.

    At that moment, a voice called out behind them, ¡°Ah Mei, wait for me! Ah Mei!¡±

    Then, a pure-looking boy sprinted over before stuffing something into Li Yanmei¡¯s hands, and Gu Xiqiao smiled mirthfully upon seeing that it was a red, ripe apple.

    ¡°I told you not toe looking for me anymore, Ying Qi!¡± Li Yanmei stuffed the apple back into his hands expressionlessly before dragging Gu Xiqiao away.

    Ying Qi looked on helplessly as the two girls left, and before he could react a bunch of people in ck suits came towards him. ¡°Young Master, Third Young Master is asking that you return immediately!¡±

    Ying Qi was quiet for a moment before he shouted in Li Yanmei¡¯s direction, ¡°Ah Mei, I¡¯ll be back!¡±

    ¡°Pfft.¡± Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°Sister Mei, I think this kid is pretty nice!¡±

    Li Yanmei red at Gu Xiqiao weakly. ¡°This kid? He¡¯s the same age as I am...Fine, let¡¯s go back home yes? I haven¡¯t finished eating the stuff my mom sent me, so let me cook them up for you!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao stopped walking and looked back at the direction where Ying Qi¡¯s car left, and she shook her head. ¡°Maybe not now.¡±

    At the same time, a system notification rung in her head.

    [Ding! Random mission activated: Rescue the mission objective.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 100 points]

    [Mission failure punishment: None]

    Gu Xiqiao cracked her knuckles, her lips curling slightly.

    Seeing her smile, Li Yanmei suddenly felt cold and made a mental note to wear a jacket when she got home!

    ***

    Meanwhile, the ck car had be a bunch of scrap metal in an alleyway near First City High.

    A bunch of people were battling with each other, but it was just a one-sided beat-down.

    Ten strong, burly men were fighting with the men in ck suits, and with a single blow, one of the men in ck suits was flying into the walls with such force that it cracked. The others knew that they were no match for these monsters, so they did all they could to dy them. ¡°Run, Young Master! Go find Third Young Master!¡±

    Upon seeing this scene, Ying Qi bit his lip hesitantly and ran away.

    ¡°Young Master Ying, do you think you can run?¡± A bald man chased after him with an expression akin to a cat chasing after a mouse.

    Upon seeing that he couldn¡¯t leave, Ying Qi threw away his bag and swung his fist towards him. He had stayed in the army for a while so he was quite physically fit and strong, but he couldn¡¯t even make the bald man stagger.

    The bald man looked at Ying Qi with a sneer. ¡°All of the special ops squads in N City have died in my hands, and you won¡¯t be an exception!¡±

    ¡°So it was you!¡± Ying Qi suddenly remembered what happenedtely in N City in shock. He had heard his third brother say that the ones that were stirring trouble in N City weren¡¯t regr people, but he never expected to meet them on that day. The members of the special ops squads were all the cream of the crop in China, but they weren¡¯t even a match for these people.

    The bald man ignored his exmation and swung a pole towards his head.

    Ying Qi closed his eyes and curled defensively, knowing that he couldn¡¯t do anything to fight back against them. Third Brother was right, not even the top special forces in the world could fight against them, lest himself.

    Unexpectedly, he didn¡¯t feel any pain.

    Ying Qi squeezed open his eyes to see a scene that he would remember for the rest of his life. In front of him was a girl in a sky blue jacket, and the girl held the man by his neck as if the man was just a helpless chicken.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and looked up at the man that was looking at her in horror, before curling the fingers of her spare hand into a fist.

    Bop! Bop! Bop!

    The burly men with mysterious powers were all like sandbags in front of Gu Xiqiao, and Ying Qi finally recognized her as the girl that was standing by Li Yanmei. His attention waspletely attracted by Li Yanmei so he didn¡¯t quite note her presence, but he hadn¡¯t expected her to be so strong.

    These ten men were the insanely strong, or else the higher-ups wouldn¡¯t have sent his third brother to check on this incident. In the hands of these men was the blood of countless special ops members, and this group was a cmity to N City!

    His brother had even reported this, and they were in the middle of preparations to evacuate the civilians and list N City as a hazard zone.

    They hadn¡¯t expected these ten people to have been taken care of so easily!

    ¡°Thank you for rescuing us, Miss.¡± Ying Qi stood up straight and thanked. ¡°My name is Ying Qi, I¡¯m Ah... Student Li¡¯s deskmate.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao only smiled politely before taking out her phone to call the police, walking out the alleyway as she did.

    ¡°Young Master, that was...¡± One of the ck-suited bodyguards coughed up blood before he looked over in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction with bted shock.

    ¡°A master! That was a master!¡± Ying Qi immediately took out his phone and called his brother. ¡°Third Brother, I¡¯m okay! But no that¡¯s not the point, I was saved by a master! Tch, it¡¯s hard to exin, juste here!¡±

    After a single afternoon and half a night, all of the superpowered people that were stirring the pot in N City disappeared.

    The next morning, they were all sent to the police station.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°The crisis has been averted¡± One of the elders in the council immediately stood up at the news. ¡°Was it the Peace Squad again?!¡±

    Other than this monstrous team, they couldn¡¯t think of anyone else that could clear things up in such a violent fashion, but did they set their sights on N City too?!

    ¡°No, reports say that it was the work of a single person.¡± The person that reported this was in disbelief himself as he said this. ¡°Apparently those people were all whisked away without a trace.¡±

    The ancient martial arts world had actually sent out a team themself, but it seemed that they only got there to hear this news.

    ¡°Whisked away? By a single person?!¡± All the elders were shocked.

    The appearance of the Peace Squad had been enough of a hit to their confidence, but they had been able to breathe a sigh of reliefter on because they knew that the Peace Squad wasn¡¯t against the ancient martial arts world.

    They had barely been able to breathe before this news came, and what was going on in this world?? Was there a factory that produced masters out of thin air somewhere??

    ¡°Alright, don¡¯t be too shocked.¡± Elder Jiang put down the Buddhist scripture book that he had been looking through recently in an effort to stop himself from having a heart attack due to the Peace Squad, and said, ¡°I hear that Yi Tong and Miss Cecillia are in N City right as we speak.¡±

    As soon as he said this, all the other elders breathed a collective sigh of relief. ¡°If it was Miss Cecillia, then it would be understandable.¡±

    ¡°It seems that she has be much stronger! I wonder if Miss Jiang Tong can catch up to her...¡±

    Elder Jiang picked up his scripture book again, not caring about the conversation that was going on as he thought back to that Miss Gu that saved him that night.

    Could Miss Cecillia and Miss Jiang Tong beat her? He doubted it.

    Elder Jiang sighed. She caused so many waves without even officially stepping into the ancient martial arts world, and what would happen the day she did? The more he thought of it, he felt his head ache again.

    ***

    Meanwhile, at Yao Jiamu¡¯s training arena.

    Tang Qinghong stood at the entrance of the cave and looked at the dragon made of purple lightning, breathing deeply before he dragged Yin Shaoyuan.

    ¡°What?¡± Yin Shaoyuan had juste out to rest after getting through one level, and he was stuffed into a car before he even had time to react. ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to find Xiao Yun.¡± Tang Qinghong¡¯s brows furrowed slightly.

    Xiao Yun? Yin Shaoyuan was a little confused. It was around the time that Xiao Yun left work after filming, but what was he looking for her for? ¡°Hey Qinghong, let me tell you. There are a lot of good girls in this world, why do you have to fall for her? She¡¯s...¡±

    Tang Qinghong nced at him. ¡°The elders know.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Is there something wrong with those old farts? Do they have to stick their fingers into everything? Drive faster! If anything happens to Xiao Yun, Qiao Qiao is going to kill me!¡±

    Tang Qingqiu would probably kill him too!

    And so the two drove there full speed, and upon reaching Studio City, they were met with a jaw-dropping scene.

    Xiao Yun kicked thest person away before flipping her hair gracefully and returning to her usual aloof self as she looked at the duo. ¡°Why are you two here?¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan & Tang Qinghong: ¡°...¡±

    The elders were definitely going to cry! Who had she learned this violence from?

 Chapter 241 - Cecily

    Chapter 241: Cecily

    Tang Qinghong was extremely nervous when he rushed over. He was afraid that something terrible might have befallen Xiao Yun. If that was to happen, he¡¯d definitely be crushed by Gu Xiqiao fists, in addition to facing his brother¡¯s wrath.

    He definitely was not anticipating such a gory scene to y out before him.

    At this moment, the ones who should be crying are probably the elders of the Tang family.

    Tang Qinghong shed a tear of sympathy for the men sent by the elders. How unfortunate of them, to bump into Gu Xiqiao. Tang Qinghong peered down at his phone and realized that there was an astronomical number of missed calls from his brother. He nced up at Yin Shaoyuan and said, ¡°You escort Xiao Yun back.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± questioned Yin Shaoyuan with suspicion in his voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna go find my brother.¡± Tang Qinghong couldn¡¯t be bothered with idle chit-chat. Without hesitation, he kicked Yin Shaoyuan out of his vehicle.

    Yin Shaoyuan hopped out of the car immediately, barely missing that kick. His face darkened instantly. How dare this guy try to kick him! ¡°Second Cousin, are you trying pick a fight with me?¡± Yin Shaoyuan cracked his knuckles, a gesture to show that he was eager to fight.

    Tang Qinghong narrowed his eyes and shed him a dangerous look. ¡°Say that again?¡±

    ¡°Second Cousin! Second Cousin! Second Cousin!¡± Yin Shaoyuan hurriedly repeated these words before making a final dash for Xiao Yun¡¯s vehicle. The moment he slid into her car, he urged her to stomp on the pedal.

    ¡°...¡±

    Tang Qinghong went silent. Yin Shaoyuan has been back for so long and yet this was the first time he felt the urge to punch him. He was under restraints back in the ancient martial arts world but it had only been a few days since he came out here. How on earth did he manage to turn into this so quickly?

    Whilst contemting, he drove over to the residential district next to A University. He recalled Tang Qingqiu buying a house here.

    Tang Qingqiu was still wide awake when he arrived. He was sitting at the bar with a ss of fine alcohol on hand. Why did he have a fully-loaded bar in his temporary residence? God damn was he enjoying himself here! With a face devoid of emotions, Tang Qinghong located a bottle of red wine which he poured a ssful for himself.

    ¡°Good choice.¡± Tang Qingqiu eyed the wine bottle Tang Qinghong had picked. He was amused, as his brother had picked the most expensive bottle of wine he had in his collection. ¡°You drink?¡±

    Tang Qinghong gulped down his ssful of wine in one go, the sight of which made the corner of Tang Qingqiu¡¯s mouth twitch awkwardly.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to ask me if everything¡¯s alright with Xiao Yun?¡± By now, Tang Qinghong had already downed half a bottle of wine. He turned toward Tang Qingqiu, who had called and texted him incessantly to ask about Xiao Yun. Why then, was he shrugging this matter off as if it was nothing?

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything much to ask about. She¡¯s been with Miss Gu for so long after all. Even I have no idea which level she has reached now.¡± Tang Qingqiu waved his hands casually as he was just slightly concerned earlier. With Gu Xiqiao by her side, he said a silent prayer for the poor souls who dared to mess with them.

    Tang Qinghong chuckled. ¡°You seem to know her quite well.¡±

    His brother did not respond immediately to this statement. Instead, he switched over to another topic. ¡°Have you stopped going to the Trial Tower?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been a couple of days since I¡¯vest been there.¡± Tang Qinghong tightened his grip on the winess.

    ¡°Go back tomorrow,¡± said Tang Qingqiu as he patted his brother on the shoulder. ¡°Your phone couldn¡¯t be reached. Grandpa called me up yesterday to tell me just this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going back.¡± Tang Qinghong stared back at Tang Qingqiu with dead serious eyes. ¡°Brother, I sparred with Yin Shaoyuan yesterday. Without using my tricks, he is already on par with me.¡±

    Tang Qingqiu was in the middle of pouring himself a ss of wine when his brother said that. He was so shocked that he spilled precious drops of red grape alcohol over the floor. Instead of mulling over it though, he stared up with a bewildered expression at Tang Qinghong. ¡°Didn¡¯t he just start learning ancient martial arts?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, thest time he left the ancient martial arts world, he was around level 40 at the Trial Tower. No more than half a month has passed and yet he¡¯s level 50 now,¡± said Tang Qinghong as he stared down at his wine.

    Tang Qingqiu was again, so stunned that the winess fell out of his hands, shattering into a million pieces when it hit the floor.

    ¡°She brought the Trial Tower from the ancient martial arts world, out into the secr world. Also, the time ratio is 7:1.¡± Tang Qinghong peered up and wiped the sweat off his brows. ¡°I forgot to mention that it¡¯s an improved version of our Trial Tower, with zero side-effects after entering it.¡±

    Tang Qingqiu went silent. ¡°... Do the elders know about this?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think things would remain so peaceful if they were to know about this,¡± replied Tang Qinghong whilst shaking his head.

    He recalled how an elder had been defeated so badly by the Peace Squad that he had picked up the Buddhist faith. Tang Qingqiu silently put his ss down. ¡°I get it. There is no need for you to return to the ancient martial arts world. I¡¯ll tell Grandpa about this tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Talk nicely, I don¡¯t want to send him into shock.¡± Tang Qinghong put down his winess and located an empty guest room where he couldy down and rest. He had been continuously triggered by Yao Jiamu for the past two days; he needed to thoroughly rest his soul and mind. Else, he¡¯d end up like that elder, who was pushed past his limits and ran off to meditate.

    In the living room, Tang Qingqiu remained seated. He thought about it and in the end, he couldn¡¯t help but send Jiang Shuxuan a text message¡ª[That person has already left your family, why the struggle?] Half of the elders in the ancient martial arts world seemed to have been spooked by that girl!

    Jiang Shuxuan had just finished reading a document sent to him from the ancient martial arts world when he received the message. He responded with a simple reply¡ª[I¡¯m ttered.]

    ¡°Big boss, I¡¯ve just received news from Yi Tong. The problem they faced in N City has already been resolved,¡± reported Yi Tiao who entered the room after knocking. ¡°Yi Tong could not confirm who it was that intervened and he¡¯s asking you about our next move.¡±

    The dark screen of his phone lit up. Jiang Shuxuan picked up his device and read the new message. His ink-dark eyes were shrouded behind his longshes. Surprisingly, his tightly pursed lips had loosened up greatly. ¡°Tell him to stop searching, that person¡¯s in the police station right this moment.¡±

    ¡°Police station? I get it now.¡± Although he had no idea how Jiang Shuxuan knew that, he did not doubt that his boss was speaking the truth. His mouth opened and closed as if he was about to say something but words failed toe out.

    ¡°Spit it out.¡± Jiang Shuxuan patiently rolled up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt. The bony structures of his forearms shone underneath the fluorescent lights. ¡°After that, we¡¯ll head on over to the mountain to take a look.¡±

    Yi Tiao bowed his head immediately. ¡°Um... it¡¯s that Madam Jiang has moved into your residential district.¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s movement of rolling up his sleeves froze up. He peered up, revealing a look of amazement on his face. ¡°I see,¡± he replied.

    He pped his forehead. Jiang Shuxuan was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Why was his mother up to? Thank goodness thatss hasn¡¯t been around the capital recently, else there would be no way he could remain so calm at this moment.

    He walked out the door with Yi Tiao trailing behind him. As they went, random thoughts popped up in his mind. ¡®I see? What does he mean by that? What reaction would that count as?¡¯

    ***

    N City.

    Gu Xiqiao packed the men up and sent them straight to the police station. Fearing that the people there wouldn¡¯t be enough to restrain these people, she made sure to send Jiang Shuxuan a heads up.

    She went straight to Nine Heavens after that.

    Although Nine Heavens has expanded greatly since their move to the Imperial Capital, the core unit controlling its operations remainedrgely the same. They were there when thepany started expanding and hence, these people had grown familiar with Gu Xiqiao.

    It was nearing 10pm now. The lights at the highest level of Nine Heavens¡¯ office building had yet to go out.

    Nine Heavens¡¯ administrators in N City were all elites, hand-picked by Mu Zong, who handed over arge pile of documents over to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao flipped through the pages rapidly, scribbling down amendments here and there. It didn¡¯t take long for her to work through the entire pile. ¡°Your performance is good, I hope you¡¯ll keep up the good work. There are however, a handful of issues with this proposal, all of which I have already corrected.¡± She pushed forth a smaller pile of documents.

    The manager she was talking to was also originally working under Mu Zong. He had a pretty good idea on how capable Gu Xiqiao was. He nodded immediately when he heard what she said. ¡°I understand Miss Gu, you should take a rest soon. Mr. Mu has ordered me to book a hotel room for you. Allow me to send you there right now.¡±

    ¡°No need for that, I¡¯ll head over there myself. Remember to send me information on the Baixing Vige Tourism Base tomorrow.¡± With a wave of her hand, Gu Xiqiao left the ce with the system by her side.

    The administrator sat down where Gu Xiqiao was sitting and started looking through the errors in the proposal which she had pointed out. Looks like he¡¯s gonna pull an all-nighter here again.

    The secretary, who had been standing nearby was a neer who had no idea who Gu Xiqiao was, let alone how terrifying she was. However, seeing how respectful the administrator was toward her reminded the secretary to not to mess with the youngdy. After all, she was one of the very few individuals that were lucky enough to make it through Nine Heavens¡¯ rigorous selection process.

    Out of curiosity, she asked the general manager, ¡°Sir, do you trust what that youngdy is saying?¡±

    ¡°See for yourself.¡± The general manager picked up the proposal with the errors and passed it to the secretary. He didn¡¯t seem to fear a privacy leak as everyone here was striving up thepany hierarchy. Only an insane person would willingly jump ship upon being hired by Nine Heavens!

    The secretary pulled out a random document. She looked down at the notes written down in jet ck ink, the smooth artistic strokes, and how much it resembled the flow of water.

    She took a moment to gasp at how impable Gu Xiqiao¡¯s writing was before she started actually reading what they actually were. A short whileter, she was stunned. She flipped through the pages, one by one. Every single one of her notes appeared to cut right to the chase. Effortlessly, she could point out the issues using a couple of words and from there, propose a new, amended solution.

    The secretary lowered this document and picked up another one. It ended up being the same thing.

    In such a short amount of time, what started off as a simple question now turned into an unending reading session. She could never have expected to finish reading each and every solution n that Gu Xiqiao offered. Perplexed, the secretary asked another question.

    ¡°Sir, who was that person we met just now?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you keep telling me that you wanted to meet Boss Gu? Well, there she was. You don¡¯t recognize her do you?¡± asked the general manager in a nonchnt manner.

    ¡°Ahhhhhhh! My idol! Why didn¡¯t you tell me beforehand!? I don¡¯t know if we can still be friends after this! I¡¯ve missed my chance to speak with my idol because of you!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The general manager: It¡¯s my fault now?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao took the elevator down the building. As she walked toward her hotel, she gave Luo Weng a call.

    ¡°Boss Gu, you called?¡± Luo Weng, who was currently at the Imperial Capital was still ying cards with Ning Qing and his buddies when he received Gu Xiqiao¡¯s call. He shoved his cards into Luo Wenlin¡¯s hands and walked over to a corner to answer the call.

    ¡°Yea,¡± responded Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°I remember Dalin¡¯s birthday is soon approaching. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll transfer a percentage of the Gu family enterprise¡¯s ownership to him.¡±

    Although My Zong had acquired Nine Heavens, he did not merge Gu Enterprise¡¯s assets with Nine Heavens. Instead, they were allowed to expand as a separate corporate entity and this was what Gu Xiqiao wished for. After all, Nine Heavens had grown sorge that the addition of Gu Enterprise did not matter to them.

    Luo Weng was at a loss for words when he heard this. Silently, he stole a nce at Luo Wenlin who was ying cards excitedly. To receive a medium-sized enterprise as a birthday gift, only Boss Gu was able to pull this off in real life. However, her mentioning Gu Enterprise reminded Luo Weng of another matter. ¡°Oh right, is Gu Enterprise facing any problems as ofte?¡± It¡¯s been months since a report wasst submitted.

    Gu Xiqiaoughed. ¡°It¡¯s already been settled. You should be receiving the rted materials tomorrow. Dalin is still underage so you should help manage his gift first. It might be awhile before Ie back to the capital.¡±

    It¡¯s been settled? Luo Weng was astonished. He was about to ask another question when his phone was snatched away by Yu Ning, whose face was covered in paper strips from losing the game. ¡°Boss Gu, you told me you¡¯de here... what about the web editing department?¡±

    Before he could continue bbering on, Gu Xiqiao hung up on him.

    Yu Ning: ¡°... sonuvab*tch!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao saw a familiar white car approaching her right after she put away her phone. She stopped walking as the white car rolled to a stop next to her. The car window came down, revealing Tang Yanling behind it. For some reason, she seemed slightly unhappy. ¡°Qiao Qiao, why didn¡¯t you tell me that you¡¯reing back!¡± If not for Jiang Shuxuan, she would not have known about it!

    Gu Xiqiaoughed helplessly. ¡°Mama Tang, apologies.¡± She was only here for a couple of days so she didn¡¯t want to bother the Yin family.

    The white car drove off.

    A minuteter, multiple figures emerged from the dark.

    ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, did you discover who the interventionist was?¡± A tall woman wearing only a red dress in the middle of winter asked. She scanned her surroundings with a pair of dark green eyes that seemed to emit a mysterious glow. The woman had a pair of thick ck eyebrows which paired well with her soul-catching eyes. It was quite obvious that this person was a foreigner. Though, her Mandarin was smooth and sounded almost local.

    Yi Tong fiddled with thepass before replying, ¡°Miss Cecillia, there seems to be energy waves around N City. It¡¯s no longer at the city center though. We¡¯ll have to scout the nearby counties for it.¡±

    They received two pieces of news when they came to N City. One was that there was an internal crisis within N City and the other was that there was an energy wave surrounding the perimeter of the city.

    They did not foresee that upon arriving at N City, this grave problem would have been resolved by someone else! Yi Tong almost broke down into tears whenever he thought about this. If this went on any further, would he serve any purpose by remaining here? He¡¯d definitely getughed at by Yi Tiao and Yi Bing when he went back.

    ¡°Sure.¡± replied Cecillia. ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, has Young Master Jiang responded?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea, Miss Cecillia. It¡¯s been ages since the big boss contacted me!¡± Yi Tong made a pained expression when he spoke about this.

    Cecillia looked down dejectedly when she heard his response. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡±

 Chapter 242 - A Rendezvous

    Chapter 242: A Rendezvous

    Neither Yin Jinian nor Grandpa Yin was asleep when they reached the Yin family house. Instead, the dining table was filled to the edges with piping hot dishes.

    ¡°Did youe back today to take care of family matters?¡± Tang Yanling sat down with Gu Xiqiao at the table, chatting and watching her as she ate.

    Gu Xiqiao peered up, revealing a slightly astonished expression. ¡°Mama Tang, how did you know?¡±

    ¡°Well I received a notice today.¡± Tang Yanling didn¡¯t seem particrly surprised about it. She looked back at Gu Xiqiao with gleaming eyes. ¡°Does that mean that the huge ruckus in N City today was also a result of your actions?¡±

    To be honest, her question was irrelevant. She already knew that Gu Xiqiao was more likely than not, behind today¡¯s incident.

    ¡°How big was it?¡± Surprisingly, Gu Xiqiao was the one who was puzzled. She had no idea what she had actually done.

    Tang Yanlingughed when she heard her question. She then whipped out her phone and logged onto the ancient martial arts world¡¯s forum which she then showed Gu Xiqiao. She appeared to be overjoyed when she swiped across the pages. ¡°Look, these are the posts of the old geezers from the ancient martial arts world. Get a load of this old man. He has abandoned his job and ran off to meditate somece else!¡±

    She looked up at Gu Xiqiao who was bewildered by the posts. It was quite obvious that she had zero idea on howrge of a ruckus she had stirred up now.

    She had struck fear into the hearts of many within the ancient martial arts world. They all scrambled around, in search of the ce from which such a powerful figure emerged. On the contrary, the people who were directly involved in the matter were much more indifferent.

    This really... made Tang Yanling feel sympathy for the elder.

    Still, her feeling of sympathy was overwhelmed by schadenfreude.

    ¡°... they¡¯re still alright, right?¡± Gu Xiqiao was not aware of her own otherworldly potential.

    Tang Yanling grunted coldly. ¡°They can¡¯t do anything! All they do is abuse their authority and order people around; they were asking for it! Darling, you did well! At least you taught them a lesson they would never forget!¡± She did something which no one in the ancient martial arts world could achieve and in an effortless manner!

    After saying that, she gave Gu Xiqiao a warm hug. This must be the legendary rib-crushing hug!

    ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was being hugged so tightly that she couldn¡¯t speak.

    ¡®Oh god at this rate, I¡¯m gonna get asphyxiated!¡¯

    Tang Yanling watched as Gu Xiqiao finished up her meal before snapping a couple of photos of her, which she sent to her friends¡¯ group chat.

    Mama Tang: [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    It was gettingte, and yet her photos still received quite a number of likes andments the moment she posted the photo on WeChat. Of course, the first one to like the photos was none other than Jiang Shuxuan, which gave Tang Yanling a goodugh, followed by her richdy friends in N City as well as friends from the ancient martial arts world, including Baili Wenxi.

    Tang Yanling stared at Baili Wenxi¡¯s like which came mere seconds after she uploaded her post. In the end, she chose not to reply to that person. Still, seeing thements made by someone else shocked her so much that she almost fell out of her chair.

    Shu Chen: ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you were familiar with Qiao Qiao ??¡±

    Shu Chen: ¡°Ah Bin told me a few days ago that you were living in this tiny residential district. I did not expect to hear that you have returned after moving here today.¡±

    Tang Yanling was stunned by thisment. She looked up instantly at Gu Xiqiao and asked, ¡°Qiao Qiao, do you know who this person is?¡±

    Tang Yanling tapped on Su Chen¡¯s profile photo and presented it to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at it briefly before responding bluntly.

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about Aunt Shu. We met a couple of times and I saved her once.¡±

    ¡®You¡¯re referring to her as aunt?! Baby do you know who she is?! Are you aware that she¡¯s now living in the same area as you?!¡¯

    ¡°Mama Tang, I¡¯d like to have some milk.¡± The robot next to her feet snapped her out of her state of shock.

    Tang Yanling looked down at the intricately-made robot. It was so smart that it almost seemed sentient. Weird things were the prerequisite to living with Gu Xiqiao, which exined why she wasn¡¯t surprised by it that much. ¡°Hold on for a minute, I¡¯ll get it for you right this instant!¡±

    Was she really gonna grab some milk for this thing?

    Gu Xiqiao looked down emotionlessly at the system. ¡°Do not bully Mama Tang.¡± Robots do not typically drink milk, do they?

    The system sulked. ¡°... you think I¡¯m an ordinary robot?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Acting like this will only get you handed over to the state, alright?¡¯ thought Gu Xiqiao to herself.

    Tang Yanling brought over a tall ss of milk which she gave to the system. However, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s intimidating presence forced it to hold on to the milk, not daring to take even a single sip.

    ¡°This robot of yours is so adorable! Does it have a name?¡± Tang Yanling¡¯s eyes glowed. She picked up her phone and started snapping away at it. Why does everything Qiao Qiao own have to be so fun?! Being here at N City made her start to reminisce about the time she had spent with Xixi and Haha.

    Gu Xiqiao took her final bite before calling out: ¡°Jiji.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Ah, I forgot, something is inherently wrong with Qiao Qiao¡¯s naming preferences.¡¯ She wanted tough at its name but she stopped herself from doing so, fearing that she might hurt the ego of the cute little robot.

    ¡°Jiji¡± AKA The System was at a loss for words.

    Seems like there is a price it must pay to remain in the real world. Inparison to itself, Xixi and Haha¡¯s names sounded much more normal!

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao slept on untilte morning. She was still asleep when Li Yanmei called.

    She was still half-awake when she made her way to First City High.

    ¡°You wake upte? Now that¡¯s something you don¡¯t see often.¡± Li Yanmei was surprised as it didn¡¯t really fit into the image of a national schr. Back in their vige, Gu Xiqiao would always wake up at half-past five for a morning run. She did things decisively, calmly and her eyes would always seem to be full of wisdom.

    The Gu Xiqiao standing in front of her today seemed much more sloppy than the Gu Xiqiao from before.

    Gu Xiqiao patted Jiji¡¯s head and smiled. ¡°Vacations are few and far between.¡± Life would not be as leisurely after today.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Ying Qi¡¯s probably already waiting for us.¡± Li Yanmei led Gu Xiqiao forward. Still, I didn¡¯t expect that you would agree toe here.¡±

    Last night, Ying Qi had bothered her over the phone for an eternity, begging for her to bring Gu Xiqiao over. Of course, Li Yanmei was not prepared to agree to his suggestion right away. However, upon hearing how Ying Qi wanted to thank Gu Xiqiao for saving his life, and seeing how desperate he was while pleading, she had no choice but to give in.

    Half-heartedly, Li Yanmei gave Gu Xiqiao a call. Her agreeing toe without hesitation definitely took Li Yanmei by surprise.

    Ying Qi picked a well-known establishment as the venue for their meeting. He only knew a handful of people here in N City, from which he invited a couple of his closer buddies.

    Before Gu Xiqiao and Li Yanmei arrived, Ying Qi¡¯s buddies started gossiping like a bunch of teenage girls. They started specting about what her face looked like, which was basedrgely on the fact that she was able to take down ten men in a fight. She probably was a tomboy with rock-hard abs, a face full of muscles, and a hulking figure.

    The screen of Ying Qi¡¯s phone lit up, which prompted him to head out and wee their guests.

    The men waited inside their private room. In reality, none of them were particrly excited to see the girl who Ying Qi had imed to be his savior. They instead, had a deep sense of respect for the girl, as one would towards a powerful champion.

    ¡°When she arrives, I don¡¯t want to see any surprise on your faces. She didn¡¯t choose to be a tomboy so no judgemental eyes, okay?¡± he warned them.

    One of his buddies responded immediately. ¡°Aye sir.¡± The troops have been waiting for so long now. It¡¯s not like this is their first time meeting a female soldier whose strength triumphed over your average guy. Theoretically, nothing shoulde as surprising to them.

    These men started discussing amongst themselves about how they should show their respect to their guest.

    Half of this group of battle-hardened special forces soldiers was wasted in their operation to take down the enemy. Even their big boss had decided to forgo the decision to continue the hunt. Who would¡¯ve thought that a girl would swoop right in and defeat their foe? This filled the men with shock and humiliation.

    A few minutester, the door of their private room popped open. Ying Qi and hisrades bowed their heads down unconsciously.

    Leading in front was a girl who was sporting a light blue coat. She was looking down slightly, allowing her long flowing hair to cover up part of her face. Though, they could still see her pale white neck peeking from underneath.

    She peered up only after entering the room. Her face was mesmerizing and her skin, wless with near-microscopic pores. Her elegance was such that she almost felt spiritual to these men. Her skin was so radiant that the light that shone from the windows made her painful to look at with unshielded eyes.

    ¡°This person here is Miss Gu, who saved my lifest night.¡± Ying Qi walked into the room, introducing hisrades to his savior. With a blushing face, he nced at Li Yanmei.

    ¡°This girl here is my deskmate.¡±

    As he finished speaking, everyone in the room froze up. Their faces were filled with nothing but pure disbelief.

    God damn, where¡¯s the frickin¡¯ tomboy?!

    Where are the muscles?!

    Where¡¯s the hulking figure?!

    She¡¯s your stereotypical weak and dainty girl, no?!

    It took a handful of minutes before these men gradually regained theirposure. After that, they started treating Gu Xiqiao with unrivaled hospitality.

    Ying Qi was instantly left out of the group. He was dumbfounded. Weren¡¯t they curious about his ssmate? Why had they kicked him out like this? WTF?

    ¡°Ying Qi, Third Young Master¡¯s next door.¡± The restroom of their private room was upied by a mate with chronic constipation. Those who needed to take a leak had to use the public restroom outside. Someone whispered this into his ear after he returned to their room.

    Ying Qi was wide-eyed. ¡°Why is he here? Tell me you haven¡¯t been sniffed out by him.¡±

    ¡°Nope, I concealed myself in time,¡± the person replied with a satisfied grin.

    ¡°Thank goodness.¡± Ying Qi felt a weight slide off his shoulders. He then continued listening to his brothers boasting in front of Gu Xiqiao and Li Yanmei.

    Gu Xiqiao was apparently really into what they were saying. As special forces soldiers, who had been through a hellish training, Gu Xiqiao had no idea what drills they were put through regrly. As such, she was really focusing on their little education session.

    All of a sudden, the door of their room was pushed open by someone standing outside. He was wearing a ck suit and his figure was slim and tall. The man had a ssic military crew cut which suited his attractive facial features well, especially considering the fact that he was a soldier.

    ¡°Third Brother!¡± Ying Qi stood up from his seat so quickly that he almost knocked over a ss of alcohol.

    The men inside the room stood up in unison and greeted, ¡°Big Boss!¡±

    ¡°Are you guys ying?¡± Ying Qi¡¯s brother scanned the interior of the room, pausing for a split-second when he reached Gu Xiqiao before moving on as quickly as he could.

    Ying Qi¡¯s legs were shaking. He feared no man except for his brother. ¡°Third Brother, I promise, I won¡¯tmit anything uwful!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. You guys have fun. Today is a day worth celebrating after all.¡± Ying Qi¡¯s brother looked away. ¡°I¡¯m just a door away so if anything happens, you know where to find me.¡±

    Ying Qi responded hastily. Until he was 100% sure that his brother was no longer behind the door did he let out a long painful sigh. He reached up to wipe the cold sweat off his brows before ring angrily at his brothers. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that my brother doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m here?¡±

    ¡°How would I know if he saw you?!¡± He really had nothing to do with it! He did make sure to hide away in time!

    ¡°His brother really does scare the crap outta people, doesn¡¯t he?¡± whispered Li Yanmei into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ear.

    Gu Xiqiaoughed as she put down her ss of alcohol. ¡°What is there to be afraid of? I¡¯m gonna head to the bathroom.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Li Yanmei.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the brooding Ying Qi. Rubbing her chin, she replied, ¡°Sure!¡±

    After the both of them left, someone finally decided to say it. ¡°That robot next to Miss Gu seems so human. The way it poured me a drink just now scared the hell out of me.¡±

    ¡°Ignorant fool.¡± Ying Qi rolled his eyes at him.

    ***

    ¡°Are you blind?! Do you have any idea how expensive these shoes cost me? You think you canpensate me for this?!¡± roared Yu Silei whose shoe had unintentionally been stepped on.

    She was a B-list celebrity working under Bluestar Entertainment. The young master of the Wang family had apparently fallen for her and because she yed her cards well, she had gained quite a lot of assets recently. Since her sugar daddy was impressed by her capability, he brought her here tonight. Sitting in the same room as the mayor made Yu Silei feel as if her heart was about to jump out of her mouth.

    While everyone was still discussing serious matters, she took the opportunity to leave the room and apply some makeup. Unfortunately, her shoe was stepped on in the process.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it!¡± Li Yanmei jumped up out of shock. She was so taken aback by what Gu Xiqiao said that she wasn¡¯t aware of the person walking towards her.

    Yu Silei looked up to find that it was just a in-clothed girl. In just a split-second, a look of disgust appeared in her eyes.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Gu Xiqiao emerged from the washroom. With a paper napkin, she wiped her slender fingers dry. She proceeded to look up and stare coldly in the direction where the noise wasing from.

 Chapter 243 - Instead of Her, You Come Looking For Me?

    Chapter 243: Instead of Her, You Come Looking For Me?

    The clothes Gu Xiqiao wore were all hand-made by either Tang Yanling or Jiang Shuxuan, which exined why there weren¡¯t any brand tags on them.

    Yu Silei squinted her eyes as she scanned the girl up and down but nothing in particr stood out in terms of her looks. Still, she was emanating a special type of aura, one that felt icy cool for some reason. Yu Silei was no fool, nor was she the ignorant type. This was why shested so long under her sugar daddy.

    Li Yanmei¡¯s sincere apology had already satisfied Yu Silei¡¯s ego.

    ¡°Bad luck! Why am I so unfortunate today!¡± She walked away briskly with her heels clicking loudly against the floor.

    Li Yanmei let out a sigh in relief. Gu Xiqiao watched intently as Yu Silei left.

    In the private box next door, Ying Qi put down his phone and frowned.

    ¡°Third Young Master, today¡¯s a day we should be cheering for. N City¡¯s mobs were all sent straight to the police so why the long face?¡± asked Wang Jun who, after chatting with the mayor with a ss of liquor in hand, noticed the unsettled look on Ying Qi¡¯s face when he turned around.

    ¡°Myrade who was injured during the skirmish, the hospital has just concluded that he¡¯s paralyzed.¡± Ying Qi stared soullessly at his drink on the table. ¡°I¡¯ve just received news that a British doctor, renowned for his skill has appeared in N City¡¯s airport.¡±

    Although the chances were slim, he felt obligated to take a shot.

    Wang Jun opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something but nothing came up in the end. He then switched to another question. ¡°Is that man the soldier who saved our lives?¡±

    Ying Qi nodded.

    ¡°I am terribly sorry to hear that.¡± A dejected expression surfaced on Wang Jun¡¯s face.

    ¡°You have nothing to do with it,¡± said Ying Qi as he shook his head. ¡°I guess it¡¯s just sh*tty luck. Even if he did not save you, I do not doubt that he¡¯d sustain the same injuries for anotherrade.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao already had her fill with these soldiers. When she left the room, she bumped into anotherrge group of men, all of which seemed to be fairly distinguished people.

    Ying Qi immediately spotted his third brother, which prompted him to hide from in sight.

    Ying Xu noticed Ying Qi and he stopped walking. He was prepared to head over and give his brother a few words of advice but before he could do that, the wealthy-looking mayor squeezed past him and called out excitedly, ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    Right after that, the group of men behind him recognized instantly who he was referring to. There she was, the young girl whose figure was so delicate she seemed to have been carved out from jade.

    Their tone sounded more congrattory than the other. ¡°Miss Gu, you came with your friends?¡±

    Wang Jun with Yu Silei next to him came outst. They looked over when they noticed that the group had stopped walking. ¡°Miss Gu?!¡± His voice sounded surprised.

    The reaction of these men made Ying Xu unconsciously shift his gaze over to Miss Gu. His eyes were filled with curiosity. These men were all the figureheads of N City; why were they acting so courteously towards a youngdy?

    He then recalled what happened yesterday¡ªhis brother, Ying Qi, was saved by some mysterious hero with unknown origins. He looked down and went into deep thought.

    Gu Xiqiao peered over at these men. She didn¡¯t recognize who most of them were, with the exception of Wang Jun, whom she knew personally, and the mayor, whose face appears on local television from time to time. She waved her hand at Wang Jun as she greeted him. ¡°I have ns with my friends. I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡± Pretentiously, she walked away with Li Yanmei.

    Before she left, she shot Yu Silei a quick look.

    It was then that Wang Jun regained his senses. ¡°You¡¯re letting her off again!¡± God d*mn!

    He yelled as he rushed towards her. Regardless of whether or not she could hear him, he shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll be meeting you in the afternoon! Remember to turn your phone on!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Jiji remained silent.

    ¡®You know, it¡¯s not that Beauty Qiao¡¯s phone was switched off. It¡¯s that she has put you in her caller cklist.¡¯

    ¡°Third Young Master, I will head on home first. If Grandpa were to know that Miss Gu has returned and that I had not invited them to our home, I would definitely get beaten to death by them,¡± said Wang Jun jokingly. He seemed to be in a grumpy mood as he murmured under his breath, ¡°The audacity of this girl! Every time I meet her she¡¯d run away! Do I look that scary?!¡±

    He did not bring Yu Silei with him when he left. She was left standing there, her face turning paler by the second.

    Ying Xu watched him leave as thoughts raced through his mind.

    ¡°Ying Qi, you mind telling me who this Miss Gu person is?¡± Ying Qi¡¯s buddies were surprised by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s interaction with these big shots.

    Every single one of them had a beaming smile on their faces. Good god, even his big boss wouldn¡¯t stir up such a reaction, right?

    Ying Qi had barely just regained hisposure. Taking in a deep breath, he shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± All he knew was that Li Yanmei was amoner and that Gu Xiqiao was a good friend of hers. She appeared at first nce to be a regr girl but the turnout of events definitely shocked him.

    The mayor¡¯s secretary, who was standing behind his boss chuckled when he overheard these two talking. ¡°Just one look and I could tell that they aren¡¯t from N City.¡±

    ¡°But how?¡± Ying Qi watched as his third brother slowed down his pace for the secretary to catch up with him. It was a rare sight to see this guy being interested in another individual!

    Seeing that his statement had piqued someone else¡¯s interest, the mayor¡¯s secretary started exining. ¡°Don¡¯t you know Miss Gu, who stirred up quite the ruckus in N City back then? After that she was taken in by the Yin family as their adopted child, who they protected as if she was their own child Precisely because of this, no one could cross her and walk away unscathed.¡±

    These matters however, were irrelevant.

    ¡°Do you surf Weibo? Have you heard of the inte celebrity of the User ID, ¡®For A Millenium¡¯? Do you guys not know that she was awarded the first prize in an international art exhibition? Have you heard of cell fusion? Do you know that a breakthrough in this field of medicine has resulted in countless foreign researchers flocking into China¡¯s researchboratories? If you guys are still unaware of these things, you should have at least heard of the techpany, Nine Heavens?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao first made her debut in N City, which exins why she had a countless number of fans here. The secretary was quite obviously one of them. From an illegitimate child of a celebrity to a national schr, then to the founder of Nine Heavens. It didn¡¯t just end there. She was also a leading member of China¡¯s medicalmunity, which sounded almost fantastical.

    Ying Qi was hit by wave after wave of realizations.

    His jaw almost dropped to the ground when the secretary finished talking.

    The mayor cleared his throat and then turned to quietly ask his secretary, ¡°Fascinated by Miss Gu, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you?¡± asked the secretary.

    ¡°...¡±

    The mayor pleaded in his heart, ¡®Could you not expose me like this?¡¯

    Even Ying Xu was so taken aback that he was unaware of his phone ringing.

    The one most affected however, was probably Yu Silei. She was already feeling a sense of unease when she realized that Gu Xiqiao was an acquaintance of Wang Jun. What the secretary said added more fuel to the fire, making her heart pound against her ribcage. Of course, as someone in showbiz, she recognized the name but she did not expect the seemingly harmless girl to be that Gu Xiqiao.

    If she wanted Yu Silei dead, she wouldn¡¯t even have to exert the slightest amount of effort.

    Yi Silei clutched her bag and slid away from the group silently, trying to avoid being noticed by Wang Jun or Gu Xiqiao. Else, she¡¯d definitely be signing her own death warrant!

    ¡°Third Brother, your phone¡¯s ringing,¡± said Ying Qi.

    Ying Xu snapped out of his reverie and picked up his phone. His facial expression changed right as the person on the other end of the line started speaking. ¡°I¡¯ll be there immediately!¡±

    He left right after saying that. It was at this moment that the mayor started talking. ¡°Third Young Master, I hear that one of your men has fallen ill? Might I suggest you look for Young Master Wang? His uncle¡¯s leg was infected and there were even rumors purporting that amputation was inevitable. A mysterious healer then showed up and cured him of his ailment.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Well thanks a lot!¡± Ying Xu bowed his head and walked off inrge strides.

    Ying Qi hastily caught up with his brother. ¡°Third Brother, what¡¯s the matter? Has something happened to our fifth brother?¡±

    ¡°No, but they have sessfully located Mr. Emery.¡± A look of hope returned to Ying Xu¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Really?¡± Ying Qi could not suppress the look of surprise and excitement he had on his face. ¡°Then our fifth brother can be saved!¡±

    A heavy weight slid right off Ying Xu¡¯s shoulders.

    This group rushed all the way to the airport, where they met the supposed Emery. He was a middle-aged man with bright blue eyes. The man appeared to possess a peaceful temperament, which had the effect of calming Ying Xu and his men down.

    Upon hearing Ying Xu¡¯s reason for approaching him, the smile on Emery¡¯s face faded away as he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ve made a mistake. It¡¯s been over twenty years since Ist conducted a surgical operation.¡±

    Ying Qi and his men¡¯s faces darkened when they heard his response.

    Ying Xu peered back at Emery. ¡°Sir, I have connections with the Baili family.¡±

    Emery was momentarily taken aback by his statement before he let out a sigh. ¡°I will give an assessment on how serious his condition is but do remember, I have sworn to never touch the scalpel again. I can, however, rmend a friend of mine to assist you. He¡¯s far better than me in terms of skill anyways.¡±

    ¡°You have my gratitude,¡± said Ying Xu with a bow before he led the doctor onto a car.

    Ying Xu sat in the backseat while his subordinates sat in front. He lit a cigarette and blew out arge, round puff of grey smoke. After a moment, he asked, ¡°Miss Gu from earlier, is she the one who saved Ying Qi?¡±

    His subordinates were steel-faced when they replied, ¡°No idea sir!¡±

    A sinister look appeared in Ying Xu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Do you really have no idea?¡±

    ¡°Sir, it¡¯s the truth sir!¡± During their chitchat with Miss Gu, she had specifically ordered them not to let this secret loose! Their lips were sealed!

    Ying Xu stubbed out his cigarette. He understood his men by heart. What he did not foresee however, was that it took only a single hour for Miss Gu to win them over. It was definitely startling but it was also funny. Should he still keep around these traitorous men?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao sent Li Yanmei back to her apartment block next to First City High. ¡°Sister Mei, study hard! I¡¯ll be waiting for you in the Imperial Capital.¡±

    ¡°I definitely will!¡± replied Li Yanmei while shaking her fist in the air. She had finally gotten her hands on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, why on earth would she give up so easily?

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll see you around then.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved Li Yanmei goodbye before turning around with her little robot following behind her. After a few steps forward though, she turned back and said, ¡°I say, Ying Qi is a pretty good deal! You should definitely consider dating him!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Li Yanmei was caught off-guard by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s suggestion. Still, before she could react, her friend had already disappeared into the distance.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, I wanna drink some milk tea!¡± eximed ¡®Jiji¡¯, the system when it saw Gu Xiqiao purchasing a cup for herself.

    Gu Xiqiao took a sip and nced down at it. ¡°In broad daylight? Are you nning to scare the hell out of the people around us?¡±

    Jiji: ¡°... am I your run-of-the-mill robot?¡±

    ¡°No, but you¡¯re the type that¡¯ll scare the crap out of these people though,¡± said Gu Xiqiao with a smile. Be that as it may, she still bought a cup of milk tea for it.

    Wang Jun, who had been searching high and low for her drove over. The first sight he was greeted with was this robot sipping on milk tea. ¡°... my idol.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, bring me to Shanhe Manor.¡± Gu Xiqiao slid into the backseat as she shed a smile at Wang Jun. Likewise, the robot too, mbered into the backseat of his car.

    Wang Jun¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Didn¡¯t we agree that we¡¯d head over to my ce?¡± Since when had he turned into her personal driver?!

    ¡°We? When did we ever agree on such a thing?¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d like to go home and sleep.¡± She had to leave tomorrow.

    Wang Jun was speechless. Her brutally honest excuse wasmendable, that¡¯s for sure!

    Still, he couldn¡¯t force her to do anything. Who knows? Maybe she¡¯d abandon ship halfway through the process. Allowing his uncle to handle this matter himself was probably the most feasible approach. Just then, a call came for Wang Jun on his phone.

    ¡°Miss Gu, I need to drop by the hospital.¡± After the call ended, Wang Jun turned around and nced at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Just one turn and we¡¯ll reach the ce. I¡¯ll send you back immediately after I¡¯m done there!¡±

    Gu Xiqiaozily nodded her head as sheid back into her seat.

    ***

    In a VIP ward on the 56th level of City Hospital.

    Ying Qi was holding onto a tablet. He turned on the webcam and aimed it at the patient lying on the hospital bed. A few minutester, a person¡¯s voice came from theputer speakers. ¡°I have a rough idea of what¡¯s happening. Pass it over to Uncle Emery.¡±

    Emery took over the device. Looking at the young man on the screen who was donning a crisp whiteb coat, he asked, ¡°How are his injuries?¡±

    Everyone in the room held their breath, awaiting the doctor¡¯s answer.

    ¡°Uncle.¡± The man on the screen was Zhu Yuan. ¡°It¡¯s a littleplicated, mainly due to the data you sent to me being insufficient. These doctors should be retrained in ourboratory. That, or get lectured by Beauty Gu!¡± How terrible at efficiency could these folks be?!

    Ying Xu¡¯s heart sank when he finally heard his answer. These people knew who Zhu Yuan was, and how he was Divine Doctor Rong¡¯s disciple. Hearing such a response from a prodigy doctor made the situation seem all the more grave.

    ¡°Can you drop by to treat him?¡± asked Emery anxiously.

    ¡°I will try.¡± Zhu Yuan made a pained expression. ¡°I still have experiments here that I cannot let go of at the moment. Forget it, tell me his situation right now.¡±

    Emery went through thepiled medical documents for the patient and started discussing with Zhu Yuan about it. Thetter spoke slowly, so that Emery could understand every single word he was saying. After a long while, a smile broke across his face. ¡°Zhu Yuan, you¡¯ve learned a lot over the past couple of years, haven¡¯t you? Looks like Divine Doctor Rong has done a good job educating you.¡± Even he couldn¡¯t understand a handful of advanced terms Zhu Yuan was using.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not my master who taught me this.¡± Zhu Yuan shook his head. He continued imparting new medical knowledge to Emery, who, by now, was captivated by his informational lecture.

    Everyone else in the room found what he was saying to be iprehensible. There was simply too much medical jargon that they couldn¡¯t wrap their heads around the matter.

    To be honest, even Emery discovered many novel concepts that were embedded in this lecture. Diligently, he tried to digest whatever they were saying. In the end, he was left surprised. ¡°Zhu Yuan, how do you manage to know so many new things?¡±

    Much of what Zhu Yuan had just said was unheard of before in the medicalmunity. If this was publicized, he had no doubt that this would change the course of medical history one more time.

    ¡°Why if it isn¡¯t because of that girl!¡± Zhu Yuan gritted his teeth whenever he was reminded of Gu Xiqiao. ¡°We¡¯ll leave this talk for another day. I want you to assess the patient¡¯s overall condition. The information you guys sent me was way too shallow. I cannot get a good grasp on what¡¯s actually going on with the patient.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t there be a problem with telling me these pieces of information?¡± Emery wasgging slightly behind. Zhu Yuan could totally patent his theories.

    Instead, he casually waved his hand before fixing his phone onto a stand. Then, he took out a piece of paper and a pen. ¡°What problem can there be? Everyone in ourboratory already knows about this so rx will you?¡±

    Everyone in theboratory? Emery was stunned.

    ¡°Why else would so many foreign practitioners and researchers offer to work here in myboratory?¡± Zhu Yuan smiled gleefully at the camera.

    Emery took in a deep breath. ¡°Who is managing thisboratory of yours?¡± He couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking this question.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about it when you reach the Imperial Capital.¡± Zhu Yuan continued talking about the patient after that.

    The door of the ward was pushed open and in marched Wang Jun.

    Behind him was Gu Xiqiao and her robot, who remained at the doorway. They didn¡¯t enter the room; she nned to wait out the entire process of Wang Jun examining his patient.

    Emery did not focus on the person who had just entered the room. He turned in another direction. ¡°I have already detected the symptoms that you¡¯ve described. What¡¯s next?¡±

    The person on the other side of the video call remained silent.

    Emery found it odd, so he repeated his question. Still, Zhu Yuan did not respond.

    ¡°Zhu Yuan, you...¡± Emery was not even halfway through his sentence when Zhu Yuan bellowed over the video call.

    ¡°You piece of crap! This person¡¯s here and instead of her, youe looking for me?!¡± Zhu Yuan jumped onto his feet instantly. ¡°She could solve this issue in a matter of minutes and you dare call me up?! Whatever for?!¡±

    F*ck, this familiar voice!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyelids twitched. In a split second, she grabbed Jiji and turned around.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao, if you have the balls to walk off, I¡¯llmand my entireb team to harass you tomorrow!¡± The corner of Zhu Yuan¡¯s mouth twitched when he issued his ultimatum.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped. ¡°... just you wait, Zhu Yuan!¡±

 Chapter 244 - Just Who Is That Person?

    <h4>Chapter 244: Just Who Is That Person?</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao spun around and entered the ward.

    Everyone in the room was taken aback when they saw her walk into the room. Ying Xu fumbled around in his pocket. He wanted to light up a cigarette but after remembering that this was a hospital, he put down his hands.

    ¡°May I have the documents?¡± said Gu Xiqiao as she reached out towards a nurse standing next to the bed.

    The nurse did as asked, passing the dossier over to Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you for a couple of days and there you are, running around in N City!¡± Zhu Yuan started bbering unendingly over the line. ¡°Professor Jiang will chew you out, you hear me?! Why do you have to trigger him like this? cker! I won¡¯t even give time off for weekends from now on!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was flipping through the medical report when she nced up at him. ¡°Go ahead, if you have the balls, that is. I¡¯ll give Professor Jiang a callter. Gonna tell him I¡¯m transferring over to the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering tomorrow.¡±

    Zhu Yuan was startled by her words. ¡°A, I was just pulling your leg, you know? How could Professor Jiang not cut you some ck, right?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao walked over to another spot, all while staying away from the camera¡¯s field of view. Her delicate fingers flipped through the pages so quickly that the sound could be heard over the call.

    Zhu Yuan almost pushed his face against the screen of his phone. Loudly, he yelled, ¡°Uncle! That girl has walked away! Hurry up and turn the damn device around!¡±

    Emery spun the webcam around and once again, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure entered his screen. Zhu Yuan continued yapping away, which made Emery stare at the screen. The Zhu Yuan he knew, who wouldn¡¯t even speak one word for an entire day seemed so different from this Zhu Yuan right now!

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the screen and snapped her fingers. Jiji, who was standing next to her feet understood instantly what that meant. The video call was immediately cut off, removing Zhu Yuan¡¯s annoying chatter from the room once and for all.

    After she hadpleted reading these papers, Gu Xiqiao now had a rough idea of what was happening to the patient lying there motionlessly on the bed. She then turned around to face the nurse standing next to her. ¡°I want you to prepare an empty operation room for me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but that¡¯s not something within my authority.¡± The young nurse snapped out of her daydream and apologized.

    Understood.

    Gu Xiqiao returned the document to her before whipping out her phone and calling someone on it. She hung up only after speaking briefly with the other person.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening now?¡± Ying Qi realized the oddity of the situation when he saw Gu Xiqiao sketching or scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

    ¡°I have no idea.¡± responded therade next to him.

    Wang Jun watched Gu Xiqiao work intently when he told the men around him, ¡°Just watch the magic unfold boys!¡±

    Ying Xu recalled what the mayor had said this afternoon when he heard Wang Jun¡¯s words. He peered up at Gu Xiqiao with a perplexed expression. Opening his mouth, he was about to utter something when the door of the ward burst open.

    A session of men in whiteb coats walked in, the first one being the director of the hospital. Despite it being in the middle of winter, on their foreheads wererge beads of sweat. They were still panting heavily, indicating that they ran across the hospital to see Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± The director walked over to the side of the bed with a shine in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao finished writing her final line right at that moment. She tucked away her pen and passed the paper over to the director. ¡°We meet again, Director Zhao. I need aboratory.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already been prepared for you. What else might you need, Miss Gu?¡± the director asked.

    ¡°Has anyone been to theboratory at the capital?¡± Gu Xiqiao wanted to say no but upon second thought, she did have something to ask.

    ¡°Yes, we have two professors who have participated in cell fusion research.¡± Director Zhao nodded his head. ¡°They aren¡¯t on shift today but they live close by. They¡¯ll be here within ten minutes.¡± Even in the circumstance that they cannot make it here on time, he was prepared to make sure that they could!

    ¡°Good.¡± Gu Xiqiao took off her coat. She walked out the door while barking out orders. ¡°Prep for a surgery.¡±

    Director Zhao ordered a middle-aged doctor to let Gu Xiqiao change her clothes before bringing her to the operation theatre. He remained in the ward, directing his employees like amander with his army. ¡°Call Doctor Wang and Doctor Gu over! Head to the operating room on the fourth floor immediately! Get the young half-assed doctors over! Make sure that they get a good look at the operation! Also! Get me some cameras! The video we made previously wasughed at by the internationalmunity! I don¡¯t want that to happen again! Hurry up and get this patient into the operation room. Miss Gu¡¯s waiting!¡±

    A couple of male nurses pushed a bed over and shifted the patient onto it.

    A white-haired doctor standing next to Director Zhao looked down at the piece of paper with predatory eyes. ¡°Director, if you¡¯re not looking at it, why don¡¯t you let me take a quick peek?¡±

    ¡°No, I fear that once I read it, I¡¯ll forget about everything else.¡± The director shoved the paper into his pocket. ¡°Head on over to the operating room first.¡±

    A group of medical personnel moved in unison to the operation room.

    Only an aged nurse was left in the ward to clean up the equipment.

    The young nurse who was initially standing next to the bed was stupefied. She couldn¡¯t believe what was unfolding before her eyes. Did she just meet the director of the hospital himself? Him, and the specialists, whom she had never seen in the years she had worked here? These elusive figures all showed up with just a single phone call by Miss Gu? Just who was this person?

    ¡°Miss Gu is the founder of the Chinese Medical Research Laboratory.¡± The older nurse pushed the cart out of the room. When she heard the younger nurse¡¯s doubts, she responded. ¡°Save that forter. I¡¯m gonna go watch the livestream right now!¡±

    She left right after saying that.

    The men left in the empty ward were in a dazed state.

    ¡°Sh*t, I don¡¯t really understand what¡¯s going on right now.¡± The young man standing next to Ying Qi wiped his face. ¡°So Miss Gu¡¯s gonna do an operation on him?¡± Emery and Zhu Yuan had spent so much time looking for the source of his ailment only for her toe up with a solution after a simple nce at the medical report? And they were heading into operation right now? Just what the hell is that Chinese Medical Research Laboratory thing?!

    Why did every doctor here, including the director, seem to worship her?

    Ying Xu silently marched out of the room.

    Ying Qi and his men looked at each other before catching up with him.

    Wang Jun stuck both his hands into his pockets and trailed behind the groupzily. On his face was an...incredibly punchable smug grin.

    Emery looked at the tablet whose screen had once again lit up. It was as if Zhu Yuan¡¯s video call reconnected right at the moment Gu Xiqiao left the ward.

    ¡°That girl left? And I managed to just reconnect the line.¡± Zhu Yuan could see even from his narrow webcam perspective that the room was empty. His entire demeanor was messy. After rambling on endlessly, he told Emery, ¡°Uncle, you should go to the operation room too. She should be there by now. Remember to send me updates!¡±

    ¡°You have so much trust in her?¡± Finally, Emery said this.

    Zhu Yuan paused for a moment. A somber expression returned to his face when he panned the camera around hisboratory. ¡°Uncle, take a good look at thisb. She¡¯s the one who¡¯s responsible for its development. Every single item it holds can send shockwaves across the medical world. It¡¯s been a long time since you¡¯vest been exposed to the topic of medicine and you might not know this but spend a little more time reading and you¡¯ll understand why I have so much faith in her.¡±

    Emery went silent upon hearing that. He walked straight to the elevator and pressed on the ¡®4¡¯ button.

    Outside the operation room stood a sizable group of people. Emery walked up to Ying Xu, who lit up a cigarette while staring through the ss door of the room. His facial expression wasrgely shrouded behind the gray cigarette smoke. Despite his phone ringing for a good few seconds now, he still did not pick up the call.

    The operation room must remain as sterile as possible; non-operating personnel were prohibited from entering. Arge portion of the doctors stood outside the room, staring intently at the surgery process.

    Two hourster, the light above the door of the operation room went out. In synchrony, everyone looked over at the door.

    The first to exit the room was Gu Xiqiao. Her surgical mask was still on, meaning all they could see was her shining bright eyes. It was only after walking out of the room did she remove her mask with delicate fingers that seemed to glow underneath the fluorescent lighting.

    Gu Xiqiao took off her surgical gown and passed it over to a nurse that quickly caught up to her. Right after that, she picked up the coat that Jiji had offered to her.

    The director and his men slowly came out of the room. Hurriedly, he announced to Ying Xu, ¡°The operation is a sess.¡± Upon saying so, he and his team flocked to Gu Xiqiao, bombarding her relentlessly with questions.

    There were too many questions and Gu Xiqiao could not answer them in time. She pinched the bridge of her nose and calmly spat out a line of numbers. ¡°You know, I have already handed essential information on the surgery over to the director. You should have also recorded it down, right? If anyone¡¯s still clueless, you are more than wee to ask Zhu Yuan about it.¡±

    ¡°Alright, no more issues?¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head with a satisfactory grin when she saw that none of them had any extra-bothersome questions.

    Slowly, she made her way out of the hospital.

    The crowd parted like the Red Sea for Moses, allowing Gu Xiqiao to navigate her way out.

    Finally, it was after the elevator doors closed shut did these doctors start chattering amongst themselves.

    ¡°Greedy director! How dare you keep that thing to yourself!¡± One of the doctors red angrily at the director.

    The directorughed it off smugly. ¡°You bunch of wolves. I feared that if I gave you all this precious piece of paper, you¡¯d rip it to shreds!¡±

    ¡°Say, when Gu Xiqiao was calcting the molecr form of the virus, did she use aputer?¡± another doctor asked quietly.

    His colleague nodded. ¡°Yeah, her robot helped her with the calctions.¡±

    The director was perplexed. ¡°So the alleged robot that Gu Xiqiao constructed, was that thing?¡±

    ¡°So... we no longer have to torture ourselves with calctions? And perhaps it¡¯s time to learn how to create our own robots?¡± A younger doctor chuckled self-deprecatingly. After he said that, an indescribable sense of shock swelled up in his heart.

    He took in a deep breath. This gap between them really was impossible to bridge.

    Every other doctor went off on their own, trying to decipher the footage and the piece of paper which Gu Xiqiao left with them. Just wait till they finish editing the footage and the voice recordings. The medical world was probably heading towards another roller coaster ride.

    Thinking about it made them feel... excited?

    The only ones left in the corridor were Ying Xu and his men.

    ¡°S-She really pulled it off?¡± No one in this group knew about the patient¡¯s condition better than Emery. Being in a vegetative state was noughing matter; it was an indicator that the patient was in an extremely grave situation.

    It would probably take Zhu Yuan a certain amount of time before hees up with a solution. Never in a million years could he expect a youngdy to waltz right in and resolve the problem as if it wasn¡¯t one in the first ce.

    He finally understood why Zhu Yuan was so confident prior to the operation.

    Ying Qi and his men nodded in unison. ¡°It certainly seems so.¡± It felt as if they were in a dream, but how was that even possible?

    ¡°Stop thinking about it.¡± Wang Jun was not surprised in the slightest. He patted Ying Qi on the shoulder. ¡°Both of my uncle¡¯s legs almost got amputated at the hospital. It was Miss Gu who treated him. Lo and behold, he can even run now!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Ying Xu stubbed his cigarette. It was quite apparent that Gu Xiqiao was brought in by Wang Jun.

    However, Wang Jun didn¡¯t dare to take credit for it. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. If she¡¯s not willing, I can¡¯t do anything about it.¡±

    Ying Xu nodded. He looked down at his subordinate lying on the bed. There were so many signs that he was starting to recover. After lingering there for a short while, he decided to leave the hospital. Finally, he answered the call which had been bugging him up until this point. ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, good...¡±

    ***

    With Ying Xu¡¯s help, Yi Tong managed to locate the little vige where the problem was supposedly reported.

    A squad walking in a single-file stood atop the hill. They looked down at the vige that was in the middle of constructing a massive theme park. They were stunned. ¡°Why on Earth is there such a professional-looking theme park in this ce?!¡± Not only that, there were concrete and asphalt roads leading into the vige from every direction! Hell, the roads even appear to be in better shape than in N City!

    On paper, this was a vige. But how the hell was this not a bloody resort town?!

    Yi Tong set down hispass. For the past three days, the needle had been spinning around turbulently in every direction. The solemn expression on his face turned into one of amazement and bafflement. ¡°No way, have we arrivedte?¡±

    His men had epted this mission via the Ancient Martial Arts World Forum. After spending three days and three nights searching, they had finally gotten their much-needed information. They had not even started their operation when the problem was already solved by some mysterious individual. Just who was this person? How rare it must be for someone to be able to clean up the mission so effortlessly.

    Was his speed fast enough? Should he attack in this manner?

    Jiu Tong had no answers. He squinted his eyes, which picked up a familiar figure in the distance.

    A momentter, Jiu Tong tapped on Yi Tong¡¯s shoulder. Pointing towards a seemingly random direction, he said, ¡°Yi Tong, take a look at that.¡±

    ***

    At the bottom of a mountain located at the southern end of China.

    Jiang Shuxuan was looking down at the Bagua diagram intently.

    ¡°Big Boss! Yi Tong¡¯s here to meet you!¡± Yi Bing suppressed his smile as he passed the phone over to Jiang Shuxuan.

    Junyi¡¯s eyebrows were slightly raised. Jiang Shuxuan reached out and took the phone. The first thing he saw was Yi Tong¡¯s face with tears rolling down his cheeks. ¡°Big Boss! You knew that Gu Xiqiao was here and yet you sent me here to get humiliated! Do you think this is funny or something?!¡±

 Chapter 245 - Patching Up The Formation

    Chapter 245: Patching Up The Formation

    When he heard those words, Jiang Shuxuan was taken aback. The corner of his lips turned downwards, though it was gone as soon as it appeared.

    In regards to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s whereabouts, he only pinpointed that she was in N City, but he didn¡¯t know what she was up to. However, he didn¡¯t have any intention of telling that to Yi Tong. Seeing that Yi Tong didn¡¯t have anything else to report, he raised his hand to hang up the call, looking unusually calm.

    ¡°Hey, Boss! Wait a minute!¡± Yi Tong realized that Jiang Shuxuan was going to hang up for real, and he immediately collected himself. ¡°Miss Cecily and Mr. Ying are gone.¡±

    ¡°Gone?¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingers halted, and his brows furrowed.

    Yi Tong was slightly concerned as he continued, ¡°We made an appointment to meet here, but I haven¡¯t seen a hair of them until now.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, indicating that he understood, and hung up the video call.

    Yi Bing hurried stepped forward to show him a message that he just received. ¡°Boss, Miss Cecily has just sent a message asking for help. The signal isn¡¯t strong, but we can probably pinpoint a location.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan gave a nce at it, and said lightly, ¡°Send it to Yi Tong.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to save her?¡± Yi Bing asked, his eyes wide.

    ¡°No.¡± Jiang Shuxun lowered his eyes, looking away and heading towards the top of the mountain.

    Yi Bing almost choked on his saliva over the shock, and he mulled over Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words for a while, trying to decipher whether there was any hidden meaning behind it. Finally, he sent the coordinates to Yi Tong, and added: Yi Tong, don¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t remind you. If you get into trouble, go and find Miss Gu!

    After receiving the coordinates from Yi Bing, he waved his hand in a wide arc, signaling to the big group that he was leading to head deeper into the mountain.

    ¡°Yi Tong, we¡¯re not going to greet Miss Gu?¡± Jiu Tong said as he turned to look at the thin, slender figure.

    Yi Tong didn¡¯t reply, nor did he turn back. He fiddled a little with thepass in hand after about ten steps, before he replied, ¡°No need, she knows we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°She does?¡± Jiu Tong couldn¡¯t help but turn his head again. ¡°She seems to be concentrated on painting, and doesn¡¯t seem like she noticed her surroundings, or us.¡±

    ¡°Are you nuts?¡± Yi Tong nced at Jiu Tong, looking at him like he was the dumbest idiot in the world. ¡°Miss Gu has such powerful mental strength, everything within ten miles of her wouldn¡¯t escape her, and you still think she uses only her eyes to see us? Do you think she¡¯s weak like a chicken, like you?¡±

    Jiu Tong was silent after that, recalling how the cave had disappeared into thin air the other day. He shook his head, wiping the expression off his face, no longer feeling any doubt at Yi Tong¡¯s words.

    Three minutester, he finally realized what the other had said about him. ¡°... Are you trying to pick a fight with me, Yi Tong!¡±

    Yi Tong: ... Thisplete idiot!

    ***

    ¡°Sister Gu, those people are weird. They keep turning to look at you.¡± Shi Tou sat beside Jiji, staring hard at it while he spoke.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, looking at him. ¡°Those people?¡±

    Shi Tou pointed to Yi Tong and the others who were leaving. ¡°Those.¡±

    ¡°How can you see them?¡± Gu Xiqiao was surprised, Yi Tong and the others were at least two kilometers away from where they were seated, how could Shi Tou see them? Was his eyesight so great?

    Shi Tou said slowly, ¡°Jiji showed me.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, seeing Jiji raise its mechanical hand, a disy on its palm. This had been specially installed by Gu Xiqiao, and you could see the group of people leaving on the screen, being led by Yi Tong, as well as Jiu Tong, who kept turning to look back at Gu Xiqiao who was drawing.

    Hearing Shi Tou¡¯s words, Jiji red with its mechanical eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t call me Jiji, call me Master System.¡±

    Shi Tou: ¡°Understood, Jiji.¡±

    At this time, a middle-aged man holding a basket of vegetables saw them, and greeted, ¡°Good morning, Miss Gu, Shi Tou, Master Jiji. Miss Gu, Manager Liu is looking everywhere for you.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°... !¡± I said don¡¯t call me Jiji!

    Jiji, who had been happily ying with Shi Tou suddenly stopped, turning to Gu Xiqiao and said, ¡°Beauty Qiao, someone has touched your formation.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao packed away her drawing things, and got up to head into the vige. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, let¡¯s go find Manager Liu.¡±

    ***

    At the same time, Yi Tong had already reached the coordinates that he had received from Yi Bing. However, all he could see were trees in the deep mountain, and no sight of a single person.

    ¡°It should be here, ording to this. Why is there no fluctuation of chi or anything?¡± He fiddled with thepass again, walking a circle, but there weren¡¯t any clues to be found.

    ¡°Could it be that there¡¯s an array?¡± Jiu Tong said. ¡°San Tong, you¡¯ve researched this matter, go and see if there¡¯s anything that¡¯s unusual around here!¡±

    San Tong stared at the vast mountain forest ahead of them. After a long while, he reached out to pick up a stone from the ground, and threw it in a direction. The stone disappeared out of thin air, and his expression was surprised. ¡°There¡¯s an array here, for sure. But there¡¯s no trace of it at all, and I¡¯ve never seen this happen before!¡±

    In regards to formations masters in the ancient martial arts world, the Baili family would definitely take the top spot. However, no matter how formidable they were, their formations still had traces that could be spotted, which can be seen through fluctuations of energies. He had never seen this kind of formation, where no fluctuation could be felt nor seen, as though it had beenpletely hidden!

    If it was any other time, he would be enthusiastic and spend a lot of time studying it, however he had to resist the urge due to the situation on hand.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask Young Master Baili about it.¡± San Tong said, picking up hismunicator to contact said person.

    Baili Bin was a recognized formation genius in the ancient martial arts world, and San Tong admired him greatly.

    Yi Tong saw San Tong¡¯s solemn state, and knew that things weren¡¯t that simple. Their small team had been established for so many years, and this was the first time he had seen such a look on San Tong¡¯s face.

    Baili Bin¡¯s voice came through soon enough, and San Tong briefed him on the happenings.

    ¡°This formationposes of nine different formations linked together in a chain, each of them connected to the next one.¡± Baili Bin¡¯s voice was grave. ¡°I¡¯ve read about it before in an ancient text, regarding how to hide all traces of a formation. This method is recorded in the ancient texts, and I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s a formation left behind by an ancient warrior. Don¡¯t do anything rash, San Tong. Wait for me toe!¡±

    Yi Tong looked at the disappearing trees in front of them, and he muttered under his breath, ¡°... toote.¡±

    They had already fallen into the trap.

    The golden-haired Cecily was sitting on the ground, meditating. Her clothes and hair were in a mess, and when she saw Yi Tong, she got up immediately. Even though she had fallen into such a ce, there was no fear on her face at all. ¡°Was what Baili Bin said true?¡±

    At the same time, Ying Xu and the others who were sitting a little way off also stood. He stared at Yi Tong for a long while, before opening his mouth, ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, so you all have also fallen into the trap.¡±

    Among the people in the formation group, apart from Ying Xu, their clothes and state had seen better days.

    ¡°Not out of your expectations, Young Master Ying.¡± Yi Tong nodded his head, then looked down at themunicator that had lost its signal.

    ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, the othermunicators are useless in this ce.¡± Cecily stored over, her red skirt swaying in motion with her hips. She took out her ownmunicator, handing it to him. ¡°Only mine is able to contact the outside world, try and see if you¡¯re able to get hold of Young Master Jiang.¡±

    ¡°As expected, the technology of America is good.¡± A t-headed man beside Ying Xu remarked, looking at his ownpletely useless phone. ¡°Any sort ofmunication device is useless in this ce.¡±

    Yi Tong nced at themunicator in Cecily¡¯s hands, and he asked, ¡°Miss Cecily, thismunicator was given to you by the elder, right?¡±

    Cecily nodded. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°Jiu Tong, get yourmunicator out,¡± Yi Tong said with a matter of fact expression.

    Jiu Tong took out his treasuredmunicator and passed it to Yi Tong.

    After taking it in his hands, he immediately gave a call to Yi Bing. The call went through immediately, and not only that, it was a video call that wasn¡¯t affected in the slightest by the signal problem. ¡°Oh Yi Bing, we¡¯re all stuck in this d*mned ce now!¡±

    ¡°Boss said find your own way out.¡± Yi Bing said sympathetically, before hanging up the call.

    Cecily looked at themunicator in Yi Tong¡¯s hands. ¡°Yourmunicator is clearly better.¡±

    ¡°Of course, this is a product of Nine Heavens. Miss Cecily, the one in your hand is also one.¡± Yi Tong paused for a while, then continued, ¡°But the R&D department of Nine Heavens produced only twenty units before feeling that it wasn¡¯t worth their time, and went to continue their research on the virtual world instead. They stopped producing it after that.¡± He had never seen such apany before.

    Cecily: ¡°...¡±

    Ying Xu looked up in a direction suddenly, and said, ¡°It¡¯sing.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯sing?¡±

    ¡°A killing formation. This time it¡¯s even stronger,¡± Ying Xu said, a serious expression on his face. ¡°If we follow what Baili said, this is the ninth array since we came in, which is also thest. We might not make it through this.¡±

    As soon as he said it, the faces of his subordinates and Cecily changed. They had been in this d*mned ce for the entire night. The first formation had not affected them much, but there was a wave every two hours, and each one was more terrifying than the previous ones. If it wasn¡¯t for Ying Xu¡¯s guidance, they would have already been killed by the waves.

    ¡°Everyone, follow behind me!¡± Ying Xu suddenly shouted, retreating back quickly.

    Yi Tong and the others quickly followed his instruction, following behind him tightly. A sea of fire suddenly appeared in the center of the area with heat surging in the air.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get close to the fire! It¡¯s a beast fire!¡± Yi Tong had seen Xixi breathe fire before, and whatever it hit, whether it was mountains or rocks, instantly became soot. The fire he was seeing now was simr to Xixi¡¯s.

    A sea of fire, turbulent winds, and even spatial cracks followed one after another.

    Ying Xu looked at the space above the sea of fire that had the spatial crack, and it was still expanding. The aura it exuded felt as though it was swallowing them, and if anyone touched it, they would be shattered immediately!

    ¡°What do we do now, Mr. Ying?¡± Cecily and Yi Tong stood at his side, doing their best to hold back the heatwave.

    The protection treasures that everyone else carried were taken out and used, their life depending on it. If now wasn¡¯t the time to use it, then when would it be?

    ¡°Using heaven and earth as the medium, we can only... give up our life as sacrifice to the heavens,¡± Ying Xu said as he slowly approached the ever-expanding spatial crack.

    ***

    ¡°Miss Gu, the profit statements are all here. Do you want to have a look at it?¡± Manager Liu said respectfully, handing the report to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao took it, and just as she was halfway through it, she suddenly raised her head.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Miss Gu?¡± Manager Liu thought that something was wrong with the ounts, and he asked in a hurry.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I need to go out for a while, I¡¯ll be backter at night.¡± Gu Xiqiao walked to the bathroom after saying that. The moment the door closed, her entire person vanished.

    The next second, she appeared beside the spatial crack.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Ying Xu was holding a dagger, blood flowing down his arm. When he saw the person appear, his eyes widened with surprise.

    Yi Tong¡¯s eyes widened when he saw who it was. ¡°Miss Gu, hurry and dodge!¡± He was dead, he had cursed himself when he mentioned Miss Gu just now, and if something really did happen to her, Boss Jiang would definitely skin him and cut him to pieces! He¡¯d even raise him from the dead to do it if he didn¡¯t survive this!

    But in the next moment, he took a breath of relief.

    The person in the air stood calmly, her ck hair flowing down her back like a waterfall, and a cold glint in her eyes. She raised her hand, the white slender contrasting against the dark, ck cracks.

    The scorching heat came wave after wave, but it didn¡¯t seem to affect her at all.

    Yi Tong and his team felt like they would never forget this scene. That slender hand grabbed the crack in the space, and closed it up with her bare hands. The crack that seemed to shatter everything it touched had no effect on her.

    The method she used was simple and rough.

    ¡°Oh Yi Tong, I think I¡¯m still not awake,¡± Jiu Tong said, his voice low.

    Yi Tong took another deep breath. ¡°That was more powerful.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be stunned there, hurry and go.¡± Gu Xiqiao pointed in the direction of the door, her voice indifferent.

    San Tong tried, he really did try to hold it in, but in the end, he couldn¡¯t. ¡°Miss Gu, was this formation your work? If it is, it¡¯s extremely terrifying!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head.

    Hearing those words, San Tong breathed a sigh of relief. Before he could finish breathing though, Gu Xiqiao continued, ¡°This was an iplete formation left behind by an ancient warrior. I patched it up, and was using it to hold people in. I didn¡¯t expect you guys to enter this ce by mistake. Entering was one thing, but you didn¡¯t even manage to get out either.¡±

    There was a disappointed look on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face as she said this.

    San Tong suddenly halted in his steps, his hands trembling to the point that he couldn¡¯t get any words out of his mouth. What the flying f*ck, patching up an iplete formation was even more terrifying, okay?!

 Chapter 246 - She Blocked Me

    <h4>Chapter 246: She Blocked Me</h4>

    No one here knew more about formations than San Tong, and it was why he was also the most aware of how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was.

    A formation left behind by an ancient warrior, and she was able to ¡®patch it up¡¯? Was that even possible?! San Tong looked back to find that the formation had once again disappeared into thin air, and he shook his head, wiping the expression of his face. He sent a message to Yi Bing¡ª[Yi Bing, I don¡¯t want to live anymore!]

    Cecily also wiped the expression of her face, and she walked to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side, her blue eyes full of wonder. ¡°This miss, are you from the Baili family? I¡¯ve long heard of how their skills in formations are top notch and iparable, and it looks like it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°But I¡¯m acquainted with Big Brother Baili.¡±

    ¡°No wonder.¡± Cecily smiled brightly, and she stretched her hand out to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Nice to meet you, my name is Cecily. I¡¯m from America¡¯s supernatural world.¡±

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao.¡± Gu Xiqiao stretched out her left hand. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Which floor have you reached in the Trial Tower, Miss Gu?¡± Cecily asked suddenly. ¡°I heard that that little demon girl, Jiang Tong, has already reached the 62nd floor. You shouldn¡¯t be that far off from her, right?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled faintly. ¡°I¡¯m not from the ancient martial arts world. I only did some research on formations.¡±

    Cecily¡¯s eyes widenedically. ¡°Not from the ancient martial arts world?¡± The scene of Gu Xiqiao using her bare hands to close the spatial crack shed through her mind again as she said this.

    Excuse me?

    Gu Xiqiao was calm as she continued, ¡°I was the one who patched up the formation just now, Miss Cecily. That¡¯s the reason I was able to easily control it.¡±

    Hearing the exnation, Cecily nodded her head in stunned shock. ¡°Ah, I see.¡±

    San Tong watched as Gu Xiqiao lied through her teeth with a straight face, and the corners of his mouth twitched. He sympathized with Cecily. Gu Xiqiao was never one to pull punches when it came to cheating. She had a pure and serious appearance, one that made it hard for people to doubt her words.

    ¡°Thank you again, Mr. Ying.¡± Cecily turned to him. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect a regr person like yourself to be able to see through the formation. As expected, China sure is full of talented people.¡±

    Ying Xu nced at Gu Xiqiao, who was still standing behind, and he smiled. ¡°I also know Baili.¡±

    Cecily: ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Where do you live, Miss Gu?¡± Yi Tong was tinkering with hispass again. ¡°We¡¯re going to be here a while, is there a bigger ce to live in?¡±

    ¡°How long will you be staying?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked.

    Yi Tong thought about it for a few seconds, and replied, ¡°Not more than a week.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao blinked, and thought a while. ¡°It¡¯s about there then. Jiji, bring Mr. Yi Tong to meet Manager Liu.¡±

    It¡¯s about there? What¡¯s about there? Yi Tong was confused, and then he was startled out of it by the sound of a mechanical voice.

    ¡°Alright, Beauty Gu.¡± A robot appeared in front of them suddenly. ¡°Pleasee this way.¡±

    ¡°A robot?¡± The t headed youth beside Ying Xu jumped in surprised.

    There was aplicated look on Yi Tong¡¯s face as he followed behind the robot, why did Miss Gu have so many weird things at her side?

    Cecily just looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure thoughtfully, she could feel the respect that Yi Tong and the rest gave Gu Xiqiao. It seemed that they... really listened to her every word?

    It could be her overthinking it, right? Yi Tong and the rest only listened to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s orders after all.

    Cecily¡¯s brows furrowed slightly, but she was quickly pulled out of her thoughts by the scenery around her.

    Jiji was taking the lead, and it suddenly seemed like it remembered something. It opened the steel lid on its chest, taking out a small white bottle and throwing it to Ying Xu. ¡°Beauty Gu asked me to give this to you as the wound on your hand is deep. If you treat it now, it will affect the mobility of your hand.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Ying Xu took a while to react as he nced at his wrist that had been hastily bandaged.

    He never imagined that Gu Xiqiao would pay much concern to his hand.

    Hearing Jiji¡¯s words, Yi Tong also looked at Ying Xu¡¯s hand. ¡°Young Master Ying, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Ying Xu grasped the bottle in his hand, lowering his head.

    ¡°With Miss Gu around, everything will be fine!¡± One of Ying Xu¡¯s subordinates said. They had all seen Gu Xiqiao¡¯s superb medical skills before.

    Yi Tong: ... you guys really believe that scam?

    Everyone followed Jiji to the vige, and they were surprised as they walked. The roads in the vige were well developed, with carsing and going. Every house in the vige were three-story bungalows, and the nearby mountains had been designed to be tourist spots.

    How could this be a remote vige, it was clearly even fancier than those cities!

    ***

    In Manager Liu¡¯s office, Jiji knocked on the door before going in. ¡°Manager Liu, these people need a ce to stay.¡±

    ¡°Hello, pleasee in.¡± Manager Liu put down the papers in hand, and then took a stack of documents, handing them to Jiji. ¡°Master Jiji, these are thepany¡¯s previous quarter earnings. Miss Gu didn¡¯t manage to finish reading them.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I understand.¡± Jiji took the documents, and turned around to leave, but Manager Liu called it.

    Manager Liu adjusted his sses. ¡°Master Jiji, Mr. Yu Ning called just now. He asked for Miss Gu to remove him from her cklist, he has important things to tell her.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°... I¡¯ll try.¡±

    Hearing the conversation between man and robot, the corner of the mouth of the people present couldn¡¯t help but twitch slightly. Yi Tong took the initiative to strike up the conversation again, ¡°Manager Liu, what is your rtionship with Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Boss-subordinate.¡± Manager Liu said, smiling brightly.

    As expected! Yi Tong face palmed internally, he knew it!

    Cecily was also shocked. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect such a young person like Miss Gu to have such a bigpany.¡± But she was only shocked for a while. It was just a business in the regr world after all, she wasn¡¯t interested in it at all.

    Yi Tong nced at her, silently thinking in his heart, ¡®This doesn¡¯t even count as anything. If you knew that the entire Nine Heavens belong to her, you¡¯d go nuts!¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t peak season for tourists, but there were still a lot of people who came here for their vacations. There were also a lot of foreigners who came here especially for the ce.

    Ying Xu stood in front of the entrance, looking at the bold, striking characters above it ¡°Shan Sui Xiao Zhu¡±.

    The strokes were sharp, and the words were slightly nted. It reminded him of a dragon flying into the sky,ing from nothingness and returning to the void. Under the noon sun, it was brilliantly radiant.

    ¡°This was written by Miss Gu the day before yesterday,¡± Manager Liu exined when he saw Ying Xu looking up. ¡°She said that thepany name doesn¡¯t match our temperament here, and so she wrote these words. I immediately got someone to make it into a te and hang it up yesterday.¡±

    Ying Xu stared at it for a long time, before finally saying, ¡°Good words.¡±

    ¡°That it is, and the calligraphy is well written.¡± Cecily didn¡¯t understand the Chinese characters, but she could feel the confidence and willfulness radiating from the words.

    The group of people followed Manager Liu all the way inside. Ying Xu looked at the wound on his wrist that had begun to scab over. He didn¡¯t remove the bandage, but followed after the others after looking at it for a while.

    ***

    At this time, Gu Xiqiao was sitting with Shi Tou at the side of the river, fishing.

    Baixing Vige has turnedpletely into arge scale tourist fishing vige. There were a lot of people fishing by the riverside, and Gu Xiqiao was even earnestly wearing a fishing hat on her head.

    Shi Tou held the game console that Gu Xiqiao had gotten for him out to her. ¡°Sister Little Gu, I can¡¯t pass this stage.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was leaning back on the chair, and she didn¡¯t raise her head at his words. ¡°Ask Jiji to teach you.¡±

    ¡°But Jiji isn¡¯t here.¡± As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jiji suddenly popped out of nowhere.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, Yu Ning is looking for you.¡± Jiji took the game console from Shi Tou¡¯s hands, and passed the level with the speed of a robot. Shi Tou¡¯s eyes lit up with worship and admiration at that. ¡°Zhu Yuan is also looking for you. Professor Jiang even gave Master Jiang a call.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Why did he call Brother Jiang? And then she realized that in the column of the form for ¡®parents¡¯, she had filled in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s name. ‡å

    Jiji nced at her. ¡°Give Zhu Yuan a call if you¡¯re free, he¡¯s going crazy.¡±

    ¡°I hold long grudges.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, straightening up.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Zhu Yuan, I tried! Can¡¯t help you anymore!

    Gu Xiqiao rxed in Baixing Vige,pletely ignoring the happenings of the outside world, which was blowing up.

    ***

    The international medical exchange that was held once every five years had begun, and people from the international medical organizations would take out their best research to participate in this meeting. This is an opportunity to learn and experience, and it was also an opportunity for the countries to showcase their medical skills. It was also a time where people took the chance to try to be famous and well known.

    For example, Zhu Yuan. He became well known when he was in his junior year five years ago.

    The recent medical breakthrough by China was too big, especially since they had also a newb done for this, which made people of the International Medical Research Association jealous. They had all thought that China would definitely send someone with talent to attend.

    They didn¡¯t expect that not a single from China was present.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯re afraid after seeing how good our research and brains are,¡± The president of the International Medical Organization said, a rxed smile on his face. The young girl that recently appeared had backed them all into a tight corner, and they were only able to breathe easy at this moment, ¡°We¡¯ve got research done by dozens of the top international doctors, how can one person bepared to all of this?¡±

    ¡°What you said it true, president¡±

    ¡°After today, those that went to China¡¯s medicalbs will regret it, the technology that we have is way more advanced than theirs.¡± The other nodded in agreement to these words.

    These people were chatting easily with each other, and not a whileter, they all received a message.

    The City Court of N City had just released an announcement, a video, as usual, together with amentary.

    The exnations in thementary were full of jargons, and it was all in Chinese. Even Chinese people had a hard time understanding it.

    However, the cases mentioned in the video were all understood by the people in the international medical organization. It was regarding the research on humans in vegetative state, and every viewpoint was new and novel. The research on it was unprecedented in the entire medical history.

    The idea was bold and forward, the exnation in writing was detailed without the slightest hint of omission of the research, as though they weren¡¯t afraid that someone could steal the fruits of this research.

    At the end of the news announcement, they said, ¡°Miss Gu is right, medicine exists to save those who are on the verge of suffering. There are so many people in the world, and what we can do, is to research from every possible angle to help release people from the sea of suffering.¡±

    The president of the International Medical Organization looked at the research. He had initially thought that the research of him and the dozen of top international doctors that they had done with countless sleepless nights were already shocking enough, he didn¡¯t expect that China would so easily throw out another research that would make all their own research topic look like nothing.

    ¡°This... how long has it been?¡± A doctor from Ennd was also in a state of shock.

    ¡°This time, China...¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t these people belong to America?¡±

    After the cell fusion matter, they had thought that no matter how much of a genius Gu Xiqiao was, she wouldn¡¯t be able to create another shocking wave. Unexpectedly, the wave came one after another.

    The doctors all looked at the trantion of the results of the research, all of them in various different states of shock. If it was just the cell fusion research, just one, they could have epted it. But this had only been a few months since then, right? Also, the research that the China Medical Laboratory kept pulling out was more and more impossible toprehend. This is already beyond the entire world¡¯s medical level, right?!

    Many of the doctors were silent in the exchange meeting, the main reason being that this matter had far surpassed their imagination, and was borderline horrifying in their minds. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s performance was just too terrifying, was it even possible for a person¡¯s intelligence to reach this stage?

    Oh my god!

    ¡°President, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    ¡°President, I will abstain from the exchange this time...¡±

    The president waved his hand, letting all of them leave. He then looked at the assistant beside him, and took a deep breath before saying, ¡°This Gu Xiqiao... the wave that Zhu Yuan had made thest time wasn¡¯t this shocking either, was it?¡± He was already at a loss for words. ¡°Go and buy me a flight ticket to China, the earlier the better.¡±

    This was more terrifying than that d*mned Zhu Yuan.

    The news announced by China spread like wildfire to every person in the medical field, and at the same time, countless top, well-renowned doctors were making their way to the Imperial Capital in a rush.

    ***

    At A University, Zhu Yuan looked up nkly. ¡°She blocked me.¡±

    ¡°What did you do to her this time?¡± Professor Jiang stomped his feet anxiously. ¡°She even sent me a text the other day, saying that she wants to change her major!¡±

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°...¡± Motherf*cker this Gu Xiqiao, throwing him into an early grave like this?!

 Chapter 247 - Hacked

    <h4>Chapter 247: Hacked</h4>

    Zhu Yuan knew that Gu Xiqiao had Nine Heavens to manage, and how important Nine Heavens¡¯ position in the financial world was at the moment. She could throw the Chinese Medical Research Laboratory to one side, but she couldn¡¯t not bother about the Nine Heavens, right?

    So when he was able to locate Nine Heaven¡¯s headquarters, he was stunned by what he found. The employees in thepany were all active and enthusiastic at their work, theplete opposite of thatzy attitude of hers, and they were extremely passionate about their work.

    When he understood the reason for Zhu Yuan¡¯s presence, Luo Wengughed. ¡°Miss Gu probably found something new to y with, you¡¯re better off just leaving her alone and waiting for her to find you instead.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t manage Nine Heavens personally... She doesn¡¯t care?¡± Zhu Yuan asked, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that she doesn¡¯t care, she delegates,¡± Luo Weng exined, going silent for a while after he said that. He continued earnestly, ¡°I know about the Chinese Medical Research Lab, but Mr. Zhu, ab isn¡¯t made and supported by just a single person. I think Miss Gu¡¯s actions are a way to show that she hopes that even without her in theb, it will be able to function on its own, just the same as Nine Heavens.¡±

    Zhu Yuan was taken aback for a moment, and came to realize that he had indeed been relying on Gu Xiqiao a lot in the recent days. Because no matter what problems they encountered, she would always be able to solve it easily and perfectly. It came to a point that he, Professor Jiang and the others had the habit of relying on her to solve their problems.

    ¡°I understand.¡± Zhu Yuan stood up. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Luo.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu isn¡¯t an irresponsible person, but she¡¯s just afraid of troublesome things.¡± Luo Weng said, gesturing to the news that was on screen. ¡°There are countless people in the medical world, as well as reporters looking for her, can you me her for wanting to hide?¡±

    The secretary knocked on the door, bringing in arge stack of documents, which Luo Weng passed to Zhu Yuan. ¡°These are the things that Miss Gu passed me this afternoon. I actually didn¡¯t understand why she would, until you turned up.¡±

    Zhu Yuan took it, and read through the first one on top. It was a n written by Gu Xiqiao regarding the next development of theboratory. He opened his mouth, asking nkly, ¡°Why... why didn¡¯t she just send it directly to me?¡± Also, how did she know that he woulde looking for Luo Weng?

    ¡°Have you angered her recently?¡± Luo Weng nced at him, an understanding smile on his lips.

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°...¡±

    ***

    Yi Tong walked around the resort, and asked, ¡°Manager Liu, have there been any strange people appearing recently?¡±

    ¡°Strange people?¡± Manager Liu¡¯s face was still his usual, only his eyes flickered with an unknown emotion, and he said, ¡°Yes, there were. However, all of them have been rounded up by Miss Gu.¡± He tried to calm his heart which was beating fast in his chest.

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Yi Tong asked, looking up in surprise. However, Manager Liu refused to say anything more on the subject.

    ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, the rooms you¡¯ll be staying in are in this building¡± Manager Liu smiled, pointing to the building in front of him. ¡°There are a lot of fun things to do on the rooftop, I wish you a pleasant stay.¡±

    After an entire day of trying to pull some information out, Yi Tong¡¯s mind was in a mess. Why were all the people here so sly and cunning!

    ¡°Yi Tong,¡± Cecily fiddled with her seaweed-like hair as she slowly walked towards him, a glint of interest in her eyes. ¡°I found an interesting ce.¡±

    The interesting ce that Cecily was talking about was a t mountain by the creek. The ground was t, and a group of young men were training. There were also a few girls among them.

    ¡°This is...¡± Yi Tong was stunned.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, when they¡¯re training, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth are also moving.¡± Cecily sighed in slight admiration. ¡°This must be an extremely powerful technique. I don¡¯t know where they learned1 it from, but your ancient martial arts world has really opened my eyes.¡±

    Yi Tong was speechless, his eyes still on those people who were training, unblinking.

    ¡°Yi Tong, captain!¡± Jiu Tong called out from somewhere not too far off from the mountain. ¡°I found that group of people!¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Yi Tong snapped back immediately. He had thought that Gu Xiqiao would have done away with them already, but he didn¡¯t expect Jiu Tong to be able to locate those thugs.

    Cecily¡¯s expression also changed. ¡°There are too many civilians nearby, let¡¯s evacuate them to avoid any casualties.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just behind the hill.¡± Jiu Tong pointed at the hill behind them. ¡°Look.¡±

    Cecily and Yi Tong rushed over, and at a nce, they were able to see the people that Jiu Tong had mentioned. Ten fierce and malicious men were there, but the difference between the ones that they had previously seen were the obviously evil spirits that radiated heavily from them, sending a stab of fear into anyone who looked at them.

    ¡°They¡¯re trapped in a formation.¡± San Tong said,ing from the side. He walked around the group of people.

    No wonder thepass didn¡¯t react even though something had happened here, it turned out that they had been trapped here.

    How could Yi Tong and the others not know the handiwork of Gu Xiqiao when they saw it? ¡°What is she nning to do?¡±

    ¡°Look at that.¡± Jiu Tong didn¡¯t answer, pointing in another direction.

    The group of people who had been training were lining up, and walking towards the area. When they saw Yi Tong and the others, they didn¡¯t look surprised, but instead headed towards the formation.

    Cecily¡¯s face was grave as she stopped the woman leading them. ¡°Don¡¯t go over there, it¡¯s dangerous!¡±

    The womanughed lightly at Cecily, and said, ¡°We have a chance at it.¡±

    ¡°You have a chance?!¡± Cecily grabbed the woman¡¯s shoulder, saying slowly to emphasize on her words, ¡°What kind of chances do you have? Those people are irrational cannibals, you will lose your life at this rate!¡±

    ¡°Miss Cecily.¡± Yi Tong finally reacted, pulling Cecily away as he shook his head.

    This attitude of his made Cecily feel even more astonished, and she hurriedly said, ¡°Yi Tong, you¡¯ve encountered these people before, how can you...¡±

    Yi Tong looked at the figure that was walking slowly towards them. ¡°Miss Gu is here.¡±

    Cecily obviously had also seen the mentioned person, and she was walking towards therge open space with a rxed expression on her face. The group of malicious people were standing opposite her.

    The group of people who had been training were standing behind her, and shouted in unison, ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked at them, nodding her head. ¡°This is the first actualbat experience. Because of geographical problems, I can only find you these people to train with. You will be the second Peace Squad team, I hope that you can grow stronger, strong enough to protect people a hundred miles away.¡±

    Although her tone was indifferent, it constrained a heart-pounding fighting spirit. The words spread to everyone¡¯s ears, and their spirits were high as they became even more eager to try out a real fight.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother talking any more than necessary, and she raised her hand, breaking the formation. The ten dangerous men burst out immediately.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, kicking one of them to the people behind her. At the same time, the other nine were firmly held in the same ce they were standing.

    She was a picture of a terrifying demon, a palm on the evil man closest to her, while her other had purple lightning crackling, throwing the other thug who had approached the Peace Squad down heavily to the ground.

    She looked like she was having a leisurely walk in the park, wandering among the nine men. The mobs that even Yi Tong had problems handling were like ythings in her hands.

    As she yed around with the nine men, she watched the team of people, seeing that they had adapted to their previous inability to subdue the man from beginning to now. It looked like her two day training had worked, these people were already working seamlessly as a team.

    When they lookedfortable dealing with the man, Gu Xiqiao let loose another bolt of lightning at the right time.

    Yi Tong and his people watched as this group of people scrambled for what to do in the beginning when dealing with one thug, to work seamlessly at dealing five of the thugs at the same time. The difference between this only took about half an hour.

    ¡°Yi Tong, I finally know why the Peace Squad is crazy.¡± Jiu Tong was staring at the scene, a nk look on his face. ¡°Really, I suddenly feel an unexinable jealousy towards them!¡±

    Miss Gu had taught them wholeheartedly, putting all her effort in it, and coupled together with some top level exercises and techniques, even an ordinary person could be a master.

    Yi Tong had recovered from his shock, nodding slowly at Jiu Tong¡¯s words. He obviously agreed with the other¡¯s statement.

    Being able to provoke the many elders from the ancient martial arts world, this Peace Squad really was abnormal!

    ¡°This is Miss Gu?¡± Cecily was also in stunned shock, unconsciously holding her breath as she watched anxiously. She finally remembered to breathe, letting out a long breath. ¡°Why didn¡¯t we see any sign of her in the ranking battles three years ago?¡±

    Cecily was asking herself. She could beat these ten men by herself, but she could never do it as easy as Gu Xiqiao made it seem, which was just like ying.

    She had thought the only obstacle she would have was Jiang Tong, but she never imagined that she would meet this mysterious girl, and she couldn¡¯t even gauge the extent of power of the girl in front of her.

    One hourter, the group of people had already faced down all ten of the men, and had even beaten them down to the ground.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    The sounds just kept ringing out.

    Yi Tong¡¯s teeth were hurting from all the sound they were hearing. F*ck, that¡¯s also a little too much, right?!

    Once she felt it was enough, Gu Xiqiao raised her hand. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s the end of today¡¯s training. Go back and rest.¡±

    The team kicked the thugs onest time before bidding Gu Xiqiao farewell, turning to walk towards the resort as they chatted among each other.

    At their backs, Yi Tong and the others were staring at them with admiration, envy, as well as hatred in their eyes. Their gaze was so intense that it looked like they were trying to burn a hole in their backs. Jiu Tong gritted their teeth as they muttered, ¡®Those lucky b*stards...¡±

    Jiu Tong¡¯s voice was soft, but thest person in the squad had heard it. When they did, the person turned around, shing Jiu Tong a sh*t eating grin.

    With such a proud look on his face, Jiu Tong was about to go nuts with anger and envy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be rash, you won¡¯t be able to beat them.¡± Yi Tong moved forward to stop him immediately.

    Jiu Tong: ¡°...¡± Although what you say is a fact, can you not be so straightforward and honest?

    San Tong suddenly asked, ¡°Why did we evene here again?¡±

    They had obviouslye here to save the regr people who were suffering, but they had done nothing, and the matter was already resolved?

    Yi Tong took apass out from hispass and fiddled with it. ¡°Looking for something.¡± He turned and stared in another direction. ¡°In that direction, there¡¯s a malicious auraing from there. Manager Liu said that¡¯s the direction of Miss Gu¡¯s house. We¡¯ll check it out tomorrow.¡±

    Jiu Tong nodded his head. ¡°Then we should hurry, I¡¯m afraid that if we wait till tomorrow, the aura will be gone.¡±

    The impression that Gu Xiqiao had left on them was too great.

    When they heard Jiu Tong¡¯s words, Yi Tong had wanted tough at it, but it was stuck in his throat. With Miss Gu¡¯s attitude, it wasn¡¯t impossible for that to happen.

    Gu Xiqiao waved to Yi Tong and his team, and then she walked away at a rxed pace. Her long hair shimmered like most, and she had an indifferent expression on her face. Her eyes were lowered, as though she didn¡¯t feel that she had done anything extraordinary that was shocking to people.

    Yi Tong and Jiu Tong were already well aware of her skills earlier on, and they were already used to the shocks that she gave them everytime. They watched Gu Xiqiao leave the area, and were silent for a while before they turned to return to the resort too. He was going to have a cry at Yi Bing and the rest of them.

    Cecily stood rooted to the ground, thinking. After a while, she pulled out her phone and made an international call.

    The pair of blue eyes narrowed. ¡°Help me investigate someone.¡±

    Only Jiang Tong had been able to stand on par with her in the ancient martial arts world, but now it seemed that she had another opponent to worry about. ¡°Gu Xiqiao, I¡¯m really looking forward to it. I wonder between her and Jiang Tong, who is stronger?¡±

    Cecily¡¯s eyes were full of anticipation and eagerness.

    ¡°Miss, there isn¡¯t anything on her.¡± The person on the other side said solemnly. ¡°This person¡¯s information ispletely encrypted, I think that the other party is an IT expert.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the top intelligence agency in the world?¡± Cecily frowned. ¡°You can¡¯t find anything at all?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The person the other side paused, and then their panicked voice came through, ¡°Miss, our database has been hacked!¡±

 Chapter 248 - This Was Extremely Okay!

    <h4>Chapter 248: This Was Extremely Okay!</h4>

    The intelligence bureau of the United States was top of the world. As long as you had the money, there was nothing they couldn¡¯t find for you. However, their defenses had suddenly been breached, and countless information was leaked out.

    Even those technicians in the bureau were unable to fix the holes that had appeared in their system, and news of this got out.

    In just a moment, the entire supernatural world was thrown into a panic.

    ***

    ¡°I¡¯ve hacked into America¡¯s Intelligence Bureau, Beauty Qiao.¡± Jiji sat on the stone bench, both its hands on theptop. As an artificial intelligence, Jiji could break through the firewalls with just a single thought. However, it chose to do it like a human, both hands typing away on the keyboard, its fingers dancing on the keyboard without stopping.

    Numerous data and numbers continued to sh on the screen, and Shi Tou didn¡¯t understand any of it. But he knew that this was some high level stuff, and he was surprised. ¡°Jiji, you¡¯re awesome!¡±

    If Jiji¡¯s face could show expressions, there would be a proud look on its face right now. ¡°It¡¯s just a small thing.¡±

    Having said that, it turned to Gu Xiqiao and made a serious suggestion. ¡°Beauty, next time give me a face that can express what I¡¯m feeling. This mechanical face doesn¡¯t match my temperament at all!¡±

    ¡°Most people don¡¯t have this thing called temperament.¡± Gu Xiqiao flipped through the documents leisurely.

    Jiji was not letting go of this just like that. ¡°Am I most people?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao turned another page, calmly replying, ¡°Are you human?¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡±

    Shi Tou looked at Jiji in sympathy. ¡°Don¡¯t be sad about it.¡± Then thinking of something, he continued, ¡°Papa loves you.¡±

    Jiji. ¡°...¡± Thanks, papa.

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t show up, and Yi Tong paced in front of the courtyard for a long time, not daring to enter.

    Jiu Tong and Cecily had gone up the mountain to check out the scenery, and when they came back, it was to Yi Tong still pacing outside. ¡°Yi Tong, you really missed out on it. Let me tell you, this ce is really fun! Really, I don¡¯t know how the designers came up with such a great money-making method!¡±

    Yi Tong raised his head, and found that Ying Xu was also with them. ¡°Young Master Ying, you also went with them?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Ying Xu nodded, a smile appearing on his rough face. ¡°It really isn¡¯t bad, this ce.¡±

    ¡°Not bad at all. Why don¡¯t I see a lot of people there?¡± Yi Tong asked, looking at the minimal crowd, feeling slightly confused.

    ¡°That¡¯s the best part!¡± Jiu Tong said, shifting his attention away from his phone in hand. ¡°The tickets are limited every day, and the manager told me that they¡¯re fully reserved all the way into next month.¡±

    Yi Tong was shocked. ¡°It¡¯s that popr?¡±

    ¡°And I heard that everything here was designed and nned by Miss Gu, I really don¡¯t know how her mind works!¡± When Jiu Tong thought about her, he couldn¡¯t help the whistle from his mouth. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s not talk about that. The guide just now told me that the best part of tonight is the zing Light Feast. We have to hurry and take a look!¡±

    zing Light Feast?

    What the heck was that?

    They just hadn¡¯t seen each other for a day, and Yi Tong already felt like there was a generation gap between Jiu Tong and the others.

    Cecily looked at Jiu Tong, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. She shook her head as sheughed. ¡°Jiu Tong, you believe that?¡±

    Cecily felt like everyone here was talking and singing praises about Gu Xiqiao to the point that she was a myth, anyone who mentioned her were sure to get excited. Although she hadn¡¯t learnt anything about this, she was aware that designing a tourist spot was not that simple. Especially such a big tourist base like this, it at least needed an entire workshop, right?

    However, thinking of the technique that Gu Xiqiao had disyed in the evening, she had the urge to spar with the girl.

    ¡°Miss Cecily, I don¡¯t think there is anyone else other than her who would be able to think of such a silly but perfect thing,¡± Jiu Tong said, a wide grin on his face.

    His tone clearly indicated the amount of trust he had in the girl.

    This simply didn¡¯t fit the proud and arrogant attitude of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s subordinates, and Cecily looked thoughtful as Jiu Tong left the area.

    She turned around to ask Yi Tong. ¡°Do you know Miss Gu from before this?¡±

    Yi Tong paused, and answered, ¡°Miss Gu is acquainted with Young Master Baili.¡±

    Once she heard the name, she didn¡¯t bother asking anymore.

    ¡°Mr. Ying, are you going?¡± She asked Ying Xu, who was standing beside her.

    Ying Xu had a tall and imposing figure, his facial features were defined and sharp. Even though he was fully clothed, you could practically feel the muscles through it. He was like a male model in a magazine, and it was also the type that Cecily appreciated. His family should also be a powerful one in China, it was a pity that he wasn¡¯t from the ancient martial arts world, which made him too weak for her.

    A hint of regret shed across his face.

    ¡°No, my wrist is injured.¡± Ying Xu frowned, then he turned around to leave.

    Cecily wasn¡¯t bothered about his coldness and indifference, and she flipped her hair back. She continued to talk to Yi Tong after the other man had left. ¡°What have you found today, Yi Tong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. I don¡¯t dare to go in.¡± Looking at the yard silently, Yi Tong shook his head. He didn¡¯t dare to take a single step into the ce.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you open the door then!¡± Cecily was a short tempered person, but she tried her best to control it while she was in China, for fear that she would be driven away by Jiang Shuxuan. However, the said man was nowhere near this god forsaken ce, and she couldn¡¯t hold it back anymore, moving as though she wanted to break the entrance door.

    ¡°Hey, be more careful about it, MIss Cecily!¡± Yi Tong said in shock. If it were any other ce he wouldn¡¯t care, but this was Miss Gu¡¯s residence!

    Even if Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t turn him into a meatloaf, Jiang Shuxuan definitely would do it once he heard about it. Yi Tong shivered when he thought about it, and put in more effort to stop Cecily.

    As a capable officer under Jiang Shuxuan, as well as the head of the Tong group, his strength was greater than he looked. He easily caught Cecily¡¯s hand and held it in ce.

    ¡°Yi Tong, your strength has increased a lot.¡± Cecily nced at the door, then waved her hand uninterestedly. ¡°Forget it, but I hope that you hurry up and settle this matter. I want to go back.¡±

    Yi Tong nodded his head. ¡°I¡¯ll try my best, Miss Cecily.¡±

    Watching as Cecily finally walked off, Yi Tong wiped the sweat off his brow. He then turned to search for Gu Xiqiao, intending to talk to her himself.

    As soon as he made two turns, he saw the person he had been looking for, as well as Ying Xu who was standing beside her. Their backs twere to him, and he couldn¡¯t see their expressions, but the gossipy busybody inside him was ring up, and he took his phone out to sneakily snap a picture. Grinning, he sent it out.

    Just as he sent it out, he raised his head to look for Gu Xiqiao, only to find that she had gone. Only Ying Xu... oh, and that robot beside him.

    ***

    Ying Xu watched as Gu Xiqiao left the area, and he said to Jiji in a solemn voice, ¡°Jiji, thank you for the medicine.¡± He rubbed his wrist lightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s strange that you¡¯re actually talking to a robot.¡± Jiji nced at Ying Xu. ¡°Are you sick or something?¡±

    The indifferent expression on Ying Xu¡¯s face looked like it was about to break for the first time.

    Jiji reached out to pat Ying Xu on the shoulder with its mechanical hand, but it was too short. Don¡¯t say his shoulder, Jiji couldn¡¯t even reach his thighs. In the end, it settled on patting his calf. ¡°When you were all caught in the nineyered formation that day, you wanted to slit your wrist and sacrifice yourself to the heavens. You¡¯re a good person, and you¡¯ve only got yourself to thank for your life.¡±

    Jiji concluded the matter like this.

    If Ying Xu had insisted on sacrificing someone else that time, Gu Xiqiao would never have saved him.

    ¡°No.¡± Ying Xu shook his head after hearing these words, smiling faintly. ¡°I¡¯m a soldier.¡±

    Being a soldier meant sacrifice was something they would naturally do. From the moment he put on his uniform, the sense of responsibility as a soldier was like a shadow to him, and he always remembered that he was a soldier, no matter where he was.

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re all good people.¡± Jiji nodded its head seriously, then it lowered its head to open the lid on its chest. It pulled out a tattered book and handed it to Ying Xu. ¡°I think you have a unique foundation, and there is talent to be harvested within you. Third Master Ying, I¡¯ll be waiting for you in the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    It once again thought about patting him on the shoulder, but it looked Ying Xu¡¯s height and... well, forget it.

    When Jiji went back, it definitely needed Gu Xiqiao to build it a new body again. This shape was so short, it was really annoying!

    Ying Xu lowered his gaze to the tattered book in his hand, his eyes wide with surprise.

    ¡°Young Master Yin, you can give it to me if you don¡¯t want it.¡± Yi Tong suddenly appeared in front of him, looking at the book in his hands with an envious gaze.

    Ying Xu kept the book away immediately, and left.

    Yi Tong: ¡°...¡± Brave warrior, don¡¯t leave! Let me at least have a small peek at it!

    ***

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, I want to change my body.¡± When Jiji went back, Gu XIqiao was half-lying on the chair, flipping through documents. Its face was depressed as it continued, ¡°I want to be tall and mighty.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao continued to flip through the papers in her hand, not bothered to raise her head as she said, ¡°Hush, it¡¯s better not to have such unrealistic ideas.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t like this before, you obviously loved me very muchst time!¡± Jiji protested.

    ¡°You sure about that?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head, her gaze piercing.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± No, I am not.

    ***

    The main purpose Yi Tong came here was to investigate the origin of the malicious spirit. Now that he found the ce, he certainly spared no effort to continue his investigation. When Gu Xiqiao heard that he wanted to enter her yard, she didn¡¯t have a single word of refusal. ¡°Don¡¯t enter the house, other than that, feel free to do whatever.¡±

    Having gotten her permission, Yi Tong was overjoyed, He immediately brought Jiu Tong and the others to conduct their investigation. For the next few days, they didn¡¯t return to thefortable resort, choosing to erect a tent in the yard of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s house instead.

    Gu Xiqiao guessed that they had probably found something, and so she took Jiji with her to have a look-see.

    Just as she left the house, she received a call from Manager Liu. ¡°Miss Gu, someone said that a foreigner had just asked about the location of your mother¡¯s grave.¡±

    ¡°A foreigner?¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s him?¡± The system had already found the face of the foreign man the moment Manager Liu had mentioned it. ¡°Look, Beauty Qiao. It¡¯s the person from the hospitalst time.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes to look, and saw Emery¡¯s face.

    Jiji was cautious as it asked, ¡°Do you want to have a look?¡± It was like this everything an issue regarding Yu Man cropped up.

    ¡°No need.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°He won¡¯t be able to find her grave.¡± Even if he knew the road, he still wouldn¡¯t be able to find it.

    Jiji didn¡¯t ask any further, changing the topic immediately. ¡°Let¡¯s go and y with Yi Tong and the others, Beauty Qiao!¡±

    Gu XIqiao walked towards the yard without another word.

    Yi Tong was holding apass in hand, and there were also some special monitors in the yard as the group of people moved about. When Gu Xiqiao arrived, they were stillbing through the things. There was aputer on the stone table, and a circle of light was disyed on the screen.

    ¡°The ancient martial arts world also uses technology?¡± Jiji was surprised as it saw all the equipment around them.

    Yi Tong took some time out of his studying to reply, ¡°Of course. As time progresses, the science and technology of the ancient martial arts world will naturally also improve.¡±

    ¡°What have you found?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked around as she asked. She hadn¡¯t been here since thest time she left.

    Yi Tong obviously wouldn¡¯t hide anything from Gu Xiqiao, and exined everything that they had found in detail.

    All of this made Cecily, who was busy analyzing data, look at Gu Xiqiao. She didn¡¯t understand, what was it about her that made Yi Tong and his teampletely defenseless against her?

    ¡°But the equipment we have here now is insufficient, and we can¡¯t analyze the data underground.¡± Yi Tong sighed. ¡°If we can analyze it, then it would be perfect.¡±

    Analyze the data underground?

    Gu Xiqiao looked up. ¡°Do you have any discarded parts?¡±

    There weren¡¯t any, but those machines and equipment that they couldn¡¯t use anymore, Yi Tong gave everything to her.

    Gu Xiqiao took the equipment without a word, and immediately disassembled and reassembled apletely new item. She also took some parts from Jiji, and shepleted two new machines by the time she was done.

    An hourter, Yi Tong gaped as he looked at the machines in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. His expression looked like a cross of crying and admiration, as well as looking on the verge of copsing.

    ¡°It should almost be done.¡± Gu Xiqiao connected the two machines to theputer. ¡°The improved version should reflect all the conditions underground. I can simte the state underground, do you think it¡¯ll be okay for what you need?¡±

    Both her hands were on the keyboard, and as soon as she finished speaking, the screen was already disying the simtion of the underground, a chaotic ck mist.

    Yi Tong nodded his head rapidly, trying to contain the excitement that threatened to burst from inside him. This was not only okay, this was extremely okay!

 Chapter 249 - We Finally Meet

    Chapter 249: We Finally Meet

    Cecily had been gifted with a talent for mechanics, and although she was part of the supernatural world, she never underestimated the technology of the secr world. She had also graduated from a prestigious university with a major in mechanical engineering. When she saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skillful technique, she was shocked instantly.

    ¡°Have you been studying this for ten years, Miss Gu?¡± She was even more skillful than the professors in the industry!

    Gu Xiqiao lifted her head, thinking for a while and she nodded. She wasn¡¯t aware how many years had passed in the Virtual Arena when she was studying after all.

    Cecily¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re really amazing!¡± She walked to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side in excitement, her eyes boring into the girl. ¡°Let¡¯s start again, my name is Cecily. ording to your Chinesenguage, you can just call me Cecy.¡±

    ¡°... Cecy. Hello.¡± Gu Xiqiao was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the excitement and passion in the other¡¯s eyes.

    Ever since they had gotten the two machines that Gu Xiqiao had constructed on the spot, the progress of Yi Tong¡¯s team was several times faster. Cecily was the main analyst, and she begged Gu Xiqiao to help her remodel many other smaller gadgets, which made the uracy of her analysis even higher. Because of this, Cecily¡¯s eyes would light up and she would be very passionate when she caught sight of Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, you¡¯re the second most pleasing woman to my eyes ever since I stepped foot into China.¡± Cecily was sitting in front of theputer, analyzing the data in it. She looked up to see Gu Xiqiao. ¡°The first is Murong Miaoxue, and the second is you!¡±

    Having said that, she had an expression on her face that said Gu Xiqiao should be feeling proud at the deration.

    Gu Xiqiao was torn betweenughing and crying at that.

    She didn¡¯t know that Cecily was actually such a troll after getting to know her better.

    ¡°Miss Cecily, we have collected all the data here. We¡¯ve updated the Boss with most of it, and so we¡¯ll leave tomorrow towards the northwest to meet up with the elder council.¡± Yi Tong kept hispass, telling Cecily.

    Hearing Yi Tong¡¯s words, a smile blossomed on Cecily¡¯s face as she nodded slightly. ¡°Has Young Master Jiang and the others left the city towards the northwest? Did that woman go with them too?¡±

    The corners of Yi Tong¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Northwest is Miss Xiahou¡¯s home, it¡¯s only natural that she has gone too.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Cecily printed something out, and proceeded to drag Gu Xiqiao out of the ce.

    Once they stepped out of the yard, Cecily was like a wild horse that got loose from its retrains.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, we¡¯re leaving here tomorrow. I don¡¯t know when we¡¯ll be able to meet again, but wait for me to be done with the things I¡¯m busy with, I¡¯ll go and find you in the ancient martial arts world!¡± Cecily muttered. ¡°I still have to see that hateful girl after I go back, I definitely will not endure her insults anymore!¡±

    Her fist was clenched tightly as she said thest part of her sentence.

    Gu Xiqiao watched her silently. ¡°Can you do it?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Cecily replied faintly after a while, and she looked at Gu Xiqiao, who never seemed to falter no matter what she faced. She couldn¡¯t help but feel the bitterness building inside her. ¡°Qiao Qiao, what can I do so that I can be like you? I was dispatched here this time also because of that woman, it was all within her ns.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t an idiot, but the opposite, she was quite intelligent, only with a bad temper. Even though she could control her surface emotions, she would still be boiling hot underneath everything.

    ¡°Endure,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, a smile on her face. ¡°Even though the word ¡®endure¡¯ has a knife on it, you still need to endure.¡±

    ¡°A knife on the word ¡®endure¡¯? What did that mean?¡± Cecily didn¡¯t really understand the broadness and profoundness of the Chinesenguage, and she blinked her eyes as she tried to understand what the other was telling her, a doubtful look on her face. (T/N: The word ¡®endure¡¯ which is ÈÌ, has a ¡®knife¡¯, which is µ¶ within the character.)

    Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡°Never mind, it doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡± She reached in to search around in her pockets, and then she pulled out a Buddhist scripture. ¡°Here, for you.¡± She heard that the group of elders in the ancient martial art world were reciting scriptures, would it have any effect if it was in Cecily¡¯s hands?

    Cecily stared at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s slender, jade-like fingers for a while. The fairness of her hands seemed to reflect the sun on it.

    Gu Xiqiao shook the book in her hand. ¡°Do you want it?¡±

    Cecily snapped out of it once she heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice, and she took the offered book, flipping through it. She didn¡¯t understand anything inside it, but she kept it safely away. This was her first gift aftering to China, she would treasure it.

    ¡°Miss Gu, please wait!¡± Suddenly, someone who was clearly not a native Chinese speaking person called out from behind.

    Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps, and turned her head slowly to look at who it was.

    With the arrival of others, Cecily straightened up and pasted her usually serious expression back on her face, turning around the same time as Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Could we have a word in private?¡± Emery looked at Gu Xiqiao with a soft gaze, as though he was seeing another person in her. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t take up too much of your time.¡±

    Hearing his words, Cecily was slightly rmed, and subconsciously moved to block Gu Xiqiao from the man¡¯s ess.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Emery for a long while, before finally nodding. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The two of them left, and Cecily looked down to Jiji, who was standing beside her feet. ¡°Jiji, why aren¡¯t you following them? Go and protect Qiao Qiao!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Jiji!¡± Jiji exploded immediately. ¡°If you say that again, our friendship is over!¡±

    ¡°Jiji is a nice name, it¡¯s the same as mine, Cecy.¡± Cecily blinked, wondering why Jiji was so sensitive and sore over its name.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Why was it being so petty with a person who didn¡¯t understand the Chinesenguage at all?

    About ten minutester, Gu Xiqiao came back.

    When she came back, she was holding a slightly yellowed book in her hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s that, Qiao Qiao?¡± Cecily asked curiously.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down in her hands, as though suddenly realizing that there was something there. She pursed her lips, but didn¡¯t answer immediately. She lowered her head, her long eyshes casting a slight shadow underneath her eyes, the leaves from the branches above falling one by one on her head and body.

    Cecily couldn¡¯t see the expression on the other girls¡¯ face, but she was aware of the pressure around the air dropping around her.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll head back first.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head, nodding at Cecily. She had an indifferent expression on her face again, and then she left after saying that.

    Cecily rubbed her arm, trying to ward off the chill in the air. She turned to Yi Tong, who had juste out of the yard. ¡°Qiao Qiao was terrifying just now.¡± She felt the air rush out of her lungs when the pressure had suddenly dropped.

    ¡°That was still fine.¡± YI Tong thought to himself on the inside, ¡®You¡¯ve never seen how terrifying she can actually be.¡¯

    ¡°Miss Cecily, we¡¯ll leave at six tomorrow morning.¡±

    Cecily nodded her head, signaling that she understood.

    Although she was happy that she would be seeing Jiang Shuxuan soon, when she thought about also seeing that woman¡ªXiahou Chengqin, her mood plummeted immediately. She touched the scripture that was still in her hands, and thought about starting to study it seriously.

    The next day, Cecily and the others got ready to move out early. The ce they were heading to was a desert in the far northwest, so Yi Tong pulled out his proud flying treasure.

    It was a sword made of cold iron, and he had collected the materials himself before requesting Jiang Shuxuan to help him build it.

    Every time Yi Tong took out his sword, Jiu Tong and the others would always gaze at it with envy and admiration in their eyes, and it was no exception this time.

    ¡°The sword¡¯s maximum size isn¡¯t very big, and it can hold only about ten people. Just squeeze yourself in.¡± Although he said it wasn¡¯t big, Yi Tong still held a triumphant expression on his face. It made Jiu Tong want to kick him off a cliff or something for it.

    As they were about to leave, a slender figure slowly came into their sight.

    Seeing her, Yi Tong almost copsed from his sword. ¡°Miss Gu, do you also want toe with us?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°Can I?¡±

    Yi Tong was at a loss for a moment, but the decision came swiftly. ¡°Of course you can.¡±

    Although Cecily was happy to see Gu Xiqiao again, she was also concerned about her. She leaned to Yi Tong and said in a low voice, ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, are we really bringing Qiao Qiao with us? I¡¯m afraid that Young Master Jiang will be angry. It¡¯s not an ordinary ce after all.¡±

    Thinking about the time that Jiang Shuxuan had beaten her up thest time, Cecily shuddered. Her entire person felt ill just thinking about it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Yi Tong wasn¡¯t worried about this in the least.

    Hearing his words, Cecily couldn¡¯t help but feel even more anxious on the inside.

    The flying sword flew through the skies at a high speed, and Yi Tong was concerned that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be able to adapt to it. He had Jiu Tong sit beside her, just in case she fell off. He turned around only to see the said woman standing at the tail of the sword, her hair fluttering in the strong wind, the light blue windbreaker she wore not even buttoned up. She was swaying lightly, her eyes sparkling, looking extremely attractive.

    Under the clear blue sky and the sunlight, you could only see that her jade-like face was as pretty as a picture.

    The wind was strong while the flying sword was in motion, and everyone else could be seen to be slightly affected by the current. She waspletely unaffected at all, and Yi Tong turned his head nkly back to the front, focusing on controlling the path instead.

    Seeing this, Jiu Tong, Cecily and the others started to inch closer to Gu Xiqiao. As they expected, the moment they were in her range, the surroundings settled down. They immediately rxed, and Jiu Tong even took out a pack of ying cards, calling everyone to y together.

    ¡°Come and y with us, Miss Gu?¡± Jiu Tong invited.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡®I¡¯m afraid you guys will cry instead.¡¯

    Yi Tong was navigating the sword through the skies in all his lonesome, the corner of his lips twitching. This was the first time it was so lively on the flying sword.

    The sword flew towards the desert, and since the speed was fast, it took only a few hours before they reached the heart of the desert. There was an ancient castle there, and it looked very old. Gu Xiqiao looked at the sun shining at the castle from an angle, and from the angle of refraction, she found that the castle was actually hidden behind a formation. People who looked for it but didn¡¯t know, or regr people wouldn¡¯t be able to find it so easily.

    The flying sword stopped outside the bluestone city gate.

    Two men stood wearing short sleeves outside the gate, wearing linen coats and knives on the left of their waist. They looked shocked to see the arrival of the group.

    When Yi Tong and his people walked forward, they took out their tokens calmly, and the two men kept away their de upon seeing it. They greeted him respectfully. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Mr. Yi Tong, pleasee in.¡±

    The entire castle wasn¡¯t big, and it had a feeling of istion from the outside world once they stepped inside. Most of the equipment inside looked outdated, but everyone had a mysterious atmosphere about them.

    Gu Xiqiao knew, this was probably one corner of the ancient martial arts world.

    Yi Tong led everyone through the streets, and there were all kinds of people they passed on the way.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and hand over to Yi Bing first, Miss Gu. Please wait a while.¡± Yi Tong held a bunch of research results in hand, and thought about how Yi Bing and the others would be waiting.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°Go ahead, we¡¯ll just browse around.¡±

    Yi Tong left after giving an affirmative nod.

    Gu Xiqiao walked around with Jiu Tong and the others, the things in the ancient martial arts world were a novel to her. Gu Xiqiao was excited as she looked around, though it didn¡¯t really show on her face. Suddenly, there was a scream not far away, then the crying of a woman.

    Cecily and Jiu Tong both ran over to look at what was happening, while Gu Xiqiao followed at a slower pace behind them.

    It turned out that a teenager had fainted on the ground and wasn¡¯t waking up no matter how much the people around him were calling out to him.

    ¡°Hurry, what are you doing? Go and find Miss Xiahou! She¡¯s our n¡¯s mage, and she managed to save my unclest time when he was all but gone! She¡¯s an immortal-like figure.¡± A passerby said in a hurry.

    ¡°Miss Xiahou is in the pharmacy house of the Xiahou family, hurry and go!¡±

    [Ding! Daily good deed mission activated: Rescue the sick and injured teenager.]

    [Missionpletion rewards: 50 points!]

    The cold mechanical voice rang in her mind. Gu Xiqiao frowned as she watched the people move to carry the boy, and she opened her mouth, ¡°Don¡¯t move him, this person had a stroke. I¡¯m a doctor, I can save him.¡±

    A middle-aged woman looked up, seeing that the girl was barely twenty, she shouted sternly, ¡°Where did this young brate from, hurry and leave. How dare youpare yourself to our Mistress Sorceress? Don¡¯t block Miss Xiahou¡¯s way!¡±

    The group of people carried the sick teenager towards the Xiahou family household.

    The words that the passerby had said made Cecily and Jiu Tong bristle with annoyance, especially Jiu Tong. He knew that Gu Xiqiao was an aplished and skillful doctor, one that Divine Doctor Rong and Zhu Yuan acknowledged, and that was the reason he didn¡¯t doubt her words. However, the pedestrians were doubting Gu Xiqiao, and he was about to say something, but was stopped by Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and see.¡± Gu Xiqiao was very interested in this witchcraft.

    ¡°What¡¯s so good about Xiahou Chengqin!¡± Hearing the name, Cecily¡¯s eyes were practically spitting fire. However, it was clear that Gu Xiqiao was extremely interested, and so she followed.

    Xiahou Chengqin was a woman in her twenties, wearing a long embroidered dress with a string of white beads tied around her waist. Seeing the patiente in, she reached out her hand to feel his pulse. She then pulled out a yellow paper talisman and cinnabar, which she used to draw the symbol of traveling evil spirits on it.

    After she finished drawing, she ced the talisman on the boy¡¯s head. Within a few minutes, the teenager opened his eyes.

    The passersby cheered, hailing Xiahou Chengqin as an Immortal Doctor.

    Gu Xiqiao watched the entire process intently without blinking, and shook her head lightly before walking away.

    Cecily and Jiu Tong were both used to seeing Xiahou Chenqin perform her mystery techniques, and weren¡¯t surprised at all to see the scene. Although Cecily hated Xiahou Cengqin, she couldn¡¯t help but admire the other¡¯s techniques, which was very abnormal.

    ¡°Was there a problem, Miss Gu?¡± Jiu Tong asked, noticing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s look.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t answer, but reached out to pat Jiji¡¯s head. Jiji turned to look at Jiu Tong, a slightly contemptuous look on his mechanical face. ¡°That boy had a stroke and haemorrhage, so he couldn¡¯t move his body at all. If they had listened to Beauty Qiao¡¯s words, there might have been a chance to cure him. Although Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s talisman woke him up and enabled him to move, how can one go against the heavens? She¡¯s just temporarily supporting the boy¡¯s boy with her weird power, allowing him to look as though he can move freely at his own will. If you were to question him, he¡¯s probably only half-conscious in his body now. Within ten days, his injuries will surface once again, and at that time, there may be no hope for him. Witchcraft may be able to banish evil, but it cannot cure diseases and sickness.¡±

    So it was like that! Jiu Tong suddenly realized how it all worked, and looked back towards those people who were blindly worshipping Xiahou Chengqin, the same people who had mocked Gu Xiqiao before this. A triumphant look appeared on his face, and he didn¡¯t bother saying anything to them. Just wait, you all will regret this sooner orter!

    ***

    Behind the pharmacy house, Xiahou Chengqin was taking a break after healing the teenager.

    At this time, someone came over to report. ¡°Miss, Young Master Jiang has returned, and it seems that he¡¯s injured.¡±

    Hearing this, Xiahou Chengqin immediately grabbed the yellow talisman papers and cinnabar pen, rushing out immediately. ¡°Hurry,e with me!¡±

    ***

    In the tallest antique building in the castle city.

    ¡°Boss, Yi Tong has returned.¡± Yi Bing looked at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s open shirt, and the deep wound on his back that you could almost see was the bone, and there was even a hazy ck mist from it. He couldn¡¯t help but be frightened, if it were anyone else who had encountered such a ck mist, they would have been dead early on. It was only their boss that was able to endure this.

    ¡°Where is he?¡± Jiang Shuxuan took the documents handed to him by Yi Bing, and raised his head.

    Yi Bing shook his head. ¡°He passed me the documents and rushed out. I heard he was going to find Miss Cecily and the others.¡±

    Hearing Cecily¡¯s name, Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help but frown. He sat on the chair, a calm and graceful posture, despite the wound on his back. His eyebrows, a graceful arch, neatly trimmed nails, and the deep, cold eyes seemed like an endless abyss when you looked into it.

    This was the scene that Xiahou Chengqin walked into, being stunned speechless at it. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart as she stepped further into the room.

 Chapter 250 - Im Here To Treat You

    <h4>Chapter 250: I¡¯m Here To Treat You</h4>

    ¡°Who let her in?¡± Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t look at Xiahou Chengqin¡ªlooking at Yi Bing with cold eyes.

    There was ayer of cold sweat on Yi Bing, and his heart trembled slightly. ¡°It should be Yi Tiao, they know that your wound is deep, so they didn¡¯t stop Miss Xiahou.¡±

    He knew what these kinds of people were thinking deep in their hearts. The Jiang family¡¯s status in the ancient martial arts world was very prestigious, and countless people flocked towards them. But the boss¡¯s temper was vtile these past few days, and his subordinates were the one that had been keeping him in check. Otherwise, the entire world would probably be turned upside down once the boss got really angry.

    Yi Bing recited a silent tribute for Yi Tiao, thinking that the other would probably follow in Yi Tong¡¯s course in life.

    Xiahou Chengqin wasn¡¯t privy to their thoughts. She was a sorceress from the Lisu Tribe, and recently her tribe had been surrounded by many malicious spirits. Although she had followed the tribe¡¯s elders and they had managed to get to Jiang Shuxuan after going through a lot of sh*t, they didn¡¯t really have a lot of contact with him. This was the first time she had stepped into this room.

    Thinking of this, she immediately pulled out her talisman papers. ¡°Young Master Jiang, the injury on your back is full of malicious spirits. You have to be diagnosed and treated, otherwise even the gods will not be able to save you!¡±

    Along the way, she had already heard about the extent of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s injuries from the elders, and had already formted a way to treat it. She continued calmly, ¡°Young Master Jiang, the only person able to treat your injury in this world is me. No one else can get rid of the evil spirit around it.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t say anything. Since Xiahou Chengqin hade in, he had been buttoning up his shirt, and he was on thest one just as she said that.

    The slender fingers and knuckles against his crisp white shirt, it was hard to tell which one was whiter.

    Jiang Shuxuan had ced the documents in his hand down on the table, and he raised his head, looking out the door. He suddenly got up, and walked out from his table in big strides.

    Watching as Jiang Shuxuan approached her, Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s hands trembled slightly, yellow talismans clutched tightly in it. Her palms were covered with sweat. Before she came, she had returned to her tribe and donned her sorceress attire¡ªa snow-white dress with embroidered red plum flowers which entuated her curves nicely. After she cured Jiang Shuxuan, the Jiang family would definitely be grateful to her, and she could finally leave this god-forsaken ce, where there wasn¡¯t even running water for daily use, and the annoying yellow desert sands. Their Lisu Tribe would definitely soar upwards after this...

    Her head was lowered, not daring to look at Jiang Shuxuan directly. Her eyes followed the shadow of his person as he neared her, closer and closer, and then... passing her?

    What?

    Xiahou Chengqin quickly raised her head, finding that Jiang Shuxuan was no longer in the room.

    She was stunned for a moment, holding the talismans tightly as she turned around to give chase.

    Jiang Shuxuan was walking out to the entrance with Yi Bing, his eyes pointed in a fixed direction.

    ¡°Mistress Sorceress, this is our one chance for the Lisu Tribe, you have to use it well.¡± The elders of the Lisu Tribe who were waiting outside the door said in a low voice to Xiahou Chengqin, reminding her.

    Xiahou Chengqin nodded her head, a confident look on her face. ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯m the only one in the world that can cure his wound. Even Divine Doctor Rong will not be able to do anything.¡±

    The elders were well aware of her capabilities, and they felt relieved at her words. ¡°That¡¯s good. It seems that Master Yi Tong has returned, so Young Master Jiang must be receiving him. He values Master Yi Tong a lot, so wait for him to meet him before treating his injuries.¡±

    So it was because he wanted to see Master Yi Tong that he had ignored her, and it wasn¡¯t because he was disgusted with her or anything. Xiahou Chengqin let out a sigh of relief.

    ***

    At the same time, outside the building, Yi Tong was leading Gu Xiqiao and the others in, and they met up with Yi Tiao who was standing guard outside the door.

    Yi Tiao nced up, seemingly disinterested until he saw it was Yi Tong, and yelled out in surprise, ¡°Yi...¡± He hadn¡¯t evenpleted his sentence before his eye fell on the figure next to him, which made him even more shocked. ¡°Miss... Miss Gu?!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, not saying a word. She raised her head to look at the entrance.

    ¡°I¡¯m going in to see Big Boss.¡± Yi Tong nodded his head at Yi Tiao, and brushed past him.

    ¡°Miss Cecily, you aren¡¯t allowed in.¡± Yi Tiao finally regained his senses and got back to his job, stopping Cecily from entering.

    Cecily was following behind Gu Xiqiao, thinking she could sneak in while Yi Tiao was distracted, but she had been caught and she froze instantly.

    ¡°Miss Cecily, do you want to be beaten up by Big Boss again?¡± Yi Tiao exined patiently.

    Touching on this topic, Cecily¡¯s face turned green, thinking about the trashing that she had gotten thest time. She remembered Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s mocking gaze, and all the courage that she had gathered to sneak in faded instantly, her feet rooted to the ground.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes and nced at Cecily, and said suddenly, ¡°Let here.¡±

    Cecily¡¯s eyes snapped up towards Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. This wasn¡¯t a ce where you could just enter just because you say so, and Gu Xiqiao herself might be stopped eventually.

    She felt that Gu Xiqiao must be someone who was used to giving orders, but these were Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s subordinates, and they wouldn¡¯t listen to anyone other than him. Even Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s parents were unable tomand anything from them, and here Gu Xiqiao was, presuming that she was able to order them around? Wasn¡¯t that a little too bold of her?

    Cecily turned her gaze to Yi Tong after her thoughts had surfaced, and hoped that he wouldn¡¯t be too angry.

    Yi Tiao was someone who was usually quite easy going andughed a lot, but he was also very powerful in his own right.

    However, she didn¡¯t expect Yi Tiao to look at her, and lowered his hand. ¡°Please enter, Miss Cecily.¡±

    This was the first time she had been treated so politely by Yi Tiao, and Cecily felt like she had wanted into a twilight zone suddenly. She was fascinated, and followed behind Gu Xiqiao after that. She couldn¡¯t help but stare at the other girl. ¡°Qiao Qiao, even though Yi Tiao let me in, what will I do when Young Master Jiang sees me? Forget it, I¡¯ll take the me and say that I muscled my way in, just don¡¯t do anything when that happens.¡± It¡¯s not like she hadn¡¯t done it more than once or twice anyway.

    Or that¡¯s what Cecily thought.

    Gu Xiqiao only nced at her, not answering any of her questions. She continued to walk forward.

    ***

    At the front entrance, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s tall, lean body was clothed in a crisp white shirt that was buttoned all the way up to his neck. His cuffs were rolled up, and he was holding his phone in one hand, while the other was balled in a fist. His coal, dark eyes were looking straight at the entrance, and under the sunlight, he looked like a jade statue.

    Xiahou Chengqin had never seen this side of him before, and she didn¡¯t know why, she felt a little uneasy. She held her feelings in check, and followed his gaze.

    Not long after, a few figures slowly came into sight.

    Yi Tong, Cecily, and a girl who was d in a snow-white dress.

    The girl was half a step behind Yi Tong, but when your eyes swept across them, the first person you¡¯d notice was her. Even the usually bright and mboyant Cecily was dull next to this girl.

    The girl was walking at a leisurely pace, her head slightly lowered. As though feeling a familiar gaze, she lifted her head suddenly.

    The surrounding seemed to fall silent for a moment, her white clothes resembled snow, and her eyes were cold. Her face was as pretty as a picture, her eyebrows exquisite and perfectly arched. Under the bright sunlight, her skin seemed to have a radiant glow, and the delicate features made people not dare to look at her directly, no matter how eye-catching her appearance was.

    Her ck hair contrasted against her white clothes, and although the desert sun was dazzling, it wasn¡¯t as brilliant as the girl.

    The elder beside Xiahou Chengqin was the first to react. The Lisu Tribe was one that was cut off from the rest of the world, so he was easily able to distinguish that Gu Xiqiao was from the secr world. He eximed sternly, ¡°Master Yi Tong, how could you have brought a person from the secr world here?¡±

    Before Yi Tong could say anything, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze which had been on Jiang Shuxuan, turned to the elder. Her eyes were bright and clear as she said, ¡°I¡¯m here to treat his wounds,¡± She said, pointing at Jiang Shuxuan.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that the matter of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s injuries was even known to the secr world. The elder red at Gu Xiqiao coldly, mockery in his eyes. ¡°Only a sorceress is able to treat Young Master Jiang¡¯s wounds. How can someone like you from the outside dare toe and treat him? Hurry and get lost!¡±

    She didn¡¯t even know her own ce, and came rushing to say that she would treat Young Master Jiang¡¯s injuries? Did she even know what kind of injuries he had sustained? These kinds of people dared to try to cling to the Jiang family, they really were shameless! Only sorcerers in their n were able to get rid of evil spirits in the world. Where did this little girle from, not even knowing basic courtesy, rushing headlong into things without even having any information!

    ¡°Whatever she can cure, I can cure too.¡± Gu Xiqiao was happy as this was the first time someone had spoken to her like this.

    Although she was smiling, there was no joy or warmth in her eyes. Especially when she looked at Jiang Shuxuan, her eyes got even colder.

    Yi Bing was practically hyperventting internally behind Jiang Shuxuan, not daring to say a word. Mommy, Miss Gu really was terrifying!

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, the elders of the Lisu Tribe all had mocking expressions on their faces. What bold and arrogant words! The Lisu Tribe had teachings that were passed down through the generations, being able to snatch people back from the brink of death. This was especially true in Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s generation, how could they bepared to ordinary mortals?

    The elder was no longer interested in concerning himself with Gu Xiqiao, and he turned to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Young Master Jiang, seeing that Master Yi Tong has arrived, let the sorceress heal your wound as soon as possible. Once the time passes, there may be changes that aren¡¯t good for you.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t answer, his onyx eyes still on Gu Xiqiao¡ªnot moving from her at all.

    Xiahou Chengqin noticed his gaze, and her heart started pounding in her chest. She turned to look at Gu Xiqiao. This girl had been in the market just now, and she noticed because of her clothing that stuck out like a sore thumb among the people, but she hadn¡¯t paid her any attention apart from that.

    She didn¡¯t expect to see the girl once again in such a short period of time, and with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attitude towards her, jealousy started bubbling in her heart.

    ¡°I saw you just now, you were the one who said you could cure the boy, right?¡± Xiahou Chengqin said. ¡°This girl, you look young, so you should probably research and study more on some medical skills. There are just some diseases that you can¡¯t treat in this world.¡±

    Her tone was that of a teacher, and having said that, she didn¡¯t bother with Gu Xiqiao and turned to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Young Master Jiang, we should hurry into the house. Your injuries can¡¯t be ignored.¡±

    However, the white figure moved quicker than her, and Gu Xiqiao grasped Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arm, her tone impatient as she stated, ¡°I still want to see what kind of disease it is that even I can¡¯t treat!¡±

    ¡°Qiao Qiao!¡± Cecily eximed in shock. She looked at Gu Xiqiao, fear gripping her heart, worried that Jiang Shuxuan would p her away.

    Daring to touch Jiang Shuxuan, where did she find the courage to do that?!

    However, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reaction was unexpected. He stood there, letting her hold on to his arm. His head was lowered slightly, looking at Gu Xiqiao. There was a slight warmth in his usually chilly eyes.

    In that moment, the cold around him seemed to dissipate as he lowered his head further to look at her face, the corners of his mouth tilted up in a rare smile. ¡°Are you done ying?¡±

    The low, clear voice was heard by all around them, and Cecily finally came back to her senses. She looked at Jiang Shuxuan with an incredulous expression on her face, not believing what she was seeing. When had she ever seen Jiang Shuxuan like this? Thinking about it, she looked at Gu Xiqiao in disbelief. These two... they!

    How was that possible?! Cecily felt her world crumble slightly, and then realized that no wonder, it was no wonder Yi Tong and the others treated her with such respect. It was no wonder that Yi Tiao had let her in after just one word from Gu Xiqiao.

    She initially thought that they were just afraid of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength, but she didn¡¯t expect that there was anotheryer of rtionship in the middle of it all.

    Xiahou Chengqin was also shocked, she didn¡¯t expect the two to be acquainted with each other. But then she remembered Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, and she forced a smile on her face as she tried again, ¡°Young Master Jiang, we should look at your wound.¡±

    Hearing this, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face got colder. ¡°What do you mean y, I¡¯m here to treat your sickness!¡±

    ¡°Hmm, what sickness are you treating?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked, his tone patient.

    ¡°Your insanity, obviously.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, gritting her teeth.

    Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t annoyed in the least when he heard her reply, smiling smugly instead. ¡°Come inside, the sun is too bright outside.¡±

    Seeing that Jiang Shuxuan was really going to let Gu Xiqiao treat him, Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s face turned pale and then green. She caught sight of Cecily¡¯s provoking look behind her, and her fist clenched tighter.

    ¡°Mistress Sorceress...¡± The elders were worried. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°What can she heal?¡± Xiahou Chenqin waved her hand dismissively. There was no hint of panic on her face, only cold calmness. She was still confident in her analysis. ¡°Let¡¯s follow them, she¡¯ll be begging me to take over the treatment by the end of this!¡±

    The group of elders nodded in agreement, and was instantly reassured at that. Since ancient times, their tribe¡¯s sorcerers were indeed the only ones who could dispel the evil spirits.

 Chapter 251 - One Misstep Followed By Countless Mistakes

    <h4>Chapter 251: One Misstep Followed By Countless Mistakes</h4>

    Xiahou Chengqin entered the ce with the elders, her face calm and confident all the way.

    Cecily spared her a nce, then looked towards Gu Xiqiao nervously. She was feeling anxious on her behalf, the sweat sliding down her face.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t let Jiang Shuxuan take off his clothes, and tore a hole in it from the back instead. She looked at the deep wound on his back, and some white of the bone that could be seen from it. She stood still, staring at it without a word. Her eyes were heavy as she looked at it.

    Xiahou Chengqin thought that Gu Xiqiao had stopped because she was scared, and sheughed lightly, ¡°Let me do it instead. You¡¯re still young, it¡¯s still reasonable that you won¡¯t be able to treat this.¡±

    The elders around her were alsoughing mockingly. ¡°Mistress Sorceress, why bother to tell her so much. Let her know that there are always people who are better than them out in the world, she really thinks that she canpare to you, what kind of thinking is that? Other than you, there¡¯s no one else who can heal this injury. I don¡¯t know what Young Master Jiang is thinking, letting that girl treat him!¡±

    ¡°With Young Master Jiang¡¯s attitude, we will know the truthter. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be interesting,¡± The other elder said, shaking his head as though he could already foresee the future.

    The other elders all agreed with his words.

    It was just a young little girl, what kind of capabilities would she have? Can it be any better than the sorceress of their Lisu Tribe?

    Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s mood eased at the elders¡¯ words, and she turned to look at Gu Xiqiao, pity in her eyes. She watched the girl take out a set of silver needles, and she shook her head at that. ¡°Evil spirits can¡¯t be banished with silver needles. Young Master Jiang¡¯s condition isplicated and you can¡¯t simply insert needles into him, otherwise even I can¡¯t help him at that time.¡±

    Saying that, she looked to Yi Tong and Yi Bing, hoping that they woulde forward to support her words, but she didn¡¯t expect that the two would stand on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sides, blocking off Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s path to her. This made Xiahou Chengqin shocked, and she said vehemently under her breath, ¡°Such pigheadedness, just wait till you start crying!¡±

    Cecily heard the words that she had uttered, and felt even more uneasy. She took a step forward. ¡°Qiao Qiao, maybe it¡¯s better if you let her treat this wound. This is not something to joke about.¡± Having said that, she looked at the wound on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s back, and felt more panic when she saw it. It was just a deep wound, and a very dense malicious aura around it. How could a regr person treat this?

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head to look at Cecily, and seeing that it was concern that was reflecting in the other¡¯s eyes, a hint of warmth entered her eyes and she rxed.

    Without saying anything more, her hands plunged a silver needle into one of his acupoints.

    Xiahou Chengqin saw that Gu Xiqiao had really inserted a needle, and a disapproving look appeared on her face. She shook her head and sighed. Seeing that Yi Bing and Yi Tiao hadn¡¯t made any move to stop her, she bit her lip, her eyes still mocking. She didn¡¯t believe that there were other people in the world who could control the malicious auras, and so she coldlyughed inside as she watched Gu Xiqiao work. With a sneer, she noted that Gu Xiqiao was only using needles for her treatment, and the ridicule in her face just got more intense.

    As a sorceress of the tribe, she was revered and admired by the people in the tribe. She didn¡¯t use to be such a jealous and bitter person as she was now, but when she saw the gaze that Jiang Shuxuan had given Gu Xiqiao, she couldn¡¯t control herself.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have time to bother about Xiahou Chengqin as her eyes were focused on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s injury. As she inserted needle after needle, she was also ring at him at the same time.

    Her hands were shaking.

    Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help it. She seemed to think that she was doing a good job ring at him, but you could see the concern and distress that were clear in her eyes.

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh. Did she know how to re at a person or not?

    He wasughing? He was actuallyughing?! Gu Xiqiao ignored him, her hand raised and a breath of vitality leaking out from her hand.

    The color of the wound on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s back that was surrounded by the malicious aura started to shift, the change visible to the naked eye. If she was treating any other person, she would have suppressed her aura a little so not to appear as a monster to the people around her. However, having met Jiang Shuxuan, what else did she need to cover up?

    She healed the wound in an instant, not showing a hint of mercy to it at all.

    Too bad for the people around her.

    The first to bear the brunt of the sudden surge were the people standing next to her, Yi Tong and Yi Bing. The both of them watch the majestic vitality power rise from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body, and the ck aura on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s back that was dissipating slowly, feeling strained under it all.

    Gods, was this person even human? Yi Bing and Yi Tiao watched with cked jaws.

    Then they looked again, what! It looked like there was new flesh growing over the wound! What the heck! This was! Yi Tong and Yi Bing could no longer describe what they were feeling with words.

    They already knew that Gu Xiqiao was not anybody ordinary, that she had a good rtionship with Zhu Yuan, so they didn¡¯t doubt her one bit when she said she could heal Jiang Shuxuan. But they had thought that she would be using normal medical methods, not something like this!

    Even Yi Tong and Yi Bing were stunned, what more of the others who were around them?

    At this time, the silence in the room was heavy. They were all watching the scene unfold in front of him in shock, being stunned speechless. They looked like they had seen a ghost, and struggled to remember to breathe under it all.

    If they hadn¡¯t seen it with their own eyes, they would never believe that such a miracle had happened in front of them.

    Xiahou Chengqin was stupefied, staring at Gu Xiqiao in shock to the bones, her face frozen. Gu Xiqiao calmly pulled out and inserted the needles in an orderly manner, and once the evil spirit was no more, she proceeded to remove all of them carefully. The people watching then realized that she had inserted the needles to stem the blood flow.

    Halfway through pulling the needles out, Gu Xiqiao lowered her head to look at Jiji. Jiji immediately pulled out a roll of bandage and a bottle of white ointment from its chest, and Gu Xiqiao reached out to take it. She wrapped the bandages around Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s body, her pale lips looking to have bruised from how hard she had been biting down on it.

    The elders who had been watching her, making fun of her and expecting Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s anger could only watch in dumbfounded silence. They had watched as the malicious spirit on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s wound slowly dissipated, which waspletely impossible.

    Even if the sorceress of their tribe did the treatment, they had to use talisman papers to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, slowly get rid of the evil spirit at noon every day, and it would take a whole seven days to do it. But what had they seen? This less than twenty-year-old young girl had instantly stripped it away?

    A time that was less than a blink of an eye?

    How was that possible? How the heck was that possible?! They must have seen it wrongly!

    They rubbed their eyes, and looked again. There was no change, that girl had cured Young Master Jiang!

    Other than the sorceress from their tribe, there was actually someone else who could get rid of malicious spirits? Who the heck was this girl?

    ¡°Mistress Sorceress, didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯re the only one who could get rid of this evil?¡± An elder, whose face had paled dramatically, uttered. His legs felt like jelly, as though it could copse anytime. He had thought that with the sorceress in his tribe, they would be able to bring prosperity to the Lisu Tribe by going through Jiang Shuxuan, allowing them to move to the Imperial Capital, the center of the ancient martial arts world.

    Unexpectedly, they had directly offended him instead! This girl definitely had some rtionship with Young Master Jiang!

    The more they thought about it, the more fearful the elders became. They knew what kind of person Jiang Shuxuan was, the entire ancient martial arts world was basically supported by the Jiang family, and they had offended them! Did the Lisu Tribe still stand a chance at this rate? The more he thought, the more blood drained from his face. His face grew darker as the thoughts continued to invade his mind, and he looked towards Xiahou Chengqin, a reproachful look in his eyes.

    If it weren¡¯t for her pledge, they wouldn¡¯t have offended Young Master Jiang!

    This was the first time the elders were looking at her like this, and Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s face was flushed red. An indescribable sense of frustration arising in her heart. She had thought that Gu Xiqiao was just some wallflower, she didn¡¯t expect her to be able to get rid of the malicious spirit!

    As soon as she looked up, she saw Cecily¡¯s unabashedly mocking and contemptuous gaze on her. Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s face was so dark it looked like it was going to blow any second.

    She couldn¡¯t help but think of the words that she had just said, that the girl shouldn¡¯t simply insert the needles. Now it looks like Gu Xiqiao could have beenughing at her from the beginning, right? Compared to her, Xiahou Chengqin looked like a sad joke.

    Especially since Gu Xiqiao had so easily gotten rid of the evil spirit, giving Xiahou Chengqin a heavy blow. She had thought that she was the only one in the world that could rid that evil spirit, and didn¡¯t expect this random powerful girl to appear out of nowhere. Not only did the girl get rid of the malicious spirit, she even did it so much faster than her!

    How was that possible topare to that? It was impossible to evenpare at all!

    While Xiahou Chengqin thought that way, the elders behind her didn¡¯t think so. Thinking back to words they had said, ¡®there are always people who are better than them out in the world¡¯, they felt ashamed. They wished that they could turn back time, just to stop themselves from putting a foot in their mouths! They lowered their heads, embarrassed and fearful.

    At this time, it was hard to tell whether they were more ashamed or afraid.

    Gu Xiqiao solemnly tied the bandage in her hands, and observed Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression carefully. It didn¡¯t look any different than before, and there was no hint of anything hidden behind it. She felt relieved at that, and then turned her head to look at the Lisu Tribe.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were bright and clear, an indifferent expression on her face. If there was any other way to describe her now, it would be ¡®marble cold¡¯.

    The elders of the Lisu Tribe recalled their words again when they looked at her, and were feeling extremely embarrassed, trying to hide their faces behind their sleeves, not daring to look at her face.

    ¡°Since ancient times, the Lisu Tribe has always been strong, advancing, heroic and a powerful image in the ancient texts. This was especially true for the first generation of great sorcerers, who relied on their powers to make a n in the ancient martial arts world. They were able to call the wind and rains, praying for mankind protecting them for generations after generations. I didn¡¯t expect that the Lisu Tribe I would see today would turn out to be like this today. Do you trulyprehend the books that have been handed down since ancient times?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her hand slightly, the talisman paper in Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s hand floating to her hand out of thin air. ¡°This is the talismans left behind by the great sorcerer, which was originally able to call down the winds and rains. It has been ruined by you all, and even misnamed.¡±

    ¡°Back then, your ancestors relied on their own strength to enter the core of the martial arts world, and were admired by countless people. Everyone was proud to be known as a member of the Lisu Tribe during that time! Now the Lisu Tribe has fallen, bing so weak, with delusions to enter the ancient martial arts world through a side door. Are you still proud members of the Lisu Tribe?¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head, reaching out to draw something on the nk talisman.

    After finishing, she threw the paper, which instantly turned into a vast river, separating the elders of the Lisu Tribe from them.

    The elders watched this scene unfold with a nk look on their face, her words sending them into a deep shock. Everything that Gu Xiqiao had said was the same as the words recorded in the history of their Lisu Tribe.

    They knew of the glorious past that the Lisu Tribe once had, but they didn¡¯t believe in it at all. Calling the winds and rains was something that could only be done by the gods, right? But right now, the talisman that Gu Xiqiao had thrown out had turned into an ocean instantly, which made them feel mystified, but it also sent a wave of pride in their hearts.

    It turned out that what their ancestors recorded had been true, they were really brilliant, the people of the Lisu Tribe!

    Immediately after thinking that, they were even more ashamed. They didn¡¯t expect to be treated like this, with how they had treated her previously. Thisdy didn¡¯t hold any grudges, and was even teaching them like this. How righteous this person was!

    The shame was apanied by shock, from easily dispelling the malicious spirit, to easily using their Lisu Tribe talisman paper.

    The things that she easily did, were things that even the Lisu Tribe people themselves found hard to do.

    The elders were now looking at Gu Xiqiao with respect, awe, and gratitude.

    With such powerful strength and talents, she shouldn¡¯t be just some random nobody, but who the heck was she? Why hadn¡¯t they heard about her in the ancient martial arts world before? It was as though she had appeared out of thin air.

    Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s entire being was shocked. Looking at the gaze of the elders towards Gu Xiqiao, her face was flushed inplete embarrassment. She stood in the same spot, her body frozen stiff. Thinking about how she had deliberately tried to stop Gu Xiqiao just now, luring the elders into a false sense of security, there wasn¡¯t a hole deep enough that she could bury herself!

    She had thought that she could use the fact that she treated Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s wounds to make a name for herself, but she didn¡¯t expect not only to be unsessful, but she would even be pped so vehemently in the face like this! One misstep, and countless mistakes had followed after! What aplete and utterly miserable loss this was!

 Chapter 252 - Youll Regret It

    <h4>Chapter 252: You¡¯ll Regret It</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t bothered with the group of people anymore, waving her hand to dispel the river. She then let Yi Tong lead the Lisu Tribe people out of the room.

    After all this, Cecily finally snapped out of her daze. She was still looking at Gu Xiqiao in shock, her mouth moving but no wordsing out. She was about to say something finally, but then she caught a glimpse of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes. They were cold and dark, like being stuck in ice and snow.

    Cecily shuddered, turning pale when she thought back to the beating that he had handed out to her, the pain still felt deep in her bones.

    ¡°Q-Qiao... Qiao Qiao, I suddenly recalled something that I need to do. I¡¯ll leave first.¡± Cecily tried to stop the chattering of her teeth, stumbling slightly as she turned to leave.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes turned from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s to her face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Didn¡¯t she long toe in just now, why did she suddenly want to leave now?

    ¡°I realize that I still have something to do!¡± Cecily didn¡¯t dare to look at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face, and although she still had a lot of things she wanted to talk to Gu Xiqiao about, there was a time and ce for everything.

    Just seeing Jiang Shuxuan in person was enough to send a healthy dose of fear through her.

    Yi Bing and Yi Tong watched as Cecily left with shaking legs¡ªtheir faces full of doubt and confusion. Hadn¡¯t Cecily insisted on seeing Big Boss Jiangst time? Why did she look like she had seen a ghost when she looked at him now?

    The two of them looked at each other silently, then to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s indifferent face. They then recalled the time that Jiang Shuxuan had beaten up Cecily.

    Looks like he didn¡¯t just give her a beating?

    The two of them thought a while longer on it, then brushed it aside, looking at Gu XIqiao instead. Their eyes were burning, and looked like it could burn holes into anyone they looked at. ¡°Miss Gu, that witchcraft that you just used?¡±

    Thinking back to the turbulent river that had appeared just now, Yi Tong and Yi Bing were dumbfounded.

    ¡°Oh that, it¡¯s fake.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at them, before continuing, ¡°I had a fight with a Taoist priest a few months ago in the capital, and he had a lot of talisman paper in his hand. This was one of them, it isn¡¯t any witchcraft or anything. Witchcraft isn¡¯t something that¡¯s so easy, and the Lisu Tribe people really don¡¯t understand the kind of wealth that they have in their hands.¡±

    Hearing her exnation, Yi Tong and Yi Bing let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Two of you.¡± Jiang Shuxuan squeezed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, and looked up at them. ¡°Tell Yi Tiao to head for the third level punishment.¡±

    ¡°Third level punishment?¡± Yi Tong was taken aback at the sudden order. ¡°What did Yi Tiao do?¡± Wasn¡¯t he just guarding the door? Why the sudden punishment?

    Yi Bing immediately moved to cover Yi Tong¡¯s mouth, and made them bow lowly. ¡°Big Boss, we¡¯ll go first then.¡±

    After getting out of the room, Yi Tong pped his hand away. ¡°What the h*ll!¡±

    ¡°Just now, Yi Tiao let Miss Xiahou in.¡± Yi Bing looked at Yi Tong in the eye, exining in a t tone. Having said that, he walked away, not bothered about Yi Tong¡¯s reaction.

    Yi Tong stood rooted to the spot, carefully repeating Yi Bing¡¯s words under his breath before taking a deep breath. ¡°This idiot! The third level punishment? The second level is the lightest!¡±

    In the room, Yi Tong and Yi Bing had closed the door when they left.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Jiang Shuxuan and asked thoughtfully, ¡°What did you do? Cecy looked like she was scared out of her wits just looking at you?¡± Cecily was shaking all over!

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply, just lowering his head to look at her. His eyes darkened as he leaned over slowly, his left arm circling around her waist to pull her closer, while his right lifted her chin.

    A scorching heat rushed through him, and warm lips pressed hard against the other, molding against them.

    ¡°B-Brother... Jiang...¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes fluttered as she looked at the man, her eyes slightly zed over. She hadn¡¯t even finished her sentence, and had thought about pushing him away but was afraid that she would agitate his back.

    The words that she had yet to say were swallowed down as he pressed his warm lips against hers over and over again, and after a long while, he finally stopped. His voice was low and husky when he spoke, ¡°Cecy? Are you close to her?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his head to look at Gu Xiqiao. Her peach-colored lips were parted slightly, more red than usual and a little swollen. It was very enticing. His fingers reached out to press on them, and after a while, he leaned down to press a lingering, soft kiss on her.

    Half a momentter, Jiang Shuxuan stopped again. ¡°Close with her?¡±

    ¡°... No.¡±

    Giving her a small smile of satisfaction, he pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth, and then leaned back against his chair, picking up the documents once again.

    ¡°You¡¯ve had such a serious injury, don¡¯t look at these anymore.¡± Gu Xiqiao plucked the documents out from his hand. ¡°Go and rest!¡±

    ¡°The sooner I finish, the sooner we can head home.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao calmly picked up the pile of documents, scanning through it. ¡°What do you need from this? I¡¯ll summarize it for you.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan watched her read through the entire pile of documents in a file in almost an instant. ¡°...¡±

    ¡°How did you get injured?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head and asked, the second folder already in her hands. Her clear, bright eyes were fixed on him.

    ¡°I was careless,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied calmly.

    ¡°Like I believe that?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan paused, clearing his throat. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me, I can always ask Yi Bing.¡± Gu Xiqiao was also calm. ¡°There will be someone who will tell me eventually.¡± Petty! You even dare to hide it from me?

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes drifted slightly when he heard her words. ¡°When I was investigating the malicious vortex, I received a text message and got... distracted.¡±

    ¡°A text?¡± Gu Xiqiao scrutinized Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s cold face for a while, to the point that there was a hint of blush on it. ¡°What message? He was just a calm and logical person, how could he be distracted by a message, of all things?

    ¡°It was about you...¡± Jiang Shuxuan gritted out, pulling out his phone. He pulled up the said message, and pointed to the figure inside it, a nk expression on his face. ¡°Who is this?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao leaned closer to him to look, and her mouth twitched.

    The picture was of her and Ying Xu.

    ¡°Because of this?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but pressed her fingers to her temple. Thinking back to the deep wound on his back, one that was deep enough to see the bone, she was distressed and angry. ¡°Are you stupid!¡±

    Because of this? Jiang Shuxuan pointed at Ying Xu¡¯s face. ¡°Look at the way he¡¯s looking at you!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the picture again. At such a distance, no matter how much the resolution of the picture the phone could take, the face of the person was just a dot. What look was he giving her? She straightened up, ncing at him. ¡°Then what about that Xiahou Chengqin today then?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes lowered when he heard that, his head bent down to hide the expression in his eyes. He reached out to pull her close, his chin on her shoulder as he said lightly, ¡°I¡¯ll make her disappear tomorrow.¡±

    This tone of his really, it sounded like something so natural no matter how she thought about it.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t sure whether she wanted tough or cry at this.

    ¡°Okay, fine. Don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± Seeing the serious look on his face, Gu Xiqiao said sternly, ¡°Brother Jiang, did you hear me?¡± He had an image and identity to uphold, and he couldn¡¯t simply do anything rash like her. More importantly, it was hard to go against heaven¡¯s will.

    There was no response from him this time, only the deep breathing that she could feel at her neck.

    Gu Xiqiao turned slightly to find that he had fallen asleep.

    His eyebrows were furrowed even in his sleep, and there were marks under his eyes. How many days has it been since he had a good sleep?

    Her hands came up, slowly soothing the furrowed brows, and she let out a soft sigh.

    In the quiet of the room, only the asional turning of paper could be heard.

    There weren¡¯t many documents, and most of them had Gu Xiqiao¡¯s intervention in it, adding on how fast she was able to read, it didn¡¯t¡¯ take long before she was done. After reading through it, she took a pen and circled the main points, intending to show Jiang Shuxuan when he woke up.

    Jiang Shuxuan slept through noon till night.

    The temperature in the desert was vastly different at noon and night. Gu Xiqiao wore a long dress in the afternoon, but when night fell she already had her light blue coat on. She opened the door, handing the pile of documents to Yi Bing who was standing outside.

    Yi Bing was just about to raise his hand to knock on the door, but before his knuckles could touch it, the door was opened. After being surprised for a moment, he took the documents from Gu Xiqiao. Big Boss was so fast about it today?

    ¡°Dinner is ready, Miss Gu. Do you want me to bring it over, or will you be joining us in the hall?¡± Yi Bing asked.

    Gu Xiqiao thought about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s injury, and she shook her head. ¡°Send it over, please.¡±

    Yi Bing nodded and was about to leave when a cold voice came from inside the room. ¡°Has Yi Tiao gone to ept his punishment yet?¡±

    ¡°Yi Tong and I are getting ready to take him.¡± Yi Bing leaned over a little, his heart silently sending a prayer for Yi Tiao.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked out slowly, and he said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to bring dinner over. Go on down.¡±

    His eyes were unusually colder than usual, and Yi Bing felt like he couldn¡¯t leave fast enough.

    ¡°Third level punishment? What did Yi Tiao do?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, raising her head to look at Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°Military orders are absolute.¡± Jiang Shuxuan frowned. ¡°Why do you care about him?¡±

    Having said that, he took Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand in his own. ¡°I¡¯ll take you out to eat.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re injured!¡± Gu Xiqiao protested, worried that his wound would reopen with all the movements he was making. ¡°Jiang Shuxuan, do you not value your life? Why can¡¯t you stay in the room quietly? If you want to eat, I can bring it over!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan paused in his steps, and lowered his head to look at her. ¡°Call me Brother Jiang[1].¡±

    ¡°... Brother Jiang.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded in satisfaction and continued to pull her along to the outside.

    ***

    In the city, Yi Tong and Yi Bing were escorting Yi Tiao for his punishment.

    ¡°I don¡¯t pity you one bit this time.¡± Yi Bing said, looking at Yi Tiao as he patted thetter¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Of all the people that you could¡¯ve let in, you had to let in Xiahou Chengqin? It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know she¡¯s...¡±

    Yi Bing suddenly recalled that they were outside, and he shut his mouth immediately. ¡°Just... reflect on your actions. You only have yourself to me.¡±

    Yi Tiao shook his head. ¡°Xiahou Chegqin said that she was the only one in the world that was able to cure Big Boss when she came, and I had to let her in, even if it meant risking his anger.¡± Even if he could do it all over again, he wouldn¡¯t change a thing.

    ¡°Even if you let her in, did you think Big Boss was going to ept treatment from her?¡± Yi Tong said softly.

    Yi Tiao was startled at this, and when he thought of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attitude, that was indeed something possible that the man would do.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky that Miss Gu turned up at that time, otherwise there would be blood decorating the floors.¡± Yi Bing pursed his lips.

    ¡°That bad?¡± Yi Tong asked, stunned.

    ¡°Why did you think Miss Gu made that long river appear for?¡± Yi Bingughed lightly.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it to teach the Lisu Tribe people a lesson?¡± Yi Tong was confused.

    Yi Bing gave him a contemptuous look. ¡°Although Miss Gu looks like a kind person, she is not a fool. Think about the Bai family and the many others in the capital that had basically been tortured to death by her. The reason she released that river wasn¡¯t for the sake of the Lisu Tribe, it was to stop Big Boss from doing anything.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t any secret to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity anymore, especially to these people. They clearly knew way more than any other outsider.

    Those people in the Imperial Capital that had rubbed her the wrong way, which one of them didn¡¯t get their just desserts from her? Yi Tong gave him a look. ¡°No wonder Big Boss likes to call on you.¡± Why don¡¯t you just ascend to the heavens if you¡¯re so great?

    The three of them continued to march forward, and when they passed the Xiahou family medicine hall, Yi Tong stopped suddenly. Yi Bing and Yi Tiao looked at him with some suspicion on their faces as they stopped with him. ¡°Yi Tong, what are you doing?¡±

    Yi Tong didn¡¯t answer, frowning as he looked at Xiahou Chengqin, who was in the sitting hall.

    Xiahou Chengqin had returned to the building like a person who had lost their soul. All the belief and confidence that she had in her whole life had been shattered. Everything that Gu Xiqiao had shown her had given her a significant blow, and she began to doubt herself. Was the path of sorcery that she had walked been wrong all along?

    ¡°Miss Xiahou, the young master of the Wang Tribe has fallen ill, and they¡¯re here in our halls now. Please hurry and have a look!¡± A fat man came in, speaking respectfully to her.

    He was looking at Xiahou Chengqin with eyes full of admiration and worship.

    Xiahou Chengqin froze for a moment, and her shattered faith was slowly pieced back together. She repeatedly told herself that the sorcery that she had painstakingly studied wouldn¡¯t be any less better than some young little girl from nowhere. The people in the medicine hall who were looking at her with respect and worship only served to affirm her belief in herself.

    This gave a huge boost to her self-confidence and courage, and her expression shifted. The lostmb look that she had previously disappeared, and she stood tall once again.

    ¡°Miss Xiahou, please save my son!¡± The leader of the Wang Tribe was carrying his son as he came in, his voice choked up as he pleaded.

    Xiahou Chegnqin walked over with a talisman, but before she reached, she heard another voice carry over. ¡°This gentleman, I¡¯d advise you not to ce your son in Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s hands. She only knows how to cause harm to people, and not how to cure illness. Miss Gu is staying in the front building, and if you¡¯re willing, I can call her over to treat your son.¡±

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe held his son tightly, watching as Xiaohou Chengqin stopped her drawing of the talisman when the voice drifted over. He turned his head to snap at the person. ¡°Where did this ignorant childe from? Miss Xiahou¡¯s family has generations of doctors, and have saved countless lives. She¡¯s not someone who can bepared to any ordinary people!¡±

    ¡°Miss Xiahou, don¡¯t bother about this lunatic. Please treat his illness.¡± Having said that, he turned towards Xiahou Chengqin, his eyes full of reverence.

    Yi Tong was angry. Gu Xiqiao had said that Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s so-called sorcery was initially the art of calling down the winds and the rain. Disregarding exorcising evil spirits, but it wasn¡¯t meant to be used as a way to save people. When the illness resurfaces again, it would be toote to turn a hopeless situation around!

    He grabbed a patient who was about to enter, his voice rough as he said, ¡°Listen to me, look for Miss Gu, or some other doctor. Xiahou Chengqin will kill you!¡±

    ¡°If Miss Xiahou is here, what other doctor would dare to go out and dig a hole for themselves?¡± That patient pushed his hand aside and sneered at him. ¡°You¡¯re not from around here are you? Wait till you see how Miss Xiahou heals us, then you¡¯ll know why she is so revered. What Miss Gu you¡¯re going on about, I think you¡¯re people sent here by her, hmm? Really, how dare someone insignificante and try to nder Miss Xiahou!¡±

    Saying that, the person joined the people around and pushed Yi Tong out. ¡°Go on and tell that Miss Gu, don¡¯te out and shame herself!¡±

    Everyoneughed at that, really, where did these peoplee from? They weren¡¯t even well informed about Miss Xiahou¡¯s identity, and they dared to challenge her.

    They really didn¡¯t know their own ce!

    Xiahou Chengqin obviously recognized Yi Tong, and when she heard his words, she was so angry to the point that her lungs and heart ached.

    Fortunately, the reaction of the people around her gave her the confidence that she needed. She quickly drew on the talisman and pasted it on the forehead of the child from the Wang Tribe. She then fed him some water that was mixed with a burnt talisman, and the boy started to stir. Seeing the child waking up, Xiahou Chengqin breathed a sigh of relief.

    The people around cried out at the miracle that they had just witnessed.

    Yi Tong stood at the side, stomping his foot. ¡°They dare to ignore my words, hmph! Just wait, even if you cry and beg meter, I won¡¯t rmend Miss Gu toe help them!¡±

    ¡°What did you mean by that just now, Yi Tong?¡± Yi Bing and Yi Tiao walked over, not knowing why Yi Tong would suddenly go nuts and say things like that.

    ¡°It¡¯s because I pity that child, he¡¯s only what, seven, eight years old? And he¡¯s going to be put to death by Xiahou Chengqin. Miss Gu has said that the talisman only temporarily controls the body with some mysterious power, but the illness is still there. Once it gets out of hand, even the gods will not be able to save them anymore.¡± Yi Tong nced again at the waking child, gritting his teeth, it was so tempting to shred Xiahou Chengqin into pieces right now. ¡°What rotten luck that there¡¯s only a sorceress here, and no other doctors!¡±

    ¡°How nderous of your ignorant mouth, daring to curse my son!¡± The Wang Tribe leader shouted. ¡°Get out of here! You can only imagine what Miss Xiahou is capable of. No good words can be expected of a scoundrel!¡±

    Some people were holding brooms and chased Yi Tong away from the area.

    Yi Tong pulled Yi Bing and Yi Tiao away with him as they left, and he wiped his face. ¡°Looking down on Miss Gu, just wait, you¡¯ll regret it.¡±

    [1] it¡¯s like asking her to call him ¡®oppa¡¯

 Chapter 253 - Give It All Up

    Chapter 253: Give It All Up

    Just as Yi Tong was about to leave, they ran into Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan.

    They¡¯ve been here for many days, and this was the first time Jiang Shuxuan had stepped outside. Yi Tiao¡¯s eyes were round and wide. ¡°That¡¯s... Big Boss?¡±

    Yi Bing gave him a disgusted look. ¡°You don¡¯t look retarded.¡± Why are you saying such idiotic things, if that¡¯s not Big Boss, then who is it?

    Yi Tiao: ¡°...¡± D*mn this as*hole Yi Bing!

    Gu Xiqiao was buying some small trinkets, with Jiang Shuxuan following behind her. When they bumped into Yi Tong and the others, he nodded slightly. Gu Xiqiao however, smiled brightly as she greeted them. ¡°Hello, have you seen Jiji?¡±

    ¡°Jiji is eating in the kitchen, Miss Gu.¡± Yi Bing wanted to p himself once the words were out, Jiji was a robot, how could it be eating?

    Wouldn¡¯t the food just get stuck inside it?

    ¡°Thank you for your care,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, the smile still bright on her face.

    Yi Bing hurried to say that it was no problem at all, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel like there was something hidden behind her bright smile.

    Thinking back to the happenings in the Imperial Capital as well as the elders in the ancient martial arts world, he couldn¡¯t help but shudder. Who was the unlucky one this time, to have caught her eye? If you thought about it, there was only Xiahou Chengqin at the current moment.

    Seeing how Yi Bing the rest left in such a hurry, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she turned to look at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Are they afraid of me, or you, Brother Jiang?¡± They had run away so fast?

    The expression on Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t change as he replied, ¡°Whoever you say.¡±

    ¡°...¡± What a half-a*sed answer!

    ncing around, she spotted Cecily not far from them. Cecily had brightened up when she saw Gu Xiqiao, but she stopped in her steps the moment she noted Jiang Shuxuan beside her, not daring toe any closer.

    Gu Xiqiao saw this, and nced at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Wait here for me, I¡¯m going over to Cecy.¡±

    ¡°Cecily, her name is Cecily.¡± Jiang Shuxuan corrected.

    Thinking that she shouldn¡¯t argue with a patient at this time, Gu Xiqiao just agreed with him. ¡°Alright, Cecily it is.¡± She waved her hand, and ran all the way to Cecily¡¯s side.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao,¡± Cecily greeted, breathing out deeply. ¡°I thought that I wouldn¡¯t see you today.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, looking at her.

    ¡°It¡¯s this.¡± Cecily pulled out a USB drive. ¡°When I was on a mission this afternoon, I did a sweep and managed to find fluctuations of malicious aura in the area, but I wasn¡¯t able to recover the data on it. If you can try recovering it, then I¡¯ll be able to pinpoint the location of the source.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao took the USB drive, twirling it around in her hand. ¡°What happened to you this afternoon?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked suddenly, the thought had been on her mind all the while.

    When Gu Xiqiao raised the matter, Cecily¡¯s face changed to a pitiful one immediately. ¡°Qiao Qiao, you have to get revenge for me. Do you know why I was sent to N City? It¡¯s because of him, he almost tore tendons in my hands and legs.¡±

    The tears almost slid out from Cecily¡¯s eyes when she thought about it.

    D*mmit, she had never seen such a man who wouldn¡¯t show any mercy to a beautiful woman!

    Gu Xiqiao observed Cecily from top to bottom, suspicion in her eyes. ¡°Brother Jiang may be a little cold, but his temper is much better than mine. Did you manage to anger him in any way?¡±

    Cecily looked a little embarrassed, deciding that she would never tell her the truth of what had happened.

    She used to yearn for this man so much in the past, and now there was nothing left but fear. He looked like a handsome and elegant person, but he was crueler than anyone when it came toshing out at a girl! He hadpletely crushed whatever little girl yearning she had for him!

    If she knew what he had done to another person in the Imperial Capital, torturing her and even crippling her hand, Cecily would be celebrating her good fortune instead.

    ¡°Anyway, it was all calcted by Xiahou Chengqin at that time,¡± Cecily said, letting out a sigh. ¡°Qiao Qiao, you won¡¯t take revenge for me even though you¡¯re my good friend!¡±

    Cecily¡¯s expression was very using, and she was right on point. The only person that was able to get revenge for her was Gu Xiqiao, she had to make sure to curry favor with this person!

    ¡°I can¡¯t take revenge for you in this matter.¡± Gu XIqiao patted her shoulder in sympathy. ¡°Next time, if you have anyone else that rubs you the wrong way, let me know, I¡¯ll definitely give them a good beating. Just forget about Brother Jiang.¡± Her heart had already hurt so much at his injuries, how could she add salt to his injuries?

    Cecily: ¡°...¡± Somehow, she was brushed aside so easily?

    ¡°Then, how about changing it to Xiahou Chengqin? She¡¯s particrly unpleasant to the eyes,¡± Cecily said suddenly.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ¡°Deal!¡±

    Cecily left in a contented mood, but when she passed by Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s medicine hall, her expression tightened. Xiahou Chengqin merely spared her a nce, ignoring her after and continued her work on saving people. It made Cecily¡¯s temper shoot to the roof and close to exploding, being ignored like that.

    Fortunately, she pulled out the scripture that Gu Xiqiao had given her at this time, and she was finally able to reign in her anger.

    Gu Xiqiao walked back to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side. ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Brother Jiang.¡±

    The man lowered his head to look at her, a calm and soft expression on his face. He nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Taking her hand in his again, he led them to the tallest building. However, not even two steps in, Gu Xiqiao stopped suddenly, a cold mechanical voice speaking in her mind.

    [Ding! Random mission activated: Rescue that little boy.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 200 points.]

    [Ding! Chain mission activated: Solve the crisis in the ancient city.]

    [Missionpletion reward: 15,000 points.]

    The two missions activated simultaneously, and Gu Xiqiao lifted her gaze to look at the crowd in front of her. There was a little boy, looking about seven or eight years old, and he seemed to be enveloped in a malicious aura which was suffocating him.

    ¡°Auntie, hurry and send him to the sorcerer, otherwise it will be toote.¡± The people around her were bbering, and some even reached out in an attempt to carry the boy over to Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s hall.

    The woman sitting on the ground was pping their hands away, intent on protecting her child. ¡°Just leave me, my husband went to her before this, and he died a few dayster. I will never send my son there!¡±

    This was the first person Gu Xiqiao had seen that didn¡¯t believe in Xiahou Chegqin¡¯s ¡®miracles¡¯, and she pulled Jiang Shuxuan over in a hurry. Her voice was soft as she spoke, ¡°If you¡¯re willing, would you let me treat him?¡±

    The woman looked up to see a young girl, although she was young, she was dressed elegantly, and the man beside her was the same. She didn¡¯t have any intentions of underestimating the girl, and she nodded in a hurry.

    ¡°Did he leave the city to y?¡± Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reach out to touch the child, but merely observed.

    ¡°Yes, he said he was going to see a friend. Then he became like this after he returned!¡± The woman choked out.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head in understanding, and stretched out her right hand,ying her palm on the child¡¯s head.

    The Wang Tribe leader was passing by with his son coincidentally at this time, and he hurriedly said, ¡°Miss Xiahou has said that your husband has been condemned by the heavens, and it has nothing to do with her. Look at my son, he has just been saved by Miss Xiahou!¡±

    Once the man spoke, the people around them nodded in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s right, Auntie, don¡¯t be deceived by others. Hurry and send your child to Miss Xiahou, she will definitely save his life!¡±

    Seeing that their words fell on deaf ears, the patriarch of the Wang Tribe straightened up, his voice cold and mocking, ¡°Don¡¯t regret it when something happenster on!¡±

    He didn¡¯t leave after saying that though, just standing in his ce, waiting and wanting to watch the woman regret her decision.

    Gu Xiqiao was silent all the way, and ten minutester, she slowly pulled her hand back. The yin energy on the child had vanished, and color had returned to his face. His eyes blinked open slowly, and then he started crying softly. ¡°Mom.¡±

    ¡°He actually woke up?¡± The people around them started whispering among themselves.

    The people who were watching Gu Xiqiao with doubt on their faces were also shocked. Her method in waking people wasparable to Miss Xiahou¡¯s.

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe was also stunned. He had been waiting to see the woman regret her decision, and then he would preach and promote Miss Xiahou¡¯s magical powers, and let her save the child. But now, the child had woken up?!

    ¡°Thank you miss!¡± The woman hurriedly went to kneel and bow to Gu Xiqiao with her child.

    ¡°No need for that.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled, reaching out.

    The woman felt as though her knees were supported by a gentle force, and she couldn¡¯t kneel down no matter how she tried. Her eyes turned to Gu Xiqiao, excitement in her eyes. An immortal!

    Gu Xiqiao nced down at the little boy. ¡°Listen to your mommy, and don¡¯t leave the city for a few days, alright?¡±

    ¡°I only wanted to see if Big Brother was still around.¡± The boy said bashfully, and nodded his head.

    Big Brother? Gu Xiqiao filed that information away for the time being, turning to leave with Jiang Shuxuan. Although the people around them had a lot of questions, but feeling the mysterious aura that the two radiated, they knew that the two were not ordinary people, and they didn¡¯t dare to block their way. They cleared a path, letting the couple leave.

    ¡°I know, that was Miss Gu!¡± Someone shouted out from the crowd suddenly.

    Xiahou Chengqin had finally rushed over, only to find that the patient had already been cured. She was a little dazed, and the Wang Tribe patriarch asked suddenly, ¡°Mistress Sorceress, that Miss Gu cured this child just now. Is she also a sorceress?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s not.¡± Xiahou Chengqin calmed herself as she spoke. ¡°The Lisu Tribe only has one sorceress. I think the child only had a mild fainting spell, and she was just lucky he woke up in time.¡±

    When Xiahou Chengqin exined it, everyone was surprised. ¡°No wonder, I saw her just ce her hand on the boy¡¯s head. There wasn¡¯t even any talisman or anything.¡±

    Yi Tong and Yi Bing, who was returning from sending Yi Tiao off to his punishment, stumbled upon this scene. Yi Tong had finally managed to lift Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name, but it was immediately shot down by Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s words so easily.

    Yi Bing red angrily, this also showed how high the position of Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s position was in the hearts of these people.

    ***

    That night, Xiahou Chengqin closed the doors of the medicine hall after treating thest patient for the day. She then drew something on the talisman paper.

    Bang!

    The elder kicked the door open, and his eyes widened at what he was seeing.

    ¡°Xiahou Chengqin, have you gone mad?!¡± The elder¡¯s face darkened, thinking back to the rumors that he had heard on the streets during the day. He threw the cup beside him, shattering it on the wall. His hands were shaking in anger. ¡°Who gave you the right? How dare you treat Miss Gu this way!¡±

    ¡°Elder! Have you been bought over by just a few words from her? Do you believe anything that she says?¡± Xiahou Chengqin looked up at the elder. ¡°I am the rightful sorceress of the Lisu Tribe!¡±

    ¡°Hold your tongue!¡± The elder eximed coldly, tearing the talisman in her hands. ¡°You¡¯re mad, aren¡¯t you? Do you think Miss Gu is someone that you can persecute? It¡¯s better if you just stay here and be at ease. Study your sorcery properly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s mad!¡± Xiahou Chengqin red at the elder with her bloodshot eyes. She turned and left, mming the door behind her.

    The middle-aged man beside the elder opened his mouth, ¡°Elder, this...¡±

    ¡°Leave her be.¡± The elder¡¯s face was sad, and he seemed to have aged ten years in that instant. ¡°Prepare a meeting with the Elders¡¯ Association. It would seem that we will have to rece our tribe¡¯s sorceress soon.¡±

    Miss Gu was right. If they didn¡¯te up with anyone else talented, it would probably be the end of the Lisu Tribe¡¯s legacy.

    As he walked out the door, he looked up at the moon shining brightly in the sky. The ancient martial arts world was about to change.

    ***

    Xiahou Chengqin had just left the city gates, when suddenly a sword aura burst in front of her, and the sky was filled with a bright white light.

    Her body flew through the air, smashing to the ground heavily. It rattled her bones, and even her internal organs felt like they had moved positions.

    A powerful, heavy force fell on her person, and she struggled to get up through the pressure. Using her hands to shield her eyes from the bright light, she saw a person walking towards her at a leisurely pace.

    The figure was tall and lean, his face cold and hard as though it had been carved from jade. He was d in a crisp, snow-white shirt, and his facial features were sharp and delicate. Under the white light, his features were slightly hazy to look at.

    An ice de hovered over his left hand, and the white light that filled the sky shone from this sword. The chilled de reflected his deep, dark eyes, making it impossible to meet his eyes.

    He looked at Xiahou Chengqin, who was lying on the ground. He raised his hand and waved lightly, the Seven-Frosted de pulsed again with aura, mming into her heart violently.

    His cold voice rang through the air. ¡°You were intending to use your sorcery to hurt someone just now, am I right?¡±

    After saying, the aura from the sword pierced through Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s both hands.

    ¡°Abolish your sorcery today. The Lisu Tribe will choose another sorceress tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re from the Jiang family, you can¡¯t treat the Lisu Tribe like this!¡± Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s eyes were wide, her body trembling uncontrobly from the pain on her body, as well as her mind. She could hardly speak through all the pain she was feeling.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare to?¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at her calmly, an indifferent expression on his face.

    ¡°The Jiang family, h-h-heaven¡¯s will!¡± Xiahou Chengqin struggled to quickly piece her words together. The fear of losing her life made her feel regretful of her actions now.

    Jiang Shuxuan eyes were as cold as his de, and he raised the sword in his hand. His tone was mocking when he next spoke, ¡°Heaven¡¯s will? At this point, what about it?¡±

    Another pulse of the de¡¯s aura shot out after he said that, which directly shattered Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s talent.

    At the same time, the clear sky raged suddenly, thundercloud rolling in and roaring through the skies.

    A streak of purple lightning mmed down from the clouds in the next instant, seemingly like an omen of the world¡¯s end.

    ***

    Yi Tong and Yi Bing, who were not far off from the ce, saw it happening with horror and shock in their eyes. ¡°How is Big Boss doing this? How is it causing such a big disturbance like this?¡±

    Yi Bing shook his head, staring at the scene unblinking. ¡°I have no idea.¡±

    Having followed Jiang Shuxuan for so many years, this was the first time he was seeing such a thing happen.

    ***

    At the same time, the people in the ancient martial arts world were panicking. The movement in the northwest desert was the topic of everyone¡¯s discussion.

    In the Jiang family, the disciple that was in charge of guarding the jade tile suddenly saw a crack in the tile, with a faded white mist floating out from it. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn¡¯t seeing things, and got up in horror once he confirmed it. He immediately went to inform the elders.

    That night, all the elders of the Jiang family stayed up chanting sutras the entire night.

    ***

    In the desert, Jiang Shuxuan looked at the person lying on the ground with disinterest, neither dead nor alive at this point. He reached up to wipe the trail of blood away from the corner of his mouth, the cold, hard look still on his face. Looking up at the dissipating clouds, he kept his de away before leaving the ce.

    The phone in his pocket rang not even two stepster.

    He pulled it out and looked at the screen, taking a while before he finally reacted.

    ¡°Shuxuan, did you just hurt the heiress of the Lisu Tribe?¡± Shu Chen¡¯s voice came from the other end, and to be honest, she was quite at a loss at this moment. The news the elders told her made her feel like she had been hit by a hammer, and she immediately gave Jiang Shuxuan a call.

    She didn¡¯t feel relieved until she heard his voice.

    Jiang Shuxuan responded in affirmative.

    Hearing that, Shu Chen felt faint. ¡°You... you actually... do you want to lose your life?!¡±

    ¡°Mom, I¡¯ve already done it. It¡¯s useless to say anything more.¡± Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°But the Lisu Tribe, you know that...¡± Shu Chen¡¯s voice cracked, and she choked out instead, ¡°Shuxuan, don¡¯t worry me, please?¡±

    ¡°So I have to ept my fate?¡± A cold glint appeared in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes, and heughed condescendingly. ¡°Surrender myself to the Jiang family¡¯s fate?¡±

    A tear slid from Shu Chen¡¯s eyes, and she closed her eyes tightly. ¡°Shuxuan, we are so sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised his head to look at the night sky. ¡°I¡¯ve given up so much for the Jiang family. Now, all I want is one thing. Is that not fine?¡±

    ¡°Shuxuan.¡± Shu Chen¡¯s voice cracked further, and she sobbed. A pain shot through her heart. From the moment that Jiang Shuxuan was born, his life was lived for the sake of the Jiang family for the ancient martial arts world. He had never spoken a word ofint about this matter, and today, he was actually talking to her in this tone. Shu Chen felt her heart break. ¡°Don¡¯t bother about the ancient martial arts world, don¡¯t care about anything anymore! Do what you want to do, ignore the ancient martial arts world or whatever. We won¡¯t care anymore, I will tell the elders tomorrow!¡±

 Chapter 254 - Endless Regrets

    <h4>Chapter 254: Endless Regrets</h4>

    Shu Chen hated her identity for the first time in her life. She had been born into a prestigious family, but so what? He was the most involuntarypared to everyone else.

    ¡°It¡¯s my duty, I won¡¯t shirk on it.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said in a low voice. ¡°Mom, it¡¯ste. Go to bed early.¡±

    Shu Chen didn¡¯t hang up the call, and she took a deep breath. ¡°Bring her along next time, it doesn¡¯t matter that she¡¯s from the secr world. Your mother will not leave her side when the timees, I¡¯ll stay by her and make sure that heaven¡¯s will won¡¯t hurt a hair on her head!¡±

    As a member of the Jiang family, there were many burdens and callings on their back.

    An ancestor of the Jiang family had once married a woman from the secr world, and this was not tolerated by heaven¡¯s will. When the ancestor went out, his wife was struck and turned into dust. No one in the ancient martial arts world dared to resist this. When he returned, he entered hell¡¯s will and washed the ancient martial arts world with blood. It was an extremely tragic situation.

    That was also the reason the Jiang family was heavily injured, and the ancient martial arts world realized the horror of the Jiang family.

    After that, the elder councils made a rule in order to avoid such tragedy from ever repeating.

    Jiang Shuxuan was stunned at the deration, and he chuckled lowly. ¡°Thanks, mom.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, who asked you to be my son.¡± Shu Chen wiped the tears from her eyes. ¡°When are youing back?¡±

    ¡°Soon.¡± Jiang Shuxuan started to walk towards the ancient city.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll wait for you then.¡± Shu Chen hung up the call, a thoughtful look on her face.

    ¡°Madam.¡± The butler poured a cup of tea for her, his voice light as he continued, ¡°The elders are still waiting on your reply.¡±

    Shu Chen clutched the phone in her hand tightly, her lips pursed. ¡°Tell them that I won¡¯t interfere in Shuxuan¡¯s affairs. If they want to, let them do it themselves.¡±

    The butler nodded his head, and then he went to pass on the message to the elders of the ancient martial arts world.

    His pace was quick as he made his way out. Tell the elders of the ancient martial arts world that? Did they even dare to go against Jiang Shuxuan?

    ***

    Yi Bing and Yi Tong stood outside the city gates of the northwest desert. After they had watched Jiang Shuxuan leave, Yi Tong had taken off his coat, walking to Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s side slowly. ¡°She¡¯s still alive? Big Boss actually left her alive?¡±

    With all the disturbance just now, he thought that Xiahou Chengqing was dead for sure. It seemed that only her status and powers as a sorceress had been stripped, and everything else was fine!

    ¡°Why did you think Big Boss did this?¡± Yi Tong looked towards Yi Bing, puzzled over Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s intentions in this.

    Yi Bing was silent for a while, thinking. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear Miss Cecily telling Miss Gu to get revenge for her on Xiahou Chengqin this afternoon? Big Boss probably left her alive for Miss Gu to y with.¡±

    Yi Tong gave Yi Bing a strange look. ¡°You have that much faith in Miss Gu?¡± That was weird, it was fine to believe in her and all, but Yi Bing had only just met Gu Xiqiao, how did he have so much faith in her already?

    ¡°Don¡¯t I also have faith in you?¡± Yi Bing didn¡¯t borate further, patting Yi Tong on the shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s get Xiahou Chengqin back in first. Otherwise, she might lose her life before tomorrowes.¡±

    Yi Tong: ¡°...¡± Well, thank you SO much for having so much faith in me!

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t return directly, heading to change his clothes and putting on a coat instead, before walking towards the tower. When he returned, Gu Xiqiao was sitting on the bed in a slight daze. He had been busy the past few days settling matters here, and she wasn¡¯t any better off.

    When he had left, she had been sleeping deeply. He had deliberately chose a ce outside the city, even setting up an istion formation in this ce. Unexpectedly, this disturbance still managed to wake her.

    He really underestimated her sensitivity.

    ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± Gu Xiqiao greeted him from where she sat on the bed. She recalled the thunder just now, and she pursed her lips. ¡°Where did you go?¡±

    ¡°Settling something.¡± Jiang Shuxuan took off his coat. ¡°Go to sleep.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve changed your clothes,¡± Gu Xiqiao stated. ¡°This isn¡¯t the same shirt that you wore when you went to bed.¡±

    ¡°...¡± It¡¯s the exact same white shirt, and she was able to see the difference? It¡¯s such a headache to have found a girl with such great memory.

    ¡°You...¡±

    Before she could say anything more, Jiang Shuxuan reached out to pull her close, lowering his head to press a soft kiss on her lips.

    Her lips were soft and warm, a pair of bright ck eyes looking at him. There was an usation in her eyes, which gradually turned into a more hazy look after a while.

    Jiang Shuxuan released her not long after, gathering her into his arms as hey on the bed. He closed his eyes, and said softly, ¡°Go to sleep.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t move in fear of agitating the wound on his back. She had been in a bad mood recently, with all the running up and down that she did. She fell asleep soon after with her head resting on his arm.

    The person in his arms was real, and it filled the empty void in his heart in an instant. He could feel her gentle breath on his neck, and Jiang Shuxuan opened his eyes. He pulled the nket up, and fell asleep after thinking that he wasn¡¯t able to.

    ***

    The next day, Xiahou Chengqin awoke in her own bed. Remembering the events that happenedst night, she bolted up immediately. The aura that swirled in her body had disappeared.

    How was that possible? Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s face twisted. She got up and took out two talismans, using her cinnabar pen to draw on them, but there was no power radiating from it at all.

    ¡°Miss Xiahou, the patriarch of the Wang Tribe is here!¡± The shopkeeper hurried in from the medicine hall. ¡°His son¡¯s condition seemed to have deteriorated!¡±

    Just as he said that, a wail was heard from the front of the hall. Not only had the patriarch of the Wang Tribee, his wife was also with him, and there was amotion in the hall.

    Xiahou Chengqin set aside her sorcery problem for the time being. She believed that heaven¡¯s will was unavoidable. The most important thing at the moment was the will of the people, and so she hurried out to find that the child had not only fallen into aa, he had a fever that was rising without stopping.

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe seemed to see a savior when she walked in, and he cried, ¡°Mistress Sorceress, please save my son!¡±

    ¡°Move aside.¡± Xiahou Chengqing walked to the man¡¯s side, but she didn¡¯t pull out any talisman to draw on. She pulled out talismans that already had symbols on them that she had drawn previously, it wasn¡¯t like she could draw new ones with no powers anyway, so she could only do this.

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe pulled his wife, who had been sobbing beside their son away. He nervously tried to calm her down.

    Xiahou Chengqin pped the talisman on the child¡¯s head, and then lit it. She then gave him water mixed with the burnt talisman to drink.

    However, there was no miracle happening this time. The child showed no signs of waking up, and his body temperature kept climbing higher and higher. Ayer of ck mist slowly formed on his face.

    How was that possible? Xiahou Chengqin couldn¡¯t understand, why was the talisman not reacting at all? Previously, no matter what kind of illness it was, once the talisman was burnt, the illness would burn away together with it. Why was there not a single reaction today? She started to regret now, she had thought that with her sorcery, there wasn¡¯t a single illness under the sky that she couldn¡¯t cure. She had even mocked Gu Xiqiao yesterday for not understanding anything, but she never expected to be more of a joke than Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°Mistress Sorceress, how is my son?¡± The patriarch of the Wang Tribe looked at the unchanging state of his son, with doubt swelling in his chest.

    Madam Wang was much more hot tempered than him, and she looked at her son lying there without twitching, and she shouted sharply, ¡°You poisonous woman, what have you done to my son!¡±

    Xiahou Chengqin took a step back at the venomous tone. She didn¡¯t know, she really didn¡¯t know.

    There was anothermotion at the door suddenly, and a panicked voice called out, ¡°Miss Xiaohou, what is wrong with my son today!¡±

    Everyone turned, and they saw that it was the teenager that had fainted in the streets yesterday. He was brought in by a cart today, and his face had a bluish tint to it, looking like a dead person.

    Xiahou Chengqin looked at the lifeline that had been cut off from the body, and she shook her head. ¡°He is unable to be saved, go home and prepare for a funeral.¡±

    The people were getting rowdier by the minute, they were all loyal fans of Xiahou Chengqin, and held unwavering faith in her. But when they saw the scene unfolding in front of them, their eyes slowly changed. So there was an illness that the sorceress couldn¡¯t cure too?

    At this time, a woman walked out from the crowd, her hand holding onto her child. It was the woman that had been crying in the streets yesterday. ¡°I told you, my husband was killed by this woman. If you don¡¯t believe me, then I think you should go and search out Miss Gu instead!¡±

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe fixed his gaze on the woman that he had admonished yesterday, the child she was holding had a healthy look on his face, radiating with life. It was theplete opposite of his own son.

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± The teenager¡¯s rtive suddenly raised his head, a remorseful expression on his face. ¡°I know that name, I met her yesterday. She wanted to treat my son, but I turned her down, and now my son is like this. I was really blinded!¡±

    ¡°That Miss Gu is living in the city lord¡¯s mansion. I¡¯m on my way to thank her, it¡¯s possible that your son may yet live if you go to her.¡± The woman held her son¡¯s hand, and she walked off with a basket in hand after that, not bothered to listen to their response.

    The rtive of the teenager gritted their teeth, and carried the teenager towards the city lord¡¯s mansion.

    Miss Xiahou had said that he was beyond saving anyway, there was nothing to lose!

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe was still more inclined to believe in Xiahou Chengqin, her methods were still too great after all. But seeing how motionless his child was as hey there, he felt panicked and frustrated. Madam Wang however, grabbed his sleeves. ¡°What are you waiting for? Bring our son to the city lord¡¯s mansion, do you want to watch him die?!¡±

    ¡°We have to believe in Mistress Sorceress, she is our greatest leader.¡± The man brushed his wife¡¯s hands away. ¡°Miss Xiahou, can you save my son?¡±

    Dread gripped her heart, but Xiahou Chengqin knew that she would be unable to treat the child. If she couldn¡¯t treat him, how could Gu Xiqiao? ¡°Don¡¯t believe that person, her child was not ill at all. How can you heal a healthy person?¡±

    Saying that, she went through a box and dug out a few talismans that she had drawn in the past. She continued her treatment on the man¡¯s child.

    ¡°We¡¯re really not going to see Miss Gu?¡± Madam Wang was worried.

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe thought about Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s ability, and nodded his head confidently. ¡°You must have faith in Mistress Sorceress, she is the greatest person in the Lisu Tribe, an existence that even the heavens will avoid.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Madam Wang. You have to believe in Miss Xiahou. Don¡¯t bother about that aunty who brought her son to the mansion. Just wait, she wille back crying for Miss Xiahou to help her!¡± The onlookers said to Madam Wang.

    Madam Wang watched as Xiahou Chengqin lit another talisman, and her heart calmed for the moment.

    The people around them chatted with each other, joking about how those people who carried the teenager to the mansion would soon be carrying him back here.

    Xiahou Chengqin had used all the talisman in the box, but there was still no change in the child. The child¡¯s face was even getting darker as the moment passed, and looked like his life was about to be extinguished. Just at this moment, a voice shouted from outside. ¡°He¡¯s saved! Miss Gu has saved him!¡±

    Saved? Miss Gu had returned the boy back to life!

    Oh my god! Xiahou Chengqin had said that he was past saving, but Miss Gu had managed to?

    Everyone looked at the direction of the tower in disbelief. They recalled their talk about how the sorceress of the Lisu Tribe was unmatchable, and their face flushed with embarrassment. They were sorely tempted to dig a hole to hide themselves in!

    The patriarch of the Wang Tribe looked at his child, who was still lying motionless on the bed, his entire person in a daze as the words he heard echoed in his mind.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and bring our son over!¡± Madam Wang shoved her husband violently. ¡°I told you that this poisonous woman is no good, but you don¡¯t listen! If anything happens to my son, I will never forgive you!¡±

    ¡°Wife, I offended Miss Gu yesterday.¡± The man said, his fingers trembling. ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll still be willing to treat our son?¡± Thinking of the way he had scolded Gu Xiqiao yesterday, the regret he felt was endless, he could even feel his intestines souring!

    ¡°Gods d*mmit! Do you want our son to die?!¡± Madam Wang wailed.

    If he knew that Gu Xiqiao was so capable, even if you gave him courage, he wouldn¡¯t do it again! It was all because of Xiahou Chengqin, she was the one who had indirectly manipted him like that!

    At this time, the teenager who had been carried to the mansion was being helped back by his rtive. Although he wasn¡¯t back to full health instantly, his face was no longer dark, and the color was starting to return to his face.

    ¡°Chief Wang, to save a life you mustn¡¯t waste time. Hurry and bring your child over. Miss Gu is generous, I don¡¯t think she will be so petty and calctive with you.¡± Someone suggested.

    Hearing those words, the man and other onlookers couldn¡¯t bother with Xiahou Chengqin anymore, carrying the child out immediately.

    Rumors on the streets were already spreading like wildfire.

    ¡°I heard that Miss Gu can move mountains and seas with her techniques, the elders themselves said so.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s like an immortal already!¡±

    ¡°Oh god, I even scolded her yesterday! I¡¯m dead!¡±

    Xiahou Medicine Hall, which used to be bustling with people, was now empty like a ghost town. Even people with a simple headache didn¡¯t dare to enter the ce for her to look at, but would instead head towards the direction of the tower instead.

    Those who had scolded Gu Xiqiao were now feeling remorseful and regretful of their actions. Whenever they saw Gu Xiqiao in the distance, they would duck and hide their heads, in the sands if it were possible. Even the people who were sick didn¡¯t dare to go to her, choosing to endure and suffer in silence instead.

    Xiahou Chengqin sat in the medicine hall in despair, the only one left in the vast room.

    A few days ago, she still had the admiration and worship of people, and now, anyone that saw her would avoid her, fearing that they would be infected by the bad luck in this ce. In the beginning, she was stubborn, intent on finding a chance to retaliate against Gu Xiqiao.

    The elders of the Lisu Tribe issued an order during this time, stating that the sorceress of the Lisu Tribe had been reced by the little boy that Gu Xiqiao had first rescued.

    Because the family had believed in Gu Xiqiao from the beginning, after she had healed him, she took him in for the next two days. After he went back, the boy suddenly found that he had an understanding of sorcery, and even called rain down for the people of the Lisu Tribe.

    As soon as the matter came out, the entire Lisu Tribe was in shock.

    The elders of the Lisu Tribe were especially stunned, and brought a group of people to kneel under the gates of the city, showing their gratitude to the heavens.

    The Lisu Tribe elders¡¯ were spiritual figures in the tribe, and seeing them like this, everyone else were even more shocked by Gu Xiqiao. Those who regretted their actions now felt like banging their heads against the wall. Her medical skills were one thing, but she was also able to use sorcery to call down the winds and rains like the legends! Those who knew even just a little were already at a higher standing than others!

    Finally, the boy moved to the ancient martial arts world, and the new broke out again. This made everyone jealous of his good luck. Wasn¡¯t he just one of the many people that Gu Xiqiao had healed? They were jealous and regretful. To be able to move into the ancient martial arts world, that was the wish of every member of the Lisu Tribe, and this boy had seeded so easily. Even the elders of the tribe gave him a lot of respect.

    This was an extremely amazing breakthrough.

    Xiahou Chengqin, who still had her mind set on getting revenge, could only slump to the ground after hearing this news. She heard the rumours that went around, and the jealousy in her heart had turned into regret. Without her status and power as a sorceress, she was nothing in everyone¡¯s eyes.

    Especially the technique that Gu Xiqiao had taught the boy. She had once sneaked out to watch the outside the city, and they had really called down the winds and rain. She had countless sleepless nights after that, thinking back to her actions towards Gu Xiqiao. If she hadn¡¯t offended Gu Xiqiao in the beginning, would she have taught her all those because she was a sorceress too?

 Chapter 255 - Stunned Speechless

    <h4>Chapter 255: Stunned Speechless</h4>

    ¡°Yi Tong, did you see Xiahou Chengqin¡¯s face? It¡¯s so much better than just killing her off.¡± Cecily received a picture from Yi Tong, and her voice sounded satisfied. Her mood was refreshed, seeing Xiahou Chengqin in this state for the first time. It was worth it, waiting for this moment.

    ncing at Cecily from the corner of his eyes, Yi Tong didn¡¯t say anything. He didn¡¯t know how the Cecily that was usually noble and hot-tempered could be like this.

    Even though her temper was still the same, the noble air around her was no longer there, and she was also talking a lot more.

    Yi Tong didn¡¯t know what went wrong¡ªwhat had happened for Cecily to be like this?

    ¡°That¡¯s right, howe I don¡¯t see Qiao Qiao today?¡± Cecily suddenly recalled. ¡°Isn¡¯t she heading back to the capital? And I haven¡¯t seen Jiji all day either.¡±

    It was unusual to not hear Jiji¡¯s mechanical sound for a day.

    Yi Tong fiddled with thepass in his hand, answering with an indifferent tone, ¡°Miss Gu has gone back to the capital with Big Boss.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see the flying de go out.¡± Cecily was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would sneak away someday, just like how she sneaked away from Baixing Vige the other day. Manager Liu would have probably jumped when he found that Gu Xiqiao had gone missing.

    ¡°They walked out of the desert, not using any tools.¡± Yi Tong said, ncing at Cecily with sympathy in his eyes.

    If it was anyone else that had heard Yi Tong¡¯s word, they would definitely think he was nuts. Who would go out into the desert with nothing but the clothes on their back? But it was one of their people, so it wasn¡¯t anything strange, it was just like taking a trip, nothing strange at all.

    What Cecily was sad about was the fact that Gu Xiqiao had slipped away right under her nose!

    How could this be!

    ¡°She didn¡¯t take me along to y!¡± Cecily¡¯s scream echoed through the skies.

    Yi Tong nced at her again, before moving away from her. He moved away from her, at least ten meters, ignoring her.

    ***

    In the depths of the desert.

    ¡°Shi Yi! Be careful, your back!¡± A young man looked at his partner in the pit, shouting out.

    There was arge pit in front of him, and there were tons of man-eating nts covered in ck mist in it. The boy called Shi Yi was being rolled up by the nts, the corroding liquid dripping from their vines. The young boy pulled out a short de from his boot. ¡°Shi Yi, rx your body. This monster is afraid of steel, catch it!¡±

    He threw the de into the pit, which was caught by Shi Yi.

    ¡°Old Jiu.¡± Another man that was standing by the pit took his own short de from his boot, his eyes red. ¡°OId Ba has been eaten by the monster for the sake of saving us, I can¡¯t just stand and watch as it eats Shi Yi too!¡±

    ¡°Together now.¡± Shi Er looked at Shi Yi, who was wrapped up by the man-eating nt, and pulled out another de. ¡°I was chosen together with Shi Yi into Boss Ying¡¯s team, I won¡¯t return with one man short!¡±

    The other three had also pulled out their short des, a determined and savage expression on their faces. ¡°This d*mn thing has been following us all the way, eating one each day. If we don¡¯t make a stand today, we¡¯ll probably be eaten sooner orter.¡±

    The fear of this monster was turning into a zing fighting spirit instead.

    ¡°Kill!¡¯

    ¡°Avenge Old Ba!¡±

    The remaining people by the side of the pit jumped in with a mad expression on their faces. They picked up the steel daggers, cutting into the vines.

    The vines that filled the skies disappeared suddenly at this time, shrinking back into the sand. Even Shi Yi, who was about to be devoured, was dropped.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Shi Yi got up in a daze. He wiped the disgusting mucus off him as much as he could, almost throwing up in the process. ¡°Why did that monster disappear suddenly?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but let¡¯s get out of here, and leave this godforsaken ce,¡± Old Jiu crawled out from the pit as he said that. ¡°If that monster recovers, we don¡¯t stand a chance!¡±

    Hearing those words, the five of them started to climb out of the pit in a hurry. They were in a frenzy and weren¡¯t afraid just now, but the fear had returned with the adrenaline gone from their body.

    ¡°Was the monster afraid, seeing how desperate we were?¡± Shi Er was the first out of the pit, and he said this jokingly.

    ¡°No way.¡± Old Jiu shook his head. ¡°Let¡¯s just leave first.¡±

    ¡°Old Jiu, look, there are people!¡± Shi Yi eximed, almost out of the pit, seeing two figures not far off from them.

    They didn¡¯t expect that there would be others in the desert, and the team felt that it was a bit strange. They waited for the two toe closer, and it wasn¡¯t long before they were in front of them.

    It was afternoon in the desert, and the two approached them slowly. A man and a woman. The man was dressed in a snow-white shirt, his face as cold as ice, looking extremely majestic. As they got closer, it felt like the heat of the desert became fainter as the air got colder

    The girl beside him was even more eye-catching and beautiful, seemingly surrounded in a faint mist. She nodded her head slightly, a soft smile on her face, and it felt like flowers sprouting from underneath snow, radiant like the soft light of a crescent moon peeking from behind the darkness.

    Old Jiu and the others, who had been in a panic and ready to run for their life, calmed down significantly, staring at the two in shock. It was like they were in a dream.

    ¡°Hello, where is this ce?¡± The girl smiled brightly at them as she asked.

    It took a long while before Old Jiu was able to react. ¡°Miss, how are you both here?¡± The main point was... their clothes were so clean and neat, no trace of sand or dirt was on it, and they didn¡¯t look like they had walked through the desert at all.

    ¡°We came out on a private jet and stopped to look at the scenery. I didn¡¯t expect to get lost after that, and can¡¯t find the ne. Could we walk with you?¡±

    Saying that, the girl patted the robot beside her. ¡°I¡¯m from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in A University, this is my graduation project.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Does Professor Jiang know about this, Beauty Qiao?

    Old Jiu looked at the meal card that Gu Xiqiao pulled out from her pocket, and instantly believed her.

    They had thought that the two didn¡¯t look like regr people, but hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s exnation, Old Jiu was not suspicious of them anymore. Having a private jet, it looked like a spoiled child from a rich family.

    Seeing that this group of special forces people actually believe in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bullsh*t, Jiji didn¡¯t have anything more to say to that, and so it didn¡¯t. But it did give Old Jiu a long look with its cold, mechanical eyes.

    Old Jiu wiped his face in slight nervousness, he could actually feel a look of contempting from the robot. Was the robot sentient?

    Gu Xiqiao introduced herself and Jiang Shuxuan in a friendly tone, and Jiu Tong and his team did the same.

    From Old Jiu to Shi Si, there were six of them. With Old Jiu as the lead, they said that they were bodyguards. They hade to the desert to protect their employers, but had been separated from them during the journey.

    ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that you met us.¡± Shi Yi walked in front of the two, he had initially reached out to pat Gu XIqiao on the shoulder like he usually did to his team, but before he could touch her, a cold re stopped him. He pulled back his hand hurriedly, and huffed, ¡°You don¡¯t know how weird this desert is...¡±

    Before he could finish, Shi Er covered his mouth.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t mind his action, for them to willingly take the two ¡®burdens¡¯ was already a surprise to her.

    When evening approached, Old Jiu, who was leading the group suddenly shouted, ¡°Careful! That thing is back again!¡±

    The group got into a defensive formation immediately, drawing their daggers, looking around warily.

    Gu Xiqiao leaped into Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arms immediately, stuttering and trembling. ¡°W-what¡¯s...ing?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was also looking around, looking slightly rmed.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± You¡¯re being so overly dramatic, Beauty Qiao.

    Shi Yi and Jiu had no time to take care of Gu Xiqiao. At this time, the sand beneath their feet was also surging, and three giant ants burst out from underneath!

    ¡°If you guys don¡¯t want to die, then make sure you hold on to this properly.¡± Shi Er threw a knife at Jiang Shuxuan, seeing the shocked look on their faces, he shouted sharply. ¡°If an antes close, just stab it!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan caught the des clumsily, his hands trembling. He looked as though he was afraid of the three ants, his head lowered.

    When in fact, he was talking leisurely to Gu Xiqiao at the same time.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, how can such big ants live?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were full of interest.

    Jiang Shuxuan squinted slightly. ¡°They grew up in a nest filled with malicious aura. It¡¯s almost the same as Xixi.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no wonder.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ¡°What¡¯s the meat quality of such a big ant, I wonder?¡±

    While they talked, the sand beneath their feet started moving. It turned out that there was a fourth ant, getting ready tounch a sneak attack on Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Shh, don¡¯te for us.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her foot and lightly tapped the bottom. She had been nning on just chasing the ant away, but after that one tap, the sand underneath them stilled. She scratched her nose. ¡°... I think I used too much strength, oops.¡±

    It was dead after such a light tap? The corners of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mouth twitched.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached up to cover his mouth as he tried not tough.

    Suddenly, the ant that was on Shi Yi and Shi Er barged toward Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. She immediately picked the dagger from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hand, cutting off the front legs of the ant with one swipe. cing Jiang Shuxuan behind her, she stered a horrified expression on her face, her eyes wide. Even her hands were trembling.

    Jiji sat beside her, looking on with a disinterested expression. As expected of a shadow queen in the acting industry.

    We¡¯ll be watching her y out the entire afternoon.

    ¡°Miss Gu, you¡¯re amazing!¡± Shi Yi quickly pulled the ant¡¯s attention away to himself, and gave Gu Xiqiao a thumbs up. At the same time, he gave a contemptuous look to Jiang Shuxuan, who was behind her.

    Old Jiu, Shi Wu and the rest had all gone through vigorous training, and they were able to cooperate seamlessly, finally killing off the three ants with difficulty.

    The six of them sat down, panting for air.

    Gu Xiqiao opened Jiji¡¯s chest, and took out a pot of water. As she helped Jiang Shuxuan rinse the blood off his hands, she asked in a horrified voice, ¡°What were those things? Is the world ending?¡±

    If her hands weren¡¯t still and calm, she might have shown some ws that can be seen by Jiji.

    But Old Jiu¡¯s group had just been fighting for their lives, and were trying to catch their breath, none of them noticed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s state, just giving a contemptuous nce at Jiang Shuxuan every now and then. They didn¡¯t expect such a tall, noble looking man was actually a coward that hid behind a woman!

    What¡¯s worse, the man wasn¡¯t ashamed of it, but actually looked proud!

    Shi Yi really wanted to give him a punch to his face!

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, he came back to himself. Seeing that Old Jiu had no intentions of answering, he started to speak. ¡°Just as you¡¯ve seen, this is the strangest part of the entire desert. This god d*mn ce doesn¡¯t even have a signal, and there¡¯s so many weird things. Not only these ants, there¡¯s also skeletons and man-eating nts...¡±

    ¡°How can those things exist? I thought they were only found in science fiction and movies!¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was shocked, but she was calmly washing her own hands.

    ¡°It¡¯s not science fiction.¡± Old Jiu took a mouth of water, his voice rough and low. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of secrets in this world that regr people like us don¡¯t know about. When I was with the captainst time, I once met people with supernatural powers. They are able to fly in the sky and do impossible feats.¡±

    ¡°Is that really true, Old Jiu?¡± Shi Yi had never heard about this before, and his eyes were full of fright.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Old Jiu¡¯s eyes were lost in thought. ¡°When I was training with the captain and some others, one of the senior members of the camp was from this supernatural circle.¡±

    When he heard this, Jiang Shuxuan paused, squinting his eyes slightly at Old Jiu. After a while, he lowered his head, not saying a world.

    Hearing Old Jiu describe the supernatural person, everyone¡¯s face was filled with a cross of horror and amazement.

    They didn¡¯t imagine that bying to the desert, they would hear such things.

    ¡°After so many years since then, I¡¯ve not met another one.¡± Old Jiu sighed. ¡°All of this isn¡¯t something regr people like us will be able to touch.¡±

    The rest of them stopped talking, immersing themselves into the world that Old Jiu had described.

    The group didn¡¯t run into trouble for the next few days, and the journey was strangely quiet.

    Shi Yi once again saw Gu Xiqiao washing her hands with water. Who the heck would wash their hands in the desert with water? If it was thest time, Shi Yi would definitely ridicule this action fiercely. In his eyes, this was just the actions of someone seeking death. However, in the past few days, Shi Yi realized something and waspletely speechless, because the water that the two had looked like was never ending.

    Even the drinking water for the six of them were provided by her.

    They had even taken a shower and washed their clothes with the water she provided, and their bodies felt refreshed from it.

    This was the first time they had been sofortable in their journey in the desert.

    The youngest of the group, Shi Wu, couldn¡¯t help but praise and admire her, ¡°This robot that you invented is amazing, Miss Gu.¡±

    The exnation that Gu Xiqiao gave them was that Jiji couldbine the water molecules in the air which could then be condensed into water.

    Jiji: Look at her, talking bullsh*t again, did it have this function? Did it?!

    On thest day, when everyone was about to reach the oasis, the sand beneath their feet began to rumble violently, and then it slowly started sinking inward.

    ¡°They¡¯re here again.¡± Old Jiu¡¯s face paled drastically. ¡°This is bad, everyone, get ready to make your stand!¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t believe that they appeared on thest day.¡± Shi Yi¡¯s face was a desperate look.

    Shi Wu leaned down to grab his short de from his boots. The de reflected the sun ray, glowing coldly under it. ¡°Even if we die, we need to make sure to hurt it. To avenge Old Ba!¡±

    The sand under his feet sank in, forming a huge pit. At the same time, a terrifying atmosphere gradually spread over the entire area.

    A huge man-eating flower slowly emerged from the middle, its green vines swaying up. The flower was covered with a ck mist.

    The green vines enclosed around the eight people standing.

    If any regr people were to see this scene, they would definitely faint out of fear and horror.

    ¡°It¡¯s be even stronger.¡± Old Jiu leaned over to pull out his own dagger, a cold glint in his eyes. ¡°We may not be able to escape this time.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, if you can run, just run.¡± Shi Yi shed Gu Xiqiao a smile, waving the dagger in his hand. ¡°But they¡¯ve already got human intelligence, so I fear that you may not be able to escape.¡±

    ¡°Sh*t, we have to at least get ayer of skin off!¡±

    ¡°When we meet Old Ba again, we¡¯ll give him that in exchange!¡±

    The six of them set off without saying anything more, the tactics and strategy clear in their minds as they moved.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect this thing to still be alive, Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao had a calm look on her face,pletely unlike the panic expression on the six of them. ¡°Hmm, it seems to have evolved too. That¡¯s interesting.¡±

    ¡°You want to go?¡± Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head to look at her.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded.

    He rubbed her head gently. ¡°Be careful.¡±

    ¡°It just so happens that the treasure you gave mest time have yet to be used, I can try it out this time.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked up to see the nt that was intending to y around with the six of them.

    Old Jiu and the others were fighting desperately against it.

    A dreadful pressure filled the pit suddenly, one that was more terrifying than the previous one.

    Shi Yi, who was trapped by a vine, looked down with difficulty, astonishment on his face.

    Old Jiu, Lao Shi, Shi Yi, Shi Er, Shi San, and Shi Wu all turned, looking at their backs with fear on their faces, as well as disbelief.

    Gu Xiqiao had already stepped forward, six golden needles surrounding her that radiated with bright light. Every needle exuded a frightening aura.

    Whoosh!

    Whoosh!

    Whoosh!

    The six needles flew out, instantly severing the six vines that were holding the men. The needles cut through the extremely hard vines like a knife on butter, and the six of them fell to the ground safely.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head slowly, looking at the man-eating nt that had doubled in size since thest time. She chuckled lightly and said, ¡°How ¡¯bout I y with you instead?¡±

    The gold light burst forth after she said that, and the needles flew out one after another, slicing through everything in its way.

    ¡°This... this is...¡±

    ¡°Supernatural...¡±

    ¡°Oh my god...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simply...¡±

    Shi Yi and the others watch the scene in front of them, stunned speechless. They were inplete shock, not moving from where they had dropped at all.

 Chapter 256 - This Helicopter Of Yours, Can I Borrow It?

    <h4>Chapter 256: This Helicopter Of Yours, Can I Borrow It?</h4>

    The supernatural world! This person¡¯s from the supernatural world!

    This was his second time bumping into someone from the supernatural world. Old Jiu kept his eyes locked onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body. The force emitted from her body shed strongly with that of the man-eating flower.

    The six golden needles surrounding Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body expanded, each giving off a tremendous amount of energy.

    The leaves on the man-eating flower trembled. Each of these leaves were the size of a fully-grown human¡¯s face. It¡¯s pink petals slowly opened up, revealing at its core, a bunch of needle-sharp barbs.

    It had already developed intelligence. The man-eating flower wanted to escape but it didn¡¯t want to leave behind the tasty food morsel either. Thus, using its original body, it made a final stand against Gu Xiqiao. On the other side, with six thick and unbreakable green vines, it tangled Old Jiu and the others up into a human bundle.

    ¡°You repulsive monster! Give me back Old Ba!¡± Shi Yi mercilessly stabbed into the green vines with his knife. Although his heart was shaking with fear, his courage had grown significantly when Gu Xiqiao showed up. Now, the only thing he had on his mind was to kill this monster to avenge Old Ba.

    Peering up, he came face-to-face with the jade-like face of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s. She nced at him. ¡°Your strength, are you trying to scratch its itch?¡±

    After saying that, with a swift move, she threw Shi Yi into the top of the pit.

    ¡°...¡±

    Perhaps out of embarrassment, Shi Yi remained silent.

    ¡°Miss Gu! Come save me please!¡± The menacing green vines had now wrapped itself around Shi Wu¡¯s throat. He screamed with all the energy he had left in his body. ¡°I¡¯m gonna get strangled to death...¡±

    After she had dealt with Shi Yi, she dropped right in front of Shi Wu. With one hand squeezing the ever-living crap out of the green vine, she threw Shi Wu upwards with the other.

    After expanding quite the amount of effort, Shi Er managed to slice off a piece of skin from the green vine. A smile broke across his face when he noticed that Gu Xiqiao hade to his rescue. ¡°Miss Gu, you will forever be my idol from here on out. Big Boss ain¡¯t even worth a centpared to you!¡±

    These six men were all sessfully hauled to safety before Gu Xiqiao could tighten her fists. This was her first time seeing such a bizarre-looking creature. She was excited as it seemed like she could go all out in this battle.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood idly nearby with his hands behind his back. He squinted as he observed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s every move. At the same time, he raised a barrier around the men who had just been saved.

    As soon as Gu Xiqiao released her powers, the man-eating flower seemed unstoppable. The six golden needles she held were treasures, passed down the Jiang family through generations. It was not very far below Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s Seven-Frosted de. It was definitely a rare sight to see someone extract their powerspletely. It seemed like Gu Xiqiao paired quite well with this item.

    The man-eating flower¡¯s weakness was metallic items. Right before it grew stronger, Old Jiu and gang managed to harm it using nothing but short fighting knives. There was no doubt that Gu Xiqiao and her golden needles were capable enough to take down this monster.

    It was asrge and as solid as tworge trucksbined but it took Gu Xiqiao less than a second to reduce the monstrous being into a dead pile of matter with her six golden needles.

    Countless green vines, thick and strong were all crushed into dust.

    The man-eating flower wanted to make its final attack but unfortunately, Gu Xiqiao was already holding onto its stalk with a death grip.

    Next to the sand pit.

    ¡°Miss Gu, she...¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s the one who I said is from the supernatural world.¡± Old Jiu peered down at the bottom of the pit. Thendscape below waspletely unrecognizable but they all could feel the waves radiating from below. Still, they werepletely excluded from the fight. In fact, when a piece of green vine came flying out of nowhere, before it could get out of the sandpit, it bounced off of a clear wall of sorts.

    Shi Si wiped his face. ¡°Isn¡¯t she a mechanical engineering student at A University? She¡¯s the one who built Jiji.¡±

    When did she be a member of the supernatural world?

    Old Jiu took in a deep breath. ¡°For one, she¡¯s really smart. Even in the supernatural world, she remains at the top of the pyramid.¡± Among the group of six, he was the one who had the most extensive understanding of the supernatural world.

    When he said that, everyone turned to look at Gu Xiqiao with amazement in their eyes.

    To them, the supernatural world was something so far away it was impossible to reach.

    A couple of minutester, Gu Xiqiao, alongside Jiang Shuxuan came up to them. ¡°Hurry up and leave, this ce will copse at any given time.¡± The power she had exerted during the battle was too great for this ce to handle.

    She pulled Jiang Shuxuan away after that.

    Yellow sand filled the air in the pit. However, not even a grain of sand was stuck to their bodies. Old Jiu and the others were shocked to see them practically unscathed. They were at a loss for words. Obediently, they trailed behind Gu Xiqiao.

    They continued walking for ten minutes before the sand beneath their feet started moving. Shi Yi, who was falling behind the group suddenly realized that the pit behind him was growing exponentially. Countless particles of sand were sweeping inwards and it didn¡¯t seem like it was going to stop soon. He let out a weird scream as he ran forwards. ¡°Good god! Save us Miss Gu!¡±

    No wonder Miss Gu ordered them to leave immediately. This ce really was falling apart!

    It was after they ran a sizable distance did their pace start to slow down. Old Jiu and co kept staring at Gu Xiqiao, all while ncing at each other.

    Jiang Shuxuan red at Shi Yi the tenth time he looked over at Gu Xiqiao. Squeezing his wrist tightly, he threatened, ¡°I¡¯ll gouge your eyes out.¡±

    Shi Yi was caught off-guard.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®You think I¡¯m afraid of you?! The only person I¡¯m afraid of is Miss Gu!¡¯

    Jiang Shuxuan red at him with a pair of hostile eyes that were as cold as ice. Shi Yi felt a chill crawl up his spine, making him shiver for a second. ¡®Damn! You¡¯re not as powerful as Miss Gu but why the heck are you so terrifying?!¡¯

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± As the leader of his group, Old Jiu was the first to open up. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that we¡¯d bump into such a powerful fighter in the middle of a desert. Sending the most powerful assets the military possesses might not even make a dent in the man-eating flower. Jiji has provided us with a massive supply of water. I thought you were only a machinist but to think that you¡¯re also someone from the supernatural world, you really made me perplexed...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s shocking.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, you¡¯re probably a part of the Big Three families in the ancient martial arts world, no?¡±

    Old Jiu shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. But, not even the core members of the Big Three areparable to Miss Gu.¡±

    ¡°Old Jiu once said that people from the supernatural world are only slightly stronger than those from the secr world. Apart from the top dogs, most of them can¡¯t even match the firepower of our modern military. Miss Gu, you really...¡±

    ¡°Your military firepower?¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the man who was speaking. Rubbing her chin, she continued, ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys just a bunch of bodyguards? When did you all turn into soldiers?¡±

    Cough cough! Old Jiu and the others cleared their throats awkwardly. Shi Yi promptly changed the direction of their conversation. ¡°You said you were from A University?¡± The two were speaking bullcrap in a serious manner, so perhaps the absurdity could be canceled out?

    Gu Xiqiao peered back at him and produced her student ID card. ¡°Did I make a mistake? Am I not from A University?¡±

    ¡°Nope, you¡¯re speaking the truth.¡± Old Jiu pped Shi Yi and made him go away before shing an apologetic smile at Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Stop acting like that. Careful or I¡¯ll let Dog Feed tear a chunk off your bodies!¡± She shook her hand.

    It was only at this moment that Old Jiu and co discovered that the man-eating flower was still alive in her grip. However, it had shrunk significantly and no longer appeared so terrifying. In fact, it seemed pretty adorable. Adorable as it may be, they still harbored feelings of fear towards it.

    In order to keep up the act, Dog Feed bared its fangs towards Old Jiu and the others.

    ¡°Let¡¯s all be more friendly towards one another, unless you¡¯re interested in losing a piece of your skin!¡± Gu Xiqiao patted Dog Feed¡¯s petals and it retracted its razor-sharp fangs immediately. Then, it smiled warmly back at Old Jiu.

    Satisfied, Gu Xiqiao patted Dog Feed¡¯s head.

    Old Jiu was wide-eyed. What in tarnation? This flower had turned into a freaking demon! Wait, no! This thing was already a demon to begin with!

    ¡°Is someone missing from your group?¡± Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips. As soon as they heard her question, Old Jiu and co bowed their heads solemnly. Their faces were filled with nothing apart from pain and sorrow.

    This was especially so for Old Jiu, whose eyes have turned red.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked up at these men.

    Then, he reached out his finger and tapped Dog Feed¡¯s pink petals. He narrowed his eyes as he barked out an order. ¡°Hurry up and spit him out.¡±

    The man-eating flower trembled in fear as it left Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand. The tiny little flower proceeded to expand to the size of a car. Slowly stretching its bloody maw open, a ck being drenched in slime was spat out.

    Jiang Shuxuan held his arm out to block Gu Xiqiao so that none of the slime sttered onto their bodies.

    ¡°Ah, what the hell is this!¡± The ck figure that was spat out got onto its feet. Desperately wiping the slime off his face, they could see his expression darken rapidly. ¡°It stinks! Can someone tell me what on earth is this crap?!¡±

    ¡°Old Ba!¡±

    ¡°Old Ba...¡±

    Old Jiu and co looked over in disbelief.

    Old Ba¡¯s still alive?

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Dog Feed in disgust. ¡°Brother Jiang, why¡¯s Dog Feed so darn repulsive?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let it erge the next time.¡± Jiang Shuxuan patted her head before scanning Dog Feed from head to toe. He started having the idea of altering Dog Feed. The first thing he¡¯d change is its habit of drooling. It was exceptionally disgusting to him, who was a clean freak.

    Unamused, Jiji stared at them both. Was there really no problem with calling a flower ¡°Dog Feed¡±?

    It couldn¡¯t help butpare its own name to the flower¡¯s. In any case, Jiji sounds better than Dog Feed, right? Dog Feed? Not even a clown coulde up with such a preposterous name!

    Dog Feed: ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Why do you want to hurt me like this?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao eyed Jiji, which prompted it to reach out and spray water all over Old Ba¡¯s body. ¡°Let¡¯s wash you down, shall we? You stink!¡± said the robot.

    Old Ba, who had barely regained his senses was frightened one more time. What in the world is this thing?! Don¡¯t tell me this robot is also another demon!¡±

    The area they were in was actually a fair distance away from the boundary. Gu Xiqiao waited for them to pack up their things before leading them out.

    With food, drink, and a shower, Old Ba started realizing that this situation was getting further away from the idea of survival in the wilderness. It felt to him as if they were on vacation instead!

    ¡°You guys have been enjoying yourselves for the past few days?¡± Old Ba was getting increasingly envious. He recalled that initially, he had been ving away so intensely that he didn¡¯t even sleep a wink at night. Now they¡¯rezing around so casually?

    Shi Yi responded with a grin. ¡°So-so.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Old Ba thought to himself, ¡®I should totally beat the living crap out of you guys right now.¡¯

    It didn¡¯t take them long to arrive at the boundary of the desert. There was a team of soldiers stationed there with carrier vehicles, a helicopter, some tents and...heavy armaments.

    Old Jiu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Old Ba! It¡¯s Old Qi and the boys!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao strolled casually in front of Jiang Shuxuan. This desert-crossing trip was surprisingly...fun.

    Old Jiu, you guys managed to find your way out so easily?¡± Liu Zi and the rest were in the middle of assigning tasks; each of them held a map out in front of them. They rushed towards Old Jiu excitedly the moment they caught sight of him. He appeared way too clean for a survivor out in the desert. Wait a moment, were you guys struggling to survive out there or were you guys actually on vacation?!

    With a face devoid of emotion, Liu Zi opened his mouth. ¡°How could you deceive us so heartlessly? We went through hell toe here after receiving an emergency signal from you guys! Big Boss had even assigned heavy weaponry to us! We¡¯ve churned our brains out trying toe up with a rescue n for y¡¯all and here youe waltzing back! Oh how I want to strangle you right now!¡±

    Old Ba patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Well, I was one step away from meeting the maker himself.¡±

    Liu Zi eyed his spotless clothes and grunted coldly. ¡°You take me for a fool?¡± What a waste of emotions! What a waste of time spent searching high and low for him!

    ¡°We¡¯ll leave that for another day.¡± Old Jiu waved his hand casually. ¡°In any case, the reason why we¡¯re alive here right now is because of Miss Gu.¡± He then spun around to peer at Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan.

    Liu Zi gazed in the direction Old Jiu was peering. He was shocked to see the both of them standing there. ¡°You guys wait here. I¡¯m gonna report this to Big Boss.¡±

    He darted into his tent swiftly. A handful of minutester, two men emerged from the tent.

    The man leading in front was a tough guy sporting a military outfit. His facial features were handsome and no doubt, it was Ying Xu.

    He first noticed Old Jiu and his men, and then the duo who were standing nearby. Seeing Gu Xiqiao was shocking enough but the tall figure standing next to her? His pupils dted from surprise.

    ¡°Miss Gu... and Admiral?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao directed a smile at Ying Xu. ¡°This helicopter of yours, can you lend it to me?¡± She turned towards the helicopter with eyes full of interest.

 Chapter 257 - Time To Meet My Daughter-in-law!

    Chapter 257: Time To Meet My Daughter-inw!

    This helicopter was the main battlecraft of the local military. When Ying Xu received the emergency signal from Old Ba and his men, he knew right from the get go that whatever was in the desert, it wasn¡¯t something regr humans could take down.

    And so, he directly linked up with the military personnel stationed in this area and subsequently borrowed the heaviest weapons they had in their inventory. After that, he and Liu Ziid out all the maps they had of the desert and examined them closely. From there, they formted a search and rescue n. However, before they announced the start of their mission, these people who were supposed to be requesting help marched right up to their camp.

    Ying Xu nced at Gu Xiqiao. His eyes were supposed to scan her from head-to-toe but they stopped at her hands, which were holding Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s. He was visibly stunned for a split second but he quickly recovered hisposure. ¡°Miss Gu, this heli belongs to the local military...¡±

    What he wanted to inform her was that this warship was an asset of the North-Western Chinese People¡¯s Liberation Army but a look from Jiang Shuxuan cut him off promptly.

    The look in his eyes was vicious. Although silent, his intimidating demeanor forced Ying Xu to swallow his words.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look at the chopper.¡± Jiang Shuxuan tucked the strands of hair that had fallen to the side of her face with his cold fingers, which brushed against her delicate face as he did so.

    Gu Xiqiao had a gleam in her eyes when she stared at the helicopter. Liu Zi and the others were taken aback by her reaction. Though, they did not dare to make direct eye contact with her.

    With Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s permission, Gu Xiqiao climbed onto the helicopter whilst wearing an ear-to-ear smile.

    Jiji, despite holding Dog Feed in its arms, was surprisingly agile. It hopped onboard the aircraft in just the blink of an eye.

    Dog Feed: Try to be more gentle will you? God damn, those robotic arms are annoying!

    Jiji: One moreint I hear from you and I¡¯ll burn off your petals!

    Dog Feed: Robots these days, how crude and impolite!

    Jiji: Do you seriously think I¡¯m your average robot?!

    Dog Feed bared its teeth viciously. ¡°Cease your bullcrap or I¡¯ll swallow you whole!¡±

    Jiji was getting increasingly riled up. ¡°Come on! Eat me then! I was just thinking about asking Beauty Qiao to give me arger, more powerful body!¡±

    Dog Feed: ...

    ¡®What the hell is Miss Gu keeping around her? Why are they all so bizarre?!¡¯ it thought to itself.

    ¡°Look at her, what on earth is Miss Gu doing?¡± The hatch of the helicopter had yet to be closed shut. Through the opening, Old Jiu could see Gu Xiqiao sitting within the aircraft. She appeared to be fumbling around the switches, which made their hearts almost jump out of their mouths. This was the most high-tech attack helicopter their nation had ever produced! A flick of a button and missiles would start firing away!

    Shi Yi rubbed his chin. ¡°You guys should know what she¡¯s doing just by looking at her eyes. She¡¯s figuring out how to operate the attack helicopter.¡±

    Back then, she had this exact gleam in her eyes when she looked at the man-eating flower. What followed was her...cutting down the monster and turning it into an innocent little bouquet.

    ¡°Wait a second,¡± Liu Zi looked up abruptly. ¡°That¡¯s Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°You know her?¡± Shi Yi eyed him skeptically.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! She was the one who cured Wu Zi of his disease!¡± Liu Zi got excited in a matter of seconds. ¡°Ugh, you guys don¡¯t know about her. I guess Ah Da and the others are more familiar with Miss Gu. I can¡¯t believe the day woulde when I get to see her up close and personal!

    Shi Yi¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Isn¡¯t she in robotics or something?! Since when can she cure people?¡±

    What a load of bullcrap!

    ¡°You don¡¯t know sh*t!¡± Liu Zi looked back at him contemptuously. ¡°Miss Gu¡¯s a high-achieving med student in A University! Do you know the Medical Research Center in A University? And how there have been countless doctors from multiple countries flooding into said center for the past few days?

    Shi Yi and his men nodded mindlessly in response. Liu Zi¡¯s passion had been triggered. He started bbering away endlessly. ¡°If I were to talk about the ground-breaking cell fusion process or the International Art Exhibition, you¡¯d all definitely start scratching your heads. At the very least, you all should¡¯ve heard of Nine Heavens, right? Yes, you heard me right. It¡¯s THAT Nine Heavens that is working together with the Ministry of National Defense! Remember when Old Ba was tailing that guy from thework department and he got his ass handed to him as a result?!¡±

    The corner of Old Ba¡¯s mouth twitched when he heard that. How could he ever forget that experience?

    He passed special forces training with flying colors but got his ass whooped by a goddamn civvy! Even he couldn¡¯t believe that the incident had actually urred!

    However, he had a deep sense of respect when he heard the name of thepany, Nine Heavens. Say, just what sort of people do they have working over there? How could a regr-looking technician possess such greatbat skill?

    ¡°And just what does this have to do with Miss Gu?¡± Shi Yi wore a bewildered expression on his face.

    ¡°Well, Nine Heavens belongs to Miss Gu.¡± Liu Zi patted Shi Yi¡¯s shoulder and chuckled quietly.

    Old Ba sucked in a lungful of cold air. ¡°W-What your saying... is it true?¡± He felt his heart crumble into pieces.

    Liu Zi sucked up everyst drop of the shocked expression on Shi Yi¡¯s face. Out of curiosity, he asked, ¡°How was it, surviving out there in the middle of a desert?¡± With Miss Gu around, it shouldn¡¯t have been too boring, right?

    Old Ba wiped the cold sweat off his face. ¡°God knows what we¡¯ve been through...¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan stuck his right hand into his pocket and fiddled with his phone using the other. Ying Xu, who was standing in front of him, finally got back his bearings. ¡°Admiral, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I have something to tend to.¡± Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes and then he raised his right hand.

    Ying Xu only managed to catch a glimpse of his white sleeve fluttering in the air when a gust of wind swept over him.

    Thud!¡±

    The unshut door of the helicopter was closed up by what seemed like an invisible hand. It blocked the rest of the men from watching Gu Xiqiao. Liu Zi in particr, was stunned by suddenly getting his vision blocked.

    ¡®F*ck! What the hell is going on!¡¯

    He red angrily but all he could see was someone¡¯s snow-white clothes. It was painful to look at under the blistering sun.

    ¡°Liu Zi, treasure your life.¡± Old Jiu pulled him back. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what Big Boss called him?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Liu Zi was puzzled.

    ¡°Admiral! Big Boss called him admiral!¡± replied Old Ba solemnly.

    Liu Zi¡¯s worldview had been broken downpletely in a single day. ¡°An admiral? At this age?¡± Even his big boss was a major general only. This position of his came at the cost of countless pints of blood. So why on earth hadn¡¯t he heard about this admiral before?

    Old Jiu turned towards Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s back. ¡°I think he¡¯s the big shot we saw in the International Training Camp...¡±

    ¡°Which area ofmand does this aircraft belong to?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked Ying Xu.

    Ying Xu responded by uttering a name.

    Jiang Shuxuan, who received his answer, straightaway dialed for that person. He spoke briefly with the man on the other end of the line before hanging up.

    He then peered back at Ying Xu with a cold gaze. ¡°You no longer have to be worried about this helicopter.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Admiral...¡± He still wanted to say something but Jiang Shuxuan had already turned away. The rolling breeze carried his remaining words. ¡°Do not linger around for too long.¡±

    Ying Xu was silent as he watched Jiang Shuxuan hop into the aircraft.

    After an initial ¡°rumble¡± came a gust of howling wind, which indicated that the helicopter engine was revving up.

    ¡°Big boss, that person is...¡± Shi Yi¡¯s jaws almost dropped to the ground as he watched the helicopter. They really learned how to operate a chopper so quickly? If you¡¯re so intelligent, why don¡¯t you just ascend to heaven? Wait, hold on. They have already ascended.

    ¡°They¡¯re people from the reclusive world.¡± Ying Xu replied while holding up an arm to block the wind.

    Old Jiu then murmured back. ¡°Of the reclusive world, I only know that the Jiang family reigns supreme, followed by the Murong and the Tang family. About Miss Gu...¡± Seems like he had never heard of her before?

    ¡°The strength of ancient martial arts practitioners are clearly divided in China, with the Trial Tower rating as a benchmark. The top 10 challengers are all recognized as core members of the ancient martial arts world. Anyone of these people wields enough power to destroy an entire city if they wanted to.¡± Ying Xu watched as the helicopter disappeared into the horizon. That man from before, he is Master Jiang from the International Training Camp. You might not know this but he¡¯s the top challenger in the Trial Tower. His strength is unimaginable.¡±

    ¡°If anyone from the top 10 list can wipe out an entire city, then the strongest one...¡± Shi Yi¡¯s facial expression was as if he had just seen a monster.

    Old Jiu peered up. ¡°Then what about Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu...¡± Ying Xu pulled out an ancient-looking book from his pocket. ¡°She, I can¡¯t imagine how strong she is too.¡± ¡®Gus¡¯ was not a surname native to the ancient martial arts world. For such a talented person to rise up, he feared that chaos would once again run through the ancient martial arts world.

    ***

    On the helicopter.

    ¡°Jiji, Jiji, how the f*ck do you turn this on? It¡¯s off bnce! Off bnce!¡± Gu Xiqiao kept her eyes glued to the windshield. She was afraid that if she did not do so, she and the aircraft would fall right on top of some poor folk¡¯s rooftop.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat behind her, smiling at how frantic she was while operating the aircraft. Despite Jiji¡¯s guidance, there were still issues with maintaining smooth control over the helicopter.

    Gu Xiqiao noticed that they were rapidly approaching a tall mountain. Having the premonition that they were about to crash and burn, she yelled out, ¡°Jiji, hurry up and take the flying stick!¡±

    She felt a warmth approach her back right after she said that.

    Jiang Shuxuan leaned forwards and held onto her hands from behind. With a slight grin on his face, he reassured her, ¡°If you¡¯ve no clue, let me teach you.¡±

    While gripping her hand, he taught her how to properly maneuver a helicopter. A few secondster, the aircraft achieved stability.

    The two of their bodies had seemingly merged into one. Their faces were less than an inch away from each other; they were so close that they could hear each other¡¯s breaths.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, why do you know how to operate this thing?¡± Gu Xiqiao slowly mastered the art of bncing her aircraft in the air.

    Jiang Shuxuan then reached his left hand out in front of her to control the multiple switches. While maneuvering the aircraft forwards, he replied, ¡°I was in a military zone before, so I figured I might as well learn a skill or two.¡±

    ¡°Military zone?¡± A gleam appeared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. ¡°You were in the military?¡±

    ¡°Most people from the ancient martial arts world have been in the military, especially the international training camp. Tempers our minds, you know?¡±

    At this point, Jiang Shuxuan started pondering. ¡°Would you like to go and y?¡±

    ¡°No, not for now.¡± Gu Xiqiao put down her hands and rested against his chest. She then picked up her phone to reply to some messages. She had been having too much fun in the desert for the past few days that she neglected to respond to her contacts. Her phone was stered with unread messages and the likes. While texting back, she talked with Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°I heard the selection for the ancient martial arts world¡¯s ranking tournament has started? Are you going to join?¡±

    Of course! There¡¯s gonna be much more fun in the ancient martial arts world than the military zone!

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t need to go through the selection process.¡± Jiang Shuxuan felt slightly regretful though. If it were a few years earlier...

    The phone in his pocket suddenly rang twice. As Jiang Shuxuan was busy operating the aircraft, he asked Gu Xiqiao for a favor. ¡°Help grab my phone will you?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao did as told. However, when she pulled the phone out, she noticed an odd name on the caller ID¨CLittle Psycho?

    WTF? What¡¯s this?

    ¡°Brother Jiang, uh, Little Psycho¡¯s calling...¡± Gu Xiqiao peered up but from her angle, she could only see the bottom of his jaw.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingers visibly froze up when he heard the name. He looked down at her and asked, ¡°Do you know how to operate this thing now?¡±

    ¡°More or less.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Shuxuan contemted for a moment before cing his hand, which initially held Gu Xiqiao¡¯s on the control switch. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a moment.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. She secretly turned around to look at him. Just who was that Little Psycho? And why wasn¡¯t he dodging her phone call?

    Jiang Shuxuan walked to the back of the aircraft and dialed for the number who called him earlier on. His call was answered in less than two seconds.

    ¡°Mom, why have you called me?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao overheard the first word that he uttered.

    ¡®You win this time, Brother Jiang.¡¯

    ***

    Shu Chen, who was far away in the ancient martial arts world, was packing up her belongings. ¡°Shuxuan, didn¡¯t you tell me that you wereing home today? Where are you now? Do you need me to pick you up?¡±

    ¡°No need for that, we...we¡¯re on the way home.¡± Jiang Shuxuan paused for a second mid-sentence.

    Shu Chen did not doubt the truth of his words. ¡°Good, I¡¯m packing up my clothes. We¡¯ll meet in the little residential area, alright dear?¡±

    Shu Chen began counting her items after the phone call ended. Her decision to move into that residential area has been solidified. There were so many people from the ancient martial arts world living there anyways! She wanted to join in on the fun!

    ¡°Madam, Miss Jiang Tong has arrived.¡± Into her room walked the butler.

    Shu Chen furrowed her brows. Ever since the turmoil from before, Jiang Tong had never set foot on the Jiang family¡¯s soil. So what was she doing here today?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see her.¡± Shu Chen gave her reply bluntly.

    The butler acknowledged her answer. ¡°Madam, Miss Jiang Tong has now reached level 62 in the Trial Tower. I¡¯m afraid this may not be the best response we can give.¡± Even though he too, disliked Jiang Tong.

    ¡°Fine, let her in.¡± Shu Chen massaged her temples as she plopped down on the sofa.

    Jiang Tong noticed the baggage next to Shu Chen the moment she stepped into the room. It took her a while to register what was going on. ¡°Madam Jiang, this is...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to meet my daughter-inw.¡± Shu Chen shed her a smile. ¡°My Shuxuan¡¯s bringing her home today.¡±

 Chapter 258 - Award Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 258: Award Ceremony</h4>

    Shu Chen¡¯s words overwhelmed Jiang Tong.

    What had Mrs. Jiang just said? Who was she going to meet again?

    Jiang Tong was flustered and frustrated at the same time. She originally thought that her outstanding achievement at the Trial Tower was enough to grant her Mrs. Jiang¡¯s attention. The entire ancient martial arts world had even started sending her gifts. And yet, the Jiang family, who she desired to see the most was nowhere in sight.

    Plucking up her courage, she arrived at the Jiang family¡¯s manor. As expected, their guards did not chase her away. Instead, it was Shu Chen¡¯s words that caused her heart to throb in pain.

    ¡°Mrs. Jiang, what are you talking about?¡± Sucking up the stabbing pain in her heart, she started questioning.

    A sour feeling rose in her heart. Questions started racing through her mind. Although Murong Miaoxue had been improvingtely, she was only around level 50. Apart from that, she had constantly remained at the Trial Tower recently so the chances of her being the one is close to null.

    Who then, was she talking about?

    Jiang Shuxuan had not been in the ancient martial arts world recently. In fact, she had caught wind of him working with the Americans to investigate the recent turmoil here.

    Just this noon, the Elder¡¯s Association had sent a team to the deserts of the North-West.

    Shu Chen quite obviously was not going to talk to Jiang Tong for any longer. Ever since thest incident, she hade to understand that Jiang Tong was only keeping up an act. Her would-be daughter-inw was only a regr human being and could notpare to Jiang Tong, for now. Shu Chen responded with a blunt reply, ¡°You¡¯ve never met her before. But you will get the chance to see her more often in the future.¡±

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll leave right after we¡¯re done packing. Shuxuan¡¯s returning soon.¡± Shu Chen couldn¡¯t wait to meet her daughter-inw.

    Jiang Tong dug her nails into the flesh of her palm as she watched the butler stuff gift after gift into a suitcase.

    How would she not recognize the value of these treasured items? They were all magical defense weapons.

    Jiang Tong stood there, frozen in ce as Shu Chen¡¯s pearly white car disappeared into the distance. A couple of minutester, Jiang Lian walked up to her with surprise on his face. ¡°Tong Tong, I saw you walk out with Madam Jiang earlier?¡± Did that mean that rtions with Master Jiang and his family would return to normal?

    After the previous incident, Jiang Lian did not dare to linger around the ancient martial arts world. After all, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s held too much significance here; he¡¯d getughed at no matter where he went.

    However, public opinion about him changed when news of Jiang Tong¡¯s advance in the Trial Tower spread. Still, it didn¡¯t mean that they had forgotten about the past.

    ¡°No,¡± Jiang Tong looked away. ¡°Has there been any newstely about the ancient martial arts world?¡±

    The selection stage for Trial Tower was nearing. She and Murong Miaoxue both spent most of their time in the Trial Tower, honing theirbat skills. They werepletely cut off from the outside world during this period. Shu Chen¡¯s attitude definitely got her attention. She knew thedy well and there was no way she¡¯d be this excited for some in Jane.

    ¡°There are two actually.¡± Jiang Lian thought about the ming hot rumor that had started to spread around the ancient martial arts today. ¡°The first one is that the Jiang family elder has sent an elite squad into the north-western desert. I¡¯m guessing that something big must¡¯ve happened there. The second news is that Cecily has returned.¡±

    Jiang Tong was familiar with the name Cecily. Although she didn¡¯t bear any hard feelings toward Murong Miaoxue, it was the opposite for Cecily.

    In the rating tournament three years ago, Cecily got the first ce and managed to climb up to top 10 of the youth ranking list. Because of this, she was given one-twelfth of the entire world¡¯s resources. After three years, Jiang Tong had no idea how much she had grown.

    ¡°Tong Tong, you¡¯re already on level 62 now. Cecily definitely won¡¯t beparable to you in the future.¡± Jiang Lian was very confident in his daughter¡¯s abilities. ¡°You¡¯d undoubtedly earn Madam Jiang¡¯s respect then.¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s confidence swelled up upon hearing her father¡¯s words of reassurance.

    Turning around, she headed for the Trial Tower.

    ***

    After the both of them left, a third figure emerged from behind. Baili Bin narrowed his eyes as he watched Jiang Tong walk off into the distance. ¡°Qiao Qiao did say that she¡¯d send a child to the ancient martial arts world. I wonder if he¡¯s here already?¡±

    ¡°Oh he¡¯s here already.¡± The boy was sent to the Baili family manor somewhere around noon by Miss Cecily.¡± Uncle Tai followed behind Baili Bin. He smiled when he thought about the child from before. ¡°The kid¡¯s got talent that¡¯s for sure. He¡¯s pretty adorable too.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Baili Bin chuckled. He picked up his phone and checked the message that Gu Xiqiao sent him. ¡°Let¡¯s head home, it won¡¯t be long till she arrives.¡±

    Uncle Tai remained behind Baili Bin. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we inform the patriarch about this? He¡¯s been wanting to meet Miss Gu for a long time now. He¡¯d even ordered me to give these items to Miss Gu today.¡±

    After that, he showed Baili Bin the bags he was holding. These were all presumably precious items that Gu Xiqiao was looking for and which Baili Qu wanted her to have.

    Baili Bin used to be treated like this by the old man. Seems like Gu Xiqiao did a pretty good job recing him.

    ¡°I doubt that he has the guts though. Even if she agreed to meet him, I don¡¯t think he¡¯d respond in the same way.¡± Baili Bin shook his head.

    Uncle Tai pondered in his mind for a moment before speaking. ¡°The youngdy came looking for me just now. She doesn¡¯t seem particrly happy today.¡±

    Baili Bin¡¯s expression darkened the moment he heard Uncle Tai mention Baili Wenxi. After a long pause, Uncle Tai heard the soft sound of conversationing from a distance away. ¡°Not every mistake will be forgiven. If Qiao Qiao had not met Shuxuan, or if she was just another regr girl, have you any idea what would be of her today?¡±

    Uncle Tai did not respond to his question. He had read through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s records. Judging by how vicious the Gu family was, if she were just an average Jane, she wouldn¡¯t even be given a piece of bone to gnaw on during mealtime.

    Recalling how thin Miss Gu was, Uncle Tai felt a pain in his heart. All of a sudden, Baili Wenxi didn¡¯t seem as pitiful as that poor youngdy.

    ¡°Young Master, I have a feeling that things aren¡¯t as simple as they seem to be. Of all the people, why does it have to be the youngdy? Fu Xuejun too.¡± The more Uncle Tai thought about the matter, the more it came across as bizarre. However, he still could not ce his finger on a specific point where the particr problem was. Fu Xuejun¡¯s identity had been exposed, while Baili Wenxi¡¯s memories had yet to return. A chill crept up Uncle Tai¡¯s spine as he recalled how the Baili family had declined in recent years. ¡°Perhaps, someone was deliberately...¡± Sabotaging them?

    Uncle Tai felt a sense of unease sweep over him when realization set in.

    Baili Bin nced at Uncle Tai for less than a second before he lifted up his phone and texted Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Uncle Tai, do you believe that man can triumph over heaven?¡±

    In the face of a great power, conspiracy and tricks were nothing but a joke. He did not believe in fate, what more to say of a creator? The reason why he was able to stand up again was due to his own will. Was there anything that he did not have control over?

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, let¡¯s go pick up some fresh greens at the market.¡± Baili Bin popped the car door open and left the vehicle. ¡°Having been stranded out in the middle of a desert for so many days, Qiao Qiao probably hasn¡¯t tasted good food since then. We should get more stuff this time.¡±

    Uncle Tai forgot about his question the moment they switched over to another topic. ¡°I know this shop that sells mighty good roasted ducks. It¡¯s Miss Gu¡¯s favorite too. Oh right, I still have to notify Mrs. Zhang to not get any groceries since we have that handled...¡±

    ***

    By now, Gu Xiqiao was already on the outskirts of Beijing.

    The helicopter was pretty bulky and Gu Xiqiao did not intend to maneuver it right into the middle of the city. Instead, she looked for whatever open space was avable for her tond on. After that, she summoned her little pink car, which she had not driven in ages.

    Jiang Shuxuan whipped out his phone and made a phone call to inform headquarters about the chopper¡¯s whereabouts before heading toward Gu Xiqiao¡¯s little pink car.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He slid into the driver¡¯s seat without hesitation. After all, this car was picked by him for Gu Xiqiao as a gift.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and sent a message to Director Cheng. ¡°Will arrive in half an hour.¡± She then peered up. ¡°Brother Jiang, I¡¯ve always wondered why you picked this car for me back then?¡±

    ¡°Do you hate it?¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked back at her seriously.

    ¡°Not really...¡± She had asked this question multiple times in the past but she was still puzzled as to why he had to pick such a girly color for her.

    Jiang Shuxuanughed when he saw the confused look in her eyes. ¡°Well, the decision was made in your best interest, I guess.¡±

    He didn¡¯t think much about it back then. All he wanted was to alter the course of her life as her face-reading was that of a person who would face premature death. To be precise, she would not live past the age of 24. The thought of this made him tighten his grip on the steering wheel.

    Still, he failed to foresee that whenever she¡¯s behind the wheel, there would always be youngsters trying to approach her.

    The more he thought about it, the worse Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s facial expression became.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped fiddling with her phone when she heard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reply. Through the corner of her eye, she stole a nce at his smooth-shaven face. Her heart skipped a beat upon hearing what he said. He didn¡¯t seem to be joking too.

    Gu Xiqiao reached up and pinched the middle of his brows which was scrunched up tightly.

    ¡°Hey! Good heavens!¡± Jiang Shuxuan mmed his foot on the brake pedal, causing the vehicle to almost crash into a nearby streemp. He was stupefied by what she had just done. ¡°I¡¯m still driving.¡±

    Could you not make me lose focus?

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... drive on then.¡±

    The annual Hundred Flowers Award would be held in the Imperial Capital. Director Cheng and Brother Kun had already contacted her a few days ago. Both projects, which Gu Xiqiao worked in had been epted into the selection process, one being ¡®River¡¯s Lake¡¯ and the other, ¡®Empire Under Siege¡¯. She was nominated for the best supporting actress as well as the best rookie-actress award. Although there were no guarantees that she would end up with the award, merely being mentioned was already more than sufficient to endorse her skill in acting.

    To be honest, Cheng Zhou wanted to put forth the Xianxia epic ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ for the selection process as he felt that Gu Xiqiao would easily win an award or two with it. However, this was turned down by Gu Xiqiao herself. Not only that, she had even threatened the director to not release the film.

    This had resulted in a fight almost spilling out between her and Cheng Zhou. In the end, he reached a final conclusion¡ªGu Xiqiao was a creature almost impossible to deal with.

    The pink car rolled to a stop not far away from where the award ceremony was being held. Gu Xiqiao excited the car while Jiang Shuxuan rested his arm on top of the door. ¡°Call me when you¡¯re about to leave at night. I have something to deal with now so I won¡¯t be apanying you.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan watched as Gu Xiqiao marched off before he started driving away. Picking up his phone he noticed that there was a new notification.

    [Little Psycho: I have already left the ancient martial arts world. Where are you?]

    [Jiang Shuxuan: Sending off the little princess to the award ceremony.]

    [Little Psycho: Princess?]

    [Jiang Shuxuan: That¡¯s right ^_^]

    Jiang Shuxuan squinted at the screen and contemted for a while before proceeding to drive off. How should he coolly introduce Gu Xiqiao to his mother? This was a major pain in the butt. The problem now was that Gu Xiqiao was still kept in the dark from his mother. Would she beat him to death when the cat is finally let out of the bag?

    Here on the other side, Gu Xiqiao was walking toward the entrance of the hall where the ceremony was held.

    Because a lot of celebrities would be attending today¡¯s event, both sides of the entrance were jam-packed with fans, all raising different ques for whichever celebrity they were worshipping. Gu Xiqiao looked over and spotted a group of fans gathered nearest to the entrance. They all were raising advertisement ques with the names ¡®Ning Qing¡¯ and ¡®Baby Qing¡¯ on them. Although their group wasn¡¯t asrge as Li Yu¡¯s fans, it was still of considerable size.

    Gu Xiqiao was satisfied with what she saw.

    She then made her approach in that direction, trying to break through the crowd at that point.

    ¡°Ah... sorry!¡± One of the fangirls had been shoved around when she identally stepped on someone else¡¯s foot. She instantly looked up to apologize.

    ¡°No worries.¡± The voice that replied to her sounded clear and elegant.

    Her voice filled her heart with a hard-to-describe sense of warmth. She peered up to get a better glimpse of what thisdy looked like.

    Under the cold sunlight, she was able to make out a face that was so beautiful that it was impossible to describe using mere words. She seemed more like an artwork than an actual human being. The girl was sporting a baseball cap and despite standing extremely near to each other, she couldn¡¯t get a clear view of her eyes no matter how hard she tried.

    Amidst the misty atmosphere, she sensed a pair of bright eyes looking back at her.

    ¡°I take it you are a fan of Ning Qing?¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at her que which read ¡°Baby Qing¡±.

    Out of embarrassment, the fangirl hugged the que in an attempt to hide it from Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Yeah¡± I¡¯ve always been a fan of her since she debuted. Seeing so many people supporting her makes me happy. Are you a fan of Baby Qing too? I wonder if I can get her autograph today.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you will.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at her. ¡°Let me help you with that.¡±

    The fan girl¡¯s face turned beet red. She thought Gu Xiqiao was only teasing her. ¡°Um, no need for that.¡±

    Their short conversation was overheard by the surrounding fans. They all looked at each other with the same look of contempt in their eyes.

    You can help her with that? Who are you? Ning Qing¡¯s best friend? Maybe you¡¯re taking this silly act a little too far? You think Baby Qing will answer to your call like anybody else?

    Girl 1: ¡°...¡±

    Girl 2: ¡°She said she¡¯s gonna get Baby Qing¡¯s autograph.¡±

    Girl 3: ¡°I heard that she¡¯s Baby Qing¡¯s friend?¡±

    Boy 1: ¡°You girls...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡±

    ¡®You girls w-h-a-t? Little punk! Say the wrong thing and I¡¯ll pummel you! Looking over, she recognized Ning Qing and Li Yu¡¯s car arriving in a two-car-convoy.

    She patiently made it to the cordon and swiftly got past it by simply bowing down slightly.

 Chapter 259 - Dont Be Too Shocked Later

    <h4>Chapter 259: Don¡¯t Be Too Shocked Later</h4>

    The fangirl standing next to Gu Xiqiao called out to her in an attempt to hold her back but what followed made her freeze up out of shock.

    Security did not stop Gu Xiqiao from crossing the cordon. Ning Qing and Li Yu, who were walking together paused to look at Gu Xiqiao. Initially, a look of disbelief was present on both of their faces but that quickly turned into a gleeful expression.

    As if they were old pals, the girl casually greeted Ning Qing and Li Yu. She took off her baseball cap, which revealed her bright, radiant eyes and her perfect face, which seemed to have almost been painted on. Although she was only sporting a regr windbreaker, the beauty that emanated off of her body was on par with that of Ning Qing, who was well-dressed for the event.

    In fact, it appeared that Ning Qing¡¯s graceful beauty had been drowned out by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s breath-taking appearance.

    As the saying goes, beautiful people are beautiful as is.

    Noise from the people surrounding the fangirl died out for a brief moment before every single one of them started howling and screaming. ¡°Tell me! Is that Beauty Gu?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s her! She¡¯s my favorite Princess Qixia!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao whispered something to Ning Qing before producing a pen and paper from her pocket. Ning Qing looked down and started sketching her autograph on said paper.

    After she was done with that, Gu Xiqiao picked it up and handed it to the fangirl who had unintentionally stepped on her foot earlier on. The fangirl failed to register what on earth was actually going on. With a stumped expression, she epted the autograph all while a wave of silence swept over the people around her. She could sense many pairs of eyes looking straight at her.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The fangirl could hear her own shaky voice when she thanked Gu Xiqiao, which reflected how quiet her surroundings had be. At the same time, she could hear the shouts of fans from another part of the crowd.

    This person, she¡¯s Gu Xiqiao? That girl who starred as Princess Qixia?

    She never could have expected that she¡¯d look much prettier in person than on the silver screen.

    In any case, she had already lost her ability to speak.

    It was at this moment that the girls and boys from before all stared wide-eyed at Gu Xiqiao. The shock they felt was of the greatest magnitude, especially considering what they had said earlier. They thought that she was just another naive little girl whose sole purpose of existence was making up exaggerated stories for the sake of attention. After all, this type of girl wasn¡¯t exactly umon in today¡¯s society.

    Never could they have foreseen that this girl was Gu Xiqiao! The person whom Ning Qing had once described as her ¡®savior¡¯.

    What did they say about her earlier? That she was just faking it? And to think that they had even started to mock her.

    Their confidence had hit rock bottom.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze brushed lightly over their faces as she shed them a subtle smile before leaving the crowd.

    What¡¯s left was a cold, faint breeze.

    She, Li Yu, and Ning Qing walked up to the entrance. Before striding into the building though, she turned in the direction of the sun and while squinting, she smiled as she waved her right hand.

    The blinding sunlight was a tad bit too dazzling.

    Not far from these guys was arge crowd who all raised their cards in unison, which read ¡°For A Millenium¡± and ¡°Beauty Gu¡±, both written in beautiful calligraphy. Inparison to these guys, every other celebrity¡¯s fans paled inparison in terms of their dedication.

    Automatically, this group shifted together and surprisingly formed into a crowdrger than the one cheering for Li Yu.

    ¡°Ahhhhh! The queen is waving her hand at us!¡±

    ¡°After going on a hiatus for half a month, the beauty has finally returned! God damn, I¡¯m tearing up!¡±

    ¡°Just let me silently upload this post. @myfriend, you said that Beauty Gu won¡¯t be attending today¡¯s event. Time for you to die of regret and envy!¡±

    ¡°The beauty did not bring Xixi or Haha with her. But I¡¯ve seen enough. I am extremely satisfied now that I¡¯ve seen her!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Seems like your fans have outgrown mine by arge stretch.¡± Li Yu was taken aback by this scene. Gu Xiqiao had not even debuted yet, right? She had only starred in two movies as of today and in both projects, she was only a side-character. Her poprity among the fans was kind of unsettling, no?

    Ning Qing eyed Li Yu. ¡°Do you still think she¡¯s a regr actress?¡±

    Li Yu was reminded of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, which made him twist his face. Nope, she¡¯s definitely not that. Being the head honcho of Nine Heavens already made her pretty formidable so it shouldn¡¯te as surprising to think that she has fans all over the globe.

    ¡°Are you Li Yu¡¯s female partner for tonight?¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin when she posed that question.

    Was it necessary for one to have a partner of the opposite sex when walking down the red carpet? Who made that rule? Gu Xiqiao recalled that Jiang Shuxuan had unfortunately left the ce and even if he was present, he¡¯d definitely not agree to walk down the aisle with her.

    Ning Qing responded with a smile. ¡°I did be who I am today thanks to this movie star, Li Yu.¡± In the entertainment industry, key yers like Director Cheng, Li Yu, and Song Guanjing were all pretty concerned about her. Of course, this partially had to do with Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Still, standing next to him does put quite a lot of pressure on me. How about I let you walk with him?¡±

    Switching partners halfway along the journey wasn¡¯t a particrly sound idea. However, Li Yu was still excited when he heard Ning Qing¡¯s suggestion. If they couldn¡¯t work together in a movie, perhaps they could walk down the red carpet together?

    ¡°No way, you and Li Yu need to create some gossip, maybe let them start shipping you two together.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved her hand. ¡°If I were to walk with him, I¡¯d be murdered when I get home. Think it¡¯s best for me to find Director Cheng, the old boy.¡±

    The corner of Li Yu¡¯s mouth twitched. Create gossip? How could you say such a thing out in public?

    The old boy, Director Cheng might just break down into tears if he heard this!

    Cheng Zhou was initially turned off by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s casual outfit. However, he let out a great sigh after peering up at her face. He now understood the saying ¡°Man, or in this case, woman maketh the clothes¡±.

    Gu Xiqiao took off her coat. She was actually wearing a snow-white dress underneath. It was clean, simple and it showed off her outstanding figure. Its color paired tastefully well with her bright, wless skin.

    The procession was supposed to start at 5:15 in the afternoon. Gu Xiqiao and Cheng Zhou walked the red carpet for the first time in her life. When she did so, photographers all focused their lenses on her. The snappy click of camera shutters could be heard from almost every direction.

    ¡°Little Gu, I have never been so weed by photographers throughout my entire career when walking down the red carpet.¡± Cheng Zhou took out two pens, one of which he passed over to Gu Xiqiao. On the autograph board, he signed his name.

    In a neat fashion, Gu Xiqiao wrote her name down on the board.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao.¡±

    Journalists in front of her panned their cameras down at her signature which had bold, decisive strokes, like a procession of clouds and flowing water.

    Although her signature wasn¡¯t thergest one on the board, its beauty made it stood out like a crane among chickens.

    Director Cheng, who had signed his name on the board suddenly felt the urge to erase his own autograph. He had always felt that his calligraphy wasn¡¯t half bad but seeing what Gu Xiqiao was capable of definitely made him realize the massive gap that existed between them.

    Even the host of thementary was stunned by herplex signature.

    After this part came the awards ceremony.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been away for so many days. I see you didn¡¯t even bother to change into another dress aftering back. Do you harbor any hard feelings against me or something?¡± Cheng Zhou walked up next to Gu Xiqiao and started moaning away. ¡°And to think that you turned down this new role.¡± There were too many scripts he had that required Gu Xiqiao in them!

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and spun it around her fingers. ¡°The medicalboratory has called me countless times. Nine Heavens also has been looking for me. Someone from the international art exhibition has just informed me that they¡¯re waiting for me to ept their award. I haven¡¯t even reached home yet and here I am. What more do you want? Huh?¡±

    Cheng Zhou¡¯s response wasical. ¡°Grandma Gu, I¡¯m sorry, this is all my fault. Would you still consider acting in another film of mine?¡±

    She should be tired by now right? She has gone into hiding for fifteen days after they ended filming after all!

    Gu Xiqiao answered slowly. ¡°No, no, and no.¡±

    Cheng Zhou red at her. He was about to say something when Li Yu patted him on the shoulder. He directed a smile at Director Cheng.

    ¡°If you¡¯d like her to act in another film, why not wait for another two months, Director Cheng?¡±

    ¡°Two months? That long?¡± Cheng Zhou felt his soul being crushed when he heard Li Yu¡¯s advice. ¡°What ns does she have in the meantime?¡±

    Can he hold out for another two months?

    ¡°Of course, she¡¯s gonna be doing something fun.¡± Li Yu narrowed his eyes. The selection phase for the ranking tournament and the tournament itself shouldst for around two months. He believed that Gu Xiqiao would not let such a fun opportunity go to waste.

    Thinking about it made him a little excited.

    Chaos was exactly what he wanted for the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°The winner of the Best Rookie Award and of the Best Female Side Character is surprisingly, the same person. Let¡¯s take a look at this short clip that the international panel of judges sent over shall we?¡± The host lowered the mic and peered up at the screen behind him.

    On the screen was the face of a caucasian man. ¡°I recall clearly that I once praised the actor Li Yu for being a one-of-a-kind actor from China. Now I¡¯d like to add one more person to this very list. That person shall be the actress that yed as Princess Qixia... Gu Xiqiao. She¡¯s a breath-taking actress. Every bit of acting she does emanates realism and I could sense her soul every time she appears on the screen. Now I¡¯m not trying to make conclusions on how talented she is but what I saw was a person infusing her mind and soul into her job. How passionate she must¡¯ve been to invoke such a feeling within me. I¡¯m waiting for you. In January of next year, you wille to the international stage and receive your award.¡±

    The hall was dead quiet after the clip ended. Receiving two awards at the same time wasn¡¯t all that surprising. Li Yu achieved the same thing before. What shocked them was the fact that one of the judges was so impressed by her acting that he even sent a clip over!

    Even Li Yu had never been treated like this before, right?

    To receive affirmation from an international film critic was something every actor should be proud of.

    The female host was extremely excited to see this. ¡°And so, the winner of the Best Rookie Award and the Best Female Side Character goes to¨CGu Xiqiao! Will you pleasee onstage to receive the award?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was flustered. She never expected that she¡¯d receive two awards all for herself. Slowly, she rose from her seat and made her way to the host of the show.

    The honored guest in charge of handing out the award was ady wearing a lc cheongsam. Her face was virtually untouched by the effects of time. She passed two award cups over to Gu Xiqiao and as she did so, the excitement in her eyes was barely contained.

    Gu Xiqiao was surprised for the second time as she did not expect to see Baili Wenxi here. She bowed politely at her before taking the trophies. She showed restraint in her mannerism, without even the slightest hint of turbulence.

    Baili Wenxi took a look at her for onest time. The dejected expression she initially was wearing faded away and seeing Gu Xiqiao invigorated her for some unknown reason.

    Cheng Zhou looked up at the stage in awe. If ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ were to be released earlier, then Ning Qing probably would have to give up on receiving the title of Best Female Lead. Sometimes, he couldn¡¯t help but scratch his head at what was going on in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. Her ns all included consideration for her buddies, all while keeping thempletely in the dark. She did this with Xiao Yun as well as Ning Qing.

    To be honest, it was quite obvious on the faces of many other actors that they had already given up upon realizing that Gu Xiqiao was present tonight.

    Cheng Zhou stole a nce at Ning Qing. She pped for Gu Xiqiao enthusiastically, before writing something on Weibo. Seems like she¡¯s happier to see her friend receive an award than receiving one herself.

    After giving her speech, Gu Xiqiao left the stage with two trophies in hand. Her facial expression was the same old despite what had just happened.

    She returned to her seat but her eyes appeared to be gazing upwards.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± whispered Li Yu behind her. He followed her eyes and the only thing he could see was a patch of darkness.

    Gu Xiqiao nced back at him casually and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should say it out or not.¡±

    ¡°Spit it out.¡±

    ¡°Your fly is down.¡±

    Li Yu reached down to touch his crotch and the corner of his mouth twitched immediately after. ¡®F*ck, I got punked. How embarrassing can this interaction be!¡¯

    This award ceremony was boring. Incredibly boring. It continued on until 9pm at night and that was when Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and sent Jiang Shuxuan a message.

    Xiao Yun, who had been sitting nearby, finally approached Gu Xiqiao in her long dress after the event was over. ¡°Er Qiao, you didn¡¯t tell me you wereing back today!¡±

    She had been so surprised by her sudden appearance that she almost stepped on the hem of her dress and tripped over when they were at the red carpet.

    ¡°I was thinking of visiting you tomorrow.¡± Gu Xiqiao shed a cheeky smile at her.

    Her enthusiasm however, was only met with a tired sigh. ¡°You¡¯ve only left the capital for a few days and so many things have happened.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao contemted about something for a while before squinting at Xiao Yun. ¡°Hmm... have the Tang familye to find you?¡±

    ¡°Cough cough...¡± Xiao Yun nearly coughed her lungs out when she heard that. Gu Xiqiao patted her back in an attempt to calm her down.

    Xiao Yun sessfully stifled her coughing before she looked over at Gu Xiqiao with shock in her eyes. ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao reached out her delicate finger and pointed forwards. Her response was apanied by a chuckle. ¡°I spy with my eye, Tang Qingqiu¡¯s car over there. You best be on your way now.¡±

    Xiao Yun peeked at Gu Xiqiao with a reluctant look on her face. In the end, she made the call to march towards the car. In any case, this issue must be made clear to her. She had only walked forwards two steps before she ground to a halt. ¡°Oh right, our gaming group is nning an offline meetup. Little Wu and I are nning to attend. What about you?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao put away her phone and rubbed her chin. ¡°When¡¯s it happening?¡± Her in-game friends were all pretty lovable characters.

    ¡°The day after tomorrow,¡± replied Xiao Yun.

    ¡°Sure.¡± There was still quite a bit of time left before the ranking tournament selection starts. She rolled her eyes around and came to the conclusion that it would be interesting to meet her friends personally.

    They¡¯re a hopeless bunch anyway.

    Tang Qingqiu stepped down from the car. His face was solemn. As a greeting gesture, he nodded at Gu Xiqiao before returning to the driver¡¯s seat. The ck car then sped away into the darkness of the night.

    Gu Xiqiao stood there motionlessly for a moment before looking over in a seemingly random direction. ¡°Come on out.¡±

    Her surroundings were dimly lit and Gu Xiqiao crossed her arms, waiting there patiently as she squinted in a specific direction.

    Not long after, behind a pir came a man sporting a ck suit. Looking over, a gentle and calm face was revealed. There was not a single bit of awkwardness in the air between them. He smiled at her, which seemed to have the effect of brightening up the whole ce in an instant.

    It was a face that was seemingly hand-drawn by a master artist.

    This face was foreign to her. She had never met this person before, which made her feel slightly weary.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Miss Gu.¡± The man walked forwards and following behind him was a middle-aged man. ¡°I am Chu Ziheng, the sponsor of this year¡¯s Hundred Flowers Award. I was wondering if you¡¯re interested in starring in another movie?¡±

    His voice sounded soothing, like a cool breeze, or the bright moon.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes at him. She was about to turn him down when someone did just that for her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but she isn¡¯t interested in that.¡±

    Looking back, Gu Xiqiao was greeted with the familiar face of Jiang Shuxuan. His thin lips were tightly pursed as he red at the man with hostility in his eyes. If looking at someone could kill, then Chu Ziheng would¡¯ve been chopped up into a thousand pieces by now.

    Chu Ziheng smiled calmly back at Jiang Shuxuan. His voice was unfazed despite being met with such a cold response. ¡°I see, what a shame. Well I hope that we can work together next time.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan ignored him. Pulling on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wrist, he led her away immediately. Turning back, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t you look back at him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled back at him. ¡°Let¡¯s go home. God, I¡¯m starving.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan took a good look at her face and was only satisfied after he was convinced that she really was not tempted by those two from before.

    ***

    Chu Ziheng watched as the both of them left before chuckling to himself. ¡°What an interesting character. I want information on this actress.¡±

    ¡°Yes Mr. President.¡± the assistant next to him nodded.

    A ck car slowly rolled into a residential park.

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car before he embraced Gu Xiqiao. He then brought her upstairs. While they were in the elevator, as the number on the floor level indicator kept rising, Jiang Shuxuan broke the silence. ¡°Don¡¯t be too shockedter.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked up at him.

    Jiang Shuxuan remained silent but a smile had broken across his face.

 Chapter 260 - Son, Youre Really Something Else!

    Chapter 260: Son, You¡¯re Really Something Else!

    When Shu Chen entered themunity area in the afternoon, she could see her son attracting a lot of attention from countless young girls just by standing at the entrance.

    He was poise and regal, though he wasn¡¯t doing anything other than standing. Although there were no changes in her expression, she couldn¡¯t help but feel proud that she had such a son that was outstanding in every aspect. He was just a little... cold, almost no expression on his face usually.

    But that was to be expected, he had been so very busy ever since he could understand things, so what expressions did she expect him to have?

    ¡°Mom, over here.¡± Jiang Shuxuan was outside his own unit, keys in hand and about to open the door when it opened on its own.

    The one who had opened the door was Jiji, and it was still holding the man-eating nt, Dog Feed, in its arms.

    Shu Chen followed Jiang Shuxuan. She nced around, seeing that the ce was very normal, to the point that it didn¡¯t feel like a ce that her son would live in. Recalling the words that Jiang Han had said before in their call, ¡°If Shuxuan doesn¡¯t want you to know where he lives, you¡¯ll never find it.¡±

    Shu Chen had not believed it at first, but now, seeing was indeed believing, and she had no choice but to concede his point. The building that Jiang Shuxuan lived in was near to the entrance, and she had gotten Tang Qingqiu to buy her a ce in this building too. Having passed this building a lot of times, she really didn¡¯t realize it was here.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Looking at the robot that had opened the door, as well as how lively it had greeted them, Shu Chen was shocked.

    ¡°A pet your daughter-inw churned out.¡± Jiang Shuxuan eyed Jiji. ¡°Put that thing in a vase.¡±

    His face was calm as he stared at the man-eating nt in Jiji¡¯s arms, but Dog Feed could see the disgust hidden in his eyes, and its leaves started to shake, not daring to say anything.

    Shu Chen had seen many things in her life, and she was only surprised for a moment after seeing that it was just a robot. Her calm return to her almost instantly, and she straightened out her clothes. Finally, she asked the butler, ¡°Butler, do I look alright?¡±

    The Jiang family butler smiled. ¡°Perfect.¡±

    Shu Chen breathed a sigh of relief, and stepped into the unit. With Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s personality, she had expected to see a cold, minimally decorated house. However, she found the ce to be decorated with warm colors, and it even gave off a homey feeling.

    The living room had warm tone walls, and the floor was covered with fluffy carpets. The sofa was the same color as the carpet, and there was an easel beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, giving an artistic feel to it.

    She didn¡¯t expect ayout like this in the house, and was clearly surprised. Then, she suddenly remembered, ¡°Where¡¯s my daughter-inw?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan walked to the sofa, picking up some documents from the table. He picked up his phone to look at the time when he heard his mother¡¯s question. ¡°I¡¯ll pick her up at nine tonight.¡±

    ¡°Nine?!¡± Shu Chen¡¯s eyes were wide, staring at her son. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll just go look for her myself!¡±

    ¡°Up to you,¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, not a hint of concern in his tone as he continued to flip through the papers in his hands.

    If he didn¡¯t want her to find her, she wouldn¡¯t be able to even if she turned the entire Imperial Capital upside down anyway.

    She had waited so many days, and it was just a short while more to endure, so Shu Chen calmed herself down quickly. Mrs. Zhang brought her a cup of tea, and gave her a tour of the house. When she came downstairs again, she found that there were a few more people in the living room. ¡°Ah Bin, Feiye, what are you doing here?¡±

    Shu Chen was surprised.

    Baili Bin didn¡¯t expect to see her here, and his eyesnded on Jiang Shuxuan for a moment, scrutiny in them. Then he turned to smile at Shu Chen. ¡°Aunt Shu, you¡¯re here.¡±

    Murong Feiye jumped up, hugging one of Shu Chen¡¯s arms. ¡°I heard that Miss Gu will be back today, so I rushed over. I didn¡¯t expect to see you, what a good surprise!¡±

    Shu Chen patted Murong Feiye¡¯s arm, and looked at Baili Bin. Once the other said their greetings properly, he continued to stare at his phone. It seemed that he was watching something?

    It seemed that Baili Bin wasn¡¯t the only one holding his phone, Jiang Shuxuan was also doing the same. Shu Chen thought it a bit strange, and leaned over to see that they were watching a live broadcast.

    It seems to be at an awards ceremony. Shu Chen wasn¡¯t interested in it, but she suddenly saw a face shing across the screen.

    The person on the screen was not mboyant, she wasn¡¯t even wearing a gorgeous gown or anything, but it seems that the videographer loved this person a lot, the lens staying on her most of the time. She looked beautiful no matter what angle the lens was on her, and hearing the introduction by the host, this girl seemed pretty great. She had won two awards with just two movies.

    She recognized her almost immediately, it was Gu Xiqiao, the girl who had rescued her easily the other day.

    Shu Chen stayed quietly beside Baili Bin, her eyes glued to the screen.

    She didn¡¯t even realize when Jiang Shuxuan left.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that... Wenxi?¡± Shu Chen saw a familiar face of the person giving the award, and her tone was surprised. The screen on the phone wasn¡¯t too big, far from a TV screen, but she could clearly see the simrities in the two, as though looking in a mirror. ¡°Ah Bin, why do I feel that this Miss Gu looks a bit simr to your aunt?¡±

    The whole ceremony was nearing its end, and the next scene was of an interview. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was no longer on screen, Baili Bin turned off the video. He wanted to use his phone to do other things anyway, but he paused for a while, opening Weibo instead.

    As expected, Shu Chen was immediately attracted to the Weibo homepage of ¡®For A Millenium¡¯.

    She was holding Baili Bin¡¯s phone in her hand, swiping through page after page. She was full of curiosity about this mysterious girl. The Weibo page was also refreshing, and Shu Chen watched a few videos that were on it with a serious face. These were all Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shots in the movies.

    Each tragic scene made her eyes red-rimmed, and after a while, she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Miss Gu to be great at ancient martial arts, but also very talented in acting.¡±

    Even though they hadn¡¯t met more than a handful of times, Shu Chen felt a lot of affection for this girl. She was beautiful, talented, and her martial arts were not bad at all. Such a girl was perfect, and even Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help but like her. No wonder her fans were all so crazy about her.

    Baili Bin took back his phone, smiling softly. In his heart, he was thinking, ¡®There are so many things you don¡¯t know, the girl that¡¯s great at martial arts and acting is the ¡®daughter-inw¡¯ that you¡¯re missing. More importantly, she isn¡¯t only good at martial arts and acting, if I tell you you¡¯d probably be scared to death.¡¯

    Baili Bin didn¡¯t say these words out loud, but his gaze shifted to the door as he continued to chat with Shu Chen.

    Mostly it was of Shu Chen asking Baili Bin who her daughter-inw is, but his mouth was sealed tight, and he refused to utter a single word about her.

    Murong Feiye raised his head, looking at Baili Bin. ¡°Baili, she¡¯s reallying home today, right?¡±

    Baili Bin nodded his head. ¡°Shuxuan has gone to get her.¡±

    Hearing that, Murong Feiye took out his phone immediately, making calls like a crazy person. All his words were something along the lines of ¡°She¡¯sing back¡±, ¡°The house number is...¡±.

    When Shu Chen saw this, she was once again shocked. How could she not know who the ¡®she¡¯ that he was speaking of was her daughter-inw? Looks like her daughter-inw was someone very popr.

    Not long after, she saw a lot of peopleing. Some she was familiar with, others she wasn¡¯t. All of them exuded a frightening aura, regardless.

    Yin Shaoyuan, Tang Qinghong, Zhu Yuan, Wu Hongwen, Yao Jiamu... and some regr people, like Luo Weng, Yu Ning, and some others.

    Even though they were ordinary people, they also didn¡¯t look like some randommoner.

    Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help but be surprised, she watched as the group of young people gathered after greeting her, bickering with each other and discussing somebody. Shu Chen, who had onlye to see her daughter-inw was still stunned. ¡°Butler, this... what¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± The butler of the Jiang family said, smilingfortingly to her. ¡°But the young master¡¯s friends are not ordinary. Young Master Tang is still fine, but look at the two who are bickering, they¡¯re exuding a terrifying aura. It seems that they¡¯ve just recently advanced to Fleet Foot stage, and may not know how to control their aura yet.¡±

    With the level of Fleet Foot, one could reach level fifty in the Trial Tower. It wasn¡¯t that far off from people like Tang Qinghong and Murong Miaoxue. In the ancient martial arts world, you could also be ranked in the top ten with this level, a terrifying existence.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know where the young master got so many friends like this.¡± Butler Jiang was also surprised at the scene he was seeing.

    Shu Chen was deep in thought at this.

    Jiji was watching the cards in Zhu Yuan¡¯s hands, and it said, ¡°Zhu Yuan, to be able to y like this, it¡¯s not that easy either.¡±

    Yao Jiamu and the others couldn¡¯t help butugh at Jiji¡¯s words. Beingughed at by a robot, Zhu Yuan, you¡¯re really something else!

    ¡°Don¡¯t think that I won¡¯t dare to p you because you¡¯re a robot!¡± Zhu Yuan red at the robot, but without any killing intent present in the air.

    Jiji nced at Zhu Yuan with its mechanical eyes, and it suddenly jumped down from the sofa. It ran at a speed that wasn¡¯t like a robot at all towards the front door. ¡°Beauty Qiao is back!¡±

    Hearing that, Zhu Yuan and the others put down the cards in their hands immediately, staring intently at the door.

    Before Gu Xiqiao could take out her key, Jiji had already opened the door.

    While thinking about the words that Jiang Shuxuan had just said, she stepped into the room.

    Then she felt a lot of pairs of eyes on her, and she turned around, meeting the bright, using eyes of everyone present.

    Luo Weng sighed at the sight of her. ¡°Miss Gu, you¡¯re finally back!¡±

    ¡°You finally remember toe back, theb¡¯s in a crazy uproar because of you!¡± Zhu Yuan also snapped out of his daze instantly.

    ¡°I was this close to hacking the National Security Department if you didn¡¯te back.¡± Yu Ning¡¯s tone was so full of resentment. At least Gu Xiqiao had seen Luo Weng and the others before she left, but she had thrown him into a corner and forgot all about him. That wasn¡¯t fair at all!

    ¡°You¡¯re finally back,¡± Tang Qinghong stared at her intently, and then uttered softly. Recalling the incident in the caves, as well as the peacekeepers who had turned the Imperial Capital into a bloody battlefield, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh, but his mouth was also twitching.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Er Qiao!¡±

    ¡°Qiao Qiao!¡±

    Jiang Shuxan was pushed to one side as the people surrounded Gu Xiqiao, all talking at once, the things all not making sense as they didn¡¯t mesh together.

    There were so many things going on at once that Gu Xiqiao felt a headacheing on. She put up her hand as a gesture to stop, and everyone fell silent immediately.

    Before she could say anything, Jiang Shuxuan took her hand, pulling her around where the group was standing, and walking her to the graceful woman who was near the back. ¡°This is my mother.¡±

    ¡°Mom, this is your daughter-inw.¡± Jiang Shuxuan paused. ¡°Well, you already know her anyway.¡±

    The entire room fell even more silent at this deration.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect that the ¡®Aunt Shu¡¯ she knew was in fact Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mother, and she didn¡¯t expect him to bring his mother back so casually to meet her. What was on his mind?! Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind was nk, and it was filled with ¡®So embarrassing¡¯, ¡®What do I say now?¡¯, ¡®Jiang Shuxuan, go to h*ll¡¯.

    Compared to Gu Xiqiao, Shu Chen was even more stunned and astonished than her.

    Just a short moment ago, she was discussing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s martial arts level with the butler, andmenting that this girl wasn¡¯t someone without talent.

    And suddenly, Jiang Shuxuan came back, holding Gu Xiqiao in his hands.

    Gu Xiqiao, whom she had been singing praises all the while, was her daughter-inw?!

    And all these people who didn¡¯t look like ordinary people, that they had thought to be Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s friends, all turned out to be herp dogs? I mean, look at the undisguised respect and admiration in their eyes!

    Shu Chen felt like she was in a dream, and had originally epted the fact that her daughter-inw would be someone ordinary from the secr world, and had decided to protect her.

    Looking at it now, who would protect who?

    The shock and surprise came too quickly, and her hands were trembling in excitement.

    ¡®Son, you... you¡¯re really something else!¡¯

 Chapter 261 - I Want To Sleep With You Tonight

    Chapter 261: I Want To Sleep With You Tonight

    Shu Chen studied Gu Xiqiao from top to bottom, her eyes seemingly burning as she scrutinized the girl in front of her. Gu Xiqiao fidgeted nervously, not knowing where to ce her arms and legs, but Shu Chen ignored her fidgeting, and then she suddenly stepped forward to enveloped her in a bear hug.

    In the past, the woman wouldn¡¯t have done this, as it differed too much from her usual temperament.

    But today, it was different! The more she looked at Gu Xiqiao, the more satisfied she felt in her heart. Not only was she beautiful, she had also saved her once before. The girl was pleasing no matter what angle you looked at her!

    Gu Xiqiao was stiff in her arms, mainly because apart from Tang Yanling, there were so few women who would give her hugs that were filled with such warmth.

    There was a faint perfume smelling from Shu Chen¡¯s body, it wasn¡¯t that strong, it was the kind that was more of an aftertaste. Her face was painted with delicate makeup, graceful features that were kind and it washed away the chill that was in her deep eyes.

    She never noticed this previously, but now that she was looking closer, Shu Chen¡¯s eyes were very simr to that of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s. If she squinted and looked closer, with just a little bit heavier pressure, her eyes would be exactly the same as the man.

    Then tension in Gu Xiqiao vanished instantly at the thoughts, and she greeted softly, ¡°Aunt Shu.¡±

    Shu Chen felt her heart melt at the soft voice, and she almost wanted to tell Gu Xiqiao to call her ¡®mom¡¯ instead, but it didn¡¯t seem right to do so on their first proper meeting. She cleared her throat. ¡°Qiao Qiao, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re hungry. Just wait, there¡¯s a dish that¡¯s my signature dish and it¡¯s already steaming. I¡¯ll go and see if it¡¯s done!¡±

    She rushed off to the kitchen after saying that, going to prepare dinner with Mrs. Zhang.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood next to Gu Xiqiao, and he felt as though a stone had lifted from his heart. WIth Shu Chen¡¯s previous attitude, he had been slightly fearful that his mother wouldn¡¯t like Gu Xiqiao. Although in his mind, who wouldn¡¯t like her? Either way, he still couldn¡¯t help the doubts and anxiety that he felt.

    ¡°Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao gritted her teeth, ring at the man. How could he not give her a single word of warning at all?!

    Really, she was almost frightened to death!

    Jiang Shuxuan rubbed her head gently. ¡°What are you afraid of? My beautiful wife has always wanted to meet her husband¡¯s mother anyway.¡±

    ¡®What? Are you trying to be cute? Do you think you¡¯re cute? Exactly like Xixi, you¡¯re looking for a beating, aren¡¯t you?!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t feel like talking to Jiang Shuxuan at the moment, and she brushed his hand away. She turned around and walked towards Baili Bin and the others, who had already started back up their card games during the entire scene. Baili Bin was currently leaning on the sofa, watching Tang Qinghong¡¯s cards.

    ¡°How is Aunt Shu?¡± Baili Bin¡¯s lips curved up, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a gentle expression.

    ¡°At least I wasn¡¯t scared to death.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the direction of the kitchen, then whispered to Baili Bin. ¡°Big Brother Baili, did you already know about it?¡±

    Although she had posed it as a question, she was positive that he already knew. No wonder he had acted so weirdly when she was leading Aunt Shu around thepound the other day.

    Baili Bin was calm as he answered, ¡°Of course.¡± He nced at Uncle Tai, and the older man immediately brought a box over.

    ¡°These are some things that Grandfather has picked for you.¡± Baili Bin leaned over to open the box, revealing treasures inside. ¡°Grandfather found a full set of ancient jade. Take a look and see if you like it?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao bent down to look, reaching out to stroke the smooth surface of the jade stones. She was shocked when her fingers touched it, feeling the spiritual fluctuationsing from it. These were no ordinary jade stones, and people in the ancient martial arts world would definitely be fighting over these treasures if they were able to. She couldn¡¯t believe that Baili Qu would give an entire set of it to her.

    ¡°It¡¯s too much, a waste to give it to me.¡± The Baili family had been delivering a lot of gifts intermittently, it almost looked like the entire stock of the Baili family¡¯s treasures had been given to her, from the looks of it.

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Baili Bin replied lightly. These things were suited for her use, it wasn¡¯t easy for the Baili family to be able to regain their footing and even find a tremendous treasure such as her. If he could, he¡¯d bring everything that the Baili family had for her to use. A waste? What was that? ¡°If there is anything missing, or if you need anything else in the future, just let me know.¡±

    When Yao Jiamu saw this, he immediately tossed down the cards in his hand. He had also brought some things with him this time, it was some items that Boss Bai had collected for Gu Xiqiao from Ennd. It was obviously not as rare as the items that Baili Bin gave her, but they wereparable.

    Anyway, they¡¯ve all developed a habit of getting things that looked interesting or expensive, no matter what it was, in order to give to Gu Xiqiao when they could.

    ¡°Ah, so it seemed that the set of jade stones was taken in by you.¡± Yao Jiamu saw the jade stones in her hands that she was ying with, andughed. ¡°No wonder the auction house refused to tell me anything when I inquired about it that time.¡±

    The one who had bought it was the Baili family, one of the big families in the ancient martial arts world. No wonder the people at the auction house didn¡¯t dare to say anything about them to him.

    Yao Jiamu smiled when he thought about it. The things had ended up in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands in the end, and that was what mattered the most. It didn¡¯t matter who was the one who gave it to her in the end.

    When Shu Chen came out from the kitchen, it was to the scene of Baili Bin and Yao Jiamu handing a good load of things to Gu Xiqiao. The items were so expensive and valuable that even she was shocked to see it here. Handing the te in her hands to the butler, she took out her own gift for the girl.

    Fortunately, the gifts she brought today were no lessparable to what Baili Bin had brought. Shu Chen thought to herself that once she returned to the house, she would go through the Jiang family treasures again to see what she could find.

    Gu Xiqiao found herself once again piled with gifts till she couldn¡¯t hold them all.

    The values of the gifts were precious, and she was overwhelmed to the point that her legs felt like they couldn¡¯t support her.

    After dinner, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t leave, but got down to business instead. The people present all knew each other, and Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t avoiding them now, handling the matters all together.

    Zhu Yuan started off first, handing a folder to her that he had brought along. ¡°Ourbs are full, and we¡¯ve conducted our studies on the human brains. There are a lot of renowned doctors that havee to the capital, do you want to meet them?¡±

    Jiji was sitting next to Gu Xiqiao, ying games on aputer. Hearing his words, it couldn¡¯t help but raise its head and said, ¡°You want Beauty Qiao to go over there and smash their buttons?¡±

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°...¡± He... had noeback for that one.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Senior Zhu, I hope you remember the purpose and objectives that theb was made for in the first ce.¡±

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s lips twitched at her words, and he wanted tough at that. However, he couldn¡¯t, because he held earnest respect towards this girl in front of him.

    This was the person who had published her research results to all the doctors without omitting any part of it, and even took the time to exin any doubts or questions that had risen from everyone. If Zhu Yuan hadn¡¯t seen it with his own eyes, he would probably still be in denial of it all. There really was such a person in this world, that did things without expecting anything in return.

    Zhu Yuan took the file and moved slowly to the other side of the room, beginning to n the development of theboratory in his mind. The things that he had once been impatient about were now turning out to be quite handy. As expected, he was bing used to being ordered around by Gu Xiqiao. He gave a sigh at the thought.

    Yu Ning took the chance while Luo Weng was talking to Gu Xiqiao to squeeze himself into the discussion. ¡°Boss Gu, we should sit down and have an in-depth discussion about the development of the virtual world.¡±

    ¡°In a few days.¡± Gu Xiqiao spared Yu Ning a nce, then turned back to Luo Weng. Luo Weng had brought a bunch of documents with him, and she was flipping through them one by one at a fast speed.

    There were also matters about Yao Jiamu¡¯s training grounds, and Gu Xiqiao thought that an on-site survey would be better.

    And so after that, the others got down and started up their card game again. Jiang Shuxuan had been dragged into it by Baili Bin, and the former ended up with his face full of sticky notes on it as punishment.

    Gu Xiqiao took less than an hour to deal with the mess regarding thebs and Nine Heavens, then she reached out to take the cards from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands.

    Half an hourter, Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, and Yin Shaoyuan were the ones sporting sticky notes all over their faces.

    ¡°...¡± How did you do that?! The three of them had clearly banded together, swapping cards where needed, but she still managed to win them despite all the effort they put in?

    Gu Xiqiao merely spared them a nce. Hmph, who asked you to bully others!

    Jiang Shuxuan smiled at them without a word.

    Shu Chen had finished posting Moments from her WeChat, and when she raised her head, she saw Gu Xiqiao flipping through some files. It looked like she was dealing with some important matters. She had azy expression on her face, and looked like she wasn¡¯t really paying attention, but the man sitting beside her was holding a pen and taking down the things that she was saying with rapt attention.

    ¡°What is Qiao Qiao doing? Who is that man? And why do I feel that Zhu Yuan respects her more than Divine Doctor Rong?¡± Shu Chen was stunned to see such.

    Butler Jiang stood beside her, his eyes on Gu Xiqiao. After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh. ¡°Madam, Miss Gu really isn¡¯t some random person.¡±

    After saying that, he handed his phone to Shu Chen, and her eyes widened more if that was possible at what she saw.

    The butler had watched as Shu Chen browsed through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo, and so he did his own research in the meantime, and the results were shocking.

    This year¡¯s national ranker, genius painter, the founder of the medicalboratory that every top international doctor yearned to enter, Nine Heavens, the most promising neer in performing arts that could evenpare to Li Yu, adding on her ancient martial arts level... taking any one of the mentioned talents was enough to make an ordinary person proud.

    Unexpectedly, all these talents and titles were on one single person, and Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help but stare at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face once again. The child¡¯s expression was still indifferent, but her face was beautiful, delicate, andzy. The only thing you couldn¡¯t see on her face was arrogance.

    It was no wonder all these people had so much faith and respect for her.

    Shu Chen left out a breath, she was still a little dazed from all the information.

    Butler Jiang took a call, and then he said to her in a low voice, ¡°Madam, I just heard that Jiang Tong has stopped by the Elders¡¯ Association.¡±

    When the elders were mentioned, Shu Chen first thought of the group of them who had been pissed off by Gu Xiqiao, and had been chanting scriptures for days after, and her heart was extremely calm. She could already guess what Jiang Tong had in mind when she went to the Elders¡¯ Association. ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s informing them about Shuxuan¡¯s rtionship with a regr person, right? No matter, let her talk.¡±

    If Gu XIqiao really was a regr person, she might have been moved to head back to deal with the elders, but now... If the elders saw that the person beside Jiang Shuxuan was Gu Xiqiao, their hearts would probably shrivel up and die! Oh, what fun it was to think about that happening.

    She couldn¡¯t wait for her daughter-inw to head into the ancient martial arts world and start poking at everyone there!

    ¡°As expected, Jiang Tong is just full of drama.¡± Shu Chen said lightly, a cold glint flickering in her deep eyes.

    She raised her head again, meeting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze coincidentally, and the coldness in her eyes melted away into warmth.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back a while tomorrow, to collect some things from the treasure house.¡± No wonder Baili Bin and the others sent whatever things that they found to be good here, having seen the way her eyes had lit up at the sight of the gifts. If it were her, she too would treat her like a treasured baby!

    The group of people only left when it was almost midnight.

    After Gu Xiqiao had taken a shower, she sat in front of herputer, typing away with both hands.

    Jiji, who was sitting next to her, opened its mouth suddenly. ¡°Beauty Qiao, there¡¯s someone searching for your information again. I¡¯ve blocked it already, and I can promise you they found nothing.¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Let me see...¡± Jiji raised its hand, a transparent panel appearing in front of it. ¡°It¡¯s the secretary of the Chu Enterprise Group.¡±

    Sliding its hand over the panel, the information on Secretary Chu Ziheng appeared.

    ¡°It¡¯s this person.¡± Just as it appeared, Gu Xiqiao had just finished the string of codes that she was typing, and a picture of a person appeared on her screen. Jiji nced over, and nodded. ¡°Yeap, that¡¯s him!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned the picture of Chu Ziheng over, the picture showing a poetic and passionate side of the person. She squinted at the picture as she tapped a finger to her lips. ¡°I feel that the person I saw tonight differs from this picture slightly.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the same person?¡± Jiji put a more recent picture of Chu Ziheng on disy. ¡°Then what about this one?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± Gu Xiqiao wanted to say something more, but then someone knocked on her door three times.

    She tapped a random key on the keyboard, and the information on screen vanished instantly. She got up to open the door, finding Shu Chen¡¯s gentle and warm face greeting her. ¡°Qiao Qiao, I want to sleep with you tonight!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan, who was holding a book and just came out from the study: ¡°...¡±

 Chapter 262 - Knock Their Socks Off

    <h4>Chapter 262: Knock Their Socks Off</h4>

    Shu Chen was happily holding onto her pillow as she came to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room, and as she walked in, she shed a smile at Jiang Shuxuan, closing the door with a ¡®bang¡¯.

    Jiang Shuxuan pressed his finger against his temple, whipping out his phone as he sent a text message¡ª[Can you control your wife?]

    Ten minutester, the other replied¡ª[You talk as though you can manage yours?]

    This was the second time now.

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, frowning as a helpless, reluctant look crossed his face.

    He stood beside the door, turbulent in his deep, ck eyes. After a while, he turned and left the area.

    ***

    Inside the room, Gu Xiqiao had already deleted the page filled with Chu Ziheng¡¯s information. Jiji sat in the chair that she had vacated, already ying the online game from Nine Heavens, even wearing the virtual helmet. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her head as she looked at the scene.

    Jiji, do you have any brains? Do you need the helmet? You can invade an entirework with just a thought and sitting on the ground. Do you really need this?

    What stunned her more was what Shu Chen said next.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, what game is this robot ying? It looks very fun!¡±

    And so, Gu Xiqiao chased Jiji away, and taught her future mother-inw how to y the online game. As she did, she thought about what would happen if Shu Chen became an inte addict, would Jiang Shuxuan want to beat her to death for making this happen?

    Gu Xiqiao found anotherptop, then got another stool and helped Shu Chen to register an ount.

    When filling up the ount username, Shu Chen nced at the name that Gu Xiqiao used, and filled in her own¡ªA Blooming Dawn.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the name, and her insides became£¨¡Ño¡Ñ£©! (Editor note: Because in Chinese Ò»Ï¦»¨³¿, is in a simr format as Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Ò»¹ËÇ§Äê For A Millenium)

    On the outside however, she merely nced at the name, then immediately logged into her own ount and brought Shu Chen around toplete her daily quests. Because the quests were lower level and rtively simple, she was quick in her actions. As she did the tasks, she also watched the alliance chat. There were still so many people online in the game, and not only were they online, they were quite active too.

    ncing at the chat again, she noted that the discussion was all about the offline meeting.

    Under Smoke On Water¡¯s leadership, their guild had be the number one guild in the server. They also had countless masters in their guild, in addition to the local tyrant that was Tang Qingqiu, who had injected a quite a sum of money into the guild, they had more members and was growing more powerful over the days. There were many who became professional yers and were also earning money from the games they were ying.

    After close to four months of socializing, there was somewhat a feeling of closeness.

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: Remember it¡¯s the day after tomorrow... wait, it¡¯s midnight already. So it¡¯s tomorrow, in the capital. We won¡¯t leave until we see each other.

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: I¡¯m so excited thinking about it!

    [Guild] I Love Watermelons: Is the great goding? I just want to know if the great god is male or female. If it turns out to be female, is it possible that she¡¯s my goddess?

    [Guild] The World Is Ruthless: Sunshine said it before, great god¡¯s techniques are sharp and precise, it¡¯s definitely a guy.

    [Guild] I Love Watermelons: Are you looking down on girls? ¨q£¨¨s^¨t£©¨r

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: ... I was wrong!

    Seeing this, Gu Xiqiao typed into the chat.

    [Guild] [Elder] For A Millenium: I¡¯m a man ^_^

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: See, I told you! Also, do you know how long you haven¡¯te online! Without your presence in the highest dungeon, our team is just waiting to be wiped, okay!

    The highest level dungeon in the game, and only the team led by ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ had been able to clear it.

    Having note online for almost half a month, the guild had also not entered the dungeon for the same amount of time and were nearly in tears due to that.

    At this time, Gu Xiqiao hid away once the topic was brought up.

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: Mom, you¡¯re still online in our friend list, don¡¯t y dead with us!

    Just as he finished typing in that sentence, the name ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ became grey.

    The guild members all thought that she had gone offline, and were silently sobbing in sadness, until they went out on the field, and bumped into her. She was leading a neer on tasks, and her name was clearly above her character¡¯s head, with the guild ¡®Elder¡¯ title on her head.

    They opened their friend list to stare at the name, but it was still greyed out, indicating that she was offline. ¡°... WTF?¡±

    Jiji nced at the group of yers with sympathy in her eyes. ¡®Why did you guys pick a fight with Beauty Qiao when there was no reason to? Didn¡¯t you know that she can tamper with the server as she wanted? Don¡¯t talk about being ¡®offline¡¯, she can even go up to the heavens if she wanted to!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao was ying the game with Shu Chen, and a knock came on her door ten minutester.

    Jiang Shuxuan was holding two sses of milk. Gu Xiqiao and Shu Chen drank it down.

    Shu Chen was looking at Jiang Shuxuan with a strange look on her face. Thiszy, smiling, considerate person in front of her... was he really her cold-hearted son? Wasn¡¯t this too much of a change?

    Jiang Shuxuan left after they finished their milk, and Shu Chen was only momentarily shocked before she was absorbed into the game once again.

    Another ten minutester, Jiang Shuxuan came in with a te of cut fruits.

    It was a repetitive cycle, and Shu Chen at first thought that her son had changedpletely, and was being considerate of the people around him. But after the third and fourth time, she looked into her son¡¯s eyes, and then took up theptop. ¡°Qiao Qiao, I¡¯m going to y all night. You still have things to do tomorrow, so I won¡¯t disturb your rest. Taking care of your body is important for young people.¡±

    Having said that, she left the room.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at the door that closed behind his mother, and he waved his hand lightly to turn off the lights. ¡°Sleep!¡±

    ***

    In the Chu family household, Chu Ziheng was sitting on the sofa as he flipped through a pile of materials. His eyes were lowered slightly, long eyshes fluttering lightly.

    A few momentster, his secretary came in, holding a pad in his hand with a strange look in his eyes. ¡°President Chu, I spoke to the host of the awards ceremony. That woman¡¯s name is Gu Xiqiao, she¡¯s a neer who just debuted, but she has a lot of fans. The strange thing is that I can¡¯t find any information on her, not her whereabouts, or even her basic information.¡±

    Hearing this, Chu Ziheng raised an eyebrow, his slender finger tapping the table.

    In the deep, dark night, his clear tapping made the secretary feel the pressure in the air, and he felt inexplicably nervous. Finally, Chu Ziheng said, ¡°Let me see.¡±

    The secretary quickly handed over the tablet to him.

    Chu Ziheng took the device and looked at the picture of a fat pig on the screen. As long as he typed in ¡®Gu Xiqiao¡¯, the pig would appear. It was a pink, fat pig, with an indifferent expression on its face.

    ¡°Interesting, very interesting.¡± Chu Ziheng chuckled lowly. ¡°Have you found that kid¡¯s trail?¡±

    The secretary nodded as he lowered his head slightly. ¡°Yes, a private investigator found his trail at the airport. Yesterday, a man took him to enroll in a middle school.¡±

    Chu Ziheng stared at the tablet in his hand, his fingertips sliding across the edge of the pad, deep in thought.

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao woke up early.

    Although she had only slept for a few hours, it had no effect whatsoever on her mentally. As usual, she was refreshed as she went out for her morning run.

    Today, she didn¡¯t bring Haha with her, because Haha had followed Xixi to the training grounds.

    When she came back, Shu Chen was already up. She hadn¡¯t slept all night, and her tiredness was clear on her face.

    After an entire night of processing the events, Gu Xiqiao could finally face Shu Chen with a somewhat normal face. She greeted her softly, and Shu Chen yawned as she returned the greeting. Then sheunched into a discussion on the game with the younger girl.

    While they were eating breakfast, Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°I¡¯ve never yed such a fun game before. Every bit of it contains the culture of old China, especially the techniques and moves in the game. The spiritual scenes all look so realistic... it¡¯s amazing and mysterious. I can¡¯t imagine who would be able to develop such a game.¡±

    She was curious to see how the martial arts exercises and realistic scenes were developed, it really was an amazing piece of work.

    Jiang Shuxuan ate without saying a word, not wanting toment on his mother¡¯s words.

    Gu Xiqiao took a bite of egg, and thought inside, ¡®If you want to see the ones who developed the game, they¡¯re probably still bickering right now.¡¯

    After eating, Gu Xiqiao went to the training ground in the slums.

    Before she left, she turned to smile at Shu Chen. Her face was bright and stunning, and she said, ¡°Aunt Shu, I¡¯m the one who developed the game.¡±

    Shu Chen stopped dead in her tracks as she processed the words that Gu Xiqiao just said.

    Even the words that she had wanted to say for Jiang Shuxuan to be careful on the road were stuck in her throat.

    After Gu Xiqiao had dropped that bombshell, she slid into the passenger seat of the car, and the ck car rolled out slowly. She pulled out her phone and started studying the matter on the training grounds.

    Behind them, Shu Chen turned to look at Mrs. Zhang who was waving to Gu Xiqiao, and Butler Jiang. Her tone was stiff when she asked, ¡°Just now, what did Qiao Qiao say again?¡±

    ¡°Madam Jiang.¡± Mrs. Zhang smiled lightly at her. ¡°The game you yed yesterday should be Nine Heavens, right? That¡¯s a game that all the youngsters are ying now, and Miss Gu is indeed the one who developed it.¡± Mrs. Zhang¡¯s face was full of pride as she boasted.

    Shu Chen turned her gaze to the butler, and he took out his phone silently. ¡°Madam, you probably don¡¯t know the weight of the words ¡®Nine Heavens¡¯, as well as their position on the international scale. Allow me borate on it...¡±

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao got out of the car with Jiji at the entrance, then she turned to Jiang Shuxuan to wave. She waited for his car to leave before heading into the training grounds.

    ¡°Why did you bring Dog Feed along?¡± Gu Xiqiao stopped her tracks, suddenly looking at the pink flower in Jiji¡¯s arms.

    Jiji looked down at the man-eating flower, and said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that it will eat Auntie Zhang and Madam Jiang if I left it at home.¡±

    Dog Feed: ¡°...¡± Am I that kind of man-eating flower?

    Yes, yes it was.

    Gu Xiqiao stared intently at the flower, which quieted and its leave wilted down.

    She rubbed her fingers together, initially thinking to just grind it down to dust, but it wasn¡¯t easy for her to be able to take it out from where it came from and she was reluctant to let it die after all the effort she put into acquiring it. After thinking a while more, she finally pulled out a handful of jade spiritual stones, shoving it into its mouth. ¡°Is it delicious?¡±

    Dog Feed instantly felt refreshed. Delicious! It was way more delicious than any kind of meat it had ever eaten!

    ¡°Be good, and don¡¯t eat anyone else in the future, then it¡¯s all yours.¡± Gu Xiqiao threw another brown pill into its mouth.

    Dog Feed felt even more energetic after this meal! It vowed to be faithful to Gu Xiqiao from this time onwards.

    From that day onwards, there was one more mad demon in the ancient martial arts world that collected all kinds of jade stones everywhere. If people were to find out that Gu Xiqiao was feeding these precious jade stones that could advance a master to a flower, they¡¯d definitely puke blood.

    Yao Jiamu and the group of people had partiedte into the night, and after returning, fully devoted themselves to their training.

    When Gu Xiqiao arrived, they were all inside the cave. Xixi had taken Haha into the cave to y. Haha was sitting solemnly in its ce, while Xixi was breathing fire for it to y with. Haha didn¡¯t move at all, but its beady eyes lit up suddenly, and it stood up, running as fast as its four legs could towards the entrance.

    Before it could reach outside, a pair of arms picked him up and hugged him.

    ¡°Haha, you¡¯ve grown again. If you grow anymore I won¡¯t be able to pick you up anymore.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed.

    Xixi flew to her side, and it opened its beak to say something, but then it caught sight of the robot behind her. There was also a man-eating nt in its mechanical arms. Xixi trembled before asking, ¡°Beauty Gu, what is this?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Dog Feed, then back to Xixi. ¡°Your rtive.¡± They all grew up within the influence of malicious aura anyway, so they were the same.

    Xixi: ¡°...¡± I don¡¯t have such ugly rtives, okay!

    Yao Jiamu had already felt Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arrival, and he came out from the training grounds immediately. ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao returned his greeting, and then looked around the cave. ¡°How is everyone¡¯s strength levels now?¡±

    Hearing her question, Yao Jiamu couldn¡¯t help the smug look that blossomed on his face. ¡°ording to the algorithm of the Trial Tower in the ancient martial arts world, among a hundred people, 50% are at the thirtieth floor, 30% on the fortieth floor, 10% on the forty-fifth floor and another 10% on the fiftieth floor!¡±

    Although she had expected it, she was still surprised when she heard his answer.

    Even in the ancient martial arts world, the top ten in the ranking list was only on the forty-fifth floor. With such a lineup in her hands, it looked like they could already match them in terms of strength?

    ¡°Are the elders of the ancient martial arts world still looking for you?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked curiously.

    Yao Jiamu smiled. ¡°I recently had a fight with a strong old man from the ancient martial arts world. He told me that those elders were still chanting away.¡±

    The group that went out on patrol for the Peace Squad were those on at least the thirtieth floors, and even such a lineup was able to beat them. If they found out about how the other half of the people were way more powerful than the ones they had met, it would definitely knock the socks off them all!

 Chapter 263 - Shes Here

    <h4>Chapter 263: She¡¯s Here</h4>

    A strong old man?

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her mind going through the people in the ancient martial arts world. Which powerful old man would fight a young man like Yao Jiamu? Or rather, who else besides the Elder¡¯s Association that knew of the Peace Squad?

    Based on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s guesses, the Elder¡¯s Association wouldn¡¯t let the entire ancient martial arts world know of the Peace Squad. The first reason was simply because they were embarrassed, and the second was to avoid any unnecessary chaos from breaking out.

    After all, it was an unusual force that was almost on par with those people from the ancient martial arts world that emerged suddenly.

    Since the Elders¡¯ Association wouldn¡¯t say anything, then there was only one strong old man that would fight Yao Jiamu¡ªThe Tang family¡¯s n leader.

    ¡°Was his name Tang?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked as she squinted slightly to look at the group of people who were on the training grounds.

    Hearing her words, Yao Jiamu looked at Gu Xiqiao in surprise. He was stunned that she even knew about this. ¡°When I was fighting him the second time, he told me his family name was Tang, and was called Boss Tang. I didn¡¯t believe him at that time though.¡± Now that Gu XIqiao was the one who said it, he believed it.

    ¡°Boss Tang?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°He¡¯s the patriarch of the Tang family, but I guess it¡¯s fine to call him Boss Tang.¡±

    Boss Tang, why don¡¯t you just call yourself Donald Duck instead?¡± (T/N: It¡¯s a y on his name, in Chinese Boss Tang is Tang Lao Da, and Donald Duck in Chinese is called Tang Lao Ya)

    ¡°What about you, how have you been progressing?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, turning to Yao Jiamu. The time flow ratio of the cave was one to seven, and since she had left for half a month, it had roughly been three months here. To be able to reach this level with the exercises that she hadpiled and the pills she had given them, it wasn¡¯t strange in the least.

    Yao Jiamu looked at Gu Xiqiao with a confident look on his face. ¡°I¡¯m probably on the sixteenth floor, if we¡¯re following the Trial Tower¡¯s algorithm.¡±

    ¡°Can I have a fight with you?¡± Yao Jiamu suddenly said, after thinking about it for a bit.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t respond to his question. Jiji, Xixi, and Haha were all looking at Yao Jiamu nkly, sympathy clear in their eyes. There was also one that had an expression that screamed, ¡®Are you nuts? Wanting to have a fight with Beauty Gu? If you¡¯re not nuts then you¡¯re probably mentally retarded!¡¯

    Sadly, although he could feel their stares on him, Yao Jiamu was still excited about it.

    ¡°A fight?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at Yao Jiamu. ¡°Sure, I can gauge yourbat abilities too.¡±

    Everyone on the training grounds had heard of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arrival by now, and they were all rushing out to greet her. Gu Xiqiao hooked her fingers, beckoning to Wu Hongwen. ¡°Come at me all four of you together.¡±

    ¡°All of us?¡± Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, and Yin Shaoyuan were surprised to be included together.

    Yin Shaoyuan nced at Gu Xiqiao, more particrly, on her small frame. ¡°You sure?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that he was confident, but they had been having breakthroughs one after another recently, and could even tie when they were against the elders of the ancient martial arts world. Now she was asking for the four of them to have a go at her together, it wasn¡¯t that he underestimated her that he asked. The main point was that they had been in the cave for half a month, going through extremebat training and sometimes even going against the elders as part of their training too, which was their top resource in improving themselves.

    Wu Hongwen, Yao Jiamu, and Xiao Yun knew Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength the best among them, so they didn¡¯t say anything to that. There was only anticipation in their eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao walked out of the cave, standing in the empty field. She flexed both her hands, and smiled lightly at the four of them. ¡°Come on.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Yin Shaoyuan suddenly said. ¡°You can¡¯t use Xixi.¡± Xixi was getting nuttier by the days, and if it were to team up with Gu Xiqiao, they¡¯d definitely be beaten down to the ground without much effort needed on their end.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood under the sun, a cold light reflected on her. She narrowed her eyes towards them, and asked, ¡°Do you want some time to discuss tactics?¡±

    Xixi stood perched on Haha¡¯s head, shaking its own head as it chatted with Jiji mentally. ¡®I pity those four.¡¯

    ¡®Yeap.¡¯ Jiji was looking at them without blinking its eyes. ¡®I want to record this down, and rey it every day for them to watch.¡¯

    ¡°This neer,¡± Xixi said, looking at Jiji. ¡°The one in your arms, why is it called Dog Feed?¡± It thought that it would be named Chacha! This thing was definitely not part of their family!

    ¡°ording to Beauty Qiao¡¯s brain...¡± Jiji bent down to say into Xixi¡¯s ears. ¡°&*%£¤@*&£¤@...¡±

    After saying a bunch of things, Jiji finally ended it with, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m just saying whatever that came to mind.¡±

    Xixi: ¡°...¡± Why don¡¯t you die and just go to heaven?

    ¡°Young Master Tang, who do you think will win?¡± One of the people was standing behind Tang Qinghong, looking at the five people on the field with excitement.

    Tang Qinghong groaned. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡±

    The person who asked him was surprised. ¡°Hard to say? Wouldn¡¯t Young Master Yao¡¯s team win? It¡¯s been half a month outside, but three months in the cave. There are so many top-notch resources in the cave, it¡¯s basically a genius making factory in here. What¡¯s more is the humanoid formation that Miss Gu personally arranged, and we also used the elders of the ancient martial arts world as our stepping stone.¡± The four geniuses and their formations, and they still wouldn¡¯t be able to beat Gu Xiqiao?

    The four of them could already spar to a tie with Tang Qinghong, and Tang Qinghong himself was already about the sixty-eighth floor in the Trial Tower. It was just a matter of time before he would break through the seventieth floor.

    Tang Qinghong nced at the person, shaking his head and said nothing more.

    A hundred or so people in the training grounds had opened a gambling table amidst the excitement, and out of them, ny had bet on Yao Jiamu and the others winning. The remainder were confident that Gu Xiqiao would be the one to triumph!

    After they had all ced their bets, they suddenly saw a robot throwing in a wad of cash. ¡°I bet that our Beauty Qiao will win.¡±

    Dog Feed, who was still in Jiji¡¯s arms opened its mouth to say suddenly, ¡°Jiji, you have so much pocket money, and you¡¯re gambling the entire thing away?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be taking all their money as my winningster anyway.¡± Jiji was full of confidence, although none of that confidence could be seen on its mechanical face.

    At this time, the battle on the training grounds had already begun.

    A gust of wind blew suddenly, and Gu Xiqiao was standing straight, her eyes bright and clear. Her inky hair fluttered in the wind, but if you looked closely, you would see that the fluttering of her hair didn¡¯t match the speed of which the wind was blowing at all. The entire space around her body had be another space entirely.

    Purple lightning crackled and hovered around her, the light reflecting on her snow-white skin.

    Yao Jiamu and the others started off with their strongest tricks, which was the humanoid formation that Gu Xiqiao had taught them, which they managed to bring up to a higher level.

    Everyone in the area was watching the fight intently, not blinking for fear that they would miss something if they did.

    The dust rose from the ground, obscuring their view, leaving them to only hear the sounds of ¡®boom boom boom¡¯.

    Five minutester, all was silent.

    A inly clothed figure walked out slowly from the dust, her figure was free of dirt and not a thing out of ce. It looked like she had juste from a shopping mall or something.

    The crowd breathed deeply, they had already thought that Miss Gu was an existence that defied all logic.

    But they didn¡¯t expect that every time they thought she had reached a limit, she would just surpass it once again.

    Yao Jiamu and the others could already tie with Tang Qinghong, who was on the sixty-eighth floor.

    It seemed that Gu Xiqiao barely exerted any effort to easily beat the sh*t out of the four of them.

    Tang Qinghong was already on the sixty eighth floor.

    Then which floor would she be?

    Anything above that would be Xiantian stage, wasn¡¯t that close to the ancient warriors level of strength already?

    Everyone let out a long sigh, all their smugness and proudness of being able to beat down the elders of the ancient martial arts world vanished instantly at the scene that unfolded in front of their eyes.

    They then turned and slowly trailed back into the cave to continue their training without another word.

    In the empty field where the dust was settling, Yao Jiamu and the othersy on the ground, an expression of being f*cked over by life on their faces.

    Especially Yin Shaoyun, who initially thought that he had managed to catch up to Gu Xiqiao in the half-month that he had been training here. He didn¡¯t expect that not only did he not catch up to her at all, but she had gone ahead and made the gap wider!

    She had been outside for only half a month, and had not taken advantage of the different flow of time in the caves, just how did she make such a huge leap?

    There was only one word to describe her in their hearts, ¡®Insane¡¯.

    ¡°You still have some problems understanding the exercises.¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes at the four who were still lying motionless on the ground. Her elegant brows twisted slightly, and she softly said, ¡°There are some small changes needed, you still don¡¯t understand it thoroughly enough.¡±

    Tang Qinghong finally snapped out of his daze when the clear voice reached his ears, and he could only smile bitterly as he processed what she said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not easy for them to understand these exercises ording to your notes in such a short period of time. Not everyone has the same superprehension ability that you have.¡± Really, the word ¡®jealous¡¯ couldn¡¯t even begin to cover the feelings that he had towards that superprehension ability of hers.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that far off from the ranking tournament, they don¡¯t have much time.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. Superprehension ability, what?

    She had been locked in the void for countless years, and the only she could do was read and read and read the endless stream of books that were there. It was the sort of endurance that ordinary people couldn¡¯t even imagine.

    There was a saying, you wouldn¡¯t be able to survive if you weren¡¯t crazy.

    Tang Qinghong would never understand the feeling in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart, but when he noted her words, the calm expression on his face finally cracked. ¡°The ranking tournament? You¡¯re going to enter them into the tournament?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly and nodded her head.

    Shock appeared on Tang Qinghong¡¯s face, and he could practically feel the group of geniuses back in the ancient martial arts world that was going to go nuts.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored his internal struggle, instead heading into the room where the ancient texts were kept. She opened the one that Yao Jiamu and the others had recently started to practice, picking up a pen to write down more notes in it.

    Jiji sat on herp, counting its winnings. Gu Xiqiao looked down at it, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget my portion.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± It reached out to give her half of the winnings without anyints.

    Don¡¯t bite the hands that feeds you, okay? You can¡¯t just offend someone like that.

    Xixi: ¡°...¡± It¡¯s fine if you bully flowers and nts on your usual days, but now you¡¯re even picking on the robot!

    Gu XIqiao nced at Xixi.

    Xixi: ¡°Wonderful beauty, hello!¡±

    She turned away, focusing on her writings. After that, she picked up her phone to reply to the message that Jiang Shuxuan had sent earlier¡ª[Wait for me at the middle school, we¡¯ll pick up Little Huazi.]

    After shooting the message off, she left the ce. Naturally, she wouldn¡¯t see the dejected face that Yao Jiamu made when heter found the notes that she had scribbled on the ancient text.

    ***

    In middle school, Gu Xiqiao walked slowly down the corridor, looking thoughtful as she made her way through the area. Suddenly, she stopped.

    At the same time, the system voice sounded.

    [Random mission activated: Eliminate the malicious aura in the surroundings!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 1,000 points!]

    The mission rewards were given ording to the difficulty of the mission, and 1,000 points wasparable to those chain missions she had done. If it was just a normal evil spirit, the rewards wouldn¡¯t be so high. She closed her eyes, her mental power instantly stretching out to envelope the area over a ten miles radius.

    The concentration of the evil spirits was not big, but it covered a very big area.

    No wonder it gave so many points as the mission reward.

    ¡®Although it isn¡¯t very dense, it will still affect the minds of regr people. It¡¯s fine for those with more pure minds, but it¡¯s hard to say what would happen for those who are more unstable.¡¯ If she didn¡¯t handle it properly, there would be more deaths and murders. A grave expression appeared on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face.

    Jiji followed behind her, holding barbecue sauce in its hands. When it had taken its own money to the stall to buy it, it had almost scared the stall owner to death. Fortunately, Gu Xiqiao had exined that it was a new type of robot, and the stall owner was finally convinced not to call the police on her. ¡°Beauty Qiao, maybe a nutcase wille out suddenly.¡±

    As soon as it said that, a group of punks was seen to be gathered in the corner in front of them. Faint yin energy could be seen in the center of their foreheads. They were obviously already confused by the malicious aura around them, but it didn¡¯t seem too serious yet.

    When they saw Gu Xiqiao, they immediately moved to surround her. Their purpose was obvious¡ªextortion.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± They wanted to extort her, of all people?

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± There were actually people crazy enough to dare to rob this female monster?

    Not far from there, a group of middle school students was walking. A young boy was in the lead, and when he saw this, he eximed, ¡°That¡¯s Dalin and Hua Youlin¡¯s big sister!¡±

    They had often seen Gu Xiqiao walking Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin out of school, and had an extremely deep impression of this beautiful sister of theirs. Especially when this pretty girl was also the national ranker, which made them admire her all the more. ¡°Hurry, we need to help her. Go and call the security uncle!¡±

    The delegation of tasks among the teenagers were done quickly.

    Some picked up branches from the ground, and some picked up bricks. Some even took out their des that they used to sharpen their 2B pencils.

    When the group of teenagers finally arrived, Gu Xiqiao was stepping on the leader¡¯s chest, pulling out a scattered pile of money from his pocket. She narrowed her eyes at the man she was stepping on. ¡°Where else do you have money?¡±

    The man raised a trembling finger, pointing to the soles of his shoes fearfully.

    ¡°It¡¯s smelly, I don¡¯t want it.¡± Gu Xiqiao took back her leg, and nced towards the others who had been beaten and wereying on the ground. ¡°Next time you bully anyone, I¡¯ll twist you into a fried dough twist. Do you know what that is?¡±

    The people who had been beaten to the ground nodded their heads hurriedly, some still in a daze from the beating they had gotten. She gestured to Jiji.

    Jiji leaned down to pick up the steel pipe that they had used as a weapon from the ground. It reached out and twisted the pipe, turning the shape into a fried dough twist easily.

    The group of teenagers who had rushed over to save her, was met with a scene of the punks being beaten instead: ¡°...¡± So, who was the one robbing whom?

    Gu Xiqiao turned her head and saw the group of teenagers, and with her excellent memory, she recognized all of them. Feeling embarrassed at being caught in this manner, she took out the money that she had taken from the punks and handed it to them. ¡°Thank you, go and treat yourselves to some milk tea.¡±

    Hua Youlin¡¯s ssmates looked at the money that she had pushed into his hands, and wanted to refuse it. But when he raised his head, Gu Xiqiao had already vanished, as though out of thin air. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn¡¯t imagining it, his jaw dropping in disbelief when he realized she had indeed disappeared.

    At the same time, the gangsters on the ground were slowly picking themselves.

    The group of teenagers immediately stepped back, hiding the money in their hands. The courage and adrenaline that had run through them when they were rushing to save Gu Xiqiao previously had all but vanished at this time.

    They didn¡¯t expect these punks to take one look at them, then turn to run away in fear. It looked like they wouldn¡¯t be extorting anyone anytime soon in the future.

    Yeah, so... what DID Hua Youlin¡¯s sister do to them?!

    ***

    In a milk tea shop not far from the middle school, a good looking man was sitting by the window. Just the slender fingers on his beautiful hands and elegant facial features were enough to win the countless lingering gaze that was on him. There were two kids who were dressed in the middle school uniform opposite him, and there was a tanned skin boy sitting beside him.

    Chu Ziheng sat on the chair, his back rammed straight. It seemed that he felt something, because he startedughing. Thisugh stunned the girls that were sitting around him, it was just too beautiful. When heughed, it felt like everything around him blurred into the background, and he was the only color among the grey of everyone and everything else.

    ¡°It¡¯s really so interesting, I can¡¯t believe that I underestimated her...¡± Chu Ziheng reached out to tap his fingers against the table. Looking at the snow-white teenager that was holding a cup of milk tea, he asked, ¡°Are you sure your sister ising? Do you want me to send you back instead?¡±

    Hua Youlin shook his head when he heard the question. ¡°I already sent a message to my sister, she knows I¡¯m here.¡±

    The wind chime at the entrance rang just as he said that, and the surroundings quieted down suddenly at the same moment.

    Hua Youlin¡¯s eyes lit up, a bright smile on his face. ¡°Look, she¡¯s here!¡±

 Chapter 264 - It Wasnt Like She Didnt Have Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 264: It Wasn¡¯t Like She Didn¡¯t Have Eyes</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, sending a text to Jiang Shuxuan¡ª[We¡¯re at the milk tea shop, wait for us at the intersection]

    The long wind chime that hung by the entrance of the shop brushed her shoulders, and when she raised her head, she saw Hua Youlin sitting by the window. Her gaze slid from him towards the man whose back was facing her.

    Her clear, ck eyes narrowed.

    The man was also turning around to face her, revealing a face with delicate features and a smile on his lips. He nodded at her in greeting.

    Gu Xiqiao was not embarrassed at being caught staring at him, and she nodded back at him. She then walked to the cashier calmly, ordering a cup of milk tea before walking towards Hua Youlin¡¯s direction. Jiji followed a few steps behind her, opening its chest to pull out the money that it had just won previously. It had thought to buy a cup of milk tea, but the shop was crowded today, and recalling Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, it lowered its head and slumped slightly.

    ¡°Sister Gu!¡± Hua Youlin stood up from his seat, hugging her once she reached his side. As he looked up at her, he turned slightly to look behind her, feeling relieved when he didn¡¯t see Jiang Shuxan anywhere in sight.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed the top of his head, moving to sit on the nearby stool before turning her attention to the people who were sitting at the same table.

    Hua Youlin, Luo Wenlin, Chu Ziheng, and... Xiahou Qingyun, the child that she had Yi Bing bring out from the desert.

    ¡°How did youe to be here?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked Xiahou Qingyun, her eyebrow raised. It looked like he knew who Chu Ziheng was.

    Seeing Gu XIqiao, a flush appeared on his tanned face, admiration filling his eyes. ¡°Sister Gu,¡± he said, then he quickly pointed to Chu Ziheng. ¡°This was the big brother I was talking aboutst time!¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded, poking a straw into the milk tea cup that the staff had brought over, sipping slowly.

    Oh? That¡¯s all? What did that mean?

    ¡°So you¡¯re the ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ that Qingyun talks about so often.¡± Chu Ziheng held his own cup of milk tea in hand, something shing in his dark eyes, but the smile remained on his face. ¡°I wonder what does Miss Gu think of my proposalst night? I¡¯ve watched both your movies, you¡¯re really talented. Director Wang is the one in charge of directing the series that the Chu Enterprise is sponsoring, by the way.¡±

    Director Wang was one of the most prestigious directors in all of China, and the TV series and movies that he directed were all very popr.

    Jiji stood to one side, lifting its head when it heard Chu Ziheng¡¯s words. If it could make an expression, the corners of its mouth would be twitching right now. He wanted to sponsor her to make a TV series? Has she ever been short of sponsorships? Really?

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°Sorry, President Chu. I¡¯m not interested.¡±

    Chu Ziheng seemed to have anticipated her answer, and he chuckled lightly. He pulled out a business card from his pocket, pushing it towards her across the table. ¡°Miss Gu, don¡¯t rush and reject my offer. If you change your mind, call me anytime.¡±

    She had wanted to refuse again, rolling her eyes, but then she reached out suddenly to pick up the card. Her fingers grazed against his cup as she did so.

    ¡°Qingyun, where are you goingter?¡± Gu Xiqiao stood, directing her question at the boy.

    Xiahou QIngyun also stood up, scratching his head. ¡°Someone will be by to pick me up.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°Then we¡¯ll be leaving.¡± Turning around, she suddenly said, ¡°The milk tea you have doesn¡¯t taste that bad, President Chu.¡±

    Lifting her hand in azy wave, they turned and left.

    The wind chime sounded once again as the door opened, and Chu Ziheng nced at his milk tea, touching the cup with his own hands.

    Xiahou Qingyun looked at the cup of milk tea with bright eyes, ¡°Big Brother, I had wanted to ask Sister Gu to save you, but I can feel the aura on this cup of milk tea. The evil spirit that is in your body can be saved!¡±

    ¡°You can feel it?¡± Chu Ziheng lowered his head to look at the younger boy, curiosity in his eyes. Xiahou Qingyun nodded his head, and he muttered under his breath, ¡°No wonder she got someone to get you out.¡±

    ¡°What did you say, Big Brother?¡±

    Chu Ziheng came back to his senses, and he rubbed the boy¡¯s head. ¡°Nothing, the person who¡¯s picking you up is here. When you have another day off again, I¡¯lle and find you.¡±

    ¡°Okay, bye, Big Brother.¡± Xiahou Qingyun waved to Chu Ziheng, and walked towards the ck car nearby.

    After Xiahou Qingyun left, Chu Ziheng¡¯s secretary appeared silently beside him, handing him a thick stack of documents. ¡°President Chu, we were looking in the wrong ce yesterday night.¡±

    Chu Ziheng took the papers with a disinterested look on his face, flipping through a few pages. Shock appeared on his face when he read the words, and this was the first time in his life that another expression apart from his usual gentleness appeared on his face.

    ¡°President Chu, this is everything that I found on the inte. I have checked, and these are all true. Miss Gu isn¡¯t someone simple.¡± The secretary sighed deeply. When he waspiling the information, he also had some serious doubts about everything that he was reading. How can a person reach this level?

    Chu Ziheng was silent for a while, flipping through the documents with a more solemn look.

    Nothing more was said after that.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao took Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin with her towards the intersection, where Jiang Shuxuan was already waiting for them. The man had already arrived earlier, and was leaning against the car, cigarette in hand. His head was hung slightly, as though in deep thought. The smoke was obscuring Gu Xiqiao¡¯s view of his face, and she couldn¡¯t see what expression was on it.

    When he caught sight of Gu Xiqiao approaching, he snuffed out the cigarette immediately. He knew that she didn¡¯t like the smell of it.

    ¡°Get on.¡± Jiang Shuxuan opened the backseat door for them, his deep eyes on Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin who were behind her.

    Luo Wenlin didn¡¯t know why, but every time he saw Jiang Shuxuan, he could feel a chill when the others looked at him. He didn¡¯t dare to say a word as he climbed into the back seat of the car.

    Hua Youlin was no longer afraid of Jiang Shuxuan, he already learned a method, which was to hide behind Gu Xiqiao if he did anything wrong.

    In short, he had found a really good backer.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you¡¯re back!¡± Hua Youlin eximed, smiling at him.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face eased and soften very slightly, and he was going to lower his head to say something to Hua Youlin, but then his eye caught sight of the business card that Gu Xiqiao was holding in her hand.

    An eyebrow raised at that. ¡°Go get in the car first,¡± He said, looking down at Hua Youlin.

    The boy didn¡¯t respond, but he headed towards the car and went into the backseat.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Jiang Shuxuan walked to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side, looking at the card in her hand.

    She raised her hand, her eyes narrowing as she looked ahead. ¡°Brother Jiang, something¡¯s not right here.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan reached out to grasp the card, and replied, ¡°I know, Yi Bing and the others are investigating this matter at the moment.¡±

    There was such a wide area covered in malicious aura, if they didn¡¯t find the source, they wouldn¡¯t know how to proceed.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡°When I was walking here, I found that someone had arranged a wide area formation here, Brother Jiang. If it¡¯spleted, it will affect the fortune of the entire China, and I don¡¯t know how many will die from it.¡±

    Hearing her words, Jiang Shuxuan stared at her, his lips pursed. A chilling cold glint entered his eyes.

    ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± Gu Xiqiao called out again, when he didn¡¯t say anything.

    He reached out and held her hand, closing his eyes. He extended his mental powers out to every corner around him. ¡°The evil spirit isn¡¯t strong or dense, but it¡¯s still enough to affect a regr person. However, there are no incidents within ten miles of us.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s probably a test.¡± Gu Xiqiao thought of the group of gangsters that she had bumped into earlier.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked around.

    Who was this person who had exerted so much effort just to test waters?

    ¡°Let¡¯s get the kids back home first.¡± Gu Xiqiao took out a few pieces of jade stones, scattering them. The jades formed a weird arc, and disappeared once it hit the ground, as though it was never there to begin with.

    At the same time, the malicious aura around the area was slowly being purified, with the ce where the stones disappeared as the center.

    Jiang Shuxuan opened the door for her, and she got in without further ado. Then he got in and drove away, ncing at the rearview mirror as they left.

    ***

    At the same time, in the ancient martial arts world, Shu Chen had returned home with the butler. She made a beeline to the treasury of the family, starting to pick out items there. She wasn¡¯t looking for anything in particr or good, just as long as it was the most expensive.

    After a while, Butler Jiang came out with Shu Chen, a stack of items in his arms. The guard that was waiting outside held out his hands. ¡°Madam, the elders are looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Take this and have someone make a coat from it.¡± Shu Chen took the white fox fur from the stack and handed it to Butler Jiang. ¡°Use Qiao Qiao¡¯s measurement. This spirit fox fur and the jade will look great on her fair skin. She¡¯s such a beautiful child, she will definitely look amazing when she wears it.¡±

    Butler Jiang calmly epted the items. ¡°What about that other fox fur?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s some defect on it, just put it in the warehouse.¡± Shu Chen shoved her hands into her coat, and followed the guard out.

    The guard followed behind Shu Chen, but his eyes couldn¡¯t help but stray towards the items in Butler Jiang¡¯s hands. There had been a rumor in the ancient martial arts world that a seven-tailed spirit fox had been cursing havoc that year, and had been beheaded by the Jiang family. A seven-tailed spirit fox was already on par with the ancient martial arts world, and everything on its body was definitely a treasure.

    Especially its skin, it was invulnerable to swords, guns, water, and even fire. Even if it weren¡¯t for those functions, its color was very nice.

    The guard had assumed that it had just been rumors, but looks like it was true after all.

    The fox fur was precious, and he had heard Madam Jiang¡¯s instructions. It was going to be made into a coat? Who was it for? The guard was shocked when he had heard it.

    The Elders¡¯ Association was not that far from the Jiang family house, and it just took a few steps before Shu Chen arrived.

    In the hall, not only were there elders of the Jiang family present, Jiang Tong was also there.

    When Jiang Tong saw her, her eyes shifted away, not daring to look at her. Shu Chen was not even bothered to spare her a nce.

    The great elder waved his hand towards the guard, and the guard and Jiang Tong both left the room after bowing.

    ¡°Great Elder, you were looking for me?¡± Shu Chen bowed as she asked.

    The great elder ced down the book in his hand, and with Shu Chen¡¯s good eyesight, she could see that it was a Buddhist scripture. Although she wasn¡¯t sure what it was that had such a great impact on these elders, seeing this, Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help but be happy.

    So, you also have days like this!

    ¡°Madam Jiang, I heard that Young Master Jiang has befriended a girl from the secr world?¡± The great elder was careful in choosing his words.

    Shu Chen sat down in the chair to the left, picking up the cup of tea on the table that was still steaming hot. She blew lightly on the liquid, shooting back indifferently, ¡°What of it?¡±

    The tone caught the great elder off guard for a moment. ¡°You¡¯re clearly aware that the Jiang family is different from others.¡± Luckily that he had been chanting scriptures recently, otherwise he¡¯d probably be pissed off by Shu Chen¡¯s nonchnt attitude.

    When had she be like this?

    ¡°The Jiang family?¡± Shu Chen nced at the old man. ¡°Great Elder, I hope you haven¡¯t forgotten that our ancestors had washed the entire ancient martial arts world in blood before. Of course, everyone had thought that heaven¡¯s will was not to be disobeyed, and they couldn¡¯t even protect one woman, which caused the ire of our ancestors.¡±

    ¡°The Jiang family had always been at the beck and call of the entire ancient martial arts world, breaking their backs for them. And the ancient martial arts world? They couldn¡¯t even remember or repay his goodness, pushing out a defenseless woman when heaven¡¯s will came knocking on our doors.¡± Shu Chen mmed the cup down on the table with a loud ¡®clunk¡¯, shocking several elders present. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you do from now on, as long as you can ept and bear Shuxuan¡¯s anger as the consequences.¡±

    Shu Chen stood up once she had said her piece, reaching out to put on her coat that she had taken off when she first came in. ¡°If there is nothing else, I need to go home.¡±

    The elders of the Jiang family remained in their spot, frozen. They were unable toe back to themselves for a long while, Shu Chen¡¯s words echoing in their mind. Jiang Shuxuan was the leader of the current generation of the Jiang family, and his talents far surpassed any of the previous heirs before him.

    His talents and methods were beyond the skies, as well as harshly cold. If anyone were to offend him, the ancient martial arts world will probably be drowned in blood in a tragedy once again.

    The elders nced at each other, and the great elder picked up the scripture on the table, his eyes far away as he said, ¡°Sure enough, no matter what house rules are made, the Jiang family will not be able to escape this curse.¡±

    ¡°The Jiang family heirs, if they weren¡¯t alone up to their dying days, then they were so deeply in love.¡± Another elder sighed heavily. ¡°I thought that with Jiang Tong¡¯s existence, the Jiang family would finally turn this around. But I suppose a curse is still a curse in the end.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t like there is something that can turn this around...¡± The great elder raised his head suddenly, a ray of hope shing in his eyes. ¡°The Lisu Tribe, they¡¯re the ones who know this the best.¡±

    Saying that, the great elder got up and left in a hurry.

    ¡°Great Elder, are you going to look for the Lisu Tribe? Do I need to lend you a flying machine?¡± The second great elder shouted from behind him.

    The great elder waved his hand without turning. ¡°No need, I¡¯m going to pick a fight with the Peace Squad. I¡¯m feeling unhappy right now!¡±

    All the other elders: ¡°...¡± They really couldn¡¯t tell that the great elder was actually such a masochist.

    ***

    Walking out the hall of the Elders¡¯ Association, Jiang Tong followed closely behind Shu Chen as she continued to walk.

    ¡°Madam Jiang.¡± Jiang Tong had been silent the entire way, and Shu Chen had not bothered with her from the start. Finally, when they reached the intersection, the younger girl opened her mouth to speak.

    Shu Chen stopped and turned around slowly, chuckling lowly. ¡°So, it¡¯s you.¡±

    ¡°Madam Jiang, I know all about Young Master Jiang¡¯s situation.¡± Jiang Tong bit her lip after saying that. She used to call Shu Chen ¡®Aunt Jiang¡¯, but she didn¡¯t dare utter these two words after that incident.

    ¡°And?¡± Shu Chen raised an eyebrow, looking at Jiang Tong with a puzzled light in her eyes.

    Jiang Tong took a deep breath. ¡°I know the Miss Gu that you¡¯re talking about. She¡¯s just an illegitimate daughter of a second rate family in N City. She turned her family upside down after she was taken in, and her sister was even crippled after being sent abroad. Madam Jiang, you need to be cautious while dealing with her!¡±

    Shu Chen¡¯s eyes darkened. ¡°How did youe across all this information?¡±

    Seeing the displeasure in her eyes, Jiang Tong continued, ¡°I know that you probably don¡¯t want to see it, but Young Master Jiang has been deceived.¡± Jiang Tong knew that with her status as someone who had reached the sixty-second floor in the Trial Tower, even the elders were treating her with more courtesy than previously.

    So she believed that no matter what feelings Shu Chen had for her, the older woman would still keep her words in mind.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Shu Chen¡¯s eyes were deep and cold, and her voice was even more frosty. ¡°Why is an outsider like you trying to intervene in our Jiang family matters?¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s face paled dramatically, and her entire frame shook for a moment. She didn¡¯t expect this reaction from Shu Chen. ¡°M-M-Madam Jiang...¡±

    She couldn¡¯t bear the chilling gaze that Shu Chen was looking at her with, a hint of sarcasm under the steel tone of her voice.

    Jiang Tong took a step back, her head hanging down in embarrassment. There were people passing by, looking at her strangely, presumably due to the words that Shu Chen had just uttered. The embarrassment she felt kept climbing higher and higher, and she fled the scene immediately.

    Seeing Jiang Tong¡¯s retreating figure, Shu Chen smiled faintly. Jiang Shuxuan was her son, and Gu Xiqiao was her daughter-inw. Why was there a need for someone else to judge whether they were good for each other or not? Didn¡¯t she have eyes of her own?

    Thinking of this, she pulled out her phone, shooting a message off to Jiang Shuxuan.

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had just reached home, pulled out his phone to look at the message. He stopped in his steps, staring at the screen.

 Chapter 265 - Whos Afraid Of Whom?

    <h4>Chapter 265: Who¡¯s Afraid Of Whom?</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan reached home, with Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin behind them.

    The two boys had stayed with Mu Zong the previous day, and today Luo Weng was busy implementing the new processes in thepany, so Gu Xiqiao was asked to take care of Luo Wenlin for the time being. The entire Nine Heavens was busy, and it was only Gu Xiqiao alone that was free. Luo Weng had shoved Luo Wenlin towards her the first chance he could.

    In half a month¡¯s time, Hua Youlin had gathered a lot of questions to ask Gu Xiqiao. Luo Wenlin sat on the other side of Gu Xiqiao, reading a book as he listened with one ear to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s teachings. In the beginning, Hua Youlin¡¯s results had been a far cry from Luo Wenlin¡¯s, but now after a month, he was slowly starting to catch up.

    Gu Xiqiao and Luo Weng¡¯s way of teaching were different, but geniuses still taught along the same way, precise, urate, and fast, using the shortest and fastest way to talk about the most cumbersome topics.

    Hua Youlin¡¯s weakness was in the subject of cumbersome physics diagrams, but Gu Xiqiao easily managed to break it down to make it easier for him to understand.

    Luo Wenlin was working on his own homework at the same time, but his attention gradually shifted towards the words that Gu Xiqiao was saying.

    In the end, after the bunch of questions that Hua Youlin had had been resolved by Gu Xiqiao, Luo Wenlin took the opportunity to also hold up his own homework to ask her for help.

    ¡°Brother Jiang.¡± Hua Youlin put aside his workbook, moving to sit beside Jiang Shuxuan as the older man settled into the sofa opposite them. ¡°Do you know who we met today?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Hua Youlin, then continued to pick up the ancient text in his hands, not saying anything.

    Hua Youlin was not discouraged by the motion, already used to it. His voice lowered slightly as he continued, ¡°It¡¯s a big brother who is super good looking, and really nice. He even treated us to milk tea, and gave a card to Sister Gu.¡± Finally, he added a concluding remark, ¡°Young girls nowadays like men who are more warm and gentle, guys who are way better than you!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan finally raised his head to look at Hua Youlin, a cold glint in his eyes.

    ¡°Youlin, then do you like that other big brother, and not your Brother Jiang anymore?¡± Mrs. Zhang asked as she brought out a te of cut fruits.

    Hua Youlin nced at her, before looking back at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Even though that big brother was nice, I still like Brother Jiang more!¡±

    After saying that, he bounced away to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side once more, doing his work seriously.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes were still on him, although his face didn¡¯t change, the cold glint in his eyes gradually vanished.

    ¡°How is the Hua family nowadays?¡± Slender fingers turned the pages of the book in his hands as the older man asked.

    Hearing this, Hua Youlin looked at Jiang Shuxuan in disbelief. H-He was this kind of person?!

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t stop in her writing, but she replied, ¡°It¡¯s almost time. I¡¯ll apany him back in a few more days.¡± Little Huazi should get the things that he needed before that.

    Jiang Shuxuan merely continued to flip through the pages after he heard her reply.

    He was clearly happier after hearing her answer.

    ¡°Sister Gu...¡± Hua Youlin looked at Gu Xiqiao, a pitiful face that was close to crying without tears.

    By the time Gu Xiqiao and Luo Wenlin was done with his homework, Shu Chen and her butler had returned to the house, with a bunch of stuff in his arms.

    ¡°I thought that the white fox fur would look good with red. But I traveled through the ancient martial arts world and found that all the good stuff had been taken by the Baili family, especially those blood jade earrings. Nobody had bought it because it was expensive, but when I went there this afternoon, Baili¡¯s family had already bought it!¡± Shu Chen muttered, obviously regretting that she wasn¡¯t able to get her hands on it.

    ¡°White fox fur?¡± Jiang Shuxuan repeated.

    Shu Chen smiled. ¡°The fox fur from the seven-tailed spirit fox that was in our treasury. I made a coat for Qiao Qiao, but it wasn¡¯t enough for it. I went to the ancient martial arts world this afternoon to look for more.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve taken out the fox fur?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked, surprised evident in his voice. No one had dared to touch the fox fur in all the years, and she¡¯s taken it out to make... a coat? ¡°Didn¡¯t the elders say anything about it?¡±

    ¡°They dare?¡± Shu Chen frowned. ¡°Our family items can be used however we want to, and I wanted to make a coat for my daughter-inw, what¡¯s wrong with that?¡±

    Butler Jiang, who was standing beside Shu Chen, nced at her. ¡°...¡± Madam, you were never like this before.

    ¡°Why make a coat out of it for her suddenly?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked, ncing at Gu Xiqiao who was studying something with Jiji.

    Gu Xiqiao also raised her head at the same moment, and saw Shu Chen. ¡°Aunt Jiang, you¡¯re here.¡±

    Shu Chen happily responded to her greeting, and only after instructing Butler Jiang to hand over the stuff to Gu Xiqiao, she turned back to reply to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Old Tang¡¯s birthday ising up soon, and she will be beautiful and astonishing when she wears the coat. The entire ancient martial arts world will know that she is my daughter-inw.¡±

    When she said that, she looked at Jiang Shuxuan in the eyes. ¡°When will shee and live in the Jiang family ancestral house?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan: With that attitude that you¡¯re disying now, I rather that she never goes!

    Mrs. Zhang prepared the dinner that night, and Gu Xiqiao went upstairs after eating. Shu Chen had originally wanted to follow her up and y games with her, but then she suddenly remembered something and turned to Jiang Shuxuan instead. ¡°That thing that I asked you this evening, have you checked on it?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about the text that you sent me?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked, frowning.

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve been hiding it so rigorously, how did Jiang Tong find out about Qiao Qiao¡¯s information?¡± Shu Chen¡¯s face was solemn as she asked.

    Jiang Shuxuan pondered for a while, and replied slowly, ¡°Those who know of her existence are many, and she¡¯s also a semi-public figure. It¡¯s not surprising that those people would also know of her.¡±

    Hearing his exnation, Shu Chen also recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity, and the stone in her heart was dropped.

    Seeing that she didn¡¯t have any more questions, Jiang Shuxuan turned around to head upstairs.

    Shu Chen remained downstairs, not in a hurry to head up. She had caught sight of Jiji who was walking around the room, pencil in hand, and it would sometimes stop to draw or write something.

    ¡°What is it doing?¡± Shu Chen asked curiously. A robot was a robot, but it was a robot that could read ayout map. Even if it¡¯s intelligent, it can¡¯t be THAT intelligent, right?

    Mrs. Zhang poured a cup of tea for her,ughing lightly at her words. ¡°It just discussed with Miss Gu about modifying theyout of the house.¡±

    ¡°It canmunicate with Miss Gu?¡± Butler Jiang was the one to express his shock at it, before Shu Chen could ask the same.

    Mrs. Zhang smiled, not answering. Inside, she was thinking, ¡®This is nothing, you¡¯d be even more horrified when you find out about a bird and nt that can talk to humans too!¡¯

    ***

    Once Shu Chen was done with her wandering downstairs, she went up with aptop in hand to look for Gu Xiqiao. She knocked on the girl¡¯s door first, but no one answered. She knocked again, and there was still no response.

    She couldn¡¯t help but let out a trail of mental power through the door, but was surprised to find that it couldn¡¯t prate the door at all.

    Even her spiritual powers couldn¡¯t go through the door? A look of shock appeared on her face.

    She prodded around carefully with her mental power, feeling as though there was a formation in y. It wasn¡¯t only this room, the entire house was enveloped in this formation. No one could use their mental powers in this room.

    From the perspective of the person who set up the formation, they were practically invincible in this space.

    Who on earth was able to figure out and implement such a formation?

    Shu Chen thought for a long time, and suddenly remembered the Baili family. The Baili family were a line of formation masters, and Baili Bin was the most powerful heir in the past hundred years. It shouldn¡¯t be surprising to find out that he had reached this level.

    As expected, the Baili family was indeed on a rise. It seems that Baili Bin¡¯s formation skills had even surpassed the patriarch of the Baili family.

    ¡°Aunt Shu.¡± Hua Youlin was climbing up the stairs with Luo Wenlin, intending to head to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s study to read some books. Seeing Shu Chen outside Gu Xiqiao¡¯s door, he stopped and smiled at her. ¡°If no one is in the room, then Sister Gu probably went out to y with Brother Jiang.¡±

    They went out to y?

    And they didn¡¯t even bring her along?

    Thinking about this, Shu Chen would be lecturing Jiang Shuxuan when he came back. How could he not bring her along if there was something interesting to y with?

    Since Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t around, Shu Chen brought herptop back to the room. When she turned around, she saw Mrs. Zhang was heading up the stairs too. She suddenly recalled the words that Jiang Tong had said early, and asked, ¡°Sister Zhang, do you know about Qiao Qiao¡¯s past?¡±

    Hearing her question, Mrs. Zhang was taken aback for a moment. ¡°Qiao Qiao... She¡¯s a child that was quite distressing...¡±

    The two sat down on the sofa downstairs, and talked for a long time.

    ***

    At the same time, in the Jing Capital high school, Yi Bing and a few others stood beside an abandoned building, staring intently at the front.

    ¡°What is Big Boss doing?¡± Yi Tiao asked suddenly.

    Yi Bing shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But the three of them said that they can manage such arge range of evil spirits, they should be fine.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s a radius of ten miles.¡± Although Yi Tiao was extremely confident in Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s abilities, there was still some doubt in this kind of situation. ¡°Young Master Baili said that the entire thing is due to a formation, and just using brute force isn¡¯t enough to destroy it, even with Miss Gu and Big Boss¡¯ strength.¡±

    Yi Tong, who was standing at the side with a recording device in his hand, looked at Yi Tiao and Yi Bing, his gaze like he was looking at a weakling.

    ¡°I¡¯ll punch you if you look at me like that again!¡± Yi Tiao said, flexing his wrist.

    Yi Bing looked at Yi Tong thoughtfully, and asked suddenly, ¡°Do you know something?¡±

    Yi Tong grinned. ¡°Miss Gu is a formation master, and in my estimation, she¡¯s not onlyparable to Young Master Baili, it¡¯s likely that she has far surpassed him already!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Yi Tiao red at him. ¡°She¡¯s obviously an ancient martial artist.¡±

    Yi Tong didn¡¯t answer, tilting his chin instead. ¡°Look.¡±

    Yi Tiao and Yi Bing turned, and were met with a stunning sight.

    Baili Bin and Gu Xiqiao stood in mid-air, ck mist surrounding them. Jiang Shuxuan was standing between the two, holding his own Seven-Frosted de in hand.

    The purple thunder and lightning roared loudly through the skies, appearing out of nowhere, and then the ck mist seemed to swirl around Gu Xiqiao and Baili Bin¡¯s sides.

    The two of them had seals in their hands, and the strands of the ck mist were being absorbed by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s sword at a fast speed.

    In midair, a spiritual vortex had formed.

    This movement had attracted the attention of the people in the ancient martial arts world.

    The great elder of the Jiang family had just returned to the ancient martial arts world after a fight with the Peach Squad, and was met with this scene. He bumped into the n leader of the Tang family, who had also stopped to stare at the phenomenon that was happening. ¡°Patriarch Tang, is this a movement of an ancient power?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Tang Wenbo looked at the direction of where he thought the source of it came from. ¡°This... doesn¡¯t look good!¡±

    Before he could finish his words, the sky burst open. Tang Wenbo and the elder eximed at the same time, ¡°The consciousness of heaven¡¯s will!¡±

    There were identical looks of horror on both their faces. The consciousness of heaven¡¯s will which had not been seen for a hundred years was now in front of their eyes, but before they could evenprehend the horror running through them, that terrifying cloud seemed to be hit by something and... scattered?

    Tang Wenbo and the elder nced at each other, disbelief on their face now.

    The big tremor in the Jing Capital made the senior members of the ancient martial arts world slightly worried, who in the world had caused the movement?

    When they sent some people to investigate, there wasn¡¯t a single trace of it found.

    ***

    The shock that coursed through the people in the ancient martial arts world couldn¡¯tpare to those who were on the scene itself.

    When the formation of Gu Xiqiao and Baili Bin came to an end, a hole suddenly opened above Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head.

    Purple thunder roared and crashed down, a terrifying pressure mixed with it.

    Yi Bing and the others resisted the pressure with much difficulty, their body pressed down towards the ground by this irresistible force.

    ¡°What the h*ll is this, Yi Bing?!¡± Yi Tong and Yi Tiao couldn¡¯t hold up any longer, dropping to the ground with a ¡®thump¡¯.

    ¡°The consciousness of heaven¡¯s will.¡± Yi Bing looked at the purple thunder with red streaks in it, disbelief on his face. ¡°When a trace of its consciousness appears, no one can stop it.¡±

    No one can stop it? Yi Tiao and Yi Tong fell silent after hearing that remark. They naturally knew that the consciousness of heaven¡¯s will was.

    Yi Bing was right, there was no one who could stop it.

    Just as the words fell, Gu Xiqiao faced the direction that the thunder hade from, not avoiding it and not affected by it in the least. Her eyes were calm, her in clothes fluttering lightly with the wind. Her jade white face glowed, reflecting warm colors from the purple light that was shing in the skies. Purple lightning could be seen hovering above her own hands.

    There was no fear in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes, and then thest of the malicious aura was taken in by his de.

    ¡°Be careful,¡± Baili Bin said softly.

    Jiang Shuxuan drew his de, nodding slightly. The Seven-Frosted de in his hand shone with a white light, which mingled and mixed with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s purple lightning, forming an energy storm.

    Rumble rumble!

    The storm collided with the purple thundercloud, and the entire sky lit up in an almost blinding light.

    The torn hole in the sky closed slowly, and finally disappeared.

    These two, they actually managed to break up the consciousness of heaven¡¯s will with theirbined power?

    Dead silence spread across the field.

    It was a long while before Yi Tong finally got up from the ground. ¡°Just to check, the consciousness of heaven¡¯s will did appear just now... right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Yi Tiao also picked himself up, dusting himself and covering his face with his hand. There was an oddly nked look on his face.

    ¡°These two, seriously...¡± Yi Bing, who had been calm all the while, found that his entire hand was shaking, all the way up to his fingertips. It was like watching a nightmaree to life.

    ¡°I guessed that it would be the two of you who caused this whole thing.¡± A voice came from behind suddenly.

    Wanqi Jue walked towards them slowly, his hand holding a child that looked to be seven or eight years old.

    ¡°Wanqi.¡± Baili Bin snapped out of his daze, nodding his head at the man. ¡°Why are you here?¡± He was sure he had set up the istion formation to keep people out.

    ¡°His mental power is strong.¡± Gu Xiqiao answered instead, walking over to them at a leisurely pace.

    Wanqi Jue nced at her, then swept across the field. ¡°It¡¯s fine that you¡¯vee back without telling me, but you didn¡¯t even call me to y with such a fun thing tonight!¡± Such an interesting and fun thing it was, going against heaven¡¯s will!

    Yi Tong and the others were already lost for words, stunned speechless. Going against the heavens, was that something fun?!

    What the flying f*ck was wrong with this bunch of people?!

    Wanqi Jue was not like this previously!

    ¡°There is an extremely talented descendant from the Baili family.¡± Baili Bin stood beside Gu Xiqiao as he watched as Jiang Shuxuan kept away his Seven-Frosted de and walked towards them after. ¡°He¡¯s already understood twenty percent of the ancient text that you gave him.¡±

    ¡°Talented indeed.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed his chin thoughtfully. She nced at Baili Bin. ¡°You can focus on your own training now.¡±

    Baili Bin nodded his head. ¡°Grandfather has already said that observation is one of the most important aspects.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sister!¡± Yi Aoxue came out from behind Wanqi Jue, grabbing the corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s clothes as she peered up at her with big, beautiful eyes. ¡°Can I go and y at your house?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, smiling.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached them just as she said that, and he exuded a chilling aura, hisplexion looking slightly off.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face changed at the sight. ¡°Brother Jiang?¡± She reached out to touch his pulse. He had been infected by the malicious aura? How did that happen?

    ¡°Xue¡¯er, you¡¯ll have toe over next time, I have something that I need to do and will leave first.¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arm, disappearing on the spot.

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had internal injuries and was leaning on her, nced at Wanqi Jue indifferently before they vanished.

    Baili Bin was slightly speechless. ¡°...¡±

    The phone in his pocket rang shortly after, and pulling it out, he found that it was Shu Chen who was calling. He picked up immediately, and her panicked voice came through, ¡°Ah Bin, I just felt the consciousness of heaven¡¯s will, and I can¡¯t get through to Qiao Qiao or Shuxuan. Do you think something happened to them?¡±

    ¡°Aunt Shu, don¡¯t worry. They¡¯ll be fine.¡± Baili Bin said, chuckling lightly.

    The consciousness of heaven¡¯s will? It should be more afraid of Qiao Qiao than the other way around, right?

 Chapter 266 - Heâ€™s A Real Financial Tyrant

    Chapter 266: He¡¯s A Real Financial Tyrant

    The next day, they got up early.

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan ran a few rounds downstairs, and when they came up, it was with Baili Bin at their tails to have breakfast with them.

    ¡°What¡¯s Jiji doing?¡± Baili Bin saw Jiji holding aptop as soon as he came in, a seemingly serious expression on its face as it typed away on it. Baili Bin kinda wanted tough at the picture the robot was making.

    Having to tolerate Baili Bin so early in the morning, Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t in the mood. ¡°Why do you care what it does?¡±

    ¡°Still running in the morning, are your injuries alright?¡± Baili Bin asked instead with a warm smile on his face.

    Jiang Shuxuan faltered in his steps, but he didn¡¯t reply to him.

    Shu Chen had got up early to y games in her room, and she seemed quite keen on it recently. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had returned, she immediately asked her for help during her dungeon run. Gu Xiqiao leaned over to beat the monsters, and halfway through, her phone rang.

    Pulling it out, she found that it was Cecily.

    Walking to the side, she picked it up.

    ¡°Did you know something major happenedst night, Qiao Qiao? The consciousness of heaven¡¯s will appeared!¡± Cecily¡¯s voice was so very excited, and then she lowered it slightly, ¡°I heard that a great power also appeared in the ancient martial arts world. Some purple lightning colliding with a purple thunder cloud, it sounds like your powers!¡±

    ¡°Yi Tong also told me that the great power is you, it made meugh till I cried!¡± Sheughed sarcastically. ¡°An ancient great power, and he said it was you! Does he think I¡¯m some three year old that can be tricked?¡±

    Gu Xiqiaoughed along with her. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you returned to your country yet?¡±

    ¡°My family said that the birthday banquet for the Tang family is soon, so I¡¯ll return after I attend it.¡± Cecily chatted with Gu Xiqiao for a while more before saying, ¡°Ancient power is just too far for us to attain, it should be someone who¡¯s in the top ten of the ranking list. But forget about that, when are youing out to y? The Imperial Capital seems like there¡¯s a lot of fun things.¡±

    ¡°I have something to do today, maybe another time.¡± Gu Xiqiao exchanged a few more words with Cecily, before hanging up.

    After hanging up, a message came in.

    [Xiao Yun: 2PM in Central Square.]

    Gu Xiqiao thought for a while, before sending a reply¡ª[I¡¯lle and find you firstter.]

    Xiao Yun replied soon after¡ª[Okay!]

    ¡°Son, did you hear that?¡± Shu Chen frowned during the time Gu Xiqiao was on the phone.

    Jiang Shuxuan was peeling an egg, cing it in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bowl. He raised his head when he heard his mother talk to him. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That Cecily, she actually called Qiao Qiao. She¡¯s among the top ten in the Youth Ranking List, not someone to offend.¡± Her face became serious. ¡°If she bullies Qiao Qiao, I¡¯ll break your legs!¡±

    Hearing those words, his hands stopped whatever he was doing. Wait, who¡¯s mother was she again?

    After the four of them had eaten, Jiang Shuxuan headed out to the ancient martial arts world to settle some matters. Baili Bin also had to deal with the previous night¡¯s formation, and Gu Xiqiao headed upstairs to catch up on her sleep while Shu Chen continued her gaming.

    Before they could split up to do their respective tasks, a knock came on the front door.

    Mrs. Zhang was going to open the door, but Jiji pressed a button on its arm, and the door opened suddenly.

    A woman was standing outside the door. She was wearing a purple coat, a delicate face but with a tired expression on it. Compared to the first time they had met, she seemed to have aged a lot.

    The rxed atmosphere in the living room suddenly dropped a few degrees.

    ¡°Aunt Shu, Brother Jiang, Big Brother Baili, I¡¯ll head upstairs to sleep first.¡± Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, no changes visible on her face as she turned and left.

    The slender, lean figure walked calmly and leisurely, nothing giving her away as to what she was feeling at the moment.

    Shu Chen ced theptop into Mrs. Zhang¡¯s hands and stood, a graceful expression sliding easily onto her face. ¡°Shuxuan, Ah Bin, you both should leave first, you have things to do after all.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, taking his coat and keys before walking out.

    Baili Bin bid Shu Chen goodbye, and turned to leave. When he reached the door, his footsteps stopped. ¡°Aunt, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just here to take a look.¡± Baili Wenxi smiled slightly, watching Gu Xiqiao walk upstairs. She looked a little lost.

    Baili Bin didn¡¯t say anything further, brushing past her to press the elevator button.

    Shu Chen asked Mrs. Zhang to serve tea. ¡°Wenxi, it¡¯s been many years since we¡¯ve seen each other, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s been about twenty years.¡± Baili Wenxi sighed.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been abroad for so many years, I thought that you were nevering back.¡± Shu Chen ced the cup of tea that Mrs. Zhang poured in front of Baili Wenxi. ¡°What¡¯s the reason foring back this time?¡±

    Baili Wenxi reached out to grasp the tea cup, and took a deep breath. ¡°Madam Jiang, I¡¯m sure you know the reason that I havee back.¡±

    Shu Chen leaned back slightly, narrowing her cold eyes. ¡°I looked into Qiao Qiao¡¯s past yesterday night, and some of it I requested from Ah Bin.¡± Mrs. Zhang ced the disc into the projector and started to y it.

    ¡°This is the environment that she lived in since she was young. While you were living your lifefortable overseas, she was being used and thrown aside as an unwanted illegitimate child. It continued up to the point when her foster mother passed on. Do you know how a person is, when they have lost all faith in themselves?¡± Shu Chen took a deep breath to calm herself. ¡°The road ahead of them is grey, and they won¡¯t be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.¡±

    ¡°She was then taken back into the Gu family, even while her rtives were disappointed at the sight of her. Do you know what she went through when she was taken in as an illegitimate child? She¡¯s only neen years old, but look at her, she¡¯s matured to the point that she doesn¡¯t look her age at all! You see the glory and sess that she has now, but who can seed so easily, do you know what she paid to pave this road?¡±

    ¡°I just want to make it up to her...¡± Baili Wenxi murmured. She was already aware of everything that Shu Chen had said, and that was the reason she was all the more wanting to make it up to the girl upstairs. ¡°I¡¯m her biological mother, aren¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Just because of that, you expect her to recognize you and call you ¡®mother¡¯?¡± Shu Chen looked at Baili Wenxi¡¯s face, and knew that she had hit the nail on the head.

    Shu Chen didn¡¯t continue, but she stood and headed upstairs. ¡°You¡¯ve read the information, you know what kind of person Qiao Qiao is. She¡¯s a gentle person on the inside, and has helped countless strangers. Even your Fu family has received her help, right? That Fu Wei used to have no talents before this, but now he has be the head of the Fu family. If it wasn¡¯t for Qiao Qiao and Nine Heavens, he couldn¡¯t have had this sess. So Wenxi, as a person who craves for family affection but refuses to talk to you, do you know why this is happening?¡±

    Baili Wenxi¡¯s face paled at Shu Chen¡¯sst words.

    ***

    Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao leaned against the door, a faraway look in her eyes.

    Everything on your body was given to you by your parents.

    In her previous life, she had never met her biological mother up even up to her death. All her wishes were burnt along with her body.

    She pulled out her phone, sending off a message¡ª[Brother Jiang, I¡¯ve already returned the life back to her. This time is one that I have won for myself, and it¡¯s not one that she gave me.]

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan was in the ancient martial arts world, discussing the desert matter with a few others, when his phone rang. He pulled it out, and was stunned when he read the message, a chill shing in his deep, cold eyes.

    ¡°Big Boss?¡± Yi Bing called out cautiously.

    The veins were popping out on his hands, and Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head slightly. After a while, he raised it again, but the chill in his eyes still lingered.

    What did she mean by ¡®returned the life back to her¡¯?

    ***

    After sending the message, Gu Xiqiao felt her mood improved. She sat in front of herputer and turned it on, watching the interface of the game load on her screen.

    There were only a few people chatting in the guild today.

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: I¡¯ve reached the capital.

    [Guild] [Leader] Smoke On Water: So fast?

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: My family was alsoing here for a vacation, so I came down with them.

    [Guild] The World Is Ruthless: Where are you? I¡¯ll head over to you since I have nothing nned today!

    [Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: Forget it, my family¡¯s a littleplicated. It¡¯s better if I head over to you instead.

    ***

    After sending that in the chat, Sunshine closed the game.

    In reality, Sunshine was a handsome young man, though he had a slightly unruly face. He changed his clothes and headed out. A middle-aged man sitting on the sofa was reading the newspaper when he came out, and the man frowned. ¡°Yang An, where are you going? This is the capital, can you stop making trouble for your brother!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m meeting a friend.¡± Yang An replied easily.

    ¡°Frend?¡± Yang An¡¯s father was angry immediately. ¡°What kind of friends could you possibly have in the capital? Other than making trouble, what else can you do?!¡±

    ¡°Dad, Little An is going to meet his online friends,¡± A young man said as he walked down the stairs.

    Not hearing those words would have been better, as his father got even angrier at that. ¡°Game?! What a foul thing! You¡¯re not even one-tenth of your brother, he¡¯s already in contact with Fu Enterprise, which is the hope for the entire Yang family to enter the capital! If you make any trouble for him, you better be ready to get out of this house!¡±

    ¡°The Yang family? Without my mother, what is the Yang family?¡± Yang An sneered, mming the door as he left.

    After he walked out, he walked to the side of the road and lit a cigarette, waiting for a taxi.

    Behind him, Yang Haotian drove out in a Porsche. He wound down the window when he passed by, the car rolling to a stop beside the young man. ¡°Little brother, where are you going? I can send you there.¡±

    ¡°Little brother?¡± Yang An threw the cigarette, crushing it beneath his foot. ¡°My mother only gave birth to me, do you have the right to call me that?¡±

    Yang Haotian wiped the kind look off his face, sneering coldly, ¡°Yang An, I¡¯ve said it before. There wille a day when I will trample you beneath the soles of my feet, and look at you now, I¡¯ve clearly done it.¡±

    ¡°I obviously developed that engine, you took my design to Fu Enterprise and took credit for it!¡± Yang An¡¯s face was red with anger, grabbing Yang Haotian¡¯s cor through the window. He really wanted to punch him, but Yang Haotian avoided his fist.

    Yang Haotian pried Yang An¡¯s finger off him one by one, satisfaction clear in his eyes. ¡°An unbearable dude, and a calm and wise person. Who do you think the Yang family will believe? Good brother, I¡¯m going to see the person in charge in Fu Enterprise now. After this, the Yang family that your mother created will be in my hands.¡±

    The car window rolled up, and drove off slowly.

    Yang An stood where he was, his face dark as he clenched his fist tightly.

    The phone in his pocket rang, and he pulled it out to see that it was The World Is Ruthless that was calling him.

    ¡°Sunshine, where are you? I¡¯m already in my car.¡±

    Yang An took a while before replying, rattling off an address.

    Not long after, a ck car came to a stop beside him. The driver¡¯s seat was upied by a young man wearing sses.

    Yang An smiled. ¡°Are you The World Is Ruthless?¡±

    ¡°What, don¡¯t I look it?¡± Su Wu opened the passenger seat door. In the game, they were used to not being prim and proper, and there was no changes nor embarrassment when meeting in real life either.

    ¡°Extremely different.¡± Yang An couldn¡¯t help theughter that burst out.

    Su Wu knew how childish his name was as well as how different it was to his own person, and so he didn¡¯t say anything about it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll gather at the square at two. I¡¯ll take you for a bite to eat before that.¡± At the red light, Su Wu exined the n to him. Suddenly, the phone rang. Su Wu picked it up, slightly surprised. ¡°Yang An, you know Boss Gu?¡±

    ¡°What¡± Yang An was surprised too. ¡°Boss Gu? Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Nevermind, let¡¯s get something to eat first.¡± Su Wu stared at Yang An for a while longer. ¡°Food first.¡±

    Su Wu chose a famous restaurant near the meeting ce, and when he got off the car, he patted Yang An on the shoulder. ¡°Lucky kid.¡±

    Yang An: ¡°...¡± WTF?

    ¡°Wait a bit, there are two more peopleing.¡± Su Wu stood by the door with Yang An, taking out his phone to look at the time. ¡°Three more minutes.¡±

    ¡°Who else ising?¡± Yang An asked, frowning slightly. ¡°Let me guess, the guild leader? Watermelon?¡±

    Su Wu shook his head at all the names mentioned. Seeing a car approaching, he chuckled. ¡°Look, they¡¯re here.¡±

    A pink luxury car parked by the hotel entrance, and a tall, slender girl got out from the passenger seat. Her face was cold, and her entire person screamed ice and snow. Her appearance drew a lot of looks, and even Yang An couldn¡¯t help but whistle at the sight. What a beauty.

    At the same time, another figure also came down from the driver¡¯s seat. She was facing the sun, and just from the outline of her figure you could tell that she was an elegant girl. She lowered her head slightly, closing the door of the car. When she raised her head, she revealed a wless, smooth, attractive face. For a moment, her surroundings vanished and she was the only thing that existed.

    Those clear eyes were bright like stars, and Yang An couldn¡¯t even blow a whistle, stunned as he was.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± It was Su Wu¡¯s voice that snapped him back to reality.

    ¡°This is Sunshine.¡± Su Wu pointed at Yang An, smiling. ¡°Our Elder.¡±

    ¡°Whispering Winds, real name, Xiao Yun.¡± Xiao Yun reached out to shake Yang An¡¯s hand, the coldness in her face chipped away a little. ¡°Hello, Elder.¡±

    After shaking Xiao Yun¡¯s hand, Yang An turned to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°This is...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao stood beside Xiao Yun, her eyes on Yang An. ¡°Hello, Yang An. I¡¯m For A Millenium.¡±

    Yang An was unable to react, until he was suddenly sitting down in a chair. He didn¡¯t even know how he ended up here.

    She was For A Millenium?

    But wasn¡¯t For A Millenium male?

    His mind was still in a jumbled mess.

    ¡°Su Wu, do you know the great god?¡± Yang An turned to Su Wu with a nk expression, who was sitting beside him.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Su Wu replied, nodding his head.

    ¡°You lied to us!¡± Yang An¡¯s mouth twitched, thinking that Su Wu had been saying that For A Millenium was a man all the time in the game.

    Su Wu smiled brightly. ¡°Because it was more fun that way.¡±

    When he had first found out, he was no less surprised than Yang An, okay!

    He needed to see the look of surprise on somebody else¡¯s face to bnce it back out.

    The four were close to each other in the game, adding on the fact that Su Wu, Xiao Yun, and Gu Xiqiao were all friends, the atmosphere was not awkward in the least. Yang An himself was a lively person, so they got along easily.

    When Yang Haotian and Fu Dongyi came down from the stairs in the same restaurant, they saw Yang An who was eating hotpot, facing their direction and two girls were sitting opposite him.

    ¡°Little brother, this is President Fu.¡± Yang Haotian raised his voice slightly, speaking to Yang An.

    Today, he had discussed coborating with Fu Dongyi. The results of the discussion would be concluded tomorrow. Looking at Fu Dongyi¡¯s attitude, it seemed that he was satisfied with the engine design. Although it would take another day to finalize it, Yang Haotian was already holding the winning ticket in his hands.

    He couldn¡¯t wait to see the look on Yang Ang¡¯s face, the one that looked like a kicked puppy!

    ¡°Are these the friends that you were meeting?¡± Yang Haotian walked to Yang An¡¯s side, leaning down to whisper in his ear. ¡°I¡¯ve already gotten the coboration agreement with Fu Enterprise. With such useless friends like them, how are you nning to fight me?¡±

    Anger crossed Yang An¡¯s face, and he raised his hands, intending to punch him once again, but Su Wu pressed down on his shoulder.

    Yang Haotian looked towards Su Wu, as well as the two women who were eating, their heads lowered. Contempt in his eyes, he straightened up and walked back to Fu Dongyi.

    ¡°That was Fu Dongyi, the CEO of Fu Enterprise.¡± Yang An balled his fist, finally letting go of the anger he was feeling. ¡°He¡¯s a real financial tyrant, can¡¯t say that he¡¯s the top in the capital, but it isn¡¯t a problem for him to bring down a few small medium-sized enterprises.¡±

    Su Wu nodded his head, dunking a bunch of enoki mushrooms into the hotpot. He remembered seeing Fu Dongyi in Nine Heavens more than half a month ago.

    Yang An watched the three who were still eating calmly, and felt like he was a chicken talking to ducks, not on the same page at all. That¡¯s right, they weren¡¯t in this industry anyway, they didn¡¯t know what the name ¡®Fu Dongyi¡¯ meant in the end.

    Thinking of this, Yang An sighed. The feeling of suffocation from seeing Yang Haotian lifted instantly, and he grabbed the lotus root slices from Su Wu¡¯s bowl to eat.

    Yang Haotian reached Fu Dongyi, giving him a t smile. ¡°President Fu, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Fu Dongyi ignored Yang Haotian, turning to walk quickly to the table that he had juste from. ¡°Miss Gu,¡± he greeted in a respectful tone.

    Plop!

    The chopsticks in Yang An¡¯s hand fell to the table.

 Chapter 267 - Arenâ€™t All That After All

    <h4>Chapter 267: Aren¡¯t All That After All</h4>

    Yang Haotian felt like he had gone nuts, standing not too far from where Fu Dongyi was. He didn¡¯t expect that Yang An¡¯s little friends would know Fu Dongyi, and it seemed like they weren¡¯t some randommoners either. Fu Dongyi¡¯s head was lowered, looking at his phone. A strange look crossed his face after that, and he looked at Yang An with something akin to pity in his face, not saying a word.

    Yang Haotian couldn¡¯t stand it anymore, his face paling. What was the meaning of that? Was he nning to go back on their coboration ns?

    Thinking of this, Yang Haotian couldn¡¯t help but turn around to the other businessmen. There were the other people who were interested in the engine, he had not thought them to be significant since Fu Dongyi was around, but seeing that the man may no longer be interested, he obviously needed to shift his attention to them now.

    Those business partners nced at each other. Being businessmen in the Imperial Capital, they naturally knew of Nine Heavens, and of course the president of thepany. Although they could only see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side profile from where they were standing, it was easy to know who it was, she had a very recognizable face after all.

    Not to mention, the attitude that Fu Dongyi was disying.

    What other girl in the Imperial Capital would Fu Dongyi treat so respectfully? There was only the one from Nine Heavens, of course.

    ¡°Sorry, Manager Yang. Ourpany will retract from the coboration this time.¡± A middle-aged man looked at Gu Xiqiao, fear and awe on his face. After saying that, he left in a hurry.

    Seeing this, the others too started to leave in the same hurried manner.

    They were all people with extensive experience in the business industry, how could they not see that something fishy was going on between the two brothers? Adding on that Gu Xiqiao was smack dab in the middle of it, even if you gave them millions of courage, they didn¡¯t want the girl as their opponent! They had to leave, now, otherwise they could be wiped out with just a flick of a finger if they caught her eyes!

    Suddenly, only Yang Haotian¡¯s supervisor was left by his side.

    The supervisor looked in Yang An¡¯s direction with hesitance in his eyes.

    ¡°Supervisor, the Yang family and the engine is already in my hands, how can Yang An be more powerful than me?¡± Yang Haotian bit back his frustration as he looked towards the supervisor.

    The man thought about Yang An¡¯s cynical character, and then thought about Yang Haotian¡¯s words, and he instantly calmed down.

    That¡¯s right, Yang An was just an ant on the ground, how could he begin topare with Yang Haotian?

    Yang Haotian was not an idiot either, seeing all the people¡¯s behavior, he knew that Yang An¡¯s little friend must be a terrifying existence, and was not someone simple. He gritted his teeth, looking at Yang An with a dark expression. ¡°Sh*tty dog, you think you can drag me down just because you found a good backing?¡±

    Yang Haotian turned and left with a foul expression on his face.

    He still wasn¡¯t aware what kind of existence he had provoked.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao, who was immersed in devouring her lotus root, raised her head suddenly. Her slender fingers picked up her teacup to take a sip. ¡°I say, haven¡¯t you stared enough?¡±

    Yang An still had a disbelieving expression on his face. ¡°No, I still can¡¯t wrap my head around it. Are you really the great god?¡± And she was also acquainted with Fu Dongyi?

    Shouldn¡¯t people who y games be losers?

    Forget that Xiao Yun was ¡®Miss Perfect¡¯, why was the man who knew For A Millenium personally also the same? Yang An was so shocked by the revtions that he was just at a loss for words. He just continued to sip his ss of water.

    ¡°Director Cheng recently got interested in one of my scripts for a TV series, are you interested?¡± Su Wu suddenly asked, recalling the matter, looking at Gu Xiqiao.

    Cheng Zhou had Gu Xiqiao in mind for the role immediately, and to be honest, so had he. This was because Gu Xiqiao had always managed to perform all the characters in the scripts so vividly and real.

    Hearing this, Gu Xiqiao merely shook her head. ¡°Not at the moment, I have other things I need to do.¡±

    Su Wuughed when he heard her words.

    ¡°What are youughing at?¡± Xiao Yun raised her head, looking at Su Wu.

    ¡°No, when I spoke to Director Cheng yesterday about asking Miss Gu, he said that she would definitely say she has other things to do.¡± And indeed, Gu Xiqiao had replied exactly as Cheng Zhou had predicted, so he couldn¡¯t help butugh at it.

    Gu Xiqiao poured a stack of beef rolls into the pot, and reached to pick them out when they were cooked. Leaning her face on her hand on the table, she looked slightly thoughtful as she nced at Yang An. ¡°Your family came to the capital to expand your business?¡±

    Yang An snapped out from his shock, his fist clenching again when he heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s question. His eyes darkened, but his tone was rxed as he replied, ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen such an idiot.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed, putting down her hand. ¡°Even your own engine design has been taken by others.¡±

    He had just recovered from the shock, and he was sent spiraling into it once again at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words.

    He had created the engine after seeing Nine Heavens, and no one was aware of the process until it was finally taken by Yang Haotian. Obviously, everyone would believe Yang Haotian¡¯s words.

    Yang An, who had always been isted and without help lost his confidence, and simply never mentioned the matter again to avoid being made fun of.

    But how did she know about the engine?

    More importantly, how did she know that he was the person who had created it? Apart from shock, he could feel the bitterness underneath it.

    He had finally found the warmth and understanding of outsiders out of his family.

    ¡°Great god, how did you know?¡± Yang An sniffed, trying to calm the raging emotions surging inside him.

    ¡°I read your fortune.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow, tapping her fingers on the table. ¡°Hmm... are you interested in cooperating with us?¡±

    ¡°Cooperate?¡± Yang An red at her. ¡°Great god, don¡¯t y with me. I¡¯m very fragile inside right now, and I can¡¯t suffer through another storm. And I¡¯m also quite dumb...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve taught people more stupid than you before.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at him indifferently. ¡°Just one word, yes or...¡±

    Before she could finish, Yang An answered hurriedly. ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll do it!¡±

    Su Wu: ¡°...¡±

    This person was a little too simple, wasn¡¯t he?

    ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s go.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up. ¡°Su Wu, bring him to meet Luo Weng and Yu Ning.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to the offline meeting?¡± Su Wu asked, also standing up.

    Gu Xiqiao thought about it for a while. ¡°Me and Xiao Yun won¡¯t go today, something came up. They¡¯ll be in the capital for a few days anyway, we¡¯ll meet up another time.¡±

    Su Wu didn¡¯t press further at that, and he turned to look at Yang An. ¡°Today must be your lucky day. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll bring you to meet Mr. Luo.¡±

    Yang An wanted to ask something, but the mysterious expression on Su Wu¡¯s face made him hold his tongue.

    Gu Xiqiao and Xiao Yun left the ce, and when she walked out, she gave Luo Weng a call. ¡°Have you done what I asked you to do?¡±

    Luo Weng was flipping through some documents on the other side. ¡°Boss Gu, I¡¯ve studied Chu Enterprise as you asked. Their annual profit is 247.5 billion US dors, they have hotels all over the world...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more aware of those numbers than you are.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples. ¡°I asked if there have been any special movements from Chu Enterprisetely.¡±

    ¡°There is one thing.¡± Luo Weng reached out to tap a few keys, a report appearing on his screen. ¡°They recently moved their economic center to the capital. They used to be in the US, and I don¡¯t understand what they were thinking. Their profit will drop by at least five percent annually with this move.¡±

    Both of them were extremely sensitive to numbers, and Gu Xiqiao had already calcted the losses the moment Luo Weng had mentioned the percentage.

    She thought for a while, before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that for now. Su Wu will be bringing someone to meet you in a bit, this person¡¯s simr to Fu Dongyi.¡±

    Once she said that, Luo Weng was silent, and then... nk. ¡°Oh.¡± Such a cold response.

    ¡°Also, let Yu Ning know that the engine in this person¡¯s hand is very helpful to the development of the virtual world. They can get along well, ah, it¡¯splicated, forget it.¡± Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly. ¡°I¡¯ll swing by Nine Heavens tomorrow, so we¡¯ll talk about the details then.¡±

    ***

    After hanging up, Luo Weng opened up Penguin, shooting Yu Ning a message¡ª[Your springtime youth ising.]

    This was the way the two of them talked, and Yu Ning knew what Luo Weng meant. He immediately put down everything he was doing, and rushed to Luo Weng¡¯s office. ¡°Luo Weng, the distance between us is just a d*mned door, can¡¯t you juste and tell me in person!¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Luo Weng looked at theputer, a serious expression on his face as he continued to study the report that he had just received.

    Yu Ning gritted his teeth. ¡°What did you mean just now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Luo Weng replied slowly.

    F*ck! Yu Ning returned to his office, tapping on the keyboard a little harder than needed.

    Luo Weng¡¯s screen turned ck. ¡°...¡±

    The secretary shook her head, ah, this love-hate rtionship was kind of pointless, wasn¡¯t it?

    ***

    After speaking to Luo Weng, Gu Xiqiao put away her phone. She turned to Xiao Yun who was looking down at the ground. ¡°Little Yunzi, did the people from the Tang family look for you again today?¡±

    ¡°I knew I couldn¡¯t hide it from you.¡± Xiao Yun shoved her hands in her pocket, her head still lowered, her face hidden.

    ¡°What are you thinking now?¡± Gu Xiqiao stopped suddenly, pulling out her phone again. ¡°I¡¯ll give Tang Qingqiu a call, do you want to make it clear with him?¡± What was the Tang family making trouble with Xiao Yun for?

    If it wasn¡¯t for Xiao Yun¡¯s opinion, she¡¯d let loose the Peace Squad on them all and beat them down to the ground already!

    ¡°No need.¡± Xiao Yun raised her head, an indifferent look on her face. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the training grounds.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao studied Xiao Yun¡¯s face carefully, and seeing that there was no reluctance on her face, she didn¡¯t press any further. She flicked her fingers, and the pink car rolled over to them automatically.

    The little pink car drove slowly towards the training grounds, and Xiao Yun was silent all the way, seemingly deep in thought.

    In the slums of the north part of the city, Gu Xiqiao drove the car into a small alley. There was a group of people at the entrance of it, and the head of the group turned, stopping the car.

    ¡°Miss Xiao, I would like to talk to you.¡± The girl only turned around once the car stopped, revealing a gentle and pretty face.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes slightly, and looked to Xiao Yun. ¡°Who is she?¡±

    Xiao Yun¡¯s face darkend, and she replied, ¡°Tang Qingqiu¡¯s fiancee, Murong Feixu.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes widened. Fiancee, Tang Qingqiu¡¯s fiancee?!

    Xiao Yun got down from the car, and after a moment, Gu Xiqiao got down to follow her.

    Murong Feixu¡¯s gaze slid across Gu Xiqiao, before stopping on Xiao Yun. Her entire person seemed to scream arrogance, looking down on Xiao Yun. ¡°Miss Xiao, you should know that Qingqiu¡¯s identity isn¡¯t someone simple. I¡¯m telling you now, it¡¯s not something a regr person like you can even begin to imagine. You, you¡¯re not worthy of him.¡±

    ¡°Also,¡± Murong Feixu chuckled. ¡°He doesn¡¯t like you.¡±

    Xiao Yun clenched her fist, her face hardening. Her mind was clear as she grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, who had wanted tosh out.

    ¡°Then what are you?¡± Seeing her friend of two lives being bullied, how could you expect Gu Xiqiao to stand there and do nothing? Xiao Yun didn¡¯t let her move her hands, so she moved her mouth instead. She would use her anger to piss off this person then!

    She narrowed her eyes at Murong Feixu. Having stayed so long with Jiang Shuxuan, she had gotten at least ten percent of his coldness down to the point. ¡°So Tang Qingqiu doesn¡¯t like Xiao Yun, and he likes you? Which part of you canpare to Little Yunzi? Is your skin better than hers? Are you legs longer than hers, or is your face prettier than hers? Tang Qingqiu doesn¡¯t have sh*t for brains, would he even spare a look at you?¡±

    ¡°You, you little...¡± Murong Feixu had never been talked to this way before, and she was so angry she couldn¡¯t even form words at the moment. All her education in etiquette was also forgotten in her anger.

    ¡°If you had said all these things directly to Tang Qingqiu¡¯s face, I¡¯d still have some semnce of respect for you.¡± Gu Xiqiao chuckled. ¡°But here you are, secretlying to bully Little Yunzi in some back alley, just because she¡¯s a regr person? People from the ancient martial arts world aren¡¯t all that in the end after all!¡± Just wait, in a moment, you won¡¯t even be able to cry even if you wanted to!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s insults made Murong Feixu red in the face. ¡°You arrogant b*tch, shoving false arguments into people¡¯s throats!¡±

    Murong Feixu¡¯s words couldn¡¯tpare to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sharp ones, and she waved her hands to direct the people behind her. ¡°Grab them both!¡±

    Though she gave the order, the two guards from the Murong family didn¡¯t move. They were looking in a particr direction, fear painted on their faces. ¡°Y-Y-Young Master Jiang.¡±

 Chapter 268 - Fainting From Anger!

    <h4>Chapter 268: Fainting From Anger!</h4>

    There was only one Jiang family in the ancient martial arts world, and there was only one person that was known as Young Master Jiang.

    So as soon as the bodyguard uttered the name, Murong Feixu looked up, surprised etched unto her face as she saw Jiang Shuxuan standing not far from the two women. There was an indifferent expression on his face, but those deep, dark eyes that were on her made her panic inside.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang.¡± Murong Feixu¡¯s mouth was dry, and she was at a loss as to this man¡¯s sudden appearance.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Murong Feixu, and then she couldn¡¯t help but turn her head at her words. Sure enough, Jiang Shuxuan was standing there.

    He walked slowly towards Gu Xiqiao, his eyes gliding across Murong Feixu¡¯s face. He narrowed his eyes slightly. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Murong Feixu¡¯s face flushed with embarrassment at the question. As one of the sessors of the Murong family, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words were just a bit shocking, to find out that he wasn¡¯t aware of her identity.

    Seeing Murong Feixu¡¯s stiff face, the bodyguard stepped forward. ¡°Young Master Jiang, we¡¯re the guards of the Murong family. This is Miss Murong.¡±

    ¡°Miss Murong?¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, looking thoughtful as he nced at the guard.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m...¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan interrupted her nonchntly, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that Feiye has a cousin named Murong Feixue, is that you?¡±

    Murong Feixu couldn¡¯t keep the expression on her face in check anymore, she had initially came here to warn off Xiao Yun, but she didn¡¯t expect Jiang Shuxuan to make an appearance suddenly. Moreover, he even insinuated that he never heard of her, cementing the fact that she had no reputation and practically pping her in the face with this insult.

    Her face still flushed, she gritted out, ¡°Young Master Jiang, Feixue is my younger sister. I¡¯m her elder sister, Murong Feixu.¡±

    ¡°Murong Feixu? I¡¯ve never heard that name.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked away. ¡°Your chi levels are average, a far cry from Feiye¡¯s. Are you really a member of the Murong family? There¡¯s been a lot of thugs appearing nowadays, and there isn¡¯t ack of people pretending to be part of the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    Saying that, Jiang Shuxuan pulled out his phone to make a call. ¡°Yi Tong, there¡¯s a suspicious person here, parading around as Feiye¡¯s sister. Take her in for interrogation.¡±

    ¡°Y-Young Master Jiang...¡± Murong Feixu couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing.

    ¡°And you, are you really guards of the Murong family?¡± Jiang Shuxuan ignored Murong Feixu¡¯s stutters, turning his gaze to the two guards behind her. However, he didn¡¯t give them time to exin and continued on, ¡°The Murong family has always been a kind family, and they never had any incidents of picking on civilians before. You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re from the Murong family after all.¡±

    His phone still in hand, he seemed to think of something, and gave the n leader of the Murong family a call directly.

    When the patriarch of the Murong family received the call, he was very much surprised. ¡°Shuxuan, has something happened?¡±

    ¡°n Leader Murong, I ran into someone pretending to be from the Murong family. They¡¯re using the Murong name to hurt a person from the secr world. In order to maintain the Murong name, I¡¯ve asked Yi Tong to bring the person back to prison in the ancient martial arts world. To avoid such situations from happening again, it¡¯s better to find out who is the one behind this.¡± There was no change in his expression as Jiang Shuxuan rattled off the information to the older man on the other side of the phone.

    ¡°What? There is such a thing that happened?!¡± The Murong n leader stood up with a loud ¡®bang¡¯, a horrified look on his face. Naturally, he knew that Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t pulling his leg out of boredom, especially since the man had already taken action, it had to be a serious matter. The older man didn¡¯t bother to stop to ponder on it too long, and said, ¡°I¡¯ll head over to the detention center immediately to interrogate this person myself!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan had put the call on loudspeaker, and everyone around him heard it loud and clear.

    Murong Feixu¡¯s face paled, she didn¡¯t expect this encounter to turn out this way. She had just wanted to warn off this regr person, but the tables had been turned on her and she was the one who was on the receiving end right now, and it was obvious that Jiang Shuxuan had it out for her, from the way he handled the matter.

    If she were brought into prison and interrogated on charges that Jiang Shuxuan suspected she was not a member of the Murong family, she would definitely be theughing stock of the entire ancient martial arts world. How would she be able to show her face anymore there if that happened?

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, believe me...¡±

    Before she could finish speaking, her mouth was covered by someone and dragged away. Yi Tong had already been around the area when Jiang Shuxuan called him. He and his team had heard that the Peace Squad was operating nearby somewhere, and hade with the intention to see if they could find them, but was called by Jiang Shuxuan instead.

    ¡°Big Boss, I¡¯ll definitely interrogate this impostor properly and make her confess who¡¯s the one behind this entire farce,¡± Yi Tong said with a serious expression, but he was in fact trying to hold back hisughter.

    Jiang Shuxuan waved his hand dismissively, letting Yi Tong lead the people away.

    Gu Xiqiao stood next to Jiang Shuxuan. Although she knew that he had done it on purpose, and knew that Murong Feixu was not in fact a fact, she wouldn¡¯t waste this opportunity to join in the chaos of this mess. ¡°So it was just a fake.¡±

    ¡°Daring to have such arrogance even though she¡¯s a fake, wanting to catch me and Little Yunzi! Young Master Jiang, they must be spies, you have to make sure to investigate this matter thoroughly!¡± Gu Xiqiao said, a solemn expression on her face.

    Jiang Shuxun paused, and he looked down at her. The corner of his lips twitched upwards slightly, and he called out, ¡°Yi Tong, did you hear that?¡±

    ¡°Loud and clear, Big Boss!¡± Yi Tong shouted back. Inside, he was thinking, ¡®Big Boss, Miss Gu, do you know how painful it is to hold in myughter?¡¯

    Murong Feixu¡¯s mouth was covered, and she couldn¡¯t say anything in protest. There were tears swimming in her eyes, but no one cared about it.

    Yi Tong looked at Murong Feixu with pity. ¡®Of all the people to offend, you had to pick Miss Gu? Really? Look what happened, now the ¡®fake¡¯ has be a ¡®spy¡¯ instead.¡¯

    The call from the patriarch of the Murong family came quickly, and Yi Tong answered. ¡°Hello, Patriarch Murong. Yes, I¡¯m taking the person to the ancient martial arts world now... yes, it¡¯s possible they may be a spy. I agree, it cannot be tolerated!¡±

    She hade out with the intention of intimidating and warning Xiao Yun to back off, and now, not only did she not manage to do that, she, Miss Murong, had instead been suspected to be a spy. The n leader himself wasing down to interrogate her? Even if her name was cleared after that, this dark stain on her history would never be erased, and the patriarch would never trust her again in the future. Her reputation would be as good as non-existence, and when this matter was raised in the ancient martial arts world, everyone would definitelyugh at her! All the image that she had built up for herself would also be destroyed, since she was someone that Jiang Shuxuan suspected!

    When Murong Feixu thought about all of this, the panic surged up in her heart. She saw the smug smiles on Gu Xiqiao and Xiao Yun¡¯s face. Her eyes rolled backward and she passed out!

    Half of it was because of fear, but the other half was because of anger.

    ¡°This kind of person needs to be taught a proper lesson.¡± Gu Xiqiao let out a long breath, watching as Murong Feixu fell over.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Xiao Yun turned to Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. When Gu Xiqiao had spoken up for her, she had been startled. Gu Xiqiao had never taken to heart matters like this, and for her to be triggered to this extent... There was a warm feeling in her heart.

    And also Jiang Shuxuan, who usually didn¡¯t speak much. Whenever she was with Gu Xiqiao, he would at most speak just a few words, and most of them were directed at Gu Xiqiao. Just now was probably the most that she had seen him speaking since the first time she had met him.

    Although it was for the sake of Gu Xiqiao, Xiao Yun still felt grateful for him to react to this extent.

    Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow, looking at her. ¡°You¡¯re thanking me?¡±

    ¡°Pft, no.¡± Xiao Yun shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll treat you to a meal next time. The training grounds aren¡¯t too far, why don¡¯t you two go on home? I can head over myself.¡±

    Seeing the haze in her eyes disappearing and a smile on her face, Gu Xiqiao finally felt relieved.

    Xiao Yun waved at the two, turning around and left. Just as she was about to turn the corner, Jiang Shuxuan opened his mouth to speak, ¡°Qingqiu received an urgent order yesterday and has left the city, so he¡¯s not in the capital at the moment.¡±

    The girl¡¯s steps halted, but she didn¡¯t turn around. ¡°Thank you,¡± She said softly.

    Seeing this, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, turning to look up at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Why are you here, Brother Jiang?¡± Didn¡¯t he have a lot of things to settle?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Jiang Shuxuan took her hand and led her to the car. ¡°We¡¯ll talk when we get back.¡±

    How could he feel at peace once he had received that short message from her? He had pushed all the matters to the elders, it wasn¡¯t the first time he did this since he had met her anyway.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat in the passenger seat as Gu Xiqiao drove her little pink car. She didn¡¯t feel all that strange anymore, driving such a pink car.

    Jiang Shuxuan thought about how Tang Qingqiu had been quite a good snitch while he hadn¡¯t been in the Imperial Capital the past few days, and so he sent a short message to him, returning the favor¡ª[Murong Feixu.]

    It was short and simple, but Tang Qingqiu would definitely understand his meaning.

    A few minutester, Tang Qingqiu replied¡ª[Thanks bro.]

    He kept his phone away, thinking that it wasn¡¯t like he had wanted his thanks, but... He nced at Gu Xiqiao who was focused on driving.

    She turned her head when she felt his gaze, shing him a smile. The hood of the car was opened, and her hair fluttered freely in the wind. Her wless face glowed, a healthy flush on her face. ¡°You look very handsome today, Brother Jiang.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded his head, still looking at her. The cold glint in his eyes seemed brighter, as he said, ¡°Yes, I think so too.¡±

    He said those words with such a cold, straight face, and a deadpanned tone. It made Gu Xiqiaough for a long time after that.

    ¡°Drive properly.¡± Jiang Shuxuan frowned, seeing her in such a distracted state. ¡°Do you usually drive like this?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± Gu Xiqiao let go of the steering. ¡°Look.¡±

    There was a truck in front of them, and Jiang Shuxuan almost grabbed her to jump out of the car at the sudden movement. At this time, the pink car turned a corner by itself.

    ¡°It¡¯s a self-driving car, Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly at him.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face darkened with a mix of shock and annoyance. There was also a slight hint of fear that shed in his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t scare me like that.¡± Thinking of the message that he had received, ayer of cold sweat formed on his back.

    Gu Xiqiao parked the car to the side, reaching out to hold his hand and finding his hands to be colder than usual, and the sweat that had formed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Brother Jiang.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Jiang Shuxuan reached out to pull her to him, hugging her tightly. The warmth radiating from her calmed his racing heart, and he only let go of her when he hadpletely settled down. ¡°Let¡¯s go home, I¡¯ll drive.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t object or say anything, and the car rolled steadily towards themunity area that they lived in.

    When they got back. Shu Chen was on Gu Xiqiao almost instantly. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re finally home! Have you eaten lunch? Bring out the soup that we made today, Auntie Zhang!¡±

    After nagging a bit more, she finally turned to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Shuxuan, why are you also home?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan ced the keys down, grunting a response. He was already used to this kind of reception from her anyway.

    Mrs. Zhang hurriedly brought the soup out for Gu Xiqiao, and Shu Chen sat beside her as she drank it. Halfway through, she received a call and excused herself once she saw who the caller was. She had a calm expression on her face as she talked, but itter turned into a frown before she hung up.

    ¡°Shuxuan, the elders said that someone from the Lisu Tribe has arrived. They said it was something important.¡± Shu Chen kept her phone away, looking at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Go on back and see what it is.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Jiang Shuxuan picked up the ss of water that Mrs. Zhang had poured for him, his tone t.

    ¡°You!¡± Shu Chen massaged her temple, a frown on her face. She could already feel a headache forming. ¡°Shuxuan, this is not something to joke about, you should understand how important the Lisu Tribe is.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother to respond.

    He had always been assertive and paranoid since he was young, and they had never been able to do anything about this attitude of his. Seeing him like this, Shu Chen was almost up the wall in her anxiousness. But here he was, drinking a ss of water leisurely, without a care in the world.

    Shu Chen¡¯s headache was growing worse by the minute, didn¡¯t this boy value his life?

    At this time. Gu Xiqiao ced down the empty bowl. She sighed as she turned to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Go back, Brother Jiang.¡±

 Chapter 269 - Hope The Capital Will Still Be Standing

    <h4>Chapter 269: Hope The Capital Will Still Be Standing</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan paused with his hand still holding the ss. He raised his head to look at Gu Xiqiao, as something unreadable shed in his eyes.

    Shu Chen wasn¡¯t paying attention to him, but had turned her gaze to Gu Xiqiao instead. ¡°Qiao Qiao, don¡¯t bother about him. He¡¯s had a stubborn temper since he was a child, to the point that his father and I have no idea what to do with him.¡± No one was more aware of Jiang Shxuan¡¯s character than her. All his subordinates had learnt this from him, each and every one of them were stubborn to death.

    She was really afraid that his stubbornness would one day chase her daughter-inw away.

    Thinking of this, Shu Chen nced at Jiang Shuxuan. It was amazing that Gu Xiqiao paid him any mind when he had such an attitude!

    Jiang Shuxuan was still looking at Gu Xiqiao, who was smiling at him. He could see his figure reflecting in those clear bright eyes of hers, and when he looked at her, he could feel his heart soften.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll head back. It looks like I¡¯ll only be back after two days.¡± Jiang Shuxuan ced down the ss and stood up.

    Shu Chen: ¡°...Wha-?¡± WTF?

    She looked at her son¡¯s cold face, and then to Gu Xiqiao. She felt like she was living in a dream right now.

    Shu Chen didn¡¯te back to her senses until Jiang Shuxuan left. Wait, something was wrong.

    Since when had her son been so obedient?

    It just took one word from Gu Xiqiao?

    That... that was simply abnormal!

    Shu Chen picked up her phone, shooting off a message to Jiang Han¡ª[Our son has changed!] If there were such matters again in the future, she definitely had to properly take care of Qiao Qiao so she would handle it!

    Gu Xiqiao went back upstairs to check on the information on Yang Enterprise, while Shu Chen yed on herptop beside her. Every time Shu Chen faced a more difficult mob that tested her skills, she would raise her head to look at Gu Xiqiao. And every time, Jiji woulde to her side, easily disying its skills, tapping away on the keyboard and passing the stage in a short time.

    Shu Chen looked up, surprised. ¡°You can also y this, Jiji?¡± And its hand speed was so fast, it could probably even y professionally, right?

    Jiji raised its head bashfully. ¡°Beauty Qiao is the one who taught me.¡±

    Shu Chen: ¡°...¡± She couldn¡¯t evenpare to a robot! ©Ñ©Ò©n©Ñ©Ò

    Gu Xiqiao gave Jiji a look, raising an eyebrow. ¡°...¡± Don¡¯t bully Aunt Shu.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± It¡¯s not like I can help it! I¡¯m just like that!

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Control yourself!

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± You... you¡¯re basically asking me to choose between eating sh*t or poison!

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± So you¡¯ll eat one of them?

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Boss, I¡¯m sorry, I was wrong.

    Gu Xiqiao turned around after their silent exchange, continuing her reading on the pile of information on Yang Enterprise. They were a public listedpany, and their financial statements were published annually. However, with one look she could tell that they had window dressed it, it was too perfect. So she simply hacked into Yang Enterprise¡¯s database and retrieved the information that she wanted.

    Shu Chen only saw lines upon lines of numbers, and her eyes were crossed at the amount of it on the screen. She didn¡¯t understand a single thing Gu Xiqiao was doing at all.

    She somehow felt... shocked.

    She wasn¡¯t sure why, but she wanted to sigh. Grabbing herptop, she left the room. Shu Chen felt that only Mrs. Zhang would be able to chat with her. She might as well get some stories on what the two had been up to back in N City previously.

    ¡°Jiji,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, once the door closed. ¡°Be careful next time.¡±

    Jiji raised its mechanical head, holding theptop that Gu Xiqiao had configured specially for it. ¡°When are you going to change my body, Beauty Qiao?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao sat in front of herputer, still browsing through the files. ¡°I thought you¡¯d want to upgrade first.¡±

    ¡°The upgrade can wait, I want to change my body first. A tall and mighty body is more important now.¡± Jiji lowered its head, emphasizing again, ¡°Tall and mighty.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tone was t and indifferent.

    Cheapskate! Lazy! Petty! Jiji raised its head, usation clear in its mechanical eyes, but sadly, Gu Xiqiao ignored itpletely, submerging herself in the data once again.

    Jiji gave a nce at the data, and it knew the details of Yang Enterprise. The scale of thepany was small, and their performance was mediocre. The financial statements are not detailed enough, and there was nothing worth noting about it. Why was Beauty Qiao interested in apany like this?

    Gu Xiqiao leaned back against her chair once she was done reading, and started to analyze the entire situation of Yang Enterprise. As she was doing so, the penguin head on the bottom right of herputer started to jump.

    Clicking on it, she found that it was Luo Weng who was messaging her.

    Luo Weng: I¡¯ve met the person, there¡¯s nothing special about him.

    Luo Weng: He¡¯s a bit nuts too.

    Luo Weng: Even more so than Fu Dongyi.

    Gu XIqiao: I know, don¡¯t hold it against him.

    Luo Weng: ... Sure.

    Gu Xiqiao: I¡¯lle in tomorrow.

    Luo Weng: Okay!

    ***

    The moment he typed thest word in, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s status went offline, the penguin head going grey. He raised his head then, looking at Yang An who was sitting on the sofa in front of him, looking dazed.

    ¡°Su Wu, is this really the guy she asked you to bring over?¡± Luo Weng held in the sigh that threatened toe from his mouth.

    Su Wu turned to Luo Weng, a solemn look on his face. ¡°I swear in the name of the Lord.¡±

    Luo Weng stared at him with a deadpan expression. Did you think that swearing by the Lord¡¯s name means you won¡¯t lose a fight? He turned his head to Yang An. ¡°Mr. Yang, how are you?¡±

    Yang An turned to the voice, looking nkly at Luo Weng. He felt like he was in a dream. As much as he didn¡¯t care about the business affairs, he was still well aware of what Nine Heavens represented and what they did. He was ying a game that was developed by them after all, and he had once made up his mind to properly study management too.

    His lecturer in university had used Nine Heavens as a case-study back then. In a short period of time, this joke of apany had grown into one of the world¡¯s top hundredpanies. It¡¯s international influence was not something to be underestimated, but the entirepany was low-key, and there weren¡¯t any of the staff or management that had been interviewed on any media tforms.

    After that, Yang An had felt that he was not suited for management, and had dropped his studies, and paid no more attention to the development of Nine Heavens, focusing on his game instead. He had picked up management studies in order to gain his father¡¯s attention, and once reality had sunk in, he never again had those thoughts again.

    Now it was just that gaming allowed him to rx.

    But it didn¡¯t affect the admiration that he had towards Nine Heavens.

    If he had even just 1% of Nine Heavens¡¯ capabilities, then he would be able to take back the family assets from Yang Haotian, right?

    Nine Heavens was too far from his reach, in his opinion, it was practically a myth, something that he could only look from afar, never to obtain in his hands. He never imagined that he would one day step foot into the headquarters of Nine Heavens!

    ¡°S-so... my coboration partner is Nine Heavens?¡± Yang An finally opened his mouth to speak.

    Why did he feel like he had just stepped in dog sh*t? And the most expensive kind too?! This was Nine Heavens man, Nine Heavens! Even if there were dozens of Yang Haotian, it wasn¡¯t enough to go against them!

    Luo Weng had wanted to answer, but then he was shocked by something on theputer in front of him, because something downloaded onto hisputer and shed on his screen. When he opened it, it was a contract.

    Only Yu Ning or Gu Xiqiao would have been able to do something like, right?

    ncing through it, it seemed that Gu Xiqiao was the one who had sent it over.

    Luo Weng was silent for a while, before pressing the button to print the contract. Boss Gu, do you know that you scared the sh*t out of people when you do things like this?

    ¡°Yes,¡± Luo Weng finally snapped out of his daze, replying to Yang An¡¯s question. ¡°You guessed it, the coboration party is Nine Heavens.¡±

    Yang An felt like a truck had mmed into his head, and he signed the contract hastily. Walking out of Nine Heavens with Su Wu after, he was still in a state of disbelief. ¡°W-Wait...¡± He suddenly stopped walking. ¡°Isn¡¯t great god the one who was going to work with me? How did it suddenly be Nine Heavens instead?¡±

    Then, before he could start walking again, another thought hit him, and his foot hovered in the air, disbelief filling his eyes!

    Su Wu looked at Yang An¡¯s frozen face, and nodded with a smile. ¡°You probably guessed it, so yes, she¡¯s the big boss of Nine Heavens.¡±

    Although he already guessed it, Yang An had no words to express the surprise and shock that coursed through him. He started to recall the old professor that had given him the case study, he was a hardcore fan of Nine Heavens. He had been consistently telling him about Nine Heavens, how they had bulldozed their way through Bai Enterprise, as well as pressuring Chen Enterprise back then. The case was so wonderfully interesting, which was different from the case studies that America had. Every step taken by Nine Heavens had been unpredictable, until atst when their opponent had been sted out to die under the sun, and they still didn¡¯t know where they had gone wrong.

    Although Yang An hadn¡¯t understood most of it, he still had a good memory, and the professor¡¯s words were still clear in his mind.

    But what did he just hear now? Gu Xiqiao was the big boss behind the scenes of Nine Heavens?

    WTF? Thinking about that youthful face, Yang An asked, ¡°Su Wu, The World Is Ruthless, sir, you¡¯re not pulling my leg, are you?¡± She looked even younger than himself!

    When he was her age, he was still having fun and ying around everyday! And here she was, being the object of worship and admiration by everyone in the business world.

    Compared to her, no, how could he evenpare them at all?

    He felt his view of the world shatter at that moment.

    Su Wu looked at Yang An with concern, could it be that it was too much of a shock to his system?

    Yang An suddenly burst outughing. ¡°I want Yang Haotian to kneel down and call me ¡®father¡¯!¡±

    Su Wu: ¡°...¡± Silly idiot, as long as you¡¯re happy, I don¡¯t care anymore.

    The great god didn¡¯t attend the offline meeting, even their guild leader was absent, and some of them were disappointed when they found out. Some instead wondered whether the four of them had ascended to heaven or something.

    However, these were all unknown to the four who were absent.

    ***

    The next day, in Nine Heavens, Yang An was once again in Luo Weng¡¯s office. Compared to yesterday, he was less excited and lively.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Luo Weng asked, raising his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m doubting the great god, but when I went back yesterday, it was to news that Yang Haotian had managed to secure a coboration with Chu Enterprise. I looked them up, and they¡¯re one of the top fiftypanies, having hotels all over the world. I don¡¯t know why they would partner up with Yang Haotian, but Mr. Luo, my engine is in his hands, there isn¡¯t a single trace of evidence from that time to prove otherwise.¡±

    He felt that it was necessary to exin to Luo Weng. Once he had got over the continuous shock yesterday, he sat down and began to seriously contemte the matter.

    But he didn¡¯t expect to hear his father and Yang Haotian celebrating the news that Chu Enterprise had agreed to work with them when he got home.

    ¡°Chu Enterprise?¡± Luo Weng paused, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. He remembered that name, Gu Xiqiao had asked for him to look into them a few days ago.

    ¡°Yeah, Chu Enterprise.¡± Yang An smiled bitterly. ¡°Mr. Luo, I can¡¯t do anything about the engine.¡±

    Yang Haotian had always been great at not leaving trails in whatever he did, and after Yang An¡¯s brief happiness, he was now back to being depressed. Gu Xiqiao had said he was stupid yesteday, and he was seriously beginning to doubt his life.

    Was he really just too stupid in the end?

    ¡°Engine?¡± Luo Weng frowned. ¡°Can¡¯t do anything about it?¡± If they couldn¡¯t find any evidence, then it wasn¡¯t like Nine Heavens could take it by force.

    This issue was indeed troublesome, copyright disputes had always been messy andplicated. What more, with Yang An¡¯s unreliable attitude, it may be impossible to find any useful evidence to support this matter.

    ¡°I can¡¯t find any evidence.¡± Yang An hung his head. ¡°When I went back yesterday to check on theptop, even the remaining copy had been deleted.¡±

    The two of them were silent after that, each in their own thoughts, when the secretary suddenly pushed open the door. She greeted the two respectfully, and took off the sunsses on her face, shing them a smile. ¡°Who said there was nothing you can do?¡±

    Yang An was stunned, did she mean that there was something they could do, that she had a way?

    Luo Weng¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Miss Gu, you¡¯re here!¡± Then his eyes fell on the robot that was following behind her, and confusion shed in his eyes. ¡°Is that Jiji?¡± This was the new development that their friends circle had been going on and on about, the new darling of Gu Xiqiao that they couldn¡¯t stop talking about!

    Jiji was holding aptop and a stack of documents in its hands, and when it heard Luo Weng, it said, ¡°Hello, Little Luo!¡±

    The newly dubbed ¡®Little Luo¡¯: ¡°... Hello.¡±

    ¡°Did you just say that there¡¯s a way?¡± Luo Weng was quick to get back on track, realizing what was happening. ¡°What is it?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiji, and it immediately moved forward to hand the documents to Luo Weng.

    ¡°Have a look first, I¡¯ll take Yang An out to meet someone.¡± Before anyone could react, Gu Xiqiao had already swept in, grab the said person and left.

    ¡°What did Boss Gu mean?¡± The secretary adjusted her sses, puzzled.

    Luo Weng rubbed his chin thoughtfully, thinking about what Yang An had said about the agreement of partnership between Yang Haotian and Chu Enterprise. Pity, if he wasn¡¯t so busy, he too would like to go along and meet this Chu Ziheng. Thinking about that, he smiled at the secretary. ¡°Miss Gu she... I hope the capital will still be standing after this.¡±

 Chapter 270 - What The Heck Are They Up To

    <h4>Chapter 270: What The Heck Are They Up To</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao took Yang An to a coffee shop.

    Yang An was at first confused why she brought him here, until he saw Yang Haotian and some other people.

    A slender figure was sitting opposite Yang Haotian, and his back was facing them. Yang An couldn¡¯t see how the person looked, but judging by the documents scattered on the table, this person was most likely the one in charge from Chu Enterprise.

    Gu Xiqiao found a seat to the left of them, a very obvious ce, one where Chu Ziheng could see them the moment he raised his head.

    He nodded towards Gu Xiqiao, a smile on his face as usual. His face was kind, his eyebrows elegant and a wlessly handsome face. ¡°Miss Gu, no, it should be President Gu. I didn¡¯t expect to see you here.¡±

    ¡°Treating a friend to coffee.¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned back against the chair, an indifferent expression on her face. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, turning to look at Yang Haotian with a smile.

    It was only natural for Yang Haotian not to forget Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, and he felt as though she could see through him with her clear bright eyes. But when he thought about all the things that he had done, and how he was sure all his tracks were airtight, he swiftly calmed himself. He began to exin and introduce the engine to Chu Ziheng.

    Yang An sat across from Gu Xiqiao, listening to Yang Haotian¡¯s words. His fist was clenched tightly, how could Yang Haotian¡¯s face be so bloody thick? This engine was something that had taken him two months to make before it was sessful, when did it be his creation?

    ¡°President Chu, it took me half a year to make this engine work. Your secretary has also taken a look at its functions...¡±

    Bang!

    Yang An finally couldn¡¯t hold it anymore, mming his first on the table.

    He bit his lips harshly, lowering his head. ¡°Sorry great god, I need to go to the washroom.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao picked up her coffee, nodding at him. She silently mouthed the word ¡®endure¡¯ at him.

    There was nothing betraying her feelings on her face from the start, even her eyes were nk, a calm and peaceful appearance. Yang An felt half his frustrations disappearing when he looked at her, and he nodded his head, before standing and heading to the washroom.

    Chu Ziheng was still looking through the documents that Yang Haotian had brought, and seeing that it would take a while, Yang Haotian got up to follow Yang An.

    In the washroom, Yang An had just finished washing his hands, and bumped into Yang Haotian. The other was also bent down, washing his hands.

    ¡°Yang An, did you think that you could take back Yang Enterprises just because you found someone to back you up? You¡¯re still the same as before, stupid as ever.¡± Yang Haotian sneered at Yang An who was about to leave.

    Balling his fist, Yang An wanted to give him a good solid punch, but then he remembered what Gu Xiqiao had said and he lowered his hands. ncing to give him onest look, Yang An left the washroom. ¡°Yang Haotian, I¡¯ve already signed a contract with Nine Heavens. I will definitely take back everything that belongs to me one day!¡±

    Yang Haotian watched Yang An¡¯s retreating figure,ughing lowly. ¡°What a lucky guy. It¡¯s a pity that he¡¯s just too naive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Having the courage to go against you, just because he rubbed shoulders with President Gu.¡± The person beside Yang Haotian said with disappointment in his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know whether to say he¡¯s stupid or just in naive.¡±

    Yang Haotian left the washroom after that, quickly returning to Chu Ziheng¡¯s side.

    ¡°President Gu.¡± Just before he sat down, Yang Haotian turned to Gu Xiqiao, his tone respectful and sincere. ¡°This here is my little brother, he hasn¡¯t studied properly since he was young, and always got into fights during his high school days, and has changed schools a few times due to that. I heard that he¡¯s signed a contract with you, and I¡¯m sure he has told you that he¡¯s the one who made the engine. Do you believe someone like him could really do such a thing?¡±

    Yang Haotian continued to look at Gu Xiqiao, and also at Yang An from the corner of his eyes. He wasn¡¯t surprised to see Yang An¡¯s face paling at the words that he had just said.

    Yang Haotian smiled even more sinisterly, he didn¡¯t need any evidence, because Yang¡¯ An¡¯s own attitude and actions was a ck spot that couldn¡¯t be erased from his history.

    He would wait, wait for Yang An to once again be abandoned.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I believe him?¡± Gu Xiqiao took a sip of her coffee, and feeling it was too bitter, she added a spoonful of creamer to it, stirring it slowly with a spoon. She looked up at Yang Haotian, her skin as white as snow, and her eyes were cold as it. ¡°I believe him.¡±

    The smile on Yang Haotian¡¯s face turned downwards, and it froze. He didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to reply to him that way, he wouldn¡¯t even have believed it had he not heard it with his own ears. There was someone who said they believed in Yang An, it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard!

    Yang An was stunned after hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. This was the first time someone had said they believed him.

    ¡°President Gu, don¡¯t let your emotions affect your decisions.¡± Yang Haotian chuckled. ¡°A person like Yang An...¡±

    ¡°Please wait a moment, Mr. Yang Haotian.¡± Gu Xiqiao took another sip, and set it down, pushing it aside after she found it still too bitter. Reaching out, Jiji ced theptop in her outstretched hands, and she ced it on the coffee table. She tapped on the keys quickly, pulling up a video. Turning it around, she faced it towards Yang Haotian, giving him a gentle smile. ¡°Let me show you something precious.¡±

    The words made Jiji¡¯s mechanical hand move even stiffer than usual.

    Yang An, who had been touched by her previous words, suddenly felt like he didn¡¯t know if he should be crying orughing at that.

    Even Chu Ziheng, who was watching the show from the side had a strange smile on his face.

    Yang Haotian looked down, the calm on his face disappearing instantly when he saw what it was, the blood draining rapidly from his face. Taking a step back, he struggled to form words. ¡°No, that¡¯s impossible...¡±

    How was that possible? When he went into Yang An¡¯s room, there was no surveince installed in the room at all, how could there be a video of him stealing the engine? ¡°This must have been fabricated, it¡¯s fake!¡±

    ¡°Fabricated?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly at him. ¡°It¡¯s not, you¡¯ll know when you see it. Oh right, there¡¯s also a recording of your theft, listen.¡±

    As she said that, her slender fingers tapped the keys, pulling up an audio file with Yang Haotian¡¯s voice.

    ¡°So what if Yang An tells anybody? The engine is already in my hands, it doesn¡¯t matter if he was the one to make it, who would believe him...¡±

    At this point, Yang Haotian knew that this was definitely fake, because he had never said anything like that before!

    ¡°This is definitely fake, I¡¯ve never said anything like that before. I¡¯ll sue you for defamation!¡± Yang Haotian¡¯s confidence returned instantly and he looked at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I¡¯ll get the police to investigate this!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you don¡¯t have to wait. I¡¯ve already sent these to the police an hour ago, I believe they¡¯ll be fair and just in their investigation and judgment.¡± There were no changes in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression. ¡°So before the policee, I¡¯m in a good mood, so I¡¯ll show you something else.¡±

    Her fingers slid across the board again, her pale fingers contrasting brightly against the ck of the keyboard.

    She leaned back against the chair, theptop somewhat suspended as she did, but it didn¡¯t affect the speed of her fingers.

    Her posture was rxed and evenzy, but the look on her face was serious, a cold hard glint in her eyes, which somehow made her wless jade-like face even more dazzling.

    Chu Ziheng looked at the page that popped up on the screen, and his gentle face finally showed a touch of astonishment. He looked at Gu Xiqiao, then back to the screen again, his eyes widening slightly.

    Yang Haotian watched as Gu Xiqiao hacked into hisputer, pulling out all the encrypted files on it. There were files on the money that he had used to bribe people, and some on how he had used improper means to discipline his subordinates in Yang Enterprise, and his mother... evidence that he had arranged for his mother¡¯s death.

    With all of this in front of him, Yang Haotian¡¯s face switched from indignation to horror. How could the software that he had bought from those hackers be so easy to crack?!

    ¡°President Gu, this isn¡¯t my doing, it¡¯s his!¡± Yang Haotian¡¯s legs felt like jelly, and it felt like it couldn¡¯t support his weight any longer. He pointed to the executive that was beside him. ¡°This was all his n to hurt me!¡±

    The executive¡¯s face was surprised, looking at Yang Haotian in disbelief.

    Gu Xiqiao kept herptop away, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, but not saying anything.

    As Yang Haotian was panicking, two policemen suddenly entered the coffee shop. They came to stand in front of Yang Haotian, flipping open their officer ID. ¡°Mr. Yang Haotian, we¡¯ve received several documents from someone who¡¯s suing you on grounds of theft, bribery, intentional harming, and intentional homicide. Pleasee with us.¡±

    Everything happened so quickly, it hadn¡¯t even been half an hour since they had sat down.

    Yang An sat in the chair, staring nkly as Yang Haotian was taken away into a police car. He didn¡¯te back to his senses for a long time.

    Was Yang Haotian done for, just like that?

    Yang An turned to look at Gu Xiqiao, who was still forgetting to add creamer to her coffee. Horror and awe surged in his heart.

    She had collected so much evidence in silence? Not to mention the crimes of bribery and intentional homicide, but those videos and recordings, where did she find them? Even he hadn¡¯t known the existence of those, but she had so easily pulled them all out.

    She had been calm since the beginning, and just when Yang Haotian got arrogant and let his guard down, she gave him the most vicious blow, shattering his spirit instantly.

    Yang Haotian should be doubting his entire life right now, right?

    Now he finally understood how a young girl like her could develop Nine Heavens into what it was today, and he finally saw why his professor would admire this person so much.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always heard that President Gu is close to being a demon.¡± Chu Ziheng smiled suddenly. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it with my own eyes today, it¡¯s a well deserved and fitting reputation indeed.¡±

    ¡°Did you enjoy the show?¡± The coffee tasted bitter no matter how much creamer she added to it, and so she finally gave up on making a sweet cup of coffee. She raised her head, looking at Chu Ziheng with clear, cold eyes.

    Chu Ziheng paused, mulling over his words before replying, ¡°I¡¯m grateful for President Gu¡¯s help in helping ourpany avoid this loss.¡±

    ¡°Grateful?¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up, moving over to his table to pick up the folder on the table. She flipped it open, showing it to him. ¡°Then why don¡¯t you tell me, President Chu, why the contract is empty?¡±

    Being confronted so directly on the matter, Chu Ziheng didn¡¯t look embarrassed in the least. ¡°Nothing gets by your eyes, President Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao set the folder down,zy to deal with him anymore. She raised her chin to Yang An, indicating that they were leaving.

    Yang An stood, still in his dazed state, following behind Gu Xiqiao.

    Chu Ziheng stood up too, looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s retreating back and suddenly said, ¡°President Gu, I¡¯d like to discuss a big cob project with you. I believe you will be very interested in it.¡±

    ¡°A cob?¡± Gu Xiqiao halted in her steps, turning slightly, narrowing her eyes at Chu Ziheng.

    Chu Ziheng smiled, nodding his head. He gave his secretary a look, and the secretary quickly pulled out a new contract. ¡°Let¡¯s find a milk tea shop and discuss this over a drink.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her fingers together, then she pulled out a few name cards from her pocket, handing it to Chu Ziheng¡¯s secretary. ¡°The first card is our general manager, Mr. Mu¡¯s. You can talk to him about whatever coboration you have. If it pertains to financial aspects, please refer to the second card, Mr. Luo. For online games, look to the third, Mr. Yu Ning. That should be all, right?¡±

    Chu Ziheng nodded his head, slightly taken aback.

    ¡°Then see you.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned and left without looking back.

    Jiji followed behind her in a hurry.

    Behind them, Chu Ziheng finally pulled himself together. ¡°Interesting, so very interesting!¡±

    ¡°President Chu, that Yang Enterprise...¡± The secretary was hesitant to speak about it.

    Chu Ziheng nced at his secretary. ¡°Don¡¯t think about it, even if there were multiples of you, it wouldn¡¯t be enough for her to y with. Mr. Mu... alright. Let¡¯s go find that Mr. Mu!¡±

    ***

    Yang Haotian had already been tossed into prison, and was currently in interrogation. He kept insisting that he had been framed, that the video and audio recordings were fake, and it was Nine Heavens that had set him up deliberately.

    The police that was interrogating him coldly shouted, ¡°We¡¯ve already had the evidence checked out by professional hackers, there¡¯s no trace of it being tampered or falsified. Also, Nine Heavens is such a bigpany, why would they need to bother with a small speck of apany like yours? They don¡¯t even need to move a pinky to crush you! Why don¡¯t you juste on out and admit it already?¡±

    ***

    In the room, Gu Xiqiao closed the screen.

    Jiji stood beside her, ying games on its ownputer. ¡°Why did you interfere in this matter, Beauty Qiao?¡±

    ¡°Chu Enterprise.¡± Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone, sending a text to Mu Zong. She narrowed her eyes, then went back to fiddling with herputer. ¡°I just wanted to know what the heck Chu Enterprise is up to.¡±

 Chapter 271 - How Dare She Compare Herself To You!

    Chapter 271: How Dare She Compare Herself To You!

    Jiang Shuxuan had not been seen for three days since he returned to the Ancient Martial Arts World. During this period, Gu Xiqiao began her mind-numbingly boring research on the Chu family.

    She had searched every nook and cranny for information that rted to their family and there wasn¡¯t anything that seemed particrly out of ce. However, for some unknown reason, something still felt off to her.

    The ¡®big brother¡¯ who Xiahou Qingyun mentioned was a clear indicator that Chu Ziheng must have at some point, appeared in the desert.

    However, as the heir of his family, why would he be there?

    Gu Xiqiao then remembered Old Jiu and Shi Yi. Immediately, she dialed for him on her phone.

    Old Jiu had justpleted his training session when Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone call came. ¡°Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Old Jiu, I have something to ask you. Back when we were in the desert, you guys said that you were trying to rescue someone. Who is that someone?¡± Gu Xiqiao held the phone up with one hand while the other was hammering away on the keyboard. As expected, the picture on theputer screen was incredibly blurry. One could only make out piles of yellow sand and nothing else.

    Old Jiu stole a nce at Ying Xu, who was standing not far away from him. Ying Xu then nodded subtly at him. ¡°Miss Gu, we did receive an order from our superior on that day to help rescue the heir of the Chu family. Their private jet had apparently gone off the radar while flying over the desert.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao thanked Old Jiu right after she received the information she was seeking. Without dy, she called someone else right after hanging up. Her call was answered only a handful of seconds after it started ringing. ¡°Yi Tong, has your big boss dispatched men to the desert?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, big boss has already sent three elite squads over. There aren¡¯t any signs of trouble as of yet.¡± Yi Tong paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°Though, he did not send anyone over to your hometown...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that.¡± Another idea popped into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. She pulled out a piece of paper from her drawer before scribbling something down on it.

    On the paper was drawn nine points. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes widened as she looked down at these points. ¡°Yi Tong, did Brother Tang venture in the South-Western direction?¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Yi Tong was shocked. Isn¡¯t this Young Master Tang¡¯s secret operation?¡±

    So this was what happened huh? Gu Xiqiao took in a deep breath. ¡°Yi Tong, listen to me. I¡¯m going to send you an email. I want you to look at it closely. If the number of correct points is higher than five, I want you to contact me immediately.¡±

    ***

    Yi Tong hung up and as Gu Xiqiao had told him, there was already an unopened file waiting for him in his inbox. At this point, he did not care why or how Gu Xiqiao knew about his personal email address. He opened up the file in which a roughly sketched map was found. There were nine points on it, all of which coordinates were provided. Of these points, three were already marked in red.

    These points were the North-Western desert, Baixing Vige of N City as well as the town in the South-West where Tang Qingqiu visited.

    Yi Tong moved onto the remaining six locations. One of them was located Eastwards of China. Five was found on the border of Japan and four more was found in America. Yi Tong¡¯s heart sank when he realized what these points were. Gu Xiqiao was making a prediction and if ites true, then...

    Yi Tong immediately called for Jiang Shuxuan but no matter how many times he tried, his call never got through.

    Yi Tong had no choice but to head over to Yi Bing and Yi Tiao with his phone in hand. These two knew how capable Gu Xiqiao was but they definitely would not expect Gu Xiqiao to send them warnings before disaster strikes. Yi Bing pulled out a huge map and swiftly located the six points Gu Xiqiao had selected.

    ¡°There is a city in the southwest. If not for big boss detecting something wrong with the ce, then it would undoubtedly have been turned into a ghost town. Still, the casualties were high asrge parts of the city had been reduced to rubble. It will no doubt, strike panic into the peoples¡¯ hearts but there is onest ce left.¡± Yi Bing marked the spot on the map. ¡°W Town. It appears that we need to evacuate its residents immediately.¡±

    Yi Tiao picked up the phone and began contacting the military branch of W Town as well as its local government.

    Although W Town was small, there was still a poption of ten thousand people living there. If something were to happen to that ce, the ripple effect might cause unexpectedly disastrous consequences for the rest of China. The problem they face now was providing a reason for evacuation.

    Yi Tong was interrupted by the person on the other end of the line when he started exining the situation. ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, I do not know where you got the information from. How could there possibly be anything wrong here? An earthquake? A typhoon, or a tsunami?! Stop joking around mister. This ce is the safest area in the whole of China! The reason you provide for an evacuation can¡¯t even convince me, let alone the people who have lived here for generations! Tell me, are you sleeptalking or something?!¡±

    The man hung up right after that.

    Yi Tong, who had been shot down mercilessly went silent.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®You fish-lipped human, you¡¯ll regret this!

    ¡®You can doubt me all you want but Miss Gu? Are you looking to be executed by our big boss?! ¡®

    ¡°In any case, let¡¯s head over to W Town.¡± Yi Bing¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°Talking has failed, we can¡¯t contact big boss, and when disaster strikes cannot be precisely pinpointed. Seems like we have no other choice but to stay there for now.¡±

    ***

    After Gu Xiqiao sent the map over to Yi Tong, she started drawing up a new one, which she sent to Baili Bin.

    [Big Brother Baili, take a look at these points. Do they ring any bells in your mind?]

    Baili Bin, who was ying chess against Baili Qu picked up his phone. Nine points?

    He couldn¡¯t suppress the smile that broke across his face.

    He didn¡¯t think Gu Xiqiao was pulling his leg, so he began studying it seriously.

    ¡°Gramps, will you attend Old Man Tang¡¯s birthday celebration tomorrow?¡± asked Baili Bin as he made his move.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, will Qiao Qiao be going too?¡± Baili Qu looked at the chess piece which Baili Bin moved and his eyes lit up. ¡°You haven¡¯t yed in a month and you¡¯re still pretty good, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I guess Aunt Shu will be bringing her over.¡± Baili Bin chuckled. ¡°I have yed against Qiao Qiao a couple of times before. You should totally y with her sometime. Then you¡¯ll realize that every move she makes is a trap. Inparison to me, she¡¯s a far more skilled chess yer.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Baili Qu¡¯s eyes glowed. ¡°How does shepare to Shuxuan?¡±

    Baili Bin took a moment before he replied: ¡°Toe-to-toe.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s a chance...¡± Baili Qu thought about it but he stopped speaking afterward. He then switched over to another topic. ¡°Has Madam Jiang been troubling Qiao Qiao?¡± He had heard that Shu Chen much preferred Jiang Tong over anyone else.

    ¡°No,¡± Baili Bin shook his head. ¡°As a matter of fact, Aunt Shu likes her very much.¡±

    ¡°Not a surprise. Who can possibly hate our precious Qiao Qiao!¡± Baili Qu stroked his flowing white beard. His facial expressionpletely gave away how proud he was about Gu Xiqiao. ¡°By the way, I just bought a ne from the Treasure Court. Apparently, the Eternal Ne is pretty popr among the young maidens of the ancient martial arts world. I snatched it up as soon as I saw that it was on sale!¡±

    There was a triumphant look on Baili Qu¡¯s face when he proimed his victory. However, one move by Baili Bin totally crushed him on the chessboard.

    ¡°...¡±

    Baili Bin got up from his seat. ¡°I gotta go look for Qiao Qiao now. Let me help pass the ne you bought over to her.¡±

    Baili Qu waved him off with an expression of disgust. ¡°Go go!¡±

    Baili Qu let out a sigh only after he was sure that Baili Bin had left the ce. ¡°Have you noticed the change in Ah Bin as ofte?¡±

    ¡°Well of course,¡± answered the old man next to him while nodding. ¡°Even back when he stood at the top of the ancient martial arts world, he would never act so carefreely.¡±

    ¡°Has he not been visiting the Trial Tower recently?¡± Baili Qu suddenly asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not only Young Master. Even the two from the Tang family have been absent from the Trial Tower for quite some time now. Only Miss Jiang Tong remains in that ce now.¡±

    Baili Qu¡¯s brows became knitted when he heard her name. ¡°Jiang Tong? Ah, young people really are energetic aren¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s talent mustn¡¯t be underestimated. Young Master Qinghong¡¯s record shows that he had only reached fifty-odd levels on the Trial Tower. Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s already on level sixty-two.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just look at what¡¯s obvious. Have you not noticed how long it has been since Qinghong wasst at the Trial Tower?¡± Baili Qu stood up. ¡°Selection for the ranking tournament is happening right after Old Man Tang¡¯s birthday. Ah Bin told me that Qiao Qiao will be participating in it. You guys wait and see. Let¡¯s go! We¡¯re heading to the Treasure Court to see if there¡¯s anything else I can buy for that young¡¯ un!¡±

    The old man beside him was left speechless.

    The Tang family belonged to the Big Three of the ancient martial arts world. Although they weren¡¯t exactly on par with the Jiang family, they were still a significant entity and should never be overlooked.

    ***

    Master Tang¡¯s birthday coincided with the start of the selection process; everyone was busy preparing for the final showdown.

    ¡°Miss Jiang Tong, I¡¯m terribly sorry.¡± The shopkeeper of the Treasure Court looked at Jiang Tong with an apologetic expression. ¡°The eternal ne has already been purchased by someone else.¡±

    ¡°Who bought it?¡± It wasn¡¯t Jiang Tong who asked the question but the girl next to her, who started interrogating the shopkeeper. ¡°Who dares snatch away something our Tong Tong wants?!¡±

    Jiang Tong was gaining in poprity within the ancient martial arts world. Even Murong Miaoxue had to back off to avoid ticking her off potentially. The Eternal Ne was a woman¡¯s product so who dared challenge the mighty Jiang Tong?!

    ¡°It¡¯s... it was the patriarch of the Baili family.¡± The shopkeeper wiped the cold sweat on his brows. ¡°Miss Jiang Tong, look...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough. I don¡¯t want to trouble him. He¡¯s not doing this on purpose.¡± Jiang Tong waved her hand. ¡°I remember that you have a piece of blood jade on sale too right?¡± It would look really nice if paired with her outfit.

    The shopkeeper¡¯s heart sank further when he heard her question. ¡°Miss Jiang Tong, I¡¯m afraid the blood jade has also been sold...¡±

    Even the item that Jiang Tong did not particrly fancy had been bought by someone else. Some of them were bought by the Baili family but the shopkeeper obviously kept this a secret from her.

    If not for the shopkeeper¡¯s excessive apologies, Jiang Tong definitely would¡¯ve thought that he was deliberately targeting her!

    Who was doing such an evil thing towards her?!

    With a dark expression, Jiang Tong left the Treasure Court. The girls behind her noticed how sullen her face had turned and they hurriedly tried to console her. ¡°Jiang Tong, my mother prepared a set of jasper for me. I think it¡¯ll suit your outfit well...¡±

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Jiang Tong¡¯s tone sounded like she was annoyed. ¡°You guys go on home. I¡¯m going to visit the elders.¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s mood shot back up after she left the Elders¡¯ Pavilion. Her brooding expression had turned into one of joy and anticipation.

    However, this mood of hers would notst long. Her expression returned to darkness when she attended the birthday ceremony of Grandpa Tang the next day.

    Tang Wenbo was celebrating his 80th birthday today. Those who attended the ceremony were well-known figures throughout the ancient martial arts world. Everyone present however, was shocked when Shu Chen, Baili Bin as well as Murong Feiye arrived at the scene. Of course, what they were surprised at was the youngdy whom Shu Chen was happily clinging onto.

    The youngdy was wearing a fox fur coat that was the shade of freshly-fallen snow. On her earlobes hung a pair of fiery red earrings which contrasted well against her white jade-like delicate skin. As if that wasn¡¯t enough to piss her off, on her neck was the Eternal Ne that Jiang Tong had been looking for yesterday!

    Her expression was cool and indifferent. Her eyes were so bright that they seemed to glow and shimmer.

    The noise in the room died down within mere seconds of her walking in.

    Jiang Tong stared at the girl who Shu Chen was holding onto. She bit her lip so hard that they turned white!

    Seven-tailed fox fur!

    Blood jade earrings!

    The Eternal Ne!

    It¡¯s this girl who bought all of them! This, coupled with the information some mysterious person gave her from before confirmed her suspicion that she was looking at Gu Xiqiao!

    Thinking about the things she was deprived of due to Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Tong was so furious that she almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Madam Jiang rarely made an appearance in public, reflecting how high up she was in the socialdder. Everyone flocked around her the moment she appeared in the room. Shu Chen then happily proceeded to introduce Gu Xiqiao to her friends. ¡°This is my daughter-inw!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao remained silent.

    While they congratted Shu Chen, their eyes remained fixed on Gu Xiqiao.

    The girl wasn¡¯t giving off the aura of a person from the ancient martial arts world. No matter how they looked at her, she seemed just like a regr human. Perhaps a wire hade loose in Madam Jiang¡¯s mind?

    Gu Xiqiao nodded politely at them but she still wore a proud expression on her face.

    ¡°Tong Tong, who¡¯s this girl? Is she a regr human? She looks a bit too arrogant doesn¡¯t she? How dare she? The audacity she has topare herself to you! Has Madam Jiang gone blind?¡± The girl standing next to Jiang Tong gritted her teeth as she stared angrily at Gu Xiqiao.

 Chapter 272 - Taking The Ancient Martial Arts World By Storm

    <h4>Chapter 272: Taking The Ancient Martial Arts World By Storm</h4>

    There were quite a lot of people around who shared the same sentiment. Jiang Tong had initially tried to stop them from saying such things about Gu Xiqiao but she gave up when it became obvious that what she was doing was futile.

    It was also because she harbored the same feeling towards Gu Xiqiao as these people.

    The people of the ancient martial arts world were notoriously proud of themselves; them looking down onmon humans was a rathermon sight to see.

    However, gradually, these people started to doubt their own beliefs. Many of them kept their eyes fixated on the group that surrounded Gu Xiqiao.

    Wait a minute. That old man talking to Gu Xiqiao, wasn¡¯t he today¡¯s birthday star, Tang Wenbo? Why was he speaking in such an amiable and friendly tone to Gu Xiqiao?

    Also, the man standing next to her, who was also engaged in the conversation, wasn¡¯t he Wanqi Jue, the new leader of the UK¡¯s forces? He had used his own power to regain the seal of inheritance and subsequently, toppled the previous leader who possessed it. News of this happening shook the world when it happened, especially for the people of the Supernatural World. One would not be exaggerating to im that his presence in the UK wasparable to Jiang Shuxuan here in China. It was rare for even people of the ancient martial arts world to have links with him, so why was he so friendly with Gu Xiqiao?!

    What truly baffled them was the look of respect in Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes when he spoke to Gu Xiqiao!

    WTF?

    It didn¡¯t just end there. Close to her was also Baili Bin, the man who had rocked the ancient martial arts the other day. His other-worldy powers came back full force after his leg injury was dered healed, as was demonstrated when he and Jiang Shuxuan took down the international ruffian together. Although it has been ages since hest appeared at the Trial Tower, many people agreed that his powers had already caught up with Baili Qu¡¯s.

    Baili Bin had always kept a low profile in the ancient martial arts world, rarely making an appearance in public. He may have a gentle and warm personality, his attitude towards most people remained chilly. But how on earth did he get to know Gu Xiqiao? And they seemed to be quite close friends at that!

    The most surprising thing of all however, was the reaction of the elder who attended today¡¯s ceremony upon hearing that Madam Jiang was bringing her daughter-inw with the intent to pick a bone with her.

    The fiery look on his facepletely died out the moment he saw Gu Xiqiao. In the next second, his eyes were open so wide that his eyeballs seemed as if they would pop out at any moment!

    Finally, he did what everyone never would¡¯ve expected him to do. He pulled out a Buddhist scripture and began reciting it!

    After reciting a few lines off the pages, he walked over and hid behind Gu Xiqiao¡¯s back like a subservient dog.

    Such an odd situation obviously stupefied everyone. It was barely excusable for anyone else to do what he did, except himself. Aren¡¯t you the great, revered elder of the Jiang family? Why are you raising your white g so easily? Have you created a double-standard just because of the youngss¡¯ looks? Or perhaps there was something special about this daughter-inw who Madam Jiang has chosen.

    With this suspicion in mind, the people of the ancient martial arts world began to appraise Gu Xiqiao. No matter how they looked at her, she looked and felt just like a regr human being!

    ¡°Great Elder, you... what are you doing?¡± The second elder, who saw his senior act like this couldn¡¯t help but pull him away from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side. ¡°Didn¡¯t we agree that we¡¯de here to persuade Madam Jiang to abandon her decision? And to force that Miss Gu to back down? Why the sudden change in attitude?¡±

    The third elder nodded. He leaned in and added to the exchange: ¡°And why are you looking at her like a dog at its master?¡±

    The subsequent elders overheard the conversation and all of them looked disapprovingly at the Great Elder. ¡°That¡¯s right. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?¡±

    The Great Elder stole a nce at Gu Xiqiao to make sure she wasn¡¯t looking his way before he replied in whispers. ¡°Utter nonsense! Do you really think I¡¯d do such a thing? Right, did you bring your scriptures?¡±

    They all then responded in unison. ¡°Why are you asking this now?¡±

    Of course, he was afraid that they¡¯d receive such a shockter on that they¡¯d never be able to recover from it! The Great Elder was fairly certain that they usually had their scriptures on them and so he asked them, ¡°Do you still remember that mysterious saviour who rescued both me and Madam Jiang? That person¡¯s Miss Gu!¡±

    The other elders almost had their jaws drop to the ground when they heard what he said.

    Although they had not seen Gu Xiqiao in person that night, they did see the marks made on the battlefield after the fighting was over. It was way too violent, especially the gullies carved out of the ground by lightning. ording to their estimates, the person who did this had already reached the level of Xiantian!

    The people on this level were generally old hermit sages, only to be found once in a blue moon. They assumed that it was the work of such a person; never in a million years would they have thought that it was this youngdy who was responsible for such brutal destruction!

    ¡°Great Elder, are you simply pulling our legs?¡±

    ¡°Things are so grave out there and you still think I¡¯m joking with you lot?¡± The Great Elder took in a deep breath. ¡°Also, she¡¯s the leader of the Peace Squad, who have brought you down to your knees.¡±

    Everyone went silent upon hearing that.

    They peered at the Great Elder, then at Gu Xiqiao who was chatting away carefreely. Gradually, a look of horror rose up in their eyes. ¡°Great Elder, it¡¯s... her?¡±

    As if being the person who saved the Great Elder wasn¡¯t enough, she had to be the leader of the darned Peace Squad?

    How could it be her?!

    This youngdy appeared to be weak, skinny and delicate! In no way did she look like some martial arts master. The leader of the Peace Squad? Preposterous!

    However, the Great Elder had never deceived them before. After all, he carried the responsibility of maintaining the entire family¡¯s image. He would never joke with them in such a way.

    And so, the doubt in their mind was wiped away.

    These elders finally understood why the Great Elder had asked them if they had brought with them their Buddhist scriptures!

    ¡°The elders of the Jiang family are looking at you constantly.¡± Wanqi Jue, with his brows furrowed, brought to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attention what was going on. He knew that these old geezers were impossible to please. ¡°Perhaps they are plotting something against you?¡±

    ¡°Why are you so worried about this?¡± Murong Feiye brought a ss of alcohol over, which he stuffed into Yin Aoxue¡¯s hand, who was standing next to Wanqi Jue. Looking at this based purely in terms of capability, the ones who should be worrying are the elders.

    Gu Xiqiao reached out and yanked the ss out of Yin Aoxue¡¯s hand. ¡°You¡¯re too young to be drinking.¡±

    Yin Aoxue made a sour expression. Her hand had already moved away pretty swiftly and yet it was still intercepted by Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Pretty sister, please, I¡¯d like to drink a little...¡±

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Gu Xiqiao casually passed the ss back over to Yin Aoxue. ¡°If you¡¯re not looking to grow taller that is.¡±

    As she said this, she looked down at Yin Aoxue from above condescendingly.

    Drinking alcohol stunts your growth? Yin Aoxue stared up at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s dreamy eyes. She was obviously conflicted about this but in the end, she made the call to stave off alcohol, for now.

    If Jiji were present, it would undoubtedly have pped its forehead at how absurd Gu Xiqiao¡¯s im was. ¡°Beauty Qiao, seems like your disease of uttering bullcrap while maintaining a straight face is incurable¡± was what it most likely would have said.

    ¡°Hey, hold on for a moment.¡± Noticing that these guys had started wandering off the main topic, and perhaps were on the verge of starting a round of poker, he asked, ¡°Can¡¯t you guys show even one bit of concern about the elders?¡±

    This especially applied to Gu Xiqiao, who was still in the mood for jokes and giggles.

    Baili Bin had just ended his conversation with Baili Qu and he overheard Wanqi Jue¡¯s question when he approached Gu Xiqiao. She casually pointed her finger at the elders. ¡°Am I supposed to be concerned about which part of the scripture they¡¯re reciting at this moment?¡±

    Her rebuttal took Wanqi Jue by surprise. He looked over at the seven elders and sure enough, they were standing in a circle, reciting their silly little scripture.

    Wanqi Jue honed in on what they were talking about. Apparently, they were discussing which specific paragraph calmed their hearts down the most.

    WTF?

    Baili Bin looked at Gu Xiqiao and suddenly threw her a question. ¡°How did the Great Eldere to know who you are?¡± He was speaking to Baili Qu, and most of their conversation revolved around the old man not daring to meet Gu Xiqiao in person. He tried to convince Baili Qu but before that could happen, into the room walked the seven elders of the Jiang family.

    As a result, Baili Qu had sent Baili Bin over to save the day.

    In case the seven elders had anything to say, they¡¯d definitely back off when they see a member of the Baili family standing around Gu Xiqiao.

    To his surprise, the Great Elder walked off before he even made his way over.

    Baili Bin couldn¡¯t help but suspect that the Great Elder must¡¯ve met Gu Xiqiao at some point in the past. Nothing else could have exined his odd behavior other than that.

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about them?¡± Gu Xiqiao cleared her throat. ¡°I saved the white-bearded one once.¡±

    The white-bearded one? She¡¯s referring to the Great Elder then?

    Baili Bin was stunned. In the next moment, he could stifle his urge tough no longer. Patting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder, he gave her a thumbs up. ¡°Well done.¡±

    ***

    As this group of peopleughed away, Jiang Tong and co ran out of patience.

    ¡°Tong Tong, what¡¯s up with these people?¡± The girl next to Jiang Tong frowned. Why were they acting in such a manner? Wasn¡¯t she just amoner?!

    Jiang Tong pursed her lips. There no longer was the look of satisfaction on her face that she initially had. She assumed that the others would bring down Gu Xiqiao before she made a move. Who would¡¯ve thought that she was so well-acquainted with everyone here? Hell, even Tang Wenbo appeared to see eye-to-eye with Gu Xiqiao. Something was definitely wrong with this whole situation! But where?!

    Jiang Tong¡¯s expression darkened.

    The girl standing next to her noticed this and began to panic. Amidst the raging fury, she saw a tall figure march in through the front door. ¡°Tong Tong, look!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jiang Tong looked over. ¡°Cecily?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s her!¡±

    The girl watched as Cecily approached Gu Xiqiao. She whispered into Jiang Tong¡¯s ear, ¡°You shed with Cecily quite frequently in the past have you not? Judging from her attitude, you think she¡¯ll let Miss Gu off the hook that easily?¡±

    Jiang Tong smiled. ¡°Cecily is not someone you¡¯d want to mess with that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    Cecily¡¯s pace was hasty. She obviously wasn¡¯t here to see Old Man Tang, as she marched straight towards Gu Xiqiao. Seeing the angry look on her face, a gleam materialized on Jiang Tong¡¯s face.

    Let them fight. The best oue of course, would be for Cecily to take Gu Xiqiao¡¯s life. Let them destroy each other!

    From an outsider¡¯s perspective, Cecily was walking towards Gu Xiqiao with a raging expression. As someone from the top 10 of the youth ranking list, Cecily¡¯s position in the ancient martial arts world was far above Jiang Tong¡¯s. They all spared a look of sympathy for Gu Xiqiao. This was a demoness they were talking about, someone whose temper was so bad that she wasparable to a nuclear bomb when she was angered. Death awaited those who dared to cross her.

    Cecily was closing in on Gu Xiqiao swiftly.

    ¡°Madam Jiang, that¡¯s Cecily!¡± Ady next to Shu Chen called out. ¡°She¡¯s heading straight for your daughter-inw!¡±

    Shu Chen turned around to find the ¡®raging¡¯ Cecily doing just that. Out of worry, she had forgotten how strong Gu Xiqiao actually was. Still, she was able to keep her cool.

    She produced a bone fan out of thin air, which was sent flying straight for Gu Xiqiao in the next instant.

    It was also at this moment that Cecily arrived before Gu Xiqiao. She stomped on the brakes and gleefully wrapped her arms around Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Qiao Qiao, I finally have the chance to see you again!¡±

    This scene baffled everyone.

    Were they actually looking at the demoness, Cecily? Perhaps they had gone blind?

    Everything that happened tonight was beyond theprehension of a sane, rational person. One question simultaneously popped up in everyone¡¯s mind. Just who was this daughter-inw of Madam Jiang? Why was she friends with so many big figures of the ancient martial arts world?

    She was just a regr girl. How could she possibly exert so much influence?

    Wanqi Jue grabbed the bone fan out of the air and proceeded to return it to Shu Chen quietly.

    The person who was most astounded was quite obviously, Jiang Tong.

    ¡°What¡¯s happened to Cecily?¡± The girl next to Jiang Tong had her jaw wide open.

    Jiang Tong inhaled deeply. ¡°If she had not known that Madam Jiang has already recognized the woman as her daughter-inw, she would never have acted so calmly.¡±

    What she said did make sense. ¡°Tong Tong, let us go and mess this thing up.¡±

    Jiang Tong responded with a subtle nod.

    The two then slowly made their way towards Gu Xiqiao. Jiang Tong stayed behind, staring at the various treasures she had worn for today¡¯s asion. Jealousy almost poured out of her eyes. Her friends nodded at Jiang Tong before they walked straight up to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. Before they could speak however, Gu Xiqiao was the first to open her mouth.

    ¡°Is this an entire set of jasper you¡¯re wearing?¡± Gu Xiqiao shed a smile at the girl who walked up to her unannounced.

 Chapter 273 - She Raised Her Arm Gently

    <h4>Chapter 273: She Raised Her Arm Gently</h4>

    ¡°So what of it?¡± The girl unconsciously moved her hand over the jasper-made bracelet on her wrist while she looked back at Gu Xiqiao warily.

    For some unknown reason, a chill was starting to creep up her spine.

    Jiang Tong stood behind the girl, staring at Gu Xiqiao with an unfriendly expression.

    Cecily was still talking to Gu Xiqiao when these girls approached her. Noticing that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze was already directed somece else, she couldn¡¯t help but turn around. The first thing she saw was Jiang Tong. Immediately, the look in her eyes changed. She raised her chin and stared down at her rival condescendingly and with eyes full of undisguised disgust.

    This was Cecily alright. She would never try to conceal her hatred for something or someone behind a smile. She liked the things she liked and hated the things she hated; that was all there was to it.

    Gu Xiqiao shot a look at Cecily, which prompted her to rethink her decision. A secondter, she retreated behind Gu Xiqiao¡¯s back. As she did so, she directed an angry re at Jiang Tong. Of course, this only served to piss off the person on the receiving end of her re even more. Out of rage and frustration, Jiang Tong was on the brink of strangling someone to death that night. Still, she reminded herself that this was Old Man Tang¡¯s birthday ceremony; there were many pairs of eyes around. No matter what happened, she must endure!

    ¡°The person behind this girl is Jiang Tong. She¡¯s a drama queen but still fairly powerful. However, I gotta say that she¡¯s not that bad of a person.¡± Cecily¡¯s lips remained still but Gu Xiqiao picked up her words loud and clear. ¡°Of course, she won¡¯t be able to defeat you. I suggest that you give her a beating that¡¯ll make her start questioning her own existence!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded slightly before turning back to the girl. ¡°Well it¡¯s just a casual question. What are you doing here?¡±

    With a paranoid look on her face, the girl slowly put down the piece of precious rock. This was a family treasure that she had to beg her mother countless times before she was allowed to wear it for this event. ¡°Nothing really. I just wanted to see how Young Master Jiang¡¯s girlfriend stands out from the rest.¡± She looked straight into Cecily¡¯s eyes as she said this.

    She was waiting for Cecily the ticking time bomb to explode.

    Even Jiang Tong had shifted her gaze over to Cecily. Who would¡¯ve thought that on her face would form a mocking smile.

    Jiang Tong was taken aback, and so was her friend.

    This... her reaction... it¡¯s not in the script?!

    ¡°I¡¯m just a weak little human. There¡¯s nothing special about me.¡± Gu Xiqiao responded with a smirk.

    Jiang Tong finally ran out of patience. She marched right up to Gu Xiqiao and scanned her from head-to-toe. ¡°A normal human being? How could Young Master Jiang possibly fall for someone like you?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao finally took a good look at Jiang Tong. Her facial expression, like stone, remained unchanging. Her bright eyes narrowed when she replied, ¡°You¡¯re ming me for his poor taste in women? How am I even supposed to answer your question? Why don¡¯t you direct this question at him in person?¡±

    ¡°Pfftt!¡± Cecily was busy stifling herughter. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s response could not be any better.

    She understood perfectly well how cold Jiang Shuxuan could get towards another person. He would never spare even a second for a person he did not care about. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s response must¡¯ve felt like a p to the face for Jiang Tong. How dare Jiang Tong make ament about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s taste!

    Cecily¡¯sughter was apanied by a cheekyment from Murong Feiye, the anarchist who just wanted to see the world burn. ¡°Maybe Shuxuan is short-sighted?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think he is,¡± answered Wanqi Jue slowly.

    Baili Bin was left out from the exchange but the way he looked at Jiang Tong was as hostile as ever.

    Jiang Tong was so enraged that the area around her eyes turned pinkish-red. The looks she was getting from everyone around her was slowly chipping away her heart. Every fiber of her muscle was screaming for a fight but her rationality remained in control. She was the type of person to remain calm under pressure after all. She shed an enthusiastic smile at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be joking. Whoever Young Master Jiang chooses must be an exceptional individual. You must be one of the descendants of the reclusive hermits. I¡¯ve always been curious about you people. Perhaps we could spar in a ring to satisfy my curious mind?¡±

    Jiang Tong knew well where she excelled at. She wasn¡¯t afraid that she would be used of being a bully. Such instances were rathermon in the ancient martial arts world. After all, martial arts reigned supreme over everything else. There was a dueling ground right in front of the Trial Tower as proof of this.

    Whenever there was a duel, there would always be an apanying lottery system in which precious treasures would be awarded.

    ¡°This is a treasure I received three years ago when I climbed up to the 20th ce during the ranking tournament.¡± With a wave of her hand, a colorful piece of rock appeared in Jiang Tong¡¯s hand. ¡°This Heaven-restoring Stone will raise one¡¯s consciousness during battle. I¡¯ll put it up as a wager, how about that?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up the moment she brought out the Heaven-restoring Stone. Their eyes were all fixated on Jiang Tong¡¯s hand!

    It was pretty muchmon knowledge that whatever one received during the ranking tournament were top-of-the-line resources that could not be found elsewhere. This was especially so for Jiang Tong¡¯s Heaven-restoring stone. For the past three years, Jiang Tong¡¯s growth was unrivaled and it was in part due to this stone.

    This surprised many onlookers. Seems like Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s putting up an awful lot on the line for this bet. After all, she had even voluntarily offered her Heaven-restoring Stone!

    ¡°Jiang Tong, you¡¯re aware that Miss Gu is a regr person.¡± Thedy standing next to Shu Chen frowned upon hearing Jiang Tong¡¯s offer. She turned back to look at Shu Chen. ¡°Hurry up and advise your daughter-inw not to ept it. This Jiang Tong¡¯s obviously trying to bully your poor girl!¡±

    When she heard what thedy said, Jiang Tong put away the Heaven-restoring Stone with a bitter expression.

    Nearly everyone felt disappointed when they saw what Jiang Tong did. Of course, they were desperately hoping for a final showdown.

    Even Murong Feiye felt let down. He had never seen Gu Xiqiao unleash her true strength before and he was wondering how much she had grown in the past month.

    Just when disappointment was at an all-time high, Gu Xiqiao did the unexpected.

    ¡°Sure.¡± She swirled her drink around as she shed a smile at Jiang Tong. ¡°However, this wager must berger, I say.¡±

    A huge pile of items materialized on the table next to her the moment she said that.

    A terrifying aura filled the air in just a split second.

    The crowd couldn¡¯t help but gasp in surprise when they saw what these items were.

    Jiang Tong, who had produced the Heaven-restoring Stone was shocked. Never would she expect Gu Xiqiao to be such a fearsome character!

    She peered at the items which Gu Xiqiao had put on the line. These were ancient scriptures, ten of them at least. And every single one of them was giving off an incredibly ominous vibe.

    ¡°Why are there so many ancient scriptures? That Mountain-splitting Manual. I¡¯ve seen it in our family records before! It contains a Divine-level practice!¡±

    ¡°No doubt, these are ancient scriptures that have disappeared from the ancient martial arts world eons ago. How on earth did theye under her possession?¡± One of the older guests who was interested in these scriptures scanned through the books on the table. He ced his hand over his chest as he struggled for air.

    ¡°Wait a moment, did you see what¡¯s written on the side of that book?! The brown divine drug of the Tang family! It¡¯s the one that could not be bought even with gold! There¡¯s...there¡¯s a pile of them!¡±

    Everyone took a closer look at the ¡°divine drug¡± the man was referring to. Using their mental strength, they observed the pills and sure enough, they picked up an unusual fluctuation going on around those drugs. In a blink of an eye, they felt both shock and envy. How could a person possibly possess so many treasures?!

    Not counting these outsiders, even those who knew Gu Xiqiao personally, like Shu Chen and Baili Bin were thoroughly shocked to see this.

    They had not a single clue that Gu Xiqiao was hoarding these precious treasures.

    Baili Bin noticed the listless look on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face after he recovered from the initial shock. It was at that moment that he understood, she¡¯s up to no good again. He moved over to Jiang Tong¡¯s side and directed a question at her.

    ¡°Now that Qiao Qiao has put up her wager, I wonder if you¡¯re going to ept her challenge?¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s breathing became heavy the moment she set her eyes on the items on the table. Those drugs, she heard that results were almost magical upon consuming them. However, the higher one¡¯s level, the less benefits it provided. They were still extremely sought after nheless, especially after how news of its miraculous effects swept through the ancient martial arts world.

    Apart from that, there were the ancient scriptures which made Jiang Tong ball up her fists tightly. What she needed most now were methods for sess, which were contained within these pages. If she could get hold of even one of these books, no doubt, she¡¯d definitely make headlines again in the uing ranking tournament. So much adrenaline was pumping through her veins right now that her fingers started shaking.

    ¡°I ept.¡± She stared straight into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. Then, with a wave of her hand, an equallyrge pile of items appeared around her. ¡°These are all items I have collected over the past couple of years. I¡¯ll wager them all.¡±

    Naturally, as someone who ranked in the top three in the ancient martial arts world, Jiang Tong had lots of high-value possessions. It was especially after she had participated in the ranking tournament that she gained such items that were on par with her Heaven-restoring Stone.

    Gu Xiqiao took a look at these items and proceeded to rub her chin. She pointed at the girl standing next to Jiang Tong. ¡°Although your stuff is good, it¡¯s hard topare to what I have put up on offer. How about this, we throw in her precious stone as well.¡±

    The tone in which Gu Xiqiao spoke ticked off Jiang Tong so much that her face had started to turn green. Of course she knew that her items paled inparison to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s. Thus, she whispered some words of assurance to her friend.

    ¡°Rx, you just put your bracelet here and you¡¯ll have it back in no time.¡±

    The girl nced at Gu Xiqiao before taking off all of her essories. She ced it in Jiang Tong¡¯s pile of treasures. She had more faith in Jiang Tong over Gu Xiqiao as the former was the only person in the ancient martial arts world who was one ce below Jiang Shuxuan in the Trial Tower.

    Not once did she doubt what Jiang Tong said. In fact, she had even shed a confident smile at Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°Happy, aren¡¯t you?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled back at these two. ¡°Well then, Grandpa Tang, I¡¯ll leave these items here under your care alright?¡±

    Tang Wenbo walked out from the crowd and tucked away these two piles of treasures, all while fighting the urge to flip through the ancient scriptures. ¡°I shall be the judge for today.¡±

    Neither Gu Xiqiao nor Jiang Tong objected to this.

    The Tang family manor had a dueling ring, which was used exclusively by the juniors.

    Baili Bin knew just how powerful both Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Tong could get and so he erected a protective barrier around the ring.

    Madness!

    This was pure madness!

    This was what most of them thought when they saw what Gu Xiqiao had wagered for this battle. She really took up Jiang Tong¡¯s offer huh?

    ¡°Miaoxue, who do you think is stronger?¡± asked the young man standing among the crowd of spectators. ¡°I think victory rests securely in Jiang Tong¡¯s hands. I may hate her but her power mustn¡¯t be underestimated.¡±

    Murong Miaoxue kept her eyes glued onto the ring when she responded, ¡°Just wait and see.¡±

    Apart from a handful of people who knew Gu Xiqiao, most of the spectators shared the same opinion as the young man.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao, I really have to thank you for such generous gifts before the ranking tournament takes ce.¡± Jiang Tong smiled at Gu Xiqiao before entering the ring.

    This was the first time Jiang Tong had shown such a peaceful expression since the first time they came to know each other.

    Gu Xiqiao responded with a smile.

    ¡®I sure hope you don¡¯te crying at my feetter on!¡¯ she thought.

    The two of them stood in their respective corners. Jiang Tong had already produced her own magic weapon. It was a thin soft sword that she wore on her waist. As she rested her right hand on the hilt of her de, she posed one final question with great confidence. ¡°Miss Gu, our ancient martial arts world isn¡¯t the ce for you outsiders to screw around in. Are you absolutely positive that you want to proceed?¡±

    The moment she ended her question was the moment a fearsome aura burst forth from her body.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was as stoic as ever.

    ¡°Are you not going to use a weapon?¡± With just the flick of her wrist, the de of Jiang Tong¡¯s sword lit up with a cold glow.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand gently. ¡°There is no need for me to use one against you.¡±

    ¡®You¡¯re not Dog Feed after all!¡¯

    Her cocky response fanned the mes that were burning in Jiang Tong¡¯s heart. She scoffed. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you¡¯re so tough when the battle starts.¡±

    Glowing hot chi erupted from her body, which merged with her de that was sent slicing towards Gu Xiqiao like an unstoppable whirlwind. Jiang Tong instantly turned into a phantom as she moved around so quickly that all once could see was her afterimage. This was Jiang Tong¡¯s strongest trick and her soft de should theoretically be able to take her life in under a fraction of a second.

    Jiang Tong¡¯s insane speed was her physical prowess. However, from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s perspective and how insanely powerful her mental strength was, it was no different from watching a person walk across the room. All she did was wait for the de toe her way.

    From the perspective of the spectators however, it seemed as if Gu Xiqiao had been stunned by Jiang Tong¡¯s speed, so much so that she froze up.

    There was no suspense to this fight at all, which made the spectators sigh in disappointment.

    Suddenly, Gu Xiqiao made her first move. Well it wasn¡¯t exactly what you would call a move. She merely raised her arm gently and outstretched two of her delicate fingers. Gently, she... pinched the sides of Jiang Tong¡¯s de.

 Chapter 274 - The Greatest Shock

    <h4>Chapter 274: The Greatest Shock</h4>

    Jiang Tong¡¯s soft sword did not evene close to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s Seven Frost de. Even so, it still belonged to the top ten deadliest weapons of the ancient martial arts world, especially when wielded by its user, a person who has attained the level of Tongmai.

    A user on her level possesses the ability to link up with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

    She was just one step away from unlocking the level of Xiantian.

    That was the next level she¡¯d attain should she get stronger. This point was where only a handful of people from the ancient martial arts world ever reached, one of them being Jiang Shuxuan the monster.

    The difficulty of every subsequent level after Tendon Forging grows exponentially; it was extremely rare for the ancient martial arts world to see the rise of someone as strong as Jiang Tong.

    Her swordsmanship was unrivaled, with much variety in terms of striking and parrying. The air surrounding her de distorted as it danced, which made the elder outside the ring gasp in surprise. ¡°Swordy! No wonder she¡¯s able to breach level 62!¡±

    The crowd went silent upon hearing what he said. They then stared up at the ring with eyes full of disbelief.

    They knew that Jiang Tong was powerful, but had no idea it was to this extent. Swordy, to be able to unlock this skill meant that she was already halfway through her journey toward reaching the level of Xiantian. So this was the reason she was able to reach level 62 in the Trial Tower within such a short span of time!

    The moment Jiang Tong unsheathed her de was when the suspense of the battle died off.

    Tang Wenbo shook his head. ¡°To be defeated by the de shouldn¡¯t be that humiliating for Miss Gu.¡±

    Shu Chen, who stood next to him, heard what he said but she kept her eyes glued onto the ring. The both of her hands were tightly clenched. She was not as powerful as the both of them so she wasn¡¯t sure who was truly stronger. However, that did not faze her. While staring at the fight, she responded, ¡°The battle isn¡¯t over yet.¡±

    ¡°Madam Jiang, Tong Tong has mastered the art of swordy. Apart from Young Master Jiang, no one else in the ancient martial arts world could match up with her!¡± Jiang Tong¡¯s friend from before smiled oddly at Shu Chen. ¡°I still sense nothing from Miss Gu¡¯s body. I¡¯m guessing she hasn¡¯t even reached the level of Bone Refinement, right? You could have ten of her and they¡¯d still be no match for Tong Tong!¡±

    Many of the spectators agreed with her words. They snapped out of their mental haze and started debating amongst themselves about the challengers.

    ¡°Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s way too strong!¡±

    ¡°This is swordy we¡¯re talking about! I¡¯ll be satisfied with my existence if I had half the skill the demon girl possesses!¡±

    ¡°Hmph! Dream on sucker! How dare you evenpare yourself with her!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    And yet, it was at this moment that a pair of delicate fingers mped down on Jiang Tong¡¯s paper-thin de. It didn¡¯t matter how much force there was when the de was brought down, it simply could not move down by even half an inch.

    There was not even a single scratch on her fingers despite how powerful the chi of Jiang Tong¡¯s sword was. So effortlessly was Gu Xiqiao able to bring the de to aplete halt.

    The noise from the crowd faded away. It was now so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Every pair of eyes in the area were glued onto the hand that held back the soft sword.

    The shock had yet to register in their minds. Suddenly, a dark cloud materialized above the both of their heads. It spun around so quickly and violently that it almost seemed like a tornado was about to form. Purple lightning with the girth of a human arm lit up the air.

    Boom!

    An ultra strong bolt of energy shattered the barrier surrounding the ring that Baili Bin had put up. Under the immense force of nature, everything the lightning ever touched turned into dust. The spectators watched in awe at the sparks above their heads. After the barrier had been broken down like a fence made of matchsticks, the horrifying energy spreading from the ring made the spectators shuffle backward in fear.

    The elder of the Jiang family was the one who remained stationary. He watched as the girl donning the fox fur coat smack away her opponent¡¯s soft sword before reaching up to grab one of the lightning bolts.

    ¡°She¡¯s reached the level of Xi... Xiantian.¡± The elder could hear himself choke up as he said that.

    A person on the level of Xiantian was able to manipte the forces of nature.

    Thest time they met, the lightning that Gu Xiqiao manipted was one which was drawn from the chi of her own body.

    And yet, half a monthter, she was now sessfully able to summon the force of nature, to make it bend to her will.

    The elder¡¯s hands and feet were growing increasingly shaky, in addition to momentarily losing his ability to speak. Here he was, thinking that he had a pretty good idea of how powerful she was. Never would he have foreseen how much one could grow in a matter of weeks!

    The elder did not lower his voice when he mumbled to himself, meaning most of the people present had already heard what he said.

    In fact, his voice sounded to them as if he was speaking through a loudspeaker. His words echoed in their ears, making them take in a deep breath out of surprise. They peered up in shock at the girl on the ring.

    Jiang Tong was already plenty powerful. How could there be someone even stronger than her!?

    Xiantian? How could she be on that level?

    With their eyes wide open, they watched as Gu Xiqiao rolled the seemingly uncontainable force of nature into a ball.

    Then, she flung it toward Jiang Tong¡¯s body.

    Boom!

    Arge crater was formed on the ring, which they previously assumed was indestructible.

    Everything within a fifty-meter radius was affected by the resulting shockwave. There were quite a lot of ancient martial arts rookies watching the fight and there was only one oue for them after being exposed to such forces. Like the formation, they¡¯d all disintegrate into dust.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes and immediately raised a barrier around the ring.

    As the powerful shockwave mmed into her barrier, the energy vanished into thin air.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, perhaps I was a little too heavy-handed.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved apologetically at the spectators, who only stared up with their mouths wide open at her. Seeing the odd look on their faces, she couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Are you guys alright?¡±

    The violent winds and lightning bolts have now dissipated. The Great Elder could now let out a sigh of relief. He gazed at the young girl¡¯s face, and couldn¡¯t help but wonder if such powers really did flow out from her hands.

    ¡°The battle has concluded.¡± The Great Elder announced as he wiped the sweat off his face.

    The rest of the elders giggled. ¡°That¡¯s right, I almost wet myself, thinking that I¡¯d get cut down by lightning.¡±

    After they were doneughing, the feeling of shock swelled up in their hearts. For so many years they have lived and excluding Jiang Shuxuan, no one else has ever surprised them to such a degree. For Jiang Shuxuan, it was understandable as he was a prodigy from the very beginning. And yet, how old could this girl be? Twenty?

    There were indeed only a handful of individuals in the ancient martial arts world that was on the level of Xiantian.

    Out of that group, she was pretty much the only one to be of such a tender age. This means that she was on par with the monsters of the ancient martial arts world that were only heard of in ancient poetry.

    ¡°Grandpa Tang, what about the items that I have wagered?¡± Gu Xiqiao slowly walked up to Tang Wenbo. With a bright smile on her face, she stretched her arm out toward him.

    Tang Wenbo inhaled deeply and he nced at Jiang Tong beforeing back to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s other-worldly show of force stunned him. Her strength really was... unheard of before. Of course, it wasn¡¯t just him who felt this way. There was no one in the area that wasn¡¯t stupefied by how intense the battle had turned out to be.

    Tang Wenbo contemted for a moment before allowing Gu Xiqiao to receive the items which she had won fair and square.

    With just a snap of her fingers, the treasures, which many drooled for, vanished into thin air.

    Despite how high-value the treasures were, none of them dared to mess with this monstrous being.

    Have you ever seen a mere twenty-year-old reach the level of Xiantian?

    ¡°Miss Gu, have you already reached Xiantian a long time ago?¡± The Great Elder failed to quell his curiosity.

    Everyone froze up the moment they heard the Great Elder¡¯s question. They too, were waiting for her reply excitedly.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°No.¡±

    No? Then she probably hasn¡¯t reached that level then. That¡¯s good to hear.

    The crowd stopped holding their breath. The difference between someone who has reached Xiantian and someone who had not was astronomical. Although Gu Xiqiao was powerful enough for them to look up at her, everyone was relieved to hear her answer. At the very least, the hit to their pride was significantly lighter.

    Gu Xiqiao continued to speak only after a second. ¡°I merely broke through to Xiantian just now.¡± Her tone sounded as if she was dissatisfied with her achievement.

    Dissatisfied? How could you possibly be!? ¡°Merely broke though?¡±

    Nearly everyone present almost spat out blood in response.

    They were pissed. Royally.

    Many of them had to go through hellish training for one, two or even a decade, just to linger around Chi Induction. To achieve Bone Refinement was already a feat enough for them to brag about, and yet Gu Xiqiao¡¯s dissatisfied that she had only reached Xiantian?!

    Feelings of envy and hatred had already faded away from their hearts. This was because the discrepancy between them and Gu Xiqiao was so great that there was simply no point in harboring any ill feelings toward her. At this point, they had nothing but respect for her.

    ¡°Miss Gu, tell me, how did you train to reach such heights?¡± asked the Great Elder.

    A sh appeared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand and out came the jasper bracelet that once belonged to Jiang Tong¡¯s friend. In a casual manner, she replied, ¡°Well I practiced, I guess. And here I am.¡±

    ¡°... Well it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to disclose any private information.¡± The Great Elder replied with a painful smile. Who could ever believe what she said? Regr practice? Bullcrap!

    Even their Trial Tower won¡¯t guarantee one sess by merely practicing.

    Gu Xiqiao was a little taken aback by the Great Elder¡¯s reaction. There was no secret technique. She really did just practice up until today.

    Tang Wenbo¡¯s birthday ceremony was still far from over. However, it was evident that the guests¡¯ attention had already shifted over to Gu Xiqiao. None of them were feeling like celebrating the asion anymore.

    ***

    Jiang Tong was still lying in the crater. Apart from her father, the ancient martial arts world had long forgotten about the little demon girl.

    ¡°Jiang Tong¡¯s powers are indeed surprising.¡± The second elder of the Jiang family sat at the table in the corner. He fumbled around his waist and pulled out wine gourd which he sipped from. He then let out a long sigh. ¡°If she was born in another time, no doubt, she¡¯d be recognized as a rare talent.¡±

    The Great Elder shook his head. ¡°What a shame that she has to live in the same period as Miss Gu and Young Master Jiang. Everyone, and I say everyone, pales inparison to these two.¡±

    ¡°Say, how do you think she trains?¡± The third elder asked. ¡°She really...I have never seen such a person before.¡±

    The Great Elder nced back at him but he remained silent.

    She came alone today. One must never forget about the Peace Squad that was under her direct control.

    She alone was able to rock the entire ancient martial arts world through her innate power. She had earned their deep-founded respect but if she had brought her ten-man squad today, then...

    The Great Elder was reminded of the defence guards who fought in a skirmish against the Peacekeepers, and how desperately they wanted to wipe their memory of their opponents after losing the battle.

    If the Peacekeepers were to attend today¡¯s ceremony, then no doubt, the people of the ancient martial arts world would lose their minds!

    Wait, no. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t go insane. Instead, the younger generation of the ancient martial arts world would either have their egos shattered, or they¡¯d all be beaten to death, or tormented to death. The Great Elder leaned back into his chair. His will to live had never been so weak.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had no idea that such thoughts were racing through the Great Elder¡¯s mind.

    Still, this was what she intended to do when she entered the ancient martial arts world.

    Rubbing her chin, she began thinking.

    Baili Bin and the rest were seated next to her. Watching her fingers y with the bracelet, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me your whole match with Jiang Tong was just for this thing?¡±

    ¡°Clever boy.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head.

    So much effort, just for this slightly more special piece of rock? Murong Feiye¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Why do you even want this thing for? You probably don¡¯t know this but your little sparring match has destroyed the morale of many of our talented juniors.¡± He said this because it applied to him also.

    ¡°I want to feed it to Dog Feed.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. ¡°It has stopped consuming meat now. Instead, it much prefers special rocks like this one.¡± How troublesome, she thought. Fortunately, she had tons of money to afford that thing¡¯s insatiable appetite.

    It also feels great to pwn someone when the situation arises.

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about that man-eating flower?¡± asked Baili Bin. All that effort, for that darn flower?

    Wanqi Jue red at her. ¡°You¡¯re feeding that flower this thing?¡± Despicable! What a waste!

    Murong Feiye, Cecily, and the rest stared at the bracelet. Judging from the aura that was emanating off of it, it was pretty sought after in the ancient martial arts world. And she¡¯s feeding it to a damn flower? Oh the decadence!

    Miss Gu, are you looking for flowers? The handsome type from the ancient martial arts world?

    Gu Xiqiao paid no heed to the chatter. Instead, she looked eastward silently.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Noticing the unusually-serious look on her face, Cecily couldn¡¯t help question Gu Xiqiao.

 Chapter 275 - If You Kill Her, Iâ€™ll Destroy The World

    <h4>Chapter 275: If You Kill Her, I¡¯ll Destroy The World</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, standing up slowly.

    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking about where Brother Jiang has gone to.¡± She said softly.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang?¡± Cecily waved her hand dismissively. ¡°He must be on a mission, it¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know what happened recently.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes, her mental power spreading out silently over the entire ancient martial arts world. ¡°He didn¡¯t take any, and he¡¯s in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    She was the one who asked him toe back after all.

    Baili Bin raised his head to look at Gu Xiqiao, his lips pursed. ¡°Why are you suddenly thinking about it?¡±

    There wasn¡¯t anything wrong with the entire ce, and she withdrew her powers. ¡°I just felt a chi, and it¡¯s a powerful one.¡±

    ¡°A strong chi?¡± Cecily closed her eyes to try to feel what Gu Xiqiao had said, but she couldn¡¯t no matter how far she tried to feel. ¡°No way, I can¡¯t feel anything at all.¡±

    ¡°Your mental power is weak, that¡¯s normal.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned to Wanqi Jue. ¡°What about you, can you feel anything?¡±

    Cecily, who had weak mental powers: ¡°...¡± She makes me so angry.

    Wanqi Jue¡¯s mental powers are very strong, especially after receiving the seal of inheritance. His spiritual powers were vastly different than what he had in the past.

    Hearing the question that Gu Xiqiao had posed to him, he raised an eyebrow and smiled. ¡°Of course. I can feel two strong chi signatures, but I just can¡¯t pinpoint the source. One of it is weaker... seems to be gradually rising though.¡±

    Once he said that, Gu Xiqiao walked slowly to a window, raising her chin and looking in the south. ¡°I can feel it, it¡¯s Brother Jiang.¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Wanqi Jue walked to her side, staring at her in disbelief. ¡°You can even feel that? It¡¯s such a vague touch. Also, if he really is here, why is he hiding his presence?¡±

    He naturally knew that Gu Xiqiao was strong, and that her mental powers were rising rapidly.

    When they first met, their mental powers were evenly matched. Coupled with the fact that he also had the seal of inheritance to increase his aptitude, his mental power at that point in time was already enough to have himugh at everyone else in the world at how strong he was. But even with that, he still couldn¡¯t keep up with Gu Xiqiao, he really wanted to know how the heck did she manage to keep increasing her mental power like this!

    Of course, even the system couldn¡¯t figure this matter out, so how could Wanqi Jue?

    But these were all irrelevant at the moment, the most important thing right now was, how did Gu Xiqiao know that one of those chi signatures that she was feeling was Jiang Shuxuan?

    ¡°Gut feeling.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, ncing at Wanqi Jue and replying to him with two words.

    Wanqi Jue: ¡°...¡± Very good,e have a hundred points for this reason.

    Baili Bin was sitting at the table, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a gentle smile on his face. asionally, a couple of youngsters from the ancient martial arts world woulde forward to talk to him, but they were quickly ushered away by Baili Bin.

    The banquet was nearing its end, and there wasn¡¯t much meaning in staying any longer. The ones who stayed back were there to watch Gu Xiqiao. However, because of the cold expression on her face and her disy of strength previously, nobody dared to approach her nor harass her and settled for going to Baili Bin and the others instead.

    The selectionpetition for the ranking tournament was tomorrow, Tang Wenbo mentioned casually, and shooed the youngsters back home to prepare for it, wanting them to strive for a few more cements if possible.

    Gu Xiqiao also followed Shu Chen to leave, and the older woman had been joyfullyughing the entire evening on the inside. Think about it, praises of her daughter-inw had been echoing in her ears the entire time, and those eyes of envy that looked at her after that disy that practically pped them all in the face was just too wonderful.

    Especially those people who stood next to Jiang Tong. When they had seen Shu Chen, they had a look that said the older woman would regret her decisions.

    After Gu Xiqiao¡¯s little show of power, all of those faces turned into shock, awe, and disbelief!

    A faint smile graced Shu Chen¡¯s face¡ªshe was in fact extremely proud inside. ¡®Looking down on my daughter-inw, insisting that Jiang Tong was better? Does it feel good to have it thrown back in your face? Did you know that your face could feel the pain from it?¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know what Shu Chen was thinking, and if she knew, she¡¯d probably be dumbfounded, not knowing if she shouldugh or cry at the older woman¡¯s thoughts.

    A group of people stepped out the gates of the Tang family household, and those who had left earlier were still loitering around, secretly observing Gu Xiqiao from the side. She was used to stares and eyes on her, so she didn¡¯t feel the slightest bit awkward or embarrassed. She continued to walk forward and away from the ce.

    When she was about ten steps out of the ce, she suddenly stopped and looked up, a surprised expression on her face.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Shu Chen, who had been walking arm in arm with her, asked as she stopped too.

    Baili Bin and the others who were behind her also stopped to look at Gu Xiqiao.

    She continued to look up at the stars in the sky, her eyes widening slightly. Raising her hands, purple lightning appeared and circled her body. Baili Bin and everyone else who were beside her were suddenly thrown dozens of meters backward.

    At the same time a fiery ball of fire fell from the sky,ing straight down onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head. The tumbling fire roared violently, and everyone within the ten-mile radius could feel the chi in their body burning up from the heat.

    Strong!

    So strong!

    ¡°No!¡± Baili Bin¡¯s eyes were red, looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. He immediately got up to rush towards her, but the scorching heatwave blocked his path, and he was unable to find an opening to go through.

    If the surroundings were already such a zing heat, what kind of heat was Gu Xiqiao feeling now, being right in the center of it?

    ¡°Qiao Qiao!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Er Qiao!¡±

    Outside the circle of fire, Baili Bin and the others tried their best to find an opening for Gu Xiqiao toe out. Wanqi Jue even took out his seal of inheritance, but it was all for naught. None of them were able to do a single thing to the fire.

    ***

    At this time, Xixi, who was breathing fire at Yao Jiamu, stopped suddenly. ¡°Chirp chirp chiiiirp!¡± (Not good!)

    After chirping, it vanished from the spot.

    Dripping full of sweat, Yao Jiamu wiped his face with his arm. Xixi had never left in the middle of training like that before, and he felt the uneasiness rise inside him.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Wu Hongwen asked, slightly stunned at the sudden disappearance of the bird.

    Yao Jiamu shook his head. ¡°I feel something bad has happened.¡±

    The only one who would affect Xixi like that was Gu Xiqiao.

    He turned to look in the direction where the ancient martial arts worldy, and couldn¡¯t help but purse his lips tightly.

    ***

    Being wrapped in mes, Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t in too difficult a situation, but it wasn¡¯t a walk in the park either.

    She gritted her teeth harshly, the barriers on her body breaking downyer byyer from the fire. Her entire face was bathed in the color of sunset, and sweat was sliding down her face, evaporating from the heat before it even touched the ground.

    The white fox fur coat that she wore exuded a glowing light, protecting her body.

    Raising her eyes, she watched as a blurry figure solidified in front of her eyes, a soft glow enveloping the person. The figure appeared from the fireball that exploded above her, his eyes as deep as the abyss. He wore a long green robe, and his hair was as ck as ink. Under the scorching heat and roaring winds within, his robes and hair didn¡¯t move at all.

    He was floating in mid-air, and he exuded a feeling of not being human.

    His eyebrows were an elegant arch, and his face looked extremely youthful, but you could see his eyes were old.

    His unwavering gaze settled on Gu Xiqiao, and he opened his mouth, ¡°An outsider of the world, you shouldn¡¯t exist in this world.¡± He raised his right hand, a pure, white fire emerging from it. ¡°Go to where you should go.¡±

    He was a few meters away from Gu Xiqiao, but as soon as he raised his hand, the white fire appeared in front of her.

    Rumble rumble rumble!

    Thunder roared, and the sky turned dark, the winds howling.

    The man raised his head, finally showing some movement. ¡°You can control the forces of nature. Such a pity that you don¡¯t belong in this world.¡±

    With a slight twist of his palm, a strong pressure pressed down on Gu Xiqiao. She raised her head, a raging fire that could rival the heat around her in her eyes. She sneered coldly, ¡°So what if I¡¯m an outsider of this world?¡±

    Saying that, six golden needles appeared from her body, purple lightning crackling around the gold. The power flowing through the weapon would be enough to wipe out an entire country.

    ¡°Beauty Gu!¡± A huge red bird appeared from thin air, standing in front of Gu Xiqiao. Xixi blocked the iing white fire, and opened its beak to spit out the same white me. It then turned to Gu Xiqiao, its eyes curving up as it said, ¡°You can¡¯t leave me behind this time, right?¡±

    Looking at the big hole that burnt through Xixi¡¯s body, Gu Xiqiao softly said, ¡°Xixi.¡±

    Xixi smiled at Gu Xiqiao, then turned back around and raised its head, spewing out ck mes at the figure.

    This was the strongest mes it had.

    ¡°It¡¯s a phoenix.¡± The ck mes that Xixi spit out didn¡¯t hurt the man at all, and he even reached out to grasp the fire in his hands. His eyebrows finally gave a twitch. ¡°When the Vermillion Bird appears, catastrophe will follow.¡±

    He murmured under his breath, and looked at Gu Xiqiao, a calm expression on his face. ¡°Outsider of this world, only when you disappear will the catastrophe of this world vanish.¡±

    He only needed a single thought to kill someone.

    ¡°F*ck off!¡± Xixi red at him with itsrge, beady eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t know what Beauty Gu has done, and you¡¯re saying that catastrophes will disappear once she¡¯s gone?! If you want to hurt her today, you¡¯ll have to step over my dead body!¡±

    Xixi straightened up after saying that, puffing its chest out. The charred part of its body on its right half was growing slowly.

    The man nced at Xixi and lightly waved his hand, and the bird was thrown to the side in an instant.

    Gu Xiqiao stared at the hole in Xixi¡¯s chest, her face darkening.

    The skies outside the fire had already turnedpletely pitch ck, and purple lightning burst forth, bigger than it was before.

    A gust of wind swept around Gu Xiqiao, and the chi in her body was also rising rapidly.

    The man¡¯s face finally changed at the scene. ¡°You¡¯ve broken through again, now?¡± Even he was surprised at the speed of her advancement, and a hint of regret appeared on his face. ¡°Unfortunately, you¡¯re an outsider of this world.¡±

    He stood with his hands behind his back, waiting for her toplete her breakthrough.

    Ten minutester, the thunder and wind subsided, and Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes slowly. There was a faint sh of purple electricity lingering in her eyes. Her hair floated slightly, swaying in the wind. The purple of the lightning reflected on the white fox fur, lighting up her face slightly from it. She raised both hands, the six golden needs in front of her crackling with lightning shooting forward, piercing the man¡¯s chest.

    Before the needles could reach its mark, the air in front of it distorted, a space crack appearing.

    ¡°If you had time to grow, you might have a chance against me.¡± The man looked at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Unfortunately, you won¡¯t get the chance.¡±

    Saying that, a green, jade flute appeared in front of him.

    The jade flute mmed into the golden needles, and with a crisp, sharp sound, the golden needles ttered to the ground. The flute shot towards Gu Xiqiao after getting rid of the obstruction.

    ¡°Beauty Gu!¡± Xixi pulled itself up with its remaining strength, hauling itself in front of Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I already said I wasn¡¯t toote this time...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply to that, and just looked at the bird. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you can¡¯t die.¡±

    As she spoke, her hand reached out to draw a formation, and Xixi shrank to its smaller size, falling to the ground with a thud.

    At the same time, another terrifyingly huge aura burst from the south side of the area.

    The man turned towards the direction, then urged his flute to increase speed. The green flute sped up, but before it reached Gu Xiqiao, the space in front of her distorted.

    A figure appeared slowly, and he was dressed in an ordinary white shirt and ck cks. His head was lowered slightly, and you could only see the smooth profile of his face. In one arm, he held the exhausted Gu Xiqiao, while the other held the green, jade flute. He raised his head slowly, revealing a pair of cold, frosty eyes.

    ¡°She¡¯s an outsider of this world, and also the bane of your existence. She can¡¯t be permitted to live in this world.¡± The man¡¯s indifferent face finally showed some expression.

    ¡°Whether or not she¡¯s my bane, I don¡¯t care what you say. You only need to know one thing, Dubhe,¡± Jiang Shuxuan spoke, his voice light. ¡°If you kill her, I¡¯ll destroy the world.¡±

 Chapter 276 - Dubhe

    <h4>Chapter 276: Dubhe</h4>

    Dubhe finally lowered his hands. He looked at Jiang Shuxuan as he let his hands fall to the side, his eyes darkening. ¡°You have to remember that you¡¯re a member of the Jiang family.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you more aware than I of how members of the Jiang family are?¡± Jiang Shuxuan had his feet on the ground once more, returning the flute in his hand to the owner. ¡°Of course, our ancestors had once washed the entire world with blood. I don¡¯t think anyone knows what happened better than you, Master Dubhe.¡±

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t destroy the world, she will eventually do it.¡± Dubhe took the flute, pointing it at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°An outsider of this world will destroy the bnce of it!¡±

    ¡°You should be more clear on the situation than me, how do you know that her existence will destroy the world, and not be the only lifeline it has?¡± Jiang Shuxuan lowered his eyes, his fingering up to stroke Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pale face. The chill in his eyes was still present.

    Dubhe looked at Jiang Shuxuan as his hands went to his back, not replying him.

    The two were silent for a few minutes before Jiang Shuxuan waved his hand, copsing the isted space immediately.

    Baili Bin and everyone outside who were still trying to find a way to break in, finally stopped their attacks when it copsed. Seeing Gu Xiqiao in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arms, and her face unnaturally pale, Shu Chen¡¯s face broke. ¡°Shuxuan, what happened? Is Qiao Qiao alright?¡±

    Baili Bin and the others also gathered around him, all trying to talk over each other.

    They were all concerned about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s condition, and none of them realized the man in green robes opposite Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, she just advanced again, and her chi is out of whack right now.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nced at Baili Bin. ¡°Baili, careful where you step. Xixi is at your feet.¡±

    If he were to step and break Xixi, Gu Xiqiao would definitely rage once she woke up.

    Hearing that Gu Xiqiao was fine, Baili Bin finally felt a relief course through him. He then picked Xixi up carefully, and seeing the wound on its chest, he froze. ¡°Why is Xixi hurt so badly?¡± And it was a burnt wound? Wasn¡¯t it a phoenix? What kind of fire had managed to injure a bird of fire?

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Vermillion Bird?¡± The great elder had alsoe over. Before he could say anything else, he suddenly stiffened. ¡°M-Master Dubhe...¡±

    The words finally snapped everyone around out of their daze, and their eyes fell on the old man that uttered those words.

    Most of them were puzzled, who was this man? Why was the Great Elder calling him Master Dubhe?

    Only the elders were all looking at him with awe and disbelief in their eyes. Jiang Shuxuan nced at Dubhe, then left with Gu Xiqiao still in his arms. Shu Chen followed her son, she knew that for the Great Elder to call someone ¡®Master¡¯, it definitely was someone that was way out of her league. Looking at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s cold eyes, she knew that Gu Xiqiao was in this state because of this Master Dubhe.

    So she turned her head to level a fierce re at Dubhe.

    Apart from her, Baili Bin, Cecily, Murong Feiye, and the others also gave Dubhe dark looks.

    As the leader of a powerful world, Wanqi Jue was aware of Dubhe¡¯s existence. He stepped forward, and bowed. ¡°Master Dubhe.¡± Although he called him ¡®Master¡¯, his tone obviouslycked the respect in it, and it was half-hearted at best.

    The group of people hurried to leave after Jiang Shuxuan, leaving Dubhe behind. This was the first time he had been ignored and tossed in the corner like this. ¡°...¡± Well, this was quite embarrassing.

    A few elders and n heads immediately came forward. ¡°Master Dubhe, please forgive them. These juniors... they didn¡¯t do it intentionally.¡±

    They had obviously done it on purpose! On one side, it was Dubhe, a person they had never met before, and the other was Gu Xiqiao, who had helped them countless times. For them to not have raised a hand against Dubhe was already considered to be good!

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Dubhe waved his hand dismissively, then followed the seven elders back into the ancient martial arts world.

    ***

    On the other side, Jiang Shuxuan had already returned to themunity area beside A University. He ced Gu Xiqiao on the bed, and theny Xixi beside her pillow.

    After doing that, he straightened up, standing by the bed. After a while, Shu Chen opened the door, walking in. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of Qiao Qiao. Go on down, they¡¯re all waiting for you.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan remained silent for a while more, before finally opening the door to leave the room.

    Everyone was sitting on the sofa downstairs. Baili Bin, Yin Shaoyuan, Murong Feiye, Tang Qinghong, Cecily, Wanqi Jue, Yin Aoxue, and a few more sat in a circle. When they saw Jiang Shuxuaning down, they all stood up, their eyes on him.

    ¡°How is Qiao Qiao?¡± Baili Bin opened his mouth to ask first.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat down on the coffee table beside the sofa. ¡°She¡¯s fine. She¡¯ll probably wake up before morning.¡±

    Saying that, he suddenly turned to ask, ¡°Auntie Zhang, where is Jiji?¡±

    Mrs. Zhang had stuck her head out of the kitchen when she heard him calling for her. ¡°Mr. Jiang, Jiji has been in your study the entire day, noting out at all.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes showed that he was deep in thought, and he was silent for a long while. He raised his head, seeing that everyone was still looking at him, waiting.

    ¡°Wanqi Jue, why don¡¯t youe and tell them.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nced at said person.

    Everyone¡¯s gaze shifted to Wanqi Jue, and he nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know much, just that when I was seeding the position of being the leader of the power world, the great elder told me about a legend in the ancient martial arts world. The star of The Greedy Wolf[1], who you call ¡®Dubhe¡¯ in the ancient martial arts world, would only make an appearance to save the world. There is also a legend that he is the founder of the ancient martial arts world. I always thought that it was just a myth, and I didn¡¯t expect to see it with my own eyes tonight.¡±

    Wanqi Jun¡¯s words caused a ripple among the group, and Baili Bin muttered, ¡°Dubhe represents the skies, Merak for ground, Phecda for humans, Megrez for sound, Mizar for order, Alkaid for stars. The taoist has once said that the Lord of The Greedy Wolf Star would appear to save the world and everyone in it, I can¡¯t believe that it¡¯s real.¡± (T/N: Names of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper)

    ¡°That Dubhe is an immortal?¡± Murong Feiye jumped up. ¡°Oh my god, I red at him just now, will he just turn me to dust with a wave of his hand?¡±

    Cecily listened to them prattled on, a look of understanding yet not understanding on her face.

    Jiang Shuxuan shook his head. ¡°Not an immortal. He¡¯s not the real Dubhe, but a descendant of him. Thousands of years ago, when the first person of The Greedy Wolf star fell, there was arge number of great abilities in the ancient martial arts world that fell with him. Now the ancient martial arts world has deteriorated, many of those knowledge and exercises have disappeared from the world. Because of that, the ancient martial arts world is as you see now, countless familiar gradually declining, leaving just a small group of people struggling to survive.¡±

    ¡°Then what about that descendant of Dubhe? Howe we¡¯ve never heard of him?¡± Baili Bin asked suddenly.

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his head slightly to look at them. ¡°Because he¡¯s the same as our Jiang family, controlled by heaven¡¯s will. If he takes a step out of his residence, he¡¯ll be sted to death by it. He¡¯s lived so many years, and his powers have far surpassed us, but he¡¯s still unable to fight against heaven¡¯s will.¡±

    ¡°Then why did hee out now?¡± Cecily finally understood a little of what they were talking about.

    ¡°Because.¡± An unfamiliar voice spoke. ¡°Heaven¡¯s will needs me now.¡±

    The man in green robe suddenly appeared by the window, sitting on the chair that Gu Xiqiao used when she was painting. Turning his head slightly, he nced at the people in front of him. Under the incandescent light, his eyes were deep, coal, and endless.

    ¡°Heaven¡¯s will needs you, so you aim to kill her once youe out?¡± Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes dangerously at the sight of Dubhe.

    Dubhe stood slowly. ¡°She¡¯s a cmity.¡±

    Although the others didn¡¯t know the code the two were speaking in, they understood the ¡®she¡¯ that Dubhe mentioned referred to Gu Xiqiao. When they heard that Dubhe wanted to kill her, Baili Bin stood up with a loud bang. ¡°She¡¯s not a cmity!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Wanqi Jue stood too. ¡°Master Dubhe, I think you should first figure out what Miss Gu will do to cause the cmity, before you pass judgment.¡±

    Curing diseases, saving people, exorcising all kinds of malicious aura and spirits, and also disasters, you calling her a cmity? Have you heard of one that does all those things?!

    Tang Qinghong also got up slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what cmity you¡¯re talking about, all I know is if Miss Gu really dies, the Peace Squad will definitely not let it go. At that time, disaster really will befall the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    Tang Qinghong was the only person here that knew how terrifying the Peace Squad was. Just a peacekeeper at Beginner level was able to cause chaos among the elders, if the entire team showed up, what could the ancient martial arts world do?

    Dubhe didn¡¯t expect the threats that would surface from just a sentence, and adding on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, he waspletely confused. What did this ¡®outsider¡¯ do to have such support from these people?

    Dubhe was silent for a long while, before he opened his mouth suddenly. ¡°Who made the formation for this house? It¡¯s... quite magical.¡± It had even managed to block him for a second when he arrived.

    Jiang Shuxuan spared him a nce, before turning to head upstairs without another word.

    He was used to ignoring Dubhe, and the man himself was not bothered by it. He looked towards Baili Bin. ¡°It seems that you¡¯re the only one here who knows about formations and arrays, could it be your work?¡± Not bad of a talent at all.

    Baili Bin raised a hand. ¡°It¡¯ste, Master Dubhe. I¡¯m heading back to sleep. As for the formation, your so-called ¡®cmity¡¯ is the one who arranged it.¡±

    Saying that, Baili Bin turned and left.

    ¡°I have to rush back to my country to participate in the selections. Can¡¯t stay!¡± Cecily eximed.

    The others also followed Baili Bin¡¯s lead in leaving after.

    Only Dubhe was left in the room, once again ignored and kicked to the corner.

    Upstairs, Jiang Shuxuan was sitting in the study, looking at the robot lying on the ground, motionless. It looked like it had lost the thing that made it move, and he rubbed his temples, feeling slightly distressed.

    Mrs. Zhang knocked on the door, opening it as she stepped in. ¡°Mr. Jiang, what do I do about the Mr. Dubhe downstairs?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother raising his head. ¡°Ignore him.¡±

    Mrs. Zhang closed the door once she heard that. Since Mr. Jiang had said to ignore him, she would do that.

    And so, after Baili Bin and everyone else left, Dubhe was left with a housekeeper who was only bothered with cleaning the ce,pletely ignoring him. Well, almostpletely.

    ¡°Mr. Dubhe, please raise your feet. I need to clean the carpet under it.¡±

    Dubhe: ¡°...¡±

    ***

    The sky lit up gradually as the sun rose from the east, and Gu Xiqiao, who was lying on the bed, opened her eyes slowly. After sleeping close to ten hours, she was awake and her eyes were clear. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Jiang Shuxuan, who was holding her in his arms.

    ¡°Brother Jiang?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes snapped open when he heard her voice, staring at her.

    Gu Xiqiao could feel his anxiousness, and she reached out to hold his hands. After he had calmed down, she asked softly, ¡°Brother Jiang, what¡¯s wrong with the ancient martial arts world?¡±

    ¡°That was Dubhe...¡± Jiang Shuxuan tightened his arms around her when he said the name. ¡°Every generation of our Jiang family will be restrained by heaven¡¯s will. Because of that, the Lisu Tribe wille to the ancient martial arts world once every five years to offer a sacrifice to the heavens for the sake of the heirs. After this year¡¯s sacrifice, Dubhe suddenly fell through, and I broke through at the same time.¡±

    He rted all the matters between Dubhe and the Jiang family to her, and it took almost an hour.

    ¡°By the way, Jiji seems to be broken. I¡¯ve contacted Zhu Yuan, asking him toe over in the afternoon to bring Jiji to A University to see if it can be fixed.¡± Jiang Shuxuan suddenly remembered about it after he was done talking about Dubhe. ¡°Xixi is already awake, and it has gone back to the training grounds during the night to look for Haha.¡±

    ¡°I know about Xixi.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat up. ¡°But Jiji isn¡¯t broken, it¡¯s just upgrading.¡±

    ¡°Upgrading?¡± Jiang Shuxuan squinted slightly, trying to understand what she meant by that.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°That¡¯s right, this is the first time it¡¯s going through a mandatory upgrade. Didn¡¯t you want to know about the text message that I sent you, Brother Jiang? I¡¯ll tell you now...¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Jiang Shuxuan got up suddenly when he heard her words. He pulled back the covers as he got down from the bed. ¡°I don¡¯t want to know, I¡¯m going to find Dubhe.¡±

    He left the room immediately after saying that.

    ***

    Shu Chen had just woken up when she came out to find Jiang Shuxuan leaning against Gu Xiqiao¡¯s door, and she couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Shuxuan, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s head was lowered, and his voice was tter than usual. He quickly left, heading downstairs and out the door.

    Shu Chen watched him leave with a strange look on her face, but she brushed it off, going into the kitchen to find Mrs. Zhang.

    ***

    The qualifyingpetition has already begun, and Gu Xiqiao had stopped by training grounds right before it started.

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s intentions, Yao Jiamu smiled and got up, his eyes curving up. ¡°Miss Gu, the Peace Squad has been wanting to go to the ancient martial arts world for a very long time.¡±

    [1] T/N: The Greedy Wolf is one of the major stars in one of the form of fortune telling in Chinese culture

 Chapter 277 - Entering The Ancient Martial Arts World

    <h4>Chapter 277: Entering The Ancient Martial Arts World</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao studied Yao Jiamu¡¯s expression, silent for a while before finally saying, ¡°... Don¡¯t bully them too much when the timees.¡±

    ¡°Do we look like that kind of person?¡± Wu Hongwen spoke before Yao Jiamu could. He walked out of the cave, staring at the pair of clear, bright eyes on him.

    ¡°Not before this,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied easily, her eyes still on him.

    Wu Hongwen: ¡°...¡± And who was the one responsible for making them this way?

    ¡°You need a wooden token to enter the ancient martial arts world.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ¡°There¡¯s no worry about this, I¡¯ll get it for you guyster. The initial development of the ancient martial arts world will be handled by Weng.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we supposed to do?¡± Yao Jiamu was confused at that.

    ¡°You and Little Wuzi have something more important to do.¡± Gu Xiqiao took out her phone to shoot a message off to Luo Weng, and after thinking some more, she sent another to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°I¡¯lle back to you a bitter.¡±

    With that, she turned around and was about to leave when Haha reached her feet.

    Gu Xiqiao lowered her head to see the dog, and a slightly depressed Xixi who was sitting on top of its head. She leaned down immediately to pick up Haha in her arms.

    Yao Jiamu had initially wanted to ask what important things she wanted them to do, but before he could ask, Gu Xiqiao vanished from the spot in a distortion of space with a, ¡°I¡¯m going first.¡±

    Behind them, a bunch of people who had heard that Gu Xiqiao was here came running as soon as news reached them. However, they only heard her voice, not seeing a hint of her anywhere when they arrived.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, where is Miss Gu?¡± One of them asked.

    Wu Honweng patted him on the shoulder, pointing at the empty space in front of him. ¡°Don¡¯t you see? She¡¯s right there.¡± Having said that, he left the area, heading back into the cave.

    That person rubbed his eyes, and rubbed it again, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. Then he eximed in shock, ¡°Miss Gu, are you practicing some invisible array? Why can¡¯t I see you?¡±

    Wu Hongwen halted his steps when he heard that. ¡°...¡± This idiot!

    Having such little experience in life, what a naive person!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure disappeared from the training grounds, and appeared in the Elder¡¯s Association the next moment in the ancient martial arts world.

    There were two guards guarding the gates outside. Today is the qualifying matches, and all the young people in the ancient martial arts world had been sent over together, so there weren¡¯t many people left in the Elder¡¯s Association.

    Gu Xiqiao walked through the front doors, and the two guards turned a blind eye to her presence.

    Haha, who was in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arms, barked, ¡°Woof woof woof!¡± (Do these guys have bad eyesight or something? Didn¡¯t they see Beauty Gu?¡±

    Xixi chirped weakly. ¡°Chirp chirp chiiirp~¡± (Stupid dog, won¡¯t they know she¡¯s here with your barking?)

    Haha: ¡°...¡±

    As soon as it raised its head, the two guards had already unsheathed their weapon and were looking around warily. ¡°Who¡¯s there?! Show yourself!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps, Haha in one hand, and snapping her fingers with the other.

    The two guards shook their head, a vacant gaze in their eyes for a moment before they quickly regained their senses. They sheathed their weapons, turning back to stand guard in their previous position once again.

    Haha didn¡¯t dare to make a peep at this moment, but it peered up at Gu Xiqiao with its beady eyes sparkling with worship for its owner who held it in her arms.

    Gu Xiqiao merely rubbed Haha¡¯s head gently, and pulled out her phone to see that she had two new messages.

    Luo Weng: Alright, I understand. But the ancient martial arts world... will a regr person like me be beaten to death if I head over?

    Gu Xiqiao swiftly shot back a reply¡ª[Don¡¯t worry, somebody will collect your body if you die.]

    The other message was from Jiang Shuxuan¡ª[In the Elder¡¯s Association¡¯s cab. You can get it yourself or wait for me toe back. As for the location, you can pick whatever you want.]

    Gu Xiqiao kept away her phone. She caught sight of the scriptures that belonged to the seven elders on the table, and she walked towards it to find that they had read through most of it already. She rubbed her chin. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect these old men to have such a habit.¡±

    After observing for a little while, she continued to walk and stopped by a bookcase. Xixi was on her shoulder, looking at the bookcase. ¡°It looks like there¡¯s a restriction.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Gu Xiqiao casually reached out and opened the bookcase, opening a box that was inside it.

    In the box, there was arge wooden que.

    This was the same identity card that Jiang Shuxuan had given her previously for the ancient martial arts world. She was able to enter the ancient martial arts world because of this.

    Waving a hand, more than one hundred identity cards disappeared instantly.

    Having done that, she ced the lid back on the box and returned it to its original ce. She closed the bookcase, the restrictions all still in ce.

    She leisurely walked out of the Elders Association, her mental powers stretching out to study the terrains of the entire ancient martial arts world. The houses near the center were denser, while the ones nearer to the edge were sparse. The closer it was to the center, the more spiritual energy was felt in the air. It was great for training and cultivation.

    If you were to use rings to exin the distribution, it would go like this:

    With the Jiang family house as the center, the outside was divided into a second ring, third ring, fourth ring and so on.

    The Jiang family has the most spiritual energy, followed by the second ring. The second ring consisted of prestigious families like the Tang family and Murong family.

    The third ring was where most of the ordinary families lived, like the Fu family.

    The fourth ring is where the disciples of the ancient martial arts world lived.

    As for the fifth and sixth ring, they were all deserted. That¡¯s because after the fourth ring, there was no more spiritual aura in that area.

    What Gu Xiqiao had her eyes on was thend in the fifth ring, a ce where even the outer disciples were not interested in.

    XIxi stood on her shoulder, and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Beauty Gu, why did you pick such a ce where even birds don¡¯t sh*t? There isn¡¯t a hint of aura in the air, isn¡¯t it no different than the outside world?¡± It had initially intended to take up the ce as king, and watch a good show. It didn¡¯t expect that she would pick such a ce so quickly?

    You still need to inform Master Jiang to use such a broken, dested ce?

    ¡°How can the outside worldpare to such a nice ce like this?¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°Put it here, let Weng open a treasure house and see the kind of medicine that you often take, and some other things that I¡¯ll bring over. When those people from the ancient martial arts world see a regr person selling such elixirs, don¡¯t you think they will try to do something? At that time, the peacekeepers will have work to do every day.¡±

    Xixi: ¡°...¡± Didn¡¯t you say to not bully them too much?

    Gu Xiqiao made a decision easily. Her people from the Peace Squad would settle down here.

    But the matters in the ancient martial arts world still needed to be decided by the elders, and Gu Xiqiao thought about that. Well, let¡¯s go find the elders then.

    ***

    At this time, the great elder was talking to a group of young disciples, encouraging them to work together and strive to get the cements in the qualifying matches. As long as they managed to get a cement, they would have more resources, and there would be more rewards for the ancient martial arts world. They would even be able to enter the Jiang family¡¯s inheritance base, which was easier than epting missions and tasks on The Forum.

    After finishing with his words, the great elder walked to sit down on his own seat. The elder on his left was still briefing the others about the rules of the qualifying tournament on stage.

    The great elder picked up a cup of tea, blowing on it. Before he could take a sip, a voice came from his left. ¡°Hello Great Elder, we meet again.¡±

    ¡°Yes, hello.¡± The great elder responded automatically, then he realized that something wasn¡¯t right. Wasn¡¯t the elder to his left still on stage?

    And so he looked up to meet with a stunning face staring at him. His hands shook, and he nearly dropped the teacup, a horrified expression on his face. ¡°Mi-Miss Gu!¡±

    Oh my god! Why was this thing here!

    ¡°Rx, I¡¯m not here to pick a fight with you. I just wanted to let you know something.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed Haha¡¯s head, smiling at the great elder. ¡°I¡¯ve chosen a ce in the ancient martial arts world, it¡¯s in the fifth ring.¡±

    ¡°The fifth ring?¡± The great elder was thinking of the geography of the entire Imperial Capital, and understood what she meant after a moment. ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me arrange one in the second ring for you, there¡¯s enough aura around the area and more suitable for people to live in.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but no need. The fifth line is enough.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at the great elder again, then she disappeared.

    The great elder immediately said, ¡°Safe journey, Miss Gu.¡±

    The other people around him couldn¡¯t help the twitching of their mouths when they saw his actions. ¡°Great Elder, why are you talking to air?¡±

    Great Elder: ¡°...¡± WTF? You guys couldn¡¯t see her?! Then didn¡¯t he look like some retard just now?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao, who had just riled the great elder up, returned once again to the training grounds.

    Yao Jiamu and the others were already in the cave waiting for her.

    She stood at the edge of the cave, a white light shed on her hands before a table and stool appeared in front of her. She sat down, cing both arms on the table.

    A voice sounded out through the air in the cave, echoing in everyone¡¯s head, ¡°Come out quickly.¡±

    Those who were resting in the cave and those who weren¡¯t in the middle of breaking through came out immediately, seeing Gu Xiqiao sittingzily on the stool, which they didn¡¯t know who had brought in the first ce. There were a pile of wooden ques in front of her.

    There were some who were breaking through their levels, and only came out twenty minutester.

    Seeing that most of them had arrived, she stood from the table, pointing to the pile of wooden ques on it. ¡°These are the identity cards to enter the ancient martial arts world, each person will receive one. Little Mutou, Little Wuzi, and Xiao Yun will follow me to the qualifying matches today. Wait for me at the entrance at 11 o¡¯clock. If you don¡¯t know the way, look for Big Brother Yin. For the rest, your task is to build up our base in the ancient martial arts world. Let¡¯s call it Peace Manor.¡±

    Having said that, Gu Xiqiao moved to stand in front of the ce. She closed her eyes, a huge wave of energy sweeping out to instantly envelope the cave.

    The system hadst time said that even if she were to use all her strength, she wouldn¡¯t be able to move the cave. Now that she had advanced two levels, her mental powers were far beyond the level she had in the past. She wondered if that would be enough to pull the cave into her inventory.

    After some loud rumbling, the entire cave disappeared.

    Only the long purple dragon that hovered in the air was left.

    Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes. She had seeded, she actually did it! She had thought that without the help of the system, it would be impossible to pack away the cave, and she wasn¡¯t holding out much hope. The surprise hade too soon!

    After keeping the cave away, she raised her hands, waving it slightly to disperse the purple dragon.

    ¡°I¡¯ve brought the cave to the ancient martial arts world, to a location that I¡¯ve chosen. When you enter and find the cave, that¡¯s the location I¡¯ve picked!¡± Having said that, Gu Xiqiao disappeared on the spot.

    ***

    At the same time, the entrance of the ancient martial arts world where the elders were teaching some young disciples and those from the fourth ring was suddenly met with a shocking scene.

    A huge mountain appeared out of thin air in the fifth ring of the world, and a few minutester, a purple dragon hovered on top of the mountain, both items exuding a terrifying aura.

    A few more minutester, the purple dragon disappeared instantly, leaving behind only an ordinary mountain.

    ¡°G-Great Elder... this... what is this?¡± All the elder¡¯s eyes were wide, their jaw almost touching the going. ¡°Who had managed to make such a big move like this? The entire ancient martial arts world should have felt the shock, right?

    The elder looked at the position of the cave, and noted that it was in the fifth ring, then he turned back to look at the purple dragon that was in the air. He clutched his chest tightly. ¡°It¡¯s Miss Gu, she has picked a ce to live in the ancient martial arts world. You go on ahead with your teachings, I¡¯ll head back to the Elders Association first.¡±

    He left after he said that, muttering under his breath as he walked away.

    A young disciple listened carefully to his words, and his eyes widened. The great elder was chanting scriptures again?!

    The great elder didn¡¯t expect to receive another shock when he returned to the Elders Association, the wooden ques for identity cards had disappeared! The main point to note was that all the protections and restrictions were still in ce, untouched!

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan, who had curled the entire Imperial Capital and was preparing to return to the ancient martial arts world suddenly received a text from the great elder¡ª[The identity ques have been stolen! The ancient martial arts world is in danger!]

    The manughed for a long time after reading the message, and only replied once he was done¡ª[Don¡¯t worry.]

    Little did the elders and everyone else knew, this was only the beginning. When the people from the Peace Squad entered the world one by one in the afternoon, they began to build the manor on the area at the edge of the cave. All of them were masters, building it ording to the architect¡¯s instructions. The manor was built up in an unnaturally fast time.

    When the seven elders came over to see if Gu Xiqiao needed any help, they saw the people from the Peace Squad, who greeted them with friendly smiles.

    Second elder: ¡°... So... Miss Gu¡¯s subordinates, they¡¯re all... the members of the Peace Squad?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The Great Elder said with a deadpan expression.

 Chapter 278 - Top Hundred!

    <h4>Chapter 278: Top Hundred!</h4>

    Yao Jiamu and the others left once Gu Xiqiao was done talking to them.

    The was still two hours before the selections started, and taking advantage of this time, she went home to grab Jiji¡¯s body before heading over to Nine Heavens and theboratories to settle things there.

    Although the time was short, it was enough for her to settle everything. But she didn¡¯t expect to bump into Chu Ziheng when she passed by a milk tea shop to buy a drink.

    ¡°President Gu.¡± The secretary opened the car door, revealing Chu Ziheng sitting in the backseat. ¡°Do you have some time for a chat?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao stabbed the straw into the milk tea in her hand, giving him a nce. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t have the time.¡±

    Chu Ziheng smiled. ¡°I hear that President Gu doesn¡¯t have a hands on approach with Nine Heavens. How can you be so assured to leave the operations of Nine Heavens to someone else to handle? The coboration I discussed with Mr. Mu today involved billions of dors in funds.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t doubt your employees.¡± Gu Xiqiao wanted to turn around and leave, but she couldn¡¯t stop herself from pausing when she heard his words, leveling her gaze at Chu Ziheng.

    ¡°You must always have doubts in this world.¡± Chu Ziheng shook his head. ¡°You can¡¯t even fully trust someone who¡¯s closest to you.¡±

    ¡°Your heart is too dark,¡± Gu Xiqiao muttered quietly, turning away and leaving.

    Chu Ziheng watched her leave with no hesitation in her body, and couldn¡¯t help but step out of the car, saying, ¡°What if they really do betray you?¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied without turning around. Even if there was a betrayal, she had the ability to make them regret their life. Since she created Nine Heavens, it was natural that she would be able to destroy it and just create another one. It was just a matter of time wasted.

    After Gu Xiqiao had left, Chu Ziheng stood in the spot silently for a long while before turning back to get into the car. There was a middle-aged man sitting in the passenger seat, Gu Xiqiao had not seen him.

    Chu Ziheng looked at the man, saying softly, ¡°She really does trust you a lot.¡±

    Saying that, the man blinked, slowly awakening. His eyes looked lost for a moment, before snapping to attention. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m very sorry, President Chu. I must have been more tired than I thought after reading the contractte into the night.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Mr. Mu.¡± Chu Ziheng smiled faintly.

    Mu Zong let out a sigh of relief, then he took out his phone to send Gu Xiqiao a message. After he was done, he sat straighter, wanting to make sure he didn¡¯t let himself fall asleep again.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had turned into an empty alley, pulling her little pink car out. Before she could open her door, she saw the message that Mu Zong sent.

    Mu Zong: Miss Gu, thepany car is not really good quality. I only used it a few times, and it broke down already.

    Her fingers hovered over the screen, wanting to send a reply. Just as she touched the keys, her head snapped up.

    There was a green-clothed man sitting on top of her little pink car, looking at her with a pair of eyes that were as deep as an abyss.

    Gu Xiqiao opened the hood of her car, cing the milk tea in the cupholder. She crossed her arms after, lifting her chin to look at the man with narrowed eyes. The cold in her eyes was chilling, and she was silent.

    He had almost taken her life yesterday after all, and Dubhe hadn¡¯t expected to see her again. She wasn¡¯t showing any fear towards him, in fact her eyes were all too clear as they stared at him. He was finally the one to give in first, as he asked, ¡°Outsider, who was that person?¡±

    She had only bumped into Chu Ziheng on the way here, so Gu Xiqiao knew it must be about the man then.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you Dubhe?¡± Gu Xiqiao said instead, an indifferent look at him. ¡°Find out yourself.¡±

    She got into the car, adjusting her drink. Then she mmed on the elerator, and the car shot off. Dubhe was caught off guard, and he slipped to the ground.

    When he raised his head again, he could only see the back of the car in the distance.

    Dubhe got up, his face dark. His ink hair was slightly messed up, and his robes bunched. With just a thought, the dust on his body vanished, and everything was clean and neat again.

    ***

    After Gu Xiqiao went back, she sent an email to both Zhu Yuan and Mu Zong. She then ced Jiji¡¯s body in her inventory, along with a big pot and some spices from the kitchen.

    So when Mrs. Zhang came home from shopping, it was to a kitchen that looked like it had been ransacked. It was quite... messy.

    The venue of the qualifying matches had to be reached through a teleportation array in the ancient martial arts world.

    Gu Xiqiao and the others were teleported to a dense forest, it was packed with people with all kinds of people. Because the location of the teleport was random, they had been mingled together with a bunch of foreigners. The forest seemed to be endless stretched out, and the entire ce was enveloped in formations and arrays. Arge stone tablet was erected outside the forest, and it was ck in color.

    Gu Xiqiao had seen the ranking cup that was outside the Trial Tower, it was made from the same material.

    Wu Hongwen looked at the forest, and felt like it was oozing something. ¡°What is this ce? Why is there just a big bead instead of the sun? How can there be such a big forest that can¡¯t be seen on the world map?¡±

    Xiao Yun and Yao Jiamu nodded their heads at his words. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ve never seen it before.¡±

    ¡°Because this... is cyberspace.¡± Gu Xiqiao said in a low voice.

    ¡°Cyberspace?¡± Yao Jiamu frowned. ¡°Why haven¡¯t I heard of it before?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about thister.¡±

    Yao Jiamu looked at the white-bearded old man standing on the tform, so he nodded and didn¡¯t press further.

    The old man on the tform was talking about the rules of the qualifying matches. ¡°There are 196 countries participating in the selections this year, and the total number of participants are eighty thousand, which is double the number it was three years ago. However, only one hundred people will be permitted to enter the selections. The rules are simple, you have to enter this Bahuang Forest. There are various mythical beasts in the forest, and the closer you are to the center, the more powerful they are. You all have your identity tokens with you. Every time you kill a beast, its energy will automatically umte in your tokens. This ranking tablet will show the top one hundred. Of course, if you kill another person, then the energy umted in their tokens will be yours. Hence, you not only face the dangerous mythical beast, but you also have opponents andpanions who stand beside you as threats. The Bahuang Forest is a dangerous ce, and if at any time you are in danger and feel like quitting, you just need to shout that you give up and someone wille and bring you out. Dangers are also apanied by opportunities...¡±

    ¡°We need at least five people to get in, we only have four.¡± Xiao Yun looked at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°What do we do?¡±

    ¡°Tang Qinghong and the others have gone back to the Tang family¡¯s team.¡± Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes. ¡°Just pull a random single personter, and then we¡¯ll think about whates after we¡¯ve gotten in.¡±

    Wu Hongwen patted Xiao Yun¡¯s shoulders, smiling brightly at her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, are you afraid that we won¡¯t make it in? Such an interesting fun ce, it¡¯ll be a pity if we couldn¡¯t get in.¡±

    Xiao Yun rolled her eyes at him, and didn¡¯t bother replying to him. However, her eyes clearly read ¡®idiot¡¯.

    Wu Hongwen really wanted to beat the sh*t out of her at this moment.

    ¡°As long as you get a cement within the top hundred, you will obtain resources that are unimaginable, and the status of your family in the power world will also rise as your own status changes. I believe that your predecessors have said that as long as you sessfully advance to the top ten, you will be able to obtain the secrets of ancient power. Good luck, my children.¡±

    The eighty thousand participants were heating up after the white-bearded old man finished his speech.

    Gu Xiqiao merely rubbed her chin as she watched the people beside her talking.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I heard that the little demon girl from China¡¯s ancient martial arts world has reached the 62nd floor in the Trial Tower. She was only on the 49th floor three years ago, and now, Tang Qinghong is on the 50th floor, while she¡¯s already on the 62nd!¡±

    ¡°I heard that the little demon girl is a girl, that¡¯s so awesome!¡±

    ¡°Our Cecily from America is also a girl, she not only qualified for the selections for the Youth Rankingpetition, she also got one of the top ten spots! She¡¯s definitely not any less than the little demon girl!¡±

    A ck-haired teenager with a pair of ck, coal eyes had both hands sped together as he said, ¡°They¡¯re all great. I don¡¯t have such great ambitions, I just want to get into the top hundred and get some resources for my family so that we won¡¯t be bullied anymore!¡±

    ¡°I wonder how many more talents wille out from China¡¯s ancient martial arts world.¡±

    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any more than those few, I¡¯ve never heard of any others either. And those that we mentioned have already reached the age where they can participate in the Heavens and Earth Ranking instead, so they shouldn¡¯t be fighting with us on cement here.¡±

    Hearing their discussion, a blonde girl stood up with a bright smile. ¡°You don¡¯t know about it, but there are four people in the entire power world that have the strength topete for first ce. Tang Qinghong from China¡¯s ancient martial arts world, Yan Qi from Ennd¡¯s supernatural world, Cecil from America, Felix from Latvia, and Nozawa from Japan. Their strength is unfathomable, and there is only one thing to do if you meet them in here. Run away.¡±

    At the same time, a tall man appeared on the tform. His expression was so very cold, and his facial features were sharp and elegant. There was a strange talisman in his slender hands.

    The moment he appeared, the noise from the eighty thousand participants suddenly vanished, and it was dead silent. You could hear a pin drop.

    All their eyes were on him.

    Gu Xiqiao also turned to look, slightly stunned when she caught sight of the man. The figure on the high tform seemed to look in her direction, his deep, onyx eyes on her. When he saw her, his gaze lingered for a while before he turned away. His cold voice could be heard in every corner of the area. ¡°I am the captain for the escort team in this year¡¯s selections. Now, I will open the entrance to the Bahuang Forest.¡±

    ¡°Er Qiao, it¡¯s Big Brother Jiang.¡± Xiao Yun continually pped Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm, making thetter blink at the former. ¡°Did you see!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the girl, then turned her eyes back to the tform.

    The people around her had also recovered.

    The blonde girl eximed, ¡°It¡¯s him! It¡¯s actually him! No, wait. How can he be in charge of such trivial matters such as the selections? And also being captain of the guards?¡±

    ¡°Do you know him?¡± Some of the people around were asking curiously. ¡°Who is he? He looks like a Chinese, and his strength is decent.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The blonde girl took a deep breath, her eyes still staring at the man who was talking. ¡°He¡¯s from China¡¯s ancient martial arts world. As for his strength, he¡¯s the top in China, what were you saying about it again?¡±

    Shock appeared on all the faces around her when she said that, and it was a long time before any of them came back to their sense.

    One of them swallowed heavily, disbelieving in his voice as he said, ¡°The...the top person in the entire ancient martial arts world?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The blonde girl nodded confidently. ¡°Although I didn¡¯t participate in the qualifying matchesst year, I watched it and remember it crystal clear.¡±

    The number one person in the ancient martial arts world! He could beparable to the ancient powers, and people like that little demon girl?

    They already had such an insurmountable gap between them and the little demon girl, how could they even begin topare to the number one person in the ancient martial arts world?

    ¡°The entrance to Bahuang Forest has been opened, let¡¯s go in.¡± As soon as the girl said that, the voices finally faded off as they started to queue up.

    Gu Xiqiao and her group of four also held their own identity tokens as they joined the line.

    ¡°There are more than eighty thousand people, and only one hundred will be selected. This rate of elimination...¡± Wu Hongwen pondered over the rules of the selections, and he couldn¡¯t help but exim, ¡°It¡¯s really too terrifying!¡±

    ¡°These eight thousand people are also all elites from various power worlds, and they¡¯re picking a hundred. There are almost 200 countries participating, so that means it¡¯s possible that there will be countries where not a single person will be able to advance. No wonder they say as long as you can advance, you¡¯d get resources and statuses.¡± Yao Jiamu nodded his head.

    There was also a sense of pride and fighting spirit that surged up in his heart when he thought about it.

    Elites from almost the entire world were gathered here right now, and those who could achieve the top hundred cements were definitely the cream of the crop among all the geniuses! You could also obtain endless resources if you qualified!

    At the same time, it was also indefinitely cruel!

    The elimination rate was basically above 100%... among eighty thousand people, only a hundred would seed in advancing!

    In this hundred people, excluding the five who were contending for first ce, there were only 95 ces left!

 Chapter 279 - Weâ€™re Done For, Hurry Up And Run!

    <h4>Chapter 279: We¡¯re Done For, Hurry Up And Run!</h4>

    There were only four people in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s team, and only groups of five or more could enter the selections. The others were obviously in their own family team, and most of them had ten or more to a team. The stronger the team, the better chances they had in Bahuang Forest, which also gave them a better ranking.

    So for those who were alone, who wouldn¡¯t want to join a strong team?

    But on the other hand, stronger teams had more criteria in candidates that they chose to let into them, especially those from the bigger families. They had to at least know the person, otherwise if they were to let aplete stranger into their midst, let¡¯s not talk about how awkward the stranger would feel, even the family teams would feel uneasy.

    So for those bigger families, they didn¡¯t wait at the entrance to recruit anyone, heading in directly instead.

    Those who stayed at the entrance were those with average strength and wanted to recruit more people for better chances.

    The number of people dropped sharply after that.

    ¡°The team captain of our group is a master that has reached the 42nd floor on the Trial Tower. The requirement to join our team is very simple, you just need to be at least on the 35th floor!¡± Reaching the 42nd floor indeed was a master. The little demon girl had sessfully advanced into the top twenty thest selections when she was on the 49th floor three years ago, and although being on the 42nd floor didn¡¯t necessarily guarantee a spot in the top hundred, who could tell what kind of luck they would get?

    For a moment, this team with a master on the 42nd floor was hotcakes.

    Gu Xiqiao and the others also stood at the entrance, but she had no ns to recruit anyone, nor to join any other team. She merely turned her head to look at the high tform.

    The man on the tform was holding a picture, his head lowered as he spoke to a couple of white-bearded men. He raised his head suddenly, looking in her direction.

    Seeing the corners of his mouth quirking up, Gu Xiqiao returned the smile before turning away.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you four going to look for a team?¡± A voice suddenly said in her ear. Gu Xiqiao turned around to find the blonde girl from just now, who seemed to have a lot of insight. There were two boys beside her, one ck-haired and ck eyes and one brown-haired with blue eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, looking at her bashfully. ¡°The four of us are too weak, no one wants us.¡±

    Xiao Yun let out a long, sad sigh, a depressed look on her face, the usual cold look on her face nowhere in sight. ¡°We won¡¯t be unable to go in, right?¡±

    Wu Hongwen & Yao Jiamu: These two are just so bloody dramatic!

    ¡°Too weak?¡± The blonde girl repeated. ¡°The division of the international forces is based on the Trial Tower from the ancient martial arts world of China. You guys are Chinese, right? Which floor have you reached?¡±

    ¡°The 20th floor... I think?¡± Gu Xiqiao said, looking up at the girl.

    Xiao Yun thought for a while, before saying, ¡°25th floor.¡±

    Wu Hongwen and Yao Jiamu were sorely tempted to start hitting their foreheads. Saying that you¡¯re at such a low level, it would be even weirder if anyone wanted you guys!

    So Wu Hongwen replied with, ¡°I can only get to the 32nd floor.¡±

    Yao Jiamu: ¡°... About the 35th floor, I guess?¡±

    Guess? What was this supposed to mean? The blonde thought about it for a while, but she was also relieved. There weren¡¯t that many women in the power world, and for Gu Xiqiao and Xiao Yun to reach this level at this age was already considered to be rare. Although their strengths weren¡¯t anything to look at, at least the guys had good strength. Being able to reach above the 30th floor, they didn¡¯t seem like they would be burdens at least.

    And they also needed above five people for their own team.

    Thinking about it, the blonde girl turned to look at the ck-haired boy for his opinion. ¡°Shi Qin, these four belong to your China¡¯s ancient martial arts world, do you want to bring them along?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao turned her gaze to the one called Shi Qin. With her eidetic memory, she could remember that this was the one who said that he wanted to get into the top hundred to get resources for his family.

    Shi Qin looked a little cold, holding a sword in hand, his nce passing through Gu Xiqiao and the others. He didn¡¯t say a word, just nodding his head.

    ¡°Haha! You four are in luck!¡± Seeing Shi Qin agreeing, the blonde girl looked at Gu Xiqiao and the others with a triumphant look on her face. ¡°Shi Qin is a master who has reached the 49th floor in the Trial Tower, it won¡¯t be a problem to hold out until the end!¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡± Xiao Yun eximed in surprise, reaching out to hold Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. ¡°Er Qiao, we can hold out to the end like this, how exciting! Those old men had said that I wouldn¡¯tst a second in there before getting kicked out. Looks like we¡¯ll be able to shove it back in their faces when we get back!¡±

    A joyful look was on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, but on the inside: ¡°... This girl can act even better than me!¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯ve said you¡¯re in luck.¡± The blonde girl smiled. ¡°The door¡¯s about to close, we¡¯d better go in. Oh right, my name is Betty, from America, 36th floor on the Trial Tower. You know Shi Qin already, this is Hans, from Ennd. His strength is about the 43rd floor. The three of us have also just met just now...¡±

    This was the smallest, most chaotic team in the history that entered Bahuang Forest.

    The teams who were still outside recruiting people looked at the group of seven with eyes that said, ¡®You are all going to die in there¡¯.

    Even the guards at the door repeatedly confirmed whether they were sure they wanted to go in with just seven of them, to the point that he almost wanted to tell them that they couldn¡¯t go in with just seven of them. It was a pity that they had listened to everything that was said during the beginning.

    ¡°Seven people, either they¡¯ll be eliminated as soon as they enter, or they get devoured.¡± The guard said, shaking his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s just another group of youngsters that don¡¯t know how high the sky is.¡± The other guard said, used to it. ¡°When they meet some mythical beasts, then they¡¯ll know what fear is.¡±

    Ten minutester, thest of the people who lingered outside had finally entered the forest.

    Jiang Shuxuan waved the talisman in hand, and the entrance to Bahuang Forest was closed.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, it¡¯s expected that Tang Qinghong from your ancient martial arts world will be in the top five.¡± The old man who had announced the rules previously stroked his beard, smiling. ¡°As for the fight for first ce, it might be hard. I heard that Nozawa from Japan has reached the strength of the 70th floor in the Trial Tower. It seems that he has just emerged from the inheritance base.¡±

    ¡°Nozawa?¡± Jiang Shuxuan finally raised his head to look at the old man. ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±

    His face was indifferent, and there were no changes during the conversation.

    Having said that, he turned around and left.

    After he was gone, the others were still discussing him. ¡°Why did Young Master Jiang take on the job of being captain of the guards this year? Shouldn¡¯t he be preparing for the Heaven and Earth Ranking at this point?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, maybe he¡¯s in a good mood?¡± Another person said suddenly. ¡°But what¡¯s with that Nozawa that you mentioned just now? He seems to be in high regard?¡±

    ¡°Nozawa has already epted all the inheritance from Japan¡¯s inheritance base, and his strength is close to the 70th floor. Just like the record that Young Master Jiang had set previously, it looks like this year¡¯s Youth Ranking will fall to Japan.¡± The old man sighed bitterly. ¡°Chinese martial artists always had the highest percentage in cement in the top hundred, and the first ce has always been taken by them too. With Nozawa around this year, there¡¯s definitely a good show to be seen!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about Cecil from America, he¡¯s Cecily¡¯s younger brother, and Cecily was in the top ten thest round.¡±

    ¡°Cecily and the little demon girl appeared out of nowhere in the previouspetition, and it was super exciting to watch. I wonder if there¡¯s any surprises this year.¡±

    ¡°Look, the ranking has begun to change. Nozawa is indeed at the top!¡±

    More than eighty thousand participants had entered the forest, and the ones who stayed outside were people from the participating countries who were tasked with recording the ranking at any time, as well as broadcasting the live results.

    The tablet only showed the rankings for those in the top hundred, and it could change at any time. As long as someone killed a mythical beast, they would get the energy and ranked up ordingly.

    At this time, countless people in the power world were watching with rapt attention.

    People in the ancient martial arts world were no exception.

    The posts in The Forum were all discussions about the rankings.

    Main Building: Thetest ranking list has been released, and will be updated continuously [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    Anon 1: Strange, I can see Young Master Tang and Young Master Yin¡¯s rankings, but why can¡¯t I see Miss Gu¡¯s?

    Anon 2: Yeah, I thought that Miss Gu would for sure be number one. Who is this Nozawa and where did hee from?

    Anon 3: Nozawa, Japanese, male, 22 years old, strength at 70th floor of Trial Tower, the sessor to Japan¡¯s power world. He¡¯s really strong, and he has countless magic weapons at his disposal!

    Anon 4: Holy sh*t! 70th floor! It¡¯s almost the same as Young Master Jiang!

    Anon 5: Scary!

    Anon 10: Miss Gu, why isn¡¯t your name in the top hundred?

    Anon 20: Even Young Master Tang¡¯s cement is quite low, looks like our ancient martial arts world really has deteriorated, only three are in the top hundred.

    Anon 50: This Shi Qin is actually in the top 90? Who is this guy, hurry up and find out where he¡¯s from!

    Anon 1666: I¡¯m the host, and the ranking list which is updated on an hourly basis is now up [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    Anon 1700: Miss Gu is still not on it, what a disappointment!

    Anon 1710: Miss Gu, where have you gone?

    Anon 1800: What Miss Gu, I think she¡¯s just a liar. She can¡¯t even enter the top hundred, Miss Jiang Tong wasn¡¯t like thisst time. I¡¯m sure there was something fishy in the way she beat Miss Jiang Tong previously!

    Anon 1999: I can only say, what a big disappointment!

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao naturally didn¡¯t know about the dispute that was happening outside of the forest, because at this time, she was setting up a fire in Bahuang Forest. She then took out a pot to start a hot pot.

    The spicy vor of the hot pot floated tens of meters away, the top covered in ayer of bright red oil. She dipped in the paper-thin beef slices, eating it leisurely.

    Here she was cooking beef on one side, while six people were having a life and death fight against a bull shaped monster the size of a car ten meters away from her.

    The scene was dangerous, with Shi Qin¡¯s sword aura ring around, cutting down countless trees that copsed with a loud ¡®bang¡¯.

    Only Gu Xiqiao¡¯s corner was quiet andfortable like a scene in paradise.

    Wu Hongwen, Yao Jiamu and Xiao had struggled against the beast, the three of them had not used any weapons. They used the branches that Gu Xiqiao had given them. When the six of them had first worked together and saw the dead branches that Gu Xiqiao had given them to use as weapons, Shi Qin almost thought that they had met liars instead.

    Luckily, when the fight started, the three of them used the branches with astonishing skills. Although their chi couldn¡¯t bepared to his, they had moves that were skillful and they worked well together.

    Shi Qin reluctantly acknowledged them, and then it turned into pity instead.

    With a sh of bright light, the bull-shaped beast was stabbed by Shi Qin¡¯s sword, and it dissipated immediately, the energy balling up and flying into his wooden token.

    On the outside of the forest, Shi Qin¡¯s ranking went up from 97 to 89. The entire world was in an uproar.

    ¡°The three of you have a good grasp and understanding of martial arts.¡± Shi Qin sheathed his sword back into its hilt, turning to look at Yao Jiamu and the others. ¡°It¡¯s a pity that you don¡¯t have enough chi, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t be any weaker than me.¡±

    ¡°Your praise is too much.¡± Yao Jiamu shook his head. Gu Xiqiao had already informed them from the beginning to use their moves against the beast without any chi. The three of them had understood her intentions, so they followed her instructions. They were extremely weak because of that, but even then there were people who praised them?

    Yao Jiamu he... was dumbfounded, not sure whether tough or cry at that.

    As the two were talking, the other four had already rushed to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, this is delicious!¡± Betty picked up a pair of chopsticks, not afraid of the heat and immediately shoving a beef slice into her mouth. ¡°Although you don¡¯t dare to kill those mythical beasts, don¡¯t worry! With big sister here, I¡¯ll definitely protect you!¡±

    When Betty and the others first saw Gu Xiqiao not doing anything, hiding the moment the beasts appeared and not daring toe out due to fear, they had been disgusted and almost wanted to break up the team.

    But once they ate her hot pot... they had converted to be loyal fans of hers.

    In fact, everyone here was a closet foodie.

    Hearing Betty¡¯s words, Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, and Xiao Yun gave her a look.

    ¡°What are you looking at me for?¡± Seeing that they were looking at her weirdly, she asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you guys don¡¯t intend to protect Qiao Qiao?¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course we will!¡± The three of them nodded hurriedly.

    Gu Xiqiao had already eaten her fill, and was leaning against a tree bark. She ignored the others talking, her eyes narrowed in a direction to her left.

    A momentter, Shi Qin, who was eating his beef, stood up suddenly, a grave expression on his face. ¡°Some other teams are heading this way!¡±

    As soon as he said that, a group of people came over.

    Betty didn¡¯t bother at first, they had a master who had reached the 49th floor with them after all, that was their protection. Up till the person appeared in front of her, and her chopsticks ttered to the ground, together with the beef that was in it. She couldn¡¯t care about her distress at the wasted food at the moment, as she muttered, ¡°This... This is the person with the highest chance of getting first ce, Latvia¡¯s Felix. Sh*t, we¡¯re done for, hurry up and run!¡±

 Chapter 280 - Too Terrifying!

    <h4>Chapter 280: Too Terrifying!</h4>

    Eighty thousand participants, and only a hundred would be selected to enter the qualifying tournament. They were not only facing mythical beasts, but also teams that were made up of the bigger families. Because of the rules of the trials, anyone would be able to obtain another¡¯s energy points from their identity cards.

    When ordinary teams encountered stronger teams, there was only one way to avoid their points from being taken from that¡ªrun!

    This was also one of the things that were discussed by those who had participated in thestpetition.

    And this time, the five strongest teams were led by Tang Qinghong from China¡¯s ancient martial arts world, Yan Qi from Ennd¡¯s Supernatural World, Cecil from America, Felix from Latvia, and Nozawa from Japan.

    Each of them had the strength and power to obtain the first ce!

    So Betty was surprised when she saw the group that had approached was Felix, and she shot Gu Xiqiao and everyone else a look that said ¡®Hurry and run!¡¯.

    Shi Qin and Hanz stood slowly, stepping up beside Betty, watching Felix and his team warily.

    The three others beside the hotpot however, were still eating their beef with a content expression, as if they had not seen Felix¡¯s team. Betty shot them a desperate look, but the three ignored her.

    ¡°Little Yunzi, Little Yunzi... Oh, Little Muzi, Little Wuzi!¡± Betty was at her wit¡¯s end with their attitude.

    Although their partnership had only been a short day, Shi Qin and the two had no intentions of abandoning Gu Xiqiao and the rest of them.

    But facing Felix, they didn¡¯t have a snowball¡¯s chance in h*ll to win this fight!

    ¡°Shi Qin, why are Little Yunzi and the rest in such a daze!¡± Betty raised her weapon, which was an exquisitely made bow. Her face was calm, but her eyes couldn¡¯t hide the panic that she was feeling.

    Shi Qin pursed his lips, ncing at Gu Xiqiao who was leaning against the tree, counting her fingers. She looked even more rxed than Xiao Yun and the others. ¡°They probably don¡¯t know who Felix is, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t be behaving like this. But it doesn¡¯t matter whether they know or not, do we even have a chance to escape, now that we¡¯re up against them?¡±

    Betty was silent at his words.

    Indeed, Felix had enough strength to fight for the first cement, which meant his power level was at least on the 52nd floor.

    The difference of being on the 40th and 50th floor was massive, and even if there were ten of Shi Qin, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to deal with Felix, what more the seven of them?

    Not to mention, there were also about twenty members behind Felix, each of them no less than a power level of 35th floor!

    ¡°Meeting Felix just as soon as we enter, what kind of sh*tty luck do we have? Shi Qin, what do we do now?¡± Hans said bitterly.

    ¡°This is still the edge of Bahuang Forest, why hasn¡¯t Felix gone to the center yet?¡± Betty¡¯s face was pale. The mythical beasts on the edge of the forest were weaker, so they had lesser energy contribution to their token, and most of the stronger teams would head to the center to go against the more powerful ones.

    The team of nearly thirty people, including Felix who couldpete for first cing, closed in on them.

    ¡°Young Master Felix, this ck-haired boy¡¯s chi isn¡¯t that weak, looking at it, he should be Shi Qin from China, who¡¯s in the top 90 right now.¡± A young man next to Felix said. ¡°If you get his energy, then you¡¯ll definitely be able to surpass Cecil and obtain second ce!¡±

    Felix looked at Shi Qin, nodding his head after a while. ¡°Shi Qin, not a bad talented genius. If you continue to develop, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to get into the top hundred. But you¡¯re out of luck, since you met me. After I kill you, there¡¯ll be an extra cing for Latvia among the top hundred.¡±

    But to deal with this group of weak chickens, he really didn¡¯t feel like exerting any effort to do so. It wasn¡¯t even worth his time!

    So he waved his hand, and a few people came forward from behind him, holding big swords in their hands. They rushed towards Shi Qin and the others when they were signaled forward.

    Seeing Shi Qin and the others take out their weapon, the other team couldn¡¯t help theughter that burst out. They still wanted to resist? What a joke! And the other four weren¡¯t even reacting, did they not know who they were up against?

    It didn¡¯t matter anyway, all seven of them would be eliminated in a bit.

    Betty rushed to defend Xiao Yun and the others when she saw someone with a knife rushing towards them, but Xiao Yun, Yao Jiamu, and Wu Hongwen were still calmly eating their food, not making any moves to avoid them.

    ¡°Look! Those three have been scared by our Young Master Felix till they became nuts already!¡±

    Felix¡¯s team burst outughing again, their eyes full of mockery as they looked towards the three.

    Felix, who had also beenughing, suddenly paled. ¡°Get back!¡± He shouted in an urgent tone.

    The group of men who were holding their big swords looked at each other, not understanding what Felix was doing. But since Felix was the strongest in their team, and he was also the leader, it was obvious that they would listen to his orders. As soon as he spoke, all of them put away their weapons and retreated to his side.

    There was a strange expression on Felix¡¯s face, and he looked shaken up. Not giving another look at Gu Xiqiao and the rest, he turned and left with his team.

    His face was pale, and his steps were hurried.

    ¡°Ah? This... what just happened?¡± Betty¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Didn¡¯t they just announce arrogantly that they wanted to eliminate us? Why have they just left like that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Shi Qin replied, shaking his head with a contemtive look in his eyes.

    Hans also felt that it was weird, and although he was burly, he was also quite intelligent. ¡°Although I¡¯ve never met Felix, I¡¯ve heard of his reputation. He¡¯s a master, and a viciously cruel person. A lot of the Latvia people don¡¯t actually like him. I had thought that we¡¯d never be able to escape him.¡±

    Why did they leave before they even made a move?

    Hans let out a long sigh, wiping the sweat off his head. ¡°That was close, we actually managed to escape from Felix.¡±

    ¡°Oh you three! You¡¯re really so bold.¡± Betty looked at them who had been eating from start to end, and it looked like Xiao Yun had consumed enough beef to feed an entire country, to Gu Xiqiao who was still looking at her fingers in a leisurely manner. Pointing to Gu Xiqiao, she said, ¡°And you, Qiao Qiao. Didn¡¯t you know that we were almost eliminated! If it weren¡¯t for Felix¡¯s sudden change of mind, none of them would have managed to escape!¡±

    Wu Hongwen had finally managed to grab another piece of meat, and he raised his head slowly when he heard Betty¡¯s words, blinking at her. ¡°Sudden change of mind? How can that be, there definitely must have been a master who helped us out.¡±

    ¡°A master?¡± Betty blinked owlishly, disbelief clear on her face. ¡°What other master would be able to force Felix to retreat instantly like that? Not even Cecil or Nozawa would be able to do that, right?¡±

    If the eighty thousand participants were to be arranged in a pyramid structure, then Felix, Cecil, Tang Qinghong, Nozawa, and Yan Qi would definitely be among the top five.

    Being on the same level of genius as the others, how could it be possible that Felix would be scared off by any one of them?

    ¡®Little Wuzi, that was sarcasm wasn¡¯t it?¡¯ Betty pouted.

    Shi Qin was silent for a while, before saying in a deep voice, ¡°Little Wuzi is right.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Betty turned to look at Shi Qin with an inconceivable look.

    ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± Shi Qin said, shaking his head. ¡°ording to what Hans said, Felix is a vicious person, how could he have let us go so easily? He¡¯s been threatening us since the beginning, saying that he¡¯ll eliminate us. If you were Felix, Hans, would you have suddenly changed your mind and let us go?

    Hans thought for a bit, then shook his head. Of course not!

    ¡°So, what Little Wuzi said made sense. There is someone who helped us out, or, Felix saw something that scared him,¡± Shi Qin said, analyzing his observation of the situation.

    Hans and Betty were both silent, contemting his words. It... it did sound like it made sense, right?

    ¡°Either way, we can¡¯t stay here too long.¡± Shi Qin looked towards Gu Xiqiao and the other three. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry and leave, and Betty, tell them about Felix, Cecil, Yan Qi, Nozawa, and Tang Qinghong. They need to hear the details.¡±

    Otherwise if they had the luck to run into any of the mentioned five, they¡¯d be sitting ducks and won¡¯t be able to escape at all!

    Betty immediately started briefing the four of them once she heard Shi Qin¡¯s instructions.

    In the end, the only one that listened to her words was Yao Jiamu.

    Xiao Yun was discussing with Gu Xiqiao about what to eat for dinner, while Wu Hongwen was asking her about using a thicker branch as a sword, which was rejected immediately by her.

    Betty, who was trying to brief them about the details: ¡°...¡± My heart is tired, seriously.

    ***

    At the same time, Felix and his team had already left the area. Felix was in the lead, and his steps were hurried, his face still pale.

    After walking for a long time, he finally stopped to wipe the cold sweat on his head and tried to calm his raging heart.

    ¡°Young Master Felix, why did you let those people go?¡± The young man who was beside him asked, puzzled. ¡°It was obvious that we could have gotten rid of them.¡±

    ¡°What do you know!¡± Felix said, a lingering fear in his tone. ¡°When you guys just started to attack, my spirit and mind were attacked suddenly!¡±

    ¡°What?! Someone dared to attack you?¡± The young man¡¯s eyes widened.

    Their Young Master Felix was one of the contenders for first ce!

    Felix nodded. ¡°That person was very strong, I¡¯m guessing their power level is about the 70th floor.¡± He couldn¡¯t resist at all!

    There was another thing that he didn¡¯t tell them. When he was attacked, that person had spoken to him, ¡°If you don¡¯t leave, you will die.¡± And that was the reason that he called them back and left in such a hurry!

    ¡°70th floor?!¡± Shock and horror were now on the young man¡¯s face. ¡°Isn¡¯t that almost the same as Young Master Jiang?¡±

    ¡°That strong?¡± Someone else asked. ¡°Young Master, who in the world was it? Is it one of the other five?¡±

    Felix shook his head. ¡°No, this person is far stronger than me.¡±

    Gods!

    For even their Young Master Felix to react this way, the people in his team couldn¡¯t help but look at each other uneasily. This mysterious person was just too terrifying!

 Chapter 281 - Couldnt Go On Like This

    <h4>Chapter 281: Couldn¡¯t Go On Like This</h4>

    The news that Felix had met a mysterious strong master was quickly spread, but it didn¡¯t cause any massive waves mainly because a lot of people didn¡¯t believe it.

    ¡°Young Master Nozawa, I heard that Felix had an encounter with a powerful master. Even Felix was frightened,¡± A man in a ck suit leaned forward to say.

    Nozawa raised his head slightly, a glint reflecting in his eyes, a trace of disdain crossing his face. ¡°Felix? That trash?¡±

    The man in ck lowered his head, chuckling. ¡°Of course Felix is unable to bepared to you, Young Master. However, the master that he said...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re worrying too much. Who else in this Bahuang Forest that canpare to our Young Master Nozawa? Even the elders are confident that Young Master Nozawa will obtain the first ce this year, what are you afraid of?¡± Another man in ck patted the first one, smiling without worry.

    ¡°The most important thing now is to find those mythical beasts that escaped,¡± Nozawa said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The first man said, a serious expression on his face. ¡°But the mythical beast was strong, and it shouldn¡¯t be appearing on the edge of Bahuang Forest usually.¡± His voice was hesitant, feeling something was off about it.

    ¡°Such conditions are in our favor. Right now, there are only weaker beasts in the outer area. When we kill such a strong one, they not only won¡¯t attract stronger beats, we¡¯ll also get more energy from it,¡± Nozawa said, looking at him.

    There was a heavy pressure from the look, and the man in ck felt a chill behind his back. He nodded his head hurriedly in agreement.

    The group of people followed behind Nozawa, looking for the strong mythical beast that had escaped their grasp.

    ***

    On the other side, Shi Qin and the others were still hanging around the outer edge of the forest, not dating to venture deeper towards the center.

    After another life and death battle, Shi Qin, Yao Jiamu and the others were in a sorry state. Especially Yao Jiamu, who had blood sttered over his body. The only one who still looked refreshed and clean among them was Gu Xiqiao.

    She was even holding a book in her hands, writing strange words in them. As she walked, she looked around. Betty was afraid that she would eventually walk into a tree, and she had followed behind Gu Xiqiao in the beginning. But after walking for more than an hour behind her, she realized that Gu Xiqiao seemed to have eyes on top of her head, avoiding trees in front of her one second before it even appeared in her way. What a practical skill to have!

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡± Shi Qin patted the dust on his body, a grave expression on his face. ¡°It¡¯s the third strong mythical beast that we¡¯ve encountered. Logically, there shouldn¡¯t be such powerful beasts on the outer part of the forest.¡±

    Hans wasn¡¯t very bothered and he pulled out a water bottle to drink from. After quenching his thirst, he wiped his mouth with his sleeves. ¡°Who cares what kind of beasts they are, as long as we kill it, it¡¯s fine!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve so far encountered beasts that we can kill, but what happens when a Xiantian or Houtian level beast appears? Will we be able to kill it then?¡± Shi Qin said, looking at Hans.

    Hans opened his mouth like a fish, struggling to find the words. ¡°N-No way, that wouldn¡¯t happen right? Won¡¯t those only appear in the middle of the forest? Will they really appear here?¡±

    ¡°Did that mythical beast look like one that usually appears on the edge of the forest?¡± Shi Qin shot back.

    Hans was silent at that, finally contemting Shi Qin¡¯s words seriously.

    Shi Qin saw that he was taking him seriously, and he turned away, satisfied. He looked to see Wu Hongwen and the others waving sticks like swords.

    Then he looked further to see Gu Xiqiao leaning against the trees, reading.

    No matter how he looked at it, she was just leisurely reading!

    She was rxed to the point that he felt... like she was being a pain in the a*s.

    Shi Qin had the urge to rub his temples. What kind of teammates were these?

    ¡°What are you looking at, Qiao Qiao?¡± Betty leaned over to see the book in her hands.

    Turning a page, Gu Xiqiao replied lightly, ¡°Moral cultivation.¡±

    Moral cultivation? What the h*ll was that? Betty rubbed her eyes and looked at the book again. Unfortunately, it was all written in Chinese, and she couldn¡¯t understand a single word on it since she wasn¡¯t Chinese. The book Gu Xiqiao was reading was written in oracle bone script, even Wu Hongwen and the others couldn¡¯t understand it, how would Betty be able to?

    ¡°Oh, moral cultivation, I see.¡± Betty left without another word.

    ¡°What¡¯s she looking at?¡± Hans finally snapped out of his thoughts when Betty came back to his side, and he asked.

    ¡°Moral cultivation,¡± Betty replied with a straight face.

    Moral cultivation? What kind of awesome martial arts technique was that? Hans was a little surprised.

    ¡°Er Qiao, let¡¯s prepare the hotpot, I¡¯m so hungry.¡± The three had finally finished analyzing a summary of their recent battle, and mored around Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao turned another page, not raising her head as she replied, ¡°If you want to eat, then prepare it yourself. Everything for the hotpot is there.¡±

    Wu Hongwen scratched his head, and whined, ¡°Can we even eat the food we make?!¡± After eating the hotpot that she made, how could they bear to eat the hotpot that any one of them prepared?

    ¡°You can eat it somehow, I¡¯m not stopping you.¡± Her slender fingers turned another page. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m very busy right now. I don¡¯t have time to do that.¡±

    Busy? Busy reading a book?

    Wu Hongwen wanted to cry, you¡¯re not stopping us, but we¡¯re stopping ourselves!

    Yao Jiamu had already anticipated this result, and so he had set up the firewood in preparation to cook the hotpot.

    ¡°The hotpot is still here.¡± Betty looked excited as she watched Yao Jiamu set up the wooden frame. ¡°I thought that it was smashed to pieces from the fight just now. Lucky!¡±

    Hearing that, Yao Jiamu nced at Betty silently, not saying a word before going to preparing the hotpot in silence.

    Hans saw that Yao Jiamu was preparing dinner tonight, and he was surprised. ¡°You know how to cook?¡±

    Yao Jiamu: ¡°...¡± Don¡¯t eat then! D*mn it!

    When he thought that, he turned to look at Gu Xiqiao again, who was still flipping the book in her hands.

    [Ding! The system has sessfully upgraded! Congrattions to the host for obtaining Upgrade Package*1!]

    [Ding! Congrattions on obtaining Upgrade Symbol*1!]

    [Ding! Congrattions on obtaining Virtual Arena Upgrade Symbol*1!]

    [Ding! The system database has been fully unlocked!]

    [Ding! Congrattions onpleting random missions. The system has rewarded you 20 points!]

    [Ding! Congrattions onpleting daily missions. The system has rewarded you 36 points!]

    [Ding! Congrattions on leveling up your Ancient Martial Arts skill to Xiantian Level! The system has rewarded you 10,000 points!]

    [Ding! Congrattions on leveling up your Ancient Martial Arts skill to Houtian Level! The system has rewarded you 20,000 points!]

    The cold rings sounded in her head suddenly, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand paused. ¡®Jiji, you¡¯re alive again?¡¯

    Jiji had just woken up, a dumbfounded look on its face. [Holy sh*t! What have you been doing, Beauty Qiao? You suddenly just obtained 30,000 points in one go! Did you advance your levels like drinking water?!]

    ¡®We¡¯ll talk about thatter. Why were you suddenly forced to upgrade?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, hiding the look in her eyes.

    [That day, I felt that you were in danger and I just wanted to return to the Virtual Arena. Then I suddenly felt a very familiar chi around you,] Jiji spoke as though in a trance. [So very familiar, then I felt pain in my head, and I was out cold. When I woke up, I had been upgraded.]

    Hearing those words, Gu Xiqiao frowned slightly. A very familiar chi? The only unexpected person that had appeared the other day was...¡¯Dubhe. Jiji, you know Dubhe.¡¯

    [Dubhe?] A puzzled look appeared on Jiji¡¯s face, it was all the more confused now. [Who is he? I¡¯ve never heard of him.]

    ¡®I think that Dubhe was your previous host, that¡¯s why you felt it was so familiar.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingers had stopped on a word in her book.

    [My previous host? How could I have a previous host, Beauty Qiao? Ever since I was conscious, the first person I saw is you, how could I have a previous host?]

    Gu Xiqiao was silent, pointing to a line of words in her book. ¡®The ancient power, its space is self-reliant and intelligent.¡¯

    ¡®This virtual space should be referring to some inheritance virtual space, and you, you are the intelligence that was born from it.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao closed the book and leaned back against the tree, narrowing her eyes as she thought deeper.

    [But I¡¯m a system!] Jiji said hurriedly. [You¡¯re my only host, Beauty Qiao!]

    ¡®It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s not like I said anything.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao was dumbfounded at the realization she had reached. ¡®Let¡¯s talk about itter.¡¯

    [Oh.] Jiji sat in the Virtual Arena, crossing its legs as it yed its games. [You should be in the selections right now, right, Beauty Qiao?]

    ¡®Yeah,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao replied, then she suddenly asked, ¡®Jiji, can you show me a map of the surroundings?¡¯

    As soon as she said that, a transparent panel appeared in front of her. There was a foggy patch on the panel, and nothing could be seen.

    ¡°I thought so.¡± Gu Xiqiao said in a low voice.

    [Oh right, did you help make me a tall and mighty body, Beauty Qiao?] Jiji suddenly looked excited as it remembered this. [I¡¯m telling you now, I¡¯m awesome after this upgrade!]

    Gu Xiqiao merely replied with an ¡®oh¡¯, and said, ¡®I brought your original body along.¡¯

    Jiji: [...] How could you! I really want to hurt you now!

    ¡®Do you want toe out?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao asked.

    Jiji buried its face in its knees, a look of sad betrayal on its face. [... Sorry, I want some quiet now.]

    Gu Xiqiao gave it a cold ¡®oh¡¯.

    ¡°Er Qiao,e and eat.¡± Yao Jiamu had already cooked the hotpot meal, and although the taste was far inferior to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, there was nothing better to eat now, so the others didn¡¯t really mind it.

    Gu Xiqiao kept away her book under the tree casually and sat down, but she didn¡¯t make a move to eat.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xiao Yun felt it was a little strange to see her like that, and she came over to her side.

    Gu XIqiao smiled at her, twirling a few strands of hair. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to eat this meal.¡±

    Before Xiao Yun could say anything, Shi Qin stood up with a long ¡®bang¡¯ and shouted, ¡°There¡¯s a beast in front!¡±

    As soon as he said that, everyone ced down their chopsticks, following Shi Qin to rush towards the directions where the beasts appeared!

    In just a second, Gu Xiqiao was the only one left under the tree. She sat there, a sh of white on her hands, and a cold robot appeared beside her.

    ¡°Jiji, your body¡¯s here. Are you really not going to disy your new abilities to me?¡± Gu Xiqiao chuckled, rubbing her chin.

    Jiji struggled in the virtual space for a while, before finally gritting its teeth anding out.

    It knew all along anyway, with Gu Xiqia¡¯s terrible taste, she would never make a tall and mighty body for it!

    ¡°This is so much better, it¡¯s so cute!¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up and rounded Jiji¡¯s body, pping her hands. ¡°Quick, show me your abilities!¡±

    Jiji stretched out both its mechanical hands. ¡°Let me charge up for a while.¡±

    ¡°... Charge up?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at Jiji with a solemn expression. ¡°Jiji, do you know if you¡¯re like this on a battlefield, you can die very easily.¡±

    What kind of enemies would let you have the time to charge up?

    Jiji: ¡°... Oh.¡± It wasn¡¯t like it wanted to either.

    Gu Xiqiao sat back down, waiting for Jiji to ¡®charge up¡¯, and stretched out her mental powers to observe the situation of her teammates.

    There was something really wrong with this Bahuang Forest, and she didn¡¯t feelpletely at east letting the six of them out of her sight.

    Suddenly, she frowned, turning to look ahead.

    Shi Qin and the others were hurrying back to the spot.

    Specifically, Shi Qin, Hans, and Betty were running back in a hurry, while Yao Jiamu, Xiao Yun, and Wu Hongwen were walking slowly behind, a regretful expression on their faces.

    ¡°Shi Qin, are we really giving away our mythical beasts to other people?¡± Wu Hongwen felt aggrieved, they had obviously seen it first!

    As the six of them got closer, their voices were also heard clearer. Betty sighed. ¡°Little Wuzi, that was Master Cecil! The strongest master from America in the current generation! We definitely can¡¯t beat him! Didn¡¯t I already tell you, when you meet any of the five, just run! Luckily, even though Master Cecil has a bad temper, he doesn¡¯t bully others. We were lucky this time, if it was Nozawa instead, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to run!¡±

    Hearing Betty¡¯s words, Gu Xiqiao gave a sigh. They couldn¡¯t continue to go on like this.

    Forget about the rest, now even their prey had been taken. If they encountered those five again, when would she be able to achieve the goal of training this group of people?

    If you want to be scared, it should be other people who run in fear when they see them, right? Why were they the ones running away instead?

    No wonder Wu Hongwen had such a sullen look on his face.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her fingers together, then slowly stood, her eyes looking ahead.

 Chapter 282 - Speechlesss From Overexcitement

    <h4>Chapter 282: Speechlesss From Overexcitement</h4>

    Seeing the sullen look on Wu Hongwen¡¯s face even after she exined, Betty immediately knew that she had said too much.

    Thinking back on it, it wasn¡¯t even as frustrating as it was when they were in the Peace Squad.

    Actively giving up their prey to others?

    No matter how strong their opponents were, this was not something the Peace Squad would do! They¡¯d agree on the surface, and then they¡¯d find a way to strike back from the back!

    Thinking of this, Wu Hongwen kind of missed the Peace Squad. He also wondered how the work wasing along with the Peace Manor.

    ¡°It¡¯s enough, Betty.¡± Xiao Yun patted her shoulder with an assuring look on her cold face. ¡°He¡¯s a bit more rash than us, we¡¯ll make sure to talk to him properly.¡±

    Xiao Yun and Yao Jiamu were still fine, but Wu Hongwen¡¯s temper was a little uncontroble.

    Hearing Xiao Yun¡¯s words, Betty finally felt like she had found a reliable person, and started to feel some relief. Turning around, she suddenly saw a robot near Gu Xiqiao, and she was taken aback. ¡°Qiao Qiao, where did thate from?¡±

    ¡°When you guys left just now, it suddenly fell from the sky.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned to look at Jiji, then back to Betty. ¡°It¡¯s called Jiji, a robot.¡±

    Once she said that, Yao Jiamu and the others looked at her weirdly, then to Jiji, and decided that nope, this was not something they wanted to get involved in.

    And then they greeted Jiji with very friendly tones.

    They didn¡¯t expect Jiji topletely ignore them.

    The three: ¡°... Forget it then, let¡¯s continue our hotpot meal.¡± Is this being hated on by the robot, or what?

    Gu Xiqiao looked over to the three, and then she leaned over to pick up the book that she had ced on the ground to continue her reading.

    ¡°A robot?¡± Betty felt that something was wrong, muttering to herself as she sat down to eat her hotpot. ¡°How could it have fallen from the sky?¡±

    Shi Qin looked at Betty and Hans who was sitting down, and he was speechless.

    Wu Hongwen and the others were a bit wrong in the head, so seeing them sit down to eat hotpot was one thing, but even the other two had sat down? A big battle was ongoing in the nearby area, even the earth was shaking, how could they be so rxed? They obviously weren¡¯t like this in the beginning!

    He thought about it a little more, before he too sat down and took a bowl from Wu Hongwen.

    Gu Xiqiao put down her book, sitting on top of it before eating her food slowly.

    At this time, Jiji finally seeded in ¡®charging up¡¯, and its familiar mechanical voice rang out, ¡°Beauty Qiao, look!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked up, seeing a pink flower in the ws of its mechanical hands.

    Meanwhile, in therge apartment in A Apartment, Mrs. Zhang was carrying a vase that Dog Feed was in to a more sunny ce. Suddenly, it flickered, and the entire flower disappeared.

    Mrs. Zhang was left looking at the empty vase in a stunned daze.

    Dog Feed looked at Jiji, then snarled with its teeth.

    ¡°Jiji, your power is great!¡± Gu Xiqiao turned to look at Jiji with an indifferent expression on her face, who was beside the tree.

    Wu Hongwen turned, a piece of beef still sticking out from his mouth, and saw Dog Feed in Jiji¡¯s arms. He almost choked on the meat in his mouth. ¡°Pft! Jiji, you can actually do magic tricks! Really can¡¯t underestimate you!¡±

    Betty suddenly understood. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a robot who can do tricks!¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡±

    Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun & Dog Feed: ¡°...¡±

    Other than the hotpot that was made by Gu Xiqiao, every other hotpot in the world was tasteless next to it. So everyone shot Yao Jiamu a look as they continued to grab the beef from inside.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Loud noises suddenly came from the front of them, two thick old trees were cut in half, falling to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

    A bunch of people rushed over in a hurry, looking as though they had exhausted all their strength.

    They were covered in blood, and their faces were full of terror.

    Betty put her chopsticks down, a horrified look on her face. ¡°Aren¡¯t those the people from Master Cecil¡¯s team? What happened to them?¡±

    ¡°Master Cecil! Don¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Hurry and go!¡±

    The group yelled out in horrified screams, a st of terrifying aura shooting out from a close by area. The tragic screams echoed in the area, the leaves shaking and falling to the ground in the same instant.

    This made Shi Qin and Hans ce down their utensils, standing up and looking in the direction with shock.

    Cecil¡¯s figure also appeared, moving towards them in a hurried pace. Unlike the group of people that had first appeared, he was fighting as he ran, against a giant unicorn-shaped beast.

    The powerful and terrifying aura was emitting from the giant beast.

    ¡°Should we help?¡± Hans gripped the sword in his hand, his tone grave.

    ¡°We can¡¯t.¡± Shi Qin shook his head, panic appearing in his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s... that¡¯s a Xiantian level mythical beast! Listen, we need to run, now! If you can¡¯t escape then shout that you give up!¡±

    Hans and Betty¡¯s face changed the moment they heard the word ¡®Xiantian¡¯.

    They naturally knew what it meant, it meant that the power level was on the 70th floor of the Trial Tower.

    In this entire world, it was rare to have people with this strength level. People on the 70th floor of the Trial Tower were definitely dominating presences, like Jiang Shuxuan who had be famous in his early years. Because of that, the prestige of being on the 70th floor was widespread and known.

    Shi Qin was the one with the highest power in their group, and that was him being on the 49th floor. Look at Cecil, who was on the 50th floor.

    Compared to Xiantian level, they weren¡¯t able topete with that at all!

    Bang!

    Cecil, who had been said to be among the contenders to get first ce, was thrown to the ground, falling right next to Shi Qin and the others, a cloud of dust floating up again.

    ¡°Master Cecil!¡± Betty looked at Cecil with eyes full of disbelief.

    In her eyes, the all powerful Master Cecil was someone unbeatable, she couldn¡¯t believe that there woulde a day where he would be beaten like this!

    This was the difference in levels!

    The unicorn-shaped beast had already stopped in its tracks. Although its body was only made from pure energy, those eyes that were strangely human-like were... so very cold.

    ¡°This is a beast at Xiantian level, it has developed its own intelligence. We¡¯re alreadybeled as its food, and we can¡¯t escape it, none of us can! It¡¯s either you give up, or die!¡± Cecil, who had always been a proud man was full of reluctance and fear. The team of people that he led was also in the same sorry state.

    Even if they were reluctant, even though they craved to be in the top hundred, their life was still more importantpared to all this!

    If they died, there would be nothing left!

    Cecil was the strongest among them all, and if chose to give up, what could the others do? Even if they were unwilling to, they needed to save their lives. The face of each one of them was pale white.

    This included Shi Qin, he clenched his fist tightly, biting his lips harshly. There wasn¡¯t anything he could do anymore.

    ¡°Sigh.¡± Gu Xiqiao finally put down her chopsticks, giving a loud sigh. She got up and poked Wu Hongwen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Where¡¯s the wooden sword?¡±

    Wu Hongwen was busy eating his beef, but at her words, he immediately handed the item to her.

    The indifferently cold beast had already started to open its mouth in front of them, an energy ball of storm forming in front of it. Cecil and the others were already desperate, preparing to shout ¡®I give up¡¯, when suddenly, a pale, slender figure appeared in front of the beast.

    She held a very normal looking wooden sword in her slender hands, and the workmanship of it was slightly rough.

    In the middle of the energy storm that could shatter most people, she stood there,pletely unaffected. Only her clothes swayed slightly in the violent winds. She raised her head, her ink ck hair sliding across her cheeks, and she raised her hand to push it back without much thought.

    Fear suddenly appeared in the beast¡¯s eyes that were so cold just a moment ago. Its eyes widened when it looked at the woman that had appeared suddenly in front of it, not having any time to react when...

    The wooden sword crackling with electricity lifted it up high!

    A powerful mental force pressed against it at the same time, rendering it immobile. It was unable to move, and then the entire area froze as though time had stopped. The surging energy storm no longer threatened to swallow the area, and even the leaves seemed to have stopped mid-air. Everything was frozen in ce.

    The wooden sword cut through like a hot knife slicing through butter, slicing the beast right down the middle.

    The extremely powerful mythical beast was sliced cleanly in front of everyone¡¯s eyes, by a dull, wooden sword that couldn¡¯t even cut leaves.

    Gu Xiqiao watched the mythical beast dissipate slowly, then she reached out suddenly, grabbing onto thest bit of energy that was disappearing. She molded it into a small ball with her hands.

    It was shocking to see such powerful energy from such slender, white, dainty hands.

    Gu Xiqiao waved her hands after, and the pink flower floated to her side. She stuffed the ball of energy directly into Dog Feed¡¯s mouth.

    There was dead silence over the entire area after she did that!

    They looked at the thin, slender woman withically wide eyes. All of them were scared to the point they didn¡¯t dare to say a word, none of them could form a single coherent thought in their heads either.

    They had already been prepared to give up, but they didn¡¯t expect such a mysterious woman to appear suddenly.

    The Xiantian level beast had stood not a single chance against her.

    With just a wooden sword and a pair of dainty hands, she had split the beast in half so easily!

    Strong! She was just too strong! To the point that they forgot to breathe!

    ¡°Sh-Sh-Shi Qin...¡± Betty swallowed heavily. ¡°T-T-T-That¡¯s... That¡¯s Qiao Qiao?¡± The weakest link in their team, who had only reached the 20th floor of the Trial Tower, how could this note as a disbelieving shock to any of them?

    Hans blinked, then he blinked again. Gu Xiqiao was still there, and didn¡¯t disappear. He let out a long breath before saying, ¡°Gods! She... this...¡±

    Shi Qin was trying his best to calm his mind, the shock that he received to his heart was no less than Betty or Hans. In fact, he was way more shocked than the other two, even his fingertips were shaking. He turned to look at Yao Jiamu and the others who were still eating and drinking in a leisurely manner, no surprise in their eyes. It was obvious that they were used to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s disy of powers.

    No wonder the three of them had looked so regretful and aggrieved previously. Thinking back, it was also no wonder they had been dismissive when he and Betty had told them they needed to run if they ever ran into the five masters. He had thought they were too stupid to understand, but now it looks like they weren¡¯t the stupid ones, they had a certain extent of reliance to not be afraid of the five masters after all.

    There was also Felix, who they had ran into yesterday. How was it possible that such a bad tempered and vicious person like Felix would let them off so easily, even looking so frightened when he left? Obviously, it was Gu Xiqiao who had done it!

    Not only was a Xiantian level beast not able to be her opponent, even Felix, who was one of the contenders for first ce, was chased away without her even showing her face.

    What five super masters that could contend for first ce? In front of her, all of them were just farts!

    Hans and Betty could naturally know what Shi Qin was thinking about, because they were also thinking along the same lines.

    The three of them looked at Gu Xiqiao, their eyes full of fire. ¡°Strong. I finally understand what a strong ancient martial artist is, this is it!¡±

    She had always admired the strong, that was why she had been so excited whenever she saw Cecil.

    But now, she simply didn¡¯t know what to say when she looked at Gu Xiqiao!

    She¡¯s simply... she was simply a goddess! A super goddess!

    ¡°What kind of strength does she have, to meet no resistance against a Xiantian level beast?¡± Hans¡¯ face was flushed with excitement, and he rubbed his hands gleefully.

    The three were excited, Cecil and his men were in no better state either.

    Especially Cecil, he was stunned and rooted to the spot. Perhaps it was because he had not expected to survive this encounter, or perhaps he didn¡¯t expect to meet such a strong existence in this ce. Even he had no way to resist her, and he could only stare at her without blinking.

    After Gu Xiqiao had stuffed the energy ball into Dog Feed¡¯s mouth, she slowly walked back to her spot again.

    Her face was calm, looking as though she had not just done an extremely terrifying deed.

    Walking to her team¡¯s side, she suddenly stopped, her face darkening as she gritted her teeth. ¡°You three... you finished the beef?¡±

 Chapter 283 - Wiped Out in One Fell Swoop

    <h4>Chapter 283: Wiped Out in One Fell Swoop</h4>

    Upon hearing her ask this, Wu Hongwen almost choked on thest slice of beef.

    Xiao Yun and Yao Jiamu set down their chopsticks awkwardly. They had such a fun time watching the whole thing go down that they forgot!

    Shi Qin and the others all looked at Gu Xiqiao in astonishment. The girl barely batted an eysh when they gave her admiring looks after she smote the mythical Qilin, but now she had such a reaction from a small piece of beef?

    ¡°Qiao... No, uhm, Miss Gu.¡± Betty¡¯s gaze had never left Gu Xiqiao as she looked at her like an idol, to the point where she even changed her manner of address.

    She was too excited that she couldn¡¯t even calm down!

    Gu Xiqiao handed Jiji the flower before looking over at Betty that was looking at her with a heated stare.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s pack things up and choose another ce to rest. ¡°Gu Xiqiao said, and the others snapped out of their astonishment to pack everything up.

    And so the team left, each holding a weapon in one hand and cooking utensils and pottery in the other.

    If one looked at them, they would look like a bunch of youngsters going out for a pic, not a team of strong individuals...

    It was only after everyone left did Cecil and his partye back to their senses from the pressure.

    ¡°Master Cecil, I can¡¯t believe my eyes...¡± One of his teammates rubbed his face in disbelief.

    Cecil wiped off the trail of blood from the edge of his lips as he looked over in the direction where Gu Xiqiao¡¯s party left. ¡°She¡¯s strong, very strong. Felix didn¡¯t lie when he said that there was a peerless adversary in Bahuang Forest, probably even Nozawa couldn¡¯t beat her.¡±

    Once he said this, everyone¡¯s expressions turned even more surprised than before.

    Not even Nozawa could beat her? How strong was she?

    ¡°She looked younger than you are, how could she be so strong?¡± Someone asked in disbelief.

    ¡°The ancient martial arts world...¡± Cecil took his weapon and led everyone away from the scene, quite ted at that. ¡°Even if I can¡¯t beat you, Nozawa, you¡¯ll be faced with her sooner orter.¡±

    He smiled as he remembered the demeanor of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s party, and it was clear that they were never ones to unt their ability or strength. Therefore, probably no one else knew about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s existence just yet.

    The ranking tournament this year was bound to be interesting...

    He¡¯d definitely be unable to get the first or second ce, but he could still get the third ce!

    At this point, Cecil didn¡¯t know that not only would he not get third ce in the end, but he also wouldn¡¯t even get into the top ten!

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s party had already found a rtively quiet and peaceful ce to set up camp.

    Without anyone to bother her, Gu Xiqiao leaned back on a tree as she read a book.

    Yao Jiamu and the two others were talking about what Gu Xiqiao had done earlier, knowing that the reason why she used Wu Hongwen¡¯s wooden sword was as a demonstration for them. Even though the three of them were busy eating beef, they were still very focused on what she had done.

    At the same time, Shi Qin and the two others stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, not daring to say anything.

    It was only after Gu Xiqiao finished reading through the yellowed pages did she raise her head and look at them. ¡°Are the three of you... Interested in getting into the top twenty?¡±

    And so, they were stunned once again.

    The top twenty?

    It was already a dream for them to be able to get into the top hundred, but the top twenty? Were they dreaming?

    Even though they were still in disbelief, they nodded their heads as if possessed, and in the future they would be indefinitely grateful for their choice on that day, looking back.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded before popping open the lid on Jiji¡¯s chest and putting her book in there. ¡°Little Wu, give them some wooden weapons.¡±

    Wu Hongwen turned around and grinned at the three of them. ¡°d you decided to join us!¡±

    From that moment on, a strange team could be found in the Bahuang Forest, each holding useless-looking wooden weapons as they fought with weak monsters and beasts with all their might.

    Behind six of those people stood a pretty girl that didn¡¯t seem to be able to fight at all.

    Some teams saw that there weren¡¯t a lot of people in this team and assumed they were weak from how they used so much time to deal with weak monsters, and so they all tried to take advantage of them. To them, this small team was free pickings!

    The first team that tried to pick them off was a twenty-member team from France, with members that all passed the thirtieth level of the Trial Tower at least.

    When they saw Xiao Yun and the others hack at a Fleet Foot stage beast with wooden swords, they allughed and jeered, ¡°Hey, do you small fry need some help from your fr¨¨res? You seem to be having some trouble there!¡±

    After they said this, they all burst out inughter.

    Wu Hongwen and the otherspletely ignored them as they continued to fight the beast in full concentration.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed and looked over in their direction with a cold expression as she said, ¡°You want us to call you our brothers? We¡¯re not rats, though?¡±

    She spoke in Chinese so it took a while for them to react, and when they finally understood what she said, they were all filled with rage. ¡°You have a death wish!¡±

    One of them took out his weapon and rushed forward while the others watched coldly, and it was clear that they did this sort of thing quite often.

    ¡°... And here I wanted to spare you.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s visage flickered out of existence before reappearing in front of the opposing group.

    Before they could react, they were all disarmed, their weapons discarded by Gu Xiqiao before she snapped her fingers.

    Then, they all fell weakly onto the ground.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled down like an angel at the men that were lying helplessly on the ground, ignoring their ghastly expressions. ¡°Either you forfeit, or you die. Which do you choose?¡±

    Purple lightning danced between her fingers, and the energy that pulsed off of her made it abundantly clear to the twenty people that she was beingpletely serious. ¡°Forfeit! We forfeit!¡±

    As soon as the words were uttered, the space around them rippled as a figure appeared from thin air.

    Dressed in a white button-up shirt, the man looked down at these people before he raised his right hand and touched a piece of white jade, his finger glowing white before the twenty people all disappeared.

    At that moment, Yao Jiamu and the others finished beating the monster, and a pulse of energy surged split into sixths and went into their wooden ques.

    They all looked back to see the tall and lean figure, and Betty¡¯s jaw almost dropped to the ground. ¡°He¡¯s- The strongest-¡±

    ¡°The strongest man in the ancient martial arts world, yes.¡± Wu Hongwen helped her finish her sentence.

    ¡°Right!¡± Betty was both surprised and excited. ¡°He¡¯s right there! I¡¯m so- Ah, I¡¯m so excited! Do you think he would give me his signature? But I¡¯m too scared to ask him for one...¡±

    Shi Qin and Hans have both heard of Jiang Shuxuan before, especially Shi Qin who was part of the ancient martial arts world.

    That being said, none of them dared to go close to the man that was infamous for being as cold as ice¡ªWhat if they angered him?

    The next moment, Betty almost cked out from shock.

    The handsome man walked over and pulled Gu Xiqiao into a hug before whispering in her ear.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not quite right with Bahuang Forest, if you get into any trouble, call for me.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, before letting go of her and ncing over at the six others coldly, making them shake in their boots before he turned around and disappeared.

    Gu Xiqiao looked on as the man left, before rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

    ¡°M-Miss Gu... You know Master Jiang?¡± Betty asked carefully.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply and only smiled, and muttered to herself. ¡°So when I get someone to forfeit I can summon Brother Jiang, huh...¡±

    Yao Jiamu, Xiao Yun, and Wu Hongwen: ¡°...¡± There¡¯s that expression of hers again.

    ***

    Meanwhile, the group from France appeared outside Bahuang Forest.

    The person in charge of the teams from France looked at them in disbelief. ¡°It¡¯s only the second day, how did you get disqualified so quickly?¡±

    ¡°Elder, we crossed paths with a monster! We were rendered powerless with a single move, and were threatened by death to forfeit!¡± They were all crying, both from escaping from death and also from regret and shame.

    Not only did the twenty of them get disqualified by the same person, but it was a girl that was younger than any of them at that!

    How could they live with themselves?

    If they knew they were so strong, they wouldn¡¯t go provoke them like that!

    Why did that team act as if they were weaklings like that? Attacking monsters with wooden swords? Acting like they were a bunch of pushovers?

    Were they acting weak so that they could fish in chumps like them?!

    How unbelievable!

    ¡°Was it Nozawa?¡± The elder asked, not being able to imagine anyone else with that degree of strength.

    ¡°Not him, but a girl.¡± They shook their heads as they sat on the floor, not willing to get up nor talk anymore.

    The person in charge of the teams Thand had sentughed mockingly. ¡°Bullied by a nameless girl? My, you¡¯ve really promoted your country far and wide!¡±

    As soon as he said so, the other supervisorsughed too.

    The elder from France could only grip his fists. ¡°Laugh now while you can, I don¡¯t think you can keep that smile when your teams meet her!¡±

    The next afternoon.

    The forty participants from Thand were all disqualified at once, appearing outside Bahuang Forest with the exact expression that the France team had the day before.

    The supervisor from Thand waspletely dumbfounded by this scene, and as he looked at the forty geniuses that were handpicked from his country, he remembered how he had mocked the other team the day before and he almost copsed to the ground in shame.

    At that moment, the French all looked over at him with their eyebrows raised. Wasn¡¯t he the one that poked the most fun at them the day before? Now he had a taste of his own medicine!

    It was only at this point that the supervisors from the other countries that came all looked at each other, realizing that something wasn¡¯t right.

    If these people were all beat by the same person and not Nozawa from Japan, then who would that be? How strong could someone be to beat so many elites into the ground like that?

    It was a woman too? How could there be such a strong woman here? Neither Cecily from America nor the little demon girl from China joined, had they?

    And even if they did, the two of them could definitely achieve such a feat!

    And so the dozens of supervisors crowded together and looked at the exit of the Bahuang Forest, in fear that the representatives from their countries would be disqualified.

    In the next two days, there were three more such incidents where an entire team was disqualified all at once.

    This was the first time that such a thing had happened in the ranking tournament, where an entire country¡¯s representatives were disqualified all at once...

    ***

    Meanwhile, over on the side of the elders that were in charge of the ranking tournament.

    ¡°The ranking tournament this time around seems... Interesting.¡±

 Chapter 284 - Dont Mess With Them!

    <h4>Chapter 284: Don¡¯t Mess With Them!</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know that the outside world had been turned upside down because of her, but even if she did there probably wouldn¡¯t be much of a difference in her actions¡ªAs long as no one tried to provoke her, she wouldn¡¯t bat an eyelid at anyone.

    It wasn¡¯t her fault that they tried to take advantage of Yao Jiamu and the gang, did they think she was there for show?

    She rubbed her chin and nodded in satisfaction at her six teammates that had started bing more and more like a well-oiled machine before she let herself rx and enter the virtual arena for some training of her own.

    She suddenly thought that her virtual arena was a higher-grade Bahuang Forest, in a way.

    After all, she could create her own enemies in here, but not outside!

    The trio of Yao Jiamu, Xiao Yun, and Wu Hongwen didn¡¯t have any problems in cooperating because they knew each other well in the first ce, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the other three.

    Betty, Hans, and Shi Qin didn¡¯t have even the slightest bit of rapport and cooperation, because of the vast differences in their respective cultures andbat styles. In the beginning, they even had an extremely difficult time with even a Bone Refinement stage mythical beast because Gu Xiqiao had temporarily suppressed their overall ability to a tenth of what it was.

    It was a n by Gu Xiqiao to force them to join forces together in a short period of time.

    It was a simple n¡ªBetty used a bow, so her job was to provide damage output from a long distance, Shi Qin was in charge of attracting and baiting the monsters, Hans was in charge of taking care of loose ends while the other three were in charge of closebat.

    At first, Gu Xiqiao caught some beast by herself for them to practice on, and from not being able to even kill a Bone Refinement stage mythical beast, they became more and more well-practiced to the point where they could easily y a Fleet Foot stage one, and stand their ground against mythical beasts on the Tongmai stage.

    The Betty trio realized soon enough that they became strong extremely quickly just by following Gu Xiqiao around.

    Gu Xiqiao seemed to be knowledgeable in everything, and this point was proven when Betty asked Gu Xiqiao a question on her marksmanship offhandedly. She had expected Gu Xiqiao to not be able to solve her problems because she used a sword, but the reality was the exact opposite, and not only did she solve her problems, but point her in a promising direction too!

    And so, the news of such a strange team spread like wildfire in Bahuang Forest.

    The people in the know were all in unspoken agreement that this team was much scarier than the other hot picks for the first ce.

    Bang! Boom! Crash!

    The sounds of battling could be heard from afar, and a dark-skinned team came to see a small team of seven that just used wooden weapons, and after exchanging nces with each other, this team immediately moved out to attack them.

    ***

    Not far away, another two teams were having a friendly chat.

    ¡°Aaandd another bites the dust.¡±

    ¡°I knew this would happen sooner orter, poor suckers.¡±

    ¡°How is this team so strong but none of them are on the rankings? They only drive out the ones that they caught, but apparently, they don¡¯t even absorb the energy in their wooden ques?¡±

    ¡°The strongest one is that girl over there! Don¡¯t you remember how the six of them ate hotpot and watched while she fought earlier?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m envious...¡±

    And so, the dark-skinned team was disqualified in the next second.

    At this point, the rumors of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s team had already been spread and had surprised and shocked many participants.

    Of course, there were ones that didn¡¯t believe these rumors.

    ¡°Nozawa, have you heard of the rumored team?¡± Felix wasn¡¯t surprised when he heard this news, immediately thinking of the team that had suppressed him with sheer mental power when he met them.

    And so, he asked this question bad-naturedly when he met Nozawa¡¯s team.

    Nozawa looked over at Felix with an uninterested gaze, and replied, ¡°There¡¯s a proverb in China that describes this: Three men make a tiger[1].¡±

    After he said so, he coolly turned around and left.

    Felix only looked at his leaving silhouette with a smirk as he licked his lips. ¡°You won¡¯t be saying that when you meet them!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Felix, do you think that Nozawa isn¡¯t a match for that mysterious girl?¡± Someone asked curiously upon seeing Felix¡¯s mocking expression.

    Felix didn¡¯t reply, only ncing at him before walking in another direction.

    One could count on a single hand the number of people that could drive him away just through sheer mental power, but Nozawa wasn¡¯t one of them. It was clear who was the stronger one in this scenario.

    He wouldn¡¯t know what got him!

    ***

    At the same time, the participants from the Tang family had already converged together.

    Tang Qinghong trailed behind the entire group as they walked, and the one leading the entire Tang family group was another young man. In a mere few days, the fifth young master of the Tang family had made his rounds and put himself into the position of the leader. That position should have been Tang Qinghong¡¯s, but it was alreadymon knowledge amongst them that thetter hadn¡¯t been in the ancient martial arts world nor the Trial Tower in the days leading up to the tournaments, so they had lost their confidence in himpletely when he didn¡¯t seem to be very proactive in pursuing rankings.

    As they continued their journey, they came across a team from a smaller country being suppressed by a mythical beast, and Tang Wu[2] immediately had everyone stop, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go save them!¡±

    ¡°Tang Wu, this isn¡¯t time for you to satisfy your saviorplex! If they can¡¯t hold on it¡¯s simple for them to just shout out that they forfeit, we don¡¯t need to save them!¡± Tang Qinghong couldn¡¯t help butment.

    Tang Wu scoffed and replied, ¡°How could you be so cold-blooded, Tang Qinghong?!¡±

    Tang Qinghong: ¡°???¡±

    He was cold-blooded?

    Tang Qinghong looked at the rest of the team members, who were casting doubtful and reprimanding gazes towards him.

    ¡°Fine, you do what you want, I guess.¡± Upon saying this, Tang Qinghong raised his hand. ¡°I¡¯m going to leave with Shaoyuan now, does anyone want to leave with me?¡±

    This question was met with dubious gazes from the team members before they looked at each other with an expression as if saying, ¡°Can you believe this guy?¡±

    In the end, only a thin and frail-looking young man walked out to leave with Tang Qinghong.

    ¡°Baili Wen, you want to leave with them?¡± The others looked at him as if he was mad. ¡°Is there something wrong upstairs?¡±

    Baili Wen was the only participant from the Baili family that was entrusted by Baili Bin to Tang Qinghong.

    Upon being asked, he only nodded timidly and shuffled over to Tang Qinghong without a word.

    Tang Qinghong didn¡¯t seem to have much of a reaction to this oue, and as he looked at the thirty other members in the group, he said, ¡°I hope you don¡¯t regret your choice today.¡±

    After he said so, the three of them turned around and left.

    Wasn¡¯t that their line? How could the three of them be such idiots?

    After the three of them left, Tang Wu jeered, ¡°This man has be crazy after just half a month outside, how much longer can he survive after he leaves our team?¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, Fifth Young Master. These tournaments will definitely be the start of your rise to stardom!¡± One of the members eximed with a ttering tone.

    Tang Wuughed proudly before leading the team forward.

    Everyone in the team had mocking expressions, and their words reflected as such, saying, ¡°Those idiots won¡¯t even know what got them, they¡¯ll definitely regret it!¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, the trio had made their way to Gu Xiqiao.

    Upon counting the members in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s team, Yin Shaoyuan smiled as if he had expected it before he whined, ¡°I knew the mysterious team was you guys! Who other than Qiao Qiao would be able to do such a thing, throw people out of the forest? Little Wu, do you know how much of a drag it was over there?!¡±

    He had been used to living a carefree life in the Peacekeepers, and he felt unbearably suffocated in the Tang family group.

    ¡®Now, everything was finally how it¡¯s supposed to be,¡¯ thought Yin Shaoyuan as he munched on a slice of beef.

    Gu Xiqiao blinked and looked over at the frail boy that Tang Qinghong brought with him, and asked, ¡°Why did you follow the two of them here when no one else did?¡±

    Baili Wen patted his hair self-consciously before replying, ¡°Young Master Bin told me to follow behind Young Master Qinghong at all times...¡±

    ¡°Well, you should thank him for that advice!¡± Wu Hongwen looked up at Baili Wen. ¡°You¡¯re a member of the Baili family?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my name is Baili Wen.¡± The boy replied with a timid smile.

    Baili Wen? Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly in thought.

    From that moment on, their team was expanded to ten members, and after three days of meshing together under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s guidance, the mythical beast reapers were born.

    Gu Xiqiao devised a perfect teamposition for them as well as strategies, and even Fleet Foot mythical beasts couldn¡¯t make them pause for half a minute at this point, and even Tongmai stage mythical beasts could only stall them for two minutes.

    At this point, they could even fight against a Xiantian stage mythical beast!

    With renewed confidence, the team moved deeper and deeper into the forest in hopes ofing across a Houtian stage mythical beast.

    And thus, the mythical beast reapers started rampaging in the forest, much to the woe of many apetitor.

    Everywhere this ten-man-team passed by was practically razed to the ground, not leaving behind a single mythical beast within a thousand-meter radius!

    How could there be such a team?!

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s that team doing? Are they too scared of the Xiantian beast to move? Why aren¡¯t they running? Why is everyone watching?¡±

    ¡°Looks like someone didn¡¯t get the newest intel. Have you never heard of the mythical beast reapers?¡±

    ¡°Look!¡±

    The ten members weren¡¯t scared by the Xiantian beast in the least, but were using the beast as bait to attract other Xiantian mythical beasts. As six such mythical beasts came onto the scene, the onlookers were practically mmed onto the ground by their aura and the pressure that the beasts exerted.

    It was only after eight mythical beasts converged that nine of the members moved.

    Four of them stalled the beasts¡¯ movements, driving arrows made of lightning into the beasts¡¯ tough hide.

    Four others came in close for closebat, and the strong mythical beasts were beaten into the ground pathetically.

    Thest person set up arrays and seals, and with a resounding bang the eight Xiantian mythical beasts disappeared, bing wisps of energy and flowing into their wooden ques.

    ¡°... See that? These are the infamous mythical beast reapers! Don¡¯t ever provoke them!¡±

    [1] A Chinese proverb that means that a rumor gets epted if it¡¯s passed around by enough people, regardless of the truth

    [2] Tang Wu stands for ¡®Fifth Tang¡¯, whether this is a nickname or his actual name hasn¡¯t been made clear yet

 Chapter 285 - Obsidian Ranking List

    <h4>Chapter 285: Obsidian Ranking List</h4>

    The reputation of the mythical beast reapers spread throughout the entire Bahuang Forest. At this point, every other team prayed that they wouldn¡¯te across this team because it would mean only one of two things¡ªEither they get eliminated, or they don¡¯t get to even touch a single mythical beast!

    It was the goal for everyone that was in the borders of the forest to y as many mythical beasts as they could so that they could get higher rankings, so if they were being honest, they would rather meet the top five teams instead of the mythical beast reapers!

    Meanwhile, the infamous team was huddled around a hotpot and eating their fill as they discussed their cooperation from earlier.

    ¡°After killing all these mythical beasts, our rankings should have gone up quite a bit!¡± Wu Hongwen poured a packet of seasoning into the pot before looking up at the others. ¡°Jiji, pour some water won¡¯t you?¡±

    Jiji sent an emotionless stare at Wu Hongwen before it stretched out a mechanical arm and a stream of clear water flowed out from its fingertip.

    ¡°What an interesting robot you have there, Miss Gu! Where did you pick it up from?¡± Baili Wen asked in interest. ¡°To be able to create a steady flow of water like that from the particles in the air, that sort of technology would definitely be beneficial to mankind!¡±

    Upon hearing this, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand paused for a moment before she rubbed her nose sheepishly, not saying anything in reply.

    Meanwhile, Yao Jiamu and the others could barely stifle theirughter as they pat Jiji¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You hear that? You¡¯re interesting!¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao took a piece of lotus root from the pot before her brows furrowed slightly and she looked off into the distance thoughtfully.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Shi Qin looked up at her, knowing that she perceived something that they couldn¡¯t.

    Gu Xiqiao stood up slowly and spread out her mental power into the surroundings, her eyes closed in concentration. ¡°Something¡¯s not quite right.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Yin Shaoyuan reached to put out the fire before he looked up and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Someone¡¯s calling for help.¡± She reopened her eyes, and the coldness in those orbs made Shi Qin revert his gaze from her.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why wouldn¡¯t they just forfeit?¡± The nine others looked at each other perplexedly. Even though rankings were important, but nothing was important than their life, no? Even though Gu Xiqiao would eliminate a country¡¯s teams all at once, but she would never cause them mortal harm.

    Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply. ¡°It¡¯s their consciousnesses that are calling out for help, but I can¡¯t quite pinpoint where it¡¯sing from. Brother Jiang was right, there¡¯s something wrong with this forest.¡±

    Upon seeing her solemn expression, the others all started facing the seriousness of the issue, and Yao Jiamu suddenly remarked, ¡°Right, didn¡¯t a Houtian stage mythical beast flee from us yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Yesterday?¡± Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly. ¡°How did I not know about this?¡±

    Upon hearing this, they all reverted their gazes awkwardly, and Xiao Yun replied, ¡°When you went off to y with those foreigners, we met a Houtian-stage mythical beast that could speak, but it managed to flee from us.¡±

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be right, even though these mythical beasts have intelligence, they¡¯re all supposed to be just clusters of energy. It¡¯s impossible that they could speak...¡± Gu Xiqiao hummed, before asking, ¡°But anyway, you guys just let it run away?¡±

    No one in the world knew better than she did about how strong these nine were when they cooperated, and she knew that they wouldn¡¯t let that mythical beast flee...

    There was something wrong with that mythical beast...

    At the same time, the Xiantian-stage mythical beasts in the Bahuang Forest started to increase, and some even appeared together. Most regr teams could only admit defeat if they met a Xiantian-stage mythical beast, lest a whole pack of them!

    And so, the entire ranking tournament was slowly but surely reaching its conclusion.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in another corner of Bahuang Forest.

    A ten-man teamid there disheveled on the ground while their wooden ques floated in front of them, their gazes filled with rage and fear as they red at the pack of Xiantian-stage mythical beasts in front of them.

    As if some mysterious forced mped their mouths shut, they couldn¡¯t even say the word ¡®forfeit¡¯!

    A fox-like mythical beast was in the leading position of the pack, and it looked down at the ten participants with a human-like mocking gaze.

    It raised its w, and at the same time, the ten wooden ques burst into dust.

    When the wooden ques were disintegrated, the ten felt as if the mps over their mouths were released, and they coughed loudly, their faces an unhealthy shade of red.

    ¡°You shall be the sixth team that I y.¡± The mythical fox stood there as it looked down at them, ck wisps of energy around its head. ¡°I¡¯m in a particrly good mood today, so you can choose how you want to die.¡±

    ¡°Die?¡± Upon knowing that they were about to die, they seemed to finally muster up some courage as they red up at these mythical beasts as if it were onest show of bravery and gut. ¡°Just you wait, you¡¯ll be the ones that die when the mythical beast reaperse for you!¡±

    ¡°The mythical beast reapers?¡± The fox scoffed. ¡°How foolish of you to put your hopes in other humans, how very droll. No worries, I¡¯ll let you lot reunite in the underworld once I find them and kill them too!¡±

    As it said so, it raised its ws, and a dark surge of energy was created that sent the leaves on the ground flying.

    The ten people couldn¡¯t help but close their eyes.

    Right at that moment, the leaves all froze in the air, and a cold, clear voice rang out, ¡°No need to look for us, we¡¯re right here!¡±

    That voice seemed to prate into one¡¯s very soul, and the white fox was appalled as it looked up and saw the figure of a girl in light-colored clothes and hair as dark as ink.

    Behind her were nine people with wooden weapons, and just by standing there, they seemed to freeze space itself.

    Ten people with wooden weapons and a girl of unparalleled beauty...

    The signatures of the mythical beast reapers!

    The ones on the ground all smiled excitedly. ¡°It¡¯s them! We¡¯re saved!¡±

    They had thought that they were going to breathe theirst breaths, but upon seeing them and seeing a glimmer of hope. Even though none of the teams in Bahuang Forest wanted toe across these people for the sake ofpetition, they were actually quite reverent and even idolized them.

    Which group could stand against a pack of Xiantian-stage mythical beasts other than them?

    The white fox set down its ws as it looked up at Gu Xiqiao and her team with a spiteful expression. ¡°I have been looking for you...¡±

    After saying this, it stepped back, and the many Xiantian-stage mythical beasts all stepped into position.

    A terrifying pulse of pressure shook the forest as the mythical beast arranged themselves into an array, and the mythical white fox smirked eagerly. ¡°Die, mythical beast reapers.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, violet streaks of lightning dancing in her palm before she smiled. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been looking for you for a long time too.¡±

    After saying this, her hair flew up behind her as tworge streaks of violet lightning shot out in front of her. One of them grabbed the ten helpless participants on the ground and threw them to somewhere safe, while the other dissipated into around a dozen bright balls of light.

    Baili Wen immediately threw out all the jade that he had on him, and the precious pieces of jade mixed with the lightning that Gu Xiqiao released.

    At that moment, the heavens and the earth were enclosed in an array made of lightning.

    Meanwhile, the other eight took up their weapons and started attacking the mythical beasts, smacking and twisting them like dough.

    Gu Xiqiao shot out another bolt of lightning that wrapped around the mythical white fox, and it looked up at her in astonishment and despair. Why did it turn out like this? Weren¡¯t these people powerless against it when it met them? How were they so strong this time around?

    Meanwhile, the ten participants had managed to regain their bearings as they crawled up from the ground, looking at this scene in awe. ¡°Is this their renowned trap-kill?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s one of their three most well-known killing methods¡ªLure-kill, trap-kill, and brutal-kill.¡± Another participant replied. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen the lure-kill, and that was already scary enough, but I never expected them to be this scary!¡±

    ¡°I guess that mythical white fox is regretting its decisions, hah!¡±

    After saying this, the ten of themughed and looked at each other with shocked expressions.

    Gu Xiqiao and co.¡¯s actions had caused quite amotion in the forest, shaking the ground with pulses of power, and it attracted the attention of most other teams that all stopped what they were doing and closed their eyes to sense the energy around them.

    ¡°It must be those people again!¡±

    ¡°Who could do this other than them? Who knows which poor mythical beasts are in their trap this time around?¡±

    ¡°Lure-killing doesn¡¯t give off such strong energy pulses, so it¡¯s probably trap-kill or brutal-kill. Gosh, I get goosebumps every time I remember the time I saw them brutal-kill mythical beasts!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ***

    The energy pulses this time around were truly quiterge, and even the elders standing outside the forest felt it too. After some discussion, one of them knocked on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s door.

    ¡°Jiang-dono[1], we have reports that several teams have disappeared from Bahuang Forest, and there was a strong pulse of energying from inside the forest just now, too...¡± The white-bearded elder rubbed his beard with a worried expression.

    ¡°I know.¡± Jiang Shuxuan put down the documents in his hand, before taking a sheet of paper out from his desk and handing it to the elder. ¡°Come look at this.¡±

    ¡°These are... Nine points? What does this mean?¡± The white-bearded elder looked in confusion at what Jiang Shuxuan gave him. ¡°Does this have anything to do with Bahuang Forest?¡±

    ¡°ording to a prophecy, these are the spots that will experience cmities in the future.¡± The lithe fingers moved across the paper, connecting the nine dots together. ¡°ording to this, Japan will be next.¡±

    ¡°Jiang-dono, I¡¯m talking to you about Bahuang Forest!¡± The elder threw away the piece of paper. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you believe in this mumbo jumbo prophecy?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at the paper that fluttered onto the floor, before looking back at the elder with a gaze that made the elder burst out in cold sweat.

    Thankfully, this gaze didn¡¯t hold him for long before the younger man reached out and the paper flew back into his hand.

    After carefully folding the piece of paper and sticking it into his pocket, Jiang Shuxuan nced at the elder again before his form flickered and he disappeared, along with a single sentence. ¡°I¡¯ll go look.¡±

    After the terrifying cold aura disappeared from the room, the elder couldn¡¯t help but wipe away the sweat on his forehead in fear. What possessed him to talk to Jiang Shuxuan like that?

    As soon as he walked out, he was met with two people that congratted him as soon as they saw him, ¡°Congrattions, from the looks of it Nozawa is going to win! Look, his energy points are many times more than that of the second ce!¡±

    The elder rubbed his beard again with a proud smile.

    Outside Bahuang Forest, on the giant obsidian ranking list, it was written:

    First ce: Nozawa!

    [1] Respectful Japanese suffix

 Chapter 286 - Ranking!

    <h4>Chapter 286: Ranking!</h4>

    In the depths of Bahuang Forest, the mythical white fox watched in horror as Gu Xiqiao stuffed its body into Dog Feed¡¯s jaw.

    Jiji peered at Dog Feed, who had just finished swallowing up the ball of energy. ¡°You¡¯ve eaten so much and yet I haven¡¯t seen you level up?¡±

    Dog Feed wiggled its petals as it yawnedzily. ¡°Make me then.¡±

    ¡°Are you still holding a grudge against me?¡± If Jiji had eyes, it would¡¯ve red angrily at the annoying flower. ¡°Believe it or not, I could easily stuff you back where you came from. Let¡¯s see if you can still eat energy orbs when that happens.¡±

    Dog Feed: ¡°... robots like you won¡¯tst long in real life.¡±

    Jiji responded to Dog Feed¡¯sment with a disdainful look. It pointed its metallic finger at the core of Dog Feed¡¯s flower, and assuming it to be its brain, it said, ¡°I¡¯m starting to suspect that something has gone wrong with this part of yours.¡±

    Dog Feed instinctively closed up its petals and proceeded to ignore Jiji coldly.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, why didn¡¯t we bring Xixi over instead?¡± ¡®This ugly-ass flower is getting on my nerves!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were fixated elsewhere. She remained silent when suddenly, the air started warping. A long, slender figure slowly materialized in front of her.

    Frost seemed to appear out of thin air the moment he emerged.

    His unexpected appearance stunned the nine people who were busy putting up a fight against the mythical beasts, a mistake that almost cost their lives.

    The tenth person, who was thrown all the way to the side of the battlefield, was startled too. They never would¡¯ve expected to see Jiang Shuxuan here, hence exining why their mouths were wide-open.

    The man who topped the ranking list in the previous tournament, whose energy points were countless times greater than the person in second ce. His emergence undoubtedly eclipsed the achievements of the talents from the previous tournament.

    Footage of that earth-shattering battle was circted around the supernatural organizations of the world; they all came to a unanimous agreement that his power was far beyond what any of his peers could muster. It was also the reason why he had fans all over the world, even though they had only seen the footage, which did not even contain a clear view of his face.

    The first time they saw him in person was ten days ago, when he stood high up on the podium where he made the announcement to the participants of the selection phase that he was the leader of the guard unit.

    There were too many rumors about him and every one of them appeared to be rather well-documented. Even the reclusive ones have started to grow envious of him. This of course, was a testament to his strength. Never in a million years could they have foreseen that he would appear right before their eyes.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, why are you here?¡± Gu Xiqiao peered up at him. Although she had nned to call him over, she still hadn¡¯t opened her mouth yet. Despite this, here he was.

    Jiang Shuxuan scanned thendscape with his dark eyes, which ultimately stopped at the formation which was sending electric sparks in every direction. He then looked down and directed a smile at her. ¡°This ruckus you have stirred up is too big.¡±

    There was no way he could continue covering her tracks from now on, he thought.

    He should¡¯ve known that she couldn¡¯t bear the boredom.

    There weren¡¯t many tonal changes when he spoke but he didn¡¯t feel particrly hostile or cold.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t intend for this to happen,¡± Gu Xiqiao turned around and looked at Wu Hongwen and co. ¡°The number of mythical beasts who have gathered in this area is way too big. So I¡¯ve deliberately sealed up this space. In fact, this ruckus is rtively smaller than what would¡¯ve happened if I did otherwise.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Jiang Shuxuan produced a snow-white sheet of paper, which he passed over to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°This is something Baili passed over to me today. Of these nine points, three have already been confirmed. Theoretically, changes should be observed in the remaining six points in the near future.¡±

    ¡°But there has already been energy shifts in these points, right?¡± Gu Xiqiao understood immediately what Baili Bin was trying to convey to her upon receiving the paper.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded the moment he heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. ¡°After you guys exit this realm, I willpletely seal off Bahuang Forest.¡±

    ¡°But... what¡¯s the reason for this?¡± Gu Xiqiao bit her lip. Dubhe¡¯s appearance, the early energy shifts, and the ominous mythical beasts of Bahuang Forest. It seemed increasingly like an invisible hand was behind all of this.

    ¡°What remains in Bahuang Forest are the young ones, who shouldn¡¯t pose too much of a threat...¡±

    A lightbulb suddenly lit up in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind. She peered up at Jiang Shuxuan, and at that moment, they acknowledged the shock in each other¡¯s eyes. Seems like they were telepathically linked for they both had the same idea pop up in their mind simultaneously.

    ¡°I think their aim is probably to destroy the foundation of the supernatural world.¡± These 80,000 talents all represent the future of the supernatural world. Should they perish, it would be a fatal blow to the supernatural world. Jiang Shuxuan nced at the mythical beasts. ¡°I guess, you were not included in their n before they attacked.¡±

    If not for Gu Xiqiao, at least half of these 80,000-odd youngsters would¡¯ve perished in the battle.

    At this point, the nine-man team had already finished off thest mythical beast. However, they did not absorb the energy orbs right away. Instead, they were all rounded up by a formation cast by Baili Wen.

    The barrier formationposed of thunder and lightning was instantly pushed back. An immensely strong energy contained within it was sent flying in every direction, which also created a strong gust of wind that made Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s clothes flutter.

    Betty and Hans both stared at Jiang Shuxuan excitedly. They started whispering to each other but neither of them had the guts to walk up to him.

    Theyer of white frost surrounding his body was an obvious indication for strangers to stay away.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, these ten people have lost their identity cards. They can no longermunicate with the outside world so you should probably lead them out. We¡¯ll meet again tomorrow.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the ten people whom she had flung to the safe zone.

    Jiang Shuxuan responded with a nod. ¡°Stay cautious.¡±

    His figure warped out of existence after he said that, followed by the ten people whom Gu Xiqiao was looking at mere seconds ago.

    The only thing that told of his presence here was the white frost that littered the ground below.

    After he left, Gu Xiqiao looked back at the nine people behind her. Rubbing her chin, she contemted for a moment before announcing, ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s the final day. There won¡¯t be any rest for tonight. Prepare to make the final rush. Try and absorb as much energy as you can from the mythical beasts you have in!¡±

    A smile appeared across Wu Hongwen¡¯s face when he heard that phrase. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting too long for this moment!¡±

    The same smile appeared on the faces of the other members as well.

    ***

    In the outside world.

    Countless big shots had their eyes glued onto the current ranking of the selectionpetition, especially the Obsidian Board, which was more or less simr to the Youth Ranking List. Staff members representing the supernatural organizations of the world were as busy as bees as they handed thetest rankings to their respective leaders.

    On the ancient martial arts forum of China, countless users were uploading posts containing the rankings which most of them found to be unbelievable.

    OP: In the previous tournament, the ancient martial arts world imed four positions on the list. Why isn¡¯t there a single position today?!

    Anon no.1: Didn¡¯t they say how powerful Miss Gu was? Why hasn¡¯t she even entered the top-100 list? Man, what a let down!¡±

    Anon no.5: Even Young Master Tang isn¡¯t in top-100! God, what has be of our ancient martial arts world?

    Anon no.88: Isn¡¯t there another dude called Shi Qin? Why haven¡¯t I seen anything about him yet?¡±

    When the ranking tournament started, these people spected that Tang Qinghong and Gu Xiqiao would climb up to top-5 in the rankings, especially Gu Xiqiao, who many betted would get number one.

    Who would¡¯ve thought...

    That they couldn¡¯t even get into top-100!

    Disappointment! What a disappointment!

    ***

    Outside Bahuang Forest, the old man stroked his flowing white beard while watching the ranking board. The people next to him kept congratting him. ¡°Not only have you Japanese achieved number one, but the top-three positions have all been dominated by your countrymen! Congrattions!¡±

    The old man smiled. ¡°The battle is far from over yet. Conclusions must never be reached beforehand.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s the end of the trials. It¡¯s just one day, how much change could you possibly expect there to be?¡± The rest of the men waved their hands. Everybody agreed that these ranks were pretty much set. ¡°Still, it is quite shocking that no one from the ancient martial arts world managed to make it on the scoreboard.¡±

    The crowd stared at the tall figure standing a short distance away. Although their facial expression remainedrgely the same, they started cheering away in their hearts.

    After living under the ancient martial arts world¡¯s influence for so long, it was finally time for some payback.

    It wasn¡¯t just these people who were fixated on the scoreboard. The eliminated participants too, were observing the battle intently. When they heard the discussion among these representatives, they couldn¡¯t help but chuckle to themselves.

    They have all heard of the mythical beast reapers back in Bahuang Forest. How could that team not be on the ranking list? Judging from how cunning that small deathsquad was, they must have some kind of trick up their sleeve.

    Those who had been rescued by the mythical beast reapersughed when they overheard the consensus among the ignorant spectators. ¡°That team has started to bare its fangs. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯ll only be hours before the rankings change once more.¡±

    ¡°Which level do you think they¡¯ll climb up to?¡± These participants flocked together and began debating away.

    ¡°In any case, after seeing how terrifying they are, there is no doubt that they¡¯d be able to get into top one hundred!¡±

    Just then, a shout was heard among the crowd. ¡°Guys look! The ranks have changed again!¡±

    At the very bottom of the top-100 list appeared ten new names. This change wasrge enough to shock the people who were fixated on the rankings.

    Of these ten people, eight were from China!

    Not only that, their names seemed to be climbing upwards in a consistent fashion!

    The most eye-catching name of all was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s!

    ¡°Bloody hell, what are they doing? How on earth did this Gu Xiqiao girl manage to get from 91st to 73!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s changed again! She¡¯s in 59th! Wait, no! She¡¯s among the top-fifty now!¡±

    ¡°Insane! This is insane! How could she gain so much momentum so quickly!?¡±

    The representatives outside Bahuang Forest were starting to lose their edge. They all started to investigate just who this ¡®Gu Xiqiao¡¯ person from the ancient martial arts world was. It wasn¡¯t just her who piqued their interest. The ten people who had suddenly emerged on the ranking list werepletely unheard of before too.

    ***

    The ancient martial arts forum exploded when news of this got out.

    A new reply would pop up every few seconds.

    Anon no.1885: Miss Gu! Miss Gu! Did you guys see her?!

    These people were either holding their phones, or were facing theirputer screen. They watched the reactions of the representatives closely, how their faces all turned bright red and how they kept rapping their knuckles on the table nervously.

    Anon no. 2547: This is amazing! To be able to get into top-fifty in just the blink of an eye! Step it up, Miss Gu! Time to bring down the dreadful Japanese from their high horses!¡±

    Anon no.3666: ¡°Eight! We have eight people on the scoreboard!¡±

    Anon no.3986: Xiao Yun! Wu Hongwen! Yao Jiamu! Shi Qin! Baili Wen! Where on earth did they pop up from? Why are they so damn strong?!

    Anon no.5877: Top-twenty! Miss Gu¡¯s in top-twenty now!

    After an initial round of disappointment and despair, this surprising turning of the tables had made the people of the ancient martial arts world go crazy. They stayed up all night, keeping their eyes glued onto theputer screen, awaiting thetest report of the scoreboard rankings. From their observation, Gu Xiqiao was rising up at an unprecedented speed!

    The morale of the people was gradually building up as they shouted increasingly louder at the screen.

    20th ce!

    19th ce!

    18th ce!

    ***

    The people watching outside Bahuang Forest were stunned by the sudden turnout of events. In fact, they were so shocked that they had momentarily lost their ability to speak, especially the old man. The smug look on his face had been reced by one of horror.

    This piece of rock had been passed down through generations. There was no way it could possibly report false information.

    It was precisely because of this that the degree of shock they went through was even greater!

    The young ones who were initially engaged in a heated debate about the rankingpetition had now turned dead silent. They all were looking at the name that kept leaping up the scoreboard.

    15th ce!

    10th ce!

    There were no signs of stopping.

    ¡°Say, you think she¡¯ll hit number one?¡± Finally, someone snapped out of his shock.

    ¡°There are ten people who are climbing up the scoreboard rapidly. They¡¯ve got to be the mythical beast reapers, I¡¯m sure...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s changed again!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was standing smack in the middle of Bahuang Forest, which was rumored to be one of the most dangerous areas to be in. Standing in front of her was a mythical phoenix. The air in front of her distorted before six golden needles, all wrapped up with purple sparks, were sent hurtling towards their target.

    ¡°Screee!¡± The mythical phoenix let out a blood-curdling shriek before reducing into an energy orb, which floated into her wooden que.

    It was the same moment that she rose in ranks again.

    Second ce: Nozawa.

    First ce: Gu Xiqiao.

    Silence descended upon the spectators.

 Chapter 287 - Things Are About To Get Lively

    <h4>Chapter 287: Things Are About To Get Lively</h4>

    Just how crazy talented do you have to be in order to leap straight up to first ce on the veryst day of the tournament?

    The thing was, despite Nozawa being originally in the first ce, his energy points were roughly half of what Gu Xiqiao had as of now. Not only did this girl surpass him by such a significant margin, her points were still rising up at a consistent rate.

    Just how many mythical beasts had she in in the past day? No doubt, it was downright genocide for those monsters in Bahuang Forest.

    Countless international representatives held their breath as they watched the digit on the screen rise. Then, they simultaneously shifted their gaze over to Jiang Shuxuan, who was standing not far away from the scoreboard. His ink-dark eyes were glued onto the scoreboard, ignoring everything that was happening around him.

    Some of these men started whispering to each other upon seeing that look in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°The ancient martial arts world has produced yet another batch of prodigies. This year¡¯s selectionpetition is indeed exciting. I would venture to say that it is on par with the one held during your time.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, Young Master Jiang.¡± The representative for the Japanese was noticeably frustrated when he said that.

    Here he was, thinking that the first ce was firmly in Nozawa¡¯s grip. How could he have ever possibly foreseen that Gu Xiqiao would swoop in for the kill at the veryst day? He had no idea who she was after all. He looked at her name on the scoreboard. The digits indicating the energy points she had rued was still changing. The only thing that remained constant was her position at the very top of the board.

    In the previouspetition, Jiang Shuxuan outshone every other participant.

    Seems like Gu Xiqiao was picking up where had he left off. It was nothing but pure bad luck for the other talents to be born into the same generation as these two prodigies.

    The final scoreboard update had just been released.

    Nozawa remained in second ce, but what was most surprising was that out of the remaining eight participants in top ten, five were from China!

    Expanding the list to top twenty, there were eight participants who were from China!

    This was arguably the best their nation had ever achieved in this tournament. The international representatives were all in a state of disbelief, especially the one from Japan. The impact Gu Xiqiao had made on him was already more than what he had prepared for but the fact that the remaining two Japanese participants were thrown aside by these ten Chinese participants dealt the final blow against his morale.

    Apart from Nozawa, the fact that two of his countrymen managed to make it in the top 100 list was already something worth celebrating. Too bad they were denied of that chance by these dreaded participants!

    ¡°I don¡¯t buy it! They must be cheating in some way!¡± The representative of Japan shouted.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at him but he remained silent.

    The representative¡¯s expression grew darker by the second. Perhaps he had mistaken Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s actions as nervously averting his gaze, which exins why he grew increasingly confident.

    That¡¯s right. Who on earth could possibly reach the first ce over the course of one single day? Despite knowing that the obsidian scoreboard had zero faults, Jiang Shuxuan was a sketchy character no matter how you looked at it. He could easily alter the rankings with just the snap of his fingers. That man could never be trusted.

    The representative started convincing himself that this was the truth. However, he did not expect to receive a p from one of his countrymen who had been eliminated from thepetition.

    ¡°No, they¡¯re not cheating! They¡¯ve got to be the mythical beast reapers! It¡¯s them!¡±

    ¡°They are incredibly strong. Judging by how powerful they are, I can attest that they are in no way cheating!¡±

    ¡°I knew it! I knew they¡¯d make it into the top 100!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    This was the first time such a phenomenon happened in the arena. Ten people appeared out of thin air and not only were they not suspected of cheating by the ex-participants, nearly half of them had been transformed into obsessive fans? It was almost as if these people would be happier to see this weird ¡®mythical beast reapers¡¯ team win than themselves win.

    The representatives all looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

    ***

    The scene outside of Bahuang Forest was simr to this situation.

    The ancient martial arts forum had officially gone haywire.

    Anon no.15562: ... first ce?

    The entire thread turned eerily silent for a moment before hell let loose in the next second, where the server was pushed to its limits.

    Anon no.18888: First ce! She got first ce!

    Anon no.20000: I¡¯m going insane!

    Anon no.25555: She really crushed Nozawa under her heel! Miss Gu! Only one word can describe her as of now! Powerful!

    Anon no.27222: Heavens!

    Anon no.31177: Miss Gu! Ancient Martial Arts World!

    As the selectionpetition drew to an end, the name of Gu Xiqiao had now spread all around the globe. Following Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s emergence, the ancient martial arts world had just produced yet another multi-talented figure, someone who even the Japanese had failed to produce after pouring in blood, sweat, and funds.

    It was at the same time that the number of searches on the inte for Gu Xiqiao spiked.

    ¡°Master, it seems that there isn¡¯t any information about her on the inte.¡±

    ¡°Sir, a search in our files yields nothing about this person.¡±

    ¡°Grandmaster, we were met with a nk page on the inte when searching for this individual.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Despite how well-established their data was, these countries failed toe up with substantial information on Gu Xiqiao. They only knew that she was a Chinese national, currently studying in University A. She had interests in acting and painting but not a single strand of information could be found about her interactions with the ancient martial arts world.

    ***

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, don¡¯t you think this move of yours is pretty low? No matter how I look at it, Yu Ning¡¯s a much more tolerable fellow,¡± said Jiji who was holding onto the man-eating flower while shaking its head in disappointment.

    The selection process hade to an end. Gu Xiqiao and the rest of the participants were transported out of the space together. It was raining cats and dogs outside and more than eighty thousand people were standing there, drenched from head-to-toe.

    Gu Xiqiao held up the massive umbre that Jiji passed over to her, which was sufficient to keep her nine otherrades dry.

    ¡°I never thought that I¡¯d be able to climb up to the twelfth ce.¡± Betty was still in a state of shock upon learning of her ranking. ¡°And Master Cecil had just talked to me just now...¡±

    Hans nodded in response to her statement. He too, never could have foreseen that he¡¯d be able to make it into the top twenty list. It all seemed like a dream to him.

    ¡°I¡¯m in the 18th spot damn it!¡± Wu Hongwen made a pained expression when he looked at Yin Shaoyuan. ¡°Why were you guys able to make it into top ten while I¡¯m here at bottom?¡±

    A squad was walking past him when he said that. They all heaved as they suppressed the urge to vomit blood in response to Wu Hongwen¡¯s unintentional humble brag.

    Eighteenth ce? And you¡¯re stillining? Do you know that you¡¯re in the top eighteenth worldwide?! If you¡¯re gonnain about it, might as well give me that ranking of yours!

    The squad left their faces devoid of emotion. Despite this, their hearts were writhing in pain.

    Yin Shaoyuan nced at the squad before returning to Wu Hongwen. He snorted at him. ¡°Every time we train, all you do is push around those weaker than you. It¡¯s not a surprise that you got eighteenth in this. Look at Xiao Yun, she¡¯s eleventh ce for crying out loud.¡±

    ¡°Wrong.¡± Xiao Yun added. ¡°The one you should beparing him to is Baili Wen, who has not even the most basicbat abilities.¡±

    These words further fanned the mes of guilt in Wu Hongwen¡¯s heart. Out of their ten-man team, his ranking was the lowest. Even Xiao Yun, who started out weaker than him got eleventh ce in thepetition. Tightening his fist, he swore to heaven, ¡°I will lock myself up and train for a whole month when we get back!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± Yin Shaoyuan squinted at Wu Hongwen with eyes full of skepticism. Why did this boy have to pick up Qiao Qiao¡¯sid-back attitude?!

    Wu Hongwen bowed his head out of embarrassment when he noticed the look in Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao shed a smile at Yin Shaoyuan. ¡°Big Brother Yin, you make sure he does that when we get home. If he doesn¡¯t do that, well...¡± She pinched her fingers together, which made her knuckles pop loudly.

    Yin Shaoyuan patted her head. ¡°Alright.¡±

    Wu Hongwen peered up at her pretty face. His entire body shuddered when he heard Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s reply. As much as he wanted to cry, not a single tear rolled down his cheeks. ¡°Sigh, why don¡¯t we talk about this. A whole month¡¯s time may be a tad bit too long. I still have sses to attend...¡±

    Xiao Yun casually nced at him and replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯vepleted the sybus for your current semester after studying intensely for two months?¡±

    Wu Hongwen went silent.

    In the end, he crumbled under the hands of his own teammate.

    ¡°Miss Gu, where are you heading towards?¡± The rain was stilling down hard and Shi Qin was standing at the very edge of the umbre. Owing to the size of the umbre though, he remainedrgely dry. Gu Xiqiao stood under the umbre¡¯s center point, while being nked by Yin Shaoyuan, Yao Jiamu and the rest. He asked the question from quite a distance away but her ears were still able to pick it up quite clearly.

    Gu Xiqiao turned around and directed a smile at him, which was apanied by a reply.

    ¡°Back to the capital.¡±

    ¡°The capital...¡± murmured Shi Qin to himself.

    Yao Jiamu was reminded of Shi Qin¡¯s presence when he asked that question. ¡°Shi Qin, I¡¯ve been in the ancient martial arts world for so long and yet I¡¯ve never heard about you before. I assume that you¡¯re not a part of them? If you¡¯re interested, why not be a part of our Peace Manor...¡±

    ¡°Peace Manor?¡± Shi Qi was startled by the sudden mention of that ce. He unconsciously stole a nce at Gu Xiqiao to find that she wasn¡¯t looking over at him. Instead, she was staring at the teleportation array.

    Before anything further could be said, a white sh filled their vision and out came a group of men.

    At the forefront of the team was a tall figure.

    In his hand was a ck umbre. He opened up the contraption as soon as he emerged from the teleportation array. Then, as the downpour continued, he approached their team. A thickyer of fog made it impossible to make out his face clearly but his presence noticeably brightened up the atmosphere.

    Gu Xiqiao did not wait for him to approach her. She jogged over when he was only a few steps away from her.

    She entered the cover of his umbre before waving her team goodbye. Her smile was partially blocked by the heavy downpour and the scene seemed slightly unreal.

    Still, it was rather obvious that she was feeling quite happy at the moment.

    Jiang Shuxuan slowly looked up at the team, who he nodded towards as a greeting. He stared at Shi Qin for a couple of seconds before leaving with Gu Xiqiao clinging to his arm.

    He had always maintained a policy of indifference towards others. Yao Jiamu and co had long grown used to this side of his. However, being on the receiving end of a greeting shocked Betty and Hans. ¡°He just nodded at us! Did you see that?!¡± Betty proceeded to squeal like a fangirl at a concert.

    Jiji nced at Betty before he emotionlessly passed the giant umbre over to Yin Shaoyuan. I mean, how much emotion would you expect from a robot in the first ce? It then produced a cute little umbre of its own before catching up with its master.

    It¡¯s mouth was still bbering away as it did so. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you ce more importance on your lover than your pet! A mountain can only hold one treasure, not two! Mark my words, Jiang Shuxuan. One day, I¡¯ll... ah how can I possibly do that? Young Master Jiang, you have earned my respect!¡±

    It¡¯s sudden change in attitude was probably because of Jiang Shuxuan turning around. Jiji hid out of fear when he did so.

    ¡°I see Jiji has it rough too huh?¡± Yao Jiamu sighed.

    Nearly everyone burst out intoughter after he said that.

    Yao Jiamu turned over to Shi Qin. ¡°So, have you made up your mind yet?¡±

    Shi Qin slowly nodded his head at Yao JIamu. To be honest, there wasn¡¯t much contemtion required as that offer was exactly what he had been hoping for all this while.

    ¡°Well then, wee to Peace Manor!¡± Both Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun weed Shi Qin warmly. The former was miles ahead in terms of enthusiasm though. He was proudly introducing the ce to Shi Qin when he was suddenly led away by Yin Shaoyuan. ¡°He still needs to bring the good news back home. Don¡¯t you interfere with that process.¡±

    Wu Hongwen then turned around and yelled, ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you in the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    ¡°Alright, it¡¯s also time for me to return to the ancient martial arts world as well.¡± Tang Qinghong waved his teammates goodbye. ¡°We¡¯ll meet again in the ranking tournament!¡±

    As soon as he spun around, the Tang family standing beyond the teleportation array came into view. They stared at Tang Qinghong and Baili Wen with their faces full of shock. These people were all originally under Tang Qinghong, and yet when a dispute arose between him and Tang Wu, they chose to go with thetter. Only Yin Shaoyuan and Baili Wen foolishly stuck with Tang Qinghong. At this moment, a sense of regret swelled up in their hearts.

    It had never crossed their minds back then that these three stooges would get into the top ten list!

    They all saw the scoreboard the moment their team left Bahuang Forest. Tang Qinghong came in third, while Yin Shaoyuan came in two ces behind him. Even Baili Wen, who did not possess any fighting skills was able to get the tenth ce.

    There were also the rumors about the notorious mythical beast reapers. To their surprise, the leader of that team was none other than Gu Xiqiao!

    The feeling of regret was piling up in their hearts. If only they had stuck with Tang Qinghong from the beginning, perhaps they could have been a member of the mythical beast reapers? I mean, even Baili Wen whose strength was not enough to hold down a chicken was able tond a spot in the top ten list!

    Resentment against Tang Wu started taking hold. Their faith in Tang Wu had been utterly and mercilessly crushed by Gu Xiqiao.

    Tang Qinghong nced nonchntly at this group of men before leaving. Yao Jiamu¡¯s words were still echoing through his mind. He shook his head andughed. Peace Manor? After having witnessed their temperament firsthand, it seems increasingly likely that things are about to get lively for the ancient martial arts world.

 Chapter 288 - Leave This Place Immediately

    <h4>Chapter 288: Leave This ce Immediately</h4>

    Half a month was gone, just like that. Shu Chen remained in the ancient martial arts world, following the news closely for any bits of information about Gu Xiqiao in the selectionpetition.

    She had already received thetest news from the elders, that Gu Xiqiao was at the top of the scoreboard and that she was miles ahead of anyone else. The elders themselves were seated around the elder¡¯s pavilion, their faces full of shock and disbelief.

    Shu Chen was surprisingly unsurprised. She then received an iing message from Jiang Shuxuan¡ª[We¡¯ll be arriving in 5 minutes]

    Sitting still turned into an onus from that point on. Holding an umbre, she awaited her beloved son¡¯s return at the border of the ancient martial arts world.

    To her surprise, there were already quite a lot of people gathered near the border. Their faces were all filled with the same look of excitement as they discussed thepetition. The ancient martial arts world had made their appearance; the mythical beast reapers have captured the respect of many people all over the globe.

    It was precisely due to this that these people had gathered at the border.

    A microscopic dot appeared on the horizon, which grew increasinglyrger as minutes passed by.

    Finally, the silhouettes of two people became visible as they drew nearer. It was a man and a woman. The handsome man was holding up an umbre as his partner slowly descended towards the ground. It was only after she tucked away her flying boat that her radiant face was revealed to the masses.

    How could they possibly not recognize that familiar face of hers? She was Gu Xiqiao alright.

    Jiang Shuxuan paid no heed to the crowd. The aura he maintained around him was particrly threatening, which intimidated them so much that they had to restrain themselves despite how excited they were to see the victor¡¯s return.

    Shu Chen cut straight across the crowd. Unlike them though, it didn¡¯t really matter to her if she got first ce in thepetition or not. She scanned Gu Xiqiao from head-to-toe and it was only upon confirming that there was not a single scratch on her did she let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Oh, I was worried to death about your safety. Thank goodness you¡¯re safe and sound. I couldn¡¯t wipe my memory of the time when Shuxuan...¡±

    ¡°Mother,¡± Jiang Shuxuan interrupted. ¡°The rain¡¯s getting heavier as we speak. Let¡¯s head home first.¡±

    Shu Chen nodded instantly. ¡°Oh right, my mind¡¯s getting old. Let¡¯s head home, take a nice, warm shower and then we¡¯ll feast!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao felt a warmth swell up in her heart. Silently, she was led back home by Shu Chen.

    ¡°Oh, before I forget, about the flying boat you two were using.¡± Gu Xiqiao went straight for the bathroom upstairs when they reached home. Shu Chen and Jiang Shuxuan on the other hand, were busily toiling away in the kitchen. Something popped up randomly onto her mind, which made her narrow her eyes at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Is that not a treasure of the Baili family?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Grandpa Baili gave it to her as a present.¡± Jiang Shuxuan casually nodded his head as he exined. ¡°You probably don¡¯t know this but he was only steps away from giving her his family¡¯s entire reserve of treasures.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Shu Chen was baffled. She felt conflicted about her daughter-inw being treated so well by someone else. Something about this made her feel slightly panicky.

    ¡°Right,¡± continued Shu Chen as she poured the vegetables into the wok. ¡°I heard the Tang family talking about Qiao Qiao¡¯s friend, Xiao Yun, a couple of days ago.¡±

    ¡°The Tang family?¡± Jiang Shuxuan smiled, but the look in his eyes was cold and hostile. ¡°They should be regretting their decision by now.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Shu Chen¡¯s curiosity had been piqued. She thought her son would be disinterested in other people¡¯s matters.

    ¡°I guess Qingqiu¡¯s fallen for her, but the elders of his family are staunchly against his decision,¡± replied Jiang Shuxuan.

    Shu Chen¡¯s brows furrowed when she heard that. She sighed. ¡°The Tangs probably did so out of consideration of her identity as a regr human. No wonder I haven¡¯t seen Qingqiu for the past few days. I can imagine that he¡¯s being emotionally weighed down by these problems.¡± Persuading the elders of his family was something one could rarely pull off.

    Not everyone was like Jiang Shuxuan, who was powerful enough to force the elders into apromise.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about this though,¡± Jiang Shuxuan chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you haven¡¯t seen the rankings for thepetition?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Shu Chen was ting out the dish when she looked up curiously with an eyebrow raised.

    ¡°Xiao Yun, she¡¯s in the 11th ce.¡± Jiang Shuxuan answered while lifting the te off the table. How could that girl ever leave behind a friend who¡¯s being bullied?

    Shu Chen froze up in the middle of the kitchen, staring at her son with eyes that were about to pop out of their sockets. She turned around to their butler. ¡°I-I didn¡¯t mishear what you said did I?¡± That friend of hers. Wasn¡¯t she just a regr human being? How did she suddenly get 11th ce in thepetition out of nowhere?

    The butler smiled. ¡°Madam, I assume you have yet to browse the online forum? I think the team Gu Xiqiao led was the legendary mythical beast reapers. Retrospectively, I don¡¯t find it odd that Miss Xiao Yun was able tond a spot so high up in the scoreboard.¡± After all, even Baili Wen had managed to get tenth ce.

    Shu Chen was primarily worried about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s safety and as such, she cared little about other problems. What the butler had said initially did not surprise her.

    Despite that, upon putting in deeper thought, she couldn¡¯t snap out of her mental shock. She had only heard about her daughter-inw scoring first ce in thepetition but it was surprising to her that there were still so many talents out there. It really was so shocking that...she was about to turn into a fangirl! No wonder so many people were awaiting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return just now!

    ¡°To be honest, I think Miss Gu was probably trying to avoid troubling others.¡± The butler let out a quiet sigh. ¡°This whole ruckus has shifted the attention of the entire world onto her. I¡¯m guessing this was done with the main intention of helping out her friend, Miss Xiao Yun.¡±

    ¡°I think so too,¡± said Shu Chen while nodding. ¡°Qiao Qiao is someone who ces great importance on friendship. The Tang family was looking down on Xiao Yun, and so she sent her straight up to eleventh ce. I can imagine that the elders of the Tang family are now very anxious.¡±

    What they initially thought was a rat turd turned out to be a precious piece of gold after they had kicked it away.

    This must be incredibly painful for them.

    Shu Chen felt sympathy for the elders of the Tang family but recent memories of them being yed by Gu Xiqiao made her chuckle to herself. In any case, the ancient martial arts world was now much more lively than before.

    Jiang Shuxuan set the dish down onto the table before heading upstairs with Jiji silently trailing behind him.

    The little robot initially had a smirk on its face, thinking that Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t aware of its presence behind him. However, it had only taken a few steps before the looming figure before it came to a halt. He turned around and peered down with those ink-dark eyes of his.

    A cold voice echoed down the stairwell. ¡°This is my house.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Jiji quietly retraced its steps.

    ¡°...¡±

    A servant who unintentionally saw their odd little interaction was speechless. Why was Young Master treating this little android so badly?

    Jiang Shuxuan remained still until he was sure that Jiji had indeed stopped following him.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was washing in the bathroom upstairs. She had not taken a shower ever since stepping foot into Bahuang Forest. Because of this, she darted straight into the bathroom in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s room the moment she returned home. Although she wasn¡¯t a clean freak by any means, she still couldn¡¯t bear the thought of not cleaning herself for so many days.

    She realized upon pulling open the door of the wardrobe that... there were clothes meant for her inside.

    They were all brand-new and were hung right next to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s clothes.

    There was no doubt about it. Shu Chen must¡¯ve been the person behind this. And it seemed like her clothes have been hanging around here for quite some time now.

    Gu Xiqiao picked a long button-down shirt and a sweater which she changed into quickly. The clothes Jiang Shuxuan had in his wardrobe were pretty basic; apart from a couple of sweatshirts, most of them were in dress shirts. They were all of the same brand and were either ck or white in color.

    In fact, thatbination applied to his room as well. The items he had were either ck or white in color, with nothing in between.

    She observed the room whilst drying her hair with a towel. On the window sill were a few pots of plum blossoms. They were currently blossoming, which raised Gu Xiqiao¡¯s curiosity. Brother Jiang was interested in growing flowers? Why hadn¡¯t she discovered this up until today?

    She was still observing the plum blossoms when Jiang Shuxuan entered the room. Gu Xiqiao instinctively turned around the moment she heard the doorknob being twisted open.

    The delicate pink blossoms were right next to her in full bloom, which further enhanced the beauty of this scene, which appeared almost to have been ripped straight out of an artwork.

    ¡°Are you gazing at the flowers?¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingers paused for a second before silently shutting the door behind him, removing Jiji¡¯s sulking face from her view.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were interested in flowers.¡±

    ¡°These are not mine.¡± Jiang Shuxuan walked up next to her. He peered down at the pot of flowers before his eyes shifted back to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I don¡¯te home that often.¡±

    ¡°If this isn¡¯t yours then...¡± Gu Xiqiao wanted to ask who was tending to these flowers when Jiang Shuxuan answered her question.

    ¡°It¡¯s my mom.¡± He let out a sigh. ¡°She said these plum blossoms are much more obedient than dealing with her child.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was dead serious when he said that, and yet it was enough to make Gu Xiqiao giggle. She looked up at him with a pair of crystal clear eyes. Tending to plum blossoms was much better than raising a son? Aunt Shu definitely didn¡¯t seem like the kind of person who would say that.

    Or perhaps, she was unaware of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s rebellious phase?

    Gu Xiqiao stifled herughter by cupping her palm over her mouth.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her as he leaned up against the window frame. ¡°Stopughing.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. ¡°You think I¡¯dugh at you for that?¡± Of course! She couldugh at this all night long!

    Jiang Shuxuan sped her hand and proceeded to lean in for a kiss.

    Something cold but soft pressed against her lips. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind went nk in the spur of the moment. She had long forgotten about Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s funny little story. Their breaths merged as a warmth slowly crept up to her fingertips. Their shadows cast on the wall by the fluorescent lighting grew increasingly ovepped.

    A momentter, Jiang Shuxuan slowly loosened his grip on her. He peered down at her now bright red face. Her lips were no longer the light shade of pink like that of the plum blossoms on the windowsill. They were now glowing red, akin to a burning me.

    The look in his eyes was a little dreamy, as if he was only half-sober.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head down for dinner,¡± he said with a slightly hoarse voice.

    Fortunately, his brain was still working as he remembered that dinner was waiting for them downstairs.

    Gu Xiqiao opened up the windows and the two of them remained there for a brief moment before they walked down the stairs.

    Shu Chen hurried Gu Xiqiao to sleep after they finished their meal. ¡°You must be dead tired after spending half a month in Bahuang Forest! Go up and get yourself some rest! We¡¯ll leave talking for tomorrow, alright?¡±

    Shu Chen then excitedly logged into the ancient martial arts forum.

    Jiang Shuxuan received a phone call from Yi Tong shortly after Gu Xiqiao had fallen asleep. His voice was audibly more panicky than before. ¡°Big boss! Something¡¯s happened in W Town!¡±

    ***

    Yi Bing stumbled into the room after the phone call had ended.

    ¡°Soon.¡± Yi Tong shoved his phone into his pocket. He located the official of W Town, in front of which he mmed the table out of anger. ¡°If you don¡¯t order the people of this town to evacuate, they¡¯re all going to die here!¡±

    That man red back at Yi Tong with hostility in his eyes. ¡°Mister Yi Tong, upon hearing your allegation that a tsunami would engulf this area, I have hired an expert to do the necessary testing. Based on our topography, it is simply impossible for such a phenomenon to take ce. Furthermore, have you any idea how many people we have to evacuate? Perhaps I have gone insane, or perhaps I am a fool, but I want you to leave this ce immediately!¡±

 Chapter 289 - Because Of Your Existence

    <h4>Chapter 289: Because Of Your Existence</h4>

    Looking at Town W¡¯s topography, the im that a natural disaster was about to ur really did sound quite absurd.

    But... what if it was a man-made one?

    With a defeated look on his face, Yi Tong left the room. Yi Bing patted him on the shoulder but he had no idea what he could say to help the situation. There was only bleakness in his eyes.

    Yi Tong sensed the dejection his friend was going through but in the end, he allowed Yi Bing to lead him away.

    ¡°ording to Young Master Baili¡¯s prediction, it¡¯ll strike Town W first, then Japan, America andstly...¡± Yi Tong slowly made his way back to the squad¡¯s gathering spot. Jiu Tong was currently analyzing the 3D map on hisputer, which showed a rendering of the ongoing tsunami.

    The entire town was covered in an ominous red glow.

    The countdown timer at the bottom-right corner of the screen continued ticking away.

    01:36:27

    The ones responsible for drawing up the 3D map was a research team from the State Geological Bureau, led by a senior female researcher. This was a fairly well-known scientific research team hired by Yi Bing. Using the basic data Baili Bin had provided, they were able to run a simtion of the tsunami waves on their system. However, even after they had projected the footage to the people of Town W, most of the civilians thought it was just a foolish prank.

    Yi Bing¡¯s expression darkened. He had no idea why this was happening. The provided data had helped them to pinpoint the time at which disaster would strike before it was toote. And yet, they still had to clear the final hurdle. What excuse could they use to convince the people of Town W to evacuate safely?

    Yi Tiao, who had a semi-neurotic personality, stared at the 3D map. The responsibility he swore to shoulder, which was to protect innocent civilians kept cycling through his mind.

    The digits on the countdown clock were reducing. The sky was a drab grey color and the blowing wind was gradually growing stronger.

    Yi Tong and his men understood very well that Town W would turn into hell on earth the moment the timer struck zero.

    Silently, they stood there watching as time ran out.

    ¡°Mister Yi Bing, why don¡¯t you all issue a direct order for the people of Town W to evacuate?¡± The leader of a research team was ady. She knew that Yi Bing and his team was well-respected so why were they facing objection?

    Yi Tiaoughed when he heard the team leader¡¯s suggestion. ¡°Listen, Russell, do you think that can be easily done? Directly issuing orders are easy but that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean the town officials would agree to our decision. How could the people, who have been living here for generations possibly agree to leave their hometowns? There¡¯s the possibility that riots would break out afterward. In any case, this issue isn¡¯t as simple as you set it out to be.¡± They weren¡¯t sure that apart from this ce, which part of the country would be affected by disasters such as this one.

    Yi Tiao¡¯s words killed whatever hope that was left on their faces.

    Russell pursed her lips. To be honest, she knew next to nothing about these people but she could imagine how hard it must be to leave one¡¯s homnd for some vague reason provided by some outsider.

    Suddenly, someone came running in with a jubnt expression. He yelled out the moment the door of the room was pushed open. ¡°Miss Gu has arrived!¡±

    To Russell¡¯s surprise, the solemn atmosphere faded away the moment they heard the announcement. The me of hope returned to their eyes and they sprinted outside uncontrobly.

    Russell knew that these people had a boss whom they answered to. When she was constructing the 3D map of the tsunami, she overheard Yi Bing calling his boss multiple times but wasn¡¯t his boss a he? She was fairly certain of this as the voice she heard from the other end of the line was a man¡¯s voice.

    But did Yi Bing¡¯s man just mention Miss Gu?

    Russell rose from her seat and ventured outside to see just who this person was. She was impressed by how quickly her arrival had raised the morale of Yi Bing and his team.

    Before she could exit the room however, a crowd surrounding a feminine figure squeezed through the door. Yi Tong was standing next to her, gesturing with his hands as he exined the situation. The sullen expression he was initially wearing had been exchanged with one of hope and determination.

    Russell was surprised by how quickly their attitude has shifted. Her eyes moved over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skinny frame.

    She headed straight for the middle of the room. Upon closer look, her expression was extremely calm considering the predicament they were in and no one Russell had ever met even came close to how delicate her face was. It was just that... she was too young. This girl was way too young to be their boss.

    Russell had no idea why Yi Bing and his men suddenly retrieved their backbones the moment this youngdy appeared.

    ¡°Miss Gu, this is the amount of time we have left.¡± Yi Tong set theputer down in front of Gu Xiqiao. He pointed at the countdown timer as he exined the situation.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. The digits on the timer were 00:52:04.

    There was less than an hour¡¯s worth left. Gu Xiqiao sat down in front of theputer and began hammering away on the keyboard. ¡°Let me see to what extent things have developed first.¡±

    ¡°Let me help...¡± Russell thought Gu Xiqiao wanted to see the current condition of Town W and immediately offered her assistance as such data could only be understood by a professional. She walked up to Gu Xiqiao and was about to reach out her hand when it was held back by Yi Tong.

    Quietly, he whispered to her: ¡°Please refrain from disturbing Miss Gu.¡±

    At the end of his stay at Baixing Vige, Yi Tong had more or less a firm understanding of how god-like Gu Xiqiao was. She was the founder of the internationalpany, Nine Heavens and as he had suspected, was also the one behind the virtual helmet¡¯s invention.

    He had a lot of respect for Gu Xiqiao.

    Russell and several other researchers looked at each other with their eyebrows twisted up in a knot. They were puzzled. They were merely concerned about Gu Xiqiao messing up the data which they had meticulously collected over the past few days. Dealing with the aftermath of that would be a major pain in the butt.

    Before they could fully absorb what was going on however, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingers had already started typing away on the keyboard.

    A string of digits appeared on the screen, which was showing the 3D map of the tsunami. A secondter, yet another 3D map popped up. This time, it was showing a map of Town W which was then wiped out by a column of water so high that it stretched up into the sky.

    Russell had already given Yi Bing and his men a description of what was toe but it wasn¡¯t as terrifying as when it was shown on the 3D map.

    Yi Bing and co went silent upon watching the simtion of the disaster.

    Russell and her team however, were the ones who were the most shocked about this. What the hell? That 3D map from before was created by the collective effort of their entire team over the course of ten days. They were already plenty impressed with themselves when they were able to construct a miniature model of the town. Seems like Miss Gu didn¡¯t think the same thing. After entering a bunch of data, she was able toe up with a new 3D map right then and there.

    All of a sudden, these researchers felt as if they were the biggest fools on Earth.

    ¡°Yi Bing, are you seeing this?¡± Gu Xiqiao pointed at the edge of theputer screen. ¡°The evacuation point is here. You will go and organize it.¡±

    Yi Bing looked at that point, then at the location where the tsunami would first hit. ¡°But those people...¡± He wanted to ask, what if those people disagreed to move?

    Gu Xiqiao ignored him and answered a call instead.

    ¡°Right... thank you.¡±

    She hung up after that. Gu Xiqiao peered up at Yi Bing with a pair of cold eyes, which reminded him of Jiang Shuxuan for some reason.

    ¡°I have borrowed a helicopter from Peng Zijie. He happens to have a couple of old subordinates here. My estimate suggests that the time has alreadye. Yi Tong, you go contact them and you¡¯ll be responsible for search and rescue from this point onwards.¡± Gu Xiqiao proceeded to point at the bottom-right corner of theputer screen. ¡°Have you realized? That the time we have left has changed?¡±

    Initially, when Gu Xiqiao arrived, they still had fifty minutes left. However, this had reduced to only eight minutes left.

    Yi Bing, Russell, and the rest of the team¡¯s facial expressions changed for the worse the moment realization set in.

    ¡°In eight minutes, the tidal wave will hit the town.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face turned increasingly indifferent. ¡°You need not bother yourself with whoever that refuses to budge.¡±

    Yi Bing and Yi Tong scrambled to do their respective tasks immediately after.

    ¡°Yi Tiao, you organize your men to bring the townspeople to high ground.¡± Gu Xiqiao pointed at the roofs of the only two skyscrapers in the town.

    Gather them at these points and it¡¯ll be easier for helicopters to evacuate them.

    Yi Tiao nodded. But before he left, he couldn¡¯t help but ask out of curiosity. ¡°Miss Gu, how did you manage to persuade Peng Zijie to lend you a helicopter?¡± They weren¡¯t very close to the man. Furthermore, they had someone from the ancient martial arts world in their group, and his personality was definitely the stubborn type. Yi Tiao was both surprised and amazed that Gu Xiqiao was able to lend the strength of the army.

    Gu Xiqiao nced up at him before replying in a casual manner: ¡°He owes me two favors.¡±

    ¡®He owes her two favors?¡¯ Yi Tiao rolled his eyes. He didn¡¯t think too much about it and immediately left to fulfill his duty.

    ¡°You are all talents that our nation needs desperately, I want you guys to retreat as soon as possible,¡± said Gu Xiqiao to Russell and her research team. ¡°Jiu Tong, bring these people away to somewhere safe.¡±

    She had only been here for five minutes and yet she managed to restoreplete order among these men. Russell wanted to stop herself but in the end, her curiosity overcame her will. ¡°Miss Gu, could you please tell me if we have mistakenly calcted the timing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll exin it when we have the time.¡± Gu Xiqiao shot a look at Russell. ¡°Still, you and your team¡¯s safety is of utmost priority. Leave now while you can.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡± Russell stared back at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to leave with us?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head before walking out the door.

    Russell watched as Gu Xiqiao descended the stairs before speaking to the team standing at attention downstairs. She pursed her lips at the sight of the scene before boarding the helicopter alongside her research team. She wondered what Gu Xiqiao was saying as the civilians around her all made a dash for the nearby hotel, where they stayed on the roof. Some of them were quite obviously calling their family members to do the same.

    Gu Xiqiao and Yi Bing remained in the town. They were surprisingly calm despite the fact that this entire ce would be submerged underwater in the next few minutes.

    Russell let out a sigh as she leaned back into her seat.

    Minutester.

    The sky turned dark almost instantly. A column of water was steadily making its way towards the town. A child standing on the curb with a lollipop in his hand stared dumbfoundedly at the wave. His grandmother standing next to him started panicking. ¡°Tsunami...there really is a tsunami...¡±

    She instantly remembered that a few days ago, a group of youngsters rolled into town, warning that there would be a tsunami and that they should evacuate immediately. She dismissed their warning as a mere prank. In fact, she had even chased them away with a broom. At this moment, a feeling of regret crept up her heart.

    Holding tightly onto her beloved grandchild, she shut her eyes as the wave swept towards their direction.

    Suddenly, her body felt as light as a feather, as if she was floating mid-air. Out of surprise, the olddy opened her eyes, only to see the face of a youngdy. It was at this moment that her grandson asked, ¡°Big sis, are you a goddess?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Gu Xiqiao ced them both on top of a dry roof. She waved at the little boy and with a smile on her face, she said, ¡°Goodbye.¡±

    The olddy only snapped out of her daze after this. She embraced her grandson tightly while bawling her eyes out. And then, she kowtowed at Gu Xiqiao as a way to express her gratitude for saving their lives. Pain and sorrow returned when she watched the water engulf her home.

    Gu Xiqiao had no time for this. In the next instance, she appeared in another ce. This was where the officials of Town W regrly held their meetings.

    Their meeting had yet to conclude but everyone went silent as they stared at the iing tsunami. Apart from an unending wall of water, one could also see the humans who had unfortunately been swept up by its force. It was pure nightmare fuel for these men, who froze up out of shock.

    The official who had shoo-ed Yi Tong away was standing by the window. A cold chill slowly crawled up his spine and his fingers began to shake. He recalled what the youngsters had been up to for the past two weeks.

    He thought they were just being a nuisance. Who would¡¯ve thought that a tsunami would indeed, be heading towards them. The people of Town W had the chance to evacuate had he listened to their advice. However, due to his mistake...their blood was on his hands.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give Yi Tong the chance to exin the circumstance you all were in?¡± Gu Xiqiao walked up next to him. She pointed out the window. ¡°Do you see? An error in decision-making and you¡¯ll lose so many innocent lives.¡±

    The air suddenly warmed up just when she finished talking. The figure of a person slowly materialized into existence.

    The uninvited guest donned a green robe and had a head of jet-ck hair. He red at Gu Xiqiao with a pair of eyes so deep and dark they seemed like two individual abysses. ¡°Wrong. These people died because of your existence. You deserve to die.¡±

 Chapter 290 - Ive Died Once

    <h4>Chapter 290: I¡¯ve Died Once</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at Dubhe with an indifferent look on her face.

    This was the second time that she had heard him say that she should just die.

    ¡°You¡¯re an outsider,¡± Dube said, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a cold expression. ¡°As long as you live, the world will not be at peace. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Shuxuan protecting you, I wouldn¡¯t have let you live to see today. More than ten thousand people in this town have died because of you, don¡¯t you feel any guilt at all?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t answer him, and vanished from the spot. Since Dubhe was the descendant of the Greedy Wolf star, the people there should be fine already. Because she didn¡¯t need to worry anymore, she left.

    When she reappeared, it was in front of Yi Bing. He was still holding back the waves, and in front of nature, any single human being was naturally insignificant.

    Yi Bing, Jiu Tong, and some others had worked together to forge a defensive formation, but it had been quickly shattered. Yi Tong and the others were trying their best to rescue everyone, and Yi Tiao was directing a chopper to send people to safety.

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Yi Bin could see Gu Xiqiao, who had always been calm andposed, she seemed to be faltering at the moment and so he couldn¡¯t help but call out to her.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head,ing back to her senses. She nodded towards Yi Bing, then reached out to reinforce the barrier. With her help, the situation improved by a mile. But W Town was still being swallowed little by little.

    Gu Xiqiao seemed to hear the cries of countless people, and she thought back to the time when she had first arrived there, when the town was peaceful, and the innocentughter of the children.

    Right now, all there was was devastation.

    This didn¡¯t happen in herst life, right? Even after so long, Gu Xiqiao found that her memory of her past life was crystal clear. The tsunami in W Town was not a trivial matter, and if it did happen, the news would definitely have reported it.

    However, she couldn¡¯t find anything on it no matter how many times she looked back in her memories.

    Gu Xiqiao felt her heart calming down slowly, starting to contemte Dubhe¡¯s words seriously. His words still lingered in her mind.

    The first time he had wanted to kill her, she hadn¡¯t cared much for it. But this time, hearing him say it so clearly, she shouldn¡¯t exist, she was an outsider.

    That¡¯s right, ever since she had been reborn, she had made a lot of changes, especially to these ten thousand people here.

    [Don¡¯t listen to his nonsense, Beauty Qiao!] Jiji could feel Gu Xiqiao¡¯s thoughts, and it immediately refuted her in her mind. [These are not your fault, even if you weren¡¯t here, it would still happen!]

    ¡®But it didn¡¯t happen in my past life.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao replied faintly.

    Her gaze was calm, and she instantly blocked the connection with Jiji. As Jiji¡¯s host, she naturally had the ability to do so.

    ***

    Jiji, who was far away in the desert, looked at the abyss with a sad look in its eyes. ¡°Master Jiang, hurry up ande out, that nasty Dubhe ghost has appeared again!¡±

    It lingered around the edge of the abyss, not being able to do anything else.

    When Yi Bing had brought the news to them the other day that there was finally movement in the desert, Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao decided to split up into two groups. But he refused to let Jiji follow Gu Xiqiao, and so it could only follow Jiang Shuxuan with great reluctance.

    Jiang Shuxuan was still investigating the source of the malicious aura in the abyss, and Jiji was anxious. It suddenly stopped its pacing, stretching out its mechanical hands.

    Five minutester, a ming red bird appeared in front of it.

    Xixi had been breathing fire at Peace Manor, then an unexpected suction had engulfed it, drawing its entire body into space. When it appeared again, it saw the mechanical head in front of it, but the fire that it was breathing couldn¡¯t be held back and it spat out.

    Fortunately, Jiji dodged it quickly, not getting sprayed by it at all.

    ¡°What did you bring me here for?¡± Xixi looked at Jiji, standing by the abyss. It looked to the bottomless pit, both eyes darkening. ¡°What dense evil!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother about this first, hurry up and go to Beauty Qiao!¡± Jiji¡¯s voice was urgent.

    Xixi turned back at it. ¡°Jiji, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°That d*mn Dubhe is telling Beauty Qiao that she doesn¡¯t belong in this world, and all the disaster that¡¯s happening is because of her. I think Beauty Qiao is starting to believe his words!¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± A low voice came from behind them suddenly.

    Jiji turned around to see Jiang Shuxuan hade out, and he was walking towards them with a dark look on his face, his face hard like ayer of ice.

    Seeing him was like seeing a savior, and Jiji felt aggrieved for Gu Xiqiao. ¡°She rushed over to W Town once she heard what was happening. Dubhe is telling her that she¡¯s an outsider, and she¡¯s the cause of the disaster, she¡¯s believed his words already.¡±

    It was all wrong, as Gu Xiqiao¡¯s system, there wasn¡¯t anyone who knew how much she had already paid in her life.

    All the missions had been given by the system, and every single one of them was given to make the world a better ce. It didn¡¯t understand, if Gu Xiqiao was the cause of the disasters, then what about the others? A source of destruction?

    ¡°If Dubhe is in front of me now, I will definitely kill him,¡± Jiji said to Xixi.

    Xixi was quiet, but the fire started to crackle with ck fire.

    Jiji knew that this was just the starting point of Xixi¡¯s anger.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded his head. He didn¡¯t look at Jiji again, but started to walk forward a few steps to find the guards that the ancient martial arts world had sent, and gave them some instructions.

    Jiji watched as Jiang Shuxuan came over after exchanging some words with the guards. There was nothing on his face to betray what he was feeling right now, but his eyes were so very dark. Even the sand he walked past had turned into ice.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±He lowered his head, looking down at Jiji and Xixi, then he waved his hands.

    Jiji and Xixi only felt a flicker before the scene in front of them changed. They had clearly been in a desert, and now there was the sea in front of them, rushing towards them.

    ¡°Xixi! Fire!¡± Jiji shouted immediately.

    Xixi looked at Jiji with a t look. ¡°The brain is a good thing, you know? I hope that you also have one.¡± Such a big sea, was it even any use to breathe fire? Could it possibly evaporate the entire ocean into steam?

    Jiang Shuxuan was standing between the two without a word, his gaze on the direction to his left. She was helping Yi Bing reinforce the barrier right now, her face still clear and bright as it usually was. Only, there was something missing. Her eyes were calm, a little too calm.

    As though she had felt his gaze, Gu Xiqiao turned her head, surprise showing on her face first, before a smile bloomed on her face and she nodded at him.

    She was acting just the same as usual, like nothing had happened.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes were still dark, and at the same time, a surge of energy poured out from him.

    Jiji and Xixi discovered the waves that were about to sweep over them were frozen suddenly, and the entire scene seemed to stop for a minute. The waves would never sweep over again.

    Yi Bing and the others were taken aback for a moment, before they saw Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Big boss!¡±

    ¡°Go on and aid the people first.¡± Jiang Shuxuan turned away from Gu Xiqiao, giving his instructions.

    Yi Bing and the others could read the atmosphere, and they nodded before leaving to do what he had ordered.

    Gu Xiqiao stood where she was, looking at a few people who were stranded on an electric pole not far from them. She walked to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side. ¡°Brother Jiang, I¡¯ll bring Xixi to rescue some people.¡± As she said that, she poked at Xixi, urging him to change its size.

    Xixi concentrated on erging itself, then followed her to do what she said.

    Jiang Shuxuan stood in the spot, watching her leave. When she moved out of his sight, only did he move his hand to wipe the blood at the corner of his mouth.

    ¡°You took care of it for her this time, but what about next time?¡± A voice came from behind him.

    Jiang Shuxuan turned around, looking at the man who stood in mid-air by the edge of the frozen waves, donning a green robe and looking unhuman like.

    ¡°What did you say to her just now?¡± Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother replying to his question, asking him one back.

    Dubhe was surprised, and his eyes were deep. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that she would even tell you this. That¡¯s right, I told her that she¡¯s an outsider to this world. You know all of this, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan walked forward slowly, his face paler than usual, and there was still some red at the corner of his mouth. There was just a nk expression on his face.

    When he was about to pass Dubhe, he suddenly stopped, looking at him straight in the eyes. ¡°Dubhe.¡±

    Dubhe couldn¡¯t tell what Jiang Shuxuan was thinking, but when he heard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s faint voice, it made him feel uneasy inside. He suddenly recalled the words that Jiang Shuxuan had said almost half a month ago, about how he would destroy the world, then he was suddenly silent.

    He naturally knew that the Jiang family could do anything they said they would.

    Jiang Shuxuan turned his gaze to where Gu Xiqiao was. There was still no anger nor joy in his face, but his voice was more rxed than before. ¡°Although the Dubhe n is strong, it is not without weakness. Master Dubhe, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll let it go.¡±

    Dubhe stood rooted to the spot, watching Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s retreating figure, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

    ¡°The Jiang family is crazy, as expected.¡± Dubhe thought about it for almost half a day, frowning.

    He slowly walked to the terrace next to the hotel beside him, finding Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao both on it.

    Gu Xiqiao was holding a silver needle, helping an old man who had fainted. After inserting it for a while, the old man slowly started to wake up. After that, she turned to another person to help bandage their legs.

    The people were gradually getting rescued, and Dubhe stood in a corner, seeing the smiles on the face of the people on the terrace. It was different than what he had imagined it would be.

    At this time, a helicopter flew over above them, and Jiang Shuxuan pulled Gu Xiqiao up by the arm without a word.

    After the two left, Dubhe finally emerged in front of everyone. He went to the children who had been surrounding Gu Xiqiao just now, and asked, ¡°You seem to like thedy that was treating people just now?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about Miss Gu?¡± Hearing his words, the child¡¯s eyes lit up instantly. ¡°She¡¯s the one who saved us, and everyone here has also been saved by her!¡±

    The boy¡¯s word attracted a few others around them to look over, faces full of smiles. ¡°Miss Gu is our savior, she¡¯s the one who found someone to bring the helicopters over!¡±

    Dubhe looked at the people in front of him, with surprise in his eyes.

    He really had underestimated her, for someone from the outside, she actually had this kind of capabilities.

    ***

    In the helicopter, Gu Xiqiao was looking at Jiji. ¡°You know, don¡¯t you, Brother Jiang?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at her, not saying a word.

    ¡°I¡¯m someone from outside of this world.¡± Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes slowly.

 Chapter 291 - Come Fight If Youre Not Satisfied!

    <h4>Chapter 291: Come Fight If You¡¯re Not Satisfied!</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes dark and deep.

    He had been avoiding this topic deliberately, not wanting her to recall painful memories.

    Thest time Gu Xiqiao had encountered danger in the ancient martial arts world, he was in the process of breaking through. In his hazy state, he saw a sea of fire, as well as the clear face in it, and he almost failed toplete his advancement.

    He watched as she was engulfed by the fire little by little, her face calm, and her eyes like a pool of stagnant water. He could see the lingering grief that was hiding underneath it.

    Just looking at the scene made his heart hurt.

    But all he could do was watch as she disappeared within the fire. It was indescribable despair that he felt at that moment as he watched the scene y out, as though it had happened for real, once before.

    So when he woke up to see Dubhe forcing Gu Xiqiao into a corner, he became slightly unhinged. That was also the reason he said that he would destroy the world. He really had the thought of making a move in that moment, especially when he recalled the vision of her vanishing into the mes once again.

    He¡¯d seen this incident once, although it was just a dream, he had the urge to destroy everything. If it really did happen in front of him, he didn¡¯t know what he would do.

    Fortunately, she was still well and alive in front of him.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached out to pull her into his arms, muttering in her ears, ¡°I know... I know all of it.¡±

    His voice was dull and t, bitterness seeping out from his tone. This man had always been calm and restrained, reigning in his feelings all the time. This was the first time Gu Xiqiao had seen such a disy of emotions from him, and she could also feel his body trembling. It seemed that admitting those words exhausted all the strength in his body.

    Gu Xiqiao turned to look at him with an impassive expression. ¡°Brother Jiang, you know that I¡¯ve already died...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say it!¡± Jiang Shuxuan tightened his arms around her. He didn¡¯t want to hear the words from her mouth a second time, turning to look at her with his onyx eyes. He said slowly, ¡°All these misfortunes have existed since ancient times. Even if you weren¡¯t around, it would still explode in our faces eventually, it was only a matter of time. You don¡¯t have to take all the me onto yourself, the evils are of their own making. Why right does he have to put the entire me on you?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan stared intently into her eyes when he said that.

    He didn¡¯t believe in Dubhe¡¯s judgment. Just relying on her own merits, she had punished many evils, and there was no malicious aura that even came close to her. It was the biggest joke in the world to say that she was a cmity.

    Even if she turned out to be it, so what? He didn¡¯t care one bit.

    Gu Xiqiao studied his face for a long time, and she knew he was worried. His hands were still shaking, and he was still looking at her so attentively. There was also a hint of fear in his usually vacant eyes.

    This made her warm inside, and feel that she really wasn¡¯t alone in this world.

    The panic and fear that had been eating at her slowly whittled away. She leaned on him, starting to organize her thoughts.

    When she heard Dubhe¡¯s words, she had indeed been shocked to her core. Especially when she was looking at so many lives disappearing in front of her, she inevitably recalled her rebirth.

    So she suspected that she was indeed an outsider of this world, an anomaly, just as Dubhe had said.

    If so many lives disappeared because of her, how could she be at ease?

    Thinking of this, Gu Xiqiao lifted her head again to look at the man. ¡°Brother Jiang, I actually have a system.¡±

    ¡°A system?¡± This was the first time Jiang Shuxuan had heard Gu Xiqiao talk about this. He lowered his head to look at her properly. He had known for a long time that she had a secret, and he recalled how he couldn¡¯t detect her presence a few times throughout their time together.

    He knew that there were some secrets that were better off being left to the unknown, as it would cause unnecessary waves, which was also the reason he had started gradually controlling the ancient martial arts world.

    He needed enough power to protect her.

    He didn¡¯t expect that she would let him in on her secrets. Jiang Shuxuan felt like there were flowers blooming around him everywhere, and his bad mood started to vanish little by little.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s Jiji.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked around, but she didn¡¯t see the small robot. ¡°I don¡¯t think I forgot about Jiji...¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring it up when I brought you just now.¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice ttened out once Jiji was mentioned. ¡°Jiji is the system?¡± His mood improved further upon seeing that she had put aside the matter of her being an anomaly of the world for now.

    ¡°The fact that I could... live again, it was because of Jiji.¡± Gu Xiqiao felt the arms around her tightened once again.

    Then he spoke in a low voice, ¡°I see. I¡¯ll treat it more kindly in the future.¡±

    The two slowly calmed down, and Gu Xiqiao rted to Jiang Shuxuan everything about the system from the beginning.

    ***

    Jiji, who was far away in W Town, suddenly felt like it wanted to sneeze. It told Xixi about its feelings, and Xixi looked at it weirdly. ¡°You... you have a nose?¡±

    Jiji stiffened, turning around to raise its mechanical arm and pointed at Xixi. ¡°Gunara, the god of darkness[1], turn into a chicken!¡±

    Xixi turned its head to look at Yi Tong, patting its wings on his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t look so surprised, this robot has some screws loose. I¡¯ll get Beauty Gu to fix it tomorrow.¡±

    Yi Tong coughed, trying to smother theughter that threatened to burst forth. ¡°Master Xixi, Big Boss and Miss Gu have left first. Do you want to follow us back now?¡±

    Xixi nodded its head, shrinking down to its smaller size and perching on top of Jiji.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Jiji called out, stopping Yi Tong with a grave expression.

    Yi Tong knew that this robot belonged to Gu Xiqiao, since she always had interesting things at her side. But seeing the robot having such intelligence, it really was like looking at a creepy monster.

    ¡°Jiji, what else do you need to do?¡± Yi Tong asked, looking at it with a smile on his face.

    Jiji looked at Yi Tong. ¡°You called this chicken ¡®master¡¯, why are you calling me ¡®Jiji¡¯? Am I not majestic enough?¡± Grr, so annoying!

    ¡°...¡± Yi Tong¡¯s smile was frozen on his face. He could already hearughter from Yi Tiao in the distance, but seeing how he was the one facing Jiji, he didn¡¯t dare tough at all. He was legitimately terrified of things that belonged to Miss Gu, like that pink flower. Who would expect that it was a man-eating nt that could swallow a Fleet Foot level master whole?

    Yi Tong straightened up when he thought of that, and said, ¡°Master Jiji, do you have any other instructions?¡±

    ¡°No, let¡¯s go.¡± Jiji waved his hand, looking at Xixi with a triumphant look in its mechanical eyes, and got onto the helicopter.

    The moment it got in, it was met with Dubhe sitting in the vehicle.

    Jiji didn¡¯t have any good feelings about this person, and so it merely nced at him and turned away, taking a seat on the left side. It then pulled out aptop from its chest, starting to y games.

    Dubhe was talking to Yi Bing initially, but he couldn¡¯t take his eyes off Xixi and Jiji when they came in. He stopped talking abruptly, turning his gaze to the firebird. ¡°I recall that you¡¯re a phoenix, right? Being able to reach this level just by training on your own without any guidance, you¡¯re really talented. I have some techniques for the phoenix n, would you like to follow me?¡±

    The idea in his heart was simple, the Vermillion Bird was a mythical beast of Heaven and Earth, and its natural affinity was fire.

    He had also learned to control fire, and so he felt that Xixi would definitely agree to such favorable terms.

    Dubhe had not expected Xixi to look him in the eye, and then spit out a breath of fire suddenly. ¡°I won¡¯t bow to evil forces! Jiji, go!¡±

    Jiji raised its head immediately, pointing its mechanical hands at Dubhe. ¡°Gunara, the god of darkness, turn into sh*t!¡±

    Dubhe lowered his head, finding that there was a pink flower in his arms suddenly. Before he could react, the flower opened its mouth and sprayed him with¡ªmucus.

    It was the foul-smelling kind too.

    This was the first time a distinguished person like Dubhe was treated like this. First he was ignored by the two ignorant beings, then he was caught off guard and sprayed with slimy mucus. It was only natural that his face darkened at that.

    He reached out his hand, a ball of white me igniting on his fingertips, intending to burn the flower.

    Seeing that, Yi Bing quickly snatched Dog Feed away from him. ¡°You can¡¯t, Master Dubhe! This is Miss Gu¡¯s favourite flower!¡±

    If Master Dubhe were to burn it, there would definitely be serious repercussions!

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Dubhe knew that Yi Bing was talking about Gu Xiqiao, and he didn¡¯t understand. Why was it that even Yi Bing along with so many others were so protective of the girl?

    Since Yi Bing was protecting Dog Feed, Dubhe disappeared from the helicopter. It wasn¡¯t worth raising his hands against a flower anyway.

    Xixi only started pping its wings andughing gleefully after he left. ¡°He really did be sh*t!¡±

    Dog Feed looked up at Yi Bing. ¡°Put me down.¡±

    Yi Bing: ¡°... Oh.¡± He carefully handed Dog Feed over to Jiji, and then after thinking a while, he said, ¡°Master Dubhe isn¡¯t someone to provoke, try not to offend him next time.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Jiji took Dog Feed in its arms. ¡°We know our limits.¡±

    Seeing such a serious look on Jiji¡¯s face, Yi Bing nodded, putting faith in the robot¡¯s words.

    Xixi cocked its head sideways, the words that Jiji just said sounded so familiar. Wasn¡¯t that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mantra every single time?

    ***

    At night, in the ancient martial arts world, Jing Capital.

    A group of elders was in a meeting. Apart from the twenty-one elders from the Jiang, Murong, and Tang family, there were also elders from other smaller families. They had all been called to gather here today, with Jiang Shuxuan sitting at the head seat. There was a strong pressure exuding from his person, and the elders of the smaller ns were silent out of fear.

    ¡°Where did that Peace Manore from? Why have they suddenly built up in the ancient martial arts world?¡± The elder of the Murong family stroked his beard as he asked. ¡°And they¡¯re even selling those pills that defy all logic...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it could be a new force from the outside world.¡± What was the origin of Peace Manor? Only the elders from the Jiang family were well aware of it, especially the great elder. But when he heard Elder Murong ask this, he had no intention of exining it. The seven of them had recited scriptures for so long, they needed the others to also have a taste of what they were feeling, right?

    Hearing the Jiang elder say that, the other elders all started nning in their heads. They had also asked about the same thing in the elders¡¯ meeting. As Gu Xiqiao was the only person they knew that held these elixirs, so they were afraid that Peace Manor had connections with Gu Xiqiao, and so they wanted to dig a little more information first.

    With that answer, most of them rxed. That was true, if Peace Manor had connections to Gu Xiqiao, why would it be built in the fifth ring?

    ¡°Then, Young Master Jiang... that?¡± Elder Murong turned his gaze towards Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Should we send someone to look over this new force?¡±

    He meant, to take advantage of them, of course.

    It wasn¡¯t like this kind of thing didn¡¯t happen in the ancient martial arts world before. It was a world of thew of the jungle after all. Whoever had the bigger fist was the stronger one.

    Jiang Shuxuan let out a ¡®hm¡¯ without any otherments.

    Elder Murong¡¯s smile widened at that, it was good as an agreement that he would get.

    The seven elders of the Jiang family looked at each other, thinking that the Young Master Jiang was really ruthless in his methods. He obviously knew the people in Peace Manor, but he chose not to say anything, burying Murong¡¯s family in their own grave that they were digging. The group of people from the Murong family who wanted to threaten Peace Manor, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to get a single benefit, but would instead get skinned by them!

    Those people fronting the Peace Manor were almost simr to the way Gu Xiqiao was... bad sadistic taste indeed.

    Pretending to be weak in front of stronger people, it wasn¡¯t like they hadn¡¯t done it before either.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang.¡± The great elder from the Jiang family suddenly said. ¡°The qualifying tournament is in one day. Does Miss Gu want to try entering the Trial Tower?¡±

    The great elder couldn¡¯t but feel anticipation building inside him when he asked, he really wanted to know which floor Gu Xiqiao would reach.

    Nozawa from Japan already had the strength to reach the 70th floor, and since Gu Xiqiao has already broken through and advanced, could it be possible that she would go beyond the 70th floor?

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded his head. ¡°I¡¯ll ask her when I get back.¡±

    After the two finished speaking, a green-robed figure entered from the outside in a slow pace. The moment he entered, the entire Elders¡¯ Association was enveloped in a terrifying aura.

    ¡°Master Dubhe.¡± Everyone in the room stood when they saw the man, looking at Dubhe with a mixture of excitement and slight fear.

    When they had first arrived, the great elder from the Jiang family had already briefed them about Dubhe.

    They also naturally knew that Dubhe was the strongest man on earth, and also the salvation of millions of people. This was the first time they were seeing Dubhe with their own eyes. The thrill in their hearts was unimaginable, and all their faces were lit up in excitement.

    This was the proper treatment that he should be getting, Dubhe thought as he moved to take a seat on the first chair on the right. He had been ignored and slighted in the past few days, to the point he even began to doubt himself because of that.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao cannot participate in the qualifying tournament,¡± Dubhe announced.

    At Dubhe¡¯s words, the majority of the elders didn¡¯t question his motive. They all immediately agreed. The moment Dubhe had stepped in, they had managed to collect themselves.

    ¡°Master Dubhe, it will be as you say.¡±

    ¡°I also think that a girl who hasn¡¯t even reached the age of twenty will just bring problems if she participates.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at them with a nk look. ¡°If you don¡¯t agree, then you can leave the ancient martial arts world now. I won¡¯t stop you.¡±

    His voice was soft and low, but everyone heard it loud and clear.

    The meaning was simple.

    Whoever disagreed that Gu Xiqiao should participate in the tournament, you can just get the h*ll out of the ancient martial arts world!

    The ancient martial arts world wasn¡¯t short on people like them anyway!

    It was simple and blunt, straight to the point!

    Even if you¡¯re not willing to ept it, you have to ept it anyway!

    The elders of the Murong family and the other families were shocked. They couldn¡¯t believe the words they had heard as they turned to look at Jiang Shuxuan, especially the elders who had been moring earlier, their faces were whiter than paper. They had been so caught up with the strongest man on earth, they had forgotten who the real boss of the ancient martial arts world was!

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, this joke isn¡¯t funny.¡± Elder Murong said. ¡°Although the Jiang family is the biggest in the ancient martial arts world, without us, the world is still...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already said, if you disagree, you may leave the ancient martial arts world.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nced at them with an empty look before pulling out his phone to look at the time. ¡°Great Elder, list down those who want to leave and give me the listter.¡±

    Having said that, he stood up and left.

    The great elder stood up immediately, picking up a notebook. ¡°Those who want to leave, pleasee and register here.¡±

    If it was before, they would have just ignored Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words. But it wasn¡¯t the same now, perhaps there would be lesser people in the ancient martial arts world, but there were also people from the Peace Manor who could fill the void, and they were all Gu Xiqiao¡¯s subordinates. He had also been in contact with them before, and they were really a group that sincerely cared about the well being of the ordinary people.

    ¡°The Baili family will not leave.¡± The elder of the Baili family stood upright after the great elder had said those words. He initially had a lot of respect for Dubhe, but after this incident, his impression of Dubhe had changed greatly. ¡°Great Elder, if you need any help, please let me know.¡±

    Baili Qu had finallye clean, and the Baili family knew that Gu Xiqiao was one of them. This Dubhe just waltzed in and directly went for a descendant of their family, did he take them for dead men?!

    ¡°The Tang family will not leave either.¡± The seven elders from the Tang family stood up and announced.

    The remaining elders started to panic once they saw even the Tang family had expressed their opinions. At first they had been arrogant, thinking that with so many of them, the Jiang family would definitely still have some fear at their deration, but they didn¡¯t expect to see Jiang Shuxuan pass his orders with no hesitation.

    Leave the ancient martial arts world? Impossible!

    And so the pale and stuttering elders started apologizing.

    The great elder looked at those other elders, then closed the notebook in his hand. ¡°In that case, if there is nothing else, let¡¯s stop here for today.¡±

    He shot a cold look at the elder of the Murong family, whose face was paler than a sheet of paper. Did they see now, how indifferent and insignificant they were? Did they think that the ancient martial arts world couldn¡¯t survive without them? Oh, how you¡¯ve overestimated your own values!

    Just wait, wait till you meet the people from Peace Manor, then you would know just where you stand in the ancient martial arts world!

    [1] T/N: Gunara is the final boss of the series, Bla The Fairies

 Chapter 292 - Trial Tower

    <h4>Chapter 292: Trial Tower</h4>

    Dubhe remained seated in the stool, his eyes lowered and silent, with a stony, twisted look on his face.

    He didn¡¯t expect Jiang Shuxuan to do this.

    He thought back to the words that the other had said previously, and he really wasn¡¯t going to let him go!

    As expected of Jiang Shuxuan, he really was a member of the Jiang family.

    Dubhe pressed his temples, it didn¡¯t matter to him that Gu Xiqiao participated in the ranking tournaments, it was just that he didn¡¯t want things to deteriorate further than this. He waspletely sidelined by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s stubbornness.

    He felt as though he was the most failed Dubhe in history.

    ¡°Master Dubhe, we¡¯ll be... leaving first.¡± The Murong family¡¯s elder looked at Dubhe, bowing to him. The heat radiating from the other made him fearful of getting closer, and it also made it all clearer how terrifying Dubhe¡¯s powers were.

    ¡°Hm,¡± Dubhe responded. There was a distortion in the air, and his entire person disappeared.

    Only the elders from the Murong family were left in the room, and they couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of relief as they wiped the cold sweat on their brows. There was still some lingering fear in their hearts, Jiang Shuxuan had not liked managing the ancient martial arts world a few years back. He only took on small tasks and everyone slowly got used to it, and grewcent. They hadpletely forgotten Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s nature!

    Wasn¡¯t the Jiang family known for being extremely protective of their own? It was nuts for them to even entertain the thought of asking Gu Xiqiao to back out from entering the ranking tournaments.

    The remaining elders nced at each other with understanding on their faces, and then quietly left the room.

    ***

    Dubhe had not gone far, and he reappeared on the roof of the Elders Association. He sat on the tiles. The jade flute in his hands as his gaze was in the direction of the Jiang family house with a dark look in his eyes.

    Suddenly, a wave of energy fluctuated in the air, and Dubhe stood up in surprise. His eyes widened, and he muttered, ¡°Master... But how can that be?¡±

    He wanted to find the source of the energy, but before he could move, it had disappeared in a sh.

    ***

    When Jiang Shuxuan returned home, he saw Yi Bing bringing Jiji and Xixi in.

    When he saw Jiji, he was about to ignore it, but then he recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, and he halted in his steps, lowering his head to look at the robot. ¡°Jiji, go on up and see her. She¡¯s been missing you.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice was not warm nor gentle, but it definitely wasn¡¯t cold either. Compared to the cold attitude that he usually had when he dealt with them, it was simply as warm as the spring air.

    Jiji had gotten used to being ignored and kicked around by Jiang Shuxuan, and this was the first time it had felt such a loving Master Jiang. Jiji was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, ¡°Master Jiang, you... are you okay?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan: ¡°...¡± He spared another nce at Jiji, then turned around and walked away.

    Jiji had reacted quickly, as though lightning had struck it!

    Xixi looked at it with sympathy in its beady eyes. ¡°How can you be such a fool at such a young age.¡±

    ¡°If I could have a do over,¡± Jiji said, looking at Xixi. ¡°I would definitely say... baby, don¡¯t you love me anymore?¡±

    Xixi: ¡°...¡± Seriously, why did it have to talk to Jiji at such a solemn time?

    Was there really something wrong in Jiji¡¯s head?

    Yi Tongughed as he followed Jiang Shuxuan. There was a saying ¡®A smile will gain you ten more years of life¡¯, and Yi Tong thought that if it were true, he could possibly be a thousand-year-old immortal if he continued to stay by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.

    Hearing his words, Yi Bing looked at him straight in his eyes. ¡°What happens if you died fromughing instead?¡±

    Yi Tong: ¡°...¡± Would it kill you to just shut up? Geez!

    And then he thought about it, since when did this Yi Bing, who had always been serious and uptight be like this...

    Gu Xiqiao walked down the stairs, following behind Shu Chen. ¡°I just found someone to make a few sets of new clothes which are following the popr trends currently. Oh, that¡¯s right, and some matching clothes for mother and daughter. Let¡¯s wear them tomorrow, and I¡¯ll show you around the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    Shu Chen sounded very excited, and as she pulled Gu Xiqiao downstairs with her, she acted as though she didn¡¯t see her son, continuing to babble with Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it look good on the both of us? Shuxuan, don¡¯t you think so too?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan: ¡°...¡± So you finally remember that you have a son.

    Although that was his thoughts, his gaze turned to Gu Xiqiao. She was wearing a light green dress with a fox fur coat. Even the big coat was unable to hide her thin and slender figure underneath, it was no wonder Mrs. Zhang kept feeding her food whenever she could. It even looked like she had be thinner over the past two days.

    She slowly followed Shu Chen downstairs, her steps slightly awkward at the long skirt. The lights from the crystalmps reflected on her face, and it was hard to tell whether the fox fur coat or her face was paler under the glow.

    She usually had a cold expression on her face, but today there was a faint smile on her lips as her eyes shimmered softly. It gave her an exceptionally warm glow, beautiful to the point it was hard to look away from her.

    Then he turned his gaze to his mother, who was also wearing the same green dress. Thinking for a while, he finally said, ¡°Like a green caterpir.¡±

    Having said that, he rushed off to the study, not daring to look at Gu Xiqiao, Yi Tong, and everyone else hot on his heels.

    Behind him, Shu Chen had her fist raised in a motion that she was going to beat the crap out of her son for saying that. Why didn¡¯t she know that her son was this sort of person before? Sure enough, it would probably be better to have just grown potted nts!

    ¡°Aunt Shu, Brother Jiang may just be jealous of your beauty,¡± Gu XIqiao said, after being silent for a while.

    After beingforted like that, Shu Chen had wanted to say something more to Gu Xiqiao, but the butler came over. ¡°Madam, there is someone here to meet you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave first, Qiao Qiao. I¡¯ll be back in a while.¡± Shu Chen knew that if it wasn¡¯t important, the butler wouldn¡¯t havee personally to inform her. So she bid goodbye to Gu Xiqiao and left.

    Only Gu Xiqiao was left in the living room, with Jiji and the others.

    ¡°Why is Dog Feed here?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, pointing to the nt in Jiji¡¯s arms.

    ¡°To make a mess!¡± Jiji eximed excitedly, and proceeded to rte the entire incident that had happened between them and Dubhe.

    The corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mouth twitched, and she didn¡¯tment on Jiji¡¯s story. For Jiji toe back intact, Dubhe really had good self-restrained. ¡°Jiji, I upgraded the virtual trial arena.¡±

    ¡°Upgraded?¡± Why hadn¡¯t it felt anything?

    Oh no, Beauty Gu probably wouldn¡¯t need it in the next second!

    ¡°When it was upgrading, I didn¡¯t have control over it. It was projected into reality.¡± Fortunately, it had only been for a few seconds, and she managed to take it back.

    Jiji was silent for a while. ¡°It¡¯s fine, you must have just lost control a little bit. This virtual trial arena will be a big help to you in the future.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, naturally knowing the function of the virtual trial arena.

    ¡°Speaking of Dubhe, I still have this feeling that he¡¯s really familiar,¡± Jiji said suddenly.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time Jiji had brought it up and said the same thing, and Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ¡°Your lover from your previous life?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll break up with you!¡± Jiji didn¡¯t want to entertain Gu Xiqiao¡¯s line of thought.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored Jiji, pulling out her phone to call Mu Zong.

    When Gu Xiqiao called, Mu Zong was in Yu Ning¡¯s house. A group of them had gathered to eat hotpot, and he went to a corner to take the call. ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Mu, please have someone pass the documents from Nine Heavens to Yao Jiamu, I won¡¯t being back for a while,¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she sat downzily on the sofa.

    Mu Zong was used to instructions like this from her, and so he gave her a brief update on the major events that had happened in Nine Heavens for the past few days.

    After listening to his recap, she hung up the phone and began to ponder on the things that he had told her. Chu Enterprise¡¯s main business was in food and beverages, now they¡¯ve suddenly decided to enter the business and they even want to cooperate with Nine Heavens. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, deep in thought.

    ¡°Jiji, bring out theputer.¡±

    She reached out, taking out the pocket PC from Jiji¡¯s chest.

    She tapped a few keys on the device, hacking into Chu Enterprise with ease. She pulled up Chu Ziheng¡¯s recent schedule, rubbing her chin again as she smiled suddenly.

    The next day, there was a group of people gathered outside the Trial Tower, discussing. It seemed that Jiang Tong was undergoing training in the tower.

    Murong Miaoxue had just exited the Trial Tower, and she watched as Jiang Tong¡¯s rank jumped from 62 to 63, then 63 to 64, finally stopping at 65.

    The people around the tower were just discussing and chatting, but it turned into amazement in the end.

    Compared to Gu Xiqiao, no matter how talented you were, you would still look dull next to her. But no one expected Jiang Tong to be able to jump from the 62nd floor to the 65th floor in just less than half a month. It was simply abnormal, everyone thought as they looked at each other.

    ¡°This Jiang Tong, why does it feel like she wasn¡¯t this talented in the past?¡± The young girl beside Murong Miaoxue said.

    Regr people would take about half a year just to break through one single floor, and here Jiang Tong was, breaking through three floors in just half a month. That was simply terrifying!

    Jiang Tong exited the Trial Tower, the ashen look on her fast a few days back gone, reced with a renewed confident look.

    Murong Miaoxue nced at her, disinterest in her eyes, and she turned around to leave, but then she spotted two figures in the distance walking in the direction of the tower. ¡°It¡¯s her!¡±

    The crowd around the Trial Tower was also sparked with excitement, anticipation in their eyes when they saw who it was.

    Jiang Tong, who had been the center of attention just a few seconds ago, was nowpletely forgotten. She turned to look at who had stolen her spotlight, and her eyes darkened.

    Gu Xiqiao walked to the front of the Trial Tower, a smile that didn¡¯t reach her eyes on her face. ¡°I didn¡¯t finish thisst time, let¡¯s see which floor I can reach this time. I can also use this as more reference for the cave.¡±

    Her figure disappeared from the spot in a sh, entering the Trial Tower¡¯s entrance.

    News of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s jaunt into the tower had spread throughout the entire ancient martial arts world, and countless people had rushed to the tower to watch her enter.

    ¡°I wonder how many floors will she be able to pass?¡± The elder from the Tang family mused, looking at the ranking. He eximed in surprise when he did, ¡°That Jiang Tong has already passed the 65th floor?¡±

    ¡°Even Jiang Tong has passed the 65th floor, I think passing the 60th level shouldn¡¯t be a problem for her then, right?¡± Another person replied.

    ¡°She advanced to Xiantianst time, maybe she can pass the 70th floor?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not impossible, even that Nozawa reached level 70, right? What if she¡¯s able to reach the 75th floor?¡±

    ¡°Every tenth floor is the most difficult to break through, the 70th floor should be the maximum she can reach. It¡¯s a little impossible to think that she¡¯d be able to reach the 71st floor.¡±

    The 70th floor was the hurdle between Xiantian and Houtian. Like Nozawa, though he was estimated to be on the 70th floor in terms of strength, if he came and broke through the 69th floor, it would already be considered to be great.

    That¡¯s why most of the people here thought that, should Gu Xiqiao be able to reach the 70th floor, it would already be considered an impossible feat.

    Because she had just advanced to Xiantian level just half a month ago.

    Shu Chen stood beside some of the elders, a faint smile on her lips, but she said nothing.

    ¡°She¡¯s at... strange, how can she be on the 20th floor? Could it be that she came here once before?¡± A young boy who was watching the ranking stone said suddenly.

    As soon as he said that, all the elders looked at each other. They saw the horror in each other¡¯s eyes. The mysterious person who had advanced 20 floors in just ten minutes more than a month ago, they had searched long and hard without any results. They hadn¡¯t expected it to be her!

    ¡°Look, it¡¯s changing again!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name changed quickly, going from the 30th floor to the 40th floor, taking only half and hour.

    ¡°Look, with this speed, she should be reaching the 70th floor soon!¡± At first, everyone was just teasing and joking about it, but now it was shockingly happening in front of them, and all of their eyes were glued to the stone stable, silently watching.

    It took a little longer from the 40th floor to the 50th floor, but it didn¡¯t seem like there was any stopping her!

    She soon passed the 60th floor, and approached the 70th floor!

    Gu Xiqiao, 70th floor!

    When the tablet refreshed again, no one in the crowd spoke a word. Their wide eyes were still glued to the stone, full of disbelief and surprise.

    Even the great elder was stunned speechless. He rubbed his face, his voice a bit dry as he said, ¡°She... Is she trying to break through the 70th floor?¡±

    Just as he said that, the ranking refreshed again.

    Gu Xiqiao, 71st floor!

    When Jiang Shuxuan had broken through 70 floors in one fell swoop, it caused a wave across the entire ancient martial arts world. There hadn¡¯t been a person who surpassed him in the time after.

    This was the first time his name had dropped to second ce.

    Those people in front of the Trial Tower had no words to describe what they were feeling already, it was just crazy. The word ¡®genius¡¯ couldn¡¯t even begin to describe this girl, she was just in terrifying! It had exceeded any kind of expectations all of them had! For Jiang Tong to advance three levels to the 65th floor was already rming, they didn¡¯t predict that Gu Xiqiao would break through the 70th floor in one fell swoop!

    The 70th floor, that was the world of the Houtian level!

    Such an almighty existence that they couldn¡¯t even dream about!

 Chapter 293 - The Gap Was Just Too Big!

    Chapter 293: The Gap Was Just Too Big!

    ¡°How old was Young Master Jiang when he reached the 70th floor?¡± Someone asked suddenly.

    ¡°20 years old.¡± The great elder of the Jiang family said, clearly remember the incident.

    When he said that, everyone¡¯s hearts trembled.

    When Gu Xiqiao had entered the Trial Tower, the crowd had their doubts and guesses. Gu Xiqiao had ced first in the selections after all, they knew that she wouldn¡¯t be too low level, but they didn¡¯t expect her to reach the 71st floor!

    More importantly, it was obvious that 71st floor wasn¡¯t her limit!

    Gu Xiqiao, 72nd floor!

    Gu Xiqiao, 73rd floor!

    Gu Xiqiao, 76th floor!

    It seems that nothing could stop her on any of those levels!

    ¡°This... oh my word!¡±

    ¡°No way!¡±

    ¡°Where did this beaste from?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s terrifying!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too terrifying!¡±

    The Jiang family¡¯s elders werepletely stunned, they were shocked at the speed that Gu Xiqiao had reached where she had. The great elder was swaying in the spot, unstable on his legs. He wanted to be like the guards at this time, falling backside first to the ground.

    When he had first met her, she was obviously strong. But she still had some difficulty against those thugs, and she was probably only about Fleet Foot level at that time.

    The next time he saw her was the day she fought Jiang Tong, and advanced into Xiantian directly.

    Today was the third time he was seeing her, and she had broken through all the way straight to the 76th floor!

    This speed of advancing levels was unprecedented! Even Jiang Shuxuan, the top in the ancient martial arts world, had advanced at a more uniform speed. Although he didn¡¯t know the full extent of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s strength, the speed of his advancement was definitely not as horrifying as hers!

    Seeing the great elder clutching his chest tightly, Yin Shaoyuan, who had came to watch the show, smiled brightly. ¡°Great Elder, don¡¯t be in such a rush to sit down. She hasn¡¯te out yet after all.¡±

    Once those words were spoken, everyone grew silent. That¡¯s right, she hadn¡¯te out yet.

    She had already reached the 76th floor, and yet, she was still in there!

    The youngsters in the crowd looked at the name at the top of the ranking list, and they couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. The gap was great, just too great a distance!

    Someone swallowed heavily. ¡°Say, how far do you think she can go?¡±

    No one dared to answer this question.

    When Gu Xiqiao had first started, a few elders had guessed that maybe the 60th or 70th floor would be her limit. But now, she¡¯s already reached the 76th floor. At this rate, no one dared to guess how many more floors she could go.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be the 80th floor, right?¡± The fourth elder stroked his beard, smiling dryly.

    It¡¯s a big deal to reach the 80th floor after all.

    Everyone nodded in agreement to that, when the ancient martial arts world was in its peak, only a handful of younger generations would be able to reach the mentioned level.

    Being able to reach the 70th floor before the age of 25 would already be enough to enter the legacy base. If someone could reach the 80th floor, they really would be monsters!

    However, the subsequent changes in the ranking list made them more shocked, and everyone held their breath as they watched the name at the top of the list.

    ***

    It wasn¡¯t like Gu Xiqiao was having an easy time in the Trial Tower either, the speed at which she cleared the floors in the beginning was fast and easy, but it started to slow down gradually.

    When she reached the 77th floor, she started to have a feeling that she wasn¡¯t as strong as she wanted to be.

    The ck shadow opposite her was huge, and the key point to note was that after the 70th floor, all of them had the ability to control space.

    When they used this power, all the surrounding space was controlled by the shadow, and even Gu Xiqiao had a difficult time facing such ability.

    The ck shadow watched Gu Xiqiao with a cold face, slowly raising his arms. Arge spatial energy sting outwards. As the space around them distorted slowly, Gu Xiqiao felt it getting more difficult to breathe as time passed, and her movements got sluggish.

    Controlling space was a domineering and powerful skill. When facing a weaker opponent, the person who wielded this power could decide their life or death.

    But Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental power was too strong, so it was difficult for someone wielding this power to haveplete control over Gu Xiqiao. Therefore, although Gu Xiqiao struggled, she still managed to break through the 71st to the 76th floor.

    Only, at the 77th floor, her opponent¡¯s mental power was obviously on a whole new levelpared to the previous floor. He looked at Gu Xiqiao, and he seemed like someone who could get out of this fight with just a single thought.

    ¡°Looks like I have to use it.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the man in ck, protecting the virtual arena out into reality. She raised her palm slightly. ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who can control space.¡±

    As soon as the virtual space appeared, the man in ck¡¯s space shattered instantly.

    Purple lightning crackled in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm, and she flung it towards the man in ck, mixed with some spatial power in it.

    The man in ck, who had lost his ability to distort space, couldn¡¯t keep up with Gu Xiqiao with his own strength!

    Boom!

    The ck shadow burst into green smoke when he was struck, and his face, which had been indifferent all this while, was full of horror and disbelief when he looked at Gu Xiqiao again.

    77th floor, sess!

    78th floor, sess!

    79th floor, sess!

    ***

    Outside the Trial Tower, the great elder was still rooted to the spot, still bbergasted. The youngsters weren¡¯t doing any better. ¡°79th floor, she¡¯s passed the 79th floor!¡±

    They were all in a daze, blinking their eyes, and blinking again to see if the number would change, or maybe they were in a dream. ¡°Can you pinch me?¡±

    ¡°Ouch! It hurts, it hurts! Oh sh*t, this is real, this is real!¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?!¡±

    This one sentence describes what everyone was feeling inside. That¡¯s right, how was that possible?! However, it was really happening in front of their eyes. For nearly a thousand years, it wasn¡¯t like there hadn¡¯t been anyone who broke through the 79th floor, but they were all older and powerful people. For someone as young as Gu Xiqiao to reach the 79th floor, there wasn¡¯t anyone else in the world that could do it!

    The great elder looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name on the list, and his eyes widened, muttering to himself, ¡°She... she can¡¯t be thinking of going to the 80th floor, right?¡±

    Breaking through the 80th floor was basically to be in the realm of Enlightenment, the top in terms of strength in the ancient martial arts world. Even those ancient powers with great abilities have rarely reached this level!

    A master of not even twenty years old, just thinking about it made people almost wet their pants!

    It was incredible!

    However, nobody dared to voice their thoughts.

    But in their hearts, the 80th floor was a legend, a myth. No one had been able to break through so far after all!

    ***

    In the Trial Tower, Gu Xiqiao had begun moving faster after making use of projectng her virtual arena.

    The more she progressed, she found that the man in ck got smarter and smarter.

    Finally, she reached the 80th floor.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head to look at the opponent in front of her. She found that this opponent was obviously different than any of the previous ones that she had faced. There was curiosity and questions in the eyes of the one in front of her.

    ¡°It has been nearly a thousand years since anyone from the ancient martial arts world has been able to pass the 80th floor. To be able to break through the 79th floor, it proves that you have very strong mental power.¡± The ck shadow¡¯s eyes were bleak as he spoke. ¡°I can feel another person who has the strength, but he never advanced beyond the 70th floor.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had already been surprised when the ck shadow started speaking.

    But then he had spoken those words, not passing the 70th floor, wasn¡¯t that Brother Jiang?

    ¡°Are you a remnant soul or just a mass of energy?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, studying the ck shadow in front of her.

    There was some confusion in its eyes as it said, ¡°I¡¯ve been stuck here for so long, I don¡¯t remember anymore.¡±

    A few pieces of ancient jade appeared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm.

    Seeing her movements, the shadow was slightly stunned. A gun appeared in his hand the next moment, a strange smile on his face as he looked at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°It seems that you¡¯ve recently reached the level of Houtian. To be able to advance to this level at this age, you really have good talent. However, the realm of Enlightenment isn¡¯t as simple as you think. You may have a chance to defeat me in ten years.¡±

    The next moment after he said that, the gun in his hand vanished.

    It reappeared in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, aimed at the center of her forehead, shooting straight without any obstacle!

    ¡°Huh?¡± The shadow let out a surprise gasp.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure shattered, reconstructing in the area to the left where she had been standing.

    The ck figure was bewildered. ¡°The Five Elements Phantom Array?! That¡¯s impossible, it can¡¯t be! It¡¯s obviously been destroyed...¡±

    The ck figure¡¯s speed sped up considerably after that, a spear appearing and shooting outwards with the speed of light and mixed with all the mental power that he had, piercing into Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°Projection of virtual arena!¡± Gu Xiqiao also sped up, the lightning in her hand condensing into a long sword.

    Formations and arrays, forces of nature, virtual arena, mental power, all four burst out at the same moment!

    The shadow was shattered instantly by the onught.

    When the ck shadow looked at Gu Xiqiao in his final moments, there was only shock in his eyes. He seemed to want to say something, but he disappeared before he could.

    Gu Xiqiao, 80th floor!

    Bang!

    The great elder couldn¡¯t hold back his shock anymore, falling to the ground on his butt.

    No oneughed at the ridiculous image he made.

    Everyone was in the same stunned state.

    She actually passed the 80th floor!

    ¡°She... how old is she again?¡±

    Shu Chen replied with a nk face. ¡°Neen.¡±

    ¡°Neen years old, and a master who has reached the 80th floor. This is a massive feat,¡± The second elder said, wiping his face with one hand.

    ¡°8-80th floor...¡± The third elder stuttered out with difficulty.

    From the 20th floor to the 80th floor in one fell swoop!

    She had surpassed Jiang Tong, and even Jiang Shuxuan! The fourth elder took a deep breath, thinking about what he had just said. Didn¡¯t he say it wasn¡¯t possible that Gu Xiqiao would clear the 80th floor?

    But, the impossible has happened, she had passed the 80th floor!

    Fortunately, she finally lost at the 81st floor.

    All eyes were on her as Gu Xiqiao walked out of the Trial Tower. They almost forgot to breath as they watched the thin and slender figure walk.

    The 80th floor!

    Even those with stronger powers had problems reaching this level.

    Especially in the ancient martial arts world, where the requirements for advancing in the Trial Tower were more strict.

    To have reached the 80th level, a person would be at the level of Enlightenment, if you followed their level categories of the Trial Tower.

    They all felt like they couldn¡¯t use a logical mindset to consider Gu Xiqiao, what kind of normal person could have such terrifying strength?

    The 80th floor, this level was enough to shock the people from all the power worlds across the globe!

    Murong Miaoxue stared at Gu Xiqiao, taking a deep breath to steady herself. ¡°The 80th floor. She actually broke through the 80th floor.¡±

    The girl beside her was also in a state of shock. ¡°I had thought that Miss Jiang Tong was already great that she was able to break through two floors in a short time, but I didn¡¯t expect to see this girl breaking through the 80th floor.¡±

    Murong Miaoxue didn¡¯t respond to that. She was only at the 49th floor herself at this moment.

    Compared to Gu Xiqiao, the gap between them was just too great.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao walked out slowly, reying the battle in her mind over and over. The ck shadow man on the 81st floor had really high mental power, and his strength was also weird. Given time, she should be able to break through, but Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t have any intentions to continue on in the Trial Tower.

    Hearing her thoughts, Jiji couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Why don¡¯t you want to break through it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, looking at the robot.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Very good. Here¡¯s an apuse for you and a thousand points for this reasoning!

    ***

    At the same time, news that Gu Xiqiao had cleared the Trial Tower all the way to the 80th floor swept across the power worlds like wildfire.

    In Japan, a handsome man was making tea.

    ¡°Young Master Nozawa, there¡¯s news about the one who went into the Trial Tower today,¡± A middle-aged man in training clothes said as he approached, his voice trembling a little.

    Nozawa continued to pour the tea slowly into the white porcin cup, his voice light as he asked, ¡°How many floors?¡±

    The middle-aged man took a deep breath, bracing himself. ¡°The 80th floor.¡±

    ng!

    Nozawa faltered, the teacup falling to the ground from his shaking hands. The green liquid sshed onto the table and carpet.

    He raised his head slowly, looking at the middle-aged man. ¡°How many floors?¡±

    ¡°80 floors.¡± The middle-aged man repeated. ¡°The news has spread to all the power worlds already.¡±

    The other countries weren¡¯t the only ones in shock, even the ancient martial arts world themselves were in the same state.

    ***

    When Yi Tong received the news, he pinched himself hard a few times, just to make sure he wasn¡¯t been hallucinating. Then he knocked on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s door with a dazed expression on his face. ¡°Big Boss, Miss Gu has broken through to the 80th floor of the Trial Tower.¡±

 Chapter 294 - Cold Reception

    <h4>Chapter 294: Cold Reception</h4>

    Yi Tong thought that Jiang Shuxuan would be shocked, but Jiang Shuxuan merely nodded his head without any visible change in his expression, and waved his hand lightly to dismiss him.

    After Yi Tong left, Jiang Shuxuan pulled out his phone. The corner of his mouth quirked up slightly, and a message came in from Gu Xiqiao while he was staring at his phone¡ª[Brother Jiang, the great elder says they want to hold a celebration feast for me.]

    Jiang Shuxuan replied to her immediately¡ª[What did you say to that?]

    Her reply was equally fast¡ª[I told him that I¡¯m very busy, and don¡¯t have the time. Is it rude for me to do that?]

    Jiang Shuxuan could practically see the dazed and shocked look on the great elder¡¯s face when she replied to him with those words¡ª[It¡¯s fine, they just have too much time on their hands.]

    ***

    Outside the door, Yi Bing was looking at Yi Tong, who looked like he was still trying to snap out of his dazed state. ¡°Yi Tong, what did you say just now?¡±

    ¡°I said, Miss Gu has broken through the 80th floor.¡± Yi Tong¡¯s tone was solemn, though there was a slight hitch in his voice when he spoke.

    ¡°The 80th floor, I see.¡± Yi Tiao echoed from the side, and he ced his hand on the door, about to knock when he doubled back. ¡°Wait,e again? How many floors?¡±

    ¡°80 floors.¡± Yi Tong repeated patiently.

    Yi Tiao¡¯s hands trembled, nearly dropping the documents in his hands. ¡°She¡¯s only neen years old, and she¡¯s already reached the 80th floor. This genius isn¡¯t that far off from the big boss, right?¡±

    Being subordinates of Jiang Shuxuan, they were clearly aware of the man¡¯s strength. When he was young he¡¯d already be famous and his strength wasparable to those ced in the top ten of the Heaven and Earth Ranking List.

    Talents in the ancient martial arts world that could reach the 70th floor before the age of twenty were already rare enough, let alone the 80th floor. Gu Xiqiao was still young, and with her talents, it wouldn¡¯t be impossible to break through the 100th floor in this lifetime!

    If she really did break through the 100th floor... Yi Tong and the rest looked at each other, seeing the shock in each other¡¯s eyes.

    After being silent for a while, Yi Tiao suddenly recalled something serious. ¡°By the way, didn¡¯t we say we were going to meet the Peace Squad thest time? I¡¯ve already found out where they are.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Yi Tong¡¯s eyes lit up. Gu Xiqiao was just too far away from him now, but he was still fairly interested in the Peace Squad.

    Especially after he found out that this group of people had ttened the bunch of elder¡¯s ego, that made him all the more interested in getting to know these people. They were a breath of fresh airpared to the stifling ancient martial arts world!

    Yi Tiao smiled mysteriously after hearing Yi Tong¡¯s words. ¡°They¡¯re in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Yi Bing narrowed his eyes. ¡°Could it be... That Peace Manor?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Yi Tiao nodded his head. ¡°It¡¯s them alright!¡±

    ¡°No way, that¡¯s in the fifth ring. There isn¡¯t a single lick of spiritual energy in that area, why would they choose such a location?¡± Yi Tong was puzzled. He thought that the elders would arrange a more suitable ce for them, at least a location with more chi and energy in the area. Even if it weren¡¯t in the center, they would at least be located in the second ring, but they were in the fifth ring?!

    The fifth ring was a ce where even the outer disciples weren¡¯t willing to live in.

    ***

    On the other side, Gu Xiqiao had left the Trial Tower.

    However, the crowd around the tower had yet to disperse. Several of the Jiang family elders were holding onto each other for support.

    A green-robed figure slowly walked towards them, and although his pace was slow, the distance he covered in a single step was great. He appeared in front of these few people in just a few steps, his voice urgent as he asked, ¡°Who was it that was just in the Trial Tower?¡±

    ¡°Master Dubhe, it was Miss Gu.¡± The great elder raised his hand and answered.

    ¡°It was her?¡± Dubhe furrowed his brows. He had felt a familiar energy just now, but Gu Xiqiao was an outsider, it couldn¡¯t have been her. ¡°Apart from her, who else?¡±

    ¡°Master Dubhe, Miss Jiang Tong is also in the Trial Tower,¡± The seventh elder answered.

    ¡°Jiang Tong?¡± A member of the Jiang family, it shouldn¡¯t be wrong. Dubhe disappeared after getting the answer he needed.

    The elders looked at one another again, but ultimately shrugged off Dubhe¡¯s strange actions. The second elder asked, ¡°Did Miss Gu say not to prepare any celebratory banquet just now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The great elder responded. ¡°To achieve such a great milestone at a young age, she should be training at every avable time she has.¡±

    The other elders sigh. ¡°Miss Gu is really hardworking.¡±

    ***

    The ¡®very hardworking Miss Gu¡¯ was currently watching TV as she was texting Jiang Shuxuan with Jiji by her side. ¡°I pity those elders, they even talk about how hard you¡¯re training.¡±

    Jiji was disgusted when it said that, this girl was obviously eating fruits while watching leisurely, wasn¡¯t that being a bit too rxed!

    Gu Xiqiao was annoyed at what Jiji said. ¡°Don¡¯t I work hard?¡±

    Jiji thought about how Gu Xiqiao trained day and night in the virtual arena, and it stopped talking. She did indeed work very hard, and there were not many people who couldpare to how hard she worked. In other words, Gu Xiqiao could no longer bebeled as ¡®hard work¡¯, but rather, terrifying!

    To have increased one¡¯s mental power by tenfold in such a short time, it was not something that anyone could do, and it required unimaginable perseverance and discipline.

    If this wasn¡¯t considered to be hardworking, then what was?

    ¡°Hardworking...¡± Jiji wasn¡¯t able to deny this fact, and it nodded. ¡°By the way, Beauty Qiao, I seem to see that Dubhe asking about Jiang Tong.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t sense you?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head after hearing that, curiosity in her eyes.

    Jiji shed her a triumph smile. ¡°Of course not, I¡¯m the Great Master System.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned back to watch the TV.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Where were praises of a job well done? It didn¡¯t know how to continue on like this.

    Gu Xiqiao finished up the fruits, and thenter went on to have her meal. Shu Chen had originally nned on bringing Gu Xiqiao around the ancient martial arts world, but unexpectedly, Dubhe came knocking on the door in the afternoon. Gu Xiqiao was calmed when she faced Dubhe now.

    Dubhe nced at Gu Xiqiao, pausing in his steps. He didn¡¯t expect to feel the increase in her mental power just after a day of not seeing her.

    ¡®This person is really just terrifying,¡¯ Dubhe thought to himself. He turned his gaze away from her, not lingering long.

    Such a talent was only a curse to ordinary people, and not a blessing.

    ¡°Aunt Shu, I¡¯m going out to look for Big Brother Yin.¡± Gu Xiqiao informed Shu Chen, and left the house after hearing an affirmative answer from the older woman.

    Shu Chen had also heard about Dubhe¡¯s identity from the elders, so she was respectful of him.

    ¡°Madam Jiang, I¡¯m here today to inquire about Jiang Tong.¡± Dubhe got straight to the point.

    ¡°Jiang Tong?¡± Shu Chen raised an eyebrow in surprise. ¡°Her family is the only branch family of the Jiangs, but other than that, I don¡¯t really know much about them. Master Dubhe, you can ask her father directly for more information.¡±

    Dubhe shook his head. ¡°I only want to know her birth year and month.¡±

    Shu Chen nodded her head, calling the butler over to search for the information. ¡°Master Dubhe, please wait a while.¡±

    Not long after, the butler brought a small notebook over to Dubhe, and he sat down in the chair to flip through it.

    While he was doing that, the butler spoke a few words into Shu Chen¡¯s ears. Looking up to find that Dubhe was still engrossed in the book, she stood and went out, where the great elder of the Jiang family was waiting for her. He handed a box over to her. ¡°Madam, please pass this on to Miss Gu on our behalf.¡±

    Shu Chen took the box in her hands, and nodded her head at the old man. ¡°Thank you, great elder.¡±

    The great elder waved his hand dismissively, turning around to leave, before catching sight of Dubhe, who was in the room. Thinking for a while, he leaned closer to Shu Chen and spoke a few words into her ears, before turning again to leave.

    Shu Chen¡¯s face sank after hearing the words he spoke.

    She stood rooted to the spot, and when she walked back into the living room, there was only coldness in her eyes. Whatever respect and admiration she had for Dubhe had vanished.

    Although Dubhe had not been privy to their conversation, the surroundings were obviously in his palm, and he naturally knew what the great elder had said to Shu Chen, and why her attitude suddenly changed. Fortunately, he had already confirmed what he needed, and he stood. ¡°Madam Jiang, I¡¯ll drop by again next time.¡±

    Shu Chen¡¯s face was still stiff, and she tilted her head slightly. Her behavior even scared the butler to death!

    Luckily, Dubhe didn¡¯t care much for it. He paused at the door, speaking without turning, ¡°It was I who forbade Gu Xiqiao from participating in the ranking tournament. Madam Jiang, I have to say, if Miss Gu goes on growing like this, it will be a cmity.¡±

    Shu Chen was angry at Dubhe¡¯s words in the beginning, but then she startedughing.

    ¡°Master Dubhe, we are well aware of how our Qiao Qiao is as a person.¡± Shu Chen¡¯s eyes were on Dubhe, cold as ice and hard as steel. She was not intimidated by Dubhe¡¯s aura at all. ¡°You said that she would bring cmity to the world, and by telling me this, are you telling us to kill her outright?¡±

    Don¡¯t be deceived by Shu Chen¡¯s usually graceful and dainty appearance, she could be extremely imposing when she was angered. The pressure that hung in the air was not any less heavy than what Jiang Shuxuan exuded.

    ¡°The things that are happening in the ancient martial arts world are obviously the evils that were left by your people. Making our Jiang family atone for it is fine, forget about it, but now even forcing my daughter-inw to? She¡¯s only neen years old! Don¡¯t you feel any guilt, cing the entire burden on her? Master Dubhe, if the ancient martial arts world will be destroyed, then it¡¯s best if it happens quickly, don¡¯t me it on my daughter-inw!¡± Shu Chen eximed, her anger already reaching the boiling point.

    She had wondered why Qiao Qiao had left immediately after seeing Dubhe, so there was actually something like this that had happened.

    Calling her the source of all the disasters?

    How daring and presumptuous of him!

    Judging by the way he spoke, he had already told Gu Xiqiao all of this. Her heart ached when she thought about it, the child hadn¡¯t said anything when she returned. It was no wonder she had seemed even more gloomy than usual, and had stayed silent the entire night. There were such heavy thoughts hidden in her heart.

    No matter how great and powerful Gu Xiqiao was, she was still just a neen-year-old girl.

    An abandoned child at birth, and finding an unreliable birth father after that, and now worse, to say that she was the harbinger of doom, the source of all disasters?!

    Last time, she hadn¡¯t been by her side, and she couldn¡¯t protect her. But now, Gu Xiqiao was by her side, so how could Shu Chen allow anyone else to bully her family.

    Thinking about the things that Gu Xiqiao had done for the ancient martial arts world, as well as how many lives had been saved because of her, even her own life had been saved once by her. Now there¡¯s someone who¡¯s saying that she¡¯s a cmity, no one would be able to ept it when they heard it!

    It was better if the ancient martial arts world was destroyed, the sooner the better, so that they wouldn¡¯t rely on her daughter-inw all the time!

    ¡°Butler, close the doors!¡± Shu Chen instructed Butler Jiang.

    The butler was worried about Shu Chen¡¯s words, but after he heard everything, he was also angry. He mmed the door with a loud bang.

    ¡°Goodbye, Master Dubhe!¡±

    Dubhe, who was a person to be revered and worshiped, was once again met with a cold reception.

    He had thought that though Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t be reasoned with when it came to Gu Xiqiao, Shu Chen would have different thoughts.

    But he didn¡¯t expect that even Shu Chen would be the same. If the ancient martial arts world would be destroyed, then it¡¯s best if it happened quickly? She had said such a thing?

    Dubhe didn¡¯t feel good about himself, and there was also some doubt in his heart. He wondered, why was it that these people who were supposed to be extraordinarily calm people, changed to be like this after meeting Gu Xiqiao?

    He stood in the spot for a while, then turned to look for Jiang Shuxuan. Right now, the matter about Jiang Tong was the most important thing.

    ***

    ¡°You said... Jiang Tong is the turning point?¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised an eyebrow at Dubhe¡¯s words.

    Dubhe was sitting in a chair in the room, looking at the man. ¡°That¡¯s right, I felt Master¡¯s energy from her. She should be the turning point that Master had talked about, and her horoscopes are in line with my calctions.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan just nodded his head, not saying anything more, a calm look on his face.

    ¡°She¡¯s the future of the ancient martial arts world, and will need to have more protection,¡± Dubhe observed Jiang Shuxuan, who still had an indifferent and calm expression. He frowned at that. ¡°We need to find the turning point on her.¡±

    ¡°Do as you will.¡± Jiang Shuxuan closed the book in his hand. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for you. I need to apany her to the qualifying matches tomorrow, I don¡¯t have the time.¡±

    Having said that, Jiang Shuxuan stood, taking his phone from the table before leaving the room.

 Chapter 295 - Peace Villa

    <h4>Chapter 295: Peace Vi</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao was sitting in the lobby of Peace Manor, with Baili Bin and the others at her side.

    ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived in the ancient martial arts world after so long, forget about the manor that you set up here, you¡¯ve even caused such a hugemotion.¡± Murong Feiye held a wine ss in his hand, looking at Gu Xiqiao like she was a monster. ¡°You¡¯re participating in the qualifying matches tomorrow. The 80th floor... you¡¯re just going to be bullying Nozawa and those bunch of people.¡± He already knew that the moment Gu Xiqiao entered the ancient martial arts world, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be a quiet entry.

    But for her to reach the 80th floor directly, that was beyond his expectations!

    This was simply a monster!

    Then there was this Peace Manor, where every single person in it was strong. They could even dominate one side of the ancient martial arts world, and they were all her people!

    Murong Feiye could no longer look at Gu Xiqiao like a normal person anymore.

    Hearing Murong Feiye¡¯s words, Baili Bin smiled and nodded his head in agreement. ¡°I heard that Nozawa¡¯s strength is on the 70th floor.¡± With Gu Xiqiao¡¯s power on the 80th floor, she would wipe the floor with them. It was indeed a bullying move.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a match for him, since he¡¯s on the 70th floor,¡± Yao Jiamu said with a regretful tone. ¡°I can only reach the 60th floor at most, I can¡¯t even beat Tang Qingqiu.¡±

    Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun also expressed the same opinion.

    ¡°Just work harder,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, reaching out to fiddle with the pair of chopsticks. ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough either.¡±

    Murong Feiye wanted to puke blood when he heard these people talking!

    To be able to reach the 60th floor in a short period of time, yetining that they weren¡¯t strong enough?! Especially Gu Xiqiao, the person who had reached the 80th floor, and here she was, saying that it wasn¡¯t enough? Are you all intending to ascend to the skies?

    ¡°Please, stop poking me, okay?¡± Murong Feiye felt like he had received 10,000 points of damage to his heart.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, looking straight into his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re also quite weak.¡±

    Murong Feiye: ¡°...¡± Naturally, we normal beings cannot bepared to your group of non-human beings.

    ¡°Cough.¡± Baili Bin decided that a change of subject was in order as he held hisughter in check. ¡°Murong, I heard that your family has an idea to help the manor?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Murong Feiye replied casually, appearing to have little interest. ¡°I¡¯ve already imparted what should be imparted to them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sadistic,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, ¡°Watching your family jump into a fire pit that they dug themselves.¡±

    Murong Feiye: ¡°...¡± At least you know you¡¯re the fire pit?!

    ¡°Er Qiao, the fire pit was dug by you though.¡± Wu Hongwen silently raised his head, looking at Gu Xiqiao. She had specifically instructed for the Peace Squad to disy so many treasures, and even brought Luo Weng, an ordinary person over to manage the ce, wasn¡¯t it just to cheat people?

    If Murong Feiye was sadistic, then who could be more sadistic than her?

    ¡°If they weren¡¯t so greedy, would I be able to bait them like this?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow, then turned to pick up a pork meatball to eat.

    Everyone: ¡°...¡± Really, they were just speechless.

    Wu Hongwen¡¯s mouth twitched, then he looked at Gi Xiqiao again. ¡°You¡¯re giving food to a robot? Aren¡¯t you afraid that it will jam and break?¡±

    Xixi, who had just flown in from outside, couldn¡¯t help but chirp out at Wu Hongwen¡¯s words. ¡°It¡¯s already broken.¡±

    As a result, the entire table started discussing Jiji again.

    Gu Xiqiao let them do as they wanted, studying Jiji and whatnot. She watched the excitement in front of her as she ate, then suddenly smiled, her hand pausing in the air suddenly. Her lips curled up slightly. ¡°They¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°The Murong family.¡± Gu Xiqiao ced her chopsticks down, leaning back against the chair. There was a glint of something bright in her eyes. ¡°Please... enjoy the show.¡±

    ***

    On the fifth ring in the ancient martial arts world, a mountain manor had suddenly risen up from the ground. This incident had attracted the attention of the most unwitting people.

    From the start of the construction of the manor, it only took half a month with a lot of manpower and material resources toplete. It attracted the outer families who resided in the fourth ring to watch the process, and every single person who hade to watch was stunned.

    The people in the ancient martial arts world have always based everything on their own strength, and didn¡¯t have many wants in their life. So when they saw the construction of the Peace Manor, they were shocked.

    The decoration of the manor was extravagant, and everyone in the ancient martial arts world now knew what it meant to be rich and imposing!

    Not only do they sell elixirs that could improve the level of their ancient martial arts, but even the decorations they used were expensive.

    ¡°Do you see that? That¡¯s the rare ancient jade in the treasure pavilion of the ancient martial arts, it¡¯s being used as a decoration for the gate?!¡±

    ¡°And thatntern, why do I feel like it¡¯s an offensive magic weapon?¡±

    ¡°Using all these treasures as decorations, it¡¯s such a waste!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s even more extravagant than the Big Three, is this a new terrifying force?¡±

    ¡°Probably not, I¡¯ve never heard of this Peace Manor. Even new forces wouldn¡¯t build on this area.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Even the outer families like us wouldn¡¯t want to stay in the fifth ring.¡±

    An old man shook his head. ¡°These people from the Peace Manor are so stupid.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± The man beside him asked.

    ¡°Being so high profile with no strength to show for, it¡¯s just asking for trouble.¡± The old man said in a low tone. ¡°Do you see the team over there, they¡¯re from the Murong family.¡±

    Everyone turned in the direction that he had indicated, seeing a group of people heading towards the Peace Manor. The one leading them was an elder from the Murong family.

    He had received news that the Peace Manor was selling pills that upgraded the level of a person¡¯s ancient martial arts, and after some investigation, he found out that the owner of the ce was a young, ordinary person. The people inside the manor were also some random people, and they didn¡¯t think they were any sort of threat to them.

    Just yesterday, when the elder of the Murong family had heard that Gu Xiqiao had no rtions to the Peace Manor, the stone in his heart was finally put down. So today, he had brought a group of people with him to the Peace Manor.

    The Murong family were not the only ones who had eyes on the Peace Manor, but they were the first ones to make a move. The other families couldn¡¯t help but look at them with hate in their eyes, and me themselves for actingte. And now, they could only observe the Murong family¡¯s actions and wait for them to leave before they would strike up their own bargains.

    The Murong family was one of the Big Three in the ancient martial arts world, and they also had a deterring force. So when the people saw the Murong family approach the Peace Manor, they couldn¡¯t do anything but sigh.

    That Peace Manor seemed like it wouldn¡¯t live past today.

    It wasn¡¯t only the people from the ancient martial arts world that thought so, even the Murong family thought the same. There was no threat from a regr person who owned the manor, and that was the reason only a single elder had apanied the group to conquer the Peace Manor.

    Looking at the extravagant decorations on the gates of the manor, Elder Murong couldn¡¯t help but tremble slightly. Whatever he was feeling inside got more obvious the closer they got to the manor.

    There was a crowd gathered outside the gates, waiting in excitement to see what would unfold, as they too had seen the treasure that was used randomly to decorate the yard. The randomly scattered long swords and spears exuded auras of formations and arrays, if they could make use of any random ones, it would definitely increase their power by two hundred times!

    Some of those standing in the crowd couldn¡¯t help but sigh regretfully at the thought. Would they have known that there were so many treasures in this Peace Manor, then they wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to make their own move. But now, the Murong family had made it first!

    No one was in a better mood than the elder of the Murong family. He looked at all the treasure scattered around, thinking that he had indeede to the right ce with the right decision. With all these equipment in his hands, as well as the elixirs from the Peace Manor, the Murong family¡¯s power and influence would be able to be raised another level.

    ¡°Mr. Luo.¡± The Murong family elder¡¯s feelings soared even higher when he saw the other. ¡°Treasures should be used on suitable talents. Without any strength, your Peace Manor will be axed sooner orter. I¡¯m giving you a chance now, join the Murong family.¡±

    Seeing the ten young men standing behind Luo Weng, the Murong elder merely nced at them contemptuously, obviously thinking they weren¡¯t worth his attention.

    Luo Weng smiled warmly, though the smile didn¡¯t reach his eyes. He pointed to the training field beside him. ¡°Elder Murong, let¡¯s go in and talk.¡±

    Elder Murong thought that Luo Weng was afraid now, and walked into the training grounds with a spring in his steps, a triumph look on his face. The group of people behind him followed, also wearing proud looks on their faces. They were the guards of the Murong family. Three of them entered first, while five brought up the rear. The eight of them were naturally outnumbered by the ten that followed behind Luo Weng, but the Murong elder was also on the Bone Refinement level, and so the guards were not afraid and were confident in their numbers.

    ¡°Mr. Luo, where do you keep those miracle pills of yours?¡± Once they entered the training fields, the Murong elder couldn¡¯t wait and asked.

    Luo Weng stood by the door, the smile still on his face. ¡°Beat them.¡±

    Before the Murong elder could react, the ten men behind Luo Weng moved. None of them held any weapons in their hands, only using their fists to beat the eight people that hade with Elder Murong.

    In the beginning, the Murong elder felt that it wasn¡¯t worth his time to do anything. These ten men wouldn¡¯t be as powerful as him, even if they worked together. Not to mention, he had eight guards behind him, so he wasn¡¯t bothered at all.

    However, he felt his legs shaking in the next second.

    Mother! Why were the ten people so scary?! As a person in the Bone Refinement level, he didn¡¯t even have any power to resist them?

    In the next moment, he was beaten up to the point that he couldn¡¯t think straight. There was only one thought in his mind: Why were this group of people so violent, and why would they just keep hitting his face instead of anywhere else?

    Also, you have so many treasures in the Peace Manor, why couldn¡¯t you just let go of one broken sword?

    In his dazed state, he suddenly saw an additional figure appearing in front of him. His eyes were a little blurred, but when he saw who it was, the surprise shocked him fully to awareness.

    The person standing in front of him was dressed in a light green dress, a white fox fur coat wrapped around her shoulders. Her beautiful, sparkling eyes were on him, a leisurely look in them. ¡°Elder Murong, I heard that you invited us to join the Murong family?¡±

    Elder Murong was shaking so hard. The desire to die hadpletely filled his heart!

    He had ¡®invited¡¯ this popr girl in front of him to join the ancient martial arts world? How big was his head?!

    ¡°No, no, of course not, Miss Gu!¡± He stood on trembling legs, looking at the smiles on the faces of the people in front of him, and he felt a chill run up his spine.

    He thought that he had picked up a great bargain, but it turned out to be a rip-off instead. This Peace Manor was too sinister and sadistic, they were clearly powerful, but they used an ordinary person to man the front, disying a ¡®I am weak,e and bully me¡¯ image.

    They were just too dark!

    The group of people from the Murong family had arrived at the ce with such grand ns in their mind, and now they were leaving with their tails tucked in between their legs, without any treasures in their hands. Luo Weng had sent them off respectfully, saying, ¡°Elder Murong, please drop by to y again when you have time.¡±

    Hearing this, Elder Murong nearly fell on his butt, his legs feeling like jelly.

    Again?! He¡¯s not that desperate to give up his life!

    The onlookers on the outside nced at each other at the scene, wondering what in the world had happened after the group had gone inside. Elder Murong, what¡¯s going on?

    ***

    Several other elders looked at the embarrassed elder who had just returned. They had been expecting good news when he came back, but they didn¡¯t expect to see him in such a state. ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you?¡±

    ¡°Forget it.¡± The elder covered his face with his hands. If Gu Xiqiao had been the one to abuse him like that, it was still reasonable to expect that, but he had been beaten by ten young men, who was obviously below his power level! He didn¡¯t know where to put his face anymore.

    In the beginning, he thought that he could return with an armload of treasures, the people in the Peace Manor were all ordinary people after all, or only at Chi Induction level. Unexpectedly, every single one of these people at Chi Induction level could keep up and beat those in the higher levels. He had trained for decades, and not only was he just at the Bone Refinement level, he couldn¡¯t even be as good as some younger men who were lower level than him!

    This Murong elder sat his butt on the chair, signifying that he refused to head over to the Peace Manor ever again. It was just too demoralizing!

    Of course, he didn¡¯t dare mention anything about Gu Xiqiao, because she had told him not to.

    The other elders around him couldn¡¯t help but look at each other, thinking in their minds. What on earth had happened? What was the origin of this Peace Manor, which rendered a dignified elder into this state?

 Chapter 296 - Kneel Down And Beg For Mercy

    <h4>Chapter 296: Kneel Down And Beg For Mercy</h4>

    ¡°You gave quite a scare to the elders of my family just now.¡± Murong Feiye came out, still holding a wine ss in his hand. Seeing the extraordinarily brutal Peace Squad, he held his tongue after saying that.

    He had thought the elders wouldn¡¯t get any benefits, with the way they had marched, but he didn¡¯t expect them to not only get nothing, but it looked like they would also be doubting their life the moment they went back.

    Murong Feiye let out a sigh at this.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him when he spoke, and she said, ¡°I remember... isn¡¯t your family part of Ennd¡¯s supernatural world?¡±

    Murong Feiye smiled. ¡°That rtionship has been severed.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean... you¡¯ll be staying in the ancient martial arts world?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. ¡°You¡¯ve been in Ennd since you were a child. Coming back so suddenly, have those people in the Murong family epted you?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao naturally understood what he had meant, but for him to return so suddenly, though he had the strength, how could the juniors of the Murong family ept him just like that?

    ¡°I know.¡± Murong Feiye sighed. Just like this time, when the Murong elders had wanted to make trouble at the Peace Manor, he had already mentioned that they shouldn¡¯t mess with them. However, his words fell on deaf ears, which made him realize that although he was powerful, he held no prestige. Don¡¯t mention Jiang Shuxuan, he couldn¡¯t evenpare to Gu Xiqiao in that area. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to bother about the Murong family at first, but the patriarch trusts me, and I don¡¯t want to see the Murong family decline, like...¡±

    He stopped talking immediately, but his gaze silently shifted to Baili Bin.

    Baili Bin merely smiled, waving his hand dismissively. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The Baili family has fallen indeed.¡± Fortunately, it had begun to rise up once again.

    He nced at Gu Xiqiao with that thought in mind, the other was fiddling with her phone, her head lowered.

    Under the reddish-orange sunset, you could only see her side profile, but you could clearly see the rxed way she held herself. With her eyes looking downwards, you could see the thin shadows cast by the sunset on her long eyshes.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to take control of the Murong family.¡± Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips, keeping her phone in her pocket. She tilted her head to the side slightly, looking at Murong Feiye. ¡°You were trained in Ennd to be the sessor, so it wouldn¡¯t be difficult for you to manage the Murong family, right?¡±

    Astonishment appeared on Murong Feiye¡¯s face. ¡°How did you know that?¡±

    The family of Ennd¡¯s supernatural world had indeed secretly brought him up and trained him to be the sessor, so he was disheartened when he first severed ties with Ennd.

    But, this was someone only a few in Ennd knew, how did she find out?

    ¡°Fortune reading.¡± Gu Xiqiao stretched out her hand, counting the five fingers. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll head back first.¡±

    Saying that, she exchanged a few words with Luo Weng and a few others before leaving the ce.

    She spared onest nce at Murong Feiye before she left. The current elder of the Murong family was quite stupid, seemed like a good idea to change the heir?

    After she left, the surprise on Murong Feiye¡¯s face was still present. He turned his head to Baili Bin. ¡°Can she really count and foretell?¡± Mother, it wasn¡¯t like she was a descendant of the Zhuge family?! Even descendants of the Zhuge family couldn¡¯t predict and count such secretive matters, right?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Baili Bin replied, ncing sideways at him. ¡°Some formations are indeed able to dig out secrets, but this kind of thing shouldn¡¯t be possible to count.¡± Well, he couldn¡¯t do it.

    ¡°I should go too. Mr. Luo, I¡¯ll visit again next time.¡± Baili Bin turned to Luo Weng bidding him farewell. After watching the Peace Manor at work, he had already fallen into a deep state of shock, especially when those ten Chi Induction level men had dominated the entire fight with the Murong elder.

    Baili Bin had always felt that Gu Xiqiao was a force that shouldn¡¯t be underestimated, but he didn¡¯t expect the people who surrounded her would also be as abnormal as her.

    Watching as Baili Bin stood to leave, Murong Feiye didn¡¯t intend to stay long either. He followed Baili Bin out, and when they reached the outside, he sighed again. ¡°Baili, do you think the ancient martial arts world will be changing?¡±

    At the moment, the Jiang family was sitting at the top, followed by the Tang and the Murong family, which made up the Big Three of the ancient martial arts world.

    But now there was a new force, the Peace Manor. On the surface, it was a new force, with only about a hundred people. However, every single one of them was elites, and their strengths were not any weaker than those in the ancient martial arts world. Would it soon change into the Big Four instead?

    Baili Bin thought about it for a while. ¡°I¡¯m more looking forward to the day those in the Peace Squad head into the Trial Tower.¡± The ancient martial arts world would be in for a shock then.

    The most terrifying was still Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. All of them could clear those challenges in a breeze.¡± Murong Feiye guessed that the people in the ancient martial arts world would go nuts from it. ¡°Huh? Why did you stop?¡±

    Baili Bin had indeed halted in his tracks, his eyes in one direction. Murong Feiye followed his gaze, seeing two elegant figures not too far away from them.

    One of the two seemed to feel their eyes on them, and he turned his head, nodding slightly before moving away.

    ¡°What did that Dubhee to say, Brother Jiang?¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled her ears, disbelief in her eyes. Her bright eyes were looking at the man in front of her.

    Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head to see her face better, and replied with disinterest, ¡°He said that Jiang Tong is the turning point, and has asked to allocate more protection for her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not Jiang Tong.¡± Gu Xiqiao thought about the information that she had found, narrowing her eyes. ¡°Even Murong Miaoxue is more a possibility than her.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t give two sh*t who the turning point was. As long as it took Dubhe¡¯s attention away from Gu Xiqiao, he wouldn¡¯t say anything even if Dubhe wanted to turn the entire ancient martial arts world upside down. He didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to be concerned about the matter though. ¡°Murong Miaoxue?¡±

    He suddenly recalled that Gu Xiqiao had fought against Murong Miaoxue back when they were in N City.

    Unexpectedly, she still remembered her. Jiang Shuxuan frowned when he thought about it, she had been chased off by Murong Miaoxue in her anger, and he had made quite a scene back then too.

    ¡°Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know how to continue the line of topic at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words. He was focusing on the wrong thing, she wanted to emphasize that Dubhe had the wrong assumption. ¡°But what did you do to Murong Miaoxue at that time?¡±

    She thought that Murong Miaoxue woulde looking for her once she came to the Imperial Capital, but the other only looked at her from the distance.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t want to discuss this topic. ¡°I¡¯ll apany you to the qualifying matches tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°What about the Heaven and Earth Ranking?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, raising her head to look at him. Wasn¡¯t the Youth Ranking and Heaven and Earth Ranking held at the same time? And he was going to apany her?

    Jiang Shuxuan exined patiently, ¡°The Heaven and Earth Ranking matches consisted of masters from all over the world. It¡¯s hard to gather them together, so the ranking for this is based on challengers. For those masters who want to challenge others, they need only send out a notification to whichever masters they want to challenge. Once the match is done, the ranking will be updated ordingly.¡±

    ¡°The reward for the Youth Ranking List this time is very lucrative.¡± His elegant profile shifted slightly,ughter in his eyes. ¡°The one who gets top is eligible to enter the Jiang family¡¯s legacy base.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had seen topics about the Jiang family legacy base in The Forum before, and it was said to be a mysterious ce. People who have entered it throughout history could be counted on one hand, and it seemed that even Tang Qinghong was aiming for this goal.

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, legacy base, huh? This was worth looking forward to.

    The two of them walked slowly, their clothes pping in the wind. When they passed the Elders Association, they bumped into two people. Jiang Shuxuan reached out to hold Gu Xiqiao, his jet-ck eyes looking at the two persons with a cold, hard look on his face.

    ¡°Master Dubhe.¡± He said the words slowly.

    Dubhe had also stopped, looking at the two opposite him. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face was cold as usual, even his eyes were chilly. Because of Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan waspletely hostile towards him. Dubhe was well aware of this matter, and so he wasn¡¯t overly concerned about it. He turned his eyes to her.

    Her face was calm, and she didn¡¯t avert her eyes when he looked at her. Her big, bright eyes met his, and she greeted, ¡°Good evening, Master Dubhe.¡±

    Those eyes of her were bright and clear, free of any impurities, and it felt like she could see into the depths of your soul with just a nce. Dubhe was startled, this was the first time the two had met on... friendly terms. ¡°Good evening.¡±

    He was suddenly doubting his judgment. He could feel the protection that most elders in the ancient martial arts world had bestowed upon her, the kind that really came from the heart. How could a cmity like her gain such favors from the people around her? He would doubt more, but the aura of her being an outsider was too obvious to ignore.

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing Jiang Tong to the Elders Association.¡± Dubhe shifted his gaze to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°If you coulde along with us, it would be even better.¡±

    From thest incident, he could already tell that Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s influence and prestige were too strong in the ancient martial arts world. Even if he was a descendant of Dubhe and had supreme strength, he couldn¡¯t change the ancient martial arts world¡¯s view of Jiang Shuxuan.

    So this time, he hoped that Jiang Shuxuan woulde along with them.

    However, when he thought of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attitude towards Jiang Tong, he didn¡¯t hold out much hope.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m taking her back for dinner.¡± As expected, Jiang Shuxuan merely spared a nce at Dubhe, before taking Gu Xiqiao away.

    From start to end, he hadn¡¯t given Jiang Tong a single look nor acknowledgment. She had been looking at Gu Xiqiao with a venomous look, mixed with hatred and fear. Even though she hated to admit it, Gu Xiqiao was really too terrifying.

    Dubhe nced at her, furrowing his brows before turning to continue their walk towards the Elders Association.

    Jiang Tong followed behind Dubhe closely. She didn¡¯t know Dubhe¡¯s identity, but she had seen several elders bowing to him in respect, and she could also feel the chilling function of his aura. The aura that he exuded was even scarier than Jiang Shuxuan.

    How could she not notice that he was someone of high status, with all of that? She clenched her fist, a glimmer of hope flooding into her eyes.

    ¡°Stay a bit further from me.¡± Dubhe¡¯s eyes were light, like clouds and mist swirling in them. ¡°I don¡¯t like being too close to people.¡±

    Jiang Tong couldn¡¯t help but take a step back at his words, and when she looked up at him, there was a trace of fear in her eyes.

    She gritted her teeth, don¡¯t like being too close to people? Then why did you look so close when talking to Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao just now?!

    Dubhe ignored Jiang Tong¡¯s reaction, walking directly to the great elder. ¡°Let Jiang Tong¡¯s family move back to the central area.¡±

    The central area of the ancient martial arts world had the most energy and chi in the air, and it was also the home of the main branch Jiang family. It would be more of a relief for him for Jiang Tong to be situated there.

    The great elder couldn¡¯t help but look at Jiang Tong in surprise. He didn¡¯t know what Dubhe had seen in her, but the surprise just kept getting bigger and bigger. He nodded his head humbly. ¡°Yes, Master Dubhe.¡±

    Hearing the conversation between the two, Jiang Tong suppressed the glee that burst from her heart.

    Finally, she was going back!

    Dubhe looked back at Jiang Tong, his eyebrows still furrowed. There was a familiar aura on Jiang Tong, and he could indeed feel that it was his master¡¯s energy, but it was vastly different from what he had felt from the Trial Tower the other day.

    When he returned to his residence, Dubhe pulled out a thin paper from his sleeves.

    The paper was unnaturally white, and it glowed slightly. There were only eight golden characters written on it, the calligraphy beautiful and bold. The words flicker under the light.

    He muttered in a low voice. ¡°Outsiders of the world, cmity, turning point.[1]¡±

    After looking for it for a long time, he finally let out a long sigh, leaving the room in a sh.

    ***

    Not far away, in the Jiang household, Jiji brought out a piece of paper and ced it in front of Gu Xiqiao. She focused on it, her eyes unblinking.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Jiang Shuxuan walked over. Seeing that it was a schedule, he narrowed his eyes, his voice pitched a bit higher than usual.

    It was Chu Ziheng¡¯s schedule.

    ¡°There are some things that you can¡¯t get no matter how strong you are.¡± Gu Xiqiao picked up the paper, flicking the paper with her fingers, her mood obviously bright. ¡°But, technology is omnipotent~¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan felt relieved when he heard her words. ¡°Jiang Tong?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was surprised. ¡°You can even guess that?¡±

    ¡°What are you going to y?¡± Jiang Shuxuan smiled lightly, he finally understood why she had been in such a good mood when they had bumped into Dubhe that afternoon.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, but Jiji raised its head, saying in a serious tone, ¡°We¡¯re going to make Dubhe kneel down and beg for mercy.¡±

    It didn¡¯t know what Gu Xiqiao wanted to y with this time, but it knew that Jiang Tong would definitely wish for death once she was done with her. As for Dubhe... Jiji didn¡¯t want to think about that stupid idiot at all. It wasn¡¯t sure why, but the more it looked at him, the angrier Jiji got.

    [1] T/N: In Chinese, the eight characters are ÊÀÍâÖ®ÈË,½ÙÄÑ,×ª»ú

 Chapter 297 - The Most Cheating Qualifying Match In History

    <h4>Chapter 297: The Most Cheating Qualifying Match In History</h4>

    Once the qualifying matches started, Gu Xiqiao pushed all thoughts about Jiang Tong and Dubhe to the side.

    The participants of the Youth Ranking List who had stood out during the selections all stood under the ring. Suddenly, there was amotion in the crowd, and everything turned to look in the direction of the entrance.

    A group of eight people was slowly making their way into the area.

    ¡°Do you see, that¡¯s Gu Xiqiao.¡± One person pointed at the girl that was standing in the middle.

    In an instant, all eyes fell on the mentioned girl.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao?¡±

    ¡°The mythical beasts reaper! I knew it was them all along!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s Gu Xiqiao?¡±

    ¡°She reached the 80th floor in the Trial Tower, that¡¯s really too strong.¡± The young man holding a sword let out a sigh as he nced in the direction. Nozawa was already considered to be the strongest among them, but his strength was still only on par with those on the 70th floor of the Trial Tower. The gap between him and Gu Xiqiao was still too big.

    The people around him were hard-pressed not to cry. ¡°She looks even smaller than me, and she¡¯s reached the 80th floor. At most I can reach the 50th floor. How do you think she trains to be that strong?¡±

    When they found out that they had made it into the top hundred, they were all extremely excited. Being able to enter the top hundred during the selection was a symbol of strength and talent, and their status in their family would also rise. But before they could celebrate their sess, they got news that the person who took the top spot in the selections had broken through the 80th floor!

    When all these geniuses received the news, they were dumbfounded.

    Just where had this monstere from?

    Being in the same generation as this kind of person, all the spotlights that they would get would be very dim, and it was sad when you thought about it. They would always be overshadowed no matter what feats they achieved.

    ¡°Er Qiao, it seems like a lot of people are watching you.¡± Wu Hongwen stood by the viewing tform, turning his head to look at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head was lowered as she was focused on ying games. ¡°Oh.¡±

    Seeing her so calm and disinterested, Wu Hongwen was about to say something else but was interrupted by another voice calling out, ¡°Miss Gu, so this is where all of you are!¡±

    Wu Hongwen raised his head, and saw Betty walking towards them.

    ¡°You actually managed to find us?¡± Yao Jiamu was confused when he saw Betty. There were close to nearly ten thousand people in the area, both participants and audience included. How did she manage to find them in the sea of people?

    ¡°What¡¯s so weird about that?¡± Betty shook her head. ¡°All eyes are on you, and it¡¯s kinda hard to ignore that. Also... didn¡¯t you notice that the five-meter radius around your group is empty?¡±

    So obvious, she noticed it as soon as she walked in.

    When she said that, Yao Jiamu and Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t help but nce around to confirm her statement. They hadn¡¯t been paying attention, until Betty had mentioned it. They saw that it was indeed... true. Not only was their surroundings a distance from the others, the people who gave them a wide berth were also watching them with wonder in their eyes.

    ¡°I feel like we¡¯re monkeys on disy or something,¡± Wu Hongwen said suddenly.

    Yin Shaoyuan was reading a book to pass time, and he looked up when he heard Wu Hongwen¡¯s words. ¡°Is there such a monkey that is as handsome as me?¡±

    ¡°... No, no, no. How can a monkeypare to you?¡± Wu Hongwen said. If you¡¯re reading a book, then don¡¯t suddenly say something so shocking, alright? Just continue reading your book.

    ¡°Miss Gu, what are you ying?¡± Betty saw that Gu Xiqiao had her attention on her phone, and couldn¡¯t help but be curious. Yin Shaoyuan was reading a secret text, so she felt that Gu Xiqiao must also be doing something along the same lines.

    Leaning closer to the other girl, she saw the game on the screen.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head silently. ¡°Want to y?¡±

    Betty¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yes!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao handed her phone over to the other girl. When Betty took over, the character in the game died after only thirty seconds.

    She was taken aback for a moment, and continued to y without thinking anything was amiss. Thirty secondster, she was once again dead.

    It was one thing to die over and over, but Betty wasn¡¯t able to go beyond thirty seconds each time. After a while, she returned the phone to Gu Xiqiao, practically crying without tears as she said, ¡°Miss Gu, thanks. You can have it back.¡± She had never felt so stupid. Really, she felt as though Gu Xiqiao had made her doubt her own intelligence with that game.

    ¡°You actually dare to y the game that she has on her phone.¡± Xiao Yun had been chatting with Tang Qinghong, but had been drawn over to her when she saw what was happening. Her lips curled up. ¡°I respect you as a man.¡±

    Everyone knew that the game Gu Xiqiao yed on her phone was something that she had created out of boredom, and it was insanely difficult to y. For Betty to have dared to try it, you had tomend her courage.

    ¡°Miss Gu, can the game really be cleared?¡± Hearing Xiao Yun¡¯s words, Betty was slightlyforted.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head from her phone, looking at Betty but not saying a word, and then going back to her game once again.

    Three minutester, words appeared on the phone screen¡ªCongrattions on passing.

    ¡°...¡± Betty was speechless.

    ¡°I already said it before, don¡¯t dig your own grave,¡± Wu Hongwen said in a sympathetic tone. ¡°Are you okay now?¡±

    Betty: ¡°...¡± I don¡¯t want to talk about this anymore.

    This group of people was reading books, chatting, and even ying games, there was not a hint of nervousness about the qualifying matches that was starting soon. The people around them were watching them with bewildered looks on their faces.

    All of them were waiting anxiously for the matches to start, makingst-minute preparations for the matches, and some were even still carrying outst-minute training. To see the group of them so calm and rxed... were they really here to participate in the qualifying matches?!

    They were just so... The others couldn¡¯t help butin bitterly inside their hearts.

    The ranking matches were about to begin.

    There were a total of ten arenas, and the matches in all the arenas would be carried out concurrently. Every person in the top hundred would have to fight against the other ny-nine people, and they would be ranked ording to their wins and losses.

    In other words, every person had to fight ny-nine times.

    The matches would span across ten days, and one person would have about ten matches in a day.

    After the referee had exined the rules, the tournament then began.

    ¡°The first match in the first ring, contestants No 1 and No 57.¡± Betty read the words on the big screen, and she turned to Gu Xiqiao, excitement on her face. ¡°Miss Gu, the first match is you against No 57!¡±

    When the participants had entered the area, they had been given number tes. The number tes corresponded with the cement that they had gotten during the selections. Gu Xiqiao had taken first ce, so her number was 1.

    The audience and participants had also seen the words disyed on the screen, and so they rushed to squeeze themselves to the side of the first ring to watch the match. This monster who had broken through the 80th floor, it was only natural that she would attract the entire arena!

    As for the other nine arenas, there was not a single person in the ring area.

    This scene that was happening right now was unprecedented. Everyone was fascinated by the title of ¡®mythical beast reaper¡¯ and ¡¯80th floor¡¯, and so had gathered to the first ring.

    The participants in the other arenas were speechless, and they couldn¡¯t help but also feel sour about the entire situation.

    The referees in the remaining nine rings were also confused. What happened? Why was everyone at only the first ring?

    Gu XIqiao¡¯s opponent was a young man, he looked at Gu Xiqiao, who wore an indifferent expression as she stood opposite him. He turned to the referee with tears in his eyes. ¡°Referee, can I yield?¡±

    The first ring referee blinked. ¡°Yield?¡± He... didn¡¯t hear it wrong, right? Those who could step foot into this arena and rings were all top talents from all over the world, each and every one of them was mostly proud and arrogant, as well as full of themselves. None of them would bow down to any other here, nor be convinced that there were better talents apart from themselves. That was the reason why this kind of situation had never happened before.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I yield.¡± Do you know who my opponent is? The one who had broken through the 80th floor! And the captain of the team that had been nicknamed ¡®mythical beast reaper¡¯! When the young man had known that this was the person standing opposite him to be his opponent, he nearly wet himself in fear!

    He had seen Gu Xiqiao smashing a high ranking mythical beast in Bahuang Forest with his own eyes once, and the main point about it was... the rest of her team were leisurely eating hotpot while she alone handled the beast.

    Not only had she fought against the beasts, but she had also killed, maimed, and tossed the beast around for show! With her bare hands!

    The scene was deeply imprinted in the mind of the young man, and there were only two words that echoed in his mind. Scary! Crazy!

    And he also felt the terrifying existence that was Gu Xiqiao.

    That was the reason he asked the referee if he could yield the moment he stepped into the ring. He knew that he was not on the same level as Gu Xiqiao, and there wasn¡¯t even anything to beginparing with. He was more afraid that Gu Xiqiao would easily smash him if she were to get upset...

    Because this was the first time the referee had met with a participant wanting to yield, he was silent about it for a while. Going through the rules of the tournament in his mind, he finally said, ¡°Yes, you can.¡±

    When the young man heard that, he jumped up happily. ¡°Thank you, referee!¡± Then he bowed to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Goodbye, Miss Gu!¡±

    Having said that, he happily got off the arena.

    The referee, first time seeing someone so happy after admitting defeat: ¡°...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao, who had won without reason and had even been thanked for it: ¡°...¡±

    The audience, who had expected a grand battle, but was rewarded with nothing in the end: ¡°...¡±

    Once the young man got down, the elder of his family couldn¡¯t help the darkening of his face. ¡°Why did you abstain in the first round of such an important tournament?¡±

    ¡°What should I have done?¡± The young man said bitterly. ¡°That¡¯s Gu Xiqiao, could I have not given up?¡±

    ¡°Is she that terrifying?¡± Another elder asked, furrowing his brows.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find outter.¡± The young man paused, thinking in his heart, ¡®Terrifying? Was that even enough to describe her? She¡¯s a monster! Using her bare hands to throw a mythical beast around, have you ever seen such a thing?¡¯

    The elders looked at each other, confused, but then even more stranger things happened after that.

    Those who had not given up when pitted against second-ce Nozawa, after meeting the people from the Peace Squad, all started yielding without a fight!

    ¡°What¡¯s happening? You gave up before you even fought. No matter how it is, you¡¯re still in the top twenty, it¡¯s possible to get into the top ten if you tough it out!¡±

    ¡°You faced off against Nozawa, and you didn¡¯t give up then. Why are you giving up here after meeting them?!¡±

    Some of the elders were resentful towards those participants from their family who had given up without a fight, to the point that some were even just inches away from frothing at their mouth with anger!

    ¡°Do you think I dare to fight against the mythical beast repeat?!¡± The youth who was berated for giving up was in tears. These were some of the few that were lucky enough to have seen her in action. ¡°When you fight against Nozawa, you would at most be defeated. If you face off against the people of the mythical beast reaper team, you could possibly be killed!¡±

    During the intermission, the ten referees sat in the lobby. ¡°What¡¯s happening in the first ring? I heard that someone gave up in the first match without even attempting to fight?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know myself, this is the first time I encountered something like this.¡± The first ring referee shook his head.

    ¡°I heard something.¡± Another referee smiled mysteriously. ¡°I heard that the one who got first ce in the selections this year is someone who had passed the 80th floor of the ancient martial arts world¡¯s Trial Tower.¡±

    The other nine referees were dumbfounded when he said that. ¡°8-8-80th floor?!¡± This wasn¡¯t a joke, right?!

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The referee who had said it nodded his head. ¡°All the top leaders in the power worlds know about this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no wonder those participants would yield without a fight. But then, what¡¯s the deal with this mythical beast reaper then?¡± The first ring referee asked, remembering the words he had heard.

    ¡°ThatI I¡¯m not sure.¡± The other referee shook his head, standing up. ¡°But this time¡¯s qualifying matches are definitely fun.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan, who was sitting on the second floor, could hear the referee¡¯s chatting clearly. The corners of his mouth curled up, and he picked up a cup of tea with his hand.

    ¡°Big boss, this... what¡¯s the situation?¡± Yi Tong was standing beside Jiang Shuxuan, a bbergasted look on his face. He was the only person from Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s team who had apanied him to the tournament, and this was also the first time he had seen people yielding without a fight.

    What had Gu Xiqiao done during the selections to make these people so afraid of her?!

    The phone in his pocket rang, and Yi Tong pulled it out. His face was grave as he looked at it, and he said, ¡°Big boss, a situation has urred in the capital.¡±

    ¡°Let Yi Bing keep an eye on it.¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied indifferently.

    Yi Tong nodded his head, sending a message to Yi Bing¡ª[Have you ever seen anyone yielding without a fight in the qualifying tournament?]

    Regardless of Yi Bing¡¯s answer, he turned his attention to the ten stages. Gu Xiqiao was having a match.

    Gu Xiqiao had ten matches lined up for the day, and the first three had ended without a fight. In the fourth one, they finally had someone who didn¡¯t yield.

    Referee: I¡¯m so touched, finally.

    It was a young man from Ennd, and he had not seen her in action during the Bahuang Forest phase, so he wasn¡¯t as affected as others who had. He even performed his aristocratic etiquette politely when he stepped onto the stage.

    Gu Xiqiao turned her wrist, thinking in her mind that she wouldn¡¯t bully him and just make it a fast match.

    The young man dodged her first golden needle, and suddenly had a solemn look on his face. A few jade stones shed, appearing in his hands. ¡°Miss Gu, I¡¯m actually a formation master who¡¯s specialized in sealing arrays, and I¡¯m invincible once I use it! Though I hadn¡¯t intended to show this trick so early in the game, I suppose it can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    ***

    Baili Wen, who was standing with the rest of the audience below the ring: ¡°...¡± Then do you know that the entire Baili family can¡¯t evenpare to her talents in formation and arrays?

 Chapter 298 - Isnt This Just Digging Your Own Grave?

    <h4>Chapter 298: Isn¡¯t This Just Digging Your Own Grave?</h4>

    The young man from Ennd stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, knowing that this was the person who had obtained the first ce in the selections. He also knew that Gu Xiqiao had broken through the 80th floor. The 80th floor! That meant that her power level was on par with those on Houtian level.

    He had never met someone on this power level before, but the formations that he studied were ones that had been passed down from a formation master. His master had always told him that this formation could even trap gods in it.

    ¡°You have to watch out.¡± The young man said, his fingers moving.

    The surrounding area was plunged into a white void, and the young man¡¯s voice echoed around in the air, ¡°There isn¡¯t any way to escape the formations of trapping gods. Although I can¡¯t beat you in terms of strength, when ites to formations and arrays, no one can beat me.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes when he saw the two disappeared into thin air from the ce he was sitting in.

    Yi Tong clicked his tongue. ¡°That kid is actually using formations against Miss Gu.¡± Gu Xiqiao was someone who could even patch up a formation that had been left behind by the ancient powers back in Baixing Vige, and that was a testament of how far her talents in formations stretched, and now this kid wanted to use that against her?

    Seriously? Yi Tong shook his head.

    ***

    Inside the formation, the young man had closed his eyes, beginning to estimate where Gu Xiqiao¡¯s position was.

    ¡°A formation to trap gods, that¡¯s exquisite.¡± A clear voice came from behind him suddenly. ¡°But this formation serves only to trap a person, and there¡¯s no lethality in it at all. Here, try it like this.¡±

    The young man turned around, with a shocked look on his face. Gu Xiqiao had appeared behind him, and shed him a smile before raising her hand as five jade stones emerged from her, disappearing into the void. At the same time, the array that was meant to trap people was rewritten to kill instead. Space cracks appeared out of nowhere, it had changed into a killer technique now!

    He stared at Gu Xiqiao, the astonishment still present in his eyes. She had managed to rewrite his formation? Changing his trapping formation into a killing one instead? Even the current masters of formations were unable to do this!

    During his state of shock, Gu Xiqiao had collected back the pieces of jades and the part of the formation that aimed to kill disappeared.

    They reappeared on the ring with disbelief on the young man¡¯s face. She easily dissolved the formation that he had always been so proud of?

    He looked at her, slumping down. ¡°How... how did you do that?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had been prepared to get off the ring, but seeing his state, she couldn¡¯t help but turn around, halting in her steps. ¡°You are actually very talented.¡± Apart from Baili Bin, he was the only other person she hade across with exceptional talent for formations.

    Talented? The young manughed bitterly at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then his eyes widened.

    The girl in front of him dressed in a light green dress, her hair was fluttering lightly though there wasn¡¯t any wind. A few dozen pieces of jade were floating in front of her, forming a strange pattern at a slow speed.

    The young man watched the scene in front of him, a gleam of light appearing in his dejected eyes.

    After a long while, he clenched his fist tightly, and gave a solemn, deep bow to Gu Xiqiao.

    Though there were words of appreciation that he wanted to say, saying it out loud would just feel insincere, so he resolved to just remember this matter firmly in his heart.

    ¡°Good luck, I¡¯ll be watching.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, then turned to get off the ring slowly. As she walked, she pulled out her phone to continue ying games.

    The young man took a deep breath before returning to the circle of people from Ennd¡¯s supernatural world. He lowered his head apologetically. ¡°Leader, I¡¯ve lost.¡±

    ¡°I thank the gods above that you weren¡¯t ttened by her instead,¡± Wanqi Jue said, his lips curling upwards. ¡°Your courage ismendable, daring to go against her in the match, and your luck isn¡¯t bad either.¡±

    The young man: ¡°...¡± Was there such a leader like this? Was there?! To tear apart their subordinates like that?!

    ¡°I also feel that my luck isn¡¯t bad.¡± The young man thought deeply after hearing Wanqi Jue¡¯s words. Gu Xiqiao had been earnestly teaching him just now, and in just one moment, he felt his whole life of learning the previous formations had been a waste. ¡°Leader, I feel that Master¡¯s formation skills can¡¯t even begin topare with hers.¡±

    ¡°She seemed to have taken a liking to you.¡± Wanqi Jue considered the young man for a moment, before saying suddenly, ¡°Follow me to China the next time I go. Who knows, you might be a formation master in the future.¡±

    The young man naturally thought of Gu Xiqiao the moment Wanqi Jue said that, and his eyes lit up. ¡°Yes! Leader!¡±

    ¡°Is she really that powerful?¡± A woman walked out from behind, her brown hair tied into a ponytail. Her eyebrows were thick, and she had a high nose. Her skin was smooth, and she had curves in all the right ces. Her appearance caused a stir when she stepped out.

    ¡°Miss Yan Qi, Gu Xiqiao is far more terrifying than you can imagine.¡± The young man looked at Yan Qi, sighing. ¡°I¡¯ve always thought that my skills in formation is on par to even Baili Bin from China, but it was nothing in her hands.¡±

    ¡°Even a formation genius like you is afraid to this extent?¡± Yan Qi raised an eyebrow, turning to him.

    ¡°Do you know why so many people yielded without a fight when they were pitted against her?¡± Wanqi Jue looked at Yan Qi and the young man. ¡°Because if you go against her, if you¡¯re not beaten to death, you¡¯ll probably get a psychological shock and die. That¡¯s why I said that your luck wasn¡¯t bad.¡±

    If you weren¡¯t beaten to death physically or mentally, and instead received her teachings instead, this kind of luck, even the Baili family had yet to enjoy this privilege.

    When he thought about it, Wanqi Jue pulled out his phone and shot off a text to Baili Bin¡ª[My subordinate just got guidance from your little sister heh~]

    ***

    Baili Bin, who was far away in the ancient martial arts world, saw the text, and his mouth twitched.

    Heh what heh?! Heh your sh*tty head!

    ***

    ¡°Boss, even you¡¯re saying that about her?¡± Yan Qi¡¯s eyes shed with some interest, and she turned her gaze towards the group of people who were standing beside the first ring.

    It was easy to locate Gu Xiqiao and her group of people. Other than their reputation for being strong, there was also a different kind of atmosphere that they exuded in the air. They were ying and chatting with each other, and were quite lively. They had even moved three benches to sit at the side of the ring, which once again attracted everyone¡¯s attention.

    Yan Qi¡¯s eyes finallynded on a thin, slender figure, just in time for the person to turn her head to look at her. A pair of deep, dark eyes that reflected under the sun, with elegant features on a wless face. Her skin was pale to the point it looked transparent under the sunlight.

    Gu Xiqiao locked eyes with her for a while, before looking down to y with her phone.

    Her expression had been indifferent and calm the entire time.

    ¡°And very pretty. It¡¯s no wonder you always run off to China.¡± Yan Qi sighed, as a woman herself, she had also been shocked by her beauty. ¡°The captain of the team that¡¯s nicknamed mythical beasts reaper, I¡¯m really looking forward to knowing the extent of her strength.¡±

    Rumors about Bahuang Forest had already piqued her interest in this mythical beasts reaper team, but she didn¡¯t have the chance to see them until now.

    With so many people yielding the match, and Wanqi Jue¡¯s admiration of her, Yan Qi¡¯s curiosity was at an extreme level.

    ¡°I advise you not to test it.¡± Wanqi Jue looked at her coldly. ¡°You¡¯ll regret it.¡±

    Yan Qi looked at Wanqi Jue, furrowing her eyebrows. ¡°I, Yan Qi, have never done anything that I regret in my life.¡±

    During the seventh match on the ninth day, Yan Qi finally knew how painful it was when somethinges to bite you back in your a*s.

    Shey on the ground, looking like she had given up on life as she looked towards Gu Xiqiao. She had known that the other was strong, so she had been vignt and kept her guard up. But she didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attitude to change the moment she pulled out her sword. A powerful source and overwhelming spiritual energy shot out the moment she did.

    Yan Qi walked back to her ce, slumped down in dejection. When she returned to her seat, she had still yet to recover.

    ¡°How did it feel?¡± Wanqi Jue smiled, turning his head to look at her.

    Hearing his words, Yan Qi froze. ¡°I feel like my entire body is empty now.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you looking forward so much to this fight a few days ago?¡± Wanqi Jue repeated those words that she had said previously.

    ¡°What kind of fight was that, I wasn¡¯t even able to get a chance to make any moves!¡± Yan Qi shuddered, experiencing this kind of feeling once in her life was more than enough. She didn¡¯t want to feel it the second time... it was incredibly terrible!

    Wanqi Jue continued to smile, before turning his gaze to Gu Xiqiao and muttering under his breath, ¡°Is she in a bad mood?¡±

    ***

    ¡°Er Qiao, did that Yan Qi do something that irritated you?¡± Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t help butugh when Gu Xiqiao walked back towards them.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡°It was a slip of hand just now.¡±

    On the tenth day, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s opponent in her final match was Nozawa. She was expecting a good fight, and had even prepared her weapon, but she didn¡¯t expect Nozawa to take one look at her, and yield immediately.

    Nozawa¡¯s action made everyone look at each other. He... he yielded, just like that?!

    ¡°I can¡¯t beat you,¡± Nozawa said, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a deep look in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... oh.¡±

    Ten days of qualifying matches ended like that.

    Gu Xiqiao obtained first ce, and nobody doubted the legitimacy of her ranking.

    After the matches, Wanqi Jue brought Yan Qi and the others to look for Gu Xiqiao, only to find that Jiang Shuxuan had already taken their group and had left the area earlier.

    China¡¯s ancient martial arts world had obtained an impossible feat in this time¡¯s qualifying tournament. In the top hundred selections, they had obtained eight cements which was about one-tenth of the entire cements, and they had also produced a terrifying character that was Gu Xiqiao.

    ***

    The top people from the power worlds gathered together after the qualifying tournament and said, ¡°The ancient martial arts world is incredible.¡±

    ¡°One-tenth of the cements in the top hundred selections, and all of them were among the top twenty. They¡¯ve obtained almost half of the resources given out, if this goes on, how will we be able to continue existing?¡± One of the leaders sighed.

    ¡°Are you trying to suggest joining hands to suppress the ancient martial arts world?¡± Wanqi Jue spoke up, tired of these people beating around the bushes. ¡°The ancient martial arts world has Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao sitting at the top. If you intend to suppress them both, you¡¯re wee to try. I wouldn¡¯t dare.¡±

    Wanqi Jue sneered at them, leaving after saying his piece.

    ¡°This Wanqi Jue!¡± Japan¡¯s leader mmed the table with his fist, a dark look on his face.

    Was it possible for it not to be? They had thought that Nozawa from their country would obtain first ce in this time¡¯s qualifying tournament undisputed, but Gu Xiqiao suddenly made an appearance, and Nozawa even gave up in the end without a fight. Forget about the others who had given up, but Nozawa who was close in terms of power to Gu Xiqiao had also given up like them!

    How could the leader of Japan not be angry? Especially after Wanqi Jue¡¯s words, the people from the other counties also left one after another, signifying that they too didn¡¯t dare to make any moves towards China.

    Even in the past when it was just Jiang Shuxuan in China, they were already hesitant to make any big moves. Now that the ancient martial arts world had an extra Gu Xiqiao, who would dare to even think of it?

    ***

    In the ten days that Gu Xiqiao had left, changes had begun to happen in the ancient martial arts world.

    First was the rise of Peace Manor, which seemed to be a family business that came from nowhere. In the beginning, no one paid much attention to them. Though they¡¯ve be quite a well-known force in the ancient martial arts world now, the people paid attention to them for a while before returning to their disinterested state.

    The second was that a mysterious godly master had suddenly appeared in the ancient martial arts world.

    Jiang Tong had been epted as an apprentice by the mysterious master, and there were a few extra masters beside her to guard her, and rumors surrounding her began to flow once again.

    The spotlight she found herself in wasparable to the waves that Gu Xiqiao was making, and even slightly more exaggerated. She was associated with the mysterious master that was a ¡®god¡¯ after all, and everyone didn¡¯t even dare to mention that word.

    In the ancient martial arts world, Jiang Tong turned to the man in ck next to her. ¡°You¡¯re certain that Gu Xiqiao has returned?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Miss Jiang. She¡¯s in the Elders Association right now.¡± The man replied respectfully to her.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine that she¡¯s back.¡± Jiang Tong smiled mockingly with a venomous look in her eyes. She didn¡¯t expect to have had another chance to be in power, to be on par in the limelight as her. The people now looked at her with respect and admiration in their eyes once again. ¡°This time, I¡¯ll make sure she never turns her luck around.¡±

    She had been eavesdropping on several elders for the past few days, and she heard that Gu Xiqiao was the ¡®cmity¡¯ of the entire ancient martial arts world!

    How could such an existence be worshipped by countless people?

    When the truthes out, Gu Xiqiao would definitely be the target of hatred and usations!

    Jiang Tong couldn¡¯t help the smile that spread wider on her face when she thought about it. The grievances she had with Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t something that could be settled by just talking. From the first day that she had known about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s existence, she had hated her being like no other on this earth. Up till the end, she had been mocked over and over because of this one person.

    Now, the hatred she had for her no longer had any reason for it. She just wanted to have this person down at her feet. When she thought about how soon it would be before she could see the deste and ashen look on her, the joy in her heart surged!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Elders Association.¡± Jiang Tong couldn¡¯t wait to walk into the ce.

    Jiang Lian followed behind the girl, her tone frustrated as she said, ¡°Tong Tong, are you sure you didn¡¯t hear wrongly? If there¡¯s any mistake, the Jiang family will definitely not let us off.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s something that Master Dubhe said personally, how can it be wrong?¡± Jiang Tong smiled confidently. ¡°It¡¯s a cmity¡¯s existence, I don¡¯t need to say anything more. The people wille to thank me and appreciate the fact that I found this disaster before anything happened.¡±

    This was a fact that Jiang Tong was well aware of. Humans are selfish beings.

    If the people in the ancient martial arts world came to find out that there was a cmity walking among them, then they wouldn¡¯t need any proof to be convinced. There was a saying that better safe than sorry, killing ten thousand people was better than making one mistake!

    Jiang Tong could already imagine how Jiang Shuxuan and Shu Chen, as well as the entire ancient martial arts world would treat Gu Xiqiao once they knew this!

    She quickened her steps. She couldn¡¯t wait another second to reach the Elders Association to see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s crying face when news broke.

    People who saw Jiang Tong along the way greeted her respectfully.

    That¡¯s right, her position was different than that girl. Gu Xiqiao was a cmity, while she was the ¡®god¡¯s¡¯ sessor, the turning point of the ancient martial arts world!

    Inside the Elders Association, Jiang Shuxuan still had some matters to handle, so Gu Xiqiao had returned to the Jiang family house after meeting with a few elders.

    When she was walking out, she bumped into Jiang Tong.

    When Jiang Tong saw her, she gave her a very strange smile.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Was there something on her face?

    She watched as Jiang Tong eagerly brushed past her and into the building, and she touched her chin thoughtfully.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re back!¡± Jiji ran on its short legs towards her, Shu Chen following behind.

    Gu Xiqiao turned around to walk towards their direction, then paused, a stunned look on her face. ¡°Jiji?¡±

    Jiji came to a stop in front of her, twirling around. ¡°Aunt Shu made some clothes for me, does it look good?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the flowered coat on it, and shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s blinding.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°... Break up!¡±

    Shu Chenughed as she reached the two. ¡°I originally prepared some light blue color clothes for it, but it didn¡¯t want it.¡±

    Jiji pouted. ¡°This one looks nicer.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± That¡¯s not it, it¡¯s fine with people dressing their dogs and cats up in clothes, but what¡¯s the point of a robot doing the same? Wouldn¡¯t it hinder your movements?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go home and talk about it over our meal. Ah Bin and the others are also here.¡± Shu Chen led Gu Xiqiao away,ughing and chatting on the way.

    ***

    On one side, they were having fun. On the other side, the atmosphere was as cold as a harsh winter.

    ¡°You said that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s existence is a cmity, do you have any evidence to that?¡± The atmosphere was freezing cold in the Elders Association. Jiang Shuxuan was looking at Jiang Tong, his onyx ck eyes seemingly like a deep abyss. His voice was calm, and every word he said resembled a sharp de.

    A few elders had their heads hung low, sweating profusely, feeling the heavy pressure that pressed down on them.

    Not to mention Jiang Tong and Jiang Lian, who were in a simr state. They didn¡¯t dare to look up at Jiang Shuxuan, his gaze was too piercing, and you would get a headache if you looked at him for more than a second.

    Jiang Tong thought that he was being like this because he had just found out that Gu Xiqiao was a cmity, so she continued to add fuel to the fire. ¡°Although I don¡¯t have proof, some of the elders also know about it. Gu Xiqiao is not only a cmity to the ancient martial arts world, but the entire world. As long as she is around, the world will never be at peace. Our ancient martial arts world will also be destroyed by her hands sooner orter! Elders, you know about it too, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Several of the Jiang family elders frowned, giving Jiang Tong a nce while they sat beside Jiang Shuxuan, not saying a word.

    Some of the other elders had already blindly believed in Jiang Tong¡¯s words beforehand, with her being the sessor of the ¡®god¡¯, they wanted to cultivate a good rtionship with her. They looked at Jiang Shuxuan, nodding their heads.

    ¡°So, what do you want to do to her?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked, looking at them, nothing on his face betraying how he was feeling at the moment.

    Hearing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, Jiang Tong¡¯s eyes lit up. She thought that Jiang Shuxuan was finally listening to her, and she continued, ¡°I think, it¡¯s best to let the ancient martial arts world know about this first. Let them know that she is the cmity that harmed us, then burn her at stake and use her as an example. This way, no evil things would dare toe to our world ever again!¡±

    Every consecutive word that came out of her mouth made Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze grow colder and colder. By the time she was done, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes were practically ice.

    ¡°Burn her to death?¡± Jiang Shuxuan repeated, looking at Jiang Tong. He then looked to the elders standing at her side. ¡°Do you think so too?¡±

    Hesitating for a while, the elders eventually nodded hurriedly, standing closer to Jiang Tong to express their feelings on the matter. ¡°Since she¡¯s the cmity of the ancient martial arts world, she cannot be allowed to stay in this world. We concur with Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s view on this.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan stood up slowly.

    Crash!

    Crash!

    Crash!

    As he stood, all the cups in the room floated in the air, falling to the ground with a clear, crisp sound, shattering into pieces!

    The air seems to freeze at the same moment!

    Jiang Shuxuan walked up to Jiang Tong, looking down at her. ¡°Firstly, you said that she¡¯s a cmity, but have no proof. ndering a person whether or not you have proof, is such an execrable attitude. Secondly, ¡®god¡¯ has always been the salvation of the ancient martial arts world, yet your mind and heart are vicious. Burn her to death? Those crude thoughts are unlike the sessor of ¡®god¡¯. Thirdly, even if you are not the sessor of ¡®god¡¯, your mind is cruel and vile. It looks like you harbor a lot of sinister intentions towards the ancient martial arts world. Fourthly, she is currently ranked number one in the Youth Ranking List, and has brought in one-third of the current resources in the ancient martial arts world. You want to kill such a talent? The one who should d*mn well die¡ªis you!

    ¡°As for you, as elders of the ancient martial arts world, you are unable to distinguish between right and wrong, and follow the herd instead. You¡¯re better off relinquishing your positions as elders!¡±

    As soon as he said that, the smug look on Jiang Tong¡¯s face disappeared. Her face paled as all blood drained from it, and the chill crept up her spine, sweat sliding down her face. Her mind was in a jumbled mess.

    She didn¡¯t expect Jiang Shuxuan to react this way, wasn¡¯t she the sessor of the ¡®god¡¯?! Why was he still so indifferent towards her?!

    Jiang Lian, who had apanied her, fell to the ground immediately, his legs unable to support him. Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s exmation echoed over and over in his spirit, especially the words ¡®die¡¯.

    The elders who were on the same boat as Jiang Tong had also been shocked. One by one, they knelt down to the ground, their faces white as a sheet. They were more aware than Jiang Lian, and they carefully considered Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words again. The message behind his words was probably this: First, Jiang Shuxuan was really doubtful of Jiang Tong¡¯s position as the sessor of the ¡®god¡¯. Second, Jiang Tong¡¯s position was way inferiorpared to Gu Xiqiao. If you piss Jiang Shuxuan off, he would even dare to kill the person that was the sessor to ¡®god¡¯!

    The elders who sided with Jiang Tong couldn¡¯t help but regret their decision after they thought it over properly, and seem to wake up from their stupidity immediately.

    In the past few days, apart from the qualifying tournament, the ancient martial arts world had been paying attention to Jiang Tong. Now that they had been stunned by Jiang Shuxuan, they sobered up quite a bit, and it made the terror they felt in their heart even worse.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at the direction of the door, and then left the Elders Association. He didn¡¯t even bother with the matters that he had stayed back to settle after dying it for a few days due to the qualifying tournament.

    Dubhe was standing at the door. Jiang Shuxuan knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill Jiang Tong with Dubhe present, so he didn¡¯t make any move. Not that he had intended to anyway. Want to burn Gu Xiqiao to death? How could he let her die so easily?

    Thinking of this, Jiang Shuxuan clenched his fist, his expression darkening. His strength was still not enough.

    ¡°Miss Jiang Tong, sessor of the ¡®god¡¯ indeed!¡± The few elders had huddled together once Jiang Shuxuan had left, ring at Jiang Tong and Jiang Lian. ¡°Consider the lesson learnt! What disciple of ¡®god¡¯, it¡¯s possible that she¡¯s the cmity instead!¡±

    The few of them who had just lost their position as elders naturally turned their hatred towards Jiang Lian and his daughter.

    Not to mention, Jiang Tong¡¯s position as the sessor of ¡®god¡¯ was in doubt. Even if there was no doubt about her position, these former elders would still not have any more good feelings towards her.

    Jiang Tong stood rooted to the spot, her body shaking and unstable, almost falling to the ground. She bit her lips, unable toprehend what had just happened. Why was this happening? Shouldn¡¯t Jiang Shuxuan be afraid and hate Gu Xiqiao now? Why was the suspicion thrown upon her instead?

    ¡°Miss Jiang Tong, I think it¡¯s better if you head on back,¡± The Jiang family¡¯s great elder said, a calm expression on his face as he looked at her. He had already figured out what Jiang Shuxuan meant, and that exined his indifferent attitude towards Jiang Tong. ¡°You should also be clearly aware that no one in the ancient martial arts world can control Shuxuan¡¯s attitude. Even if he were to kill you when the timees, everyone would dare toin about it. You had better think twice before doing anything.¡±

    Of all the people for you to go after, you had to go after the one that Jiang Shuxuan treasured the most? Wasn¡¯t this just digging your own grave?

    Great Elder Jiang continued to look at Jiang Tong, shaking his head. It was fine now, her position as the sessor of ¡®god¡¯ was in doubt. Thinking about how Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao were, the great elder didn¡¯t think that Jiang Tong would be able to escape their grasp.

    Anotheryer of cold sweat broke out on Jiang Tong¡¯s head when she heard those words, and she muttered, ¡°Thank you, elder.¡±

    She supported Jiang Lian to leave the ce, and the two walked out of the door slowly. The feeling of narrowly escaping death pounded fiercely within them, and the paleness on their faces had yet to fade. They had been so smug,ing here just now, and not even ten minutester, they were leaving the ce with a haunted look.

    The guards who were standing outside the Elders Association watched as the two passed them, a strange expression on their faces.

    Jiang Tong had her head lowered in shame. She had made a terrible move this time. She hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Shuxuan to go that far for Gu Xiqiao!

    She clenched her fist tightly, the hatred for Gu Xiqiao growing bigger as she thought about it. She vowed in her heart that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be so lucky the next time.

    Little did she know that everything she was thinking now and her every movement was already known to Gu Xiqiao.

 Chapter 299 - Youre Worried About Her?

    <h4>Chapter 299: You¡¯re Worried About Her?</h4>

    When Jiang Shuxuan got back to Jiang Manor, Gu Xiqiao, Baili Bin, and the others were seated around the dining table.

    ¡°Shuxuan!¡± Shu Chen was quite surprised upon seeing him, and she had the butler prepare another set of chopsticks. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯ting back today.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded and looked at everyone sitting at the table¡ªBaili Bin, Murong Feiye, his mother sitting to the left of Gu Xiqiao, and to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s right, a colorful blob of... Jiji?

    He fixed Jiji with an emotionless stare, and when thetter noticed it, its mechanical hand freezing in ce before it jumped off the seat with its bowl.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked over and sat on the seat which Jiji had sat on calmly, before epting the bowl and chopsticks that the butler gave him and starting to eat slowly.

    Murong Feiye looked at Jiang Shuxuan strangely. ¡°Do you bully the robot too?¡±

    What did he do to have emotionally traumatized a robot to the point of having such a reaction to his stare?

    ¡°Do you want to try getting bullied too?¡± Jiang Shuxuan asked, looking straight into his eyes.

    Murong Feiye rubbed his arms, feeling a chilling on. ¡°No, no, I would never challenge you. Please, eat.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked back gloomily at his bowl. Ever since he was born he had been put under immense amounts of stress, and while he didn¡¯t quite care about the ancient martial arts world in the start, everything changed after he met Gu Xiqiao. He started to take as much power as he could in the ancient martial arts world so that one day he would have the power to protect her when her secrets were revealed.

    He never expected that day toe so quickly, however.

    Everything was in the palm of his hand except for Dubhe which had been a variable that was sent by the heavenspletely out of the blue. He still wasn¡¯t a match for this monster as of yet, so his ns and actions had to be modified and obstructed at every turn.

    Once he thought of this, he seemed to be even more depressed, but it was right at this moment that Gu Xiqiao put a chicken wing into his bowl and smiled at him reassuringly.

    Feeling his dark and dreary state of mind fill up with some color once again, Jiang Shuxuan curled his lips in a soft smile.

    They finished dinner quickly, and after Baili Bin talked about the ranking battles with Gu Xiqiao, Shu Chen dragged her upstairs to see the newly furnished art studio.

    Jiang Shuxuan saw two of the most important women in his life go upstairs before he retracted his gaze.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao was there but I didn¡¯t mention it, but you know what Dubhe said, right?¡± Baili Bin looked at Jiang Shuxuan with a serious gaze. He didn¡¯t want to talk about this while the girl was there so as to not affect her mood, though it was probably an inevitability that she would find out.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, before getting a cigarette from Murong Feiye and lighting it up, before blowing out a puff of smoke. ¡°I know.¡±

    His tone was as calm as always, and Baili Bin couldn¡¯t read what he felt about this. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    In terms of strength, the three of them added together wouldn¡¯t be a match for Dubhe so he made a beeline for the Jiang Manor as soon as he could, while Baili Qu was at his wit¡¯s end at home.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot of influence on the Murong family just yet, but I¡¯mpletely on your side.¡± Murong Feiye leaned backfortably on the couch as he sipped on a cup of tea. ¡°Of course, we don¡¯t believe in fate, so Dubhe wouldn¡¯t do anything too radical just yet.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be moving out of the ancient martial arts world tomorrow.¡± Jiang Shuxuan tapped his cigarette on the ashtray.

    ¡°Back to the secr world?¡± Baili Bin asked in surprise.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to get involved in the ancient martial arts world for a while.¡± Jiang Shuxuan snuffed out his cigarette. ¡°We¡¯lle back after the dust has settled.¡±

    Baili Bin nodded, knowing that the other man had already made up his mind. ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, you two.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at the two men in front of him, knowing that they came here for the sake of helping Gu Xiqiao, and he would remember this fondly.

    ¡°She¡¯s my sister.¡± Baili Bin replied. ¡°You have nothing to thank me for.¡±

    Murong Feiye rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t get all formal with me, we¡¯re bros after all. Well, it seems that I have to go pack my bags, then.¡±

    How boring would the ancient martial arts world without these people? He would rather be happy neighbors with them.

    Before the two could leave, Gu Xiqiao walked down the stairs, holding a ss cup in one hand and a tattered book in another. She nced at Murong Feiye, before throwing the book in his direction.

    Murong Feiye caught the book carefully before he raised his eyebrows in surprise. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for you. I hope you can take over the Murong family soon.¡± Gu Xiqiao poured herself a cup of water, before continuing, ¡°Or else it¡¯s going to be seeing itsst days soon enough with those elders in power.¡±

    Murong Feiye: ¡°... Roger that.¡±

    What did she mean, that the Murong family was going to see itsst days?

    But anyway, he was more curious about the book that Gu Xiqiao had given him, and his heart itched with curiosity, and all he wanted to do was go home and read this book properly.

    After the two of them left, Jiang Shuxuan looked towards Gu Xiqiao and grumbled, ¡°Why did you give that to him?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he your friend?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s why I gave it to him.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, epting her reasoning. ¡°Get prepared, we¡¯ll be leaving this ce tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°We haven¡¯t been back in a while, after all.¡±

    It had been a month since she went back to the secr world and checked on Nine Heavens and theboratory, but she wasn¡¯t worried in the slightest. Even though Luo Weng wasn¡¯t there at the moment, he had a bunch of financial geniuses that could hold the fort while he was gone, and theboratory at A University was even less of a problem with Zhu Yuan there.

    ¡°Alright, and we have to deal with the brat¡¯s matters too.¡± Jiang Shuxuanmented as they walked upstairs.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. Even though Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t say who it was, she knew that he was referring to Hua Youlin.

    ¡°Let me ask him when we get back.¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s random mission still hadn¡¯t been aplished, yet, and even though he didn¡¯t speak a word about it, Gu Xiqiao could feel that it was always on his mind.

    After Shu Chen found out that Gu Xiqiao liked to do art, she immediately had one of the storage rooms upstairs renovated into an art studio. The wall in the direction of the sun was demolished and reced with ss panes, and set in front of them was a chair and an easel. On the other side of the room was a well-made bookshelf, and ced in it were art materials like paintbrushes, graphite pencils, and palettes. The entire was room was furnished elegantly and homely, and it was clear just by looking at it that it was decorated with great care.

    Gu Xiqiao was surprised when she came in here for the first time, and it was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s turn to be surprised too.

    ¡°Not bad, don¡¯t you think?¡± Shu Chen asked with raised eyebrows.

    Jiang Shuxuan imaged his own monotonous study in his mind before looking again at the meticulously furnished room in front of him, and he suddenly felt as if Gu Xiqiao was her child instead of him.

    ¡°Look at this!¡± Shu Chen pointed at the canvas with a painting in its early stages. ¡°Qiao Qiao was in the middle of painting this for me, isn¡¯t it pretty?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at the painting with a clear divide between warm and cold colors, and after researching on oil paintings because of Gu Xiqiao, he knew that the girl had put a lot of heart into it.

    He knew that the painting was of Shu Chen, but upon seeing her pleased face, he was silent for a moment before he replied, ¡°I can¡¯t see what the painting is about.¡±

    ¡°You have no taste!¡± Shu Chen red at him before she looked over at Gu Xiqiao that started to resume her painting.

    She was quite focused as she painted, and at that moment, her gazecked her usual nonchnce, which was reced with a glint of passion.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at this for a bit, before taking out his phone and snapping a picture of her and posting it casually on Weibo.

    A Flowing River: [JPEG]

    He didn¡¯t know the amount of attention this post would get.

    Gu Xiqiao herself hadn¡¯t posted anything on her Weibo for more than a month, and her fans were crying under her past posts for her toe back, and just as everyone was guessing whether she was abducted by aliens, someone came across Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s post!

    And so, everyone went crazy.

    ¡®Ahhhhhhhhh! After forty-seven days and eighteen hours, I finally get to see my beauty again! I don¡¯t have the words to describe what I¡¯m feeling right now!¡±

    ¡®Even though it appeared on our love rival¡¯s Weibo page, it¡¯s enough to know that she¡¯s still doing well QAQ¡¯

    ¡®Am I the only one that¡¯s licking the screen[1]?! Look at those eyshes, those eyes! Ahhhh! Why is my screen so dirty!¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re not alone, upper floor, wait for me!¡¯

    And so, under thebined effort of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s post became one of the trending posts of the day, with almost fifty thousandments after less than twenty minutes.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you posted a picture of me?¡± Gu Xiqiaoughed when she saw Li Yu @ her and reposted Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s post.

    v For A Millennium: Goodnight, everyone. //A Flowing River: [JPEG]

    After she posted this, her fans became even more frenzied.

    At the same time, the words ¡®Goodnight, Beauty.¡¯ surged to the top of the Weibo hot topic rankings.

    The top post under this topic was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s post, and after everyone stopped spamming ¡®AAAAAA¡¯, they started to reply:

    ¡®Jade-like beauty, goodnight!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao was quite happy upon seeing this, knowing that no matter when it was, there would be a bunch of people waiting for her and loving her.

    Jiang Shuxuan had wanted to talk to her, but his phone rang, and upon seeing the caller ID, his expression changed, and with another nce at Gu Xiqiao, he turned around and left to take the call.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at him go, before rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

    Something wasn¡¯t right...

    Her phone vibrated, and Gu Xiqiao looked down to see a message sent by Xiao Yun. The message sent by Xiao Yun made her brows furrow slightly, and her fingers rested on the screen for a short moment, but she didn¡¯t reply as she was still in thought.

    After about two minutes, Xiao Yun called her instead.

    Gu Xiqiao epted the call. ¡°Xiao Yun, what¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Gu Er Qiao! Why didn¡¯t you reply my message? I¡¯m freaking out right now!¡± Xiao Yun¡¯s words spilled out the moment she heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s happening right now? I¡¯m so worried-¡±

    Gu Xiqiao held the phone far away from her ear and only put it back to her ear after Xiao Yun finished her rant.

    Xiao Yun had always been as cool as a cucumber, and she knew that the reason why she was this agitated was because of her, so it warmed her heart quite a bit. ¡°It¡¯s alright, you don¡¯t need to worry about this, hm?¡±

    ¡°How could it be alright?¡± Xiao Yun almost cried from anxiousness upon hearing this. ¡°How could I not worry?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll be moving out of the ancient martial arts world and back to the condominium together with Brother Jiang tomorrow, so you can alwayse to visit, yes?¡± Gu Xiqiao had wanted to inform them as such, and now was exactly the chance to do so.

    Xiao Yun nodded and asked her why she wanted to move out of the ancient martial arts world, and Gu Xiqiao just replied that she needed to take a breather.

    After the two of them chatted for a bit, Gu Xiqiao concluded, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be heading off to bed now. Bye~¡±

    ***

    It was only after Xiao Yun hung up on the phone that she realized she had been tricked by Gu Xiqiao into not talking about what worried her in the first ce, and she just hung up like that?

    Looking back at Wu Hongwen and Yao Jiamu, they were quite expectedly looking at her as if she were dumb.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s good that she doesn¡¯t know.¡± Yin Shaoyuan leaned back on his chair and squinted slightly. Who would want to know that they were regarded as a cmity and that they were med and questioned by everyone?

    As a glint of ruthlessness shed through his eyes, he asked, ¡°Do any of you know who let out this rumor?¡±

    ¡°Jiang Tong did.¡± Tang Qinghong handed him his phone. ¡°Look at what an elder messaged me just now.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan took over the phone and read through it, and the mes of anger in his eyes burned even brighter.

    Jiang Tong!

    ¡°What about Weng?¡± Yao Jiamu suddenly raised his head. ¡°His brains are on par with Miss Gu¡¯s, he must have a way!¡±

    It was true that Luo Weng was the smartest among them, and it was clear as day how capable he was just by seeing how well he managed the Peace Manor.

    And so, a certain genius was dragged out of his pile of paperwork and sat onto a chair, and after hearing Luo Weng and Yao Jiamu tell him everything, he only looked back at them with a wordless stare. ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°Are you not worried?¡± Yao Jiamu was quite anxious upon seeing how Luo Weng didn¡¯t even have a change in expression. ¡°You¡¯re not part of the ancient martial arts world so you wouldn¡¯t know, but this is no joking matter!¡±

    ¡°You guys already called her, correct?¡± Luo Weng asked.

    ¡°We did.¡± Xiao Yun nodded.

    ¡°Let me guess, she told you not to worry, and to not get involved?¡± Luo Weng asked again.

    This question was met with another bout of nods from Xiao Yun.

    ¡°I guessed so.¡± Luo Weng sighed and nced at them. ¡°Have you people forgot what she started out as after loitering around in the ancient martial arts world?¡±

    Seeing them blink dumbly in return, Luo Weng poured himself a cup of water and sighed again. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if you guys remember, but she started a certainpany called Nine Heavens? You know, the one that became an indomitable force on the market? I should show you the ns she wrote out, really, and you guys would know how terrifying her foresight is. Before the enemy even takes one step, she would already predict their next hundred steps, and honestly, I think this situation is probably part of her calctions too. If you really have to be worried about someone, be worried about the one that¡¯s pointing arrows at her behind the scenes, get some popcorn, and watch the show! If she needs any help, she¡¯ll be thest person to be cordial, as I¡¯m sure you know.¡±

    Wu Hongwen was suddenly reminded of this, and hemented, ¡°Right, she did lead that Bai family into a trap that time, didn¡¯t she?¡±

    Tang Qinghong wasn¡¯t quite versed in the matters of the secr world, so he didn¡¯t quite understand what Luo Weng meant, but he was quite surprised at his high appraisal of her¡ªTo be able to predict an opponent¡¯s moves a hundred steps into the future?

    ***

    Murong Feiye and Baili Bin saw the posts on the forum too, and many of thesements were so filled with malice and disdain that Baili Bin smashed his phone on the ground.

    Once they got back and discussed the matter even further, Murong Feiye took out the old, tattered book that Gu Xiqiao had gifted him.

    The moment he flipped open the pages, a golden pulse of energy surged towards him, and the words ¡®Pentamerous Truth¡¯ appeared in his mind¡¯s eye, the golden lettering thrumming with power.

    Murong Feiye almost burst out with excitement as he felt the words in his mind¡ªIt was a true ancient artifact with an ancient spell inscribed on it, and it had the consciousness of an ancient warrior sealed in it too!

    It was a sleepless night for Murong Feiye, who only opened his eyes after he felt his mental power on the brink of drying out.

    He knew that Gu Xiqiao had ancient scrolls, but he thought that those were just copies and not the real deal!

    There weren¡¯t many spells and training methods left behind from the archaic times to the point where even a copy would be regarded as a treasure, not to mention a legitimate scroll!

    The true remains of the ancient martial arts world had disappeared for a long time, and he hadn¡¯t expected such treasures to be in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s collection.

    From the looks of it, she had quite a lot of them, too!

    If these books appeared in the ancient martial arts world, it would definitely turn it upside down.

    Thinking of this and remembering how the Baili Family became stronger exponentially in such a short time, then thinking to the rtionship between the girl and the Baili family, Murong Feiye let out another chuckle.

    What would those people that said she was a cmity think when they knew that she was exactly the key to change their fate?

    [1] Usually meant as the action of fawning over someone that looks very pretty or handsome.

 Chapter 300 - Digging Her Own Grave

    Chapter 300: Digging Her Own Grave

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan returned to the Imperial Capital together.

    ¡°Mother, you¡¯ll stay in the ancient martial arts world.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said. ¡°The Jiang family can¡¯t go without someone in charge.¡±

    Shu Chen had actually packed up her bags, but after hearing this she pondered for a bit before agreeing, ¡°Alright, but you better take good care of Qiao Qiao, got it? Don¡¯t let anyone bully her!

    ¡°Understood.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nodded.

    He took out his car keys and sat in the driver¡¯s seat before revving up the engine.

    ¡°Aunt Shu.¡± Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but yawn even as she was bidding Shu Chen goodbye. ¡°I¡¯ve finished the painting, it¡¯s in Brother Jiang¡¯s study.¡±

    ¡°That fast?¡± Shu Chen was a little surprised because even though she didn¡¯t know much about oil paintings or art in general, she knew that such a painting would need at least a week to finish. How did she finish it in a single night?

    Upon thinking of this, Shu Chen walked upstairs, and the painting was ced right where someone that entered the room could see.

    The painting was of a beautiful woman in a purple qipao dress, and the contrast of colors used made the picture seem quite stylized and spatial.

    ¡°Madam, so this is Miss Gu¡¯s painting? How beautiful.¡± The maid that passed by on her way to clean up saw this painting, and even someone such as her who didn¡¯t have the slightest bit of an artistic eye knew that this was a good work of art. How could those colors look so good when put together?

    ¡°Yes, it is, isn¡¯t it?¡± Shu Chen muttered, ¡°Who knows how long it took for her to finish this...¡±

    Upon thinking of how the girl was still yawning when they left earlier, she felt quite sorry towards her but also quite touched, and she immediately got someone to get it framed so that she could hang it up in her bedroom to look at it daily!

    ***

    The ck Bugatti drove into the residential area, attracting the gaze of the passersby.

    Even though this sort of luxury car was quitemonce in the Imperial Capital, it never failed to be an eye-catcher whenever one appeared on the streets.

    Jiang Shuxuan drove his car into the garage, before looking over at the girl that had rolled down her seat and passed out the moment they bid farewell to Shu Chen.

    He looked at her sleeping visage and affectionately brushed his pale fingers against her forehead, her face warm against his snow cold fingers, and as if she felt this coldness, she stirred a little but didn¡¯t wake up.

    Jiang Shuxuan immediately withdrew his hand and got off the car as softly as he could, not wanting to wake her up.

    After he got off the car, he leaned his back on it and made a box of cigarettes appear in his hand along with a white sh. With a cigarette in one hand and his phone in the other, he called a number and held it to his ear. ¡°Great Elder, I¡¯ll be heading somewhere in a few days.¡±

    The great elder was surprised at this sudden deration. ¡°What about the matter with Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°I was just about to tell you, so...¡± Jiang Shuxuan told the great elder everything slowly before hanging up on the phone.

    The great elder couldn¡¯t help but get chills up his spine as he looked at his phone¡ªJiang Tong wanted to burn Gu Xiqiao to death, but Jiang Shuxuan wanted to make Jiang Tong¡¯s world a living hell!

    After a short moment of silence, he set down his phone and looked at the document on his desk.

    ¡°Great Elder, this is the information you wanted me to investigate on Gu Xiqiao, please take a look.¡± The second elder pushed the document towards him. ¡°Miss Gu is young but her feats and capabilities are much to be feared and respected. I feel this incident isn¡¯t over just yet.¡±

    The expression of shock reappeared on the great elder¡¯s face as he read through the documents. He had thought that the girl was the disciple of a hidden master, but upon investigation, she had already turned the entire Imperial Capital upside down!

    Now, who would be so blind as to offend Nine Heavens?

    ¡°This is...¡± The great elder broke out in cold sweat as he reached the end of the document before he looked up at the other elder and asked, ¡°How did you get your hands on this information?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t as if they hadn¡¯t tried to investigate Gu Xiqiao before, but back then all they got was a nk te that they couldn¡¯t get through even with their confidential permissions, and now the second elder got all this secret information with such ease?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it just came up when I tried to investigate.¡± The second elder shook his head. ¡°More importantly, what I¡¯m wary of is that she¡¯s already calcted the ancient martial arts world into her machinations.¡±

    To him, nothing was more important than the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± The great elder asked. ¡°Do you think she has the ability to do so?¡±

    Even though he was quite astonished at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s feats in the secr world, he was still skeptical of how a twenty-year-old could turn the ancient martial arts world upside down. Their families and forces weren¡¯t as weak as the ones outside, after all!

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± The second elder inhaled deeply. ¡°Just now, someone from Ennd contacted me.¡±

    ¡°Ennd?¡± The great elder was quite confused as to why he suddenly mentioned the unrted country.

    ¡°Yes, you should know that Miss Gu has good rtions with Leader Wanqi, right?¡± The great elder nodded, and to this, the second elder said. ¡°Well did you know that the reason he could take over the position as heir was because of Miss Gu?¡±

    And so, the poor document was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor.

    He felt another chill as he remembered what Jiang Shuxuan told him, and if he was worried that Gu Xiqiao was a cmity before, now he was worried about what would happen if they did anything to her. This was a terrifying couple, and sooner orter, Jiang Tong, Dubhe, and the entire martial arts world would be spun into their dangerous web!

    ¡°This won¡¯t do, I¡¯ll go see Jiang Tong!¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, Jiang Tong was in her home with two bodyguards, and upon seeing the great elder, she was surprised for a moment before standing up. ¡°Great Elder?¡±

    ¡°Miss Jiang Tong, I just want to ask something.¡± The great elder cupped one palm over his fist and bowed slightly, before continuing, ¡°Do you have bad blood with Miss Gu?¡±

    Judging by how Jiang Tong had acted yesterday, he knew that Jiang Tong hated Gu Xiqiao to her core.

    If they let Jiang Tong do as she wished any further, the ancient martial arts world mighty witness to a one-sided abuse.

    One was a genius that was the object of the fear and respect of everyone in the Imperial Capital while the other was a flower bud raised delicately in the greenhouse called the ancient martial arts world, and probably not even ten Jiang Tongs would be a match for Gu Xiqiao. Just judging by how she acted and what she did earlier, it was clear how underhanded she was.

    Upon thinking of this, the great elder felt a migraineing on again.

    ¡°Great Elder, I¡¯m not quite sure what you mean.¡± Upon hearing this, Jiang Tong¡¯s smile faltered slightly.

    ¡°Just listen to me, alright? Miss Gu has already left the ancient martial arts world, so I hope you can let this pass. Please don¡¯t provoke her any further, understood?¡± The great elder was quite serious when he said this, and all he wished for right now was for Jiang Tong not to stir up any trouble.

    Jiang Tong¡¯s expression froze for a moment as she nodded mechanically, lowering her head and hiding her expression from the great elder.

    Upon seeing this, the great elder turned around and left. He already did all he could, and if anything happened in the future it wouldn¡¯t be his responsibility!

    After he left, Jiang Tong¡¯s phone vibrated, and upon tapping it open there was a message from an anonymous sender¡ª[Just do what I ask of you. Don¡¯t go up against her by yourself, you will definitely lose.]

    ¡°Tong Tong.¡± Jiang Lian walked in. ¡°Did you hear what the head elder said? Don¡¯t get involved with Gu Xiqiao any further. All you have to do now is be a good sessor and be the object of admiration and respect.¡±

    He knew better than Jiang Tong about how Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t take kindly to this, and after hearing what the great elder said from outside the door, he came in and advised Jiang Tong once again.

    ¡°Alright, alright, I know already!¡± Jiang Tong waved her hand impatiently, gesturing for the man to leave.

    Jiang Lian didn¡¯t speak any further¡ªHis daughter was the sessor to a ¡®god¡¯ after all, so there wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem.

    Jiang Tong was already enraged by what the great elder said, then she got that message, and even her own father came to talk her down?

    Gu Xiqiao! Gu Xiqiao! What was so special about that b*tch?!

    After being bullied by Jiang Shuxuan the other day and after the events of today, Jiang Tong breathed deeply before scoffing. ¡°She¡¯s just a cmity! No amount of protection would change that, and if she doesn¡¯t open her eyes to reality, I¡¯ll let her know what¡¯s what!¡±

    She had already been humiliated by Gu Xiqiao time and time again, and so how could she let things pass without stepping her into the ground?

    ***

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want you to let me go, now would I?¡± Gu Xiqiao had gotten into her home at this point and was currently patting Haha¡¯s furry headzily. ¡°How could we continue the show if you gave up so easily?¡±

    ¡°Beauty Qiao!¡± Jiji was tapping on theputer across her, and it suddenly asked curiously, ¡°Why did you let me hand that information to the second elder?¡±

    ¡°Take off those clothes before you talk to me.¡± Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want to look at the robot any further, who gave it that sense of fashion?

    ¡°Are you going to make me a big and strong body?¡± Jiji was a little excited.

    Gu Xiqiao took out her phone and set it on the table, before squinting and not saying anything.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan walked out with a te of sliced fruits and set it where she could get it, and right at that moment, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone rang so he handed it to her, duly noting that it was Cheng Zhou that was calling her.

    Gu Xiqiao took the phone while Haha got off of Gu Xiqiao under Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze,ying down next to her feet.

    ¡°Ah, there you are! I didn¡¯t think you would pick up!¡± Cheng Zhou was quite excited upon knowing that his number wasn¡¯t blocked by Gu Xiqiao.

    That morning he came to his office with all his employees buzzing over something, and realized that what they were fussing so much about was a certain post that had gone viral overnight!

    Cheng Zhou knew that it was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s from the moment he was told that the post went viral just through the sheer amount and passion of her fans so he immediately called her, and he hadn¡¯t expected the call to go through so easily.

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a single second before she said, ¡°Well, I should be hanging up now.¡±

    ¡°Wait, it¡¯s something important!¡± Cheng Zhou was afraid that the girl would hang up just like that and rushed to stop her. ¡°Since you¡¯re back, I wanted to arrange the premiere date of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯. No point in spending money on promotion with you here, after all!¡±

    ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ had been edited early on, but Gu Xiqiao had Cheng Zhou postpone it so as to not affect Ning Qing¡¯s odds of getting an award, and it was just about the right time to let it onto the silver screen.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll call youter!¡± Cheng Zhou was quite excited as he hung up the phone.

    Gu Xiqiao ate a slice of apple before she put down her phone again. ¡°Brother Jiang, I¡¯m going to fetch Little Hua, are youing with me?¡±

    Since it was a Sunday, Hua Youlin went to Luo Wenlin¡¯s ce, which was at a staff dorm that Gu Xiqiao had rented for her employees. Jiang Shuxuan wanted to go with her, but the next second he shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t be going, but stay safe okay?¡±

    After escorting her downstairs, Jiang Shuxuan returned to his study.

    A whileter, someone knocked on the door, and Mrs. Zhang was the one that opened it.

    ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, yes? Sir Jiang is in his study, please make yourself at home.¡± Mrs. Zhang smiled amiably and directed him in the direction of the study.

    Yi Tong thanked her and walked up the stairs before handing what was in his hands to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Boss, why did you suddenly change your mind?¡±

    Didn¡¯t he just say not to care about Jiang Tong the other day?

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply, only putting down his porcin cup and looking out the window.

    If someone wanted a show, he and Gu Xiqiao would dly cooperate, and he wouldn¡¯t me Jiang Tong if she just followed what she was told to act as, but now she was looking for trouble on her own ord!

    Yi Tong looked at the cracks on the cup, wondering how it wasn¡¯t crumbling to pieces on the spot.

 Chapter 301 - I Wonder If Shed Remain So Calm

    <h4>Chapter 301: I Wonder If She¡¯d Remain So Calm</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao drove her little pink car to the peninsr district with Jiji sitting on the front passenger seat.

    Upon catching wind that she was about to arrive, Yu Ning and Mu Zong rushed back to their office. Luo Weng had been ced by Gu Xiqiao in the ancient martial arts world for the past one month. Mu Zong had so many ongoing projects that he was too busy to even stand still for a couple of minutes.

    This building was turned into an employees¡¯ dormitory after it was procured by Gu Xiqiao. Apart from these two, even Su Wu, who usually stayed at home writing his script, and Ning Qing, who was not being paid had moved over.

    ¡°This is an incredibly important document.¡± Mu Zong pushed forward the pile of documents he had brought back towards Gu Xiqiao. As she flipped through them, he began reporting the recent developments in theirpany.

    ¡°You bump into Chu Ziheng frequently as ofte?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked while she was scanning through the documents, and making the necessary amendments.¡±

    Mu Zong nodded. There were only a handful of people who had earned his respect. From the top, there was obviously Gu Xiqiao. However, after interacting with Chu Ziheng for a while, he realized that this person excelled in his own way too. The Chu family owned a rtivelyrge business and he must be quite an impressive one considering the fact that despite being under the age of thirty, most of the business operations were under his control. As a matter of fact, the Chu family conglomerate was growing by the day. Their practices indicated that they were veterans of the corporate world; his business wasparable with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s. Many benefits could be reaped should Nine Heavens continue their partnership with the Chus. Because of this, Mu Zong and Chu Ziheng met rather frequently, discussing intricate business matters and maintaining good diplomacy. Mu Zong bbered on and on about it to Gu Xiqiao.

    She finished reading through the lines and thus began the annotation process. ¡°Hm, if we¡¯re aiming for this effect...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was wearing a subtle smirk on her face when she spoke. There it was, that gleam in her eyes. Mu Zong had witnessed this look several times already. Every time this happened, something major, something that would shake the Imperial Capital was bound to happen soon.

    What was she nning to do?

    Ning Qing sat nearby. Gu Xiqiao had already wrapped up her discussion with Mu Zong about the Chu family¡¯s business wars and although she did not really understand what they were saying, all she had to do was look down at the pen Gu Xiqiao was holding. Her hand kept on jotting down notes as they spoke, and that was more than enough for Ning Qing to understand what was going on. For a second there, she froze up out of shock.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be already used to such a scene when she¡¯s reviewing her script?¡± Su Wu appeared to be much more familiar with Gu Xiqiao, which exined why he wasn¡¯t as shocked aspared to Ning Qing.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s different.¡±

    Memorizing lines off her script merely demonstrated her photographic memory.

    Gu Xiqiao finalized her annotations to the document after their discussion ended. A surprised look emerged on Mu Zong¡¯s face upon reviewing the changes. If the contents are enough to baffle Mu Zong, then it must be something much more than just her memory.

    Ning Qing inhaled deeply. She was aware of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s identity but this was her first time seeing her at work in person.

    There were quite a lot of documents that Mu Zong had brought over today. And yet, it took her only a short amount of time to work through them. After that, she peered up at Yu Ning. ¡°Where¡¯s the thing I requested?¡±

    Yu Ning produced a USB stick from his pocket. ¡°So you¡¯re not going to ask about our progress in developing the virtual world?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys already starting trial runs?¡± Gu Xiqiao tucked away the USB stick and she shed a smile at Yu Ning. Seems like she was in a pretty good mood today.

    Yu Ning, who intended to surprise her was the one who was surprised instead. ¡°...¡±

    ¡®How does she know?¡¯

    Hua Youlin noticed that Gu Xiqiao was wrapping up her task and so he ran over, with Jiji by his side, walking in an extremely awkward manner.

    ¡°Who on earth bought those clothes for you?¡± Yu Ning was irked when he saw what Jiji was wearing. ¡°That thing looks like my old quilt from a decade ago.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll regret this.¡± Jiji stopped in its tracks for a second and stared up at Yu Ning.

    ¡®A robot¡¯s threatening me?¡¯ He wanted to stifle hisughter but seems like that was easier said than done. In the end, he cackled away like a maniac.

    Jiji, unamused, stared at Yu Ning silently. ¡®One day, I¡¯ll teach him a lesson. Fresh blood will be drawn,¡¯ it thought.

    ¡°Well then, I guess it¡¯s time for me to leave.¡± Gu Xiqiao signaled to Hua Youlin that it was time to go home, ignoring Ning Qing¡¯s n for a game of poker.

    Ning Qing watched her back recede into the distance. ¡°Why is she leaving so quickly?¡± she asked. Here she was, thinking that she¡¯d stay behind and have a meal with them.

    ¡°Every time,¡± Yu Ning snatched the piece of gum brought back by Luo Weng and popped it into his mouth. ¡°She¡¯s nning to destroy someone, she¡¯d start acting like this.¡±

    He then recalled the task assigned to him by Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that the ancient martial arts world had inte connection.¡±

    On the inte, hackers had an almost omnipotent presence.

    Gu Xiqiao brought Hua Youlin downstairs. ¡°Wait for me here, I¡¯ll bring you back to your home after I¡¯m done with my job here.¡±

    ¡®Back to my home?¡¯ Hua Youlin was stunned. This was what he was hoping for, initially at least. However, after spending the past couple of months with Gu Xiqiao, he discovered that he was straying further and further away from his own family. That obsession in his heart with returning to his home was now long gone.

    He peered up at Gu Xiqiao and tightened his hands. He then nodded silently.

    ¡°The Hua family... is facing a fairlyplex problem.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. She wondered what the situation would be like if the heir of their family, who was presumed to be dead after remaining missing for a few years, suddenly turned up at their doorstep. No doubt, the pressure he¡¯d face from them would be immense. ¡°I should let you train alongside them.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao stopped walking suddenly. ¡°We have a few days left. Since you¡¯re still on vacation, um... let¡¯s head on over to Peace Manor?¡±

    She pulled out her phone and dialed for Yao Jiamu. ¡°Little Hua¡¯s underqualified, so this maye as a bit of a challenge for you.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Miss Gu, although I admit that I like you very much, saying such things about me makes me want to run away,¡¯ thought the unqualified little boy to himself.

    A chill ran up Hua Youlin¡¯s spine. He was initially excited about their uing field trip but Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words had hit him like a truck.

    After hanging up, she nced back at Hua Youlin. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± replied Hua Youlin dejectedly.

    Jiji looked at Hua Youlin with eyes full of sympathy. ¡°It¡¯s alright. As unqualified as you may be, know that I still love you.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Hua Youlin was speechless upon realizing Jiji¡¯s attempt to console him.

    There, sitting in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s pink little car was a figure dressed in green. His odd attire attracted the attention of many passers-by. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, the man was good-looking enough that they did not immediately call the police to report about a suspicious creep. Instead, they wondered from which studio did this actore from and why he had yet to remove his costume.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingertips moved slightly while she stared in the direction of her car.

    Her little pink car suddenly produced the deafening sound of a police siren, which made the man jump away out of surprise and fear. And then, with his jaws wide-open, he watched as the driverless car rolled towards two people standing not far away from his position.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him briefly and calmly before hopping onto the vehicle with Hua Youlin.

    ¡°Wait up!¡± Upon realizing that she was about to drive off into the distance, he reappeared next to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s car window. He had forgotten about how horrific this would seem to regr people when done in broad daylight. ¡°What did you mean by the things you said to the Great Elder?¡±

    ¡°Did I say anything?¡± Gu Xiqiao stepped lightly on the gas pedal.

    Seeing her pursuing the route of denial, Dubhe produced a piece of paper. This was what he discovered at the Great Elder¡¯s house, a piece of paper that Gu Xiqiao had passed to him. The contents of that piece of paper shocked him, so much so that he felt obliged to verify its authenticity with Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I¡¯m talking about this!¡±

    He unfolded the piece of paper. ¡°Look closely! It¡¯s all written down in ck and white! I need an exnation from you!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao red at that piece of paper when suddenly, a purple electric spark shot out from her eyes.

    Zap!

    Following that noise, the piece of paper Dubhe was holding turned into gray ash.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see it anywhere.¡± Gu Xiqiao mmed down on the gas pedal right after she said that.

    Dubhe stood there dumbfoundedly, staring at his hands that once held onto that piece of paper.

    ¡°Uncle, you should change into a new set of clothes.¡± mocked Jiji before they sped off into the distance. ¡°What year is this? Why are you still wearing a robe? You¡¯ll be burned at the stake if you go out wearing this!¡±

    Jiji regretted saying such things almost immediately after that. ¡°Damn it! I spoke to a retard again!¡±

    At night, Luo Weng was the person who came to pick up Hua Youlin. He first went back home to check on Luo Wenlin beforeing over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ce. ¡°That Jiang Tong is getting full of herself today! She¡¯s got a couple of heirs from different families reporting to her. When are you gonna make your first move?¡±

    Jiang Tong has once again breached another level in the Trial Tower and subsequently, her nickname as ¡®God¡¯s Sessor¡¯ was starting to spread across the ancient martial arts world. Her followers were growing by the day and of course, Jiang Lian was delighted about this. Knowing that Peace Manor sold the magical pills, he brought a group of people there and under broad daylight, and took these pills right under their noses.

    Although Luo Weng had warned his men to keep their swords sheathed, the Peacekeeper¡¯s temper was not something to be taken lightly. They chased these unscrupulous people back where they came from and as a result, created a grudge between Jiang Tong¡¯s family and Peace Manor.

    After this incident, Peace Manor¡¯s existence was ced on a thread in the ancient martial arts world. The forces which initially extended their arms peacefully to them had retracted their approach instantly, drawing a clear divide between themselves and Peace Manor.

    Why would anyone want to maintain ties to an entity that has offended god¡¯s sessor?

    ¡°We¡¯ll let them have their way first.¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°This incident will draw to an end very soon.¡±

    ***

    Jiang Tong had been increasingly proud of herself for the past few days. This was because the ancient martial arts world¡¯s fear of Jiang Shuxuan was gradually shrinking. She was browsing through the forum when she came across an anti-Gu Xiqiao post. A smile broke across her face. ¡°That¡¯s it. To be a social pariah is more befitting of a person like you.¡±

    ¡°Tong Tong, not only did those people in Peace Manor refuse to hand over the pills, they have even injured quite a number of our men.¡± Jiang Lian limped into the room with a hateful expression on his face.

    He heard rumors that those pills were incredibly helpful for ancient martial artists. His body wasn¡¯t in the greatest shape, which was also why he had gone to Peace Manor to ask for the pills. Who would¡¯ve thought that they¡¯d beat him up? Beat him up?! Those bastards! Didn¡¯t they know who he was?!

    ¡°Rx.¡± Jiang Tong yed with her fingers. ¡°In a few days, I¡¯ll make them kneel and beg for your forgiveness.¡±

    Jiang Lian was satisfied by Jiang Tong¡¯s response. He knew how capable his daughter was. Not only that, he had the support of the youngsters who were trying to court her daughter as well. They could strike anytime they wanted to. Nobody¡¯s afraid of those people anyway.

    ***

    She watched Luo Weng leave before turning around. Haha was lying next to the doorway. Gu Xiqiao bent over and rubbed its belly. ¡°Haha, say, don¡¯t you think that Jiang Tong gal¡¯s kinda dumb?¡±

    Haha looked up at Gu Xiqiao with its beady eyes. ¡°Woof woof woof woof~¡±

    The Shi family had once offended the Baili family in the past, and since then, their lives were filled with nothing but paranoia in the ancient martial arts world. However, they had started to appear in public recently, mainly to show their support for Jiang Tong¡¯s family.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that Shi Qin went to Peace Manor?¡± The current patriarch of the Shi family¡¯s face darkened. Shi Qin belonged to the outer-circle of their family. However, when his fame rose following his achievements in the ranking tournament, he was invited back into his family.

    How dare he run off to the dreaded Peace Manor!

    Did he not know that those bastards had wronged Jiang Tong¡¯s family?!

    ¡°Peace Manor is a rising force. They must be using lots of pills to attract fresh blood. I bet Shi Qin took their bait like a fool. And to think I was impressed by his intelligence. Turns out he¡¯s nothing but a shallow-minded buffoon.¡± The patriarch of the Shi family waved his hand as he spat out words of mockery. ¡°Pass the word around. Shi Qin has been expelled from our family. There exists no such person in our log from here on out.¡±

    He did not dare to bear the consequences of offending god¡¯s sessor. If Shi Qin chose to go with Peace Manor, so be it. It would be better for them to cut off all ties from that man to ensure their survival. ¡°Oh right, hurry up and send someone to exin our predicament to Miss Jiang Tong. Shi Qin is no longer connected to us. Tell her that we aren¡¯t the ones to me!¡±

    His subordinate dashed out of the room in a hurry. This situation was terrible. He had to find Miss Jiang Tong immediately. Coincidentally, he bumped into Shi Qin¡¯s family at the main entrance. The subordinate paused for a second and shot a look of disgust at Shi Qin. ¡°Do not regret your decision to leave the Shi family!¡±

    ¡°Shi Qin, this...¡± His mother grabbed Shi Qin¡¯s hand tightly. ¡°Are we really leaving the family?¡± After everything they had been through to return to the family, Shi Qin¡¯s mother found it hard to believe that they were being booted out again. That nasty look she was getting from the guard further intensified her worries.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Shi Qin reassured his mother. ¡°Leaving the family is the best choice we could ever make.¡±

    Jiang Tong had just broken through level 64 today. He wondered if she¡¯d be able to remain calm if she was told that there were already five people in Peace Manor who had broken through level 60.

 Chapter 302 - I Heard You Guys Were Trying To Catch Me?

    <h4>Chapter 302: I Heard You Guys Were Trying To Catch Me?</h4>

    Everybody was gathered around the table, eating hot pot when Shi Qin returned to Peace Manor.

    What initially felt like a bleak situation to him was suddenly traded for a lively, enjoyable experience. His mother did not expect life to be so entertaining here.

    Yao Jiamu was the first one to rise from his seat. ¡°I see, Shi Qin¡¯s mom has arrived.¡± Shi Qin had already informed them that he¡¯d bring his mother along, which exins why he wasn¡¯t surprised by her suddenly turning up. Instead, he waved at her as a gesture for them to join their meal.

    The rest of the men all stood up. With testosterone-filled voices, they greeted her in unison: ¡°Wee, Shi Qin¡¯s mom!¡± Of everyone present, Shi Qin¡¯s mother was the one who was the most shocked. These men were serious and surprisingly respectful when they greeted her, even though she was only a regr human being.

    Shi Qin¡¯s mom looked over at her son with shock painted all over her face; she did not know how to react to such a scene. She had long grown used to being ignored or even looked down upon by the people of the ancient martial arts world. Such a scenario was pretty much iprehensible for her.

    ¡°Have a seat, Mom.¡± Shi Qin shed her a reassuring smile. ¡°These people are my buddies.¡±

    Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, and the rest all smiled at Shi Qin¡¯s mom right after that as if to confirm his statement.

    Her anxiety melted away upon being greeted with such warm smiles. Finally, she sat down at the table with them, watching her son exchange smiles with these people. This was the first time in her life she had ever seen him in such a happy, stress-free mood.

    ***

    In the Elders Association, every elder from the ancient martial arts world, regardless of their ranking all sat at the table. The atmosphere in the room was solemn.

    The Great Elder of the Jiang family sat in the middle-most seat and the chair next to him was vacant. This was where Jiang Shuxuan was supposed to be sitting but he was not in attendance today.

    ¡°Great Elder, the heir of our family has only been under Miss Jiang Tong¡¯s guidance for two days and he had already broken through to a new level in the Trial Tower. I say, Miss Jiang Tong is the savior of the ancient martial arts world!¡± eximed one of the elders.

    The majority of them nodded in agreement after that statement was made. ¡°No wonder why they call her the descendant of god. What great capability to lead she has!¡±

    While it was true that Jiang Tong could assert that she was indeed the descendant of god, one only needed to look at the people who were under her wing. Their performance had been rising consistently upon their decision to follow Jiang Tong. This further served as proof for them to blindly ce their faith in Jiang Tong!

    For one to achieve so much in such a short amount of time, if she wasn¡¯t god¡¯s sessor, they didn¡¯t know who was.

    The great elder watched as they started discussing the matter. Slowly, he put down his ss. ¡°So?¡± he asked.

    These men¡¯s eyes lit up when they detected that the Great Elder seemed to be ready to make apromise. ¡°Miss Jiang Tong has said that Gu Xiqiao is the source of cmity in this world. We must catch her and burn her to death on a stake!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! We mustn¡¯t let her harm our world, our people!¡±

    ¡°Immtion!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The great elder¡¯s facial expression remained unchanged. Looking at his peers, a coldness crept up his heart. Gu Xiqiao had just obtained a batch of resources for the ancient martial arts world a couple of days ago. The audacity of these people to utter such vile words when they were living off her effort. He couldn¡¯t help but ponder the possibility that perhaps the ancient martial arts world was nearing its imminent death?

    The great elders of the Tang and Baili families reacted simrly, silently observing these men who were calling for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s execution.

    ¡°Great Elder, we understand your loyalty to the Jiang family, however, we cannot allow you to grant her immunity like this!¡±

    ¡°Great Elder, I urge that you remain impartial and apprehend Gu Xiqiao immediately.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°I heard you guys are trying to catch me?¡±

    Just when their talk began to heat up, a cold voice came in and interrupted the process. Her voice wasn¡¯t loud but for some magical reason, every single one of them heard what she said loud and clear. They all turned around in synchrony towards the direction of that voice. Simultaneously, the air in the room was suddenly filled with an indescribable pressure exerted by her consciousness.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental strength was enough to overwhelm Wanqi Jue, what more to say of these elders?

    They discovered that sitting next to the great elder was a pretty young girl. Instantly, a horrified expression revealed itself on their faces. Why and when had she entered their room?!

    Wasn¡¯t the Elders¡¯ Association sealed with the strongest barrier there was out there?

    They knew that Gu Xiqiao was powerful. Of course, how could one deny her strength when she was able to breach level 80 in the Trial Tower? However, they did not expect her to be strong enough to break through their barrier! Not only that, her consciousness alone was enough to immobilize them to the point where they could not even lift a finger to fight back!

    Powerful! She was so strong that they had nothing on their minds except the thought to surrender!

    Only a person who has reached the same level as her in the Trial Tower could imagine how uncontroble it was, wielding such great power!

    This was especially so as Gu Xiqiao had not held back her punches this time.

    The elder who had called for her execution just now was now as pale as a sheet of paper. His eyes were filled with fear, fear that was so visceral that it made a mark on his soul. This moment would probably stick with him for the rest of his life and would be carried with him to his grave.

    ¡°Is nobody going to speak?¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned against the long table. She had an insanely good memory. She had already noted down the elders who were plotting against her just now. She pointed her delicate fingers at every single one of them. ¡°You, and you and that one too... you guys were demanding for me to be apprehended, hmm?¡±

    She was correct to the T in pointing out the dirty elders, whose knees buckled out of fear. Their faces were drained of color in the blink of the eye and due to fear and panic, every one of them seemed to have lost their ability to speak. They could only madly shake their heads in a futile attempt to deny their involvement in the discussion from before.

    Apprehend her? How could they even think of such a thing?!

    One could give them ten pairs of balls and they¡¯d still be reluctant toy a single finger on her!

    The entire Elders¡¯ Association was met with dead silence. Gu Xiqiao rapped her knuckles on the table surface, the sound of which reverberated around the chamber.

    This sound was amplified further when it entered the elders¡¯ ear canals. They held their breaths out of fear that Gu Xiqiao would kill them without hesitation!

    That was of course, in light of what they had said earlier on, about burning Gu Xiqiao at the stake. How much they wished to stuff themselves from a few minutes ago back up their mothers¡¯ ¡®you know what¡¯. Why did they even entertain the possibility of angering such a menacing god?!

    ¡°Oh, so you guys weren¡¯t talking about me?¡± Gu Xiqiao finally put down her finger. Taking her seat next to the great elder, she announced, ¡°Now that that problem¡¯s dealt with, let¡¯s get back to discussing how to prevent this disaster.¡±

    A smile broke across her face when she nced at the elders.

    Unbeknownst to her, a chill had crept up the spines of these elders who had seen her smile!

    ¡°No, how could we? We swear that we did not have that intention Miss Gu...¡± The first elder who brought up the idea of persecuting Gu Xiqiao was trembling, so much so that he almost copsed onto the floor. Even his voice sounded shaky when he spoke.

    The elders were generally highly-respected in the ancient martial arts world. To see them act so cowardly was incrediblyughable, and yet no one in this chamber wasughing.

    This was because they understood that they were no better than that fe.

    ¡°That¡¯s right Miss Gu, maybe it was just our mental haze. You must forgive us, I beg of you!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, please understand that we were only doing so under the direction of Jiang Tong!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The great elder of the Jiang family watched as these men¡¯s expressions changed with the snap of a finger. He couldn¡¯t help butugh at the situation. And to think that these people were vicious old bastards. Turns out they were as fearful of death as any other person. How cowardly, to bend under the will of a stronger party!

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Gu Xiqiao picked her ear. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you geezers think of me, but don¡¯t even think about ming me for this cmity!¡±

    She reached out her arm and snapped her fingers right after she said that.

    The main door to the Elders¡¯ Association was pushed open and in walked a tall figure, followed by a robot with colorful patterns.

    The man was none other than Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s right-hand man, Yi Bing, and of course, Jiji.

    Nearly everyone in the ancient martial arts world knew who Yi Bing was, for he was the great general serving Jiang Shuxuan. He was themander-in-chief for their paramilitary group, which made the elders shudder even more. The thought of suicide became even more eptable when they saw Yi Bing bow respectfully to Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Dispatch the items to the elders.¡± Gu Xiqiao supported her chin with her hand as she observed the elders who were shifting nervously in their seats.

    Yi Bing nodded before handing out the papers he had brought with him to the elders.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiji, which prompted the handy little android to pull out a panel for her. Gu Xiqiao flung the panel out, which suspended in mid-air upon reaching a certain distance.

    Jiji raised its mechanical arm and projected several photos onto the panel.

    One of it was the footage of Jiang Tong having a meeting with some unidentifiable dark figures. That, and a footage of her training routine. It was clear that slivers of evil aura were emanating from her body as she moved. Next came a video of her cursing Gu Xiqiao while sitting in front of theputer.

    How could they not understand what was going on after reading through the contents on the handout?!

    It quickly became clear that these people were being used as tools for Jiang Tong. Feelings of guilt started swelling up in their hearts as they recalled how harsh they were towards Gu Xiqiao earlier in their meeting. At this point, they just wanted to curl up in a hole in the ground and rot away out of shame and embarrassment.

    Bang! One of the elders was red-eyed upon reading the paper. Angrily, he mmed his fist on the table, hard enough to knock over and shatter his teacup. He peered up at Gu Xiqiao and with a hoarse voice, he asked, ¡°The allegations written here on this paper, is it true?¡±

    ¡°Has your grandson been acting aggressively for the past few days, has he not been sleeping well, or has his appetite increased significantly? Sometimes, he may not even remember who the people around him are, and does he have an unrivaled loyalty towards Jiang Tong?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked bluntly. ¡°He should have innocent blood on his hands already at this point. In a matter of days, he should start acting like that rogue that appeared out of nowhere in the capital. When that happens, no medicine in this world can bring your grandson back.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao did not say anything more afterward and the elder just nodded silently. The realization hit him like a truck. Before this, he merely assumed that his grandson had be stronger under Jiang Tong¡¯s guidance. Who would¡¯ve thought that the truth would turn out to be this? Looking back, it wasn¡¯t his strength that had grown, but instead, it was his evil aura that was intensifying!

    The elder¡¯s bloodshot eyes grew even redder when he imagined how his grandson would in the end, lose touch with his humanity and turn into a bloodthirsty monster.

    The elders then exchanged looks with each other following Gu Xiqiao¡¯s statement. They frantically flipped through the pages and finally arrived at the list of categories near the end of the document. It was as if they were struck by lightning. With their jaws hanging open, they stared into empty air as they soaked in the predicament they found themselves trapped in. So the heir of their family who followed Jiang Tong would turn into these things in the end?

    The bastion of hope for so many families would perish just like that? They found it hard to believe. Then, they recalled what Gu Xiqiao had just said. The truth was harsh and it could not be wiped away that easily!

    Defeated, they slumped back into their chairs. Slowly, they began to realize Jiang Tong was the culprit behind their ordeal and they were so frustrated that they felt like peeling her skin off while she was alive!

    ¡°Miss Gu, we have wronged you today,¡± said one of the elders who stood up from his seat. The wrinkles on his face seemed to have deepened significantly after realization had set in. ¡°I will personally make amends for the wrongs I havemitted in the future!¡±

    He bowed his head and left the chamber. Because of what he had said earlier, he did not dare to make direct eye contact with Gu Xiqiao. The shame and anger he was going through, however, was observable on his face.

    His footsteps were brisk. No one knew what he was going to do next.

    A couple of other elders too, requested for her forgiveness before leaving the ce.

    ***

    ¡°Tong Tong, the elders have arrived,¡± said Jiang Lian as he pushed open the door.

    Jiang Tong quickly tucked away her phone and a smug look surfaced on her face. ¡°I assume the elders have concluded their meeting. Perhaps they are here to report the result of their discussion, let them in.¡±

    She, of course, knew what the elders were going to discuss today. After all, she was the one pulling the strings.

    The thought of Gu Xiqiao being publicly abused created a smile on her face.

    Bang!

    The door of her room was kicked open. The elder who stood at the forefront had blood in his eyes. Clutching his chest, he yelled loudly, ¡°What have you done to my grandson?!¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s triumphant smile froze up. She had been receiving praises wherever she went for the past few days. It had been a long time since shest received such a terrifying look from someone else. Of everyone, this was thest person she expected to find out about her n. How did they know? How was this even possible?!

    These elders were quick to notice the changes in Jiang Tong¡¯s facial expression, which confirmed their suspicion. They knew they couldn¡¯t defeat Jiang Tong but there should be someone who could help them!

    ¡°Descendant of god my ass! Miss Jiang Tong, I will spread the word about the deeds the ¡®descendant of god¡¯ has done upon us!¡± The elder red at Jiang Tong with eyes full of hostility. ¡°Miss Gu will never forgive you for plotting against her! I may not be able to avenge my grandson personally, but I can, however, watch as you fall from grace! You shall die with your eyes wide open, just you wait and see!¡±

 Chapter 303 - Her Cruel Prank

    Chapter 303: Her Cruel Prank

    Jiang Lian¡¯s face was a pale mess after the elders stormed off. ¡°T-Tong Tong, what were they talking about?¡±

    His voice was strained. For the past few days, he had been acting overly pompous and arrogant due to his daughter¡¯s fame. Even the well-respected elders had to bow down to him, which further inted his ego. His arrogance exined why he had the guts to lead a bunch of goons all the way to Peace Manor.

    But, what happened to these elders today? Why were they so openly hostile toward Jiang Tong?

    Jiang Lian felt that there was something off about this. What the elder said at the end sent chills up his spine. Turning around, he looked at his beloved daughter and asked with a trembling voice, ¡°Did you do something bad this time?¡±

    At this point, Jiang Tong couldn¡¯t care less about Jiang Lian. Her face waspletely drained of color and her expression was that ofplete disbelief. Picking up her phone, she intended to dial a number with her shaking fingers but before she could do so, the middle of her palm suddenly started emitting dark smoke. In the next moment, everything turned into ash.

    ¡°No, no, that wouldn¡¯t happen...¡± Jiang Tong watched her phone crumble apart as darkness filled her vision. She was on the brink of losing consciousness but in the nick of time, she bit down on the tip of her tongue. All of a sudden, her mouth was filled with the distinct metallic taste of blood. This way, she would not fall unconscious. If that were to happen though, she¡¯d go past the point of return.

    Although that person no longer cared about her, she was still known to many as god¡¯s descendant. As long as she possessed this title, she would still be undefeated.

    Her mind calmed down when she reminded herself of this. She slumped down onto her chair and tried to take a sip of tea that was on the table.

    However, her hand was shaking so badly that despite multiple attempts, she was unable toplete the simple act of picking up a teacup. Finally, she gave up and loosened her grip.

    She remained in a state of fear throughout the night, even though no one came knocking on her door. Jiang Tong could not calm down and in fact, the more she tried to do so, the more she panicked. The image of the fuming elder and his bloodshot eyes kept reying in her mind.

    It had been less than twenty-four hours and yet the effects of the elders¡¯ threats had taken its toll on her body. She now seemed more like a dried-up twig than a human.

    Just as she was about to break down, the great elder of the Jiang family finally made his appearance. Listlessly, Jiang Tong took a good look at the great elder before letting out a great sigh of relief.

    ¡°Jiang Tong, Master Dubhe would like to meet you.¡± The great elder felt no sympathy for Jiang Tong despite noticing her deteriorating condition up close.

    Jiang Tong peered up at him as the corner of her mouth twitched. Silently, she trailed behind the great elder.

    Deep down in her heart, she knew that she was about to face her final judgment.

    The two of them entered the chamber one after the other. A figure stood in front of the long table, facing away from them. He had anky stature and the tan coat he was wearing further highlighted how thin he was. The man also had very long hair that was the color of concentrated ck ink.

    ¡°Master Dubhe.¡± The great elder bowed slightly. ¡°Jiang Tong has arrived.¡±

    The man snapped out of his reverie. He turned around and watched these two from afar. In the end, his eyes zeroed in on Jiang Tong.

    ¡°As I have predicted.¡± A momentter, Dubhe looked down and chuckled to himself quietly. As he had predicted, the familiar aura that he had felt in Jiang Tong had already faded. He did not need any more exnation from Gu Xiqiao. He had a pretty good grasp of what was happening right now.

    He narrowed his eyes and in the next second, he reappeared right in front of Jiang Tong¡¯s face. His slender fingers were now tightly wrapped around her throat.

    Jiang Tong¡¯s eyes widened. All of a sudden, she could not draw out the chi in her body. Her face turned beet red as the cirction of aura within her was cut off abruptly. She could feel her body being physically lifted off the ground.

    ¡°Tell me, how did you manage to produce the aura of a master?¡± There was not a single ounce of emotion on Dubhe¡¯s face. He did not seem to care about the fact that Jiang Tong¡¯s life was hanging on a thread. In fact, there was a sadistic glow in his eyes, as if he enjoyed watching Jiang Tong struggle.

    Her aura gradually weakened as she stared at Dubhe with a horrified expression. She could feel her life slowly seep away from her body. She had no idea why Dubhe was acting this way. Her mouth opened and closed, but not a single word was produced.

    ¡°Master Dubhe,¡± the elder raised his hand. Although he feared Dubhe, he feltpelled to intervene. ¡°Young Master Jiang has specifically ordered for her to be kept alive. An exnation to the ancient martial arts world is needed from her for the sins she hasmitted.¡± This situation would be hard to deal with if she was to die here.

    Dubhe contemted for a moment before loosening his grip on Jiang Tong¡¯s neck. In the next instant, she copsed onto the ground limply. Reaching up, she rubbed her sore neck as she coughed and struggled for her breath. ¡°I... I am the descendant of god.¡±

    ¡°Descendant?¡± Dubhe stared down at Jiang Tong with eyes filled with disgust. ¡°Your body is pervading with an evil aura, and you still think you¡¯re worthy of that title?¡±

    Shocked, Jiang Tong looked up at Dubhe.

    All the things she had done up until this point was because of the words Dubhe had uttered. Descendant of god! Because of this title, no one dared to mess with her, let alone threaten her life. She thought she stood on the same ne as Jiang Shuxuan, or even Dubhe himself!

    Dubhe was not going to let that slide. Today, he stamped out whatever sparks were left of that hope. She would never be the descendant of god!

    This realization hit Jiang Tong like a train. Dumbfoundedly, she sat there on the floor, unable to return to her senses.

    ¡°So, what are your ns for dealing with her?¡± asked Dubhe.

    The great elder shook his head. ¡°I will await Young Master Jiang¡¯s orders.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan? Dubhe remained silent for a moment before he turned around and left. Knowing Jiang Shuxuan, Jiang Tong was already as good as dead; seeking forgiveness from him was like getting blood from a stone.

    It was only after Dubhe had left that the great elder shifted his gaze over to Jiang Tong, who finally snapped out of her mental daze. She clung desperately onto the great elder¡¯s legs. ¡°Great Elder, please save me, I beg of you! I still have so much left to live! I don¡¯t want to die yet, Great Elder!¡±

    Tears were flowing uncontrobly down her face as she bawled her eyes out.

    The great elder looked down at the girl whom he had been watching since she was a baby girl. Despite that, something about her made him feel as if they were nothing but strangers. ¡°Master Dubhe had already given you the title of ¡®Descendant of God¡¯. You should¡¯ve just stayed put. Maybe if you did that, you¡¯d still possess that title today. What a shame, you were too foolish for your own good. All you had in your mind were plots to bring down Miss Gu. If you yed your part well, be the good little descendant of god that you were, not only would Miss Gu not care to make this whole screw up public, but she may likely let you live a life of decadence! Your plotted to burn her at the stake has blown up right in your face. You should have known what she did prior to her appearance in our world. Ten of you could work together against her and she¡¯d still be able to bring you down. You are an utter fool!¡±

    Jiang Tong copsed onto the ground when she heard the great elder¡¯s unforgiving response. The feeling of regret swelled up in her heart and the great elder¡¯s words shook her to her core. The thought of her mischievous n being exposed to the world atrge created an indescribable feeling in her heart.

    Maybe, Gu Xiqiao had already known what she was plotting from the very beginning? If that¡¯s the case then that girl must be an incredibly terrifying person!

    The great elder¡¯s words echoed in her mind. All the misdeeds she hadmitted reyed in her mind. Her hands and feet turned icy cold. If she did not suddenly be aware that she was ying under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s watchful eyes all this while then the life she lived would¡¯ve been for nothing.

    Dazed, she sat on the ground,ughing and sobbing.

    The great elder casually waved his hand when he saw the state Jiang Tong was in. Shortly after, she was brought away by two men.

    Now that death was imminent, how could Jiang Tong possibly allow these people to manhandle her? She felt like a coiled-up spring, ready to explode at any moment¡¯s notice when she felt these men mp down on her wrist. She had already reached level 64 on the Trial Tower and was already a master at swordy. She could take on these two insects and the great elder at the same time!

    Unsheathing her soft sword that was hanging on her waist, she unhesitatingly swiped her de at the men¡¯s¡¯ throats. The aura from this single slice was so aggressive that it almost tore open a hole in their space.

    ¡°How dare you, Jiang Tong!¡± The great elder¡¯s eyes widened.

    She had already been forced into a corner, so why not? Jiang Tong red at the great elder as she tightened her grip on the hilt of her de. No mercy this time.

    Her de, however, stopped mid-air before she could bring it across their throats.

    ¡°Bring her out, Great Elder.¡± An icy-cold voice sounded right next to her. ¡°Gather the families of the victims and bring them here.¡±

    Jiang Tong¡¯s de was lodged between his fingers. A loud ng could be heard as the de was tossed aside like a matchstick. After that, he proceeded to pull out a snow-white napkin which he used to wipe clean his fingers which made contact with her de. Like Dubhe from before, his face waspletely devoid of any emotion.

    The great elder nodded and using his eyes, he ordered two unharmed men to bring Jiang Tong away.

    This time, Jiang Tong felt as if someone had struck at her meridian point. Unable to move, she was effortlessly brought away.

    With her arms folded across her chest, Gu Xiqiao leanedzily against the doorway, watching as Jiang Tong was led away. She paid no heed to the furious re the fugitive was giving her. After all, it would not be long before she disappeared from her life forever.

    ¡°Great Elder, your men are rather weak,¡±mented Gu Xiqiao. They were unable to handle Jiang Tong. What if someone stronger than Jiang Tong were to appear in the future?

    ¡°...¡±

    The great elder was embarrassed by her statement. ¡®Although you¡¯re speaking the truth, can you not phrase it that way? I¡¯m too old and too exhausted to put up with this anymore.¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao silently smiled at the great elder.

    She waited for Jiang Shuxuan to pick up something before leaving the Elders¡¯ Association together.

    The great elder froze up when he saw just what Jiang Shuxuan was here for. He remained in that state for a moment before returning to his senses.

    ***

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you have to thank Yi Tong for this whole thing.¡± Gu Xiqiao sang praise for Yi Tong as they strolled along. ¡°He was the one who dug up evidence of Jiang Tong casting curses on the poor helpless heirs!¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s response was calm. ¡°It was me who gave him that information.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ***

    The method which Jiang Tong had used to prey on the young talents of the ancient martial arts world was too cruel. The victims¡¯ families all signed a petition to have Jiang Tong tried publicly. Her fanatical admirers from a couple of days ago now harbored nothing but hatred toward her. No matter where one went, killing one¡¯s peers was something unanimously uneptable. To atone for her wrongdoings, she was left in the harshest, cruelest detention facility of the ancient martial arts world. Jiang Shuxuan entered this ce once, to allow Xixi to imbue her body with an inextinguishable me. From time to time, medical personnel would be sent in to treat her wounds, which otherwise would have been fatal.

    Hadn¡¯t she nned to burn Gu Xiqiao at the stake? If that¡¯s so, then she would continue to suffer continuously for day and night the pain of being burned alive! She must be taught what it feels like to suffer a fate worse than death!

    The situation in the ancient martial arts world was equally grim. After this incident, the young talents who had been infected by Jiang Tong¡¯s evil aura saw their condition worsen by the day.

    Their families were going crazy. They searched high and low throughout the ancient martial arts world for a healer but to no avail. In the end, they had to rely on Divine Doctor Rong. Unfortunately, the man was constantly drunk and his speech was unintelligible. With no other options, they had to resort to his disciple, Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan knew what these people were here for. He pulled out a napkin and wiped his hands clean while telling them, ¡°There is only one person who can save your children.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± A spark returned to the elders¡¯ eyes when they heard that there was still someone out there they could rely on. ¡°Please Mr. Zhu, do tell us who that person is.¡±

    Zhu Yuan raised his head and uttered three words, ¡°Gu Xiqiao.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao? Miss Gu?

    These elders were stunned by his answer. Zhu Yuan was a disciple of Divine Doctor Rong, so there was no reason for them to doubt his words. It was fine if the person was someone else, but Miss Gu... they recalled how harsh and unjust when they had spoken about her a few days ago. The people of the ancient martial arts world now all shared the same feeling of regret for their attitude toward her. No one dared to make direct eye contact with her on the street.

    They had even made their intention to burn to death Gu Xiqiao public. Now that they had to beg for her help, their faces were all beet red. Would she even bother to listen to their pleas?

    The elders left Zhu Yuan¡¯s ce anxiously.

    After they left, Zhu Yuan pointed at their backs and said to his colleagues, ¡°See that? See how evil your ssmate, Gu Xiqiao is? She totally humiliated these old geezers and they still have no choice but to grovel at her feet, disying their gratitude for her!¡±

 Chapter 304 - Shes No Commoner

    <h4>Chapter 304: She¡¯s No Commoner</h4>

    Panic gripped the people of the ancient martial arts world. Those who were once loyal to Jiang Tong were starting to lose their minds. However, Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao had already left this ce. The elders paid Shu Chen a visit but they were briefly turned away when she saw their pale faces.

    ¡°These people have too high hopes.¡± Shu Chen put down her teacup. A sneer appeared on her face. ¡°It was only a few days ago that they used my daughter-inw of being the source of cmity for our world. Now they¡¯re here to beg for her mercy? Do they seriously think her forgiveness is of such a low value?!¡±

    The butler, standing not far away, put down the phone. ¡°Madam, Master¡¯s on the line.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Han?¡± Shu Chen immediately got up from her seat and hurried over to pick up the phone.

    Upon realizing that their n involving Shu Chen had failed miserably, the elders headed for the Elders Pavilion, in search of advice from the great elder. ¡°O Great Elder, Mister Zhu has told us that the only person who could save our grandchildren is Miss Gu! Please, we are in dire need of your help!¡±

    The elders have been running around in search of help for the past few days. Exhausted, tears continued streaming down their cheeks no matter how embarrassing the situation seemed.

    The great elder felt conflicted about this. He didn¡¯t care about the affairs Gu Xiqiao was involved in and Jiang Shuxuan was still pissed off about the ancient martial arts world. ¡°You¡¯re saying that Miss Gu can help heal your grandchildren? Didn¡¯t the healer from yesterday say that the evil aura has already beenpressed their organs? That even the Saint Healer Daluo couldn¡¯t improve their condition?¡±

    ¡°Mister Zhu is a disciple of Divine Doctor Rong. His words are not to be doubted.¡± The possible oues didn¡¯t matter to them. Gu Xiqiao had already be thest straw of hope which these elders were clinging onto.

    Dubhe, who had just paid Jiang Tong a ¡°visit¡±, came walking in. He pulled out a pure white handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains off his hands. He nced at the elders, who were in the middle of a discussion. ¡°You¡¯re saying that she can save your grandchildren?¡± Since the dreaded evil aura had already merged with their regr chi, even he couldn¡¯t do anything to help the poor souls.

    And these people were saying that Gu Xiqiao could save their lives?

    The great elder bowed his head and endured the heavy pressure. ¡°Master Dubhe, that was what we heard from Mister Zhu.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I will help look for her.¡± Dubhe nced at these elders one final time before leaving the Elders¡¯ Pavilion.

    Everyone at the Elders¡¯ Pavilion let out a sigh of relief when Dubhe finally left the ce. ¡°I hope Master Dubhe can persuade Miss Gu into helping us.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡± The great elder responded bluntly. ¡°Do not forget the things that you lot have done.¡±

    He left the ce immediately upon reminding them of that. The rest of the elders remained standing there, with the same dumbfounded look on their faces. Again, the feeling of regret overwhelmed them. It felt as if someone had plunged a knife into their heart and twisted it around. Oh how much they wanted to dig up Jiang Tong, who was incarcerated in her underground prison cell, and tear her flesh off her bones!

    ***

    In the Capital, in the little district next to A University.

    Gu Xiqiao was analyzing a map on the sofa. Cheng Zhou had called and told her that the movie screening was happening tonight. He had even sent ten movie tickets over, for a viewing session at midnight.

    Jiji was pacing around in the living room. After having lived here for the past few days, it hadpleted its remodeling of the house and was now busy with admiring the end result.

    Jiang Shuxuan was speaking to Yi Bing over the phone.

    Murong Feiye and Baili Bin were sitting on the other side, staring at the ten movie tickets Murong Feiye seemed to be particrly excited about these tickets. The duo moved back from the ancient martial arts world alongside Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. In fact, they were staying to have dinner with themter in the evening.

    Suddenly, both Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan turned around simultaneously toward the same corner of the living room.

    Murong Feiye and Baili Bin both saw the odd urrence and they too followed their gazes.

    The heating wasn¡¯t turned on and yet the air mysteriously seemed to be heating up. In the blink of the eye, the air warped, and out came the figure of a man.

    Mrs. Zhang was carrying out a te of fruits when she saw Dubhe appear out of nowhere.

    The ambient temperature suddenly dropped below the freezing point.

    Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan, and Jiji turned toward Mrs. Zhang, who didn¡¯t seem to be fazed by this ghastly phenomenon. As if she had seen nothing particrly out of the ordinary, she set the te of fresh-cut fruits on the table and generously offered them to Dubhe. ¡°Would you like some tea, mister?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Even Dubhe was surprised by how calm her response was. ¡®Did you not see how ominous I was when appearing in your abode? No?! Why theck of surprise?!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan looked at each other for a second. Mrs. Zhang was a regr human being through and through; they thought she¡¯d jump out of her skin from the shock of seeing Dubhe materialize out of nowhere like a ghostly apparition.

    ¡°Miss Gu, are you willing to save the people of the ancient martial arts world?¡± Dubhe waited until Mrs. Zhang went beyond earshot before shifting his focus over to Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao. However, it was clear that he was avoiding direct eye contact with thetter. The way he spoke sounded much more sincere than when they met him initially.

    Jiang Shuxuan stared back at him with ink-dark eyes. All of a sudden, the Seven-Frosted de appeared in front of him.

    Baili Bin¡¯s gentle face was expressionless. Standing to the left of Gu Xiqiao, his cold eyes remained fixated on Dubhe. Murong Feiye on the other hand was munching away on Mrs. Zhang¡¯s fruits while watching the y unfold from the corner of the room.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied while shooting Jiang Shuxuan and Baili Bin a nce. ¡°Let¡¯s head over now.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan silently stared at the ground for a second before returning his de to its sheath. Though, there was no doubt about the hidden danger he sensed from Dubhe¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Mister Jiang! It¡¯s snowing outside, so bring an umbre with you alright?!¡± Realizing that these people were about to leave, Mrs. Zhang hurriedly prepared umbres for each of them.

    Jiji was busy fiddling with the remote control and did not follow Gu Xiqiao out. It looked up at Mrs. Zhang for a moment before finally caving in. ¡°Mrs. Zhang, don¡¯t you feel something off about that man from before?¡±

    Mrs. Zhang was wiping the table clean when she responded: ¡°What felt off?¡±

    ¡°The way he appeared isn¡¯t how a normal human enters someone¡¯s ce.¡± Jiji was reminded of how odd the people around Gu Xiqiao were.

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotten used to such sights?¡±

    Jiji was stunned. ¡°Just what on earth did you see?¡±

    ¡°A little while ago, there was a period where Little Hua used to order Xixi to transform and spit fire on a daily basis. There¡¯d be times when I am absolutely positive that Mister Jiang was upstairs and he would appear right before me downstairs at the snap of the finger. And Dog Feed too. That day, I was wiping down its vase when it suddenly vanished into thin air. I mean, you too. How can a normal robot even be able to digest food?¡± Mrs. Zhang put down the piece of cloth she was holding. In a stern manner, she advised Jiji, ¡°If you guys continue on like this, I¡¯m afraid that you all would be taken away if the outside world was to know about these incidents.¡± Sometimes, thinking about it worried her.

    Jiji silently put down the piece of fruit it was about to put in its mouth.

    A bird who could expand and spit fire, a flower and its owner that could appear and reappear like a magician, sounds like you have a lot of interesting stories to tell, Mrs. Zhang.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world.

    The people who had been infected by the evil aura were all tied up. Their eyes were all the color of fresh blood. Most of them have already started losing their sanity. The shaman of the Lisu tribe sighed and shook his head in disappointment after doing checks on them. ¡°Elder, there is no end to this peril. It¡¯s better to finish them off humanely with a clean slice from the de. The decision remains in your hands but I still urge you to make your call as soon as possible. If we discovered this sooner, there is still the chance that they¡¯d be saved. But in their current condition...I doubt that even our saint can do anything to save them.¡±

    The families bawled their eyes out when they heard him say that. Nearly every one of them uttered curses under their breaths at Jiang Tong, who was the cause of their misery.

    All of a sudden, the atmospheric pressure spiked, which prompted the people to look in a specific direction. As expected, a group of people was slowly heading in their direction.

    It shocked them when they discovered that it was Dubhe, Jiang Shuxuan, Gu Xiqiao, Murong Feiye, and Baili Bin that were approaching them. These were all the elites of the ancient martial arts world. Walking in a group together, could their presence be any more imposing?

    Murong Feiye stood next to Gu Xiqiao. He nced at the crying people and proceeded to snigger at them. ¡°It¡¯s only some evil aura. Is there even the need to cry your heart out like this?¡±

    ¡°Young Master Murong.¡± The people of the Lisu tribe bowed down respectfully at Murong Feiye. Although they respected him, they were still confused as to what he was saying. ¡°Perhaps you don¡¯t know this but, the evil aura has already permeated their organs, no medicine can help...¡±

    ¡°If you can¡¯t do it, then admit it. Why beat around the bush?¡± Murong Feiye then spun toward Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Miss Gu, carry on.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s finger twitched. ¡°Here I was, thinking that the healer was you.¡±

    Murong Feiye rubbed his nose and smirked. He was just acting like a professional for fun.

    ¡°Move these people indoors.¡± Gu Xiqiao scanned her surroundings and arrived at the door closest to her. She lifted her arm and pointed her finger in that direction.

    The elders did as told, without questioning her orders.

    Gu Xiqiao strode into the building.

    ¡°Great Elder, is there really not a problem with this?¡± The families of the victims all gathered around outside the locked door. ¡°Miss Gu, s-she...¡± She wouldn¡¯t kill their sons off, right?

    ¡°Silence!¡± The elders knew what they were implying and with great anger, they ordered for them to hold their tongues. They knew how powerful Gu Xiqiao was. If she wanted to, she could¡¯ve struck their children down right in front of them; there was no need to do so behind closed doors.

    The way the elders responded was way too harsh, which was a signal for them to shut up.

    Half an hourter, the door was pushed open with Gu Xiqiao walking out. She raised her head and announced to the families, ¡°It¡¯s done. You can head in and take a look if you want to.¡±

    These families rushed right into the building and following a brief silence, came their euphoric cheering. When they re-emerged, each of them thanked Gu Xiqiao gratefully.

    Missions that involved evil aura were right up the system¡¯s alley.

    Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao left the ce after her job was done.

    The observers all looked at each other with unconcealed expressions of shock. S-She, really pulled it off, just like that?

    They exhaled a lungful of cold air. There were once rumors that Jiang Tong was the descendant of god whereas Gu Xiqiao was the bringer of disasters. Looking back, the truth could never have been any more different. In the end, it was the bringer of disasters that saved their asses!

    Looks like they had traded titles overnight!

    The masses then shifted their attention over to Dubhe, who was looking down at both of his hands. They could not make out clearly his facial expression though.

    ¡°Miss Gu had managed to bring them back to life! Not to mention the fact that they were the very people who were going for her head!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu is the ally of righteousness! I think she¡¯s the real descendant of god!¡±

    ¡°To think that I supported the idea of locking her away. Now that I think about it, I feel really ashamed of what I have said!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The entire ancient martial arts world was starting to regret its initial stance against Gu Xiqiao, all while singing praise for how selfless she was when treating the people and setting aside what happened between them in the past. They reminded the families who received Gu Xiqiao¡¯s aid to be grateful for what she did.

    ¡°She managed to cure them?¡± The shaman of the Lisu tribe, who had been erased from their minds was shocked. He remained standing at the edge of the crowd, unwilling to leave the scene. ¡°How did she pull that off? How is this even possible?!¡±

    It was until he met the elder of the tribe that he was given an exnation of how these people were saved. ¡°Nothing¡¯s impossible. After all, the one doing the healing was Miss Gu. Do you have any idea who Miss Gu is? She¡¯s that youngdy from the desert wastnds a while back. She did God¡¯s work, helping out people. And you¡¯re still doubting her? Don¡¯t you ever say such things again, else you¡¯d get an earful from the people of our tribe!¡±

    The elder continued lecturing him on their way back home.

    Dubhe stood behind the two of them, watching the elder. Thinking back to when he had used Gu Xiqiao of being the source of disaster, feelings of self-doubt started to set in. He stared down at his hands. If he really did take Gu Xiqiao¡¯s life back then, and if Jiang Shuxuan were to let it happen, perhaps these people would wage a war against him with all their might?

    This pair of hands almost took someone¡¯s innocent life.

    ¡°Master, what you said was true. I am indeed, not suited for being a Dubhe.¡±

    The great elder sent Gu Xiqiao off merrily. His attitude toward Gu Xiqiao was no different from how Jiang Shuxuan treated her. In fact, he was more prepared to pamper her than the young master.

    The second elder couldn¡¯t help but scratch his head at this phenomenon. Yes, Gu Xiqiao was a brilliant character but was there a need to treat her with such reverence?

    The great elder looked up at the falling snowkes. He shook his head slightly. ¡°Ever since this rumor of her being the source of cmities started spreading, she had not uttered a word in protest. She didn¡¯t seem to mind being despised by the masses. Perhaps this was whatpelled Jiang Tong into plotting against her actively. However, when these people were backstabbed by Jiang Tong, she was the first to stand up against her actions, by providing us with a pile of evidence. I don¡¯t think the evidence provided was collected over the course of mere days. And those people, who were skeptics and wanted to burn her at the stake, in the end, they were the ones being saved on their deathbeds by her! Not only did she manage to wash away the suspicions about her, but she had also even managed to earn their reverence. Tell me, how could this person possibly be amoner?¡±

 Chapter 305 - Descendants Of The Zhuge Clan

    <h4>Chapter 305: Descendants Of The Zhuge n</h4>

    When Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao returned to the house, Shu Chen was sitting on the sofa, seemingly in a daze. She only came back to her senses when the butler spoke.

    ¡°Young Master, Miss Gu, you¡¯re home.¡± The butler¡¯s voice was pitched slightly higher than usual.

    Shu Chen stood up immediately. ¡°Qiao Qiao, you¡¯re both back. Have you eaten dinner?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan handed the umbre to the butler. Raising his head with a disinterested expression on his face, he nced at his mother. She was also looking at him, and he paused before saying, ¡°We¡¯ve eaten. We just came by to see if you¡¯d like to watch a movie.¡±

    ¡°A movie?¡± Shu Chen knew that her son wouldn¡¯t do things that were meaningless, so she pushed aside her thoughts and brightened up. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Today¡¯s the premier of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ that Qiao Qiao¡¯s¡¯ fanclub president mentioned. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t get a ticket!¡± Shu Chen counted her fingers for a while. ¡°Do you have tickets? I have five friends, so I¡¯ll need six tickets.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Shuxuan raised his hands, disying a row of six tickets in front of her.

    ¡°Aunt Shu, this...¡± Gu Xiqiao watched stunned, as Shu Chen sat beside the phone and made calls after calls.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Shu Chen. ¡°It¡¯s fine, she likes showing off.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡±

    Shu Chen didn¡¯t care about the time of the night, calling the few friends that she mentioned to watch a movie. The few friends were also rtively high in position in the ancient martial arts world. Although they felt it was a bit weird for Shu Chen to call them at this time of night, they still came in the end.

    A group of six people walked happily into the movie theater despite the heavy snow. ¡°Madam Jiang, your daughter-inw¡¯s acting is really great!¡±

    ¡°Look at the barrage of praise that¡¯s in thements section! It¡¯s all about your daughter-inw!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu is beautiful. Look at that robe as well as the white fox fur coat she wore. It¡¯s no wonder you made her a coat from your family heirloom!¡±

    One of them sighed heavily. ¡°If I had such a daughter-inw, I would also be willing to spoil her.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had acted as a fox demon on screen, donning a green robe and a white fox fur coat on the outside. On screen, her face resembled a fine piece of jade, and her entire being a wless painting. Her eyes were narrowed slightly with an absent-minded expression on her face. She gave off the look of a headstrong woman.

    She looked indifferent on the outside, but she was the most affectionate person in the entire cast in the movie.

    Only, being too emotional shortens your lifespan, and having more wisdom only hurts more.

    In the beginning, people watching were discussing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s acting skills. By the end of the movie, everyone was holding tissues and sobbing in low tones.

    In thest scene, it was of the mountain top that was covered in snow all year round, and there were bloodstains all over, contrasting against the pure, white color of the snow. Ji Zhang¡¯gui picked up the person in his arms, and walked out of the area, step by step.

    There was only one sentence spoken at that scene after he left, ¡°Feng Qiqi, I¡¯m bringing you home.¡±

    After that, the movie was over, and the credits were rolling, but no one stood to leave.

    ¡°Feng Qiqi, I¡¯m bringing you home!¡±

    ¡°F*ck off, you self-righteous person! Ji Zhang¡¯gui, how can you bear to let her die!¡±

    ¡°My Beauty Gu has died all over again...Wuwuwuwu....¡±

    ¡°Feng Qiqi, I¡¯m bringing you home!¡±

    ¡°Those who love deep won¡¯t live long. Feng Qiqi, did you already know that you would die early on... wuwuwuwu....¡±

    ¡°Miss, is there still tickets for ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯?¡± The person next to Shu Chen left the cinema, but not to leave, but running directly to the ticket office.

    Thedy at the counter bowed her head apologetically. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, miss. The tickets have been sold out since earlier.¡±

    The person then ran back to Shu Chen¡¯s side. ¡°Madam Jiang, do you still have tickets?¡±

    Shu Chen herself was deep in thought, and was snapped out of it when her friends spoke to her. She gave a wry smile. ¡°I don¡¯t have anymore, Mrs. Tang.¡±

    Being too emotional shortens your lifespan, and having more wisdom only hurts more. Shu Chen was greatly shaken by these words, maybe because Gu Xiqiao was the main star of the movie, or maybe because the image of the important swordsman was simr to Jiang Shuxuan, or maybe because Gu XIqiao had recently been used of being a cmity. Or maybe it was most probably because of the call she had received tonight.

    Either way, the ending of ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ made Shu Chen feel extremely depressed to her core.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world, the Tang family residence.

    ¡°Elder Young Master, you¡¯re finally back.¡± The Tang butler opened the door to see Tang Qingqiu in a neat, crisp suit.

    Tang Qingqiu brushed off the snow that was on his clothes, taking off his thick coat and handing it to the butler. ¡°Where is my mother?¡±

    ¡°Madam has gone to watch a movie,¡± The butler said, taking the coat. He then brought a cup of hot tea to Tang Qingqiu. ¡°Have you eaten?¡±

    Tang Qingqiu paused, his hand hovering in mid-air. ¡°A movie?¡± Now that was a rare sight.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The butler smiled. ¡°Madam has gone with Madam Jiang and a few others to watch a movie.¡±

    Even Madam Jiang?

    A group of distinguished people from the ancient martial arts world, going out to watch a movie in such heavy snowy weather? What had happened during his absence from the ancient martial arts world for the past few days?

    ¡°Where is Qinghong?¡± Tang Qingqiu looked around, not feeling Tang Qinghong¡¯s presence in the vicinity.

    ¡°Young Master Qinghong has gone to the Peace Manor.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Tang Qingqiu took a sip of his tea, before handing the butler the documents that were in his hands. ¡°Have someone deliver this to the Elders Association immediately.¡±

    Having said that, he went out again, his steps hurried. He didn¡¯t even bother to take his coat.

    The butler didn¡¯t have a chance to say a word, and could only watch as Tang Qingqiu walked out into the heavy snow.

    Peace Manor, which was located in the fifth ring, hadnterns all around that were still brightly lit. The huge pearl shone brightly in the dark, and most of the people were still training.

    ¡°Looks like Miss Gu often feeds you some good stuff, you have quite a pool of energy in you.¡± Yao Jiamu circled Hua Youlin. ¡°Although you don¡¯t have much talent, there¡¯s still something that can be done.¡±

    Hua Youlin had grown used to hearing these words, it was an indisputable fact after all. After arriving at Peace Manor, every single person here could probably beat him with a finger. ¡°Am I still salvageable?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Yao Jiamu pointed to Xiao Yun, who was studying some secret texts. ¡°Do you see her, she used to be on the same level as you previously.¡± Now, she¡¯s ranked 11th on the Youth Ranking List!

    Hearing herself being used as an example by Yao Jiamu, Xiao Yun shot him a re.

    ¡°Xiao Yun, you¡¯re not going to do anything?¡± Yin Shaoyuan bounced forward with a smile on his face. ¡°My cousin has been rounding in the formation for about half an hour now. The snow is falling so heavily, and he¡¯s not even wearing a coat.¡±

    XIao Yun turned another page, not responding to his words.

    Yin Shaoyuan scratched his nose, and then left not long after. Sigh, he could only help so much as a wingman.

    Ten minutester, Xiao Yun put down her book and strode out the door.

    Tang Qingqiu, who wasn¡¯t able to exit the formation, was getting worried and frustrated. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him, and he was taken aback for a moment. ¡°Miss Xiao.¡±

    ¡°You better hurry up and leave, otherwise the killing formation will start to activate.¡± Xiao Yun¡¯s voice was t. ¡°It¡¯s a formation that Er Qiao personally made, you won¡¯t be able to shake it off.¡±

    Once she was done talking, she disappeared from his sight. Tang Qingqiu was also ejected out of the formation.

    He stood outside it for a while, then pulled out his phone. ¡°Shuxuan, the things are at the Elders Association.¡±

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan, who was standing by the window in the Jiang residence, looked at the pink plum flower that was beside him. He hung up the call, and looked to Gu Xiqiao who was in bed. He opened the door softly, walking out.

    After sending the documents to the Elders Association, the lights came on on the building.

    The seven elders sat at the long table, all silent. Atst, when Yi Bing and his team walked in, the great elder stood up. ¡°Mr. Yi Bing.¡±

    Yi Bing nodded. ¡°Elders, how do you do.¡±

    They gathered together, but didn¡¯t speak. Only the silence hung in the air, and the atmosphere was chilly.

    The door was pushed open once again, a tall, imposing figure walking through it with the wind and snow blowing behind him. The coldness that exuded from him was even colder than the weather outside, and his cold, proud face seemed to be carved from marble under the white light that shone on him.

    ¡°Big boss,¡± Yi Bing and the others stood, greeting Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan took the documents from the elders and flipped through it. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving the ancient martial arts world after this. During this period, she¡¯ll be taking care of the matters here. Yi Bing, are you clear?¡±

    Yi Bing and the others were stunned for a moment, before straightening up at the cold look on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face. ¡°Crystal clear, Big Boss!¡±

    The great elder looked at Jiang Shuxuan, a hint of terror in his eyes. ¡°Where are you going? Could it be that... you¡¯ve reached the realm of Enlightenment?¡±

    Among the elders, only the great elder knew what Jiang Shuxaun was headed off to do. It was because he knew, that was the precise reason he was mystified, and even his throat was abnormally dry.

    The moment the great elder said this, everyone else present was shocked, especially Yi Bing and his men. They knew that Jiang Shuxuan was strong, but they never had the chance to see him at his true strength. Whenever they thought he was at his limit, he would produce an even more impossible feat than thest the next time they saw him!

    Because Jiang Shuxuan had always been able to challenge the levels above him, they weren¡¯t sure which realm he really was at.

    But they didn¡¯t expect the great elder¡¯s words!

    The realm of Enlightenment!

    No one in the ancient martial arts world had been able to reach this level in the past thousand years!

    Yi Bing and his team couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Shuxuan with a sort of urgency in their eyes. They too wanted to know if what the great elder said was true!

    ¡°Previously, in Grandpa Tang¡¯s banquet, I just broke through into the realm of Enlightenment.¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice was low and t, his eyes on the papers in his hands. ¡°So I need to go there.¡±

    ¡°Big boss.¡± Yi Tong suddenly snapped back to his senses when he saw Jiang Shuxuan turning to leave. ¡°Are you not going to inform Miss Gu?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan halted in his steps, and he stood in the spot for a while, his eyes closed slightly. ¡°No need.¡±

    She should have already known a long time ago.

    The figure melted into the night, and the great elder watched Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s vanishing figure. ¡°No one has broken into the realm of Enlightenment in the past thousand years. This day, it¡¯s about to change...¡±

    The next morning, when Butler Jiang opened the door to see Yi Tong, he greeted him with a nod. ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, the young master is not at home.¡±

    ¡°I know, I¡¯m not here to see him. I¡¯m here to see Miss Gu today.¡± Yi Tong looked at Butler Jiang. ¡°Also, Mr. Butler, can¡¯t you just call me Mr. Yi?¡±

    The butler smiled. ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, you¡¯re saying the same things that Mr. Jiu Tong once said.¡±

    Yi Tong: ¡°...¡± You! You big dummy!

    ¡°Madam Jiang, Miss Gu.¡± Yi Tong greeted once he went in. Gu Xiqiao and Shu Chen were having their breakfast.

    Although the two of them were wearing normal expressions, and there was nothing to show what they were feeling, Yi Tong still lowered his head subconsciously. He thought about how the big boss had just left without a word of goodbye, would Miss Gue after them because of that?

    ¡°What¡¯s the average strength of your Mahjong teams?¡± Yi Tong was deep in his own mind, and was startled when Gu Xiqiao suddenly spoke.

    Mahjong teams? What the heck was that?

    Yi Tong was stunned for a moment, before realizing that Miss Gu was talking about their teams. ¡°Miss Gu, the average strength of our Mahjong corps is above the 45th floor.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao eyed him for a moment, before spitting out a single word, ¡°Weak.¡± The strength of the ancient martial arts world needed to be greatly improved indeed.

    WTF? Yi Tong almost couldn¡¯t hold back his thoughts. Gu Xiqiao actually said that they were weak?! Their average strength was already probably enough to tten the ancient martial arts world, and this was called weak?!

    Of course, if you were topare them to Gu Xiqiao or even Jiang Shuxuan, they were obviously weak. Only, were the two of them even considered to be normal in the first ce?

    Compared to the ordinary people in the secr world, they were already very powerful, okay!

    It was obvious that Yi Tong wasn¡¯t satisfied with the word that Gu Xiqiao had just said.

    She gave him a nce, and said, ¡°Bring it over.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Yi Tong really couldn¡¯t keep up with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s line of thoughts.

    ¡°The thing that you wanted to give me.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow, looking at him indifferently.

    Hearing her words, Yi Tong looked at her in surprise and suspicion. How did she know that he had something to give her?

    He walked towards her as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, handing it over to her.

    It was a snow-white paper, and the corners were all folded. Once you open it however, there were no signs of the creases, and on it were a few words written, ¡®Outsider, cmity, turning point.¡¯

    These words seemed to have some charm on it, and regr people would fall into the trap once they read it. However, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental powers were strong, and though she was swayed a little, she regained her senses soon enough, and looked thoughtfully at the words.

    Little did she know that her expression was seen by Yi Tong, and he was instantly jaw cked.

    This piece of paper was given to them by Dubhe, and it¡¯s said to have been written by his master. Dubhe¡¯s master was a true god, and every word written on the paper contained the power of Taoism in them. Most people would fall prey in the trap, and even Yi Tong had been unable to control himself when he read it under supervision of the others.

    He didn¡¯t expect that Gu Xiqiao would be able to shake it off so quickly and back to her senses in such a short period of time. Yi Tong took a deep breath to calm his deeply shaken heart.

    ¡°Cmity? Turning point?¡± Tracing her finger across the words, Gu Xiqiao pondered on the meaning of the words.

    Yi Tong calmed down, and a serious look crossed his face again. ¡°Yes, Miss Gu. Master Dubhe is scouring the entire world for the turning point. Before he left, he said that if the turning point isn¡¯t found or has been killed, then it¡¯s over for the world.¡±

    Although Dubhe was unreliable as a person, his position was at stake here, he obviously wouldn¡¯t make a joke about such things.

    At the same time, the cold, mechanical voice that Gu Xiqiao had not heard in a long while finally sounded again.

    [Ding! Final chain mission activated: Solve the dilemma of the power world! Penalty for iplete mission: Obliteration!]

    The cold, red words ¡®Obliteration¡¯ echoed in her mind. Although Gu Xiqiao had broken into the realm of Houtian, she was still confused about the system in her mind. She was silent for a long while, before narrowing her eyes and said, ¡°Cmity and turning point, it¡¯s impossible to find them just like that. If someone could scry it out, that would be great.¡±

    Gu Xiqiap tapped her fingers on the table, her mind a nk.

    She pursed her lips and didn¡¯t say another word.

    ¡°You mean those fortune-telling?¡± Yi Tong said after thinking for a while. ¡°Speaking of which, there really is someone who can do that.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked towards Yi Tong, gesturing for him to continue.

    Yi Tong took a few seconds to organize his thoughts before he continued, ¡°The ancient martial arts world originally had a line of descendants from the Zhuge n. They were able to obtain the secrets of the heavens and seize the fates. They were once a great tribe in the ancient martial arts world. However, you know that the ancient martial arts world isn¡¯t the same as in the past thousand years, Miss Gu. Back then, countless great families either disappeared from the face of Earth, or declined slowly. Only the Jiang family endured till the present. The Zhuge n was one of them that disappeared, as well as the Baili n. Their ancestors deployed a formation that could be called Cyberspace that year, and now...¡±

    There were countless families in the ancient martial arts world that ended up in that state, and there was nothing else better to be said there.

    ¡°The Zhuge n vanished?¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed. It wasn¡¯t looking good then.

    Being able to glimpse into secrets only known to heaven, but you still wouldn¡¯t be able to do fortune telling if you yourself were involved. Gu Xiqiao had known that she wouldn¡¯t be able to read her own fortune, as she was ounted for as one of the roles, ¡®outsider¡¯.

    She was scared, time was running out.

    ¡°Not to say that they just vanished.¡± Yi Tong scratched his head. ¡°The Zhuge n had a great rtionship with the Baili n back then. This sort of powerful family wouldn¡¯t just up and vanish without a trace. You could head over to the Baili family and ask to see, they¡¯d probably know something.¡±

    ***

    At the same time, in the Baili family, Baili Bin was holding up a ck chess piece. He stared at the chess pieces on the board, and finally dropped the piece after a long silence.

    Shi Haizhe sat opposite him, holding a white chess piece. ¡°They say that small things don¡¯t have fangs, but you¡¯ve forced me into a difficult situation here. Baili, your chest skills have risen a little too fast, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Before our Baili family delved into formations, we were all tacticians at one point.¡± Baili Bin smiled faintly. ¡°Formations and chess have a lot inmon, and I¡¯ve recently had greater understanding in the game.¡±

    After three more moves, he was finally forced into a dead end by Baili Bin. Shi Haizhe ced down the chess piece, shaking his head. ¡°As expected, I¡¯m more confident if I yed against Wanqi Jue instead.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still ying chess with such a rxed attitude.¡± Murong Feiye, who had been reading a book by the window, finally jumped down when he saw them done with the game. He sat down at the table, ncing at Shi Haizhe. ¡°The Shi family is walking down a dead end, and you¡¯re not bothered a single bit, and just watching them walk to their death.¡±

    ¡°How can I do anything about it?¡± Shi Haizhe poured himself a cup of hot tea. ¡°If I interfere, Miss Gu might lump me together with them.¡±

    Murong Feiye thought about it, and felt that it was quite a reasonable logic. ¡°The patriarch of the Shi family is quite blind too, isn¡¯t he? Forget the fact that he kicked you out of the house, it was hard enough to get out a talent like Shiqin, but to send him personally to the Peace Manor! There are still a lot of people out to get the Peace Manor, right?¡±

    ¡°There are quite a few indeed.¡± Baili Bin waved his hand, calling someone to take the chessboard away. A hint of mockery shed in his eyes. ¡°In the ancient martial arts world, who doesn¡¯t yearn for the things in the Peace Manor?¡±

    ¡°If they were to find out that Peace Manor belongs to her, they¡¯d probably want to kill themselves!¡± Murong Feiye snatched the cup out of Shi Haizhe¡¯s hand, drinking the contents in one go. ¡°And those people from the Peace Manor, why haven¡¯t they made any moves at all?¡±

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he knew what sort of people were in the Peace Manor, Murong Feiye would have thought them to be afraid.

    A middle-aged man came then, knocking on the door lightly. ¡°Young Master, Miss Gu is here.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Baili Bin replied indifferently, holding the teacup casually in his hand. It took him two seconds to react, turning his head in shock. ¡°Who did you say was here again?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± The man repeated slowly. ¡°Miss Gu is here, she¡¯s in the living room. The patriarch is entertaining her at the moment.¡±

    As soon as he finished saying that, he looked up to see that Baili Bin had vanished from the room.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Baili Qu. Although she didn¡¯t like Baili Wenxi, Baili Qu and Baili Bin were different. The two of them had always treated her well, and they held a great amount of affection for her.

    ¡°Big Brother Baili,¡± Seeing Baili Bining in from the outside, Gu Xiqiao stood up immediately and greeted him.

    There was a smile on Baili Bin¡¯s face when he caught sight of her. Although they saw each other frequently, it was different this time. This was the first time Gu Xiqiao hade to the Baili residence. ¡°Qiao Qiao, what has brought you here today?¡±

    His gaze turned to Yi Tong, who was standing beside her. He was slightly surprised, why was Yi Tong following her?

    ¡°Something came up.¡± Seeing Baili Bin, Gu Xiqiao could feel the tension melting away from her body, and she proceeded to exin about the Zhuge n and the situation.

    Baili Bin nodded his head. ¡°Grandpa, how about you have the kitchen prepare the food first. I¡¯ll bring Qiao Qiao to the ancestral hall.¡±

    ¡°The Zhuge n has disappeared for a long time, I rarely hear the name being brought up anymore. If there¡¯s any news on them, it would be among the family history.¡± Baili Bin exined as they walked, pulling out the key to open the doors.

    ¡°That many?¡± Murong Feiye looked at the room filled to the brim with books, and was taken aback. ¡°Baili, are you sure you¡¯re not pulling our leg here?¡±

    ¡°Here it is, the records of the entire family history.¡± Baili Bin ignored Murong Feiye¡¯s words, turning to look at Gu Xiqiao instead. ¡°It used to be arranged properly, but it¡¯s probably messed up now.¡±

    The Baili family had been around for god knows how long, and they had many years of history. It looks like it would be difficult to find anything among such arge amount of records.

    And that was ignoring the fact that the records were currently in a mess.

    There wasn¡¯t any expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. ¡°Can I read them?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Baili Bin came over with a stack of books. ¡°It might take quite a while.¡±

    Receiving Baili Bin¡¯s confirmation, Gu Xiqiao nodded. She sat on the desk and raised her hand, then dozens of books moved to her hands. She started flipping through it, and she only took a few minutes to read through a single book, before taking the next one, while the other book floated back to its original ce.

    The other three people in the room were stunned speechless at the scene in front of them. ¡°She finished reading the book?¡± Shi Haizhe was in a state of disbelief.

    ¡°It looks like it.¡± Murong Feiye said, nodding his head nkly.

    Baili Bin quietly ced down the book in his hand that he was reading.

    By the time evening came around, Gu Xiqiao had already finished half of the books, and only two were taken by her while the others were thrown to the far back. Baili Bin moved a bench to sit beside her, flipping through the two books. He didn¡¯t see anything special in the books, and it was only a record of trivial matters in it.

    ¡°Miss Gu, the great elder is looking for you.¡± Yi Tong suddenly came in.

    ¡°The great elder?¡± Baili Bin turned to Yi Tong, a doubtful look on his face. ¡°What happened?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao put down the book she was reading, standing up, her clear eyes looking straight. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She followed Yi Tong out the door after that, with Baili Bin immediately following behind her.

    After the group left, Murong Feiye rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He and Shi Haizhe had been in the yard chatting when the group left. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we should also follow and see what¡¯s happening.¡±

    ***

    At the Elders Association, a group of people from the ancient martial arts world were standing outside.

    Luo Weng handed them over to the great elder as he said, ¡°These people were behaving sneakily, sneaking into our Peace Manor and even hurting our people!¡±

    The great elder looked towards the bunch of people on the ground who were tied up, his face flushed red.

    Going in and stealing people¡¯s things, and even caught red-handed and apprehended... He was embarrassed on their behalf!

    One of the people who was tied up yelled out, ¡°What do you mean harming your people? That person is our own Shi family person! Forget about crippling her hand, even if we wanted her life you wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything!¡±

    The main reason for them sneaking into the ce was to get their hands on those miracle pills that the Peace Manor had. Any single one of these pills could change a person¡¯s life. The Tang family had some in their possession, and they watched the strength of every Tang family member climb one by one, who wouldn¡¯t be jealous?

    And Gu Xiqiao, she definitely also had some in her hand. Her strength was impossible!

    But they knew that the Tang family and Gu Xiqiao were people who they couldn¡¯t afford to provoke, you had to pick your fights wisely after all, so they chose to go after the Peace Manor instead.

    They had unexpectedly harmed Shi Qin¡¯s mother, and that was the reason Luo Weng had dragged them to the Elders Association.

    However, these people didn¡¯t give a single thought to it. Shi Qin¡¯s mother was just a regr person after all, and she originally belonged to the Shi family. They didn¡¯t care about hurting such a person.

    As soon as he said that, Shi Qin saw red. Just as he was about to move, he caught sight of a figure slowly approaching them.

    ¡°Since when did someone from our Peace Manor be someone from your Shi family? Why didn¡¯t I know of this?¡± The figure that approached them was dressed in a white fox fur coat, and her delicate, sharp features made it obvious who she was.

    The look of the people gathered around changed immediately, and they looked towards Luo Weng in disbelief and shock, before turning to Gu Xiqiao again, the rming feeling increasing in their hearts!

    They had always wondered where Gu Xiqiao was from, but they never expected her to be part of the Peace Manor!

 Chapter 306 - Someone Who Can Read The Secrets Of Heaven

    <h4>Chapter 306: Someone Who Can Read The Secrets Of Heaven</h4>

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± The great elder bowed respectfully to Gu Xiqiao, not only because of her strength, but because of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s instructions before he left.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him, nodding her head slightly. She didn¡¯t say anything, but turned her gaze toward the people around them instead.

    ¡°Ever since the Peace Manor entered the ancient martial arts world, they neither took any of your resources or your space.¡± Gu Xiqiao pointed out, raising her hand to gesture. She didn¡¯t have an umbre in her hand, but the snow would bounce off her before it reached her, as though touching a barrier around her. ¡°Although I instructed them not to bully anyone, I didn¡¯t expect them to be bullied instead!¡±

    The people watching this were internally shocked. To be able to condense your chi to this extent, there were only so many people in the world that could do that!

    They were also shocked by the words that she said, which made the hearts of those tied on the ground jump, and they started shaking as cold sweat poured down their face. Forget about the Peace Manor, they didn¡¯t expect it would actually belong to Gu Xiqiao. Who was Gu Xiqiao, you ask? She¡¯s the only person right now to have broken through the 80th floor of the Trial Tower, someone who could crush them with just her pinky!

    ¡°Shi Qin, call everyone from the Peace Manor toe to the Trial Tower,¡± Gu Xiqiao said in a t tone to Shi Qin. The redness in his eyes had receded, and he bowed before turning around, leaving to carry out her order.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was indifferent, but there was a terrifying pressuring aura that exuded from her entire person, making it difficult to breathe for the people around her.

    Her words were not spoken loudly, but the great elder and everyone else gathered here heard it loud and clear, as though the words had been shouted in their ears. They looked at Gu Xiqiao, dumbfounded. She... She was intending for the entire Peace Manor to enter the Trial Tower?!

    The great elder could feel his hands shaking when the implications of her words hit them. He was clearly aware of the strength the people in the Peace Manor possessed. If every one of them were to enter the Trial Tower, then the younger generation of the ancient martial arts world would definitely be ranked behind them!

    Thinking of that, he nced at Gu Xiqiao. She still had an indifferent expression on her face, and he knew that there was no turning back from this point anymore.

    Outside the Trial Tower, many people had gathered once they heard the news.

    Those who didn¡¯t know were stillughing and chatting, guessing, and betting on how many floors the people from Peace Manor would go before they would be beaten.

    Baili Bin and the others sat at a pavilion not far from the area. Murong Feiye was ted at the turn of events. ¡°This is going to be so much fun!¡±

    ¡°I thought she¡¯d want to wait a few more days.¡± Baili Bin was also caught off guard. ¡°I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d make a move suddenly today.¡±

    Shi Haizheughed. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for these people, she probably would have put off a few more days just for fun.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean, it sounds like you know what¡¯s in her mind?¡± Murong Feiye eyed Shi Haizhe. ¡°Are you really close to her?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡± Shi Haizhe shook his head. ¡°It just so happens I know a few things.¡±

    ¡°Why not share it with the rest of us?¡± Baili Bin looked toward the Trial Tower, where Gu Xiqiao was standing. The air pressure around her was low to the point that no one dared to go near her, and gave her a wide five radius berth. Only Yi Tong remained at her side.

    Murong Feiye raised his head, looking at Shi Haizhe with curiosity burning in his eyes, his expression clearly reading ¡®how do you know something that I don¡¯t know?¡¯.

    ¡°You know about how she helped Wanqi Jue, right?¡± Shi Haizhe smiled. ¡°But do you know why she even bothered interfering in the first ce?¡±

    The two of them stared at him, and Murong Feiye rolled his eyes. ¡°I say, Shi Haizhe, can you not be so long-winded? It¡¯s so unlike you, I¡¯m about to die from anxiety here!¡±

    ¡°Baili, you remember the time when you and Shuxuan killed that international thug?¡± Shi Haizhe ignored him, turning to Baili Bin.

    ¡°That was an... intense and tragic fight.¡± Baili Bin could still feel the terror that had gripped his heart as the fight was brought up. ¡°I thought that Shuxuan and I would be able to handle it smoothly, but then a burst of chi suddenly flowed out from him, stronger than even the level of Enlightenment. If Shuxuan wasn¡¯t there, I fear that I wouldn¡¯t be sitting here today either.¡±

    Hearing this, Murong Feiye turned to Baili Bin, a shock in his eyes. He had seen the recording of the fight, but all he could see was how well the two had moved together up till the point when they subdued the thug. He didn¡¯t realize there was anything wrong with it.

    Unexpectedly, Baili Bin and Jiang Shuxuan had been in such a life-threatening situation.

    How strong would a person be, to be above the level of Enlightenment!

    ¡°That¡¯s right, and that was the reason Shuxuan got injured.¡± Shi Haizhe¡¯s eyes had a faraway look in them. ¡°After that, Miss Gu found out that the one behind the entire thing was Ennd¡¯s leader at that point in time. She got angry and pushed Wanqi Jue up into the position, cleaning up the entire of Ennd¡¯s Supernatural World.¡±

    Murong Feiye and Baili Bin were both stunned.

    They knew that Gu Xiqiao had helped Wanqi Jue, but they had thought it was for expanding Boss Bai¡¯s territory. They sure didn¡¯t expect such a reason!

    ¡°Her influence in the ancient martial arts world is not any weaker than Shuxuan¡¯s, who would dare to offend her? But for her not to disclose her rtionship with the Peace Manor, other than it would be troublesome, the more important point she made was to let the people in Peace Manor grow faster.¡± Shi Haizhe sighed. ¡°And now, the Shi family has gone and made her mad.¡±

    They poked a sleeping dragon, and now she was angry.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± The people from Peace Manor stood in a line in front of her. A hundred of them in numbers, all with their backs rammed straight.

    Just this scene made everyone else who had gathered in front of the Trial Tower to quiet down, not daring to continue their discussion about the people in front of them.

    Gu Xiqiao had her hands behind her back. Her ink-ck hair fluttering lightly in the wind. She looked toward the Trial Tower, a chilling look in her eyes. ¡°Give it your all, and head into the Trial Tower.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Once they heard her words, they got extremely excited, all of them taking out their identity wooden ques and entering the Trial Tower.

    All one hundred and five of them rushed into the tower.

    Once all of them had entered the tower, the people around finally let out a breath of relief. ¡°Say, how many floors do you think they¡¯ll reach?¡±

    ¡°Apart from the five in front, I don¡¯t really feel any strong aura from the rest. Maybe about the 20th floor?¡±

    ¡°20th? That¡¯s not too bad.¡± The one who spoke was a boy who looked noble. ¡°Although that can¡¯t bepared to Miss Gu, since they¡¯re her subordinates, I have confidence they¡¯ll be good. Look, some of them are passing the 10th floor already at a remarkable speed.¡±

    ¡°Not necessary, I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯lle out after they hit the 15th floor.¡±

    In the beginning, these people were still talking andughing.

    But when every single person from the Peace Manor had broken through the 20th floor, the voices slowly died down, their rxed expressions were reced with ones of surprise and disbelief!

    Because on the 20th floor, not a single person had been eliminated! By noting out, it meant that they could still continue their climb upward.

    The ck stone of the ranking list began to refresh, and everyone saw the new ranks that came out.

    Yao Jiamu, 67th floor!

    Shi Qin, 61st floor!

    Xiao Yun, 52nd floor!

    Wu Hongwen, 51st floor!

    Lu Qi, 49th floor!

    ***

    As soon as the ranking emerged, the other people of the ancient martial arts world were pushed down. A number of names that were unfamiliar appeared once the list was refreshed again, and they all belonged to people from the Peace Manor, and all of them were above the 30th floor.

    Everyone from the ancient martial arts world was in shock. Forget about Gu Xiqiao, since she was not the same as them, and it was fine if they couldn¡¯t surpass her. But, even her subordinates were as crazy as her!

    But, how was that possible?!

    This was simply terrifying!

    ¡°Yao Jiamu, it¡¯s the person who ced third in the Youth Ranking List!¡± Somebody eximed, looking at the rankings. He was covering his mouth, his eyes wide in horror.

    ¡°Xiao Yun, the 11th on the Youth Ranking List!¡±

    ¡°Wu Hongwen, 15th on the Youth Ranking List!¡±

    The chattering and voices started up slowly again, they now knew why some of the names on the ranking list sounded familiar, it was all from the Youth Ranking List!

    All of them were dumbfounded once the words were out.

    Gu Xiqiao was strong, they already knew that. But they didn¡¯t expect her subordinates and the Peace Manor to be also this strong!

    All hundred and five of them were above the 30th floor, among them was Yao Jiamu, who had been ranked third in the Youth Ranking List. This strength... even the people in the ancient martial arts world couldn¡¯tpare! Those who had ns of going against the Peace Manor were now shaking in their shoes, their hands and feet cold, and feeling like they had just walked past death¡¯s door.

    Gu Xiqiao and the Peace Manor... where did these monsterse from?

    People had starteding out from the Trial Tower, and the eyes of the crowd who were gathered outside changed as they watched the Peace Manor people step out. In the end, their gazes were full of awe, and none of them could say any words to say.

    But at this time, the shock was not over yet!

    Gu Xiqiao looked at everyone from the Peace Manor, her lips curving up a little. ¡°Go ahead and introduce yourselves to the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    The people from the ancient martial arts world didn¡¯t understand what she had meant by her words, but the people from the Peace Manor clearly did. Yao Jiamu started first. ¡°Yao Jiamu, neen years old. I¡¯ve only been practicing ancient martial arts for six months!¡±

    Loud gasp and chokes sounded from the crowd.

    ¡°Wu Hongwen, neen years old. Been practicing for six months too.¡±

    ¡°Lu Qi, twenty-four years old. I¡¯ve been practicing for three months!¡±

    The atmosphere was chilly as they continued to introduce themselves. The crowd looked at each other, swallowing heavily. Apart from horror, there was even panic in their eyes. These people... they had been practicing for just half a year or less?!

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Someone eximed from among the crowd, his voice hysterical.

    It was normal to feel that way, they had beenboring for decades after all, and these people who had been practicing for less than a year had reached this level, who wouldn¡¯t go a little nuts from hearing that?

    So naturally, disbelief would be their first reaction.

    However, deep in their hearts, they had already begun to believe it to be true. Just like how they couldn¡¯t believe these people would be stronger than them in the beginning, the facts in front of them were telling them... this was all true!

    Gu Xiqiao was a monster, and the people under her were even worse than her!

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Unspeakable shock had swelled up in the great elder¡¯s heart, and it took him a few minutes before he managed to gather himself enough to ask, ¡°H-how long... have you been practicing?¡±

    As soon as the words came out, everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Gu Xiqiao. The speed these people had cultivated at was just terrifying, so they really wanted to know, for Gu Xiqiao who had broken through the 80th floor, how long did it take for her to reach this level?

    ¡°I practiced longer than them.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at the great elder.

    Everyone, including the elders, let out a sigh of relief at those words. They wiped their sweat off their faces, thinking, ah, longer than them, then she was more normal.

    But before they could fully feel the relief seeping into their bones, Gu Xiqiao continued, ¡°Seven months.¡±

    When those two words came out, the entire area outside the Trial Tower fell silent. The air was cold, and you could even hear a pin drop.

    Everyone¡¯s gaze turned dull as they continued to stare at Gu Xiqiao.

    Even Baili Bin, who was sitting in the pavilion, was stunned speechless. The book in Murong Feiye¡¯s hands fell to the ground with a ¡®thump¡¯.

    Seven months, 80th floor.

    Horrifying and monsters were words that couldn¡¯t even begin to describe her!

    ¡°Great Elder, this... Miss Gu.... and the Peace Manor people, they¡¯re all just too scary.¡±

    The second elder slowly picked himself off the ground, watching the Peace Manor people leave. He let out his breath slowly. He had never seen such a person in his life.

    The great elder looked around at the dumbfounded people from the ancient martial arts world. ¡°For us, it¡¯s a blessing for the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    As for those people from the Shi family who were still tied up and on the ground, they were as white as paper. They didn¡¯t think that the people from the Peace Manor would be terrifying to this extent. Though it was a heavily snowing day, sweat continued to pour down their bodies. Thinking about how they had just intruded the Peace Manor, as well as hurt Shi Qin¡¯s mother, they copsed further onto the ground.

    Especially the patriarch of the Shi family, seeing that the people around him were looking at him as though he were a fool, his heart turned ck with distress. If they didn¡¯t have that falling out with Shi Qin, if they hadn¡¯t harmed his mother, would they be on good terms with the Peace Manor right now? That way, their Shi family status could have skyrocketed in the ancient martial arts world...

    But now, their Shi family had angered the Peace Manor, and with their influence, who would dare to interact further with their Shi family now? The patriarch of the Shi family could only see a bleak future ahead of them, and he regretted his actions now.

    ***

    At the Peace Manor, Wu Hongwen had a triumph look on his face as he browsed through The Forum. ¡°Er Qiao, I thought that we¡¯d still have to endure for a few more days.¡± He didn¡¯t expect them to be able to blow off some steam today.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time.¡± Gu Xiqiao inserted the golden needles into Shi Qin¡¯s mother one by one. ¡°I need to leave the ancient martial arts world tomorrow. In this period, you need to focus on raising your strength.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re leaving tomorrow?¡± Luo Weng poked his head out from the sea of books. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Having finished inserting all the needles, Gu Xiqiao looked up. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± She turned to Shi Qin. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, your mother is fine now.¡±

    Shi Qin mumbled a thanks.

    ¡°No worries. But you guys...¡± Gu Xiqiao stood, looking at them. ¡°With so many masters here, how could you let Mama Shi get hurt?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not their fault.¡± Shi Qin shook his head. ¡°My mom stepped out of the formation identally, and was taken by the Shi family. If it wasn¡¯t for Xiao Yun, my mom would be...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao patted his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s over now. The Shi family wille begging for your forgiveness,test by tomorrow night.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, Shi Qinughed. ¡°They sent someone over just now already, but I didn¡¯t bother about them. Thank you, really, for today.¡±

    He knew that if it wasn¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao, he probably wouldn¡¯t even have made it past the selections. And today, the people in the Peace Manor had made a move all because of him. He could feel the prickle in his eyes when he thought about it.

    The Shi family had indeed sent someone over.

    Having provoked the Peace Manor people, how could they not be afraid?

    Don¡¯t say the Shi family, even though families who previously troubled the Peace Manor had also sent their representatives bearing big gifts, and the first in line to rush over was definitely the Murong family.

    At the same time, the people at the Peace Manor finally understood how important strength was in the ancient martial arts world, and they took Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words to heart, putting more effort into their training.

    Gu Xiqiao pointed out the problems that they encountered one by one, before taking Hua Youlin to the Baili residence.

    Murong Feiye and Shi Haizhe were still there, and when they saw Gu Xiqiaoe in, looked at her with a strange look in their eyes.

    ¡°Dinner is about to start.¡± Baili Bin had already recovered, and he looked toward Gu Xiqiao. ¡°We can continue to look over the books after eating.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, looking at Baili Bin. ¡°I¡¯ve already found what I needed.¡±

    ¡°You have?¡± A surprised look crossed Baili Bin¡¯s face. ¡°Where?¡±

    Her gaze shifted to the two books beside him. ¡°The first book, page 42, line 17. It was written that in 963 A.D, the Zhuge n and Patriarch Yun, ¡®Three thousand hectares gleamed brightly, and the dense mountains surrounded the ancient city¡¯.

    ¡°So you think that the Zhuge n moved to Mingzhou?¡± Baili Bin felt that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s conclusion was just out of nowhere.

    ¡°In the second book.¡± Gu Xiqiao just smiled at him as she continued, ¡°The first page details the event of when the Zhuge tribe first came to the ancient martial arts world, and their original address was in Mingzhou.¡±

    Baili Bin took the book and flipped to the page immediately, seeing the sentence that she had just mentioned.

    ¡°No way, you can find this too?¡± Murong Feiye leaned his head over to take a look, and he couldn¡¯t help but swallow heavily. There were so many books, and she had managed to narrow down a single sentence like this.

    Baili Bin was silent for a moment, before he spoke again, ¡°When are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Why the rush?¡± Baili Bin looked at her, a questioning gaze in his eyes.

    ¡°I fear that it¡¯ll be toote.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head, watching the snow that continued to fall, letting out a sigh.

    The group of them left to get dinner, when Gu Xiqiao turned to Yi Tong suddenly. ¡°The Hua family has returned to Mingzhou, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Yi Tong nodded his head seriously. ¡°The big boss has told us to pay close attention to the Hua family. We¡¯ve been watching them since the first day the Hua family left the capital.¡±

    In Mingzhou, its four seasons were like spring, and they had countless beautiful scenic spots.

    At the end of December, everywhere else was cold and covered in snow, but in Mingzhou, it was warm andfortable.

    At Mingzhou airport, two figures suddenly appeared at the entrance of the hall.

    One was tall, and the other short.

    The taller one was a girl, wearing a light green dress with only a thin jacket on top of it. Her face was exquisite like jade, and her entire person seemed to glow when the faint light of the sun shone on her. Her looks turned a lot of heads while she stood at the entrance.

    A bird with mingly bright red feathers was perched on her shoulder, and you could tell it was no ordinary bird just from the looks of it.

    Beside her, there was a thin boy who looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old.

    Behind the two, a robot roughly half the size of a person followed behind, the light reflecting on the cold metal.

    The odd group stopped beside the gates, looking as though they were waiting for a ride. The two of them gave the impression of big customers.

    ¡°Miss,e and sit in my car. I¡¯ve been bringing guests around for more than ten years now, and I know Mingzhou like the back of my hand. I can bring you to wherever you want to go!¡± A crowd of drivers immediately went up to her to talk.

    ¡°Miss, take mine! The starting price is twelve bucks!¡±

    ¡°Miss...¡±

    The two were surrounded by all the unauthorized taxi drivers in an instant, and while they usually solicited passengers at Mingzhou Airport by just forcefully dragging them into the car, they somehow seemed unable to touch the pair when they looked at the girl¡¯s face. Seeing the chilling look in her gaze, they didn¡¯t dare to move too near her either.

    ¡°Miss, don¡¯t believe their words.¡± An old man with a cane walked out of the airport. ¡°They say they¡¯ll charge you twelve bucks now, but when you get down, they¡¯ll charge you a thousand or two!¡±

    Hearing those words, these drivers turned and wanted to yell at the person who was disrupting their business, but they were met with two burly men in ck who stood behind the old man. They didn¡¯t dare make another peep, and slowly dispersed.

    The old man walked to the front of Gu Xiqiao, raising his hand to point in another direction. ¡°If you walk down here, there¡¯s a taxi queue. This is your first time in Mingzhou, isn¡¯t it, miss? Be more careful next time, don¡¯t be cornered by such people.¡±

    For the families of these two to let them out alone like this to a foreign ce, they were sure bold and confident.

    The old man looked at the girl, then to the boy beside her, and seemed to recall another reminder for them, ¡°Take care of your wallet and purse, and your other valuables. Be careful if you stay in hotels too, I don¡¯t know about the others, but Tianxing Hotel has always been alright.¡±

    The girl lifted her backpack on her back, smiling at the old man in thanks. ¡°Thank you, sir. We understand.¡±

    Her smile was polite, and the old man nodded his head in acknowledgment and left with his bodyguards. His steps were hurried, probably because he had urgent matters to see to.

    ¡°When you head home today, don¡¯t take the road with gold,¡± The girl narrowed her clear eyes at the old man¡¯s retreating back, and softly said.

    Logically speaking, the distance between the two of them was already too far apart for him to hear her, but the clear, loud voice resounded clearly beside his ear. He turned his head hesitantly, but found that the pair was already long gone.

    The old man looked doubtful, but he turned and left in the end.

    On the way back, the old man looked at the road sign of the road name ¡®Yin Lian Road¡¯, and he couldn¡¯t help but recall the clear voice and the words that had been said. He opened his mouth immediately, ¡°Take Yan Qing Road.¡±

    Yan Qing Road? Wouldn¡¯t that just be a longer detour?

    However, the driver said nothing, turning the car to follow the instructions, driving the road all the way back to the mansion.

    The journey was uneventful, and nothing untoward happened. The old man sighed, and felt that he might have been overthinking in the end. When they reached the manor gates, a young man came out and opened the door for him. ¡°Grandpa, you¡¯re home.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± The old man nodded his head.

    Just as the two were about to head in, a figure ran over in a rush suddenly. ¡°Mr. Wei, something has happened! There was an explosion along Yin Lian Road!¡±

    ¡°An explosion?¡± The young man¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Take some people and head over first, I¡¯ll follow behind.¡±

    ¡°What was the road you said again?¡± The old man looked up suddenly, something shing in his eyes.

    ¡°Yin Lian Road.¡± The man repeated.

    The old man was stunned, and the driver who had juste down was also wiping the sweat off his head. He had almost driven the car along Yin Lian Road just now, and if he had, then they would be...

    ¡°Grandpa, what¡¯s wrong?¡± The young man had a solemn expression on his face.

    ¡°Chenxi, I originally intended to take Yin Lian Road on the way back just now.¡± The old man was pulling himself together as he spoke. ¡°A youngdy told me not to take the road with gold, so we changed and took the Yan Qing Road instead.¡±

    The young man¡¯s expression changed as soon as he heard this. He obviously knew what his grandfather was talking about. ¡°Grandpa, let¡¯s go in and continue this talk.¡±

    ¡°Yes. That girl is my savior, you have to find her.¡± The fear was still clear on the old man¡¯s face, and he had to be helped inside the manor. Despite that, he didn¡¯t forget to remind his grandson about the fact.

    ¡°I understand, Grandpa.¡± The young man nodded his head.

    He watched the old man leave, and thought for a moment before turning and walking another way. ¡°Is Mr. Yan still around?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Yan usuallyes here at this time of the year and stays for half a month. There are still three days left, he should still be here,¡± The man beside him answered.

    The young man nodded his head, quickening his pace. ¡°I¡¯m going to look for Mr. Yan, go on ahead to the airport and check on the surveince.¡±

    At the end of this road was a courtyard.

    In this ce where every inch was surrounded by golden vis, this yard was very lofty. However, the cars that passed the ce would unconsciously avoid the area, and even the honks from cars were not allowed.

    The young man stood in front of the door, raising his hand to knock on the door. Before his knuckles could touch it, the door was opened by a pretty girl. ¡°Mr. Wei, the young master bids you toe in.¡±

    The young man was not surprised at this either, as he had be familiar with things like this happening. He stood at the door for a while, calming himself before he slowly made his way inside.

    The yard was full of flowers, and there was an extremely handsome person holding a pot, watering them. The girl who had opened the door for the young man watched the sight in front of her with a dreamy look in her eyes. The man noticed the flower beside his feet that was wilting, and he gave a light sigh. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    His voice was clear, like a breeze on a cool night, the bright moon shining in the dark sky.

    He handed the pot to the man next to him, and turned his head to look at the young man that had just entered. His eyes were bright, like the stars in the sky. ¡°Chenxi, why have youe looking for me today?¡±

    Wen Chenxi finally snapped out of his daze, and recounted what had happened to his grandfather, as well as the words he had said.

    ¡°Young Master, there are still people in this world who can read the secrets of heaven?¡± The man holding the pot said, startled at the discovery.

 Chapter 307 - Pinching A Bullet With Bare Hands

    <h4>Chapter 307: Pinching A Bullet With Bare Hands</h4>

    Delxun Forest was a forest located in South Asia. Unlike the other ces, there was no surveince set up here and a line of defense had been set up around the forest. Don¡¯t talk about surveince, even a fly wouldn¡¯t be able to get in.

    Three figures were walking on the only road within the forest. The head of the small group was a man wearing a crisp, snow-white shirt. His head was slightly lowered with a cold look on his face. The other young man was walking half a step behind him, not daring to look directly at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few years, but it doesn¡¯t seem like much has changed.¡± Yi Bing looked towards the young man beside Jiang Shuxuan, before turning back to look at the shadows of the surrounding trees with a sigh.

    Thest time he came here, it was also Jiang Shuxuan who had brought them over.

    ¡°Mr. Yi Bing hase here before?¡± The young man asked in surprise, before remembering Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s presence. ¡°But it isn¡¯t like nothing has changed. Thest time Master Baili came and repaired the formation outside the forest, don¡¯t you think the trees have grown much lusherpared to before, Mr. Yi Bing?¡±

    Yi Bing: ¡°...¡± It wasn¡¯t like he was idle to the point that he would observe whether the trees looked greener thanst time, right?

    ¡°Master Baili¡¯s talent is truly extraordinary, being able to repair a formation that had been left behind by the ancient powers.¡± When they talked about formations, the young man¡¯s face lit up with worship and admiration. He was in charge of caring for the formations around the entire forest after all, and had done a lot of research on it. ¡°However, Master Baili mentioned that the method he used to fix the formation was not something he invented. That¡¯s right, do you know who the ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ Master Baili was talking about, Mr. Yi Bing?¡±

    Yi Bing nearly lost his footing when he heard that.

    Miss Gu wasn¡¯t even here in person, and there were still admirers?

    ¡°Thest time Master Baili was here, his stay was too short. I had a new understanding of formations after just a few days, and Master Baili said that most of the things he said was something Miss Gu had told him. If I had the chance, I¡¯d really like to meet Miss Gu in person.¡± The young man sighed.

    Jiang Shuxuan tilted his head slightly to nce back at the young man.

    His eyes were as deep as the sea, and cold as the winter snow.

    The young man felt a chill up his spine, shivering for an unknown reason.

    ¡°If you have the chance toe to the ancient martial arts world, you might be able to see her.¡± Yi Bing slowed down, moving to walk beside the young man who once again had a fearful look on his face as he looked forward. He patted his shoulder as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to meet her.¡±

    The young man nodded, then sighed. ¡°Your ancient martial arts world has really been churning out a lot of talents. Those who havee to the forest in recent years have mostly been from there.¡±

    The three of them finally reached the end of the path, where arge base was located. There was also a tower made entirely out of stones beside it. Every piece of stone was huge, and judging from the moss and nts growing on it, you could tell that the cave has existed for more than hundreds of years.

    If there were anyone from the secr world present, especially archaeologists, they would definitely be amazed at how such arge stone structure had been built.

    Jiang Shuxuan paused outside the stone entrance for a while, before raising his head to look at it properly.

    Yi Bing stood outside the entrance, not following him in. He pulled out his phone, scrolling through the messages. ¡°Big boss, Yi Tong said that Miss Gu has gone to Mingzhou.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s footsteps halted, but he didn¡¯t turn back. The gaze in his eyes deepened slightly, and after a long while, he continued his walk inside.

    When he stepped through the door, the scenery around him changed instantly.

    It was a vastnd full of snow, and at the end of it was a tall block of ice with harsh winds raging around it. Jiang Shuxuan only wore his usual thin, white shirt. The cold wind blew past him, but the expression on his face didn¡¯t change. His lips were still cherry blossom pink, and he walked on the snowy field slowly, his pace unhurried.

    His face was indifferent, seemingly carved from marble. It was as though the surroundings didn¡¯t bother him a single bit.

    ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± The person who had been standing guard at the ice stood, looking at Jiang Shuxuan with a smile on his face.

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped in front of him, lifting his chin slightly. ¡°Dad.¡±

    His tone was colder than the harsh winds that were blowing in here.

    ¡°From the day I knew Dubhe wasing, I knew it wouldn¡¯t be long before you came here.¡± Even though he had grown used to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s indifferent expression, Jiang Han still sighed. His son clearly wasn¡¯t like this when he had gone home thest time. Thinking back to the text messages that he had exchanged with him, could it be possible that his son had been possessed by some spirit at that time?

    He turned his gaze from Jiang Shuxuan towards the icy mountain in front of them.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze was also on it, until itnded on a girl who was enclosed by the ice. The pressure in the air dropped lower, if that was possible.

    Jiang Han saw his state, and a wry smile stretched across his face. He looked up to the empty space above them. ¡°Your sister chose this ce three years ago, and now you¡¯re also finally willing to breakthrough.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not my sister.¡± Jiang Shuxuan frowned, turning to look at Jiang Han.

    Unexpectedly, Jiang Shuxuan was still more concerned about this point. Jiang Han didn¡¯t press any further, skipping over the topic. ¡°After you sent me news of the turning point and cmity, Tengen also came. He mentioned that the cmity is ten years ahead of schedule.¡±

    ¡°Dubhe couldn¡¯t even foretell this, how is he any different?¡± Jiang Shuxuan turned again, an indifferent expression on his face.

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily true. Tengen¡¯s line is a line of servants left by the Greedy Wolf star. The things they know are definitely more than this half lineage Dubhe. Whatever Dubhe doesn¡¯t know, it¡¯s not necessary Tianyuan does.¡± Jiang Han shook his head as he exined.

    Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t interested in this matter, but he continued to stare into the vast field of snow. ¡°I¡¯m going to the Snow Prison.¡±

    Although he knew that was the purpose Jiang Shuxuan hade, it was still a shock when he heard the words from the man himself. Jiang Han smiled bitterly. ¡°The road of inheritance of one¡¯s line has always been harsh, unfeeling, and unloved. Shuxuan, I don¡¯t know what will be of you if you breakthrough.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply, only looking down at his outstretched palm. The light that shone down from the snowy sky was piercing. If he didn¡¯t break through, then what would he have to protect her with?

    Recalling the scene where Dubhe had forced Gu Xiqiao into a corner, red slowly bled into his onyx, ck eyes.

    ¡°Shuxuan!¡± Jiang Han eximed in surprise. He was about to reach out to his son, but he disappeared before he could do anything.

    At the same time, the entire vast of white was plunged into darkness. This was originally an empty space, and there had never been a different vision in almost a thousand years. Having been guarding this ce for almost ten years, this was the first time Jiang Han had seen such a change.

    A man in a gray robe appeared beside Jiang Han while he was in shock, and the man looked in a direction in a daze. ¡°The vision of the universe... he went in?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master Tengen.¡± Jiang Han took a deep breath.

    ¡°Miss Mo Li is also about to wake up, isn¡¯t she?¡± Tengen looked towards the ice block in front of him. ¡°I should also head out the day she wakes up.¡±

    ¡°Head out? You¡¯re going out, Master Tengen?¡± Jiang Han was shocked. From what he knew, there was only one descendent at a time for the Tengen n, and they never left Delxun Forest. It has been that way for a thousand years, and now he was saying was going to leave? Did he know what he was saying?

    A bright light shed in Tengen¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve felt Master¡¯s chi, more than once.¡±

    Master? Wasn¡¯t that referring to the first of the Greedy Wolf star? But he... he¡¯s dead, wasn¡¯t he?!

    Boom!

    Before Jiang Han had time to ask, the entire void space was covered with a raging snowstorm.

    In the dark space, five different colored lights floated up slowly to the top of the space. It was followed by five different colored clouds, together with a group of ck dragon shaped clouds. The scene gave off a daunting feeling.

    The two stood rooted to the spot, watching the scene unfold in front of them as they stood in a field of white, looking up at the dark sky. Tengen was more in a shock than Jiang Han as he eximed, ¡°The Ice Emperor¡¯s five chi and the demon dragon. What an ominous sign!¡±

    ***

    At the same time, all other parts of the world were also in various states of shock.

    In America, it was a rare sunny day. The sunlight wasn¡¯t too strong, but the sky was unusually bright. The temperature was also bearable, and since it was a rare weather, many people took the chance to head to the parks with their families.

    The child who was skating on ice stopped suddenly, reaching out to catch a six-sided crystal snowke, his face filled with surprise. ¡°What a beautiful snowke!¡±

    Journalists were rushing out and the big advertising screens were racing to report about the ¡®sunny snow day¡¯ spectacle.

    In France, Death Valley... the highest temperature this ce could reach was 134 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a ce where it was always summer, and no other season. For the first time, snow fell.

    A tanned skin young man who was cautiously holding a bowl reached out to pick up a snowke, his hand trembling. ¡°This... is this snow?¡±

    In such a hot ce, the snowke stayed in shape for only a few seconds before melting into the ground.

    ***

    In Mingzhou, a ce which was spring all year round, the streets were crowded with tourists. These people stopped walking suddenly, raising their head, mystified. A group of youngsters started taking pictures suddenly, and the inte was blown up.

    In this era of the inte, where everything was globally essible, news about snow falling around the entire world went viral in a short time.

    ¡°F*ck! Forget about snow in France, look at the satellite pictures, it¡¯s snowing even in Death Valley!¡±

    ¡°This is scientifically impossible! Snowkes can¡¯t possibly retain their shape while in such high temperature!¡±

    ¡°Oh my word! Weren¡¯t they talking about global warming, and how the earth is getting hotter? What is happening?¡±

    ¡°Ahhhh, this is my first time seeing snow! I¡¯m so excited!¡±

    ***

    In a small courtyard in the bustling area of Mingzhou, four people raised their heads to look up at the snow falling from the sky.

    The one called Mr. Yan looked to be deep in thought.

    ¡°Young Master?¡± The girl looked startled.

    Wei Chenxi was about to say something, but the phone in his pocket began to ring. He pulled it out, eximing in shock after hearing something from the other end. ¡°What? You can¡¯t find it?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wei, you scared me!¡± The girl red at him.

    Wei Chenxi scratched the back of his head, bashful. ¡°Sorry, Miss Wei Xi. My men just informed me that they couldn¡¯t find anything on the girl at the airport.¡±

    ¡°Even you can¡¯t find anything?¡± The girl was surprised once again. ¡°Isn¡¯t the Wei family thergest in Mingzhou?¡± Their forces covered almost the entire Mingzhou, and with so many eyes, they still couldn¡¯t find her?

    ¡°Miss Wei Xi, pray don¡¯t repeat those words again outside. If they were heard by those above, my family would be out of luck.¡± Wei Chenxi smiled sadly.

    ¡°How meaningless.¡± Wei Xi¡¯s lips curled up slightly, but she remained silent.

    ***

    Two blocks away from the busy streets, Tianxing Hotel.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, it¡¯s snowing.¡± Jiji pushed open the window, feeling puzzled. ¡°Hang on, I¡¯ve checked the weather. The average temperature of Mingzhou is about twenty degrees, how can it be snowing?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had just folded the nkets on the bed, and she turned to see the snowkes falling. She was taken aback at the sight, her eyes widening slightly.

    Not hearing a reply from Gu Xiqiao for a long while, Jiji turned around to look at her. A crystal clear tear was sliding down from the corner of her eyes. ¡°Why are you crying, Beauty Qiao?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m crying?¡± Gu Xiqiao lifted her hands to rub the corner of her eyes, startled to feel the liquid. ¡°Jiji, somehow, I feel a little sad.¡±

    The snow fall onlysted for five minutes.

    Five minutester, everything returned to normal. If it weren¡¯t for the water marks on the floor, most people would think that it had just been an illusion.

    Once the snowkes faded, Gu Xiqiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had felt like her heart was being torn during that few minutes, and it hurt so very badly.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, there¡¯s someone checking on the surveince at the airport.¡± Jiji drew the curtains closed and said suddenly. ¡°Do I need to block it?¡±

    ¡°The airport?¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes and thought about it, before nodding her head. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Jiji went to the table once it got the instruction, pulling out theputer from its chest and began to get busy.

    Hua Youlin had been sprawled over the table, doing his homework. When Jiji came over, he was immediately shuffled over to the side by the robot. Jiji turned to look at him. ¡°Little Hua, you finally have a chance to y, why are you still doing your homework?¡±

    Hua Youlin looked at that blinding flowery shirt that Jiji insisted on wearing, his lips twitching. He shoved his books back into his bag, and crawled onto his bed to watch TV.

    Gu Xiqiao chose this moment to stand up. ¡°Little Hua, let¡¯s go down for a bit.¡±

    Hua Youlin¡¯s hands paused, and he turned to her in surprise. ¡°We¡¯re going out?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been distracted since we reached, haven¡¯t you? Did you think I wouldn¡¯t notice?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled faintly at the boy.

    Hua Youlin scratched his head, embarrassed at being caught.

    At Mingzhou Skybridge, a young boy looking to be the age of thirteen or fourteen stood at the end of the bridge, holding a broken guitar, ying and singing. There was a broken bowl in front of him, and someone would asionally throw some coins in it, making a ¡®ng¡¯ sound as it did. There were only a few people who stopped to watch.

    Suddenly, a shadow fell upon Shao Ge. He raised his head immediately, feeling joy in his heart. Was there finally somebody who understood his soul song?

    He was met with a fair, jade-like face. It was someone who looked to be the same age as him, and the person was smiling brightly at him.

    ¡°Do you have business with me?¡± Shao Ge asked, dumbfounded. He studied the boy in front of him, his dressing, the golden tortoise that hung in the front, he looked like some young master from a rich family. What a nutcase, aren¡¯t you afraid of getting robbed with that kind of carefree attitude?

    Hua Youlin grinned wider. ¡°Shao Shao, you don¡¯t recognize me anymore!¡±

    ¡°You...¡± His parents had died a long time ago, and there was only one other person in his memory that called him by that name. Shao Ge¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Hua Youlin?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me.¡± Hua Youlin sat down on the ground. ¡°I thought you wouldn¡¯t be here, but I can¡¯t believe that you still are.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anywhere else to go.¡± Shao Ge ced the guitar down on the ground, chatting with Hua Youlin.

    When Hua Youlin had been chased out by Hua Jingya, Shao Ge had been the one to rescue him. Later, when he could no longer stay in Mingzhou, Hua Youlin sneaked onto a truck and finally got into the Imperial Capital.

    ¡°Why are there so many luxury cars around?¡± Hua Youlin looked at the luxurious cars parked in the area nearby, and was surprised to see so many people with extraordinary identitiesing down.

    It wasn¡¯t like this was a flourishing area or anything either.

    Shao Ge raised his hand, pointing towards a direction. ¡°They¡¯re all here to see him.¡±

    Hua Youlin followed the direction of his finger, catching sight of arge group not far from them. He didn¡¯t know who was in the middle of them, but he could hear screams from girls and the sound of the cameras clicking, so it was probably some big star.

    Hearing his words, Shao Ge shook his head. ¡°A star? No, that¡¯s a master.¡±

    ¡°A master?¡± Hua Youlin was bbergasted. With such a hugemotion, he thought for sure it had to be some celebrity instead.

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate people, that guy gives a lot of valuable advice. Practically no one in Mingzhou dares to offend him, and he¡¯s also handsome. He alwayses here on this day every month to do fortune telling.¡± Shao Ge stood up, packing away his guitar. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal.¡±

    Hua Youlin turned to look back at the fortune teller, curiosity in his eyes.

    The ce Shao Ge took him to eat was in a deep alley, and the food was tasty. They had also eaten here two years ago.

    ¡°My sister should be done with her M soup by now, I¡¯ll take you there...¡± After eating, the two walked out as they chatted.

    Faint gunshot sounds and voices could suddenly be heard in front of them, and the two looked up, seeing a bunch of people. The knives in their hands were glowing under the dim street lights.

    ¡°It¡¯s Mr. Yan!¡± Shao Ge shouted suddenly.

    He didn¡¯t control the volume of his voice as he was startled, and it attracted the bunch of people in front of him.

    ¡°You know him?¡± Hua Youlin touched the golden tortoise that hung around his neck. His strength had increased a lot under Yao Jiamu¡¯s tutge, and he knew he could deal with a bunch of ordinary people.

    Shao Ge nodded his head. ¡°It¡¯s that master we saw just now. When I was being bullied by some <i>fuerdai</i> [1st year, he¡¯s the one who saved me!¡±

    The group of gangsters had already noticed Shao Ge and Hua Youlin, and the leader waved his hand. ¡°Hurry up and grab them. Don¡¯t attract attention from the police.¡±

    ¡°Just take me, don¡¯t involve innocent bystanders.¡± The well-mannered man was usually sensible, but seeing these people moving to touch innocent people, he was inevitably angry. His beautiful facial features were flushed red, probably from anger.

    ¡°Mr. Yan, if you¡¯re willing to listen to us, then naturally we won¡¯t make things difficult for you.¡± The leader of the gangsters said, smiling sinisterly.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    The sounds came from behind him, and the man turned his head with a triumphant expression on his face. He was instead met with a delicate-looking boy who had his men piled on the ground. He was also currently sitting on said pile, dusting his hands off. ¡°They¡¯re so weakpared to Brother Jiamu.¡±

    The leader swallowed heavily, seeing that things were not going the way he expected, he started to panic inside.

    Hua Youlin raised his head, giving him a cheeky smile. He raised a fist, and the man was sent sprawling on the ground.

    Shao Ge: ¡°...¡± He was just gone for two years, how did his friend be Superman in that short period of time?

    ¡°Little kid, you¡¯re amazing!¡± Wei Xi, who was beside Mr. Yan was looking at Hua Youlin with a face full of admiration.

    ¡°Don¡¯t freeze here, hurry up and leave.¡± Hua Youlin got serious after beating up those people, and he touched the golden tortoise on his neck unconsciously. ¡°I can feel a foreboding energy heading this way.¡±

    Hua Youlin¡¯s disy of strength had convinced them that he knew what he was doing, and they didn¡¯t doubt his words. Just as they were about to leave, an eerier voice suddenly came from behind them. ¡°nning to leave?¡±

    Hua Youlin turned immediately, seeing a bulky man in ck with a scar on his face. He raised his hand, but before he could move, he fell to the ground unconscious.

    ***

    When Mr. Yan opened his eyes, he was met with a cell filled with torture instruments. The cell wasrge, with two rows of brightmps lighting the ce as though it was daylight. The instruments on disy were surrounded by white candles, the dim light from it casting shadows on the items, making a chill creep up your spine when you looked at them.

    He raised a hand to his lips as he coughed, his pale face even whiter and looking almost transparent. Although he looked sickly and was being held prisoner, the expression on his face was calm, which made people amazed at how calm he was in this state.

    The heavy door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man with a scar on his face walked in. Seeing the indifferent expression on Mr. Yan¡¯s face, he rubbed his hands together. ¡°As expected from the one with a mouth like gold. I wonder if you foretold that you would be captured?¡±

    ¡°What about the other three that were with me?¡± Mr. Yan raised his head to look at the scarred man, a cold glint in his eyes which made people want to hide when they looked into his eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry, Mr. Yan.¡± The man raised his hand, and the men in ck behind him left the room immediately.

    After a while, Hua Youlin and the other two were brought in.

    ¡°Young Master!¡± Wei Xi called out when she saw him, feeling relieved when she saw that he was unharmed.

    ¡°The Wei family has managed to crawl up to their current position in just a short few years, and the people think that Wei Chenxi is a majestic and far-sighted person. Who would have known there was a military advisor behind the scenes? The one who brought the Wei family up to where they are now, Mr. Yan, you¡¯re the one who did it, aren¡¯t you?¡± The scarred man looked at him with a mad glint shing in his eyes.

    Mr. Yan looked back at him, not the slightest hint of fear at the revtion. He was still calm, and his eyes were observing the surroundings without moving.

    His calmness caused the scarred man to tremble slightly, and he raised his hand, grabbing the nearest person¡¯s neck. ¡°Mr. Yan, give me your word that you will help me take over Mingzhou. Otherwise, not only will I kill him, I¡¯ll kill one off each day from now.¡±

    Hua Youlin¡¯s face was flushed as he was held by his neck, a pinched look on his face. He red at the scarred man, his eyes narrowed.

    Yao Jiamu had once said that with his strength, even people at Chi Induction level wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt him. How was he being suppressed by this ordinary person?!

    ¡°Mr. Yan... don¡¯t... promise him...¡± Hua Youlin struggled to choke out. ¡°This is... not a... good person! Don¡¯t... worry. Sister Gu... ising... soon!¡±

    Hua Youlin tried to give Mr. Yan the most reassuring look he could while being held by the neck.

    ¡°Let them go.¡± Mr. Yan looked at the three who had been caught with him, his eyes soothing and calm, an image of perfect tranquility. ¡°I¡¯ll promise you whatever you say.¡±

    With a bang, the man let go of Hua Youlin. ¡°Mr. Yan is interesting indeed!¡±

    He roared withughter as he left the cell, the heavy door mming shut behind him.

    ¡°Young Master, you really promised...¡± Wei Xi looked at Mr. Yan. her entire frame was shaking.

    Mr. Yan shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just a temporary measure. Chenxi and the others will be here soon enough.¡±

    Wen Xi felt assured hearing those words. The Wei family had a lot of power in her eyes, and the young master could do anything that he set out to do. The anxiety and fear she felt washed away in an instant after she remembered this.

    Mr. Yan lowered his head, concealing his worries. If it were in the past, he wouldn¡¯t be worried at all. But today... he could feel an unusual energy in the air, and that scarred man just now... he couldn¡¯t read anything from him at all. This had not happened to him before.

    He couldn¡¯t even predict what would happen next.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry you two, Mr. Wei wille for us soon.¡± Wei Xi patted the two boys¡¯ shoulders, a look of confidence on her face.

    Hua Youlin looked up at Wei Xi. ¡°Who is Mr. Wei?¡±

    Wei Xi nced at Mr. Yan at those words, and seeing that he didn¡¯t object, she revealed Wei Chenxi¡¯s identity. The Wei family was currently thergest powerhouse in Mingzhou.

    ¡°That Mr. Wei can¡¯t save us, let¡¯s just wait for Sister Gu toe.¡± Hua Youlin shook his head. The scarred man was not an ordinary person, and a regr person would be unable to do anything towards him.

    Wei Xi opened her mouth to argue, but the door was opened before she could get any words out.

    The scarred man¡¯s eyes were blood red. ¡°An army has gathered outside. You lied to me, Mr. Yan! Take him away!¡±

    Two men came from behind him. ¡°What about the other three?¡±

    ¡°Kill them all.¡± He said, his voice cold and unfeeling.

    The scarred man licked his lips and raised the ck muzzle in his hands, aiming it at Hua Youlin, slowly pulling the trigger!

    His slow actions made the person who was facing the gun feel the terror of being so close to death.

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    Wei Xi and Shao Ge shouted in horror at the same time.

    The scarred man smiled coldly. ¡°No one on the streets has dared to offend me before. Just go and die.¡±

    Bang!

    Mr.Yan¡¯s hand shot out to grab Hua Youlin out of the way as the gunfire sounded, while Wen Xi and Shao Ge could only watch with wide eyes.

    A cold wind suddenly blew in the room, and all hundred over candles were snuffed out suddenly.

    Crack!

    Crack!

    Crack!

    The light bulbs around them exploded one after another, a burst of green smoke covering the area. The whole cell became dim, but they could still see the bullet from the scarred man¡¯s gun hovering mid-air. It had stopped half a meter from Hua Youlin¡¯s eyebrows, and everything seemed like it had frozen in time.

    Outside the cell, a thin, slender figure slowly walked towards them.

    As she got closer, the image of her face gradually became clearer. The hard look made her face seem like it had been carved from marble as it glowed slightly under the dim light, and she wore a light colored coat on the outside. Her gaze was sharp and clear, and the air around her seemed to freeze as she walked.

    She came to a halt beside Hua Youlin, reaching up with two slender fingers to pick the bullet out of the air. Her voice was crisp and clear when she spoke, ¡°Type 51, 7.62mm caliber pistol bullet. A bullet typically used in military arms.¡±

    The moment she spoke, everyone snapped out of their daze.

    ¡°Sister Gu.¡± Hua Youlin had seen this sort of scene many times, and he was the first to recover. He dusted off the imaginary dirt on him, his eyes bright as he looked up at the girl. ¡°You came!¡±

    Wei Xi and Shao Ge turned to regard Gu Xiqiao with horror in their eyes when they heard Hua Youlin¡¯s words!

    They had heard Hua Youlin go on and on about this ¡®Sister Gu¡¯ of his, and had thought that Hua Youlin was just some sis-con and worshipping the girl blindly. But they didn¡¯t expect his Sister Gu to be even stronger than Hua Youlin!

    She... she was holding a bullet in her hands for heaven¡¯s sake!

    The picture of Gu Xiqiao pinching the bullet with her bare hands was something they couldn¡¯t get out of their minds, no matter how much they tried to. The scene kept reying in their minds, haunting their thoughts.

    The two men who were standing behind the scarred man had watched as Gu Xiqiao plucked the bullet out of mid-air, the light bulbs shattering and candles being snuffed out right before she appeared, and their legs shook violently in fear. ¡°G-G-G-Ghost!¡±

    They fell to the ground on their butts, still shivering. The floor was soon covered in a puddle of yellow liquid seeping out from their pants.

    Though they have killed many people, they would still inevitably be afraid of things like spirits and ghosts.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her hand to touch her ears. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Once the two words were out, the two men on the floor seemed to have their acupoints pressed, as they sat on the ground motionless, only staring wide eyed at Gu Xiqiao. They seemed to have fainted, only their eyes were as clear as day, and there was obvious fear in them.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The scarred man didn¡¯t know where Gu Xiqiao came from, and there was astonishment in his eyes. He already knew that his own strength and power were out of this world, how could a more mysterious girl suddenly turn up? ¡°How dare you interfere in our gang matters!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao threw the bullet that she was holding to the side, turning slightly to look at the scarred man in the face. Her tone was cold and calm when she spoke, ¡°Just a puppet. If you¡¯re willing to appear in person, perhaps we could still talk.¡±

    [1] second generation rich

 Chapter 308 - The Wei Family

    <h4>Chapter 308: The Wei Family</h4>

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, the scarred man¡¯s face darkened. His eyes were on her, and it looked strange under the cell¡¯s dim light. A grin stretched across his face. ¡°Even though I¡¯m just a puppet, I¡¯m still the most outstanding puppet my master has...¡±

    Puppets nowadays were also pretending to be better than they were? The phone in her pocket vibrated, and Gu Xiqiao gave him a nce before pulling out her phone. It was Baili Bin, asking how things were in Mingzhou, and another message from the great elder and Yi Tiao.

    The scarred man saw that Gu Xiqiao had lowered her head and stopped speaking, his tall body suddenly swelled up, a twisted expression on his bluish ck face.

    ¡°A humanoid Tsar bomb!¡± Wei Xi eximed in horror beside Hua Youlin. She had researched all kinds of ammunition, and when she saw what was happening, her face drained of all blood and her voice shook.

    Scarface looked at her frightened state, a mocking look in his eyes. Yes, that was it. The panic, the fear, the terror! Such emotions were worthy of a human being! ¡°This is the greatest weapon my master has given me, I just need to think of it, and everything will blow up...¡±

    Before he could finish his sentence, a blownded on his face. He looked at Gu Xiqiao, dumbfounded. Gu Xiqiao threw her phone upward in the air, giving him a brilliant smile, a smile that seemed to make flowers bloom everywhere.

    Bang!

    ¡°Like I¡¯ll let you blow everything up!

    Bang!

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if you¡¯ll go to heaven!¡±

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    After a few punches, the phone fell down right into her hands. She finished typing in the text messages that she was typing halfway and hit the send button.

    The scarred man who previously had swelled up into a round ball had been beaten back into his original shape. A ck mist which regr people couldn¡¯t see floated out from him, and Gu Xiqiao brought out a bamboo tube from her pocket, trapping the ck mist inside. The puppet of a man had been so confident Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t touch him and would leave him be while continuing her investigation, and unexpectedly Gu Xiqiao would deal with him this way.

    ¡°Little Hua.¡± Gu Xiqiao pointed at the puppet¡¯s body on the floor. ¡°Acting pretentious will just earn you a beating from me.¡±

    Hua Youlin nodded seriously, then looked ashamed. ¡°Sister Gu, I was too weak.¡±

    ¡°You are, but the me can¡¯t be ced on your shoulders.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed. She shoved the bamboo tube and her phone into her pocket. ¡°What a waste of my M soup, I only managed to drink half of it.¡±

    She always saved the best forst, and thinking of therge piece of tenderloin left in the bowl that she was forced to leave behind made her heart ache.

    ¡°¡®I¡¯ll make sure to fight for time enough for you to finish your soup next time.¡± Hua Youlin said quickly.

    ¡°Work hard at it then.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned to him, touching her chin, wondering at the credibility of his words.

    Hua Youlin nodded his head vigorously. ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll treat you to milk tea!¡±

    Listening to the conversation between the two, the other three people on the scene were still in a daze. That violent bloodied scene was still reying in their minds, and Wei Xi stuttered, ¡°Cool, so cool...¡±

    Shao Ge eyed Wei Xi, thinking that this person was definitely weird. What kind of woman would say cool after seeing such a brutal scene?

    However, when his gazended on Gu Xiqiao and Hua Youlin, he thought to himself that these two were definitely worse. Although... Gu Xiqiao really was cool just now.

    ¡°Miss Gu, thank you.¡± Mr. Yan stepped forward, his pale fingers pressing against his lips to cover the cough. There was no change in his expression after that disy of strength from Gu Xiqiao, and it was slightly rxed and soft. ¡°My name is Zhuge Yan. If you have any problems in the future, please don¡¯t hesitate to look for me.¡±

    Saying that, he rattled off an address.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°Gu Xiqiao. The army is outside, they¡¯ll be here in three minutes. We¡¯ll be leaving first.¡±

    Having said that, she turned and took Hua Youlin with her, her inky ck hair flowing down her back and swaying as she walked. As she walked out, the candles in the room started to lit up one by one, and the room brightened, chasing away the shadows.

    Hua Youlin reached out to pull Shao Ge with him before they left.

    The three of them quickly disappeared from their sight, while Zhuge Yan stood in the spot he was at, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

    Wei Xi, who was standing beside him, had her mouth wide open like a goldfish. ¡°Y-Y-Young master, you... you gave her...¡± He had given her his real name?!

    Even she who had been by his side from young had not heard his name being uttered for close to ten years, and even the Wei family, who was very close to him, only addressed him as ¡®Mr. Yan¡¯.

    And yet today, he had given out his real name to a girl he had just met, ignoring the fact that the girl was no ordinary girl.

    ¡°That boy.¡± Zhuge Yan looked at the swaying shadows on the ground, speaking suddenly. ¡°He should have been dead.¡± That was weird, the boy should have been dead two months ago, but he had been standing in front of him well and alive.

    ¡°What?¡± Zhuge Yan had spoken too softly, and Wei Xi couldn¡¯t make out what he had just said.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Zhuge Yan didn¡¯t say anything more, turning his attention to the door.

    Footsteps could be hearding in their direction, and Wei Chenxi led a group of troopers behind him as they appeared at the door.

    ¡°It really was three minutes.¡± Wei Xi checked the time on her phone in a daze, seeing that it was right on the mark.

    Seeing that Zhuge Yan was whole and alive, Wei Xu let out a sigh of relief. Hearing Wei Xi murmuring to herself, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. Didn¡¯t you stop Miss Gu from leaving?¡± Wei Xi looked toward Wei Xu. ¡°She saved the Young Master!¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking about?¡± Wei Xu scratched his head, confused at what his twin sister was talking about.

    Wei Xi¡¯s eyes widenedically. ¡°When you came in, didn¡¯t you see a girl with two boys who looked to be twelve or thirteen?¡±

    ¡°Are you alright, Wei Xi? Did they hit you in the head or something? There wasn¡¯t anyone else in the ce when we came in!¡±

    ***

    At the same time, in a closed chamber somewhere in Mingzhou.

    ¡°Boss, something had gone wrong.¡± A fat middle-aged man spoke respectfully into the phone he held to his ears.

    Even his expression was cautious as he spoke.

    The voice on the other side was calm and gentle. ¡°They ran into her, can¡¯t me you. Return to the capital tomorrow, I¡¯ve already got Old Wu to head over.¡±

    ¡°My lord! Please give me another chance!¡± The middle-aged man felt his legs turn to jelly when he heard the voice.

    ¡°If you continue to stay in Mingzhou, she¡¯ll drag you out of your hiding ce within five days. Wait for Old Wu to reach, and return quickly. There are still other things waiting for you in the capital.¡± Once he had finished talking, the call was cut off.

    The middle-aged man wiped the sweat that had broken out on his face. The boss had never been one to scare people with exaggerated words. If he said a person would sniff him out in five days, then that person definitely had the ability to do it.

    The man took a deep breath before standing up, he had to speed things up. The n here couldn¡¯t be disrupted because of him. He would wait for Master Wu toe, then he would arrange everything as fast as possible.

    ***

    On the busy streets, Hua Youlin was looking at Gu Xiqiao, who was staring at a tree. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Sister Gu, what are you looking at?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao turned away from the tree after hearing his voice, shaking her head lightly. ¡°Nothing, Shao... Shao Shao. You haven¡¯t seen Little Hua for so long,e over to our ce tonight.¡±

    Shao Ge scratched his head, slightly embarrassed. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. My house is just in front.¡±

    ¡°Come on,¡± Hua Youlin grinned. ¡°Why would you want to go back to that broken home? Your big bro[1] has money now, don¡¯t go back there anymore. You should be attending school at your age.¡±

    Hearing those words, Shao Ge shook his head again. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t bother you anymore, I¡¯m used to being alone.¡±

    He knew very well that Hua Youlin was in a better ce now, and he were to bring him along, Hua Youlin might get caught up with his issues and have a bad life. He had been used to living alone all these years anyway.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so reserved with him.¡± Gu Xiqiao stuck her hand into her pocket, her other hand running across the branch of the tree that was beside her. Her clear eyes were sparkling as she spoke, ¡°He¡¯s a rich boy. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not my money you¡¯re spending.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words made Shao Ge stunned for a while.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to that milk tea shop.¡± Gu Xiqiao withdrew her hands, walking toward the said shop that was located not too far off from them.

    Hua Youlin thought about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words for a while, understanding her meaning in an instant. He turned toward Shao Ge and said, ¡°Shao Shao, this is really money that I have earned myself. Didn¡¯t I tell you that I¡¯m a descendant of the Divine Doctor? I saved a few people while I was in the capital, and they all paid me quite handsomely. Let¡¯s talk about itter, and get a drink first. Otherwise, Sister Gu will think that I¡¯m breaking my promise of picking up the bill!¡±

    He pulled Shao Ge toward the shop.

    ¡°Wait, no. How did Sister Gu know my name?¡± Shao Ge suddenly recalled the fact that he never introduced himself to her, and he only remembered Hua Youlin telling him to call her ¡®Sister Gu¡¯, but he had never given his name. How did she know?

    Hua Youlin paused in his steps right outside the door, and nced at Gu Xiqiao, who was sitting by the window inside. ¡°Oh, she probably did some divination reading on it.¡±

    Having said that, he dragged Shao Ge to sit beside Gu Xiqiao, and left them to buy three cups of milk tea for them.

    Shao Ge felt embarrassed, and he squeezed the cup in his hands. The interior of the shop was exquisite, and the people around him were all dressed up in fancy clothes, while he... He looked down at his own clothes. When the other customers saw his state of attire, they frowned and scooted further away from him.

    In front of him, the two other people were discussing which grade he should be going into, and Shao Ge felt an indescribable warmth blooming in his heart at the conversation. He had forgotten how it felt like to have people care for him.

    Shao Ge continued to listen to Hua Youlin¡¯s chatter, until he suddenly trailed off and stopped talking, staring at something outside the window. Shao Ge looked up at Hua Youlin, calling out to him, ¡°Hua Youlin? Hua Youlin!¡±

    Hua Youlin startled, snapping out of his daze, but his hand on the cup tightened. He pursed his lips and lowered his head, muttering, ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and see what¡¯s happening outside.¡± Gu Xiqiao picked up the cup of unfinished milk tea and walked out of the shop.

    Hua Youlin watched her retreating figure, and finally got up to follow her. Shao Ge also stood, following them with a puzzled look on his face.

    There was a group of people gathered on the streets. There was an old man with white hair, and a young woman wearing a ck leather jacket. Beside them, there was a woman who was dressed in unusual clothes on the ground. Her face was pale white, and the young woman had given her emergency first aid before the woman on the ground woke up, and everyone around her cheered.

    The young woman looked toward the old man, her tone disapproving as she said, ¡°The Hua family killed a patient with their treatment a few days ago, and the Wei family has forbidden them from practicing their medical skills anymore. I can¡¯t believe that you still dare toe out to treat people. I also can¡¯t believe that other than Hua Jingya, there¡¯s no one else in your family that has talents. The dignified Hua family has fallen to the ground just like that. Healers should bepassionate by nature and have filial piety in their hearts. It¡¯s better if you don¡¯te out to harm more people with your treatments in the future.¡±

    Being lectured by a young woman who could pass as his granddaughter, the old man¡¯s face was stained with shame, but there was also anger in them. ¡°Huangfu Xuan, our Hua family does not kill our patients with our treatments!¡±

    He only dared to say these words, anything else would be considered crossing the boundaries.

    ¡°You can go and tell the Wei family yourself.¡± Huangfu Xuan nced at him, not bothered to continue the conversation as she turned and left.

    Her head was held high with a cold, arrogant look on her face. She exuded a noble aura as she walked, and everyone around was looking at her with respect and admiration. It was obvious she was well known.

    Huangfu Xuan was used to these kinds of eyes on her, but she suddenly felt a piercing gaze. She paused in her steps, turning toward where she felt the gaze wasing from, meeting a pair of bright, coal eyes. It was a boy about the age of thirteen.

    She could no longer feel the piercing gaze, but she was sure it hade from him.

    She brushed it off, ignoring the child and turning to leave. Before she could turn away fully, her eyes caught sight of something bright. Her eyesnded on the person¡¯s face. Her features were sharp and dignified, as beautiful as a painting, elegant as jade. Huangfu Xuan didn¡¯t even have the words to describe what she was seeing.

    Among the sea of people, the girl¡¯s face stood out like the moon in the dark sky.

    Huangfu Xuan has seen her fair share of handsome men and beautiful women, but they all paled inparison to the girl that she was looking at now. There was maybe that one person who couldpare... She stopped herself from going too deep into her thoughts, but when she shook herself out of her daydream, the girl and the boy had disappeared.

    A man in a ck suit strode over to where she was still rooted to the spot, saying in a low voice, ¡°Miss, Mr. Wei is looking for you. That person¡¯s sickness is acting up again.¡±

    Hearing those words, Huangfu Xuan shoved thoughts about that girl away from her mind. It was just another pretty face, after all. No matter how good she looked, she was still a regr person, and Huangfu Xuan didn¡¯t give it anymore thought. She hurried after the man into a ck Cayenne which had a camellia painted on it.

    Her actions attracted the envious gaze of the people around, and some were heatedly discussing it with excited looks on their faces.

    ¡°The camellia flower, that¡¯s the Wei family¡¯s car!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Miss Huangfu!¡±

    ¡°I used to be in the same school as her, she¡¯s really smart! She¡¯s already obtained a double doctorate degree at only 24 years old. I heard that she¡¯s also obtained all the ancient techniques that are handed down in the Huangfu family.¡±

    ¡°I know! Mingzhou¡¯s top medical family, even the Wei family is courteous toward them!¡±

    ¡°Shh, don¡¯t you value your life?! How dare you talk about the Wei family like it¡¯s your own?¡±

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao held her milk tea in hand as she guided Hua Youlin and Shao Ge to the nearby flowerbed. ¡°A patient died under the Hua family¡¯s treatmentst month, and their medical hall has been closed since then. Now the Huangfu family dominates Mingzhou in terms of medical matters, and the Hua family has practically no position to continue in their existence. That¡¯s the state the Hua family is in right now, and was also the reason why I didn¡¯t bring you back before this.¡±

    As she talked, she pulled out her phone to handed it to Hua Youlin.

    Hua Youlin took it and looked at the screen, it was an email detailing the situation of the Hua family on it. ¡°Sister Gu... This is?¡± He was shocked, Gu Xiqiao had known all along?

    ¡°You¡¯re still not strong enough, and the Hua family themselves are also not strong enough. Tell me, Little Hua, do you still intend to revive the Hua family?¡± Gu Xiqiao finished her drink, crushing the cup and throwing it to the side.

    A young man passing by wanted to say something along the lines of no littering, when he found that the cup seemed to have grown a mind of its own. It turned around in the air,nding neatly into the trash can that was tens of meters away from the girl.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Hua Youlin nodded vigorously. ¡°I hate the Hua family, but I can¡¯t let them disappear. I swore to my parents before they passed, that the Hua family will definitely not go down.¡±

    ¡°Then you better work hard.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood and stretchedzily. ¡°Let¡¯s go back, I¡¯ll write out a general direction for you. I won¡¯t interfere too much with this matter.¡±

    ***

    Tianxing Hotel wasn¡¯t that far from where they were at. When Shao Ge reached the ce with them, he was speechless. Their so-called ¡®home¡¯ was this hotel?

    When he reached the suite they were staying at, he was surprised to find a robot dressed in striking colored clothes sitting in front of theputer. His fingers shook as he pointed to it. ¡°I-I-I-I-I-It¡¯s...¡± He was watching a robot ying games on aputer!

    ¡°Jiji.¡± Gu Xiqiao gave the robot a nce.

    Jiji turned its head immediately, waving to Shao Ge. ¡°Hello, Shao Shao.¡±

    Shao Ge felt like his insides had been turned out. ¡°How does it know my name?!¡±

    Hua Youlin shrugged. ¡°Who knows? Don¡¯t worry about it, hurry up and take a shower.¡±

    The suite Gu Xiqiao had booked had two bedrooms and a living room. She came out from her room, holding a box in her hands as she turned to Hua Youlin. ¡°You didn¡¯t take the box that you ced in my room this morning.¡±

    Hua Youlin¡¯s mouth twitched, muttering an agreement as he took the box from her, bringing it to his room. He opened it to find a set of clothes for Shao Ge.

    Shao Ge was looking at the red bird on the snow-white sheets. His eyes were full of wonder as he said, ¡°What a beautiful bird!¡±

    ¡°Thank you for yourpliment.¡± The bird turned its head, replying to his praise. Having said that, it lowered its head back down, and Shao Ge suddenly realized that there was a phone underneath its legs.

    ¡°...¡±

    He stiffly turned away, grabbing the clothes Hua Youlin had given him and heading into the bathroom. It seemed that he had entered a strange world.

    But Gu Xiqiao¡¯s disy of power had already overwhelmed him in the beginning, so the shock wore off after only a short while before he started to sort out his thoughts of what had happened today. Sister Gu, just who was she?

    Hua Youlin, who stood outside the room looked at the bird on the bed. ¡°Xixi, you scared the sh*t out of my friend.¡±

    Xixi flew out the door, holding the Pear phone in its ws. It nodded seriously. ¡°I¡¯ll be more careful next time.¡±

    ¡°Beauty Qiao.¡± Xixi flew to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room, phone still clutched in its talons. Before it could get another word out, a brown pull flew into its mouth, and Xixi closed its beak immediately.

    Gu XIqiao had taken Jiji¡¯sputer, and was tapping the keys at a fast speed.

    ¡°That Shao Ge, his spiritual powers isn¡¯t bad.¡± Jiji was holding a bunch of melon seeds as it sat crossed leg on the bed, peeling the seeds as it talked.

    The shells were thrown to the side, disappearing into thin air.

    ¡°He¡¯s strange too, for not going to the police after seeing what you guys did.¡± Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers, and a printer appeared out of nowhere. She proceeded to print out what she had typed into theputer. ¡°Go and bring this to Little Hua.¡±

    Jiji took the papers from her and read through it, surprised in its eyes. ¡°You¡¯re letting Little Hua revive the Hua family by himself? But the Huangfu family definitely won¡¯t allow this to happen.¡±

    Hua Youlin was still young, and Jiji felt that this n that Gu Xiqiao had for him was probably not feasible.

    ¡°He¡¯s been working hard and struggling against the odds in society since he was young, and his mind is more mature than most ordinary adults. That¡¯s why I won¡¯t interfere, he just needs to focus on reviving the Hua family.¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned back against the chair. She tapped a few more keys on theputer to open a game as her lips curled into a smile. ¡°But if the Huangfu family dares to make any moves...¡±

    Jiji felt a chill creep up its spine when it saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile, and turned to run out of the room to hand the documents to Hua Youlin.

    After that short trip, Jiji finally understood Gu Xiqiao¡¯s thoughts. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t care about Hua Youlin by letting him do this alone, she was intending to use this as training for him to revive the Hua family. If she wasn¡¯t bothered with him, she wouldn¡¯t havee all the way to Mingzhou in the first ce.

    ***

    At the Wei family residence.

    ¡°Mr. Yan, are you saying there¡¯ll be a cmity around this date?¡± Wei Chenxi looked at Zhuge Yan with an astonished expression.

    Zhuge Yan lowered his head, using the brush beside him to write the word ¡®fierce¡¯ on the paper. The strokes were elegant and gentle, and he raised his head after, saying, ¡°Come to think of it, this may very well have a lot to do with me.¡±

    ¡°Is there any way to resolve it?¡± Wei Chenxi clenched his hands, his fingernail digging into his palm.

    ¡°Nothing the power of humans can solve.¡± Zhuge Yan shook his head, a clear, pretty face floating into his mind suddenly. ¡°Wait, there might be someone who can help...¡±

    ¡°Young Master, Miss Huangfu has arrived!¡± Wei Xi announced as she knocked on the door.

    Wei Chenxi breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Hurry and invite her in.¡±

    A tall figure entered the room, her appearance and temperament were both exuding confidence. She reached out to feel Zhuge Yan¡¯s pulse, her brows furrowing. There was only concern on her face when she spoke, ¡°Mr. Yan, what have you done recently? Why is your condition getting worse? If it goes on like this, forget about five years, you might not even have three years...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Zhuge Yan withdrew his hand, a peaceful expression on his face, as if whatever Huangfu Xuan had said was not about him. ¡°Life and death are already predetermined by the heavens.¡±

    ¡°Miss Huangfu, please put all your effort in healing Mr. Yan.¡± Wei Chenxi said. ¡°I don¡¯t care how much it will cost.¡±

    ¡°I will do my best.¡± Huangfu Xuan looked at the piece of paper on the table. The calligraphy strokes were elegant and concise, exactly like the owner. ¡°Mr. Yan, I will definitely cure you!¡±

    Zhuge Yan gave her a faint smile, not saying anything else before leaving the room.

    ¡°What are you looking at, Young Master?¡± Wei Xi watched as Zhuge Yan stood in the yard, looking up at the sky. He had been doing that since she was young, and she still didn¡¯t understand the significance of his action.

    Under the dim light, Zhuge Yan¡¯s eyes were bright and distinct, and his gaze seemed to be endless. He muttered, ¡°The Greedy Wolf star and the will of heaven are both dim, a cmity is approaching Mingzhou.¡±

    Wei Xi blinked, not hearing his words clearly. Instead, she enthusiastically said, ¡°Do you know who that Miss Gu today was, Young Master? She¡¯s so cool, and beautiful, she¡¯s even better than Miss Huangfu!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not from Mingzhou.¡± Zhuge Yan smiled at the mention of Gu Xiqiao. ¡°She¡¯s probably from the capital.¡±

    ¡°The Imperial Capital?¡± There was a hint of yearning in Wen Xi¡¯s eyes when she said that.

    After Huangfu Xuan had briefed Wei Chenxi about Zhuge Yan¡¯s condition, they walked out to hear the words ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ faintly being mentioned by the two.

    Wei Chenxi was taken aback for a moment, before asking, ¡°Mr. Yan, who is this Miss Gu you¡¯re talking about?¡± This was the first time he had heard the name from him.

    Huangfu Xuan couldn¡¯t help but turn her gaze toward Zhuge Yan, curiosity obviously burning in her eyes about this ¡®Miss Gu¡¯.

    ¡°A person whose fate I can¡¯t divine.¡± Zhuge Yan shook his head, raising a hand to cough into it. ¡°Chenxi, Miss Huangfu, I¡¯ll take my leave and head back to rest first.¡±

    The figure then disappeared gradually in front of them, and there was surprise in Huangfu Xuan¡¯s eyes at the scene.

    ***

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao got up early, throwing a few books to Hua Youlin to study, before taking Shao Ge out of the hotel. He hadn¡¯t brought his guitar back with him yesterday night, and so she took him out to look for it.

    ¡°Sister Gu, why don¡¯t you and Youlin call me by my name?¡± Shao Ge suddenly asked out of the blue while they were walking on the streets.

    ¡°It¡¯s peculiar to call you by your name,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, ncing at him.

    Shao Ge tilted his head to the side, thinking deeply about what she had just said. He muttered his name under his breath a few times. Shao Ge, Shao Ge[2]?

    No wonder!

    Shao Ge had dropped his guitar when he and Hua Youlin had been taken away yesterday, but when they arrived at the spot, they didn¡¯t see it. However, they saw a familiar figure instead. Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Zhuge Yan turned around, holding Shao Ge¡¯s guitar in his hand. The guitar was worn out and old, but in his hands it resembled an exquisite item. He handed the guitar over to her when they came nearer.

    Shao Ge watched as his guitar exchanged hands, before it was handed back to him. He felt as though his guitar had really been some exquisite item while it was in the hands of the two of them.

    As expected, a beauty is a beauty. Even the guitar knew how to differentiate beautiful people.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Zhuge Yan greeted with a smile. ¡°I was waiting for you.¡±

    [Ding! Random mission activated: Protect Wei Chenyan!]

    [Missionpletion reward: 1,000 points!]

    The cold mechanical voice echoed in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind, and she touched her chin thoughtfully as she looked at Zhuge Yan. ¡°Hiring me as a bodyguard is very expensive.¡±

    Zhuge Yan was shocked once again, staring at Gu Xiqiao with his mouth slightly agape. How did she know that, before he even had the chance to open his mouth?

    [1] he¡¯s referring to himself

    [2] T/N: His name ÉÛ¸ê¡¯Shao Ge¡¯ shares the same pronunciation as ÉÛ¸ç¡¯Shao Ge¡¯, in where the second one means ¡®Brother Shao¡¯. So she¡¯s saying that it¡¯s weird to call him something that sounds like ¡®Brother Shao¡¯ in Chinese.

 Chapter 309 - So D*mn Conceited!

    <h4>Chapter 309: So D*mn Conceited!</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t know why the system would suddenly be triggered by this person, but when she reached the Wei family residence and felt the malicious aura looming over Wei Chenyan¡¯s body, her thoughts fell silent.

    ¡°Brother, are you crazy? Getting a girl that¡¯s about my own age to protect me? Forget about something happening to me, if something really happens to me, I can¡¯t tell who will be protecting who!¡± The red-head Wei Chenyan looked at Wei Chenxi with an incredulous expression on his face. ¡°Brother, I won¡¯t go racing again, so can you not just pick some random person to keep an eye on me?¡±

    Wei Chenxi¡¯s face stiffened when he heard his words, and his voice cold as he said, ¡°Quiet! This is an expert that Mr. Yan has introduced. You will bring her with you no matter where you go from today onwards!¡±

    Although Wei Chenxi had been shocked when he had first set eyes on Gu Xiqiao, he trusted Mr. Yan, as his judgments have yet to steer him wrong.

    ¡°I apologize, Miss Gu.¡± After Wei Chenxi had given his lecture, he nodded to Gu Xiqiao apologetically.

    Gu Xiqiao turned her eyes away from the lucky bamboo that was about to wither, her expression indifferent. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    Wei Chenxi left after his words with Wei Chenyan, there were many things that had happened in Mingzhou that required his attention, so he couldn¡¯t stay away for long.

    After he left, Wei Chenyan looked at Gu Xiqiao, studying her from head to toe. He sneered as he crossed his arms, a mocking look in his eyes as he said, ¡°You actually managed to talk my brother into watching me, you must be good at something then. So tell me, what¡¯s your purposeing to the Wei family? Is it money? Or someone?¡±

    As he said that, he pulled out a card and handed it to Gu Xiqiao, but thetter didn¡¯t even bother raising her head.

    The four people around them saw Wei Chenyan acting like this, but none of them dared to say a word.

    There was no one in Mingzhou who didn¡¯t know that the younger master of the Wei family was the hedonistic son of the family, spending money like dirt, but no one dared to offend him.

    Gu Xiqiao had her head lowered, her attention on the game she was ying on her phone. Shepletely ignored him.

    Her attitude served to make Wei Chenyan feel even more unhappy. From birth to present, no one had treated him like this before. His face hardened as he opened his mouth to say something, when a servant appeared and reported from the outside, ¡°Second Young Master, Miss Huangfu has arrived.¡±

    Wei Chenyan¡¯s face lit up at the news, and he brushed thoughts of Gu Xiqiao to the side. ¡°Where is she?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s giving Mr. Yan treatment right now.¡± The servant replied respectfully.

    Once the words were said, Wei Chenyan shot off, disappearing instantly.

    Huangfu Xuan was giving Mr. Yan treatment, so Wei Chenyan waited patiently outside, though he was usually impatient. While he was waiting, he caught sight of Gu Xiqiao who was leaning against the wall not far from where he was standing. She was in a position where he was in her line of sight.

    ¡°You¡¯re such an eyesore, and I can¡¯t shake you off!¡± Wei Chenyan huffed, scratching his head. He took out a box of cigarettes, intending to light it, but thought better of it in the end. He was eighteen this year, and was clearly in his rebellious phase.

    Justst week, he had been admitted to the hospital after going for drag racing. This week, his brother had gotten a bodyguard for him. What sort of bodyguard was this? It was clearly just someone sent to keep an eye on his actions!

    Wei Chenyan was clear in the matters of his own heart, so he knew that he was extremely disgusted with the concept of bodyguards, especially this one. She didn¡¯t even give him any face as she hadn¡¯t even looked at him from the moment he had entered the door!

    What kind of sh*tty bodyguard was this, she was even more conceited than a young master like him!

    ¡°Chenyan, how can you treat a girl like that?¡± Huangfu Xuan saw Wei Chenyan¡¯s attitude towards Gu Xiqiao when she came out. ¡°Miss, I¡¯m sorry. Chenyan doesn¡¯t mean it.¡±

    The Wei family¡¯s butler followed out behind Huangfu Xuan with a respectful look on his face, holding her medicine box in his hands.

    Huangfu Xuan wore a red coat today, which entuated her gorgeous features, and her eyebrows were also carefully trimmed. Wei Chenyan¡¯s arrogant aura faded away instantly, his tone gentle and obedient as he greeted her, ¡°Sister Huangfu.¡±

    He saw that Gu Xiqiao had not replied to anything the other girl had said, and he couldn¡¯t help but say angrily, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear Sister Huangfu talking to you?!¡±

    Huangfu Xuan nced at Gu Xiqiao, seeing that the clothes she wore seemed slightly familiar. However, it wasn¡¯t from any famous brands, so she didn¡¯t bother too much. The girl was just a regr person, from what she could tell.

    ¡°Chenyan, don¡¯t talk to girls like that in the future.¡± Huangfu Xuan repeated to him.

    Although Wei Chenyan was reluctant, he nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t do it in the future.¡±

    Butler Wei smiled and said, ¡°Second Young Master really listens to Miss Huangfu¡¯s words.¡± A prince of Mingzhou, a brat who wouldn¡¯t even listen to the words of his own grandfather, but only those of Huangfu Xuan, this was also one of the reasons why the Wei family treated Huangfu Xuan so courteously.

    Huangfu Xuan nodded her head, then started to walk to leave.

    Just as she turned, a clear voice came from behind her. ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Who didn¡¯t recognize the owner of this voice? She nced back, looking at the personing out from the door she had just exited. The person¡¯s face was fair as snow, and there was a tranquil smile on his lips. His expression was peaceful, and even the sun couldn¡¯tpare to the shine on his face.

    He rarely showed this kind of bright expression, and Huangfu Xuan had not seen such an expression on his face over the years that she had known him. His personality shone through with this expression he was showing, and it looked like he was in an extremely good mood.

    Only, who was this ¡®Miss Gu¡¯? It was a name that she had never heard before, and she felt her heart skip a beat as she let her gaze fall on the girl who still had her head bent down.

    She was not the only one with those thoughts, even Butler Wei looked surprised as he nced towards Gu Xiqiao.

    Wei Chenyan was looking at Gu Xiqiao carefully, a cautious look in his eyes, probably wondering what sort of person she really was, to garner such a reaction from the man.

    Gu Xiqiao finally raised her head, revealing a jade-like face with a hardened expression. The cold glint that reflected off her eyes made them feel like the sunlight was suddenly too dazzling, and her features looked like a piece of art. Her eyes were coal-ck and shockingly clear, making their hearts beat faster when they looked into it.

    The first time Wei Chenyan saw her face properly, he didn¡¯t have words to describe it. Huangfu Xuan had turned heads wherever she went with her own appearance, but now she just looked in standing next to Gu Xiqiao.

    Cheng Zhou, who was used to seeing all kinds of beautiful faces in the entertainment industry couldn¡¯t even find a more gorgeous face than Gu Xiqiao, what more of the others that were outside this industry?

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Wei Xi jumped out from behind Zhuge Yan, skipping up to her. ¡°I finally get to see you again, I¡¯m so excited! Are you here to y with us?¡±

    Wei Xi¡¯s words snapped everyone out of their daze. Wei Chenyan and Huangfu Xuan looked at Wei Xi, who was looking at Gu Xiqiao with undisguised respect and administration in her eyes.

    Even Butler Wei was taken aback at the reaction. Who was Mr. Yan, you ask? Why, he¡¯s practically the gods of the Wei family in Mingzhou! The Wei family had flourished in the past few years because of Mr. Yan¡¯s existence, so it was obvious they would treat him with extreme respect.

    Wei Xi and Wei Xu, who were by Mr. Yan¡¯s side the entire time, were also treated with respect, and their status in the Wei family wasparable to that of Wei Chenyan.

    However, they had never seen any of the two to have such an attitude towards anyone else before. In their eyes, Mr. Yan was their only master who deserved such treatment, but here she was, showing the same treatment towards this mysterious girl.

    Wei Chenyan turned his gaze on Gu Xiqiao once again, observing her beautiful appearance. He didn¡¯t think that she was anything special, and she was about the same age as him anyway. Hm, that wasn¡¯t right, this girl was more conceited than him.

    ¡°Mr. Zhuge.¡± Gu Xiqiao put her phone away, and touched her chin as she looked at him. ¡°You haven¡¯t taken your medicine.¡±

    Zhuge Yan didn¡¯t expect the first words from her would be this, and he couldn¡¯t help but smile after being taken aback for a moment. He was used to how she could take him by surprise by now, and he really hadn¡¯t taken his medicine yet, because he knew it was useless even if he did take it. On the contrary, it made him feel more suffering instead.

    ¡°I can¡¯t hide anything from you, really.¡± Zhuge Yan gave her a faint smile, but then he couldn¡¯t stop the cough that escaped his lips. Hisplexion looked far worse than how Gu Xiqiao had seen him yesterday.

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s face changed when she heard it. ¡°Mr. Yan, why haven¡¯t you taken your medicine?¡±

    Zhuge Yan only waved his hand dismissively towards her, then turned to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Could we talk inside?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head after thinking for a bit, and when she passed Wei Chenyan, she said, ¡°Wait here for me.¡±

    Wei Chenyan felt his heart skip a beat, but as soon as he raised his head, the figure in front of him had disappeared, leaving only the trace of goosebumps that he felt when she had passed him.

    The two entered the room, and Wei Xi closed the door for them, and stood guard beside it. As she stood, she made a call to Wei Xu, excitedly telling him that she had met Miss Gu once again, and asking him to hurry back so that he might have a chance to meet her too.

    ¡°Wei Xi, you ced aplete stranger alone in the room with Mr. Yan, aren¡¯t you afraid that something will happen?¡± Seeing that Wei Xi had stood outside, Huangfu Xuan really couldn¡¯t stay silent anymore at the sight.

    It¡¯s a pity that Wei Xi didn¡¯t feel the same way as Huangfu Xuan, as she had started ying games on her phone after the call to Wei Xu. She was even more rxed than before. ¡°With Miss Gu around, you don¡¯t have to worry about Young Master¡¯s safety at all.¡±

    From a nce at her appearance and her words, it was obvious that Wei Xi trusted Gu Xiqiao a lot.

    Huangfu Xuan forced augh out at that, and left the ce. Zhuge, she silently muttered the name under her breath. This was the first time she had heard his surname, the Wei family had only called him ¡®Mr. Yan¡¯ for so many years after all.

    Who was this girl that suddenly appeared? Huangfu Xuan¡¯s eyes darkened, pulling out her phone to make a call.

    ***

    In Zhuge Yan¡¯s yard, the atmosphere was quiet and heavy.

    ¡°You want me to save Mingzhou?¡± Gu Xiqiao sat on the stool, looking at the chessboard that had been set up on the table, her fingers ying with a ck piece.

    Zhuge Yan didn¡¯t reply to her words, but he stood up to give her a deep bow. ¡°I¡¯m sure Miss Gu you¡¯re already aware of my origins. The Zhuge n was taken in by the Wei family in Mingzhou. The Greedy Wolf star and the will of heaven have dimmed, and a cmity is approaching Mingzhou. I¡¯ve already exhausted my divination, and I can no longer protect the Wei family.¡±

    When he talked about how he had exhausted all means through his divination, Zhuge Yan¡¯s voice was calm, without any hint of change to indicate what he was feeling at that moment.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t protect Mingzhou from theing cmity, what can I do?¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head.

    ¡°Miss Gu, the boy beside you had a face that reads of a dead person, however, he is still alive and well. And also your own face, Miss Gu, I¡¯m not sure if you have looked closely at your own face before, but you do not have a face of someone who will meet a good end. However, that is changing, and it seems like someone is changing your original fate,¡± Zhuge Yan exined. ¡°There are only a few people in this world that our Zhuge n cannot read, and those are mostly people with extraordinary abilities.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao ced the chess piece that she was fiddling with down. ¡°The matter that happened yesterday in Mingzhou was also something you divined, right?¡± Wanting to glimpse into the secrets of heaven required you to pay a price, and it wasn¡¯t easy to just sneak a peek at it. It would bring great harm to your own body.

    It was no wonder Huangfu Xuan came so early in the morning, but Zhuge Yan was already at the end of his battle.

    Zhuge Yan nodded his head, coughing into his hands before he could do anything else.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, good people will not die early.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up, not replying to Zhuge Yan¡¯s original question. She opened the door, and left.

    Zhuge Yan had been startled at her parting words, good people will not die early? Was she saying he was a good person? He chuckled as he nced at the chessboard. It was originally in a dead position, but it had been turned out of a deadlock by her move.

    Zhuge Yan was stunned for a long time when he saw this, and though Wei Xi called out to him several times, it failed to snap him out of his daze.

    ***

    The Mingzhou cmity, Gu Xiqiao took a deep breath after leaving the room. Sometimes, she still wondered if she really was a cmity, because wherever she went, misfortune was sure to follow.

    Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes, sending out a huge surge of mental power, but not feeling the slightest hint of presence of Jiang Shuxuan. It was as though he had disappeared from the face of the earth, and she looked up towards the sky. ¡®Brother Jiang, where are you?¡¯

    ¡°Hey, who the heck are you?¡± Wei Chenyan had waited the entire time, finally seeing Gu Xiqiaoe out. His expression was dark, and he looked frustrated. Sh*t, he couldn¡¯t believe that he actually waited the entire d*mn time outside for her?!

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes at him, a hint of chill creeping into her obsidian eyes. ¡°Your father,¡± She replied cooly.

    F*ck, f*ck, f*ck! Where did this thinge from, so conceited! So d*mn conceited!

 Chapter 310 - Who The Heck Is She

    <h4>Chapter 310: Who The Heck Is She</h4>

    Wei Chenyan wanted to say something, but thinking about how Gu Xiqiao was probably very close to Zhuge Yan, he mped his mouth shut. He returned to Wei Manor and sat down on the sofa, ying with his phone.

    After Butler Wei sent Huangfu Xuan out, he came back in with a gentleman with golden-rimmed sses. ¡°Second Young Master, Teacher Chen is here.¡±

    Chen Qing was the tutor that the Wei family had hired for Wei Chenyan. Wei Chenyan was going to take the national exams next year, but his results were simply unsightly. Grandpa Wei had no choice but to hire a private tutor for him, but this was already the third one. The first two had been beaten and chased out by Wei Chenyan.

    Seeing Butler Wei bringing the tutor in, Wei Chenyan just smiled at them before heading upstairs, closing his room door with a hard ¡®m¡¯.

    ¡°Teacher Chen, this...¡± Butler Wei wiped the cold sweat that broke out on his face, looking at the man. Chen Qing was a graduate student of the Faculty of Economics and Management from Ming University, and he was very famous. There had been countless famouspanies bringing him offers before he even graduated, and even the Wei family had thoughts about hiring him with a high sry before this. However, Chen Qing had always been obsessed with research, so he had turned down the offers.

    For Wei Chenxi to invite Chen Qing to be Wei Chenyan¡¯s private tutor also took a lot of effort on his part, so Butler Wei was anxious when Wei Chenyan disyed this sort of attitude. This teacher wasn¡¯t some randommoner after all!

    But when he looked at the man, he found that Chen Qing was looking at Gu Xiqiao with something akin to a surprise on his face.

    His face was lit up in excitement, and he was a bit clumsy with his movements, his legs and hands suddenly uncoordinated, and even his voice was shaking as he called out to her, ¡°Miss... Miss Gu!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head at her name, narrowing her eyes at the person in front of her. With her strong memory, she was sure she had not met this person before.

    ¡°You might not know me, Miss Gu. I¡¯m Chen Qing from the Faculty of Economics and Management of Ming University. I¡¯ve seen the business battle between Nine Heavens and the Bai family!¡± Chen Qing¡¯s face was flushed. He always had the thought of heading to the Imperial Capital after he graduated, and maybe he could even try to enter Nine Heavens. However, he never expected to bump into Gu Xiqiao in Mingzhou, this godlike character in the financial world.

    Butler Wei watched on at how excited Chen Qing was, talking to Gu Xiqiao. He had always been cool and aloof, and he was stunned speechless at this side of the man that he had never seen before. The butler could only turn his surprised eyes towards Gu Xiqiao. Chen Qing had been calm even when he had been faced with Wei Chenxi, so who in the world was this mysterious girl that had suddenly made an appearance?

    Who was this person, who made Chen Qing into this state, and made Mr. Yan so courteous towards her?

    Because Wei Chenyan refused toe down, Butler Wei had to see Chen Qing out.

    ¡°Butler Wei, I won¡¯te again tomorrow.¡± Chen Qing sighed. ¡°To be able to invite Miss Gu toe, with her around, I really don¡¯t have any face to show here.¡±

    The butler was caught by surprise once again: ¡°...¡± What in the world was going on here?!

    What was happening, for Chen Qing, who was such a well-known genius, to show such an expression on his face?

    ***

    At night, in one of the biggest nightclubs in Mingzhou, the lights were dim and the people were gathered and having fun.

    ¡°Second Young Master Wei, the girl you brought along this time ain¡¯t bad.¡± The guy sitting next to Wei Chenyan gestured towards the girl that was sitting at the edge of the bar as he touched his chin thoughtfully.

    Another guy also nodded his head. ¡°She¡¯s really a beauty that resembles jade. There¡¯s no one in the entire Mingzhou that can hold half a candle to her.¡±

    Birds of a feather flock together, since Wei Chenyan was a hedonistic son of a rich family, it was obvious the people around him were all the same too.

    Wei Chenyan didn¡¯t reply to that, but he raised his ss towards the girl. He had thought that people like her were not used to nightclubs, and so he immediately picked this ce to hang out with a few acquaintances of his. Wasn¡¯t she the newly hired ¡®bodyguard¡¯? Let her back down when she faced difficulties like this then! But he didn¡¯t expect her to be like a fish taking to water in this ce!

    The indifferent,zy temperament that she disyed was extremely attractive, especially under the dim light of the nightclub. Her face glowed slightly, and it was all the morepelling.

    Even the guys around him who were ustomed to being surrounded by beautiful girls couldn¡¯t stop their eyes from straying to her. Wei Chenyan couldn¡¯t help but feel bored, and he lit a cigarette, taking two puffs.

    There were many people who held their wine ss in hand around her, but none of them dared to make a move towards her.

    He had hoped to see her in an embarrassed state, but he didn¡¯t expect her to ignore everything around her instead. Feeling like it wasn¡¯t interesting anymore, he threw the cigarette in hand away, standing up to leave. But at this time, arge group of people holding iron rods in their hand suddenly came rushing forward.

    These people smashed the table Wei Chenyan was sitting at, and panic broke out in the nightclub at the action.

    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±

    The dance floor was also in chaos, people were screaming and crying suddenly. Coupled with the sound of booming music, the entire scene descended into pandemonium. Everyone hung their heads and left quickly, and some were even almost trampled on.

    It seemed as though there were almost hundreds of these men in ck, and they looked imposing under the colorful light shing in the nightclub. Even the bouncers in the club didn¡¯t dare to make any movements.

    Wei Chenyan looked at the men in ck, his fist clenched. Seeing the way they wereing towards him, it was obvious their target was him. He naturally had brought other bodyguards out, apart from Gu Xiqiao, but it wasn¡¯t enough to face off against these aggressive criminals.

    None of his acquaintances could fight, they were all just fancy looks on the outside only after all, and they definitely didn¡¯t stand a single chance against these people either.

    ¡°Young Master Wei, hurry and find a chance to leave!¡± One of them had grabbed a wooden stick with a grunt, and anxiously said to Wei Chenyan.

    Wei Chenyan hade out with them tonight, if anything happened to him, the Wei family would definitely not let them off so easily. Anyone else could have an ident happen to them tonight, but Wei Chenyan had to be safe!

    Wei Chenyan gritted his teeth, and one of his arms was hit with a pole. He fell to the ground with a pained yell. Go, he had to go! He raised his head, seeing Gu Xiqiao still sitting at the bar and ying with her phone as she drank her wine. Her position had not changed since just now, as though her surroundings were still surrounded by the joyous atmosphere of the nightclub.

    ¡°F*ck!¡± Wei Chenyan cursed under his breath, he had already said that when trouble came, he would end up being the one to save her!

    He burst into a sprint towards her, breaking through themotion around him and suffered two more blows on his body for his effort before reaching her. ¡°Why the f*ck are you still here?! Are you waiting to die?!¡±

    She finally ced her wine ss down, turning her head to look at him. She seemed to be thinking about something, and under the dim lights, Wei Chenyan couldn¡¯t see her expression properly, and thought that she had been scared speechless. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, there must be someone guarding the front door. There¡¯s a back door on your left, just run straight for it, don¡¯t look back no matter what!¡±

    As soon as he said that, his legs gave out under him. He had been kicked, and he sprawled to the ground.

    It looked like the other bodyguards and his acquaintances had been made short work of.

    He raised his head, seeing the iron rod that wasing right at him. The lights that were shing seemed to stop in this moment, and he felt like his death was near. His mind was nk, and in his mind, all he could think of was that web drama that he hadn¡¯t had the chance to finish watching.

    Unexpectedly, the iron rod stopped mid-air.

    A clear, melodious voice rang out suddenly. ¡°If you dare to bring that down, I¡¯ll make sure you die without a trace.¡±

    The voice was so very cold, and it caused the person wielding the rod to stop his movements forcefully.

    In the next second, another figure appeared in front of him. The leader of the gangsters, including Wei Chenyan all turned to the bar, widening their eyes as the afterimage gradually dissipated.

    ¡°Who are you, and how dare you interfere in our business?¡± One of the underlings called out viciously.

    Only, before he could finish his words, the leader of the gangsters suddenly reached out to p him with a loud ¡®smack¡¯. ¡°B*stard, how dare you talk like that. Hurry up and apologize to Miss Gu!¡±

    The leader threw down the rod in his hand after that, hurrying to help Wei Chenyan up from the floor. ¡°Young Master Wei, I¡¯m so very sorry! It¡¯s just a small misunderstanding between us, I didn¡¯t know that you were acquainted with Miss Gu!¡±

    Wei Chenyan and the few guys with him looked at each other with ck jaws, these gangsters were obviously hardened men, ones who didn¡¯t care about dying to carry out their orders. They weren¡¯t afraid of the Wei family, but they were extremely respectful towards a girl? Was there something wrong with their eyes?

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± The other gangsters immediately fell to the ground in a kneeling position.

    Miss Gu, that was the person behind Bai Gang taking over the world! Especially the matter that broke out yesterday, the hidden gang that killed a lot of people over the years were suddenly annihted by that gang. People on the streets had been in a panic over the sudden happenings, and the two members had muttered the words ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ when they were arrested.

    She actually came to Mingzhou!

    When these people heard about the news, all of them were afraid of taking one wrong step. The Bai Gang had mysteriously taken care of the Qingyun Gang previously after all, and also the gang that had been issued a pennant by the police. Adding on the fact that they had just annihted the hidden killer gang so easily, how could they not be in shock?

    Right now, they had been unlucky enough to have bumped into her!

    They didn¡¯t expect her to be acquainted with the Wei family, and thinking about this their legs be jelly like, and they all knelt down, kowtowing one by one to her.

    It was shocking how just a few minutes ago, these hundred men were all having bloodthirsty expressions on their faces, and now they were all kneeling down in fear in front of a girl. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change, and she turned his phone around, the screen still lit up.

    She brought the phone up to the leader¡¯s face. ¡°I had thought to send this to the police anonymously.¡±

    The leader was still kneeling on the ground, but he raised his head to read the lines disyed on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone, and the cold sweat broke out ferociously as he read the words. His heart was threatening to leap out of his ribcage. It¡¯s... those were all the evidence of their gangs¡¯ work, oh my god, that was close, that was so close!

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything further, turning to look at Wei Chenyan and the others with him. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    After they left, the leader finally seemed toe alive again. The weather in Mingzhou was neither hot nor cold, but he looked like he had been drenched in water. When he finally pulled himself together, he took out his phone to make a call. Without waiting for the other side to speak once they had picked up, he started cursing, ¡°D*mmit, if you want to die, don¡¯t drag us down with you, okay?! Wei Chenyan is acquainted with Miss Gu, and you actually got me to make a move against him! ... Who is Miss Gu? You don¡¯t know?! Forget it, if you don¡¯t know, then you don¡¯t have to know. She¡¯ll being after you soon enough, just wait and go to h*ll!¡±

    He hung up the phone, then fell to the ground again. He felt as though he just had a close brush with death.

    ***

    Wei Chenyan and his friends supported each other to walk as they followed behind Gu Xiqiao, the scene of her afterimage disappeared, kept reying in their minds, and their eyes were brightly lit.

    An unfamiliar man suddenly appeared in front of them, causing Wei Chenyan and the others to be on guard immediately. They all moved to stand in front of Gu Xiqiao, but they didn¡¯t expect the man to just ignore their presence as he dragged another person from behind him, throwing him onto the ground. His voice was deep as he spoke, ¡°This is the person, Miss Gu.¡±

    The man on the ground was still holding a phone in his hand, as though he had been talking to someone before this. ¡°Y-you, what do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I just wanted to see who made a move against Wei Chenyan.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the man, her voicezy. ¡°But I see that wasn¡¯t necessary now.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao took a piece of jade from her pocket, throwing it towards Yi Tong. ¡°Send this person to the police station, Yi Tong. And send these people back home too. I¡¯m heading back first.¡± She was obviously referring to Wei Chenyan and the others in her sentence.

    As soon as she said that, a pink, sleek car drove up next to her, and she stepped into it, the car speeding off soon after.

    ¡°Of course, Miss Gu.¡± Yi Tong lifted the man off the ground easily, a hundred fifty pounds seemingly as light as chicken in his hands.

    The man who had been picked up by Yi Tong was shaking in fear, thinking back to the bullsh*t the gangster had been spouting, the cold sweat continued to roll down his face. Miss Gu! That was Miss Gu! It hadn¡¯t even been twenty minutes since the entire thing had started, and he had been caught?! Oh my god, who the heck was she?! He had thought that the other party would interrogate him when he was caught, but he didn¡¯t expect her to send him straight to the police instead without giving him a chance at all. He blinked twice, before falling into a faint.

    ¡°That person, can¡¯t possibly be the one who tried to have you killed, right?¡± One of the guys said in a dry voice to Wei Chenyan.

    Wei Chenyan pursed his lips, not knowing the answer to that.

    Yi Tong smiled. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Hiss! The moment he confirmed it, everyone took in a hissing breath of cold air.

    The entire matter had happened not even twenty minutes ago, and the person had already been caught in such a short time?

    ***

    In Tianxing Hotel, Gu Xiqiao parked the car in the parking lot and entered the room. Hua Youlin was sprawled on the table, reading a medical book. Shao Ge was reading a grade six book nearby him, which had been left by Gu Xiqiao for him this morning before she left.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao,¡± Jiji turned its head from where it was looking at theputer screen. ¡°Someone from the Bai gang said that someone has hired a detective to look into you.¡±

    As she took off her coat, Gu Xiqiao responded, ¡°Huangfu Xuan?¡±

    Guessing it in one go, Jiji makes a clicking sound. ¡°So boring.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything further, taking out anotherputer from her inventory. The pages on the screen flew past quickly, and Jiji took a nce at it. Gu Xiqiaio had pressed the ¡®Enter¡¯ key by then, and a three-dimensional map of Mingzhou appeared.

    ¡°Jiji, contact the ancient martial arts world.¡± Gu Xiqiao said with a deep breath.

 Chapter 311 - Do You Want to Die, Or Live Like Youre Dead?

    <h4>Chapter 311: Do You Want to Die, Or Live Like You¡¯re Dead?</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Beauty Qiao?¡± As Jiji made the call to the great elder, it moved to lean close to her.

    The map was pitch ck, and it didn¡¯t understand what was happening.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply to Jiji, typing out a set of instructions hurriedly with her fingers. Jiji raised its hands, its palm disying a screen with a white-bearded face of an elder on it. Though he didn¡¯t show any outward reaction, he was obviously dumbfounded.

    ¡°Could you use another method to contact me next time, Miss Gu?¡± The great elder finally managed to pull himself together, his hands clutching the front of his chest from the shock.

    It was night now, and he had been browsing through The Forum. He didn¡¯t expect for the page to suddenly turn into a video suddenly, a colorfully dressed robot head appearing on it. He almost thought that his phone had gotten a virus!

    ¡°Sorry, my bad.¡± Gu Xiqiao had entered the instructions. ¡°But there¡¯s something urgent to do right now. You need to find Big Brother Baili. I¡¯ve already sent the details to him, just hurry and go.¡±

    The great elder straightened up immediately, listening carefully to Gu Xiqaio¡¯s words. Though he was a little confused, he didn¡¯t have a single word of objection. Instead, he stood to do as she had requested. ¡°No matter what you¡¯re nning, Miss Gu, don¡¯t forget that your safety is the most important.¡±

    If something were to happen to her, not only would the Jiang family go nuts, even the people at Peace Manor would go crazy.

    Gu Xiqiao merely smiled and nodded her head, then gestured for Jiji to end the video call. She walked to the window, her eyes gaining a faraway look as she looked out. ¡°Brother Jiang isn¡¯t in the ancient martial arts world, I need to look after it well on his behalf.¡±

    At this moment, a white light suddenly lit up in the east direction, and it onlysted for a second.

    Ordinary people would probably think it was a normal aurora, and some geologist would be busy recording this happening, trying to predict whether it was an indication of another earthquake happening.

    But the people in the ancient martial arts world could feel a strong wave of fluctuation in the air, and it made their heart skip a beat.

    Murong Miaoxue, who had just left the Trial Tower, stopped in her steps suddenly. She muttered, ¡°It¡¯s her, she¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°Miaoxue, the person you¡¯re talking about is...¡± The girl beside her was clutching her chest, feeling her heart beating irregrly due to the pulse that they had felt.

    The Forum was suddenly flooded with discussions andments, it was probably that everyone had felt this sudden fluctuation in aura.

    The great elder, who was walking on the road trembled suddenly. He paused, then picked up his pace. Before he took another two steps, he was suddenly stopped by someone from advancing further, and he couldn¡¯t help but take a step back when he saw the face of the petite figure in front of him.

    ¡°Great Elder, it¡¯s been a while.¡± A clear voice came from the figure, turning around to reveal a cute, baby face with delicate features.

    The great elder took another step back. ¡°Miss Mo Li.¡±

    Mo Li blinked. ¡°I¡¯ve juste from my mother¡¯s ce. Tell me, Great Elder, who is Qiao Qiao?¡±

    ¡°That...¡± The great elder nced at her, but said nothing after that.

    ¡°Fine, you forced me to do this.¡± Mo Li smiled, before turning serious. ¡°Tell me, Great Elder, who is Qiao Qiao.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Miss Gu...¡± The great elder spilled everything that he knew about Gu Xiqiao.

    Mo Li smiled again. ¡°Great Elder, turn around a hundred times on the spot.¡±

    Having said that, she pped her hands and disappeared from the area, leaving behind the parting words, ¡°80th floor of the Trial Tower, my brother was almost the same strength level at that age...¡±

    ***

    At Wei Manor, Wei Chenxi had returned after handling some matters. Wei Xu was following behind him. There had been many happenings in Mingzhou recently that he didn¡¯t understand, so Zhuge Yan had asked Wei Xu to follow him. But Wei Chenxi was only all the more confused with Wei Xu¡¯s exnation while they had been out.

    The ancient martial arts world? What was that?

    He took a deep breath, taking off his coat and handing it off to the butler. ¡°Where¡¯s Chenyan?¡±

    The butler took the coat, an anxious look on his face. Hearing Wei Chenxi¡¯s question, he hesitated before replying, ¡°Young Master, Second Young Master he... he went out to y.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s gone out?¡± Wei Chenxi¡¯s hand paused, his face darkening. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that he wasn¡¯t allowed out?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t stop him when he wants to go out.¡± The butler pointed out, then went silent for a while before continuing, ¡°As for Miss Gu...¡± Butler Wei recounted the strange encounter that happened in the morning.

    Wei Chenxi was surprised at the butler¡¯s story. He had personally invited Chen Qing to work for the Wei family before, but he had turned them down. He knew that Chen Qing was an arrogant and proud person, though it was undeniable that he was a genius. But he didn¡¯t expect Chen Qing to show such respect to an unknown person like Miss Gu?

    Before Wei Chenxi could think more about it, a servant rushed in. ¡°Young Master, Second Young Master is back!¡±

    Wei Chenxi raised his head to look up, seeing Wei Chenyan and a few of his friends walking in, bruised covering their bodies. They looked very embarrassed, and Wei Chenxi turned to the butler. ¡°Call Miss Huangfu over.¡±

    ¡°Brother, this is Mr. Yi Tong.¡± Wei Chenyan didn¡¯t look like he bothered about the pain he was in as he pulled Wei Chenxi over, his face full of excitement.

    ¡°Call me Mr. Yi.¡± Yi Tong felt slightly dumbfounded.

    Wei Chenxi stretched out his hand towards Yi Tong. ¡°Hello, Mr. Yi Tong.¡± Then he turned to Wei Chenyan. ¡°What happened, where¡¯s Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu has gone home. Mr. Yi Tong is the one who brought us back.¡± Yi Tong stood to the side, not saying a word while Wei Chenyan and his friends recounted what had happened, each one trying to talk over one another, the tale of Gu Xiqiao beating up the people bing more incredible as it went on.

    When Huangfu Xuan arrived with another person from the Huangfu family with her, Wei Chenyan and his friends were still talking about what had happened. Their eyes were lit up when talking about this ¡®Miss Gu¡¯, and she had never seen this side of Wei Chenyan before. Huangfu Xuan forced a smile on her face as she said, ¡°A girl that¡¯s only the same age as you, how could she have that kind of power?¡±

    She felt that Wei Chenyan was over exaggerating.

    ¡°Sister Huangfu, this happened for real.¡± Wei Chenyan rubbed his arm, he could feel Huangfu Xuan¡¯s disdain for Gu Xiqiao from her words, and he frowned. ¡°I¡¯m tired, I¡¯m heading up to rest first.¡±

    He didn¡¯t wait for Huangfu Xuan to finish bandaging him, and left just like that.

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s face stiffened, and some of Wei Chenyan¡¯s friends saw the change in her expression, tried to stifle their reaction. They had grown up alongside Wei Chenyan, and obviously knew that he had a slight interest in Huangfu Xuan. For him who had always listened to Huangfu Xuan¡¯s words to react like this, she would inevitably be a little dejected.

    ¡°Miss,¡± The driver that Huangfu Xuan had brought with her spoke with some interest, ¡°Do you think what Young Master Wei said was true?¡±

    ¡°A person who¡¯s speed is so fast that they left an afterimage behind, making a hundred gangsters kneel down and beg for mercy?¡± Huangfu Xuan sneered. ¡°Even a three-year-old kid wouldn¡¯t believe a story like this. I think Wei Chenyan has gone out of his mind!¡±

    Wasn¡¯t she just a pretty face? Huangfu Xuan didn¡¯t understand no matter how much she thought about it. It had just been a day, and Wei Chenyan¡¯s attitude towards Gu Xiqiao had done aplete 180! Wasn¡¯t he particrly hateful towards her just this morning?

    The driver nodded his head, that¡¯s right, forget about all the other things, but being able to disappear and turn up in another ce, that was just overly exaggerated. If that was real, then would that Miss Gu still be a regr person?

    ***

    Wei Chenyan naturally didn¡¯t know what Huangfu Xuan¡¯s thoughts were, as he was currently pulling his friends into his room. One of them had a shocked expression on his face. ¡°Second Young Master, say that again? The ancient martial arts world? And a noble guest from there ising here to your manor tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what my brother told me, ¡°Wei Chenyan said, taking a deep breath. ¡°Someone from the ancient martial arts world will being tomorrow. These people are capable of bringing down mountains and seas, and we¡¯ll be seeing them tomorrow. But we definitely can¡¯t offend them.¡±

    These friends and he could waltz around however they wanted in Mingzhou, but when it came to the ancient martial arts world, everything they had in the secr world was nothing in there.

    ¡°Ancient martial arts world, bringing down mountains and seas?!¡± One of them had wide eyes.¡± We¡¯re seriously not in a dream?¡± Just hearing what they were capable of was already too hard toprehend!

    ¡°Actually, the skills that Miss Gu disyed are also really really seen in the world, right?¡± One of them suddenly said.

    Wei Chenyan recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s terrifying strength, shaking his head. ¡°No matter how strong she is, we¡¯re all still normal people in the end. But those people from the ancient martial arts world, they aren¡¯t normal people...¡±

    That night, the people in Wei Manor didn¡¯t get much sleep.

    The next day, you could feel the obvious changes in the Wei family. Firstly, there were more soldiers stationed around the area. Within a hundred meters of the Wei Manor, there were guards every five steps.

    Wei Chenyan¡¯s arm was in a sling, and he was standing with his friends at the side. Wei Chenxi and his grandfather were standing at the manor entrance, and most importantly, Mr. Yan was also there!

    Even the mysterious Mr. Yan was standing at the door, that was what shocked Wei Chenyant the most!

    Just when everyone turned to look towards the end of the road, the sky over the Wei Manor darkened suddenly.

    None of the people in the Wei family would ever forget this next scene for the rest of their lives, as a golden boat flew down from the sky,nding in the Wei residence with a ¡®swoosh¡¯!

    This was some fantasy drama, right? Wei Chenyan felt his mind spinning in his head, feeling like this was beyond what his brains couldprehend.

    ¡°This boat is really too slow. If we could get the one from the Baili family, how great that would be.¡± A young girl jumped off from the boat.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even dream about that boat, they¡¯ve already given it to Miss Gu,¡± said Murong Feiye as he followed out behind her.

    ¡°F*ck, don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t dare to beat you up just because your skills have improved!¡± Mo Li nced at Murong Feiye. ¡°But how did you increase your skill levels so fast? And your chi seems to be stronger now?¡±

    Murong Feiye looked towards Mo Li, then turned to follow the second elder into the Wei residence, not bothered to answer her question.

    The ones that hade from the ancient martial arts world this time was the second elder, Murong Feiye, Mo Li, who had tagged along at her own whim, as well as a bunch of guards.

    The ancient martial arts world always had their own rules, the first and foremost was to not interfere in the secr world. If it wasn¡¯t for the big cmity approaching Mingzhou, the second elder wouldn¡¯t have bothered stepping foot into the secr world at all. ¡°General Wei, we¡¯ll be troubling you this time.¡±

    The second elder gave a respectful bow to Grandpa Wei, which shocked the other old man who quickly rushed to help him up.

    What a joke, the second elder and the rest of them from the ancient martial arts world were like gods to the Wei family, how could they ept such greetings and treatment?

    However, the second elder¡¯s behavior also served to make Grandpa Wei feel more relieved. He had initially thought that immortal like figures like them would look down on them.

    ¡°Hey, why do you think the second elder is so respectful towards an ordinary person?¡± Mo Li was following behind a few others, and she couldn¡¯t understand the reason behind it, so she decided to pose the question to Murong Feiye.

    Murong Feiye was aware that Gu Xiqiao had been staying with the Wei family recently, and so the second elder was disying his respects towards her indirectly, and not the Wei family. However, he had no ns on saying that. ¡°How would I know?¡± His gaze shifted to the young man beside Grandpa Wei. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel something off about that person¡¯s aura?¡±

    Mo Li followed Murong Feiye gaze,nding on Zhuge Yan, where their eyes met coincidentally. His eyes were ink ck with a gentle luster, elegant and calm. It gave off a feeling of a floating cloud, deep and unmeasurable.

    ¡°Give me a smile!¡± Mo Li eximed as she looked at him.

    Zhuge Yan looked towards her, not smiling but instead asking politely, ¡°A charmspeaker?¡±

    Having her identity revealed easily, Mo Li was stunned. ¡°Murong Feiye, this guy is not affected by my charmspeak at all, has it lost its effect?¡± Mo Li thought about it for a while, before saying to him, ¡°p yourself in the face.¡±

    p!

    Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t stop his hand from doing as instructed, and his face darkened immediately. ¡°Mo Li!¡±

    Boom!

    The profound energy in his body burst out, the leaves around them flying up and around them in an instant!

    ¡°D*mn!¡± Mo Li instantly hid behind the second elder. ¡°Don¡¯t be so petty, careful or I¡¯ll get you to cut off your own wee wee!¡±

    ¡°How did you know I¡¯m a charmspeaker?¡± Mo Li turned her attention to Zhuge Yan.

    Murong Feiye rolled his eyes when he saw Mo Li shift her attention elsewhere, pulling back his chi. He followed behind the second elder, listening to Wei Chenxi exining the recent changes in Mingzhou.

    Wei Chenyan and his friends looked from afar as the second elder and the group of people walked in front. They had heard Zhuge Yan mention the word ¡®charmspeaker¡¯, and one of them went online Baidu to search it up. ¡°WTF? Isn¡¯t that something that only exists in fantasy novels?¡±

    The others hissed, raising their heads to look at each other. A charmspeaker was someone who could control any living being just by speaking.

    They felt like their outlook on the world had been shattered the moment they had seen Gu Xiqiao¡¯s afterimage yesterday night.

    The Wei family were very respectful towards the people from the ancient martial arts world, especially towards the second elder, Murong Feiye and Mo Li. Having the ability to control someone¡¯s actions just by speaking was terrifying.

    So these people, who were only here for two days, made everyone present shocked and horrified with Mo Li.

    ***

    ¡°Ah Xuan, there are a lot of guards around the Wei residence.¡± The girl who was next to Huangfu Xuan was Leng Yuwei from the Leng family in Mingzhou. She had been curious about the mysterious Wei family for a very long time, and she finally managed to beg and convince Huangfu Xuan to bring her along.

    The Wei family was the ruler of Mingzhou, and they were also the most mysterious family. There were only a few people who were able to enter Wei Manor, and in the entire Mingzhou, Huangfu Xuan was the only person who had to enter and leave freely. This made countless people in Mingzhou envious, but they also knew they didn¡¯t have the capabilities that she had. Huangfu Xuan¡¯s talent in medicine was superb after all.

    Although Huangfu Xuan was also surprised at the number of guards today, she hissed. ¡°Don¡¯t talk so much, just follow behind me.¡±

    Leng Yuwei fell silent immediately, but her eyes continued to roam around her surroundings, especially towards the house next to the main house, it was surrounded byyer uponyer of guards.

    ¡°Miss Huangfu, there are distinguished guests in the house over there, so it¡¯s inconvenient to go that side.¡± Butler Wei suddenly appeared in front of them, giving a bow to Huangfu Xuan. ¡°Mr. Yan is in the manor.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Butler Wei.¡± Huangfu Xuan smiled at him, then entered the main house.

    Leng Yuwei, who was following behind her, shot her an envious look. Butler Wei was so courteous towards her, it was as the outside world had said, Huangfu Xuan¡¯s position in the Wei family was high indeed. She smiled brightly to herself when she thought of this, looking like some of her ns would have to be brought forward. Though her family was unable to get into the Wei family¡¯s good books, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to turn their attention towards the Huangfu family instead.

    Huangfu Xuan usually came to give Zhuge Yan a check up once every seven days, but since his condition deteriorated, she hade once every two days.

    Today was one of the days she came to give him treatment, but the person holding her medicine box for her was not someone from the Huangfu family, nor was it anyone from the Wei family, but Leng Yuwei. Seeing the beautiful man sitting on the chair, Leng Yuwei was stunned for a moment and stood rooted at the door.

    Up till Huangfu Xuan shot her a re, her face flushed as she hastily gathered herself.

    ¡°Mr. Yan, you shouldn¡¯t overwork yourself these days.¡± Huangfu Xuan checked his pulse, saying helplessly. ¡°You¡¯re already injured to this extent, if this goes on...¡±

    ¡°Mr. Yan, you¡¯re actually sick?¡± A cute girl suddenly came in from outside, a touch of aura surrounding her.

    If Huangfu Xuan had not met Gu Xiqiao, who was more beautiful than this girl in front of her, she might have been dazzled by her.

    Zhuge Yan pulled his hand back, standing up and avoiding Mo Li¡¯s touch. His voice was calm and unhurried as he replied, ¡°Miss Mo Li, it¡¯s not a big deal.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter with him, Butler Wei?¡± Mo Li looked towards Butler Wei.

    Huangfu Xuan was shocked by this, when did the Wei family have someone so unruly? She wanted to snap at her, but then Butler Wei turned to Mo Li and replied in a respectful tone, ¡°Miss Mo Li, it¡¯s just an old illness of Mr. Yan¡¯s.¡±

    Mo Li¡¯s face had an understanding look on it. ¡°Mr. Yan, Wei Chenxi is looking for you.¡±

    Zhuge Yan nodded his head. ¡± Miss Huangfu, I¡¯ll be leaving now. You can leave the prescription with Butler Wei.¡±

    Having said that, he followed Mo Li out of the room.

    ¡°Ah Xuan, who is that Mo Li person?¡± After the two left, Leng Yuwei finally breathed a sigh of relief, and whispered into Huangfu Xuan¡¯s ears in a low voice. ¡°The Wei family seemed to be afraid of her?¡±

    ¡°For the Wei family to treat her so respectfully, she definitely isn¡¯t some random person,¡± Huangfu Xuan replied, taking a deep breath.

    When the two walked towards the entrance, she saw Wei Chenyan giving a deep bow to Mo Li, and the ufortable pressure on her chest the past few days came rushing forward, and she resisted the urge to spit everything out.

    She wondered how Miss Gu would feel, if she saw this scene?

    Huangfu Xuanughed to herself.

    ¡°Oh right, Ah Xuan.¡± Leng Yuwei let out another sigh of relief after Wei Chenyan left. ¡°I heard that the heir of the Hua family has appeared.¡±

    This was part of her n to get into the Huangfu family¡¯s good books. Everyone in Mingzhou knew that the Hua family and the Huangfu family didn¡¯t get along, and were like cats and dogs.

    ¡°The Hua family? They¡¯re still struggling at this time?¡± Huangfu Xuan sneered. ¡°They really won¡¯t stop until grim reality ps them in the face, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    The Hua family wasn¡¯t worth her time at all.

    ***

    In the study of Wei Manor, a group of people was looking at a map.

    ¡°Murong, we¡¯ve been here for two days now, why haven¡¯t I seen that Miss Gu yet?¡± Mo Li punched Murong Feiye lightly, bored. ¡°How good is she, since she reached the 80th floor of the Trial Tower?¡±

    Murong Feiye crossed his arms, a smile stretching across his face. ¡°You¡¯ll know when you see it.¡±

    ¡°So mysterious?¡± Mo Li touched her chin. ¡°Is she that great?¡±

    Murong Feiye didn¡¯t say another word, but inside he wondered if he could resist Mo Li¡¯s words if she tried to use her powers on him.

    The group was discussing things, when the second elder, Murong Feiye, Mo Li, and Zhuge Yan suddenly stopped talking and raised their heads. ¡°The aura of Mingzhou has leaked!¡±

    Zhuge Yan closed his eyes tightly, coughing out blood suddenly. He pulled out a pen, writing down some coordinates. ¡°The mountain up north, hurry!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a descendant of the Zhuge n!¡± Murong Feiye eximed after he heard Zhuge Yan¡¯s words. ¡°She actually managed to find them?!¡±

    ¡°Stop talking nonsense at this time, hurry up and go!¡± The second elder pped Murong Feiye¡¯s head, summoning the flying boat in a hurry and the group left.

    ***

    On the mountain north of Mingzhou, Mo Li looked at the deserted surroundings. Her eyes widened. ¡°Inverse Spirit Array!¡±

    Murong Feiye and the others stood beside her, their facespletely serious. The Inverse Spirit Array, this really was going to kill off the entire Mingzhou!

    Suddenly, a ck line sliced through the air, a cloud of ck mist appearing.

    A pair of eyes that were wrapped in a cloud of malicious aura blinked open in mid air, blood red eyes exuding a sinister glint. It made people feel like they were trapped in an abyss when they first nced at it. At the same time, the surrounding area was plunged into a gray void!

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting so long for you. Mingzhou, second elder, from today on, there will be no such people in this world!¡±

    As soon as it finished talking, a ¡®boom¡¯ resounded, a powerful pressure fell on them, and the void space was isted immediately!

    ¡°Want to kill us? Don¡¯t even dream of it!¡± Colorful, bright light suddenly burst out from Murong Feiye, transforming into a multicolored phoenix!

    ¡°The Five Elements of Truth?¡± The pair of eyes paused. ¡°It¡¯s the real thing. It¡¯s a pity that you¡¯re going to die just shortly after starting to practice it!¡±

    ck mes collide with the colorful ray of lights, and the entire void space shook from the impact.

    Boom!

    Blood gushed out from Murong Feiye¡¯s mouth, and he was forced to take a step back. ¡°Five Elements of Sealing!¡±

    At the same time, the second elder and the guards from the ancient martial arts world had alreadypleted their own formation. The chi of these people gathered and solidified into a ten-meter long sword, mixed with the might of the world, its path was unpredictable.

    ¡°As expected of a formation created by Miss Gu, this is amazing!¡± The second elder was more determined and confident after feeling the power emanating from the sword. The awe he felt towards Gu Xiqiao had also increased.

    ¡°The people in the ancient martial arts world have improved this time.¡± The pair of blood-red eyes rolled in the ck mist. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    The air became violent in the void space, and the sword showed signs of cracking from the wind pressure.

    ¡°Miss Mo Li, hurry!¡± The second elder looked towards Mo Li anxiously, they needed her to buy them time.

    Mo Li looked coldly towards the red eyes, opening her mouth, ¡°You, I want you to stop everything!¡±

    The surging winds halted for a moment, but before Mo Li and everyone could rx, it suddenly surged up even more violently than before. The long sword was crushed instantly, their strongest technique shattered at that moment. Despair appeared on the second elder¡¯s face.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have a soul!¡± Mo Li shouted in horror.

    ¡°Your charmspeak doesn¡¯t work on me.¡± The blood-red eyes sneered. ¡°You will all pay for the death of my seventh sister! Die!¡±

    ¡°Die!¡±

    ¡°Die!¡±

    The word echoed loudly in everyone¡¯s mind, feeling like it would shatter their sea spirit!

    ¡°Even if I die, I¡¯ll bring you down with me!¡± Murong Feiye gritted his teeth, colorful aura swirling around his body. ¡°Second Elder, Mo Li, get away!¡±

    The energy around his body surged up once again!

    The colorful rays brightened, its brilliance illuminating the entire space!

    ¡°He¡¯s self-destructing!¡± The second elder¡¯s eyes had turned red.

    Mo Li lifted her head, blue sparks on her fingertips. ¡°It¡¯s useless, this is a monster whose strength exceeds the level of Enlightenment. We won¡¯t be able to escape. I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯ll be going back just after I got out. If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll just go all out!¡±

    ¡°Even if I die, I¡¯ll bring you down with me, monster!¡±

    Everyone, the second elder, Mo Li, and the weakened guards, all used theirst, strongest moves at the same time!

    The few people gathered together, the profound energy swirling around them, gaining momentum as it continued to surge.

    The violent wind raged in the entire void space!

    The brilliant rays on Murong Feiye¡¯s body had risen to its peak, and all thoughts were gone from his head. He looked up, his eyes meeting those sinister blood red ones. It¡¯s time to die...

    Crack!

    The space in front of him suddenly cracked, bursting open.

    Boom!

    Purple lightning struck down from the sky, splitting the void space open!

    The entire void space copses in an instant!

    A pair of slender, white hands grabbed the crack, tearing it open!

    The surging winds calmed down in that moment, and the terrifying mental power that had filled the void space also died down, and all was terrifyingly quiet.

    The colorful energy around Murong Feiye also vanished, and he looked up in a daze at the in, slender figure that walked through the crack in space.

    Mo Li, the second elder, and everyone else forgot to breathe as they watched the figure!

    They would never forget this scene for the rest of their life. Using her bare hands to tear open a crack in space, was there anything else more terrifying than this?!

    The figure stood in mid-air, purple lightning crackling above her head, the pretty color reflected off her snow-white face. A cold glint could be seen in her calm, clear eyes as she looked calmly at the sinister blood-red eyes. She opened her mouth, her tonezy, ¡°Do you want to die, or live like you¡¯re dead?¡±

 Chapter 312 - Ill Beat Up Every Single One Of You Who Comes!

    <h4>Chapter 312: I¡¯ll Beat Up Every Single One Of You Who Comes!</h4>

    ¡°I know you, you¡¯re the current number one in the Youth Ranking List. Just nice, you¡¯re also the first on my to-kill list.¡± ck, malicious aura poured out from the pair of blood-red eyes, everyyer it spurted out felt strong enough to smash the sky and earth.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity that you¡¯re only at Houtian level, it¡¯s considered an honor to die by my hands either way!¡±

    The red eyes that had been shrouded in ck mist instantly transformed into a tall entity. His huge feet stepped onto the mountain with a boom, reducing it to powder immediately.

    The terrifying pressure that exuded from the entity came ramming right into the others who were standing there. Murong Feiye and the rest were forced to their knees, blood flowing out from the corners of their mouth from the impact. They struggled to raise their heads, wanting to give warnings to Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been cultivating for so many years, and have already broken through the realm of Enlightenment! I¡¯m not someone who a person like you can contend with!¡± The blood-red eyes were filled with madness, cultivating for a few thousand years anding out boldly at this moment, it was for the sake of taking over the world.

    The genius of the ancient martial arts world who was standing in front of him would serve as his first battle after thousands of years of silence. This was the moment he, Xue Tong had been waiting for!

    There was nothing that could patch the difference in their levels at this moment, he was already beyond the realm of Enlightenment, while Gu Xiqiao was still at Houtian level. She would never be able to match his powers, no matter how high she climbed, Xue Tong thought to himself as he smiled coldly towards Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Xue Tong suddenly stopped in his steps, looking at Gu Xiqiao with shock in his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental power was rising to rming heights. She had been honing her mental powers in virtual space for so long, even Jiji didn¡¯t know what her limits were. At this moment, everything she had was pouring out, scattering Xue Tong¡¯s pressure that he had in the air.

    It was a collision of mental power and aura pressure!

    It directly tore a crack in space, enough to shatter any person who stood in that area!

    Murong Feiye and the rest only felt like their bodies had lightened up, and they picked themselves up from the ground easily. They stared at Gu Xiqiao with a dumbfounded expression on their faces, and mouth slightly agape.

    ¡°She¡¯s obviously only at Houtian level, how can she be exuding pressure from her body that¡¯sparable to someone beyond the Enlightenment realm?!¡± Mo Li eximed, a hint of terror in her voice.

    Even if this was a higher level challenge, things didn¡¯t go like this usually, okay!

    This was the first time Mo Li had the chance to see Gu Xiqiao, and she was shocked to her core by the scene in front of her. Forget about the fact that Mo Li was seeing her for the first time, Murong Feiye and the second elder was more in shock than her!

    When the second elder had seen Gu Xiqiao in the Elders Association previously, he already knew that she was already strong enough. But today, it seemed like she had surpassed her limits, and gotten even stronger?!

    Even viins and monsters couldn¡¯t deliver such crippling mental blows to people like this!

    And yet...

    That was far from the end of the bombshell that Gu Xiqiao was giving them!

    With an ear-piercing shriek, a massive ming red bird appeared suddenly, the temperature in the area shooting up with its appearance.

    ¡°A fully formed phoenix?¡± Xue Tong¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Didn¡¯t you already die?!¡±

    ¡°The Vermillion Bird, it¡¯s actually the Vermillion Bird?!¡± Mo Li¡¯s eyes wereically wide as she stared at the ming bird standing next to Gu Xiqiao, the disbelief clear in them. Before she could say another word, she suddenly felt her vision swimming.

    The ce they were in suddenly became a void space. Everyone present all had sufficient strength and power, and they had all been in the Trial Tower before, immediately recognizing the change in the timeflow in their bodies. How could they not know what this was? This was Cyberspace!

    The second elder and the others looked towards Xue Tong, finding there was also a look of horror on his face. They stiffly turned to Gu Xiqiao, feeling like they had lost their tongues as words failed them. This... it couldn¡¯t be possible that this Cyberspace was hers?!

    ¡°Holy sh*t!¡± Mo Li felt her entire view of the world being shattered in just these few minutes. Where in the world did this monster-like persone from?!

    She had thought herself to be abnormal enough, but she didn¡¯t expect someone even more out of this world than her toe along. Mo Li¡¯s mouth had yet to be closed ever since she had been caught off guard the first time.

    How old, how old was this girl! How is it that she was so insanely strong?!

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Thick bolts of purple lightning crashed down, splitting the sky and thundering in their ears. Mo Li trembled from the sounds and impact, her eyes widening in rm as the lightning came down directly on Xue Tong.

    The shock hade one after another, and Mo Li had already lost the ability to think clearly after receiving so many consecutive jolts.

    The thought that suddenly entered Mo Li¡¯s head when the lightning struck down was¡ªWould it hurt a lot?

    Murong Feiye and the rest, who had initially thought this was where they would die, finally felt relief coursed through them. Yes, Xue Tong had said himself that he had been cultivating for thousands of years, and his strength had gone beyond anything they ever saw. If they had shed in the past, Murong Feiye and the rest would definitely be scared stiff and horrified.

    But it was different now, when Gu Xiqiao was right in front there! The strength that she disyed was clearly not any inferior to his!

    ¡°You... how did you learn this?!¡± Xue Tong¡¯s voice was filled with horror now. He braced himself and also getting ready to dodge, knowing that it would take all the strength he had to resist the thunder.

    However, this was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Cyberspace. The entire space was her territory!

    With just a thought in her mind, she instantly suppressed his speed, and the thunder went crashing towards the ck figure.

    At the same time, pure mes burst out from Xixi¡¯s beak, burning the malicious aura that surrounded them.

    The cracks in the space were getting bigger, and you could practically feel the devastating energy that could destroy everything within a hundred meters away.

    The crackling thunder collided with the ck figure, exploding instantly!

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the blood-red eyes that were no longer shrouded in ck mist, narrowing her eyes as she snorted coldly. ¡°You¡¯re still trying to run?!¡±

    The purple lightning cracked and formed a handshape, grabbing Xue Tong, who was about to make his escape. ¡°What rank are you? Boss, your intelligence is deplorable. Then again, all your brains probably could use more studying. Last time, your seventh sister wanted to use this trap to target the people from the ancient martial arts world. Using it once was enough, I can¡¯t believe you tried to use the same thing again.¡±

    ¡°My seventh sister? You¡¯re the one who killed her!¡± Xue Tong struggled, trying to get loose. He was looking at Gu Xiqiao, there was no more hatred in his eyes, it had been reced with panic instead.

    His seventh sister and himself had been destroyed by this pair of hands, the person holding him... terrifying was a word that couldn¡¯t even begin to describe her!

    Fifth brother! There was still a fifth brother!

    You can¡¯te to Mingzhou! Don¡¯te and carry out your ns here!

    This person was too lunatic! For her to rush over in time, she must have known about their ns from the beginning. He had thought that the people from the ancient martial arts world were all stupid, none of them finding out about their conspiration for such a long time. Now that he thought about it, she may have found out a long time ago, and was just biding her time, waiting for him to get trapped in her!

    She allowed the group of people from the ancient martial arts world toe over, it was probably... to train those bunch of people!

    Xue Tong trembled violently when he reached this conclusion, when had such a person appeared in the ancient martial arts world? To be able to calcte everything to this extent?

    If that was the case, then... Fifth Brother! Fifth Brother!

    Xue Tong panicked and struggled harder, doing his best to try and send a mental message to his fifth brother, but he felt his consciousness gradually fading away.

    ¡°Do you know what the consequences of sinning are?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled as she looked at Xue Tong. ¡°Don¡¯t even think of sending any messages. I¡¯ll kill every single one of you whoes after Mingzhou!¡± Her eyes narrowed slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can just do whatever you want to do, just because Brother Jiang isn¡¯t around.¡±

    Her voice was light and fluttery, but it left arge impact on Xue Tong, and he fainted with terror still felt throughout his entire being!

    A white light shed in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, and a bamboo tube appeared out of thin air. The purple crackling hand shape squeezed Xue Tong, condensing him into a ck, malicious aura that was shoved into the tube Gu Xiqiao was holding.

    The ferocious, terrifying Xue Tong had been reduced to a mass of malicious spirits, and shoved into a broken old bamboo tube just like that.

    The entire space was silent.

    Murong Feiye, the second elder, Mo Li as well as the guards were all rooted to the spot, a stupefied expression on their faces.

    Even though they had thought that Gu Xiqiao would be able to beat Xue Tong, they were still in a disbelief state, as though they were still in a dream or nightmare.

    A girl who wasn¡¯t even twenty years of age, had shoved this thousand-year-old demon into the mud.

    How was that possible?!

    It was scary, extremely terrifying!

    The second elder felt that these words kepting up after meeting with Gu Xiqiao, and they were his go-to words when it came to her. From the time the shocking incident with Peace Manor had happened, he felt that Gu Xiqiao was definitely going to overturn the entire ancient martial arts world.

    Gu Xiqiao would shatter his perfect view of the world every time they met, and every time he felt that she had reached her limits, she would surpass it once again, making him feel like what he saw each time was just the tip of the iceberg.

    How did this monster even train and cultivate her skills? Even riding a rocket wouldn¡¯t be able to match her speed, right?!

    The second elder touched his chest, before reaching into his pockets to pull out a Buddhist scripture.

    Fortunately, he had the foresight to bring it with him. Knowing earlier that Gu Xiqiao was in Mingzhou, he had deliberately packed his book when he came!

    Gu Xiqiao tossed the bamboo tube up in the air a few times, the aura from her body receding, the terrifying mental power that was in the air, as well as Cyberspace disappearing as well.

    Xixi shrank down at that moment too, settling down at his usual perch on her shoulder.

    The only difference once everything dispersed was, the initially great big mountain had now been reduced to a t ground.

    [Ding! Congrattions onpleting the mission. The system has rewarded you 20,000 points!]

    Oh? That was an unexpected surprise. Now was a time where she was severelycking in points, she thought, as slender fingers continued to y with the bamboo tube. Gu Xiqiao nced to the now t ground, feeling a headache starting to build up. This... how were they going to exin this to the public?

    Earthquake?

    She turned around slowly, a jade-like face appearing in everyone¡¯s view. This beautiful, snow-white face had appeared suddenly in the void space, resembling a light in their darkest hour. No one was able to reconcile this face that was as pretty as a picture to the terrifying image of a person that had wiped their opponent out so easily just a few minutes ago.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    The guard from the ancient martial arts world seemed to have gone out of their minds, shouting her name one after another!

    These people had already gone crazy when Gu Xiqiao had rushed up to the top spot in the Youth Ranking List in such a short time during the selection in Bahuang Forest, but this earth-shattering battle that had taken ce right in front of their eyes hadpletely opened their eyes and convinced them, and continuously shouting her name over and over was the only way they could think of expressing the overwhelming feelings they were feeling inside!

    ¡°Second Elder.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡°I underestimated my power, so the ce has be this state.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it, I¡¯ll take care of it!¡± The second elder said hurriedly.

    By now, he was well acquainted with the people from Peace Manor, used to them beating him every time they fought. At the same time, he had also heard something about Gu Xiqiao from them, and that was she... this girl was incrediblyzy!

    That was why, before Gu Xiqiao had opened her mouth, he already had the thought of taking matters into his own hands.

    ¡°Thanks very much then.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled, her face so bright it was hard to look at it directly. ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡±

    She snapped her fingers, disappearing instantly from view.

    Three minutester, shouts came from the people who were still rooted to the spot.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t take a video!¡±

    ¡°Ahhh! How could she just leave like that!¡± Mo Li jumped, finally snapping out of her daze.

    Murong Feiye was feeling slightly appreciative of the battle, touching his chest, he felt as though he was on the verge of breaking through. Hearing Mo Li¡¯s words, he raised his head andughed. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to have a match against her when you first came back?¡±

    ¡°... F*ck. How would I dare?¡± Mo Li sighed heavily, gesturing with her hands. ¡°She¡¯d just... use that one thunderbolt and I¡¯d be dead!¡±

    Fighting against Gu Xiqiao? Mo Li shuddered at the thought, ashamed of all those bold, haughty words that she had been throwing around before this!

    How can she beat such a fearsome person?! It¡¯s better not to send yourself and beg for a beating!

    Mo Li was obviously still self-aware. ¡°But, I wonder if she¡¯d be affected by my charmspeak?¡± She was quite curious about this matter.

    ¡°You want to try controlling a monster with such huge reserves of mental power?¡± Murong Feiye patted her on the shoulder when he heard her words. ¡°Good luck, I have faith in you!¡±

    ¡°...¡± Then again, thinking of the rming amount of mental power that had poured out from Gu Xiqiao just now, she wilted at the thought of even trying.

    ¡°Elder, what the heck are you doing?¡± Once Mo Li had gathered herself together, she turned around, hearing consistent streams of murmuring from behind them.

    Murong Feiye nced at the second elder, saying faintly, ¡°Don¡¯t disturb him, Second Elder is reciting scriptures.¡± The bunch of elders had been driven to recite scriptures every day by things that Gu Xiqiao did after all, and if it wasn¡¯t something she had done, then it was the people from Peace Manor.

    Thinking about that, Murong Feiye felt that he shouldn¡¯t be alone in his shock.

    And so he posted it on The Forum for the entire ancient martial arts world to share.

    And the result was as he had imagined¡ªThe entire ancient martial arts world exploded at the post.

 Chapter 313 - Would You Dare Anger Her?

    <h4>Chapter 313: Would You Dare Anger Her?</h4>

    Pictures of the lightning bolt that was as thick as a barrel striking down were taken by people from the ancient martial arts world, and the energy that pulsed from that single lightning bolt was enough to be felt all the way in the Imperial Capital. As the spectators watched, they mused internally and prayed for whichever poor soul the heavenly path was striking down.

    The next moment, the entire ancient martial arts world was shaken to their feet by a certain post by Murong Feiye.

    Murong Feiye himself was so astonished by Gu Xiqiao that he only managed to react in time to take a ten-second video, but almost everyone used more than ten minutes to process the video ¡ª They were shocked stiff!

    The thick lightning bolt crashed down and ripped a hole in the fabric of space itself, and whoever watched the video could feel how absolutely terrifying the aura wafting off the youngdy was.

    The violet lightning crackled threateningly as the thin silhouette stood there, her features lit up by the lightning, and even though she was minusculepared to the bolt of lightning and the energy vortex, but she was no less terrifying!

    Many people recognized her immediately, and¡ª

    ¡°It¡¯s Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°I thought this was caused by the heaven¡¯s will, but it was Miss Gu! I should have guessed it was her!¡±

    ¡°She f*cking became stronger again!!!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s from our ancient martial arts world!¡±

    ¡°Only Miss Gu would be able to cause such amotion!¡±

    The ancient martial arts world prioritized and respected strength over everything else, especially someone that was so terrifyingly strong!

    ¡°We can¡¯t be the only ones that get to see this, we should share!¡± Someone immediately sent this video abroad.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in America.

    The leader of America was in the middle of a meeting with the leaders of the superpowered forces when he suddenly got a call. Knowing that this call was from his personal assistant that would never kid with a situation such a this, he excused himself to ept the call.

    ¡°Leader, watch this video and you¡¯ll understand!¡± The leader was quite puzzled as to why his voice was trembling, but he didn¡¯t think much of it as he tapped on the video to y it.

    After ten minutes, the leader re-entered the meeting room.

    ¡°America will be pulling out from this operation.¡± He spoke as he sat down on his seat, and the operation in mention was nned by the forces from Japan tobat the ancient martial arts world.

    This operation was exactly the reason why they called a meeting on that day.

    As soon as he said this, the representative from Japan furrowed his brows in displeasure. ¡°Are you crazy? Now that Jiang Shuxuan isn¡¯t in the ancient martial arts world, the world is our oyster! Are you going to watch as those Chinese take up all the resources? All of the resources that we getbined don¡¯t even amount to half of theirs!¡±

    This leader was going senile! Was he going to just let his forces dwindle away?

    ¡°Crazy? You¡¯re the one that¡¯s the crazy one here!¡± The American leader raised his hand, and the video from earlier yed on therge screen behind him.

    It was an extremely short video, but it almost made the representative from Japan choke as he stared in wide-eyed shock at the screen, not being able to say anything for a long while, and the other representatives in the room weren¡¯t doing much better either!

    Their first reaction was that this was a fake video! How could someone be as strong as this? It just wasn¡¯t possible!

    Such a thought was quickly batted away¡ªWho would be able to fake such power?

    Seeing their reactions, the American leader stood up and adjusted his suit before saying, ¡°Good luck with giving pressure to those people from the ancient martial arts world, I¡¯m rooting for you!¡±

    ??!!

    How would they even dare to do that now?!

    In a single moment, everyone in the room felt chills run up their spine.

    It was true that moments earlier they had such an idea in mind, but how now...

    She summoned such a terrifying lightning bolt without even breaking a sweat! Was she even human?

    It was clear even through the screen that this girl could sink Japan if she ever so wished, so who would be so suicidal?

    Everyone¡¯s gazes drifted over to the representative from Japan, and his expression was stormy and shocked, quite unsurprisingly.

    And so, this meticulously nned and scheduled meeting was disbanded just like that, and the representative from Japan was left sitting there dazed in the meeting room.

    After the leader from America left, he called Wanqi Jue immediately¡ªThetter had made it clear that he wasn¡¯t going to be a part of this operation, and it was easy to deduce that Wanqi Jue knew of Gu Xiqiao.

    Wanqi Jue only chuckled when he picked up the phone. ¡°Why would you ask me? That Cecily from your country doesn¡¯t know less than I do.¡±

    Cecily? The leader knew of this rising star, of course, and he immediately scheduled to meet her.

    ¡°Wait, you guys wanted to band up against the ancient martial arts world?¡± Cecily blinked and shook her head in disbelief, as if she thought she had heard wrong.

    Upon seeing this reaction, the leader furrowed his brows perplexedly before nodding. ¡°The operation hasn¡¯t started yet, and we¡¯ve already dered that we wouldn¡¯t be a part of it!¡±

    Upon hearing him admit to this, Cecily almost bashed her head into the nearest hard surface in frustration, seriously contemting the prospect of migrating to another country.

    ¡°Leader, listen to me.¡± Cecily didn¡¯t say that out loud, of course, and she continued, ¡°Miss Gu loves precious jade and all sorts of precious ore, so you better gift her as many as you can!¡±

    The leader was unexpectedly not very excited at this prospect, and Cecily continued with a serious tone, ¡°Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but Miss Gu is nothing if not one to hold grudges! Even though you never actually did anything, she would definitely know that you people have been plotting behind her back, so listen to me, okay? Start getting those gifts ready for her and give them to her as soon as you can, or else you¡¯re going to regret it when she has the time to deal with you! You saw that video too, do you think you can take the brunt of that lightning bolt?¡±

    ¡°I... Are you being serious?¡± She already knew about their ns before they even did anything?

    ¡°You know Ennd¡¯sst leader, right? He betrayed the ancient martial arts world and soon enough Wanqi Jue took his ce!¡± Cecily reminded.

    Her words got the cogs in the leader¡¯s brain turning, and his expression was once again tinged with shock as he immediately got up and went towards the treasure vault.

    Upon seeing him leave, Cecily breathed a sigh of relief before sending Wanqi Jue a message: [Thanks!]

    After she sent the message, she tapped on another application to watch the video once again, and even though this wasn¡¯t her first time watching it, it still got her blood pumping in her veins. Who would dare think of doing anything to the ancient martial arts world with Gu Xiqiao holding the fort?

    From that day on, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name became the second signature of the ancient martial arts world. If Jiang Shuxuan was known for his ruthlessness and almost brutal tactics, then Gu Xiqiao was known for her sheer strength that earned the respect of many.

    Who would be the stronger one between those two? Would it be Gu Xiqiao?

    ***

    Meanwhile, back in the Imperial Capital.

    Zhu Yuan was researching medicine in an atelier, and all of a sudden a gray-robed man appeared outside the entrance.

    ¡°Master Tengen?¡± Zhu Yuan was quite taken off guard by the sudden appearance as he put down his apparatus. ¡°Why have youe here?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the first to inherit the medical legacy from Delxun Forest.¡± Tengen smiled.¡± You youngsters might think that my old master¡¯s prowess in battle was impressive, but his true abilitiesy in his study of medicine! Judging from how your research is going I can see that you¡¯ve already gotten a thorough grasp of it, well done!¡±

    It was clear from his tone just how satisfied he was with Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan could barely exin that the atelier was set up by Gu Xiqiao before the elder noticed the elixirs and research books ced on Zhu Yuan¡¯s table.

    His expression changed all of a sudden, and his voice started to tremble. ¡°Wait! This isn¡¯t from my master¡¯s legacy! Where did you get this from?¡±

    ¡°This was all given by Junior Gu...¡± This was the first time Tengen reacted in such a way, and Zhu Yuan didn¡¯t even know how to react.

    ¡°Who is she? Where can I find her?!¡± Tengen grabbed Zhu Yuan¡¯s cor, his eyes glinting red. ¡°Tell me!¡±

    Zhu Yuan was silent for a moment before he spoke: ¡°She has always been difficult to track, but you can go ask the great elder.¡±

    Even if he knew where she was, he would definitely be killed if he even so much as said a word about it since Tengen¡¯s reactions were quite worrying, and he had ties to Dubhe at that!

    Make no mistake, all Gu Xiqiao would probably do was block his number and socials for a few months or so, but Jiang Shuxuan would definitely kill him on the spot!

    It was only after Tengen left in a hurry that he took out his phone and messaged Gu Xiqiao: [The watcher of Delxun Forest is looking for you!]

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao knew with a single nce that Zhu Yuan had epted the legacy of Delxun Forest when they first met, so he didn¡¯t need to exin much to her.

    When Gu Xiqiao got the message, she had already arrived at the restaurant. Hua Youlin wasn¡¯t there, and only Shao Ge was sitting outside and ying his guitar, so Gu Xiqiao leaned by the entrance and watched him silently.

    ¡°Sister Gu?¡± After quite a while, Shao Ge finally noticed that Gu Xiqiao was there and his expression brightened. ¡°You¡¯re back!¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied to Zhu Yuan¡¯s message before continuing, ¡°How long have you been using this guitar?¡±

    ¡°Ah, you can tell that it¡¯s worn out too?¡± Shao Ge rubbed the back of his head bashfully. ¡°It was a gift from my parents...¡±

    Upon saying this, his expression became somewhat sullen.

    ¡°It sounds fine, don¡¯t worry.¡± Gu Xiqiao stuffed her phone back into her pocket. ¡°Let¡¯s go grab something to eat, and then we¡¯ll go somewhere fun, yeah?¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, the second elder and co. had already returned to Wei Manor.

    The members of the Wei family were all converged in the living room at the sudden copse of their mountain! Earthquakes had never happened in Mingzhou before, and now that it did an entire mountain copsed?

    And so, they immediately reported their findings to the higher-ups.

    With the many incidents that were happening in Mingzhou over the past few days, Wei Chenxi almost became bald from stress.

    Right at that moment, the elders heard what they were discussing about, and the second elder waved his hand. ¡°Sorry about that, we didn¡¯t hold back when we fought, so the mountain copsed, you see?¡±

    Oh, okay.

    Wait, what did he just say?!

    Wei Chenyan and the others were shocked stiff!

    They knew these people from the ancient martial arts world were strong, but to the extent of making an entire mountain copse? Was this a xuanhuan[1] movie?

    Wei Chenxi in particr had seen the photos of the site of the copse, and this was caused by a fight? What were these elders made of?!

    And so, the recognition of these elders immediately skyrocketed in the eyes of the members of the Wei family as they looked up at them in awe and fright.

    The second elder thought, ¡®Hey, don¡¯t look at us! Gu Xiqiao was the one that did it, we wouldn¡¯t be able to do it even if we tried!¡¯

    [1] T/N: Literally means ¡®Mysterious Fantasy¡¯.

 Chapter 314 - The Essence of Charmspeak

    <h4>Chapter 314: The Essence of Charmspeak</h4>

    Wei Chenyan was still in a daze from what these elders said as he rubbed his arm unconsciously. Ever since he found out about the ancient martial arts world, he knew that these bunch of superhumans would be strong, but he was still taken aback when he saw the pictures of the scene of the incident.

    This shock was so deeply set to the point where he only barely reacted when the butler informed him that Gu Xiqiao had arrived.

    After taking Shao Ge out for a meal, both of them came to Wei Manor.

    The Wei family had developed to its pinnacle in the past decade, and everything from the furniture to the nts in their garden spoke volumes of their wealth. Shao Ge hadn¡¯t been in such a ce before, so he couldn¡¯t help but feel helpless as he trailed behind Gu Xiqiao like a lost puppy.

    Looking at Jiji and Xixi who were both so rxed and calm that they almost dozed off, he suddenly felt very self-conscious, but he just couldn¡¯t help it.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Wei Chenyan¡¯s eyes glittered with admiration as he looked at Gu Xiqiao. He had asting expression of the girl from what happened a few nights ago, and so his entire attitude towards her became respectful. ¡°Where have you been in the past couple of days?¡±

    Didn¡¯t she say that she wouldn¡¯t leave?

    This was the first time that the butler had seen such a tame side of the young master, and he couldn¡¯t help but look at Gu Xiqiao in surprise, before remembering how those rich kids all idolized Gu Xiqiao after that night. He hadn¡¯t believed in what they said, but now he was forced to ept that it might have been true¡ªThe ancient martial arts world¡¯s existencepletely shattered what he thought was real and what was fake.

    Gu Xiqiao folded her arms around her chest and raised her eyebrows slightly. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want me to be your bodyguard?¡±

    Wei Chenyan awkwardly thought back to what he said, and it made him want to dig a hole and hide in it forever!

    The way Gu Xiqiao found the mastermind in less than half an hour, even he felt that it was a waste that she be his bodyguard!

    He quickly changed the topic, however, when his gaze went from Gu Xiqiao to the ones that came with her before his gaze stopped on Shao Ge curiously. ¡°You two were acquainted with each other?¡±

    ¡°Hm, do you know who he is?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked.

    ¡°Not really. Mr. Yan had been going to that bridge to tell people¡¯s fortunes every month for the past few years, and I¡¯ve met this youngster there before. His soul song is quite... Unique.¡± Upon saying this, Wei Chenyan¡¯s lips twitched slightly, his gaze resting on the younger¡¯s guitar for a moment.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded in understanding, but her objective foring here today wasn¡¯t for Wei Chenyan, but Zhuge Yan.

    ¡°If you wanted to see Mr. Yan, why would youe to see me first?¡± Zhuge Yan had coughed up blood earlier in the day so he was brought to rest in the vi close to the manor, a short distance on foot.

    ¡°Well, it wouldn¡¯t do me well to go look for a man by myself, would it?¡± Gu Xiqiao mused as she looked around at her surroundings.

    Wei Chenyan: ¡°...¡±

    There were a bunch of soldiers stationed outside the vi in which Zhuge Yan was resting in, and upon seeing this, Wei Chenyan tugged Gu Xiqiao aside. ¡°I forgot those people were there!¡±

    His fingers had only barely brushed against Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm before his arm became numb as if it were shocked by electricity.

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± Wei Chenyan hushed his voice and exined, ¡°Those people in there aren¡¯t on the same level as us, we better wait for them to leave before we go in!¡±

    Wei Chenyan thought back to how these people could destroy a mountain if they wished, and god knows what would happen if they were angered!

    As soon as he said this, a ck Porsche Cayenne stopped outside the vi, and a tall figure stepped out of it.

    The one that stepped out was Huangfu Xuan who was there to treat Zhuge Yan. He had only been gone for a short while before the Wei family notified her that Zhuge Yan had coughed up blood again, so she immediately rushed to this ce.

    ¡°Miss Huangfu.¡± The butler standing behind Wei Chenyan bowed politely and greeted.

    Huangfu Xuan nodded politely before her gaze went to Gu Xiqiao, who was looking at her with an indescribable gaze.

    This was the third time that she had met Gu Xiqiao¡ªThe first time was on the streets, and the two of them didn¡¯t have any interaction, the second time was at Wei Manor, where thetter only gave her a single nce.

    This was their third meeting, and the first time Gu Xiqiao looked directly at her.

    This gaze made Huangfu Xuan quite ufortable, sensing something off about the way the girl was looking at her. It wasn¡¯t one of unfamiliarity, but instead was a gaze that seemed to peer into the depths of her very soul.

    ¡°Chenyan, Mr. Yan doesn¡¯t like it when irrelevant people disturb him. You¡¯d do well to not bring your friends here willy-nilly, you might make him angry.¡± Huangfu Xuan¡¯s gaze flitted past Shao Ge as if he was just an insignificant fly.

    The private investigator that she hired had given her all of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s information earlier, and ording to the pitifully thin file, Gu Xiqiao was just a regr university student.

    She couldn¡¯t evenpare to a single finger of her, who was from the Huangfu family!

    Did she not see how she could enter this vi with her identity as a Huangfu family member and a doctor, but this girl would only be able to stand outside! That was the insurmountable difference between them!

    Upon hearing her words, Wei Chenyan was about to say something before one of the soldiers walked towards them. Huangfu Xuan¡¯s expression brightened as she walked over with her medical box, but was blocked by the soldier with a stony expression. ¡°Mr. Yan said that no one shall enter now! The esteemed guests inside there are going toe out now, so you better leave!¡±

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s smile froze on her face, and she felt especially humiliated when she heard mockingughter from behind her!

    She turned around to see that the one that wasughing at her was the boy next to Gu Xiqiao, before internally cursing at this embarrassing situation. Wasn¡¯t the Wei family the ones that invited her here in the first ce? Why would they do this?

    Before she could think much further, a group of people came out from the vi, and she could feel the very air around them bing thick with energy. The one in the lead was a white-bearded man, and even though his hair was white as snow, there wasn¡¯t a single wrinkle on his face, and it was clear from how he held himself that he was extraordinary!

    Gu Xiqiao and co. were standing right in front of them, blocking their path.

    Huangfu Xuan recognized Mo Li from within the group as she quickly retreated to make way for them, looking over at Gu Xiqiao that was still standing there in the middle of the path, seemingly not nning to move any time soon. Huangfu Xuan smirked coldly upon seeing this, wondering how this girl could keep this cool facade up!

    Wei Chenyan was quite taken off guard by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attitude towards the elders that were all in positions of power in the ancient martial arts world. If these people really wanted to kill someone, no one in the Wei family would be able to stop them!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, she...¡± Wei Chenyan didn¡¯t dare to touch Gu Xiqiao anymore after he was shocked, so he could only gesture for her to make way before bowing towards the second elder respectfully.

    Before he could finish his sentence, the group of elders all stopped walking and bowed towards them, their expressions a mix of admiration and excitement.

    ¡°Miss Gu!! They greeted, their voices as loud as thunder.

    Not only Wei Chenyan but the soldiers keeping guard outside were all shocked by their respectful attitudes.

    These people from the ancient martial arts world had been staying in Wei Manor for around three days, and while it wasn¡¯t a long time, it was enough for the soldiers to get an initial understanding of them.

    Why were these people acting so respectfully, and how terrifying would said person be tomand such respect?

    Wei Chenyan immediately grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm, not having any second thoughts except for retreating immediately. ¡°We must leave before this Miss Gues!¡± Wei Chenyan¡¯s voice trembled in fear. If that Miss Gu was someone with a bad temper, they might all be killed on the spot!

    Gu Xiqiao sent a single nce at Wei Chenyan before shaking his arm away and looking towards the group from the ancient martial arts world. ¡°It seems that you already know the situation, so let me go in and see.¡±

    These people immediately made way for her to pass as the second elder led Gu Xiqiao into the vi, exining the situation as he did.

    Wei Chenyan stood there dumbly as he looked at this scene, feeling his brain going into overdrive trying to make sense of the situation. ¡°Grandpa Butler, they... Am I dreaming?¡±

    ¡°I-It seems that they were referring to the Miss Gu that we know, young master.¡± The butler replied, not doing much better than the younger. His first reaction was that this was just a dream!

    Wei Chenyan inhaled deeply in a futile effort to refresh his thoughts, how could this be?!

    ***

    ¡°Miss Gu, I want to try something out, if I may?¡± Mo Li asked in interest as she walked next to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and asked, ¡°What do you want to try?¡±

    Mo Li replied, ¡°I want you... to spin in ce ten times.¡±

    These words immediately attracted the attention of everyone around them.

    Mo Li¡¯s charmspeak was infamous in the ancient martial arts world, with many victims that had be puppets to her words. Murong Feixue, for example, still shivered every time she would meet Mo Li, and after three years, Mo Li was much more terrifying than she was before! Other than Zhuge Yan, no one had been immune to her charmspeak, but...

    Now, Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t doing as the girl wished either!

    Not only that, she even said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you spin in ce ten times yourself?¡±

    Mo Li wanted tough at this, but before she could, her body started moving of its own ord!

    She really started to spin in ce!

    And so, they all gawked at this scene in disbelief.

    It was one thing for the charmspeak to not work, but to use charmspeak on a charmspeaker was a whole other story!

    What was going on here?

    They all knew Gu Xiqiao was strong, but this was out of their expectations!

    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they were looking at this with their own eyes, and that Mo Li herself was in a state of shock, they wouldn¡¯t even believe this!

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with your charmspeak, first of all.¡± Gu Xiqiao mulled over her words for a bit before she continued, ¡°Ever since archaic times, charmspeak has been regarded as the power of the gods, and it¡¯s actually quite mysterious, don¡¯t you think? The way sounds and vocal tones breathe life into the veryws of nature themselves. The reason you couldn¡¯t control Xue Tong wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t have a soul, but because you were trying to manipte an entity that does not conform to our naturalws. What you should do now is detect how exactly the naturalws bend when you charmspeak and learn how to manipte the fabric of reality itself with your mental power, and only then will you be the archon of this world, ttening mountains and redirecting rivers with a singlemand!¡±

    As she spoke, everyone looked at her with amazed expressions¡ªHow was she so adept in charmspeak?

    The second elder looked at Mo Li that was still in stunned silence, finally understanding why the head elder was so reverent of Gu Xiqiao. Even the infamous puppeteer of the ancient martial arts world could do nothing but look up to her!

 Chapter 315 - Regret? Are You Dreaming?

    <h4>Chapter 315: Regret? Are You Dreaming?</h4>

    None of the people from the ancient martial arts world could say anything, staring in ck-jawed awe.

    Zhuge Yan was quite surprised to see these people frozen like statues in the yard when he came to the door, and he said, ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there,e in!¡±

    As soon as he said so, Wei Xi pushed open the other door and said, ¡°Yes Miss Gu, the sun is blistering outside!¡±

    Jiji raised its head: ¡°...¡± The sunlight was just right, and there were even a few clouds in the sky! How was this blistering?

    Meanwhile, Mo Li started to mutter to herself in ce, closing her eyes to recall what Gu Xiqiao said, and upon seeing this the others from the ancient martial arts world looked at each other, feeling unanimous envy and jealousy towards Mo Li.

    That¡¯s right, jealousy and envy.

    See the overall power of Peace Manor? All of them became so unbelievably strong in just three months, and no one would believe it even if Gu Xiqiao said that she had nothing to do with it! From the Baili family to Murong Feiye to Tang Qinghong, the capabilities and prowess of these people around her all skyrocketed!

    And so, it was only natural that they felt envious of her, no?

    ¡°If I knew it would be like this, I would have left the ancient martial arts world for good to join their selections! If I did, I might have be one of their members by now!¡± One of them mused, and the others nodded in agreement.

    The second elder: ¡°...¡± Had they forgotten he was there?

    Gu Xiqiao walked in and sat down on a chair before sipping on the cup of tea that Wei Xi poured her. ¡°Why did you do divinations at the bridge every month for the past two years, Mr. Zhuge?¡±

    Zhuge Yan was silent for a moment before he chuckled, his smiling face like the luminescent moon in a clear night¡¯s sky, and it was such a rarity that even Wei Xi was temporarily dazed from it.

    ¡°Shao Shao, hand that to me, please.¡± Gu Xiqiao gestured for the younger boy to hand her his guitar.

    Shao Ge immediately handed his guitar to Gu Xiqiao.

    Zhuge Yan looked on as the girl took out a jade container from her pocket as she held Shao Ge¡¯s guitar in her other hand. Perhaps it was because it was the first time that he met someone that could understand his thoughts without him saying it outright, but he couldn¡¯t help the smile that made its way onto his face.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the jade container for a short moment before she opened the lid, and held inside was the ck cube that Jiu Tong had discovered.

    She stuffed the jade container back into her pocket before her lithe fingers held the ck cube again, and Shao Ge shook his head slightly in confusion as he thought, ¡®How did Miss Gu fit that bulky container in her tiny pocket?¡¯

    ¡°How much time is there left?¡± Gu Xiqiao fiddled with the cube with one hand and held the guitar with her other hand.

    What was she saying? Both Wei Xi and Shao Ge were confused by the situation.

    ¡°That ancient, weathered array broke, didn¡¯t it?¡± Zhuge Yan replied, casting his gaze towards the yard where most of the nts and flowers had withered. ¡°I thought this day wouldn¡¯te for another decade...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because of me.¡± Gu Xiqiao ced the cube on the guitar, and with a gentle push, the two items started merging together.

    Shao Ge was shocked stiff by this scene, of course.

    At this moment, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s movements paused for a short moment.

    [Beauty Qiao, I have to show you something.] Jiji¡¯s voice resounded in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind, and it hadn¡¯tmunicated with her in such a way since it got transferred into its robot body. [This is a file I found, along with a video.]

    After it said so, a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her, and a document popped up along with a video.

    ¡°The Leng family?¡± Gu Xiqiao strummed the guitar lightly.

    Twang~

    The sound of the guitar resonated in the quiet room for a moment.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Zhuge Yan held a fist to his mouth and coughed a few times. ¡°This is a destined cmity for Mingzhou, and if you look at it another way, we should be thankful to you. If that array were to be left for ten years and the evil inside fester, Mingzhou would be beyond saving.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao pursed her lips. There were two reasons why she came to Mingzhou, one for the descendant of Zhuge, and the other for Hua Youlin.

    Even though not everything went ording to her predictions, nothing was out of her grasp.

    And now, it was about time to close the.

    Gu Xiqiao stood up and looked at the wilted flowers outside the window. ¡°Shao Shao, stay here for a while okay?¡±

    ¡°Where are you going, Miss Gu?¡± Shao Ge stood up quickly as the girl started walking towards the door, not knowing what she was about to do.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to deal with something real quick, don¡¯t worry.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved an arm in goodbye, not even looking back.

    As she walked past the wilted flowers, she stopped for a moment and bent down to brush her fingers over them, before saying, ¡°It¡¯s Grandeia¡¯s pygmy me-lily, what a shame.¡±

    After she said this, a stream of pure life energy flowed out of her fingers.

    Zhuge Yan looked at this happen, his expression frozen on his face as he looked on in shock.

    As she walked, the wilted flowers all bloomed and blossomed once again¡ªPurple, red, pink, and green, the garden was once again filled with life and vibrant color.

    The girl in pale-colored clothes didn¡¯t seem out of ce in the colorful garden, and in fact, it was quite the opposite. Her eyes that looked like they were painted by the very heavens themselves exuded a certain coldness to them, and under the ephemeral glow of the flowers, she seemed like a fae straight out of a storybook.

    Wei Xi rubbed her eyes again and again in disbelief. ¡°Goodness! Look, young master! All those flowers bloomed again, and I think it¡¯s the first time I saw that lily bloom, right? Young master? Young master?¡±

    Zhuge Yan came back to his senses, his head lowering slightly as he replied, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the Leng family¡¯s office.

    Leng Yuwei looked at the middle-aged man that was standing in front of the window. ¡°Daddy, you were the one that spread the news that Hua Zihou treated someone to death right? Deal with that descendant of the Hua family too!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already on it.¡± The middle-aged man smirked.

    ¡°Everyone knows that the Hua family and the Huangfu family are enemies, and that Hua Jingya didn¡¯t hold back against the Huangfu family whatsoever when she was in her prime. It¡¯s only natural that the Huangfu family wouldn¡¯t go against someone dealing with that cousin of hers, Hua Youlin. In fact, they seem to be quite happy to see it happen.¡± Leng Yuwei smiled confidently. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Daddy. I¡¯ve already asked one of my friends from the Huangfu family, and she agrees with it too.¡±

    The middle-aged man nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Good, very good.¡±

    The Huangfu family had developed rapidly in the past few years, and even the Leng family was quite jealous of them too, so they would have to take every chance they get. Leng Yuwei rubbed her palms as she made a suggestion, ¡°Right, didn¡¯t the Huangfu family want some able-bodied people to do experiments on? I¡¯ve already picked out some, so you just have to ship them overter okay? Get some of those people from the Hua family there too, especially that Hua Youlin! Miss Huangfu will definitely be pleased.¡±

    ¡°Good idea!¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s expression lit up in approval. ¡°The Hua family is at the end of its rope, so the least it could do is to be stepping stones for our family!¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Before Leng Yuwei could say anything in return, a cool voice resounded in the room. ¡°Who did you say you wanted to give to the Huangfu family?¡±

    The middle-aged man and Leng Yuwei looked at each other before turning to look at the sofa, where a young woman was sittingfortably.

    ¡°Who are you? How did you get here?!¡± The middle-aged man immediately took his phone and called security to have them take this strange woman away.

    The security guard appeared in less than five minutes upon being summoned by the CEO. ¡°Boss, you called?¡±

    It was to get this crazy woman out of here, of course!

    That was what the middle-aged man wanted to say, but he found that he couldn¡¯t even say a single word, his mouth gaping helplessly.

    At this moment, Gu Xiqiao spoke again, ¡°Tell me, who did you say you wanted to give to the Huangfu family?¡±

    ¡°Hua Youlin, of course!¡± The middle-aged man found that he was suddenly able to reply, and he shouted, ¡°The Hua family is as good as dead, so why not let them contribute to our family before they lose their usefulness?!¡±

    ¡°Very straightforward, I like you.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled, but her eyes were as cold as ice as she stood up and walked towards the man. ¡°You¡¯re as good as dead too, so why not contribute to Mingzhou before you lose your usefulness?¡±

    What did she mean by that? Leng Yuwei and the middle-aged man couldn¡¯t move as they looked at her in fright. Who was she? No normal person would be able to do this!

    Leng Yuwei paled considerably as she realized that she was here for the Hua family!

    Leng Yuwei¡¯s lips gaped like a fish out of water, as if she wanted desperately to say something.

    ¡°Let me guess, you want to say that the Huangfu family coerced you into doing this, and that you already regret it? That you¡¯ve already repented and that you want to make up for it?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, and with each word, Leng Yuwei nodded profusely.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, and just as Leng Yuwei thought that she was about to let her go, she scoffed. ¡°You must be dreaming.¡±

    ¡°Jiji, how much time do you need to see how many of these people from the Leng family had a hand in this?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked.

    Meanwhile, Jiji was already on it in the virtual training arena. ¡°With my speed, ten seconds is enough, Beauty Qiao.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao called up a number on the modem.

    All of the shareholders of the Leng family all got a call at the same time.

    ¡°All you need to know is that you need to pick another CEO...¡± Gu Xiqiao was about to continue, before Jiji showed her the results of her search: All the shareholders of the Leng family had a hand in this! ¡°... No need, see you in jail.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao hung up on the modem, dragging the CEO and the youngdy of Leng Enterprise with her as she left.

    ¡°Jiji, tell Uncle Mu to buy Leng Enterprise as soon as he can.¡±

    [Roger that!]

    The other shareholders of Leng Enterprise didn¡¯t think much about this strange phone call, of course.

    It was only after a few minutes that all of the scandals and negative news about them popped up all over the inte, and they realized that they were in deep trouble.

    These shareholders quickly met up with each other, but as soon as they did, a team ofw enforcers quickly broke down the door and brought them to the police station to be detained as they searched their homes for evidence of illegal actions that would harm Mingzhou and handing these items up to a mysterious organization.

    This change overnight was way too drastic to the point where it quickly shook the water in the pond called Mingzhou.

    Many elites in the economic sphere of Mingzhou quickly started investigating. Even though Leng Family wasn¡¯t extremely affluent, it was still considered quite well off. How did it go bankrupt overnight?

    These people did more research into this, and they realized that what happened to the Leng Enterprise was exactly the same as what happened to the Bai family in the Imperial Capital!

    As they were in a daze over what was going on, some other people were out of their minds with rage!

 Chapter 316 - A Thousand-year Old Plot

    <h4>Chapter 316: A Thousand-year Old Plot</h4>

    ¡°Jiji, you think you can find me the specific location of theboratory?¡± Gu Xiqiao threw both of them into the basement of the Wei family manor before starting to question Jiji. At the same time, her consciousness continued to expand in every direction. In the blink of the eye, her mind had already covered the entire Mingzhou.

    In spite of this, she still failed to find anything out of the ordinary.

    Jiji was scouring through millions of databases on the inte and still found no trace of thatboratory she was talking about. Not a single trace of information could be detected.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, something¡¯s weird.¡± Jiji was stunned. ¡°There should be bits of information about ces like this on the inte, and yet I¡¯m here empty-handed.¡±

    Not finding anything was the weirdest thing it had evere across.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down at Leng Yuwei. A sinister smile broke across her face, which sent chills straight up Leng Yuwei¡¯s spine.

    ¡°Chu Ziheng.¡± Gu Xiqiao called out.

    Jiji¡¯s eyes widened when it heard what Gu Xiqiao said. ¡°Chu Ziheng? What¡¯s up with him?¡±

    ¡°Remember that time when he worked with Uncle Mu on a joint-project?¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve always found it odd as to why someone in the F&B industry would want to cooperate with Nine Heavens.¡±

    ¡°Nine Heavens?¡± Jiji made some calctions in its mind, which was so fast that not even China¡¯s top-of-the-line supeputer could match up with it. It didn¡¯t take a long time for it to finally reach a conclusion. ¡°Nine Heavens¡¯ finance sector andwork sector are running parallel to each other! Wait a secwork technology!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I recall him working together with Yang An previously,¡± said Gu Xiqiao, who reached out her hand and out came a tablet out of thin air. Her fingers started swiping away and soon, an image appeared on the screen. ¡°It¡¯s this one.¡±

    The tablet floating in the air and the map on the screen was turned into a 3D projection.

    ***

    Above the ground at Wei Manor.

    ¡°Young Master, there are intruders in the basement!¡± As the greatest wielder of power in Mingzhou, the basement of the Wei family manor was not just your average basement. Even the slightest movement in the basement could be detected by the control room.

    ¡°Basement?¡± Wei Chenxi sprung up from his seat. His facial expression changed immediately. Hastily, he rushed into the basement with a couple of armed guards.

    All that was stored in the basement of their home were considered to be top secret in Mingzhou and by extension, China. For an intruder to suddenly appear in their basement made Wu Chenxi panic. Although Mingzhou was currently under threat, such secrets must never be leaked to the outside world!

    The secrets involving their basement could not be filtered through the inte. Instead, they had to be encrypted using codes written down on paper before being sealed away indefinitely. Every single one of them exposed major weak points of their nation, which exined why Wei Chenxi was sweating bullets.

    ¡°How could that be?¡± At the entrance of the basement, one of his men noticed how everything was left undamaged and he let out a cry in surprise.

    Wei Chenxi peered in the direction of the cry. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°The basement. The door¡¯s not broken?¡± The man started to doubt his own sanity.

    ¡°Wait a second!¡± Another man who was holding a tablet called out: ¡°Everyone step back! There¡¯s someone... on the other side of this door!¡±

    The guards moved to both sides of the corridor and raised their gun barrels at the door as one of theirrades was nervously entering the password required to unlock the door. The red light above the door shed three times before the heavy iron door heaved open.

    In the middle of the doorway stood a single human figure.

    The guard positioned closest to the door squeezed the trigger.

    Before Wei Chenxi could react, the figure started closing in on the guard. With a pale left arm, the mysterious intruder grabbed the guard¡¯s right arm and knocked the gun out of his grip. The way she moved was swift and she still had enough time to grab the gun before it hit the floor.

    Crack¡ª

    It was the sound of someone¡¯s wrist breaking.

    Click¡ª

    Gu Xiqiao suddenly turned into the one behind the trigger. She turned around and peered over at the rest of the guards.

    The guards gulped in fear when they saw a ghostly figure look over in their direction.

    At the end of the passage, a dark figure hugging the wall was backing away in slow motion before a loud thud rang out.

    The sudden noise struck fear into the guard¡¯s hearts.

    They all had to have 20/20 vision to be able to qualify for entering the military; they saw what had happened. The man who had copsed onto the floor was a stranger with a clean hole in between his eyes. Thick, dark blood oozed slowly out from the hole.

    In a state of disbelief, they shifted their gaze back onto Gu Xiqiao.

    The speed at which she moved shocked them. To be able to grab their gun and nt a bullet in between that man¡¯s brows, it all required so much calction, skill, and the ability to stay calm under pressure.

    She¡¯d never be able to grab their gun if she wasn¡¯t as calm as still water. She¡¯d never be able to make such a clean, precise shot if she wasn¡¯t insanely quick to make calctions. She¡¯d definitely die under their gunfire if she wasn¡¯t skillful enough to deal with the situation.

    Throughout the entire process, not even once did she lose her cool. Perhaps it was due to this that no one was able to make out what was going on in her mind.

    It was already terrifying enough to face-off with such an enemy, who appeared to be years younger than them.

    To be able to pull off such stunts at such a tender age, God knows what she¡¯ll be capable of in the future.

    ¡°Mi-Miss Gu?¡±

    Wei Chenxi¡¯s voice was hoarse.

    Gu Xiqiao flung the gun back to the man who initially aimed it at her. She nodded at Wei Chenxi before pointing at the man she had just dispatched. ¡°This man topped the ranking of assassins across the world. You¡¯ll have to find out yourself as to why he was here.¡±

    She waved them goodbye before sticking her hands into her pocket and walking away.

    ¡°Good god!¡± The man who had been disarmed yelled out in a trembling voice. ¡°Suchbat skills, what great shooting, that level of situational awareness, she really is born to be an operator!¡±

    He turned towards Wei Chenxi and asked, ¡°Young Master, do you know who she is?¡± If she wasn¡¯t in the military, they shouldn¡¯t be qualified to be soldiers either.

    Wei Chenxi saw the glimmer in his eyes. ¡°Go back and clean yourself up.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Gu Xiqiao who had now reached the end of the passageway. She directed a smile at Wei Chenxi. ¡°There are two people in there. Um, you don¡¯t need to care about them for now. I¡¯ll send them off to somewhere suitable when the timees.¡±

    That was what she said before she finally left for good.

    Wei Chenxi¡¯s men were shocked. ¡°Let¡¯s head in and see who they are!¡±

    Wei Chenxi peered down at the dead assassin with a round hole in between his eyes, which were still wide open. He was deep in thought for a while before letting out a sigh. What a sad way to go. To die with one¡¯s eyes wide open. Still, he had to investigate what was going on.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao went over to Zhuge Yan¡¯s ce.

    ¡°Sister Gu, Jiji¡¯s dead.¡± Shao Ge started bawling his eyes out the moment he saw Gu Xiqiao. He pointed at the robot that sat motionless on the floor. ¡°It¡¯s been one hour and it still hasn¡¯t moved yet!¡±

    The corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°... it¡¯s alright, it¡¯s still alive.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°Yeah, I was just taking a nap.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± What a great excuse.

    ¡°I guess robots need their sleep too huh?¡± Shao Ge took off Jiji¡¯s floral garment and felt its cold robotic hands underneath. ¡°It¡¯s still a robot.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! Do you still think I¡¯m your average Joe robot?!¡± Jiji was furious.

    Shao Ge tugged on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shirt. ¡°It does look more demonicpared to other robots.¡±

    Jiji was speechless.

    ¡®Snap out of it Shao Ge! You weren¡¯t like this before! The cute, shy Shao Ge is the best Shao Ge!¡¯

    ¡°Where¡¯s Xixi?¡± asked Shao Ge. ¡°Didn¡¯t it go out with you?¡±

    ¡°I assigned a mission for it toplete.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat down on a chair in the courtyard and watched the blooming flowers. ¡°These flowers are pretty.¡±

    ¡°That thing helps youplete missions?¡± Jiji was rather concerned about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s actions. Wasn¡¯t itself plenty useful already?

    At the very least, being a street magician was a viable way of earning money!

    ¡°As a Vermillion Bird raised up in evil aura,¡± a gentle voice came from behind Gu Xiqiao. Shortly after, a man sat down in front of Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Letting it carry out missions in Mingzhou is most suitable considering its abilities.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Zhuge.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled.

    Jiji went silent. It shot a nce at Zhuge Yan before plopping down on the ground. It tugged a leaf of grass which it started gnawing on while soaking in frustration.

    Gu Xiqiao was now powerful enough that it no longer could sense her thoughts. It now seems like things were only getting worse for strangers.

    Jiji let out a great sigh.

    ¡°Wei Chenxi...¡± Gu Xiqiao looked up at him. ¡°Why did I have to protect him?¡±

    ¡°If my senses aren¡¯t fooling me, your chi contains the potential for life?¡±

    Quite a lot of people already knew about this and Gu Xiqiao had no reason to conceal this fact. As she poured herself some tea, she nodded in response to Zhuge Yan¡¯s question.

    ¡°But do you know that there is someone else with the same upgrade capabilities as you?¡± Zhuge Yan looked Gu Xiqiao dead in the eye and slowly said, ¡°The first generation of Greedy Wolf Star Lords.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked up immediately. She stared dumbfoundedly at Zhuge Yan for a couple of seconds before cing her cup down.

    Zhuge Yan stood up and strolled around the courtyard, enjoying the flowers. ¡°The sky¡¯s the pivot, the Earth is the jade, mankind is the pearl, sound provides the bnce, the Sun is thew and the light is the star. There is a saying in the Taoist school of thought that the Greedy Wolf Starlord will descend from the heavens and save mankind from its demise.¡±

    ¡°You are a person of merit, but from what I see on your face, your death won¡¯t be peaceful.¡± Zhuge Yan¡¯s face was dead serious. ¡°This isn¡¯t your destiny. The only usible exnation I can think of is that your fate was altered when you were born. Someone was wishing for your death back then. The same applies today, in Mingzhou. Someone out there is nning to trap you here and finish you off for good!¡±

    ¡°Crash!¡±

    The cup Gu Xiqiao was sipping tea from fell from her hands and rolled into the flowerbed.

    Even Jiji was stunned.

    Someone had altered her fate on the day of her birth, for her to die¡ª

    That¡¯s right, she did in fact, die once before this...

    The Greedy Wolf Starlording down to save the masses. Gu Xiqiao remembered the missions issued by the System. Each one of them was meant for liberating men from their suffering.

    But, how did she get reborn? She had to start the reading all over again...

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s thoughts were getting more and more convoluted. She gripped the table tightly and stared into the flower in front of her. From the moment she was born, everything had already been pre-calcted!

    Pre-calcted?!

    A lightbulb lit up in her mind. She suddenly recalled Baili Wenxi, how she had been abandoned before being picked up by Yu Man.

    The evil aura that had gued Baixing Vige.

    Connecting the dots, she realized that her being born was probably something already predetermined. Baili Wenxi loses her memory, making her unable to return to the ancient martial arts world, followed by her being adopted by Yu Man, and Yu Man¡¯s inexplicable death, until her eventual return to the Gu family, and her inevitable death...

    Wait a minute! A bright white light shed in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm. A tattered book appeared. This was something Emery had given her back at Baixing vige. She had already finished reading it back during the selectionpetition and it introduced the reader to the theory of spacetime.

    ¡°Mr. Zhuge. I have already died once.¡± Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply as she dug her nails deeply into the flesh of her palm.

    There were too many thoughts shing through her mind but everything was crystal clear. Her mind was crystal clear.

    Zhuge Yan¡¯s expression changed. He reached out and counted with his right hand. The more he did so, the paler hisplexion became. In the end, fresh red blood sputtered out from his mouth.

    ¡°Young Master!¡± Wei Xi quickly rushed forward to support him.

    Gu Xiqiao too reached out and grabbed Zhuge Yan in order to imbue his body with an unprecedented amount of life force. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with your Young Master, go look for Wei Chenxi¡¯s medicine.¡±

    She proceeded to repeat a series of drug names that would be needed.

    Although she was anxious, she still managed to maintain control over the situation. It appeared that her calmness had rubbed off on Wei Xi, who was able toe to her senses. She repeated the drug names after Gu Xiqiao and still found it difficult to memorize them all.

    Gu Xiqiao waved her hand. ¡°Jiji, you tag along with her.¡±

    Jiji left parts of its consciousness in the virtual space before leaving with Wei Xi.

    Zhuge Yan¡¯splexion improved significantly upon receiving life force from Gu Xiqiao. He coughed twice as Gu Xiqiao helped him settle down in his seat.

    Using a handkerchief, he wiped the blood off of the corner of his mouth. ¡°You have died once, but someone used an ungodly method to force you back onto this realm.¡±

    ¡°I believe that you saw much more than that?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao with her lips pursed.

    ¡°To speak about this matter, I must start my exnation from the beginning.¡± Zhuge Yan nodded. ¡°After the War of the Ancients, the first generation of Greedy Wolves fell out. However, the monsters have notpletely disappeared from this world of ours. They were buried in different spots across the globe. Now that a millennium has passed, the cmity has awakened once more. If we follow the trajectory of your previous life, how events have been developing, then the end of the world is nigh.¡±

    ¡°Who is that person who forcibly changed my fate?¡± Gu Xiqiao pondered.

    Zhuge Yan paused for a moment. ¡°Snow. All I see is an endless field of white snow.¡±

    ¡°I understand now.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. She rose from her seat and marched straight out of the front door. In her mind, she called out to Jiji. ¡°Jiji, contact the Great Elder. I want to see all the records of the ancient martial arts world that were passed down for generations.¡±

    She recalled the eight false scriptures which Jiang Shuxuan had obtained from the Baili family¡¯s inventory of heirlooms. That must¡¯ve been tampered with by someone and yet, they were still in the virtual space.

    Also, there was the Murong family! There were problems with Murong Feiye¡¯s cultivation technique. Due to this, she gave him a book containing five solutions to his problem and since then, his improvement has been rapid.

    All the anomalies have been exined. The ancient martial arts world was on the decline and its poption numbered less than the tens of thousands. Its strength was wavering which means only one thing¡ªsomething was wrong with it!

    Doubt swelled up in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s heart. Her predictions had been urate ever since she set foot in the ancient martial arts world. Just who was operating behind the scenes?

    For such a huge scene to be involved, this plot must have stretched back a thousand years ago.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, we¡¯re back.¡± Jiji and Wei Xi rushed back hastily with the medicine. They were so eager that they crashed into Gu Xiqiao who was about to exit the main entrance.

    Gu Xiqiao passed a note over to Wei Xi. ¡°Follow the recipe as noted down here when preparing the medicine for your Young Master.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Miss Gu.¡± Wei Xi immediately went in upon receiving the note.

    Gu Xiqiao did not follow her back this time. Jiji stared up at Gu Xiqiao with its mouth open. It wanted to say something and yet it couldn¡¯t. It heard what Zhuge Yan said and whatever Gu Xiqiao theory coulde up with, it could too.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao!¡± Jiji suddenly called out. ¡°Something¡¯s happened to Little Hua!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± A dangerous look surfaced in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes. ¡°We¡¯ll get Yao Jiamu and the Peacekeepers over immediately!¡±

    The air around them fluctuated and in the next instant, she warped out of existence.

    Mingzhou! They¡¯re nning to kill her?! Now that she knew someone had forcefully brought her back to life, do they seriously expect her to die that easily?!

 Chapter 317 - Next Destination, The Huangfu Family!

    <h4>Chapter 317: Next Destination, The Huangfu Family!</h4>

    The Hua family were well-known for their prowess in the field of medicine. However, in the previous century, their reputation had steadily been on the decline.

    Their hope had thus been ced in Hua Jingya, the new talent. In fact, they even encouraged her to be Divine Doctor Rong¡¯s apprentice. Who would¡¯ve thought that the moment she left the family would be thest time they¡¯d ever see her. Another part of the reason why the family was so impoverished and desperate could be attributed to the Huangfu family¡¯s sanctions.

    A few days ago, Hua Youlin returned alone, which sent shockwaves through the Hua family.

    This mainly was due to the fact that his return symbolized the return of the acupuncture technique, unique to the Hua family alone. After a round of assessment by Hua Zihou, it was discovered that Hua Youlin¡¯s skill had reached its peak. It wasn¡¯t just that, the methods he used, the school of thought he subscribed to was hard toprehend for the lesser skilled members of his family.

    The Hua family was thrilled. What they did not expect, however, was that the Huangfu family would soon face an existential threat.

    For now, nearly every member of his family was rounded up and locked inside the hall of their very own dwelling.

    ¡°Youlin, the Huangfu family have said that as long as you invite that Miss Gu over, they¡¯ll let us go immediately. Why aren¡¯t you calling her then?¡± The one urging Hua Youlin to make the call was Zhang Si, a daughter-inw of his family. She had an infant in her arms that appeared to be no more than a couple of months old. With bloodshot eyes, she red down at Hua Youlin.

    The rest of his family followed suit after Zhang Si made her demand.

    Everything didn¡¯t matter when one was staring right into the eyes of death. Even though Hua Youlin had transformed into apletely different person since his return to the family. Yes, his skill was terrifyingly well-honed but at this point, what¡¯s left on their minds was the struggle for survival.

    Hua Youlin bowed his head. He brushed his fingers gently across the golden tortoise that hung on his neck. Looking up at Zhang Si, he snickered. ¡°Whether you live or die, it does not concern me.¡±

    ¡°Say something, Great Elder!¡± Zhang Si had no choice but to go down the path of indirect warfare, by using the great elder as her leverage.

    The great elder¡¯s head shrank into his shoulders as he trembled in fear. It was true. He had instructed some goons to beat up Hua Youlin back in the Imperial Capital but his n was foiled when Gu Xiqiao intervened. After that, he had been shoved around by the powerful forces that ruled the capital. Amidst the struggle, their family had sustained considerable damage. Now, the mere mention of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name was enough to make him tremble uncontrobly.

    ¡°Alright, stop it.¡± Hua Zihou¡¯s brows furrowed when he noticed Zhang Si¡¯s reaction. ¡°These people we¡¯re facing are no ordinary people, do you not understand that?!¡±

    Sensing Hua Zihou¡¯s growing impatience, Zhang Si kept her mouth shut. Still, she continued giving Hua Youlin the evil eye.

    Hua Zihou let out a sigh. He pointed at Hua Youlin¡¯s broken finger and peeled his eyelids open to get a good look at the injury. ¡°Are you alright, Youlin?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Uncle.¡± Hua Youlin shook his head and his facial expression remained unchanging.

    ¡°Listen to me Youlin.¡± Hua Zihou lowered his voice. ¡°You are thest sliver of hope for our family. I absolutely cannot tolerate any harm done unto you. Their search for Miss Gu is a clear indicator of how capable she is. You need to send her a message, tell her toe to your rescue. That shouldn¡¯t be too hard, no?¡±

    ¡°Uncle, you don¡¯t understand.¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s voice was equally as calm. ¡°Sister Gu is incredibly strong. Everything that is happening and shall happen in the future, is already part of her calction. However, she cannot locate where I am right now. What does that mean you might ask? Well, it means that the people binding us here possess the capability of dodging her consciousness. Whoever they are, they¡¯re stronger than her.¡±

    ¡°Youlin, I believe that fate is on your side. From what you¡¯re saying, I have faith that this Miss Gu should be able toe up with a rescue n.¡± Hua Zihou balled up his fist tightly.

    Hua Youlin stared down at the floor. ¡°Sister Gu is only a couple of years older than me, but she¡¯s miles ahead of me in every aspect. She¡¯s insanely talented. You probably know about the ancient martial arts world, right? She¡¯s a normal person but she was able to sweep them off their feet as an outsider. Her personality may seem a little cold but she cares deeply for her friends. If she knew what happened to me, she¡¯d definitely go after our captors in revenge. Still, we can¡¯t deny that they¡¯re stronger than her. It¡¯s pretty clear why they asked me to call her over¡ªthey want her toe with her guard down. The pressure she¡¯s bearing on her shoulders is already plenty enough. I will absolutely not let her walk into such a trap!¡±

    ¡°But, if things go on at this rate, you¡¯ll die!¡± Hua Zihou looked into Hua Youlin¡¯s eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t you fear death?¡±

    ¡°If not for her, I¡¯d be dead a long time ago.¡± Hua Youlin was surprisingly calm when he responded to his uncle¡¯s question.

    Hua Zihou stared at Hua Youlin, with no idea what else he could say. For some unknown reason, the way in which the boy was acting shocked him. If...a big IF, the Hua family was to survive this ordeal, there was no doubt that they would soon regain their former glory.

    What a shame, time was running out. Hua Youlin lowered his gaze, which had a hint of mncholy to them.

    Nightfall.

    The clear panel was still up in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. On it was Hua Youlin¡¯s statistics, his vigor had already dropped below 50%!

    Very well!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s gaze was stone cold.

    In the next instant, she appeared right in front of the main entrance to the Hua residence. Still standing in the void, her ink-dark hair floated in the air as if she was underwater. The cold aura of a killer was so strong that the air pressure in her surroundings plummeted.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The two armed guards watching the entrance raised their weapons as they kept their eyes glued onto Gu Xiqiao.

    She raised her right arm lightly and next to her appeared two golden needles.

    There wasn¡¯t enough time for them to react when the projectiles plunged into their bodies. Their eyes were wide open as they stared at Gu Xiqiao in horror.

    However, her eyes were already on the main entrance instead of them.

    Bang! The door swung open forcefully despite how there wasn¡¯t a single breeze blowing in the air.

    Step by step, she patiently walked into thepound.

    Behind her, the men slumped onto the ground lifelessly.

    ¡°Sister Gu!¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s expression changed the moment Gu Xiqiao entered his vision. With a panicky voice, he yelled out, ¡°Why did youe? Leave while you can!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao only focused her eyes on the injuries Hua Youlin had sustained. Her face darkened. The murderous intent she had was so strong that it almost congealed into a physical state.

    The sight of her made the people of the Hua family seal their mouths shut. They were initially curious about the Sister Gu that Hua Youlin frequently mentioned. Now that they saw her, they were so intimidated that they had forgotten how to speak.

    ¡°Tell me, who¡¯s responsible for this?¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice was cold, almost hostile. It was the side of her that Hua Youlin had never seen before.

    Hua Youlin did not care that much about that. ¡°It¡¯s fine, let¡¯s just leave, Sister Gu.¡±

    ¡°Tell me,¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s line of sight shifted over to Hua Zihou. ¡°Not a single word less. Tell me everything you know.¡±

    Hua Youlin peered at Hua Zihou nervously. Of all the time, he chose to keep his mouth shut now? He watched in horror as Hua Zihou¡¯s lips remained still.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Huangfu family. They seem to be working together with a powerful figure.¡± Finally, Hua Zihou was able to answer Gu Xiqiao. His body visibly shuddered as he spoke. ¡°Those people, they are like ghosts. They rounded us up and interrogated Youlin, forcing him to spit out your information.¡±

    ¡°What about his injuries?¡± Gu Xiqiao questioned.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Huangfu family. How could we, a bunch of regr humans put up a fight against them? Half of our people have betrayed us, and Youlin was the first to be captured. They don¡¯t care about us, regr humans. Just look at how heavy-handed they were when they interrogated Youlin.¡± Hua Zihou wiped a tear off the corner of his eye.

    How could they possibly even resist the capture of those people?!

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. Her next question cut straight to the chase.

    What he said was true. From their perspective, the Hua family amounted to nothing. Killing one of them was the same as squashing an ant to death. If not for Hua Youlin, who would potentially reveal her identity, they probably would never even bother dirtying their hands, handling the Hua family for even a second.

    Because, they weren¡¯t worth their attention!

    She clenched her fist tightly. Gu Xiqiao started thinking about the suffering of the Hua family, and more specifically, Hua Youlin had been put through because of her.

    ¡°Powerful figure? The Huangfu family?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Sister Gu!¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s anxiety was rising. It was at this moment that he realized that he could speak again. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I really am. Those people are waiting for you to walk right into their trap. You must avoid taking the bait at all costs!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right Miss Gu.¡± Hua Zihou wore a somber expression. ¡°You leave with Youlin. At the very least, the Hua family wouldn¡¯t be wiped outpletely.¡±

    ¡°Little Hua, know that this is all because of my fault.¡± Gu Xiqiao peered down at Hua Youlin. ¡°I should¡¯ve at least let you see how strong Peace Manor has be now.¡±

    ¡°Sister Gu...¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s expression changed one more time. ¡°You need to think more rationally now!¡±

    ¡°Boom!¡± Right after he said that ten men suddenly appeared in the hall.

    All of them were wearing a suit of ck armor. They had burly figures and one could practically smell their bloodlust. Their eyes were as sharp as knives; it was clear that these people lived their lives constantly on the razor¡¯s edge!

    Hua Zihou and the rest of his family were horrified when they saw these people pop up out of nowhere. These men were the source of their nightmares for the past two days.

    ¡°That is the person our boss is looking for,¡± said one of them as he pointed at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Should we report this to him?¡±

    ¡°Take her out immediately.¡± ordered the leader of the team. It was clear that he viewed humans as the same as ants. ¡°Her, and the rest of the people here. We¡¯ll torch this ce once the job¡¯s done. Let¡¯s keep things clean!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    These men were quite obviously used to carrying out such tasks. Taking a human life was the same as drinking water or eating bread in their eyes. After all, no one from the secr world had the means to stop them from doing so.

    Gu Xiqiao knew in the blink of the eye, just how arrogant these bastards were when she heard their response.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill us!¡± Zhang Si got on her knees and begged with her baby in her arms. ¡°I have nothing to do with Hua Youlin, so don¡¯t kill me please!¡±

    ¡°Spare our lives!¡± pleaded another member of the Hua family.

    Too bad, these men did not care about the lives of regr humans. They raised their des around which a dark mist swirled, up into the air. Just as the de was about to be brought down onto their heads¡ª

    The ten of them stared in horror at the golden needles that appeared in front of their eyes. These needles had the thickness of a human finger and wrapped around it was ayer of purple electric sparks!

    It was strange, how they suddenly came out of nowhere. The needles moved so fast there were visible afterimages that followed their trajectories. These projectiles pierced straight through their hearts and went cleanly out their backs, leaving no bloodstains whatsoever.

    The ten needles returned to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side. The mixture of golden and purple hues projected a pure white light onto her face.

    Drip, drip!

    Fresh blood trickled down from the cavity in their chest onto the floor.

    The hall was dead silent. The members of the Hua family who were begging for mercy froze up. The men who they thought were unfathomably powerful were now...dead?

    They were stunned!

    It appears that this youngdy was no simple woman. She took down her foes in less than a second!

    Good heavens! Just what sort of person is she?!

    Thud!

    Thud!

    Ten dull thuds could be heard as the ten-man death squad slumped onto the ground lifelessly.

    Gu Xiqiao nced indifferently at their corpses. These men were nothing but minions; the battle was far from over!

    ¡°Jiji, lead Little Hua and these people away from here,¡± ordered Gu Xiqiao while walking exiting thepound. ¡°Bring them to the Wei family.¡±

    Jiji nodded before turning to face the Hua family.

    Hua Zihou¡¯s voice was trembling. ¡°Miss Gu, y-you...don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re still thinking about bringing the fight to them? You absolutely mustn¡¯t do that. These men that you have killed are incredibly powerful. God knows who else you might face over there.¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s words were still fresh in his mind. If it really was as he had said, that the person behind this plot was stronger than Gu Xiqiao, he feared that she would march right towards her death.

    ¡°Sister Gu.¡± Hua Youlin tugged Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shirt. He peered up at her, telling her not to go with his eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao responded by patting Hua Youlin¡¯s head, after which he lost his consciousness. She proceeded to push the boy into Hua Zihou¡¯s arms. ¡°Help me look after him.¡±

    She stormed out of the entrance upon saying that.

    ¡°Stop acting so impulsively!¡± advised Hua Zihou when he noticed how furious Gu Xiqiao was when she left. He caught up with her and continued rambling on, ¡°Youlin¡¯s right. Those people are deliberately doing this to lure you into their trap. They probably have some sort of card up their sleeve.¡±

    He finally understood what Hua Youlin meant when he described Gu Xiqiao as ¡®stubborn¡¯. She really was just that. Despite knowing that she was marching straight into a trap, she could not be held back, even by thebined strength of ten oxen.

    It was at this moment that a stream of light shed above his head. A number of figures descended from the sky and within mere seconds, a team was stationed beyond the entrance of thepound. That was followed by an explosion of chi so strong that it stirred up the dry leaves on the ground.

    ¡°Greetings Miss!¡±

    This voice made Hua Zihou and the rest of his family hold their breaths. Even though they were regr human beings, the auraing off from their bodies was so strong that even they could sense it. The faces of the Hua family members turned pale out of fear as if they had just seen a ghost. ¡°T-These are the powerful figures I was talking about. They must¡¯vee here together with the men from before. They¡¯vee. They¡¯ve finallye...¡±

    Hua Zihou¡¯s words sparked fear among his family.

    Over the past few days, they experienced firsthand just how great the disparity of strength was between a regr human and these people. Any one of them could kill them with just the tip of their finger; to them, finishing off the Hua family was the same as killing a bunch of helpless ants!

    They could not even fend against a single one of them, what more to say of a hundred of them.

    And so, how could Hua Zihou not be fearful of what he was seeing?

    He was suddenly given a grim reminder of how insignificant his family actually was!

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± yelled Hua Zihou when he realized that instead of running away, Gu Xiqiao was striding towards their supposed enemy.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored his cries as she continued moving forwards. ¡°Team 1 to 3, escort Jiji to the Wei family and make sure their family stays out of trouble. The rest of you, follow my lead!¡± Her voice was cold, so cold that it could be felt down to the bone. ¡°After messing around for so long, it¡¯s time for you guys to unveil your strength!¡±

    Sensing the anger in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice, the Peacekeepers unleashed their chi to its fullest potential.

    Half of the night sky above Mingzhou was illuminated as a result!

    All of them had a gut feeling that tonight was going to be a sleepless night!

    ¡°Understood!¡± Their booming voices echoed through the air.

    Immediately, seven separate teams trailed behind Gu Xiqiao and moved across the sky, towards the horizon.

    Their next destination, Huangfu Manor!

    The members of the Hua family suddenly felt their mind go nk. It felt as if their sense of reality had be fragmented.

    They couldn¡¯t believe their ears. These men...were subordinates of Gu Xiqiao?

    The ¡®miss¡¯ they had mentioned, it was her?

    Hua Zihou started seeing stars circling above his head. At this point, he no longer had any idea what to say anymore.

    In the next moment, the people of the Hua family watched in horror as the aura of every member of the Peacekeepers grew stronger. They could tell, using their primitive senses that these men were as strong as the ten men Gu Xiqiao had just taken down.

    Those who showed nothing but discontent for Hua Youlin upon his return were significantly more affected than say, Hua Zihou. Their faces werepletely drained of color. They had no idea that Hua Youlin had such close connections to people such as Gu Xiqiao or the Peacekeepers.

    Zhang Si and the elder of their family felt their legs buckle underneath their weight.

    Gu Xiqiao was already plenty strong. Who would¡¯ve thought that there would be an army of such men under hermand?!

    A hundred of them! ording to what Hua Zihou told them, it sounded like these men had a stronghold in the ancient martial arts world. And in spite of this, they still had the intention to bully Hua Youlin? These people were drenched in a cold sweat. Fortunately, they had yet to exact their ns on Hua Youlin. Otherwise, God knows what would happen to them!

    ¡°It¡¯s my first time seeing Miss Gu being so pissed off,¡± said one of the members of team 3. He walked up to Jiji and coincidentally discovered the state which Hua Youlin was in. His expression changed instantly. ¡°Little Hua! N-No wonder! No wonder she¡¯s so pissed!¡±

    After invoking her fury, it would require a bloodbath for Mingzhou to cleanse themselves of this wrong they havemitted!

 Chapter 318 - Bone-chillingly Terrifying!

    <h4>Chapter 318: Bone-chillingly Terrifying!</h4>

    Huangfu Manor.

    The speed at which Gu Xiqiao traveled was so quick that she appeared right in front of her destination in just the blink of the eye.

    Her figurended softly in front of the main entrance, surprising the two men who were standing guard there. They stared at her in disbelief for a brief moment before they unsheathed their des. ¡°Dere who you are!¡±

    ¡°Get Huangfu Xuan out here!¡± yelled Gu Xiqiao at the gatekeepers. The murderous look in her eyes indicated that she wasn¡¯t here for a friendly visit.

    ¡°Do you think Miss Huangfu is a person who answers your call like a dog?¡± The gatekeepers scoffed upon hearing her order. What she said was utterly preposterous. ¡°Who do you think you are?!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t turn around immediately, prepare to stay here for eternity,¡± threatened one of them. They were no longer who they used to be. Despite being mere gatekeepers, their abilities have already far exceeded that of a normal human¡¯s. Thus, they looked at Gu Xiqiao as if they were looking at some delirious fool who had unintentionally stumbled upon their doorstep.

    They were supreme cultivators, so how dare a puny little human act so arrogant in front of them?

    ¡°I¡¯ll only repeat this one more time. Get her out here right this instant,¡± said Gu Xiqiao casually.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to understand what sort of situation you¡¯re in, do you?¡± One of the gatekeepers reprimanded her as he approached her with his de. There was a white glow to his de and he didn¡¯t appear to be in a particrly good mood today. Then, he dashed towards Gu Xiqiao with his de, ready to strike.

    Underneath the streetmp, the iridescent glow of his de was almost blinding!

    Hisrade did not stop him from attacking the innocent human. In fact, he wore a smug expression as he watched the show unfold. ¡°I did tell you not to mess with the Huangfu family, didn¡¯t I? I¡¯m tellin¡¯ ya, even the Lord of Hell would m the gates of hell in your face if he knew that you were messing with us before you di-...¡±

    Before he could finish his sentence, before he could express how powerful he and hisrade was, his entire body froze up like a statue. He gulped down his words and his eyes were so wide open that they almost popped out of their sockets.

    To his surprise, the youngdy was not chopped in half by hisrade¡¯s de. She did not move, but with a pair of dark eyes, she stared at her attacker.

    Boom!

    A streak of purple lightning came out of nowhere and struck down hisrade!

    The youngdy, who was supposed to have been sliced in half stood on the ground, expressionless and calm.

    The de-wielding gatekeeper¡¯s eyes were wide open before he slumped over dead. He never would¡¯ve thought that his life would be taken by a girl as young as her, especially after considering how powerful he had be.

    Wait, it all made sense now. How could she possibly be a regr human? She descended from the sky like an angel and demanded to see Miss Huangfu after all.

    But, as he copsed to the ground, it was all toote!

    ¡°Tell Huangfu Xuan toe out,¡± said Gu Xiqiao with her arm raised. A pir of lightning with the thickness of a man¡¯s arm hovered above the center of her palm. ¡°Or else, you too will die like you friend.¡±

    The other gatekeeper¡¯s legs turned into jelly. Averting his gaze, he desperately crawled back into thepound.

    ¡°Tell her that my surname¡¯s Gu.¡±

    Her voice was soft and gentle but it almost exploded his eardrums, as if she was yelling straight into his ears. Suddenly, a terrorizing aura swept over him, making the gatekeeper trip over in fear as he made his way to his mistress.

    Dear god! What a terrifying person! How on earth did they mistake her as a regr human in the beginning?!

    In the study room of Huangfu Manor, nothing felt particrly out of the ordinary.

    ¡°Young Mistress, something¡¯s happened to the Leng family.¡± The butler walked up to Huangfu Xuan and proceeded to report the recent developments in regards to the Leng family to her.

    Huangfu Xuan frowned upon hearing the news. ¡°What a bunch of garbage. We¡¯ll ignore them for now. Master¡¯s matter remains the top priority. Are there any developments on the Hua family¡¯s side?¡±

    ¡°No, not for now.¡± The butler groaned. ¡°About the Wei family...let¡¯s just say, you won¡¯t need to bother with them from now on.¡±

    Huangfu Xuan looked down, hiding the dark look in her eyes. ¡°That assassin probably has already infiltrated the Wei family by now. Miss Gu is irrelevant now. It¡¯ll only be a matter of days before the entire Mingzhoues under our control. When that dayes...¡±

    ¡°Why does Master care so much about Miss Gu?¡± The butler was confused.

    He found it odd that so much effort was being invested by people of such great capability, solely for the sake of a budding university girl.

    It didn¡¯t make sense to him, no matter from which perspective the butler approached the matter.

    ¡°The Leng family is useless. I want you to send men over to keep an eye on the Hua family. Theboratory here still needs me. Time is running out.¡± replied Huangfu Xuan.

    The butler nodded and was about to head out when someone came mbering into the room.

    ¡°Young Mistress, the gatekeeper said that someone with the surname ¡®Gu¡¯ is waiting for you outside.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu? Are you sure it¡¯s her?¡± Huangfu Xuan looked up and her suspicion was confirmed by the man. A sly smile broke across her face instantly. ¡°Very well. It appears that I don¡¯t need to look for her after all!¡±

    With the wave of her hand, she signaled for the men to leave the room. Standing alone in the middle of the room, she announced triumphantly, ¡°Master, Gu Xiqiao has arrived.¡±

    Suddenly, a strong aura descended upon the quiet room. Following that, a lion whose body was surrounded by ayer of dark mist materialized out of nowhere!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± The beast turned into a cloud of smoke before slowly transforming into a tall human figure. As attractive as he might appear to be, his eyes were filled with darkness and anguish. ¡°The boss won¡¯t let me kill her and has specifically ordered me to not act rashly. But...now that she has walked into his trap, Xiao Liu, Xiao Qi, the pain you have endured prior to your deaths, I will avenge you!¡±

    The door of the study room swung open the moment he intended to leave its vicinity.

    Despite knowing that he was a nobleman and a member of her own family, Huangfu Xuan was momentarily taken aback. She knew just how strong he had be.; the people in the undergroundboratory were all created by his own two hands. They had enough to form an entire army in fact. With so much power in her grasp, she could literally see the Huangfu family¡¯s road to glory right in front of her!

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao! Hell hath no doors and yet youe here on your own will!¡± The figure led all of the elite fighters of the Huangfu family out through the front door.

    Of these men, half were the products of experimentation while the other half consisted of true Huangfu family members.

    They harbored the same feelings towards Gu Xiqiao as the two gatekeepers from before; they assumed that Gu Xiqiao was just a regr human, just insanely more arrogant. They were confused as to why Miss Huangfu stationed them here when they were only facing off with a person like her.

    Realizing that they weremitting the same mistake as his friend did, the gatekeeper made the call to desert his position.

    As he ran, he bumped into a bunch of acquaintances who had arrivedte. ¡°Miss Huangfu¡¯s looking for us. Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Look, you have to trust me on this. Run while you can. That person outside mustn¡¯t be messed with!¡± To be able to bend lightning to her will, we simply are no match for her. Let¡¯s escape while we can!¡±

    What a shame, that group of men ignored his advice. Theyughed in his face. ¡°Sounds like you¡¯ve gone mad from all the gatekeeping duties.¡±

    They then continued on their way, marching ignorantly towards their own deaths.

    The gatekeeper looked back at them for onest time before letting out a sigh and leaving.

    ¡°Hell...¡± Gu Xiqiao peered over in the direction of the tall man. With a gaze as sharp as a de, she said, ¡°You will soon know what it feels like to experience suffering greater than hell!¡±

    ¡°Puny Houtian martial artist, how dare you make such a preposterous im!¡± yelled the man in response. A red sword suddenly appeared in his grip. ¡°I will cut you down in revenge for what you have done towards Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi!¡±

    He swung his sword with all his might, and it was that moment that its de grewrger andrger, while fiery red mes wrapped around it.

    A terrifyingly powerful wave of energy exploded, sending most of his men ducking from the pressure.

    Gu Xiqiao however, was unfazed by this show of force!

    The sword was milliseconds away from shing into her body!

    And yet, she did not move a single muscle!

    Huangfu Xuan cackled, and the people behind her followed suit. They figured that Gu Xiqiao must¡¯ve been so scared that she froze up!

    ¡°My Lord, what a powerful man...¡±

    ¡°Yes! That¡¯s My Lord!¡±

    Huangfu Xuan and the others were mumbling to each other about that de of his and how it was powerful enough to destroy the world!

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao, and I thought you were so powerful...¡± Huangfu Xuan smirked when she saw Gu Xiqiao frozen in ce. In the next moment, however, that smirk of hers stiffened up.

    Just when the mes were about to scorch Gu Xiqiao¡¯s skin off, the shriek of a beast echoed through the sky!

    Suddenly, a massive ming bird appeared right in front of her.

    Its body was covered in ck mes, and the red mes on the man¡¯s sword flickered inconsistently following its unexpected appearance. And then, the unthinkable happened¡ªthe mes on his sword went out.

    The bird, in a seemingly human manner, looked at the men in disgust.

    The ordeal was far from over!

    It was time for Gu Xiqiao to make her move. She did not say a word as she reached up to grab the red sword that was floating in mid-air.

    Snap!

    Without hesitation, she broke the sword in half and threw it on the ground.

    ng!

    It was the metallic sound of the sword hitting the ground.

    What in tarnation?! Huangfu Xuan and her men were stunned. The invincible sword was snapped in half, by her?!

    ¡°Little Ba,¡± the man did not stop to look at his destroyed weapon. He was staring straight at Xixi and his brows were furrowed as if he was holding in an iprehensible amount of rage and frustration. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to still be sealed underground? Why are you here? Why are you together with this woman? She¡¯s the one who murdered your seventh sister and your sixth brother!¡±

    ¡°Are you talking to me?¡± asked Xixi as it pped its wings.

    ¡°I am your fifth brother!¡± said the man whose body was shrouded in darkness. In the surrounding air, traces of space tearing started to appear.

    Xixi responded with a skeptical look. ¡°Fifth brother?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°Well, forgive me if this sounds a bit blunt but, I¡¯m a bird but you, a dog, are iming that you¡¯re my brother?¡± Xixi returned to its original size and perched on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Come on girl, teach that dog a lesson!¡±

    The man¡¯s rage surged. Looking at Gu Xiqiao, he said, ¡°Very well, no wonder you were able to kill my brethren!¡±

    Roar!

    A lion¡¯s roar shook the earth and the man transformed into a humongous lion. Its body was emitting an endless supply of dark mist and its eyes were like two individual dark holes, where not even light could escape from!

    The men behind him fell into formation following his transformation.

    ¡°God-binding formation! Unleash it!¡± Human words came forth from the lion¡¯s maw. ¡°Launch cyberspace!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± replied the men behind him. They swiftly returned to their seats and began to release the binds on him.

    ¡°Prepare to die, Gu Xiqiao!¡± The lion hopped into the air as a wave of pure, unfiltered energy flowed into its body. It charged aggressively towards Gu Xiqiao. No mercy this time, it thought.

    With the power from the cyberspace, the god-binding formation and his unrivaled prowess in formation construction, he was nning to wipe Gu Xiqiao off the face of the with one single blow!

    In his cyberspace, the chances of one escaping the attack were virtually zero. The man knew perfectly well the cards he was ying, and so, he funneled all his energy into this single hit. After all, the person he was facing against was a mere Houtian martial artist. There was no way she could repel his attack, even with all sorts of tricks she might have up her sleeve. In the face of an almighty force, she was nothing but a helpless fool!

    A number of spatial cracks appeared in the air around him.

    Gu Xiqiao stuffed Xixi into her pocket and slowly turned towards the beast. ¡°Do you know how your seventh sister died? She failed to kill me, even in her cyberspace. Do you think you can achieve what she failed to do?¡±

    The virtual training ground was projected around herself in the blink of an eye.

    Almost simultaneously, arge pir of lightning struck down next to her.

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s jaw almost dropped to the ground upon seeing this. The confidence she had was shaken out of her immediately after witnessing this scene. She had thought Gu Xiqiao was just a nobody, someone who she could eliminate with just the snap of her finger. Never in a million years would she expect the enemy to be on par with the lord on the battlefield. In fact, the longer the battle went on, the more it seemed like she had the upper hand. S-She, she¡¯s too strong!

    As the two forces shed, a strong gust of wind, almost hurricane-like, swept through the area.

    His body, like a super-condensed battery, contained an immense amount of energy. And yet, he was being forced back again and again by this supposedly ¡®Houtian¡¯ young girl!

    Spatialpaction!

    Force of Thunder!

    Anti-God-binding Formation!

    He was dumbfounded! How could it be? Isn¡¯t she a filthy Houtian?! How could she possibly use such powerful attacks? Why did her energy seem limitless?

    As hard as it was for him to believe his eyes, she really did possess such great strength!

    Several different types of auras werebined into a singr blow, creating an ear-splitting explosion in the air. The man suddenly found himself entangled by lightning bolts and in the next second, he smashed into the ground violently.

    She was practically abusing him at this point!

    Her show of force was way too terrifying as it was demoralizing! His men were stupefied.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attacks, however, were still far from over. She pulled back the lightning bolts as she turned towards Huangfu Xuan and her men. She sneered at them. ¡°Be patient, you¡¯ll get your fair share of punishment!¡±

    ¡°All of you,e forth!¡± she ordered.

    ¡°Understood Miss Gu!¡±

    The booming voice of seventy men shook the earth. Right after that, a formation of troops materialized out of thin air.

    One could see that there were seven groups of men, with ten in each group. The Besieging Formation they constructed was multitudes more powerful than the God-binding Formation Gu Xiqiao¡¯s opponent was relying on.

    Rumble!

    The noise went on non-stop, paralyzing the men around Huangfu Xuan through fear alone. She watched as the strongest men she had on her side got struck down one-by-one by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s underlings. Her people offered little to no resistance against the attackers!

    What baffled Huangfu Xuan the most was that despite all the bloodshed going on, the mythical great boss did note to her rescue!

    Gu Xiqiao just stood there calmly, with her hands behind her back as she watched her men butcher the enemy.

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s body was now shaking uncontrobly. Scary. This is way too scary!

 Chapter 319 - Even I Get Worried When I Go Berserk

    <h4>Chapter 319: Even I Get Worried When I Go Berserk</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao dismantled the Cyberspace and erected a barrier thatpletely isted the Huangfu manor from the outside world.

    However, the bloody stench that filled the air had already spread around the rest of Mingzhou.

    A new group of people had arrived at the Wei family¡¯s doorstep.

    There was a bald monk with a flowing white beard, an enigmatic Taoist priest, and a Taoist priestess with a tranquil expression...

    These were the almighty hermits of the ancient martial arts world. Their strength might not be on par with the Great Elder or his second-inmand but underestimating them would be a deadly mistake.

    The Taoist priest specialized in ying demons, exorcisms, casting spells, metaphysics, and an array of seemingly other-worldly subjects. The highest ne one could get in this realm was the perfect unity of heaven and man. Thus, they possessed knowledge of everything that existed between heaven and earth.

    Since its conception, Buddhism was a way for humans to open up their third eye, to be able to see life¡¯s greatest mysteries. However, these people were not fighters, for they believed that it is their duty to save the masses and eliminate bad karma once and for all. One of their ancient scriptures described the power of Buddhism as being boundless, and that those who knew the ¡°way¡± would be liberated from the eternal cycle of reincarnation.

    However, after so many centuries, only a handful of Buddist and Taoist concepts have been sessfully passed down and preserved. A couple ofrger families in the ancient martial arts world managed to do this but it was hard to deny that these two religions have been on a steady decline over the centuries. A simrly small number of people were struggling to keep the movement alive.

    They sensed a cmity that had befallen Mingzhou and had gathered here in Zhuge Yan¡¯s courtyard today upon being invited by the Great Elder of the ancient martial arts world. The abbot, who was clutching onto a string of beads, was continuously driven into a corner on the chessboard. He eximed, ¡°Never would I have expected to be ying chess with a descendant of Zhuge. When ites to the secrets of heaven, no one in the world canpare with you lot...hmm? What a strong aura!¡±

    The second elder, who was strolling around the courtyard froze up. He then smiled to himself. ¡°That must be Young Master Murong reaching a new level?¡±

    ¡°Young Master Murong? He must be at the level of Houtian for there to be such a strong radiance, no?¡± asked the priestess. ¡°If my memory serves me right, he was given the 70th ce and below on the annual ranking list. It seems like yet another prodigy is rising up in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    ¡°He only achieved what he did after that battle he fought alongside Miss Gu. I wouldn¡¯t go so far as to call him a prodigy though,¡± said the second elder, despite his surprise at the rate Murong Feiye was advancing. He was good. But whenpared to Gu Xiqiao and her Peacekeepers, that boy¡¯s skill was average at best.

    They looked at each other the moment they heard the second elder¡¯sment. Murong Feiye could not be considered a prodigy?

    The ground beneath their feet suddenly started to tremble. Shortly after, a strong aura of bloodshed swept over the courtyard like a tidal wave.

    The abbot shot up from his seat and it was precisely that moment that his string of beads snapped in half, sending little beads rolling in every direction on the floor.

    The masters all peered in the same direction from which the aura wasing from.

    The abbot slowed down his pace and turned towards Zhuge Yan as well as the second elder. ¡°You two should know what¡¯s happening right?¡±

    Both of their expressions remainedrgely the same. The second elder grinned at the abbot while nodding. ¡°That¡¯s right, master.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The abbot started doubting his senses. Did something go wrong with his hearing, or perhaps did the second elder¡¯s mind go haywire, or did his ears go bad?!

    Of course, this wasn¡¯t the time to be having such thoughts. He had forgotten to even ask them what happened before he said his goodbyes and left thepound.

    Gu Xiqiao, with her hands behind her back, watched as the Peacekeepers unleashed a pit-massacre formation against their enemies. She did not teach them this trick. Instead, it was developed by Yao Jiamu and Wu Hongwen for such situations. It was this trick that propelled Yao Jiamu¡¯s little team up the ranks during the selectionpetition and the Peacekeepers were gaining the upper hand using this very trick!

    Her expression was peaceful as she watched Shura¡¯s purgatory y out in front of her, like a scene out of a TV show.

    The great masters, who were able to get through her barrier were shocked when they saw that look on her face. ¡°Miss Gu? What is the meaning of this?¡±

    They were deeply impressed by Gu Xiqiao during theirst trip to the caves and it was also why they recognized her instantly.

    The Peacekeepers were too focused on carrying out the massacre that they weren¡¯t surprised by the sudden arrival of the great masters. They had trained so hard for this and the fluidity of the group as a functioning killing machine shocked the great masters. Good god! Where did these prodigiese from! And just how many of them are there?!

    It was a total bloodbath. Such violence, such power!

    Even the great masters, who have endured countless beatings and ordeals over the years trembled at the sight of the massacre. However, what Guy Xiqiao said next further intensified the fear and bafflement in their hearts.

    ¡°O respected masters, I am doing nothing. I am merely¡ª¡± Gu Xiqiao directed a humble smile at them. ¡°Doing my brothers and sisters a favor by finding them a suitable punching bag. They focus too much on theoretical skills and I was afraid that they stillck real-worldbat experience. Do you have any objections to my training regime, great masters?¡±

    A punching bag?

    Any objections?

    Be great if you answered no, but if otherwise¡ª

    You better hold your tongues!

    Her words were respectful but it was clear that a monster was hiding behind that facade!

    The masters looked at each other silently. Gu Xiqiao had made an incredible sacrifice for the ancient martial arts world once; they knew she wasn¡¯t the sort of person who would kill for fun. There must be some justification for this massacre. Although they found it hard to stomach such a dreadful scene, it wasn¡¯t like they couldn¡¯t read between the lines. Do not interfere! As if they had the power to do so to begin with!

    No matter how difficult it was for them to bear with the truth, they had to hold back their emotions!

    Huangfu Xuan, who was standing at the edge of the battlefield was ted when she saw these great masters. She immediately got down on her knees and pleaded for mercy. Blood on her face was mixed with tears that rolled down her cheeks. ¡°These people are cruel and vicious. We, the Huangfu family have always respected the rules, and yet here they are, ughtering us. At this rate, our entire family will be wiped out in no time. Please, I beg for your help, great masters!¡±

    Yao Jiamu, who was inspecting his troops overheard Huangfu Xuan¡¯s words and he sneered in response. ¡°I see, you¡¯re still as cunning as ever, despite death already looming over your shoulder.¡±

    The young Taoist priestess shook her horsetail whisk when she saw how desperate the situation had be for Huangfu Xuan. She chanted a couple of Taoist lines before walking over to help Huangfu Xuan get back on her feet.

    ¡°Miss Gu, please spare her some forgiveness.¡±

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s face lit up and she immediately reached up to grab the priestess¡¯ helping hand.

    It was at this moment that a cold voice boomed. ¡°Great Master, I advise you against making such rash decisions.¡±

    Although the voice sounded gentle, it was enough to burn itself into the mind of the people on the battlefield. The priestess, in particr, was so surprised that she turned around instantly.

    All she saw, however, was a bright smile on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, which was theplete opposite of the voice she heard in her mind. There was nothing cold about her smile. Her pencil-thin lips then started moving. ¡°After all, even I get slightly scared when I go berserk. What about you?¡±

    Eight golden needles, wrapped in purple sparks appeared around her body right after she said that.

    Simultaneously, her immensely strong consciousness enveloped the area. The facial expressions of the great masters changed for the worse immediately. They peered anxiously at Gu Xiqiao as their hearts hammered against their ribcage. She was no doubt, much stronger than when they met previously. She must¡¯ve climbed up another level!

    They looked at the youngdy who was at most, twenty years old, at how calm her expression was and how little it has changed throughout the entire process. They, on the other hand, had already been swallowed up by fear.

    The hands of the Taoist priestess trembled. As the words Gu Xiqiao spoke were directed specifically towards her, she felt for a moment that she might just drop dead on the spot! It was that moment that she realized how futile her attempt to save Huangfu Xuan was. With a face as pale as a sheet of paper, she returned to her group. The fear in her heart fluctuated when she saw the side of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s profile.

    Now, with no more obstacles in her way, Gu Xiqiao shifted her gaze over to Huangfu Xuan, then onto her Peacekeepers.

    The Peacekeepers continued their massacre but this time around, there was no one there to hinder their progress. The same could be said on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.

    Although they did not enjoy the idea ofpletely annihting their enemy, they did not dare object to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s will.

    Gu Xiqiao was on a whole other level of angry. In fact, she might not even be appeased after the elimination of the Huangfu family!

    Her mental strength wasn¡¯t stable, to say the least. It felt as if a single misstep might turn this entire ce into rubble. And so, none of the Peacekeepers dared to protest against her decision.

    The Taoist priestess had almost lost her life right in front of their eyes after all!

    Not far away, Murong Feiye, who had just leveled up, rushed over. Amidst his urgent staggering, he almost lost his bnce and fell over. ¡°This girl¡¯s up to no good again!¡± It seems more and more likely that the people of the supernatural world were under an existential threat. Gu Xiqiao on her own was already insanely strong. However, with the addition of the Peacekeepers, who were pretty much elite fighters on their own, God knows what they¡¯re capable of.

    In the face of such an undefeatable force, only a fool would dare to object to their will.

    Murong Feiye gasped. In the grander scheme of things, however, the Huangfu family was not the first to capitte to Gu Xiqiao. Back then, such scenes weremon but instead of a bloodbath, it was theplete financial destruction of two rich and influential families in the imperial capital.

    Although there was more bloodshed now, nothing significant has changed in regards to her personality or her rule of conduct since her arrival at the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    One of the Peacekeepers came running over to report the sess of their mission after they had annihted every single foe.

    ¡°Now remember, we will retaliate in the very same manner against whoever that dares to challenge the Peace Manor. Total war shall be waged and I will have your backs no matter what,¡± announced Gu Xiqiao in a dead serious manner.

    What the f*ck! Murong Feiye and the great masters were stupefied by her statement!

    The more they looked at it, the more it seemed like Gu Xiqiao was the person who conditioned the Peacekeepers into bloodthirsty monsters!

    Challenge you guys? As if they weren¡¯t the ones doing that towards others in the first ce! The corner of Murong Feiye¡¯s mouth twitched. He recalled how badly the previous situation turned out when someone messed with the Peace Manor. But inparison to what they have done this time, that previous instance waspletely iparable in its scale of destruction!

    ¡°Understood, Miss Gu!¡± replied the inhabitants of Peace Manor with boiling blood!

    Upon receiving fresh blood from the massacre, their auras had be much stronger than before. In the past, these people were said to be half-baked inparison to what Xixi was capable of. Now, they had already fulfilled the requirements one needed in order to be an ¨¹bermensch.

    They did not question Gu Xiqiao¡¯s decision to wipe out their enemy. This was because, from the very start of the engagement, they had already felt a sort of evil auraing forth from the Huangfu family members. This aura that they detected was somewhat simr to the one they sensed from the berserker they had fought ¡ªin the imperial capital.

    The only difference perhaps was that the people of the Huangfu family managed to retain their memories and their human consciousness, something which the berserkers of the imperial capital did not possess.

    This means only one thing¡ªthe inventor of such an hical method has once again, achieved some sort of breakthrough in his research.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded before marching right up to Huangfu Xuan¡¯s side. She reached down and grabbed her jaw. A malicious smile then broke across Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. ¡°Do you know why I deliberately spared your life?¡± Her smile was warm, sweet, and reassuring while the look in her eyes was so dreamy that it was intoxicating. If this action of hers was done in apletely different context, no doubt, the other party would fall head over heels for her.

    However¡ª

    There was only fear in Huangfu Xuan¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Miss Gu, I myself, have never had any grievances against you.¡± Huangfu Xuan was still desperately holding onto whatever that might ensure her survival. That¡¯s right, technically, nobody should know what she did!

    ¡°No grievances against me?¡± Gu Xiqiao loosened her grip. She then pulled out a snow-white napkin from her pocket and wiped her fingers clean. ¡°What you did towards the Hua family is none of my concern. However, the problem came into existence the moment you decided youy your filthy hands on Little Hua. Oh, right, I¡¯m talking about Hua Youlin, whom your men have tortured till the brink of death. Do you have any idea who he is? He¡¯s my little brother.¡±

    Boom! Huangfu Xuan¡¯s mind went nk.

    ¡°Also, it appears that you are assisting evil beings in their quest to harm innocent lives.¡± Gu Xiqiao threw the dirty napkin aside and pointed her pearl white finger at the ground. ¡°I believe that there¡¯s aboratory underneath our feet? Were you nning to get the Hua family into yourboratory, turn them into monsters, and lead us into the trap that is yourboratory?¡±

    Huangfu Xuan¡¯s face was drained of its color. Up until this point, she had been operating under the notion that everyone waspletely oblivious about her ns. The truth has now been revealed and her assumption was dead wrong. She had been dancing on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm the entire time!

    It was this moment that she acknowledged...it¡¯s all over for her.

    Judging by how little mercy Gu Xiqiao had for her men, there was no doubt that she¡¯d receive the same treatment. And she thought she had been blessed with abnormal power that made her invincible. The truth could never have been further than this. From the very start, she had never been a match for Gu Xiqiao!

    Gu Xiqiao shot Huangfu Xuan a look as she whipped out a phone to send a text message.

    ¡°Little Mu, get your men to help transport her back to the Imperial Capital. Hand her over to Dr. Zhu Yuan, he¡¯ll know how to teach her a good lesson on being a decent human being.¡± Uponpleting her text message, Gu Xiqiao tucked her phone back in her pocket and left the scene.

    Nevermind bloodstains, there was not even a single wrinkle on her coat.

    ¡°Miss Gu, so we¡¯re just going to ship her off to the Imperial Capital just like that? Aren¡¯t you afraid that someone wille and take her away mid-journey?¡± questioned Murong Feiye as he nced at Huangfu Xuan from time to time.

    Gu Xiqiao paused for a moment and chuckled to herself. ¡°If they aren¡¯t afraid that I¡¯ll sniff them out from the clues that they¡¯ll inevitably leave behind then...sure, they¡¯re wee to intercept the convoy.¡±

    The air then started warping before she vanished from this realm.

    ¡°Great Masters,¡± said Yao Jiamu with an apologetic look on his face. ¡°Miss Gu did not mean what she said just now. Please know that she still has much respect for you people.¡±

    The Great Masters were momentarily taken aback but they quickly reacted to the situation with a bitter smile. Respect? From which part of their exchange did she ever show respect to them?

    ¡°Follow me and you¡¯ll understand what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Yao Jiamu couldn¡¯t bear to see these well-respected great masters misunderstand Gu Xiqiao. And so, he waved them in to break the truth to them.

    The Great Masters looked at each other with puzzled expressions before they did as told by Yao Jiamu.

    Murong Feiye clicked his tongue in disdain but in the end, for some inexplicable reason, he too, walked over as he was also curious about just what pissed off Gu Xiqiao so much that she did not hesitate to carry out a massacre.

    Her rage was so great that it shook the entire Mingzhou.

    It was the same moment when Wu Hongwen emerged from beneath the ground. His face was storming. If the people lying next to his feet weren¡¯t dead, he¡¯d definitely grab them onto their feet and kill them again. ¡°Everyone, follow me.¡±

    Wu Hongwen brought them to a hidden entrance which led to an underground chamber.

    Back when the battle was still raging on, he heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice telling him that something big was to be found underground.

    And so, Wu Hongwen came rushing over the moment the battle ceased. As expected, he found a secret chamber underground, just as Gu Xiqiao had told him!

    The heavy steel door groaned open and what followed shocked the people who were present. Even Yao Jiamu, who had been told about the room¡¯s contents beforehand was so appalled by the scenery that he was fuming afterward.

    The undergroundboratory must¡¯ve been cleared of important material by someone before they left. However, whatever that was deemed unimportant was left behind, an example being... test subjects.

    Most of the test subjects weren¡¯t physically whole; there were severed body parts strewn all around theboratory.

    It was difficult, if not impossible, to describe how miserable the situation was inside thisboratory.

    Yao Jiamu peered down at a palm lying next to his foot. It was small, and judging from its bone structure, the child must¡¯ve been no older than 10!

    ¡°The Huangfu family have been assisting those bastards in collecting test subjects. They¡¯ve seeded, but at the cost of countless innocent lives. In return, the members of the Huangfu family have gained immense power. So many lives lost, so many families destroyed, just to get them where they are today,¡± he said while pointing down at the pieces of raw flesh. He then looked up at the great masters with bloodshot eyes. ¡°You sympathize with the Huangfu family, but what about these people?!¡±

    ¡°Great Masters, you should thank your lucky stars that Miss Gu still has respect for you people.¡± Yao Jiamu turned away. ¡°If not for that, God knows how many times you would¡¯ve died in your attempts to save Huangfu Xuan¡¯s ass.¡±

    The great masters were shocked beyond words. Finally, they understood what fuelled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s murderous rampage. Though, that also resulted in every one of them trembling in fear.

    The young priestess who intended to save Huangfu Xuan stared at the corpse of an infant lying atop an operating table. In an instant, she was struck by a sense of guilt for doubting Gu Xiqiao and anger at herself formitting such a stupid mistake. Now, she truly felt the same pain thatpelled Gu Xiqiao to let loose her wrath on the Huangfu family!

    What a cruel sight. What the Huangfu family did was outrageous!

    The abbot¡¯s lips remained shut. He shut his eyes and started thinking about how much worse the scene down here waspared to the one above ground. It was enough to send him into a state of shock!

    He took a good look at the carnage that had urred down here and proceeded to sit down on the floor cross-legged and ced his palms together. Word by word, he recited a sutra for these poor souls to pass onto to the afterlife. Golden texts flowed out from his lips and swept towards the desecrated corpses, soothing their relentless souls.

    The teachings of Buddha liberate all beings from suffering.

    On the next day, Hua Youlin¡¯s eyelids fluttered as his mind gradually regained consciousness. A momentter, he shot up from his bed and turned towards Jiji, who was standing guard next to him.

    ¡°Sister Gu! Where is she?¡± he asked with urgency in his voice.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao¡¯s safe and sound. Never mind her, you should worry about yourself first,¡± replied Jiji while chewing on an apple. It directed a look of sympathy at Hua Youlin. ¡°The n you came up with this time wasn¡¯t clever at all. Although you were doing things for her own good, you missed out on one key factor. Judging by her personality, do you seriously think that the prospect of death would deter her from chasing after her goal?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right!¡± Xixi joined in as it swooped in through the window. ¡°Little Hua, Beauty Qiao¡¯s arrived!¡±

    ¡°Why are you being so happy?¡± Jiji flung the apple core at Xixi. ¡°You better worry about your own safety, you feather ball! Eight Brother? That lion-looking dude called you his eight brother! I advise you toe up with a good excuse before Beauty Qiao returns.¡±

    ¡®Weren¡¯t they here to care for me? Why were these two fighting again?¡¯

    What a bunch of posers! Hua Youlin looked down at his injuries which appeared to be more or lesspletely healed. It must¡¯ve been Gu Xiqiao¡¯s work. If so, she should be fine herself. Hua Youlin silently put on his shoes and left the room in search of Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao walked out of the room next to his as soon as he opened the door. However, it seemed like she did not see him yet.

    Hua Youlin opened his mouth, about to say something when he noticed a Taoist priestess enter through the front door. Great, he confirmed that Gu Xiqiao really was deliberately ignoring him this time!

    An awkward look surfaced on his face.

    ¡°Miss Gu, I am here to apologize for my actions from yesterday.¡± The priestess looked like she was going through a roller coaster of emotions. She must¡¯ve seen something that utterly shattered her moralest night. ¡°I am terribly sorry for my overly impulsive reaction.¡±

    If she knew about such matters going on, her reaction would undoubtedly be no better than Gu Xiqiao¡¯s.

    Gu Xiqiao bowed respectfully in response and shed her a smile. ¡°Great Master, there is no need for you to apologize. I have to admit, I myself, am not a saint. Your Taoist philosophy advocates for conforming to nature¡¯s will, action in inaction, andplete faith in heavens¡¯ will. I, on the other hand, rebelled against this deterministic world.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words stunned the priestess. After a brief pause, she got back on her feet and her tense expression loosened up into a smile. ¡°This incident is not the end. It is merely the start of a long, arduous journey.¡± This was just their first step on this blood-filled road.

    In response to such fanatical words, the priestess felt that it should have been her responsibility to persuade such a young person with limitless talent against having such cynical thoughts but at this very moment, she found it impossible toe up with a constructive argument to do so. On the contrary, her own emotions had been riled up by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words.

    Instead of apologizing, had shee here just to get brainwashed?!

    Gu Xiqiao then made her way to Zhuge Yan¡¯s ce. On her way there, she had bumped into a couple of familiar faces.

    ¡°Now that you¡¯ve leveled up, this technique should suit you rather nicely,¡± Gu Xiqiao told Murong Feiya. She rubbed her chin and started talking to herself. ¡°To level up twice within a month, as expected of someone who has earned the respect of the leader of Great Britain.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡®Sh*t! If we¡¯re talking about who¡¯s the most horrifying person of all, no one should be able to even challenge you for that position! I mean, you guys went ahead and crushed the Huangfu family without much pre-nning. Inparison to you, I¡¯m weak as sh*t! So stop talking as if I¡¯m that good!¡¯ined Murong Feiye to himself.

 Chapter 320 - Welcome To The Massacre Formation

    <h4>Chapter 320: Wee To The Massacre Formation</h4>

    Fairy Lake, it was Mingzhou¡¯s most famouske, and the thirdrgestke in the entire country.

    Countless people came here to y, and just so happened that it was also winter vacation at this time, so the number of people was even more than usual.

    In the past, all the people who came here would chat among themselves while enjoying the scenery, but today, they were watching some people instead.

    Obviously it was because these people were all handsome men and beautiful women.

    ¡°Amitabha.¡± The priest squeezed the new string of beads that Gu Xiqiao had given him that morning, reciting Buddha¡¯s name as he closed his eyes.

    ¡°I say master priest, we¡¯re already here, why are you still reciting?¡± Wu Hongwen grabbed a piece of grass, jumping down from the nearby tree, a grin on his face.

    The priest finally opened his eyes, ncing at Wu Hongwen as he shook his head andughed lightly. ¡°To sit is to meditate, to walk is also to meditate. A flower is one world, a single leaf is absolute harmony.¡± (T/N: I think this is from a scripture, which in simple terms means that no matter what happens, just let it happen. Properly take care of it once it does, and if it doesn¡¯t happen, don¡¯t think so much about it.)

    ¡°Alright! Don¡¯t recite it to me, I¡¯m getting a headache just listening to you!¡± Wu Hongwen jumped away immediately as though he had been burned.

    The priest merelyughed again, not saying another word.

    As soon as Gu Xiqiao had gone out in the morning, she invited Zhuge Yan to y in Fairy Lake. Once Yao Jiamu and the others heard that there was something fun happening with Gu Xiqiao, they naturally came running. When Wei Chenxi heard something fun was happening, he also came out. The second elder and Murong Feiye were also obviously not far behind them.

    Unexpectedly, even the two masters decided to follow them. One was this master priest, while the other was the priestess that had spoken to Gu Xiqiao in the morning.

    The priestess stood beside the water, looking out at the vastke. She then picked up some stones, cing them in certain positions on the ground.

    ¡°What did you find?¡± The priest walked up to the priestess, his hands still clutching his Buddhist beads.

    ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m not as good as those from the Baili family, and I don¡¯t know how they do it. It concerns divining our life and death, it¡¯s not something that can be solved in such a short time.¡± The priestess sighed, then looked towards the beads that were in the priest¡¯s hands. ¡°I see you really like the beads.¡±

    ¡°It has holy power imbued in it.¡± The priest clutched the beads tighter. ¡°Miss Gu¡¯s actions were really extraordinary, I didn¡¯t even have the courage to refuse it.¡±

    Treasures that contain the holy power of Buddha was something all the Buddhist disciples dreamed of having.

    ¡°She is no ordinary person.¡± The priestess said in a low voice. Her insight and acting, it didn¡¯t seem like something a person her age would be able to do.

    ¡°She is in fact not. You can show her this formation.¡± The priest looked back at where Murong Feiye, Mo Li and everyone else was, leisurely hanging around. Zhuge Yan, who had always been avoiding the world atrge and staying at home was out of his hiding ce with just a word of invitation from her. To be able to convince these proud, haughty children toe out, how simple of a person could she be?

    Her skills in formation, and those caves that were at the edge of the ancient martial arts world. Even a formation wizard like Baili Bin had also been amazed by it, and was full of praises for her.

    ¡°Master, didn¡¯t you say that gifts blind the eyes? You already took something from me, and now you¡¯re talking behind my back, and to think you¡¯re a disciple of Buddha.¡± The one who spoke was a woman lying in a wicker chair under the tree with a book on her face. The cover of the book was tattered, and it covered her face. The sun shone through the gaps between the thickyers of leaves onto her slender, white fingers, creating a soft, cold glow on her pale skin.

    It was only her slender fingers, but it was enough to dazzle every passing tourist and local that walked past.

    ¡°It is not so, every word thates out of my mouth,es from the heart.¡± The old priest stood up, looking over to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°You¡¯re also awake now, Miss Gu. Why don¡¯t you have a look at this formation?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao took the book off, revealing an elegant, beautiful face. ¡°Not interested.¡± She pulled out her phone, seeing whether Zhu Yuan was satisfied with the gift she had sent him or not.

    The Taoist priestess looked at Gu Xiqiao with surprise on her face. The girl in front of her seemed to be apletely different person today. Last night, she was domineering, cold, sinister and made everyone tremble in fear, not daring to offend her.

    Today, she was gentle and calm, an almost invisible smile on her face. The change between the short period of time was really too great.

    ¡°Wait, master priest.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat up suddenly, looking at the old priest. ¡°I¡¯ll look over the formation, do you want to recite the Rebirth Mantra?¡±

    The priest was caught off guard at that, not knowing whether he shouldugh or cry at that. How could something like a Rebirth Mantra be recited just by saying you wanted to?

    The priestess also stood, smiling. ¡°Miss Gu, getting an old monk to recite the Rebirth Mantra, it really is only something you can do.¡±

    The old priest is the master of Buddhism with the deepest understanding of Buddhism in China currently, and the holy power he wielded could be described as a golden light. His techniques were iparable, and even the higher-level people in the ancient martial arts world were respectful when they met him. And here Gu Xiqiao was, asking him to recite the Rebirth Mantra out of the blue?

    Anyone could recite the Rebirth Mantra, but if the master priest were to recite it, his holy power would spread with the mantra, which would eventually also cause damage to his own body.

    Therefore, when it was not necessary, he wouldn¡¯t simply recite that particr mantra.

    ¡°Master Abott has been training for so many years, but he hasn¡¯t cultivated the three wisdoms and six knowledge yet.¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled out another tattered book from her pocket. ¡°If you want to cultivate the six higher knowledge, you need to first cultivate your mind. When you reach a certain level of rity of your own mind, you will not be limited by your heart.¡±

    The priest¡¯s eyes had not moved from the moment Gu Xiqiao had pulled out the book from her pocket, his gaze not wavering from the book in her hands. ¡°I can start reciting it immediately.¡±

    Saying that, he sat down cross-legged beneath the tree, closing his six senses. He started chanting, a string of golden charactersing out of his mouth as he did.

    No one else could see it, and after floating in the air for a while, the string of characters faded away into theke quietly.

    The Taoist priestess: ¡°...¡± Where the heck is your backbone?

    But then she turned her gaze towards Gu Xiqiao, then to the book in her hand, and felt even more that this person wasn¡¯t some ordinary person.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at her, before turning around and moving the stone pieces that the priestess had been fiddling with, before returning to the wicker chair.

    The priestess shifted her gaze back to the stones in front of her, giving is a passing nce at first, before stopping in stunned surprise. She ignored everything else, pulling out hermunicator and sending a message with it with trembling hands.

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao lying back down on the wicker chair in a disinterested manner, putting the book back on her face, Wu Hongwen hurriedly spat out the grass in his mouth. ¡°Hey, Er Qiao, wait a sec! You¡¯re the one who suggesteding here to y, why are you just lying there and sleeping?¡±

    ¡°Because I want to.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned the book around, and Wu Hongwen took the chance to see what it was about. However, all he saw was strings and strings of wiggly, twisted words.

    This thing, when had she be like Master Jiang, falling in love with books that had wriggly words scribbled all over it?

    Wu Hongwen browsed his phone, finding nothing interesting, so he leaned over at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s front. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with this Fairy Lake?¡± He knew that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯te to a ce without any reason.

    ¡°The area above your head is a restricted flight zone,¡± Gu Xiqiao said with a smile on her face. ¡°Also, rather than say this is ake, it¡¯s more urate to say it¡¯s a corpsend. Do you know what kind of ce that is? It¡¯s a ce where they store dead bodies.¡±

    F*ck! A corpsend?! Wu Hongwen turned to look at the bottomlesske once more. He had initially thought that there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with theke, but now that she had mentioned that, why did he get a foreboding feeling the more he looked at it?

    ¡°Fine, I lied.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat up, stuffing the book into her pocket. She then shoved both hands into her pockets, and walked to the other side.

    Zhuge Yan was ying chess with an old man.

    A group of people was watching them.

    ¡°Young man, your chess skills, you make one move while thinking of a hundred moves, I really can¡¯t beat that.¡± The old man looked at the dead position of the chessboard, waving his hand. He epted his loss wholeheartedly. He had once been a famous chess yer in China, and he didn¡¯t expect that he would meet a young man who was able to y chess with this much deliberation while traveling.

    He nced at Zhuge Yan. The more he looked at him, the more joyful he felt.

    He was handsome, calm, and good at chess. You can judge a person¡¯s character by the way he ys, and the man wondered if Zhuge Yan had a girlfriend or not? Maybe he could introduce him to his granddaughter?

    Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask, he saw the young man smiling and looking up as he asked someone, ¡°Miss Gu, is there a solution to this game?¡±

    ¡°Obviously,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied easily, her eyes already on the chessboard. She turned her gaze to the old man, and asked, ¡°Could I have a try?¡±

    The old man stood up immediately. ¡°Miss, is there really a way out of this situation?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, picking up a ck piece, dropping it in the position of the Tiger¡¯s Mouth[1]. The old man didn¡¯t react to her move, and everyone surrounding them didn¡¯t react either. cing the chess piece there, wasn¡¯t that just digging your own grave?

    Zhuge Yan was silent, staring intently at the piece that Gu Xiqiao had ced. He thought deeply for a long while, beforeughing suddenly. ¡°I¡¯ve been at this game for half a day, and it¡¯s just been destroyed by this one move that you made.¡± He had thought it was definitely over, since a chess game in a dead position was difficult to break out of.

    Gu Xiqiao just stared at the chessboard, smiling without a word. A game in a dead position? You would also have to consider whose hands it was in!

    The old man and the onlookers watched the game for a long while, and finallyughed while pping their hands, pleasantly surprised. ¡°Wonderful, just wonderful!¡±

    By the time he returned to his senses and looked for Zhuge Yan and Gu Xiqiao again, he found that they had already left.

    ¡°Miss Gu, Great Elder sent a message saying that America¡¯s power world has sent you a bunch of gifts, and he¡¯s sent it over to the Jiang residence.¡± Yao Jiamu had finallye back after wandering around the ce, letting her know this piece of news.

    ¡°America?¡± Gu Xiqiao stopped walking, narrowing her eyes, a hint of regret in her eyes. ¡°Hm, they¡¯re quite obedient.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it because they¡¯re afraid of getting targeted by you?¡± Wu Hongwen muttered quietly under his breath from where he was standing at the side. Now that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reputation had spread throughout all the power worlds, everyone was living in fear. They were afraid that if she were to be in a bad mood, they¡¯d be her next target to y with. Thinking of those people, he felt his heart ache for them... Wait, no. He was happy, his heart didn¡¯t ache for them at all! ¡°But...I actually still want to go over to America and y a little.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean go over there and y.¡± Gu Xiqiao kicked his shin. ¡°The matters here aren¡¯t settled yet, and when that¡¯s done, each and every one of you will go and advance your levels!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but be worried at the little strength that they had.

    As for America, it wasn¡¯t like it was impossible to y with them, Gu Xiqiao sighed.

    ¡°Of course I know this.¡± Wu Hongwen tried to dodge it, but he ended up not being able to, and still got kicked for his efforts. ¡°It¡¯s such a peaceful day today, and I¡¯m a little unused to it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to itter.¡± Gu Xiqaio¡¯s lips curled up. She turned to look at the calm surface of theke, the light that shone on it made the water sparkle. ¡°But a dead chess game, who knows? When it reaches my hands, I can make the dead live once again.¡±

    Wu Hongwen: ... Looks like this person will be picking another target soon.

    Still, it was something worth looking forward to.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything further, leaning against a tree and pulling out her phone. As expected, Zhu Yuan had sent a message.

    Zhu Yuan: I say, do you have anything against me?

    For A Millenium: No? I¡¯m just full of hope towards you.

    Zhu Yuan: ... Your ¡®hope¡¯ is to send me a lifeless body that¡¯s basically a corpse?

    Gu Xiqiao tapped faintly on her phone to reply to his message.

    For A Millenium: Don¡¯t worry, the person is still alive. In her left pocket is a box with a white pill. She¡¯lle back to life after you feed her that. In the meantime, you¡¯ll study the evil aura that¡¯s in that body.

    ***

    Zhu Yuan, who was currently in the Imperial Capital, had to read the message repeatedly before looking at Huangfu Xuan who was lying on the bed. He couldn¡¯t help but hold his tongue when he finally stopped reading the message. Of all the people to provoke, you had to go after Gu Xiqiao? And you even offended her to such a high degree?

    ¡°Sigh, Mr. Zhu.¡± The member of the Peace Squad who had been responsible for transporting Huangfu Xuan over couldn¡¯t help but open his mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t pity this person, she didn¡¯t even show any mercy for babies and toddlers in her undergroundb!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Zhu Yuan found the box that Gu Xiqiao had mentioned in the girl¡¯s pocket, which included an instruction sheet inside it. Zhu Yuan was well aware that Gu Xiqiao was an extremelyzy person, and she wouldn¡¯t have used such a troublesome trick had the person not offended her to an extreme degree.

    When he opened the paper, the handwriting on it was unyielding and elegant. Zhu Yuan took the time to admire the writing first, it wasn¡¯t like he would ever be able to write so beautifully in this lifetime, before reading the contents.

    He was in a daze for a long time after reading it, and after a while, he gritted his teeth as he typed furiously on the phone to send a text message.

    Zhu Yuan: Ask you toe back to thebs for the sake of mankind¡¯s benefit, you pull a disappearing act! But it¡¯s fine to do these small ythings?! How long did it take you to make this medicine! Such waste! For such a scumbag!

    He used countless exmation marks to express his emotions at this time. This thing, this thing! You couldn¡¯t not scold her, it got more and more serious every passing day!

    Gu Xiqiao was extremely calm in her next reply, and only took seconds toe: You¡¯re right. It took me about an hour to study ande up with it.

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°...¡± He felt himself being beaten by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. The impact was too great, it felt like his entire life had been meaningless, and there was nothing left to live for.

    Was it necessary to waste such a long time to study and produce such a medicine for a scumbag?

    Zhu Yuan held the phone in his hands, suddenly feeling like studying her brain circuits wasn¡¯t going to be such a simple thing after all. He stood in the same spot, staring at Huangfu Xuan¡¯s darkened body, and something shed in his mind. Before he could continue thinking, his phone started shing again. It was a notification of an email that Gu Xiqiao had sent over.

    He opened it and took a quick nce, his expression changing, and changing again before it finally settled on shock. He immediately gave a call to Professor Jiang and the people in theboratory, muttering to himself at the same time. ¡°Letting ordinary people treat malicious spirits, Gu Xiqiao, you¡¯re really something else!¡±

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was still leaning against the tree, ying another round of her game before taking out a bamboo tube from her pocket.

    A boy who was standing not far from her, stared at her with his mouth slightly agape. ¡°Sister, how can your pockets hold so many things?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... My pocket is not a normal pocket.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± The boy nodded his head, a look of understanding on his face. ¡°It¡¯s not normal.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± Now I think you¡¯re more abnormal than my pocket.

    She pursed her lips, looking at the boy before reaching into her pockets to pull out a piece of paper. She folded it into a shape of a crane, handing it to the child. ¡°Here, for you.¡±

    The boy looked at the vivid paper crane in his hands that looked alive, eximing in excitement. When he looked up, the older sister who had just been beside him had already left.

    ¡°Little Master, why are you still here, hurry, we must go!¡± A middle-aged man hurried over, pulling the boy away.

    As the boy was being pulled away, he couldn¡¯t help but shove the paper crane into his pocket, turning around to look at the direction that Gu Xiqiao had left in.

    Gu Xiqiao left the ce just like that, and she didn¡¯t just leave, it was more urate to say that she up and vanished from the face of the earth. Because not only the little boy, even Yao Jiamu and the others couldn¡¯t find her anywhere.

    Everyone gathered together to discuss where Gu Xiqiao had run off to, and at the same moment, they saw a robot slowly approaching them. It was wearing strikingly colorful clothes, with a ming red, beautiful bird on its shoulder. As it walked towards them, it also greeted the passersby that it passed.

    A few children circled around the robot, and Yao Jiamu¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Jiji?¡±

    Hadn¡¯t these two been left behind at Wei Manor by Gu Xiqiao?

    ¡°Earthquake,¡± Jiji said to Mo Li as soon as he reached the group. ¡°An earthquake is going to happen here.¡±

    Mo Li: ¡°...¡±

    ¡°But your charmspeak is nothing special.¡± Jiji sighed, pulling out a ck guitar from its chest, sitting down by theke as it started to pluck the strings. ¡°I guess I can¡¯t count on you then.¡±

    Xixi nced at the few of them before raising its head to look up at the sky, pping its wings and flying away.

    With the sudden arrival of Jiji and Xixi, Yao Jiamu and the others didn¡¯t understand what Gu Xiqiao intended to do.

    Night came gradually, and just when Yao Jiamu felt that there wouldn¡¯t be anything to see today, the ground shook a few times suddenly. Some rocks fell from the nearby mountain, but fortunately no one was hurt. Despite this, the crowd was still flustered.

    ¡°Everyone, please do not panic. Please follow the soldiers and evacuate in an orderly manner. Experts have predicted that an earthquake will hit this area.¡± A group of soldiers had appeared suddenly. There were military trucks, helicopters, and their rumbling could be heard overhead. The panicked crowd was settled down quickly by the loud horns that were sounded and left in an orderly manner after being reassured by the personnel.

    Wu Hongwen looked up at the helicopter in the sky, they had circled around the surface of theke when flying here.

    He suddenly recalled the legend of the Fairy Lake that Gu Xiqiao had told him that morning. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt uneasy on the inside when he did.

    The crowd was evacuated quickly, while Yao Jiamu and the others stood in a line. They wouldn¡¯t believe if someone told them that this hadn¡¯t been prearranged. The earthquake had just happened, and the army arrived right at the same time?

    ¡°The sky is abnormally dark tonight.¡± The priest had finally finished reciting the Rebirth Mantra. He stood up, looking up at the sky that was gradually turning dark. He muttered under his breath, the beads in his hands were still spinning at a fast speed, and his golden holy powers were flowing.

    As if trying to verify the priest¡¯s words, a hole chose this moment to open suddenly in the dark sky! A ray of white light shot out from the hole, and everyone had to cover their eyes.

    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

    Hundreds of human figures flew out from the opening, and each one of them were solid and real. These were not illusionary figures that were made from condensed malicious aura like before, but humans who were exuding the powerful, evil aura!

    ¡°Those... those are all the most wanted criminals across the power worlds.¡± The priest¡¯s hands that were holding the beads shook, shock on his face. It was hard enough that there were hundreds of them, but each of them also seemed to have powers that were out of this world!

    How? How did they be so strong?

    ¡°Formations.¡± The Taoist priestess looked up at the sky. ¡°It took decades... the Sky Destructing Formation. Once this formation is used, the entire Mingzhou will never see the sun again, and the city will shrivel up and die. It¡¯s no wonder, no wonder countless nts and trees had already withered on the path when we came here.¡±

    The old priest and Taoist priestess were calm people, but when they saw the scene in front of them, all they could feel was shock. Just these hundreds of these thugs who surpassed Houtian level masters would be enough to crush the entire ancient martial arts world, who in the world would be able to stand against them?

    ¡°Everyone get ready.¡± Yao Jiamu¡¯s voice was calm and powerful. ¡°Xixi, protect Mr. Zhuge. I¡¯ll notify the Peace Squad.¡±

    ¡°Young Master Yao!¡± Just as Yao Jiamu finished talking, a group of people appeared out of thin air, falling behind him one after another.

    ¡°Miss Gu asked for me to wait until 7 o¡¯clock beforeing here.¡± The leader said loudly. ¡°I have followed hermand!¡±

    ¡°So many people, it¡¯s enough for all hundred of us to break through into the realm of Enlightenment.¡± The hundred thugs who were hovering in mid-air looked at the group of people underneath them, smiling coldly. They didn¡¯t say much after that, and a ck g slowly rose from somewhere among them.

    The Scarlet Soul Banner! The refining of a million souls! Surrounded by a void ck hole, it could swallow everything in its path, be it heaven or earth!

    ¡°Everyone, get back! That¡¯s the Scarlet Soul Banner! You won¡¯t be able to get out alive if you get devoured by it!¡± The priest took a step back quickly, his face turning horrified.

    ¡°Gravity Shield!¡± Wu Hongwen ran forward to meet it head on, and the Scarlet Soul Banner shook in the air, descending suddenly at a fast speed.

    Yao Jiamu appeared on the surface of theke in an instant, a whirlwind building beside him, smashing right into the ck hole that surrounded the Scarlet Soul Banner!

    The colorful profound energy that shot out from Murong Feiye¡¯s body also mmed into the Scarlet Soul Banner!

    ¡°Formation!¡± The remaining hundred Peacekeepers split into ten teams with a shout, forming the Nine Heaven Eight Trigrams Array without hesitation.

    These hundred Peacekeepers were only at Fleet Foot level, and once the array was formed, the energy that emitted from it was not any weaker than those at the Houtian level. It even surpassed the aura that was emitted by those in the Enlightenment realm!

    Boom!

    When the two sides collided, a loud explosion sounded out. More importantly, the Peace Squad didn¡¯t fail and fall!

    The entire scene happened in just a short ten seconds, but it made the priest and priestess widen their eyes in shock. Forget about how Gu Xiqiao was a monster, why was it that everyone that was under her was equally monstrous? Those thugs were all nearing the level of Enlightenment, ones who could contend with all the power worlds across the globe.

    ¡°Your Miss Gu has died pitifully beneath theke, and has be part of this Scarlet Soul Banner. You don¡¯t have to struggle so futilely.¡± The hundred thug masters of the Enlightenment realm were scattered around the sky. ¡°Sky Destruction Formation, activate!¡±

    They stood in mid-air, admiring the rmed expressions that appeared on the face of these people. Gu Xiqiao was dead at the bottom of theke, these people were not a threat to them anymore, but ythings. They had thought that the ns would be a bit difficult to carry out this time, but they didn¡¯t expect it to be so simple in the end, and that the two people would fall so easily.

    The hundred thugs sneered andughed, setting off the formation quickly.

    In the dark skies, malicious spirits that were mixed with mes around them started to descend, falling like a small meteor rain.

    Every me sent shivers up their spines. Yao Jiamu watched as the fire fell, slowly stopping his own attack. These mes that were falling had no solid shape nor soul, all his attacks were useless! Useless!

    ¡°No!¡± The old priest shouted in horror, raising his head as golden light shone from his body!

    As soon as the formation was released, every ordinary person in the city would shrivel up and die, leaving only bones behind.

    How could the Peace Squad admit defeat? They had stopped all their attacks, and had formed a defensive barrier together. There were millions of ordinary people in this city!

    The priestess looked to themunicator in her hands. Fortunately, the solution to dispel this formation had already been passed to one of the other disciples. Even if she were to die here, she wouldn¡¯t have any regrets. She pulled out her horsetail whisk, a tranquil expression on her face as she muttered a Taoist chant under her breath, before saying, ¡°Benefactor Yao, myself and master priest will be able to hold them off for a while. If you can escape, make your escape now. As we aren¡¯t sure of Miss Gu¡¯s state right now, the ancient martial arts world and everything else is in your hands. The cmity has finallye.¡±

    Yao Jiamu looked up at the falling mes in the sky, his eyes hard as steel. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for Miss Gu to appear, even if it means I¡¯ll die!¡±

    The Peacekeepers refused to believe that Gu Xiqiao would have died like this.

    ¡°Annihte all beings!¡± Strong bursts of lights shot out from the thugs in the air, and one of themughed coldly as he said, ¡°None of you will be able to escape.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s better if you get annihted first.¡± A clear, melodious voice sounded, echoing around the area.

    Boom!

    A huge whirlpool appeared in the middle of the Fairy Lake!

    A humongous dragon bathed in golden light rose from the vortex, devouring the Scarlet Soul Banner from the air!

    At the same time, a pale, glowing figure was making her way out of the whirlpool. There was obviously nothing underneath her feet as she walked, and purple lightning was crackling in her hands as she yed with it. Under the glow of the purple light, her delicate features stood out all the more.

    Yao Jiamu and everyone else watched this figure and eximed in surprise and shock, and let out roars that were even stronger than before, pushing back the mes that fell from the sky by at least twenty meters!

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at the hundred thugs, a light smile on her lips. ¡°Do you remember what I said previously? I¡¯ll kill every single one of you thates. Wee to my massacre formation.¡±

    [1] T/N: A chess reference on the Go board where its form resembles the mouth of a tiger.

 Chapter 321 - Return

    <h4>Chapter 321: Return</h4>

    ¡°How can this be, didn¡¯t you die?¡± The hundred thugs watched as Gu Xiqiao slowly made her way out from the whirlpool with surprise and shock clear in their voices. Their faces had changed, no longer looking smug and arrogant. As expected, they couldn¡¯t underestimate her!

    No wonder they were warned over and over before they hade here!

    The hundred thugs looked at Gu Xiqiao before looking at each other, they couldn¡¯t deny the fact that she was amazing. However, the Sky Destruction Formation was also not to be taken lightly.

    Their powers surged up from within their bodies, and formed a line, attacking Gu Xiqiao as one. Their power increased even more as they joined their attack, and even those masters who were beyond the Enlightenment realm would be turned into minced meat by their move.

    But, was Gu Xiqiao a vegetarian? Since she had said it was a Massacre Array, then it would definitely do what it was named for!

    ¡°Watch out, Miss Gu!¡± The priest and priestess couldn¡¯t help shouting out a warning to her.

    Compared to them, the Peacekeepers were still resisting the Sky Destruction Formation with their own defensive array calmly. Gu Xiqiao was facing off against hundreds of opponents, and they needed to take care of her back naturally. It wasn¡¯t that they hadplete faith in her, they only felt that she was an omnipotent being after all.

    Looking back at all she had done, she had created Nine Heavens by herself, created a maelstrom in the Imperial Capital, changed the entire medical world, and created the Peace Squad, which caused the geniuses in the ancient martial arts world to falter! The mythical beasts reapers! Going all the way to the 80th floor in the Trial Tower in one go!

    If a normal person were to do any one of these things, it was already shocking enough. What¡¯s more, these were all done by a single person?

    Therefore, in the eyes of the Peacekeepers, she was the only faith they had, the one and only omnipotent being!

    ¡°Activate!¡± The purple and gold dragon on Gu Xiqiao entangled with each other, a powerful energy spreading outwards, rushing towards those hundred thugs who wereing towards her.

    Boom!

    When the two forces collided, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s figure didn¡¯t move at all, but the hundred thugs were forced back a few steps. How was that possible?

    They could feel the shock reverberating in their bones. Gu Xiqiao was just a little doll at Houtian level, how could the collision from the force be so strong?!

    Also, how the heck had their Scarlet Soul Banner be swallowed by a guitar?

    Oh my god! That was the Scarlet Soul Banner okay, the biggest, most bada*s skill they had up their sleeves, and it was devoured just like that? And by a guitar, no less?!

    Was this an anime?

    However...

    They soon discovered that their shock hade way too early!

    The power of thunder and lightning spread around her body, forming a huge thunder void!

    F*ck, it was a thunder void?!

    Where did she get such a terrible thing!

    Their face paled, all blood draining from it. Because the horror dawned on them as they realized that this thunder void was something she had created by herself!

    Where had this monstere from? Just where the h*ll did this monstere from?

    Was she even human?!

    The hundred thugs were already going crazy, trying to figure all these out, and Gu Xiqiao was the cause of this!

    Obviously since there were at least a hundred of them, they should have been the ones to be beating her up, how did it turn around the other way just in an instant?

    The Peacekeepers who were on ground resisting the Sky Destruction Formation also had strange expressions on their faces, has anyone seen such a battle scene before? Before the fight had started, the opponent had been delivered crippling mental blows to the point their spirit had wilted. Even the priest was looking at the scene withically wide eyes, especially when he saw the golden light that was circling around Gu Xiqiao, his eyes widened further, almost falling out of the sockets. ¡°The Rebirth Mantra?!¡±

    Thinking of the mantra that he had recited before this, the priest couldn¡¯t help the shocked gasp that escaped his mouth. ¡°She had already been prepared so much earlier?!¡± Could it be possible, this was all within her calctions?

    He took a deep breath to calm himself, this... this was just too incredible, right?

    The hundred thugs gritted their teeth, their bodies trembling, unknown whether from fear or rage, and scattered across the skies once again. They condensed their chi into daggers in their hands. Instead of fighting against Gu Xiqiao, they would go after Yao Jiamu and the others, stabbing them in their heads with this!

    It was one against one, and under the disparity in their strength, the Peacekeepers had no way of escaping!

    Their death was inevitable, and the hundred thugs were ted when they thought about it. Go to h*ll!

    Suddenly, a in, slender figure appeared in front of each and every one of them. It was like she had teleported in an instant, appearing in front of all hundred of them at one go. Before they could react, all they saw was a fisting to their faces.

    Hundreds of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s silhouettes all raised their fist at the same time, and the explosive power from this move was unstoppable.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    All hundred thugs fell from the skies, onto the ground!

    A hundred phantoms were also a huge burden on Gu Xiqiao, and she couldn¡¯t separate the power of her lightning in case she killed these hundred thugs. So she waited to pull in the phantoms, separating both abilities. But the profound energy in her body suddenly surged up, and it felt like all her meridians were on fire. There was so much pressure, she was going to advance again!

    Ignoring everything else, she sat down cross-legged in the virtual space. Breaking through from Houtian to Enlightenment, it would require a long time to condense her chi and get it back under control. During this time, Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t move her body nor use her powers freely.

    ¡°Protect Miss Gu!¡± Yao Jiamu had split everyone into two teams, one for controlling the Sky Destruction Formation, and the other to surround Gu Xiqiao.

    Xixi and Jiji didn¡¯t expect things to take a turn like this, and Xixi immediately erged itself, covering Gu Xiqiao under its massive wings. A faint blue glow covered its feathers, and Xixi turned its beady eyes towards the hundred thugs that had been smacked down by Gu Xiqiao.

    The thugs had thought that their lives were over, but Gu Xiqiao had entered into her advancement at this time. She broke through? She actually did it at such an important time! The thugs couldn¡¯t help butugh, wasn¡¯t this just the best time to kill her?! She was already insanely strong at only Houtian level, they couldn¡¯t allow her to continue growing!

    All hundred thugs broke past their own body limits, bringing out their strongest weapons in order to kill Gu Xiqiao. The energy that surged from within them was stronger than before, by who knows how many more times!

    In the beginning, they had been more reserved because they still valued their lives. However, knowing that they had gotten another chance at surviving again, they were now putting all their efforts into killing Gu Xiqiao. It was either they won and returned, or they lost to her and died here.

    It was the peak of the battle now, so long as Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t die and she managed to make it through her advancement, they wouldn¡¯t be able to run anymore. If she didn¡¯t die, then their souls would be the ones to scatter across the skies.

    One hundred thugs at the Enlightenment level, the hundred Peacekeepers stood a chance against them! But they were upied with holding back the Sky Destruction Formation! They were also distracted with protecting Gu Xiqiao, and they also needed to hold back the thugs¡¯ attacks!

    What a blood-soaked and hard-fought struggle this was going to be!

    Arge sword made out of pure chi of the hundred thugs suddenly came down in front of Xixi, the space in front of it shattering a little!

    ¡°Xixi!¡± Yao Jiamu turned around, shouting in horror.

    ¡°B*stards!¡± Wu Hongwen wiped the blood off his face, his eyes red from the blood that fell into it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it!¡± Xixi¡¯s body keeps growing bigger. The bigger its body became, the stronger the energy it exuded. Blue mes poured out from its beak continuously.

    ¡°Xixi, stop!¡± Jiji¡¯s face had changed. ¡°You¡¯ll die if you go on like this!¡± If Xixi couldn¡¯t bear the energy that kept pouring out of it, its body would eventually break down and Xixi would wither away to ashes. Jiji was crystal clear on how the phoenix¡¯s techniques were like.

    It also naturally knew that Xixi was putting its life on the line here!

    Xixi ignored the robot, its own body continuing to expand and grow. It knew what the consequences were going to be like, but it wasn¡¯t afraid at all. Thest time Gu Xiqiao had gone into the caves by herself, Xixi had not stopped ming itself over and over since that time. This time, how could Xixi back down? ¡°Master Jiang is not here, I must protect Beauty Qiao!¡±

    Xixi¡¯s life was something that had been picked up by Gu Xiqiao, if it wasn¡¯t or her, Xixi would still be trapped within the malicious aura, and it would probably be a mindless puppet at this time.

    It didn¡¯t want to linger too long on thoughts of what may have happened if Gu Xiqiao hadn¡¯t appeared.

    But Beauty Qiao, Haha, Jiji, Master Jiang, Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, Hua Youlin...

    The faces of each and every one of them were vividly clear in its mind, how could it just watch Gu Xiqiao die in front of itself?

    ¡°Are you afraid of death?¡± Yao Jiamu suddenly turned to Wu Hongwen.

    Wu Hongwen knew what he was going to say, and didn¡¯t bother replying to him. He took a step forward, in front of Xixi, the chi in his body surging up, spinning wildly!

    He was using his actions to express his thoughts!

    Who isn¡¯t afraid of death? However, when this moment came, they suddenly felt that death wasn¡¯t as scary as they thought it would be.

    Yao Jiamu smiled, standing beside Wu Hongwen, a vortex forming on top of his head!

    Every single Peacekeeper did the same as the two, standing in front of Xixi, their energies surging upwards as they used their bodies as a meat shield for Gu Xiqiao, all to buy time for her!

    ¡°I was just some small-time gangster in the beginning, and even my family wouldn¡¯t acknowledge me anymore. If I hadn¡¯t been picked to join the Peace Squad, I would probably still be wandering around somewhere. To be able to join the Peace Squad and create such miracles, my life in the past few months has been the best of my life. I don¡¯t have any regrets even if I die here.

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Miss Gu, I would have been beaten to death a long time ago. This time, I finally have somewhere I belong.¡±

    The hearts of these people were like iron, and even though they were up against such a huge offensive power, nothing would shake their resolve!

    Murong Feiye and Mo Li were protecting Zhuge Yan, but Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t just ignore what was happening in front of him, and he brushed aside Mo Li¡¯s attempts at stopping him, rushing to the front of Gu Xiqiao.

    The hundred thugs sneered at their actions. The energy swords contained a massive amount of murderous aura that could destroy the sky and earth, and it was slowly but surely chipping away at the space.

    The first meat shield was a Peacekeeper, and the smile on his face didn¡¯t fade all the way till the end.

    The other fifty Peacekeepers that were holding back the Sky Destruction Formation could only watch with tears streaming down their eyes, ring at the hundred thugs, imprinting their faces into their bones!

    Boom!

    Thunder surged above their heads, and Gu Xiqiao was still under the safety of Xixi¡¯s wings. She was breaking through, but she had also left a small part of her mind outside, and everything was within her sight! Peace Squad! Peace Squad!

    Her lips were bleeding from where she had bitten down on it, the drops of blood dripping onto the surface of theke, fading away into the deep waters.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao!¡± As Gu Xiqiao¡¯s system, Jiji already knew what she was nning to do, and couldn¡¯t help the horrified shout that escaped its mechanical mouth!

    During the breakthrough period, if you didn¡¯t control the chi cirction in your body, you would end up being a useless person. That was also the reason why Yao Jiamu, Xixi, and everyone else were determined to protect Gu Xiqiao. However, Jiji discovered in horror that Gu Xiqiao had woken up.

    But she wasn¡¯t done with her advancement!

    Boom!

    Lightning struck down from the skies.

    Gu Xiqiao came out from beneath Xixi¡¯s wings, grabbing the lightning with one hand, her chi surging out uncontrobly. ¡°Space, shatter.¡±

    The power surrounding her body was strong, but everyone could feel the aura in her body getting weaker by the moment, like a candle that was about to go out. As long as someone blew at it softly, it would be snuffed out!

    Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, the space around the hundred thugs cracking, breaking little by little.

    Yao Jiamu and the others could only bite their lips as they watched the scene that unfolded in front of them. They would forever remember it, because Gu Xiqiao would risk bing useless for them,ing out halfway through her advancement in order to fight for them.

    Strong! They needed to be stronger!

    The same thoughts ran through all the Peacekeeper¡¯s minds at the same time.

    During this time, above the Sky Destruction Formation, a white light shot out,ing straight towards Gu Xiqiao!

    No one expected this sudden move, and it seemed like it had been nned. They had been waiting for this moment to kill off Gu Xiqiao.

    Everyone was stunned, staring at the white light with shock on their faces as it broke through the Sky Destruction Formation, heading straight towards Gu Xiqiao.

    The hundred thugs were also shouting in glee. ¡°Big Boss, Big Boss has finally made his move!¡±

    It was a pincer attack, Gu Xiqiao had no ce to run!

    And it looked like it was the end, everything had been calcted. Gu Xiqiao would fall to this, and there wouldn¡¯t even be ashes left of her!

    However...

    The surrounding air suddenly became colder, snowkes falling from the skies suddenly.

    The white light that was rushing towards Gu Xiqiao was intercepted by a gigantic snowke!

    And the long sword made of energy by the hundred thugs were suddenly covered by snowkes, and crushed to pieces!

    The air beside Gu Xiqiao shifted, a gap splitting open soon after. A pair of strong, fair hands tore the gap apart, a lean figure stepping out of it.

    Time seemed to have stopped for a moment.

    The man was dressed in a crisp, white shirt which was buttoned all the way to the top. His head was lowered slightly, and no one could see his face clearly, only the cold outline of his silhouette.

    His right hand reached out to hold the person next to him, his white hands wiping the blood from her lips before reaching out for the bolt of thunder in her hand, scattering it with a touch. Even the terrifying source of aura had disappeared, but the pressure in the air felt so much heavier and terrifying than before.

    ¡°Leave the rest to me.¡± He looked at her, his eyes shing.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was already as pale as paper, all the blood had drained and the chi in her body was still fluctuating wildly. When she caught sight of him, her body rxed, and her vision darkened, falling right into his arms.

    The entire area was quiet, all eyes on the figure that had suddenly made an appearance. The man finally raised his head, revealing graceful features that were as elegant as a painting. He should be someone that had a brilliant temperament, but at this moment, there was only one word everyone here could use to describe him¡ªterrifying.

    Those pitch-ck eyes looked towards the people that were opposite him, his face expressionless, and you could even say he waspletely devoid of any emotions or desires at this moment in time. But it made the hundred thugs tremble in fear as they saw where his gaze was directed at.

    The energy that had been swirling up in around Murong Feiye was calmed immediately, and his eyesnded on the girl in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arms, emotions shing in his eyes as he finally smiled wickedly. ¡°You really came right on the dot, huh?¡±

    Then his figure blurred and disappeared, leaving the area. He knew that any big problems weren¡¯t even problems anymore, now that Jiang Shuxuan was back.

    ¡°Jiang Shuxuan, he¡¯s finally back.¡± Yao Jiamu and everyone else finally managed to react after receiving a shock from his appearance.

    Mo Li, who was guarding Zhuge Yan stared nkly at him. ¡°He... how did he suddenly appear there?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan, the man who had been by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side from the beginning. He was only at the 70th level of the Trial Tower, even Yao Jiamu and the other had been second-guessing his strength. However in this moment, they realized something... you couldn¡¯t gauge the limits of this person¡¯s strength at all.

    Their hearts were heavy, extremely heavy as they recalled the scene that had just happened in front of them. The bloodied struggle would follow them for the remainder of their life. In conclusion, they were just weak, too weak!

    If the people in the ancient martial arts world came to know what the Peacekeepers were thinking, they would probably feel like dying, right?

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face was hard, a hint of cold steel in his eyes as he looked to the group of people, raising his hands. ¡°All of you should just go to h*ll.¡±

    The faces of the hundred thugs were instantly filled with panic.

    The surge of power that broke out from Jiang Shuxuan was monumental, the hundred thugs immediately turning into ice sculptures!

    And in the next moment!

    The ice shattered into thousands of pieces, falling to the ground. He didn¡¯t give them any chance to defend themselves, crushing them mercilessly.

    However, the pressure on the field was still extremely heavy. Jiang Shuxuan looked up at the white light above their heads, the one that had wanted to kill Gu Xiqiao, and his eyes narrowed, the dark pools resembling an endless abyss.

    The Seven-Frosted de glowed brightly as it split the sky violently, stuffing the white light into the crack that he had torn open not long ago!

    Deep beneath the earth, a figure spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Everything was calm.

    The entire area had descended intoplete silence!

    Whether it was the Peacekeepers, or the two masters, everyone watched in a daze as Jiang Shuxuan left the area after that!

    At the same time, the entire China felt thend shaking violently, and countless people stayed awake from fear the entire night!

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes, finding that she wasying in a bed, and was met with a familiar face and temperament. He was still the same as the image engraved in her mind as he sat beside the bed, but he wasn¡¯t reading books like he usually did. He was looking at her instead, his coal, ck eyes that seemingly endless was looking at her unwaveringly.

    ¡°Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat up, a smile on her face, realizing that the fluctuation chi within her body had also calmed down, and she felt much better.

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at her, answering in a soft voice. He looked at her for a long time, not saying a word, before he finally reached out to pull her into his arms.

    Feeling the warmth of the person in his arms, and seeing the healthy flush on her face, his arms tightened around her as he recalled the paleness of her face when he had held her in his arms yesterday night. His voice held a hint of a quiver as he spoke, ¡°You almost scared me to death, Baby Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao felt that Jiang Shuxuan was acting slightly strange, reaching both arms around his waist to return the embrace, saying in a reassuring voice, ¡°It¡¯s alright now, Brother Jiang. Fortunately, you came back.¡±

    Everything had been under her control, the only unexpected thing that happened was her advancement at such a crucial moment!

    But she had been calmed, her chi contained enough vitality that she knew she wouldn¡¯t die, but it was Wu Hongwen and the others that she feared would die, hence why she had rushed out so desperately.

    ¡°Miss Gu, the elders are waiting for Big Boss.¡± Yi Bing informed her through the door as he knocked on it.

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes, his brows furrowing tightly. He looked frustrated, and very impatient.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Yi Bing was insistent.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Go on, Brother Jiang. I¡¯m fine now.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips, holding onto Gu Xiqiao even tighter as he said, ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to. I don¡¯t know who that is.¡±

 Chapter 322 - I Have Special Amnesia

    <h4>Chapter 322: I Have Special Amnesia</h4>

    ¡°And that¡¯s how things are.¡± Yi Bing sat by the table, telling Gu Xiqiao everything. After he was done, he looked towards Jiang Shuxuan, who was sitting next to her, as cold as usual. He didn¡¯t look any different than before.

    But this person didn¡¯t remember anything, except for Gu Xiqiao. Ever since he brought her back, he had yet to leave her side at all, not a single step.

    Yi Bing let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Fortunately, Big Boss still remembers you.¡±

    ¡°Does everyone know about this?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked seriously.

    ¡°Only I and Yi Tong are aware.¡± Yi Bing shook his head. Now were troubling times. If everyone else were to find out that Jiang Shuxuan had lost his memories, everything would be even more troublesome. ¡°But the Elders Association requires Big Boss to make an appearance now.¡±

    So once he found out that Gu Xiqiao had woken up, he rushed over here immediately.

    ¡°Go out and wait a bit,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, ncing at Yi Bing. Her expression had changed only in the beginning when she first found out, but after that she was being extremely calm.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attitude made Yi Bing feel assured, and his heart finally felt like something heavy had been lifted off it, as though he had found his support pir once again.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you really don¡¯t remember anything?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, turning to Jiang Shuxuan once Yi Bing had stepped out.

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips. ¡°I remember you.¡±

    The moment he woke up, he found that he couldn¡¯t remember anything. Everyone around him were strangers, and he was in a panic. He followed the familiar aura that was Gu Xiqiao and found her, and while everyone around him were still strangers, she was the only familiar face.

    In fact, he had been afraid of letting Gu Xiqiao know about this, because Yi Bing¡¯s reaction was huge when he first found out.

    But when Gu Xiqiao found out, she wasn¡¯t surprised, and there weren¡¯t any other reactions on her face either. She just looked at him the same way she was looking at him now, which made him feel at ease.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Gu Xiqiao continued to look at Jiang Shuxuan, her fingers touching his pulse. His hand was chillingly cold, and it felt like ice when she touched him. There was nothing wrong with his pulse. ¡°Then, do you remember how you met me?¡±

    ¡°I only remember you.¡± Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head, his voice slightly lost. He only remembered her, remembering that this person was the only one in his mind that he couldn¡¯t forget. As for all the other details, he didn¡¯t know anything.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Gu Xiqiao reassured him, holding his hands. Her eyes were slightly misty as she looked at him, it was good enough that he remembered her. ¡°That person just now is Yi Bing, Brother Jiang. He¡¯s your most trusted subordinate, and you have to follow him to meet a few others. I¡¯ll apany you.¡±

    ¡°No, you rest. I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Jiang Shuxuan was silent for a while, before replying.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine too. You don¡¯t have to talk when the timees, if someone says something, you can just give them a nce.¡± Gu Xiqiao got up to see him out, and told him a little on how to treat those elders, and also exined some of the rtionships and people that he knew.

    Fortunately, he was known for being cold, and it wasn¡¯t like he talked much to begin with. This bout of memory loss wouldn¡¯t be too hard for him.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded obediently. He didn¡¯t know anything, and he hadn¡¯t nned on meeting those people, but now he listened to everything that Gu Xiqiao was telling him.

    His had strong mental power, and it was easy for him to quickly remember all the people that Gu Xiqiao was telling him about.

    When Gu Xiqiao disappeared from his sight, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s aura changed, dropping cold to the point that it felt stinging to the people around him.

    ¡°Big Boss,¡± Yi Bing looked at Jiang Shuxuan, seeing that he had gone the wrong way, his mouth twitched. ¡°It¡¯s this way.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan paused in his steps, then turned around.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang.¡± Everyone in the ancient martial arts world was gathered in the hall, including the elders, patriarchs, heirs and also the administrator of the secr world¡ªFeng Jiu.

    Jiang Shuxuan sat in the only vacant seat, his head lowered and not speaking a word.

    The great elder first first reported the happenings of the ancient martial arts world, before his gaze turned to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°As for the United States...¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan spared a nce at the great elder, his voice low and cold.

    The great elder was taken aback, Young Master Jiang seemed even more frightening than before.

    From the start to end, Jiang Shuxuan only said a few words, and most of them were either ¡®Hm¡¯ or ¡®I see¡¯.

    However, just these few words were enough to make these bunch of elders from the ancient martial arts world quake in their boots. They didn¡¯t dare to say anything more unnecessary, cold sweat breaking out profusely.

    Yi Bing, who was standing at the side, couldn¡¯t help the twitching of his mouth. Miss Gu was awesome indeed, teaching Big Boss the way to deal with these people in such a short amount of time. He could use this method to deal with basically anything, and no one would probably notice anything different.

    Feng Jiu who had been sitting at the side, seeing that the great elder had yet to raise any mention about him, finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore. ¡°Young Master Jiang, I¡¯ll get straight to the point. I¡¯m here today mainly because of Miss Gu, she¡¯s really doing things so irresponsibly without looking at the overall situation...¡±

    When Feng Jiu started speaking, the second elder was trying his best to signal him to stop with his eyes. Of all the people you had to talk about, it had to be Miss Gu?

    ¡®You want to die, don¡¯t you? Right? You really want to die, right?!

    ¡®Don¡¯t you know both Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao, both of them are terrifying in their own right!¡¯

    Sadly, Feng Jiu didn¡¯t see the second elder¡¯s gaze, and the old man gave up, his eyes twitching.

    ¡°And?¡± Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother waiting for Feng Jiu to finish talking, raising his head to look at him. His onyx, ck eyes were deep like the abyss, and with just a look from these eyes, it made people feel like they couldn¡¯t breath. Feng Jiu obviously took the brunt of this look, he had yet to be done speaking, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reaction was already so big.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, I can¡¯t deny that Miss Gu is powerful, but these bunch of people nearly destroyed the entire city.¡± Feng Jiu tried to persuade Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°I know that she broke the formation, but I also know that the formation wouldn¡¯t have existed if it weren¡¯t for her in the first ce. You have your own rules in the ancient martial arts world, but we also have an agreement that no harm woulde to the people in the secr world. This time, the entire Mingzhou was almost destroyed. Young Master Jiang, I hope that you can restrain Miss Gu and her team, their abilities are too strong, and if they continue to do things without thinking of the consequences, it simply will be disastrous for China.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was the big boss of the Mahjong Army, who at the same time maintains the bnce between the ancient martial arts world and the secr world.

    Feng Jiu knew that this matter had to be discussed with Jiang Shuxuan to be taken seriously.

    Feng Jiu had thought that Jiang Shuxuan would listen to his opinions. He had never heard of this name ¡®Gu Xiqiao¡¯ before, and so he didn¡¯t think that she was anyone important.

    But he didn¡¯t expect Jiang Shuxuan to look at him with an indifferent expression after what he had said. ¡°Say, if I were to ask you to leave your life here today, what would you do?¡±

    His expression remained unchanged, and Feng Jiu tried his hardest to find any hint of joke in his face, but he couldn¡¯t find any. A chill crept up his spine, and he suddenly realized that Jiang Shuxuan was serious, he was being super serious right now. He really was thinking of killing him right now.

    Feng Jiu was shocked, and he couldn¡¯t help but blurt out. ¡°It¡¯s precisely because of your current attitude, that she doesn¡¯t feel any remorse at all!¡±

    Feng Jiu couldn¡¯t understand, the entire Mingzhou had almost died this time, and it caused a lot of disputes on the inte too. This made Feng Jiu extremely angry, all of these people in the ancient martial arts world were so powerful that they didn¡¯t consider people from the secr world to be worth a life, did they?

    The second elder was already banging his head against the table in front of him repeatedly. This idiot!

    ¡°I have this attitude right now, and I will always have this attitude. What else do you want to say?¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fingers tapped on the table, making tapping sounds that probably signified that he was getting impatient.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t remember anything, but there was an indescribable sorrow that grew in his heart suddenly.

    It felt like he had been in such a position a long time ago¡ªstanding all by his lonesome on the opposite side of the entire world.

    Gu Xiqiao, as well as the people at her side, had paid so much effort for the sake of saving the entire Mingzhou, saving countless lives in secret. No one cared about what they had gone through, instead, they were being used and questioned by these people.

    Jiang Shuxuan was feeling extremely angry.

    Murong Feiye, who was sitting at the side, ced down the cup in his hands. His eyes were lowered, the corners of his mouth twitching. The guy had been put in his ce and had his mouth shut up, just like that.

    Feng Jiu looked at Jiang Shuxuan, a furious expression on his face! Of course he still had things he wanted to say! He was too used to this, wasn¡¯t he? You should restrain her a little? But would you listen? But no matter how angry he got, he couldn¡¯t do anything to Jiang Shuxuan!

    What could he do? Why was there a person like Jiang Shuxuan in this world?

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, don¡¯t get angry, we¡¯ll handle this matter.¡± The great elder finally stood up. Since returning from Delxun Forest, Jiang Shuxuan seemed to have changed. His personality was unpredictable, and the great elder wondered whether Jiang Shuxuan would really just give one p and kill off Feng Jiu if he got impatient anymore than this.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded and got up, striding out the door. He didn¡¯t want to stay another second longer in this ce.

    Murong Feiye caught sight of Mo Li¡¯s disappearing figure, shaking his head. He sent a text to Baili Bin¡ª[Mo Li has met with your sister.]

    Then, not bothered how Baili Bin would react, he left the ce. He gave onest nce to Feng Jiu before he did, shaking his head again. Of all the things he had to say, he had to talk about Gu Xiqiao in front of this bunch of people. Was he really looking to die?

    ***

    Mo Li, who was standing by the gate, watched as Jiang Shuxuan left the ce without so much as a nce at her. She couldn¡¯t help but call out to him, ¡°Brother!¡±

    She hadn¡¯t entered the gates to hear what those people had been talking about, but since she heard that Jiang Shuxuan was here, she had rushed over to try to catch him, and now she stood here, intercepting him at the gates. She looked up at him, stubbornly refusing to avert her gaze.

    Though his eyes had never stayed more than a second on her own face in all the time she had known him.

    Jiang Shuxuan finally stopped, turning around slowly. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Mo Li, his elegant face looking straight at her, and his eyes were his usual cold ones, as well as his voice. ¡°You called me ¡®brother¡¯?¡±

    In Gu Xiqiao¡¯s exnations about his rtionships and people, she had never mentioned a sister. If he had one, she definitely would have told him.

    Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t lie to him, so the one who was lying was this girl then.

    ¡°Jiang Shuxuan, stop right there!¡± Mo Li stepped forward, wanting to pull on the corner of his clothes, but before she could touch him, her neck felt a chill.

    She lowered her head to see the cold des of the Seven-Frosted de resting there, feeling a prickle of pain from her neck.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± Jiang Shuxuan stood, his hands sped behind him, a chilling look on his face.

    Mo Li stared at Jiang Shuxuan, feeling that he was even more unfathomable than before, but the smile was still on her face as she replied, ¡°Who says? I¡¯m not only your sister, but also the most important person to you.¡±

    Hearing those words, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face hardened further. The Seven-Frosted de let out a buzzing sound, flying straight towards Mo Li¡¯s neck.

    What nonsense, he couldn¡¯t even remember who she was, how could she be his most important person!

    Yi Bing was initially standing on the side, but when he saw what was happening, he paled. He immediately ran up to stop him, saying in a low voice next to his ear, ¡°Big Boss, you can¡¯t kill this person.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had said before, Yi Bing was someone he could trust.

    Jiang Shuxuan hesitated a while, before withdrawing the Seven-Frosted de. He didn¡¯t bother to give another look to Mo Li, turning around and leaving immediately.

    Yi Bing turn to follow behind him, but he nced back at her, giving a muttered greeting to Mo Li before he left.

    ¡°He¡¯s getting less and less humane.¡± Mo Li sighed, regaining her spirit soon after as she watched Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s disappearing back.

    But what was with Yi Bing¡¯sst look?

    Murong Feiye had been standing not far away, watching this interaction. Only after Jiang Shuxuan left, did hee out and walk to her.

    ¡°Mo Li,¡± Murong Feiye started, a sly smile on his lips. ¡°Do you know what happened to Jiang Tong?¡±

    Jiang Tong? Mo Li frowned the moment the name was mentioned. She had been encased in ice for three years, and knew nothing about thetest happenings in the outside world. When she came back, all she heard from Shu Chen was ¡®Qiao Qiao this¡¯ and ¡®Qiao Qiao that¡¯, so she had gone to the great elder to find out who this person was. After that, she followed the second elder to Mingzhou, which lead up to where they were now.

    Everything that happened in Mingzhou was so exciting and intense, Mo Li didn¡¯t have time to look at the current happenings of the ancient martial arts world.

    When Murong Feiye mentioned that name, she suddenly recalled that when she had gone back this time, Shu Chen had not mentioned the name ¡®Jiang Tong¡¯ once. Thest she remembered, Shu Chen had thoughts of getting Jiang Tong to join their family, which made her heart skip at the thought. ¡°Jiang Tong? What happened to her?¡±

    That¡¯s strange, Jiang Tong should have been the first person to lose her cool when Mo Li returned.

    ¡°Just wait till you get back to the ancient martial arts world, you¡¯ll know.¡± Murong Feiye smiled in triumph as he looked at Mo Li.

    The current ancient martial arts world had been turned upside down by Gu Xiqiao, and it was no longer the same as it was years ago.

    ¡°Murong Feiye!¡± Mo Li frowned, opening her mouth with the intention to use her charmspeak.

    ¡°You better not use your charmspeak on me again.¡± Murong Feiye tilted his head slightly to look back at her, a sinister smile on his face. ¡°Otherwise, I¡¯ll get Miss Gu to tell us how to make your charmspeak invalid to everyone else.¡±

    He was already feeling irritated on the inside, and seeing Mo Li like this only served to make him feel more irritated, and so he didn¡¯t tell her of Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s rtionship.

    Mo Li abruptly swallowed the words that she had wanted to say.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s smile disappeared after Jiang Shuxuan left. What had happened to Jiang Shuxuan? She took a deep breath, brushing aside those questions for now.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, good morning! Hurry up and look at Weibo!¡± Jiji opened the door and greeted her.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled out her phone, opening the app. The corner of her eyes were still on Jiji¡¯s broken and battered body, her fingers pausing in what she was doing.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about it, I was pped by Master Jiang.¡± Jiji whimpered. ¡°Beauty Qiao, you have to get justice for me! Master Jiang is absolutely out of control now!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao turned her attention to the page on the phone in her hand. ¡°... That was a good p.¡±

    Jiji fell to the ground and cried.

    Clicking on Weibo¡¯s hot topics, the headlines caught her eyes, Gu Xiqiao read through it, feeling joyful.

    The popr headline on Weibo was titled ¡®Things We Regr Folk Don¡¯t Know About¡¯.

    ¡°Look at this, the first picture is a thick bolt of lightning. It was taken by OP on the balcony yesterday. OP actually went to Fairy Lake yesterday with some friends, but an earthquake happened. A group of soldiers came and led the regr folk away. OP was sick, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t leave the hotel, and was able to witness such a scene! Take a look at the second picture, the dense silhouettes in the air! And those buildings beside theke, it looked like it had been struck by lightning... [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG] Do you think this is something ordinary people will be able to do?¡±

    ¡°OP, if you want to photoshop pictures, you are also too exaggerated already man. ????¡±

    ¡°OP, I suggest that you go to another hospital. ??¡±

    ¡°OP, you¡¯re great. ??¡±

    In the beginning, all the responses were simr, until a famous photoshop master finally posted ament that said, ¡°This picture, it wasn¡¯t photoshopped.¡±

    Because of this sentence, the entire Weibo exploded in an instant.

    Most people were skeptical about it, but there were people who believed it. If it wasn¡¯t photoshopped, then this was a serious matter. Especially since people from Mingzhou werementing things like, ¡°Last night, we couldn¡¯t see any moon or stars. It felt like we had sunk underground!¡±

    This matter had exploded so much that even the officials in Weibo couldn¡¯t do anything to stop it.

    If this continued on, the consequences would really be serious, and the ordinary people would start to panic.

    Gu Xiqiao touched her chin thoughtfully, then reached out and forwarded this Weibo.

    (Verified) For A Millenium: Have I told you guys that I¡¯m actually from Mars? ?? //@ OP

    She hasn¡¯t posted in Weibo for almost a month, but her fans still followed her Weibo all the same. Her influence was undeniable, and so her entire page has be like this:

    ¡°No selfie, not good ??¡±

    ¡°Beauty Gu, you¡¯ve disappeared for 36 days and 45 hours ??¡±

    ¡°What a coincidence, I am also from Mars.¡±

    ¡°Just say that you¡¯re pretty, that¡¯s enough. ??¡±

    ¡°Thinking of you saying this with such a beautiful serious face, fine! I¡¯ll believe you no matter what you say!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a descendant of a dragon[1], a flower of our mothend, and a daughter of China. Have I said that? Do you see me showing off?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve finally found the organization, I thought I was the only one left from Mars. ??¡±

    ¡°C*nt, thebour and capital aren¡¯t humans also they don¡¯t say anything!¡±

    ¡°Thements bow down to you, seriously.¡±

    Thosements were stilling in, and a few minutester, Li Yu reposted this Weibo that Gu Xiqiao had posted.

    (Verified) Li Yu: Head back to Mars with me, sis. I¡¯m your brother for real //@ (Verified) For A Millenium: Great, have I told you guys that I¡¯m actually from Mars? ?? //@ OP

    ¡°Officially, you both aren¡¯t siblings. Please hit the ckboard and draw the key points[2]!¡±

    ¡°No matter how bright the moon shines at any time, my ¡®god¡¯ you will still be a single dog. ??¡±

    ¡°My god and goddess are both bragging seriously right now, I won¡¯t say anymore. My flying saucer is about to drive back to B B.¡±

    ¡°My parents actually told me that I¡¯m a descendant of the me Emperor, this is a secret that I never dared to tell anyone.¡±

    ¡°Up there, you¡¯re not only a descendant of the me, you¡¯re also the descendant of Yanhuang[3].¡±

    Then, Song Guanjing, Ning Qing and a few other celebrities also reposted this Weibo, until the phrase ¡®Have I told you guys that I¡¯m actually from Mars?¡¯ became a sort of catch phrase on the inte throughout the entire China, and the list of popr topics in Weibo also changed into ¡®God And Goddess, Why Don¡¯t You Guys Go Up To Heaven¡¯.

    A turmoil that had yet to start was toppled over by Gu Xiqiao in an instant, buried six feet under.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re the real awesome one here.¡± Jiji watched for a while, before finally saying that to her.

    As expected of her! It was practically like murdering people without a trace, extremely sinister and vicious indeed!

    The relevant departments in Weibo couldn¡¯t figure out a way to suppress or divert this matter for a long time, and Gu Xiqiao had easily solved it.

    She was flipping through thements, only moving to turn off her phone when she reached Zhuge Yan¡¯s courtyard. Just before she did, she saw a message that Li Yu had sent over.

    Li Yu: Miss Gu, I¡¯m in America, and I met an interesting person. [JPEG]

    Gu Xiqiao opened the picture, and her hands paused. It was a picture of Gu Xijin, and she was standing next to a man. The photo was slightly blurred, but she could still recognize the person in it. The man was also familiar.

    If he was familiar, then she should have met him before. With her good memory, howe she couldn¡¯t recall?

    Gu Xiqiao was deep in thought.

    Until Zhuge Yan called her name, and she finally came back to herself.

    ¡°How are your injuries?¡± Zhuge Yan seemed to already know that she woulde looking for him. He was sitting at the table in the yard, another cup of tea already in front of the vacant chair.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, not something I¡¯ll die from.¡± Gu XIqiao sat in the seat where the cup was ced. She reckoned it would take a while more before she was used to so much chi in her body.

    The chi circting in her body was still too rampant, although Jiang Shuxuan had sorted it out, there were still bursts of energy pressure in her limbs and bones, which was something only she could slowly clear by herself.

    Luckily, after that battle, even her opponent was badly injured, and shouldn¡¯t be making aeback anytime soon yet. They needed to take advantage of this downtime to improve the strength of the ancient martial arts world, and Gu Xiqiao was worried about it, especially since Jiang Shuxuan was in this state too.

    Zhuge Yan¡¯s expression rxed slightly after hearing her words. When he had seen her, he already knew that her injuries were probably not too serious.

    It¡¯s just that his mind couldn¡¯t help but rey the scene that happened yesterday night, and he opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, but then he decided against it, the corner of his lips lifting up. ¡°Thank you for helping me save the flowers in the yard.¡±

    Zhuge Yan¡¯s expression was calmed as usual, and he took a sip of tea before continuing, ¡°I didn¡¯t understand some moves in thest chess game, we should have another game when we have the chance.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao hade today to talk about the cmity and turning point, and didn¡¯t expect Zhuge Yan to bring this up instead. Before she could reply, the door to the yard was opened.

    Squeak!

    A handsome figure stood outside the door, his expression was indifferent, and his ink eyes were dark. His eyes swept across the courtyard, pausing on Zhuge Yan, and it felt like his eyes got slightly colder.

    [1] T/N: Descendant of the Dragon i.e Han Chinese

    [2] T/N: This is an inte ng which refers to the gestures that teachers used, emphasizing on the importance of the things on it

    [3] T/N: Yanhuang was the name of an ethnic group of ancient China who inhabited the Yellow River area. They imed their descent from two tribes led by the me Emperor and Yellow Emperor.

 Chapter 323 - Whos The Person You Cant Offend The Most

    <h4>Chapter 323: Who¡¯s The Person You Can¡¯t Offend The Most</h4>

    Many people would feel the chill creeping up their spines if he directed this look at them.

    However, Zhuge Yan¡¯s expression remained unchanged, smiling politely at him instead. ¡°Mr. Jiang.¡±

    Gu Xiqiaio had been thinking of the things that she would need to talk to Zhuge Yan, and hadn¡¯t noticed that Jiang Shuxuan had arrived. Hearing his words only did she notice that the man was indeed here. She turned to look at him. ¡°Brother Jiang?¡± Had he already resolved the matters in the ancient martial arts world?

    ¡°Hello.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nodded towards Zhuge Yan, but you could tell from his tone that he wasn¡¯t very happy.

    Zhuge Yan didn¡¯t take it to heart, and only continued smiling. He turned his gaze towards Gu Xiqiao. ¡°We¡¯ll talk next time then.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples, nodding. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll see you.¡± She¡¯d have to find another chance to talk to him about the ¡®cmity¡¯ and ¡®turning point¡¯.

    She waved at him, then walked to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s side. She shed him a smile and her snow-white face seemingly glowing when she looked at him.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change much, but he nodded lightly at Zhuge Yan, then led her away without another word, his eyes still dark and cold.

    Zhuge Yan watched the two leave, before the smile slid off his face, eventually letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Wei Xi, is everything packed?¡± He suddenly asked.

    Wei Xi jumped out from behind the door. ¡°Yes, everything is packed, Young Master. But why did you want to suddenly want to go to the ancient martial arts world?¡±

    ¡°The second elder invited me.¡± Zhuge Yan squeezed the cup in his hand. ¡°I predicted that a cmiity would befall Jiang Shuxuan. If he should one day fall, wouldn¡¯t my chancee then?¡± Since it was about a fickle thing like fate, who knows?

    Chance? What chance? Wei Xi blinked, once again feeling like she couldn¡¯t keep up with what Zhuge Yan was thinking.

    ¡°Go and let Chenyan know, get him to bring his luggage ande with us.¡± Zhuge Yan turned to walk into the vi, suddenly recalling this matter.

    Although she didn¡¯t understand why Zhuge Yan was going to bring Wei Chenyan with him, Wei Xi proceeded to carry out his instructions.

    ***

    ¡°What¡¯s with your expression, Brother Jiang?¡± Gu Xiqiao poked Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arm.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face was still dark. ¡°Are you close to that person just now?¡± And she even yed chess with him! And helped him with growing flowers! Flowers! Jiang Shuxuan felt like he had a repeater in his heart, repeating all the words that he thought of.

    ¡°Not really.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head, smiling at him.

    Jiang Shuxuan breathed a sigh of relief, but still took Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, squeezing it tightly.

    ¡°Yi Bing, what were the main points that the elders were talking about just now?¡± Gu Xiqiao turned her gaze to Yi Bing, who was following behind Jiang Shuxuan.

    Yi Bing told her everything that happened, word for word, without leaving out anything. He also handed her a bunch of documents. ¡°These are the things that need to be dealt with.¡±

    These were papers that Yi Tong had asked him to hand to Gu Xiqiao, and though Yi Tong didn¡¯t look overly reliable usually, he was really responsible when it came to the bigger matters.

    Although Yi Bing didn¡¯t really understand Yi Tong¡¯s meanings, he still brought it over as requested.

    ¡°Feng Jiu?¡± Gu Xiqiao flipped through the papers that she received, narrowing her eyes. She muttered the name again under her breath, and filed the name away forter. ¡°Yi Bing, for the matter in Fairy Lake, go and find the military in this state and they¡¯ll tell you how to settle it... amongst other things.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao pulled out a piece of paper and pen from her pocket, writing all the things that needed to be settled, and gave it to Yi Bing. ¡°Once the things are done, we¡¯ll head back to the ancient martial arts world today.¡±

    Yi Bing took the piece of paper. His eyes widened in surprise and thought that these were things that obviously needed to be settled before they left. It was a list of things to settle the aftermath of Mingzhou, and every method listed down was detailed and concise. It would not have been much different than what Jiang Shuxuan would have instructed them to do.

    He had initially thought that they would have to stay in Mingzhou for a few more days, but he didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be able to leave today.

    This was the first time Yi Bing had seen Gu Xiqiao behave in such a serious manner. Her calmness and precise handling of things made all doubt disappear from his heart.

    He had been worried that with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s memory loss, the ancient martial arts world would be shaken.

    But he had been worried for nothing, Gu Xiqiao had once again surprised him!

    ¡°Understood, Miss Gu!¡± Yi Bing said loudly, leaving excitedly with the paper in hand.

    Gu Xiqiao watched him leave before taking Jiang Shuxuan back. Although they didn¡¯t have anything to pack, shoving everything into her inventory, she still had other things to handle.

    ¡°Little Hua, you won¡¯t being back with me to the capital this time. There are still a lot of things in the Hua family waiting for you to deal with.¡± Gu Xiqiao had found Hua Youlin, informing him of this.

    Hua Youlin was disappointed, but he quickly gathered himself together. ¡°Sister Gu, I¡¯ll head to the capital to look for you as soon as I can.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be waiting for you.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed his head gently, her eyes flickering to the other members of the Hua family. ¡°If anyone bullies you, let me know.¡±

    Hua Youlin nodded his head rigorously.

    The other members of the Hua family who had all witnessed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s brutality. ¡°...¡± Who the heck would dare to provoke you? It¡¯s not like they didn¡¯t value their lives!

    Then some of them looked at Hua Youlin with little admiration in their eyes.

    ¡°Sister Gu, thank you.¡± Hua Youlin said these words solemnly. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be standing here, alive, if it weren¡¯t for her.

    ¡°Silly.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m leaving now.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was leaning at the door, waiting for her. He didn¡¯t go in, and while he waited for Gu Xiqiao, he received a call.

    Caller: Little Psycho.

    Little Psycho? Jiang Shuxuan frowned, there weren¡¯t many numbers on this phone, so it should be someone he knew, and so he took the call. ¡°Little Psycho?¡±

    Shu Chen, who was on the other side of the call: ¡°... I¡¯m your mother!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan hung up the phone.

    Gu Xiqiao came out just as he did, and she asked, ¡°Who was that, Brother Jiang?¡±

    ¡°A liar.¡± Jiang Shuxuan grabbed her hands, and seeing her doubtful eyes on him, he borated, ¡°The name in my phone is ¡®Little Psycho¡¯, but she said she¡¯s my mother, so I hung up.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Gu Xiqiao struggled to open her mouth, and she finally managed to say, ¡°That was really your mother, Brother Jiang.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan: ¡°...¡± Then why he heck did he save her number as ¡®Little Psycho¡¯?

    Gu Xiqiao took his phone from him, and gave Shu Chen a call, giving her a brief summary of what was happening.

    Shu Chen was silent for a while, before finally saying, ¡°We¡¯ll talk when you both get home.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao hung up the phone as Jiang Shuxuan watched silently from her side. She gave him a gentle smile, reassuring him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s go back first.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan wasforted immediately, and followed her back.

    ***

    At the same time, Feng Jiu and the great elder were still in a stalemate.

    ¡°Great Elder, I don¡¯t care about things in the ancient martial arts world, but what about the inte?¡± Feng Jiu looked at the great elder, trying to reach apromise with him. ¡°When things heat up like this, we can¡¯t control the direction in which the winds will blow, especially on the inte where things go viral instantly. It will cause a bigger rebound if anything happens.¡±

    This was Feng Jiu¡¯s biggest worry. In this world, there was no scarier thing than the terrifying speed of new spreading on the inte.

    ¡°The inte?¡± The great elder raised his head, his voice surprised.

    Feng Jiu nodded helplessly. ¡°It¡¯s now going viral on the inte, those pictures of your fights have been exposed. How will I exin it to theizens?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you need any exnations.¡± The second elder, who had been basically eating popcorn while he watched the show yed out, brushed off Feng Jiu¡¯s concern easily. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯ll be someone who¡¯ll take care of this matter for you.¡±

    Take care of it? How the heck will you ¡®take care of it¡¯? Feng Jiu said sarcastically in his mind.

    He was just so tired of talking to a bunch of stubborn old people! Did they think that the inte was child¡¯s y? Those keyboard warriors could kill people with one sentence, and even if you contacted the original poster to delete their post, it would still spring up somewhere else like bamboo shoots after a rain.

    He tried to emphasize this point, and exined the pros and cons to the elders, and finally sighed. ¡°Theizens should be demanding exnations from the country right now, tell me, what should I do?¡±

    At this time, Yi Tong came in from outside, holding a phone in his hands. ¡°Miss Gu has already resolved the matter.¡±

    ¡°Resolved? How was that possible!¡± Feng Jiu retorted immediately. No one here knew the horrors of the inte better than him, how could it be resolved just by saying the words?

    Yi Tong didn¡¯t bother saying anything else, thrusting the phone into his hands.

    This person was one of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s capable subordinates. Feng Jiu didn¡¯t dare to offend him, so he took the phone and looked at the screen. Initially, he had an extremely impatient look on his face, but as he read what was on the screen, he froze.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always been an undercover agent sent by Jupiter, now I¡¯ll officially announce that I¡¯ll destroy the earth ??¡±

    ¡°OP, you¡¯re nuts, getting my goddess to actually say that she¡¯s an alien from Mars ??¡±

    Feng Jiu swiped through several pages of thements, and they were all along the same lines. The uproar and turmoil that didn¡¯t even have time to sprout had been chopped down and burned before it started.

    Weren¡¯t you guys all still questioning it all in the morning?!

    Wasn¡¯t this turn of events a little too fast?!

    And finally, he realized that the source of the change came from an ount named ¡®For A Millenium¡¯. Who was this person? The one Weibo that she posted was even more powerful than a Weibo from their officials on Weibo? And there were even so many celebrities who reposted and forwarded it?

    Feng Jiu felt his view of the world shatter in that instance!

    Forget about Li Yu and Song Guanjing reposting her Weibo, why was it that those famous painters, medical scientists, entrepreneurs... even the professors of A University reposted it?!

    ¡°This is Miss Gu¡¯s Weibo,¡± Yi Tong exined as he took back his phone, shing a smile at Feng Jiu. ¡°Fortunately for you, Mr. Feng Jiu, you still held some apprehensions towards the ancient martial arts world, and questioned them first. If you had gone straight for Miss Gu, everything would have been toote for you then.¡±

    Once Yi Tong said his piece, he left.

    ¡°What did he mean by that?¡± Feng Jiu was still looking shell shocked, unable to pull himself together.

    The great elder gave a sympathetic nce at Feng Jiu. ¡°It¡¯s just as he said.¡± Then the old man left. He had been going round and round in circles for half a day with this man, but it was all for naught in the end, his words were not as good as Gu Xiqiao¡¯s one sentence in Weibo! Really!

    The second elder took a sip of his tea, then patted Feng Jiu on the shoulder. ¡°Mingzhou was initially meant for a dead end. If it weren¡¯t for Miss Gu, not a single soul would be alive there right now. I wanted to remind you of that fact, but you didn¡¯t look in my direction at all. Well, good for you. You¡¯ve offended the one woman in the ancient martial arts world that no one can afford to offend.¡±

    Feng Jiu was already shocked when he heard the first part of the second elder¡¯s sentence, and was even more shocked when he heard thetter part, and couldn¡¯t help but fall into a contemtive silence. ¡°Isn¡¯t Miss Jiang Tong the woman that you can¡¯t afford to offend most?¡±

    ¡°Jiang Tong?¡± The second elder shook his head. ¡°Jiang Tong has been sent to a cell by Miss Gu, the kind that is never expected to be freed from.¡±

    Feng Jiu¡¯s heart jumped, and he was afraid for a moment it was going to crash out of his chest. He had been avoiding the people that were dangerous and he could ill afford to offend in the ancient martial arts world, but he didn¡¯t expect he would justnd himself in hot water with just one wrong move. Thinking back to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s reaction just now, he finally slumped down in his chair. ¡°... Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier.¡±

    ¡°I gave you so many looks, and it was all useless like showing them to dogs.¡± The second elder let out a long sigh. ¡°If she were to just y with the economy a little, the country you¡¯re watching over would tremble and shake three times over from the impact.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to scare me.¡± Feng Jiu could already feel all his energy draining from his body.

    ¡°Whether or not I¡¯m scaring you, you¡¯ll know it in a few days.¡± The second elder shook his head, then stood up to leave.

    Feng Jiu was still slumped down in his chair, a nk look on his face. He pulled out his own phone, going back to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo to read her profile. Medical, economical, academic, arts...

    He could feel his heart trembling the more he read. All of these people were quite influential in their own field...

    What kind of monster had he offended?

    ¡°Did you tell him?¡± The great elder was standing outside, waiting for the second elder toe out.

    ¡°He and I both know the matters of the secr world the best.¡± The second elder thought for a bit, thinking that maybe he was taking a little joy in the others misfortune. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Miss Gu to move so fast though.¡±

    The great elder gave a weird look at the second elder. ¡°Your tone when you speak of Miss Gu is so respectful now?¡± Wasn¡¯t he still so skeptical not long ago?

    ¡°That¡¯s because we never had close contact.¡± The second elder clicked his tongue. ¡°Are we leaving today?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Yi Tong and the others have arranged everything,¡± The great elder said, then he let out a sigh.

    ¡°Why are you sighing?¡± The second elder asked, eyeing the great elder.

    ¡°The Peace Squad, do you know what they¡¯re doing?¡± The great elder didn¡¯t wait for the second elder¡¯s response before continuing, ¡°They¡¯re training! Gods! Go to the back and look at them, they¡¯re cultivating like mad men, they¡¯re working so hard even though they¡¯re already so strong!¡±

    ¡°...¡± The second elder closed his mouth, afraid that he¡¯d explode the moment he said something.

    The group of people from the ancient martial arts world came majestically, and left in the same grand manner.

    Before they left, the great elder pulled Jiang Shuxuan aside to exchange a few more words with him. Gu Xiqiao leaned against a tree at the intersection, waiting for him toe out.

    As she waited, she yed with her phone.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Mo Li was at first going to leave on the flying ark, but there were so many people on it, and so she came down. She didn¡¯t expect that she would see Gu Xiqiao, and she rushed over to greet her. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you left yet?¡±

    ¡°Waiting for someone.¡± Gu Xiqiao kept her phone away.

    Mo Li thought that she was waiting for the Peace Squad, and didn¡¯t ask further. She smiled instead. ¡°Do you know who was the person who saved you that night?¡±

    Hearing these words, Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes slightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s my brother!¡± Mo Li said in a low voice, mysteriously. ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t know him, but I¡¯m telling you, he¡¯s amazing! Of course, you¡¯re also amazing...¡±

    ¡°Your brother?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head, why didn¡¯t she know that he had a younger sister?

    ¡°Yes, my brother!¡± Mo Li said proudly. ¡°But he¡¯s a bit on the cold side, you¡¯ll understand when you meet him.¡±

    ¡°Is that so.¡± Gu Xiqiao was silent for a moment, before spitting out the words.

    She lowered her head, speaking in her mind. ¡°Lil system, I want all the information about Mo Li.¡±

    Jiji, who was talking to some people from the Peace Squad, froze in its ce.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Wu Hongwen looked at it. ¡°Still thinking of asking Er Qiao to give you a tall and mighty body?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m busy, don¡¯t disturb me.¡± Jiji gave Wu Hongwen a nce, then focused on searching for the information Gu Xiqiao had asked for in the virtual space.

    Mo Li was still chatting away when Gu Xiqiao received the message from Jiji.

    A cold chill suddenly fell on the area, and Mo Li stopped talking abruptly, turning around.

    Behind them, a tall, imposing figure was walking calmly towards them. The light was behind his back, and the shadows were casted over his front, making it impossible to see his face, but you could still clearly feel the cold aura that the figure exuded.

    Even under the sun, you could feel the chills.

    ¡°Brother?¡± Mo Li was taken aback for a moment, not expecting to see him here.

    After being stunned, she shivered a little. Probably thinking back to how scary Jiang Shuxuan had been this morning.

    Thinking of this, she nced at Gu Xiqiao from the corner of her eyes. It seemed that the other was also looking at Jiang Shuxuan in a trance, and Mo Li smiled. She sighed a little, just another person dazzled by her brother¡¯s beauty. Sadly, her brother didn¡¯t have a heart.

    Back then, countless amazing women had also fallen for his appearance...

    Mo Li felt herself thinking too far back, and she turned around to say something to Gu Xiqiao, but before she could, she saw the maning to a stop not far from them.

    ¡°Brother?¡± Mo Li asked in surprise, did he finally ept that she was his sister?

    Jiang Shuxuan was not looking at her, both his eyes were on Gu Xiqiao. His voice was t as he said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    He was talking to Gu Xiqiao!

    Mo Li was shocked. She looked at Jiang Shuxuan, then back at Gu Xiqiao, and she couldn¡¯t react for a moment.

    WTF?

    How did these two know each other?

    Why were they together?

    And they looked very close!

    But how was that possible?!

    Mo Li was probably the one who was most aware of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s identity and position, and it was because she was aware that she was in a state of disbelief. So she looked at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Are you crazy, do you want to be the cause of her death?!¡±

 Chapter 324 - Shell-Shocked Elders

    <h4>Chapter 324: Shell-Shocked Elders</h4>

    ¡°Miss Mo Li!¡± Gu Xiqiao could feel Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s pause when he held her hands, and she shot Mo Li a cold look.

    Mo Li only felt like she was in a nk space, her face draining of all blood in an instant.

    When she finally got back her senses, the two had already left her line of sight.

    ¡°Miss Mo Li.¡± The great elder had been watching the entire scene not far off, and he let out a heavy sigh. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s growth was just too fast. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Great Elder, why didn¡¯t you stop him?¡± Mo Li turned around, looking at the great elder with a cold, hard look. ¡°You know my brother¡¯s identity and position!¡±

    The great elder gave Mo Li a look. ¡°The two of them, do you think you could stop either of them?¡±

    Mo Li was silent as she looked at the great elder, not saying a word.

    The great elder let out a heavy sigh once again.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan returned to the ancient martial arts world in their own flying ark, which used to be the treasure of the Baili family. It was twice as fast as the average flying ark that the others used, and so they reached long before the elders.

    When they reached back, they found Shu Chen and Jiang Han sitting on the sofa, waiting for them.

    Seeing the both of theme in, Shu Chen jumped up and hugged Gu Xiqiao, patting her from top to bottom. ¡°You¡¯re back, Qiao Qiao. The great elder said that you were injured, is it serious?¡±

    Jiang Han nced at Gu Xiqiao, before turning his eyes to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°I heard that you¡¯ve lost your memories?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was silent, he somehow felt that there was a hint ofughter underneath Jiang Han¡¯s tone, as though rejoicing in his misfortune?

    After making sure that there was nothing seriously wrong with Gu Xiqiao, Shu Chen let out a breath of relief. ¡°Let¡¯s go and eat, Qiao Qiao. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve not been eating well these few days.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... Okay.¡±

    At the dinner table, Shu Chen nced at Jiang Shuxuan, who was sitting beside Gu Xiqiao. She suddenly remembered something as she opened her mouth, ¡°Qiao Qiao, although his brain is in bad shape right now, I hope you don¡¯t dump him.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, ncing at Shu Chen with his deep, coal eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡±

    After eating, Shu Chen pulled Gu Xiqiao towards the sofa, asking her what she had been up to. She looked at the younger girl¡¯s thin face. ¡°You¡¯ve be thinner again...¡±

    Jiang Han and Jiang Shuxuan were sitting coldly on the other side. The aura they exuded felt even colder than thest time.

    Jiang Han: ¡°I want to drink water.¡±

    Everyone ignored him, the butler would serve some cut fruits to Shu Chen and Gu Xiqiao, and brought them snackster on.

    Jiang Shuxuan had thought that he would feel ufortable,ing back to his home. But seeing the current situation in front of him made his uneasiness disappear.

    ¡°Madam, Miss Gu has just returned, we should let her retire early.¡± The butler said from the side.

    Shu Chen got up immediately, touching Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head gently. Her voice was soft as she said, ¡°We¡¯ll talk more tomorrow. Go on and rest, Qiao Qiao. Oh right, Ah Bin has been asking me whether you¡¯ve returned or not, give him a call when you can.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, feeling the concern came from the bottom of the older woman¡¯s heart and it made her feel warm inside.

    After the two made their way upstairs, Shu Chen sighed. ¡°Luckily, it doesn¡¯t seem like the situation is overlyplicated.¡±

    ¡°This stinky boy.¡± Jiang Han snorted coldly. ¡°Forgetting all about us, but remember the girl. I was afraid that he would forget his entire family once he came back.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t all of your Jiang family members the same?¡± Shu Chen seemed to have thought of something, then burst outughing.

    Everyone knew that since ancient times, the Jiang family had been churning out monsters. But there was also another description of them that was less known to outsiders: Since ancient times, the Jiang family people had always been extremely passionate and loving.

    ***

    Upstairs, Jiang Shuxuan was leaning against the window. His tall, lean figure casting a shadow on the curtains. He plucked a flower from the pot nearby, and asked, ¡°Are you sure they¡¯re my parents?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... They really are.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a shower first, Brother Jiang? Do you know how to use everything inside? Never mind, I¡¯ll adjust the temperature for you, go on in.¡± Gu Xiqiao took out a change of clothes, shoving it into Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s arms, and led him to the bathroom and exined to him how the things in there worked.

    She left, closing the door after she was done, sitting down at the desk and opening theputer. She proceeded to type away once everything was set up.

    When Jiang Shuxuan was done with his shower, this was the scene he walked into. She was sitting in front of theputer, her slender fingers tapping on the ink ck keyboard. Her eyes were slightly lowered, looking at the screen, and her eyes couldn¡¯t be seen by others. You could only see her thick, long eyshes on her side profile, but he knew that she had a pair of eyes that were so radiant that people who look into them would be unable to turn away.

    The towel was still in his hands, and he hadn¡¯t dried his hair, distracted as he was leaning against the door, watching her.

    He looked as if he was in a daze, something shing in his mind as he felt like he had always been like this, liked watching her like this.

    ¡°Brother Jiang.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked up to see him leaning against the wall after she finished typing a page, and she smiled, slightly resigned. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you dried your hair?¡±

    She took the towel from his hands. ¡°Lower your head.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Jiang Shuxuan obeyed obediently.

    After she rubbed his hair dry, she pointed to the stool beside her and said, ¡°You can sit here.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan sat down without a word.

    Gu Xiqiao ced anotherputer in front of him, and a pile of documents. ¡°I had Yi Bing bring these documents regarding the ancient martial arts world for you, have a look at them.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan picked them up and started reading through them, and after seeing him immerse himself in the task, Gu Xiqiao returned to her own seat and continued her own work, tapping away on her keyboard.

    [We¡¯ve reached Peace Manor, Beauty Gu.] Jiji¡¯s voice came through in her mind. [Huh? What are you doing?]

    ¡®Fixing the ancient martial arts world.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao replied faintly. ¡®The strength of the people in the ancient martial arts world is too weak.¡±

    Jiji could see the words she was typing in theputer through her mind, and its lips turned downwards. [Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re going to scare them to death.]

    Gu Xiqiao thought for a while, before finally saying, ¡®I¡¯ll try my best to be gentle.¡¯

    Jiji: [...] No matter how gentle you try to be, you won¡¯t be able to change the fact of how impossible the things you¡¯re doing is.

    ***

    At Peace Manor.

    ¡°Jiji, why aren¡¯t you eating?¡± Wu Hongwen nced at Jiji, wondering why the robot suddenly stopped eating halfway?

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Jiji took another bite of meat. ¡°I¡¯m just feeling shocked for the ancient martial arts world, er... no, I mean, happy.¡±

    Wu Hongwen had already eaten his meal. ¡°Then you go ahead and continue being shocked slowly, I¡¯ll head back to the caves first.¡±

    ¡°Really a bunch of lunatics.¡± Jiji watched Wu Hongwen¡¯s retreating back, and muttered under its breath. This group of people had been training and cultivating day and night non-stop, seriously, their level of craziness could even beparable to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s.

    ***

    On the other side, Mo Li had just gotten down from the flying ark, bumping into Baili Bin who had been waiting at the side.

    ¡°Your legs are healed?¡± Mo Li hadn¡¯t believed her own eyes when she saw Baili Bin standing in front of her, and after gaping at him for a long time, she finally spit those words out.

    Baili Bin smiled at her. ¡°Miss Mo Li, it has been a long time.¡±

    ¡°That it has. After your legs were injured, you never came back.¡± Mo Li suddenly smiled at him after saying that. ¡°But now it seemed that you¡¯ve really had a stroke of luck.¡±

    Baili Bin was about to say something, but the phone in his pocket suddenly started to ring. A gentle smile spread on his face after he pulled it out to see who it was, before turning around to take the call.

    Mo Li was surprised at his reaction. Though she wasn¡¯t close to Baili Bin, she had paid attention to him when he and Jiang Shuxuan had been famous in the past years. Hence, she knew that though Baili Bin looked gentle on the outside, he was actually a person that was hard to get close to, and those who were close to him could be counted on one hand.

    After so many years of knowing him, this was the first time she had seen sincere joy on his face like this.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Baili Bin said after hanging up the call, turning back to face her. ¡°My grandfather is looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Patriarch Baili?¡± Mo Li nced at Baili Bin with a slight surprise in her eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡±

    On their way to the Baili residence, the two ran into Murong Feiye. Both his hands were sped in front of his chest as he looked towards Baili Bin. ¡°I knew that you¡¯d go and look for her.¡±

    Baili Bin¡¯s face was indifferent, not bothered about Murong Feiye.

    Mo Li felt strange as they continued on, bumping into not only Murong Feiye, but even members of the Tang family!

    The further they walked, the stranger she felt it was.

    Up till when they reached the Baili residence, where she saw Baili Qu and Tang Wenbo sitting there. Hearing Baili Qu¡¯s words, Mo Li felt shock once again coursing through her. What a big fanfare, all just for Gu Xiqiao?

    ¡°You guys are really going overboard here, aren¡¯t you? Don¡¯t you know what kind of person she is?¡± Mo Li fiddled with her fingers as she said, ¡°Just to make it clear, I admire her very much.¡±

    Baili Bin didn¡¯t reply to that, looking at Mo Li with an indifferent expression on his face. ¡°Of course I know, but if anything were to happen, the Jiang family may not touch you, but our Baili family will definitely not let you off, even if we have to exhaust the power of our entire family.¡±

    Mo Li paused in her actions, looking at Baili Bin, her eyes unpredictable under the light. After several minutes, she smiled softly. ¡°Of course not.¡±

    Walking out of the Baili residence, there wasn¡¯t any expression on Mo Li¡¯s face as she headed towards the Jiang residence.

    When she walked past the Trial Tower, she ran into Murong Miaoxue, who had just exited the tower.

    ¡°Your power has increased,¡± Mo Limented as she circled the other girl. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve been working hard the past three years, Murong Miaoxue.¡±

    ¡°Miss Mo Li.¡± Murong Miaoxue nodded at her slightly, her face no longer having that prideful look that she usually sported.

    ¡°Such a big change?¡± Mo Li¡¯s eyes swept across the area, seeing the horrified gazes of the people who caught sight of her. ¡°Forget it. Let me ask you, where¡¯s Jiang Tong?¡±

    ¡°The underground prison.¡± Murong Miaoxue replied easily, looking at her.

    WTF? Was it that bad? Jiang Tong had been making waves on waves in the ancient martial arts world for a while, and though Mo Li had teased her frequently, she still didn¡¯t actually dare to hurt her inside. She never expected to hear something like this when she just came back!

    Who was great enough to make Jiang Tong fall to that level?

    Murong Miaoxue seemed to have heard her unspoken question, and she slowly said three words, ¡°Gu Xiqiao.¡±

    ***

    The great elder decided to take a stroll around the Trial Tower in the morning, and he saw a few youngsters looking at the rankings, which were still upied by the people from Peace Manor. ¡°Look at Peace Manor and Miss Gu, you guys are so weak, do you feel good about it?¡±

    ¡°Great Elder, are you teasing us?¡± The youngsters reeled back as though they had been pped. You couldpare them to anyone and it would still be fine, but Miss Gu was a monster, and her subordinates were also the same, monsters, all of them!

    The great elder thought about it for a while, before letting out a sigh. ¡°You¡¯re right, I can¡¯t be too demanding towards you guys anyway.¡±

    ¡°Great Elder, Young Master Jiang is in the Elders Association looking for you.¡± After the great elder tried to give some encouraging words to those youngsters, the guard from the Elders Association came to report to him.

    Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t find him for no reason, and usually it was a major event when the younger man came looking for him. So the great elder left hastily after exchanging a few more words with the group of youngsters.

    After he left, the group of youngsters was still chatting with each other. ¡°I heard that Miss Mo Li has returned, I wonder between the two, would Miss Gu or Miss Mo Lie out on top?¡±

    ¡°Obviously it would be Miss Gu.¡± One of them said decisively.

    ¡°Although Miss Gu¡¯s strength is great, you guys have forgotten that Miss Mo Li is a charmspeaker.¡± Another said.

    Next to them was a youngster that had been to Mingzhou, and he shook his head. ¡°Miss Mo Li can¡¯t even begin topare to Miss Gu.¡±

    This sentence caused a heated debate to start between two groups of people, one saying that there was no way Mo Li¡¯s charmspeak could be resisted, while the other saying that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mental power was strong to the point that it was impossible to control, even with charmspeak.

    The youngster that had said those words didn¡¯t say anything more, justughing lightly. Charmspeak was nothing. Not only was Gu XIqiao able to resist it, she could even reflect it! If he were to say that, the others would definitely be shocked to death!

    ***

    At the Elders Association, Jiang Shuxuan was seated in his usual seat. Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t sit in any of the elder¡¯s seats, but at the end of the table, leaningzily against the back of the chair.

    The elders came in one by one, and when they saw her sitting there, they were shocked. They greeted her with a slight tremble in their voice, in extremely respectful tones.

    The impression that Gu Xiqiao had left on them thest time they had met was huge, and they only had two words to describe this girl in front of them now!

    Terrifying!

    Monster!

    When Jiang Shuxuan saw that everyone had arrived, he waved his hands and a pile of books appeared in front of him. His eyes swept across everyone that was seated at the table, and said, ¡°These ancient texts are all fake.¡±

    All the elders that were present: ¡°...¡± Are you kidding me?

    Jiang Shuxuan was looking at them with a solemn expression on his face. His eyes were sharp, and they conveyed to them that he wasn¡¯t joking at all.

    The elders who were smiling in the beginning fell silent.

    The great elder didn¡¯t speak, picking up the books that were in front of Jiang Shuxuan. Every family in the ancient martial arts world had a mark or symbol on their ancient texts, which had been passed down through the generations for nearly thousands of years, and so he knew that these were the real ones that had been passed down once he flipped through them.

    Every book was filled with history and aura, how was someone supposed to believe that this was a fake?

    Though his mouth said it wasn¡¯t true, the great elder knew that in his heart, he believed every word that he had said.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, you¡¯re joking with us, right?¡± Seeing the doubt and hesitation on the great elder¡¯s face, the tense shoulder of the other elders started to rx.

    Jiang Shuxuan merely tapped his hand on the table, once, twice, making those who heard the knocks grow more terrified as the time passed. Suddenly, he raised his head, looking at them with an extremely cold look on his face, his voice even colder than that as he said, ¡°Do I look like I¡¯m joking?¡±

    ¡°Kind of, Young Master Ji-¡± Before this person had finished speaking, he felt his heart leap to his throat when he caught sight of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze.

    His voice caught in his throat, stopping his words abruptly!

    Most of the ancient texts were passed down in the ancient martial arts world for almost a thousand years, and most of them were fake?

    Nobody would believe this fact.

    However, was Jiang Shuxuan the kind of person who would joke? Of course not!

    ¡°Do you want to know why the Baili family has improved so much in recent months?¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned back, her voicezy as she spoke into the silence of the room.

    ¡°How?¡± Someone couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Everyone in the ancient martial arts world knew that the Baili family was now thriving like never before, and it was obvious everyone was jealous! Of course they wanted to know! As elders of their own families, who didn¡¯t want to grow stronger?

    So at this moment, all eyes were turned towards Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled, sitting up straight suddenly, propping her chin on her hand. Her smile was brighter as she said, ¡°Because those fake ancient texts in their house were also discovered by me.¡±

    Boom!

    Everyone felt like they were going to explode at that revtion, their minds and face nked as they looked at the brightly smiling girl in a daze!

    After dropping such a huge bombshell, Gu Xiqiao continued to follow up with another one!

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. I was also the one who gave them their new ancient texts.¡± She threw out, her voice light.

    All the elders of the ancient martial arts world were so shocked that they almost sprawled out on the ground.

    They tried hard to recall when the Baili family had started to rise, and were horrified to realize that it was around the same time that Gu Xiqiao had arrived at the Imperial Capital!

    The timeline... it matched up!

    The other elders all turned as one to look at the only elder from the Baili family who was sitting among them, and the old man was also smiling as bright as Gu Xiqiao. His voice was extremely respectful as he addressed Gu Xiqiao, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to the Young Miss for saving the Baili family.¡±

    He had called her ¡®Young Miss¡¯, and not ¡®Miss Gu¡¯.

    Only at this time, no one seemed to realize the difference in the title. The Elders Association was dead silent for a long while.

    ¡°I¡¯ll only say this once.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up. The sunlight streaming in from the window shone on her face, making her snow-white skin glow slightly. ¡°I created the first Peace Manor, I naturally can also create a second one. If any of you have any ideas, you cane to Peace Manor to find me at five in the morning. You can also bring your juniors.¡±

    She could build one Peace Manor, so she could naturally build a second one!

    Her voice was light, but every word dripped with arrogance! Overbearing! Conceited!

    However, not a single soul in the room could question the validity of her words!

 Chapter 325 - Welcome To Peace Manor

    <h4>Chapter 325: Wee To Peace Manor</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had already left the Elders Association, but all the elders were still rooted to their seats, in a state of shock.

    One of them suddenly stood on his feet, mming his hands on the table. ¡°Great Elder, how could you let her leave like that?! I don¡¯t want to wait until tomorrow, our family members cane out today!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thoroughly shocked by her, can¡¯t you give me some time to recover?¡± The great elder was clutching his heart. If he continued to hang around Gu Xiqiao, he would probably get a shock every single day of his life.

    Another elder was disdainful as he said, ¡°Being able to be startled into this state, and you still call yourself the great elder?¡±

    ¡°If you weren¡¯t shocked and I was, then you could have stopped them yourself, would you have dared to?¡± The great elder harrumphed as he stood. ¡°Not only have I been shocked, I also need to go recite some scriptures right now!¡± He looked around for the book that he needed, and really did pick up a Buddhist scripture and started reciting.

    Everyone else: ¡°...¡±

    ***

    When Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had reached the Jiang residence living room, apart from Shu Chen, there was another person there. It was Mo Li.

    ¡°Brother, Miss Gu.¡± Mo Li was talking to Shu Chen, but she turned around to greet them with a smile when she caught sight of them.

    Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t stop the furrow of his brows when his eyesnded on her, and he grasped Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. ¡°Let¡¯s go up.¡±

    ¡°You go on ahead first, Brother Jiang. I¡¯lle up in a bit,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, smiling reassuringly to him.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied dully, turning around to head upstairs. He would turn around to look back at her every few steps before he finally disappeared from her sight.

    Shu Chen¡¯s usually calm face cracked a little at the sight of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attitude. Oh my word, was this really her son?

    Both Mo Li and Shu Chen were surprised by the unusual disy that was Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan had always been an indifferent person, ever since he was a child. No matter what happened, it was hard for him to leak even a tiniest bit of emotion on his face. And today, they were treated to such a scene?

    Shu Chen felt that she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore, picking up her phone to record a video immediately. She was feeling slightly proud along with being entertained. ¡®So you also have days like this, wait till you get your memories back, I can¡¯t wait to show you what you did!¡¯

    After she was done recording, she sent it to Jiang Han.

    ¡°Aunt Shu, Miss Mo Li.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat beside Shu Chen, the smile still on her face.

    Shu Chen was pulled back into reality after her little recording stint by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, and she looked towards Mo Li, who was not looking at her, but instead at Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, why don¡¯t you help me make a cup of tea?¡± Shu Chen touched Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head gently, her voice soft.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Gu Xiqiao got up from her seat, her eyes turning to Mo Li. ¡°Miss Mo Li, would you also like one?¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, indicating that she understood and left for the kitchen.

    ¡°What did you want to tell me without Miss Gu listening?¡± Mo Li turned her head, looking at Shu Chen once again. As she ate the watermelon on the table, she asked.

    She gave off the feeling of being harmless to others if they were watching her.

    Shu Chen was not deceived by her outer appearance, her eyes staring straight at Mo Li. Her onyx ck eyes seemed to be able to see through the hearts of the people that she looked at.

    ¡°From now on, Mo Li, don¡¯t evere to the Jiang residence anymore,¡± Shu Chen said to Mo Li, her voice clear and heavy.

    Mo Li paused in her actions, lowering her head. Shu Chen didn¡¯t see it because of that, but Mo Li¡¯s eyes shed red.

    ¡°Is it because of Gu Xiqiao?¡± Mo Li raised her head only after she was sure that her eyes had returned to normal.

    Shu Chen¡¯s face didn¡¯t falter nor change. ¡°I won¡¯t allow anything to threaten Qiao Qiao¡¯s life, even if it¡¯s just a hint of possibility.¡±

    ¡°On what basis do you think I¡¯d be harmful to her?¡± Mo Li ced down the watermelon on the table. ¡°Also, what do you think I can do to her in the first ce?¡±

    Shu Chen didn¡¯t reply, it was because of her uncertainty, that she couldn¡¯t risk Gu Xiqiao at all.

    If Jiang Shuxuan had not lost his memory, Shu Chen would have no reason to be asking this of Mo Li. She believed that Jiang Shuxuan would have handled it, but now, Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t even know who this girl was. And so, before Jiang Shuxuan recovered his memories, the Jiang family had to step in to protect Gu Xiqiao.

    Though Shu Chen knew that Gu Xiqiao was extremely powerful in her own right, she was still worried.

    Mo Li continued to stare at Shu Chen, who was still silent, and a smile graced her lips. ¡°Or, are you not worried about your own life at all?¡±

    ¡°Life and death have already been predestined,¡± Shu Chen replied sharply, looking at her again. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are. Bottom line is, Qiao Qiao belongs in our Jiang family.¡±

    Mo Li¡¯s smile disappeared in an instant, and after a long while, she finally said, ¡°I see.¡±

    The two fell into a deep silence again, and this was the first time Mo Li felt ufortable being in the Jiang family residence. Ever since she woke up, she had felt that something was wrong in the ancient martial arts world, making her feel terrified.

    The silence was broken when Gu Xiqiao returned with a cup of tea in her hands.

    Mo Li felt it was pointless to linger any longer, and so she stood, stating that she was leaving.

    ¡°Wait a moment, Miss Mo Li. I¡¯ll walk you out.¡± Gu Xiqiao also stood, and Shu Chen seemed nervous as she grasped Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, telling her with her eyes that she shouldn¡¯t. Gu Xiqiao shed her aforting smile, before gently extracting her hands and walking out with Mo Li.

    Mo Li was smiling for a while, until they had walked a distance from the Jiang residence, and her smile finally dropped. ¡°You know, I actually really liked you.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao saw a tree nearby, and so she shoved her hands into her pockets, and went to lean against it. Hearing Mo Li¡¯s words, she raised an eyebrow. ¡°I see, thank you then.¡±

    ¡°But now...¡± Mo Li¡¯s eyes were drawn to the fox fur coat that Gu Xiqiao had donned when they left the house, her eyes sharpening.

    She had spent so many years doing so many things for the sake of the Jiang family, and had not managed to soften the Jiang family¡¯s attitude towards her. But then, Gu Xiqiao hade along, not even doing anything, and had managed to obtain the confidence and respect of the Jiang family and the entire ancient martial arts world. She didn¡¯t understand, what exactly had this girl done?

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at Mo Li when she heard those words. ¡°Then I¡¯m relieved.¡±

    Mo Li didn¡¯t say anything more, looking at Gu Xiqiao, her eyes bleeding red.

    The dried leaves on the ground slowly floated up in the air, and the scent of it slowly filled the air around them.

    ¡°Charmspeak, Render Ruins.¡± Mo Li¡¯s blood red eyes closed slowly, the words she spoke floating in the air.

    The leaves that were floating around them dposed at a slow speed, before rbining.

    Both of them were quite prominent figures in the ancient martial arts world, especially Gu Xiqiao. So when they made the stop there, countless figures had gathered in the distance, watching them from afar.

    ¡°That¡¯s Miss Gu, and Miss Mo Li!¡±

    ¡°Sh*t, what kind of charmspeak technique is Miss Mo Li disying there?!¡±

    ¡°Render Ruins, everything within the domain of her charmspeak is controlled by her, and everything within it can be made to disintegrate or revived,¡± someone finally said quietly.

    ¡°Render Ruins?!¡±

    They couldn¡¯t help but eximed when they heard, this was an ancient curse! Once it was cast sessfully, even the caster themselves would suffer a bacsh to their soul.

    Render Ruins of the charmspeak was an ancient technique that was forbidden. For it to have the side effect of getting a bacsh to the caster¡¯s soul after casting it sessfully, everyone could see how strong this forbidden technique was!

    Mo Li was looking at Gu Xiqiao.

    But Mo Li wasn¡¯t sure of it herself...

    Charmpeak was not useful towards just anyone...

    Especially...

    Towards Gu Xiqiao!

    The onlookers were watching the leaves disintegrate and rejoining, stopping at the moment it disintegrated or rejoining into a whole.

    Everyone around them that had opened their mouths to exim were silent, though their mouths were wide open.

    They looked towards the figure that was leaning against the tree, her face cold and indifferent.

    She reached out her hand at this time, taking one of the leaves that were stagnant in the air.

    Her white, slender fingers easily pinched the dead leaf that seemed to have frozen in ce by Mo Li.

    ¡°Have you forgotten that I¡¯m the one who taught you the perception of your charmspeak, Mo Li?¡± Gu Xiqiao said, giving Mo Li a nce.

    Gu Xiqiao could reflect the normal charmspeak techniques, and forbidden techniques were useless against her!

    Where the h*ll did a person like thise from?

    If someone had told Mo Li that she would be in this kind of situation, she would definitely p that person to death, but now, she was in that position!

    Mo Li stared at Gu Xiqiao with disbelief written all over her face. A sense of frustration that was unprecedented growing inside her heart!

    Nothing seemed to faze Gu Xiqiao at all!

    During this silence, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket, and found that it was a text message sent by Shu Chen.

    She replied to the message, putting her phone away again before lifting her foot to leave. But then she stopped when she reached Mo Li¡¯s side.

    ¡°The Dragon Tribe¡¯s charmspeak is indestructible and immortal,¡± Gu Xiqiao said in a low voice. ¡°Although Aunt Shu Chen is the same as you, do you think you¡¯ll be able to remain that way all the way, Miss Mo Li?¡±

    Having said her piece, she left without another look back.

    Mo Li, who had been left behind, raised her head and turned to look at her retreating back, horror in her eyes now. ¡°You... who the heck are you?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao ignored her question.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t actually know who Mo Li was, the information that she had Jiji find only told her that Mo Li had appeared out of nowhere. There was nothing about her, only that she and Shu Chen were intertwined, that one couldn¡¯t live without the other.

    However, Jiji did find one piece of information, and that was that members of the ancient Dragon Tribe were capable of charmspeak.

    Upstairs in the Jiang house, Jiang Shuxuan was in the study, looking at theputer and some documents in hand. These were all rted to the ancient martial arts world.

    Gu Xiqiao had also brought aputer in, sitting next to him. But she wasn¡¯t typing furiously on her keyboard or anything this time, logging into her game and started ying instead.

    ¡°Who is that?¡± Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t help but ask when he saw Gu Xiqiao chatting with someone on private mode.

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a while, before answering, ¡°Your mother.¡±

    Just as she said that, a few more lines appeared in the private chat.

    A Blooming Dawn: Daughter-inw! Come and save me, I¡¯m dying from the wild mobs!

    Gu Xiqiao tapped a few keys immediately, flying to Shu Chen¡¯s side, killing the monsters in a few strikes.

    A Blooming Dawn: Daughter-inw is the mightiest!

    Jiang Shuxuan: ¡°...¡± He silently returned to his seat and took a book to read.

    He was immersed in his reading, until the butler came knocking on the door. ¡°Miss Gu, a Mr Zhuge is looking for you downstairs.¡±

    Zhuge Yan? Gu Xiqiao put down herputer, she hadn¡¯t had the chance to talk about the matter previously with him. ¡°I¡¯ll be right down.¡±

    She stood up, ncing at Jiang Shuxuan to find the other deep into his book, and so she closed the door softly.

    ***

    Downstairs, Zhuge Yan was sitting on the sofa, a cup in one hand. He had a thoughtful look on his face, and when he saw Gu Xiqiaoing down, he stood up. He shed her a brilliant smile, his eyes sparkling, his expression happy as he greeted her, ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    His voice felt like a caress of a bright breeze, making people who heard it feel at ease.

    ¡°Mr. Zhuge.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked around, not seeing Wei Xi beside him, and couldn¡¯t help but ask in a slightly puzzled voice, ¡°Wei Xi didn¡¯te with you?¡±

    Zhuge Yan smiled softly. ¡°That girl is browsing around the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao touched her nose, expressing her understanding, before she suddenly remembered something, raising her head to look at him. ¡°Did you bring Wei Chenyan with you?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Zhuge Yan nodded his head. ¡°The main reason we came was also because of him.¡±

    ¡°In his body...¡± Gu Xiqiao frowned.

    Zhuge Yan was not surprised by her words, and only gave a sigh. ¡°I know.¡±

    Butler Jiang was listening secretly from the sidelines, but he soon discovered that the two were only talking in half sentences, and he... he didn¡¯t understand a single thing they were saying?!

    The person standing opposite him wasmunicating with him through his eyes¡ª[Butler, if you don¡¯t understand then don¡¯t bother listening in on them. Don¡¯t embarrass yourself.]

    Butler Jiang¡ª[Although I don¡¯t understand, I can run interference if needed. This kid feels dangerous!]

    The opposite person¡ª[...]

    ¡°Let hime to Peace Manor tomorrow, it¡¯s a bit more dangerous for him to stay outside.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, narrowing her eyes. ¡°As for the address, you can ask anyone for it, they¡¯ll know.¡±

    ¡°Then, thanks very much?¡± Zhuge Yan couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± What was with the question mark at the end of his sentence?

    She silently pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket, and then a pen, writing some words on the paper¡ª

    Outsider, cmity, and turning point!

    Gu Xiqiao handed the paper to Zhuge Yan once she was done.

    Zhuge Yan took the offered paper from her, and like many people before him, looked at the handwriting first, which was vigorous and bold.

    ¡°Huh?¡± After admiring the penmanship, he studied the words that were on the paper with surprise on his face. ¡°Miss Gu, is this what you wanted to ask me?¡±

    From the moment Zhuge Yan had met Gu Xiqiao, he knew that she had something to ask him, but he didn¡¯t expect that it was this kind of question?

    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked him. ¡°What can you see from that? I heard that this was a prophecy that was left behind by the first generation of the Greedy Wolf Star Lord.¡±

    He was silent.

    Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow. ¡°Go ahead and just tell me, I¡¯ll be able to take it.¡±

    Zhuge Yan still remained silent after her words, his eyes looking at her, motionless.

    The air seemed to be heavier by the second, and Gu Xiqiao felt the words getting stuck in her throat as she finally rasped out, ¡°No way, the cmity is really referring to me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so smart, how can you not see?¡± Zhuge Yan turned away, pointing his finger at the ¡®turning point¡¯ on the paper. ¡°Those people had wasted so much effort on getting a divination on you, and there is someone who paid a heavy price to change your fate, how can you feel that you¡¯re the cmity?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes fell on the words that his finger was on, and she shook her head. ¡°The current generation Dubhe was the one who said it.¡±

    Zhuge Yan: ¡°...¡± The current generation¡¯s Dubhe is a little out of his mind.

    At the same moment, a guard came in from the outside. ¡°Miss Gu, there is a Mr. Tengen waiting outside.¡±

    ¡°Tengen?¡± Why did hee today? Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°Please invite him in.¡±

    ¡°Since there is a guest, I¡¯ll take my leave first, Miss Gu.¡± Zhuge Yan stood up from his seat, just in time to see Butler Jianging in to add water into his tea cup. ¡°I almost forgot, thank you for the medicinest time, it really helped.¡±

    It really was effective, the weakness that he had always felt in his body had lessened a lotpared to what it had been.

    Tengen, who was standing outside in his gray robes, fiddled with his robes slightly as he waited nervously.

    ¡°Mr. Tengen, pleasee in.¡± A person came out of the house, giving him a smile as he gestured.

    The closer he got to the person in the house, the more anxious his heart felt. He straightened his clothes, and couldn¡¯t decide where to put his hands after that.

    ¡°Miss, here is the person,¡± The man who led him in said to the young woman who was sitting on the sofa.

    The girl was looking at a piece of paper in her hands, and she raised her head when she heard the man¡¯s words.

    Tengen finally had a look at the girl¡¯s face, it was an extremely beautiful, jaded face that glowed with a cold light. She looked at him, her clear ck eyes like ck jade, and Tengen was captivated. He straightened his back immediately. ¡°Master!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was in the middle of standing up, and she stiffened. ¡°... Mister, are you joking with me?¡±

    ¡°Master, I finally found you!¡± Tengen was looking at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes trained on her, excitement in them.

    Butler Jiang immediately stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, looking at Tengen with serious eyes. This person was strange,ing here without any notice, and calling Miss Gu ¡®Master¡¯. Where the heck did this coquettish b*tche from?

    Tengen was afraid that Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t able to recognize him, and he started to feel anxious again, hurriedly trying to exin his identity. ¡°Please believe me, Master. I¡¯ve been waiting for you for a thousand years...¡±

    ¡°Baby Gu!¡± A voice came from upstairs suddenly, a tall, lean figure walking down the steps, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone in his hands. ¡°Auntie Zhang called, saying that Jiji took Haha back.¡±

    His appearance cut off whatever Tengen was going to say.

    Tengen had indeed stopped talking, looking at Jiang Shuxuan with something akin to shock on his face. ¡°Y-Y-You... weren¡¯t you still in the snow world?! Have you seeded in obtaining the inheritance?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan naturally didn¡¯t remember who Tengen was, so he remained silent, just looking at Tengen with a pair of cold, chilly eyes.

    Tengen could already feel the aura that exuded from Jiang Shuxuan, even at this distance. He felt as though his legs were about to give way, not able to support his weight. Being alive for so many years, he never heard of anyone who was able to leave halfway through receiving their inheritance. What the heck was Jiang Shuxuan a reincarnation of?!

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have any bacsh from that?¡± Tengen asked, his tone incredulous.

    Jiang Shuxuan still remained silent, his eyes trained on Tengen.

    During the time this was happening, Gu Xiqiao had made her way to Jiang Shuxuan, taking her phone from his hands. She unlocked it and looked at the screen, noting that in addition to Auntie Zhang¡¯s call, there was also an unread text message sent by Boss Bai¡ª[There¡¯s been some changes in the Bai Gang¡¯s state in America, Miss Gu.]

    There were no changes to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face when she read it, she simply tapped her phone to reply¡ª[I understand.]

    After that was done, she turned her head to look at Tengen again, her brows furrowed. When Zhu Yuan had informed her that the guardian of Delxun Forest was looking for her, she had anticipated what he would do to her once he found her.

    But the only thing she didn¡¯t expect was for this person to call her ¡®Master¡¯ when they met?

    Her lips were downturned when she thought about it.

    Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head to look at her face, and catching sight of her downturned lips, he informed the butler, ¡°Butler, see the guest out.¡±

    ***

    ¡°So you were driven out by Jiang Shuxuan, just like that?¡± Dubhe looked at Tengen, who was in front of him, his eyes a deep sea that seemed to have condensed into ayer of ice.

    The hand that clutched the jade flute paled. ¡°Can you stop making trouble? I¡¯m scouring the entire world to look for the turning point, and just when I finally found some hint of it, you called me back for such a small matter?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, I¡¯m really depressed.¡± Tengen took out a gourd, taking a sip of the wine inside it.

    A pure, white fire emerged from Dubhe¡¯s body, and his tone was ice cold as he said, ¡°You won¡¯t be sad anymore if I burn you to death.¡±

    Tengen gave him a nce. ¡°This body was made by Master¡¯s hands, you think you can burn it just because you want to?¡±

    Having said that, he continued to drink from the gourd.

    Suddenly, he saw a bunch of people on the road in the ancient martial arts world, chattering away excitedly. He threw the gourd to the side, and picked up his phone. ¡°It¡¯s only five o¡¯clock, what are these people doing?¡±

    Tengen stealthily followed behind the group.

    He followed them all the way, reaching Peace Manor at the end of the road. Tengen looked up at the manor that was covered in formations, and was startled. ¡°This formation, this energy fluctuation... it¡¯s Master¡¯s!¡±

    As he talked, he blended himself into the group of people.

    The group of elders from the ancient martial arts world had been looking forward to this day. When they had gone back initially, they were anticipating that the youth of their ns would be reluctant toe, but they didn¡¯t expect the youngsters of the n to be so excited once they opened their mouths to exin. ¡°Elder, we¡¯ve envied the people from Peace Manor for a very long time now!¡±

    ¡°I never even dreamed of the day that we would be able to enter Peace Manor!¡±

    There were countlessments on simr lines.

    The elders probably had expected this, but they didn¡¯t expect that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s prestige would be so strong across the entire ancient martial arts world!

    The doors to Peace Manor were open, and apart from a handful of elders, everyone else had never been inside before. When they entered, the first thing they saw was a big mountain, and the long, purple dragon that hovered above it, exuding a terrifying aura that frightened people who looked at it.

    Once they finally calmed themselves down, they then found countless people training at the entrance of the cave. They had thought that at such an early hour, there would be no one awake in Peace Manor, but they didn¡¯t expect that the training grounds would be full of people!

    ¡°Blue fire?! Do they not want to live anymore!¡± They watched as a gigantic firebird spat out blue mes at a team from the Peace Squad, their faces were horrified, their hearts flinching as they thought of what was going to happen.

    Everyone in the group knew that blue mes were the hottest mes ever to exist, and it could burn a person to ash if you got too close.

    The next second, the horror on their faces changed to disbelief, because the people in the Peace Squad actually forced the mes back?!

    Xixi¡¯s beady eyes caught sight of the people from the ancient martial arts world, and it turned around, opening its beak to spray them with fire.

    Horror and fear once again appeared on everyone¡¯s faces, and even the great elder was shocked by the sudden turn of events, summoning his magic weapon immediately. Oh my god, they didn¡¯t have the terrifying strength that the Peace Squad had!

    Just as the group was in panic and a mess, Gu Xiqiao walked out from the inside, flicking Xixi¡¯s head with her fingers, and he was knocked back at least two meters just like that.

    ¡°Wee.¡± Under the bright lights of Peace Manor, it highlighted her slender silhouette, making her look beautiful and mysterious. She turned around, looking at the dumbfounded group of people from the ancient martial arts world, the corners of her lips lifting up. ¡°To Peace Manor.¡±

 Chapter 326 - Shes The Only One Who Can Do Something Crazy Like This

    <h4>Chapter 326: She¡¯s The Only One Who Can Do Something Crazy Like This</h4>

    The great elder looked at the giant dragon hovering on top of the cave. He wiped his face, then looked at the youngsters who were standing behind him, dumbfounded looks on their faces. He shook his head helplessly, ¡°Don¡¯t be shocked just by this, there are more shocking things at the back.¡±

    The others didn¡¯t react to his words, staying in the same state. The great elder touched his nose, not knowing what else to say to snap them back to their senses.

    Some of the elders had already recovered, only the youths of the group remained in their shocked state. They were even looking at the people from Peace Manor with a dazed look on their faces.

    Earlier, they had been envious of the terrifying strength that the people from Peace Manor had. The top hundred ranking in the Trial Tower had mainly been taken over by them, after all.

    At this moment, they realized that the people from Peace Manor didn¡¯t suddenly get their terrifying strength from nowhere. They looked at all of them who were training in desperately frightening ways, and they even started training so early in the morning. They didn¡¯t have the look of someone who had just woken up.

    Their frightening strength wasn¡¯t without reason.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at the people who were still rooted to the spot, and spoke thoughtfully, ¡°You guys are here a bit earlier, give me two minutes.¡±

    The group of people from the ancient martial arts world merely nodded dumbly at her.

    Wu Hongwen came out at this time, a pot of hot water in his hands. He poured the water into where the Peace Squad took their water from, and his actions confused the group from the ancient martial arts world. But what came after made them feel like they were going crazy.

    Gu Xiqiao walked over to it, tossing a handful of brown pills into it!

    Look at that!

    It was a bunch of it!

    One single elixir pill that could let an ordinary person enter the Chi Induction stage!

    And...

    The tired members of Peace Squad walked over and poured themselves a bowl, and drank it down just like that. It was as though it was a normal urrence for them.

    Then, Gu Xiqiao walked to the side of a group of Peacekeepers who were sparring against each other. Raising her hand, the spear that was ced on the weapon rack came to her hand.

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s actions, Yao Jiamu and everyone else¡¯s eyes lit up, and they all stepped forward as though begging for a beating.

    Gu Xiqiao rarely sparred with them, but whenever she did, they felt their strength increase by another level!

    ¡°All five of you who are learning to wield the spear,e at me together,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, standing where she was, pointing her fingers at five people.

    The five who had been pointed at walked out slowly, looks of disbelief on their faces. The envious gazes of everyone else followed them as they did.

    ¡°No way, how does Miss Gu remember who is learning what?¡± One of the youths from the ancient martial arts world said in surprise.

    ¡°You¡¯re concerned about that? Think about it, there were no fluctuations in the air at all just now, but the long spear just appeared in Miss Gu¡¯s hands when she raised it, how did she do that?¡±

    The bunch of them only spoke a few words before shutting their mouths, because Gu Xiqiao had started to move.

    The five Peacekeepers were extremely proficient in their long spear techniques, it definitely exceeded a master¡¯s level! The five spear-users were smooth in their movements, easily working together. The five people seemed to move as one, in a world of their own as they fought. Even the great elder was shocked at how fluid their movements were.

    They didn¡¯t expect the Peacekeepers to have such a deep understanding of the long spear to this extent!

    Gu Xiqiao raised the long spear in her hands slowly, her wrist snapping slightly, piercing the speak into the five of them.

    When Gu Xiqiao swung her spear, everyone present could see the space around it distorting.

    The defensive formation that the five had made was broken instantly.

    Everyone was jaw-cked at the impressively impossible shot that Gu Xiqiao made, as though a new perception of space had been revealed to them.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    The crashing sound of the five Peacekeepers falling to the ground seemed to snap everyone from the ancient martial arts world awake, and their eyes turned to the thin, slender figure, a cross of horror and admiration on their faces. None of them had any words, and her face remained the usual indifferent, calm look that she had, as though she had done nothing out of the ordinary.

    Everyone present from the ancient martial arts world naturally knew that Gu Xiqiao had not used a single ounce of chi, nor any of her lightning powers when she had made her swing. It was all her insight of the techniques of the long spear that had broken through their offense and defense.

    ¡°Miss, I have a hunch that I¡¯ll break through today!¡± The five of them eximed at the same time, their faces flushed red with excitement.

    After a wave of her hands, they immediately left for the caves, preparing for their breakthrough.

    The group from the ancient martial arts world was looking at the Peacekeepers with jealousy in their eyes. Being able to be under the powerful Gu Xiqiao, and to get such detailed and careful guidance from her, it was just¡ªtoo enviable, so despicable!

    Everyone knows that Gu Xiqiao was not a person who would pick up something like the long spear, because it didn¡¯t help her improve any of her skills at all. So why would she have picked it up, and even take the effort to understand the techniques of the weapon? Obviously, it was because she wanted to be able to guide and teach the members of the Peace Squad properly!

    In just three short months, the Peacekeepers, who all started out as ordinary people, could develop this far. The ancient martial arts world suddenly realized at this moment that Gu Xiqiao was a person who didn¡¯t need to rely on anyone else¡¯s power, because she herself was a miraculous existence.

    At this moment, countless people in the ancient martial arts world only wanted to ask her one question. My dear, does your Peace Manorck any manpower right now?

    However, with such a cold and chilling look on her face, none of them dared to voice it out. Some of them even thought back to when Peace Manor first came to the ancient martial arts world, they had chosen the fifth ring area which had no spiritual powers in it and had been secretly mocked by many people.

    But now that they thought about it, Peace Manor didn¡¯t need any help from the ambient spiritual powers to help them advance their levels, because it was enough that they had Gu Xiqiao!

    One month ago, even the outer disciples looked down on the fifth ring area, because there was no spiritual aura in it. But at this moment, all of them were going nuts about wanting toe here and stay!

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Baili Wen, who was in the Peace Squad suddenly seemed to think of something as he scratched his head. ¡°There¡¯s one person in the Baili family who¡¯s quite talented. Our eleventh team only has nine people, and we¡¯re missing one. Would it be possible for him to join Peace Manor?¡±

    Baili Bin had stuffed Baili Wen over not long ago, and he had formed a team with Shi Qin and the others. However, the teams in Peace Squads were made up of ten people each, and they only had nine people. They were unable to form the Five Elements Formation with nine people, so every time there was a mission, they weren¡¯t able to participate and stayed behind in Peace Manor, basically just guarding the doors.

    So the nine of them had discussed amongst themselves, and decided to find someone to fill thest spot. Baili Wen was the one who thought of one person who had a fairly good rtionship with him.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°I wanted to find someone initially, but since you guys have already discussed and thought of someone, that¡¯s even better. But you have to ask them whether they¡¯re willing to join or not first.¡±

    Willing! Of course we¡¯re all willing! They didn¡¯t even need any time to consider this! The current generation of the ancient martial arts world was all at your beck and call, reaching out their hands to you just for a chance to be picked by you! They only had endless regret in their heart, if they knew that this would happen, they would have tried to cultivate a better rtionship with the people from the Peace Manor when they were able tost time. Who knows, maybe they would have been able to be selected to join the manor if they did?

    When they thought of this, some of their eyes couldn¡¯t help but turn to the Shi family. As expected, the faces of the Shi family elders were full of regret and grief.

    The great elder of the Shi family felt as though his heart was being stabbed again and again by sharp knives. Shi Qin was originally a member of the Shi family, and he had been kicked out because he joined Peace Manor. There was so much arrogance in their family at that time when they did that, and now there were only endless regrets!

    Looking at all that Peace Manor had now, the powerful exercise drills, heaven-defying elixir pills, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s personal guidance!

    They watched Shi Qin chatting with Gu Xiqiao, if they had treated Shi Qin kindly in the beginning, would they have been under the care of Peace Manor right now?

    The saddest thing in the world was the hope that they already had in their hands, had been utterly crushed by their own ignorant hands.

    The great elder of the Shi family couldn¡¯t stand the gazes of everyone around him, and he left in embarrassment with his tail tucked between his legs.

    The group from the ancient martial arts world watched as the sparring sessions of the Peacekeepers changed formation, breaking into teams of ten. It was now one team against another, and the ten people in each team were unpredictable in their movements, each step and person had unique rhythms, the rumbling sound constantly echoing in their ears. There were also asional spatial cracks in the air, this degree... this degree of moves had obviously surpassed masters at Xiantian level!

    But, weren¡¯t they obviously only at the level of Bone Refinement?!

    The great elder looked at the others who were stunned speechless, and he stroked his beard. ¡°I did say that you were shocked much too early. This is the real strength of the Peacekeepers, what you¡¯ve seen before this was just the tip of the iceberg.¡±

    Nobody had the slightest doubt at the great elder¡¯s words at this moment, the fact was right in front of their eyes after all.

    Gu Xiqiao waved her hands slightly, looking at the people who were still looking dumbfounded. She shed them a faint smile. ¡°You guys can also be this strong.¡±

    Her voice usually sounded clear and melodious, like the sound of jade. Now, she deliberately lowered her voice a little, and it was on the deeper side. On the other side, the Peace Squad teams were still ¡®booming¡¯ around, but even then, her low voice seemed to echo in the ears of everyone from the ancient martial arts world.

    The Peace Squads were in full swing in their spar, roaring and kicking up a racket, while there was only silence from the people from the ancient martial arts world!

    What did she say¡ªthey... they could also be strong like them?

    ¡°Can we really, Miss Gu?¡± One of them swallowed heavily, his voice weak as he voiced his question.

    Gu Xiqiao turned her eyes to the one who spoke, her eyes seemed to sparkle under the lights as she slowly curled her lips. ¡°With me here, there is nothing impossible.¡±

    The words she spoke were loud and clear, and everyone who heard it felt their heartbeat increase rapidly.

    If these words had been spoken by anyone else, they definitely would feel that the person was arrogant and bragging. But it had been spoken by Gu Xiqiao, and they could only feel a faint sense of shock coursing through them, and thoughts of ¡®of course¡¯, because the proof was right behind her.

    ¡°From today onwards, I will create the most suitable training n for all of you.¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, a few pieces of paper in them. ¡°These papers will be posted on your training area, I¡¯ll be taking you guys for two days.¡±

    The surprise came quickly, and everyone was looking at Gu Xiqiao. After determining that she wasn¡¯t joking, their hearts beat faster again, their eyes already full of admiration and worship when looking at her.

    The great elder looked at all their expressions, and then towards Gu Xiqiao, who had rallied them all with just a few words, and he couldn¡¯t help the feeling of being deeply moved that he felt.

    What they didn¡¯t expect was the surprise that Gu Xiqiao gave them didn¡¯t stop here. When the elders of their families received ancient texts that exuded spiritual powers, they felt as though their bodies were no longer their own. It was practically just... unbelievable.

    At this moment, the elders would stare at Gu Xiqiao in shock. They would look at the books in their hands, and not be able to speak for a long time.

    Initially, when they had first heard that the ancient texts that had been handed down through the generations were fake, they had been at a loss, wondering what direction their families would head towards in the future. But none of them would have imagined, for Gu Xiqiao to hand them new ancient texts!

    The entire area was silent, except for the heavy breathing of the people. Even the elders who had always put on a calm face, their fingertips were trembling and their hearts were beating hard.

    It was such a heavy gift, and perhaps it was nothing worth meaning in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s view, but to the families, it was an extremely important matter. It was like sending charcoal to them in the heavy snow, and some of them could be seen to have red-rimmed eyes.

    This was hope, Gu Xiqiao had given them hope!

    Gu Xiqiao led the group of elders into the lobby of Peace Manor. ¡°There are too many people from the ancient martial arts world, so their training location will not be here.¡±

    ¡°We know.¡± The great elder nodded, acknowledging this fact. Peace Manor belonged to the Peace Squad after all, they didn¡¯t think that the training location would be here. ¡°But where will it be?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, pulling out a map instead.

    If Jiji was here, it would have noticed and pointed out that this was the map of the ancient martial arts world that Gu Xiqiao had taken before they had left for Mingzhou.

    Slender, white fingers tapped at a location. ¡°They will go here.¡±

    Everyone followed her finger tapping, and a look of horror and surprise appeared on their faces. One of the elders hurriedly said, ¡°The Mountain Range Of Death? You can¡¯t go there, Miss Gu!¡±

    The Mountain Range of Death was shrouded by malicious and evil spirits all year round. Those who entered would either have their senses confused, or be gnawed down to their bones by the evil spirits there. It wasn¡¯t even a ce that the elders would enter lightly, whatmore to say to a group of youngsters from the ancient martial arts world. If they were to enter, there wouldn¡¯t even be bones left to pick up!

    ¡°Not only will they enter the Mountain Range of Death, they will also have to beat those murderous creatures there until they doubt their own lives!¡± Gu Xiqiao reached out to knock on the table, emphasizing her point.

    The elders raised their heads to look at Gu Xiqiao, whose face remained indifferent and unmoved by their concern. They suddenly quieted down, and in just that moment, even their old faces were filled with calm and passion.

    To have the Mountain Range of Death as their training grounds, and let the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world kill those murderous creatures. Only Gu Xiqiao would be able to do such a crazy thing like this, and it could only be her.

 Chapter 327 - Capricious, Good At Tactics And Manipulation

    <h4>Chapter 327: Capricious, Good At Tactics And Maniption</h4>

    The elders exited the lobby of Peace Manor, standing by the door. One of them suddenly said, ¡°The Mountain Range of Death is shrouded in a malicious aura that makes anyone near it turn back after just a nce... Sh*t, I think I¡¯ve gone nuts, I was actually persuaded by her words.¡±

    The other elders didn¡¯t express any mockery or disdain at his words, but they turned to each other, reading the shock in each other¡¯s eyes. There was also a hint of ¡®as expected¡¯ in their faces.

    Coming back to it, they could scarcely believe it themselves. Forget about how such an old group of people being shocked by Gu Xiqiao, the problem was that they had even believed an unreasonable thing that the other had said. Not only did they believe, they also felt that what she said had been right.

    They were still in a dazed state and disbelief, when a faint, blue me suddenly appeared in front of them.

    The scorching heat in the air hit their faces, and they had a distance between them before this, and had not been able to feel the true terror of the me. Now the me was right in front of them, and they could feel the energy surging within the mes, which was frightening. They didn¡¯t doubt that the ferocious energy within these mes would be able to make them disappear without a trace!

    But these... These were blue mes!

    Run...

    They didn¡¯t have time to shield themselves against the fire!

    Where would they have time to escape then?!

    The surrounding air suddenly became cold at this moment!

    A white hand reached out suddenly, catching the faint, blue mes bare handed. The blue contrasted against the white, and the faint blue fire still contained the terrifying energy that could be felt by all of them. This was the power of heaven and earth, one that the Vermillion Bird was born with, the unique energy of the Phoenix Tribe!

    However, the pair of hands had grabbed those mes barehanded, and everyone watching this scene was dumbfounded. Even the people from the Peace Squad had stopped their fight, turning to look at what was happening.

    The hand holding the mes were extremely white,parable to a freshyer of snow. The blue mes trembled in the hands for a moment, before dying out with a ¡®squeak¡¯.

    It was fine and all to extinguish it, but the key point was that no one had felt any fluctuation of the person¡¯s chi at all.

    That was the terrifying part!

    Everyone present was stunned, their gaze slowly travelling up the hands of the person, finding a tall, quiet and handsome figure. He lowered his eyes slightly to look at the dying me, the light illuminating his elegant, defined features of his face. Under the reflection of the light, a burst of chill came forth.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Once the fire had been extinguished, he raised his head to look at Xixi, who was also stunned.

    His voice was cold as ever, but Xixi could feel that something was off about him.

    If it was before, the man would have looked at him with a hint of contempt in those eyes, and his voice would be slightly taunting. Unlike now, where his eyes were calmed, and at first nce, he resembled an ice mountain, making people feel like he was unfathomable.

    Xixi pped his wings a little, wondering if it had a masochistic streak in itself if it was practically asking to be abused. It then turned to the elders without a hint of remorse and apologized. ¡°Sorry, sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to scare you, I couldn¡¯t stop it in time!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± The elders had also recollected themselves, seeing closely that it was Jiang Shuxuan. Their hearts that had leapt up to their throats had also returned to their rightful ce.

    ¡°Why is this guy getting more and more unpredictable suddenly?¡± The great elder looked at Jiang Shuxuan, muttering quietly under his breath.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes swept past them, then to someone behind them. When he did, the icy look on his face receded slightly.

    Gu Xiqiao was walking out the door slowly, shing a smile at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, giving another ¡®hm¡¯.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you at the Mountain Range of Death.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at the elders, before leaving Peace Manor with Jiang Shuxuan.

    The two silhouettes, one with grace and beauty, and the other with exceptional temperament as well as chillingly cold.

    They were obviously not of the same type, but they still fit together perfectly.

    The group of people from the ancient martial arts world felt as though they were in two different worlds, a look of admiration on their face as they watched the two retreating figures.

    Both of them, one being a figure of conviction since they were young, and the other, a goddess who had suddenly appeared in the recent days!

    No matter which one of them, they were out of their reach.

    After the two had disappeared from their sight, it took a long while before the people gradually recovered.

    Then when they recalled the words that Gu Xiqiao had said, a feeling of pride blossomed in their hearts.

    Miss Gu had said it, they could also be stronger!

    The elders let out a deep breath, then turned towards the direction where Xixi was. It was Baili Wen and Shi Qin¡¯s team, and now that they added in another member from the Baili family, they had a full ten man team. The Five Element Formation that they were able to do was so powerful that one couldn¡¯t afford to be their opponent.

    They were strong enough to injure Xixi¡¯s wings, when suddenly, a pink flower suddenly bloomed on top of Xixi¡¯s head. It opened its mouth, swallowing the energy that the ten of them had shot out into its stomach!

    ¡°F*ck!¡± One of the elders who always had an elegant demeanor and didn¡¯t swear on usual days suddenly spat out such a word.

    The ten of them were strong, Xixi was strong, and now even a flower was strong!

    It was no wonder an elegant elder would spit out such a word, because the others were tempted to do the same. But their throat was dry, and the words were stuck in their throat.

    The elders watched at the monstrous Peace Squad, then looked towards the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world.

    There was no harm if there were noparison.

    ¡°Miss Gu said that the training grounds will be in the Mountain Range of Death. In that ce, life and death have already been predetermined. Do any of you want to quit?¡± There were many things that he was feeling in this moment, but he still stood up strong and said this.

    The Mountain Range of Death, it was possible for Gu Xiqiao and the Peace Squad to handle it, but it wasn¡¯t confirmed that the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world were able to. Everything had to be with their consent and voluntary.

    ¡°We¡¯re not afraid!¡± As soon as the great elder finished speaking, the young people all roared without hesitation.

    He looked at the young but extremely determined faces, and was caught off guard in that moment. He initially thought that he would be met with hesitation, and was expecting some to shrink back the moment he mentioned the ce. It was natural for humans to fear death, after all. But he never expected to hear such words!

    Yes! These were the people worthy to be from the ancient martial arts world!

    The road to bing strong was never easy to walk, who of them had not experienced life or death while on this path?

    The great elder waved his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Tengen was in the middle of the crowd. After seeing Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao leave, he also left to follow them.

    ***

    The Mountain Range of Death was a ce that usually had no people, but today there were a few shadows at the bottom.

    Gu Xiqiao stood at the foot of the mountain, looking at the people that the elders had brought over. Her eyes swept over them, and with her strong memory, she obviously knew that there wasn¡¯t a single person who had backed down.

    She nodded in satisfaction. To walk the path to be stronger, it required a heart that was not afraid of anything!

    She gestured for the people to enter the mountain, and everyone went in without hesitation.

    The elders, patriarchs, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s Mahjong Army all stood at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the stillness of the mountain.

    ¡°They... what are they doing?¡± One of them watched as Gu Xiqiao brought the group of people to the bottom of the mountain, making a circle in the spot, while Jiang Shuxuan ced a bowl of blood on the ground.

    Fresh blood¡ªit could attract the beasts!

    But, the beasts in the mountains were fierce and dangerous!

    These fierce beasts were extremely powerful in the eyes of the elders, but weak in the eyes of Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao.

    Apart from Yi Tong, everyone else didn¡¯t know what Gu Xiqiao was intending to do. Yi Tong looked towards the bunch of youngsters who were with Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao, a hint of envy in his eyes. ¡°They¡¯re really lucky.¡± With the top two masters of the ancient martial arts world escorting them, how was that not lucky?

    Jiang Shuxuan acted just like Gu Xiqiao while she had been in Baixing Vige, grabbing the fierce beasts and tossing them one by one into the center of the group.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in mid-air with powerful energy radiating around her!

    With her chi that was filled with vitality, she drove away the malicious aura at the foot of the mountain. Then she threw out a few jade pieces, and the foot of the mountain quickly became a vacuum zone.

    In this vacuum zone, the fierce beasts couldn¡¯t enter nor leave, and even evil spirits couldn¡¯t!

    What the heck was this situation?!

    Forget about the fact that she could easily dispel the evil spirits, but how the h*ll could she even control them?!

    That was just!

    However, it wasn¡¯t over yet. She walked up into the air, dispelling the malicious spirits halfway up the mountain, She threw another few jade pieces, turning this area into an independent vacuum zone.

    Then she walked halfway up the mountain, and with every step she took, a bolt of thunder would strike down and kill the more powerful beasts inside it. She threw some of the weaker ones down to Jiang Shuxuan, who was still with the group of youngsters. Jiang Shuxuan had his eyes on the group around him, tossing the beasts towards groups that seemed to be skillfully dispatching them.

    Wait...

    With such thunder and power, why was it that the chi in her body was not decreasing a single bit?!

    All of them watched as she easily turned the most vicious ce in the ancient martial arts world into a training ground!

    When she reached the top of the mountain, a roar rang out from a beast!

    She didn¡¯t even look at it, raising her hand, a thunder that was as thick as an arm came striking down!

    Boom!

    The beast didn¡¯t expect a thunder to suddenlye down and strike it!

    A crackling sound sounded out, splitting the beast in half, leaving only a scorched corpse behind!

    It was a grand scene!

    The group of people at the foot of the mountain looked up at the figure in the sky, a stupefied expression on their faces!

    ¡°Don¡¯t freeze up.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, ncing at them. A trace of mental power leaked out, instantly snapping them back to reality.

    The youngsters immediately grabbed their weapons, killing the beats one by one. They had all been split into teams of five by Gu Xiqiao, and the teams progressed from five people killing one beast, to five people killing two beasts! They constantly challenge their limits, and learn how to cooperate more effectively and tacitly!

    The people from the ancient martial arts world had lived their whole lives in the city. Every day, they only focused on breaking through the floors in the Trial Tower. The missions in the secr world were carried out by the Special Defense Force, and they didn¡¯t have a lick of actualbat experience. They had been afraid when they first saw the beasts, but they gradually got used to it, and now you could see how calm their faces were.

    There was nothing like actualbat to make people grow stronger, and be even stronger!

    Their ying of the beasts made the people standing at the base of the mountain filled with enthusiasm and excitement!

    In the beginning, the elders and the other onlookers were still happily chatting and discussing amongst each other. In the end, they were so fixated on the scene in front of them, watching with bated breaths, some even forgetting to breathe.

    With just a turn of hands, the Mountain Range of Death that everyone had heard and feared was now a training ground, for a group of youngsters who had never seen blood spilled before to be tempered into a sharp de!

    They never once thought that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strengthy not in her power, but her means of teaching others. If she wanted to, she could even create an army of thousands!

    There was only one person who could do this, no matter how much you searched through the ancient martial arts world, that was Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°Heh, I can¡¯t believe you guys are surprised with just this. Her methods are so much more beyond your imagination.¡± Tengen watched the people from the ancient martial arts world who were in shock as he sneered. Don¡¯t think he didn¡¯t know, when they had just arrived, they were all still harboring doubts inside and questioning his master¡¯s methods.

    They should be able to imagine how amazing his master was by now.

    All the elders heard the voice, and turned around to see a man d in a gray robe. His face was unfamiliar, but the elders didn¡¯t say a single word to refute his. Because, that was exactly the thoughts in their own minds!

    ¡°Master Dubhe.¡± The great elder recognized Dubhe, who was standing next to Tengen, and he sped his hands together, greeting him before turning around to resume watching Gu Xiqiao.

    In the past, he would never have dared to be so disrespectful to Dubhe, but he found that he couldn¡¯t care less about Dubhe at this moment.

    Dubhe didn¡¯t take it to heart, looking at the figure in the sky instead, and saying nothing for a long time.

    ¡°Great Elder, our ancient martial arts world has really found a treasure this time.¡± One of them suddenly said, still looking up at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao really was an existence that defied all logic. She was strong, smart, and it wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that she was all mighty. Before the cmity hit the ancient martial arts world, they needed a strong and astute leader. More importantly, they needed someone who could improve the overall strength of the ancient martial arts world as a whole. And this, the only one who could do it, was Gu Xiqiao.

    Dubhe was silent, naturally reaching the same conclusion as the rest of the elders. However, there was a fear in his heart, and the reason was because he had almost killed Gu Xiqiao with his own hands before this. He didn¡¯t dare to imagine if he really had managed to kill her back then, what would have happened now if he had seeded back then?

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you even say that you were going to burn her at stake?¡± the great elder sighed as he looked to the elder who had spoken. ¡°You have to be grateful that Miss Gu didn¡¯t take your word and action to heart!¡±

    Otherwise, that would be the real cmity in the ancient martial arts world.

    The elders all flushed with embarrassment, lowering their heads as they thought back to their actions. Let¡¯s not bring up those past matters anymore, from now on, they would listen to Gu Xiqiao obediently and follow her words to a T!

    Well, for someone who was capricious, good at tactics and maniption, who the heck could stop such a tyrannical person that was Gu Xiqiao?

    Jiang Shuxuan? It would be considered good already if he didn¡¯t enable her!

 Chapter 328 - Papa Jiang: My Legendary Daughter-in-Law

    <h4>Chapter 328: Papa Jiang: My Legendary Daughter-in-Law</h4>

    After creating the training grounds, Gu Xiqiao stayed behind to see things go down.

    After about two days, there were already a few teams that managed to get to the intermediate area of the mountain range.

    The beasts near the foot of the mountain were all brought down by Gu Xiqiao, while some others were handpicked and left in the area between the top and the foot of the mountain, with all sorts of abilities and different strengths and weaknesses.

    The beasts at the foot of the mountain could be killed without a second thought, but the ones in the intermediate area were there mainly for training purposes, so they could only be beaten up but not killed!

    In the words of a certain Gu: Reduce, reuse, recycle!

    And so, the Mountain Range of Death that was constantly enveloped with silence and the aura of death was nowpletely converted into a yground for the youngsters!

    Recorded below are the bemoaned wails of the beasts:

    [F*ck, it¡¯s those psychos again! Run!]

    [Why would you bully us like this instead of just killing us like a real man?!]

    [Wasn¡¯t the one that beat you up yesterday a female?]

    [Why are there new ones up here?! Run, run as fast as you can!]

    [I hope they be stronger so they can go bully the ones at the top of the mountain, hmph!]

    [I¡¯m already starting to question life itself T_T]

    Thisment quickly gained the recognition of the other beasts on the mountain¡ªWeren¡¯t they supposed to be the predators? How were all these weak humans so violent?!

    ***

    Someone uploaded the video of the beasts beating a hasty retreat onto the forums while the elders sat at the foot of the mountains and drank cups of liquor expressionlessly. ¡°These beasts really are questioning life itself, huh...¡±

    Upon mentioning this, all of the elders remembered that Gu Xiqiao said something along those lines a few days ago.

    The elders didn¡¯t think much about it, while the great elder predicted, ¡°Judging by how terrifying those Peacekeepers are, I think those youngsters would be able to hold their own eventually against those beasts...¡±

    And so, theyy witness to what happened in the next few days¡ª

    On the first day, some of the teams were beaten up quite badly by the beasts, and the elders were quite worried that these flowers raised up in greenhouses wouldn¡¯t be able to adapt, but it turned out to be exactly the opposite of what they expected!

    The second day, these teams could hold their own against the beasts, on the third day they could beat those beasts up, and on the fourth day, they already started their march to the intermediate level!

    And so, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s promise to beat up all the beasts in the Mountain Range of Death was realized so easily.

    The great elder looked around at everyone before taking out his trusty Buddhist scroll with a calm and collected demeanor, d that he had the foresight to start practicing how to calm himself down beforehand.

    ¡°That one.¡± The second elder suddenly spoke as he looked at someone near the foot of the mountain. ¡°His blows are quite explosive.¡±

    Another elder looked in that direction and saw the young man that was brutally attacking a beast, and asked, ¡°He¡¯s the one that Miss Gu brought back from Mingzhou, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    If it were in the past, they would have been shocked upon seeing a regr person turn into a master overnight, but now they were so used to it that they were numb.

    Needless to say, Gu Xiqiao had alreadypletely twisted their views on the world, and they wouldn¡¯t be even the slightest bit surprised if the youngdy fought against the heavens someday!

    ¡°Wei Chenyan is from Mingzhou¡¯s Wei family, and he has enoughtent talent to stand at the top of the younger generation, even in the ancient martial arts world.¡± The great elder had already collected information on the young man beforehand. ¡°I got curious about him when Miss Gu brought him here, so I checked. As expected, he¡¯s improving by leaps and bounds!¡±

    If someone became stronger in such a short time in the past, it would definitely cause quite amotion in the entire ancient martial arts world, but now that Gu Xiqiao emerged, every other genius of her generation was considered mediocre!

    Yi Tong patrolled the area together with his team, and they couldn¡¯t help but shudder a little when he saw the beasts being beaten up without even fighting back.

    Upon seeing this, they all thought back to how Gu Xiqiao struck down her enemies with a single bolt of lightning, and it was almost expected of these people that were trained by Gu Xiqiao to be as brutal as she was!

    ***

    Meanwhile, on a road in the ancient martial arts world.

    Jiang Han was dealing with some loose ends in the family before he prepared to go home for dinner.

    ¡°Uncle Jiang!¡± Someone called him, and upon turning around he saw a young child that was blushing brightly.

    Ah, but the kid wasn¡¯t blushing because of him, of course.

    After a short pause, the kid looked up at him with puppy dog eyes before holding a pink box in his direction bashfully. ¡°C-Can you help give this to Big Sister Gu for me?¡±

    Jiang Han: ¡°...Alright.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Uncle Jiang!¡± The child smiled brightly before skipping away happily.

    Jiang Han looked at the pink box, not quite sure what to think about his sudden poprity. In the past, he had been feared by adults and children alike because of his aloof and honestly scary demeanor, but now he became popr all of a sudden because of his future daughter-inw.

    Yes, popr!

    The most popr in the ancient martial arts world was Gu Xiqiao, the second was the Peace Manor, and the third was the Jiang family!

    In hindsight, it was all because of Gu Xiqiao.

    Jiang Shuxuan was revered in the past, sure, but his poprity couldn¡¯t hold a handle to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s!

    If Jiang Han had a say in it, it was definitely because this future daughter-inw of his was better looking than his son!

    Who would like that block of ice?

    Not only was Gu Xiqiao pretty, she was strong and had a good personality too, and it was no wonder why people liked her.

    And so Jiang Han returned to the Jiang family with the gift in hand, and when he got home it was right at dinner time.

    It was such amon urrence by now that he was already used to having to be the middle man for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s many admirers.

    He was at the dinner table when his phone vibrated, and upon picking it out of his pocket the first thing he saw was a message from his old friend: [OMG your future daughter-inw is so freaking cool!]

    With an expressionless face, he replied: [You¡¯re old and gray and a man at that, don¡¯t message me like you¡¯re a teenage girl please?]

    He was about to switch off his phone when his Weibo notification rang again.

    Tang Yanling: [Video]

    Tang Yanling: I edited all the videos of my daughter into one video!

    Shu Chen: I can finally save it without any hassle, thirty-two likes for you!

    Shu Chen: xoxo

    Jiang Han looked up at his own wife that was sitting on the other side of the dining table.

    Shu Chen valued manners over all else, and even she was typing away on her phone at the dinner table?!

    If such a scene happened in the past, Jiang Han would be the first to be in disbelief because of it, but then he looked down at his phone again, then up at Gu Xiqiao.

    He had heard from Shu Chen how wonderful Gu Xiqiao was, but he thought that it was an exaggeration, natural given how much she liked the girl, so he didn¡¯t pay much mind to it until he saw what Gu Xiqiao did at the Mountain Range of Death a few days earlier.

    It was only then that he knew that Shu Chen had already held back on herpliments!

    It was true that no amount of description could amount to seeing it with his own two eyes, and boy was he shocked beyond belief!

    This youngdy sitting across him was revered by everyone in the ancient martial arts world, young and old!

    Jiang Han could confirm that she was the first in the entire history of the ancient martial arts world to not only be so strong, but to set off such a chain reaction too. Now, everyone in the ancient martial arts world was proactive and hot-blooded in training, and it could be said that she was the idol of the entire young generation!

    He had never seen such a lively ancient martial arts world in his years of life.

    He had thought that he wouldn¡¯t be so easily shaken after staying in Delxun Forest for three years, but Gu Xiqiao managed to do it!

    Even when he was walking on the streets, he felt quite proud upon hearing the chitter-chatter of people over Gu Xiqiao.

    That was his future daughter-inw they were talking about~

    Shu Chen put down her phone and looked up at Jiang Han, chuckling inwardly. Serves him right for not believing her when she told him about their future daughter-inw!

    Gu Xiqiao was born to smack peoples¡¯ faces and refresh their world view!

    After finishing dinner, Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao went upstairs, the former to deal with his daily duties and thetter to start writing up her future ns for the ancient martial arts world.

    In the past few days, Shu Chen had paused on ying games with Gu Xiqiao and was instead immersed in developing new medicinal soups in the kitchen to make ones that were healthy and delicious!

    After sending up the bowls of soup, Shu Chen came downstairs to Jiang Han that was staring at his phone.

    Upon seeing his wife, the man put down his phone and took the remote control to switch on the television.

    ¡°Alright, don¡¯t act like a kid caught stealing cookies.¡± Shu Chen rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I won¡¯t make fun of you for watching Qiao Qiao¡¯s videos!¡±

    Jiang Han: ¡°...¡±

    ¡°In fact, let me rmend one- no, three movies for you!¡± Shu Chen smiled. ¡°First of all is the movie called Divergent Paths, I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s still in theaters!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t watch movies.¡± Jiang Han replied.

    ¡°Hey, our daughter-inw featured in it! Are you sure you don¡¯t want to watch it?¡± Shu Chen asked.

    Jiang Han raised his eyebrows in surprise. ¡°She acts?¡±

    ¡°She does much more than acting!¡± Shu Chen boasted. ¡°It¡¯s too early for you to be surprised, wait till you see what else she can do!¡±

    Jiang Han was equal parts surprised and curious upon seeing Shu Chen like this, because it was extremely rare to see such a side to her. In the past, Shu Chen was stern and poised, and even though the entire martial arts world thought that Jiang Shuxuan had taken after him, she was the one that he had taken after!

    It was as if this time around, his entire home was filled with more warmth than ever before, and even the butlers and guards had kind smiles on their faces.

    Such a change was because of Gu Xiqiao, and Jiang Han couldn¡¯t thank her enough.

    ***

    Meanwhile, upstairs.

    Gu Xiqiao was typing on herptop in the study.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden, and the person on the other end spoke for more than a minute before Jiang Shuxuan replied, ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°The great elder wants me to attend a meeting.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said as he looked over at Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao replied, ¡°You know about the ancient martial arts world better than anyone, so be a good boy and go by yourself, hm?¡±

    If she were honest, the reason why she didn¡¯t want to go was that the elders were too earnest and fervent with her.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t move a single muscle, only fixing her with a stare, his gaze clouding and misting up a little as his eyshes fluttered slightly, his lips pursed together as if he had been served the greatest injustice in the world.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... Fine, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Did he take lessons from Haha?!

    The two of them went downstairs, and Gu Xiqiao had intended to inform Shu Chen but they noticed that both she and Jiang Han weren¡¯t at home. Where could the two of them go at such ate hour?

    Upon hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s question, the butler replied, ¡°Miss, Madam and Sir have gone out to watch a movie.¡±

    Watching a movie at such ate hour?!

    ***

    On the way to the theaters.

    ¡°You said that I was surprised too early?¡± Jiang Han suddenly remembered what Shu Chen had said earlier.

    Shu Chen smiled. ¡°You haven¡¯t investigated her, have you?¡±

    Jiang Han nodded. To him, why would he need to do a background check on his future daughter-inw? All he needed to know was that both his wife and his son liked her!

    ¡°Get our butler to give you some documents and you¡¯ll understand.¡± Shu Chen smiled mysteriously.

    Upon hearing this, Jiang Han was more curious than ever. How could this future daughter-inw of his surprise him even further?

 Chapter 329 - I Am the Turning Point!

    <h4>Chapter 329: I Am the Turning Point!</h4>

    The ancient martial arts world, in the Elders Pavilion.

    The elders sat there in anticipation until the guard outside shouted excitedly, ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    The great elder was holding a bunch of papers, and upon hearing this sudden shout he jumped and almost scattered his papers onto the floor.

    That guard probably shouted so loudly that his throat would be soreter.

    But at the same time, along with this suddenmotion, all of the gazes of the elders were immediately shot towards the entrance.

    With a creak, the door was pushed open slowly along with two figures.

    These elders probably hadn¡¯t expected to have such hot-blooded moments sote in life when their entire lives had been peaceful and mediocre.

    Gu Xiqiao brought them too many surprises, and none of the elders would doubt for a moment that this generation would soon be the golden generation of ancient martial arts!

    This was all because of this miraculous youngdy in front of them!

    Back when Gu Xiqiao and Peace Manor appeared, they were quite shocked, but not to the degree that they were on that day. After all, Gu Xiqiao and the others were already strong the moment they came into their field of view.

    But those youngsters in the ancient martial arts world on the other hand grew stronger under their own eyes!

    It was only after experiencing and watching everything happen firsthand that they realized how much of a feat it was.

    Such a spurt in the growth of their practitioners would be unheard of even back in ancient times!

    And so, they all looked at the youngdy that was ying on her phone, not daring to say a word.

    Her figure truly was svelte and thin, and even her fingers didn¡¯t have any callouses or signs of wear and tear, so it was truly unbelievable that she had the capabilities that she did!

    People often said to not judge a book by its cover, but this was too much!

    ¡°Look at this, Young Master Jiang.¡± The great elder broke through the silence as he pushed his papers towards Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan scanned the papers quickly. ¡°... A turning point?¡±

    ¡°The greatest cmity in history is about toe, and ording to Master Dubhe, only the turning point can be our way out from it.¡± The great elder said this, but he was actually quite dubious of it himself. Now that the ancient martial arts world was bing stronger by the day, how could any cmity destroy them?

    But at the same time, something that could be addressed as a cmity wouldn¡¯t be such a trifle, either.

    ¡°A cmity?¡± Jiang Shuxuan muttered these two words, his eyes squinting slightly.

    His voice was like cold ice that struck fear into the hearts of the elders, especially the ones that said that Gu Xiqiao was a cmity in the past. Their hearts were filled with a mix of regret and awkwardness as they blushed brightly, wanting nothing more than to burrow a hole and hide in it.

    Honestly what they wanted to hear the least at this moment was when someone brought this topic up! How could Miss Gu be a cmity?

    If word went out that they had the idea of burning Gu Xiqiao on a stake in the past, they would probably be the enemies of the entire ancient martial arts world!

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded, and asked, ¡°How do are you nning to search for this turning point?¡±

    Upon hearing this, many of the elders breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought that Jiang Shuxuan would continue to condemn them on that point, but it seems that he doesn¡¯t have any intention of mocking them, at least for now.

    ¡°Master Dubhe, now that everyone is here, why don¡¯t you exin it to us?¡±

    Dubhe nodded, not quite daring to look over at Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan.

    It was clear that he felt quite guilty and awkward upon making the wrong prediction in the past, and he felt even worse than the elders did, as if there was a rock that was perpetually weighing down on his heart.

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried to search for new of the turning point in the entire world, but...¡± Dubhe thought for a bit, before continuing, ¡°I didn¡¯t find anything, but I did sense a strange pulse of energy from America.¡±

    ¡°Master Dubhe, are you saying that the turning point is in America now?¡± The great elder asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Dubhe shook his head, not daring to pinpoint whether someone was a cmity or a turning point any further since he had already been wrong two times before. ¡°I only noted it because that pulse of energy was quite unlike anything I had ever felt before...¡±

    The second elder concluded, ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that we have to pick out needles from a haystack?¡±

    Well, that made things difficult.

    This entire matter was of utmost importance to the survival of the ancient martial arts world, and in the past, Dubhe hadn¡¯t dared to tell the people about the details of the uing cmity in fear that they would panic, but this time around, he saw a great change in the ancient martial arts world.

    He suddenly had a feeling that not only would it not cause havoc, but instead be a motivator for them to work even harder!

    ¡°This is why I came to seek your help.¡± Dubhe hummed lowly. ¡°The turning point must be found, or else things will spin out of hand faster than you can blink.¡±

    ¡°But we can¡¯t do divinations like you can, Master Dubhe.¡± The great elder said. ¡°There are so many people in the world, are you proposing that we send out people to ask everyone whether they are the turning point? Would the turning point know their identity in the first ce? Master Dubhe, if even you can¡¯t pinpoint their location, how could we?¡±

    After the great elder said this, everyone started discussing between themselves, mostly about how difficult it would be, about America, and about ways to look for the turning point.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t say anything as he swept his gaze around the room. Even though these people were discussing, none of them seemed to think that it was the end judging from their expressions, and this made his icy expression thaw slightly.

    The great elder had the same thoughts as Jiang Shuxuan did, and he was one of the people that wanted the best for the ancient martial arts world.

    The great elder looked around the room and at the expressions of the elders that seemed to say that they weren¡¯t scared, no matter how great the cmity would be!

    If it were a few days ago, these elders would probably already be nning where to make their graves.

    Now, the reason that they reacted in such a way was because of the confidence and hope that Gu Xiqiao had instilled in them!

    It was at that moment that the great elder realized how important Gu Xiqiao¡¯s presence was towards the entire martial arts world, and it was clear that as long as she was there, the people would have hope!

    Upon thinking of this, the great elder once again thanked his past self for standing by Gu Xiqiao no matter what in the past.

    If that weren¡¯t the case, who knows how things would be like in the present.

    The great elder breathed deeply before looking over at Gu Xiqiao.

    The girl was tapping on her phone in concentration, but when he cast his gaze over to her, she looked up and smiled brightly, as if she weren¡¯t the one that was revered in the entire ancient martial arts world.

    She was the type to be more lowkey the more well known she became, apparently.

    The great elder suddenly chuckled as if he thought of something funny. Gu Xiqiao was probably dragged here by Jiang Shuxuan, wasn¡¯t she?

    The second elder suddenly had an idea. ¡°Master Dubhe, Mr. Zhuge is in the ancient martial arts world now, why don¡¯t we get him to do some divinations too?¡±

    ¡°The descendant of the Zhuge family?¡± Dubhe raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, before his eyebrows bunched together again. ¡°That¡¯s usible, but the descendants of Zhuge have to withstand bacsh from thews of nature themselves whenever they try to peer into itsws, so we should avoid it whenever possible.¡±

    To gain something, you would have to give something of equivalent value in return after all.

    ¡°That¡¯s true... So what now?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have anything else we can do now, do we?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask Mr. Zhuge to divine the general direction in which the turning point is? If it¡¯s such a vague question, it wouldn¡¯t cause much bacsh would it?¡±

    ¡°That might work...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    As everyone discussed between themselves, Gu Xiqiao set her phone down on the meeting table and said, ¡°I am the turning point.¡±

    Her voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it was heard clearly by everyone in the room.

    And so, the entire Elders Pavilion was plunged into silence.

    Everyone retained their positions from earlier as they looked at Gu Xiqiao just like statues.

    Dubhe¡¯s reaction was the greatest, and while he didn¡¯t dare to look at her just now, he suddenly raised his head and stared at Gu Xiqiao in disbelief.

    Gu Xiqiao was about to pick up her phone again when Jiang Shuxuan set the data that they had collected in her hands.

    Other than Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan was the one that was the calmest in the room.

    For Gu Xiqiao, it was because she already knew she was the turning point beforehand, and for Jiang Shuxuan, it was because he didn¡¯t quite care whatever identity she had¡ªShe was Gu Xiqiao, and that was all that mattered.

    Meanwhile, everyone else was in a state of disbelief and shock.

    Their first reaction was to be dubious of this, because Dubhe had predicted that she was a cmity in the past, and now it turned out to be theplete opposite?

    But then again, was Gu Xiqiao one to say such things without meaning them?

    ¡°M-Miss Gu, are you speaking the truth?¡± Someone asked carefully.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what Mr. Zhuge told me.¡±

    Everyone knew that Gu Xiqiao and Zhuge Yan were acquaintances, and for someone like Zhuge Yan, he wouldn¡¯t say anything unless he waspletely sure of it.

    In conclusion, Gu Xiqiao truly was the turning point!

    These elders were still in disbelief, but at the same time, they thought it was quite natural that it was her of all people.

    Didn¡¯t she already prove her strength?

    Didn¡¯t she change the entire ancient martial arts world with her own two hands?

    Look at all those terrifying entities that followed behind her!

    If such a person wasn¡¯t the turning point, then who was?

    And so, the elders all started chattering in excitement at this news.

    Meanwhile, Dubhe had already dug his nails into his palms in deep and bitter regret.

    He wanted to kill the only light of hope of this world?

    He couldn¡¯t even fathom how things would turn out if he managed to kill her!

    At that moment, he was extremely thankful for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s stubbornness.

    Bang!

    The great elder stood up excitedly as he looked at Gu Xiqiao. She was the turning point that they were looking for all along!

    It was true that the ancient martial arts world seemed to have brightened up the moment she set foot in here, and it was as if they could face anything head on!

    Heavens, how the great elder wanted to jump for joy and shout to the heavens that Gu Xiqiao was part of the ancient martial arts world!

    Those youngsters reacted in such a way back during the ranking tournaments, and it was only now that the great elder truly understood the sentiment.

    And now, all he could express was excitement at this unbelievable miracle!

    ¡°Miss Gu, news of the cmity has already spread, so I hope that you can be the one that formally announced it to the ancient martial arts world.¡± The great elder tried to calm himself down, but his hands were still trembling.

    Gu Xiqiao asked in surprise, ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re the only one that can say it without causing panic!¡±

    Upon hearing his words, all of the others in the room nodded in agreement.

    It was true that she was the only one that could say this!

    She was the idol and the belief of the ancient martial arts world, and she was their new legend!

    Everyone loved and revered her regardless of age, and if she was the one who said it, not only would it not cause a panic, it would even boost their morale!

 Chapter 330 - We Will Bring Forth Miracles!

    <h4>Chapter 330: We Will Bring Forth Miracles!</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao agreed to this, but they had diverging views on how they should do it.

    ¡°Elder, do I really have to do it your way? I can record a video and send it to everyone¡¯s phones, and everyone would get it, promise!¡± Gu Xiqiao said.

    The great elder couldpromise with everything Gu Xiqiao wanted, but this was one of the only instances where he couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Miss Gu, this is the best way to soothe everyone and reap the most benefits from it too!¡± The great elder sighed inwardly. If it were anyone else of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s age, they would take every chance they get to unt and boast, wouldn¡¯t they?

    Meanwhile, this girl seemed to hope that no one would think highly of her!

    How could such a youngster exist?

    The great elder guessed that she was probably someone that was extremelyzy and hated trouble with a passion, judging from how she didn¡¯t even appear much after the Mountain Range of Death incident.

    How did she have the determination to revolutionize the entire ancient martial arts world, he would never know.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed before relenting. ¡°Alright, if you insist.¡±

    The great elder smiled upon hearing this, knowing that they couldn¡¯t do anything if she refused, but she epted it anyway.

    ¡°Alright.¡± The great elder nodded, and Gu Xiqiao looked over at Jiang Shuxuan before making her way to the top of the Elders Pavilion, the highest point in the ancient martial arts world!

    That night was destined to be one that wouldn¡¯t be forgotten for years toe.

    In the center of the ancient martial arts world, a thundering roar crashed through the night along with bolts of purple lightning!

    From the ones in their homes to the ones training outside, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at this scene dazedly.

    It wasmon knowledge that purple lightning was the signature of Miss Gu, after all!

    From all the corners of the ancient martial arts world, the figure of the youngdy could be seen standing on the highest point in thend, and coiled above her was a dragon made of lightning. Under the illumination of the lightning, the night itself seemed to be day as her hair danced in the wind, and she truly looked like a goddess on earth.

    The next moment, her voice rang loud and clear in everyone¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Hello everyone, this is Gu Xiqiao. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of the rumors about a certain cmity, and let me tell you that the rumors are true! The ancient martial arts world is on the cusp of a cmity, but please do not panic! Believe in the elders, believe in the teams that are risking their lives to be stronger in the Mountain Range of Death, believe in Peace Manor, believe in us, believe in me, and believe in yourselves! We are the ones that will bring forth a miracle, and we¡¯ll get through it, ying gods and devils if they stand in our way!¡±

    Her voice was like dynamite in the middle of the night, and within moments, the entire martial arts world broke out into a greatmotion!

    It was true that there was a fair amount of them that were uneasy and scared when the rumors first spread, and it could bepared to if someone spread the news of the apocalypseing.

    But now...

    Gu Xiqiao gave them all great boosts in confidence, and told them that they were the ones that would bring forth miracles!

    ying gods and devils that stood in their way!

    And so, the morale of the entire ancient martial arts world was raised to unbelievable heights!

    Right!

    Peace Manor was a miracle!

    Those people in the Mountain Range of Death were miracles!

    Miss Gu herself was the greatest miracle!

    With such a person on their side, what challenge would be insurmountable for them?

    ¡°Right, what even was I scared about?! It¡¯s just a cmity!¡± A middle-aged woman that was cutting up vegetables in the kitchen swung down her knife with gusto, cleaving the chopping board clean in half.

    Another youngster bounced in ce excitedly, his face flushed red in motivation. ¡°What cmity would be too much for the ancient martial arts world? I¡¯ll kill one when I see one!¡±

    ¡°ying gods and devils in our way!¡± Others chorused.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Everyone in the Mountain Range of Death couldn¡¯t see Gu Xiqiao, but they all heard what she said, and their attacks became even more brutal and forceful!

    Someone carried a beast by the scruff of its neck before swinging it onto the ground,ughing maniacally as they did. ¡°A cmity? We¡¯re going to beat it up so bad it regrets being born!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll y anything that blocks our way!¡±

    And so, the poor beasts in the mountain range were subject to even more brutalities, running around with their tails between their legs.

    The beasts: [Hey, don¡¯t get motivated at our expense! QAQ]

    ***

    Back at the Elders Pavilion.

    Gu Xiqiao jumped down from the top of the tower and walked over to Jiang Shuxuan,pletely ignoring the worshipping gazes of the elders.

    Jiang Shuxuan held her hand tenderly before looking over at the elders with a cold stare that cooled the heated air and calmed the hearts of the elders.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be going home now, then.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, before walking out with Gu Xiqiao.

    The great elder didn¡¯t stop them, and only sent them off with a fervent gaze.

    ¡°Ah, she left just like that?¡± One of the elders came to and suddenly remembered something. ¡°My granddaughter wanted me to get a signed picture of her...¡±

    ¡°Well, why didn¡¯t you say so earlier?¡±The second elder asked. ¡°Miss Gu isn¡¯t one to act high and mighty, after all, so she probably wouldn¡¯t have refused.¡±

    ¡°I was scared...¡± That elder muttered awkwardly. ¡°I was part of the ones that wanted to burn her in the past...¡± Upon thinking of this, he couldn¡¯t help but feel another pang of regret.

    The second elder huffed indignantly in response. ¡°Serves you right then!¡±

    That elder didn¡¯t refute this, and even nodded in agreement. ¡°It¡¯s true! If I had the chance, I would definitely go back in time and give myself a tight p in the face!¡±

    ¡°But in any case, I¡¯m sure Miss Gu isn¡¯t the type to hold a grudge for so long. She¡¯ll definitely forgive you if you apologize earnestly tomorrow.¡± The great elder nced at them and advised before going back to the Elders Pavilion.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Jiang Han and Shu Chen had just finished watching the movie and had just returned to the ancient martial arts world, and upon hearing what she said, they both stood there in astonishment as the people on the streets all started to cheer and praise her in excitement.

    They knew that Gu Xiqiao had a great influence over the ancient martial arts world, but only now did they know to how much a degree that was!

    Jiang Han¡¯s thoughts: My future daughter-inw is going to give me a heart attack someday!

    Shu Chen: My future daughter-inw is the coolest!

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan were in the study when they got home, and Jiang Han went to the butler and asked, ¡°Have you prepared the data I asked you for?¡±

    He had barely spoken a word before the butler handed the documents to him with a wry smile.

    Shu Chen smiled mysteriously and said, ¡°Take your time, hm? I¡¯ll go see Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Jiang Han didn¡¯t reply to this, only flipping the document open and reading through it slowly.

    The data that the butler collected didn¡¯t have to do with any of her private data, and was instead information that any regr person in the secr world would be able to collect from the inte.

    But it was this information that surprised Jiang Han beyond belief.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength could be attributed to hertent talent, but everything that was written on these papers¡ª

    The founder of the Nine Heavens Group!

    The one thatpletely revolutionized medicine!

    An artist that was revered and recognized by the international artistmunity!

    Economic wars that shook the soul!

    The goddess of the entertainment industry!

    ...

    None of the feats mentions above could be done by someone that didn¡¯t have wisdom, intellect, a broad view, and a strong will!

    No wonder Shu Chen said that it was too early for him to be surprised!

    Her achievements in the secr world weren¡¯tckluster even whenpared to her feats in the ancient martial arts world!

    Jiang Han looked through these papers a few times more before setting them down on the desk and lighting a cigarette quietly.

    Shu Chen came downstairs to see Jiang Han in such a state, and she chuckled. ¡°What did I tell you?¡±

    ¡°You were right.¡± Jiang Han breathed out a puff of smoke. ¡°But now I can¡¯t help but wonder how much she sacrificed to be where she is today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, isn¡¯t it.¡± Shu Chen sat by him and sighed softly. ¡°This child has tasted enough bitterness for a lifetime.¡±

    ¡°All I wish for is for Shuxuan to get his memory back as soon as possible.¡± Shu Chen rubbed her temples as she spoke. ¡°Only he can help her at this point.¡±

    Now that Jiang Shuxuan was in such a state, not only did the girl have to take care of her own matters but even his, too, and she had more than one asion seen Yi Binge to seek help from Gu Xiqiao

    ***

    Meanwhile, at Dubhe¡¯ abode.

    Tengen took another swig of liquor as he looked at how downtrodden Dubhe was. ¡°What happened to you, Dubhe? Look at me! Even when my master doesn¡¯t want me, I still go to her every day, so you¡¯re even worse than I am!¡±

    Dubhe stared at him for a long moment, before he said with a dry voice, ¡°I made a grave mistake...¡±

    ¡°What mistake would be so bad that you would be like this?¡± Tengen asked.

    ¡°Miss Gu is the turning point of the ancient martial arts world, but I predicted her to be a cmity and almost killed her... Thankfully, Jiang Shuxuan stopped me before I could.¡± Dubhe smiled bitterly at the thought of almost dooming the ancient martial arts world forever.

    Bang!

    Upon hearing this, Tengen¡¯s expression turned into one of cold malice, throwing away his bottle of liquor immediately and unsheathing his sword, setting it against Dubhe¡¯s neck. ¡°You almost killed my master?!¡±

    This was the first time Tengen had such a great change in expression, and even brought with him a malicious killing aura at that.

    Dubhe raised his head, staring at him in disbelief. ¡°Did you say that Gu Xiqiao is your master?!¡±

 Chapter 331 - There Is Nothing I Cant Do

    <h4>Chapter 331: There Is Nothing I Can¡¯t Do</h4>

    Only a handful of people in the ancient martial arts world knew who Tengen was and those who knew him personally only knew him as the person who guarded Delxun Forest. It could be said that Dubhe was the only person who was aware of his true identity.

    However, it was also because of this knowledge that the Dubhe was surprised.

    Initially, Tengen stated that he didn¡¯t care whether he found his master or not. After all, Tengen was known to many as a person who had lost his mind; Dubhe merely assumed that Tengen was just making nonsensical madman talk.

    But what the hell did he say just now?!

    That Gu Xiqiao was his master?!

    Of course, Tengen understood what the word ¡®master¡¯ meant!

    B-But wasn¡¯t that person already long dead?! Dubhe was baffled. He didn¡¯t even care when the de had already sliced through the skin of his neck. Dumbfoundedly, he stood there as if he had been struck by lightning!

    ¡°And to think you were saved by her hands! I can¡¯t believe you failed to recognize her aura!¡± The de in Tengen¡¯s hand sliced deeper into Dubhe¡¯s throat. He had learned a little more about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s experience when she first came to the ancient martial arts world over the past few days. During that period, her powers couldn¡¯t even bepared to Dubhe¡¯s, and she must¡¯ve kept doubting herself, thinking that she really was going to bring disaster to their world. Such thoughts further fuelled Tengen¡¯s murderous rage, which was directed at Dubhe!

    ¡°T-Tengen.¡± Dubhe stared nkly at Tengen. He didn¡¯t know what he could say at this point. ¡°She really is...¡±

    Tengen¡¯s words kept echoing in his mind. His entire body was trembling and his mind was empty.

    Each time the image of her in face shed in his mind, he felt as if someone had plunged a knife into his heart.

    ¡°You get the hell away from here!¡± Tengen yelled as he mmed his foot into Dubhe¡¯s body. If she did not make the call to save this little brat, he would¡¯ve killed him by now!

    Theoretically, Dubhe¡¯s skill would¡¯ve warranted him the ability to dodge Tengen¡¯s attack. However, he did not choose to do so. He epted the heavy blow as his punishment, upon which, a red stream of blood started flowing from the corner of his mouth.

    Seeing Dubhe standing there as if his soul had beenpletely shattered somewhat calmed Tengen down. Of course, he understood the dilemma Dubhe was going through at the moment. This was the punishment he deserved for all the sins he hadmitted up until this point.

    Tengen gave Dubhe a cold re before storming off for good.

    Tengen picked up his bottle of liquor and arrived unannounced at the doorstep of the Jiang family manor. The butler serving the Jiang family popped out of the door. ¡°Mr. Tengen, I¡¯m afraid the young mistress has already gone to bed. It would be better for you toe tomorrow instead.¡±

    Tengen paused for a moment when he heard what the butler said. He peered down at his phone to realize that it was already 10 pm now.

    ¡°Mister butler, care for a drink?¡± asked Tengen while passing his bottle towards him.

    The butler waved his hand. ¡°Your offer is much appreciated but unfortunately, I do not drink.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t drink? Then is there even a point in living?¡± Tengen did not insist on seeing his master right away but he did not turn around immediately either. He raised his bottle to his lips and took a swig. He felt his eyelids grow heavier by the moment. ¡°Hey, mister butler, lemme ask you something.¡±

    The butler smiled at Tengen.

    Tengen nced back at him before letting out a great sigh. ¡°Back then, master... Miss Gu, she was used of being the source of cmity for this world. What happened afterward?¡± He suddenly recalled Gu Xiqiao¡¯s instruction to stop referring to her as his master.

    The butler¡¯s expression darkened the moment he heard Tengen mention the incident. It was obvious that he did not want to be reminded of the past. ¡°What has passed is past. The young mistress has said that Mr. Dubhe had been set up by an enemy. It¡¯s gettingte now, Mr. Tengen. Good night.¡±

    The butler of the Jiang family proceeded to slowly shut the door.

    Tengen stared at him and quietly muttered under his breath, ¡°Thank you.¡± He more or less understood the big picture now. The Jiang family must¡¯ve struggled to have her back during that period.

    There was no further exchange until the door was shut.

    ***

    On the second floor, Gu Xiqiao was still wide awake but there were too many things she had to deal with.

    The butler brought a warm ss of milk up to her but he did not mention Tengen dropping by at their home. What has passed is past. There was no point in bringing up things that would add to the burden Miss Gu was already shouldering. He stood there patiently until Gu Xiqiao finished the ss of milk before bringing it downstairs, with his mind still preupied with many thoughts.

    Gu Xiqiao leaned into her chair and took a break from her reading session. She turned to look at Jiang Shuxuan.

    The snow-white light of themp outlined the side profile of his chiseled face. The follicles of his brows were long and dense, and his pencil-thin lips were tightly pursed. With a serious expression, he was fully absorbed in reading a document. Although he could not remember anything, his usual mannerisms and quirks were showing through subtly.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± he asked.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled back at him. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. I was just thinking about matters rted to the United States.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao had yet to make a decision on this yet. And so, she decided to think about it in the shower.

    Jiang Shuxuan had just taken a shower. He looked down at the white dog lying next to his feet. He reached down and picked it up, moving it out of his room. ¡°Go sleep in your kennel.¡±

    Thud!

    The door was mmed coldly in its snout.

    ¡°Woof woof woof!¡± (Do this one more time and I¡¯ll file a report to the police for animal abuse!)

    Jiji hopped up next to it and taunted, ¡°Don¡¯t you realize how futile that is? Believe me when I say that no one has the balls to apprehend him.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan was drying his hair with a towel when his phone rang. He walked over to the table, where his phone was, and looked down at the caller ID. It was Yi Bing. He proceeded to pick up the call.

    ¡°Big boss, the supernatural organization of the United States have just contacted us...¡± Yi Bing¡¯s voice came through from the earpiece.

    It was the same moment when Gu Xiqiao exited the bathroom. Instinctively, Jiang Shuxuan turned towards her and his body jolted slightly.

    ¡°Big boss?¡±

    ¡°The United States?¡± Jiang Shuxuan quickly snapped out of his mental haze and responded with a single utterance, ¡°Understood,¡± before he hung up the call.

    ¡°Yi Bing was looking for you?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao as she wiped her hair with a towel.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Jiang Shuxuan put down the phone and approached Gu Xiqiao. He firmly grabbed her hand, and then the towel she was holding. Slowly, he started helping her to rub her hair dry. ¡°The supernatural organizations of the United States have finally made their move.¡±

    Patiently, he repeated what Yi Bing had told him to Gu Xiqiao.

    The United States? Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin and pondered. The Americans must¡¯ve started to believe her about the starting points she had provided them with. And so, she sent a text message to Yi Tiao¡ª[I¡¯ll drop by for a visit tomorrow.]

    She then sent another message to Zhu Yuan after a brief moment of contemtion.

    On the next day.

    Gu Xiqiao was supposed to visit Yi Bing but Wei Xi came over first and informed her that Zhuge Yan wanted to see her. She then amended her ns and went over to Zhuge Yan¡¯s ce first.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you go over to Yi Bing¡¯s ce. I¡¯m visiting Zhuge Yan today,¡± said Gu Xiqiao with a cheeky smile.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her and replied quietly, ¡°I¡¯ll be back immediately.¡±

    The two then parted ways at the intersection. Jiji, in its floral-pattern clothing, trailed behind Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao ran into Dubhe before she reached Zhuge Yan¡¯s residence. He appeared to be in a rather dejected mood today, as he stared at her from one of the intersections.

    Gu Xiqiao walked by without even sparing him a look as if he was a ghost.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Dubhe called out skittishly.

    Gu Xiqiao stopped walking the moment she heard him speak. She turned towards Dubhe with eyes as calm as a millpond. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    That look made him feel a stinging pain in his heart. He shed her a bitter smile as memories of what happened in W Town reyed through his mind. More specifically, it was the scene of when he told her that she deserved to die, and how helpless she seemed at that moment.

    He had not slept a wink the previous night due to this very scene reying in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more unbearable this whole thing started to feel.

    He really had no other choice but to endure the feelings of grief upon seeing her die once.

    However, Tengen had told him yesterday about how he had nearly killed her one more time!

    Dubhe¡¯s personal values had been crushed upon hearing that. He felt nothing but fear after realization had set in. This feeling, in his perspective, was much more terrible than the prospect of a worldwide apocalypse!

    If Jiang Shuxuan had not intervened and he had proceeded to kill her, he would have resorted to suicide at this point!

    He wanted to tell her that it wasn¡¯t intentional, that he was seeking her forgiveness, but he did not even dare to look her in the eyes. He was...he feared that it would invite her wrath.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± In the end, seeing that Gu Xiqiao was growing increasingly impatient, he finally blurted it out.

    Gu Xiqiao nced up at him and issued a rather nonchnt response. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    She walked off as soon as she said that. Dubhe was left standing there, covering his face with both his hands.

    Jiji intended to follow Gu Xiqiao but it paused next to Dubhe and cursed at him before leaving him in a trail of dust.

    ¡°Dumbass!¡±

    It then returned to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side and discussed changing its body into something more tall and mighty.

    Zhuge Yan¡¯s home wasn¡¯t situated too far away; Gu Xiqiao reached her destination within a short amount of time.

    ¡°You know, there¡¯s no need for you toe to my ce. I was nning to drop by for a visit already,¡± said Gu Xiqiao in a friendly manner.

    Zhuge Yan cleared his throat and signaled using his eyes for Wei Xi to pour his guest a cup of tea. ¡°For what, if I may ask?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao frowned at him. ¡°Are you still taking the medicine that I gave you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zhuge Yan nodded. He then eximed, ¡°I¡¯ve always known how capable you were but never would I have expected how skilled you are in the field of medicine.¡±

    Jiji, who sat obediently at the doorway thought to itself, ¡®You¡¯re surprised by just this? Just wait till Beauty Qiao cures you of your little disease. Maybe then, you¡¯ll be so surprised that you¡¯d leap off a building!¡¯

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Zhuge Yan¡¯s demeanor was as serious as it could get. ¡°The reason I wanted to see you today is because of an incredibly important thing.¡±

    The seriousness of Zhuge Yan¡¯s tone got Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attention. ¡°Which is?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about Mr. Jiang.¡± Zhuge Yan trod carefully with his wording. ¡°Earlier, I have already calcted that something serious would befall him. However, I wasn¡¯t able to make precise predictions as to what that disaster would be, which was also partially why I did not n on telling you about it just yet.¡±

    It was futile, telling someone about a disaster that one had no idea how to avoid. It would only serve as an additional weight to her already surmounting mental burden.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up immediately and remained silent. With a hoarse voice, she asked, ¡°What about now? Why choose to tell me now?¡±

    ¡°The United States of America.¡± Zhuge Yan was interrupted mid-sentence by a coughing fit. ¡°You guys should go there. There are still things that he has lost over there.¡±

    Right after that, he took out a piece of paper on which he wrote a birthday horoscope, which he passed over to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°This is the most I can calcte.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao received it and thanked Zhuge Yan.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She figured that he must¡¯ve discovered this final thread of hopest night, and it probably was also the reason why he was in such a poor state today.

    ¡°I have vited Heaven¡¯s will so many times now,¡± said Zhuge Yan with a sad smile. ¡°At most, I have two years left to live. Before I die, I was hoping that I¡¯d get the chance to do something meaningful.¡±

    His words were blunt. For people like him, it wasn¡¯t a difficult task, calcting how much time one had left to live.

    Gu Xiqiao had already prepared herself mentally. However, hearing what he said made her couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow skeptically. ¡°Who said you only have two years left to live?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Zhuge Yan looked up in surprise.

    Gu Xiqiao slowly folded up the piece of paper and tucked it into her pocket. She smirked at Zhuge Yan. ¡°I guess I haven¡¯t told you this yet. I was looking for you, to cure you of your ailment. Not only would you be able to live on for over two years, but you might even have a hundred more years left to live!¡±

    Crash!

    Wei Xi, who had entered the room with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tea was so taken aback that she lost her grip on the tray, shattering the teacup as it hit the floor.

    ¡°Miss Gu, is what you¡¯re saying true?¡± asked Wei Xi with a shaky voice.

    Gu Xiqiao turned over and produced a couple of golden needles that shine underneath the lights. ¡°I thought that my achievements in the field of medicine should¡¯ve made it clear to you guys. You know, I have never failed at a task which I have set out to do, not even once!¡±

    She smiled at Wei Xi.

    How confident! How empowering!

    Zhuge Yan too was stunned beyond words. He finally understood why the people of the ancient martial arts world had such deep-rooted respect for her. It was because she really did walk the walk and talk the talk.

    Her words stirred up a tidal wave in his heart, which could only be described as still water.

    She had reignited his hope.

    Not only could he live on for another two years, but there were still a hundred years more to go!

    If such a remark was made in the past, he definitely would¡¯ve shrugged it off with a cynicalugh. However, looking at her expression right now, he started to believe in what she was saying.

 Chapter 332 - Come To China, Ill Teach You

    <h4>Chapter 332: Come To China, I¡¯ll Teach You</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you guys?¡± asked Wei Xu upon noticing the three of them, sitting there in silence the moment he came in, which surprised him, to say the least.

    Then, shifting his gaze over to Gu Xiqiao, his face became flushed with excitement.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled back at him before she peered down at her phone. She then said to Zhuge Yan and the rest of them, ¡°Let¡¯s go. I want to bring you guys to a special ce.¡±

    Zhuge Yan took in a deep breath and tried as hard as he could to calm his mind down. He stopped himself from asking where their destination was.

    As soon as the four of them exited the front door, they would discover that a ck car was already waiting for them outside.

    Standing next to the vehicle was a tall man, who was staring down at his phone. Perhaps his ears picked up the sound of their footsteps, as he peered up slightly in their direction as they made their way towards him, revealing that pair of ink-dark eyes of his.

    ¡°Do you guys have a car of your own?¡± Gu Xiqiao stopped in her tracks and asked Zhuge Yan.

    Wei Xu answered immediately, ¡°Yes we do! Wait a second Miss Gu! I¡¯ll be back with it in a jiffy!¡±

    The car he was referring to was a gift to them by the second elder. Wei Xu¡¯s footsteps were brisk. Zhuge Yan grinned to himself when he saw how hasty that man was. As expected of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s die-hard fan.

    For the past few days, he had either been staring at the Gu Xiqiao¡¯s little screen, or he had been talking to Wei Chenyan over at the Mountain Range of Death.

    The two cars made their way swiftly towards the highway which led straight into the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, you still remember how to drive?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao with a raised brow as she sat in the front passenger seat.

    Jiang Shuxuan shot her a brief nce silently. ¡°... I got Yi Bing to teach me the two days ago.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The cars finally rolled to a stop outside the medicalboratory.

    It was one that was built through a joint-project between Nine Heavens and Tang Enterprise. It was filled with top-of-the-line medical equipment and contained research data that was far beyond what any other medical institution was capable of producing. In short, such a ce was the wet dream of many medical scientists across the globe.

    ¡°Why are we here?¡± asked Wei Xu quietly upon parking his car.

    Wei Xi inhaled deeply before responding to his question. ¡°To cure someone of his illness.¡±

    Cure? Who? The young master?

    No way! Wei Xu was slightly taken aback. Both he and Wei Xi was told over and over again that Zhuge Yan¡¯s illness was incurable. It was his punishment, they said. And so, they had no other choice but to watch as Zhuge Yan¡¯s organs started failing one-by-one, until the day he could wither no more. Back then, even the mighty Huangfu Xuan could only provide medicine that helped ease the symptoms, not cure him!

    ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± Wei Xu asked.

    Wei Xi rolled her eyes at his question. ¡°It¡¯s Miss Gu we¡¯re talking about. Do you not have faith in her?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Wei Xu¡¯s expression changed immediately. ¡°If Miss Gu said it was possible, then I have no doubt that the young master can be saved!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ***

    In theboratory, Zhu Yuan was administering needles into the patient lying on the bed whilst directing non-stop, questions at the person sitting next to the bed.

    ¡°Mr. Zhu Yuan, is it true that Miss Gu¡¯sing here?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Zhu Yuan, when is she arriving?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, she did tell me she wasing. She should be here any minute now, I reckon. Any more questions?¡± Zhu Yuan eyed them. ¡°Very well, if there¡¯s none, then start gathering the questions which I have failed to solve. I¡¯m guessing that she won¡¯t be staying here for too long.¡±

    These people rushed out hastily upon hearing Zhu Yuan¡¯s advice.

    There was a massive sma screen on the wall of theboratory. At the moment, it was disying the heads of multiple foreigners, who were intensely fighting over who gets to ask questions first. ¡°Mister Zhu, are you positive that yourboratory has found a way to deal with the living dead?¡±

    ¡°I have repeated this time and time again, those people are not zombies. They are merely possessed by an evil aura.¡± Zhu Yuan was getting impatient with these buffoons.

    ¡°That¡¯s simply impossible! Whatever the evil aura you¡¯re talking about is, no matter what medical instrument we used, nothing could be picked up. But the patients are either getting weaker by the day, or they would go berserk. If we can¡¯t find the source of this phenomenon, how do you expect us to save them?!¡± questioned one of the faces urgently.

    This person was one of the more authoritative voices in the international medicalmunity. He hade up with a variety of different methods to help patients with the zombie-like symptoms over in America. They were breathing, but for some inexplicable reason, they could not regain their consciousness. Many checks were done and yet they failed to pinpoint the cause of their peculiar disease. This was also partly why their reactions were so extreme when the prospect of a cure was suggested by Zhu Yuan.

    Zhu Yuan nced at him before pulling up a piece of paper on his desk, which he shook in front of the screen. ¡°See this? This is a document provided by Miss Gu, detailing the pathology, treatment, and follow-up procedures for the disease.¡±

    The international medicalmunity wasn¡¯t able to see in detail what the contents of the document were, but something in Zhuyuan¡¯s statement caught their attention. Unsurprisingly, it was the name of Gu Xiqiao.

    What was initially amotion turned dead silent. The medical professors and doctors eyed each other.

    They could doubt the validity of Zhu Yuan¡¯s findings, they could even doubt hisboratory but ain¡¯t no way were they going to doubt Gu Xiqiao¡¯s work!

    Why?

    Simply put, they feared the painful humiliation when they would face should they be proven wrong!

    To their understanding, cells from different bodies were never supposed to fuse and split but this person was able to prove them wrong, to make them doubt what they have learned up until this point!

    What they viewed as a terrifying virus could simply be solved by Gu Xiqiao through the application of a couple of forms.

    They once held the firm opinion that patients in vegetative states were beyond saving; they could only wait patiently until the patient woke up from his or hera naturally. That was again, disproven by Gu Xiqiao when she introduced her treatment manual that used acupuncture, which saved God knows how many lives!

    ***

    These men had been following closely, the growth of China¡¯s medical industry up until what it was today.

    This was why they decided to shut up when Zhu Yuan produced the document, which he imed was the fruit of Gu Xiqiao¡¯sbor. Some of them wanted to squeeze through the webcam lens to see just what the document Zhu Yuan had was about.

    Just when they wanted to start speaking, a slender figure suddenly entered the frame.

    She did not lift her head when she walked through the door. However, nearly every one of them recognized who she was. How could they not? They had already seen this familiar figure countless times in medical-rted articles, videos, and conferences. In fact, some would go so far as to say that they¡¯d recognize who she was even after she gets burnt into a crisp. She was none other than the legendary Gu Xiqiao!

    The sound of heavy breathing could be hearding from the American researchers. Too bad, before they could say a word, the people in theboratory had swarmed towards Gu Xiqiao, throwing questions relentlessly at her.

    Zhuge Yan, who moved to one side, was shocked by how weed she was here.

    He did not expect things to turn out this way.

    Jiang Shuxuan on the other hand leaned against the doorframe. He watched with interest when the researchers flocked around Gu Xiqiao.

    Half an hourter, these people had finally received what they were looking for, and so they headed back to their stations with satisfied expressions.

    ¡°How are the experimentsing along?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao.

    Zhu Yuan was standing in front of hisb bench, carefully inserting the final golden needle into Huangfu Xuan¡¯s meridian point before looking up at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Thank god I didn¡¯t mess this up!¡±

    And then, both Wei Xu and Zhuge Yan saw with their own eyes, the wisps of ck smoke which appeared in the medical instrument positioned next to Huangfu Xuan¡¯s body.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?!¡± asked Wei Xu, who had no idea what that ominous looking thing was.

    ¡°Evil aura,¡± muttered Zhuge Yan. He then realized how much effort he needed in order to speak.

    Unbeknownst to him, his words impacted Wei Xu and Wei Xi¡¯s mind like an exploding bomb.

    Evil aura was something which the people of the ancient martial arts world avoided like a gue, which it was!

    So not only could these people manage toe up with a way for the evil aura to be seen using the naked eye, they could even extract it from one¡¯s body?!

    F*ck! Just what monsters were they?!

    Wei Xi and Wei Xu stared with their jaws wide open at the machine.

    ¡°What are you looking at me for? Do you seriously think I am the one who came up with this contraption?¡± Zhu Yuan stared back at them with a bewildered look. He then pointed his finger at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, look at her instead.¡±

    They understood what Zhu Yuan was talking about in just a fraction of a second. They peered at Gu Xiqiao, who merely looked back at them with an unchanging expression.

    Only a single phrase was present in their minds at that moment¨Cnutjob!

    She was already scary enough in the ancient martial arts world; who would¡¯ve thought that she¡¯d be as overpowered in the secr world as well!

    It took them quite a while to snap back to reality. It was also the same moment that Wei Xi realized who the person lying on theb bench was. ¡°Why is she here?¡± she eximed in surprise!

    ¡°People like her should contribute to the betterment of humanity, don¡¯t you think? She has simply killed too many people. I guess what goes around,es around,¡± answered Zhu Yuan before continuing his conversation with Gu Xiqiao. ¡°What were you referring to when you were talking about the new experimentsst night?¡±

    ¡°Him,¡± said Gu Xiqiao as she pointed in Zhuge Yan¡¯s direction. ¡°But, I came earlier than I should have. You should carry on with your research. I¡¯ll type out the report myself.¡±

    She sat down in front of aputer andunched an empty document before she began hammering away on the keyboard.

    Zhu Yuan was supposed to start his research on Zhuge Yan¡¯s condition but was distracted by the sight of Jiang Shuxuan, which prompted him to call out in a congrattory tone.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded in his direction but remained silent afterward.

    Surprisingly, Zhu Yuan did not find anything off about him. That was because the usual Jiang Shuxuan would respond in the same manner. He shifted his attention back to Zhuge Yan, with a look of anticipation in his eyes. ¡°Come over and lie down here. Let me see what ailment you¡¯re suffering from.¡±

    He pointed at a nearby scanning machine.

    Zhuge Yan had no idea why, but he felt something different between the people in thisboratory and the doctors he usually visited. Silently, heid down on the scanner.

    ¡°Mr. Zhu, has Miss Gu arrived?!¡± The faces on the screen came back to life and started shouting for his attention.

    The voices attracted the attention of Wei Xi and Wei Xu. The former gulped when she saw the person on the screen. ¡°Look! Wei Xu, isn¡¯t that Dr. Mark? Remember the president of the International Medical Community from two years ago, where we had to wait for a month before we finally arranged for an appointment with him?¡±

    Wei Xu looked at Mark, whose head was only inches away from his webcam while nodding his head listlessly. ¡°That¡¯s him?¡±

    Never would he expect to see them in such a position.

    ¡°That¡¯s her alright.¡± Zhu Yuan replied while meddling with the instrument.

    Mark went silent upon hearing Zhu Yuan¡¯s response. With a somber expression, he asked Zhu Yuan, ¡°Mr. Zhu, in all seriousness, can you guys cure this weird disease?¡±

    Zhu Yuan flipped over the first page of the document and nced up at Mark. ¡°While I can do that right now, there are still parts of this thing that I do not understand. I¡¯ll have to get some rification from Miss Gu afterward.¡±

    So it was true. The doctors in the video conference froze up as they tried to stomach the news.

    ¡°Mr. Zhu,¡± said Mark upon taking in a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m gonna break the truth to you. America has countless people with the same symptoms and there aren¡¯t signs that it would slow down soon. Despite this, we still cannot locate the source of this problem.¡±

    Zhu Yuan smiled back at them. ¡°Now that we have broken the code, you guys should sit back and watch us with envy.¡±

    F*ck!

    The audacity of this bastard!

    The doctors wanted to cuss out loud in front of the camera. Once, they wondered why the prodigy Zhu Yuan was willing to put himself below Gu Xiqiao. Now, the answer was getting clearer to them. That guy¡¯s pretty darn lucky!

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± yelled one of the guys over the mic.

    Gu Xiqiao had finished typing her final line when she heard someone calling out for her over the sound of the printer noisily churning out papers.

    ¡°You want me to save the people of America?¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she peered up at Mark¡¯s face on the screen.

    Mark nodded excitedly in response.

    ¡°Come to ourboratory in China, I¡¯ll teach you how,¡± was the response he got from Gu Xiqiao.

    Their faces all froze up upon hearing her reply. It could be implied from her words that they had to reside permanently in China in order for their wish to be fulfilled.

    Thisboratory of hers in China was such a tempting bait.

    So many secrets could potentially be uncovered in theirboratory that it started to seem as if there was no virus they could notbat, not to mention the fact that they would get to meet Gu Xiqiao, the healer from hell in person!

    The temptations were too strong. In fact, it only took Mark three seconds before he finally made the painful decision.

    The rest of the doctors almost suffered a stroke. It only took a single sentence from Gu Xiqiao topletely win over the most prestigious doctor in America?!

    But to bepletely honest, they would¡¯ve taken up her offer too if they were put in a simr position.

 Chapter 333 - Stir Up A Storm

    <h4>Chapter 333: Stir Up A Storm</h4>

    The incidents that were urring over in America were incredibly mysterious, like how the inhabitants of the capital were all either losing their consciousness or their sanity en masse.

    A number of secretaries of state have gathered around for a meeting, where they awaited good news from the renowned, Dr. Mark.

    However, the person they were looking forward to seeing was nowhere to be found. A group of researchers from various medical institutes came forth in his stead.

    They all had tears streaming down their cheeks. ¡°Mr. Secretary, I¡¯m afraid Dr. Mark has packed his bags and left for China.¡±

    ¡°China? Why would he want to go there?¡± One of the state officials shot up angrily from his seat.

    The brte doctor pushed his sses up as he replied, ¡°There¡¯s aboratory in China who imed to have discovered a way to treat this disease.¡±

    ¡°No, how is that even possible?! Didn¡¯t you guys fail to locate the source of this damned disease?¡± Another official snapped.

    Seeing the look of disbelief on their faces, the doctor shook his head and responded, ¡°Well, the Chinese have Miss Gu on their side.¡±

    The officials were stunned. How could they not be? The Americans should have led the world in the field of medicine, and yet their researchers were still scratching their heads, trying to pinpoint the correct approach in tackling this disease. And now the Chinese were iming they have found the cure?!

    ¡°If they say they have found the cure, then why don¡¯t we fly them over to our country and let them do their job?¡± questioned an older gentleman.

    What he said did make sense. The rule has always been that ¡®whatever America says, goes¡¯. Their capability exceeded that of any other country in every aspect one could possibly think of. One statement from the POTUS and whoever that was mentioned would scurry over hastily out of fear of possible reprisals.

    The rest of his peers shot the old man weird looks seconds after he made his statement.

    ¡°Am I wrong?¡± The old man asked with a puzzled expression.

    The brte doctor sighed helplessly. ¡°Do keep in mind who¡¯s supporting this Chineseboratory.¡±

    Everybody knew that it was Gu Xiqiao, who had the back of thisb. Do you seriously think that it¡¯s a good idea to threaten an institution directly under her protection?!

    Not to mention Nine Heavens, which had established itself as an international corporate entity, possessing negotiation powers akin to an actual nation. Only a fool would dare to mess with her or her friends.

    They looked at each other in silence. Hopefully, good news would reach their ears after Dr. Mark returned from his trip to China.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world, Gu Xiqiao left Zhuge Yan behind with Zhu Yuan in hisb and returned with Jiang Shuxuan to the ancient martial arts world to rendezvous with Yi Bing.

    ¡°Miss Gu, the supernatural forces of America have kept pestering us on how to avoid this uing cmity. The three other territories were fine with them but thest one, ording to them, was uneptable. After all, it is their capital city we¡¯re talking about. Evacuating such arge number of people is simply unrealistic.¡± Yi Bing reyed what the leader of the American supernatural organization said to Gu Xiqiao.

    She had pointed out five points on the world map. One in Japan and the remaining four in the United States. In the beginning, these two nations refused to ept her advice.

    However, at some point, the leader of the American forces started heeding her advice. All of a sudden, he started sending her a ton of rare items and subsequently, made contact with Yi Bing.

    Gu Xiqiao deliberated for a moment before responding, ¡°This time, five incidents will ur simultaneously and that point is only a couple of days away. They should be able to deal with the former three locations. As for the capital though, tell them to stand back. I¡¯ll deal with it myself.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I shall ry this message immediately,¡± said Yi Bing whilst nodding.

    Now that her job here was done, she pulled out her phone and booted up a mobile game.

    Yi Bing started reporting to Jiang Shuxuan, the recent developments in the ancient martial arts world. While flipping through the document, Jiang Shuxuan said, ¡°Evil aura has started its encroachment on this world of ours. Trouble is brewing. We¡¯ll wait for the children of the Mountain Range of Death to ready themselves. We¡¯ll assign tasks to them immediately. However, the Peacekeepers will still be responsible for dealing with moreplex missions.¡±

    ¡°Big Boss, are you not issuing missions? Yi Bing clicked his tongue at Jiang Shuxuan. He thought that the big boss would care less about the ancient martial arts world following his memory loss. Unfortunately for him, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s method of managing his men was still the same as before.

    In the past,plex missions were handled by Jiang Shuxuan himself and by extension, his personal team of soldiers. He was relying increasingly on Peace Manor to deal with the missions recently.

    Still, considering how capable those people were, Yi Bing failed to raise any objection to his decision.

    ¡°Those people need to fight more battles,¡± reminded Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°We only have one requirement for them, that is to be alive after the mission.¡±

    Yi Bing nodded furiously, ¡°I understand.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan dealt with the remaining matters before leaving with Gu Xiqiao.

    Upon sending them off, Yi Bing made a call to the leader of the American supernatural forces, who answered it with unrivaled enthusiasm. ¡°Has Miss Gu dropped by for a visit personally? If that¡¯s so, then I am relieved. Thanks a bunch, Mr. Yi Bing!¡±

    Yi Bing rubbed his nose upon hanging up. Mister Leader, what happened to you recently for you to change your stance so dramatically?

    He, of course, had no idea about Cecily¡¯s friendship with Gu Xiqiao. Some of the videos in which Gu Xiqiao appeared were contained in her cellphone. By casually showing these videos to the leaders of the foreign supernatural forces, Gu Xiqiao had earned their respect and reverence. In fact, many of them were rather envious of the ancient martial arts world for possessing such a capable individual. Of course, their level of shock would¡¯ve been greater if they were told about how the younglings of the ancient martial arts world were rising up quickly under her guidance.

    Yi Bing contemted for a moment before deciding to give the Japanese supernatural forces a call as well.

    ¡°Mr. Yi Bing, we know how capable your side is. However, that is not an excuse for you to show off your prowess. We too have people who can foresee the future. ording to our people, the ind nation of Japan is in safe hands. I would like to remind you to focus more attention on matters pertaining to the ancient martial arts world.¡± The Japanese forces responded with sarcasm and mockery.

    Yi Bing had already expected this to happen, which made him want tough out even more. If you do not trust Miss Gu, then prepare to cry a river of tears.

    Sigh, why don¡¯t you learn a lesson or two from our American buddy? Look at how obedient they are. We¡¯re receiving a constant inflow of presents by the way. Because of this, Miss Gu has decided to lend a helping hand personally.

    ***

    At the Jiang residence.

    Shu Chen, with a dejected expression, put down the cup she was holding. ¡°What? You two are going to America tomorrow? Why leave so soon when you have barely settled in at home?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s happened over there,¡± responded Gu Xiqiao with a smile. ¡°It won¡¯t be long. I¡¯m guessing we¡¯ll be back in a week¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°When are you leaving tomorrow?¡± She figured that the situation must¡¯ve been quite dire for them both to leave together. Shu Chen was a little reluctant to see them leave so soon.

    ¡°I think we¡¯ll leave tomorrow morning.¡± Gu Xiqiao answered after a moment of deliberation.

    Jiang Han sat opposite Shu Chen. Their home would no longer be as lively as it was if his future daughter-inw was leaving tomorrow. With pursed lips, he reminded her, ¡°Stay cautious.¡±

    Although he knew that the chances of these two getting into trouble were slim, Jiang Han still felt obliged to give them a reminder or two.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°Got it.¡±

    Smiling from ear to ear, Shu Chen looked at Jiang Han. Like father like son, as they say. Both Jiang Shuxuan and his father only spoke when spoken to. If it was him from the past though, he would never have said such a thing to someone else.

    Jiang Han cleared his throat and proceeded to fiddle with his phone to hide his concern.

    Although they had already said their goodbyes, before Gu Xiqiao left, Shu Chen was still clinging onto her arm, nagging at her repeatedly.

    It was until the couple left that Shu Chen let out a sigh. ¡°I wonder how long it would be before these urrences stop.¡±

    Jiang Han patted her shoulder silently.

    ¡°We sent them off today. If the dayes where I am no longer here, you must stand in my stead, waiting for their return,¡± said Shu Chen.

    ¡°Oh trust me, you¡¯ll always be here.¡± Jiang Han shot her a nce. ¡°From here on out, we¡¯ll always be here, waiting for their return.¡±

    Shu Chen smiled. ¡°I was never meant to live this long. Because of that, you had to spend three years of your life there. I¡¯m worried that Qiao Qiao would...¡±

    ¡°You must have faith in our son, and in Qiao Qiao as well.¡± Jiang Han pointed at the Mountain Range of Death, which was situated nearby. A constant roaring sound could be hearding from that direction. ¡°You have seen so many miracles happen before you, it is simply impossible for something terrible to happen to you, nor Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Jiang Han would never have uttered such cheesy lines in the past. Today was different. After seeing so many miracles performed by Gu Xiqiao, he suddenly realized that her presence in his life had re-ignited his faith towards life in general!

    Mind you, she was barely twenty years old. To be able to invoke such feelings in another, it was hard to imagine just what she¡¯d go on to achieveter on in life!

    Shu Chen: ¡°...¡±

    I haven¡¯t seen you for a few days and now you return as a die-hard fan of Qiao Qiao?

    ***

    The Bai gang had spread its influence around the world through Gu Xiqiao¡¯s assistance. On one hand, it was because Big Boss Bai had always been interested in such matters but apart from that, Gu Xiqiao was using their strength to keep the contagiousness of the evil aura and berserkers in check. Still, only a handful of people were aware of this development.

    However, their gang has recently been bogged down in a quagmire. Over in Washington D.C., a new gang, who referred to themselves as the Qing triad, had risen up. The one who started this triad was a woman, and initially, they faced little to no opposition from Big Boss Bai. After all, there were already so many well-established mafia families in the US, and Big Boss Bai himself had no intention to start a power monopoly yet. So it didn¡¯t matter to him what they did.

    What he did not expect was to hear that this Qing triad had started cannibalizing the smaller gangs in their surrounding turfs. The rm was raised when they started targeting mid-sized gangs.

    The first ones to bear the brunt was the Bai gang!

    It would not have been a problem if the Qing triad was justposed of your average street thugs. However, they seemed to have strong connections with the supernatural organizations within the US, which made the Bai gang, who were being targeted, panic. To make matters worse, Big Boss Bai was still in the UK, and the only members left in the US were the brutish ones, who specialized inbating the berserkers.

    They weren¡¯t well-versed in strategic nning, which was also why Gu Xiqiao issued the order for them to remain passive.

    Knowing that they already had the upper hand, seeing the Bai gang stand down surprised the Qing triad even more. In their eyes, the remnant of the Bai gang was like a juicy piece of steak, dripping with fat, something they could not wait to sink their teeth into. The forces once affiliated with them had retreated with their tails between their legs, dooming the Bai gang to hell.

    No one knew that the Bai gang was weing two additional members today.

    ¡°Is that Miss Gu?¡± asked a bald young man in an ecstatic tone when he saw the youngdy sitting in the main seat.

    Hisrade replied excitedly, ¡°That¡¯s her alright!¡±

    The Bai gang knew that someone mysterious and powerful was backing them up. They knew that that person was Miss Gu, but they had never seen her in person before. Though, they had heard about her stories, about how she wiped out multiple gangs in just a single night and how she wasmended by the police!

    Her powers were ungodly and what¡¯s more, she was the person who single-handedly founded the undefeatable Peacekeepers!

    The Bai gang had witnessed firsthand, just how brutally effective the Peacekeepers were in dealing with the berserkers.

    Their opinion of themselves changed the moment they saw the Peacekeepers in action! How invincible they were was a clear reflection of how powerful their leader was.

    And now, the founder of the Peacekeepers had arrived.

    Miss Gu! With her here, there was nothing they were afraid of!

    Morale was at an all-time high following Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arrival. Who they initially thought was Big Boss Bai had turned out to be Gu Xiqiao after all!

    What a great day to be alive!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s visitsted only a short while. There, she asked them a couple of important questions before leaving.

    Right after she left, the members swarmed around their leader with eyes filled with anticipation. ¡°Boss, has Miss Gu told you what she¡¯s nning to do?¡±

    No, she merely asked me about the location where the Qing triad is based. That, and the name of their founder. She told me to wait for further orders but I have no idea what she¡¯s nning to do.¡± The leader grinned at them.

    The bald young man felt his body go giddy. ¡°I¡¯m so excited to see what Miss Gu has up her sleeve. Knowing how strong she is and what methods she had used previously, I have no doubt that she¡¯ll reshuffle the bnce of powers in this territory.¡±

    The Bai gang never once doubted Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. Ever since she arrived, they knew that she was going to stir up a storm!

 Chapter 334 - Which Hand Were You Planning To Touch Her With

    <h4>Chapter 334: Which Hand Were You nning To Touch Her With</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hollywood, California was the ultimate destination for movie stars all over the world.

    Today, the unannounced arrival of two individuals garnered quite a lot of attention from its popce.

    The young woman had a feminine, slender figure and inparison to the average American woman¡¯s physique, she could be said to only be mid-sized. However, it was her drop-dead gorgeous face that made heads turn. Just a nce and one could sense the magical nature of her beauty.

    Asians are rarely appreciated where the American beauty standard is concerned. However, pretty much everyone agreed that this young woman, in particr, stood out from the rest.

    Pretty women and handsome men could be seen on every street corner. After all, this was the film capital of the West. Still, many eyes were on this couple. If not for how cold that man¡¯s expression was, they would¡¯ve already been approached by countless people.

    That¡¯s right. These two are in fact, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. The former was here today to pay her friend, Li Yu a little visit.

    The film, ary Conflict¡¯ was part of a trilogy and they were in the midst of filming the third and final part of the series. Billions of American dors had already been poured into this project and the first two movies had both topped the charts in box office ticket sales worldwide. This further intensified the hype for the release of the final part of the trilogy.

    Li Yu was the main character for the film but surprisingly, there was no female lead. However, the supporting characters were all outstanding enough that it hadpensated for theck of a female lead.

    ¡°I saw her at a banquet,¡± answered Li Yu upon being told of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s intention for visiting him. ¡°You know, Gu Xijin¡¯s name was also stered all over the inte at one point. It so happened that I saw her dating the heir of the Dickens family. That guy¡¯s called ude. I¡¯ll send a photo of him to you in a moment.¡±

    He thought she was just joking around, so he was rather surprised when Gu Xiqiao really came over to America. Was she really so obsessed with such games? Was the ancient martial arts world not enough to satisfy her?

    Li Yu smiled when he saw Gu Xiqiao deep in thought. ¡°Since you¡¯ve got nothing to do, why don¡¯t you take part in more of Director Cheng¡¯s films? I don¡¯t know how many times he hasined about this to me at this point.¡±

    ¡°You guys are still working together?¡±

    ¡°... yeah, we¡¯re still together, in a group chat that is. You¡¯re in the group too.¡± Why was she so surprised by this?

    ¡°Li is that a friend of yours?!¡± Director Neil had a glow in his eyes the moment he saw Gu Xiqiao.

    Director Cheng was an insanely-talented director, meaning he was fairly well-known, even in the West. Histest film, ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯ saw ticket sales skyrocket through the roof right after its release. Everything about the film swept Neil off his feet, whether it be the acting skills of the supporting actors or the female lead, Gu Xiqiao. He had called Director Cheng directly on multiple asions but without fail, his calls were mercilessly rejected every single time.

    This was why he couldn¡¯t hide his tion when he saw Gu Xiqiao standing right before him.

    Li Yu nced at Neil silently before directing a smile back at his friend. ¡°Miss Gu, allow me to send you off.¡±

    His expression was respectful when he spoke to her.

    Neil wished to let Gu Xiqiao stay for a while longer, but this wish was crushed when he saw Li Yu¡¯s reaction. This actor was infamous for being mysterious and having a strong organization backing him up. Rarely would there be people in the industry that dared to disrespect him. Despite this, it could be implied from Li Yu¡¯s mannerism that this young woman was much more enigmatic than him.

    ¡°The Dickens family is surprisingly influential. Four presidents have had their roots in this family and quite a number of them are involved in the current political arena. That ude fellow is 29 years old and he had just wrestled the scepter of power out of his predecessor¡¯s hand half a month ago. His methods are brutal, to say the least.¡± Li Yu gave his final reminder before sending Gu Xiqiao off.

    Gu Xiqiao bowed at him. ¡°Understood, thanks for the heads up.¡±

    She then turned towards another direction, upon which a smile returned to her face.

    Li Yu followed her gaze which led him to a tall figure approaching them. His face was stone cold and his facial features were well-pronounced. With a pair of eyes that gave off a distinct vibe, no matter from which direction you viewed him, he was physically wless.

    Trailing behind him was a robot in a frilly dress.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s here too? Li Yu almost jumped out of his skin. Something major must¡¯ve gone down to warrant the arrival of these two people here in the States.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang,¡± greeted Li Yu with a smile.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded in his direction as he grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand to lead her away.

    Li Yu stood there, grinning at himself before returning to the studio. ¡°Hey, why the long face?¡± asked Neil the moment he noticed the expression on Li Yu¡¯s face.

    ¡°I have a feeling that a great show¡¯s about to start.¡± Li Yu leaned back into his chair slowly and with an amused smile on his face.

    ¡°That girl that just left, I¡¯m guessing she¡¯s the female lead in ¡®Divergent Paths¡¯?¡± asked Neil curiously.

    Li Yu knew instantly where this conversation would lead to. ¡°That¡¯s enough, you wouldn¡¯t want to stand in her way, that is unless you¡¯re hoping to lose the skin on your body.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s that amazing?¡± Neil¡¯s eyes glowed even brighter.

    Li Yu¡¯s mind returned to when Gu Xiqiao took the ancient martial arts world by storm. How could she not be amazing?

    ***

    ¡°Jiji, I need you to pull up every bit of information we can get on the Dickens family.¡± Jiang Shuxuan, from god knows where, was able to procure another ck car, which Gu Xiqiao and Jiji hopped onto without question.

    Jiji responded immediately, ¡°Give me a minute.¡±

    Precisely sixty secondster, a clear panel lit up in front of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face. Tons of data started appearing constantly.

    This family had a long history here in America and could be regarded as one of the first elite families since the nation¡¯s conception. They were practically unchallenged here in the States. No wonder the Bai gang were so fearful of them. With such great influence, the Bai gang could easily be crushed without even a second of hesitation.

    For those knuckleheads to hold out so long, they must¡¯ve been through a ton of hardship, thought Gu Xiqiao.

    Red light. Jiang Shuxuan brought the car to a halt. Suddenly, a notification popped up on his phone. It was at that moment that he uttered, ¡°The ghettos.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s in that sort of area? I guess he doesn¡¯t fear death huh?¡± The corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Brother Jiang, let¡¯s head over to that ce then. I¡¯m afraid that he won¡¯t be able to hold out any longer. If he fails, I fail too.¡±

    Their vehicle started moving again, as Jiang Shuxuan responded, ¡°Too weak.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. In fact, he¡¯s on the brink of death.¡± Gu Xiqiao expanded her consciousness and in a split second, she was able to ¡®see¡¯ the scene with her mind, which made her sigh in disappointment.

    Jiji watched their interaction silently and retreated towards the car door. It made a silent prayer to God, hoping that they won¡¯t be too caught up with the matters here. After all, there was a major cmity waiting just around the corner for them.

    ***

    In the ghettos of Washington DC.

    This was the most dangerous ce throughout the entirety of the United States.

    Thud! A hulking ck man sent a white teen smashing into a wall with a mighty kick.

    The teenager spat out a mouthful of metallic-tasting blood. The ck man remained standing. With a nod, he gestured for his men toe forth. Two dark figures walked out from the crowd and proceeded to drag the teenage boy over to the thug.

    The ck man pulled out a pistol from his waist and gripped onto the jaw of the teenage boy. With a nasty grin, he said, ¡°Listen here us, you could¡¯ve done anything in this world, but you just had to piss Mr. ude off didn¡¯t you?¡±

    us looked up at the thug with a hostile gaze.

    The thug sneered. ¡°As expected from an heir. Y¡¯all bastards don¡¯t seem to know the meaning of the word ¡®repentance¡¯ do you? Time to meet God!¡±

    The man¡¯s finger slowly applied more pressure on the trigger.

    Suddenly, the silhouette of a person appeared behind us. Effortlessly, his pistol was removed from his hand!

    He hadn¡¯t even been given enough time to react!

    It wasn¡¯t just him, but even the crowd behind him had frozen up out of surprise. When had they appeared and why hadn¡¯t they noticed their presence?

    The ck man angrily looked up at the person who disarmed him. Surprisingly, it was a she and a rather young one at that. Still, he did not underestimate this youngdy. To be able to sneak up on him like a ghost, undetected by his men, it was clear as to how capable this individual was.

    Gu Xiqiao disassembled the pistol while speaking, ¡°MP-654k, what a great firearm. But, isn¡¯t this model used exclusively by the military? Where did you manage to get this gun in your possession?¡±

    The ck man was even more bewildered when he saw what happened in front of him. The speed and precision with which she disassembled the gun were insane. From start to end, it took less than twenty seconds for her to make the gun disintegrate into its most basicponents. Whilst doing that, she was even able to state urately, the model and the serial number of the firearm!

    With a further ten seconds, she was able to reassemble the gun!

    The men behind him were stupefied by how badass the whole show was. How could she possibly be a regr civilian?

    ¡°Identify yourself!¡± urged the ck man. ¡°Are you trying to mess with the Dickens family¡¯s private matters?¡±

    Every American knew who they were and how standing in their way was a bad idea, so bad that it could potentially cost one¡¯s own life. The ck man thought that the mere mention of his employer¡¯s name would intimidate Gu Xiqiao enough that she¡¯d step away immediately.

    What he did not expect was for Gu Xiqiao to point down at us and say, ¡°I¡¯m here to save his life.¡±

    The ck man¡¯s expression darkened.

    ¡°You all should leave immediately before you can leave no more,¡± Gu Xiqiao warned the crowd.

    ¡°Spare the nonsense and take her back with that boy,¡± said anotherrge man. He was able to lift Gu Xiqiao off the ground with minimal effort.

    Judging by his physique, lifting her up was the same as lifting up a bag of groceries.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at him with dreamy eyes, offering no resistance whatsoever.

    The tall man stood there motionlessly. He had a stupid grin on his face and in an instant, he let his guard down. He initially thought she was a threat but now, he was reaching out to caress her delicate face.

    Suddenly, he discovered that his hand could not move forward when he was only a few centimeters away from her wless skin. Eye-widened, he looked around furiously.

    The others were stunned too.

    Literal ice had formed in the air around him!

    A hand was crushing the tall man¡¯s throat as he was lifted off his feet. To his bafflement, there was a man standing next to him.

    ¡°Which hand were you nning to touch her with?¡± Jiang Shuxuan questioned with a cold, merciless voice. His expression was calm, but the look in his eyes was pitch ck as if he was looking at a corpse.

    The man¡¯s face was as red as a tomato as his airway was slowly crushed by Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s death grip. His legs, which dangled in the air, kicked wildly in every direction as he struggled to free himself from his attacker¡¯s grip. With fear in his eyes, he red at Jiang Shuxuan. However, with his airwaypletely blocked, it was impossible for him to speak.

    ¡°Was it this one?¡± Jiang Shuxuan shifted his gaze over to his left hand.

    There seemed to be a whiteyer of frost before his eyes.

    Crack!

    The man¡¯s left hand was frozen into a block of ice before it was shattered into a million pieces, which scattered across the ground.

    That sound was like the screams of hell, echoing through the ck man¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Or was it this one?¡± Jiang Shuxuan shifted his focus over to his right hand.

    Crack! Once again, the man¡¯s remaining hand was sent scattering across the cold hard floor.

    Silence descended upon the crowd.

    This man wasn¡¯t human!

 Chapter 335 - Diving Into A Trap

    <h4>Chapter 335: Diving Into A Trap</h4>

    us was already out cold when Jiang Shuxuan intervened. Upon waking up, he was greeted by the scene where the thugs who beat him up were all sprawled out on the floor as if they had all received a painful thrashing.

    The only ones who remained standing were a man and a young woman. He turned towards thetter and of course, he recognized that she was the person who was here to his rescue. He let out a bitterugh and muttered to Gu Xiqiao, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it,¡± she replied with a smile.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot on me, but you should take this.¡± us turned away and coughed before producing a gold watch from his pocket and presenting it to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°You two better leave soon, before ude realizes what happened. Knowing him, he¡¯d never let you two go.¡±

    ude was a nasty fellow indeed. These two would never be spared if he found out that they had interfered with his ns.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t need this.¡± Gu Xiqiao pushed away his gold watch. With a serious expression, she asked the boy, ¡°Listen here us, I¡¯m only going to ask this once. Would you like to take back your power over the Dickens family?¡±

    us red at Gu Xiqiao out of surprise. For a moment, he remained frozen there, followed by a painful chuckle. What a hrious question. She¡¯s asking him if he would like to retake his power? Of course! Who wouldn¡¯t wish to?!

    But, is removing ude from the throne that easy of a task?

    He thought Gu Xiqiao was just pulling his leg, and so his tone became much more casual. ¡°You guys should leave now.¡±

    ¡®Does he think I was joking around?¡¯ Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose. This was the first person who did not take her words seriously!

    Gu Xiqiao recalcted her ns and with the same, dead-serious expression, she told him, ¡°I am serious. I can help you take back your power and overthrow ude. I¡¯ll give you five minutes to think things over.¡±

    Perhaps Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was overly serious, or perhaps it was something else, but it made us sheepishly nod in agreement.

    He could not believe his ears upon doing that!

    With the snap of her fingers, Gu Xiqiao announced, ¡°If that¡¯s so, then I hereby announce the start of our cooperation!¡±

    ¡°Why would you want to do that?¡± us asked curiously.

    ¡°Well, the answer is simple. ude pissed me off.¡± Gu Xiqiao turned towards Jiang Shuxuan right after responding to his question. ¡°Brother Jiang, have you called the police?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded. ¡°They¡¯ll be here in ten.¡±

    us stared in disbelief. They had beaten these thugs up and as if that wasn¡¯t enough, they had even called the police? Had they knowingly walked into a trap that they themselves created? Ignoring the fact that this was a ghetto neighborhood, where the police couldn¡¯t bother to step foot in, these were all ude¡¯s goons. No policeman in the entirety of the United States dared to stand in the way of the Dickens family!

    Were these two ying a huge, morbid prank on him?!

    ¡°These are ude¡¯s men. The police won¡¯t being, not in ten minutes, nor in half an hour. They won¡¯t be here at all.¡± us seemed rather sure of himself when he reminded the pair of the futility of their actions.

    It wouldn¡¯t be long before he would be proven wrong!

    Well, because the police really did arrive!

    ¡°These folks are no good. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to lock ¡¯em up for a couple more years,¡± said Gu Xiqiao while pointing at the ck thugs.

    The policeman nodded while noting things down on his palm-sized booklet. ¡°Are there any other requests, Miss Gu, Mr. Jiang?¡±

    ¡°No, thanks for dropping by,¡± replied Gu Xiqiao with a smile.

    The policeman nodded before ordering his squad to round up the thugs. Silently, he vowed to himself that he would give these bastards a vicious beating.

    us was stunned by what he saw.

    Jiji rolled up and patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go, lucky one.¡±

    With the same stunned expression, it looked over at Jiji.

    ***

    At the Dickens family headquarters.

    ude raised a Cuban cigar and automatically, the man next to him stepped up and lit it up for him. Drawing in a mouthful of smoke, he asked, ¡°You¡¯re saying they got apprehended by the police? Don¡¯t those assholes know that they¡¯re our men?¡±

    ¡°The police have sufficient evidence on their hands towfully ce them under detention,¡± replied the person next to him.

    ¡°What a bunch of good-for-nothings. It¡¯s already bad enough that they can¡¯t kill that boy, but to get caught by the police? Now that¡¯s a whole other level of stupid.¡± But, it didn¡¯t seem like someone had deliberately tipped the police off about his men, so ude decided to let the matter rest for now. Another question popped up in his mind. ¡°Has Ah Jin taken over the Bai gang?¡±

    ¡°No, not to my knowledge sir.¡± There was a brief pause before the man answered.

    ude¡¯s brows were scrunched up. ¡°Why haven¡¯t they done it then? It¡¯s just a petty little bunch of gangsters, no?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something strange going on in the Bai gang recently,¡± answered the man. His mouth was awkwardly stiff when he spoke. ¡°They should be aware of their imminent doom, but the way they¡¯re reacting to this is bizarre. Yesterday, they went on to... hold a celebratory party.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing strange about men celebrating before their own deaths.¡± ude flipped through a bunch of documents and grunted coldly. ¡°This us kid, it¡¯s fine if he avoids me like a gue. But to hatch plots in the dark?! He¡¯s literally marching towards his own death under my watchful eyes!¡±

    The man next to him bowed respectfully and praised ude for his decisiveness, which to his surprise, only earned him a scornful look.

    ***

    At the rendezvous of the gang, the mid-sized gangs, who survived the onught watched as the members of the Bai gang stroll out with smiles on their faces, as they had done in the past.

    ¡°How can you still be in such a great mood?¡± asked one of the leaders of the gang who had once worked together with the Bai gang. ¡°No wonder you guys are falling apart. If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t dare walk around in public when the Dickens family is after my ass.¡±

    ¡°No, fall apart we won¡¯t,¡± responded the leader of the Bai gang. ¡°That is because our boss has arrived. She¡¯s well, pretty strong.¡±

    ¡°Boss, looks like this buffoon¡¯s gone mad,¡± mocked another one of the goons.

    It was pretty obvious that the Bai gang leader had gone mad. Apart from him, there was no other boss. Perhaps the source of his madness was the Qing triad!

    And so, news of the Bai gang leader going mad hit the streets!

    The leader of the Bai gangughed when he caught wind of his own madness. Silently, he thought to himself, ¡®In a matter of days, I¡¯ll be seeing you on your knees, calling our Miss Gu boss!¡¯

    The odd reaction of the Bai gang was certainly noticed by the Qing triad. They did not believe their leader¡¯s statement that they had another boss, but recent events that unfolded were indeed, too odd to not notice.

    A human figure stood next to the window in the headquarters of the Qing triad. ¡°Are there any updates from ude¡¯s side?¡± her voice sounded cold and mysterious.

    They were only one step away from taking down the Bai gang; what¡¯s left was for the Dickens family to deal the final lethal blow. But why at this specific point in time, were their men all rounded up and sent behind bars?! What was happening?!

    ¡°Mr. ude has replied, saying that they had an important task to deal with first. He had created a task force to deal with the issue, and he told us to wait for two more days.¡± The middle-aged man standing behind her said in a respectful tone.

    The woman slowly turned around. ¡°Fine, tell ude that I¡¯ll only wait for two more days. Not more than that.¡±

    The man bowed before leaving her office.

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao, I haven¡¯t even started looking for you and yet, here you are, marching towards the guillotine.¡± The womanughed quietly to herself after her subordinate left. Still, the look in her eyes was dark and hollow.

    If Gu Xiqiao was here, she¡¯d definitely recognize who this person was. This woman was none other than Gu Xijin, whom the Gu family had sent into exile years ago!

    ***

    The powers that ruled the capital of the United States were slowly shifting in the dark. The only person who was aware of this, however, was us.

    ¡°Miss Gu, Young Master Jiang, why didn¡¯t you tell me that you guys wereing to America?!¡± asked Cecily.

    Gu Xiqiao pushed a cup of tea towards her. ¡°Well, now you know we¡¯re here. Is that not enough?¡± she asked calmly.

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s leave that topic aside.¡± A glow appeared in Cecily¡¯s eyes. ¡°Have you discovered something fun? Do bring me on board your little mission this time!¡±

    ¡°Rx, there will be one in the near future.¡± Gu Xiqiao peered back at her. ¡°You¡¯re definitely in on it this time.¡±

    Cecily¡¯s eyes widened the moment her ears picked up the phrase ¡®near future¡¯. How exciting!

    ¡°Hm? Who¡¯s this?¡± Cecily looked over at the teen who walked through the door with Jiji. Her mouth paused for a moment and a skeptical look appeared on her face. She only continued talking after making sure that she sensed no auraing forth from this boy.

    ¡°He¡¯s just a regr human being,¡± replied Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I feel that the person running the Dickens family needs to be changed.¡±

    ¡°Dickens?¡± Cecily narrowed her eyes upon hearing that name. ¡°Which one of them pissed you off? I¡¯ll report it to the president, and we¡¯ll have them eliminated instantly.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the fun in that?¡± asked Gu Xiqiao while waving her palm back and forth. ¡°Just watch the show unveil in theing days.¡±

    Cecily nodded in excitement following that statement.

    us, who overheard every bit of their conversation, did not think that they were madmen talking. Instead, he looked at Cecily with shock in his eyes.

    Back when he was still considered the heir of his family, he had met Cecily once, but that moment alone was enough for him to burn her name into his memory. It was the moment when he saw their nation¡¯smander-in-chief bow down at her respectfully!

    That moment would probably be carried with him to the grave. Just who was this Cecily girl and what did she achieve for even their president to show so much respect for her?!

    Wait a minute. Why on earth was Cecily that respectful towards Gu Xiqiao. It¡¯s as if she¡¯s her biggest fan?!

    Who on earth was this Gu Xiqiao then?!

    us tried to suppress his bewilderment when he looked at Gu Xiqiao.

    Everything that happened in the past two days could only be described as a dream-like experience.

    Gu Xiqiao hadid a trap in front of his eyes for the Dickens family, turning it into a lesson of sorts. He had never seen such a perfect trap before, so perfect that ude stepped right into it immediately.

    us inhaled deeply. He was ted and relieved that he had made the right call two days ago. Thank god, he did not insist that Gu Xiqiao was only joking when she made her offer to him.

    us started to chuckle under his breath, out of pity for ude.

    He wondered what sort of expression would he make when he is told that all his borate nning was about to explode in his face, thanks to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s work.

    He wondered if ude would start contemting suicide if he was told that the only reason for Gu Xiqiao working against him was because of his ties to the Qing triad.

    Perhaps.

    us looked forward to the future.

 Chapter 336 - Distrupting An Unstable Situation

    <h4>Chapter 336: Distrupting An Unstable Situation</h4>

    At the zoo of the capital country in America, a ck limousine appeared about twenty meters outside the entrance.

    There was no symbol or mark on the car, but it had a strange license te. People who were walking into the zoo couldn¡¯t help but stop and look at the vehicle, though no one dared to get too close. Though there wasn¡¯t any symbol on the car to indicate which family it belonged to, it was obviously low-key luxurious. There were also two men in ck clothes standing at each side, and they had a calm and somewhat intimidating aura, like a sword about to be unsheathed. Ordinary people could feel the chill creep up their spine from fear, and didn¡¯t dare to approach them.

    In the car passenger seat, the leader of the power world of America was sitting in it. He gave a cautious nce to the man in the back seat that exuded a chilling aura. ¡°You said that a problem will arise here, Mr. Jiang?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan fiddled with apass in his hand, raising his head to look in the direction of the zoo. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Then I should inform the people to evacuate this area?¡± The man said immediately.

    ¡°Three dayster,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied, keeping thepass away.

    The leader nced at him, grasping his meaning immediately and he motioned for the driver to drive. As the car drove away from the zoo, he looked back at the ce with a grim smile on his face.

    ***

    At the same moment, Cecily was bringing Gu Xiqiao and us to an auction. Gu Xiqiao had initially not wanted to go, but then she seemed to think of something and ended up going all together.

    At the auction room, Cecily smiled at Gu Xiqiao and said, ¡°The leader said that whatever catches your eye today, the power world will pay for it.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the list in her hands, noting nothing interesting except for an ancient jade piece. This should also be the reason that Cecily had brought her, and her lips curled up. ¡°Pass on my thanks to the leader for me then.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, there¡¯s no need to be so polite to him.¡± Cecily waved her hand. ¡°Whatever it is that hecks, it sure isn¡¯t money.¡±

    Cecily finally spent a lot of money to buy the ancient jade, as there was a wealthy businessman who was also bidding on it. But how could a rich businessmanpare to the leader of America¡¯s power world? In the end, Cecily obtained the bid that she wanted.

    ¡°Trying to match the amount of money I have, aren¡¯t you just digging your own grave?¡± Cecily took the ancient jade that the auction house handed over to her, a grin on her face.

    America was different from China, half of the funds of the country were used in the power world, who could fight them in terms of money?

    Cecily had wanted to say ¡®who could have more money than them¡¯ at first, but then she nced at Gu Xiqiao, and the words just died in her mouth. Well, speaking of money, there was no one who couldpare to Gu Xiqiao. Based on the development trend of Nine Heavens, Cecily wouldn¡¯t even have any doubt if she said she could produce a river of money.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this us?¡± When the three went out, an unfamiliar voice called out from behind them.

    It was followed by a fat figure walking out. This person used to be apdog of us in the past, but since ude had grabbed the inheritance from us in only half a month, this person turned his back immediately, taking ude¡¯s side and stepping on us instead.

    He didn¡¯t expect to run into us in the auction house today, and he was obviously not about to let go of the chance to taunt him. He looked at Gu Xiqiao and Cecily, who were standing beside us, and sneered, ¡°You¡¯ve actually be a gigolo, us. If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t even have the face toe out and meet people.¡±

    ¡°If I were you, I¡¯d find a ce to hide immediately.¡± us had been seeing Gu Xiqiao covering base after base the past few days, and his admiration toward her was endless at this point. Now looking at this fat man, there was no anger at all, and his mood was particrly good.

    ¡°Has us lost his mind with the impact from Master ude being too much?¡± The fat man stared at us¡¯ retreating back in a daze.

    It had only been a few days since he saw us, and the man had changed so much. Thest time he saw him, us was deprived of his power publicly, a crushed look on his face. How could us return to his usual appearance in such a short period of time? Not only that, he seems to even be more confident than before?

    The fat man was deep in his thoughts when he caught sight of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eyes. He bent his body in a deep bow, his tone respectful as he greeted the figure, ¡°Master ude.¡±

    ude spared him a nce before turning his gaze to the three figures who were not too far off from them, a sneer on his face. ¡°He¡¯s been making some moves in the political and government circles, and I thought he found some great backing.¡± But looking at it now, it was just two young girls with him.

    This us seemed to be getting better and better at his life, ude thought mockingly. ¡°Go and get some people to teach those two girls a lesson for not knowing good from bad. As for us, just leave him be first. I¡¯ll let him watch with his own eyes as I reach the highest position.¡±

    The people around him immediately replied with an affirmative.

    ***

    ¡°Beauty Qiao,¡± Jiji said as it followed Gu Xiqiao. ¡°ude has seen you all.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Gu Xiqiao was fiddling with the new ancient jade that she had just gotten, smiling faintly as she felt the aura inside. Hmm, wasn¡¯t that the n all along, for him to catch sight of them?

    ude had recently be a big hit in America, taking back the power of the Dickens family in just a short half month. He gave out advice like it didn¡¯t cost money, and he easily picked out the traitors in the family, as though he somehow had some mysterious power at predicting who it was. His way of doing things was vicious, and his methods were extremely bloody. He was also a political genius.

    So when the people around them knew that us, who had been toppled over by ude, still wanted to fight against him, theyughed and mocked him.

    A useless, powerless trash, waiting to bring down ude. Wasn¡¯t us just a nutcase for wanting to do so?

    This had be a normal joke among the upper ss, especially when us openly dered his intentions on social media¡ª[ude, your era is about toe to an end.]

    Countless people who saw this post couldn¡¯t help the curve of their lips. us, where did you get your confidence from? Who gave you the courage? For you to talk such big words so shamelessly? You¡¯ve definitely gone crazy! ude has definitely driven you crazy!

    ¡°This guy is just nuts.¡± Jiji had sent over the news of this post to Gu Xiqiao and Cecily once it saw it online.

    ¡°He¡¯s pleased with himself,¡± Cecily said as she took a bite of an apple, sighing after. ¡°Who gave him the courage? Who else but Qiao Qiao!¡±

    Jiji thought about it for a while, then nced at us who was ying with his phone. ¡°us, it¡¯s time to study.¡±

    us turned off his phone immediately, heading upstairs to study. What was he studying, you ask? Of course it was how to maneuver and fight in politics! Gu Xiqiao had specially made up the study ns for him ording to his capabilities.

    As us studied, he watched Gu Xiqiao poking at the slowly forming vortex. With her impossible feats at maniption, he felt a pang of sympathy towards ude. ude would never have guessed what a horrifying person that he would be facing in the future, right?

    Just as countless people in the outside world were watching and wondering how us would be beaten down by ude, something happened that sent a shockwave through the country.

    ude was preparing to participate in the governor election, and since there were many people in America who admired and respected him, it stands to reason that his election should be extremely sessful. However, just as he sat down in his seat, watching the voters in front of him with a smile on his face, a group of people suddenly walked over from the entrance. ¡°Mr. ude, I¡¯m the Minister of the National Security Bureau, pleasee with us.¡±

    What was happening? ude was getting arrested by the National Security Bureau?!

    Oh my god! It wasn¡¯t the police, but the National Security Bureau! The country¡¯s most authoritative and confidential agency!

    At the same time, several politicians who were also ude¡¯s friends were facing the same situation and getting arrested.

    A few hourster, the National Security Bureau issued a statement stating that ude had been involved in leaking the secrets of the country. Forget about ude, the entire Dickens family would not be able to escape, and countless people would be impacted by this matter.

    Hearing this news, the people looked at each other, disbelief on their faces as they didn¡¯t expect a turn of events that was this dramatic.

    For a moment, those people who had made friends and tried to cozy up with ude were regretful and frightened, fearing that they too would end up being taken away by the National Security Bureau if they weren¡¯t careful. The entire political circle of America went into a bloody storm, causing everyone to look over their shoulders in fear!

    And us, who had been thrown out of the family and abandoned, suddenly returned, full of glory as he calmly pulled the Dickens family out of the political chaos without much hassle. The methods that he used were extremely sophisticated, which reassured the hearts of the Dickens family as a whole.

    This situation made the people who had previouslyughed and mocked us to be dumbfounded. F*ck, what the h*ll is going on?!

    Since when did us be so brilliant at handling matters? Picking up and taking back the Dickens family so easily? He had even been so easy to remove by ude previously!

    Very soon, everyone discovered where the problemy. More than one person had seen him following behind a girl, a respectful expression on his face. His attitude puzzled a lot of them, and theyter came to a conclusion, was it possible that this girl was the one who secretly made everything happen?

    It was a suspicion, one that waster confirmed by us himself. At a press conference, he said, ¡°Everything I have now is because of one person, I am very grateful to her. From now on, the Dickens family will regard her as a guest of honor. In my eyes, she is a god!¡±

    Sh*t! Theizens who heard these words couldn¡¯t help but hiss out, to make the political genius of America be sent to the National Security Bureau in just a short few days! And also picking off countless powerful politicians from the circle, where the heck did this girle from?

    More importantly, this woman was from China! A Chinese who stirred up the entire political scene in America, but there was nothing at all about this from the upper officials of America!

    The person in the Dickens family who held the power, she said change then change. Those people who were in high positions of authority in the political circles, she just used minutes to send them to jail. The officials in America even allowed her to do as she pleased, not even daring to let out a fart in her presence!

    Everyone was shocked at this, and every single one of them was worried that they were going to be next, and so they went to look for us, one by one. ¡°Master us, that person, would she be willing to see me?¡±

    They already knew who the woman was, but nobody dared to utter her name. They were afraid that it would provoke her, and so they used ¡®that person¡¯ to refer to her.

    ¡°No, she¡¯s really busy,¡± us said, a smile on his face as he ced down the files in his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, as long as you have not offended me or her, she won¡¯t bring you any trouble.¡±

    ¡°Master us, please save me!¡± The fat man knelt down to the ground, panicked. ¡°ude was the one who asked me to teach her a lesson, please, I beg you, save me!¡± The men he sent to teach Gu Xiqiao a lesson hadn¡¯te back, and in the beginning, he had been confused. Butter when everything had unfolded, he hoped that the men had not gone after her and had merely run away.

    But now he found something was not right, problems for his family popped up one after another, and then he suddenly recalled this fact about sending men after Gu Xiqiao. He was shocked and frightened when he remembered, and hurriedly crawled on his knees to look for us.

    ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t save you.¡± us spared him a nce, before waving for someone to get the fat man out of here.

    The political world of America was now reshuffling their cards and hierarchy, and the Dickens family was not only safe, but they were also thriving! Those who used to taunt us after his fall now came begging to lick his shoes, and they were all chased out of the door by him.

    Miss Gu had told him before, a truly strong politician didn¡¯t need to rely on others!

    Those who were chased out wiped the dirt off their faces, sneering. What was he so arrogant about! He had just gotten to where he was due to his connections!

    us was in high-spirits now, and he had a happy expression no matter where he went. People who saw him like this were hard-pressed to beat him up!

    There were also people who wondered if that Chinese person was going to enter the political world of America, and if so, that would just be entirely too terrifying to think about. For the politicians, it spelled out a disaster. Working with such a monster every day would just bring more worry and anxiousness to their hearts!

    The political circle of America was in an uproar at the matters that had happened recently, and this topic was also a hot topic among the people of America.

    us, who heard all these, merelyughed. The political circle of America? Shepletely didn¡¯t care about them at all, even themander would bend over backward when he saw her, why would she care about such an ordinary position?

    ***

    Cecily and Li Yu, who knew there was a good show to watch, were both at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s temporary residence. Cecily sighed. ¡°I thought that she was going to use her physics stuff to suppress that... whatever Dickens family. Can¡¯t believe she came up with this instead.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to get this kind of effect if you were to use force,¡± Li Yu said, a faint smile on his lips. ¡°It¡¯s more interesting to watch her turn the entire country into a whirlpool anyway. What¡¯s next?¡±

    Cecily looked towards Gu Xiqiao, and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ¡°It should be... The Qing triad, right?¡±

 Chapter 337 - Who Said That She Hasnâ€™t Made A Move

    Chapter 337: Who Said That She Hasn¡¯t Made A Move

    The Qing triad? Li Yu narrowed his eyes, being unfamiliar with the name but not caring much. He just had a thought in his head. After shuffling the cards in the political world, now even the gangsters would have to do the same?

    He thought about previously in the Imperial Capital, of how Gu Xiqiao had rectified the entire Bai gang, and even flushed out some of the biggest forces there. She had also expanded and developed the gang, making them out to be some sort of savior, even the police had given them a pennant for all that they did.

    To be able to change the direction of the gang and rectify them to this point, Gu Xiqiao really was the first person in history to do this!

    Cecily scrolled through thements fromizens, looking up suddenly. ¡°What happened to ude, Qiao Qiao? It seemed like he¡¯d gotten life imprisonment.¡± Tsk, that was more painful than death by shooting.

    It was a person who had been thrown in by Gu Xiqiao after all, who would dare to bail him out? Not only would no one dare, they didn¡¯t even dare to deal with him lightly.

    Hearing Cecily¡¯s words, Li Yu rubbed his chin. He naturally thought about the scene where Gu Xijin and ude had been walking together, and he thought he probably knew the reason why Gu Xiqiao had been harsher than usual in her methods this time round. ¡°This ude person is guilty and deserves a punishment that fits the crime, she¡¯s just helping your country to clean up.¡±

    Cecily opened her mouth to say something, but then caught sight of Jiang Shuxuan who was walking in from the door with the leader by his side, and she immediately stood up, her back rammed up straight.

    ¡°Leader, where have you been?¡± Cecily asked, pulling on his sleeves as she watched Jiang Shuxuan walk to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side.

    The leader of America nced at Cecily, knowing full well how grateful he was to her. If it weren¡¯t for her advice, he would have cooperated with those people from Japan to try to suppress the ancient martial arts world. If he had done that, who knows what the state of America¡¯s power world would be like now?

    He thought about how Ennd had changed its leader, then towards Gu Xiqiao, who was ying on theputer with a harmless look on her face. He couldn¡¯t help the shudder that shot through him when he thought about just how terrifying this person really was underneath it all.

    Seriously, it was such a close call. Cold sweat broke out on his back the more he thought about it.

    ¡°How is the situation at the zoo, Brother Jiang?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her head when she saw that Jiang Shuxuan had returned.

    Jiang Shuxuan handed her thepass in his hand, and Gu Xiqiao studied it for a moment. ¡°Huh? Three days?¡±

    ¡°Three days,¡± Jiang Shuxuan confirmed, leaning against the table. His slender fingers took thepass from her, putting it away. ¡°How did you find this ce?¡±

    There didn¡¯t seem to be anything wrong with the zoo on the surface, and if Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t have the utmost trust in Gu Xiqiao, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to pinpoint any problems there at all. Even he could hardly find any problems when he had been there in person, so how was Gu Xiqiao able to give him the location without even seeing it before?

    ¡°I calcted it.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly. ¡°Big Brother Baili knows about this ce too.¡±

    The ce in America was well hidden indeed, and Gu Xiqiao had to ponder deeply on this. What did it mean for someone to nt a big pit in America? And in its main capital?

    ¡°What would happen if the capital of a country was destroyed, Brother Jiang?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan thought about it for a while, his eyes darkening. ¡°All the leaders of America are gathered here, if it was destroyed, the people would be thrown into a mass panic, and chaos would ensue. The other countries... would also be chaotic.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Gu Xiqiao propper her chin on her hand. ¡°When it¡¯s chaotic and havoc, the country itself would be destroyed.¡±

    The two were chatting casually, as though they were discussing the weather, but the words they said made the leader of America¡¯s heart pound fiercely. Of course, his thoughts were not as far-sighted as the two, so he didn¡¯t think about the series of problems that would ariseter from this matter. The more the two talked, the more cold sweat rolled down his back.

    It was just so fortunate that he had been wise in the beginning!

    His hands were still trembling when he thought about it, and even Cecily was surprised. She looked at Gu Xiqiao, then Jiang Shuxuan, and finally the leader. ¡°Leader, where is the ce that had issues?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m heading there now, you cane with me.¡± The more he thought about it, the more he felt anxious.

    He quickly bid Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao a respectful farewell, before taking Cecily with him and heading towards the zoo.

    The zoo in the capital is thergest zoo in the world. Cecily got down from the car, observing the area, but she didn¡¯t feel anything out of the ordinary. She looked up to the leader and asked, ¡°Leader, do you feel anything?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± The leader replied honestly, shaking his head.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Cecilyughed lightly. ¡°She made a mess of the political circles in America, and you still have so much faith in the two of them?¡± To think that he had sworn to suppress the ancient martial arts world before this.

    ¡°It¡¯s a must!¡± The more the leader hung around Gu Xiqiao, the more he could see howplicated the two were. He had always been well aware of what a powerhouse Jiang Shuxuan was, while Gu Xiqiao felt like a mystery to him, extremely mysterious. ¡°You probably don¡¯t know that themander from the secr world came to mest night, saying that he wanted to thank Miss Gu. He had tried many ways to deal with those cancerous tumors in the political world, and had never seeded. Then Miss Gu just waltzed in and took them down, throwing them into prison and solving a major problem in the secr world.¡±

    ¡°She is amazing indeed.¡± Cecily had already gotten used to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s methods, and she didn¡¯t feel any doubts from it. ¡°She can make anything thrive anywhere she goes.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re also great, having the foresight, advising us to get along with the ancient martial arts world.¡± The leader patted Cecily on the shoulder, smiling widely to express his gratitude.

    Cecily couldn¡¯t help but feel speechless at the leader¡¯s smiling face. ¡°Hey, leader, there¡¯s going to be a disaster here, why aren¡¯t you the least bit worried!¡± It was fine that he wasn¡¯t worried or anxious, but how could he stillugh so happily?

    ¡°With Miss Gu around, what is there to be afraid of?¡± The leader said, lifting his chin slightly.

    Cecily: ¡°...¡± Was it really alright for a leader like you to be acting like some die-hard fan?

    Since Gu Xiqiao had arrived, she had collected another two die-hard fans. One was the leader of America¡¯s power world, and the other the power holder of the Dickens family in the secr world. Cecily couldn¡¯t help but click her tongue at that.

    Then she suddenly remembered something, pulling out her phone to give a call to her dear brother. ¡°Cecil, are you at the legacy base? Even if you are, you have toe out, there¡¯s some great show going down soon... And also, I¡¯m telling you that your idol is here.¡±

    Cecily hung up the call once she said her piece, rubbing her chin as she smiled slyly. ¡®I don¡¯t believe that you won¡¯te after I said all those!¡¯

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t aware that Cecily had secretly called her brother to return just to watch the show, she was still at her temporary residence at this time. Within three days, she had to deal with the Qing triad as soon as possible before she could settle the matter with the zoo with a peace of mind.

    Thinking about this, she picked up her phone and sent a message to us.

    Jiang Shuxuan carried out a te of cut apples from the kitchen, cing them in front of her.

    Then he realized that everyone apart from Li Yu had left, and he couldn¡¯t help but let his eyes wander over to him, his chilly eyes on him.

    Li Yu, who was ying games suddenly felt an extreme chill shooting up his spine, followed by a low, deep voice that came from above his head. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a shoot to get to?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s right, I suddenly remembered that. Miss Gu, Young Master Jiang, I¡¯m going to the set now.¡± Li Yu hurriedly put away his phone, a neutral expression on his face as he bid a polite farewell to the two of them before leaving.

    After Li Yu left, Gu Xiqiao picked up an apple, before raising her head to look at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Why did you cut an apple?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked towards her, he had picked apples subconsciously when he had been looking at the pile of fruit.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head, smiling softly. ¡°No, I like it a lot. Last time, you always used to cut apples too.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan let out a sigh of relief, the corner of his mouth curling up. As long as she liked it, that was good.

    His phone chose this moment to ring. He pulled it out to find that it was a message from his mother¡ª[Son, when are you going to register your marriage?]

    Marriage? Jiang Shuxuan searched his mind for the meaning of this word, before looking at Gu Xiqiao, who was typing away on her keyboard as she munched on an apple. He pursed his lips, replying back to her¡ª[There¡¯s no rush.]

    No rush? Shu Chen, who was sitting on the sofa back in the ancient martial arts world, jumped up immediately, taking pictures of all the gifts in the room to show him.

    Three minutester, Jiang Shuxuan received three more messages.

    Little Psycho: [JPEG] [JPEG] [JPEG]

    Little Psycho: These are all gifts from the youngsters from the ancient martial arts world to Qiao Qiao! [JPEG] I¡¯ve erged this one for you to see!

    Little Psycho: Son, you have to drive the point home, otherwise, you¡¯ll have to be concerned about all the wolves that are outside. Didn¡¯t I say before, with your frosty demeanor, it¡¯s a blessing eight times over for you to have found Qiao Qiao!

    Little Psycho: Look at you, every time you go out on a mission, you run around everywhere, leaving Qiao Qiao alone. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she also runs around everywhere, aren¡¯t you afraid that she¡¯ll stop liking you one day?

    Little Psycho: One word, marry or not!

    Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t reading the messages that Shu Chen was sending him, but was looking at the pictures that she had sent over instead. The first one was of all the gifts that were in the house, while the others were of cards that were attached to the gifts.

    ¡®Miss Gu, you are my eternal goddess, I love you!¡¯

    ¡®You are my sunshine!¡¯

    ¡®Goddess, I want to bear your child!¡¯

    Eyesores! Extreme eyesores!

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips, his face darkening the more he saw. He finally turned away from his phone to look at Gu Xiqiao, a thoughtful look on his face.

    ¡°What are you looking at, Brother Jiang?¡± Gu Xiqiao could feel his eyes on her, and thought that he was acting a little strange.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied, still staring at her for a while before shaking his head. He then lowered his head and gave Shu Chen a more serious reply¡ª[Wait for me to return.]

    Jiji, who was sitting on the soda and eating chicken feet, raised its head to give Jiang Shuxuan a nk look. After Jiang Shuxuan shot it a cold look, Jiji lowered its head without a word, pretending it didn¡¯t know anything. However, it¡¯s movement became more mechanical than usual as it continued eating.

    Jiji, who was a superputer, obviously knew everything that went on on the inte. It had wondered what Jiang Shuxuan was looking at, for his face to darkened that much, and had been curious enough to look into it.

    After seeing it, Jiji regretted it immediately. Sigh, was Beauty Qiao going to get married soon? How depressing.

    It thought for a while, before opening its mouth. ¡°What are you doing, Beauty Qiao?¡± Jiji had tried to endure it, but it couldn¡¯t hold back its urge to talk to Gu Xiqiao in the end.

    Gu Xiqiao had just finished typing out a bunch of documents, sending them off to us once she was done. ¡°Dealing with the Qing triad. Oh right, Jiji, can you dig out information on Gu Xijin in America?¡±

    ¡°Gu Xijin? Give me two minutes, Beauty Qiao,¡± Jiji replied immediately.

    ***

    When us saw the news and documents sent to him by Gu Xiqiao, the corners of his mouth twitched as he muttered, ¡°Miss Gu has finally made her move. Qing triad, I really pity you right now...¡±

    Thinking about all that had happened in the past two days, us felt like he was still in a dream, because everything had happened so fast. ude was really locked up? Seriously, no matter how long he thought about it, he still felt like he was dreaming. As he thought about it, he went about carrying out the instructions that Gu Xiqiao had given him.

    ***

    Following the political changes in the country, the gangs also experienced turmoil on their side.

    The Bai gang.

    ¡°Boss, the people in the Qing triad have gotten more ruthless ever since they lost the Dickens family as their backer. Their gang also seemed to know everything that¡¯s going on. They¡¯re buying stocks and investing in funds, they¡¯re being seriously arrogant andcent!¡± A young man standing beside the gang¡¯s leader said, helplessness in his voice. ¡°Why hasn¡¯t Miss Gu made her move yet?¡±

    ¡°The Qing triad used to rely exclusively on the Dickens family to help them, now that they don¡¯t have that anymore, it¡¯s obvious that they have to start working on getting their own funds.¡± The gang leader said with a smile on his face. ¡°Also, who said that she hasn¡¯t made a move yet?¡±

    ¡°Has she done something?¡± The young man¡¯s eyes widened. Why didn¡¯t he know anything about it?

    ¡°Did you have fun watching that coup d¡¯etat?¡± The Bai Gang leader smiled faintly.

    When the gang leader mentioned this matter, the young man¡¯s eye lit up. ¡°It was extremely entertaining! For ude and those people sitting at the top of the pyramid to be toppled over, just like that! I also saw us saying that it was all thanks to one person, that person is so amazing!¡±

    ¡°Other than Miss Gu, who else would be able to do that?¡± The Bai gang leader said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the young man.

    The young man¡¯s smile faded slowly, looking at the older man with surprise and a hint of horror in his eyes. ¡°No... no way!¡±

    That was the political circle of America!

    How could she shuffle the cards just because she said so!

    The young man couldn¡¯t bring himself to believe it at first, but then he thought about the Bai gang back in Imperial City, as well as Nine Heavens...

    Suddenly, he felt like Miss Gu really was the only existence that could make these things possible!

    ¡°How could the political world of America be shuffled so easily? The only one who can make such an impossible feat possible, is Miss Gu.¡± The Bai gang leader stood up. ¡°Go on and continue watching the show, there¡¯s still more shocking things toe.¡±

 Chapter 338 - You Still Dare To Go Against That Person?

    <h4>Chapter 338: You Still Dare To Go Against That Person?</h4>

    The Dickens family has now changed their head, and were reshuffling their own family members, and didn¡¯t have any time nor energy to bother about the Qing triad. In the eyes of all the other gangs, the Bai gang was on the verge of copse.

    However, the members of the Bai gang didn¡¯t seem to care about it at all, still going about their routines leisurely, as though nothing was wrong.

    Were they out of their minds? Did they really not care about what was happening right now?

    ¡°Gang leader, look at those members of the Bai gang. They¡¯re just so... rxed. Could it be that they have some really powerful big boss behind them?¡± A member from one of the gangs that had cooperated with the Bai gang previously couldn¡¯t help but ask hesitantly, seeing the Bai gang members being so easy-going.

    ¡°Who doesn¡¯t know that the Bai gang people have gone off their rockers? They¡¯ve gone nuts, have you also been affected and gone nuts? The Bai gang is about to be taken over by the Qing triad, if they had any powerful big bosses behind them, they would have already yed that card by now. Why would they wait till thest minute, and still not bring out anything?¡± The gang leaderughed contemptuously.

    The man who just spoke felt a little uneasy inside, but then he said, ¡°Your words are right, but look at the Dickens family, as well as their coup. Didn¡¯t everyone say us was crazy at that time too? But look now, us wasn¡¯t crazy, heunched his counterattack and now he¡¯s head of the Dickens family.¡±

    The gang leader waved his hand dismissively when he heard that. ¡°It¡¯s impossible, absolutely impossible! I¡¯m telling you, the Qing triad is already prepared to take out the Bai gang tonight. I know that members of the Bai gang are really strong, but don¡¯t forget that the Dickens family is backing the Qing triad. Just wait, once the Dickens family gets back on their feet, thends will once again belong to the Qing triad.¡±

    With the way the gang leader was talking, everyone around him was convinced.

    That¡¯s right, there was still the Dickens family¡¯s existence to consider.

    It wasn¡¯t just the gangs who thought this way, even the people on the streets were of the same mind. Whenever any one of them bumped into members of the Bai gang, they turned and walked the other direction, afraid to be mixed up with them.

    But as soon as they said that, someone suddenly came from outside to report. ¡°B-Boss, Dickens... us from the Dickens family has gone to the Bai gang!¡±

    ¡°He went to the Bai gang?¡± The gang leader¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Maybe he¡¯s gone to get rid of the Bai gang for the Qing triad? Come on, let¡¯s go see the show!¡±

    He stood up after saying that, looking excited to head over to the Bai gang.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s gone to give gifts to the Bai gang!¡± The person finished reporting in one breath, an expression that looked close to tears on his face.

    The gang leader¡¯s smile froze on his face, and he turned around, looking at the man. ¡°What? Sending gifts to the Bai gang? Are you sure you didn¡¯t see wrongly?¡±

    ¡°How could I? If you go out and ask now, everyone around knows about it.¡± The young man had tears streaming down his face now. ¡°This is not even the biggest thing, us even wants to name the Bai gang leader a bro, and they look so close to each other.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± The gang leader¡¯s eyes were not the only ones that widened, even those other members of the gang who were present also had wide eyes, disbelief in all of them.

    Forget about the gifts for now, but to even call him a brother?! Oh god, was us looking for death?! A politician openly calling a gang leader brother, wasn¡¯t he afraid of getting pulled off his high horse?!

    Since ancient times,w-abiding people and gangsters have always been ipatible with each other. us¡¯ attitude and actions were confusing everyone, was he really not afraid at all?

    It wasn¡¯t only the gang leader having these thoughts, everyone present gathered here was also of the same mind. The world had gone crazy!

    Was us intending to ruin the entire Dickens family? Would he not regret this decision in the future?!

    But!

    They didn¡¯t expect to hear a more shocking thing!

    Not even ten minutes after us had entered the Bai gang area, another group of people came bearing big gifts. The person was a familiar face that always appeared on the news, a member of the Standing Committee!

    Take note, the Standing Committee of the United States!

    After a member of the Standing Committee, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone else more shocking would appear, right?

    Wrong!

    Group after group appeared, Standing Committee, Chairman, governor!

    Everyone was going nuts as they watched all these peoplee and go, tense and stiff. Why did all these people who they only usually saw on TV appear here suddenly? And they were all acting so courteous and polite to the members of the Bai gang?!

    Everyone could feel that something wasn¡¯t right here!

    Something was really wrong!

    The most taboo thing for politicians was to get involved with gangsters, but now, all of them came bearing gifts for the Bai gang in broad daylight?! And they didn¡¯t seem afraid of people finding out?

    You have to understand, even when ude was helping the Qing triad, he did it in secret and only behind the scenes, not daring to show his face for fear that the public would find out. Even the people gathered here only knew that the Qing triad had the Dicken family¡¯s backing when they caught sight of the Qing triad leader and ude walking together by chance.

    But now, all of the politicians were bringing gifts for the Bai gang, and being so polite. God, what the h*ll was this Bai gang?!

    The stream of politicians continued endlessly, all the way into the night.

    Once they left, only did the other gang members finallye back to themselves. The entire afternoon, they had sat outside the doors of the Bai gang, watching dumbfounded as politicians who often appeared on national TVe and go. They were stunned speechless.

    After that, they were immediately thrown into an inexplicable panic!

    Why was it that so many politicians hade to the Bai gang, so easily showing their faces as though they didn¡¯t care? It looks like the Bai gang wasn¡¯t as simple as they thought!

    But if that was the case, then why was the Bai gang being pressured by the Qing triad to this extent? They obviously had a lot of power, so why didn¡¯t they show their hands in the first ce, and let the Qing triad bully them like this?

    Those gangs who had broken off rtionships with the Bai gang were now filled with regret and horror, especially the gang that mocked the Bai gang often. The leader¡¯s face was already paled as paper.

    ¡°Big brother, does the Bai gang leader have some time? I have something I would like to talk to him about.¡± The gang members that were gathered outside the Bai gang gates cautiously asked the two guards who were there.

    One of the guards shook his head. ¡°Our gang leader has important things to do right now.¡±

    Those usually proud and arrogant gang leaders were acting all careful with the guards outside the door, and they didn¡¯t say anything against getting rejected that way. They smiled instead. ¡°Ah, I see. Then I¡¯lle back another time.¡±

    As soon as those gang leaders turned around, the smile slid off their faces, and they sobered up. The bitterness grew on their faces and in their hearts.

    Who would have known that a small gang like the Bai gang would one day be like this? With all the support of the politicians, who would dare to go against them? At this rate, the powers among the American gangs would be reshuffled.

    Those who didn¡¯t know what was going on, were surprised to see the polite attitudes that those gang leaders were showing the guards of the Bai gang.

    The guards standing outside the Bai gang didn¡¯t really feel anything at this, because they had been numb the entire afternoon. Compared to the other guests that they had received this afternoon, these little gang leaders were nothing!

    One of the guards leaned against the door, a deep sigh from the bottom of his hearting out from his mouth. ¡°Those gang leaders all had their noses in the air when they looked at us just a few days ago. Look at them now, being all polite and nice to us now.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obviously because they saw the stream of politicians before this.¡± The other guard was still in a daze. ¡°I¡¯m still in disbelief now. Why do you think those politicians, who are usually only seen on TV, appear here suddenly? Aren¡¯t they afraid of being caught on photos by those reporters?¡±

    Wasn¡¯t it bad for their image if they were?

    ¡°Do you know why they came here?¡± The guard leaning on the door said, his voice low. ¡°Of course it¡¯s to see Miss Gu.¡±

    That¡¯s right, it¡¯s because of Gu Xiqiao! Because Gu Xiqiao was here in the Bai gang today!

    All the politicians wanted to meet Gu Xiqiao, but was she someone who you could meet, just because you wanted to? us¡¯ mouth was so zipped so tightly you couldn¡¯t even pry it out of him no matter how hard you tried.

    Then today, they suddenly got news that us had gone to see that person!

    Though it was a gathering ce for gangsters, these politicians didn¡¯t care one bit, all because they wanted to see that person.

    That one was a real god, being able to rub shoulders and shine her shoes was worth everything they had to do.

    Some people had a hopeful attitude when they came. Look at us, who was originally just an ordinary heir, or rather an heir that had been beaten to the ground by ude. But, because of that person, us had done the impossible and turned the tables around. Not only did he do that,unching a counterattack and taking it back, he had also be a very good leader. He waspletely different from the old him! No one would believe that it wasn¡¯t because of that person.

    And that¡¯s why those people came with a hopeful attitude to meet Gu Xiqiao. What if they caught that person¡¯s eye? What if she liked them? What if they got on her bad side? Who knows what would happen?

    There were also some who had offended Gu Xiqiao without knowing previously. In the beginning when they had no way to meet her, they were worried inside every day, afraid that one day they would be the next one to be sent to the National Security Bureau, that wouldn¡¯t be fun at all.

    When they knew that us was going to see that person, they immediately followed after him. After inquiring and finding out that that person liked Chinese antiques and whatnot, they went around looking for these things one by one.

    In that instant, the entire America¡¯s stock of Chinese antiques were cleared out!

    ***

    Inside the Bai gang, a group of people was in a simr state as the guard standing outside.

    us was still inside the house, and he looked at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Miss Gu, are there any other instructions you want us to carry out? Or do you want me to just get some people to round up the Qing triad?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Gu Xiqiao opened another box, revealing a piece of sheep-fat white jade which was in a good condition. The color and luster of the jade was smooth and shiny, which matched her slender white fingers.

    us thought about it, then realized that, that¡¯s right, if he were to wipe out the Qing triad just like that, where was the fun in that?

    He was still in shock about what had just happened. Those politicians actually came here, and this had never happened in the history of America,, right? That was the instant that us realized how much influence Gu Xiqiao held in the political circles of America.

    Now that the day was gettingte, us thought a bit more before saying, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll leave and head back first.¡±

    The Bai gang leader stood up immediately to send him off. Though shocked at the start, the Bai gang leader was able to calmly treat us now, and he sent him off politely..

    ¡°Bai gang leader, if you have any problems, juste to me in the future. Miss Gu¡¯s business is my business.¡± us told the Bai gang leader before he left, and he also added, ¡°Don¡¯t need to be so reserved with me, we¡¯re brothers after all.¡±

    If it were in the past, what politician would say these words to a gang leader? Law abiding people and gangsters have always been ipatible with each other since ancient times after all.

    The Bai gang leader was already indifferent to his, feeling like nothing else could shock him anymore. He replied calmly, ¡°Thank you, Lord us.¡±

    us patted his shoulder, then turned around and left.

    After seeing him off, the Bai gang leader returned to the gang. Then, just like all the other members in the gang, he looked at Gu Xiqiao with admiration on his face.

    ¡°Boss, you said there were more shocking things, but this shock has already stunned me to the point I¡¯m speechless.¡± A young man that seemed to be in a daze said. He had seen so many public figures that frequently appeared on the news, and more importantly, there was also a person from the Supervision Department that hade. The moment they saw him, the underlings of the Bai gang subconsciously felt that he was here to arrest them all.

    But they didn¡¯t expect that all these people hade here bearing gifts instead!

    The leader of the Bai gang smiled, and he looked at the young man, his tone proud as he said, ¡°Did you see that, us from the Dickens family respects Miss Gu so much. I¡¯ve already prepared you mentally. For all those important people toe to the Bai gang, only Miss Gu would be able to do that.¡±

    The other members of the Bai gang didn¡¯t doubt his words for a second, and believed it with all their hearts. They also had a new understanding of Gu Xiqiao.

    In their hearts, Gu Xiqiao was already a godlike figure, there was nothing in the world that she wasn¡¯t able to do!

    ¡°Bai Gang Leader, who is that man beside Miss Gu?¡± The young man couldn¡¯t help but ask after seeing Gu Xiqiao leaving with Jiang Shuxuan at her side.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The Bai gang leader shook his head. ¡°However, did you hear what us called him? Young Master Jiang. He shouldn¡¯t be any ordinarymoner. How could any ordinary person stand beside Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Then, who do you think is the greater one between the two?¡± The young man suddenly thought of this question. He felt that Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯t seemed like anything special, apart from the fact that he was a little cold.

    The Bai gang leader was silent for a while, before shaking his head again. ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±

    The young man suddenly said on a whim, ¡°Do you think he¡¯s just a pretty face for disy on her arms?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t like there was anyone greater than Miss Gu in this world anyway, was what the young man thought inside.

    News of what happened at the Bai gang had already reached the Qing triad, and the Qing triad, who had been calmed all the way, finally couldn¡¯t sit still anymore.

    Especially Gu Xijin. She got someone to stop the member of the Supervision Department that had dropped by the Bai gang that afternoon, and pulled out a USB. ¡°This is a recording of you visiting the Bai gang, if I were to release it, it¡¯ll be a massive bacsh for you.¡±

    ¡°A recording?¡± The member of the Supervision Department raised an eyebrow as he stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°Yes, as long as you help me get rid of the Bai gang, I¡¯ll return this to you.¡± Gu Xijin said, a sinister smile on her face.

    Hearing Gu Xijin¡¯s words, the man looked at her as though she was the biggest fool on Earth, and then turned around to leave, not bothered to entertain her any further.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of this getting exposed?!¡± Gu Xijin didn¡¯t expect that there was not a hint of fear or panic on the man¡¯s face, and her heart sank.

    ¡°Oh, just do that if you want.¡± The member of the Supervision Department said, waving his hand dismissively. So what if that video got out? That person had stirred up the entire political world of America, and no one had done anything to her. Didn¡¯t that mean that this matter no longer required any more exnation?

    And yet, you still want to talk about exposing this? Even if it were released, do you think any reporters would dare to write and publish it?

    Thinking about this, the man gave a backward nce at Gu Xijin. With just a video recording, such a mild method, and you still dare to go against that person?

 Chapter 339 - You Want To Use Lightning To Play With Me?

    <h4>Chapter 339: You Want To Use Lightning To y With Me?</h4>

    Gu Xijin wasn¡¯t expecting the man from the Supervision Department to react this way. She was stunned for a long time before finallying back to herself, and by that time, the man had already left.

    She bit her lip and her eyes shed dangerously.

    ¡°Miss Ah Jin.¡± A man said from behind her in a whisper. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    It was bad enough that the Dickens family had changed their person in power to us, now he was even helping the Bai gang. Their Qing triad¡¯s territory was now in danger. It was fine if the Dickens family were the only ones supporting them, but they had basically seen all the top politicians in America dropping by this afternoon.

    Thinking about how they had been abusing the Bai gang just a few days ago, the man couldn¡¯t help the shivers that wrecked his body. There was fear in his eyes, as well as despair that he couldn¡¯t hide.

    At this moment, the other gangs in these ces would definitely lean towards the Bai gang, and the Qing triad would...

    ¡°ude that trash, with his intelligence tripled, he still managed to get used like this!¡± Gu Xijin¡¯s face darkened again. She took out her phone, and came across a picture of Gu Xiqiao walking in the ce. She seemed to have thought of something once she saw this, and she said, ¡°Gu Xiqiao... let¡¯s go back!¡±

    What happened in the Bai gang had already spread on the roads, and they didn¡¯t need to do anything for it to spread. Countless people rushed to contribute things to the Bai gang too, because¡ªthey were scared!

    That¡¯s right, scared!

    So many politicians had visited the Bai gang, and each of them came bearing gifts, and everyone could understand the significance of this. The Bai gang had someone extremely powerful behind them, backing them!

    So now, the Qing triad would have bad days!

    In just a single day, the situation had turned around!

    ¡°Miss Ah Jin, the east side of our territory has been taken back by the Bai gang.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ah Jin, two-thirds of our brothers have left the gang.¡±

    ¡°Miss Ah Jin...¡±

    Gu Xijin watched little by little as the established forces were slowly torn down by the Bai gang, it had just taken two days to tear down a month of effort, and she bit her lip harder at the thought.

    She already knew that the Bai gang was under Gu Xiqiao, and she naturally knew that all of this had been orchestrated by Gu Xiqiao.

    At the start, the Bai gang had almost been wiped out, but not a single one of them left even though Gu Xijin had tried to entice them over. Now, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t do anything, the Qing triad was even in a better condition, but two-thirds of the members had left!

    There was nothing more disappointing than watching the people in the gang leaving one by one, and the feeling lingered in Gu Xijin¡¯s mind. She felt like she was going out of her mind!

    Gu Xiqiao was erasing her hope bit by bit.

    No, there was still some hope! Gu Xijin raised her head suddenly.

    ¡°The boss of Qing triad is looking for me?¡± When Gu Xiqiao received the call from the leader of the Bai gang, she was ying with a few jade stones on a table.

    The Bai gang¡¯s leader¡¯s voice was low on the other end. ¡°Yes, Miss Gu. She said she¡¯s your elder sister, but... she seems a bit strange.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I understand. Wait a bit, I¡¯ll be there.¡± Gu Xiqiao hung up the phone, her eyes shing.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s voice came from behind her.

    Gu Xiqiao shoved her phone into her pocket. ¡°The Bai gang is looking for me, are you about done with the zoo side?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll change my clothes and go with you, wait a while for me.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nodded his head, and took off his coat. He then went upstairs to take another coat, and came down to go with Gu Xiqiao.

    The two of them went together to the Bai gang.

    When Gu Xijin had first arrived, the Bai gang leader hadn¡¯t intended to inform her about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s whereabouts. The Qing triad didn¡¯t have the Dicken¡¯s family¡¯s backing anymore, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to do any funny things behind their backs anymore. The Bai gang could thwart the entire Qing triad based on their own strength.

    However, Gu Xijin said that she was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s elder sister, which made the Bai gang¡¯s leader hesitate for a moment. That was the reason he finally gave a call to Gu Xiqiao, and he didn¡¯t expect her to reallye over.

    After hanging up the phone, the Bai gang studied the girl in front of him. She was very pretty, but her face was gloomy, and she looked nothing like Gu Xiqiao. How could this kind of person be Miss Gu¡¯s sister?

    The leader of the Bai gang was puzzled, then his gaze shifted to the person next to her. It was a tall, strong man with powerful muscles, but his eyes were blood red, shining like a demon¡¯s. It was the strange light that made the Bai gang leader feel that something was off.

    There were only two people who came from Qing triad. One of them was Gu Xijin, and the other member was this young man.

    Creak!

    The door to the Bai gang opened slowly.

    All eyes in the room looked towards the door, watching as the people from outside came in.

    Two figures came in with a gust of cold wind, a man with a snow-whiteplexion, and a female with a stunning appearance.

    Everyone in the Bai gang was looking at Gu Xiqiao with excitement in their eyes. The number of times they could see her in person was simply too few, and her being here would obviously lift up their spirits!

    Because they could feel proud and conceited!

    A powerful boss, one that no one could contend with. In the past few days, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name had been whispered by the majority of the people here, and the others who weren¡¯t aware of who she was were also curious, and they also couldn¡¯t help but admire this person. But they never could have imagined that they would be able to see her incredible strength with their own eyes?

    Her strength was undoubtedly tyrannical, and only a few people couldpare to her intelligence. With just herself, she had turned the entire political circle of the United States around, strategizing stunning, vigorous battles, wave after wave.

    This war without bloodshed was something that the entire United States had to admire her for, and now when the members of the Bai gang walked out and heard people talking about this matter, they couldn¡¯t help but stand taller, wanting to proudly boast that that was their Miss Gu! That was their boss!

    ¡°Gu Xijin, we meet again.¡± Gu Xiqiao took the seat that the Bai gang leader had just vacated for her, and she shed a smile at Gu Xijin who was standing in the middle of the room. However, the smile on her face didn¡¯t reach her eyes.

    There was even a hint of coldness in them, and her clear eyes seemed to be covered in ayer of frost.

    ¡°Sister, it¡¯s been a while. You don¡¯t even call me ¡®elder sister¡¯ anymore.¡± Gu Xijin smiled gently, but before her smile could even form fully on her face, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s chilling eyesnded on her.

    Gu Xijin¡¯s smile froze halfway, and panic made way into her heart. Her hands and legs felt like ice, and the most terrifying memory of her life came flooding back into mind. How could she forget? When she was first sent to America by the Gu family, this man hade for her, crushing all ten of her fingers, painfully and slowly, one by one, making her a useless person by the end of the entire process!

    How could she easily forget the fear and pain that she had felt?

    But before the fear fully formed, the man¡¯s chilling gaze turned away, as though he didn¡¯t recognize her at all.

    Gu XIjin¡¯s nails dug into her palms as she clenched her fist hard. She nced at the young man beside her, until he nodded so slightly that it was invisible. Then she turned to Gu Xiqiao with a smile forming on her lips which looked so genuine. ¡°Sister, I came here today to tell you a secret.¡±

    ¡°Just say it then.¡± Gu Xiqiao ced her chin on her palm, looking at the girl with an indifferent expression on her face, not a single hint of curiosity in her face.

    Knowing that Gu Xiqiao would react this way, Gu Xijin smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know why the Gu family, and even your mother abandoned you in the beginning?¡±

    If this had been in the past, Gu Xiqiao would be dying to know. But it had been such a long time now, and she was no longer interested. More importantly, she knew that this was all just a set up by someone, a game that had been started the moment she was born.

    Looking at Gu Xijin¡¯s face, Gu Xiqiao suddenly changed her mind. She looked to the bloody eyed young man beside her, and walked to Gu Xijin¡¯s side. ¡°Alright, tell me.¡±

    Gu Xijin smiled, raising her head to look at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Obviously because, Gu Xiqiao, I am no longer a regr person. Go to h*ll!¡±

    Boom!

    A purple thick lightning bolt broke through the roof, mming straight down towards Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head!

    ¡°Miss Gu! Look out!¡± Everyone in the Bai gang shouted in horror.

    Boom!

    The lightning bolt which was as thin as a finger, suddenly expanded to be as thick as an arm!

    When Gu Xijin saw the change in the bolt, her eyes widened with surprise. She had never summoned such a thick bolt before, which such thickness, it would probably be enough to kill everyone gathered here!

    She didn¡¯t see the young man¡¯s face beside her, how his blood-red eyes had widened in shock when the lightning bolt expanded.

    He never expected that Gu Xijin would be able to summon thunder and lightning? Oh my god, was she even still an ordinary human?! But in the next moment, he felt a stab of fear for Gu Xiqiao. They knew that she wasn¡¯t an ordinary person, but they had never seen her in action, and they thought that she would be able to handle it.

    They saw Gu Xiqiao standing rooted to the spot in the middle of the room, motionless. It looked like she had been frightened to death by the lightning, and was not making any moves.

    Miss Gu, you can¡¯t be like this at this time!

    Countless members of the Bai gang were of the same mind, and some even got to their feet, intending to rush towards her to help.

    But suddenly¡ª

    The thick bolt of lightning did indeed strike down, but it didn¡¯tnd on Gu Xiqiao. She stretched out her left hand, and easily, grabbed the thick bolt with her bare hand.

    The horrified expressions of the Bai gang members instantly changed to shock, their mouths hanging open as their eyeballs widened so much that it threatened to pop out of their sockets!

    Their... their Miss Gu had just grabbed it with her hand?

    F*ck, what the h*ll was this situation?!

    ¡°Are my eyes ying tricks on me?¡± A member beside the Bai gang leader muttered quietly under his breath.

    The Bai gang leader was also in a state of disbelief. ¡°I finally understand why the people in the gang say that you should never try to estimate how strong Miss Gu is, because you don¡¯t even know where her limit is at.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re actually following such a boss?¡±

    Another person spoke, his voice light, ¡°Brother, when you think of the terrifying strength that the Peace Squad has, and thenpare it to Miss Gu¡¯s, it¡¯s still not something that you can easily ept.¡±

    The members of the Bai gang could almost feel their souls leaving their bodies.

    Gu Xijin wasn¡¯t faring any better. The smug look on her face had morphed into astonishment and disbelief. She looked at the thick lightning bolt still in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, and she was going out of her mind. How was that possible? How was that possible?! She wasn¡¯t an ordinary person anymore, she could summon thunder and lightning, but, but why was Gu Xiqiao able to hold it with her bare hands?!

    The purple bolt in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s slender, white hands crackled lightly. The light reflected on her snow-white face, giving her a mysterious look. She watched the lightning for a while, before raising her head, amusement dancing in her clear, onyx eyes as she looked at Gu Xijin, ¡°And here I was thinking what was it that you had up your sleeves, but that¡¯s it? You want to use lightning to y with me?¡±

    Before Gu Xijin¡¯s disbelieving eyes, the thunderbolt in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands had easily bent to her will, and she used it to tie her up!

    If there was anyone from the ancient martial arts world or the Peace Squad present, they would definitely be rolling their eyes right now.

    Of all the things to do, you chose to use lightning against Gu Xiqiao? Are you really that impatient for death? Didn¡¯t you know that Gu Xiqiao was the master of all masters at controlling thunder and lightning?!

    However, everyone on the scene except Jiang Shxuuan wasn¡¯t aware of that fact, and so all of their eyes were on Gu Xiqiao, looking at her like she was some kind of monster!

    Gu Xijin¡¯s attention was still on the thunderbolt that was now wrapped around her, limiting her movements. It had been difficult for her to even control that much, but it seemed to being alive in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. Gu Xiqiao had once again effortlessly shattered all her hopes!

    In that instant, she finally understood the gap between herself and Gu Xiqiao!

    One was the sky, and one was the earth. No matter how much work she put in, or how much stronger she became, she would never be able to catch up to Gu Xiqiao, and would fall far behind her. All her efforts were practically a jokepared to her!

    She had thought that she was strong enough, but Gu Xiqiao was even stronger!

    The thought never urred to Gu Xijin, that if Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t this strong, would all the political leaders of the United States be so obedient towards her?

 Chapter 340 - What Kind Of Place Had He Come To?

    <h4>Chapter 340: What Kind Of ce Had He Come To?</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao ced Gu Xijin to the side, turning to the young man with red eyes beside her instead.

    When he saw her gaze on him, his heart pounded fiercely in his ribcage. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s actions had terrified him. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m merely an ordinary person, and I¡¯m not here to give any trouble to you. I¡¯m also not from the Qing triad, I¡¯m here only because Gu Xijin forced me toe here.¡±

    His tone was calm, but there was an obvious tension in both his eyes and shoulders.

    ¡°Why would she force you toe?¡± Gu Xiqiao had returned to her seat, her eyes still on the young man.

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had no intentions to kill him or harm him, the red eyed young man let out a breath of relief. Noticing that Gu Xiqiao was waiting for an exnation from him, he immediately replied, ¡°My sister is in her hands.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head.

    With Gu Xiqiao seemingly believing his words, his heart started to calm down. But before it could settlepletely, a deep, cold and clear voice spoke, ¡°Just now, you boosted her power levels by three times. How were you able to do that?¡±

    When the words were spoken, the heart that had slowed to a regr beat suddenly jumped to his throat once again. He raised his head, looking at the person who had spoken, bbergasted.

    It was the man who had a cold, jade face. His dark, coal eyes were as cold as ice, and it seemed to pierce through his very soul when the man looked at him.

    The young man squeezed his fist unconsciously, but replied as calmly as he could, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at the young man, then lowered his eyes as he turned the white porcin teacup in his hands, not saying another word.

    His demeanor was indifferent, as though he didn¡¯t really care when he asked the question in the first ce.

    ¡°The First Hospital,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, turning to Jiang Shuxuan with a smile on her face, then to the Bai gang leader. ¡°The VIP ward on the fifteenth floor.¡±

    Hearing those words from Gu Xiqiao, the young man¡¯s face paled instantly. His head snapped up, his hands trembling as something shed in his eyes. ¡°What are you going to do?!¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Gu Xiqiao, looking at her fingers with a disinterested look. ¡°The person behind ude was you, wasn¡¯t it? You also helped the Qing triad, and also the one who helped Gu Xijin? To be able to instantly triple someone¡¯s power, your talent is indeed quite an impossible feat.¡±

    Since Gu Xiqiao had rattled off the hospital and ward number, and could tell his abilities, the young man didn¡¯t feel fazed now. Compared to just a moment ago, all he could feel was an unusual calm. ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s my ability.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao finally straightened up in her seat, her eyes fixed on him. ¡°I need you to do something for me.¡±

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve already fallen into your hands, it isn¡¯t like I have a choice.¡± The young man said, slightly bitter. ¡°What do you want me to do? Triple your powers? My ability has a time limit, and it can hold for at most an hour. Any longer and I would fall into a state of weakness.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t need your ability, what I need you to help me with is another matter. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    She didn¡¯t need his ability? How was that possible? The red-eyed young man watched Gu Xiqiao walk off, disbelief clear in his eyes. There was no one who had note to him for his ability?! Humans were all greedy creatures without exceptions, and the young man had thoroughly understood this fact in the time he had been here.

    ¡°Why are you still here?¡± The Bai gang leader asked, seeing the young man still rooted to the spot, snapping him out of his daze. ¡°Miss Gu has already left.¡±

    The young man blinked, looking at Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s retreating backs. He pursed his lips, then moved to follow them without another word.

    After the three had left, all the members of the Bai gang present remained motionless for a few more minutes, before finally starting to react to what they had seen. The young man beside the Bai gang leader swallowed heavily. ¡°B-B-Boss, has Miss Gu left?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s gone.¡± The Bai gang leader turned away from where the three had left, and though his voice was calm, his legs felt like jelly.

    The young man looked down at Gu Xijin, who was still bound tightly by the purple lightning. The lightning around her told him that what had transpired was definitely not a dream. ¡°Then... what should we do with this?¡±

    ¡°Can you untie that? Just leave it and wait for Miss Gu toe back.¡± The Bai gang leader said quietly.

    Then he took out his phone, taking a picture of Gu Xijin in that state.

    [Headquarters Group]

    America¡¯s Bai Gang: [JPEG] This person wanted to y lightning with Miss Gu, and she did this to her. Not only did Miss Gue here, she shocked everyone the moment she did. The United States has already been broken by her.

    Big Boss Bai: Miss Gu¡¯s methods are as vicious as ever.

    Wu Hongwen: ying with lightning with her? Woah, this person¡¯s really digging her own grave!

    Wu Hongwen: Wait a sec, isn¡¯t that Gu Xijin?!

    Xiao Yun: Can you guys fight properly?

    Peace Squad Member: I came here when I saw Miss Gu. Sigh, sadly we¡¯re not capable enough, otherwise we¡¯d also go over there with her, since it looks so fun.

    Gu Xiqiao: Sure,e over tomorrow.

    Everyone: Miss Gu!

    Wu Hongwen: Can we reallye?!

    Yao Jiamu: Everyone should take the chance to properly train during this time.

    The American leader of the Bai gang wiped the imaginary cold sweat off his face when he saw the piles of messages in the group.

    ¡°Boss, what¡¯s the matter?¡± The same young man by his side asked when he saw the state the gang leader was in.

    ¡°The entire Peace Squad will being.¡± There was a little distress in his heart as he said that. ¡°Miss Gu alone is already scary enough, if you add on the entire Peace Squad... it looks like things are getting real interesting soon.¡±

    To think that even the Peace Squad wereing here, the Bai gang leader felt like something big would definitely be happening in America.

    ***

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± The young man with blood-red eyes asked as they both got into a ck car. The back seat door was open, and he couldn¡¯t help but ask in a low voice, looking at Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan narrowed a pair of cold eyes, ayer of frost appearing in them as he said, ¡°Believe it or not, I can make it so that you¡¯re unable to say another word from now on.¡±

    The cold of his voice seemed to pierce straight to the bottom of his heart when he heard those words!

    The blood drained from the young man¡¯s face, and he took a step back unwittingly. Gu Xiqiao, who was ying with her phone, raised her head and looked towards him, the indifferent expression still on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t think of ying any tricks.¡±

    The two of them were not affected at all?! The red-eyed young man was shocked. Who the heck were they? How were they so terrifying?!

    Only now did he truly feel the horror of the two in front of him, it was like he had been digging his own grave the entire time. He hadn¡¯t had a single doubt that the man could kill him with just a look, and the will to fight against them waspletely lost as he meekly sat in the back seat of the car.

    He had wanted to ask Gu Xiqiao where they were going, but at this moment, the young man didn¡¯t dare to utter another word in this situation.

    The two people in front were too mysterious, and too terrifying.

    The car finally came to a stop outside First Hospital, and the group went up to the fifteenth floor. When they reached the ce, the young man was wary. He looked towards Gu Xiqiao. ¡°What do you want to do here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Gu Xijin didn¡¯t tell you, but ude is in prison right now,¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she looked at him.

    ¡°He¡¯s in prison?¡± The red-eyed young man repeated, disbelief in his voice. How was that possible?! ude had obviously received his help and had taken over as head of the Dickens family, how could he be in prison? But he also knew that Gu Xiqiao had no reason to deceive himself.

    He took out his phone immediately and walked a bit further. The news that was being reported at the moment was really about ude¡¯s dismissal and us¡¯ rise to power.

    In the past two days, he had spared no effort in order to take care of his sister, and had not been paying attention to the outside world. His eyes were wide as he continued to watch. How was that possible? How was someone able to bring ude down?!

    ¡°I will do anything you ask me to, but I have one request.¡± The blood-eyed young man finally said aftering back to himself. ¡°Save my sister.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at him strangely. ¡°What did you think I came here for in the first ce?¡±

    The young man breathed out a sigh of relief, but before he could fully rx, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s next words were like a p in his face. ¡°Go and go through the discharging procedures.¡±

    ¡°Discharge?¡± His head snapped up. ¡°Have you lost your mind?!¡±

    He felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs the moment he said that, as though a pair of invisible hands were wringing his neck. Jiang Shuxuan raised his head slowly, his words were slow as he said, ¡°Go and go through the discharging procedures.¡±

    Frightened by Jiang Shuxuan, the young man went and did as instructed without another word.

    ¡°Wait, you haven¡¯t paid for the three days of hospital stay.¡± Gu Xiqiao tossed him a card and gave him the pin number for it. ¡°Go on.¡±

    It was a diamond credit card that had at least a credit limit of five million, and she just tossed it at him like that so casually. The young man gave Gu Xiqiao a nce before turning around again. The girl was so generous, she shouldn¡¯t be out to harm his sister, was the thought in his mind as he left.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be too kind to these kinds of people,¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, tearing his eyes away from the young man. He lowered his head slightly, the corner of his mouth curling upwards.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. ¡°You¡¯re right Brother Jiang, as always.¡±

    A nurse pushed a cart over, and Jiang Shuxuan pulled her to the side. ¡°What is it that you need his help with?¡± He had been brooding about it since he heard her say these words.

    ¡°It¡¯s one thing that has to be him doing.¡± Gu Xiqiao was insistent.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied indifferently, but his face had obviously gone a hint colder.

    Gu Xiqiao noted the change, and smiled at him again. ¡°However, the reason is because of you.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan felt his heart skip a beat at that, and the dejected feeling faded. ¡°What can he do?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll get his sister.¡±

    When the blood red eyed young man came back, Gu Xiqiao had already taken his sister out. Not only had she taken the girl out, his sister was also acting friendly with Gu Xiqiao. His eyes widened as he pulled his sister, his voice low but cautious, ¡°Joyner!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao merely smiled at him when she heard him, and said nothing.

    Seeing as though she knew what was going on in his mind, the young man was a little embarrassed.

    The ck car slowly pulled onto the road and traffic, and Gu Xiqiao leaned back against the chair she was sitting in. ¡°I¡¯m still not used to the fact that they drive on the opposite side.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be going back in just another two days,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied softly.

    She smiled, then continued to chat with Jiang Shuxuan in a low voice. The red-eyed young man and his sister naturally didn¡¯t understand what they were saying, as they were talking in Chinese.

    The young man looked down at his sister, and spoke in Hebrew. ¡°Do you know who that person is, Joyner? Why did you just simply follow her out?!¡± There was still a stab of fear that went through him when he thought about it.

    ¡°I can feel that she¡¯s not a bad person, Brother. She¡¯s better than the two before this.¡± Joyner¡¯s clear, blue eyes that resembled translucent ss had no hint of doubt as she spoke.

    The red-eyed young man knew that his sister had a strong perception of a person¡¯s state of mind, and so when he heard this, he fell silent.

    The car finally came to a stop in front of a vi.

    The group came down from the car, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan entered the residence, guiding the other two in.

    As soon as they went in, Cecily came out to greet them. ¡°Qiao Qiao, where have you both been?¡± Then her gaze fell on the young man. ¡°Huh, who are these two?¡±

    ¡°New members.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at Cecily. ¡°I¡¯ll take a shower ande downter.¡±

    ¡°New members? The Peace Squad¡¯s?¡± Once getting affirmation from Gu Xiqiao, she stiffened.

    Jiang Shuxuan spared her a nce, before he too went upstairs.

    Cecily sat down on the sofa, her posture still stiff as she looked at the young man. ¡°Who are you? What¡¯s your name, and where did youe from?¡±

    ¡°ng, my name is ng. This is my sister, Joyner,¡± The young man¡ªng, said in a low voice.

    Cecil stood and watched Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan disappear upstairs, before turning to look at his sister. ¡°Sis, do you have to be so forceful in your questioning?¡±

    ¡°Forceful? Do you know that he¡¯s a new member of the Peace Squad?¡± Cecily¡¯s eyes were still on ng, as though she wanted to see all the secrets that he was hiding inside.

    ¡°A new member of the Peace Squad?¡± Cecil turned his eyes on ng now. ¡°F*ck, I¡¯m so freaking jealous of you. What abilities do you have that caught her eyes? Let¡¯s test it out!¡±

    As he said that, he floated up in mid-air.

    ng, who had been startled as though he had walked into an alien world: ¡°...¡± What kind of ce had hee to?

 Chapter 341 - Who Would Dare To Question Her?

    <h4>Chapter 341: Who Would Dare To Question Her?</h4>

    ¡°You said she took Joyner out of the hospital?¡± Cecily asked, picking up an apple from the table.

    Cecil was looking at ng with envy in his eyes, and he also thought that this person didn¡¯t seem to have any hidden intentions. His sister had just used a few sentences to drag the details of his life out in the open.

    ng nodded his head. ¡°My sister¡¯s not in very good health, and she can¡¯t leave that sterile environment for too long.¡±

    ¡°Did you feel like she was targeting you out of spite at that time?¡± Cecily said, taking a bit of the apple.

    ng pursed his lips, but didn¡¯t reply. He had obviously thought that way at that time.

    But now, he was feeling a little skeptical about the entire thing.

    Cecily had an expression that said ¡®I know something you don¡¯t¡¯. ¡°ng, let me tell you. You¡¯re really really lucky.¡±

    ¡°Lucky?¡± ng lifted his head to look at Cecily in puzzlement, then to Cecil who had wanted to fight against him just a moment ago.

    Before Cecily could say another word, Cecil had pulled out his phone and opened a page, showing it to ng. ¡°Do you see this, this is the president of the International Medical Organization, Mark. You should recognize him, right? You might have even wanted to get him to have a look at your sister¡¯s condition, is that right?¡±

    ng nodded. The president of the medical organization was well-known, and his position wasn¡¯t something just anyone could climb up to.

    ¡°Maybe the president would be jealous and envious of you more than ever right now?¡± Cecily said cooly as she took another bite of the apple.

    ng was now even more confused, turning away from the screen to look at her. What did she mean by that?

    ¡°If Miss Gu¡¯s medical skills in the entire world are said to be second best, then no one would dare to im the first ce.¡± Cecil opened Mark¡¯s social media page. ¡°Look at this, Doctor Mark has wanted to meet Miss Gu for almost three months now, but sadly he missed her when he went to China that one time. I¡¯m telling you, the number of people in the world that want Miss Gu to treat their ailment can be enough to round the earth once. And here she is, asking you to bring your sister out for her to treat, and you¡¯re actually not happy about it?¡±

    ng looked at the page on the phone, it was indeed Dr. Marks¡¯ social media, with the words on it. There was also a photo attached of a cool figure wearing a whiteb coat, holding a scalpel in her slender hands as she performed an operation. ng could obviously recognize this person as Gu Xiqiao.

    His mouth opened, his jaw cking as he read what Dr. Mark had to say about this. Was this really something that proud, arrogant Dr. Mark had said?! He was still in a state of disbelief, and a little dumbfounded at the information that was given to him.

    Sh*t!

    No way!

    That girl looked several years younger than him, right?!

    ng felt a little dizzy and out of breath from the information overload.

    Cecily and Cecil were all for ignoring him at this point, because they were feeling jealous of him from the bottom of their hearts. Cecil was drinking tea while ying a game on his phone, and he was boasting about how great the tea was, and how great the person who made the tea must be.

    Jiji, who was ying on theputer at the side, lifted its head suddenly, saying in a mechanical voice, ¡°Thank you for your praise.¡±

    The sudden voice shocked both ng and Joyner. Both of them turned to look at Jiji with an astonished look on their faces. How was there such an intelligent robot here?

    Cecil, as he was ying his phone, said, ¡°Sis, why did so many things happen in America the past few days that I wasn¡¯t around? Pft...¡±

    He suddenly spat out the mouthful of tea that he had just drunk. ¡°F*ck, look at this news. Why did all these politicians suddenly head to the gangsters¡¯ area? And they¡¯ve even been openly exposed like this, but the higher-ups haven¡¯t bothered to do anything?¡±

    The more he read and watched, the more he couldn¡¯t contain hisughter. ¡°Who the heck did this? Look at this, hurry up, sis!¡±

    ¡°Oh, that one,¡± Cecily said in a disinterested voice as she continued to munch on her apple. ¡°Qiao Qiao had nothing to do in the past few days, so she decided to clean up the political circles. I heard that ude fellow from the Dickens family managed to piss her off, and so when she took him off his throne, she cleaned up the political circles at the same time. Ourmander was especially thankful to her, and even came in person to thank her for it. It solved so many problems that he had been worried about for so long.¡±

    ¡°Oh man, she¡¯s really the only person who would be able to do this.¡± Cecil searched through the contents on the inte for more, and turned to look at Cecily suddenly. ¡°You, why didn¡¯t you call me back sooner then?!¡±

    Cecily snorted coldly. ¡°Who was the one who said he wanted to stay in the legacy base and note back in the first ce?¡±

    They were unaware that their little conversation served like a bomb that had just erupted in ng¡¯s mind.

    The dizziness that he felt was now tenfold. He had already seen the news that Cecil was talking about, but he had been confused, wondering who it was that was able to bring down ude so easily.

    But, he never once imagined that it would turn out to be her!

    There was no one who knew better than him how stable ude¡¯s position was as head of the Dickens family. All those who had opposed ude had been taken care of without much notice and those who were left followed him because they were afraid of the bloody methods that he used!

    In ng¡¯s eyes, ude was a man that didn¡¯t need to fear anyone at all.

    However, such a person who can be said to have no weakness, how was he put into prison by Gu Xiqiao? This matter had be such a big deal.

    Jiji, who was still ying games at the side, suddenly lifted its head and said, ¡°ng, Master Jiang is looking for you. Go upstairs and turn left to the first study room there.¡±

    ng jumped again in his seat at Jiji suddenly speaking to him, and he nced at Joyner once he processed the words. If it was in the past, he would feel insecure about leaving her here alone, but now he waspletely calm. These people were all extraordinary, why would they do anything to him when it didn¡¯t benefit them?

    ng let Joyner know where he was going, then he headed upstairs.

    ***

    In the study, Jiang Shuxuan was sitting in front of theputer and reading a document repeatedly. When ng came in, he stopped what he was doing and lifted his head, his piercing cold eyes on him. ¡°I don¡¯t know why she looked for you, but since you¡¯ll be following her, it¡¯s best if you don¡¯t harbor any ulterior motives.¡±

    The air pressure around him was so strong that ng almost choked, and ayer of cold sweat broke out. ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Go on out, she may go looking for you soon,¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, dismissing him after that.

    After he walked out and closed the door behind him, ng let out a breath of relief.

    Once the door was closed, Jiang Shuxuan leaned back against the chair. He took out a cigarette from the drawer, lightning it up. The smoke curled out as hezily puffed. He didn¡¯t understand why Gu Xiqiao wanted to bring ng along, and he could feel some insecurity surfacing in his heart at the thought.

    He saw his phone lighting up, but he didn¡¯t bother picking it up immediately.

    After taking another puff, he reached out for the device. It was a message that Yi Tong had sent.

    Yi Tong: Big Boss! You don¡¯t know this, but the people in Peace Manor have all gone nuts! The scene of them fighting, even my legs have gone soft looking at them! Every single one of them is cruel and vicious, as expected of the people that Miss Gu has taught!

    Yi Tong: [Video Attached]

    The corner of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mouth curled upwards, and he replied with one sentence: Come to America tomorrow.

    ***

    Yi Tong, who was currently in the ancient martial arts world, jumped up in excitement when he received Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s message. He ran to find Yi Bing. ¡°Yi Bing, Yi Bing! We¡¯re going to be having fun from tomorrow onwards!¡±

    ***

    Once ng exited the room, he bumped into Gu Xiqiao. He was taken aback for a moment, before gathering himself.

    ¡°Miss Gu, as long as you¡¯re willing to save Joyner, I¡¯ll listen to whatever you say from now on,¡± ng said as he looked at her, his face serious and his tone grave.

    Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow at his deration, a hint of amazement in her eyes. Why did this person suddenly seem like an entirely different person?

    ¡°But,¡± ng paused. ¡°I know you¡¯re not an ordinary person, and you know my abilities. I hope that you won¡¯t tell anyone else about my abilities, and that... that Peace Squad. You have to keep this matter a secret.¡±

    To be able to triple a person¡¯s power for a short period was something of an impossible feat, if it was known to others, ng knew that it would be extremely dangerous for him. He didn¡¯t have strength in his body to defend himself, and that was also why he had been so easily controlled by Gu Xijin and ude.

    ¡°I can help you keep it a secret.¡± Gu Xiqiao agreed easily, then she continued in an indifferent voice, ¡°But do you intend to continue on like this for the rest of your life? You shouldn¡¯t be thinking about how to hide your talents right now, but rather how to get stronger. Only by getting stronger that you needn¡¯t be afraid of anyone else, and there would be no need to hide anymore.¡±

    Only by bing stronger will you be able to live freely! This sentence ignited the blood in ng¡¯s veins, but it quickly wilted once again.

    Was that an easy thing to do? ng smiled bitterly, shaking his head. ¡°Miss Gu, you may not know, but it¡¯s extremely difficult to raise my strength. I need a lot of spiritual energy to do it, but where would I find a big amount of energy to absorb?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao merely eyed him for a while, before saying, ¡°Go on downstairs first and wait for me.¡±

    ng nodded, heading downstairs as instructed.

    After a while, Gu Xiqiao finally came down. Everyone was sitting on the sofa, and they looked up to stare at her intently when she appeared.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, the zoo has been cleared out, but what should be done about the surrounding area?¡± Cecily asked. She didn¡¯t know what would happen to the zoo, but it concerned the power world, and no matter what it was, it was a ce where ordinary people wouldn¡¯t be able to survive if anything were to happen.

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about that,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, sitting down on the sofa, taking the cup of tea that Jiji handed to her.

    Cecily¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Then, are we making a move tomorrow?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to handle this, I¡¯ve asked the Peace Squad toe over.¡±

    The Peace Squad?! F*ck! That crazy team?! She actually got them toe here?!

    Cecil narrowed his eyes at that, and suddenly recalled how Gu Xiqiao had brought ten people to the selections to kill, maim and abuse those mythical beasts. The corner of his mouth twitched at that moment, and he turned to Cecily and said with his eyes, ¡®Sis, it looks like this matter has just gotten bigger.¡¯

    Cecily also replied in the same manner: I already had a feeling that it would.

    The two of them scowled, but Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t looking at them anymore, but at ng instead. ¡°You¡¯re too weak, and you need to improve.¡±

    ng: ¡°...¡± He obviously knew that, but was that something so easily rectified just because it was said out loud?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t speak further, but waved her hand. A pile of jade stones suddenly appeared in front of ng. ¡°These jade stones all contain spiritual energy, you can take them all and start cultivating. Also, this,¡± Gu Xiqiao threw a tattered book at him. ¡°I hope that when we meet again, you¡¯ll be able to beat him.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao pointed at Cecil when she said that.

    ¡°That¡¯s all. It¡¯ste, I¡¯m going to bed. There¡¯s still a big fight tomorrow, so goodnight everyone.¡± Gu Xiqiao got up and left for the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she turned around. ¡°Jiji, arrange amodation for ng and Joyner.¡±

    ng was still seated on the sofa, holding the tattered book in his hands. He was in a daze for a long time, staring at the things that she had given him. Even without touching them, he could feel the pure aura that radiated from the jade stones!

    At first, the jade stones that the Dickens family had obtained were also only few and far between, and you could tell how rare jade stones with auras in them were. But, how was Gu Xiqiao able to pull out such a big bunch of them with just a wave of her hands?!

    F*ck, Gu Xiqiao was actually a jade spirit that ransacked the entire earth, right?! ng was stunned speechless.

    ¡°Yo, wake up, ng.¡± Jiji walked over and patted the man on the shoulder.

    ng finally came back to himself at the Jiji¡¯s cold touch, and he was feeling stupid. It felt like the entire world was a fantasy to him now, and he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m just, the shock came a bit too fast. There¡¯s this feeling of not being able to hold it in.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t faint yet. Hurry up and take these and start training. If you aren¡¯t able to achieve the effect that she said to in a few days, Beauty Qiao will torture you to death. Don¡¯t doubt that for a second,¡± Jiji said, eyeing him. ¡°The first two rooms on the right upstairs are yours and your sister¡¯s.¡±

    Cecily and Cecil, who were still seated on the sofa continued to watch with envious eyes. Cecily sniffed slightly. ¡°I¡¯m so freaking jealous of him right now.¡±

    Asking an ordinary person to be able to beat Cecil in a few days! If it was anyone else who had said it, Cecily would definitely have given them a tight p. Were you dreaming, huh?!

    But, the person who said it was Gu Xiqiao! If it was something she said, who would dare to question her?

    In this world, there were only things that she couldn¡¯t think about, but there was nothing she couldn¡¯t do.

    To have trained the people at Peace Manor to this level, Cecily didn¡¯t have the slightest doubt in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words. It seemed that Gu Xiqiao was the only person in the entire universe that was able to do this.

    Cecil looked at ng, and then suddenly said quietly, ¡°Sis, I want to go to Peace Manor too.¡±

 Chapter 342 - Scared Sh*tless Just At The Sight Of Them

    <h4>Chapter 342: Scared Sh*tless Just At The Sight Of Them</h4>

    ¡°You want to go, I want to go even more!¡± Cecily nced at Cecil, before looking at ng. The more she thought about it, the sadder she became, to the point that she was very tempted to reach out and strangle ng.

    As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. Cecily left the room without further prompting.

    Cecil guessed that Cecily must have gone back to the power world as he watched her retreating back, before turning towards Jiji. He slid his face slowly in front of Jiji. ¡°Master Jiji, can I stay here tonight?¡±

    ¡°As long as you can convince Master Jiang, I don¡¯t care what you do.¡± Jiji raised its head, replying to him with a calm voice.

    Cecil was terrified just at the thought of it, and he backed off immediately.

    He stood up then, stating that he too was leaving. Go and talk to Jiang Shuxuan about staying over? Forget it, it wasn¡¯t like he didn¡¯t value his life, alright?

    It was just about ten hours away from the next day anyway, he should go back and get a good rest in the meantime. He wouldn¡¯t get good rest after getting provoked or irritated by those subordinates of Gu Xiqiao anyway.

    After the two left, ng was still sitting at the same spot, still in the same state of daze as he looked at the jade stones on the table.

    He thought that Gu Xiqiao had asked for his help, and had thought that he had gone out of the frying pan and into the fire, trading Gu Xiqiao for ude. But he never imagined that it wasn¡¯t a fire that he had jumped into, but paradise instead. There were just so many spiritual jade stones here... he was still in a state of disbelief.

    Really, he had really struck gold this time!

    ¡°Brother, are you alright?¡± Joyner, who was sitting beside him, poked at him after seeing his immobile form for a long while.

    ng shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± How could he not be fine? He wiped at the moisture that had gathered at the corners of his eyes.

    ¡°Hurry up and train,¡± Jiji said after finishing itsst round in the game. ¡°Don¡¯t bring shame to your future team.¡±

    Hearing Jiji¡¯s words, ng nodded fiercely. Miss Gu had given him this opportunity, he definitely wouldn¡¯t let her down! He immediately walked Joyner to her room, then moved all the jade stones to his own room andpletely immersed himself in his cultivation.

    Downstairs, Jiji was also about to head up, when its phone rang suddenly.

    Xixi: Jiji, what¡¯s happening in America? Yao Jiamu and everyone else suddenly went nuts. Look at the state of me and Dog Feed!

    Xixi: [JPEG] [JPEG]

    Xixi attached two pictures over.

    Jiji opened it and took a look, seeing that it was Xixi and Dog Feed who looked to have been beaten up badly.

    Jiji: I can¡¯t believe that even though you both grew up submerged in malicious aura, you can¡¯t even beat them. At this rate, it wouldn¡¯t be strange if Beauty Qiao doesn¡¯t want you soon.¡±

    After five minutes of waiting, there wasn¡¯t any reply.

    Jiji: I say, can you type faster?

    The reply came almost immediately, as Xixi had chosen to send an audio message instead.

    Xixi: Do you think I¡¯m you? I only have two ws, how am I supposed to type faster?! Also, I don¡¯t dare to use my Blue mes skills, otherwise, how would Yao Jiamu and everyone else be able tond a hit on me with their flimsy techniques!

    Jiji didn¡¯t want to expose Xixi at all in this matter, so it chose to change topic instead.

    Jiji: There¡¯s gonna be a new member in the Peace Squad. Beauty Qiao has given him all the jade that she has in her possession today.

    Ten minutester, Xixi finally replied.

    Xixi: Dog Feed says it wants to fight him.

    Jiji: Good luck to you guys then. ^_^

    Jiji turned off its phone after thatst message, choosing to ignore the two for now.

    The next day, Gu Xiqiao woke up slightlyter than usual. Jiang Shuxuan was already up and about when she came down, and was sitting on the floor next to the sofa, looking at a map.

    ¡°What are you doing, Brother Jiang?¡± Gu Xiqiao had just brushed her teeth, ncing at him and finding that he was looking at the map of America.

    He ced the map on the table, pointing somewhere with his slender fingers. ¡°This ce is too close to the residential area. Even with enhancement and arrays, it won¡¯t stop them from knowing that something is going on here.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao took a look at the area that he had pointed to, and it was indeed too close forfort. Even if the aura didn¡¯t leak out when the time to fight came, the ordinary people around the area would definitely feel the vibrations from the ground.

    ¡°There¡¯ll also be a lot of loud noises from those thugs.¡± Gu Xiqiao was already aware of this fact. ¡°We¡¯re only bothered with the fight, leave the others to the higher-ups of America, they¡¯ll definitely find some suitable reason to exin it.¡±

    ¡°We can do that too.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at the four points drawn on the map, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

    ¡°Jiji, where¡¯s ng?¡± Gu Xiqiao turned her attention towards Jiji, who was researching who-knows-what at the side.

    She hadn¡¯t seen ng, but Joyner was sitting next to Jiji, watching its dexterous hands as it did what it was doing, her clear blue eyes not leaving the sight even for a moment.

    Jiji looked up from the pile of parts it was tinkering with. ¡°Morning, Beauty Qiao. ng¡¯s still in his room, he hasn¡¯te out sincest night.¡±

    So, he was still training. Looks like he was still someone who could listen to reason and be taught, Gu Xiqiao thought as she touched her chin. She then smiled at Joyner. ¡°Joyner, open your mouth.¡±

    Joyner immediately looked up at Gu Xiqiao. She really liked the aura that Gu Xiqiao was giving off, but she didn¡¯t dare toe much closer because of Jiang Shuxuan, and sat next to Jiji instead. There was a hint of surprise in her sapphire eyes when she heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, but she opened her mouth obediently.

    A white light shed on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fingertips, and a white pill appeared. With a flick of her slender white fingers, the pill flew directly into the younger girl¡¯s mouth.

    Jiji saw the startled look on Joyner¡¯s face, but she proceeded to swallow the pill without hesitation. Its mechanical hand paused for a moment, and Jiji muttered, ¡°How clever.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao watched as Joyner swallowed the pill, and sat down in satisfaction to eat the breakfast that Jiji had bought for her. As she ate, she thought about how shocked the person who sold the food to Jiji must have been. Before she could finish eating, Cecily¡¯s call came.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, why aren¡¯t you here yet?¡± Could Cecily not be so anxious? She had arrived at the zoo early in the morning, and had waited a long time but there was still no sign of Gu Xiqiao, and that¡¯s why she gave her a call in the end.

    With the way she had been in a hurry to speak, all she got in reply was in a form of a deep, cold voice. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Even though it was only over the phone, Cecily could practically feel the frostiness of the person on the other end. She couldn¡¯t help but rub her arms for warmth as she stuttered, ¡°Y-Young Master Jiang, where¡¯s Qiao Qiao?¡±

    Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was done with her breakfast and was currently sitting down on the sofa, drinking a cup of milk, he handed the phone over to her.

    Taking the phone from him, Gu Xiqiao repliedzily, ¡°Cecy, we¡¯ll be there at twelve.¡±

    After receiving an answer, Cecily hung up the call after reminding Gu Xiqiao not to forget.

    ¡°Jiji, show me the situation in Japan.¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she swiped through Weibo.

    This time, the outbreak was going to ur in five locations. There wasn¡¯t much time difference between America and Japan, and Gu Xiqiao obviously wanted to be kept updated about the situation in Japan.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been staring at it for a long time, Beauty Qiao,¡± Jiji replied without looking up.

    At this time, Joyner, who was sitting beside Jiji, started to breathe heavily. Sweat poured down her forehead, and it continued on for almost an hour before her breathing finally stabilized. At this point, she seemed to resemble a fish that had just gotten out of water.

    Gu Xiqiao put down the phone in her hands, lifting Joyner¡¯s chin with her fingers. ¡°Go up and take a shower, thene back down and let me take a look at you.¡±

    Joyner felt the strength coursing through her body, feeling stronger than ever. She nodded excitedly, then hurried upstairs to take a shower.

    ¡°Wake him up.¡± Jiang Shuxuan instructed Jiji after taking a look at the time.

    Jiji naturally knew who he was talking about, and set off upstairs immediately to wake ng up. It had just been one night, but ng¡¯s aura had changed significantly, and he looked at Jiji with some excitement on his face when he opened the door.

    ¡°Getting so excited over such a small matter, you¡¯ll be facing even more surprises just by staying at Beauty Qiao¡¯s side,¡± Jiji studied him, and said calmly.

    ng nodded his head, trying hard to conceal his excitement. But when he saw Joyner emerging from the room beside him, her usually pale face flushed with a healthy glow and an energetic look on her face, he was stunned speechless.

    ¡°How are you...¡±

    ¡°Brother, Sister Gu gave me a medicine pill, and I feel like my body is greater than ever.¡± Joyner looked up at ng, her eyes sparkling with joy.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± ng managed to choke out as he was pulled along by Joyner downstairs.

    Downstairs, Gu Xiqiao was still sitting on the sofa, an indifferent expression on her face. When the two came downstairs, Gu Xiqiao beckoned to Joyner toe to her. Stretching out her right hand, she felt Joyner¡¯s pulse. After a long while, she sighed.

    This sigh made ng¡¯s heart jump to his throat.

    Before he could open his mouth to ask, Gu Xiqiao said, in a slightly annoyed tone, ¡°Without the medicalbs, I can¡¯t only patch up so much of your innate weakness for now. When we¡¯re back in China, I¡¯ll treat you thoroughly.¡±

    Joyner nodded her head obediently, but she probably didn¡¯t understand what Gu Xiqiao was talking about.

    But ng understood!

    He had been excited and grateful at first, but now that he had fully processed everything that had happened, he realized that just where Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength actuallyy, and was once again in a state of shock.

    His sister¡¯s sickness had already been looked at by countless famous doctors in America, and she had to live in a sterile room since she was a child. Even though there hadn¡¯t been any progress in the sickness in her, her body continued to only get weaker as the years went by.

    And now, in just a single day, Joyner¡¯s illness had recovered by at least half, from what he could see!

    All because of the medicine pill that Gu Xiqiao had fed Joyner!

    It was then he finally believed Cecil¡¯s words. If her medical skills were considered to be second best in the world, then no one would dare to im to be the first!

    Apart from her, who else could achieve such an impossible feat?

    ng turned his eyes to his sister, and she looked just like any other person right now. He felt as though he was in a dream and had woken up, seeing his sister was better, and his strength had also improved.

    He raised his head, looking at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s annoyed face, and was renderedpletely speechless.

    Curing his sister to this extent in less than a day, and she was disgusted at how ¡®little¡¯ progress it was? ng already wanted to kneel down at her feet in gratitude, okay? He was so grateful to the point that word failed him, and could only feel his mind spinning at lightning speed, and his entire person was about to explode at the many things that happened in such a short span of time.

    However, the only thing he couldn¡¯t conceal was the worship and admiration for Gu Xiqiao in his eyes.

    ¡°Alright, stop being silly in your happiness.¡± Jiji had installed apass on its chest, and was no longer surprised at the people who so easily converted to worshiping Gu Xiqiao anymore by this point. ¡°Hurry up and go, Beauty Qiao and the rest have already left.¡±

    Go? Where were they going? ng hadn¡¯t managed to collect himself, but he still followed Jiji and left the house.

    At the zoo in the capital of America, all the people had been cleared out, and the area was empty.

    There were now dozens of higher-ups of America gathered in this ce. A man with a beard looked towards Cecily, then to the leader of the United States. ¡°Leader, are you really sure a problem will ur here? You believe those words? It¡¯s ridiculous!¡±

    ¡°Patriarch Nali, you shouldn¡¯t doubt Miss Gu¡¯s judgment.¡± The leader of America said, his voice hard and cold.

    ¡°I¡¯m not doubting her words, but look at it, there¡¯s nothing out of ce here in the zoo, how can a problem suddenly ur here?¡± Patriarch Nali was still insistent, and was aggressively trying to prove his point. ¡°And you said they¡¯ll be here at twelve, but where are they? It can¡¯t be that they ran off because they felt guilty, right?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still twenty seconds to twelve.¡± Cecily flicked her wrist, looking at the watch, then ncing at Patriarch Nali with a bored face.

    Gu Xiqiao had the tendency to arrive right on the dot, and Cecily was fully aware of the fact.

    ¡°You...¡± Patriarch Nali was about to say something to Cecily¡¯s words, when a ck car pulled up next to the zoo. The car came to a slow stop, and four people plus one robot stepped down from it.

    The two figures that lead the group were extremely eye-catching, and it wasn¡¯t just because of their attractive appearance. The aura that they exuded was something no one could ignore, and chills shot up their spines when they looked at the two.

    Cecily nced at her watch again, and the number just jumped from 59 to 00 at this moment.

    She smiled to herself, then looked towards Patriarch Nali, who had been so aggressive just a second ago. The other had already closed his mouth, shrinking behind the leader without so much as a peep, a horrified look on his face.

    Weren¡¯t you still having a face full of doubt just now? Didn¡¯t you want to confront Gu Xiqiao just a moment ago? What, were you scared sh*tless just at the sight of them?

 Chapter 343 - Have You Gone Mad?

    <h4>Chapter 343: Have You Gone Mad?</h4>

    ¡°What is it?¡± Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows and asked upon feeling Cecily¡¯s gaze on her.

    Cecily nced at Narry before replyingzily, ¡°Nothing much, I just felt that you can be quite useful sometimes.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao hummed before looking back towards the zoo, where Jiang Shuxuan had already gotten to the gates and was looking over in their direction.

    ¡°Mr. Jiang, what do we need to do now?¡± The leader of America asked as he walked over to Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply to this and only started letting out waves of energy that caused the leader to step back and look up at him in shock.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong leader?¡± Cecily watched as Gu Xiqiao walked over to Jiang Shuxuan and took out a few pieces of jade before walking over to the leader, and was quite taken aback by how absolutely shocked the leader seemed to be.

    The leader wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead as he replied, ¡°Since when did Young Master Jiang be this strong?¡±

    She had thought that something went wrong, but upon hearing that it was because of this, Cecily rolled her eyes and replied, ¡°He already could win against the top ten on the Heaven and Earth Rankings years ago, do you think it¡¯s strange that he¡¯s even stronger now?¡±

    Does he think it¡¯s strange? Was it not?! They were all living on the same and he had been training for much longer than Jiang Shuxuan had, but he would definitely be defeated in an instant!

    ¡°Alright, ¡± Cecily looked over at the blue barrier that had enclosed the area above the zoo and inhaled deeply. ¡°It¡¯s about to start, let¡¯s go.¡±

    There was a tall building right next to the zoo, and right at that moment, many people from the supernatural world of America had already converged on the roof and were watching things go down in the zoo.

    Meanwhile, the jade in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands had already floated into position, and in the next moment the zoo was enveloped in a thick, cloudy fog, and it was clear that the zoo had been enveloped with an array.

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan made their way to the roof too, and Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly as her mental power nketed the entire zoo.

    ¡°She set up an array in such a short time?¡±

    ¡°Oh my God! This is the Microcosmic Array!¡±

    ¡°Sh*t, have I gone crazy?¡±

    ¡°Is she still a human being?!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Such exmations were elicited from the many onlookers as they all looked over at Gu Xiqiao as if she were a rare breed on exhibit in a zoo.

    ¡°Shut up.¡± Jiang Shuxuan turned around and red at them coldly when he saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyebrows furrow in displeasure.

    Those voices immediately disappeared.

    Everyone looked over at the leader with questioning gazes: What, was it illegal to be in awe of this girl? Could they not express their amazement? It¡¯s damn difficult to hold it in!

    The leader replied with a single gaze that said: Why don¡¯t you people reflect on how weak you are instead of acting like country bumpkins?

    Everyone: Well if you¡¯re such a big shot why don¡¯t you go and fight her?

    The leader: ...

    Just as everyone was having this unspoken conversation, Cecily looked towards the sky where a helicopter flew into range, and a dozen figures jumped down from it.

    This scene would have been quite frightening to the regr person¡ªDid these people have a death wish, jumping down from such a height?

    That being said, even the people on the roof were surprised by this scene because it was quite extraordinary even for the likes of superhumans, but when they saw that those people were the subordinates of Jiang Shuxuan, they all felt as if it were natural.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s team of subordinates were at the top of the entire ancient martial arts world, after all!

    Cecily only fixed them all with a pitying stare¡ªWere they so easily surprised? Wait till they saw Qiao Qiao¡¯s Peacekeepers!

    ¡°Sis, did I miss anything?¡± Cecil rushed over and asked upon seeing that the zoo had been enveloped with a thick fog.

    ¡°Nope, no worries.¡± Cecily nced over at Nozawa who came together with Cecil. ¡°So you went to fetch him, I see?¡±

    Cecil breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that he hadn¡¯t missed anything. ¡°He was nearby, so we came together when we heard that Miss Gu was here.¡±

    Cecily nodded curtly and turned back to look in the direction of the zoo, knowing that he didn¡¯t miss out on any of the action. ¡°He was at the base and he heard that Miss Gu would be here, so he said he wanted toe too.¡±

    Meanwhile, Yi Tong, Yi Bing, and Yi Qiao were standing at another corner of the roof where none of the Americans dared to step close to them, and Yi Tong looked over to see ng standing next to Jiji. ¡°Is this the newbie that Miss Gu recruited?¡±

    ¡°Yup, it¡¯s him!¡± Jiji waved its arms around in the air and replied.

    Yi Yong nodded and looked towards ng. ¡°Good luck kid, you¡¯ll get flooded with challengers the moment you step into the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    ng was still quite taken aback by how these people jumped down from a few hundred meters in the air, so he unconsciously shrank into himself. ¡°Challenge me?¡±

    Yi Tong only nced at him with raised eyebrows. Back in the ancient martial arts world, there was an uncountable amount of youngsters that wanted to join the Peacekeepers, and this foreigner that popped out of nowhere got to join, so it was only natural that he would be challenged for his position.

    He didn¡¯t say this out loud, however, and only fixed him with a stare.

    ng felt a chill run down his spine upon being stared at like this, but before he could say anything, a voice came from behind him, ¡°Is Joyner all better?¡±

    ng turned around to see that it was Cecil, and now that the topic had been brought up, he replied with a surprised tone, ¡°I don¡¯t know what it was that Miss Gu fed her, but the illness that gued her for almost ten years was cured halfway just like that!¡±

    ng had expected the others to be shocked by this news, but he hadn¡¯t expected everyone from Cecily to Yi Tong to nod as if this was a perfectly normal urrence.

    ¡°Miss Gu probably didn¡¯t have most of her tools at hand, or else your sister would have been cured in a single day!¡± Yi Tongmented.

    And so, ng¡¯s n to shock them backfired, and he was the one that was shocked once more!

    Huh, did no one think that it was an extraordinary feat? What was this reaction?

    ¡°Yi Tong, Boss wants to see you.¡± Yi Bing leaned close to Yi Tong¡¯s ear and whispered.

    Yi Tong nodded and walked over to Jiang Shuxuan, and Yi Bing was about to go with him before he saw Nozawa and he smirked. ¡°Other than the four locations in America, there was another location that Miss Gu predicted in your country... Mt. Fuji, I believe? Your leader didn¡¯t believe us when we notified him earlier!¡±

    Nozawa¡¯s expression immediately paled considerably, but Yi Bing didn¡¯t exin any further, leaving right after dropping this news.

    Cecily tutted and pat Nozawa¡¯s shoulder sympathetically, but her tone was anything but. ¡°Qiao Qiao said that the cmity would be triggered at the same time at all five locations, poor you!¡±

    Upon hearing what Yi Bing said, Cecil looked towards Nozawa in surprise. ¡°Nozawa, how did you people manage to offend Miss Gu?¡±

    At this point, Nozawa¡¯s expression had turned steely and dark as he took out his phone and walked away to call up the leaders of Japan.

    America and Japan were too far away from each other, so he couldn¡¯t get back there in time, but he was thankfully quite well respected and revered back in Japan. Even though he didn¡¯t get first ce in the ranking battles this time around, he was still quite idolized¡ªWho would me him for losing against Gu Xiqiao, after all?

    ¡°Sis, what¡¯s going on?¡± Cecil had been in the legacy base for the past few days, so he didn¡¯t know what was happening.

    Cecily scoffed lightly. ¡°Those leaders from Japan wanted to pressure the ancient martial arts world into giving up their resources, that¡¯s what!¡±

    ¡°Pfft, they wanted to do that?!¡± Cecil didn¡¯t know what to think about the idiots that wanted to harm the ancient martial arts world that had both Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Did they think that Miss Gu wouldn¡¯t find out? Did they have a death wish?¡±

    ¡°You would think so too, wouldn¡¯t you? Our respected leader wanted to take part in those ns too!¡± Cecily shot a withering re over at the leader of America.

    Cecil looked over at the leader too with a frozen expression, sucking in a cold breath as he processed this news. F*ck, their leader was a part of it too?

    He felt as if a cold, icy de missed his neck by a breadth of a hair.

    The leader of America: ¡®Don¡¯t look at me like that, I¡¯ve already repented...¡¯

    Nozawa had already finished his phone call and was walking back as he rubbed his temples, and upon seeing this Cecil spoke sympathetically, ¡°Are your leaders¡¯ heads made of pig brains?¡±

    Nozawa didn¡¯t know how to reply to this, but if he was quite honest, he was inclined to agree.

    Yi Tong had already finished talking with Jiang Shuxuan when Yi Bing walked over there, and upon seeing this Yi Tong raised his eyebrows. ¡°Yi Bing, are you trying to collect good karma? Why did you tell him that?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu told me to tell him.¡± Yi Bing had already called the leader of Japan before and had been turned away with a cold shoulder, but he still had to carry out what Gu Xiqiao asked him to do dutifully.

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Yi Tong squinted slightly, not thinking that Gu Xiqiao did it purely out of the kindness of her heart, being the sly fox that she was. ¡°What¡¯s she nning?¡±

    Yi Bing shrugged. ¡°Who knows? ...Hey, it¡¯s starting.¡±

    Yi Tong looked over in the direction of the zoo where it had already been covered with a nket of evil aura so thick it was visible, and from the undting ck mass came the animals that had mutated and grown two timesrger than they were initially.

    The animals stampeded out of the zoo, and there was no question that even the most well-trained soldier would be torn apart in a heartbeat.

    Upon seeing this, the leader knew that if they hadn¡¯t believed in Gu Xiqiao, this entire area would have be hell on Earth!

    Even if they knew it wasing, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to build such arge barrier to stop them!

    Upon thinking of this, his back was covered with cold sweat in fear of what would have happened. If Cecily hadn¡¯t told him to pull out of the n and apologize immediately, America would be done for!

    ¡°Leader, why aren¡¯t you sending anyone to kill those monstrosities?!¡± Narry¡¯s legs turned into putty as he looked at this hellish scene.

    The others that were on the roof all nodded too, trembling in fear. ¡°Yes, leader! What¡¯s going on?!¡±

    Narry and the others were all scared out of their mind by those mutated animals, but no matter how much they pleaded, the leader of America didn¡¯t react in the slightest as he looked over at Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Leader, have you gone mad?!¡± Narry and the other onlookers almost pulled out their hair in frustration, and when they looked towards Cecily and Cecil, they realized that the two youngsters seemed to not be worried in the slightest, not reacting in the slightest other than a slight glint of surprise. ¡°Cecily, Cecil, are you two crazy too?!¡±

    Narry felt so horrified at the scene that was unfurling right in front of him that his blood ran cold, but why did none of these people react in the slightest?? Why weren¡¯t Yi Bing and the others doing anything?!

    ¡°Do you think you can kill those monsters?¡± Cecily asked.

    Narry was almost hysteric at this point, and he asked, ¡°No, but are you just going to watch? Are you people just going to wait until they break down the barrier and destroy the entire city?!¡±

    ¡°If I remember correctly, wasn¡¯t a certain someone skeptical of this entire operation?¡± Cecily nced over at him, her words making him lower his head in shame. ¡°Rx, they¡¯re on their way.¡±

    They? Who did she mean?

 Chapter 344 - A True One-Sided Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 344: A True One-Sided Battle!</h4>

    Along with Cecily¡¯s words, Jiji¡¯s movements stopped too, looking towards the sky as they did.

    At that moment, the air above the roof seemed to ripple, and all of a sudden, the sunlight that shone down on them warped slightly as a wormhole appeared in thin air.

    The members of the Peacekeepers all jumped down from midair and arranged themselves neatly into eleven squads.

    The onlookers had been astonished enough by how Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s subordinates showed up, but they were even more surprised when these people appeared out of...A rip in space? Was this teleportation?!

    Before any of them could react, the Peacekeepers all turned towards a single direction and shouted, their voices deafening, ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    The onlookers finally realized that these were Gu Xiqiao¡¯s subordinates, and they wiped the cold sweat off of their foreheads in fright.

    Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes and looked towards the Peacekeepers. ¡°Where¡¯s Xixi and Dog Feed?¡±

    Yao Jiamu¡¯s lips twitched slightly, and as he was about toin that those two ran off halfway the air rippled again.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao, we¡¯re here!¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded, before casting her gaze back at the hellish scene that was unfurling down below. ¡°Look at those beasts, are you scared?¡±

    ¡°No we¡¯re not!¡± Upon being asked, they all refused immediately and looked down towards the zoo. No wonder Miss Gu got them toe here out of nowhere, so it was because she wanted them to fight!

    Even though the mutated animals down below were ferocious and terrifying, all the Peacekeepers were excited and raring for a fight!

    ¡°Damn, as crazy as always, that lot.¡± Yi Tiao¡¯s eyebrow twitched slightly upon seeing their reaction.

    Yi Tong sighed in agreement. ¡°They¡¯re probably the only ones that would dare to go down there.¡±

    One would be hard-pressed to find anyone that would dare go down there in the entire ancient martial arts world excluding Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan, but the Peacekeepers could and would do so!

    Yi Bing looked down at the scene below with a thoughtful gaze. Their team hadn¡¯t known that the scene below would have been like this before they came here, and now that they were face to face with it, even they were taken aback. ¡°Call me crazy, but I¡¯m somehow not worried for them in the slightest.¡±

    ¡°Ditto.¡± Yi Tiao muttered in agreement.

    If it were anyone else, they wouldn¡¯t have thought that a hundred-man team would have even the slightest chance of winning, but these were the Peacekeepers that had been trained by Gu Xiqiao herself! These people were revered all throughout the ancient martial arts world, and no one would question their ability!

    Miss Gu and her Peace Manor could do anything if they set their mind to it!

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Yi Tong asked upon seeing some of the Americans starting to step forwards.

    The Americans replied with a solemn tone, ¡°Mr. Yi Tong, this is a matter of life and death for America, and we can¡¯t just let your people bear the brunt of this attack!¡±

    ¡°Good, I was starting to believe that you guys didn¡¯t have a conscience.¡± Yi Tong waved his hand dismissively. ¡°That being said, you only need to watch the show with the Peacekeepers there, you¡¯d only be a burden if you went down there anyway.¡±

    The Americans all looked at each other dubiously, not sure of what they should do. Who were the Peacekeepers? Why was he so sure that they could deal with this?

    ¡°Alright, Mr. Yi Tong is right.¡± Cecily and the leader of America sounded out in agreement. ¡°Just watch and see.¡±

    Even Cecily and their leader were so confident in these Peacekeepers? Those people looked at each other in surprise before they all walked over to the leader and stood behind him, looking down at the zoo as instructed.

    It was only then that he realized that these squads of youngsters that seemed to emanate limitless power were the Peacekeepers. ¡°So this is the group that Miss Gu recruited me into?¡±

    It seemed to be quite promising!

    At this, he walked over to Gu Xiqiao and lowered his head slightly. ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    He had been under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s many graces, so it was time for him to show that he wasn¡¯t someone that didn¡¯t have a sense of gratitude.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t gone through training yet, so just watch from here okay?¡± Gu Xiqiao knew what he wanted to do, but she refused. ¡°I¡¯ll only let you join the fighting when you can win against Cecil, at least.¡±

    ng didn¡¯t know the point of having him join them if she wasn¡¯t going to allow him to fight, but he digressed.

    The Peacekeepers already knew that there was going to be a new recruit from the loudspeaker Xixi, and upon seeing that ng wasn¡¯t afraid of the scene below in the slightest, they all smiled in approval.

    His personality fit the Peacekeepers well!

    ¡°Thank goodness I got here in time.¡± Li Yu came onto the roof from the stairwell so he was still panting tiredly, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Gu Xiqiao and the others still there.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Yi Tong asked in surprise. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a photoshoot or something, Mister Superstar?¡±

    Li Yu took out his phone and shook it slightly. ¡°I was in the middle of filming a movie nearby, and I got wind that the zoo was locked down, so I knew things were about to go down.¡±

    Along with Li Yu, some people from the Bai gang came to this ce too.

    ¡°Boss, are these the Peacekeepers?¡± One of the members asked upon seeing the squads lined up beside Gu Xiqiao.

    Boss Bai¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t leave Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction as he replied: ¡°Don¡¯t talk.¡±

    Upon seeing this, the member made a gesture of zipping his mouth shut before looking towards the zoo like everyone else.

    And so, the rooftop was filled with an enraptured audience that was waiting in bated breath for the epic battle to start.

    Cecily spared another nce at the people from America, and said, ¡°Look at how they cooperate and fight these monsters!¡±

    She had seen how Gu Xiqiao trained these people back in Baixing Vige, so she knew that just by looking at them fight, they would be able to learn many things that they hadn¡¯t known before.

    Of course, they would also feel a great sense of powerlessness.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, help us maintain the barrier and the array, okay?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked towards Jiang Shuxuan.

    This battle was bound to be a dynamic andrge-scaled one, so if the barrier broke even the leftover shockwaves from the battle would be able to cause mass destruction.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will.¡± Jiang Shuxuan nodded and looked down at her. ¡°Take care of yourself.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, and with a single gesture, she and the Peacekeepers all jumped down towards the zoo!

    Upon catching sight of a living being, one tiger that had mutated to thrice its size immediately pounced towards them!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was as calm and collected as always as a bolt of lightning shot out from above her head and struck the tiger mercilessly, and before the tiger could react it was mmed into the ground by the sheer force of the attack. Meanwhile, the Peacekeepers had found their own targets, and were using their techniques and abilities with abandon.

    Baili Wen trapped a lion and a cobra in an array while one of his teammates struck down at the enemy with a Lightning de!

    ¡°They can utilize sword aura!¡± One of the Americans shouted in surprise before another did too, ¡°Why did thatnce user¡¯s weapon disappear all of a sudden?!¡±

    Yi Tong exined proudly, ¡°That¡¯s one of our martial arts techniques, the Unseen Lance!¡±

    ¡°What the f*ck? I thought that bird and that flower were just Miss Gu¡¯s pets! Why are they so strong?!¡± Someone eximed in disbelief upon seeing Dog Feed swallow a mutated horse.

    Yi Bing looked towards them with a mirthful glint. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong!¡±

    It was one thing for her subordinates to be strong, but why were two pets so unbelievably strong too?!

    At first, they were all eximing and gasping in awe, but soon enough they were all so astonished by what was happening that they couldn¡¯t say a word.

    The squad that was the most ferocious out of all them was the one led by Yao Jiamu, and together with Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen, three of the members with the most power and brutality within all of the Peacekeepers were grouped into the same squad.

    Yao Jiamu used his chi to trap a cobra while Xiao Yun rushed forward and grabbed it before swinging it down mercilessly onto the ground and swinging her fists at it repeatedly and Wu Hongwen followed suit. This mutated cobra that seemed to be terrifying and unbeatable in the eyes of others was immediately turned into a punching bag.

    In the end, that cobra didn¡¯t even struggle anymore and justid there on the ground weakly, letting Yao Jiamu and the others punch it, all thoughts of fighting back lost.

    Another young man swung his de so quickly it could barely be seen in the mass of mutated animals, and the weaker ones were killed by him in an instant.

    But the most terrifying of them all was Gu Xiqiao!

    She walked slowly on the battlefield, looking as if she was just taking a walk in the park as the dust and shockwaves from the battles around her didn¡¯t affect her in the slightest.

    She didn¡¯t attack much, but when she did it was to strike down any animals that tried to fly into the air with a single bolt of lightning or a single swing of her palm.

    It was clear at this point that she was trying to help the Peacekeepers train, and whenever someone couldn¡¯t hold on anymore, she would immediately rush over to them and protect them.

    Xixi and Dog Feed were two indomitable forces on the battlefield as well¡ªXixi shifted into itsrgest form and burnt down enemies into ash with its blue mes and knocked them over with its wings, while Dog Feed chomped down on the enemies with a single gulp before spitting them out again and finding its next target.

    Everyone on the battlefield was greatly cooperative and knew exactly when and where they had to be at a certain ce, and how to fill up the gaps in their formations seamlessly. Even Xixi and Dog Feed always appeared perfectly wherever they were needed, and it was as if the Peacekeepers were a finely tuned battle machine that had everyone sitting at the edge of their seats.

    The mutated animals that had been roaring up a storm not twenty minutes earlier were all pummeled into the ground, and at this point, all one could hear was their painful yelps and moans!

    What just happened?!

    The audience on the rooftop could barely hold in their excitement!

    This scene was way too shocking to be put into words!

    These people had already set their minds on defending their country, and some of them were already prepared to die in battle, but now that they saw this, all they could do was tremble in excitement and hot-blooded fervor!

    This was a true one-sided battle!

    The Peacekeepers used their actions to show that they were unstoppable, invincible, and that they were the true masters of battle in this world! Those beasts were nothing but rag dolls in front of them!

 Chapter 345 - The Aftermath of the Battle

    <h4>Chapter 345: The Aftermath of the Battle</h4>

    ¡°T-They¡¯re too terrifying...¡± It was the first time that the leader of America witnessed the strength of the Peacekeepers, and he was naturally quite overwhelmed.

    The other people from America weren¡¯t doing much better themselves, still not being able to catch their breaths from the scene that seemed straight out of a movie.

    ¡°All of them were killed in an instant...¡± Someone muttered dazedly behind the leader, looking at the carnage that had unfolded in the zoo.

    Other than some of the animals that weren¡¯t affected by the miasma, most of the other animals were there, but now such arge army of animals was defeated in mere moments by the Peacekeepers, with the majority of the mutated animals beaten up so badly that they couldn¡¯t cause any further harm while a few of them were killed.

    If they hadn¡¯t seen this with their own eyes, they would have never believed it!

    But now, they¡¯re own experiences became irrefutable evidence that what they saw was true.

    ¡°They¡¯ve be even stronger than before...¡± Cecily inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down, before she then turned to the leader and said, ¡°Quick, dispatch some people to deal with the zoo. Qiao Qiao doesn¡¯t like to deal with the aftermath.¡±

    As taken aback as he was, the leader quickly turned around and made a call.

    ¡°See that? That was the full strength of Miss Gu¡¯s subordinates!¡± Yi Tong turned around and said to the people who wanted to help out earlier, ¡°Now you know that you wouldn¡¯t have been able to help in the slightest, and that they are the only ones that could have done anything!¡±

    The people who wanted to go to help earlier all looked down in the direction of the zoo in idolization and excitement. Even though the scene below was violent and bloody, all it did was make them even more motivated than ever before! How could they be as strong as the Peacekeepers?

    Cecil saw that they were all excited from what they saw, so he looked at them and said, ¡°Back when we were in the ranking battles, the team that she led was far more brutal than this one! They held back quite a lot, I can say, and you should have seen their battles against mythical beasts in thest two days of the ranking battles! Every time you see them, you think that they must be at their limit and that they couldn¡¯t be any stronger, but they always do!¡±

    Why did he sound regretful?! Was this scene not enough for Young Master Cecil?

    They turned their heads stiffly and looked at Cecil, who had already moved his gaze back towards the zoo calmly. Suddenly, they remembered that Cecil was someone that was in the top twenty rankings of the ranking battles! Someone like that did not need to deceive them.

    Therefore, what he said was true, and this wasn¡¯t the extent of the power of the Peacekeepers!

    After these people realized this, they all gasped in disbelief. Were they not strong enough already? Did they want to be strong enough to fight against the heavens themselves?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that reaction.¡± Cecil nced at them, before pointing at the hellish scene below with a solemn expression. ¡°Did you think that they became so strong just by eating and drinking? Look at this scene, and think! If you knew that you would die if you went down there, would you still go? Are these Peacekeepers strong? They are! But as strong as they are, they still seek to be even stronger no matter the cost! See that guy? He¡¯s called Shi Qin, and remember how he didn¡¯t ask Miss Gu for help even though he was on the brink of copse? He wanted to seek to break through his limits in extreme situations!¡±

    After he said this, everyone lowered their heads in thought. No matter Cecil still locked himself up in the legacy base even though he was so strong, he must have been stimted by these people!

    Upon thinking of this, their gazes all turned resolute and determined. If the Peacekeepers could do it, why couldn¡¯t they?

    The leader of America couldn¡¯t help but sigh upon seeing this change in these youngsters. Miss Gu hadn¡¯t said anything yet and she already had such a positive influence on them, and he could venture a guess that she had such an effect on everyone she came across, and then he thought of how much Cecily and Cecil idolized her...

    ¡°Why was Miss Gu not born in our country?¡± Why was the ancient martial arts world so lucky?

    After the Peacekeepers finished dealing with the mutated animals, they all started chatting and joking with each other just like regr teenagers, and who would think that these youngsters could destroy a city if they so wished?

    Gu Xiqiao walked together with Xiao Yun, and upon seeing a gash on thetter¡¯s arm, she sighed softly and took out a bottle of medicine for her to apply on her wound before she said towards all of the Peacekeepers, ¡°All of our training and battlers are for you guys to be stronger. The great cmity is going toe soon, and I don¡¯t want any of you to be sacrificed in battle. The Peacekeepers are a team, and we won¡¯t leave anyone behind, got it?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice could only be heard by the Peacekeepers, and no one else other than Jiang Shuxuan could hear what she said.

    The Peacekeepers couldn¡¯t help but be affected by these words¡ªEven though they¡¯ve only been in the Peacekeepers for less than four months, they¡¯ve trained together and gone through life and death with each other, and had already passed the point where they treated each other like family. It was true that if any one of them passed away, it would cause the others great pain!

    Therefore, they needed to be even stronger!

    With a few sentences, Gu Xiqiao riled up the hearts of everyone in the Peacekeepers and gave them great motivation!

    ng snapped out of his daze before he looked over at Jiang Shuxuan with a bitter smile. He had been warned not to harbor any ill intentions towards them the day before, but who would have the courage to do so when the Peacekeepers were this strong?

    Honestly, he doubted whether Gu Xiqiao and the Peacekeepers truly needed him in their team.

    He had been confident in his abilities, proud even, but now all of that pride was shattered. As strong as they were, would he even make a difference if he joined them?

    If someone told the past him that he would one day feel inferior because his abilities were too weak, they would probably be returned with a smack in the face. The ability to raise anyone¡¯s talent by three times wasn¡¯t strong enough? Why would he ever be self-conscious?

    Now, he even questioned whether he could increase the abilities of the Peacekeepers threefold.

    Meanwhile, the people from the Bai gang were still in a daze from what they saw.

    Their faces paled and their hands trembled, and even though they knew that the Peacekeepers were strong, but it was only now that they realized that what they saw in their group chats was just the tip of the iceberg.

    They all couldn¡¯t help but shout when they saw the Peacekeepers defeat an elephant the size of a truck!

    This was the true power of the Peacekeepers!

    Boss Bai¡¯s hands trembled as he took a short video and sent it into their group chat.

    [Headquarters]

    American Branch: [Video]

    American Branch: Just watch and see.

    Not one minuteter, the group chat was filled with messages by the other members, wanting him to talk about the details of what had happened earlier.

    Boss Bai put down his phone and looked back towards Gu Xiqiao. How would he have the time to tell them what had happened when all he wanted to do now was idolize these people?

    ¡°Cecy, have some people clean this ce up, okay?¡± Gu Xiqiao took out a pure white handkerchief and wiped her hands before looking at Cecily.

    Cecily nodded. ¡°I¡¯m already on it.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything further, and as she was about to make her way to Jiang Shuxuan, Nozawa spoke up, ¡°Gu-san, is it true, what you said about Japan?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you call your leader and find out?¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled and raised her eyebrows before walking towards Jiang Shuxuan.

    Nozawa stood there with his eyebrows locked in worry.

    He tried to do that, but the line didn¡¯t go through no matter how many times he called, and he couldn¡¯t help the uneasiness in his heart as he looked at the wreckage left behind in the zoo.

    ¡°Nozawa, lemme give you some tips.¡± Cecily smiled and whispered almost conspiratorially. ¡°Gather up as many antiques as you can from your country and gift them to her, and all your problems will be solved.¡±

    Nozawa seemed to be quite dubious at this suggestion. Was she sure that what she was talking about were antiques and not treasures and artifacts?

    ¡°Rx, it¡¯s just one of her few interests,¡± Cecily said, before walking away.

    The leader of America muttered in question, ¡°Why did you give him that advice?¡±

    ¡°I want Qiao Qiao to teach them a lesson, of course.¡± Cecily flipped her hair nonchntly. ¡°I don¡¯t want those pig headsing here and talking you into doing some other suicide n any time soon, after all.¡±

    Could she not talk about that anymore? The leader felt as if his dark history had been brought up one time too many. ¡°But in any case, do you think she would be able to teach the entirety of the Japanese supernatural world a lesson? That doesn¡¯t sound very doable...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was very strong, yes, but it wasn¡¯t easy to fight against an entire country at once nheless.

    ¡°Japan?¡± Cecily scoffed. ¡°Has she ever failed in anything she set out to do? Was the Dickens family strong? Would you be able to do as well as she did and not cause any trouble, even in your position? Did you forget how she changed the leader of Ennd? No one can stop her if she wants to change things up!¡±

    As he listened to what she said, the leader of America had a sudden thought¡ªIf he continued to follow along with their ns, would he have been dethroned by now and reced with Cecily?

    It was scary enough that someone was so insanely strong, but pair it with an unparalleled intellect and you¡¯ve got a terrifying force to be reckoned with. ¡°How do you have such a good rtionship with Miss Gu, anyway?¡±

    It was true that almost everyone was still calling Gu Xiqiao ¡®Miss Gu¡¯, and there was only a small margin of people that could call her by name!

    Cecily only smiled, not replying to this question.

    The leader of America wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and this motion had already be a habit after he came into contact with Gu Xiqiao.

    Yi Bing and the others were the ones that reacted to the entire scene the calmest, and even though they were quite taken aback by how they¡¯ve be stronger once again, they had been following their ascent for a long time now. Yi Tong even took out his phone and recorded everything to be posted in the ancient martial arts forum.

    Upon looking up, he realized that everyone was looking at Gu Xiqiao and the Peacekeepers with sparkles in their eyes, and he knew that they had already been conquered by their strength and ability.

    After this battle, the name of the Peacekeepers would be spread far and wide, far surpassing the boundaries of the ancient martial arts world.

    Upon thinking of this, Yi Ting tutted slightly before looking at Yi Bing. ¡°As expected of Miss Gu and the Peace Manor, wreaking havoc and turning tables no matter where they go.¡±

 Chapter 346 - Wouldnt Dare To Say A Word In Protest

    <h4>Chapter 346: Wouldn¡¯t Dare To Say A Word In Protest</h4>

    ¡°I think, with Miss Gu by their side, they only need to focus on one thing¡ªgetting stronger.¡± Yi Tiao quickly added on to Yi Tong¡¯s statement. ¡°Miss Gu should be able to handle the rest of the matters herself.¡±

    ¡°Will something happen to the Peacekeepers if things go on at this rate?¡± asked Yi Tong with a surprised expression.

    They shouldn¡¯t be relying too much on her all the time, right? What would happen if the dayes when Gu Xiqiao won¡¯t be able to oversee their operations constantly?

    ¡°Your worries are in futility,¡± responded Yi Bing. ¡°Perhaps you have forgotten about themander of the Peacekeepers?¡±

    ¡°Commander?¡± Yi Tong was puzzled. Why didn¡¯t he know about this? Who was themander?

    ¡°You think Luo Weng, the founder of Peace Manor is just there for show? That man¡¯s intellect is arguably on par with that of Miss Gu¡¯s. You two wait and see for yourselves. The men Miss Gu recruits are all masters in their own game.¡± Yi Bing turned towards ng.

    He wondered what powers were hidden within this newly-recruited member of the Peacekeepers.

    Perhaps out of exhaustion, the Peacekeepers sat down on the floor and were chatting away casually. Yi Bing overheard Wu Hongwen chatting with his mates about war tactics when he looked over.

    Then, he heard him say the following, ¡°Xiao Yun, you are quite powerful. From now on, we¡¯ll try to immobilize the enemy, which is when you¡¯ll use all your might against him. We¡¯ll strike fear into their hearts whenever they hear about us in the future.¡±

    Xiao Yun looked down at the injury on her arm, which was healing up gradually. Quietly, she mumbled her reply, ¡°Fine.¡±

    Fine? Nothing about this conversation sounds fine! Yi Bing was at a loss for words. Silently, he turned away, not wanting to hear more about their morbid discussion.

    ¡°Say, where¡¯s Xixi and Dog Feed?¡± Wu Hongwen suddenly realized that Xixi and Dog Feed were nowhere to be seen after the battle had ended. Going by how events would y out in the past, those two should¡¯ve been receiving praise from their fellow team members by now. Why did they leave so soon today?

    He looked around, only to find his men shake their heads at him, an indication that they too, had no idea where those two were.

    Wu Hongwen spun around once but saw no signs of Xixi nor Dog Feed. Instead, he saw ng, who was standing next to Jiji. His eyes lit up and he got onto his feet immediately. Walking up to ng, he asked, ¡°Are you the new member they¡¯re talking about?¡±

    ng¡¯s mind had yet to register Wu Hongwen¡¯s words but he had already started nodding unconsciously. Recognizing that this was the person whom he battled the giant serpent alongside, he muttered under his breath, ¡°I think so?¡±

    ng was shocked to discover that he¡¯d have such powerfulrades.

    ¡°I¡¯m Wu Hongwen from the 1st squad. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but notice how weak you were.¡± Wu Hongwen patted his shoulder. ¡°You can¡¯t stay like this forever. You¡¯d get crushed to death when we get back to the Ancient Martial Arts World.¡±

    Wu Hongwen¡¯s words reminded ng of what Yi Tong had said previously. He now understood perfectly what Yi Tong was trying to tell him. What a terrifying organization he was getting into unknowingly. But, many must¡¯ve envied him to be able to do so.

    ng no longer possessed the sense of self-satisfaction he had from the beginning. That was because he was reminded of his ce in the hierarchy upon seeing how insanely powerful the rest of his peers were.

    ¡°I will strive to get stronger,¡± replied ng with his fists balled up tightly. He proceeded to introduce himself, ¡°My name¡¯s ng!¡±

    ¡°Okay. Well, I wish you good luck with that. Now, ng, let¡¯s bring you to our captain.¡± Wu Hongwen brought ng, whose spirit was at its peak, over to meet the leader of the Peacekeepers.

    Xiao Yun nced at him and answered instantly, ¡°His power is insufficient. Work hard, there are more battles waiting for you in the future.¡±

    ¡°He really does need to sharpen his abilities,¡± said Gu Xiqiao who walked over from behind. Walking next to her was the tall Jiang Shuxuan.

    The sun was already setting on the western horizon at this point, where their shadows beneath their feet started to lengthen. As they had approached from the direction of the sun, it was hard to make out clearly their faces.

    The Peacekeepers sprung to their feet right after seeing these two.

    Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, and Xiao Yun were all looking at Jiang Shuxuan. During the battle, they were able to sense quite clearly, the forces that were interacting with each other and how powerful each attack was. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lightning attacks contained the most amount of energy and consequently, had the most destructive power. They were, however, surprised by the person standing next to her.

    For some reason, Jiang Shuxuan was able to control the energy within Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attack.

    Not only had he managed to bring it under his control, but he was also able to manipte it as if he understood the mechanism¡¯s ins and outs perfectly. They had spected about his strength in the past but the Jiang Shuxuan of today, they felt had be degrees more powerful than the Jiang Shuxuan of the past.

    He raised his head and his eyes scanned the faces of the Peacekeepers calmly. Despite how tranquil the situation looked to an outsider, chills crept up nearly every one of their spines the moment they made eye contact with Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡°Miss Gu, Mister Jiang,¡± they greeted.

    Jiang Shuxuan bowed slightly whereas Gu Xiqiao acknowledged their greeting verbally. Turning towards ng, she said, ¡°Today, Xixi and Dog Feed won¡¯t be with us. However, they still are part of the team. I¡¯ll have them exin themselves when they return.¡±

    ng had by now managed to stomach how a flower could be so powerful. There was a brief pause before he spoke up, ¡°I have already seen them.¡±

    ¡°Seen them?¡± Gu Xiqiao questioned. ¡°What¡¯s the matter with them?¡±

    ng nced back at Gu Xiqiao, wondering if he should say something in response.

    Jiang Shuxuan merely shot him a brief nce before chuckling in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction. He showed more expressions in the past five minutes than the pastbined. His smile melted away theyer of ice that separated him and the outside world, or like dark clouds that were parted, revealing a ray of sunlight that lit up the ground below.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at him. It was definitely a rare sight to see himughing. ¡°Brother Jiang, do you know anything about their disappearance?¡±

    ¡°They were with him before they left. Dog Feed-¡± Jiang Shuxuan paused for a while to think about the oddness of this name Gu Xiqiao hade up with for that flower. ¡°Dog Feed wanted to swallow him, but was stopped by Xixi.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± The Peacekeepers erupted intoughter right after Jiang Shuxuan ended his sentence. Then, some of them asked if ng had done anything to piss off that flower.

    ¡°...¡±

    His weakness wasn¡¯t the problem here, that flower was way too powerful!

    Jiang Shuxuan walked up to the leader of the American supernatural organizations and told him, ¡°Get the people inmand of your supernatural organizations into your meeting room. We have an important announcement to make.¡±

    Their leader had zero doubts about something which Jiang Shuxuan was iming to be an important matter. He turned towards his men and hastily ordered them to do as told.

    Dusk was approaching as thest rays of sunlight shot up into the clouds. From the rooftop, one could see the cracks on the ground which stretched across the zoo, as well as the carcasses of many different animals. Indeed, it was a gory sight to behold.

    Gu Xiqiao and her team had already left, but there were still a number of people not wanting to leave this ce behind.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing the person who is behind this plot is crying his eyes out,¡± said Yi Bing with a snicker. ¡°Maybe they wanted to cripple the United States, or perhaps they wanted to wipe out half of the supernatural forces here but what they got instead, was an ass-whooping by the Peacekeepers.¡±

    If not for Gu Xiqiao, anarchy would¡¯ve descended upon the people of the United States.

    Yi Tong, Yi Tiao, and the rest of the men all thought the same.

    Their biggest mistake was not taking into ount the fact that Gu Xiqiao woulde here personally with her Peacekeepers topletely wipe them off the face of the earth, denying thempletely the opportunity to proceed with their ns, let alone retaliate.

    ***

    Li Yu stood at one side, observing the aftermath of the battle. He inhaled deeply as a smile broke across his face. Just as she had said, it really was an interesting show.

    He pulled out his phone and snapped a few photos. Then, a notification popped up simultaneously.

    [Minotaur Among Men]

    Director Cheng: Li Yu, you¡¯re in the cast of ¡®Intergctic Warfare¡¯ aren¡¯t you?

    Director Cheng: Did Miss Gue over to the States for vacation?

    Director Cheng: I spoke to Neil today. He told me he¡¯s going to meet her!

    Director Cheng: If she has the time to go on vacation, why hasn¡¯t she the time to help me in two more films?

    Ning Qing: Director Cheng, stop spamming. Miss Gu¡¯s doing a job over there!

    Director Cheng: A job? I don¡¯t buy it. There¡¯s no way she¡¯ll ever treat her job seriously!

    Li Yu looked down at the message and thought to himself, ¡®But that really was the truth. First, she reced the head of the Dickens family and then turned the American political arena into a chaotic sh*tshow, before proceeding to raze a zoo to the ground. How could she not be busy?¡¯

    Li Yu: [jpeg] ¡°Look what she¡¯s done to this zoo. Director Cheng, read up on the recent events happening in America and you¡¯ll know just what Gu Xiqiao has been up to.¡±

    Director Cheng, who was currently in China, saw the picture and tapped the link which Li Yu sent him. Upon reading the article, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°She removed the leader of the Dickens family? And she did this to the poor animals? Perhaps it¡¯s time for you to get your brain checked, Li Yu.¡±

    Ning Qing: As expected of her!

    Song Guanjing: I¡¯m impressed!

    Su Wen: I was wondering about the purpose of Miss Gu¡¯s visit to the United States. I keep seeing discussions in the group about the situation for the Bai gang, but I must say, only Miss Gu is capable of such things.

    Director Cheng: ...

    Song Guanjing: I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re at the scene of the battle? Man, I should¡¯ve epted that role in ¡®Intergctic Warfare¡¯ too!

    Director Cheng: ...

    Ning Qing: Oh god, I should¡¯ve been there personally. Say, Senior Li, did you manage to record the fight?

    Director Cheng: ...

    Gu Xiqiao had already arrived at the great hall where the supernatural organizations of the United States usually congregated. Seeing that nobody was here yet, she pulled out her phone. Just as she was about to boot up her favorite game, a couple of notifications popped up on her phone.

    Upon reading through their conversation, she sent an emoticon.

    For A Millenium: ^_^

    ***

    Cecily and her brother looked for seats closer to Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Miss Gu, what important announcement are you guys gonna make?¡± Cecil was rather curious about it.

    Gu Xiqiao looked up and gave him a cheeky smile. ¡°You¡¯ll know when we announce it.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan on the other hand, kept his eyes glued onto the main entrance.

    The higher-ups of the American supernatural organizations arrived in a timely fashion. Except for the handful whom Gu Xiqiao got to know at the zoo, most of them were fresh faces. They knew who Jiang Shuxuan was but virtually knew nothing about Gu Xiqiao. What¡¯s more, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s seat was behind Jiang Shuxuan so her presence was hard to notice.

    ¡°Mister Jiang, everyone is present today,¡± said the leader of the American supernatural organizations.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded. He rose from his seat, about to say something.

    Just then, a young girl smashed through the front door with a loud ¡®bang¡¯.

    ¡°Uncle, these two are trying to eat your treasured items!¡±

    She was fairly young but her face was filled with rage. She was holding onto a red bird with one hand, and a pink little blossom in the other.

    Her unexpected appearance in the hall meant that all eyes were on her. These weren¡¯t ordinary eyes mind you, for the people gathered here today were all high-status members of the supernatural world.

    They recognized who this girl was in an instant. She was none other than the beloved niece of the second-inmand.

    ¡°Terribly sorry about that,¡± said Gu Xiqiao who suddenly got up from her seat. She directed an apologetic look at the young girl. ¡°These are my pets. You tell me what these two ateter alright? I¡¯ll providepensation for the trouble they have caused.¡±

    Their leader¡¯s expression darkened the moment he heard about their treasures being eaten. And this girl must have guts to admit that they were her pets. Was she looking for an early death? Those who did not know her looked at her with sympathy, for they knew this ce was where she would die.

    Suddenly, Narry shot up from his seat.

    It¡¯s all over now, thought the Americans. In the next second, however, they almost fell out of their seats in surprise.

    ¡°Carrie, hurry up and return them to Miss Gu!¡± yelled Narry. ¡°Miss Gu, we are pleased to hear that our treasures are appreciated by these two grandmasters,¡± he said in a respectful tone.

    They all stared at Narry in disbelief. What¡¯s up with him today? God, was this the same, petty Narry that they knew from before?

    Only a handful of people present in the hall knew of the truth. Narry of course had not gone mad. The thing is, he was speaking to Gu Xiqiao. In fact, even if her pets decided to turn the United States of America upside-down, he still wouldn¡¯t dare to utter a word in protest!

    Just wait and see. You¡¯ll definitely get the shock of your life!

 Chapter 347 - I Wonder If He Foresaw This Happening

    <h4>Chapter 347: I Wonder If He Foresaw This Happening</h4>

    Carrie looked down at the two ¡°things¡± she was holding with a slightly perturbed expression. She was confused as to what was happening at the moment.

    Had something happened here?

    Narry had almost fainted over from watching Carrie clutch onto Xixi and Dog Feed as if they were her toys. These two had already proven to him how powerful they were on the battlefield, and if they were to go berserk right now, he could send his entire family against them and they¡¯d still be on the losing end!

    Cautiously, as if he was holding onto two ticking time bombs, Narry removed Xixi and Dog Feed from Carrie¡¯s hands. He signaled using his gaze for the young girl to leave immediately. ¡°What are you standing there for? Do you want to get eaten by Miss Gu¡¯s pets? Although you¡¯re my niece, I won¡¯t be seeking revenge should one of them decide to have you as their lunch! In fact, I¡¯d still admire the power these two pets possess!¡±

    It was only after she had left that he presented them back to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Here you go, Miss Gu.¡±

    What Gu Xiqiao and her Peacekeepers did today, made him so happy that he wouldn¡¯t mind if these two swallowed the entire Supernatural World¡¯s treasures, let alone those which were under his possession.

    Who would ever know that on such a peaceful day, someone had risked her life to turn the tide of the battle, changing the course of American history? The regr civilians on the street would never know that someone had ventured into the jaws of death for their sake.

    The more Narry thought about this, the deeper his respect was for Gu Xiqiao.

    The men present in the hall all went silent upon seeing Narry¡¯s reaction. In terms of power, Narry was only second to the president of the United States. In other words, his position was pretty high up. He had a nasty attitude and was usually an unlikeable person. He never really had any interests apart from collecting ancient weapons, treasures, and the likes.

    If it was someone else who had messed with his treasures, then no doubt, it would¡¯ve been impossible for that person to gain his forgiveness. That applied to even the well-known Cecily-Cecil duo.

    No one predicted that he would react in such a way. They all looked at each other, confirming that there was something off about this atmosphere.

    The same could be said for the men who had tagged along with their leader today; they all had their arms crossed as if they had found nothing strange about this interaction. Then, they started wondering just who this youngdy was? What did she do to cause such a sudden change in attitude in Narry?

    It was that moment that they discovered, it wasn¡¯t just Narry who was acting oddly. They could sense the respect their leader and Cecily had in their gaze whenever they interacted with this Gu Xiqiao character.

    The supernatural organizations of America were in for a great surprise.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, please proceed with your announcement.¡± Seeing that Narry had settled the matter, the leader gestured for Jiang Shuxuan to continue speaking.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded. His icy-cool eyes scanned across the faces of the men sitting around the table. ¡°We initially decided not to share this information with you people but now that America has been dragged into this, it might be better to just let the cat out of the bag.¡±

    The leader was taken aback by such a statement. His eyes were glued onto Jiang Shuxuan, waiting for him to say the next sentence.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Xixi, who was brushed off from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s shoulder but had stubbornly clung on. Raising his brow, he sent a white spark that shot forth from his fingertips towards Xixi, who fell onto the ground, frozen into a block of ice. Finally, the nuisance was taken care of.

    He continued speaking, ¡°Not far into the future, the entire world will face a great disaster.¡±

    Dead silence ensued. It was a while before a few voices broke the silence.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t lying to us, are you Mister Jiang?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The leader of the American supernatural world had a deep respect for Gu Xiqiao, which also meant that he did not doubt Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words. His trust towards them was solidified after what had happened that afternoon. How else could there suddenly be such a monster within America¡¯s borders. With a somber expression, he peered in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s direction. ¡°This I understand, but what should we do to prepare for this, Mister Jiang?¡±

    ¡°Get stronger,¡± replied Jiang Shuxuan. Those who doubted him were shocked beyond words. ¡°All of you here are too weak.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± responded their leader with a frown.

    ¡°With all your might, get stronger. American lives are resting in your hands.¡±

    Right after saying that, Jiang Shuxuan looked over at Gu Xiqiao. His announcement was over, so it was time to leave.

    ¡°Mister Narry, aspensation for your lost treasures,¡± said Gu Xiqiao while propping up Dog Feed. ¡°The peacekeepers will be leaving tomorrow. Bring forth ten young people. They will return in a week¡¯s time.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao then left with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Narry was still standing there, staring nkly into the air. ¡°D-Did you hear what she said?¡±

    ¡°She said to bring forth ten of your strongest apprentices!¡± The leader yelled. He was of course envious of Narry. ¡°So what if you lost a couple of treasures? Why on earth did she think that this was a good idea?!¡±

    Recalling how brutally effective the Peacekeepers were, the leader felt his heart throb in pain.

    Those who had the opportunity to watch the battle unfold in the afternoon had flocked around Narry. They red at him with envious eyes. ¡°How dare you use your treasures as bait to lure Miss Gu into your trap!¡± They too had treasures! If they had known that this would happen, they would¡¯ve brought their treasures out to disy! After all, wasn¡¯t that the way to get epted into the Peacekeepers?! Maybe if they had done that, they would¡¯ve be part of the team by now.

    ¡°Heh heh heh, It¡¯s time for me to head on home to pick the candidates.¡± Narry was over the moon. With a satisfied expression, he marched out of the hall. The rest of them, including their great leader, felt a sudden urge to wrap him up in a sack and give him a good beating.

    ¡°Leader, what did Young Master Jiang say?¡± There were quite a number of them who still struggled to grasp what was truly going on. ¡°What¡¯s happened to you? Are you gonna trust them just like that?¡±

    It had only been a day since theyst met and yet, so much about their leader has changed.

    ¡°Sir, we owe a great deal to the ancient martial arts world,¡± said Cecily as she stood up from her chair and made her way towards Narry. ¡°You should bring these men to the zoo, by the way,¡± she whispered into their leader¡¯s ear before leaving.

    In reality, she too was shocked by what Jiang Shuxuan said just now. If even he said that this would be a great disaster, there was no saying how terrifying it would be to them.

    She and Cecil were stunned when they initially heard his statement. The first thing that went through their mind was ¡®Could America survive this disaster?¡¯.

    It was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s statement that snapped them back into reality. Why did she say that? Was she looking to make up for the loss of elders? Probably not!

    Judging by how powerful Gu Xiqiao actually was, Narry¡¯s treasures were worth less than a grain of sand to her. And yet, she willingly epted ten of his apprentices into her team for training. It probably was just another excuse for her to lend America a helping hand.

    Realization finally set in. Even if Narry¡¯s treasures had not been gobbled by those two clowns, Gu Xiqiao would stille up with an excuse for the Americans to send ten men over to train under her supervision.

    In any case, she had now understood why there were so many from the ancient martial arts world that respected Gu Xiqiao and her Peacekeepers.

    What they were doing today was creating a miracle using their own hands. Thinking about it riled up her emotions, which seemed impossible to bring under control!

    She suddenly realized how much of a morale-booster these people were. With them around, it felt like they could ovee whatever danger the universe decides to throw at them.

    Their leader snapped out of his mental haze upon being reminded by Cecily. He looked at the skeptical faces and without hesitation, he brought them all to the zoo where the battle had previously unfolded. ¡°See this? This is what Miss Gu and her Peacekeepers are capable of producing! Do you know that it¡¯s all thanks to her that you¡¯re all still standing here, yapping away? The disaster that Mister Jiang spoke of is no foolery! This here marks the beginning of the great disaster!¡±

    The men were all stupefied upon seeing the carnage below.

    People from the Supernatural World could be seen below, removing the animal parts off the floor. Even after they had died, these men could still sense the terrifying amount of energy emitted by these chunks of flesh and bone. There was also the crack on the ground which stretched deeper into the earth¡¯s core. The sight of that thing sent shivers down their spine. With that many carcasses strewn across the floor, it seemed almost impossible that Miss Gu and her men were responsible for this.

    ¡°What Cecily said was right. We do owe Miss Gu, and by extension, the Ancient Martial Arts World a great deal,¡± muttered their leader. His morale, which was at an all-time low, increased slightly upon knowing that Miss Gu was on their side.

    He was relieved that he had listened to Cecily¡¯s advice. Thank god he chose diplomacy over hostility when they first met Miss Gu!

    ¡°Sir.¡± One of the subordinates approached the leader with a phone in hand. It was a phone call from the general of the United States Armed Forces. A voice came through the earpiece as soon as he raised the phone up to his ear. ¡°You are magical my friend. There really were disasters in the three spots across America, as you had informed us about! Although in the beginning, we faced quite a lot of resistance, and usations that we were imposing a dictatorship, they¡¯re now starting to respect our wisdom! Surprisingly but fortunately, we suffered no casualties this time!¡±

    The general was ecstatic. He had been serving the people for so many years and this was the first time he had received praises from them. Although he too, was initially skeptical about the predictions, he was now grateful to have received word from them!

    ¡°Do not thank me, thank Miss Gu, for providing us with the predictions,¡± replied the leader of the supernatural world.

    The general started breathing heavily. ¡°And who might you be referring to?¡±

    ¡°The one you¡¯re thinking about right now.¡± The leader then hung up the call with a smirk on his face.

    ¡°I heard from Mister Yi Tong that Miss Gu had sent her predictions to Japan as well?¡± The young man standing next to the leader nodded in response. ¡°It¡¯s a shame that they brushed it off as mere spection,¡± he replied in a sympathetic tone.

    ¡°Fools!¡± yelled the leader angrily.

    ¡°Those who doubt Miss Gu¡¯s words are fools! Those who attempt to bully her are looking for an early death!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s sit back and watch. We should be receiving news from Japan in the evening. Nozawa should have the antiques with him already. Miss Gu is probably heading towards Japan at this moment, perhaps to see their leader in tears.¡±

    Everything that Miss Gu did up until this point made it clear to the world atrge¨Cthat it was a bad idea to mess with her.

    This was the same in the Imperial Capity, the ancient martial arts world, and now, in Japan as well!

    The leader smiled. He wondered if the Japanese foresaw the consequences of rejecting Miss Gu¡¯s advice straight away.

 Chapter 348 - he Most Horrifying Squad

    <h4>Chapter 348: The Most Horrifying Squad</h4>

    ¡°Spit it out. What were you two nning?¡± Withpleteck of emotion on her face, Gu Xiqiao flung the flower onto the table the moment she returned to her temporary residential unit.

    Knowing how powerful both Dog Feed and Xixi were, it was impossible that a young human girl could grab them as if they were harmless toys. It was rather obvious that they had allowed her to do so deliberately. No wonder they disappeared right after the battle.

    Dog Feed¡¯s petals trembled in fear. It had never seen Gu Xiqiao react in such a way before; she was pretty intimidating.

    After parking his car, Jiang Shuxuan walked into the ce slowly. As he set his keys down onto the coffee table, Xixi dashed behind him, trying to hide from Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°My mom has just started a video call with me.¡± Jiang Shuxuan passed his phone over to Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ice-cold expression melted away after seeing Shu Chen¡¯s face on the screen. With the phone in hand, she made her way upstairs, leaving Dog Feed on its own, for now.

    Jiang Shuxuan waited for her topletely disappear upstairs before peering down at Dog Feed with a merciless look. ¡°You had iting.¡±

    Dog Feed: ¡°...¡±

    Its petals almost wilted away at that moment when its fear peaked.

    With aputer in its hands, Jiji descended the stairs. It shook its head upon seeing Dog Feed. ¡°I really couldn¡¯t care less if you ate someone else¡¯s treasures, but to let yourself get caught while doing so? I don¡¯t buy it if you said you weren¡¯t trying to piss Beauty Qiao off.¡±

    Dog Feed¡¯s petals regained its shine upon hearing this. ¡°Where¡¯s that little son of b*tch? I¡¯m gonna gobble him up right this instant!¡±

    Jiji booted up theputer and logged into his game, as it had done a million times before. Without looking up, it replied, ¡°You¡¯re talking about ng? He¡¯s still under training. If you want to do that, then I suggest you pick up the pace. It is only a matter of time before you turn into his punching bag.¡±

    Dog Feed convulsed even more upon hearing this.

    ¡°Hm? Why¡¯s he here?¡± Jiji¡¯s gaming session had barely begun when it detected the presence of someone else. And so, he sent a message to the team.

    [Team] Master Jiji: ¡°Ma¡¯am, someone¡¯s here. You should go with this duplicate first.¡±

    [Team] A Blooming Dawn: ¡°Go away Jiji, I¡¯m talking to my daughter-inw.¡±

    [Team] A Blooming Dawn: ¡°Wait, something¡¯s wrong. Is that person here to visit my daughter-inw?¡±

    Jiji did not even read what Shu Chen said before it called out to Gu Xiiqao with its digital mind, ¡°Beauty Qiao, Nozawa¡¯s here to see you.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was in the study, talking to Shu Chen over the video call when she heard Jiji¡¯s voice. She paused for a moment before telling her mother-inw, ¡°Auntie, someone¡¯s here for me. I¡¯m gonna head down now.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead, but don¡¯t push yourself alright?¡± Shu Chen replied.

    Now that Gu Xiqiao has left, Jiang Shuxuan couldn¡¯t be bothered with listening to what his mom had to say. He leaned over with the intention to end the call immediately.

    ¡°Hey hey hey, little brat what do you think you¡¯re doing? So, what¡¯s your answer to the proposition I made to you previously?¡± asked Shu Chen whose face moved closer to the webcam, expecting an answer.

    Jiang Shuxuan merely shot her a nce from the corner of his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m still considering it.¡±

    Although her son had lost his memory, his personality remainedrgely the same. Shu Chen understood him well. His reply meant that he was fairly sure of himself. She smiled happily in response to his reply. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for good news when you two return. Now that you guys havepleted your tasks in America, you two probably should be back by tomorrow. After all, you have 2 free days left now that you¡¯vepleted the mission in 5.¡±

    Shu Chen was ecstatic when she thought about this. ¡°I heard you guys are having fun over in the States. You¡¯ve even brought the Peacekeepers along? You should let me tag along next time!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan expanded his consciousness outwards. He detected a presence outside the door approaching their unit. ¡°You¡¯re overthinking things. When did she ever make wrong calctions? If she said that their business here wouldst seven days then seven days it is. No more, no less.¡±

    ¡°He-¡± Shu Chen red at the screen when Jiang Shuxuan ended their call without a warning.

    Downstairs.

    Nozawa moved his hand up and down to feel the heft of the items he was holding. He wondered if he had brought enough of it. Over here in the United States, this was the most he could conjure. He could get more of them back in Japan, but getting Gu Xiqiao to agree to visit his country was a major hurdle.

    Thinking about what his n elder said, his mood took a plunge. Swallowing his doubts down, he raised his arm up to press on the doorbell. Though, the door popped open before he did so.

    He was first greeted by the face of a robot, who opened the door for him to enter. ¡°Mister Nozawa, Beauty Qiao has allowed you into her house.¡±

    Nozawa was surprised to discover that she had been expecting his arrival. His footsteps were hasty, perhaps due to the urgency of the situation he was caught up in.

    He saw Gu Xiqiao sitting on the sofa upon stepping through the front door. That, and a pink flower slowly inching its way towards her. Though, before it could get any closer, a purple electric spark would smack it away cold-heartedly.

    That flower didn¡¯t seem to mind the abuse, as it continued crawling towards her relentlessly.

    If not for Dog Feed¡¯s show of force that afternoon, nobody would¡¯ve known that this flower had reached such a stage of development in terms of its skill.

    Nozawa sighed when he saw Gu Xiqiao torturing the poor little flower. Perhaps she was the only person in the world who was able to turn such a powerful being into a worm-like masochistic thing.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± greeted Nozawa.

    Gu Xiqiao smacked Dog Feed away for onest time before shifting her gaze over to her visitor, and then onto the bag that he was holding. ¡°Mister Nozawa.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, our n elder...¡± Nozawa found it hard to speak. He was aware of the Japanese leader¡¯s malicious intentions when he made the decision to crush the ancient martial arts world. However, he could do nothing significant to change the reality of things, and so he went down to his Legacy Base and focused solely on getting stronger.

    However, he did not expect things to get so bad. In spite of the advice the leader of his country received from Miss Gu before disaster struck, he still chose to ignore it.

    If he was Gu Xiqiao, or if he wasn¡¯t Japanese, he would¡¯ve chosen to ignore entirely the decisions that the leader of Japan made. However, reality remained that he was Japanese, and he was a member of their supernatural forces, which meant that he had to shoulder a part of the responsibility to keep their nation safe as well.

    Gu Xiqiao looked down at the thing Nozawa was holding. Before he could speak, she nodded her head. ¡°I know what you¡¯re about to say and I promise to help you. But, I must have your word on one thing. Whatever that happens to Japan afterward, you must listen to my words.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Nozawa did not waste a single second before answering Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°If you still have preparations to make, do it now. We¡¯ll leave now,¡± ordered Gu Xiqiao.

    Her words shocked him. ¡°Now?¡± Even if she had her own private jet, one still needed to wait for at least a couple of hours before departing, right?

    He was happy that Gu Xiqiao had agreed so quickly to his request but something wasn¡¯t adding up.

    Gu Xiqiao did not say a word more when she went upstairs. She sent Yao Jiamu a message while heading towards the study room. [Bring squad 1, immediately.]

    Jiang Shuxuan had already ended the call with his mother. He was reading through the document sent by the elders of the ancient martial arts world when Gu Xiqiao entered the room. He looked up at her and asked calmly, ¡°Are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Gu Xiqiao walked over for a quick nce at what he was reading. It was a report on the training of those blokes back in the ancient martial arts world. ¡°These people are pretty good, aren¡¯t they?¡± She was initially worried that they wouldn¡¯t be able to cope with the intensity of their training.

    ¡°With you and the Peace Manor in front of them, how could they dare to ck off?¡± Jiang Shuxuan suddenly remembered what the elders said, about how quick their people were advancing. It would only be a short while before they caught up with those old geezers. The thought of this made Jiang Shuxuan chuckle to himself.

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°Yeah, I reckon it¡¯s time for us to return too.¡±

    ¡°Are you tired?¡± Jiang Shuxuan printed the document out after closing the email. ¡°Let me go to Japan this time. My mom¡¯s been waiting for you back at home. You¡¯ve only spoken to each other for a handful of minutes tonight.¡±

    Indeed, they had been really busy for the past few days. The political arena in America was extremely turbulent and in addition to that, they still had to deal with the incident at the zoo. Despite the fact that she already had the foresight of this happening, it was still quite a hassle to bring the situation under control. She looked over at Jiang Shuxuan with a smile.

    Ever since he lost his memory, he had be even more cold and unapproachable to strangers. However, this barrier was let down whenever they were alone together. The minor quirks which she had grown used to, were still present and it was these little things that warmed her soul. Even though his memory was lost, he was still the same Jiang Shuxuan.

    This, she felt, was forever to remain a constant.

    The shimmering stars in the sky could be seen in her eyes. As the printer noisily churned out sheet after sheet of paper, Jiang Shuxuan outstretched his arm and caressed her face with his fingers.

    Gu Xiqiao merely smiled back at him. She reached down to pick up the freshly-printed papers but to no avail, for she was immobilized in the next second. Jiang Shuxuan pressed down with his palm on the documents and grabbed her waist with his other hand. A frost, almost-refreshing atmosphere suddenly enveloped her body.

    Downstairs, Jiji tucked the item Nozawa brought over into its chest. Looking up at their guest, who was staring nkly into empty air, it asked, ¡°Are you still thinking about a ne ride back to Japan?¡±

    There was a moment of silence before Nozawa nodded. That¡¯s right. Traveling by ne was currently his fastest way of reaching the supernatural world of the United States. They would have to arrange a flight for him to get back to Japan as soon as possible. At least, this was the n he had in mind.

    ¡°If you really wish to return to Japan, you will be greeted by the scene of sheer destructione tomorrow,¡± replied Jiji while shaking its head.

    Nozawa snapped out of his mental haze the moment he heard the word ¡®sheer destruction¡¯. His heart throbbed in pain. He desperately tried to look for signs in Jiji¡¯s speech that it was just making a morbid joke. Unfortunately, there was none. Jiji was being dead serious.

    ¡°Then...what are we gonna do?¡± Nozawa started panicking. He turned towards Jiji, in search of an answer. The scene from this afternoon kept reying through his mind. If what happened in the States were to happen in Japan, he found it impossible to imagine how much carnage there would be.

    It was at this point that Jiji realized that it was a bad idea to continue saying such things to Nozawa. It tried to console him but Nozawa¡¯s expression remained the same. It was as if his soul had been utterly crushed.

    ¡°Rx, with Beauty Qiao here, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    That¡¯s right! Miss Gu!

    Hope returned to Nozawa¡¯s eyes. The gloomy atmosphere faded away instantaneously. From a defeated young man on the brink of total morale destruction, he turned into a hopeful and sunshine-filled young man.

    Jiji was relieved that it remembered to mention Gu Xiqiao¡¯s name. But at the same time, it was slightly repulsed upon discovering that Nozawa was just another braindead fan of Gu Xiqiao.

    It let out a sigh before resuming its gaming session.

    Yao Jiamu and the rest of squad one came lightning fast. Nozawa¡¯s emotions were further riled up when he saw them arrive. Of course, he had already gotten a taste of how powerful these people were from the battle that happened earlier in the day.

    ¡°We¡¯re all here it seems.¡± Even Cecily and Cecil had made their way over to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ce. Raising her brow when she saw both Nozawa and Yao Jiamu, Cecily said, ¡°It appears that we have arrived just in the nick of time.¡±

    Back during the ranking tournament, Cecil became acquaintances with Yao Jiamu, which was why they greeted each other when both of them arrived here. Wu Hongwen, who was rxing on the couch looked up. ¡°What are you doing here, Cecil?¡±

    ¡°To watch a show.¡± Cecil leaned against the table. He nced at Wu Hongwen and then at Yao Jiamu and Xiao Yun. ¡°It has only been a month since west saw each other, and yet you all have grown so much stronger.¡±

    He thought that after spending a month¡¯s time in the Legacy Base, he would fare no worse than these people. To his surprise, their powers had far exceeded that of his own.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a month man, is there any way that we can stop growing stronger?¡± Wu Hongwen asked. ¡°Yeah, sure, we¡¯re strong and all, but the power disparity between Qiao Qiao and us is only getting greater and greater.¡±

    One month? Is that period a very long time? No, in fact, it was almost microscopic where cultivating one¡¯s powers were concerned. However, for Wu Hongwen and the rest who had only started engaging in ancient martial arts six months ago, such a period of time seemed almost endless.

    Still, they felt the rate at which they were growing was too slow. That of course, was because they were watching Gu Xiqiao surge ahead of them unaware that inparison to the outside world, they were already plenty strong themselves.

    Cecily, Cecil, and Nozawa looked at each other, to confirm the shock they were all feeling.

    ¡°Damn,¡± Cecily let out augh before taking in a deep breath. ¡°Hearing them talk makes my blood boil.¡±

    ¡°Now that everyone¡¯s here,¡± Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao had finished packing their things upstairs. They descended the stairs with ng and Joyner following behind. ¡°It¡¯s time for us to go.¡±

    Go? How?

    Nozawa and Cecily both wore puzzled expressions.

    Gu Xiqiao did not waste time with pointless exnations. Her eyes were on Jiji, who had tucked away itsputer into its chestpartment. Then, with both hands, it started drawing a weird symbol in the air.

    Seeing such a bizarre scene shocked the first-timers. They suddenly recalled how the Peacekeepers came swooping in as if they had appeared suddenly out of thin air. So, to be able to transport a group of people in the blink of an eye was the working of this little robot?

    Cecily peered down at Jiji, then at Gu Xiqiao. She shook her head while wearing an awkward smile. She should¡¯ve known. She should¡¯ve known that the things Gu Xiqiao kept around her were all out-of-this-world items.

    Ten minutester, Jiji¡¯s hands stopped. With their very eyes, the people there watched as the space before them warped into a ck hole.

    Yao Jiamu and his men walked into the ck hole as if they had rehearsed this countless times in the past. Nozawa, Cecily, and her brother, on the other hand, got on all fours and crawled slowly into the ck hole. Right after they did that, they heard Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Jiji, although this function of yourses in handy, it¡¯s pretty slow. You¡¯ll get struck down pretty easily on the battlefield if you go on like this,¡± said Gu Xiqiao while looking down at Jiji.

    Jiji nodded. ¡°I¡¯m trying to improve my speed too. Didn¡¯t you notice? It took five minutes shorter to draw up this thingpared to thest time I did it.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°Keep it up, let¡¯s aim for seconds instead of minutes.¡±

    Nozawa quaked upon hearing their conversation. They would¡¯ve praised Jiji like a God for possessing such a game-changing power, and yet Gu Xiqiao was still dissatisfied with its speed? Dissatisfied?

    Alright fine, maybe being dissatisfied was the main reason why the Peacekeepers were so terrifyingly powerful.

    A glow then appeared before the team.

    The supernatural world of Japan was having a meeting; all of the higher-ups were gathered in this room which was enveloped by the same gloomy atmosphere that stuck with Nozawa when he first appeared before Gu Xiqiao. Rightfully so, as the ind nation of Japan was facing an existential threat. One slip was all it would take for their entire nation to be wiped off the face of the Earth.

    ¡°Chief, if it weren¡¯t for Young Master Nozawa notifying me, I would not have known that you were keeping Miss Gu¡¯s warning a secret from all of us!¡± An elder mmed his fist on the table. ¡°Your foolish decision almost cost us millions of innocent Japanese lives!¡±

    Being on the receiving end of angry res made the leader of Japan feel a mixture of both fear and regret. His fist was so tight that his nails dug into the flesh of his palm. Looking back at the elder, he rebutted, ¡°Now is not the time to mull over my mistakes! We have to look for a n for us to survive this disaster!¡±

    ¡°We wait for Young Master Nozawa¡¯s return!¡± replied the elder. Now, Japan¡¯s fate rested entirely in Nozawa¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Nozawa...¡± The leader of Japan muttered under his breath. ¡°What¡¯s the use of himing back?¡±

    He feared that without doing anything significant, Nozawa would still gain the support of the supernatural world. It had be apparent that Nozawa was being viewed in a more positive light than himself, which was a worrying phenomenon. If only he had listened to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words, would the situation have turned out like this?

    The elder ignored his question. There was indeed, nothing Nozawa could do realistically to stop the disaster. However, it was the people he would be returning with that could. However, at this point, the elder saw no point in wasting time with the leader of Japan.

    ¡°Great Elder, Apple Hill is copsing.¡± A middle-aged man with a face as pale as a sheet of paper came in and reported thetest developments. Apple Hill was the supernatural world¡¯s nucleus in Japan. There were countless folks living under the hill who would be sacrificed in this disaster. They were all extremely powerful people, which conversely meant that the supernatural world of Japan would lose a great deal if this were to continue. Fear was at an all-time high for the Japanese.

    A gloomy mist could be seen above the heads of the people of the supernatural world.

    The great elder contemted in silence for a moment before making his decision. ¡°The young master has yet to return. Let us return to our homes.¡±

    The rest of the elders shut their eyes as they prepared to leave.

    It was at this moment that the air before them warped. Following a humming noise, a group of people materialized out of thin air.

    ¡°Young Master!¡± The great elder recognized Nozawa¡¯s face instantly from among the crowd. A glow of hope returned to his eyes.

    Nozawa stepped forth from behind Gu Xiqiao. He nodded upon hearing his name being called. In a solemn tone, he announced to the people present in the room, ¡°Great Elder, this is Miss Gu, Young Master Jiang, and the rest of the Peacekeepers.¡±

    The great elder was about to prostrate on the ground but was stopped by Gu Xiqiao. She turned towards Yao Jiamu and the rest of his team. ¡°There isn¡¯t much time left, follow me outside.¡±

    The great elder watched as Nozawa and his friends left the room. Out of curiosity, he too followed their team. He watched as Gu Xiqiao led them halfway down the hill¡¯s slope. Jiang Shuxuan was standing nearby, observing them as they worked. ¡°Young Master Nozawa, why isn¡¯t Young Master Jiang joining them?¡± In the old man¡¯s eyes, Jiang Shuxuan was, of course, the person who was best suited to such missions.

    Nozawa kept his eyes glued on the Peacekeepers. ¡°Be not afraid, Great Elder. Tonight, we shall witness the might of a single squad from the Peacekeepers.¡±

 Chapter 349 - Too Late For Regrets

    <h4>Chapter 349: Too Late For Regrets</h4>

    The great elder was perplexed when he saw how calm Nozawa was. In the next moment, however, his attention waspletely drawn by Gu Xiqiao and her Peacekeeper squad.

    Since Japan was on the other side of the globe, it was 9 in the morning on the next day when they arrived, despite it being night time when they left America.

    The sun was already high up in the sky at this point, meaning visibility was fairly high. With a wave of his arm, a barrier was erected between them and the outside world. Upon doing so, he turned towards Gu Xiqiao and her team, observing them as they worked.

    ¡°Nozawa, how long do you reckon it would take them to finish their job?¡± asked Cecily, after pping the day-dreaming man in order to get him back to reality.

    ¡°I have no idea, but I¡¯m guessing it would take less than half an hour?¡± Nozawa pinched himself awake before leaping into battle.

    The great elder, who stood behind them, was baffled by their interaction. What sort of rtionship was going on between Young Master Nozawa and Miss Cecily?

    In the next second, all eyes were on Gu Xiqiao and her team.

    Gu Xiqiao had brought over the most effective killing machine the Peacekeepers had in their arsenal, Yao Jiamu. One after another, they struck down the beings that were no longer human mercilessly and with brutal effectiveness. After all, the Peacekeepers specialized in doing such dirty jobs!

    It had only been a couple of seconds after the battle had started but a great deal of the undead had already been wiped out.

    Boom! Inparison to Gu Xiqiao, this squad wasn¡¯t particrly powerful. This time, she took matters into her own hands, striking the enemy with pirs of purple lightning. The ones who were brought down by Yao Jiamu and his team were reduced into piles of dust.

    Although there wasn¡¯t much verbalmunication going on, the Peacekeepers were working in perfect synchrony. None of them did anything that was in excess but it was clear that there was bloodlust in their eyes. From time to time, they would utter something under their breath but that was it. Whenever the squad members tried to achieve a glory kill, the enemy would be reduced to ashes by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lightning without hesitation.

    The monsters, which the Japanese thought were unkible, were being ughtered at an ungodly pace by the Peacekeepers. It felt almost like they were massacring a bunch of helpless infants!

    The young ones from the Japanese supernatural world looked over out of curiosity upon hearing themotion from the battle.

    Those who participated in thest rankingpetition recognized instantly that iconic purple lightning. Thrilled, they yelled out, ¡°That¡¯s Miss Gu! Miss Gu!¡±

    What followed was the sound of their jaws hitting the ground. They held their breaths as they muttered to themselves, ¡°F-F*ck...that¡¯s...¡±

    Way too terrifying!

    The degree of carnage was on a whole other level!

    They were stunned. ¡°Hey, watch out you.¡± Wu Hongwen suddenly appeared next to one of them and mmed a creature that was about to pounce on him, into the ground.

    His face was beet red upon realizing what had happened. Gripping his weapon tightly, he smashed it against the monster on the ground with all of his might.

    Suddenly, his mind cleared up as realization set in. ¡®These monsters... they aren¡¯t that scary.¡¯ The fear in their hearts had been wiped away as soon as the Peacekeepers joined their ranks. Their waning fighting spirit, on the other hand, was rekindled. Their will to end this fight was finally solidified.

    This, of course, was partly due to the knowledge that the magical Peacekeepers were being led by the one-and-only, Gu Xiqiao!

    To the elders¡¯ surprise, the young people who, prior to the Peacekeepers¡¯ arrival, seemed to have been castrated, with zero will to fight, were suddenly acting so aggressively on the battlefield that it almost seemed like they had been injected with steroids. It felt like the group of defenders had been swapped out for a new one, with much higher effectiveness than what was previously seen.

    ¡°Great Elder, what¡¯s happening?¡± The other elders asked out of confusion.

    The great elder peered in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction and inhaled deeply. It was at this moment that he finally understood what Nozawa was trying to tell him. So this was the most terrifying squad from the ancient martial arts world and coincidentally, it was under Miss Gu¡¯s leadership?

    Boom! Yet another swathe of enemies copsed following this loud explosion.

    And I thought that Young Master Nozawa was already plenty strong, out of this exceptional batch of youngsters.¡± The great elder said as he observed the battlefield with thoughts running through his mind. ¡°I never expected the ancient martial arts world to be able to produce such powerful figures. Not just a single person, but an entire team of powerful figures.¡±

    The rest of the elders went silent. They were relieved but also amazed when they saw how quickly the morale of the juniors returned following the Peacekeepers¡¯ arrival. ¡°To be able to do so much at such a young age. I say the rise of the ancient martial arts world in the future is inevitable.¡±

    The rest of the elders remained silent, but this sudden realization definitely made them start contemting.

    They, however, had no idea the period of time in which Gu Xiqiao and her team were exposed to ancient martial arts. If they had known about this, they would not have agreed to that statement!

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t have to wait until the future to witness their rise,¡± replied Nozawa, who had returned from the battlefield upon seeing that Gu Xiqiao and her team had the situation under their control. ¡°They are already insanely powerful now. Great Elder, can we even form a team of people who can defeat them?¡±

    The great elderughed at the question. ¡°Young Master Nozawa, our capabilities have never been on par with the ancient martial arts world.¡± At least, this was the consensus in the supernatural world.

    ¡°Great Elder, their power which you are seeing now, is merely the tip of the iceberg. You¡¯ll have to see them unveil their true potential...¡± Nozawa was not smiling. He peered in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction to find that they were already starting to retreat. They were leaving the rest of the fighting in Japanese hands. Speaking slowly, he continued, ¡°I haven¡¯t told you this, but the group of people you see at the moment is only a part of her men. There are actually fifteen squads in total. And, guess what? They had only been practicing ancient martial arts for six months.¡±

    The great elder and the rest of his peers were stupefied.

    They red at Nozawa in disbelief.

    His words were simr to a bomb, which exploded in their minds. They had no idea how they should react to such news. There was more than one squad?!

    They had only been practicing ancient martial arts for six months?!

    ¡°Young Master Nozawa...¡± The great elder found it difficult to speak following Nozawa¡¯s statement. ¡°This isn¡¯t something to joke about.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I would be joking around at this moment?¡± Nozawa¡¯s expression was dead serious. ¡°Let me ask you this, have you ever heard of Miss Gu¡¯s name or her Peacekeepers in the past? If they are so strong, how could they possibly go unnoticed up until just six months ago?¡±

    That¡¯s right. Nozawa wasn¡¯t the type of person to pull such pranks on them. There was no need for him to do so anyway.

    The elders looked at each other in search of an answer. Their fingers were trembling following such a mortifying realization. They could practically see the fear in each others¡¯ eyes.

    They had only been practicing ancient martial arts for six months and yet they have already reached such a state of proficiency. If they were allowed more time to develop, god knows what would be of them.

    ¡°Miss Gu and her team have this magical ability.¡± Nozawa smiled excitedly at his Japanese brethren. ¡°That wherever they go, they would bring with them a sense of reassurance and hope. Great Elder, have our fellow disciples achieved this?¡±

    The elders shook their heads. They have never seen the young ones act so decisively before. This, they assumed, was just an anomalous trait, special to Gu Xiqiao and her people who were blessed by the heavens with great power.

    ¡°With Miss Gu and her team, the ancient martial arts world is on their way towards tipping the bnce of powers in the supernatural world,¡± said the great elder with a sigh. ¡°The speed at which they are growing, it¡¯s unbelievable.¡±

    It really was unbelievable. Following the introduction of such a powerful force, the supernatural world was bound to change.

    To them, tipping the bnce of powers in the supernatural world was as simple a task as flicking the light switch.

    Nozawa then asked, ¡°Now, do you still wish to push them around?¡±

    ¡°How could we?¡± responded the great elder with a painful smile. ¡°I am not the leader, speaking of him...¡± A frown appeared on his face instantly.

    The leader of Japan almost doomed his entire nation to death by letting emotions get in the way of policy-making.

    ¡°Leader?¡± Nozawa¡¯s face remainedrgely expressionless. ¡°Did you forget who he provoked in the past? Miss Gu will never let him slip away unpunished.¡±

    ¡°Young Master Nozawa.¡± The great elder sensed the confidence radiating from Nozawa, which surprised him. ¡°You mean...but that matter was foiled, what can Miss Gu do about it?¡±

    Nozawa did not reply when asked such a question. Cecil, who rushed back from the battlefield, smiled at them.

    He had always been someone who disregarded conventions. Patting the shoulder of the great elder, as if they were buddies, he replied, ¡°Great Elder, do not underestimate how capable Miss Gu is. Maybe you don¡¯t know her well enough, but let me tell you this. Her memory is photographic, especially when she holds grudges. ¡±

    Nozawa had spent a day over in the United States, where he learned about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s adventures in detail. From there, he got a taste of how talented she really was.

    From China to America, the people with whom she locked horns were all yed like puppets in the end.

    And it seems like the same oue would be reached by the end of the day here in Japan.

    Nozawa let out a sigh.

    The great elder¡¯s body jolted when he heard Cecil¡¯s response. So this was why the American prodigies were so obsessed with Gu Xiqiao?

    ¡°And you might not know this, but Miss Gu had just left America moments ago.¡± Cecilughed. ¡°In the beginning, Miss Gu had already reported the hotspots where disaster would strike. Fortunately, unlike you people, our leader has faith in her words which was why although the scale of destruction was multitudes greater than what¡¯s happening here, we suffered zero casualties.¡±

    So she even predicted that disaster would strike in the United States? The great elder stared in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction with his jaw wide open. Looking at her shining bright eyes, one could hardly sense the terrifying powers hidden behind that innocent facade.

    ¡°She has more than enough strength to lead us,¡± said Cecil to Nozawa, the great elder and the rest of the Japanese. ¡°Nozawa, great elder, in the near future, we will be facing a cmity far greater than this incident. In fact, you might not even be able toprehend how dire the situation will be. We, the Americans firmly believe in the ancient martial arts world and in Miss Gu. She has enough strength to change the course of fate. Now, I urge you to make a decision before it¡¯s toote.¡±

    He walked off right after saying that.

    Cecily clicked her tongue when her brother walked over. ¡°You¡¯re being pretty friendly with the Japanese, aren¡¯t you? Giving them warnings and all.¡±

    ¡°It is Nozawa¡¯s luck that he got to train with us,¡± responded Cecil. ¡°And don¡¯t forget I¡¯m just trying to help you fan the mes. The most pressing matter now is the unification of the supernatural world.¡±

    ¡°...you¡¯re right.¡± There was a brief pause before Cecily replied. She was noticeably getting riled up when speaking about this matter.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to seeing how majestic Miss Gu would be when we manage to get the supernatural world behind her. I trust that she will not let us, nor the rest of the world down. In the end, she still stands on our side.¡± Cecily¡¯s voice was hoarse and shaky when she spoke.

    Not far away, Jiang Shuxuan was staring in Cecil¡¯s direction before he suddenly turned towards Gu Xiqiao, who was approaching him.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing you want to take part in the killings as well?¡± his eyes shifted to ng, who was standing behind him.

    ng¡¯s gaze, which was initially focused on Yao Jiamu and his team, shifted back over to Jiang Shuxuan. He balled up his fist upon hearing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s question. He did not like violence but witnessing the massacre unfold strengthened his will to get stronger.

    ¡°Work harder and build your strength,¡± said Jiang Shuxuan. Seeing that the Peacekeepers had the situation under control, Jiang Shuxuan let down the barrier and turned towards ng. ¡°And then, you¡¯ll finally be able to operate alongside these people.¡±

    ng nodded intensely.

    ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± Gu Xiqiao looked straight up at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Do you feel...¡±

    ¡°An energy fluctuation?¡± interrupted Jiang Shuxuan with a smile.

    Gu Xiqiao exhaled. Seems like there was nothing wrong with her senses. ¡°What sort of energy is this? I¡¯ve asked Jiji to investigate it but it came up with nothing.¡±

    Did you forget what you¡¯re standing on?¡± asked Jiang Shuxuan while staring up at the summit of the mountain. ¡°We¡¯re standing on an extinct volcano.¡±

    ¡°An extinct volcano?¡± Gu Xiqiao shut her eyes to get a sharper sense of the energy fluctuations.

    Underneath the ground they were standing on, she did not sense the movements of magma. But still, the energy continued to shift and fluctuate, which was why she was doubtful of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s statement.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s trying to hide something from my and Jiji¡¯s senses!¡± Gu Xiqiao looked up at him with a pair of glowing eyes.

    Jiang Shuxuan was still thinking of what he was supposed to tell her but her reaction came earlier than expected. He chuckled to himself as a result.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go over to Nozawa¡¯s position.¡±

    Fortunately, she believed him despite all the initial doubt.

    As Jiang Shuxuan led her away, he stole one final nce at the summit of the mountain. This time, the look in his eyes was dark and hostile.

    Yao Jiamu and the rest shuddered when they saw that look. They nced at each other, confirming how equally terrifying it was for each one of them.

    The people of Japan¡¯s supernatural world quickly regained control over Mount Apple with the help of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s team.

    Their hopelessness was wiped away and was now reced by a rising fighting spirit.

    The great elder and his peers were relieved when they witnessed this miracle. Soon, they ordered for arge-scale meeting to be held.

    ¡°Great Elder, where is Miss Gu? Did she request to meet me?¡± The leader of Japan plopped down on his seat upon entering the meeting hall. The tone of his voice reflected how nervous he was feeling.

    The great elder nced at the leader from the corner of his eyes as a cold sneer appeared on his face. ¡°Are you absolutely positive that you want to meet Miss Gu? Don¡¯t forget how hostile you were initially. And don¡¯t even get me started with how you hid the truth from the supernatural world, a foolish decision which almost cost us our lives.¡±

    The great elder spoke calmly but it sent chills up the leader¡¯s spine.

    He was outside when the battle was raging on, meaning he had witnessed how powerful Gu Xiqiao and her Peacekeepers were. That of course, further fuelled the panic in his heart.

    It was at that moment that he realized, he and Gu Xiqiao were people frompletely different levels.

    Back then, he was even nning to form a coalition with the rest of the supernatural world to crush the ancient martial arts world, to crush Gu Xiqiao. In retrospect, he realized howughable and depressing his attempt was.

    Perhaps, even if he managed to form that coalition, Gu Xiqiao would merely react as if she had been attacked by a harmless ant; the entire force of the supernatural worldbined was no match for the Peacekeepers under her leadership.

    Maybe, just maybe, she was waiting for him to make the first move.

    Such thoughts made the leader of Japan sweat bullets. Suddenly, he recalled hearing a rumor.

    It was a rumor that spread around the supernatural world, that Gu Xiqiao was the person who had triggered the downfall of the previous British leader. He dismissed that as mere spection back then but now, upon seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s capability, it seemed truer than never!

    Subsequently, his face turned as pale as a sheet of bleached paper.

    Nozawa nced at him with a facepletely devoid of expression. It¡¯s toote for regrets at this point.

 Chapter 350 - Returned

    <h4>Chapter 350: Returned</h4>

    ¡°Leader, forget about the matter with Miss Gu at the moment. The decision you made previously almost cost the entire country, and we were all almost wiped out.¡± The great elder looked at Japan¡¯s leader, his words slow, and his tone was grave. ¡°On this matter, the elders have decided that...¡±

    ¡°Great Elder!¡± Before the great elder could finish speaking, Japan¡¯s leader had stood on his feet, trying to calm his panicked mind. ¡°I was wrong in this matter, I will reflect on my mistakes!¡±

    Nozawa didn¡¯t speak, because he had just received a call from Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°I heard that you guys are having a meeting, so I won¡¯t being over. Listen well, there is an energy surge underneath the extinct volcano. If you don¡¯t want to die, then you better organize a team of people toe here quickly.¡± Having said that, Gu Xiqiao cut off the call without waiting for a reply.

    Though the call wasn¡¯t on loudspeaker, with the leader¡¯s ears, he clearly heard everything that had been said by Gu Xiqiao.

    He smiled after hearing those words. ¡°This mountain is the ce where our ancestors of the power world had chosen to settle down in, our n also has the tools to measure any activities in the volcano. There has not been a single problem in the past thousands of years, do you all really believe what she said? Though she was right thest time, but...¡±

    Nozawa spared a nce at the leader, then ignored him, turning to look at the elders immediately.

    ¡°Young Master Nozawa, hurry and inform the people in the power world.¡± The great elder said calmly. ¡°Pack whatever essential items you need, and leave as quickly as possible. Also, notify the army to start evacuating the people nearby the area.¡±

    ¡°Understood, I¡¯ll head to the power world first.¡± Nozawa nodded his head. The other elders were also heading off to attend to their own duties, no one bothered about Japan¡¯s leader.

    ¡°Leader, don¡¯t forget the wrong decision that you made thest time.¡± When thest elder to leave received notice to do so, he nced at the leader and sneered at him. ¡°Because of you, the entire country was almost destroyed. If it weren¡¯t for Young Master Nozawa, you wouldn¡¯t be able to make up for this mistake even if you had several lifetimes.¡±

    The leader looked at the elder who had spoken with a sullen expression on his face. He walked out slowly, and the people around him were starting to get more, and most of them were in a hurry as they packed everything up.

    Everyone turned a blind eye to the leader, most of the discussions they had were about Miss Gu and Young Master Nozawa.

    It seems like in a short half day, Nozawa¡¯s influence had far surpassed his own.

    ***

    ¡°Seems like your influence is still great as usual, Qiao Qiao.¡± Cecily walked beside Gu Xiqiao, looking at the young people who were clearing out the bottom of the mountain. ¡°Such an illogicalmand, and all of these people were still doubtful when Nozawa said it. But once he mentioned that it was your prediction, they immediately started packing up their stuff and evacuating.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao was standing at the top of the mountain, looking at the situation while not saying a word.

    Seeing her current state, Cecily quietly took out her phone, taking a picture and sending it to her own country¡¯s leader¡ª[Leader, let me show you the authority she has in Japan, it surpasses any single person. If I didn¡¯t see it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn¡¯t believe it either.]

    Not a minuteter, America¡¯s leader replied with the message¡ª[Get her toe to our country, I promise we¡¯re also as obedient as them.]

    Cecily stared at the message for a long time, then smiled before letting out a sigh. The leader was right, forget about anyone else, even Cecil and herself had been brainwashed by Gu Xiqiao. If the ten people from America were to go to the ancient martial arts world, something might happen after they return to America. They were all die-hard fans of Gu Xiqiao without exceptions anyway.

    Thinking about that, she was curious¡ª[Leader, aren¡¯t you afraid that once we go to the ancient martial arts world, when wee back, we¡¯ll only listen to her, and your seat is just decoration at that point?]

    The leader¡¯s reply came faster this time¡ª[You¡¯re thinking too much. If she wanted to, she could create a force that¡¯s a hundred times stronger than us at any time. Why would she bother with us in the first ce? But if we really did catch her eye, then it¡¯s a blessing to our power world. Tell me, who doesn¡¯t want to be taken in by her right now? The people in the ns are going crazy about the other empty seats right now. We¡¯ll talkter, I need to go and maintain order now.]

    ¡°Go on down.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked to the people on the mountainside, only opening his mouth once he saw that the majority of them had been evacuated.

    Gu Xiqiao turned away from what she was looking at, and the group trudged down the mountain.

    The pedestrians of Japan¡¯s power world had all been evacuated, even the younger disciples included. Once Nozawa and the elders had made the decision, they happened to bump into Gu Xiqiao and her group. Nozawa nced at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Young Master Jiang, how much longer do we have?¡±

    ¡°Half an hour,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied easily.

    Half an hour, that was more than enough time. Nozawa let out a sigh of relief, leading the people from the power world away.

    The people of the power worlds all had faith in Gu Xiqiao, but the regr folks around them didn¡¯t. They had lived here for generations upon generations, and now someone came along to tell them that this extinct volcano was about to erupt? Who the heck would believe them?

    It was like someoneing to tell you that the end of the world wasing, leave the earth quickly.

    How could these people know who Nozawa was? The army also took some time to arrive, and helicopters were hovering in the skies withoutnding, but there were only a few regr folks who decided to leave.

    Nozawa and the people of the power world existed for the sake of the country¡¯s safety, and at this time, they were still trying to persuade these people to leave, but the effect was weak.

    ¡°A volcano, even experts say that this is an extinct volcano. How can you be so sure that it will erupt in half an hour?¡±

    ¡°This is the ce that my ancestors have lived for generations. Where will I go if I were to leave this ce?¡±

    Nozawa and the elders were shot at by those regr people to the point that they didn¡¯t have anything to retort with.

    They were patient, but there were some who weren¡¯t as patient.

    Just when everyone was making a ruckus, a terrifying aura broke out. It was winter in Japan, but the sun was too bright today, and there was enough light to see the surroundings. The water under their feet was also not frozen, but everyone felt the temperature dropping ten degrees at this moment.

    The water puddles at their feet suddenly turned to ice, and even the condensation from their breath, as well as ice on their eyebrows could be seen.

    Everyone on Mount Apple could see a long, icy blue sword breaking through a spatial crack in the sky, slowly appearing in front of them!

    The sword was surrounded by a cold mist, and while rays of light usually brought warmth with it, this one brought cold and chills.

    Countless people were watching the scene unfold in front of them, the only words in their mind was¡ªthis wasn¡¯t real, it was a fantasy!

    Unlike the regr folk, Nozawa and the others were looking at Jiang Shuxuan with horror on their face, as though they had just seen a ghost. Indeed, they had not seen Jiang Shuxuan take any action in the recent days, and their minds remained stuck on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s state years ago. At that time, he was strong, but now, especially Cecily, who participated in the same qualifying match with Jiang Shuxuan, was clearly aware of the true strength of his.

    He only pulled out his Seven-Frosted de, and she could already feel like she couldn¡¯t breathe.

    At this moment, Nozawa, Cecily, Cecil, and the rest all had identical faces of horror.

    Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, and the others stood calmly where they were, because they had already understood Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s strength since earlier, and there wasn¡¯t anything to be surprised at this point.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t know or bothered how much fear he had struck into the hearts of these people, ncing coldly at those regr folks. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, then hurry up and pack your things. We¡¯ll only wait five minutes. If there¡¯s no one here after that, then we won¡¯t wait for anyone.¡±

    He didn¡¯t have the patience to talk to these bunch of people who didn¡¯t value their own lives. If it wasn¡¯t for Gu Xiqiao, he wouldn¡¯t be bothered with them in the first ce.

    The moment he said that, the regr people dispersed with a whoosh.

    Now that they knew Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t any ordinary person, which meant neither was that other group of people, they hurriedly went to pack their important things, trembling all the way. Jiang Shuxuan had only given them five minutes, and they took only three before they were all gathered back there.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t speak anymore at this time, but he looked towards Gu Xiqiao, his eyes lowered without a word.

    Gu Xiqiao squeezed his hand, before turning towards Nozawa. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The moment she said that, the cold air and heavy pressure around them vanished instantly.

    The army had already sent a number of trucks over, and the group got onto the vehicles, following the direction of where the forces were withdrawing to.

    The people from Japan¡¯s power world stopped when they came to ake, and when Gu Xiqiao and her group reached, they were already preparing to set up camp.

    ¡°Here isn¡¯t enough to avoid it.¡± Gu Xiqiao merely said before instructing Nozawa to continue driving on.

    Though her voice wasn¡¯t loud, it was clear and heard by everyone present. How much influence did she really have in Japan¡¯s power world? It was as if she was the faith of everyone in the ancient martial arts world.

    When the people of Japan¡¯s power world saw her in the car and heard her words, they immediately started packing up their things, getting into the vehicles once again, following in a neat line behind the car she was in.

    ¡°Major General, who are these people?¡± The Japan troops couldn¡¯t help but ask, seeing the group of them with attitudes and movements that were well-trained. ¡°Also that girl, why does it seem like everyone listens to her words?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk so much, let¡¯s go.¡± The major general raised his hands, signaling for the troops to gather and piled into the trucks as they followed behind Gu Xiqiao¡¯s car with the others.

    ¡°Major General, do you really believe that it¡¯s a volcano, or even if it was, will it really erupt and reach this point?¡± The same soldier asked, disbelief clear in his voice as he looked to the bigke in front of them.

    The major general looked at him, then got into the car without speaking.

    Nozawa heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that all the trucks behind them were following them from the rearview mirror.

    After driving for another five minutes, Gu Xiqiao finally called for them to stop. At this moment, everyone felt relieved. They got down from the vehicles in a hurry, running to the nearest tall building to look at the extinct volcano.

    In the direction of Mount Apple, ck smoke mixed with volcanic ash seemed to roll upwards into the sky, the sound of rumbling gravel could be heard even miles away. The dark red magma mixed with the dark grey smoke that was pushed upwards came plummeting down to the ground, scattering everywhere. With a huge rumbling sound, a thick dense fire zed into the sky. The air around it bing scorching hot, as though it would ignite in the next second.

    At this moment, countless regr folk and people from the power world all got out of their vehicles one after another, looking up at the scene in a daze.

    They watched with their own eyes as the zing red magma erupted from the top of the mountain, then quickly submerged everything within its reach, flowing down and covering every inch of the mountain. Finally, theke that they had first stopped at was also covered by the hot magma.

    Everyone¡¯s blood ran cold at the sight, especially those people who had been reluctant to leave at first. Only by watching this scene with their own eyes did they feel the true terror of the situation. If it wasn¡¯t for Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao, they would be a pile of soot now, right?

    Thinking of this, the people from Japan¡¯s power world couldn¡¯t help but nce in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction and the others who were standing not too far away. In their hearts, they were well aware that this group of people were the ones who had saved them, and had pulled from the edge of life and death.

    ¡°Major General, it was really swallowed up.¡± The doubtful soldier said in with a slight tremble in his voice. He turned towards Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction, his eyes filled with horror. ¡°Who are these people?¡±

    They were actually able to calcte the scope of the volcano eruption so clearly and urately?

    They also chose a location to stop, where they would be able to be unharmed while watching the scene of the volcano eruption clearly.

    Every single person here imprinted the scene in front of them in their mind.

    ¡°Young Master Nozawa, our home... it¡¯s gone.¡± When the younger generation of the power world saw their homes getting destroyed, all of them fell into a dazed trance.

    They hadn¡¯t doubted Gu XIqiao¡¯s words for a moment, but when they saw it happening with their own eyes, an inexplicable sadness welled up within their hearts at the sight.

    Nozawa couldn¡¯t help but turn his eyes towards Gu Xiqiao, like the others before him. He knew, this time, that his words would not be as effective as hers.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiji, who took out a giant tent immediately. The tent covered Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan, Yao Jiamu, and everyone else in their group.

    ¡°The power world is no more, but you are still here. All of you are members of the power world, as long as you¡¯re here, the power world is here!¡± After watching Jiji set up the tent, only did she turn and address the group of people from the power world.

    Her gaze was calm as usual, and there was even a hint of fire in her normally indifferent eyes. It was the calm expression on her face that reassured all the people from Japan. Just like that, Gu Xiqiao had been the one to bring her squad and pull them out from the brink of despair, and now she had also been the one to rescue them and the other regr folks from the hands of death.

    Although they didn¡¯t belong to the same country, the name ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ had been deeply engraved in their bones and blood.

    No one here would ever forget that she was the person who had given them hope in the darkest moment of their lives when all they could feel was despair.

    As long as they were here, the power world was there!

    That¡¯s right!

    They were here, and so was the power world!

    At this moment, the dejected hearts of the people from the power world were instantly reignited, their blood boiling with determination as they started to shout her name again and again!

    For an instant, the words ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ seemed to echo into the skies.

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised at all to see these people worship Miss Gu, who is from the ancient martial arts world.¡± The great elder sighed as he watched the scene in front of him. ¡°I had thought that everyone would be down and feeling hopeless after today¡¯s incident.¡±

    He was an old man, who had always had a calm heart. He didn¡¯t expect for his own blood to start boiling at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s words either.

    ¡°The debt we owe Miss Gu is getting more and more,¡± Nozawa said softly.

    Rain had started pouring at this time, and the great elder looked towards Gu Xiqiao and her group who were standing under the tent that had already been set up earlier. After a while, he turned towards Nozawa. ¡°Young Master Nozawa, the leader of the power world has to be changed, and you¡¯re the most suitable for the position.¡±

    ¡°Great Elder?!¡± Nozawa eximed, startled. ¡°No, I...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a rush to refuse, Young Master Nozawa.¡± The great elder let out a sigh. ¡°You know that we absolutely cannot go on with the current leader. In the entire power world, you are the only one with a good rtionship with Miss Gu. With that fact in mind, the entire power world will be assured and convinced. Our friendship with the ancient martial arts world can only depend on you.¡±

    ¡°Great Elder...¡± Nozawa continued to look at the older man, knowing in his heart that what he said were all facts.

    He didn¡¯t say anything for a long while. As a member of the power world, he naturally wanted it to be better in the future.

    The change of Japan¡¯s leader spread across all the power worlds instantly, as well as the incident of the volcano eruption, and the fact that no one in Japan had been injured in it. Adding on the four things that happened in America, everyone can feel the unusual breath in the air.

    ***

    In China¡¯s ancient martial arts world, the Elders¡¯ Pavillon.

    ¡°As expected, it¡¯s something that Miss Gu has done,¡± The great elder stroked his beard as he said.

    ¡°Recing the leader of Japan¡¯s power world, and even having them all worship her.¡± The second elder put down the document in his hands. ¡°Seriously.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because she has the ability!¡± The great elder eximed suddenly, ring at him.

    The second elder: ¡°...¡± I haven¡¯t even said anything, why the heck is your reaction so big?

    The third elder rushed in at this moment, panting slightly as he said, ¡°Hurry, Miss Gu has returned!¡±

 Chapter 351 - Miss Gu, What In The World Have You Done?

    <h4>Chapter 351: Miss Gu, What In The World Have You Done?</h4>

    In the ancient martial arts world, news of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return spread in an instant. All the youth who had trained in the Mountain Range of Death were all gathered there now, vibrating in excitement as they waited for her to arrive.

    It had only been two weeks, but this group of youngsters lookedpletely different and seemed to have been through a drastic change.

    There was a hardened look on their faces, and the aura they exuded were silently imposing. No one would be able to doubt the strength in their bodies, and even the elders who had just arrived in a rush were shocked by the aura that they could feeling from them.

    Shu Chen and Jiang Han both stood where they were, until a familiar ck car pulled up, and an expression of joy appeared on the older woman¡¯s face. She raised her hands to wave at them.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally back.¡± Shu Chen looked at Gu Xiqiao, studying her from head to toe, and seeing that she hadn¡¯t be thinner in the short time she was gone, finally let out a sigh of relief. Then, she hooked her arm around the younger girl¡¯s, pulling her along. ¡°I was so anxious when I saw the news, the volcano eruption happened in Japan coincidentally at the same time you both were there.¡±

    Though she knew the two were fully capable of taking care of themselves, Shu Chen still couldn¡¯t help but worry.

    Yao Jiamu and everyone else who were following behind had heard the words that Shu Chen had said to Gu Xiqiao, and they couldn¡¯t help the thoughts that surfaced in their hearts, ¡®Of all the people you¡¯re worried about, you¡¯re worried about those two? Those two had scared the pants out of everyone in Japan¡¯s power world, what the heck could happen to them?¡¯

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± At this time, the group of youngsters from the ancient martial arts world finally spoke, and they were all looking at her with excitement in their eyes.

    Gu Xiqiao nced at them, her eyes narrowing slightly. She sent out a probe at their strength with her mental powers, and said, ¡°You¡¯ve been working hard in the past days that I wasn¡¯t around, not bad.¡±

    At this moment in time, what was more exciting and thrilling than getting recognition from Miss Gu?

    The youngsters were practically vibrating in the spot, trying hard to restrain themselves.

    Shu Chen and Jiang Han exchange nces, seeing the pride that lurks in each other¡¯s eyes. This person, who had the undying faith of everyone here, this was their daughter-inw!

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go home. The butler has already prepared food and is waiting for your arrival.¡± Shu Chen tugged on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arm.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Shu Chen, seeing the mirth in her eyes. He paused, but chose not to speak in the end.

    ¡°Miss Gu, Young Master Jiang, you¡¯re back?¡± The great elder and others came rushing up. Seeing the both of them, they smiled. ¡°The ancient martial arts world...¡±

    ¡°Great Elder, the two have just arrived back, let¡¯s talk about thingster on in the afternoon.¡± Shu Chen eyed the great elder, knowing that the expression on his face spoke volumes about wanting to just grab these two away.

    The great elder¡¯s mouth mmed shut immediately, he had initially just wanted to heap some praises onto Gu Xiqiao only though?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, back to Peace Manor.¡± Yao Jiamu waited for Gu Xiqiao to leave before taking the others back to their own ce.

    Cecily and Cecil looked at the group of youngsters from the ancient martial arts world, and the two were hard-pressed to react for a long while. Though they hadn¡¯t personally known any of them, they could tell that the auraing from them was clearly surprising.

    ¡°Sis...¡± Cecil could feel his voice breaking as he tried to form words. ¡°It has only been a month since we were here, when did the ancient martial arts world gain so many extraordinary talents?¡±

    He felt like his body was floating in the skies, as though this was not real.

    Shocked!

    Extremely dumbfounded!

    Although the ancient martial arts world was more powerful than the power worlds, you could say they were only stronger by a couple of points. Other than Jiang Shuxuan, the others were more or less on equal footing, but now... when did so many extraordinary talents appear? It had just been a month, and they had grown to such terrifying heights?

    Looking at each one of them, it was as though they had been through a baptism of blood to gain such an aura.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, I don¡¯t know either.¡± Cecily was also in the same dazed state, feeling the entire situation was just so unreal.

    At this moment, she suddenly recalled the words of their leader, [If she wanted to, she could create a force that was a hundred times stronger than us at any time.]

    ¡°I¡¯ve never once felt that our leader was a wise person,¡± Cecily muttered. Though she had expected it, to see it in person was apletely different thing.

    ¡°Manor Master Yao, you¡¯re all finally back!¡± The same group of youngsters had rushed over to the others once Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao had left. They all looked at the people from Peace Manor with respect and admiration in their eyes, and someone suddenly said, ¡°I heard from Baili Wen that Miss Gu has recruited someone into Peace Manor?¡±

    In the entire group, there were only four people who were unfamiliar to them.

    Cecily, Cecil, ng, and Joyner.

    Cecily and Cecil were still more well known than the other two in the ancient martial arts world, and the only real new faces were ng and Joyner. Joyner was too young, so it wasn¡¯t possible for it to be her, and so all eyes turned to ng immediately.

    ng: ¡°...¡± I¡¯m probably going to die.

    ¡°Bro, condolences.¡± Wu Hongwen held back the grin that threatened to stretch across his face as he patted ng on the shoulder. ¡°Didn¡¯t Qiao Qiao have you practicing hard the past few days? It¡¯s time to test that strength of yours.¡±

    Cecily and Cecil finally gathered themselves at this time, and they shot ng a sympathetic look before slowly leaving the area.

    ***

    At the Jiang family residence.

    ¡°Butler Jiang, you¡¯ve prepared so much.¡± Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help butugh lightly as she sat Gu Xiqiao down at one of the chairs, watching as dish after dish was carried out and ced on the table. ¡°When it was only Jiang Han and myself at home, we¡¯ve never seen such a rich variety of dishes.¡±

    Jiang Han also eyed the butler silently at that.

    Butler Jiang¡¯s face remained unchanged, and he merely bowed slightly and said, ¡°I will pay attention to that next time.¡±

    ¡°The great elder seems to have something going on.¡± The dinner table of the Jiang family had long since stopped being a ce where they ate inplete silence. Gu Xiqiao nced at Jiang Shuxuan, saying softly, ¡°Go on ahead to the Elders¡¯ Pavillonter.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply, staring at her with a hint of questioning in his eyes.

    ¡°I want to bring Joyner to thebs. Her illness is notpletely healed yet.¡± Gu Xiqiao exined in a low voice.

    The man turned away at her words, nodding slightly. His thin lips were pressed tightly, showing his understanding of the situation.

    However, his brows were still furrowed tightly.

    After they had finished eating, they didn¡¯t linger a moment longer and left to be busy once again. Gu Xiqiao had wanted to leave right away, but her legs were suddenly heavier and she looked down into what seemed like a pile of snow. She leaned down immediately to pick Haha up in her arms.

    Shu Chen and Jiang Han came back into the house after seeing the two younger people off. Butler Jiang was sitting on the sofa, watching the news with a grave expression on his face. Seeing the twoe back in, he stood up immediately.

    ¡°They¡¯re still broadcasting the same news?¡± Shu Chen sighed, seeing the news about the volcanic eruption in Japan. ¡°How could this extinct volcano just suddenly rise and live again? It¡¯s fortunate that there were no casualties.¡±

    ¡°For these types of mountains to erupt after hundreds of years of silence, every eruption equals a worldwide disaster,¡± Butler Jiang also spoke his thoughts. ¡°But it looked like the people of Japan handled it well.¡±

    It was handled well indeed. The power world of Japan had thought that after this disaster, everyone would be panicked and unstable, giving into despair. But they didn¡¯t think that none of those would happen, and instead they seem to band together more tightly, having unprecedented courage and looking forward instead.

    Shu Chen continued reading the headlines, and sighed again. ¡°The earthquakes in America previously have also been handled well. Technology has really developed a lot over the years, and they are able to predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions so urately. It would be great if our country could also be that advanced.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t possibly believe what the news is reporting?¡± Jiang Han said to his wife, smiling suddenly.

    Even the technology to predict earthquakes wasn¡¯t that urate nowadays, how could they predict a volcanic eruption, much less an extinct volcano? And they had even calcted and predicted the range of the damage?

    You have to know that the hardest thing to predict in this world was nature.

    Shu Chen turned her nce to Jiang Han, her expression confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you realize the simrities between the two incidents?¡± Jiang Han asked instead.

    Simrities? What simrities? Shu Chen thought about it for a while, but she couldn¡¯t pinpoint it, turning to look at Jiang Han again.

    Jiang Han¡¯s attention was on the news, with a mysterious expression on his face.

    ¡°Madam,¡± Butler Jiang said from where he stood at the side, a chuckleing from his mouth. ¡°The simrities are easy to find. Didn¡¯t you realize that the two ces were also the ces that the Young Master and Miss Gu visited?¡±

    Shu Chen nodded her head, that¡¯s right, it had indeed been the same two ces that Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao had been, and that was why she had been worried and anxious when the news came.

    Wait?!

    Something didn¡¯t seem right?!

    Shu Chen raised her head, looking at Jiang Han again. ¡°You... Are you saying that, Qiao Qiao...¡±

    Jiang Han turned his eyes to her. ¡°Now that the leader of Japan has changed, their new leader, including those from the power world, hold respect and admiration towards Qiao Qiao, even to the point of worshipping her. Why do you think they suddenly turned like this?¡±

    He didn¡¯t bother saying anything else, because Shu Chen seemed to have reached the correct conclusion.

    Oh my god! This daughter-inw, as expected... The next time those two went somewhere, she would make sure they brought her along!

    Jiang Han was calmed all the way. The things that Gu Xiqiao had done in the ancient martial arts world had already been enough of a shock to him anyway, this was nothing that could shake his heart.

    ***

    After Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan went their separate ways, she came to Peace Manor.

    She was holding a snow-white dog in her arms, followed by a colorful Jiji behind her.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± ng greeted when he saw her. He felt a sense of grievance towards the group of people from the ancient martial arts world at the sight of her. ¡°Am I going to be training with Wu Hongwen and the others from now on? I should be able to help them increase their strength level by 0.5.¡±

    Though it wasn¡¯t as terrifying as tripling it, it was still terrifying if you thought about how strong the Peace Squad was in the first ce.

    ¡°No.¡± Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t expose your abilities right now.¡±

    ¡°Then what am I supposed to do?¡± ng asked, his eyes wide.

    ¡°The most important thing for you now is to have the ability to protect yourself. Have you forgotten your original intention?¡± Gu Xiqiao turned towards him. ¡°I hope that you get stronger, so that you don¡¯t drag the Peace Squad down. Your first goal now is to go and ept all the challenges from those juniors from the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    ¡°Challenge?¡± ng shrank into himself at that word, instantly terrified at the thought of fighting those scary people that he had met earlier in the day.

    ¡°Good luck.¡± Gu Xiqiao patted his shoulder. ¡°When you¡¯re able to defeat them all,e and find me again.¡±

    ¡°Joyner, I¡¯m bringing you out to y.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at Joyner, who was standing beside her brother.

    Joyner immediately ran over, grabbing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand.

    ng, who had been worried about his own life, only asked when he saw his sister bouncing over. ¡°Miss Gu, then what about my sister?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m bringing her for treatment.¡± Gu Xiqiao held Haha in one hand, and one hand held Joyner¡¯s hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°Worry, why would I be worried!¡± ng immediately waved his hands. He now finally understood a little, at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side, his sister was way safer than being by his side!

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at ng. ¡°There¡¯s a challenger outside already, good luck.¡± Then left after saying those words.

    ¡°Pft!¡± Wu Hongwen walked out from behind ng, a knife in his hands as heughed. ¡°ng, make sure you don¡¯t embarrass Peace Manor.¡±

    ng: ¡°...¡± Can you please let me die in peace?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao took Joyner and left the ancient martial arts world, and the little pink car finally came to a stop at the gates of the medicalboratory.

    ¡°Miss Gu?!¡± It was Wei Xi who caught sight of her first. ¡°Miss Gu, you¡¯re finally back?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, how is Mr. Zhuge?¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head in greeting.

    Hearing her ask about the man, Wei Xi¡¯s straightened up, and if possible, the admiration in her eyes increased as she replied, ¡°The young master¡¯s body is doing much better. By the looks of it, it seems that it won¡¯t be a problem to live another seven to eight years.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t only be seven to eight years in the future, but many more.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied, a smile on her face.

    If it was in the past, how could Wei Xi believe those words, believe that there was someone out there who would be able to take the life of her young master back from the ws of death? But she had witnessed the miracles that Gu Xiqiao had brought, and there wasn¡¯t a single doubt towards her words, and she only nodded her head fiercely.

    She and Wei Xu finally fullyprehend the extraordinariness that was Miss Gu.

    She could even exploit the loopholes of the heavens, what else couldn¡¯t she do?

    Zhuge Yan was reading a book, with Zhu Yuan beside him, scanning his body. He felt somebody approaching them, and he raised his head suddenly, his clear eyes meeting Gu Xiqiao¡¯s. ¡°You¡¯ve found that person?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°You seem to be in much better shape.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to your exceptional medical skills.¡± Zhuge Yanughed lightly.

    ¡°No, this is all thanks to Dr. Zhu.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved her hand immediately, then turned to Zhu Yuan. ¡°By the way, there¡¯s another case here...¡±

    Zhu Yuan, who initially didn¡¯t want to talk to Gu Xiqiao at all, immediately put down the instrument in his hand, raising his head to look around. His eyesnded on Joyner, who was standing beside Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Is this the one?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Take her for a full body scan first, I¡¯ll give you the report a bitter. There¡¯s something else I haven¡¯t figured out yet.¡± Gu Xiqiao touched Joyner¡¯s head gently, then lowered herself to speak to her. ¡°Joyner, will you please follow this big brother here to check your health?¡±

    Joyner nodded her head obediently, then left with Zhu Yuan.

    Gu Xiqiao picked up the report that was beside Zhuge Yan, beginning to read. This was the detailed report that Zhu Yuan had done in regards to Zhuge Yan¡¯s health.

    She flipped through the report at a fast speed. Zhu Yuan had sorted out a lot of matters, so the report was at least ten pages long, but she was done with it in ten seconds. This was the first time Zhuge Yan and Wei Xi had seen her flip through documents, and like everyone else, they were stunned for a long time.

    ¡°Left hand.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked towards Zhuge Yan once she was done with the report.

    It took a moment before Zhuge Yan came back to himself, and raised his left hand.

    She quickly used her right hand to touch the pulse on his left hand. Seeing the two slender, crystal fingers on his pulse, he thought that Gu Xiqiao was checking his pulse. But then he realized a momentter that it wasn¡¯t what she was doing, he could feel a warm flowing from her fingers and spreading through his body.

    ¡°Wei Xu, bring your young master back to rest.¡± Seeing that Zhuge Yan had fallen asleep, Gu Xiqiao retracted her fingers.

    Wei Xu responded with an affirmative answer immediately. He, who had always only listened to Zhuge Yan¡¯s words, now had no objection listening to Gu XIqiao¡¯s instructions. He and Wei Xi worked together and brought Zhuge Yan back to rest without another word.

    Gu Xiqiao went back into theboratory once the two had left, finding an unupiedputer and started typing away.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Mark greeted, not believing his eyes when he saw Gu Xiqiao sitting and typing at aputer.

    ¡°Dr. Mark.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. ¡°Have you gotten used to staying here?¡±

    Used? How could he not be? Mark¡¯s eyes lit up, thisboratory had far more beyond his imagination. Everything here was far beyond their time, even their medical equipment. He had thought theboratories in America were already top of the world, but he didn¡¯t expect to find that it was nothingpared to the one here.

    Mark suddenly understood how Zhu Yuan, who had been known to be unruly, could stay here permanently, because every day was a surprise here.

    Gu Xiqiao seemed to have endless amounts of matters in her mind that were futuristic, and every research that came out was shocking.

    ¡°Governor,¡± Mark suddenly received a video call in the middle of his thoughts, and he straightened up. ¡°This is the research report that I¡¯ve sent back to America with Miss Gu¡¯s approval, however, I don¡¯t wish to leave thisb. Please don¡¯t force me...¡±

    ¡°Mr. Mark, why would I do that? If you wish to continue under Miss Gu, it¡¯s a blessing to our country indeed, why would we force you to leave?¡± The governor¡¯s expression softened. ¡°Mr. Mark, I implore you to do your best under her. If she requires any other manpower, feel free toe back anytime to pick anyone you need. We¡¯ll always be on standby should the need arise.¡±

    Mark: ¡°...¡± Miss Gu, what in the world have you done to these people?

 Chapter 352 - I Agree With Everything Miss Gu Says

    <h4>Chapter 352: I Agree With Everything Miss Gu Says</h4>

    After hanging up the video call, Mark looked at Gu Xiqiao with a conflicted expression on his face. She was still sitting in front of theputer and typing away. The lights in theboratory were bright, reflecting her iceplexion that resembled snow, her long eyshes casting a faint shadow beneath her eyelids.

    She seemed to have finished typing at this time, and pressed the print button. She leaned back against the chair as she waited, looking elegant and indifferent.

    Mark saw a few youngsterse in, looking in her direction dreamily, and he couldn¡¯t help butugh as he shook his head.

    It was hard to imagine that so many futuristic studies and research hade from this girl in front of him that was below the age of twenty.

    Gu Xiqiao took out the papers from the printer once thest line was printed, tidying them up. With the thought that Zhu Yuan should be back with Joyner soon, she sat back in the seat, pulling out her phone to boot up her game while she waited.

    She logged into her Weibo, which she hadn¡¯t seen for quite a while. Opening the homepage, there was ament that had been pushed to the top by someone named Little Sun.

    Little Sun: I say, you¡¯re really something else. Letting one of the most famous directors in America think about you for so long ??, going onto everyone else¡¯s Weibo every day just to find the goddess¡¯ Weibo ??

    ¡°This means that I just climbed over from Emperor Li¡¯s Weibo ??¡±

    ¡°Climbing over from Emperor Li¡¯s Weibo +1¡±

    ¡°When will you have a new drama, goddess? ??¡±

    Gu Xiqiao wordlessly swiped to Li Yu¡¯s Weibo to find out what was happening, and the reason all came from thetest Weibo posted by Li Yu.

    (Verified) Li Yu: Director Neil keeps asking me to lure this person [JPEG] into ¡®Intergctic Warfare 3¡ä, what do you guys think?

    Thement sections were all from great gods.

    (Verified) Cheng Zhou: Thiszy thing would rather y games than take a part in my movies, I don¡¯t want to say anything else ??

    (Verified) Song Guanjing: Intergctic Warfare 3? If I had known, I would have taken part in this movie. Who knows, I might have been able to attend the grand annual g once again!

    (Verified) Ning Qing: Don¡¯t be so rowdy, my Beauty Gu still needs to save the world.

    ¡°I seem to know something you guys have done ??¡±

    ¡°My Beauty Gu still ys games, give me your ID, Director Cheng, I promise I won¡¯t kill you ??¡±

    ¡°I just said that Miss Gu seems freer than me, her in-game quests progress is faster than mine.¡±

    ¡°Up there, you seem to know something, please tell us¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t need to say so much, just go into Nine Heaven¡¯s Server 1, you¡¯ll know when you see it ??¡±

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao silently took a picture of her research, then a picture of the entireboratory room, posting it on Weibo after.

    (Verified) For A Millenium: Don¡¯t say I don¡¯t love you all [JPEG] [JPEG]

    She didn¡¯t wait for the fans¡¯ feedback, closing Weibo immediately after. Before she quit, her eyes caught sight of another, not so popr topic.

    ¡®Are you the only ones who think that the world has gotten stranger?¡¯ The picture was of a strong man lifting up a car.

    The topic wasn¡¯t very popr, but Gu Xiqiao could naturally see that the picture attached had not been photoshopped. Her fingers reached out, pressing on her temple as she exited Weibo.

    Although she had managed to divert simr topics with her own Weibost time, it couldn¡¯t go on like this. She leaned back against the chair, pressing a finger against her lips. If they couldn¡¯t find a way to resolve this, then it would definitely affect ordinary people in the future.

    She took out her phone again when she thought of this, and was about to make a call when Luo Weng gave her a call instead.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± Luo Weng¡¯s voice was calm when she answered.

    ncing around at the people in theboratory who were busy with their own research, she walked out of the room. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°The great elder summoned everyone in the ancient martial arts world for a meeting today,¡± Luo Weng said, before pausing. ¡°The local custodian of the secr world, Feng Jiu was also present today. Recently, there have been several unusual incidents happening in the secr world, and Feng Jiu...¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned against the wall, squinting her eyes as she looked out into the dim light outside. ¡°It¡¯s time for this matter to be made public, the ancient martial arts world has been hidden for so many years, it¡¯s time for the public to know the truth.¡±

    After hanging up the call, Gu Xiqiao sent another message to the great elder.

    ***

    Luo Weng, who was standing outside the Elders¡¯ Pavilion: ... I haven¡¯t even finished speaking, and you already know everything? Can you please let me have some screen time too?

    But at least he knew what Gu Xiqiao was nning now, so he turned around and pushed the doors to enter the Elders¡¯ Pavilion once again. The elders were all still seated, with Jiang Shuxuan at the head of the table. As an ordinary person, he had sat at the other end, not speaking and just watching the developments.

    Feng Jiu had not noticed Luo Weng, and he was frowning at this time. ¡°This incident has already affected the ordinary people, I¡¯m afraid that it will cause panic among them.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to exin.¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, looking at Feng Jiu with his deep, charcoal eyes. ¡°The next disaster will be a devastating one, and at that time, the impact towards these ordinary people will be a dozen times more than now.¡±

    His hard, cold voice echoed through the room, and Feng Jiu looked like he had been struck by lightning, looking in disbelief at Jiang Shuxuan. He had initially wanted to suggest that the ancient martial arts world should be more secretive in their movements, but he didn¡¯t expect these words toe out of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mouth instead, and he almost knocked over the teacup by his hands.

    The great elder, who had just read the message on his phone, turned it off and looked to Feng Jiu. ¡°How do I put this without wasting time? In the following days, these kinds of troubles will just increase. Mr. Feng Jiu, I don¡¯t have to tell you that what Young Master Jiang says is true. China will face unprecedented disaster in theing days.¡±

    Feng Jiu didn¡¯t dare to rify with Jiang Shuxuan, so he turned his attention to the great elder. ¡°Great Elder, you¡¯re saying that China will face unprecedented disasters?¡±

    He looked at the indifferent expressions on everyone¡¯s face, including the great elder. When he had first entered the ancient martial arts world, the youths of the ce had been filled with smiles. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°You... you guys are joking, right?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± The great elder merely continued looking at Feng Jiu as he replied. ¡°Have you seen the recent disasters in the United States and Japan? Those incidents are just the beginning.¡±

    Feng Jiu leaned back in his chair, all air taken out of him, his heart pounding in his ribcage.

    Ever since he started being the representative of the secr world in the ancient martial arts world, he had always treated these people as though they were gods. He felt that there was nothing in his world that they couldn¡¯t do, but now they were telling him that the world was going to have unprecedented cmities?

    ¡°Great Elder, what do we do now?¡± One of the other elders asked. ¡°Feng Jiu is already aware of this matter, are we going to involve the ordinary people in this too?¡±

    The second elder shook his head. ¡°No, if the ordinary people were to know about this, who knows how great a panic it will cause.¡±

    There were two different opinions now, some advocated letting the ordinary people know, and the other was not.

    The entire Elders Pavilion was as noisy as a fish market, and the great elder tried to calm them down by saying a few words, but to no avail. He couldn¡¯t help but turn to Jiang Shuxuan, and then his phone, a sinking expression in his eyes.

    ¡°Miss Gu has said it,¡± A quiet voice came from the corner of the room at this time. It was soft and clear, but it managed to cut through the noise, and everyone stopped talking, looking at the end of the table where the voice came from.

    Luo Weng was the one who had spoken, and he stood up, shing them a smile. ¡°This matter is to be made public.¡±

    As soon as he said it, the entire ce was a pin drop silence. The elders who had been previously arguing didn¡¯t start again, and the second elder stood up, excitement in his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s right, we should reveal it to the public. I already had this thought in mind earlier!¡±

    ¡°I agree with what Miss Gu said.¡±

    ¡°We should indeed make it public.¡±

    Great Elder: ¡°...¡± Didn¡¯t you guys just say that it wouldn¡¯t be good to let the ordinary folks know about this?

    The entire debate was over just because of a sentence said by an ordinary person, and Feng Jiu couldn¡¯t help but look at the person who had spoken. No matter how he looked, Luo Weng was just an ordinary person, how could his words hold so much weight?

    ¡°Second Elder, who is that young man?¡± Feng Jiu looked at Luo Weng¡¯s retreating back, and he couldn¡¯t help but wonder about him. ¡°He seems to be an ordinary person, but why did it seem like you all listened to his words?¡±

    The second elder only smiled and said, ¡°He is indeed an ordinary person, but he¡¯s still the owner of Peace Manor, and this position alone is enough to have everyone in the ancient martial arts world acknowledge him.¡±

    ¡°Peace Manor?¡± Feng Jiu was surprised. What was that? ¡°And the Miss Gu that he mentioned, who is she?¡±

    ¡°Peace Manor, a ce where everyone in the ancient martial arts world is flocking to. As for Miss Gu..¡± The second elder eyed Feng Jiu. ¡°Have you forgotten the matter in Mingzhou?¡±

    ¡°That Miss Gu?¡± Feng Jiu was really shocked right now. He had already known that Gu Xiqiao was powerful, but he didn¡¯t expect that he had still underestimated her. She wasn¡¯t even present in person, yet her one word had the obedience of every elder in the ancient martial arts world.

    The second elder didn¡¯t answer his question again. ¡°Feng Jiu, go on back first. As for the public announcement, we have our own opinions on it.¡±

    ¡°But, the panic... and the upper management, this unreasonable decision definitely will not pass them.¡± Feng Jiu managed to gather himself before he replied, hesitating slightly.

    If a cmity really wasing, then announcing it to the public was definitely one of the options. But they would also be facing a mass panic across the people, and he was worried that the country would not be able to appease them enough, and it would just be a big mess.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss Gu will handle this matter.¡± The second elder had the utmost faith in Gu Xiqiao, not bothered about this bit at all.

    Feng Jiu looked at the second elder in surprise. ¡°Do you have so much trust in Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°Have you seen,¡± The second elder pointed towards the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world. ¡°These people all know about the iing disaster, but look at their faces. Do you see any hints of panic at all?¡±

    Feng Jiu had noticed this earlier on. He had initially thought that these youngsters weren¡¯t aware of the impending disasters, but now that he heard the second elder¡¯s words, he was surprised once again. Looking at them, they seem to be full of vigor, and they all exuded a cold and calm aura. None of them were in the slightest panic at the thought of what wasing.

    ¡°If we didn¡¯t have Miss Gu, our ancient martial arts world would most likely be in the same state of panic.¡± The second patted Feng Jiu on the shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re not the only ones who believe in her. You should go and see the people from Japan, were they in a panic after just experiencing a devastating volcanic eruption?¡±

    The incident in Japan was a big sensation, and even Feng Jiu was keeping updated with it. He had also recalled speaking with the higher ups, telling them that the people of Japan presented a very united front. But now that he heard the second elder¡¯s words, there seemed to be something else that he wasn¡¯t aware of.

    As expected, the second elder continued, ¡± Miss Gu was present on the scene when the volcano erupted.¡±

    Feng Jiu was stunned, as expected. He obviously knew that the second elder wasn¡¯t just stating something as simple. Piecing together everything that he had said, Feng Jiu raised his head suddenly to look at the older man. ¡°Are you saying that Japan was also something that Miss Gu...¡±

    The second elder neither confirmed nor deny these words, patting him on the shoulder once again as he sent him off at the edge of the ancient martial arts world.

    ¡°What nonsense were you talking about with him? When he sees Miss Gu¡¯s methods in handling matters with his own eyes, he will naturally be stunned speechless then.¡±

    The second elderughed lightly. ¡°We¡¯ve been friends for many years, so I¡¯m trying to give him an immunity shot first. Otherwise, he might even kneel down to worship Miss Gu when he sees her.¡±

    The great elder: ¡°...¡±

    ***

    After Gu Xiqiao had spoken to Luo Weng, she shoved her phone back in her pocket, walking back to theboratory. Zhu Yuan had already brought Joyner back.

    ¡°By all indication, there¡¯s nothing wrong with her,¡± Zhu Yuan said as he looked at the report in his hands. He raised an eyebrow as he looked to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Or is there something that I missed?¡±

    He obviously knew that Gu Xiqiao wouldn¡¯t be pulling his leg in this matter, but all the medical checks from the machines hade back normal, which made him surprised.

    ¡°No, everything was correct.¡± Gu Xiqiao took the report from his hands, ncing at it before handing him the first report that she had typed out previously. ¡°Look at thister, I¡¯ll leave Joyner here. I¡¯ll be busy in the next few days, so I¡¯m leaving her in your care.¡±

    Zhu Yuan nodded his head, resisting the urge to read through the new report in his hands right away that she had just given him. He was waiting for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s next words.

    Sure enough, after ncing around the entire ce, Gu Xiqiao finally opened her mouth again. ¡°Zhu Yuan, I know that everyone here has started to learn the martial arts technique, how is it going?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going good, especially those two locals. I estimate that even a Fleet Foot martial artist from the ancient martial arts world won¡¯t be able to beat them.¡± Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help but eye Gu Xiqiao when she raised this matter. ¡°Are you nning to build up a force to kick the ass of those in the ancient martial arts world? With the strength of these doctors, it¡¯s a shame that they¡¯re only doctors at this rate. Every one of them can be considered to be a top master in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    Silently inside, Zhu Yuan thought that those people from the ancient martial arts world would probably feel like dying on the inside if they found out that Gu Xiqiao had made a bunch of doctors master martial artists, right?¡±

    ¡°Training these doctors into such violent masters,¡± Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help but say after a while of thinking, ¡°Have you ever thought of how the patients would feel?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good, it won¡¯t be long before our medical corps will shine then.¡± Gu Xiqiao said instead, touching her chin thoughtfully, clearly anticipating this.

    Zhu Yuan: ¡°...¡± He could already imagine the consequences of releasing such a crazy group of doctors, and he silently shed some tears of sympathy for those people in the ancient martial arts world.

    Those people would realize when the time came, that not only that they couldn¡¯tpare to the ordinary folks in the Peace Manor, they couldn¡¯t evenpare to a group of doctors...

    Beauty Gu, you really wish for the world to be in chaos, don¡¯t you?

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him, a mysterious smile on her face. She then took out a new, pale pink phone and handed it to Joyner. ¡°Joyner, you have to stay here for medical treatments for a few days. You can use this phone to video call your brother every night.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Sister Gu. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Joyner¡¯srge, round eyes were fixed on Gu Xiqiao as she nodded her head obediently.

    ¡°Good.¡± Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers, Haha and Jiji immediately appeared from whatever corner they had been at, running to her side hurriedly.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be leaving first.¡± She picked up Haha in one arm, holding her phone in the other hand, seeing a text message that had just been sent over.

    Xu Jing¡ª[Beauty Gu, where are you?]

    Gu Xiqiao tapped on her phone with one hand, replying quickly¡ª[Soon.]

    Though she and Xu Jing would often y together online and do quests together, and also contacted each other often on WeChat, it had been a long time since they met up in person.

    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s been a while.¡± Xu Jing took Haha into her arms, then nced at Jiji who was beside Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I heard from school that you made a robot, and I still can¡¯t believe it. Can you tell me what you can¡¯t do, Beauty Gu?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Gu Xiqiao ced a finger on her chin, taking a sip of her coffee. ¡°There¡¯s nothing at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Pft¡ª¡± Xu Jin almost spat out the coffee that she had just drank.

    She looked towards Gu Xiqiao, opening her mouth as though to say something, when her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and swiped the answer button, and her face drastically paled after hearing something from the other end.

    Gu Xiqiao put down her cup, looking at Xu Jing. ¡°I have a car.¡±

    Xu Jing didn¡¯t expect those words from Gu Xiqiao suddenly, and left together with her with her mind still preupied and in a dazed state.

    ***

    The First Hospital.

    ¡°Grandpa, are you sure you¡¯re alright?¡± A man in a ck suit asked for the 362nd time. How could the two be fine when the car had been smashed into that state?

    The gray-haired man didn¡¯t speak, looking at the boy who was lying in the next bed. ¡°Ah Zheng, I saw a purple light from your body when the ident happened.¡±

    The boy on the bed looked back at the old man, but didn¡¯t speak. He pulled out a silk pouch from his chest, and poured out some white powder from it.

    The old man¡¯s eyes widened. He obviously remembered that when they were walking in the morning, there had still been aplete paper crane inside the bag.

 Chapter 353 - Underestimating Her

    <h4>Chapter 353: Underestimating Her</h4>

    ¡®I didn¡¯t expect Xu Jing to be a second generation of a government official.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao followed behind Xu Jing as she chatted with Jiji in her mind.

    Jiji nced around, it was the special section of the First Hospital. You wouldn¡¯t be able toe in here if you didn¡¯t have the money. [You didn¡¯t want to check Xu Jing¡¯s background previously, and it¡¯s only obvious you didn¡¯t know. But now that you know, do you have anything to say about it?]

    ¡®The position of that official is quite high too.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡®Do you think I should pretend to be angry then? After all, she deceived my poor, small, fragile mind.¡¯

    She had already checked, and it seemed like something had happened to Xu Jing¡¯s rtive. However, it was more of a scare than anything, and they were fine, so she wasn¡¯t worried in the least.

    [You¡¯re just so full of s*t.] If Jiji could, it really wanted to roll its eyes all the way back in its mechanical body. [But since we don¡¯t know what her grandfather was shocked by, it¡¯s a bit strange.]

    ¡®I also find that weird,¡¯ Gu Xiqiao replied, touching her chin. ¡®Oh, we¡¯re here.¡¯

    Xu Jing, who was walking in front, stopped in front of a ward with soldiers standing outside. When she went in, she didn¡¯t forget to instruct them, ¡°The person behind me is my roommate, don¡¯t stop her from following.¡±

    ¡®Ah, she really has so much love for me.¡¯ Gu Xiqiao touched her chin again. ¡®For her not to forget about me in this situation.¡¯

    Jiji no longer has any desire to talk to Gu Xiqiao at this moment.

    What Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t expect was for those soldiers to be familiar to her, it was Peng Zijie¡¯s group of subordinates. They all looked at Gu Xiqiao, and for a moment, none of them reacted. In the end it was Liu Zi that managed to recover first. He called out in surprise, ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at them, naturally remembering their faces due to her powerful memory. Thest time she went to the Peng family residence to treat the oldmander, the only one who spoke, Liu Zi, was the only one who knew IT and also wanted to dig into the wall of the medical world. ¡°Are you guys guarding the door?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Miss Gu. Please go on in.¡± Liu Zi said quickly.

    If it was anyone else, they might have stopped the person. But Gu Xiqiao was another matter.

    She hadn¡¯t nned on going in, but then she suddenly felt a familiar fluctuation from the room inside. Looking through the door, she pushed it open and leaned against the doorway, watching the group of people inside.

    ¡°What?!¡± Xu Jing was looking at the powder in the boy¡¯s hand. She was naturally happy to hear that her grandfather and cousin were fine, but she couldn¡¯t help the incredulous tone when she heard how it happened. ¡°Grandpa, are you saying that the paper crane inside this saved you?¡±

    Xu Zheng nced at Xu Jing, before silently taking back the silk bag, not saying another word.

    The tall man standing beside the bed also felt that it was nonsense, but he didn¡¯t say much since the two were fine. He nned to have someone look into the matter without dy, and was going to do so when he turned and noticed the girl leaning on the door, and his brows furrowed.

    The girl leaning on the door was holding a white dog in her arms, while her other hand was in her pocket. Her delicate chin was raised slightly, her attention on the upants in the hospital bed. Her clear, bright eyes were gleaming thoughtfully.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The man¡¯s low, deep voice came.

    The voice attracted the eyes of everyone else in the room, and they turned towards the door. Seeing that it was Gu Xiqiao, Xu Jing stood up immediately. She wanted to introduce her to her grandfather and cousin, now that she had confirmed they were fine. But she didn¡¯t expect for Xu Zheng to climb out of bed at this moment, running towards Gu Xiqiao in hurried steps, reaching out to hand her the silk bag in his hands.

    Xu Jing was also surprised at the turn of events.

    ¡°It shattered?¡± Gu Xiqiao knelt down slightly to look at him, a gentle smile on her face.

    Xu Zheng nodded his head, saying, ¡°It saved me and grandpa.¡±

    ¡°It was your good blessings.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed his head gently. ¡°Go and lie down on the bed to rest.¡±

    Xu Zheng turned around at that, heading towards the bed and climbing into it obediently. However, his gaze never left Gu Xiqiao.

    The gray-haired old man looked at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes squinting slightly as he thought for a while, before recognizing her and was pleasantly surprised, ¡°It¡¯s you, that girl! The one who made that move to break out of the deadlock chess game!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao merely smiled at him politely.

    The entire time, Xu Jing and the man just looked at Gu Xiqiao with a surprised expression on their faces.

    [I was just saying how is it possible that you can¡¯t calcte how they got out of danger. Of course you wouldn¡¯t have been able to, it was something that you did by your own hands after all.] Jiji said from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind at this time.

    Gu Xiqiao touched her nose, slightly embarrassed. She had almost forgotten, but it wasn¡¯t like she expected them to have any rtion to Xu Jing in the first ce.

    ¡°Jing Jing, you know thisdy?¡± The old man turned his eyes to his granddaughter.

    Xu Jing finally collected herself, and said excitedly, ¡°Grandpa, this is my roommate that I told you about, Gu Xiqiao.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡± The tall man was still frowning, his eyes full of scrutiny as he looked at her. ¡°How did you get in?¡± He knew that Peng Zijie¡¯s most trusted subordinates were standing guard outside, how could they just allow some stranger in?

    There was also the matter of that paper crane in Xu Zheng¡¯s hands, which made him feel more agitated. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s appearance was just too coincidental, and strange.

    ¡°Cousin!¡± Xu Jing frowned, wanting to say something.

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± A young man with a shaved head came in, astonishment on his usually cold face, followed by surprise when he saw her.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head, seeing that it was Peng Zijie, who had yet to change out of his military uniform. She nodded her head in greeting, then said to Xu Jing in a low voice, ¡°I have something to do, Xu Jing. I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡±

    Xu Jing turned to Gu Xiqiao, then dully said, ¡°I¡¯ll send you off.¡±

    ¡°Beauty Gu, was the paper crane in my cousin¡¯s hands real?¡± When they reached the elevator, Xu Jing finally couldn¡¯t hold back anymore, and asked her. She hadn¡¯t taken it seriously in the beginning, but if it was something that Gu Xiqiao had done, she actually would believe it a little.

    She must be going out of her mind for thinking that.

    Gu XIqiao merely smiled at her. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a guess?¡±

    Saying that, the elevator door slid shut.

    Xu Jing, who had been left outside the elevator: ¡°...¡± Guess? Guess your head?!

    ***

    ¡°Zijie, you know that girl?¡± The cold, tall man turned to Peng Zijie, his brows still in the same furrowed state. Not only did Peng Zijie look like he knew her, there was also a hint of respect in his eyes when he had caught sight of her. He had never seen Peng Zijie like that before.

    And also those subordinates of Peng Zijie standing guard outside the door, they usually only listened to Peng ZIjie¡¯s words, and this was also the first time he saw them being so respectful to another person.

    Peng Zijie first asked about the old man¡¯s condition, before standing up slowly to look at him. ¡°Xu Ming, in the entire capital, there are only a few people who don¡¯t recognize her.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xu Ming¡¯s heart thumped in his chest.

    Seeing that Xu Ming really wasn¡¯t aware of anything, Peng ZIjie looked him in the eyes. ¡°You should be keeping up with the news, right?¡±

    Xu Ming was silent.

    ¡°Your aunt is a news anchor, and you don¡¯t even watch the news.¡± Peng ZIjie pursed his lips. ¡°How about I put it this way for you? Weren¡¯t you looking for someone from Nine Heavens recently, intending to ask them to make a batch of sophisticated detectors for you?¡±

    Xu Ming nodded his head, this matter was something that was well known, and for Peng ZIjie to know was not something surprising. ¡°But those people didn¡¯t agree, and I¡¯m still thinking of how to proceed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you now, you messed up.¡± Peng Zijie shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that you won¡¯t even be able to talk to the person in charge from Nine Heavens from tomorrow on.¡±

    ¡°How would you know that?¡± Xu Ming said, narrowing his eyes.

    Peng Zijie didn¡¯t reply, patting him on the shoulder instead. ¡°You know about Nine Heavens, but did you know that the boss of Nine Heavens was that Miss Gu just now? Do you know about the mysteriousb where countless doctors mored to appear in the capital suddenly? Do you know why thepany that Ying Xu led, how did it suddenly be godlike? Let me tell you, everything is connected to Miss Gu. Were you thinking that Miss Gu had some ulterior motives just now?¡±

    Although he wasn¡¯t from the ancient martial arts world, the bodyguard next to him was, and he naturally knew of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s feats in that world, as well as the various worships of the higher-ups in the various power worlds. Especially after he heard that the recent political changes in the United States were also linked to Gu Xiqiao.

    When he had first heard about it, Peng Zijie couldn¡¯t believe it. He then recalled suddenly about how she had been ying around in the Imperial Capital, and he naturally didn¡¯t doubt her strength after that.

    Peng Zijie had said a lot, and it was all in a tone of admiration, which made Xu Ming stunned.

    At this time, Xu Jing came back from outside. She had heard Peng Zijie¡¯s words. She didn¡¯t really know the man, and it was more urate to say that apart from her grandfather and Xu Zheng, she rarely even saw Xu Ming. She nced at her cousin and said, ¡°You did mess up. You even drove away Grandpa and Ah Zheng¡¯s savior.¡±

    ¡°Ah Zheng, tell me, was Beauty Gu the one who gave you the paper crane?¡± Xu Jing asked gently after she walked up to her younger cousin.

    Xu Zheng finally looked up at her, nodding his head. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I already thought that she wasn¡¯t some ordinary girl.¡± The old man who had been pretending to sleep finally opened his eyes, a bright smile on his face. ¡°With such great chess skills, she obviously wasn¡¯t somemon girl.¡±

    ¡°You actually believe that?¡± Xu Ming raised an eyebrow, looking at the people in the room. It was just a paper crane, wasn¡¯t that a bit too far fetched?

    Peng Zijie looked to Xu Ming again. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate her.¡± What kind of ordinary person would be able to garner the worship of the entire ancient martial arts world?

    ***

    At this time, Gu Xiqiao had already arrived in the ancient martial arts world in her little pink car.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Butler Jiang greeted her, reaching out for her keys to take her car and driving it to the garage. ¡°Madam is waiting for you to have dinner inside.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao handed over the keys, taking Haha into her arms and heading inside.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, tell me, the things that happen in America and Japan, are they rted to you?¡± The moment she stepped in, Shu Chen couldn¡¯t help the question that she had been bursting to ask, a face that was interested in gossip on her face.

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°...¡± What should she say?

    Jiang Han coughed into his hands, cing down his phone with an indifferent expression on his face. ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±

    Shu Chen shot him a look, then silently turned on her phone to check the WeChat chat group.

    Madam Gao: [Link] Look at what she did in America, and Yi Tong also posted a video. Miss Gu is amazing, even a Buddhist like me, my blood is boiling with passion!

    Tang Yanling: My daughter, awesome and cool!

    Jiang Han: If my future daughter-inw isn¡¯t great, then who else would be ¨r£¨¨s¨Œ¨t£©¨q

    Madam Gao: It¡¯s my fault for not having a son to pair with Miss Gu.

    Jiang Han: Even if you had one, she still wouldn¡¯t be yours!

    Shu Chen raised her head, looking at Jiang Han with a serious look on her face. ¡°...¡±

    However, thest sentence that Madam Gao had sent caught her attention. rms rang in her heart as she took a screenshot of it, and forwarded it to Jiang Shuxuan¡ª [JPEG]

    [Son, don¡¯t you have any opinion on this?]

    Jiang Shuxuan had just reached a tall mountain at this time, watching the malicious auras pour out from the bottom. ¡°Has someone taken this mission?¡±

    ¡°One of the younger disciples from the ancient martial arts world has taken it.¡± Yi Tong said at a nce, letting out a sigh.

    If it were in the past, where would any of those youngsters from the ancient martial arts world dare to take on these missions? But now, all of those youngsters have taken on the difficult missions, which was something that couldn¡¯t be imagined before this.

    As expected, Miss Gu was really awesome!

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips, his expression growing colder than ever, as though engraved into his very skin. ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±

    At the same time, he pulled out his phone and replied to his mother¡¯s message¡ª[Soon.]

    Taking onest nce at the ce, Yi Tong marked something the location down, sending it to the team that had taken on the task, and left the ce with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Shu Chen smiled broadly after receiving Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s message. Come to think of it, it was easier to dupe her son ever since he got amnesia, huh?

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Shu Chen, who was smiling strangely and suddenly felt a chilling up her back. She rubbed her arms, slightly puzzled as she made her way towards Peace Manor.

    At Peace Manor, ng was sitting by the gate, patching his wounds up. The first day, five people hade to challenge him, and he waspletely beaten up in just the first round.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡± A cool, clear voice came.

    ng raised his head, seeing Gu Xiqiao. He stood up and said, ¡°Miss Gu, I will work hard!¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡± Gu Xiqiao shed him a smile, then walked towards Yao Jiamu on the other side.

    After Gu Xiqiao had left, only did ng let out a hiss of pain.

    Jiji shot him a sympathetic look. ¡°Who are you acting tough for?¡±

    ¡°Master Jiji!¡± ng looked at Jiji, sitting down back on the ground, feeling the tears sting at the corner of his eyes. ¡°Why is everyone in the ancient martial arts world so... great?¡± He struggled to find an appropriate world. They weren¡¯t only great,pared to the power worlds in America and Japan, these youngsters from the ancient martial arts world were simply at an impossible level, okay?

    ¡°Are you saying they¡¯re very aggressive?¡± Jiji grinned.

    ng nodded silently. Ah, that was exactly what he was trying to express.

    Jiji patted his shoulder, once again a sympathetic look on his face. ¡°Beauty Gu was the one who trained them, how can they not turn out the same?¡±

    ng: ¡°...¡± He was just thinking why was it that these people fought in such a familiar way?!

    ¡°ng,¡± Gu Xiqiao said as she came back to him after exchanging a few words with Yao Jiamu, Cecily and a few others. ¡°Take out the ancient book that I gave youst time.¡±

    ng immediately took out the tattered strange book and handed it to her.

    Gu Xiqiao opened it, flipping through it for a few seconds, then took out a sword that was in her other hand as she narrowed her eyes, looking at him. ¡°Look properly, I will only demonstrate this once today.¡±

    ng watched intently as Gu Xiqiao performed the sword dance with wless perfection.

    ng!

    Finally, the sword was plunged into the muddy ground.

    ¡°Wake up.¡± Jiji poked ng, who was still staring at her in shock.

    ng immediately shook himself out of his daze. Then he took the sword to the entrance of Peace Manor, epting the challenges from the people waiting for him. He had been brought into the ancient martial arts world by Gu Xiqiao, he was envied and even hated by countless people. There were many who came to challenge him, and also many onlookers.

    In the first day of the challenges, he had beenpletely abused by the people from the ancient martial arts world.

    An ordinary person with no special powers.

    ¡°Second Elder, how long do you think ng canst?¡± The great elder and everyone else were cing their bets once again.

    ¡°Seeing that ng was just an ordinary person before this, and with Miss Gu¡¯s speed, he should be able to face off the group from the ancient martial arts world in about half a month.¡± The second elder said, stroking his beard.

    An ordinary person, to face the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world who had great strength, it was something that was unimaginable in the past. The elders felt that they werepletely in high regard for Gu Xiqiao.

    However...

    ng continued to be abused the next day, and he didn¡¯t back down, but continued to inherit the glorious tradition of being under Gu Xiqiao, getting more courageous after facing many obstacles.

    Until the third day, when ng finally managed to draw with that bunch of youngsters, and the group of elders was rendered speechless.

    The fifth day, it was ng¡¯s turn to abuse his opponents!

    Seeing those youngsters from the ancient martial arts world who had been improving leaps and bounds get pped to the side one by one just by a palm, the great elder heaved a long sigh. ¡°As expected from someone that she had handpicked. Fifteen days, five days. As expected, we really underestimated her.¡±

    The second elder hadn¡¯t been the only one to say fifteen days, but now he didn¡¯t want to say anything at all. He merely wiped the cold sweat that had broken out, and said, ¡°They¡¯re crazy.¡±

 Chapter 354 - Have You Offended Her?

    <h4>Chapter 354: Have You Offended Her?</h4>

    When ng first came to the ancient martial arts world, he probably had a little better physique than most ordinary people did. Everyone knew that he was an ordinary person who had never practiced martial arts before. It was unexpected that in just a short few days, he would already be able topletely abuse the people from the ancient martial arts world.

    Knowing that this person had been handpicked by Gu Xiqiao to enter the Peace Squad, everyone knew that this person must be something special, just the same as Wei Chenyan, who had been shoved in by her previously. But no one would expect that his improvement wouldn¡¯t lose to Wei Chenyan, and even far exceeded him instead!

    Forget about the current ancient martial arts world, you couldn¡¯t even find such a person in the entire history of the ancient martial arts world!

    But when you think of it, how many normal people were there by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s side and Peace Manor?

    The person that had been beaten down by ng¡¯s palm was lying on the ground, trying to shake himself out of his daze.

    Fifteen days, he was thinking silently. Five days? The elders had really underestimated Miss Gu once again, the young man thought as he slowly peeled himself off the ground, looking at ng with envy and hatred in his eyes once again.

    ¡°Who else?¡± ng was still standing on the stage, his blood-red eyes ncing around the area, his Chinese spoken in a rough manner.

    Seeing the young man that had been beaten, those people scattered immediately.

    It had already reached this state, who else would dare to challenge him!

    ¡°I say ng, what have you been doing recently?¡± The second elder couldn¡¯t help but ask. Even if you were learning to read, it would take ten to fifteen days, right?

    ¡°Second Elder, I really believe that you¡¯d rather not know.¡± ng wasn¡¯t the one who replied, but Wu Hongwen, who was looking at the second elder with a deep, knowing look.

    He¡¯d rather not know? The second elder had not been as curious before his words, but now that Wu Hongwen had said that, his interest was piqued higher.

    ¡°Come on, Er Qiao is calling for you,¡± Wu Hongwen said as he patted ng¡¯s shoulder.

    The elders who were left behind outside, were feeling a littleplicated inside.

    In Peace Manor, Wu Hongwen brought ng in to see Gu Xiqiao sitting on one of the chairs, reading a book.

    ¡°The second elder wanted to know how ng suddenly became so powerful.¡± Wu Hongwen plopped himself down on one of the chairs, a wide grin stretching on his face when he thought about it.

    Luo Weng was initially chatting with Gu Xiqiao, but he wasn¡¯t annoyed at being interrupted by Wu Hongwen, but turned his gaze towards ng instead.

    When Gu Xiqiao heard Wu Hongwen¡¯s words, she raised an eyebrow. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell him?¡±

    ¡°Would I dare to?¡± Wu Hongwen shot back, leaning back against the chair. ¡°If I were to tell them that Peace Manor and the cave outside there isn¡¯t any normal ce, that one day in here equals to seven days outside, and more importantly, the training field we have is an exact replica of the Trial Tower that they have, wait no, the upgraded version, I mean, and everything was made by you, don¡¯t you think they¡¯d go out of their minds?¡±

    Luo Weng turned away, smiling. Think? You mean, they¡¯d for sure go nuts.

    The Trial Tower was the treasure of the ancient martial arts world, if the elders were to find out this little detail, that Gu Xiqiao could replicate the most treasured item of the ancient martial arts world with the use of talismans, how could they not go crazy?

    ¡°They can ept you guys the way you are, it¡¯s just a cave after all,¡± Gu Xiqiao replied calmly, flipping another page on her book.

    ¡°Is that the same thing?¡± Wu Hongwen retorted. ¡°How can we perform such an impossible feat,pared to that cave?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at him from the corner of her eyes, her mouth twitching slightly. ¡°You underestimate yourself.¡±

    Every single person in the Peace Squad had started out as an ordinary person and had grown to what they were today, how could any of them be considered ordinary?

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Cecil and the rest who had just had a round with Xixi came in with a face flushed with excitement, seeing this group sitting leisurely in the room.

    Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes, looking in their direction. Her mental powers swept out to probe at them, knowing that these people have worked hard in the past few days. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    Getting her acknowledgment and praise, the group from America was bursting with excitement.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your sister?¡± Gu Xiqiao nced around, and noticed that there was less than one person in the group of ten.

    Cecil tried his best to contain the excitement in his heart as he replied, ¡°My sister is still fighting with Xixi, she said that she¡¯d pull off one of Xixi¡¯s feathers today.¡±

    ¡°Then she¡¯ll have to pay a big price for that,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. ¡°Xixi¡¯s feathers are not that easy to pull.¡±

    Cecil and the others were impressed. When Gu Xiqiao had led the Peace Team in America, he had already known that Xixi was amazing. But after he had the chance toe into contact and fight against it, only did heprehend just how amazing the bird was. His body was made of mes, water and fire didn¡¯t work against him, and it was as hard as iron. Basically, this bird did not have a single weakness.

    ¡°By the way, my sister also asked when she¡¯d be able to fight against you.¡± Cecil suddenly recalled his sister¡¯s bold words, mainly because she had been improving quickly recently, and felt like her strength had grown to another level, and wanted to test where Gu Xiqiao¡¯s power level was at.

    Hearing Cecil¡¯s words, Luo Weng and Wu Hongwen couldn¡¯t help but look in his direction.

    After such a long time, there was actually still someone who wanted to challenge Gu Xiqiao. Thinking back to their own Peace Squad, where everyone wanted to challenge her every one to two days, and was thoroughly beaten to the ground every single time.

    From that time till now, no one dared to say they wanted to challenge Gu Xiqiao anymore, and now they were hearing those words again?

    It seems that there¡¯s going to be a great show to watch.

    Wu Hongwen chuckled lowly.

    ¡°Fight me?¡± Gu Xiqiao was smiling softly, the corners of her lips lifting up into a more sinister one. ¡°These days I¡¯ve only been watching the Peace Squad fight, it¡¯s really hard to be an ordinary person. It just happens that I¡¯ve been idle for quite a while, and bored. Tell your sister, I¡¯ll be waiting for her.¡±

    F*ck! That was a little cool, okay?! Everyone present, including those from America felt their hearts beating faster than before!

    Gu Xiqiao shoved the book into her pocket, looking at the people around her who were in a daze. ¡°Alright, Little Wu, take them into the cave today. It¡¯s gettingte, so I¡¯m going back first.¡±

    After saying that, she walked out towards the door.

    It was difficult to see Gu Xiqiao in person, and obviously everyone here wanted her to stay longer, but they couldn¡¯t form the words at this time, and just moved to the side, making way for her to walk out.

    When the thin, slender figure disappeared from their sight, Cecil and the others finally came back to themselves.

    ¡°Sh*t, I haven¡¯t even asked her a single question!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu left just like that?!¡±

    Wu Hongwen watched Gu Xiqiao leave, then turned to Cecil and the others. A malicious grin stretched across his face, and he said, ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll bring you guys to the caves.¡±

    Cecil naturally knew that Peace Manor had a cave, but none of them had ever been in it. Now that he had heard Gu Xiqiao talking about the cave, he knew that it definitely wasn¡¯t some ordinary cave. Gu Xiqiao had always been springing surprises on them, and so everyone was full of anticipation as they moved.

    They also called Cecily, who had still been fighting Xixi, before heading into the caves.

    On the way there, Cecily kept shooting nces at ng.

    ¡°Sis, why do you keep looking at him?¡± Cecil asked in a teasing tone, after noticing what she was doing.

    Cecily rolled her eyes, before saying in a low voice, ¡°Can¡¯t you feel the terrifying aura rolling off him?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t noticed it at all, but now that she mentioned it, he too turned his gaze towards ng. With that one look, he nearly slipped and fell on his butt.

    ¡°... Wasn¡¯t he just an ordinary person a few days ago?¡± Cecil could feel his voice breaking, what the heck had ng been eating the past few days?

    Cecily nced at him. ¡°Have you forgotten what Qiao Qiao saidst time?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Cecil asked, still in a state of shock.

    ¡°Asking ng to beat you in a few days.¡± Cecily shoved her hands into her pockets. ¡°I think ng¡¯s strength is already there. Bro, I have faith in you.¡±

    As though he had heard their words, ng looked at Cecil. Under the light, his blood-red eyes glinted coldly.

    Cecil: ¡°...¡± It seems like I¡¯m going to die.

    But before he went down, he¡¯d pull his sister down with him. ¡°Sis, I told Miss Gu that you wanted to have a fight with her.¡±

    Having said that, he ran forward to Wu Hongwen¡¯s side before she could react, and started asking him about the cave.

    Wu Hongwen had brought them to the side of the cave, exchanging a few words with Yao Jiamu. He then turned to Cecil, chuckling lightly. ¡°Miss Cecily, pleasee into our cyberspace.¡±

    WTF? Cyberspace?!

    The words were enough to shock everyone present.

    The group walked into the cave with unknown feelings, and after entering, it was unknown what they were feeling as they personally experienced the training ground that had been built by Gu Xiqiao that was not any less than the Trial Tower of the ancient martial arts world.

    The ancient martial arts world had the Trial Tower, it was something that everyone in the power worlds knew. It was because of this that the people from the ancient martial arts world had strength levels that were slightly higher than the others in the power world. However, you¡¯re telling them that, Gu Xiqiao, she... she actually managed to replicate that Trial Tower?!

    ¡°Mr. Yao, let me ask,¡± After a long while, Cecil finally found his tongue again, and struggled to speak. ¡°Your elders, do they know that this thing exists?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Yao Jiamu shook his head. ¡°They¡¯d go nuts if they did.¡±

    They¡¯d definitely go nuts, if even these people from America were going crazy, forget about those elders in the ancient martial arts world who had always regarded the Trial Tower as the most sacred treasure. If they knew that Gu Xiqiao was even able to make such a thing, how could they not go out of their mind?

    ¡°Miss Gu is really just... too crazy,¡± Cecil had gradually calmed down, and could finally only say that.

    To be able to replicate the Trial Tower, you had to have some crazy bones in your body, right? After all, it¡¯s something that not just anyone could do?!

    Was she crazy? It was crazy among the crazy. Luo Weng, who had been following behind everyone a bit further off, went to his table after hearing Cecil¡¯s words. He shed him a smile. ¡°Miss Gu said it once in the interview, you¡¯re not living right if you¡¯re not crazy.¡±

    You¡¯re not living right if you¡¯re not crazy. Those from America weren¡¯t really well versed Chinese, but even they could feel the craziness behind the words that Luo Weng had just said. (T/N: The author says, ²»·èÄ§,²»³É»î, which can basically mean ¡®nothing short of obsession will bring you sess¡¯. The other boration on it is, if you don¡¯t practice like an obsessive person before you go on stage and walk through the fires of hell, don¡¯t dream of going up on stage to perform. It¡¯s also simr to the phrase: To be sessful in politics you need three things: The first is money. The second is money. The third is money.)

    Luo Weng picked up a bunch of documents and walked out, but not after a few steps, his phone rang and he pulled it out to answer.

    Yu Ning¡¯s voice came from the other side. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you pick up earlier? I thought you also put me on your cklist.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re quite self aware at least.¡± Luo Weng¡¯s expression remained unchanged, knowing that it was because there was no signal in the cave just now, and not because of the reason Yu Ning mentioned. ¡°Why are you looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Not much, really. It¡¯s just the Xu family from the capital is looking for Miss Gu, help me pass on the message.¡± Yu Ning said. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right, also help me ask her about the product in Nine Heavens. This arm-flinging of a shopkeeper that she¡¯s been doing has gone on long enough, don¡¯t ya think?¡± (T/N: Arm-flinging shopkeeper would mean that she has asked others to work but does nothing herself.)

    ¡°The Xu family from the capital?¡± Luo Weng repeated, before frowning. ¡°Why, you want another decoding route again? You might as well just hand over the world¡¯s number one hacker title to Miss Gu and be done.¡±

    ¡°Luo Weng, are you sure you want to do this?¡± Yu Ning said calmly. ¡°I¡¯ll make it so that you won¡¯t be able to use yourputer for the next few days.¡±

    Luo Weng didn¡¯t bother to reply, hanging up the call immediately.

    Yu Ning, who was currently in Nine Heavens: ¡°...¡±

    ***

    After Gu Xiqiao left Peace Manor, she headed towards the Jiang family residence.

    At this moment, the cold mechanical sound that hadn¡¯t rung in her mind for a long time suddenly sounded, [Random Mission activated: Rescue Baili Wenxi. Missionpletion reward: 100 points! Penalty for mission failure, first-level punishment!]

    Her footsteps halted.

    Jiji obviously heard this voice too, and it raised its head, looking at Gu Xiqiao in concern.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t move, and about two minutester, the air distorted and she disappeared.

    Not far away from where she once stood, a group of youngsters had been trying to gather up the courage to approach her, and when they finally did and started walking towards her, they saw her entire person disappearing from the spot.

    ¡°...¡±

    ***

    Baili Wenxi had not been back in the ancient martial arts world for a long time, though she knew that Gu Xiqiao was there. After thest meeting between them, she hadn¡¯t had the courage to face her once again. Not only her, she seldom even met up with the people from the Baili family since then.

    She looked up to see a man dressed in ck appearing in front of her suddenly, his hand reaching out to grab her neck just as sudden as he had appeared. Her vision blurred slightly at theck of air as the grip on her next tightened.

    As a person from the ancient martial arts world, the reason she had gone into the secr world and the entertainment industry was because she didn¡¯t have an ounce of chi in her body. She didn¡¯t have the formation talents from the Baili family side either, and so when she was faced with such a strong opponent, she had no way of defending herself at all.

    Her eyes slid close slowly.

    ck!

    The white smart phone fell to the ground.

    Fu Wei¡¯s anxious voice came from the phone, ¡°Wenxi? What¡¯s the matter? Why did you stop talking suddenly?¡±

    The next moment, the grip on her neck loosened and she fell to the ground. Gasping for breath, Baili Wenxi thanked her savior, ¡°Cough, cough... thank... thank you.¡±

    Raising her head slightly as she heaved another breath, she caught sight of the person who had just saved her.

    Then she was stunned speechless.

    A white, slender hand was holding the neck of the man who had just held hers, and the dim street light reflected on her delicate silhouette. She was wearing a white ox fur coat, and you couldn¡¯t tell whether her face or her coat was whiter.

    Even without looking at her face, Baili Wenxi could recognize who it was by the fur coat the girl wore. Her fingers trembled a little, turning to look at the disbelief eyes of the man. This was the first time that she could study Gu Xiqiao up close and in an open manner.

    What caught her eyes were those icy, coal eyes. It was like there was ayer of frost in them, and the cold glint in them made it hard for others to look directly into them.

    In all the pictures that she had of Gu Xiqiao, she always had a gentle expression on her face. But tonight, there was no smile on her face, a hard and cold expression was visible instead, and even her eyebrows seemed sharper than usual, and you could practically feel the chill radiating from her body.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t looking at Baili Wenxi, but at the man in ck who she held by the neck. He looked to be around his thirties, and was looking at her with eyes filled with horror and panic. How could you not panic in this situation?

    He had thought that he would be able toplete this task easily tonight, but he didn¡¯t expect for this little girl to suddenly make an appearance in the middle. Though he said it was a little girl, she had easily picked him up with one hand! More importantly, he couldn¡¯t muster any strength in his body at all!

    Gu Xiqiao continued looking at the man she held in her hand, her gaze still icy. Even though she wasn¡¯t as tall as this man, her eyes seemed to hold a hint of condescending aura.

    Bang!

    She loosened her hold and threw the man onto the ground.

    Then she pulled out a tissue from her pocket, using it to slowly and carefully wipe her hands.

    The man who was tossed to the ground struggled to pick himself up, and was just about to run away, when a voice suddenly came from behind him. The voice was clear and calm, but it made his back stiffen, and his body froze in ce.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was standing next to the man, parted her lips slightly to speak, ¡°I advise you not to run, at least you¡¯ll still have your life if you don¡¯t.¡±

    After wiping her hands, she balled up the tissue and threw it into the trash can that was ten meters away.

    Only after she was done did she pull out her phone, making a call to Yi Tong and rattling off the address she was at. ¡°There¡¯s someone here that you need to take back to the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    Yi Tong hung up the phone, gesturing with his hands. ¡°Go, go, go! Miss Gu has something for us to do!¡±

    ¡°Say, how do you think MIss Gu knows that we¡¯re nearby?¡± Jiu Tong scratched his head, puzzled when he had heard the address that Gu Xiqiao had given Yi Tong.

    Yi Tong had already gotten used to it, and smiled. ¡°Nothing can escape her eyes if she wants to know something.¡±

    The remaining other members of the Tong team had another level of understanding towards Gu Xiqiao, and their faces were full of shock.

    Yi Tong was indeed not too far from where Gu Xiqiao was, and she was leaning against a streetmp, ying her phone as she waited for them. Her head was lowered, her hair covering the expression in her eyes. Baili Wenxi had already picked herself up from the ground, and was watching her from the side. She didn¡¯t dare to approach Gu Xiqiao to speak, and could only watch her from where she was.

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± Yi Tong and the others arrived five minutes after the call.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Gu Xiqiao kept her phone away, raising her head to look at Yi Tong. Her mouth curved up slightly into a t smile, then she gestured with her fingers towards the man in ck. ¡°Bring this person back. Also, have someone escort Madam Baili back.¡±

    It was then that Yi Tong noticed Baili Wenxi standing at the side, and he was taken aback for a moment, before bowing. ¡°Yes, Miss Gu!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, then turned around, her figure blending into the night.

    Baili Wenxi watched the slender figure disappear and smiled bitterly. Up till the end, she hadn¡¯t said anything.

    ¡°I say, of all the people you have to provoke, it had to be Miss Gu.¡± Yi Tong nced at the man in ck on the ground, his gaze full of sympathy. ¡°And a Fleet Foot level too, such a pity... Jiu Tong, take two people with you and escort Madam Baili back.¡±

    After Jiu Tong had left, Yi Tong took out his phone, thinking about sending a message to Jiang Shuxuan.

    ¡ª[Big boss, Miss Gu just asked us to take a person back, I feel there¡¯s something strange about him.]

    ¡ª[Oh, right, Miss Gu was with Madam Baili just now.]

    After sending it out, he suddenly recalled that Jiang Shuxuan had amnesia, and wouldn¡¯t remember who Baili Wenxi was, so he sent another follow up¡ª[It¡¯s Miss Gu¡¯s biological mother, the one who didn¡¯t want her since she was a child. You didn¡¯t like her from the beginning.]

    ***

    In the Jiang family residence, Butler Jiang was cleaning the entire house with a group of servants. At this moment, a tall figure suddenly came in from the outside.

    Butler Jiang put down his tools, standing to the side immediately. ¡°Young Master.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Jiang Shuxuan paused in his steps, the cold aura excluding from his figure. His face looked dignified as ever as his onyx eyes swept across the entire living room.

    Butler Jiang, who has received unanimous praise from the Jiang family, immediately understood what Jiang Shuxuan wanted. ¡°Young Master, Miss Gu has gone to Peace Manor. She¡¯ll probably be back a bitter.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips, after acknowledging the butler¡¯s words, he walked upstairs without another word.

    Instead of heading into the room to change out of his clothes, he headed to the study instead.

    The study was set up ording to his minimalistic style, a wicker chair near the window, light blue curtains that were pulled back, and the windows were also half-open. There were few people who would enter his study, even his parents wouldn¡¯te in here on usual days.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes swept through the room. He was unfamiliar with everything in the Jiang family, and that included this room.

    His cold gaze finally settled on a box made of unknown material. Walking towards it, he took out a silver key from his chest pocket, inserting the key and opening the box with a ¡®click¡¯.

    For a box that he had ced in such a solemn manner, it should contain some important things in it.

    When he opened it however, he discovered that there were some documents, as well as two certificates inside it. When he saw it, his eyes darkened. As he reached out to take them out, Butler Jiang¡¯s voice came from downstairs.

    ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands paused, then he closed the box immediately, putting the box back into ce.

    ***

    Downstairs, Haha ran and hugged Gu Xiqiao¡¯s legs as soon as it saw her return. She bent down to pick him up, then turned to the butler. ¡°Butler Jiang, where¡¯s Aunt Shu?¡±

    ¡°Madam has gone out to y fight with thendlord,¡± Butler Jiang smiled as he replied. (T/N: Fight The Landlord is a card game)

    Fight The Landlord? Since when did she have such a hobby? Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow in surprise at the butler¡¯s reply.

    Originally, Shu Chen didn¡¯t have these hobbies, Butler Jiang thought to himself. In the beginning, Shu Chen, the madam of the Jiang family, was a cold, indifferent woman. Most of the people wouldn¡¯t even dare to approach her to strike up any form of conversation, and the number of people who would speak to Shu Chen could be counted on one hand.

    But it was different now. Since Miss Gu¡¯s appearance, the Jiang family had gotten livelier. The young master who used to hold everyone at arm¡¯s length had also changed to be more human.

    And Shu Chen had be a crazy demon that was obsessed and dazzled with her daughter-inw.

    As the two were speaking, a tall figure came down the stairs. Wasn¡¯t that Jiang Shuxuan?

    Gu Xiqiao turned and gave him a smile, her eyes a little clouded. ¡°You¡¯re back, Brother Jiang.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Jiang Shuxuan responded faintly, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly at the sight of her.

    ¡°Dinner is also about to begin. I¡¯ll call for Madam to return.¡± Seeing that everyone was more or less home, Butler Jiang hurried off to call Shu Chen.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded, putting Haha down onto the ground. She smiled at Jiang Shuxuan again. ¡°I¡¯ll go and shower first.¡±

    He nodded, watching her head upstairs.

    The expression on her face had been calm, and no different than usual, but Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s brows furrowed the moment she was out of sight. He stood beside the sofa, looking down at Haha who had been left on the ground. Reaching up to pinch his nose, he spoke in a cold, low voice. ¡°Did you offend her?¡±

    Haha raised its head, its round, beady eyes looking straight at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Woof.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at it, then ignored it. He turned to head upstairs too, when the phone rang twice.

    As he continued to walk, he pulled out the phone to look at the screen. It was two messages, and the moment he read it, he stopped in his steps, his cold eyes turning as deep as an unending abyss. Thin lips pressed together tightly, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

    ¡°Young Master?¡± Butler Jiang, who had just put down the phone, felt a chill from behind him, and couldn¡¯t help but turn around to look at the man who was halfway up the stairs.

 Chapter 355 - Where Did Such Bold Courage Come From?

    <h4>Chapter 355: Where Did Such Bold Courage Come From?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Jiang Shuxuan had not replied, which made the uneasiness in Butler Jiang¡¯s heart grow.

    ¡°Butler, go and do something for me...¡± Suddenly, Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, his cold, piercing eyes on the butler.

    Being the recipient of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s icy re, Butler Jiang felt his heart jump to his throat. Oh my word, what kind of outrageous thing was the young master up to now?

    Before the shockpletely settled, a cold voice spoke through his mind, making him even more stunned and rooted to the spot.

    Gu Xiqiao had intended to take a shower after she went upstairs, but then her steps paused when she stepped into the room, then turned around to check something on theputer in the study. After she was done keying in some instructions, her gaze fell on the wooden box beside her.

    The box was at its usual ce, even the top was still uncovered.

    She looked towards theputer, where the codes were still scrolling through. Theputer in the study was not as good as her own one. Her string of instructions had already been inserted, but theputer hadn¡¯t fully processed it yet.

    Thinking of this, she stood up, walking to the wooden box and opening it.

    With Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attitude, she thought that there should be some ancient texts that were damaged and ced here for preservation, but what she found was not books, but... some documents and information, as well as her household registration.

    Gu Xiqiao was stunned when she saw the documents. When she was taken from Baixing Vige, Master Gu had taken away her household registration. After she had left the Gu family, she had thought that it was gone with the wind. She had severed ties with the Gu family at that time, so it wasn¡¯t like it mattered whether or not she had it with her anyway.

    She didn¡¯t expect to find it here. Gu Xiqiao touched her chin thoughtfully, the cloud in her heart finally clearing up.

    Theputer made a beeping sound, indicating that it had finished processing her string ofmands. Closing the lid, she went back to theputer, inserting a USB drive into the socket.

    Various screens had popped up after the string ofmands had been processed, and it was moving at a fast speed. There were tons of information andrge images, and even some insignificant news. Gu Xiqiao read them with undivided attention, up till the end, when all the image turned into snowkes, slowly condensing into two big words on screen¡ªGame, start!

    [Beauty Qiao.] Jiji¡¯s voice rang out in her mind suddenly. [There¡¯s some problem with thework, I¡¯ll fix it immediately!]

    Gu Xiqiao reached out to unplug the USB drive, the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, but it didn¡¯t reach her eyes. ¡°Game? Who¡¯s ying a game with you?¡±

    Obviously Jiji could hear the words she spoke.

    Butler Jiang saw Jiji shiver suddenly, and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Master Jiji, what¡¯s wrong? Are you cold?¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Asking a robot whether it¡¯s cold, Butler Jiang, are you okay?

    Jiji raised its head, looking at the handheldputer in its hands,menting. Look at those politicians in America, none of them even dare utter the name of their Beauty Qiao, because they were afraid that she would harm the country. Why were the politicians in China so bold?

    Gu Xiqiao obviously didn¡¯t know Jiji¡¯s thoughts at this time, and she put the USB drive into her pocket, sending all the data on the inte to Jiji.

    Just as she was going back to her room to take a shower, Yu Ning¡¯s call came suddenly.

    ¡°Miss Gu, something has happened.¡± Yu Ning also knew about Peace Manor and the Peace Squad, but he was only interested in the things on the inte, so he had been nesting in Nine Heavens headquarters these days, only interested in collecting news from all the world online.

    Ever since he had heard about the cmity that Peace Manor had mentioned, his daily interest had been to collect news about weird events around the world. The search tonight allowed him to find tons of videos that had been taken by the ordinary folk. ¡°There¡¯s been many strange happenings all over the world, and some people are even preaching about how the end of the world is near. Usually, the majority of the people wouldn¡¯t believe these things, but after these people finished speaking, a bunch of god-knows-what monsters suddenly appeared. Guns couldn¡¯t bring them down, and the ordinary folks have been thrown into a panic right now. I¡¯m guessing that the government is in a mess right now. I¡¯m sending you a few videos so you¡¯ll see the situation for yourself.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face sank. ¡°Their actions are fast indeed.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Yu Ning didn¡¯t understand what she had meant.

    ¡°Let Luo Weng know about this matter, he¡¯ll know what to do.¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, then hung up and gave a call to Zhu Yuan.

    It had taken Zhu Yuan five days to figure out Joyner¡¯s illness, and as hemented about the wonders of the world, he held a syringe as he went to look for Zhuge Yan. But when he walked into the room, he didn¡¯t see the man.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your young master?¡± Seeing Wei Xi and Wei Xu ying games was a sight that he was already used to.

    ¡°Bro, is this person really Jiji?¡± Wei Xi was doing a quest, and when she saw that the leader of the team turned out to be Jiji, she almost went nuts.

    Wei Xu had wanted to reply, but then he heard Zhu Yuan¡¯s voice, and he immediately turned to stand. ¡°Mr. Zhu, the young master should be in the courtyard.¡±

    The corner of Zhu Yuan¡¯s mouth pulled down at the answer, and he walked towards the mentioned location as he muttered, ¡°Watching the night sky again?¡±

    In thepound of theboratory, Zhuge Yan raised his head slightly to look in the direction of the night sky. Zhu Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look up. The skies in the Imperial Capital was foggy and surrounded by tall buildings, it was impossible to see even a speck of stars.

    ¡°With just this, what can you see?¡± Zhu Yuan asked, ncing at Zhuge Yan as he skillfully injected the medicine into his arm.

    Zhuge Yan¡¯s reply was soft, ¡°It has begun.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Zhu Yuan waited for a long time for the other to borate, but nothing came. He rolled his eyes at that. ¡°I say, can you not be like Beauty Gu, speaking in half sentences. With the way you guysmunicate halfway, only a high IQ person like Luo Weng would be able to understand you both.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Zhuge Yan turned, smiling at him. ¡°How long before I can return to the ancient martial arts world?¡±

    ¡°You want to return to the ancient martial arts world?¡± Zhu Yuan thought about it for a while. ¡°You can return any time you want. I¡¯ll give you a preservation device tomorrow, you can bring these medicines back and let Wei Xi carry out the procedures for you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to return, but it will not be long before we will all need to.¡± Zhuge Yan pulled down his sleeves, then turned around and walked away.

    Zhu Yuan stood where he was, a puzzled look on his face. ¡°Talking in half sentences again, I really don¡¯t understand a single thing you say!¡±

    Putting away the syringe, he was also about to leave the ce when his phone rang. It was the ringtone that he had specifically set for Gu Xiqiao, and so he picked up immediately. ¡°Beauty Gu, what¡¯s yourmand?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something...¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice was slightly heavy. She usually had azy and carefree tone, and this was the first time Zhu Yuan was hearing her like this.

    ¡°You mean the puppet?¡± Listening to Gu Xiqiao borate, Zhu Yuan was surprised for a moment, then slowly curled his lips. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Beauty Gu. How could I not do well in the things that you asked for? Talking about the puppet, I¡¯ve only seen it in ancient texts, so it isn¡¯t a bad idea to pick it up for research.¡±

    ***

    Two dayster, in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion.

    ¡°Miss Gu, Feng Jiu has brought news that the upper management has not agreed to publicize this matter.¡± The great elder looked pale as he ryed the information that he had gotten.

    Gu Xiqiao sat next to Jiang Shuxuan as usual, ying a game on her phone, As soon as the great elder said those words, neither of the two reacted. The other elders were the ones who spoke instead. ¡°They don¡¯t agree? Have they not realized that the things happening in the capital are impossible to control?¡±

    The second elder took out a few photos. ¡°And these were given to me by Mr. Yi Tongst night. These people, their malicious aura is more terrifying than regr people, because they¡¯re more or less immortal.¡±

    ¡°What in the world are these?¡± The photos were passed around, and each one of the elders grew more frightened as the photos passed their hands.

    The great elder already had a general idea on the matter. ¡°Leaving aside what has happened in the capital, the higher ups are now mainly relying on their military power, and their weapons which includes powerful nuclear weapons.¡±

    ¡°The ancient martial arts world has always been ced above the secr world. Those people are afraid that once the ancient martial arts world is exposed, it won¡¯t only affect the regr folk, but that their positions would also be threatened.¡± Yi Tong flipped through a few photos, smirking coldly. These people with power in their hands still ced their own interest above all others. ¡°The Peace Squad, and the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world have been all working non-stop. If this continues, we won¡¯t be able to control the development of this situation.¡±

    ¡°Mark down the location of the problematic areas.¡± Jiang Shuxuan pulled out a map for Yi Tong to do so.

    The job of Yi Tong and the others was to maintain the bnce of the secr world, and they knew of the ces mentioned very well. They immediately circled all the locations that incidents had happened. ¡°These are all the ces. If it wasn¡¯t for the appearance of the Peace Squad, many more ordinary folks would have suffered.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan took the map that Yi Tong had circled, and handed it over to Gu Xiqiao.

    Because of Yi Tong¡¯s words, mutterings started up in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion as they all looked at each other. Immortals, what kind of monsters were they? Heated discussions started up one by one.

    The great elder nced at all the elders that were seated. These people were discussing matters, but there was no fear or despair in their eyes, this kind of atmosphere would not have existed months ago. Those immortal monsters that appeared, they would have been invincible foes to the ancient martial arts world before this.

    But now, even though there might be an abyss waiting for them in theing days, there was not a single trace of fear or shrinking back on their faces.

    The great elder then turned his gaze towards Gu Xiqiao. All of these changes naturally came from the girl in front of him, and he felt that this time, Gu Xiqiao would surely have something to say about this matter.

    As expected!

    Just as the discussions around them got even more fierce, a clear, calm voice rang out. ¡°What are you all panicking about?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao ced the map on the table, leaning back against the chair as the corner of her mouth lifted slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve said it before, the secr world needs to know of the existence of the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    What she said would naturallye true in time.

    Once her voice had rung out, the entire Elders¡¯ Pavilion descended into silence, and the atmosphere changed to be lively the next moment.

    ¡°Miss Gu, what would you like to do?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, should we catch Feng Jiu and bring him here?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, can I go on a mission with the Peace Squad tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao merely graced them with a faint smile. ¡°The most important thing right now is for you to improve your own strength. As elders of the ancient martial arts world, none of you can be weak.¡±

    As soon as she said that, all sounds in the room stopped instantly. All the elders were looking at Gu Xiqiao with disbelief in their eyes, and even their fingertips and feet were trembling.

    All these elders were already having one foot in their graves, and they were different from those youngsters. Their lifetime achievements would end here, but they didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao would say something like that. Making these old farts to be even stronger than now?

    If this was in the past, these words would be treated as jokes, and they would let it slide over them once they heard them.

    But now, it was Gu Xiqiao who had said those words!

    Gu Xiqiao, the person who single handedly created the Peace Manor that was unparalleled in the world, and also the person who had created an existence that was simr to a second Peace Manor, as she had said she could!

    Thinking back to the documents that America and Japan had sent over recently, again, she had obtained the worship and admiration of the people of America and Japan single handedly!

    Gu Xiqiao, her name had already be some sort of religion in the ancient martial arts world. Everything she said woulde true, when had she ever broken her promise?!

    The hearts of all the elders present thumped wildly in that moment, and they sat nkly in their seat, staring nkly at Gu Xiqiao. Even after she left, they still didn¡¯t recover, and they didn¡¯t even hear a single word that she said after that announcement. At this time, they finally understood why the youngsters as well as the leader of America could respect and admire her to such an extent.

    Because, she really had that ability.

    With just a single sentence, she could ignite everyone¡¯s blood!

    Even old men like them had the sudden urge to shout ¡®Long live Miss Gu!¡¯ at the top of their lungs!

    ¡°M-Mr. Yi Tong, what did Miss Gu say after that?¡± The second elder was the first to gather himself, and his head snapped to Yi Tong, his eyes bright.

    Yi Tong rolled his eyes. ¡°Weren¡¯t you listening to Miss Gu when she was speaking?¡±

    ¡°It was just too much of an exciting shock.¡± The second elder smile was a little silly as he scratched his head.

    When have you seen the second elder like this? Yi Tong didn¡¯t have anything to say to that. ¡°Miss Gu wanted you to watch a show first, then wait for Luo Weng¡¯s news.¡±

    Having said that, he quickly left to look for Jiang Shuxuan.

    The elders still remained in their seats, looking like they had no intentions to leave. The second elder suddenly seemed to think of something, then raised his head just to find that the great elder was actually reciting scriptures once again. But no matter how collected the great elder pretended to be, he was unable to hide his trembling hands!

    ¡°Do you think those people behind the scenes, pulling the strings are a little depressed?¡± The great elder suddenly said, a bright look on his face.

    The seventh elder finally shook himself out of his daze. ¡°Huh?¡±

    The great elder picked up the pictures. ¡°These immortal monsters were likely used in order to discourage us and bring us down, but now, not only have they failed in that, we¡¯re all in such an enthusiastic state insead. Don¡¯t you think those people would be depressed when they learn of this?¡±

    The other eldersughed at his words.

    Depressed? Of course!

    ¡°Fortunately, we have Miss Gu.¡± One of them said. ¡°Otherwise, it would be a real catastrophe.¡±

    ¡°Actually,e to think of it, it¡¯s been so long, but have you ever seen the people who provoke Miss Gu to have a good life after that?¡± Another elder said, looking up.

    Everyone thought long and hard about it, and there really wasn¡¯t any. From China to America, then to Japan... it seems that every single person who had provoked or offended her, they all ended up...

    The second elder¡¯s heart jumped up to his throat once again as he thought about this, and immediately took out his phone to call Feng Jiu.

    ***

    Feng Jiu was currently struggling with matters between the secr and ancient martial arts world when he received the call, and he was having a terrible headache. ¡°Second Elder, why are you calling me now?¡±

    ¡°Feng Jiu, I specially called you to let you know something.¡± There was a skip in the second elder¡¯s steps, which made the guards who caught sight of him have a conflicted expression on their faces, but the second elder didn¡¯t feel anything from that at all, the smile still wide on his face. ¡°You better get your higher ups to agree as soon as possible, otherwise you won¡¯t even have the time to regret when it¡¯s toote.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Feng Jiu stood up with a bang, his face contorting.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough.¡± The second elder¡¯s voice remained unchanged, calm and cool. ¡± Say, how can your higher-ups be so clueless? If Miss Gu really wanted to y, all of you together wouldn¡¯t even be enough to satisfy her boredom. We¡¯ve been friends for so many years now, and as an old friend, I¡¯ll let you know something else. She¡¯s already impatient, and her methods have always been aggressive and violent. Don¡¯t wait for her to make her move, it¡¯ll be toote to regret your decisions then.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Feng Jiu could feel the anxiety overflowing now.

    The second elderughed lightly. ¡°What do I mean? Even the political and power circles of the United States are obedient towards Miss Gu. Meanwhile you guys, where did such bold couragee from?¡±

 Chapter 356 - The Real Boss Is Here

    <h4>Chapter 356: The Real Boss Is Here</h4>

    The second elder didn¡¯t bother saying too much, and hung up the phone directly after that. Feng Jiu felt even more uneasy after that, and thinking back to the words he had just heard, he paced around his office, and the more he paced, the more upset he became.

    ¡°Mr. Feng, what¡¯s wrong?¡± A young man came in from outside to deliver some documents, seeing Feng Jiu fidgeting and being anxious, and he couldn¡¯t help raise an eyebrow.

    Feng Jiu turned to the person, then his eyesnded on the documents in his hands. ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°The specific contents for the press conference.¡± The young man shook off his curiosity, and handed the document to Feng Jiu. ¡°The most important thing right now is to reassure the masses. The appearance of those monsters recently has made them scared to even step out of their house, and their safety is our priority.¡±

    ¡°What do you know?!¡± Feng Jiu scratched his head, pacing up and down the room a few times. ¡°Help me connect to the higher ups of America.¡±

    At this time, they still needed to rify what had happened in the United States.

    ¡°America?¡± The young man nodded. As he carried out his orders, he recalled the recent events that had happened in that country. ¡°Mr. Feng, why did you ask about America out of the blue? I heard there¡¯s been a major political shuffle, and the position of the newly appointedmander has solidified a lot from it.¡±

    ¡°Major shuffle?¡± Feng Jiu¡¯s heart jumped. ¡°How big are we talking about?¡±

    He had kept an ear out regarding the happenings of the United States, since it had been a big matter after all, and even the world felt the waves from the incidents. Although Feng Jiu wasn¡¯t really concerned about it, he was still somewhat in the know. After hearing what the second elder had said, the doubt in his heart grew bigger.

    ¡°The entire higher ups were cleaned out, but only those who had lifestyle problems whom even the higher rankingmanders were not able to touch previously.¡± The young man had obviously taken an interest in the matter. Not only him, who in the international political circle wasn¡¯t paying attention to this matter?

    To be able to single-handedly bring down these people, turning them in together with solid evidence, who wouldn¡¯t be afraid? Especially the other politicians in America, they were all well aware of the dangers that they potentially faced.

    The young man¡¯s eyes lit up when he talked about this. ¡°I heard that even the Dickens family had been cleaned out. You probably didn¡¯t know, Mr. Feng, but the leader of the Dickens family was ude. us was just an average heir before this, but now his methods are not inferior to some of the older cunning people.¡±

    The young man wasn¡¯t aware that the longer he talked, the more worried Feng Jiu got. Before he was aware of it, he was still fine. But now that he knew Gu Xiqiao was rted to this, he was even more shocked. ¡°Is what you just said true? Even the higher rankingmanders couldn¡¯t touch them?¡±

    To think that they had been taken down by someone else instead? Especially knowing that this person might be Gu Xiqiao, Feng Jiu¡¯s anxiety rose to a new level. He picked up his cup of tea, trying to sooth his frazzled nerves.

    Even after he found out that Gu Xiqiao had been involved in the incidents, he still wasn¡¯t concerned at first. He didn¡¯t pay much attention to the political affairs in the first ce, so he didn¡¯t know how big an impact the incident had on America. But when he heard the young man say that, he suddenly realized that he should have been paying attention.

    ¡°Of course, otherwise, why would so many people in the political circle secretly worship that person?¡± The young man lowered his voice slightly. ¡°Mr. Feng, those politicians in America don¡¯t even dare to utter the name of the person. But I heard that that person is someone from our country, and it¡¯s a woman.¡±

    ng!

    The cup in Feng Jiu¡¯s hand fell to the ground, shattering to pieces.

    The sound startled the young man. He looked to the shattered cup on the ground, before looking at Feng Jiu again. His voice was cautious when he spoke, ¡°Mr. Feng, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Feng Jiu waved his hand stiffly. ¡°How¡¯s the calling?¡±

    The young man was still holding the special phone that was used for international calls in his hand, and his tone was lighter when he answered, ¡°It¡¯s still being transferred. As you know, Mr. Feng, the call has to go through a lot of procedures.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t like you could put a call through as and when you wanted, it had to go through various channels and departments before it could be connected to any of the higher ups.

    ¡°... Tell me more about the matter in America.¡± Feng Jiu was the middle person between the secr world and the ancient martial arts world after all. He was used to seeing unusual things on usual days, and he had already collected himself in thest few minutes, though his fingers were still shaking.

    The young man didn¡¯t notice these little details about Feng Jiu. He brushed it off, thinking that Feng Jiu had also been shocked by the news, and continued talking excitedly.

    How much impact does this incident have towards the United States? You could tell how big it was by the worshipping attitude of those politicians, and the young man in front of him was clearly also one of them, describing the incident as though he had seen it with his own eyes.

    ¡°... To think that the impact was so big...¡± Feng Jiu felt more distrubed the more he listened.

    At the same time, Feng Jiu also recalled what happened in Mingzhou previously. He hadn¡¯t managed to take any action at that time, before Gu Xiqiao had easily stepped in with her deliberately misunderstood Weibo post, dispersing the matter that had been about to be blown out of proportion.

    Her influence on the inte seems to be incredible. With just a single Weibo, countlessizens had been convinced by her words, and a lot of them were also very influential figures in their own field.

    To now know that her influence was also incredibly big in the political circles was something that was hard to swallow.

    But, why did something feel wrong? That¡¯s right, it was the United States! How could she be so bold? The ancient martial arts world were not allowed to interfere with the affairs of the secr world, after all. Did those people not stop her, and let her do as she pleased?

    Feng Jiu felt like there was still a missing piece to this puzzle, but before he could continue to think more on it, the young man raised his head, a slightly dazed look on his face. ¡°Mr. Feng, the call has been connected.¡±

    ¡°Give it here.¡± Feng Jiu didn¡¯t notice the young man¡¯s state, and took the phone immediately.

    ¡°Hello, Mr. Feng. I am...¡±

    The not so fluent Chinese came through from the other end, causing Feng Jiu to almost throw down the phone in his hands. He had wanted to be connected to one of the higher ups in America, thest person he expected to answer the call was the leader of the power world in the United States?

    Wait a minute? Why was he talking in such a respectful tone? Feng Jiu didn¡¯t feel that his position was high enough that it would garner such respect in their treatment of him.

    Before he could inquire about it, he realized that the leader of America¡¯s power world was still speaking. ¡°I heard that Mr. Feng wanted to talk about that person. Seeing that there is no other person who understands better than me, I will tell you everything you wish to know, Mr. Feng.¡±

    That person? They didn¡¯t even dare to utter her name? Feng Jiu¡¯s heart thumped hard in his chest, but his voice was calm and steady as he spoke, ¡°What in the world did Miss Gu do in the United States?¡±

    Feng Jiu had said her name tentatively, in order to test whether ¡®that person¡¯ really was referring to her. There had always been some matters that the other higher ups of America were not privy to, but themander must know.

    ¡°Mr. Feng, please allow me to express my gratitude to that person...¡± Hearing the name from Feng Jiu, the voice on the other end tightened, before the torrent of admiration and respect came flowing through until they reached the point of their discussion.

    Probably thinking that Feng Jiu was well acquainted with ¡®that person¡¯, the leader of America¡¯s power circle was detailed in his exnation.

    There were only a few people in America who were well aware of the entire happening, despite what had been reported to the outside world. And it was those few who understood clearly, and the more they were aware they were, the more they realized just how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was.

    But, these were all being told to Feng Jiu by the leader of America¡¯s power world, and his previously anxious heart beat even faster once he heard everything.

    Finally, when the call was about toe to and end, the leader said meaningfully, ¡°Mr. Feng, I heard that your country intends to use nuclear weapons to fight against enemiestely. In my humble opinion, there are some things that cannot be handled by those weapons. Our country had a blessing in disguise because of that person, and I naturally hope that our friendship between our countries will be longsting.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Feng Jiu spit out the words, his throat dry.

    ¡°Even our power world doesn¡¯t dare to touch a single hair on that person, where did you get such courage from?¡± The leader hung up the call after those parting words.

    Feng Jiu was still holding the phone with a nk look on his face, staring at nothing in particr as he processed the words that the leader had said.

    The words that the second elder previously mentioned were also echoing in his mind.

    Right? Where did such bold couragee from?

    Thinking of this, he immediately picked up the documents that the young man had brought in. He nced through it quickly, and found that it mainly wanted to announce to the masses that the country was still in the midst of investigating the recent incidents that had been happening in the country, and that they had sent out special forces to suppress it. They had the most advanced weapons needed to carry out the task, and they weren¡¯t afraid of those monsters.

    But now that he thought back to what the leader of America¡¯s power world has said, maybe there really were some things that couldn¡¯t be dealt with by nuclear weapons. When he thought about that, the anxiety in his heart climbed up once again.

    Fortunately, there was still time. He immediately gave the second elder a call, intending to contact Gu Xiqiao.

    When the second elder received the call, he was in the middle of training. ¡°Feng Jiu, can you not bother me now? I¡¯m in the middle of training!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re already such an old fart, what training are you doing?!¡± Feng Jiu also retorted rudely. ¡°Where is Miss Gu now, do you know? Can I meet her?¡±

    ¡°Who says I can¡¯t train? Miss Gu said that even though our bones are old, it would still be barely possible to push us to Xiantian level. Ah, forget it, why am I even telling you this? If you want to meet Miss Gu, then you should contact Luo Weng, or Nine Heavens.¡± The second elder hung up the call after saying that, muttering under his breath. ¡°I already told you before this, and you didn¡¯t listen to me earlier. What do you expect me to do now when you find me?¡±

    These words made Feng Jiu want to break down and cry.

    How would he have known earlier that things would get so bad to this point?!

    It wasn¡¯t like he knew Gu Xiqiao would turn out to be such a terrifying force to be reckoned with, and that there would be monsters appearing that even their nuclear weapons would do nothing to them. He hadn¡¯t known at that time, and so had treated it all as unimportant!

    After listening to themander¡¯s exnation, he finally understood, but it was a little toote now.

    ***

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, there¡¯s a Mr. Feng here to see you.¡± Mu Zong made a call to Gu Xiqiao. ¡°I initially didn¡¯t want to bother you, but he came through Mr. Tang¡¯s assistant, Qin Heng.¡±

    Mu Zong and Qin Heng had some form of close friendship between them, and knowing that Gu Xiqiao and Tang Qingqiu weren¡¯t strangers or just mere acquaintances, adding on the fact that Qin Heng was a polite and courteous person, Mu Zong felt inclined to inform Gu Xiqiao of this matter when it came to him, instead of rejecting it like normal.

    ¡°Mr. Feng?¡± Gu Xiqiao was sitting on top of a tree at this time, a piece of leaf in her mouth as she watched over the group of elders who were underneath the tree. She narrowed her eyes when she received the call, and blinked when she remembered who the person was.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He says that you know him.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Let him wait a bit, I¡¯m heading back to Nine Heavens.¡± Gu Xiqiao sat up, removing the leaf from her mouth and threw it to the side suddenly with a swoosh.

    ¡°Ow!¡± The second elder had been eavesdropping on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s conversation, but he didn¡¯t expect the piece of leaf she threw would be so powerful? He looked at the ce where his clothes were torn from, and a stab of fear went through him. If he had been slow to avoid that, he may have ended up with a torn arm instead.

    ¡°Can you afford to be distracted at this time?¡± The great elder pped away a ferocious beast, and took a chance to nce at the second elder. ¡°Just leave Feng Jiu alone, Miss Gu has her own mind to make her decisions.¡±

    The second elder smiled wryly when he heard those words, and his hand shot out to also hit a fierce beast away. ¡°Of course I know that, it¡¯s just...¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± The great elder asked, turning to look at him.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid Miss Gu¡¯s usual methods will scare ordinary people.¡± The second elder let out a sigh, pping away another beast. ¡°We¡¯re from the ancient martial arts world, and we¡¯ve seen many things over the years, and obviously we cane to ept the crazy things that Miss Gu does, but ordinary people don¡¯t have the same heart of steel that we do. I just fear that things will backfire if Miss Gu¡¯s methods are too aggressive.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really thinking too much.¡± The great elderughed. ¡°To think so heavily on this, do you think Miss Gu is stupid? She¡¯s someone who has changed the entire ancient martial arts world, and also a person so greatly sought after in the secr world. Do you think that her EQ is so low?¡±

    The second elder paused in his actions as the great elder¡¯s words slowly sank in. Well, that was right, wasn¡¯t it?

    When he raised his head, he found that Gu Xiqiao, who had been above them had disappeared. But at this time, he didn¡¯t have any further thoughts on where she had gone, or what to do with the matters of the secr world.

    Because several ferocious beasts chose the same time toe rushing at him alone, making him panic slightly as he hurried to defend himself. How could he think of other things in this situation?

    The other elders didn¡¯t bother about him either. What a joke, who would dare to? After being trained by Gu Xiqiao the past few days, they all knew just how much of a grudge this girl could hold. They could cry if they were to delve deeper into this topic.

    ***

    ¡°When is Brother Jianging back?¡± Gu Xiqiao jumped down the tree, turning to look down at Jiji.

    Jiji thought about it for a while, then looked up. ¡°You can feel Master Jiang¡¯s presence right, Beauty Qiao? Gimme a sec, I¡¯ll look at the map. Master Jiang has gone to the desert, so his journey should take about a couple of days.¡±

    ¡°A couple of days?¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. ¡°Has there been any movement from Chu Enterprisetely?¡±

    She had been busy with the elders recently, and everything had been delegated over to Luo Weng and Mu Zong. One of the two were keeping an eye on the ancient martial arts world for her, and the other was keeping an eye on the secr world. She waszy, but there was only so much she could goof off. There were some things that she had to handle personally after all.

    Jiji had churned out all the documents that Yu Ning had sent over, and with its powerful scanning capabilities, it could pinpoint all the important points in a sh. ¡°It¡¯s all here, Beauty Qiao. Oh right, that strange person that Yi Tong brought back previously, Zhu Yuan has already carried out some study on him and has some clues. I¡¯ve sent it to your mailbox, I need you to take a look at it.¡±

    ¡°OK.¡± Gu Xiqiao nced at the transparent panel that had popped up in front of her, then snapped her fingers. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Nine Heavens first and settle that one.¡±

    ¡°Alright, Beauty Qiao.¡± Jiji confirmed the location of Nine Heavens, and the two of them disappeared from the spot.

    ***

    At Nine Heavens, Feng Jiu was getting restless. Just as he raised his arm, a mechanical voice spoke. ¡°Sir, what service would you require?¡±

    The reverberating mechanical sound almost made Feng Jiu jump out of his skin, his heart thumping violently in his chest. Oh my f*ck, an arm that could speak?! What kind of ghosts were there in this room? Also, what¡¯s with the decorations in this room, wasn¡¯t it all a little too high tech?

    ¡°My apologies, Mr. Feng.¡± Mu Zong walked in, seeing Mr. Feng¡¯s flustered state, reassuring him immediately. ¡°This room was set up by Miss Gu in order to make Jiji¡¯s body, and it contains all her favourite electrical products which are a little smarter than your usual ones. But don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t harm anyone. This is the ce that Miss Gu will firste to when shees back, so it¡¯s the best ce to wait for her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine.¡± Feng Jiu waved his hand hurriedly. What a joke, how could he make any trouble for Gu Xiqiao¡¯s right hand man? ¡°President Mu, did Miss Gu say that she¡¯ll see me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, she¡¯ll be here soon,¡± Mu Zong said, smiling.

    Soon? Feng Jiu was equally anxious and anticipating.

    Just as Mu Zong said that, several voices came through from outside the door. ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Feng Jiu knew that the real boss of the ce wasing, and immediately stood up, waiting for her toe in. His eyes were in the direction of the ss door. It wasn¡¯t just a ss door, even the walls were all made of ss, and so he could clearly see everything that was happening outside of it.

    There was a single person walking slowly towards the room, and her pace was unhurried. Her head was slightly lowered, the soft light shining on her face, illuminating her gentle appearance. Everyone stopped to greet her as she passed, and their faces lit up with admiration and respect when they did so.

    Feng Jiu didn¡¯t doubt anymore that this person was Miss Gu, the same person that even the leader of America dreaded. Only, she was a little different than what he had expected.

 Chapter 357 - Always Been Her Modus Operandi

    <h4>Chapter 357: Always Been Her Modus Operandi</h4>

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Mu Zong had also heard the voices, and he put down the documents in hand, standing up to greet her.

    Before he could reach out to open the door, the arm that was beside Feng Jiu reached out to do it instead.

    ¡°You¡¯re on a roll.¡± Jiji came in behind Gu Xiqiao, looking at the mechanical arm that had opened the door, patting its head. ¡°Even so, you won¡¯t be able to get a body. Even my own awesome self has yet to be settled after all.¡±

    The robotic arm seemed to turn away in anger, not talking to Jiji.

    Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t bothered by the two, and after greeting Mu Zong, she turned to Feng Jiu. When she raised her head, it revealed a young, snow-white face. Her eyes were dark and clear. This was the first time Feng Jiu had seen Gu Xiqiao in person.

    Even though he had seen pictures of her on the inte, and even gone through her Weibo, hearing things about her from the second elder, it wasn¡¯t as shocking as meeting the person themself with his own eyes.

    Too young, to the point that Feng Jiu felt that everything he had heard about her must be over-exaggerated or even false.

    ¡°Miss Gu,¡± Feng Jiu greeted after a while, finally returning to his senses.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded and smiled at him. At this time, the secretary brought in a cup of team and she took it, cing it beside the robotic arm. ¡°Mr. Feng, please have a seat.¡±

    Feng Jiu did as she said, but he was still slightly unstable on his feet. He watched as the secretary came in once again with a pile of documents, and Gu Xiqio flipped through it quickly, seemingly not intending to continue the line of conversation.

    But Feng Jiu didn¡¯te here for tea, and he could only sit still for another few minutes before he finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore. ¡°Miss Gu, the reason I came here today...¡±

    ¡°I know, we¡¯ll talk about the issueter.¡± Gu Xiqiao flipped through thest document, then took the pen that Mu Zong was holding, signing her name. She smiled at Mu Zong. ¡°Uncle Mu, the n that they are making is bing better and perfect. There¡¯s basically nothing wrong with it.¡±

    Mu Zongughed at her words. ¡°Your teaching was good.¡± There was little that he needed to manage, now that everyone in thepany had be sopetent.

    He took the documents and handed them over to the secretary. Thinking about how Boss Gu had taught everyone without holding back nor hiding anything, such an unselfish method, forget about how all the people in Nine Heavens were financial geniuses, even an ordinary finance student would easily improve leaps and bounds under her tutge.

    Everyone in the Imperial Capital knew that Nine Heavens was full of talents and luck, but they didn¡¯t see the real reason was because of their boss. Mu Zong looked at Gu Xiqiao, and thought that, for someone to impart everything they knew to everyone else so openly, there was only one person in the entire world that was willing to do that, and that was their Boss Gu.

    It was a pity that although she had taught them everything that she could, there were still a lot of things that their people in Nine Heavens still didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Boss Gu!¡± Yu Ning rushed in from outside. ¡°How could you not even take a walk around the web department even though you came back?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you here in person?¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned against the robotic arm beside her, taking a sip of her tea as she nced at Yu Ning. ¡°You¡¯re more or less done with the research on the virtual world. I see you¡¯ve been working on Star Networktely, if you have any issues, you can look for Jiji. Jiji is more knowledgeable in this areapared to me.¡±

    Yu Ning sighed lightly.¡± Aih, I say, Luo Weng said that there would be a live broadcast on some news today that would likely have a great impact on you guys. Do you want me to get in touch with my hackingwork and let the masses only be able to see Logger Vick...¡± (T/N: Logger Vick (Boonie Bears character) / nickname for bald people)

    ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Before Yu Ning could finish his sentence, Mu Zong coughed loudly. There was a high ranking official in the same room as them, and you¡¯re casually talking about how you were going to get people to hack into their live broadcast, were you looking to die?

    Feng Jiu¡¯s mouth was also downturned, but he took the chance to look closely at Yu Ning. For someone to talk so brazenly about hacking a nationwide live broadcast, it shouldn¡¯t be just some boastful words. He had heard that Nine Heavens had an expert hacker, could it be this young man in front of him?

    Yu Ning also noted that Feng Jiu was in the room at this time, and he turned to greet him. ¡°Hello, Mr. Feng Jiu.¡±

    ¡°Hello.¡± Feng Jiu nodded stiffly. Seeing that it was almost time for the broadcast, and he hadn¡¯t said a single word about it to Gu Xiqiao, he was suddenly in a panic. ¡°Miss Gu, I...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone, looking at the time, the corners of her mouth curving up. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡±

    She snapped her fingers, and the TV on the opposite wall turned on instantly, ying the live broadcast.

    Feng Jiu turned his head when he heard the voices from it, seeing that it was the press conference that was live at this moment. The venue was the National Lecture Hall. A middle-aged man in military uniform was on screen with a serious look on his face. ¡°The recent happenings in the country have caused panic to everyone, we ask that you please trust in your government, believe in the higher-ups, and we will all get through this difficult time together.¡±

    As he said that, the camera panned out, and zoomed to a group of soldiers standing behind. ¡°We have the best firearms at our disposal, and we will definitely kill those monsters...¡±

    The live broadcast had confirmed the existence of these monsters, and the public who were already in a panic before, were in a more panicked state right now. It was at this moment, that a bunch of monsters suddenly appeared on the scene of the live broadcast.

    When they appeared, a hint of fear crossed the middle-aged man¡¯s face which was stoic just a few moments before, and he immediately instructed the army to engage these monsters. Unfortunately, the firearms they held were clearly useless against them!

    Bullets were useless against them!

    The viewers watching from home held their breath as horror spread on their faces, watching with their own eyes as the bullets pierced through those monsters, but it didn¡¯t stop them a single bit!

    Oh my god, what the hell are those things?

    Why weren¡¯t they dying to guns?

    Those soldiers clearly saw that they were done for, and they retreated backward. There was also shock on their faces when they realized that nothing had worked.

    At this moment, whether it was the viewers or those on scene, the only thing they could feel was terror running through their veins. Those who were watching at home were already in shock, and their first reaction was to think that whatever was happening on screen was fake, but no matter how much they rubbed their eyes, the scene was still the same!

    Everyone watching this bloody scene could feel the despair rising in their hearts.

    If it was a monster that wouldn¡¯t even die to a gun, then what should ordinary people with no firearms do to defend themselves?

    The ordinary folks weren¡¯t the only ones in shock, even Feng Jiu was in the same state. His eyes were fixed on the screen, his eyes wide, finally understanding what the conversation he had yesterday meant. There were just some monsters that couldn¡¯t be dealt with, either with firearms or white arms! (T/N: A cold weapon, or white arm, is a weapon that doesn¡¯t involve fire or explosives.)

    In this moment of despair, the shaking of the camera suddenly stopped, and a young face appeared in front of it.

    The live broadcast was currently disyed on every screen across the nation, whether you were watching TV at home, in a meeting, or at a shopping mall, as long as there was a screen, this young face was on it.

    Behind her, the scene was like a scene from hell, but even amongst the horrifying scene, this youngdy stood out, calm and unaffected by everything happening behind her.

    Then, a team of ten people appeared. ¡°Miss Gu!¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± The clear, melodious voice sounded in response, as if ringing in the hearts of everyone who were watching.

    This was likely a scene that no one would be forgetting for the rest of their lives. A second ago, those monsters who were indestructible and bringing despair to every single person watching were easily beaten down by those ten people that had appeared. The youngdy also reached out her hands, casually picking one of the monsters up and throwing it to the side like it was nothing, taking out at least one-tenth of those monsters!

    des were glinting, swinging and flying everywhere, there were also mes appearing!

    These arrogant, unbeatable monsters were taken down by just these ten people!

    Those who were watching the live broadcast held their breath once again, not quite believing what they had just seen.

    It simply looks like a scene right out of a fantasy!

    Who would believe it, if they didn¡¯t see it with their own eyes?

    The ten people piled all the monsters together.

    The girl who was holding the camera smiled at the lens at this time, then raised her hand, purple thunder striking down instantly with a loud ¡®boom¡¯.

    It mmed right down into the pile of monsters, incinerating them instantly.

    Since the appearance of the thunder with just a wave of her hand, it felt like the entire country fell into silence. There were some who were eating, and forgot to chew their food. There were some who had been hugging pillows tightly in fear, and that pillow had fallen to the floor. Everyone¡¯s expression was the same, nk face, as though they had seen a ghost. But, wasn¡¯t that the most urate description at this moment? Otherwise, how do you exin what they had just seen?

    Everyone was stunned speechless after watching such a scene.

    ¡°I must be going crazy...¡± A young girl who was watching the live broadcast said. She went to the washroom to ssh water on her face, then came back, but it was still the same scene on the screen.

    ¡°It... it was just a hallucination. I¡¯ll just close my eyes for a bit,¡± A boy who had been ying games said, closing his eyes. Two minutester, he opened them to find that the scene on hisputer screen had not changed at all.

    Those were probably the same things the entire China was doing now, and everyone must be thinking that they had gone crazy.

    Gu Xiqiao gave the people maybe about three minutes to gather themselves, then snapped her fingers. ¡°I know that not everyone will believe this scene they are watching on screen, but I¡¯ll tell everyone now, everything you just saw was real. WIthout your knowledge, China has always been in possession of such powers.¡±

    As she spoke, a ball of lightning crackled softly in her other hand, floating slightly above her open palm.

    The people could still pretend they were hallucinating previously, but it was a live broadcast, and the lightning had appeared out of nowhere in front of them.

    ¡°Introductions, then. The ten people behind me are the Peace Squad. This is the first time they¡¯ve appeared in public, and from today on, they will have more contact with everyone. You have seen first hand what they can do. Let¡¯s move on and talk about the monsters now. Firstly, they will appear again in the future. I don¡¯t know how many more will appear, but know that every single one of you has the possibility of encountering them.¡± Gu Xiqiao vanished the ball of lightning, facing the camera with a calm look on her face. Her tranquil demeanor served to reassure everyone watching, and calmed them down. ¡°Our ancient martial arts world exists to protect everyone in China, we don¡¯t want to see any idents happening to anybody. Therefore, our goal is to bring the entire nation to arms. I believe that every one of you will be able to face off these monsters by yourselves, and fight to protect your loved ones. Tell me, are you all afraid?¡±

    Boom!

    As soon as she said that, the entire China was in an uproar, and those hot-blooded youths were the ones who reacted the biggest. They should be in a state of panic, loss of faith and in life, but at the time of their darkest hour, such a powerful team had made an appearance, and a youngdy told them that they wanted to ¡®bring the entire nation to arms¡¯, and then she asked, ¡®are you all afraid?¡¯?

    Afraid?

    It wouldn¡¯t be strange for ordinary people to be afraid after watching such a scene, they should be ming the country, and why they didn¡¯t announce that the country had such powers in the first ce. But at this time, everyone¡¯s eyes were on these ten people. Their hearts were fired up, and their blood was boiling!

    It was undeniable that they had been fearful at first, but now, they were excited! Every single cell in their body was moring!

    ¡°No, we¡¯re not afraid!¡± Those youngsters sitting in front ofputers stood up with a bang, their hearts thumping wildly in their chest. Their faces were flushed red, anticipation running through their veins!

    It wasn¡¯t only the youths that were excited, even those elderly who thought that there was nothing left in the world that could make their heart skip a beat anymore, all of them were feeling exhrated, probably because they had never experienced such a passionate scene before.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled lightly. ¡°This is the true soul of China. Next, I will have Mr. Feng Jiu arrange the matters thate after. You don¡¯t have to change the way you¡¯re living your life. There are people who wish us to be in a state of chaos, and I believe you will not lose faith in living. If you encounter a problem that you can¡¯t solve by yourself, just call out for the Peace Squad. If you¡¯re infected with strange diseases that cannot be cured, please head to the medicalbs in the capital to get treatment. Our medicalbs will be giving free treatments during this time before this disaster is over.¡±

    The broadcast abruptly stopped as soon as she finished speaking.

    However, no one would ever forget the scene that they had just witnessed, because the video circted over the inte at lightning speed.

    It seemed that everyone across the nation remembered the young girl¡¯s speech that had calmed the hearts of all of them, the way she had settled down everyone with just a few sentences.

    At this moment, news about her spread on the inte almost instantly.

    The most mysterious blogger on the!

    China¡¯srgest chainpany¡ªthe person behind Nine Heavens!

    A student from the Faculty of Medicine from A University, one who has researched various treatments and medicine for countless patients, and also disclosing the methods to the world for free!

    There were really just too many amazing and mysterious things about this person. Before this, if you heard about someone who could be this amazingly generous in the world, would anyone believe it, and not deny it?

    The facts right now are telling you, there is!

    And just today, everyone found out that those were just small parts about her. Having a mysterious power that allowed her to call upon lightning, bringing hope to the people in their darkest hour, this was enough to drive the entire nation out of their minds!

    On this day, the name ¡®Gu Xiqiao¡¯ swept wildly across the country. No matter where you went, you could hear the people talking about this person.

    ***

    ¡°Leader, I really envy the people of China.¡± One of the higher-ups of the United States said as they watched the live broadcast that Cecily had shown them. He let out a long sigh, lifting his hands to cover his eyes, and whispered, ¡°Their ancient martial arts world has really lucked out.¡±

    The leader of America didn¡¯t say anything in response to that, ying the video once again. Looking at the young woman on screen with a serene look and gentle aura, he dragged his hand down his face. ¡°Do you think these are all coincidences? Do you see, the medicalbs, Peace Squad, these are two indispensable forces right now. In such a short time, Miss Gu had arranged everything in such an orderly manner. Perhaps, a long time ago, when she first built up the medicalbs, she predicted that such a day woulde. Cecily was right, Miss Gu really is unfathomable, you will never know what she¡¯s thinking in that mind of hers. The person pulling the strings behind the scene should be feeling the most powerless right now. They clearly intended to sow discord and create havoc in the country, perhaps also hoping that China would copse unto itself. Unfortunately for them, for every step they took, Miss Gu had already predicted it and arranged the appropriate countermeasures to it. Even up to the final step of bringing the entire nation to arms.¡±

    Everyone else gathered here didn¡¯t have anything to say after that.

    After a long while of silence, the leader finally stood. ¡°Make the preparations, we¡¯ll head to China today.¡±

    These people had probably learnt of the terrifying strength the Peace Squad and Gu Xiqiao wielded, and so were not surprised or shocked when they saw this, but instead felt envious of the people of China.

    Compared to them, Feng Jiu was the one who was most in shock right now. Forget about Feng Jiu and those upper management of the government, even the ancient martial arts world was in the same state. They hadn¡¯t expected Gu Xiqiao would use such a bloody and violent method to announce their presence to the nation. And not only did it not cause mass panic to the public atrge, it served to ignite the passion in everyone¡¯s hearts instead!

    But, this had always been Gu Xiqiao¡¯s modus operandi! She had always been direct and aggressive, and had always been creating miracles as she went!

    The regard for Gu Xiqiao that the people in the ancient martial arts world held was many times higher than those from the secr world. If you were to peruse through the entire world history, who would be able to perform such feats, other than Gu Xiqiao? Who else? Who else!

 Chapter 358 - Theyre Here!

    <h4>Chapter 358: They¡¯re Here!</h4>

    After Gu Xiqiao had led the team of people to drop the bomb, she returned to Nine Heavens. Feng Jiu was still in the same spot that she had left him.

    When he first saw Gu Xiqiao appear on the screen, he had been in a daze. She had been sitting right opposite him just a second ago, how did she appear on screen the next moment?

    Especially after hearing her words, and the first time he was seeing the Peace Squad.

    Feng Jiu had still yet to collect himself. He opened his mouth when he saw Gu Xiqiao, who hade back god-knows-when, but no words were forting. He could only feel his hands, and even his feet were shaking.

    ¡°Mr. Feng Jiu, regarding the matter that I just said, I¡¯ll get the great elder to contact youter. Hmm, I heard that you have a good rtionship with the second elder, I¡¯ll get him to contact you instead then.¡± Gu Xiqiao patted Jiji on its head.

    Jiji immediately shoved theputer in its hand back into its storage, standing up to look at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Are we going back now, Beauty Gu?¡±

    ¡°Wait a bit more, I have to go to the web department first.¡± Gu Xiqiao said, touching her chin thoughtfully.

    This sentence made Yu Ning, who had been sitting down quietly, jump up to his feet. ¡°Boss Gu, let¡¯s head there without dy then.¡±

    ¡°Wait, Miss Gu!¡± Seeing that Gu Xiqiao was about to leave, Feng Jiu finally snapped out of his dazed state. He stood up, turning to face her. ¡°The n that you mentioned about bringing the entire nations to arms, how are we supposed to do it?¡±

    Also, how did she know that he was more familiar with the second elder?

    Hearing those words, Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

    ¡°These monsters have appeared in various ces recently, N City, S City, even the capital. You¡¯re saying those monsters...¡± Feng Jiu was more concerned about the poption¡¯s safety right now.

    ¡°Ten days. Within ten days, you only need to be concerned about using various methods to improve your physical fitness or strength. For these ten days, you don¡¯t have to worry about anything else.¡± Gu Xiqiao shoved her hands in her pocket, shing him a small smile.

    Her tone was calm and unhurried. She always had the ability to soothe people when needed.

    That was exactly what Feng Jiu wanted from her. Although her reassurance sounded a little absurd, there was a sense of inexplicable trust towards her, and he thanked her for it.

    Seeing that he didn¡¯t have any further questions, Gu Xiqiao turned around and left.

    After she left, Feng Jiu finally managed to fully gather himself. Taking a deep breath, he noticed that Mu Zong was still in the room, flipping through some documents and seated at the other side of the room. He couldn¡¯t help but be astonished. ¡°Mr. Mu, aren¡¯t you surprised in the slightest?¡±

    ¡°Surprised?¡± Mu Zong raised his head, then he thought Feng Jiu was probably referring to the incident that had just happened, and he smiled. ¡°I am indeed very surprised, but I¡¯ve already recovered from it.¡±

    ¡°That quickly?¡± Feng Jiu¡¯s eyes widened drastically. He often dealt with the ancient martial arts world, and even that didn¡¯t help him in recovering so quickly, and this ordinary person had managed to recover so quickly?

    ¡°This matter,¡± Mu Zong started calmly. ¡°It¡¯s very insignificantpared to what happened in the States. It was her decision after that surprised me a little.¡±

    Feng Jiu: ¡°...¡± Just what kind of people were following her at her side?

    Mu Zong kept away the documents he had been looking at, and heard Feng Jiu¡¯s phone ringing at this time. He couldn¡¯t help the smile that spread on his face. ¡°Mr. Feng Jiu, your phone is ringing. If you have any need, you may call on the secretary at any time.¡±

    Feng Jiu nodded his head towards him, then picked up his phone to answer the call. It was the second elder.

    ¡°So Feng Jiu, how do you feel?¡± Before Feng Jiu could say anything, the second elder¡¯s voice came through.

    ¡°I still feel like I¡¯m in some sort of bizarre dream.¡± Feng Jiu replied nkly. He felt as though his head was still in the clouds, like he was drunk and couldn¡¯t gather himself properly.

    The second elder was joyful when he heard that. ¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s how you should be feeling. I told you a long time ago that her methods were aggressive, now do you believe me?¡±

    Believe? Believe was just too mild a word to describe it?! Feng Jiu wiped the cold sweat that had broken out just now, he was scared to the point that he nearly peed himself, okay? His heart felt a little guilt when he thought about this. ¡°When Miss Gu so easily announced the news to the masses, I was almost scared to death. I didn¡¯t know how the public would take it, and I was afraid that the entire nation would be in chaos after that.¡±

    It was a live broadcast after all, and all the channels were locked into it. Unlike Jiji, Feng Jiu couldn¡¯t observe everybody¡¯s reaction to the happenings on it.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that,¡± The second elder was still overly cheerful as he said that. ¡°Our Miss Gu has always had her hands of brainwashing, you can look it up on the inteter. Now there¡¯s something else I need to discuss and brainstorm with you, it¡¯s regarding the things that Miss Gu has sent me to follow-up. Come on to the ancient martial arts worldter and let¡¯s discuss it then.¡±

    Having said that, the second elder hung up the call.

    Feng Jiu thought about what he had always been worried about, then searched through the inte after the call had ended. Sure enough, all the hot topics were about what had just transpired. He scrolled through the topics to look at thements, which were the reactions of theizens.

    Some couldn¡¯t believe it, some were positive, some were more enthusiastic than some... there was not a single hint of panic anywhere he looked.

    After thest time, Feng Jiu was once again experiencing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s magical brainwashing abilities. He really wanted to kneel down in worship to her at this very moment!

    He continued walking in a dazed state, and he kept seeing the employees of Nine Heavens, who all maintained their positive attitudes and usual demeanor as he passed them. Looking at the tranquil expression on their faces, he was really tempted to just pull someone aside and ask, Miss Gu has just announced the end of the world, and even broadcasted that bloodied scene just now, didn¡¯t you see any of that? How are you all so bloody calm?!

    There were alsoments online about how they were training hard, and money was nothing worth worrying about now. Why weren¡¯t any of you reacting at all?

    Feng Jiu dragged his hand down his face, silently pondering all these thoughts in his head.

    When Feng Jiu reached the outside of the building, he saw one of the guards outside Nine Heavens, easily moving a car that wasn¡¯t parked in the box into one, and his face was just: £¨¡Ño¡Ñ£©!

    None of the people at Miss Gu¡¯s side were ordinary at all!

    He really was going out of his mind, Nine Heavens was also something that belonged to Miss Gu, and she could even call the entire nation to arms, how could she have any ordinary person under her?

    But, what should he do if he was feeling so extremely jealous about this?

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao naturally didn¡¯t know what Feng Jiu was thinking, while Jiji pulled out theputer from its chest, finding Feng Jiu¡¯s face in the surveince camera and snickered. ¡°Beauty Qiao, you should look at Feng Jiu¡¯s expression. He looks like there¡¯s nothing to live for, and even doubting life as a whole right now.¡±

    She didn¡¯t say anything in response to that, but the young IT guy next to her spoke up. ¡°Jiji, it¡¯s not good to discriminate against people like that.¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it, why doesn¡¯t it seem like you guys are surprised in the slightest?¡± Jiji raised its head, looking at the people in the web department. All of them had calm looks on their faces, like nothing unusual had happened.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to be surprised about? It¡¯s Miss Gu!¡± The young man raised his chin proudly, as though anything Gu Xiqiao did, it was only natural to be of this effect.

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Why did she have so many braindead, die-hard fans?

    ¡°OK!¡± Gu Xiqiao finished inserting a string ofmands, then pressed the ¡®Enter¡¯ key. Rows of numbers appeared on the screen once she did that.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Seeing that she was done, the eyes of everyone around her now focused entirely on her and the screen.

    Yu Ning had been watching her work the entire time. None of the others knew the string ofmands that she had inserted, as well as the data that she had tampered with, but he did. He had done things of the same manner a lot back in his days too after all. When someone asked that, he casually answered, ¡°Oh, Miss Gu has hacked into the satellite that¡¯s monitoring the earth. I¡¯m guessing that the surveince of everything happening in the entire world is now in our control.¡±

    As soon as he said this, everyone fell into an amazed silence.

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you being toozy to do this, I wouldn¡¯t have to waste my time here either,¡± Gu Xiqiao said, looking at Yu Ning tempted to smash his face with the keyboard.

    Yu Ning wasn¡¯t fazed at all. ¡°I¡¯ve done so many simr things before in the past, there¡¯s no sense of aplishment in doing it now. Also, your hacking is way faster than mine. You only needed twenty minutes, I¡¯d need at least an hour. If I had the time, I might as well be studying the Star Network instead.¡±

    Those who were recruited into the web department of Nine Heavens were all top hackers or excellent talents in theputer field. But even so, they felt like they had been given a tight p in their faces and wanted to puke blood by both Yu Ning and Gu Xiqiao with the conversation that they just had in front of them.

    That was the global satellite surveince that they were talking about. Every country¡¯s defense forces had incredibly strong firewalls, and the two were just bantering about how not challenging it was, hacking through that. Was that really something to casually throw out like this?

    Weren¡¯t the two afraid they would be beaten up by the others who were here?

    ¡°But why did you do this anyway?¡± Yu Ning nced at her. ¡°Do you want to do a live weather forecast?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao turned to theputer screen, then looked at the time at the bottom right of it. ¡°No, I initially wanted to assign people to observe the appearance of those undead monsters, but it¡¯s too troublesome to do that. By hacking directly into the global satellite, we can just monitor all the ces. When there are any changes, the ancient martial arts world will know, and we¡¯ll not be in a passive position at this rate.¡±

    ¡°... F*ck.¡± After hearing her reasoning, Yu Ning was only able to utter this single word as his response after a long while.

    ¡°Alright, continue researching on the Star Network, I¡¯m heading back to the ancient martial arts world first.¡± Gu Xiqiao stood up, pping her hands together. ¡°As for the matter of surveince, just feed it to the supervisory room in the ancient martial arts worldter.¡±

    Yu Ning nodded his head, then turned to Jiji. His eyes lit up when he saw the robot. ¡°Can you lend me Jiji?¡±

    ¡°Ask it, not me.¡± Gu Xiqiao was indifferent either way.

    Jiji immediately grabbed the corner of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s clothes, a grave expression on its face. ¡°Master Jiang isn¡¯t around, Xixi isn¡¯t around, I need to protect Beauty Qiao with all my might!¡±

    Yu Ning: ¡°...¡± What use are you?

    Jiji nced at Yu Ning, then stretched out its hand. ¡°The might of Bla~¡±

    Pop!

    A basin of water appeared above Yu Ning¡¯s head suddenly.

    It was in the middle of a cold winter right now, and though they were indoors, Yu Ning was still soaked to the bones by the water.

    Gu Xiqiao chuckled lightly as she watched the entire thing happen.

    Jiji followed behind Gu Xiqiao, shooting a triumph look towards Yu Ning. ¡°Hah!¡± That¡¯ll teach you to look down on me!

    After Gu Xiqiao and Jiji left, only did everyone else from the web department startedughing, starting with a ¡®pft¡¯ that got the entire room roaring withughter. Yu Ning wiped his face, taking out his phone stiffly from his pocket. Fortunately, the phone had been saved from getting a shower. He sent a message¡ª[Say, I¡¯ll being to Peace Manor tomorrow.]

    The reply to it came quickly¡ª[To act cute?]

    There was no winning anything at all! Yu Ning shoved his phone away.

    ***

    To save time, Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother bringing out her little pink car, but had Jiji teleport them to the coordinates in the ancient martial arts world instead.

    As soon as they appeared on the edge of the ancient martial arts world, they saw Tengen sitting on a stone nearby.

    ¡°Mas... Miss Gu, wait a minute!¡± Tengen had been waiting here for Gu Xiqiao for some time now. As it wasn¡¯t easy to catch her, and seeing that she was about to leave again, he couldn¡¯t help but call out to her excitedly. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself, recalling that she didn¡¯t like him calling her ¡®master¡¯.

    ¡°Mr. Tengen, is something the matter?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked as she checked her phone, before turning around to face Tengen.

    Tengen nodded his head. ¡°There is something, and it¡¯s very important.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao twirled the phone in her hand, her face calm. ¡°Tell me then.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s regarding Mr. Jiang,¡± Tengen said, fixing his eyes on her face.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯szy, casual expression changed immediately when the name was uttered. She straightened up, her eyes sharpening. ¡°What happened?¡±

    This was the first time Tengen was seeing Gu Xiqiao like this. He had in fact been watching the live broadcast just now, but she had been calm and rxed at that time, though she had been facing the entire nation, herposure had not broken once.

    He didn¡¯t expect her entire person to change the moment he mentioned the name, as though she had turned into a different person altogether.

    ¡°Delxun Forest, Mr. Jiang has yet toplete his inheritance. The only way for him to recover from his memory loss is to return andplete the other half of his inheritance.¡± Tengen¡¯s expression became serious as he spoke. ¡°He was in the middle of the process, and he shouldn¡¯t be able toe out at will. However, it¡¯s unsure why he decided to forcefully break out, and this impacted his body directly. If he doesn¡¯t go back, I don¡¯t know what will happen in the future.¡±

    ¡°Inheritance?¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. ¡°Does this inheritance have arge impact on him? Or, who¡¯s inheritance is this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a great impact.¡± Tengen signed. Then, not knowing what he had thought of, his voice tightened when he next spoke, ¡°It¡¯s originally a power that he had sealed there in the beginning. But when I tried to talk to him before this, he refused to see me.¡±

    Tengen couldn¡¯t help but sigh again when he said this.

    It was a power that he himself had sealed away? Gu Xiqiao wanted to ask something else, but she suddenly felt her heart beating violently in her chest.

    ¡°Alright, I understand.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s all.¡± Tengen knew that Gu Xiqiao must be having a lot on her te right now, and so he didn¡¯t disturb her any further, respectfully letting her leave.

    Gu Xiqiao headed towards Peace Manor directly after that.

    She left, but Jiji didn¡¯t, looking at Tengen thoughtfully. ¡°Why do I feel that your aura is so familiar?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is.¡± Tengen smiled when he heard Jiji say that. ¡°Master Jiji, the materials used to make my body was originally found by you in the interster.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°...¡± Your brain¡¯s not broken, right?

    Tengen merely continued to smile, not affected by Jiji¡¯s reaction. ¡°Master Jiji, when Mr. Jiang returns to Delxun Forest, you have to go with him. I¡¯ll be waiting for the two of you to return.¡±

    Jiji nced at Tengen. ¡°Oh.¡±

    Watching Jiji¡¯s retreating back, Tengen chuckled. ¡°The day is finallying...¡±

    Now that everything was starting to surface, the forces in the dark could no longer stay hidden. The ancient martial arts world took mission after mission, and basically every team avable had been dispatched out. For those higher level, life-threatening missions, they were passed onto the Peace Squad in Peace Manor to handle.

    ¡°Miss Gu, the second team of the ancient martial arts world has sent word. The mission in the desert town has changed from a normal level to high risk, and they are requesting aid.¡± The second elder said from the other end of the line, his voice grave.

    Desert town? Gu Xiqiao touched her chin thoughtfully, and looked towards the team that had just returned to Peace Manor. She snapped her fingers. ¡°Team One, follow me to the desert town!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Their eyes all lit up, Miss Gu was going with them?

    ***

    In the mentioned desert town, a group of people were covered in blood and fighting for their lives. At this time, the air around them distorted, and eleven people suddenly appeared.

    The leader of the struggling group wiped the blood off his face, brightening when he saw who had appeared. ¡°It¡¯s the Peace Squad, they¡¯re here! We¡¯re saved!¡±

 Chapter 359 - Sister-In-Law!

    <h4>Chapter 359: Sister-In-Law!</h4>

    Team two from the ancient martial arts world was quite unlucky to havee across a bunch of undead outside the desert town, but fortunately enough they moved out in a team of ten instead of individually, as per Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tradition.

    It was true that the power of a team was much more than the individual, and it was because of this that they managed to hold out without any significant losses until Gu Xiqiao and the Peacekeepers came to their aid.

    Upon seeing the Peacekeeper¡¯s team onee onto the scene, team two immediately retreated to let the stage out for them to fight.

    Upon seeing team two struggling to hold their own against the undead, some of the locals were already prepared to jump into the fray and help them, but before they could, they saw them retreat away from the battlefield. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to watch them fight.¡± The team leader of team two was a Baili family member, and now all of the members of the team were looking intently at the battlefield, knowing that team one was the strongest team in the ancient martial arts world. They had never had the honor to see them fight in person except for in videos on forums and in group chats, after all.

    ¡°Them?¡± The locals all looked over to see eleven young people that didn¡¯t look a day past twenty, especially the girl that was standing at the back of the team that seemed like she waszy to even walk. Were they really here to fight? ¡°Are you sure we don¡¯t need to help?¡±

    ¡°Help?¡± The leader of team two smiled before patting the shoulder of the dubious local. ¡°It¡¯s alright bro, as long as they¡¯re here, we¡¯ll be alright even if the number of enemies multiplied! You would better off be worried about the mental state of these monsters after this instead of them!¡±

    The local¡¯s brows furrowed slightly as he looked at the team leader then at the team members that had already be rxed, not quite sure whether he should believe them.

    The members of team two had already sat down on the groundzily, and were chatting amongst themselves as if they were about to watch an interesting movie. Some of them even took out their phones and mobile devices to record the battle that was about toe.

    Gu Xiqiao looked around and realized why team two had such a hard time with the enemy¡ªThe entire desert was practically nketed with a miasma-like evil aura. Said aura could neither be seen nor detected by normal folk and it would control every living being that it touched, so it was understandable that team two had a hard time dealing with it.

    Gu Xiqiao scanned the humans and the animals that had been controlled like the miasma, and upon realizing that they were more akin to zombies instead of just simple mind control, she sighed and gestured towards the members of the team.

    With a single nce, the members knew what they were supposed to do, so they immediately scattered and started carrying out their operation.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t they fighting and waiting for those monsters to get close? Do they have a death wish?!¡± One of the locals couldn¡¯t watch any further and stepped forward to try and help, but he barely got two steps in before his hand was gripped by the leader of team two. ¡°Why won¡¯t you let us help them?!¡±

    The leader didn¡¯t reply to this, his attention grabbedpletely by the Peace Squad as he muttered, ¡°I¡¯ve heard those people that took part in the ranking battles say that Miss Gu had three main methods of killing enemies, I think they¡¯re going to do a trap-kill!¡±

    ¡°Trap-kill?¡± The members of team two heard this, and all their eyes brightened in apt interest.

    The locals from the desert town wanted to help, but every one of them that tried to move were all pressed down by the members of team two, so they could only watch as the army of monsters surrounded the meager team of eleven members.

    The leader of the second team guessed correctly when he said that they were about to use the trap-kill method, since it was the easiest and most suitable way to deal with such arge number of enemies.

    Gu Xiqiao stood in the middle with her arms around her chest while the others moved within a circle radius around her, and they all baited and lured the monsters together before scattering apart again.

    Yao Jiamu had already pulled out a longsword that had been gifted to him by Gu Xiqiao, and as he swung it in front of him, a blinding sword aura could be seen flying in the direction of the enemies!

    The most important part of the trap-kill was to keep the enemies confined in one ce, and since none of the members of the team knew how to create an array, Gu Xiqiao threw a few pieces of jade into the sky, making the air ripple and be a semi-spherical barrier that locked all of the monsters inside.

    Xiao Yun clenched her fists slightly beforeshing out and grabbing the tail of a lizard that had been mutated to several times its size, swinging it around her in a circle and sending the monsters that surrounded her flying into the transparent barrier. The moment those monsters dropped to the ground with a thud, Wu Hongwen sent them flying again with his staff before they were all chopped into shreds by Yao Jiamu¡¯s de.

    The members of team two all looked on in awe at this scene, and it was definitely a different experience to see such a brutal fight in person.

    Even those puppet-like zombies all slowed their movements and curled into themselves as if they were subconsciously afraid of continuing to fight with these people.

    ¡°Team leader.¡± One of the member¡¯s lips twitched slightly, their eyes wide open in awe. ¡°Now I know why those people keep their mouth shut after they¡¯ve watched the Peacekeepers at work, I wouldn¡¯t be able to describe such a scene either...As expected, we¡¯re lightyears away from where they are right now, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    The team leader nodded. ¡°These people were trained by Miss Gu herself after all, and are the strongest ones even within the Peacekeepers!¡±

    ¡°Ah, right...¡± The team leader turned his head to look at the locals that had already been shocked stiff by what they were seeing. ¡°Don¡¯t be too surprised, this is the strongest team in all of the ancient martial arts world. If the danger doesn¡¯t pass, you¡¯ll see them again soon enough...Right, you aren¡¯t listening to me. That¡¯s understandable.¡±

    He could understand their reaction¡ªThese were regr people that had juste into contact with the existence of the ancient martial arts world after all, and it had probably been the first time that they¡¯ve been met with such violence...Would this scene cause trauma for them?

    The locals had already gone weak from fright, and if it weren¡¯t for the fact that they were being supported by the members of team two, they would have already sat onto the floor in fright.

    Not an hourter, the members of Peacekeeper¡¯s team one were already done with the fight, and somehow, the locals found it even scarier when those demon-like warriors walked over to them while chatting andughing?!

    ¡°Miss Gu!¡± The members of the second team all stood up straight and called respectfully.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the team leader for a short moment to recall his name. ¡°Baili Shuo, I¡¯ll leave the rest to you okay?¡±

    It wasmon knowledge by now that the people from Peace Manor (Gu Xiqiao especially) didn¡¯t like to deal with the aftermath of their fights, so they all nodded in understanding. ¡°Alright Miss Gu, we¡¯ll deal with everything here on out. The town is just nearby, do you want to go take a look?¡±

    After he said so, Gu Xiqiao assessed the surroundings again before nodding. ¡°Have any strange urrences been happeningtely?¡±

    No one knew better of the answer to this question than the locals, after all, so Bail Shuo had one of the locals exin the current situation to her.

    As she walked, she used her mental energy to check out the surroundings as she listened to what the locals had to say.

    ¡°Say, how does Miss Gu know your name?¡± Meanwhile, Baili Shuo had already been surrounded by envious and jealous gazes. Didn¡¯t this guy say that he didn¡¯t know anyone from the Peace Manor? Since when did he get involved with Miss Gu!

    Baili Shuo flipped his hair mboyantly. ¡°Why, it¡¯s because of my charms, of course!¡±

    ¡°Huh, would you mind if I record that for Young Master Jiang?¡± One of the members chuckled evilly.

    Baili Shuo immediately admitted defeat upon hearing that name. ¡°You guys all know that Miss Gu has an insanely strong memory, so she probably remembered my name from the times she came to visit the Baili family.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why.¡± One of the members sighed softly. ¡°Why wasn¡¯t I born as a Baili? Why does Miss Gu treat your family so well in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°She calls our Young Master big brother!¡± Baili Shuo boasted with a proud smile.

    Upon seeing this, all of the members started beating him up yfully.

    As Baili Shuo shouted for mercy, he noticed arge shadow fly through the sky in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction, and upon seeing that the girl was still in the middle of talking with one of the locals, his expression changed and he shouted, ¡°Miss Gu, watch out!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head when she heard Baili Shuo call her name, and the shadow speeding in her direction was reflected in her eyes.

    They had already made their way to the desert town, and right at the entrance of the town was a bunch of local townspeople gathered together in wait for them, but before they could cheer that the monsters had been in, they were met with such a terrifying scene.

    They were all scared for that beautiful girl!

    Gu Xiqiao stood there and watched the shadow speed towards her without a single motion, her hands stuck in her pockets, and if one looked closely enough, you could see the hint of a smile at her lips.

    The shadow dove down towards Gu Xiqiao, its talons as sharp as knives barely grazing the top of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s head as it seemingly tried to grab her...

    Huh?

    The shadow tried to move...Why couldn¡¯t it move anymore?

    It lowered its head in confusion and saw a pair of cold and deep eyes, and the malice in that gaze made it clear that if the shadow dared move again its head would be snapped clean off.

    It was only then that it realized that lithe fingers had already wrapped around its neck, and it fluttered its wings flusteredly.

    Its eyes immediately looked up to the chiseled face, and when it saw the handsome man in front of it, it begged with a trembling voice, ¡°M-M-Master, I¡¯m just joking-¡±

    Those cold eyes squinted slightly and he pursed his lips slightly, before chucking the ck eagle away like a projectile into the distance.

    Everyone looked at that figure and that familiar visage, and it was Jiang Shuxuan!

    ¡°Young Master Jiang!¡± Everyone in team two greeted in fear and respect.

    Baili Shuo did the same, but he was also fearing for his life and praying that Jiang Shuxuan hadn¡¯t heard what he said earlier.

    Xiao Yun and the others were morefortable with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s presence at this point, and after greeting him they all started chatting, with Wu Hongwenmenting, ¡°I knew Er Qiao wouldn¡¯t be so hardworking as toe to the middle of nowhere without any reason, it was because he was here!¡±

    Xiao Yun nced over to the ck eagle that Jiang Shuxuan chucked into the distance. ¡°Xixi¡¯s going to have a fun toy to y with!¡±

    ¡°It does seem quite strong.¡± Yao Jiamu nodded. ¡°Xixi might not be a match for it.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Jiang Shuxuan dazedly for a short moment before smiling. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you would only be able toe out by tomorrow?¡± She was already prepared to stay a night in the desert town.

    Jiang Shuxuan nodded. That was supposed to be the case, but he couldn¡¯t help bute out when he felt her presence.

    His gaze was focused and earnest as if he had something that he wanted to say.

    ¡°Brother Jiang, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed and asked with a small smile.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t reply and only looked up and around, his fingers gripping into his palms as they trembled slightly, and upon seeing such a reaction, Gu Xiqiao looked in the same direction as Jiang Shuxuan did in confusion. What was going on?

    It was at that moment that nine helicopters flew in from the distance as nine teams of well-trained soldiers jumped down from the air in a single fluid motion that had the local girls scream!

    Every one of these men held a bouquet of fresh flowers in their hand, and one could still see droplets of water on their petals.

    Everyone was shocked silent by this scene!

    Yi Bing solemnly handed Jiang Shuxuan the biggest bouquet as well as a small box.

    Jiang Shuxuan finally managed to smooth out his nerves as he took over what Yi Bing gave him and looked back at Gu Xiqiao with a warm and earnest gaze, his low voice rumbling as he gave her the bouquet of flowers, ¡°Marry me!¡±

    After he said so, he nced back at the Mahjong Corps behind him.

    All of them kneeled down at the same time and raised the bouquets in their hands in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction, before shouting, ¡°Sister-In-Law!¡±

 Chapter 360 - Lets Get Married!

    <h4>Chapter 360: Let¡¯s Get Married!</h4>

    All anyone could hear for a long moment was just the whirring of helicopters from a couple of hundred meters in the sky as everyone looked at this sudden proposal in surprise, and it was as if the entire desert was frozen in time. Everyone was taken off guard by this event that came out of nowhere, and all they could do was look at Jiang Shuxuan who was still in the exact position he was in when he said those two words.

    His head was lowered slightly because of the height difference but it didn¡¯t stop anyone from being able to see his expression. The desert sun reflected off the sands and dyed his usually cold expression a warm and gentle hue.

    It wasn¡¯t that cold as it was around the time when spring stepped into summer, so all he wore was a white button-up shirt as well as a ck suit jacket, for formalities, Gu Xiqiao guessed, and it did look quite fitting on him if she said so herself.

    But really, Jiang Shuxuan was the one that had nned all of this?

    Gu Xiqiao looked up at him in a daze, caught in a rare moment of unpreparedness.

    Team one and team two couldn¡¯t react to the sudden turn of events either and after Jiang Shuxuan said those words, they froze in ce, as if they had seen a ghost.

    Who was Jiang Shuxuan? The man that was regarded as the closest to a deity in the ancient martial arts world before Gu Xiqiao came into the picture! Even if she was in the spotlight now, his presence and influence in the ancient martial arts world was still undeniable.

    The only difference between the two was that Gu Xiqiao was easy to get close to while Jiang Shuxuan was much more cold and aloof, and it was hard to even know where he was at most times. Back in the day, even the Jiang family members didn¡¯t see him around much, and he had be the very symbol of mystery.

    It was only after Gu Xiqiao took over that he started appearing more in the public eye, and it was only after Gu Xiqiao appeared that he started to frequent the Elders¡¯ Pavilion more, as well as make more efforts to earn power and respect.

    That being said, the image that most people still had on him was that he was cold and hard to talk to, especially the people that were originally from the ancient martial arts world. Since the year he became 15 he was treated like treasure by the higher-ups of the ancient martial arts world, and ever since he started showing his prowess on the global stage, the ancient martial world itself started to gain an edge over themunities in other countries.

    Even though one could say that this was already not necessarily true, he was still regarded as being out of reach by a majority of the ancient martial arts world, and because of his distinctive aura, most people just lowered their heads and retreated when they came across him.

    And that person was the one that did all this?!

    Xiao Yun and the others looked at the fresh bouquet of roses in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands, and because they were too shocked, they didn¡¯t even know how to react.

    Meanwhile, Jiji pointed at the ground calmly. ¡°Master Jiang, I think you forgot a step.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan blinked before he suddenly remembered that he forgot something crucial in the heat of the moment, and so he knelt down on one knee and opened the small box in his hands, his snow-like gaze warm as he raised his head and asked, ¡°Will you marry me?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao still hadn¡¯t reacted, still in shock from everything that had happened.

    Didn¡¯t Jiji say that Jiang Shuxuan was still working and that he could onlye out tomorrow? It was one thing that she met him now, but what in the world was this?!

    He... He proposed to her in public like this?! Without any warning?!

    The infamous cool and collected Miss Gu couldn¡¯t keep her calm demeanor any longer, and it was the first time most of the people there saw an expression of shock and disbelief on her face.

    The delicately crafted diamond ring that Jiang Shuxuan held in his hands refracted the unforgiving rays of the sun, and from where she stood, Gu Xiqiao could make out the words ¡®Love for Venus¡¯ written on the bottom of the box.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s grip around the bouquet in her hands tightened slightly as she lowered her head before she could finally think of something to say, ¡°Brother Jiang, who gave you this idea?¡±

    She felt as if Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t the type to do something shy like this.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s lips pursed slightly, before he repeated those words again, ¡°Will... Will you marry me?¡±

    His usually cold tone was now tinged with warmth and a slight hint of pleading.

    Gu Xiqiao thought that she wasn¡¯t the type to get shy after being in the spotlight for such a long time, but perhaps it was the desert heat, and perhaps it was the gazes of everyone on her, or perhaps it was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s earnest expression, but a blush made its way onto her face uncontrobly.

    Her heart started beating faster as she felt the butterflies in her stomach, and she had to admit to herself that she really was nervous!

    Really, would anyone not be nervous in a situation like this?

    After a short moment, she nodded with a soft murmur, ¡°Yes, I will.¡±

    Perhaps it was because of the embarrassment, so all she could do was murmur, but even when her voice was covered by the whirring of helicopters above, Jiang Shuxuan heard it.

    He looked up at her happily, his expression finally melting into a full-blown smile as he looked at her with all the tenderness of a summer breeze.

    ¡°Give me your left hand?¡± He stared at her for a moment, before asking with a soft smile.

    Gu Xiqiao dazedly stretched her left hand in his direction, and under the bright sun, her hand almost seemed like porcin.

    Artist¡¯s hands, Jiang Shuxuan would always call them.

    He held her hand, and gently slipped the diamond ring onto her ring finger.

    At the edge of a desert, at the entrance of an old town.

    The metallic smell of blood wafted in the air from the battlefield nearby, and the sunshine was almost blinding as everyone looked at the two figures standing there, one looking down while another looked up with one of his knees on the ground, with a bunch of flower bouquets, and at that moment, everyone all thought that this moment should be immortalized in time.

    The ring had been slipped onto her hand, but Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t let it go but instead stood up slowly, his gaze not leaving hers, and his smile unfading.

    He stood to her left and held her hand, his fingers stroking the ring on her hand while his other arm held her in a warm embrace.

    All of the Mahjong Corps all stood up and cheered in celebration!

    ¡°Boss Jiang! Miss Gu!¡± Yi Tong was so excited that his face went red.

    After he shouted this, all of the Mahjong Corps started shouting in excitement too.

    All nine teams of the Mahjong Corps were present, and there were eighty-one of them in total, so when they all started cheering and shouting it was so loud it shook all of the others out of their stupor!

    And so, Xiao Yun and the others flew into a frenzy too!

    Did they really see Jiang Shuxuan propose?!

    Goodness, how did he think of proposing when everyone was getting anxious over the cmity that was about to befall this Earth?

    And from the looks of it, they were about to get married soon?!

    Not only the ancient martial arts world, but every supernaturalmunity across the world were trying their best to prepare for the uing cmity, and even Gu Xiqiao herself was quite worried about it herself.

    But now, when things were in such a dire state, these two people that stood on the top of the world were about to get married?

    Everyone looked at Gu Xiqiao, then at Jiang Shuxuan. Perhaps only these two were the only ones that would make such a detour during these times, huh?

    For a moment, no one really knew what to say.

    Jiang Shuxuan smiled contently for a moment before gesturing for one of the helicopters to fly down, and then he entered one of them together with Gu Xiqiao.

    Then, the nine helicopters flew away.

    Everyone took some time to process this, and they blinked a few times before their expressions all morphed into ones of disbelief.

    This proposal came too quickly and without any warning, so no one even had the chance to take a video of it happening.

    ¡°Mr. Yao, did you know that this would happen?¡± Baili Shuo rubbed his face in disbelief before turning around and looking at the Peacekeepers questioningly.

    Yao Jiamu only fixed him with an expressionless stare. ¡°Do we look like we knew this was about to happen?¡±

    Well, of course not!

    Baili Shuo inhaled deeply. ¡°Not a lot of people know about their rtionship, do they?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re quite lowkey with their rtionship, so I would imagine not.¡± Xiao Yun shook her head slightly.

    Was that so? Baili Shuo sighed softly. ¡°Well I think everyone¡¯s going to go crazy over this, and everyone still hasn¡¯t recovered from what she said a few days ago...¡±

    He didn¡¯t even need to think much to know the impact of what this marriage would cause!

    Now that the two strongest humans in the world were about to join in marriage, the other supernaturalmunities in the world were probably going to go crazy.

    One of the locals finally reacted to the two names that were being brought up by the people from the ancient martial arts world... Miss Gu? Young Master Jiang?

    Wasn¡¯t Miss Gu the one that was on the news a few days ago?!

    Was she the person that turned their country upside down?

    ¡°Mr. Baili, is she the one from Nine Heavens Group?¡± One of the locals asked.

    Baili Shuo turned over to them and smiled before patting their shoulder. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s her!¡±

    He didn¡¯t know that these words were akin to throwing a bomb into the hearts of these locals!

    That video of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s had been spread like wildfire on the inte, and everyone knew that such a woman existed, even in this desert town out in the middle of nowhere, and everyone knew that it was because of her that their casualties decreased drastically!

    Theboratory under Nine Heavens¡¯ name had created elixirs and medicine that had saved countless victims!

    Ever since the training methods had been given to them, even the very sky became clearer.

    Gu Xiqiao was the one that gave them hope!

    She was their belief, and Gu Xiqiao got another bunch of fanboys and fangirls that idolized her!

    After knowing that the one that they questioned earlier was Miss Gu from Nine Heavens, everyone bowed down in the direction in which the helicopters left.

    ¡°I... I didn¡¯t believe her?¡± One of the locals punched the sandy ground in regret.

    Yao Jiamu patted his shoulder reassuringly. ¡°It¡¯s alright, you¡¯ll have a chance to meet her in the future. Let¡¯s go deal with what¡¯s been happening in your town quick so that we can return to the ancient martial arts world, yes?¡±

    All of them wanted to return to the ancient martial arts world as soon as possible, because they wanted to see how everyone reacted to this news!

    But now, they could only wait until theypletely dealt with what has been guing this town...

    ***

    Meanwhile, on the border of the ancient martial arts world.

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan got off the helicopters, and since no one knew that they wereing back this soon, no one was waiting there for them except for Tengen.

    Upon seeing Tengen, Gu Xiqiao raised her eyebrows slightly. Had he been standing here in wait for all this time?

    Before she could think further on it, Tengen stepped forward and bowed respectfully. ¡°Ma-Miss Gu, Mr. Jiang.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at him, his good mood making it so that he didn¡¯t have any of his coldness as he did usually, and he even greeted him amiably, ¡°Mr. Tengen, do you need our help with anything?¡±

    Tengen was quite taken aback by how civil Jiang Shuxuan was being, but after a short pause in disbelief, he said, ¡°Miss Gu, regarding what I said earlier...¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled and replied, ¡°I understand, but I¡¯m not going to go there just yet.¡±

    Not just yet? Tengen was quite surprised by this. ¡°When are you going to do it then? You can¡¯t procrastinate on this!¡±

    ¡°I have more important things to attend to, you see.¡± Gu Xiqiao replied.

    Tengen blinked in confusion. ¡°What could be more important than this?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao raised her left hand, the diamond ring on it glittering prettily in the light of the sun as she smiled dazzlingly. ¡°My wedding, of course!¡±

    After she said so, she left together with Jiang Shuxuan.

    Tengen stood there for a very long moment, processing what he had just heard.

    What.

    What?!

    His master was about to get MARRIED?!

    What the f*ck?!

    Tengen suddenly felt as if his internal processor had gone haywire...His master was about to get married? At a time like this?!

    Not even a day had passed when the news that Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao were about to get married spread all across the ancient martial arts world, then to all the supernaturalmunities, then to the secr world!

    Yes, that mysterious Miss Gu was about to get married!

    And to a Jiang family member, no less!

    The Jiang family had been the pinnacle of the ancient martial arts world for centuries, and no one knew how many mysteries the family had, but no one could deny that they were the strongest out there.

    Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was known far and wide by everyone in the world!

    From the Peace Manor to Nine Heavens, all of these organizations were respected and feared by everyone!

    And today, the woman behind all of this was about to get married?

    Everyone marveled over this news, and it seemed that the ancient martial arts world was going to be livelier than ever.

 Chapter 361 - Youre Not Her Father!

    <h4>Chapter 361: You¡¯re Not Her Father!</h4>

    The Jiang family.

    Wearing the elegant expression that she once had in the past, Shu Chen patted her son on the shoulder. Her urge to smile simply could not be suppressed at such a moment. ¡°My dearest son, you...¡±

    She was about to praise Jiang Shuxuan but she choked up at thest minute. It was impossible to speak, so she just kept on patting his shoulder.

    Jiang Shuxuan was one head taller than his mother. However, to make her life slightly easier, he bent over slightly. His icy-cold expression warmed up rather significantly when he saw her start to tear up.

    ¡°And I thought that I wouldn¡¯t live to see such a day.¡± Shu Chen let out a long sigh. She blinked multiple times, in an attempt to hold her tears back. She then muttered to Jiang Shuxuan, ¡°Have you contacted Aunt Tang?¡±

    ¡°I gave her a call when I came back,¡± replied Jiang Shuxuan.

    He cared an awful lot about this matter, which was why he called her personally when they were still on the helicopter.

    Shu Chen nodded. ¡°You should have let me call her first. But we still have time left. I¡¯ll call Yanling immediately.¡± It wasn¡¯t even seconds after she said this that her phone, which was still in her pocket, rang. She pulled it out and lo and behold, it was Tang Yanling calling.

    While speaking on the phone, she went downstairs, where Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Han were chatting away. Jiang Han, who usually had the same, icy-cold demeanor as Jiang Shuxuan was now a transformed man. His expression had softened up quite a bit, with a subtle hint of glee on his face.

    The four of them proceeded to the border of the ancient martial arts world to wee the Tang family. Trailing behind them of course was the butler as well as Jiji.

    ¡°Jiji, what about that eagle that came back with you? Where has it gone?¡± The butler was ted by the asion, which reminded him of the eagle that perched on Jiji¡¯s head just now. It was nowhere to be seen now. He knew, just by looking at it that there was something special about that bird. In fact, there¡¯s a chance that like Gu Xiqiao, an uproar would ur should it be let off into the ancient martial arts world.

    Jiji shook its head. ¡°Uncle Butler, I¡¯ve thrown that eagle back to Peace Manor. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s now battling Xixi to death.¡±

    The butler was relieved when he heard Jiji speak about it so casually. Silently, they continued their journey forward.

    It wasn¡¯t just the Jiang family who hade forth to wee the Tang family. There was also the current patriarch of the Tang family, Tang Wenbo, who was already standing at the border, stroking his long white beard with a tranquil expression. His other hand, however, was tightly sped, perhaps out of anxiousness.

    Behind him stood the juniors of the Tang family. In addition to Yin Shaoyuan, both Tang Qingqiu and Tang Qinghong were present too.

    Their eyes lit up the moment they saw Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Uncle Jiang, Auntie Shu, Brother Jiang and,¡± There was a brief pause when he turned towards Gu Xiqiao, before he continued in a moreid-back tone. ¡°You¡¯ve...e, Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s sudden change in tone invited Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attention. He was about to ask her about something when he abruptly changed the topic. It was at that point that he would wear an odd expression when looking at Gu Xiqiao.

    It wasn¡¯t just him that reacted this way. Of those who came over, they would first start with greeting Jiang Han, the man of the family, before shifting their attention over to Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan. More specifically, their eyes were on that shining bright ring she was wearing. It was as if someone had sewn their mouths shut the moment their eyes came across this ring.

    Ever since their return, news of their marriage spread like wildfire around the ancient martial arts world. Yin Shaoyuan was initially skeptical about it, until he received the phone call from Tang Yanling.

    ¡°They¡¯re here,¡± Gu Xiqiao murmured under her breath. The gaze she was getting from the crowd made her head throb in pain.

    They did not doubt her words as they instinctively looked up at the sky.

    Almost a minuteter, a rumbling noise reached their ears. There were specially constructed runways at the edge of the martial arts world, where flying boats usuallynded but it wasn¡¯t unheard of for private jets tond here too.

    The moment Tang Yanling and Yin Jinian got off the ne was when everybody¡¯s emotions were at an all-time high.

    It has been a couple of months since theyst saw each other. The news Tang Yanling had been getting back in N City made her fairly anxious about their safety. She scanned through the crowd and finally located him. Visibly surprised, she called out to Yin Shaoyuan, ¡°Shaoyuan? You¡¯re here with them too?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan was not amused. ¡®That¡¯s enough. I already know that I¡¯m adopted, you don¡¯t have to remind me of that fact constantly.¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t mind that Tang Yanling was staring at her from head-to-toe. Her expression was rxed and there was a bright smile on her face.

    Jiang Shuxuan wasn¡¯t very close to Tang Yanling but seeing Gu Xiqiao react like that made him loosen up quite a bit too. However, he was slightly peeved at the sight of Tang Yanling holding onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand, unwilling to let go. Acting as if he wasn¡¯t annoyed by that, he said to her, ¡°Auntie, the patriarch of the Tang family is here too.¡±

    As he had expected, Tang Yanling stopped gripping Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand and turned towards the silent Yin Jinian standing next to her, and then moving on to Tang Wenbo.

    Tang Wenbo cleared his throat. ¡°Now that you have returned, we¡¯ll head back to the family first. Many negotiations still need to be done in regards to the marriage.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan intertwined his fingers with Gu Xiqiao¡¯s as he peered down at her ring. His facial expression at that moment was calm and gentle. Without haste in his voice, he replied, ¡°No, there isn¡¯t. We¡¯ll finish the negotiations in three days.¡±

    He had always maintained a grandiose presence in the ancient martial arts world. Tang Wenbo did little to nothing in protest to his statement. However, there was still a hint of reluctance in his response.

    It wasn¡¯t just him that was reluctant, but Shu Chen too was slightly puzzled by her son¡¯s statement. ¡°Shuxuan, why the hurry?¡±

    She shared the same thought as the Tang family in rtion to Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s marriage with Gu Xiqiao. Much thought and effort must be put into the nning part of the event in order for the end result to be as majestic and awe-inspiring as possible. Three days was too little for that to be possible.

    ¡°Do not be hasty, we should instead¡ª¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised his head abruptly, revealing that the warm expression they saw on his face had now faded away. ¡°We don¡¯t have that much time.¡±

    Don¡¯t have that much time? Tang Yanling, who was about to speak up, turned towards Jiang Shuxuan as her mouth moved as if she was about to say something.

    Gu Xiqiaoughed. From what Jiang Shuxuan was saying, she more or less understood what was going through his mind at the moment. Calmly, she helped ease the tension in the atmosphere. ¡°We will be heading towards Delxun Forest in three days¡¯ time. After that, there¡¯s no guarantee as to what would happen afterward.¡±

    Because of this uncertainty, no one knew if they would regret this decision or not, which was why both of them wished to go through with this asion as quickly as possible.

    Jiang Shuxuan squeezed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm when he heard her exnation.

    If possible, he too, wished to meticulously n their wedding and make the best possible arrangements for her. What a shame that they were running out of time. This thought made him squeeze her hand even more tightly.

    The crowd went silent as they were given some time to process her words. They were running out of time. Although the way they said that was rtively tepid, they understood pretty well how much weight it carried. It felt to every single one of them as if someone had picked up arge boulder and crushed their hearts with it.

    This especially affected Tang Yanling. She bowed her head in silence for a while before raising her head and forcing a smile. ¡°No worries, we¡¯ll do the best we can in thising three days!¡±

    Shu Chen and the rest nodded in unison.

    Yin Shaoyuan however, noticed the redness in his mother¡¯s eyes.

    That afternoon, the two families joined resources and started their work for the asion. Halfway through the discussion, Baili Bin and Baili Qu had dropped by. The two of them did not contribute to the project, but instead, stood at the side, listening to their ns as they went along.

    Now that the nning wasplete, Gu Xiqiao wanted to leave with Tang Yanling.

    When both of them exited the Jiang family mansion, they saw Baili Wenxi standing outside thepound. Tang Yanling nodded at her as a form of greeting before looking elsewhere.

    Gu Xiqiao, who walked next to her, chose to ignore her. However, she remembered how disgusted Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face was when he first stepped out of thepound, which made her want tough out loud.

    ¡°Jinian and my dad will return to the Tang family first. I¡¯m guessing now should be the time when everyone is present there. We should head back soon.¡± Tang Yanling nced at Gu Xiqiao and let out augh, followed by a sigh. She had barely gotten the chance to spoil her daughter and she¡¯s marrying into another family already.

    She held Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand the entire journey back to the Tang family.

    ***

    Yin Jinian had already gone back with Tang Wenbo.

    He was just a regr human, which was why he acted with caution around Tang Wenbo. After all, Tang Wenbo had always had a bone to pick with him.

    It was already blood-boiling enough to see a daughter, whom he had raised personally with care and affection marry a regr human but to live in such a faraway ce, and to stay there for over two decades without returning? How could he possibly not be bitter about this?!

    Even with his ties to Gu Xiqiao, Tang Wenbo still despised Yin Jinian. Recalling how his daughter had rebelled against him for the sake of this man¡ªoh how much it pissed him off! Thank god Tang Yanling wasn¡¯t here at the moment. Tang Wenbo grunted in dissatisfaction. ¡°You stand outside. I¡¯ll go in and inform the elders about your presence first, else you¡¯d have to face their unending wrath.¡±

    Yin Jinian responded hastily out of pressure. Adrenaline and fear were coursing through his veins. Tang Wenbo¡¯s stubbornness to ept him was partly the source of his mental suffering. There had been multiple asions in the past where he had sent gifts to their family during festivities but was rejected and returned by Tang Wenbo.

    It was only in recent years that they had started to ept him. He thought that the torment still had to go on for a couple more years before they allowed him into their family. Who would¡¯ve thought that such a day came early for him?

    He knew that Gu Xiqiao was to thank for this. Due to his business, the news he heard of Gu Xiqiao came exclusively from Tang Yanling. He understood that she was now well-known throughout the ancient martial arts world, and to his surprise, she had earned the respect of the Tang family patriarch.

    The thought of this made Yin Jinian smile to himself.

    Back then, the reason why he and Tang Yanling epted Gu Xiqiao as their daughter was partly because of how badly she was being treated by the Gu family. The other part of the reason was Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s im on Gu Xiqiao as his own little sister. The rest was because Tang Yanling had taken up a liking to Gu Xiqiao.

    So, when they epted her into their family, they weren¡¯t under any impression that she¡¯d go on to achieve such great feats, and within such a short time too. Even Yin Jinian found it hard to believe how quickly she was able to climb up the socialdder.

    It felt almost like a dream to him.

    ¡°Yin Jinian?¡± The sudden voice that called out his name snapped Yin Jinian out of his reverie. He turned around to find that it was a middle-aged man in a set of ck clothes. There were also a couple of people behind that man, all of whom seemed to be fairly high-ranking within the Tang family hierarchy.

    Yin Jinian raised his hand to greet them, in neither a humble nor overbearing manner.

    The man looked at Yin Jinian with a sneer. ¡°Have you forgotten who I am? Back when you were pursuing Tang Yanling, I was the person who threw you out of the Tang family.¡±

    Yin Jinian¡¯s memories flooded his mind when he heard of this. Instantly, he pursed his lips. No matter how he tried, it was futile to hide his identity as a regr human. Even if he was allowed back to the Tang family, he still felt his self-confidence wither away. That¡¯s right, even Tang Yanling had no idea how inferior he felt when standing next to her family members!

    ¡°Tang Yanling back then was the most promising young girl our family had ever produced. Because of you, she chose to reject our family heritage. Do you know how much she has lost by choosing to stay with you?¡± So many years have passed and yet they still couldn¡¯t get over that fact. ¡°I truly cannotprehend why she treats you with such great importance despite the fact that people like you are treated like garbage in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    The men behind him turned towards Yin Jinian when they were reminded of the past, of how the incident had rocked their family.

    For a regr human being, a young prodigy of the Tang family was willing to forsake her future and run off into the secr world for over twenty years!

    They scrutinized Yin Jinian from head-to-toe. Where¡¯s the charm in him that managed to trap her? He¡¯s merely a human being through and through!

    Yin Jinian felt as if he had been struck by lightning. In the beginning, he knew that Tang Yanling was no simpleton but he was only dating under the impression that she was from a rich family. He waspletely oblivious about how much she had sacrificed just to stay with him. Yin Jinian¡¯s body trembled as his mind went nk.

    The man in ck saw Yin Jinian¡¯s reaction and surprisingly, was even more pissed off. ¡°Now that you¡¯re back, you better study Miss Gu¡¯s teachings well. As much as I hate to say this, you are a part of our family. So don¡¯t tarnish our family name! The end is nigh, and I hope you at least have the strength to protect Tang Yanling!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Yin Jinian¡¯s ears perked up when he heard the name. ¡°Are you talking about Qiao Qiao?¡±

    Qiao Qiao? The members of the Tang family knew that only a handful of people who were close enough with Gu Xiqiao were permitted to call her that. This fact naturally gained their attention. ¡°Do you know Miss Gu as well?¡±

    Yin Jinian¡¯s mood improved when they started to talk about Gu Xiqiao. This probably was a disease he had caught from Tang Yanling. Momentarily, he had forgotten the abusive words thrown at him, and proudly, he told them, ¡°Of course, for she¡¯s my daughter!¡±

    His daughter? The man in ck was taken aback for a second before he started cackling.

    Miss Gu was a saint-like figure in the ancient martial arts world. No one knew who she was, nor where she came from, and yet this person¡¯s iming that he¡¯s her father?

    Uneptable! Preposterous! How could someone make such bold ims about their idol?

    ¡°Yin Jinian! Have you gone mad?!¡± The man in ck grabbed Yin Jinian by the cor. ¡°You¡¯ve got balls, don¡¯t you? iming someone like her as your daughter. Have you any idea who Miss Gu is? If she¡¯s your daughter, then I¡¯m her son!¡±

    The man then flung Yin Jinian aside angrily. And he thought that Yin Jinian had already learned his lesson. Seems like he still needed a good beating! Hearing him disrespect their idol was infuriating.

    Him flinging Yin Jinian onto the ground was a lesson he felt he ought to teach. He stood there, expecting to hear a heavy thud that never came, which surprised him.

    The man in ck then spun around to find that the man, who was supposed to be writhing in pain on the ground, was standing nearby. Next to him was a familiar skinny figure and a snow-white face so delicate that it seemed like it was carved from white jade. No doubt this person was Gu Xiqiao.

    Gu Xiqiao shot them a nce before whispering something to Yin Jinian.

    The man in ck froze up. He turned towards the men behind him and asked, ¡°Did I just attempt to throw Miss Gu¡¯s father onto the ground and hurl insults at him?¡±

 Chapter 362 - Wedding Scene

    <h4>Chapter 362: Wedding Scene</h4>

    Only the elites of the ancient martial arts world were aware of the rtionship between Gu Xiqiao and the Tang family. Its regr citizens were blissfully unaware that the only reason why the Tang family was so close to Tang Qingqiu wasrgely due to his connection with Gu Xiqiao.

    This was also why the man in ck did not even have Gu Xiqiao in the back of his mind when he first saw Yin Jinian. After all, he was just a regr human, someone who wasn¡¯t evenparable to Gu Xiqiao.

    However, this all changed when they saw her speaking to Yin Jinian, who stood next to her, with a gentle expression on her face. Still, they could sense the pants-wetting aura that she was emanating. The atmospheric pressure hit an all-time-low the moment she appeared before their eyes.

    The man in ck felt a chill crawl up his spine. The people behind him were quick to react. Bowing their heads in unison, they greeted their idol, ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao shot them a nce with a raised brow. Yin Jinian hastily tried to ease the tension in the air the moment he saw that look on her face.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, it¡¯s nothing. They¡¯re just joking. I¡¯m alright, see?¡±

    It seems like Yin Jinian was saying the truth; they were just toying with him. She knew this based on how little force the man had used when flinging Yin Jinian to one side. And so, she nodded in response to her father¡¯s statement. They waited for Tang Yanling to catch up with them before walking in through the front door together.

    The people standing outside of thepound remained there. It was only after the main door clicked shut that they snapped out of their daydream. One of them, a young man, took in a deep breath before wiping the cold sweat off his brow. He turned towards the man in ck excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s Miss Gu! I¡¯ve seen countless photos and videos of her on the online forum. That¡¯s her alright!¡±

    Hearing him say pushed the man in ck to the brink of tears.

    Another one of the group patted him on the shoulder but with a facial expression that reflected his schadenfreude. ¡°I feel bad for you, for pushing Miss Gu¡¯s dad around.¡±

    Inside, Gu Xiqiao and her parents each held an ignited incense stick as they paid their respects to their ancestors alongside Tang Wenbo.

    ¡°This is the key to the Tang family¡¯s treasure trove,¡± said Tang Wenbo with a smile after they were done paying their respects. He then handed the key over to Tang Yanling. ¡°You go and bring out all of the most precious items we have in there. Although we¡¯ll be rushing a bit if we are to make it in three days, not a single mistake can be made.¡±

    Tang Yanling calmly epted the key before bringing Gu Xiqiao to the room where she once stayed back when she was still living with the Tang family.

    Tang Wenbo produced a bottle gourd, filled with wine from his pocket before marching over to Baili Qu¡¯s ce with a beaming smile on his face. ¡°It¡¯s been such a long time since the ancient martial arts world was so lively.¡±

    Both Yin Shaoyuan and Tang Qinghong were already waiting for them at Tang Yanling¡¯s ce. They froze up after they saw Gu Xiqiao when the door was pushed open.

    Gu Xiqiao on the other hand ignored them. She located an empty seat and plopped down on it before pulling out her phone on which she yed games.

    Yin Jinian and Tang Yanling weren¡¯t interested in whatever these youngsters were ying. They were instead, much more interested in nning the uing wedding ceremony. With a wave of his hand, Yin Jinian said, ¡°Let¡¯s invite all our rtives back in N City.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have enough space if we do that,¡± responded Yin Shaoyuan when he heard his father speak. ¡°And it won¡¯t be just limited to the people we know in N City. There¡¯ll be the Jiang family rtives, the Baili family, the Tang family, those from the ancient martial arts world, from America and Japan...¡±

    Tang Yanling raised her palm to stop Yin Shaoyuan from continuing. ¡°Wait a second. It¡¯s all fine if they¡¯re from the ancient martial arts world but why are people from America and Japan also attending?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao bowed her head sheepishly upon hearing Tang Yanling¡¯s question.

    Yin Shaoyuan sighed when he saw her reaction. ¡°Mom, don¡¯t you know that Qiao Qiao has stayed abroad in both countries? She had helped them a great deal in fact. And you¡¯re trying to deny them from attending such a ceremony?¡±

    Tang Yanling and Yin Jinian suddenly felt conflicted. Just what sort of a daughter had they actually adopted?

    ¡°I bet Shuxuan has already made a n for this. It¡¯s futile for you to worry about this at this point.¡± Yin Jinian¡¯s response was surprisingly calm. ¡°At the heart of it, it all boils down to not having enough manpower. With so many attendees, I fear that there would be chaos.¡±

    ¡°You need not worry about that, for with Qiao Qiao here, things will fall into ce automatically.¡± Yin Shaoyuan was even less worried about this issue. Who would dare mess with Gu Xiqiao on the day of her wedding?

    What he said made sense to Tang Yanling. She pulled Yin Jinian into the house where she announced the start of their nning phase. Yin Jinian however, remained puzzled throughout the exnation process, his mind registering zero percent of what his wife said the entire session.

    Yin Jinian sighed. ¡°I almost got scared to death just now.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Tang Yanling looked up at him, assuming that he still had not gotten used to the ancient martial arts world. ¡°Don¡¯t you already know about our existence way back? Why the shock?¡±

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand. When I left with you guys, that cousin of yours who had never seen eye-to-eye with me, bowed at me. He bent over and bowed at me, can you imagine that?¡± This sight made Yin Jinian shiver. He stood up and started pacing around. ¡°What do you think he¡¯s trying to do?¡±

    The ¡®cousin¡¯ he was referring to was none other than the man in ck from before. It wasn¡¯t just him that acted so weirdly. Even the people who trailed behind him started treating Yin Jinian with respect and a sort of kindness he had never seen before!

    Yin Jinian knew from firsthand experience how arrogant the people here were. Who would¡¯ve thought that there woulde a day when they bowed at him with so much respect.

    This was rming! In a bad way of course.

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Tang Yanling chuckled. ¡°You think that they¡¯d do that to you for no rhyme or reason? They¡¯re just doing this out of respect for Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Qiao Qiao, that child of his was that influential here?!

    Tang Yanling whipped out her phone and logged onto the ancient martial arts forum. ¡°Ancient martial arts world? Jinian, I guess you don¡¯t know how high our girl has climbed in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    She tapped on a random thread and then passed the phone over to Yin Jinian. ¡°The people of the ancient martial arts world as you know, look down and discriminate heavily against regr people. Qiao Qiao on the other hand is the perfect candidate to teach these arrogant fools a lesson or two on humility.¡±

    Tang Yanling sounded a bit regretful when she spoke. ¡°I should¡¯ve stayed in the ancient martial arts world during that time. Oh, how I wish to see the look of agony on their faces. It must¡¯ve been quite fun.¡±

    The more Yin Jinian scrolled through the thread, the more ted he became.

    Three major offensives, training the people of the ancient martial arts world through a single campaign... Although Yin Jinian was far from being a member of their world, he was shocked nheless. These were all Gu Xiqiao¡¯s doing? That skinny, frail young girl that he met, in the beginning, was responsible for these achievements?

    At the end of the thread, there was a single statement¡ª[Miss Gu has shifted the bnce of powers in the ancient martial arts world, and by extension, the supernatural world as a whole. She has also altered the course of history for humanity. I have no fear when I think about the future. With her among us, what lies ahead can only be paradise and nothing else.]

    ¡°The faith of the ancient martial arts world as a collective, a person whom the young looked up to...¡± Yin Jinian murmured to himself. ¡°Our little Qiao Qiao...¡±

    Yin Jinian finally understood why Yin Shaoyuan was so calm when speaking about the uing ceremony. Finally, he was able to focus his mind on nning the marriage ceremony with Tang Yanling.

    Although the ceremony was supposed to happen three dayster, news of it had already been spread around by the Jiang family on that very evening.

    The news of their wedding like a tidal wave, swept through the supernatural world, so much so that it had even reached the secr world. Netizens then started stering the inte with requests for the ceremony to be live-streamed with 4K quality!

    Gi Xiqiao¡¯s follower count on Weibo had once again expanded by millions. In fact, the number of fans she had rued on the inte had already surpassed that of Li Yu.

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t her follower count that was the most surprising. Instead, what was the most jaw-dropping thing was the identities of her followers.

    If one cared enough to look through her followers, they would be shocked to find that a great deal of them were people who wielded great power¡ªthe president of the United States kind of power. The elites that followed her were from both within China and abroad.

    This wedding ceremony of hers was going to involve countless powerful men, meaning a live-stream was probably already out of the question. Still, that did not stop the regrizens from wishing her all the best with her marriage. That was especially so for the leader of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fanclub. Whatever Gu Xiqiao requested, they would make it happen. Although inviting their entire fanclub wasn¡¯t very appropriate, it was still surprising that Gu Xiqiao invited the club leader to her wedding.

    The club leader was at first in a state of disbelief when she first received the gold-embossed invitation slip. After that, she tucked it away in a secure ce before heading downstairs where she jogged around a track for tenps. Just when the people who knew her were about to call the psychiatric ward, she stopped and looked down at the invitation slip. She wasn¡¯t dreaming alright!

    That night, she uploaded a post on Weibo, which stirred up an intense discussion.

    (verified) BeautyGu Fanclub: [Image] ¡°That¡¯s right, I am here to absorb all of your hatred :)¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! It¡¯s an invitation slip! Hurry up and tell me if this is real or if it¡¯s forged!¡±

    ¡°My hatred for you is over 100 million! I must stay calm! I! Must! Stay! Calm!¡±

    ¡°OP, I am a hacker. I have already done some hackery and I now possess your IP address. I¡¯m heading over to check on you soon. Sit tight and wait for me OP ;)¡±

    ¡°God I¡¯m so pissed. But I must keep smiling! ??¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m probably the only one who would ask this but, is the gold on the invitation thing real?¡±

    ¡°Boss, please live-stream the entire event, I beg of you QAQ¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The leader of the fan club watched as the replies on her thread grew up to the tens of thousands. Finally, she was able to calm herself down physically but her heart was still pumping. She stood there for a while before returning to her room to pick out her favorite dress. After that, she began preparing for the most morous makeup session she has ever done to date.¡±

    Three dayster, she arrived at the venue of the wedding.

    It was at thergest manor in the capital. As soon as she arrived, she saw two rows of soldiers that stretched as far as the eye could see, each holding onto a long spear. She did not doubt that the spears were real and could kill!

    There was a total distance of two kilometers between the gate and the actual main entrance. There would be a soldier standing guard on either side for every meter, just like the electric poles that lined the streets.

    The club leader, who was sitting in the backseat, started to feel a little anxious. She then asked the person who brought her in if she could snap a photo or two. To her surprise, the young man smiled back at her. ¡°Miss Gu has already permitted you to take pictures of everything from here on out. Live-streaming the event to the rest of her fans now rests on your shoulders. Though, try your best not to include the ranks of these soldiers in your video.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡± The club leader was overjoyed. When she remembered that this was a direct order from Gu Xiqiao, she was moved. ¡°I will fulfill my duty to the bitter end!¡±

    ¡°No need to be that tense,¡± replied Mu Zong as he patted her shoulder. He then led her into the great hall. ¡°You¡¯ll be sitting at table 3ter on, together with us folks from Nine Heavens.¡±

    The club leader nodded excitedly. She then went out the door where she snapped a photo of the never-ending row of soldiers before returning to her seat where she appraised the arriving attendees. It seemed like the ceremony was about to start at any moment and most of the attendees for tonight had already arrived. Up until this point, the club leader was shocked to discover the identities of a great deal of the attendees.

    Most of the people whom she shared the table with, she wasn¡¯t familiar with. However, she recognized Ning Qing¡¯s face immediately. Apart from that, she also discovered that she was sitting with a person who frequently appeared on national television!

    And then, to her surprise, she discovered that the table next to theirs was upied entirely by high-ranking political figures of their country.

    ¡°So you¡¯re the leader of that fanclub Boss Gu talked about?¡± Yu Ning put down the tablet he was fiddling with and started talking to the girl who kept staring at the tables around them. Her persistent staring was making the rest of the attendees visibly ufortable. ¡°Hey, sit tight and rx. They won¡¯t eat you or anything.¡±

    ¡°A-Are you...that hacker god from Nine Heavens?¡± she asked when she saw how insanely fast Yu Ning¡¯s fingers were moving on the keyboard.

    Yu Ning remained silent. He picked up his tablet and resumed ying his game. This was a mobile game that measured one¡¯s finger dexterity created by Gu Xiqiao. He had not cleared it yet.

    The club leader started surveying their surroundings when she realized that Yu Ning was not nning to reply to her question. She looked at table 4, which was directly opposite her table. They mostly wore military uniforms. Even though she wasn¡¯t particrly well-versed in military titles, she shuddered at the sight of the badges on their chests. She had no idea about the military hierarchy but she definitely could make out that the more badges one had, the more important one was. No doubt, these were all top-tier generals of their nation¡¯s military.

    If table 4 was already upied by such important individuals, then who were these people who sat at tables 3 and 2? Too bad she couldn¡¯t even recognize one of them.

    The club leader then remembered what Mu Zong had told her. She hurriedly picked up her phone and snapped a few photos, which she added into a coge.

    There were a handful of people who wanted to stop her when they saw her taking photos indiscriminately but were held back at thest second. ¡°Hey, what are you doing? That person¡¯s Miss Gu¡¯s guest. Table 3¡¯s filled with people from Nine Heavens. Each one of them has connections to the Peacekeepers. Are you seeking an early death?¡±

    ¡°The Peacekeepers?¡± Hearing this made the man¡¯s face turn pale. Immediately, he abandoned his n to stop the club leader from taking photos.

    The club leader, of course, waspletely oblivious to this exchange. She started making the necessary edits before uploading the photos onto Weibo.

    (Verified) MissGu¡¯s Fanclub: ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to say much. Feast with your eyes. [Image]

    ¡°This is terrifying ??¡±

    ¡°Club leader, is your heart still beating? ??¡±

    There were still some people who had no idea who these people were. ¡°What¡¯s so weird about these pictures?¡±

    ¡°The leader of the national broadcast channel can be seen in the first picture. I believe I don¡¯t need to say much since he appears on the TV screen quite often. ??¡±

    ¡°And the third picture. Although I don¡¯t know who the rest are, I do recognize the man in the first seat. He¡¯s our suprememander! Don¡¯t ask how I know him, I just feel like dying right now!¡±

    ¡°Does anyone know who the people are on tables 4,5,6,7,8,9?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was too shocked that I just shattered my phone. I am now typing on my mother¡¯s phone. Let me exin the fifth picture. The blonde man in the ck tuxedo sitting in the middle of the table is none other than themander-in-chief of the United States of America. [link] Your wee!¡±

    ¡°I guess all of you recognize who the POTUS is. BUT, here¡¯s the key part! Have you guys noticed that he¡¯s sitting at the final table!? I assume that you all know how important the table arrangements are right? The rest is up to your creative imagination!¡±

    ¡°The seventh picture! Did you see that!? It¡¯s just like the POTUS! The leader of Japan is seated at the furthest end of the table!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also this [screenshot] dude. I don¡¯t know if y¡¯all are aware of the world¡¯s wealthiest man but if you don¡¯t recognize him, I suggest you look him up on the inte.¡±

    ¡°The most important thing is that they¡¯re all sitting together, hah!

 Chapter 363 - Wedding Procession

    <h4>Chapter 363: Wedding Procession</h4>

    Through the live-stream provided by the leader of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fanclub, theizens were given the chance to witness how morous the scene actually was. Their eyes were glued onto the screen of their phones, awaiting new updates from the club leader. Of course, what they were looking forward to most was seeing Gu Xiqiao arrive.

    Although they weren¡¯t there in person, they were nheless thrilled to see such photos. Most of them held their breaths in anticipation to see who else was attending Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wedding ceremony. After all, the ones who had already arrived were all big fishes of their own pond, be it of politics, the corporate world, or the military.

    Essential figureheads from all across the globe were condensed into a single point due to this banquet.

    Some of the top-dog financial analysts were surprised to see that they had a full house today. Apart from those who they kept seeing on the national television channel, they couldn¡¯t recognize who the rest of the attendees were. This fact made them incredibly uneasy.

    The people on both sides of table 4 were merely sitting there in silence. Despite how it looked, there was an indescribable sense of terror that lingered in the air. From what they got from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s announcement that was made days ago, the regr humans couldn¡¯t help but wonder if these guys were the mythical people from the supernatural world.

    Such thoughts made them sit upright and avert their gaze out of fear of upsetting them.

    Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao sat in the break room. Standing behind her was a rtively young woman. With a mascara brush in hand, she was nning to apply it onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyshes but the moment she shut her eyelids, it became apparent that there was no need to do so. Gu Xiqiao¡¯sshes were already perfect as they were. She paused for a moment before letting out a sigh. ¡°Gu, yourshes are already dense enough and long enough.¡±

    In the end, she helped Gu Xiqiao apply a thin, subtleyer of eye-shadow. ¡°Gu, your face can be used as a textbook-example for us makeup artists. No wonder Director Cheng keeps repeating that god is presenting you with a life of free-meals.¡±

    As a world-renowned makeup artist, her taste was far superior to that of your average Jane. Just one nce at the shape of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was enough for her to conclude that no matter what style they chose to go with, it would all suit her perfectly, just like a mould.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s only response was a slight smile.

    She seemed rtively calm,pletely unlike a person who was getting married. The makeup artist was slightly puzzled by this but she chose not to ask too much about it. It didn¡¯t take long before the makeup session came to an end.

    The makeup artist stood to one side, ogling at her own creation which was so amazing that it made her jaw-drop.

    Gu Xiqiao on the other hand did not spare her any attention. Instead, she wasmunicating with Jiji through her mind.

    ¡°How¡¯s your researching along, Jiji?¡±

    Jiji¡¯s body appeared in her consciousness [Beauty Qiao, the underground evil aura has started fluctuating. I am not sure if this can go on any longer.] It¡¯s been such a long time since Jiji spoke in such a somber tone.

    ¡°Can we wait until me and Brother Jiang arrive?¡±

    [Beauty Qiao, this is the final mission being issued by the System.] Jiji ced the tablet down. Looking up and staring straight into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes, it continued, [I don¡¯t know how long the ancient martial arts world and these regr humans can hold out.]

    ¡°If so...¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned against the back of her chair. Rubbing her chin, she remained in that position for a brief moment before Xiao Yun and the rest of her friends entered the room.

    ¡°Er Qiao, aren¡¯t you taking a bit too long...¡± She came in with the intention to urge Gu Xiqiao to hurry up but before she could finish her sentence, she stood there,pletely frozen as if she had turned into a block of ice.

    Gu Xiqiao turned around when she heard Xiao Yun¡¯s voice. It was at this moment that Xiao Yun truly understood what the word ¡°breath-taking¡± meant. Despite having been friends with Gu Xiqiao for so long, she was still taken aback by how beautiful she was.

    The people behind her were about to ask what the matter was when Xiao Yun suddenly froze up until they saw Gu Xiqao with their own eyes. The words they were about to say were stuffed back into their mouths.

    ¡°Time to head downstairs.¡± In the end, it was Xiao Yun who snapped back into reality first. After all, she was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s bridesmaid for the day. ¡°I fear that if you stay here any longer, Mister Jiang would proceed to freeze the guests to death.¡±

    Hearing Xiao Yun¡¯s voice brought Gu Xiqiao out of her reverie. Silently, she got off the seat and followed Xiao Yun out of the room.

    Downstairs, Jiang Shuxuan was standing on one side of the red carpet. He was wearing a suit custom-made for this asion. Peering down at his wristwatch, the side of his face and his chiseled jawline made heads turn. Despite this, his cold demeanor prevented anyone else from approaching him.

    9:58 am.

    The wedding took ce right on time. The spotlight was directed at the top of the stairway at the precise moment, allowing the guests to see the bride descend slowly.

    She was wearing a snow-white wedding dress with a shortened train that glided effortlessly over the floor, fluttering with each step and a thin veil over her face. Her appearance, especially her beautiful little face stole the hearts of her guests. The entire hall suddenly turned dead-quiet after that.

    Jiang Shuxuan of course was quick to notice the sudden change in atmosphere. He instinctively looked up, over in the direction of the stairway.

    A surprised expression could be seen on his usually cool face. It was rare to see her in makeup and on this asion, the makeup she was wearing was at a bare minimum. At least this was what Jiang Shuxuan noticed.

    The reaction of her guests perfectly reflected how suitable the makeup was for Gu Xiqiao. In the past, Gu Xiqiao was already plenty attractive without makeup, to the point where it was unforgettable. Today was different. Her beauty was one step above the natural beauty that she would usually give off.

    Her ink-dark hair was tied-up, revealing her pale white neck. Her lips were a darker shade of red due to the rouge she applied. Her semi-childish vibe had now faded away and with the slight of her hand, she could make any one of the guests fall head over heels for her.

    Jiang Shuxuan felt his heart thumping against his chest.

    The man who walked with Gu Xiqiao down the stairs was none other than Baili Bin. This was his request to her.

    ¡°Shuxuan, Qiao Qiao, it¡¯s your show now.¡± Baili Bin nced at Gu Xiqiao, then at Jiang Shuxuan. Painfully, he ced Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm into Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s.

    Jiang Shuxuan gradually felt his hand warm up. He peered down his bride, who coincidentally, was looking up at him, at his crystal-clear eyes.

    There were no other thoughts that were running through Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s mind. He felt a slight headache as he saw a red silhouette sh past his eyes. It had only been a few seconds but the entire exchange felt to him like an eternity.

    ¡°I will rest assured.¡± Jiang Shuxuan tightened his grip on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s palm.

    The way he responded sounded serious and heavy.

    Baili Bin nodded in response before he turned to look at Gu Xiqiao. Her stay with the Baili family was a short one. Despite this, the members of his family felt the same pain and unwillingness to see her leave for another family so soon.

    Baili Bin wanted to say more to Gu Xiqiao but decided against it upon seeing the smile on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face.

    Being friends since childhood, he knew just how cold that man could get. Even Shu Chen found it hard to understand her own son¡¯s emotions, what more to say of him or any other outsider?

    However, seeing their interaction made Baili Bin confident that in the future, whatever Gu Xiqiao said, Jiang Shuxuan would not object to it. This thought made Baili Bin a little giddy. Hmm, even the invincible Jiang Shuxuan would one day, be defeated by the power of love.

    This helped ease the slight difort in Baili Bin¡¯s heart when sending Gu Xiqiao off to her new family. Although the smile on her face was subtle, he could make out that she was actually over cloud nine.

    Baili Bin remained where he stood, watching as they walked towards the red carpet. The guests, who were situated on either side of the aisle stood up from their seats to witness this historic moment.

    While holding hands, the couple walked together on the red carpet that led towards the stage.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her head slightly to get a better look at the man next to her. It was the same old, masculine face but this time, there was a slight hint of rosiness on his cheeks.

    At that moment, memories simultaneously shed through their minds. Everything suddenly felt as if they were in a dreamscape. She looked back at the day when they first met. Who would¡¯ve thought that the person she bumped into on the street would turn out to be her soulmate for the rest of eternity?

    Jiang Shuxuan picked up the ring which Xiao Yun had passed to him and with full sincerity, slipped it onto Gu Xiqiao¡¯s finger.

    No one knew that throughout the entire process, his heart was pounding furiously against his ribcage.

    Gu Xiqiao wore the same subtle smile when she picked up the other ring and put it on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s finger.

    After doing so, she was about to put her hand down when he suddenly reached out and grabbed it. The tall figure before her bent over as he leaned in for a kiss.

    His eyes were fixated on hers as his face gradually closed the gap between them. Finally, when their lips met, they could feel each others¡¯ breaths intertwine. All of a sudden, even the guests¡¯ hearts had started thumping.

    The hall was initially silent, but in the next second, when emotions were at an all-time high, the sound of cheering nearly shattered the windows.

    The sound of pping was so loud that it sounded like the rumble of thunder.

    Both of their parents were onstage. Tang Yanling nced at Gu Xiqiao before picking up a microphone. ¡°I just want to say that, whenever I think about making my first wedding speech, it would be at my son¡¯s wedding. To my surprise, Qiao Qiao¡¯s wedding came first. Maybe it¡¯s because she¡¯s too young, or maybe it¡¯s because I was hoping to have her around for a couple more years. This girl of mine, marrying her off makes my heart ache.¡±

    Tang Yanling¡¯s eyes started to redden when she reached this point in her speech. She had taken a liking to Gu Xiqiao the moment they first met.

    Girls her age were usually still bubbly and cute, but the sort of heartache Tang Yanling was feeling was from a more mature standpoint.

    ¡°I believe that many of you here are impressed by her and are seeking her cooperation. For that, I am grateful to have her as my daughter,¡± said Tang Yanling whilst looking at the guests who have flown in from multiple countries. She then turned her attention towards Gu Xiqiao. ¡°Qiao Qiao, Shuuxan, from the bottom of my heart, I hope that you two would go one to live a peaceful life together. At the very least, let us see this asion through smoothly. And after that, I hope that you two will go on to find your own happiness.¡±

    Tang Yanling knew what these two would soon be facing after this event.

    The responsibility of protecting the Ancient Martial Arts World, the Supernatural World, and the Secr World all fell on both of their shoulders.

    In short, the life and death of everyone on Earth was their choice to make. This thought made Tang Yanling¡¯s tears well up.

    The more powerful they got, the more responsibility they were expected to shoulder, the more they were expected to understand. In short, life was not easy for these two, despite how it looked to outsiders. The truth was contrary to this, as the burden, they were shouldering was sorge and heavy it was iprehensible to regr people.

    Tang Yanling¡¯s speech mirrored what Shu Chen intended to convey to the guests. In the end, Shu Chen decided not to waste any more of their precious time. Looking at Gu Xiqiao, she uttered to her, ¡°Thank you, Qiao Qiao.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao looked up with a puzzled expression. She had no idea why her mother-inw was suddenly thanking her. Her mind was spinning as she had no idea what Tang Yanling was saying. In the end, while her mind was still clouded, she was handed tons of red packets before she was led by Jiang Shuxuan upstairs to change into a traditional dress for toasting each other.

    The dress she changed into was a simple bright red ceremonial robe that was decorated with auspicious cloud-like gold lining. The bright colors paired well with her delicate face.

    Jiang Shuxuan was already leaning against the doorway, waiting for her when she finally emerged from the dressing room. His gaze was bright, like sunlight that reflected off a snow-capped iceberg. And yet, there was nothing about it that seemed cold and bitter.

    Even the staff working there couldn¡¯t help but detect the sudden change in his facial expression.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. ¡°They¡¯re gonna start rioting if we let them wait any longer.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan initially did not react when Gu Xiqiao spoke. Out of a sudden, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and buried his head into her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ll let them wait then.¡±

    With no other choice, Gu Xiqiao marched forwards, dragging the clingy Jiang Shuxuan behind her.

    He continued dangling onto her in the corridor.

    At the end of the corridor suddenly appeared the silhouette of a tall man. He shot them a look with a raised brow. ¡°I was worried that if I didn¡¯te up here, you¡¯d never make it downstairs.¡±

 Chapter 364 - Only Ten Of Our Men

    Chapter 364: Only Ten Of Our Men

    The man who came upstairs to look for them was Zhuge Yan. Gu Xiqiao shot him a nce before pping her forehead out of embarrassment. ¡°Are you misusing your abilities again?¡±

    Ever since Zhuge Yan was handed over to theboratory to deal with his blood congestion, he more or less seemed to have recovered from his ailment. No more was he controlled by the heavens, which meant that he could use his linguistic skills without any limitations. There were already quite a number of people from the ancient martial arts world who had fallen prey to him.

    ¡°What do you mean by that? I just wanted to remind you that we have an entire hall of people waiting for you guys.¡± Zhuge Yan on the other hand was fairly calm. He stood there, with one hand in his pocket and with a warm smile on his face.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked up at him with a pair of narrowed eyes.

    However, that did not seem to affect Zhuge Yan. He merely greeted Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s coldness with a friendly smile. He did not mind the sudden drop in air pressure whatsoever.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was standing right next to him, patted Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hand. Although he was reluctant to do so, in the end, he had no other choice but to put his hand, which was holding Gu Xiqiao¡¯s, down. He stole one final nce at Zhuge Yan before the two of them descended the stairs.

    Downstairs, Ning Qing and Wu Hongwen were singing in a duet, the popr love song¡ª¡±Love You Very Much[1]¡±.

    Ning Qing¡¯s voice was soft, which came as no surprise considering how talented she was in the entertainment industry. She was great at acting but equally good at singing as well. The way she sang sounded almost as if she was speaking in a whole other dialect. Wu Hongwen¡¯s voice on the other hand, sounded clear as crystal. Although he had never received singing sses, nor was he taught any vocal skills, the amount of emotion he put into the song made up for the shorings. When viewed as a pair, he did not in any way, pale inparison to his duet partner.

    While holding their wine sses, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan visited every table for a toast. Their American guests hastily got up from their seats when Gu Xiqiao approached their table. A blonde young boy was so mesmerized by Gu Xiqiao that his face was flushed red.

    ¡°Miss Gu, may I...¡±

    ¡°No, you may not!¡± interrupted Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at them emotionlessly onest time before he led Gu Xiqiao to the next table.

    Xiao Yun, who oversaw the exchange couldn¡¯t help but burst outughing.

    On the stage, Ning Qing and Wu Hongwen¡¯s duet had alreadye to an end, followed by the thunderous sound of ppinging from the audience.

    ¡°I never thought Little Wu could sing so well!¡± said Yao Jiamu as he rubbed his chin. He turned towards the people he shared the table with. ¡°I thought brute strength was all he had.¡±

    ¡°That person would be you,¡± replied Yin Shaoyuan as he squeezed into a seat at their table. His eyes were fixated on the pair that were standing on the stage. ¡°At the very least, he¡¯s someone who has managed to get epted into B University.¡±

    ¡°I would¡¯ve forgotten about it had you not said this,¡± responded Yao Jiamu. ¡°B University, you could give me eight lives and I¡¯d still struggle to get epted into such a prestigious institution.¡±

    ¡°We made you study didn¡¯t we?¡± asked Luo Wenlin, who sat next to Luo Weng. He then let out a helpless sigh. ¡°Brother Yao, what would you do if Sister Gu is no longer here?¡±

    ¡°Well, I still have this don¡¯t I?¡± Yao Jiamu then poked Luo Wenlin¡¯s skull with his chopsticks. Through the corner of his eyes, he saw Wu Hongwen and Ning Qing leaving the stage. All of a sudden, a lightbulb lit up in his mind. ¡°Say, these two would make a great couple, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°No doubt. I could almost feel the harmony between them when they were singing on stage,¡± said Luo Weng while grabbing a morsel of food for his brother.

    ¡°Miss Ning is five years older than Little Wu,¡± said Yin Shaoyuan as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He proceeded to light it up and inhale a lungful of smoke.

    Yao Jiamu was startled when he heard that. ¡°But Miss Ning looks so young. If you hadn¡¯t pointed that out, I never would¡¯ve thought that she¡¯s any older than Little Wu.¡±

    Yu Ning quickly put away his device when he saw Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan about to approach their table. Hearing what Yao Jiamu had said, he snapped back, ¡°A woman¡¯s age is her safeguarded secret. You should at least know about this, Master Yin. Don¡¯t tell me you have ulterior intentions towards Miss Ning?¡±

    Everyone at their table looked over at him right after Yu Ning said that.

    Yin Shaoyuan was surprisingly calm despite being shoved into the center of attention so suddenly. He continued smoking his cigarette in silence.

    ¡°Smoking is prohibited indoors,¡± said Wu Hongwen who had returned to the table with Ning Qing. He reached down and yanked the cigarette out of Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s fingers before stubbing it and throwing it into a nearby trash can. The way he moved was swift as if he had already rehearsed it in his mind. ¡°Dalin mustn¡¯t be exposed to cigarette smoke.¡±

    ¡°Son of a...¡± Yin Shaoyuan stopped himself from going any further when he saw Da Lin¡¯s sickly face.

    They all knew how important Da Lin was to Gu Xiqiao. Although they were silent, the same subtly disgruntled expression was visible on their faces.

    Wu Hongwen paid no heed to this. He focused on pouring himself a ss of liquor.

    ¡°Say, when did you start drinking, Little Wu?¡± asked Luo Wenlin who noticed how quickly he was downing the drinks.

    Luo Wenlin¡¯s bright eyes resembled that of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s. Wu Hongwen peered at the boy before a smirk appeared on his face. Silently, he ruffled the boy¡¯s hair without responding to his question.

    Finally, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had arrived at their table.

    Wu Hongwen looked up at them and got up from his seat alongside the rest of his mates. He poured himself some red wine, which he raised in the air before slowly gulping it down.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Gu Xiqiao to her friends. She nced at Wu Hongwen and Ning Qing. ¡°You two sing pretty well.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re d you liked it,¡± responded Ning Qing shyly.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her ss at them. ¡°We¡¯ll talkter.¡±

    It was time for them to move to the next table.

    Wu Hongwen watched as the bride and groom walked away before sinking down into his seat. Again, he poured himself another drink. This time, he sipped it patiently. Still, judging by how frequently he took a sip, it wouldn¡¯t be too long before his cup is empty again.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up with you today?¡± asked Yin Shaoyuan with a raised brow while fiddling with his wine ss.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty happy today,¡± answered Wu Hongwen while looking at the ground. At least, his voice sounded like he was in a fairly normal mood.

    ¡°Happy?¡± Yin Shaoyuan looked over at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°To see such a pretty little sister get married off so soon, I¡¯m not that happy myself.¡±

    Luo Weng poured himself another ss of wine. ¡°I¡¯ll respect you as a man if you say this to Young Master Jiang¡¯s face.¡±

    ¡°Oh hell no, I don¡¯t have the guts,¡± said Yin Shaoyuan while shaking his hands in the air.

    ¡°You two sounded like a couple when you were singing on stage,¡± said Cheng Zhou to Ning Qing and Wu Hongwen who popped up out of nowhere. ¡°I haven¡¯t found the lead singer for the theme song of my next film. Would you two be interested?¡±

    Yin Shaoyuan shot Director Cheng with a deadly re, which almost made him wet his pants. Silently, the director started thinking about where he went wrong.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to sing,¡± replied Wu Hongwen. ¡°This job is right up Er Qiao¡¯s alley. She sings far better than me.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Director Cheng was puzzled. ¡°She sings?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± responded Xiao Yun, who overheard Cheng Zhou¡¯s question when she was walking back to their table. ¡°I remember her almost bringing us to tears when we were singing karaoke.¡±

    Cheng Zhou was visibly excited upon making the unexpected discovery. However, remembering howzy and unmotivated Gu Xiqiao was, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°She won¡¯t even entertain a minor role in my film, what more to say of being the lead singer.¡±

    ¡°Pfftt-¡± Ning Qing spat out her drink. ¡°Director Cheng, don¡¯t tell me you still haven¡¯t given up trying to get Miss Gu back into showbiz.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Director Cheng shook his head. ¡°Although I do ponder the possibility of this happening from time to time, they are merely wonderful fantasies. I hope Miss Gu will return to the entertainment industry once this whole thing blows over.¡±

    ¡°Forget it, if you let her back in,¡± said Yin Shaoyuan as he ced an unlit cigarette between his lips. ¡°Prepare to see the entire entertainment industry get flipped inside out.¡±

    Cheng Zhou agreed with the statement upon thinking about it. He finished his drink and remained silent afterward.

    The wedding banquet was unexpectedly filled with surprises. Troupe after troupe of performers appeared on the stage, trying to drum up the celebratory atmosphere. Most notable were the youngsters from the ancient martial arts world, who held a mini ancient martial arts tournament as a way to showcase how powerful the people of their world were.

    The elders of the ancient martial arts world smiled at each other as the performance went on. ¡°It¡¯s been such a long time since things were this lively.¡±

    ¡°What a rare asion. It is surprising how well they¡¯re able to stay calm despite how close we are to total annihtion,¡± muttered the great elder with a frown on his face.

    The second elder nced at him. ¡°How could they not be? Considering how both Miss Gu and Young Master Jiang are present.¡±

    The great elder sighed. ¡°That I understand. But, to think that they¡¯ll be leaving tomorrow...¡±

    Silence descended upon their table afterward.

    After a long, silent pause, the second elder finally broke the silence. ¡°It¡¯s our fault. We have wronged them.¡± He massaged his temples. ¡°To push this weight onto their shoulders...what that kid from the Tang family said was right.¡±

    The great elder raised his drink to his lips and slowly sipped away.

    After they were done visiting their guests¡¯ tables, Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan returned to the table where Xiao Yun and the rest were sitting.

    ¡°So, I assume you¡¯ve got nothing to do for now?¡± asked Xiao Yun upon seeing Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Yea,¡± Gu Xiqiao grabbed the ss of in water Xiao Yun was holding and gulped down a mouthful. ¡°Gosh I¡¯m exhausted.¡±

    ¡°Dealing with such matters shouldn¡¯t be that hard on you, right?¡± Xiao Yun whipped out a cam-recorder. ¡°Let¡¯s go, time for us to document your marriage.¡±

    Xiao Yun waved her hands, a signal for Ning Qing and Cecily toe over.

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Xiqiao was wide-eyed. Why wasn¡¯t she told of this?

    Still, before she could say anything, she was abducted by the three of her friends. Jiang Shuxuan, who was standing nearby, talking to a group of people watched through the corner of his eyes as Gu Xiqiao was led away. However, his tightly-knit brows loosened up upon seeing who her abductors were.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang, we must discuss this with our people,¡± said the man next to him. After a brief pause, he continued. ¡°Thest time the ancient martial arts world made such an announcement, it disrupted the world order...¡±

    ¡°I do not wish to talk about this topic, nor do I hope to draw blood today,¡± responded Jiang Shuxuan coldly. ¡°If you all feel suicidal, then by all means, continue pestering me with such questions. Yi Bing, if you don¡¯t mind, please entertain these gentlemen.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan then went off to find Gu Xiqiao.

    The leader of America¡¯s Supernatural Worldughed at his ignorant counterparts. ¡°Seems like you¡¯re all still unaware of what the ancient martial arts world truly is.¡±

    Nozawa ignored the men and focused his attention on their leader ¡°So, how are the ten individuals that received training from Miss Gu?¡±

    ¡°They are very powerful indeed,¡± responded the leader of the American supernatural world. He seemed to be rather shocked when he was reminded of this. ¡°Their growth was exponential. Now, they¡¯re training our folks to prepare for the inevitable. I¡¯ll show you their progress some other day. That way, you¡¯ll understand what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    ¡°Well I can say for sure that I am envious of you guys,¡± replied Nozawa.

    The leader of the American supernatural worldughed cynically. ¡°We had only sent ten of our men to train under her, and the results are already so rming. What about the entire ancient martial arts world, who all received her training and instructions? It¡¯s impossible for one to imagine just how powerful they are whenbined.¡±

    [1] song by Mysian Chinese singers Fish Leong and Victor Wong. Ã÷Ã÷ºÜ°®Äã (m¨ªngm¨ªng h¨§n ¨¤i n¨«) The MV is hrious https://.youtube/watch?v=nAeGe-d1F90

 Chapter 365 - Present

    <h4>Chapter 365: Present</h4>

    Jiang Shuxuan found Gu Xiqiao in just a couple of steps, she was following Xiao Yun and the others at this time with her head bowed low, and you couldn¡¯t see her expression.

    His eyes were on her, and he was about to move forward towards her, when he was intercepted by Baili Bin. Baili Bin raised his ss towards him, ¡°Let¡¯s have a drink, just the few of us?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Jiang Shuxuan groaned internally, raising his head to look over to Gu Xiqiao. She had also raised her head at the same time, shing him a smile when their eyes met before he finally nodded towards Baili Bin.

    Baili Bin didn¡¯t say anything at this time, but Murong Feiye wasughing somewhere nearby. ¡°Qingqiu, our Young Master Jiang has already be a ve to his wife, moments after getting married. What more in the future?¡±

    ¡°ve to his wife?¡± Tang Qingqiu turned the cup in his hand, a faint expression on his face. ¡°It should be called a henpecked male.¡±

    ¡°Sure, whatever you say. It¡¯s not like I really understand the profoundness of the Chinesenguage.¡± Murong Feiye leaned against the stool as he watched Jiang Shuxuan make his way towards them.

    As soon as Jiang Shuxuan sat down, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°There is something indeed.¡± Baili Bin threw out as soon as they were all seated. ¡°I just heard from Aunt Shu that you and Qiao Qiao are leaving tomorrow?¡±

    Baili Bin and the others felt that there was definitely something wrong somewhere, leaving on the second day after getting married. They wouldn¡¯t believe even if they were told nothing was wrong.

    ¡°At this time, if there¡¯s anything, you should just hand it to the ancient martial arts world or Peace Manor to handle. You¡¯re both still on your honeymoon after all.¡± Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t pass up the chance to keep rubbing this fact in.

    Jiang Shuxuan turned the wine ss in his hand, not spilling a drop. He looked at Baili Bin, and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to ept my inheritance.¡±

    Inheritance?

    Wait.

    Murong Feiye nced at Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°You¡¯re telling me, you¡¯re so strong right now, and you still haven¡¯tpletely epted all of your inheritance?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan hummed indifferently.

    Murong Feiye didn¡¯t want to say anything anymore, he had been mulling over the idea of fighting against Jiang Shuxuan before this, but now... haha.

    ¡°You need to take good care of the ce while we¡¯re not around.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, his tone light.

    ¡°Hm?¡± When Baili Bin heard these words, he clenched his fist. Knowing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attitude which was like you couldn¡¯t beat anything out of him with a stick, the man wouldn¡¯t say anything like this without reason.

    Thinking of this, Baili Bin nced at the leader of America¡¯s power world, who was standing in one of the corners of the banquet hall. Except for the two from America and Japan, the other faces held anxious expressions. He had been busy helping out with the wedding banquet the past few days, and he wasn¡¯t really paying attention to what had been happening in the outside world. He couldn¡¯t help but feel uneasy when he heard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words.

    He looked at Tang Qingqiu, noting that there was also confusion on the other¡¯s face.

    That¡¯s right, the Tang and Baili family were close to the Jiang family, so both families had been busy with the wedding preparation, so he guessed Tang Qingqiu was also unaware of what was going on in the outside world.

    ¡°There is a 3% animal mutation all over the world.¡± Murong Feiye¡¯s phone rang suddenly, looking up at the other two before looking towards Jiang Shuxuan, seeing that he didn¡¯t look like he was intending to stop him, Murong Feiye continued, ¡°At first, it¡¯s just a variation, and the number is notrge. That¡¯s why the leaders of the power world have all gathered here. As for the percentage of 3%, it was calcted by Yu Ning, and he just sent it over.¡±

    ¡°3% of animal mutations?¡± Tang Qingqiu¡¯s head snapped up, the wine ss in his hand almost tilting over as he looked to Murong Feiye. ¡°How do you know? There are countless animals in the entire world, how can you be sure of this percentage?¡±

    3% might not sound like a lot, but if you consider the total number of animals in the world, it would basically equal to tens of millions.

    When the timees, they could probably be buried under the numbers.

    A video was being yed at the center of the banquet hall, it was an interview with the bride and groom before this, whichsted for over an hour. Now, there was a well-known host standing in front of the camera, and he was standing on an avenue in N City as he excitedly eximed, ¡°Miss Gu said that this was the ce that she first met Mr. Jiang for the first time...¡±

    Before he could finish his words, the whole screen suddenly made a ¡®Zizizi¡¯ sound.

    The host¡¯s excited face disappeared from view suddenly.

    On the huge screen, a line in blood-red color suddenly appeared¡ª[This is my wedding gift to you, do you like it?]

    Although the words were just on the screen, everyone present could feel the terrible murderous intent from the words.

    As soon as it appeared, the lively hall filled with chatter fell silent immediately, and even the musicians who were ying their instruments were shocked, their movements stopping.

    A lot of the other people didn¡¯t understand what the line meant.

    But those who had been notified by Yu Ning regarding the 3% mutations knew, that was what the line had meant.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s dark eyes were fixed on the words, his fist clenched tightly. No one could see it, but his fists were already exuding a chilling aura, and the chair his hand was on had gained ayer of frost.

    He had been distracted by what the host was saying just now, about the scene where he and Gu Xiqiao had first met. Although he didn¡¯t actually remember it, he felt something lingering just at the corner of his mind when he saw the avenue on screen.

    But in the next second, he saw this instead.

    This was his and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s moment, he wouldn¡¯t mess it up. He lowered his head slightly, covering up the hard, cold glint that was in his eyes.

    A warm hand suddenly ovepped the cold, and Jiang Shuxuan looked up to see a pair of smiling eyes. ¡°Brother Jiang, it¡¯s alright.¡±

    The turbulent, violent mood that he was in was soothed so easily by her smile, and when Jiang Shuxuan nced at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, his heart softened.

    ¡°Miss Gu, I can¡¯t find this person¡¯s ID.¡± Yu Ning walked over. He picked up his tablet, fiddling with it and it became a small handheldputer with a keyboard.

    The line of words still hung in the middle of the screen, seemingly unscrupulous, and the atmosphere in the banquet hall had already changed and sombered.

    Jiang Han, Shu Chen, and everyone else were going around, reassuring their guests.

    Gu Xiqiao was still wearing her wedding dress, but she didn¡¯t care. A faint smile on her face, she stretched out her hand. ¡°Computer.¡±

    Although she was smiling, everyone who was familiar with her knew that she was downright pissed inside!

    Hearing this, Yu Ning immediately handed over his own.

    Gu Xiqiao ced theputer on the table, her eyes narrowing slightly. Her long, white slender fingers flew across the small keyboard at an extremely fast speed, to the point where everyone beside her couldn¡¯t keep up.

    They could only see lines upon lines of codes jumping out on the screen.

    Theputer was something Yu Ning had assembled with his own hands, and it could be said to be the fastestputer in the entire world right now. And that was one of the reasons the people around her could only see numbers and codes appearing on the screen even though they couldn¡¯t keep up with her movement speed!

    Yu Ning was the only one who was still trying his best to keep up with the codes being entered by Gu Xiqiao.

    He watched as she easily bypassed the fixed IP on hisputer, diving directly into the center of thework, and after another line of code, a search bar appeared on the screen.

    At the same time, after going into thework, she had already found who their enemy was. In order to avoid any interference from others, she had blocked out the entire country¡¯swork and services. Only her handheldputer was functioning!

    Gu Xiqiao squinted at the codes jumping up on theputer screen, then followed the trail of a normal IP.

    The IP would always automatically jump out of her search bar, but whenever it did, Gu Xiqiao would urately pinpoint its next location in the next second!

    ¡°Artificial intelligence?!¡± Yu Ning was finally able to see something, and he eximed in surprise. ¡°Is there really such a thing?¡±

    Artificial intelligence, it was a project that Yu Ning was currently working on. If something like this was really born in a country¡¯swork, and holding bad intentions too, then the country was really in a dangerous situation.

    It was no wonder he couldn¡¯t track the IP address when he tried just now.

    Though the expression on Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was indifferent, there was a hint of interest in her eyes. She managed to find their of the other, and also a few secret documents on the way. She flicked her had to take out a USB sh drive, inserting it into theputer and copying the files before destroying the source file.

    ¡°I¡¯ve sent you guys a big gift, don¡¯t be too surprised.¡± Gu Xiqiao said with a smile on her face, pressing the ¡®Enter¡¯ key. The white light of the screen reflected on her face, making the people around her shiver suddenly, and they rubbed their arms from the goosebumps on them.

    At the same time, the ominous words on the screen that was in the middle of the banquet hall disappeared, changing back to the host¡¯s picture. ¡°This is First City High in N City, guess what I found? Do you see that? Miss Gu¡¯s picture is still hanging on the bulletin board, and let¡¯s see... Top national ranker! Miss Gu really is...¡±

    ***

    And thoseputers around the country that had been jammed resumed their functions after a few more minutes.

    Someone who was ying games was on the phone with support. ¡°Theputer is dead! I tried to force a shut down, but it didn¡¯t work. Hurry ande over to take a look... huh? It¡¯s fine now?¡±

    Various other people were having simr conversations everywhere.

    Those who were doing financial calctions, giving lectures, watching TV... all of their devices were stuck, and nothing they tried, from shutting down to restarting worked!

    Although it was just a short ten minutes, this nationwide incident caused panic to the country¡¯s administrator. Suspecting whether or not they had been attacked by hackers, he immediately gave a call to the state office.

    After receiving the call, the minister also felt frustrated. It wasn¡¯t anything warranting concerned at first, but then theputer of the Foreign Affairs Ministry also had the same problem, which meant he had to do something!

    He gave a call to the upper levels, and while the ordinary people weren¡¯t worried about it, the higher-ups were thrown into an uproar from this incident.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao put away the sh drive, then closed theputer before tossing it back at Yu Ning.

    Yu Ning was still in a dazed state, but his hands automatically reached out to catch his preciousputer.

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Xiqiao stood, her eyes narrowing at Murong Feiye and Tang Qingqiu, whose eyes were fixed on her unblinkingly.

    Murong Feiye snapped out of it at the sound of her voice, then he blinked, still looking at her as he asked, ¡°What did you just do?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao tossed the sh drive up in the air twice, shing him a faint smile after she heard his words. ¡°Nothing much. Someone wants me to be unhappy, should I have let them be happy?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. Just now...¡± Murong Feiye never felt like he was an uneducated person, but he was still feeling disbelief in his mind. ¡°I say, the real hacking god of Nine Heavens should be you, right?¡±

    He had always thought that Yu Ning, as well as the people under him were the hacking experts, but looking at it now, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case at all.

    Gu Xiqiao fiddled with the USB drive in her hand, but didn¡¯t reply to his words. Her lips quirked up, and she merely smiled.

    ***

    At this time, nobody knew, in a dark secret room where the only light wasing from theputer screen, the man sitting in front of it was going out of his mind. ¡°No, how is this possible? How did Yu Ning manage to track my disguised address?!¡±

 Chapter 366 - Just Coming Out Of The Bathroom

    <h4>Chapter 366: Just Coming Out Of The Bathroom</h4>

    When the ominous words disappeared from the screen, the guests¡¯ attention was once again focused on the content ying on the screen.

    With effort from Ning Qing and the others, the atmosphere of the banquet hall once again returned to its lively state.

    The smile on Shu Chen¡¯s face didn¡¯t change, and she was currently talking to another nobledy. The great elder walked to her side at this time, whispering something in her ear. Shu Chen¡¯s brows furrowed slightly, then she smiled at the woman she had been talking to. ¡°I have to settle some matters, please excuse me.¡±

    Obviously, the woman was not about to stop Madam Jiang from leaving.

    Shu Chen turned around, heading in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s direction.

    Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao were with the others at a table that wasn¡¯t too far away from her. Although the banquet hall was big and filled with people, it wasn¡¯t hard to bunch these bunch of people. With just a nce, you could pinpoint their location by the wide berth given to the space around them, as though it was a vacuum zone. Seeing the gap of space nearby, she knew it must be them.

    ¡°Mom?¡± Gu Xiqiao had been talking to Yu Ning, and Jiang Shuxuan was leaning against the table, watching them. He noticed Shu Chen walking towards them, and was surprised.

    Shu Chen first looked at Gu Xiqiao, before turning her gaze to Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Shuxuan, I already know about the mutation matter. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve sent the Great Elder to attend to this matter.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at Shu Chen in silence, not saying a word.

    ¡°Son?¡± Shu Chen said, seeing that he wasn¡¯t responding to her words, and was a little startled at his reaction, orck of it.

    Ever since her son had lost his memories, he had be even more unpredictable than ever. Before this, she could probably guess a little at what he was thinking, but now, she was at aplete loss at the way he worked. The only thing that crossed her mind was that her son had be even more mysterious than ever.

    Just like right now. She hadn¡¯t wanted him to be distracted by this matter, it was their wedding day after all.

    But looking at him, those pair of dark, onyx eyes, there was a chill that started to surface from the bottom of her heart.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Jiang Shuxuan finally replied softly, looking at his mother.

    His tone was calm, and she couldn¡¯t read any other meaning behind his words. However, the uneasiness in her heart didn¡¯t vanish, but increased instead. She wanted to say something else, but no words came from her opened mouth.

    The uneasiness didn¡¯t fade over time either, and Shu Chen felt it throughout the day. Only when the wedding banquet came to an end did she finally let out a breath of relief.

    It stands to reason that after the group of them returned to the Jiang residence, that they would definitely want to head to the new room to make some noise. But when Murong Feiye raised the topic, everyone only looked at him from head to toe, then nced away.

    ¡°Murong, daring to go and bother Young Master Jiang,¡± Yin Shaoyuan was the one whoughed outright. ¡°I respect you as a man. Go forth, young man.¡±

    ¡°When did you be such a wuss?¡± Murong Feiye clicked his tongue. They all weren¡¯t able to beat Jiang Shuxuan, so they needed to take the chance during his wedding day to find a weakness. Why didn¡¯t these people get it?

    Tang Qingqiu was leaning against the door, and he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Since you¡¯re so courageous, go on then.¡±

    Murong Feiye almost choked on his own saliva, then turned towards Baili Bin. ¡°Baili, you should want to go, right?¡± He knew that Baili Bin still had a lot ofints about Gu Xiqiao marrying into the Jiang family so early.

    He didn¡¯t expect for Baili Bin to just give him a passing nce, before heading downstairs without another word.

    Yu Ning clutched hisputer to his chest, turning around to also head downstairs.

    In just an instant, Murong Feiye was the only one left upstairs. He scratched his head, just about to say something when his eyes met with a pair of cold, ck ones. He could feel the cold building behind him, and he immediately turned and left in a hurried pace.

    Jiang Shuxuan had already taken off his coat, and seeing the group of them obediently heading downstairs, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, before turning to head in.

    ¡°Shuxuan,¡± Shu Chen was waiting for the others inside the house. ¡°You can go downstairs and entertain them a while first, we have a few more words to say to Qiao Qiao. Come up in about half an hour.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t seem bothered by it. He gave onest nce to Gu Xiqiao, before heading downstairs.

    Downstairs, the group of people was sitting in the living room, chatting with each other. The moment they caught sight of Jiang Shuxuan, they all quieted down.

    ¡°Big boss, why are you downstairs?¡± Yi Bing gave him a strange look.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I need to do.¡± Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t stop at the living room, continuing to walk out the door.

    When the others saw him like that, they couldn¡¯t help but look at each other. It was such an important day today, where in the world was he going?

    Baili Bin furrowed his brows, then got up to follow him. Seeing that, Murong Feiye, Tang Qingqiu, and everyone else also did the same.

    Yu Ning was among the ones left in the living room, the ordinary people within the group. It couldn¡¯t be helped, it wasn¡¯t like they knew ancient martial arts, and they would probably just fall behind if they tried to follow them.

    ¡°Brother, where are Brother Jiang and the rest going?¡± Luo Wenlin was curious, and asked Luo Weng as he tugged on his sleeve.

    Before Luo Weng could say anything, Yu Ning opened his mouth to answer, ¡°Dalin, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll show you in a bit.¡±

    Having said that, he minimized whatever he had on his current screen, then opened his keyboard, his fingers flying over the keys as he quickly retrieved several footage of surveince videos.

    The others didn¡¯t understand it, but Luo Weng did. ¡°This is the Star Net that you and Miss Gu are researching on?¡±

    ¡°Bingo!¡± Yu Ning snapped his fingers. His eyes nced at his screen again, quickly picking out the one that he wanted everyone to see.

    Not long after, some figures appeared in the frame, and Ning Qing covered her mouth as she gasped, ¡°God, what is this?¡±

    ¡°Mutated beasts.¡± Luo Weng had a good memory, and he was able to pinpoint the location in an instant. ¡°ording to the intel that Yu Ning sent over just now, this should be the tropical area, one where there¡¯s a lot of them.¡±

    Luo Wenlin watched as the people on screen appeared with a whoosh, and he also let out gasps.

    Seeing that the screen was too small to really see anything, Yu Ning connected the tablet directly to the TV in the hall.

    At this moment, not only were the few ordinary people from Nine Heavens were watching this, but it also attracted quite a number of youngsters that were from the ancient martial arts world.

    In the beginning, they had been discussing among each other, wondering how to approach these people from Nine Heavens. But before they coulde up with anything, the TV was turned on, and they freaking saw that white shirt man on screen.

    He stood in mid-air, a cold, hard expression on his face. He pulled out his Seven-Frosted de, and with a squeeze of his palm, fresh blood flowed down his hands.

    With the scent of blood in the air, the mutated beasts instantly turned their attention to him and rushed in his direction.

    He merely lowered his head to look at the beasts, his expression unchanging as he watched them charged at him, but a hint of steel could be seen in his eyes.

    The entire fight was shown on screen, and all everyone could see was an energy vortex swirling around him, white snowkes falling from the top of his head, the blue, bright glint of the Seven-Frosted de in front of him, exuding its sword aura!

    As the mutated beasts rushed towards him, Jiang Shuxuan raised his head suddenly, reaching out to grasp his sword.

    ¡°Young Master Jiang has moved!¡±

    ¡°I always thought Miss Gu and her people would be the only crazy ones!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were fixed on the screen. They had recently been surprised over and over by the Peace Squad, and hadn¡¯t been paying much attention to Jiang Shuxuan. However, this was the first time in a long while that they had seen Jiang Shuxuan in action.

    At this time, the current Jiang Shuxuan had finally be the same person as he previously was, the one who shook the entire world!

    Here in the tropics, there were tens of thousands of mutated beasts. Even though the strength of the ancient martial arts world had increased greatly, they wouldn¡¯t be able to face off with that many beasts. They would be crushed under the sheer number of them.

    But Jiang Shuxuan took down most of the beasts with just a swing of his sword!

    There was no sound from the video, and all everyone saw was that Jiang Shuxuan had paused in his steps.

    The blood on the sword in his hand dripped down slowly to the ground.

    Drop, by drop.

    He looked at the remaining mutated beasts around him, his brows furrowed slightly, as though in annoyance, thinking them to be troublesome. Then his feet touched the ground, and he remained motionless.

    ¡°What¡¯s Young Master Jiang doing?¡± Everyone from the ancient martial arts world who was watching the screen was dumbfounded at the man¡¯s action.

    Seeing a ferocious mutated tiger pounce towards Jiang Shuxuan, Luo Wenlin couldn¡¯t help but shut his eyes tightly.

    Everyone downstairs in the Jiang residence clenched their fist tightly, some holding their hands to their chest, breaking out in cold sweat as they watched.

    ***

    Yi Bing, who stood to the side, merelyughed lightly. ¡°Big boss is gonna get mad.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Murong Feiye couldn¡¯t snap out of his daze, his heart trembling. How were these two just kept besting each other?

    ¡°Just wait and see.¡± Yi Bing smiled, not saying another word.

    Murong Feiye nced at him, then silently turned back to look in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s direction.

    The snowkes in the sky had stopped falling a while ago, and Jiang Shuxuan, who still stood in the same spot, split into dozens of himself in an instant, each one holding a Seven-Frosted de in their hands!

    ¡°What the heck?¡± Every single person watching him, whether in the forest or the Jiang residence, were all in shock.

    An illusion?

    However, they soon discovered they weren¡¯t seeing things, and it wasn¡¯t an illusion!

    The dozen figures who all looked like Jiang Shuxuan, their eyes were also cold as ice. He raised the de in his hand, and with one swing, hundreds of beasts fell dead to the ground!

    For the one swing of a sword from each figure, each of them felled hundreds of beasts!

    Every figure that they thought to be an illusion, was in fact, him!

    None of it was an illusion!

    Countless mutated beasts were killed just in a single swing!

    The excellent swordsmanship!

    Its speed was faster than the wind!

    Majority of the people couldn¡¯t even see the trajectory of the de in his hand, and they could only see the beasts falling to the ground.

    After that split of his, the remaining group of mutated beasts disappeared!

    F*ck, everyone was downright speechless at this moment, only looking at Jiang Shuxuan, who now stood alone on the screen, the figures having all vanished.

    That was just a one-sided ughter!

    Before this scene, everyone in the ancient martial arts world was still guessing who was stronger between Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao. After today, nobody would say anything about this anymore. As expected, monsters needed to bepared to monsters!

    At this moment!

    In the hearts of everyone in the ancient martial arts world, Jiang Shuxuan was added inside right after Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°Why are you so cruel today?¡± When Baili Bin saw Jiang Shuxuan return, he let out a deep sigh and asked. ¡°It¡¯s your marriage today after all, seeing blood on this day...¡± He initially wanted to say it was a bad thing to spill blood on this day.

    Jiang Shuxuan spared him a nce. ¡°A gift.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Baili Bin didn¡¯t understand.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t bother replying, putting away his sword. With a sh, he disappeared from the spot.

    ¡°What the Big Boss means is that this is a gift for Miss Gu.¡± Yi Bing exined kindly.

    Baili Bin looked at the ughter field in front of him: ¡°...¡± What a gift that reeks of blood?

    ***

    Jiang Shuxuan returned to the Jiang residence. It had taken him about half an hour to do what he did, and when he came back, he didn¡¯t bother heading downstairs, directly going up to the second floor. When he pushed open the door, Gu Xiqiao was justing out of the bathroom.

    His steps faltered and he stopped at that moment.

 Chapter 367 - Whatâ€™s Happened?

    <h4>Chapter 367: What¡¯s Happened?</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao knew that Jiang Shuxuan had gone out, and could also guess what the heck he had gone to do.

    He had been angry at the wedding banquet, and ording to his attitude, Gu Xiqiao thought that he would definitely make some sort of move. So when Shu Chen was talking to her and she noticed him slip out of the house, she didn¡¯t say anything.

    Shu Chen didn¡¯t stay for long, leaving after not even twenty minutes.

    Gu Xiqiao toweled her hair as she looked at the bracelet on her wrist.

    The bracelet was creamy white, a smooth and wless texture all around. Gu Xiqiao could naturally recognize the jade to be extremely high quality. Its toughness and wear resistance were the strongest among the categories of jade, even the details on it were delicate.

    The jade in her hands at least had a thousand years¡¯ worth of history in it.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her right hand, then her left, a jade bracelet on each wrist.

    Both her hands had a jade bracelet, and while some might think it strange for a person to wear two jade bracelets like that, Gu Xiqiao could only feel that the two bracelets had been customized specially for her. The white sheep-fat jade stood out against her milky white skin, sparkling beautifully.

    One was a pale, light blue, while the other was white. Under the light, both bracelets glowed softly with a pale green glow, but what Gu Xiqiao was looking at, was not the appearance of the bracelets, but the energy contained within. She squinted her eyes as she stared at them, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

    Just when she was in her own world, the door opened with a click.

    It was about time Jiang Shuxuan returned, and Gu Xiqiao looked up casually to see Jiang Shuxuan standing at the door.

    ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± Gu Xiqiao greeted, shing him a smile. Then she walked to the bed, sitting down. She continued to dry her hair while on the bed.

    There had been a lot of mixed smells in the banquet hall today, and Gu Xiqiao felt the scent sticking to her dress, and that was the reason she went ahead and took a shower first.

    After toweling her hair for a while more, she found it strange that Jiang Shuxuan had yet to say anything since he came in.

    She couldn¡¯t help but stop what she was doing, turning to look at him. When her eyes met his deep, dark ones, she paused.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes slowly slid downwards from her face, watching the water drip from her hair, sliding down her face and onto her neck, then down her delicate corbone.

    The water droplet sparkled slightly under the light on her corbone, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight.

    After he had stopped in his steps, he closed the door, turning the lock with a click.

    Outside the door, Yu Ning, who had just reached the top of the stairs, saw the door closed and locked. He held theputer in his hands. ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Alright,e on down.¡± Luo Weng called up to him from the bottom of the stairs. ¡°Come and y cards with us. Butler Jiang has informed us that they have arranged rooms for us, so let¡¯s bring some life into the Jiang residence tonight.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Yu Ning sighed, then trudged downstairs reluctantly.

    He had always been fascinated bywork technology. There was a code that he couldn¡¯t figure out, which had only taken Gu Xiqiao two minutes to do it previously, so he wanted to ask her. Unfortunately, when he reached, Jiang Shuxuan was just closing the door!

    Yu Ning was feelingden with grief as he trudged back down.

    Then, recalling the battlefield of blood that Jiang Shuxuan had been standing in just now, Yu Ning shrank into himself for a moment, his footsteps picking up as he hurried down to follow Luo Weng.

    ***

    Inside the room, Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes, looking at the direction of the door before turning around and walking towards Gu Xiqiao in an unhurried manner. ¡°I¡¯ll help you dry your hair.¡±

    He reached out to take the towel from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. The bones of his knuckles stood out prominently, and he didn¡¯t wait for her reply before taking the towel, his fingers brushing against hers. He had always been diligent in his care for her, but today felt different, and Gu Xiqiao could still feel the lingering warmth where he had brushed against her.

    He was bent over slightly, his lips at her ear as he spoke into it. His voice was deep, a little hoarse and hypnotic. When he spoke, his breath was warm in her ears.

    The room was quiet save for the rustling of the towel, and it magnified Gu Xiqiao¡¯s feelings multiple times.

    She wanted to turn her neck, but before she could move, Jiang Shuxuan pressed a hand to her neck. ¡°Don¡¯t move, I¡¯m not done yet.¡±

    He was really taking his time, almost as though he was toweling her hair strand by strand, meticulouslybing through each strand with the towel.

    Gu Xiqiao blinked, her long eyshes trembled slightly with the movement. A faint blush was seeping into her usually pale, white face, the pupils of her eyes gaining a slightly pink hue as the time went on. Her body was also feeling unusually hot, and she tried to ignore it, but ultimately couldn¡¯t. She bit her lower lip, then opened her mouth to ask, ¡°Just now, you went and resolved the problem of those mutated beasts, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied distractedly, his eyes dark with something that wasn¡¯t anger that she couldn¡¯t see as she was looking somewhere else. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any problems in the short term.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind was working quickly. She had always been smart, and even at this time, there were a lot of topics that she could pull out to talk about. She was trying hard to dispel the strange atmosphere that was in the room at this moment.

    ¡°You...¡±

    Just as she opened her mouth to start again, Jiang Shuxuan chose this moment to be impatient, throwing the towel to one side and cing his hand on top of her head directly.

    Ayer of white mist covered the top of her head after a tick, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wet dripping hair instantly dried.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t say anything at his actions, an exasperated look on her face after she realized what he had done.

    The next second, her chin was lifted up gently.

    Their eyes met, and Gu Xiqiao saw his eyes, which were usually cold and distant, holding an unknown emotion in them. The breath was knocked out of her instantly.

    She could feel his breath on her face, as he had leaned in closer to her after he had dried her hair.

    Jiang Shuxuan took his time studying the face in front of him. The slender arch of her eyebrows, her long, delicate eyshes, the clear and shining pair of eyes, the straight, sharp nose, and thin lips that resembled the color of cherry blossoms... He liked every single feature he saw on this person, to the point that he knew that his current affection toward her was overflowing.

    She didn¡¯t know this, but when he woke up every morning, he would observe her face for a long time in the morning, as if he would never see enough of it in his lifetime.

    Gu Xiqiao had just taken a shower, and he could smell the milky scent wafting from her skin. He remembered the shower gel in the bathroom was a milk smell, which was pleasant.

    He had been enduring for a long time now, and today, he finally didn¡¯t need to hold back anymore. He didn¡¯t say anything as he leaned in, his lips on her eyshes, eyelids, nose, and it seemed that he had kissed her entire face before finallynding on her lips.

    As soon as their lips touched, he felt his body stiffened, his hands sliding down from her chin, all the way down to her hands.

    He undid the white bathrobe, continuing to pepper her face with kisses when his hand touched the smooth surface of the jade bracelets on her wrists. His eyes were clouded as he rasped out, ¡°This... did Mom give this to you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind was a jumbled mess from the affection she was showered in, and she felt as though her brains were exploding.

    These feelings had never been so vivid before. Although they lived together these days, Jiang Shuxuan was restrained, and almost a perfect image of a gentleman. Even in the caves that one time, they didn¡¯t go all the way, and after that he took seven days to purify the poison from her body.

    ¡°Brother Jiang...¡± She couldn¡¯t handle the overload of touch she could feel on her body, her handsing up to rest on his corbone area.

    Her eyes were half lidded, a clouded look in her usually clear eyes, and at a nce, she looked extremely confused.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached up to intertwine their fingers slowly, leaning in closer to her as he whispered into her ears, ¡°Say my name.¡±

    His voice was deeper than usual, slightly muffled and unusually erotic. His breath tickled her ears when he breathed, and she shivered.

    She had been biting her bottom lip, and it took a while before her brain processed the words he had said, and she stuttered slightly once she had a moment of lucidity through the haze that was clouding her mind. ¡°Jiang Shuxuan... Shuxuan...¡±

    His hands on hers tightened unconsciously the moment his name spilled from her lips, as though he was hearing her say his name for the first time. He lowered his head without hesitation, sealing her lips with his, swallowing up any other words that she was going to say.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes after the night, and beside her, Jiang Shuxuan was already awake. His eyes turned to her when he noted she was awake, and there was no hint of the usual coldness in his eyes when he looked at her, but rather a hint of a smile in it.

    ¡°Ugh... what time is it?¡± She felt a headache pounding behind her head, then remembered that she needed to serve Shu Chen and the others tea this morning[1].

    Then there were the matters to settle at Delxun Forest.

    As she spoke, she pulled herself out of bed with little difficulty.

    ¡°Mom has dropped by before this, and she said to let you rest a bit more. She¡¯s gone out to y cards with her friends...¡± Jiang Shuxuan stopped her, pressing a hand to hers.

    She¡¯s been here? Then she went out because they hadn¡¯t got up yet? There was a deafening roar in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind at that, but before she could feel embarrassed, she was pulled down next to the warm body.

    Gu XIqiao hadn¡¯t even woken up fully, then she gave in to the slumber that overtook her once again.

    When she woke up again, Jiang Shuxuan was once again up, shifting through some papers on the bed beside her. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    He lowered his head to look at her, a soft expression on his face and a rare smile on his lips.

    Gu Xiqiao could only stare at him unblinkingly, because she didn¡¯t have anything to say. She looked at the sunlight that was streaming into the room that even the curtains couldn¡¯t block, and knew that it wasn¡¯t early in the day anymore.

    She picked up the phone from the bedside table, and checked the time. It was already past three in the afternoon...

    ¡°The meal is still hot.¡± Jiang Shuxuan cleared away the papers that were on the bed, getting out of bed and bringing her a change of clothes. ¡°Put on your clothes first, I¡¯ll bring breakfast up.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao epted the clothes without much change in expression, then got down from bed and headed to the bathroom, washing up and changing her clothes.

    Her body didn¡¯t feel sticky anymore, and after her bath, there wasn¡¯t any trace of the night¡¯s activity left on her body at all. As she dried herself off and put on her clothes, she thought about it.

    Although her physique was good, it didn¡¯t mean that it could ignore indulgence and excessive desires of a normal body.

    She sighed and went to brush her teeth. After she was done, Jiang Shuxuan had already returned with a meal for her. She sat on the small sofa in the room, and Jiang Shuxuan also sat beside her, watching her eat, his hand on her back as he rubbed soothing circles.

    When the great elders and the others gathered in the study, it was a simr scene they came upon.

    Gu Xiqiao was sitting down on the chair, with Young Master Jiang standing behind her, massaging her shoulders.

    She looked up to look at the great elder and asked, ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡±

    [1] the tea ceremony is a Chinese custom practiced when entering a new family through marriage

 Chapter 368 - Ill Be Able To Dominate You Even If Im Not Around

    <h4>Chapter 368: I¡¯ll Be Able To Dominate You Even If I¡¯m Not Around</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao knew that Jiang Shuxuan had gone out, and could also guess what the heck he had gone to do.

    He had been angry at the wedding banquet, and ording to his attitude, Gu Xiqiao thought that he would definitely make some sort of move. So when Shu Chen was talking to her and she noticed him slip out of the house, she didn¡¯t say anything.

    Shu Chen didn¡¯t stay for long, leaving after not even twenty minutes.

    Gu Xiqiao toweled her hair as she looked at the bracelet on her wrist.

    The bracelet was creamy white, a smooth and wless texture all around. Gu Xiqiao could naturally recognize the jade to be extremely high quality. Its toughness and wear resistance were the strongest among the categories of jade, even the details on it were delicate.

    The jade in her hands at least had a thousand years¡¯ worth of history in it.

    Gu Xiqiao raised her right hand, then her left, a jade bracelet on each wrist.

    Both her hands had a jade bracelet, and while some might think it strange for a person to wear two jade bracelets like that, Gu Xiqiao could only feel that the two bracelets had been customized specially for her. The white sheep-fat jade stood out against her milky white skin, sparkling beautifully.

    One was a pale, light blue, while the other was white. Under the light, both bracelets glowed softly with a pale green glow, but what Gu Xiqiao was looking at, was not the appearance of the bracelets, but the energy contained within. She squinted her eyes as she stared at them, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

    Just when she was in her own world, the door opened with a click.

    It was about time Jiang Shuxuan returned, and Gu Xiqiao looked up casually to see Jiang Shuxuan standing at the door.

    ¡°Brother Jiang,¡± Gu Xiqiao greeted, shing him a smile. Then she walked to the bed, sitting down. She continued to dry her hair while on the bed.

    There had been a lot of mixed smells in the banquet hall today, and Gu Xiqiao felt the scent sticking to her dress, and that was the reason she went ahead and took a shower first.

    After toweling her hair for a while more, she found it strange that Jiang Shuxuan had yet to say anything since he came in.

    She couldn¡¯t help but stop what she was doing, turning to look at him. When her eyes met his deep, dark ones, she paused.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes slowly slid downwards from her face, watching the water drip from her hair, sliding down her face and onto her neck, then down her delicate corbone.

    The water droplet sparkled slightly under the light on her corbone, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight.

    After he had stopped in his steps, he closed the door, turning the lock with a ¡®click¡¯.

    Outside the door, Yu Ning, who had just reached the top of the stairs, saw the door closed and locked. He held theputer in his hands. ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Alright,e on down.¡± Luo Weng called up to him from the bottom of the stairs. ¡°Come and y cards with us. Butler Jiang has informed us that they have arranged rooms for us, so let¡¯s bring some life into the Jiang residence tonight.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Yu Ning sighed, then trudged downstairs reluctantly.

    He had always been fascinated bywork technology. There was a code that he couldn¡¯t figure out, which had only taken Gu Xiqiao two minutes to do it previously, so he wanted to ask her. Unfortunately, when he reached, Jiang Shuxuan was just closing the door!

    Yu Ning was feelingden with grief as he trudged back down.

    Then, recalling the battlefield of blood that Jiang Shuxuan had been standing in just now, Yu Ning shrank into himself for a moment, his footsteps picking up as he hurried down to follow Luo Weng.

    ***

    Inside the room, Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes, looking at the direction of the door before turning around and walking towards Gu Xiqiao in an unhurried manner. ¡°I¡¯ll help you dry your hair.¡±

    He reached out to take the towel from Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands. The bones of his knuckles stood out prominently, and he didn¡¯t wait for her reply before taking the towel, his fingers brushing against hers. He had always been diligent in his care for her, but today felt different, and Gu Xiqiao could still feel the lingering warmth where he had brushed against her.

    He was bent over slightly, his lips at her ear as he spoke into it. His voice was deep, a little hoarse and hypnotic. When he spoke, his breath was warm in her ears.

    The room was quiet save for the rustling of the towel, and it magnified Gu Xiqiao¡¯s feelings multiple times.

    She wanted to turn her neck, but before she could move, Jiang Shuxuan pressed a hand to her neck. ¡°Don¡¯t move, I¡¯m not done yet.¡±

    He was really taking his time, almost as though he was toweling her hair strand by strand, meticulouslybing through each strand with the towel.

    Gu Xiqiao blinked, her long eyshes trembled slightly with the movement. A faint blush was seeping into her usually pale, white face, the pupils of her eyes gaining a slightly pink hue as the time went on. Her body was also feeling unusually hot, and she tried to ignore it, but ultimately couldn¡¯t. She bit her lower lip, then opened her mouth to ask, ¡°Just now, you went and resolved the problem of those mutated beasts, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jiang Shuxuan replied distractedly, his eyes dark with something that wasn¡¯t anger that she couldn¡¯t see as she was looking somewhere else. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any problems in the short term.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind was working quickly. She had always been smart, and even at this time, there were a lot of topics that she could pull out to talk about. She was trying hard to dispel the strange atmosphere that was in the room at this moment.

    ¡°You...¡±

    Just as she opened her mouth to start again, Jiang Shuxuan chose this moment to be impatient, throwing the towel to one side and cing his hand on top of her head directly.

    Ayer of white mist covered the top of her head after a tick, and Gu Xiqiao¡¯s wet dripping hair instantly dried.

    Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t say anything at his actions, an exasperated look on her face after she realized what he had done.

    The next second, her chin was lifted up gently.

    Their eyes met, and Gu Xiqiao saw his eyes, which were usually cold and distant, holding an unknown emotion in them. The breath was knocked out of her instantly.

    She could feel his breath on her face, as he had leaned in closer to her after he had dried her hair.

    Jiang Shuxuan took his time studying the face in front of him. The slender arch of her eyebrows, her long, delicate eyshes, the clear and shining pair of eyes, the straight, sharp nose, and thin lips that resembled the color of cherry blossoms... He liked every single feature he saw on this person, to the point that he knew he couldn¡¯t feel more affection than he did currently.

    She didn¡¯t know this, but when he woke up every morning, he would observe her face for a long time in the morning, as if he would never see enough of it in his lifetime.

    Gu Xiqiao had just taken a shower, and he could smell the milky scent wafting from her skin. He remembered the shower gel in the bathroom was a milk smell, which was pleasant.

    He had been enduring for a long time now, and today, he finally didn¡¯t need to hold back anymore. He didn¡¯t say anything as he leaned in, his lips on her eyshes, eyelids, nose, and it seemed that he had kissed her entire face before finallynding on her lips.

    As soon as their lips touched, he felt his body stiffened, his hands sliding down from her chin, all the way down to her hands.

    He undid the white bathrobe, continuing to pepper her face with kisses when his hand touched the smooth surface of the jade bracelets on her wrists. His eyes were clouded as he rasped out, ¡°This... did Mom give this to you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mind was a jumbled mess from the affection she was showered in, and she felt as though her brains were exploding.

    These feelings had never been so vivid before. Although they lived together these days, Jiang Shuxuan was restrained, and almost a perfect image of a gentleman. Even in the caves that one time, they didn¡¯t go all the way, and after that he took seven days to purify the poison from her body.

    ¡°Brother Jiang...¡± She couldn¡¯t handle the overload of touch she could feel on her body, her handsing up to rest on his corbone area.

    Her eyes were half-lidded, a clouded look in her usually clear eyes, and at a nce, she looked extremely confused.

    Jiang Shuxuan reached up to intertwine their fingers slowly, leaning in closer to her as he whispered into her ears, ¡°Say my name.¡±

    His voice was deeper than usual, slightly muffled and unusually erotic. His breath tickled her ears when he breathed, and she shivered.

    She had been biting her bottom lip, and it took a while before her brain processed the words he had said, and she stuttered slightly once she had a moment of lucidity through the haze that was clouding her mind. ¡°Jiang Shuxuan... Shuxuan...¡±

    His hands on hers tightened unconsciously the moment his name spilled from her lips, as though he was hearing her say his name for the first time. He lowered his head without hesitation, sealing her lips with his, swallowing up any other words that she was going to say.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes after the night, and beside her, Jiang Shuxuan was already awake. His eyes turned to her when he noted she was awake, and there was no hint of the usual coldness in his eyes when he looked at her, but rather a hint of a smile in it.

    ¡°Ugh... what time is it?¡± She felt a headache pounding behind her head, then remembered that she needed to serve Shu Chen and the others tea this morning[1].

    Then there were the matters to settle at Delxun Forest.

    As she spoke, she pulled herself out of bed with little difficulty.

    ¡°Mom has dropped by before this, and she said to let you rest a bit more. She¡¯s gone out to y cards with her friends...¡± Jiang Shuxuan stopped her, pressing a hand to hers.

    She¡¯s been here? Then she went out because they hadn¡¯t got up yet? There was a deafening roar in Gu XIqiao¡¯s mind at that, but before she could feel embarrassed, she was pulled down next to the warm body.

    Gu XIqiao hadn¡¯t even woken up fully, then she gave in to the slumber that overtook her once again.

    When she woke up again, Jiang Shuxuan was once again up, shifting through some papers on the bed beside her. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    He lowered his head to look at her, a soft expression on his face and a rare smile on his lips.

    Gu Xiqiao could only stare at him unblinkingly, because she didn¡¯t have anything to say. She looked at the sunlight that was streaming into the room that even the curtains couldn¡¯t block, and knew that it wasn¡¯t early in the day anymore.

    She picked up the phone from the bedside table, and checked the time. It was already past three in the afternoon...

    ¡°The meal is still hot.¡± Jiang Shuxuan cleared away the papers that were on the bed, getting out of bed and bringing her a change of clothes. ¡°Put on your clothes first, I¡¯ll bring breakfast up.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao epted the clothes without much change in expression, then got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, washing up and changing her clothes.

    Her body didn¡¯t feel sticky anymore, and after her bath, there wasn¡¯t any trace of the night¡¯s activity left on her body at all. As she dried herself off and put on her clothes, she thought about it.

    Although her physique was good, it doesn¡¯t mean that it could ignore indulgence and excessive desires of a normal body.

    She sighed and went to brush her teeth. After she was done, Jiang Shuxuan had already returned with a meal for her. She sat on the small sofa in the room, and Jiang Shuxuan also sat beside her, watching her eat, his hand on her back as he rubbed soothing circles.

    When the great elders and the others gathered in the study, it was a simr scene they came upon.

    Gu Xiqiao was sitting down on the chair, with Young Master Jiang standing behind her, massaging her shoulders.

    She looked up to look at the great elder and asked, ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡±

    Chapter 64: I Can Abuse You Even If I¡¯m Not Here

    The great elder came to discuss the recent outbreak of the mutated beasts. They had initially given a call to Jiang Shuxuan early in the morning, but the man had turned off his phone. The great elder then tried calling Gu Xiqiao¡¯s phone, but was directly cklisted by Jiang Shuxuan.

    Now that elders heard the couple had woken up, the great elder stopped calling, heading for the Jiang residence directly instead.

    They didn¡¯t expect to stumble upon such a scene in the study.

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s voice snapped them out of their daze. ¡°Miss Gu, Young Master Jiang, the leaders of all the power circles around the world are here. The main purpose is to inquire about the mutated beast, and also about how China has revealed the secrets of the ancient martial arts world to the public. Their own people have already begun to panic.¡±

    The leaders of the power worlds have been pressuring the ancient martial arts world all together, but the great elder wasn¡¯t worried in the slightest, calmly talking to Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°Panic?¡± Gu Xiqiao stopped typing, raising her head slowly to look at the great elder. Her eyes were narrowed, and it was hard to tell what she was feeling.

    The great elder nodded his head. ¡°Adding on the urrence of the mutated beasts, they are all in a panic right now.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you handle it?¡± Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands also paused as he pursed his lips, but his expression was softer than his usual cold, hard one. However, it didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t a cold look on his face when he looked at the elders.

    The great elder wiped away the cold sweat that had broken out. ¡°The ancient martial arts world, as well as Japan and America are waiting for Miss Gu¡¯s instructions.¡± It wasn¡¯t like the great elder couldn¡¯t handle it, but the only thing they could think of doing could only temporarily suppress the other countries. In order topletely solve the panic of the people, they needed Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan to make an appearance.

    Also, the great elder believed that Gu Xiqiao could handle the situation perfectly.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go with you all.¡± Gu Xiqiao tapped her fingers on the table, and Jiang Shuxuan stopped what he was doing instantly. She sent all the files on theputer to Zhu Yuan¡¯s email, then turned to look at the great elder. ¡°It so happens there are a few things that we need to tell you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± The great elder smiled. ¡°Thank you very much, Miss Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t reply, turning to look out the window instead. ¡°After this meeting, Brother Jiang and I will be leaving.¡±

    Leaving? The great elder knew that they had something they needed to do, but he didn¡¯t think that it would be so urgent.

    ¡°When are you leaving?¡± The great elder¡¯s face became somber. For them to choose this time to leave, it must be something extremely important.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked slowly towards the bookshelf, pulling out a document as he replied faintly, ¡°Seven in the evening.¡±

    It was now five in the evening, there was still two hours before their departure.

    Seven o¡¯clock was also a time that Gu Xiqiao had decided. The time was the most auspicious number of the day.

    In the Elders¡¯ Pavilion, the various leaders of the power world had gathered there. The long table was full of people, the leader of America and Japan sitting at the side of the head of the table. The others seated in the further seats were all moring and making noises, and the two seats at the head of the table were still empty. The second elder was standing beside the chairs, his head lowered, as though he wasn¡¯t concerned at all about themotion that was happening in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion at the moment.

    ¡°Leader Nozawa,¡± The person sitting below Nozawa cup his hands in greeting as he addressed Nozawa. ¡°Don¡¯t you also think that the approach the ancient martial arts world took is over the line? Announcing the existence of the ancient martial arts world, letting the ordinary people of our country panic, it¡¯s something that none of us can do!¡±

    Nozawa picked up his cup of tea, looking at the man who spoke to him without saying anything in response.

    Perhaps it was because of the chilling look on Nozawa¡¯s face, making the person who spoke felt like he was being looked down upon, but he didn¡¯t dare say anything. They weren¡¯t as strong as Japan after all. He turned to Wan Qijue instead. ¡°Leader Wanqi, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°I also think it isn¡¯t a good move.¡± Wanqi Jue smiled, ying with his phone in a casual manner. ¡°Leader Jerry, I support you. Go on, destroy the ancient martial arts world. I have faith in you.¡±

    As soon as Wanqi Jue said that, the leader of America couldn¡¯t help the unkind smile that stretched across his face. Wanqi Jue just wanted to cause some drama, destroy the ancient martial arts world? Daring to say such a thing, he just wanted to watch the show happen in front of him.

    ¡°You...¡± Leader Jerry¡¯s face flushed, but didn¡¯t continue his words. Destroy the ancient martial arts world? He wouldn¡¯t even dare to entertain the thought, they were just a small country, and just Jiang Shuxuan alone could easily wipe their country from the map.

    Wanqi Jue sneered at his reaction, what a load of bullsh*t from someone who talked so much about the ancient martial arts world. It was just talk after all, he didn¡¯t even dare mention Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s name in fear. If he was more determined in his ideas, Wanqi Jue might have felt a hint of respect for him.

    He couldn¡¯t help but shake his head when he thought about it, and didn¡¯t bother following up with the conversation.

    Leader Jerry had be boring already, and so Wanqi Jue turned his gaze to the others around him, and discussed current matters.

    These were all power circles of the smaller countries, their strength couldn¡¯t evenpare to a family in the ancient martial arts world. Most of the time, they were attached to the other countries, and even the ordinary people of their own country wouldn¡¯t acknowledge them. So when Gu Xiqiao announced to the public about powers beyond the ordinary people, these smaller countries felt the hit from the secr world. Adding on the problems of the mutated beasts recently, these people from the power world were in a panic.

    Apart from Wanqi Jue who knew the truth, everyone else was discussing this matter with a fierce intensity.

    Most of their opinions were for Gu Xiqiao to rify the matter again, to get rid of the suspicions of the other countries.

    The second elder pretended to not hear any of these opinions being voiced out. In the end, he seemed to be bored of the repeating words, and he took out his phone and started to y with it.

    Seeing the second elder in this state, the people thought that he was in agreement with them, and started to be more vigorous in their discussions.

    ¡°I also think Miss Gu has overstepped this time. Although she¡¯s the wife of Young Master Jiang, your ancient martial arts world can¡¯t just ignore her in this, right?¡±

    ¡°She needs to rify this matter to the people of our country...¡±

    Hearing those words, Wanqi Jue nced at the person who had spoken. Young Master Jiang¡¯s wife? Was that how they were defining her? Wanqi Jue touched his chin thoughtfully. These people thought that she was just Miss Gu, and hadn¡¯t found out what her background was. Once they knew the true strength of Gu Xiqiao, the way they defined her would definitely turn around.

    It would probably be Miss Gu¡¯s husband the next time, instead of Young Master Jiang¡¯s wife?

    While these people were still in their discussions and debate, it obviously looked like they were not intending to stop anytime soon. At this time, the door to the Elders¡¯ Pavillion open with a ¡®creak¡¯, and a greeting ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ was heard clearly by everyone seated in the room.

    All of them quieted down immediately, their heads snapping behind to look at the door.

    The door had opened, and two figures were walking in. One was thin and slender, her head lowered slightly and you couldn¡¯t see what expression was on their face, while the other was the great elder.

    Not seeing Jiang Shuxuan, these people from the power world immediately turned away, continuing on their discussion, ignoring Gu Xiqiao¡¯s presence.

    It was probably because in their eyes, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s presence was not as domineering as Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s, and couldn¡¯t attract their attention.

    Wanqi Jue and Nozawa looked at these people with some pity in their eyes. They couldn¡¯t wait to see the shock of underestimating Gu Xiqiao dawning on their faces.

    Only, no one saw the pitying gaze that Wanqi Jue gave them, as they were still immersed in their discussion that had picked up once again.

    Gu Xiqiao sat in one of the two empty seats, while the great elder didn¡¯t take a seat, standing behind her, an image of an obedient subordinate.

    Wanqi Jue, Nozawa, and the leader of America immediately stood up, greeting her respectfully, ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nodded slightly, and the three of them sat back down.

    Although everyone else in the room felt it to be strange that the three leaders of the strongest power world were showing such respect to a little girl, they didn¡¯t think too much about it.

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything, but her gaze swept across the room, looking at the loudest person in the room. She ced her chin on her palmzily, her other hand tapping on the table in front of her. The tapping sound against the table was not heard over the chatter in the room.

    After listening for a few more minutes, she more or less understood what was happening.

    ¡°You want me to apologize?¡± Gu Xiqiao retracted her hands, leaning back against the chair, looking at the people in front of her with a casual expression on her face.

    A terrifying pressure immediately followed after her words, and the entire room was plunged into a terrifying atmosphere. All sounds stopped abruptly, as if a mute button had been pressed, and they all turned to look at Gu Xiqiao in horror. Disbelief slowly bled into their faces, and the blood drained from their faces.

    They had only ever seen this level of spiritual power in Jiang Shuxuan, and even Wanqi Jue, who had been known for his strength, could not reach this level.

    They had always thought that only Jiang Shuxuan from the ancient martial arts world could make them bow their heads. They didn¡¯t expect that this woman in front of them was also so extremely strong!

    Cold sweat broke out, and looking at the inattentive attitude Gu Xiqiao was disying, all of them knew that she wasn¡¯t even disying her full strength. They didn¡¯t dare to imagine what it would be like if she were to exert all her strength, and those people who were insisting she apologize were all silent.

    They were desperately wanting to dig a hole to bury themselves, and then their mind was racing, wondering if they had said unnecessary things just now!

    With her strength, to kill them was just a small matter after all!

    Once all sound had stopped, Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes at them. Then she raised her hand, a tablet appearing in her hands. She waved her hand, and the device floated in the air. She dialed Feng Jiu¡¯s number, and only the dial tone was heard for a while. Feng Jiu¡¯s respectful tone was the same as the second elder, and came through once the call was answered, ¡°Miss Gu.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t say anything in response, but the second elder raised his head and spoke, ¡°Mr. Feng Jiu, these leaders of the power world wants Miss Gu to issue an apology...¡±

    Before the second elder could finish his words, Feng Jiu was already hurriedly replying, ¡°An apology? Why? Even if Miss Gu agrees to it, the people of our country wouldn¡¯t let it happen. Please assure Miss Gu that can do what she wants, we¡¯ll all be backing her one hundred percent.¡±

    The video call ended abruptly, and everyone on the scene was in a daze.

    For the entire country to acknowledge the ancient martial arts world, and Gu Xiqiao herself, how in the world had she managed to do this?

    Gu Xiqiao gestured with her fingers, and the tablet floated back to her hand. She stood up slowly, both hands ced on the table. ¡°Mutated beasts? Exposing the power world to the public? Come, just you.¡± Gu Xiqiao pointed to the person who had been the loudest in expressing his opinion previously, and her voice was extremely gentle when she spoke, ¡°Listen well, if you agree with my approach, then contact and discuss it with the Great Elder. If you don¡¯t agree and intend to try to brainwash our ancient martial arts world, I¡¯ll be able to dominate you even if I¡¯m not around.¡±

    [1] in Chinese tradition, a tea ceremony is held before officially joining the new family.

 Chapter 369 - New Perception

    <h4>Chapter 369: New Perception</h4>

    Disagree? Who the heck would dare to say they disagree at this time?!

    Looking at the way Gu Xiqiao carried herself, it was obvious that she was using her strength to dominate over everyone so that no one would dare to go against her!

    However, even though they were well aware of this matter, it was still reality that it was a fact that was happening. When they looked at Gu Xiqiao, no one dared to voice any protest.

    All of them together would still be no match for Gu Xiqiao, who would dare to resist this kind of person?

    ¡°Looks like all the leaders present are in agreement with me. That¡¯s good.¡± Gu Xiqiao was still leaning forward on the table, her eyes narrowed at them. ¡°What the entire power world needs is unity. You don¡¯t have to do much, just listen to the Great Elder. As for the specifics on what you need to do, just ask the Great Elder yourself when the timees.¡±

    After Gu Xiqiao finished speaking, one of the more old-fashioned men sitting in the middle stood up, adjusting his sses as he did. ¡°Miss Gu, I would like to know why you would announce this matter to the public atrge. Perhaps your countrymen didn¡¯t give any resistance to you, but the managers of the secr world are not as favorable towards us in our smaller countries.¡±

    Although they had been oppressed by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s strength, it didn¡¯t mean that they wholly agreed with her ideas. Though they were frustrated with her, and were cornered, they still needed to stand their ground.

    Hearing his words, the leader of America and Nozawa gave him a strange look.

    Come to think of it, maybe this person wasn¡¯t aware of the catastrophe that had happened in America and Japan?

    If these people knew that America and Japan had almost fallen into ruins, would they still be able to sit here with such a calm attitude?

    ¡°I should have told you all too, I suppose.¡± Gu Xiqiao pressed a finger against her lips, her tone light. ¡°About those mutated beasts outside.¡±

    The great elder distributed the documents in his hands to everyone present.

    Once those leaders epted the document, they felt weird at first. Why were there documents suddenly? But when they looked down and started reading, their expressions changed from confusion, to shock, to panic, and calm atst.

    The atmosphere in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion was unprecedentedly heavy. It was regarding the life and death of the existence of all the power worlds, how could this not be a serious matter?

    The change was only for a few minutes.

    ¡°The main purpose of youing to the ancient martial arts world was just to solve this matter.¡± Gu Xiqiao pped her hands after they had finished reading, standing up once again. ¡°Alright, it seems that you¡¯ve finished reading. Now, let¡¯s hear your opinions.¡±

    At this time, no one said anything.

    Finally, Leader Jerry took the lead and opened his mouth. When Gu Xiqiao first came in, his reaction had been huge. But now, his voice was so very low when he spoke, ¡°Miss Gu, I know that we definitely need your help, and our country will help you unconditionally. But, I hope that your ancient martial arts world will help us protect the ordinary people in our country.¡±

    Whether or not the incidents were true, these people already knew in the bottom of their hearts.

    From the time they knew about the mutated beasts, they already knew that there was something else behind that wasn¡¯t good. Now that they read through the document that Gu Xiqiao hadpiled carefully, all of them were leaning back into their chair weakly.

    They knew just how serious the matter was after they had read through the document. If these mutated beasts were expanded on arge scale, it would deal a heavy blow to any of the countries, and at that time, all the countries would be weakened, and the people would be impoverished.

    ¡°Need your help? No.¡± Gu Xiqiao was ying with her phone. ¡°Even if it¡¯s America¡¯s or Japan¡¯s help, we don¡¯t need it. Do I need you? Right now, I¡¯m just asking for you to properly protect your own people.¡±

    You don¡¯t even need the help of America and Japan?

    Don¡¯t need? America, Ennd, and Japan were the top three countries, second only to the ancient martial arts world, how could they not need their help? Strength and manpower were what they were mostcking at the moment after all!

    But, Gu Xiqiao was saying she didn¡¯t need it? Was their ancient martial arts world so powerful now?

    They didn¡¯t need them, could it be possible that the ancient martial arts world wanted to resist this disaster with just their own strength?

    That was really a fantasy thought, and for a while, these were what everyone had in their minds. But then they looked at Gu Xiqiao. Though she was strong, she was still young, and they couldn¡¯t help but be unable to remain calm.

    As for Gu Xiqiao, she wasn¡¯t bothered in the slightest by their gazes on her, but she was getting impatient.

    She and Jiang Shuxuan were going to be leaving at seven, and it was almost six now. Once this matter was settled, it was time to leave. It would also be time... for the final battle.

    As though he saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s impatience, the great elder reached out to knock his fist against the table. ¡°What else do you need to ask Miss Gu? If there¡¯s nothing else, then I will be taking over the next matter.¡±

    Once he said that, no one said anything, and thought it would be better to discuss it with the great elder instead.

    ¡°Wait, Miss Gu.¡± Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had started to rise from her seat, one of them walked forward. ¡°Who is the person behind this incident? Or, is their intention to destroy all the power worlds?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps, but she didn¡¯t turn around to look at them. Her voice was low as she spoke. ¡°It¡¯s pointless to know who is pulling the strings. With your current strength, even if you were to increase it by ten times, you wouldn¡¯t be his opponent. As for what they intend to do... they probably want to take over the life of the entire world.¡±

    After saying that, she left. As for those left behind in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion, they were still seated in their seats, cold sweat breaking out.

    Their original intention today was to get an exnation from the ancient martial arts world, but they never expected something like this. Take over all life in the entire world? Then how would they live? Like the living dead? Was there any difference than just dying then?

    Everyone¡¯s face was ashen, today¡¯s event was a heavy blow to them!

    It waspletely unprecedented!

    ¡°Leaders, what else do you have to say about Miss Gu¡¯s proposal?¡± The great elder was smiling brightly at them.

    Leader Jerry nced at the great elder, then back to the others around them. ¡°Great Elder, our country¡¯s power circle will follow the arrangements of the ancient martial arts world and Miss Gu.¡±

    ¡°We too...¡±

    Once Leader Jerry started the ball rolling, everyone else soon followed suit.

    The expression on the great elder¡¯s face was neutral, but the corners of his mouth were twitching. Miss Gu¡¯s way of handling difficult people was getting stronger, and she managed to persuade these stubborn bunch of people without even doing anything. These leaders had so much protest against Gu Xiqiao in the beginning, and not long since then, all of them were now so obedient!

    ¡°That¡¯s good then. I know that everyone seems to have lost confidence in life,¡± The great elder¡¯s mouth stretched into a strange smile. ¡°Now, please follow me somewhere.¡±

    The leaders of the power worlds look at each other, then follow behind the great elder.

    Leader Jerry nced at the great elder, who seemed to be in a great mood. He couldn¡¯t help but feel puzzled. It was such a big and serious matter, how was the great elder so calm?

    But everyone soon understood why the old man was like this.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the Great Elder bringing those people?¡± The seventh elder came in to see the great elder leading the big group out, and he asked in confusion.

    The second elder stroked his beard, smiling. ¡°If those people could read Buddhist scriptures, we should start preparing it for them.¡±

    Hearing those words, the seventh elder couldn¡¯t help the smile that stretched across his face. ¡°No way, the Great Elder is bringing them there?!¡±

    The second elderughed as he nodded, before letting out a sigh. ¡°We need to give them a boost in confidence after all.¡±

    ¡°But this would probably be too great of a shock.¡± The seventh elder shook his head. ¡°I hope they don¡¯t get a heart attack from it!¡±

    ***

    The great elder took the group to three ces.

    One was the ranking stone table of the Trial Tower in the ancient martial arts world.

    When the leaders looked at the names on the ranking list, their eyes widened in disbelief!

    ¡°Gu Xiqiao has reached the 90th floor?!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Jiang has also reached the 90th floor?!¡±

    Forget about these two who were extremely strong, they already had the expectation that Jiang Shuxuan was strong, but what else did they see?!

    Baili Bin, 85th floor!

    Tang Qingqiu, 84th floor!

    Yao Jiamu, 79th floor!

    Wu Hongwen, 76th floor!

    Tang Qinghong, 76th floor!

    Xiao Yun, 75th floor!

    The list went on, but it only had the top hundred on it. When you looked at the bottom, thest one on the list was also on the 52nd floor!

    It was also a person who had been in the top twenty in the Youth Ranking List, but that person¡¯s strength was at the bottom of the ancient martial arts world?

    In such a short time, how could the ancient martial arts world improve so much and so quickly?

    And it was an overall improvement?!

    Even if they were to join all their forces together and were ten times stronger, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to beat just these hundred people whose names were on the ranking tablet!

    Before the surprise and shock could fully sink in, the great elder brought them to the next ce, which was the training field of the ancient martial arts world.

    When they arrived, ten youngsters were working together to kill a monster that had reached Xiantian level!

    Seeing the great elder present, the leader of the group stopped ying around with the beast,nding a killing blow, smashing it to death with just a single blow!

    ¡°Great Elder.¡± The young man grinned.

    The great elder waved his hand dismissively, and after saying a few words of encouragement, he continued to move forward with the group of people, and finally came to Peace Manor!

    ¡°This is the ce that the entire ancient martial arts world currently yearns for. The top one hundred names in the ranking list that you saw just now, ny percent of them are people from Peace Manor!¡± The great elder was still indifferent and calm, as though he was just talking about the weather. ¡°Oh yes, all the people in Peace Manor are Miss Gu¡¯s subordinates.¡±

    The Trial Tower ranking list!

    The younger generation of the ancient martial arts world!

    Peace Manor!

    All the leaders of the power world were in a stupefied state, and they wereing to realize that the causal remarks that Gu Xiqiao had made were not falsehood at all. The ancient martial arts world really didn¡¯t need them, and that was why Gu Xiqiao had easily said ¡®no need¡¯ these two words.

    Because, the ancient martial arts world really had the strength!

    For a while, everyone was silent.

    ¡°I remember now,¡± At this moment, someone suddenly spoke up. ¡°The person that ranked first in the Youth Ranking List this year, it was someone with the surname Gu. What rtion does this person have with Miss Gu?¡±

    Wanqi Jue patted the shoulder of the person who spoke. ¡°Think properly what the person¡¯s name was, then think about what Miss Gu¡¯s name is. Then check on the recentlyrge scalepany called Nine Heavens in your country, and finally, connect it to the person who¡¯s ranked first in the Trial Tower¡¯s ranking list. You¡¯ll have a new perception by then.¡±

 Chapter 370 - No One Will Touch Him!

    <h4>Chapter 370: No One Will Touch Him!</h4>

    After leaving the ancient martial arts world, Gu Xiqiao stood at the intersection, waiting for Jiang Shuxuan. Two minutester, a thin figure walked over slowly, and there was another person behind them. Gu Xiqiao nced up to find that it was ng.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t take it?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, looking at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s pursed lips.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at her, then silently walked to her side, not saying anything in response.

    Gu Xiqiao was also silent for a while, before finally saying, ¡°Alright then.¡±

    Seeing the two in this state, ng couldn¡¯t help but scratch his head and smiled. ¡°Miss Gu, you and Mr. Jiang needs me to help with something, just say it. I¡¯m not afraid of anything, just afraid that I won¡¯t be able to help you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing for the time being. Go on back and continue your training.¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples, looking towards ng.

    As usual, ng didn¡¯t object to her words, and hearing that, he didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he nced at the two with some doubt, then turned around and left.

    After ng left, Gu Xiqiao too turned around. ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Brother Jiang.¡±

    ***

    ng returned to Peace Manor, and just as he picked up his weapon, Luo Weng walked out from the house. ¡°ng, Mr. Zhuge is looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Zhuge?¡± ng had been getting some understanding of the ancient martial arts world, and naturally knew who this Mr. Zhuge was. That¡¯s why he asked even as he turned to walk inside. ¡°Why is Mr. Zhuge looking for me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it should be something important if he¡¯s looking for you. Didn¡¯t Mr. Jiang also came looking for you just now?¡± Luo Weng shot ng a doubtful look, before patting him on the shoulder. ¡°Go on in.¡±

    ng felt his heart go a bit numb at the look that Luo Weng had given him, before he continued to follow behind him.

    ¡°Mr. Luo.¡± Zhuge Yan was flipping through a book when the two came in, and he couldn¡¯t help but looked at Luo Weng. ¡°Who wrote the notes in this book?¡±

    Luo Weng nced at the book, noting that it was an ancient text. Gu Xiqiao was the only person who could leavements in them. ¡°Everything in it is written by Miss Gu, Mr. Zhuge.¡±

    ¡°I guessed as much.¡± Zhuge Yan put the book down, turning his gaze towards ng.

    Luo Weng immediately understood. ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave first, Mr. Zhuge.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Zhuge Yan waved his hand, but his eyes were still on ng. ¡°ng, when Mr. Jiang came looking for you just now, do you know what it was about?¡±

    ng was going to reply that he didn¡¯t know, but Zhuge Yan went on without waiting, ¡°When I first met Mr. Jiang, I saw that he would be having a life-threatening catastrophe in the near future.¡±

    The moment he said that, ng and Luo Weng both looked at Zhuge Yan in shock.

    ¡°When I first found Miss Gu, I gave her a horoscope. It was of the person who would be Mr. Jiang¡¯s lifeline.¡± Zhuge Yan¡¯s eyes were still on ng unblinkingly.

    Luo Weng picked it up within the next few seconds. ¡°And this lifeline, it¡¯s ng?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Zhuge Yan turned away, softly saying, ¡°ng, he initially came to retrieve something in you that belonged to him, however, he didn¡¯t do it in the end. That¡¯s because he knew, the moment he took it from you, you would be useless. So, knowing this, are you still willing to return it to him?¡±

    As soon as Zhuge Yan said that, ng didn¡¯t hesitate at all. ¡°Mr. Zhuge, Miss Gu and the others are leaving soon, you need to hurry up and take it out to give it to them!¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Zhuge Yan¡¯s expression darkened, looking at ng. ¡°Even if you¡¯ll be a useless person after this?¡±

    ¡°To have the days up to now is already considered to be a dream, no, even something that I wouldn¡¯t be able to dream of.¡± ng smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t know this, Mr. Zhuge, but my sister is now living her life like a normal person. She doesn¡¯t need to stay in thebs every day now, and I have the strength to protect myself now, not needing to worry about my powers being exposed. This kind of life is beyond any dreams I had.¡±

    Zhuge Yan studied ng¡¯s face, and determined that he was indeed serious, and he smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve only recently gained the ability to triple someone¡¯s powers, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,st May.¡± ng nodded in confirmation.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Luo Weng suddenly said. ¡°That¡¯s quite a good time, ng. It¡¯s about the same time as the establishment of Nine Heavens.¡±

    ¡°Really? What a coincidence!¡± ng scratched the back of his head, then turned to look at Zhuge Yan. ¡°Mr. Zhuge, it¡¯s not good to dy too long, hurry.¡±

    ¡°I have a way to take the thing out of your body without affecting you. After this, your ability to triple someone¡¯s powers will weaken, and nothing else will vanish...¡±

    ¡°Alright already, Mr. Zhuge! Just hurry and start!¡± ng urged.

    Zhuge Yan: ¡°...¡± Who was he doing this for again?

    ***

    At the edge of the ancient martial arts world, there were a group of people who were seeing Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao off as usual. But this time, the atmosphere was heavypared to the previous times.

    ¡°Shuxuan, Qiao Qiao, we¡¯ll be waiting for the two of you toe back.¡± Shu Chen looked at the two of them silently after saying that.

    Jiang Shuxuan was holding Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand tightly in his, and reached out with his free hand to produce two jade pieces to his mother. ¡°Mom, these two pieces of jade have our life force in them. As long as we¡¯re alive, the jade will be fine. If we¡¯re dead, the jade will shatter.¡±

    Shu Chen took the jade from him, her hands obviously shaking the moment she heard thest part of the sentence her son had just spoken.

    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll be leaving first.¡± Gu Xiqiao waved, the flying ark appeared.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Just as the two were stepping onto the ark, Wen Xi came running towards them, out of breath as she trusted a wooden box in her hand. ¡°Miss Gu, Mr. Jiang, the young master has something to give you!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao took the wooden box. She knew what was inside without opening it, and she kept it away. ¡°Wen Xi, pass on my thanks to your young master.¡±

    ¡°The young master has something else to tell you.¡± Wen Xi straightened up after catching her breath, clearing her throat as she did. ¡°Live in the moment, hold fast to your heart.¡±

    Live in the moment, hold fast to your heart? Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes narrowed, then nodded towards Wen Xi. ¡°I¡¯ll remember it.¡±

    This time, the two of them left for real.

    Gu Xiqiao was standing in the center of the flying ark, wearing a light blue coat and ck pencil pants. The pastel blue color of the coat against her skin made her face seem like white jade, and her hair fluttered behind as the wind gently blew. She stood there in a casual pose, but it was still enough to make a mesmerizing picture that people wouldn¡¯t be able to look away from.

    Jiang Shuxuan was standing next to her, weaning the same style of coat, just in an off white color. A few strands of hair scattered across his forehead, softening his usually cold, hard face. He was standing tall and straight, giving off a majestic aura.

    He didn¡¯t say anything during this time, waving his hands and the ark slowed down and disappeared into the horizon.

    In the world of ice and snow in Delxun Forest, Gu Xiqiao looked at the almost transparent iceberg in front of them, and said softly, ¡°Brother Jiang, do you feel that this iceberg is extremely familiar?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan squeezed her hand tightly, looking at the iceberg without a word, but his brows furrowed slightly.

    ¡°The real ce of the inheritance is not here, it¡¯s further inside.¡± Jiang Shuxuan looked at the empty space in front of him, and his fingers moved slightly. The air around them distorted, and the two disappeared from the spot.

    The next second, they appeared in what seemed to be a ce full of formless mass.

    Gu Xiqiao looked at the sword that emitted a blue glow floating in front of him, and she couldn¡¯t help the awe that shed in her eyes. ¡°Is this the real Seven-Frosted de?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, looking at the de. ¡°The energy sealed within it is huge.¡±

    ¡°The most important part of receiving this inheritance is your will, Brother Jiang. I¡¯ll be waiting outside for you,¡± Gu Xiqiao fixed her eyes on Jiang Shuxuan as she said this.

    ¡°Alright.¡± He lowered his head slightly, raising her chin to press a soft kiss to her lips, before disappearing from her sight.

    At the same time, the huge Seven-Frosted de trembled.

    Jiang Shuxuan could only feel that his soul had been divided into several parts, and at the same time, it was as though his soul itself was on fire, the pain was indescribable!

    Even though he was Jiang Shuxuan, his entire body was shaking from the pain.

    Every second felt like years to him!

    The road to being strong was paved with blood, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s heart was firm, no amount of pain would stop him!

    Until¡ª

    In one of his divided soul fragments, a red figure suddenly appeared!

    d in red robes, a pair of clear eyes, and a shallow smile on the figure¡¯s face. Even if the person was wearing an ancient costume, Jiang Shuxuan could recognize this person anywhere. It was the figure of Gu Xiqiao!

    Anger seeped into his usually indifferent face, a trail of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s situation was not good, and Gu Xiqiao, who was standing outside, wore a grave expression on her face.

    This ce was and of muddled mass, there was no sun or sky, let alone night or day. For a moment, Gu Xiqiao felt like she was back in the virtual space of the system, but a vortex soon appeared above her head!

    Red thunder roared in the sky, and goosebumps appeared on those who could hear the rumbling in this quiet space!

    ¡°Heaven¡¯s Will?¡± Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes to observe the terrifying lightning and thunder, spitting out the words coldly.

    Boom!

    A thick bolt of lightning mmed down from the skis and into the earth fiercely, and spatial cracks appeared in the muddled mass that was the ground, instantly spreading across the entire space.

    Jiang Shuxuan was still inside, receiving his inheritance. At this time, he naturally shouldn¡¯t be disturbed at all!

    With a single thought, golden needles flew out instantly, surrounding Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body as she stood on top of the huge Seven-Frosted de.

    Boom!

    The vicious lightning collided with the golden needles, ck cracks appearing in the air around her one after another. Gu Xiqiao was forced to take a step back, then the power of the red lightning gradually dissipated.

    But the vortex above her head had be even bigger.

    ¡°Why do you suffer so? He¡¯s not someone who is acknowledged by the skies and earth. Let me destroy him, this is for the good of everyone...¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t disturb me. No one will touch him!¡± Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes turned red.

    Boom!

    A sh of purple lightning crackled and struck down suddenly, hitting the ground hard!

 Chapter 371 - Previous Life

    <h4>Chapter 371: Previous Life</h4>

    The red thunder was different from the past, Gu Xiqiao could only feel like a forest was on fire, her mental power being chipped away bit by bit.

    She could feel her soul being torn from her body, but her body was still holding on.

    ¡°You¡¯re still not giving up in this state?¡± A surprised voice came from the void. ¡°Hm? This mental power? It¡¯s her...¡±

    After what seemed to be a sigh, the scarlet vortex vanished instantly.

    Gu Xiqiao stood mid-air in the void, her eyes closed tightly, as though in a deep slumber. She was surrounded by wisps of purple lightning, and the Seven-Frosted de was still beside her.

    When she next opened her eyes, it was to see a sea of fire in front of her.

    There was a thin figure within the mes, and she was huddled in a corner. Her dark, onyx eyes were bright as she quietly watched the mes spread to her, engulfing her entire person immediately, bing nothingness.

    Gu Xiqiao watched the scene in front of her in shock, and she raised her hand. It was her own hands.

    But, in the fire, it had obviously been her!

    Gu Xiqiao stood in mid-air, quietly watching all that was in front of her. Although an unknown number of years had passed in the time she had spent in the virtual space, she would never forget this scene. It was the scene where she had died in her previous life!

    She raised her hands to her face again, seeing it to be somewhat transparent. She pursed her lips, what was going on now?

    Why was she seeing this scene?

    What the heck was happening?

    Before she could ponder any deeper, her eyes were once again drawn to the scene in front of her.

    Very quickly, someone hade to the door. It was the butler of the Gu family, and the light from the mes reflected on his face, a frightened look on it as he shouted, ¡°Second Miss, Second Miss¡¯ bedroom has caught fire!¡±

    The entire Gu family ran out at that moment.

    Gu Xijiin was watching the scene in a daze. She was downstairs, looking up from the bottom of the stairs to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room, until she saw Xia Zijun run in from the front door. The smile that had stretched across her face was wiped off immediately, and she grabbed Xia Zijun¡¯s arms. ¡°Zijun, my sister, she...¡±

    Before she could say anything else, Xia Zijin had broken away from her hold and rushed upstairs.

    ¡°Young Master Xia!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t go!¡±

    No one expected Xia Zijun would run upstairs like a crazed man at this time, his hands that usually only did office work and finance were used to push the door that was aze open with all his might!

    However, the fire had already spread too far and could no longer be controlled. Xia Zijun was forcefully pulled away from the door by some people.

    Xia Zijun could only watch the room get further engulfed in mes, the fire licking the door teasingly as though mocking him, his eyes stained red.

    The firefighters had arrived by this time, and the mes were quickly extinguished. Xia Zijun stood to the side, staring at the corner, refusing to budge from the room that had been on fire.

    ¡°Brother Xia... ¡± Xia Zijun¡¯s current state felt like he was a stranger to her.

    Hearing her voice, Xia Zijun¡¯s head snapped up abruptly. He looked at Gu Xijin, punctuating his words slowly. ¡°How did her room catch fire?¡±

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know...¡± Gu Xijin took a step back at the intense gaze on her.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Xia Zijun closed his eyes tightly, before opening them again. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it you who wanted to send her off?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Gu Xijin was taken aback, she didn¡¯t believe that Xia Zijun would know the truth.

    Xia Zijun¡¯s usually gentle eyes were now covered in ayer of frost. ¡°Everyone knows that the method is cruel. Sending her off like this, is it also for her own good?¡±

    Gu Xijin felt her legs shake, and when she looked at Xia Zijun again, she almost felt her legs give way.

    Xia Zijun didn¡¯t bother saying anything else, taking out his phone to make a call. ¡°Uncle, all cooperation with the Gu family will stop from today onwards. Also, send a team to the Gu residence.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao watched Xia Zijun and his family¡¯s people collect her body and left.

    There was surprise in her eyes.

    When she had been in the void, she only knew that the Gu family became bankrupt after this incident. However, she didn¡¯t know the events that lead up to that, but now she saw that even her body had been collected by Xia Zijun?

    Gu Xiqiao was silent for a while, watching as the scene continued to unfold, not saying a word.

    She finally realized that her soul had been pulled into this life, and she was watching what had happened after she had died in her previous life.

    Gu Xiqiao watched Xia Zijun leave, but she didn¡¯t follow after him, floating in her old room. She had appeared here as soon as she woke up, so in order for her to return, the exit must also be somewhere here.

    Gu Xiqiao floated in her room the entire night, but she couldn¡¯t find a way back. More importantly, she couldn¡¯t leave the Gu residence!

    Even she, Gu Xiqiao, couldn¡¯t figure out what to do at the moment, and so she could only stick around to watch themotion that unfolded in front of her.

    Although she had died in herst life, she had left behind a lot of traps for the Gu family. Gu Xijin might have taken away all the ns that she had drawn up, but how it turned out would wholly depend on who was the person to implement it.

    Right now, she was sitting on the sofa in the Gu residence living room, looking at Gu Xijin as she flipped through the documents.

    ¡°Elder Miss, with Xia Enterprise withdrawing from the partnerships, there are other investors who wish to bid. Please have a look.¡± The manager of the Gu family stood to her side, looking at Gu Xijin with admiration on his face. He didn¡¯t seem the least concerned about Xia Enterprise¡¯s withdrawal from the business.

    In his eyes, Gu Xijin was in the middle of strategizing. The Gu family had already embarked into the international scene, experiencing countless turbulence in the process, and they hade out victorious each time.

    At this point of time, Gu Xijin hadpletely obtained the faith and trust of the entire Gu Enterprise.

    Taking the offered document, Gu Xijin lowered her head to look at it. Flipping through the papers, she bit her lips. ¡°Xia Enterprise has really withdrawn their capital support, Xia Zijun...¡± She crushed the papers in her hand tightly, her tone cold as she said, ¡°Implement the ten-year n!¡±

    Hearing her words, the manager immediately straightened up with surprise and glee in his eyes. ¡°Understood, Elder Miss!¡±

    Everyone in the top management of Gu Enterprise knew what the ten-year n was. The main purpose of the n was for Gu Enterprise to go global. However, Gu Xijin had said that it hadn¡¯t been the right time yet, and now she was giving the go-ahead, how could he not be excited about it?

    ¡°Tch.¡± Gu Xiqiao leaned back against the sofa, looking at the two without much thought. ¡°You could probably still live on for a few days if you hadn¡¯t used this n, once you use it...¡±

    It¡¯s a pity that no one could hear her voice as she was just a soul without a body.

    Gu Xijin and the manager were excitedly discussing the n, and the manager had already contacted the media, arranging for a press conference to announce this matter.

    After the two had finished, calls started toe in for Gu Xijin one by one.

    ¡°Elder Miss, the project in the north is already in progress, but there seems to be a slight problem in regards to the economy here...¡±

    ¡°Elder Miss, the investment n has been sent out, isn¡¯t there a new one from thepany yet...¡±

    ¡°Elder Miss...¡±

    Countless calls along the same line kepting in, and Gu Xijin suddenly realized that she truly didn¡¯t know anything. That¡¯s right,st time... this was all handled by Gu Xiqiao since she was the one to have drawn up the ns. Gu Xiqiao¡¯s methods were domineering and aggressive, she didn¡¯t need to worry about anything in Gu Enterprise when Gu Xijin implemented Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ns.

    It was precisely because of this that Xia Zijun would have his eye on Gu Xiqiao, which had given Gu Xijin the idea of sending her off for thest time.

    However, what Gu Xijin didn¡¯t expect was for Gu Enterprise to fall into chaos once Gu Xiqiao was no longer around!

    Clenching her fist until her nails pierced her skin and blood flowed up, Gu Xijin gritted her teeth. The phone in her hands that she was holding tightly rang at this moment, and she looked down to see the caller. It was Mu Yunfan!

    ¡°Senior Brother...¡± When receiving Mu Yunfan¡¯s call, Gu Xijin suddenly seemed to find her backbone again. Just as she was about to talk about the troubles that Gu Enterprise was facing, the words that Mu Yunfan said felt like thunder striking down on her.

    ¡°You killed her, Gu Xijin?¡± The voice on the other end was deeper and lower than usual.

    Gu Xijin opened her mouth to deny it, but no words came out. Mu Yunfan seemed to not want to hear her answer either way, as he hung up the call when nothing was said in response.

    Outside the front door, knocking had started on it. The one knocking was one of the managers of Gu Enterprise, and he had an anxious look on his face.

    Gu Xiqiao floated outside the door, seeing Gu Xijin about to open the door, she casually flicked her hand. Gu Xijin staggered and almost fell down, but she didn¡¯t care about that, catching herself and hurrying out the door to meet the manager.

    Gu Xiqiao followed Gu Xijin out the door, and she suddenly realized that the front door of Gu Manor that she previously couldn¡¯t leave, was not holding her inside anymore?

    The pair of clear, onyx eyes narrowed slightly, exuding a deep chill. Gu Xiqiao looked at Gu Xijin¡¯s back, and the corner of her lips curled downwards. No way, she was bound to Gu Xijin¡¯s side?

    God damn!

    Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples, but still followed Gu Xijin out either way.

    Today was originally the day that Gu Enterprise would announce the ten-year n to be put in motion, but the reporters were insistent about asking questions regarding the corruption cases in Gu Enterprise, and those upper management of Gu Enterprise who were uncooperative...

    ¡°Elder Miss Gu, did you anticipate the pressure that woulde from Luo Enterprise?¡±

    ¡°Elder Miss Gu, do you have anyments regarding the bribery case in Gu Enterprise?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard from Xia Enterprise¡¯s chairman, that the person behind Gu Enterprise¡¯s operations is not you, but the Second Miss Gu, is that true?¡±

    Gu Xijin was not prepared to face this situation at all, and then a group of policemen turned up to escort her away from the press conference!

    The reporters were left looking at each other, not expecting such a dramatic exit by the person they had been interviewing. After a while, someone realized that the new president of Luo Enterprise was also in attendance, the one who had wiped out Gu Enterprise in one fell swoop¡ªLuo Weng! An excellent high achiever from A University, the one who had countless offers before he even graduated, someone that everyone was dying to get their hands on!

    ¡°President Luo, Gu Enterprise is already a multinationalpany. Might we know how...¡±

    The young President Luo raised his head, the pair of dark eyes looking into the camera. He reached up to adjust the white band on his cuff before opening his mouth, ¡°Without her, Gu Enterprise is nothing but a pile of dirt. As for the ten-year n, that¡¯s even more of a joke. I¡¯ve heard her mention it once, and she said that if she wanted to, she could enter the global market anytime she wanted, but she was just toozy to do it.¡±

    ¡°President Luo, the ¡®she¡¯ that you mention is...¡±

    ¡°Gu Enterprise¡¯s Second Miss, no, it¡¯s Miss Gu.¡± Luo Weng looked straight at the reporter who had asked the question.

    ¡°What is your rtionship with her?¡± The reporter was stunned for a moment to have the attention of the young man, before he snapped out of his surprise and followed up with the question. ¡°You¡¯ve heard that Second Miss Gu has passed away in an ident, are you wearing that white band[1] for her?¡±

    Luo Weng lowered his head. ¡°I really wanted to get to know her, it¡¯s unfortunate.¡± It was unfortunate that he wouldn¡¯t ever have the chance to now.

    This simple remark caused a huge tidal wave in all the media and financial world.

    [1] In Chinese funeral etiquette, the white band is worn on the arms to signify that they are mourning the death of the deceased.

 Chapter 372 - Reincarnation

    <h4>Chapter 372: Reincarnation</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t pay attention to the reaction of the media, her eyes were fixed on Luo Weng, who was standing in front of the camera. It seemed that Luo Weng was the one to bring down the Gu family after she had died. It was no wonder that the Gu family would perish so easily.

    But, what did Luo Weng mean by his remark?

    They wouldn¡¯t have known each other in this life, right? Gu Xiqiao touched her chin, a nk look on her face.

    But as she watched Gu Xijin get taken away by the police, she felt a headache building. Because she could only follow Gu Xijin, did that mean that she needed to go to a horrible ce like prison?

    The press conference was not over yet, and the Gu family had already descended into chaos.

    Gu Xiqiao could only reluctantly follow behind Gu Xijin, who was being taken away. Just when they reached the main gates, Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps.

    Not far from the gates, a ck car was slowlying towards them.

    The police car was going to leave already, but when they saw the ck car, they stopped in their tracks immediately, moving to the side of the road.

    The ck car didn¡¯t leave even when the police car stopped, but stopped directly in front of the gates.

    The back door of the car was opened, and a figure stepped down. His eyes were downcast, and you could only see his handsome profile. He seemed to be looking at something on his phone in his hand, and not knowing what he had seen, he turned towards the big screen, which was disying the current havoc of the Gu family.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face was on the screen, flickering.

    When he raised his head, a cold, hard expression was on his face. The pair of deep, onyx eyes glinted with a chilling light, and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

    Gu Xiqiao froze in mid-air when she saw the face. How could she not recognize him? It was Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face!

    At the same moment, Gu Xiqiao realized that the connection between her and Gu Xijin had been severed, and she was free to leave her side!

    ¡°Old Zhang, is this the person you were talking about previously?¡± Jiang Shuxuan narrowed his eyes, looking at the face that was shing on the screen.

    The driver, Old Zhang, nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s right, Young Master Jiang. The Gu family has said that Second Miss Gu is from that vige, and she should be the only lucky survivor.¡± Saying this, the driver sighed. Even if she had been the only survivor of that ce, she was no longer around.

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips, not saying another word. He climbed back into the car, making a call as soon as he sat down. ¡°Yi Bing, help me run a background check on this person.¡±

    Having said that, he hung up and looked up at the roof of the car.

    As the driver started up the car and drove away, he sighed. ¡°I heard from the Young Master yesterday, this Second Miss Gu is really pitiful.¡± He fell silent after that, recalling that his passenger was someone that didn¡¯t like much idle talk.

    But this time, he was wrong.

    A deep, low voice came from the backseat. ¡°Pitiful?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, how can she not be pitiful?¡± Seeing that Jiang Shuxuan was interested in the topic, Old Zhang immediately continued talking. ¡°Madam had said it this morning, this Second Miss Gu was abandoned by the Gu family early on, and she had only been taken in by Master Gu not long ago. Second Miss Gu had some reputation before she went with them, and was quite well known. But after she came to N City, there was no news about her at all. I thought that she had lost her talents or something, but I didn¡¯t expect that wasn¡¯t the case at all, but that she was just unlucky to be born into a family like the Gu family.¡±

    ¡°Everyone knows about how the Elder Miss Gu¡¯s methods were incredible, and it was almost impossible for the feats that she pulled off. Who would have expected that the one behind her was Second Miss Gu all along?¡± Old Zhang shook his head.

    Jiang Shuxuan just looked down at his phone, not saying a word.

    After he returned to the vi, he went to the study to settle some matters, before heading to the bathroom to shower once night fell.

    While he was doing all this, Gu Xiqiao was floating behind him, looking at him silently.

    It wasn¡¯t until he left the study that she started to explore the room. This was still the same vi in N City, the same study. There was an ancient text on the table, written in oracle bone inscription that gave a headache to anyone who read it.

    Gu Xiqiao floated down, though her body was transparent, she still had her mental powers. She used it to take control of theputer, since Jiang Shuxuan wouldn¡¯t be back yet.

    She hacked into thework client that she had left behind previously,piling the files and sending it directly to the police.

    This would be thest gift in this life that she would leave behind for the Gu family, as well as Gu Xijin.

    After she was done, she erased all traces of her work and stepped aside. Jiang Shuxuan had just returned, his hair still dripping wet as he came in.

    Gu Xiqiao sighed, she didn¡¯t know what the heck was up with her being in spirit form here, or how the situation back in her world was like, so she could only sit beside Jiang Shuxuan, staring at him nkly.

    Jiang Shuxuan was currently reading a document, it was regarding all the information they had on the Second Miss Gu.

    After he was done, he lit a cigarette, leaning back against his chair. Theputer screen was on the first page of the document, an ID photo on it. It was a face of a person that he had never seen before, but when he looked at her face and eyes, he felt as though his heart was being pulled on.

    Jiang Shuxuan took a deep breath. He knew there was something wrong with the situation, but he had no way to control himself.

    After a while, he extinguished the cigarette, then went online to check thetest development of the Gu family on the inte.

    Gu Xijin¡¯s incident seemed to have a follow-up development at this time, a popr topic headline sshing across the screen. It showed a small video of an internationally renowned artist. ¡°Gu Xijin is the most talented painter we have ever seen, just her talent in painting is enough to offset everything else. The International Painting Exhibition is ready to stand by Ah Jin.¡±

    ¡°A dead person is already dead, why do you condemn a living person for a dead person?¡±

    ¡°Though Gu Xijin isn¡¯t a good person, she didn¡¯t really do anything bad. I¡¯ve seen her paintings, and really, it was the most difficult time in my life when I saw it, and it gave me hope when I did.¡±

    Countless fans of Gu Xijin on the inte were defending Gu Xijin. Some timeter, thements even took a turn to say, Gu Xiqiao has already died, why must she still bother Gu Xijin?

    For this reason, many artists and fans of Gu Xijin gathered in N City to prepare for a protest against her treatment.

    It could be seen how far Gu Xijin¡¯s influence had reached with her paintings.

    Jiang Shuxuan watched this happen on the inte, his eyes were deep and cold. Even his fingers were clenched tightly to the point it was paler than usual.

    Gu Xiqiao, who was sitting on the desk, naturally also saw what he was seeing, but she didn¡¯t have any particr feelings about it. She sighed as she looked at Jiang Shuxuan, was this entire scene real or fake?

    ¡°I know you¡¯re in this room.¡± Just as Gu Xiqiao was deep in her thoughts, the deep, cold voice suddenly spoke out.

    She was startled at it, then raised her head to look at Jiang Shuxuan, disbelief clear in her eyes. He... could feel her presence?

    ¡°Even though I can¡¯t see you, I¡¯m naturally sensitive towards mental powers.¡± Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    After he said that, there was no response, but Jiang Shuxuan knew the presence was still in the study.

    Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips again. ¡°If you can¡¯t speak, can you use any other ways to tell me?¡±

    After a long silence without movement, Jiang Shuxuan still remained seated in his chair. He was a patient man after all.

    Suddenly, the pen beside him moved, writing three words on the nk paper¡ªGu Xiqiao!

    ***

    Gu Xijin, who was in prison right now, was being interrogated, but she wasn¡¯t in a panic at all. She knew that even if the Gu family didn¡¯t pull her out from here, her master and senior brother definitely would. Her talent in art was something even the world acknowledged, after all.

    Her master and senior brother were incredibly capable people, so they would definitely have a way to get her out of here. Once she thought about that, she waspletely calm and in no hurry.

    The door to the interrogation room was suddenly pushed open, and the bureau chief came in with a bag of papers, looking at Gu Xijin coldly.

    Gu Xijin furrowed her brows, but ultimately was not bothered.

    The next day, she was taken to court for a trial. The evidence regarding her bribery smuggling of goods waspletely found out, and the sentence for her to be sent to prison was set in stone.

    But at this moment, a group of people came into court, and Gu Xijin was taken away, leaving behind the group of people.

    ¡°Judge, I think this matter needs a thorough investigation. How can someone who can paint such a picture be guilty of bribery and smuggling?¡± The president of the International Art Academy had personally brought in a group of people to speak. In order to be more convincing, he also brought with him countless art scrolls.

    ¡°Miss Gu is the first person in the oil painting industry, you can¡¯t imagine the talent that she holds. If she wanted to, it¡¯s easy for her to earn hundreds of billions in just a single night. The richest man in the world is also her loyal fan. I think you need to investigate this matter thoroughly once again.¡± The president said, ¡°Ah Jin doesn¡¯t y business politics, how could she get into bribery and smuggling? Her hands only need to hold a paintbrush and paint, this should all be Gu Xiqiao¡¯s conspiracy!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, it¡¯s a conspiracy hatched by that poisonous, vicious woman! Judge, please don¡¯t be fooled by her!¡± A young man handed over a petition, and there were many high-ranking official¡¯s names on it.

    The judge was familiar with a lot of the names, they were all his immediate superiors. He knew that Gu Xijin was like this, there were a lot of high-level people defending her. Thinking of this, he announced that the matter would be thoroughly investigated.

    But whether or not it would happen, everyone still had doubts inside.

    However, the young man was still not satisfied. ¡°Judge, although Gu Xiqiao is dead, the crime shemitted cannot continue. It needs to be thoroughly investigated, and bring justice for Ah Jin!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, a thorough investigation!¡±

    Bang!

    The door that had been closed was mmed open suddenly.

    The one who came in first was a young, handsome man with peach blossom eyes that sparkled. There were only a few people in the room who recognized him, and those who did were all higher ranking officials. They all broke out in cold sweat the moment theyid eyes on him. ¡°Young Master Yin, might we know the reason you are here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I wanted toe, it¡¯s Young Master Jiang.¡± Having said that, Yin Shaoyuan stood to the side, and a man with a cold, grim look on his face walked in.

    He didn¡¯t look at anyone, but stared at the piece of jade in his hand. Behind him, a person turned on theputer in his hands, and a video was soon ying on the screen.

    In the video, it was a figure of a woman painting. She seemed to be sketching by theke, and everyone was familiar with the painting she was working on. It was Gu Xijin¡¯s first piece, ¡®Starlight¡¯. The person who was painting finally raised her head¡ªit was Gu Xiqiao!

    All sound vanished from the room instantly, and everyone¡¯s eyes were fixed on the screen in silence, a beyond horrified look on their faces.

    It was the same expression those financial entrepreneurs had when they discovered that it wasn¡¯t Gu Xijin who had been running things in the Gu Enterprise, but Gu XIqiao all along!

    However, they were even more shocked than those financial entrepreneurs!

    ¡°I will contact awyer to publicize this matter.¡± Jiang Shuxuan finally raised his head, sweeping his gaze across the room, at everyone who was present. ¡°Although she has suffered this injustice, she doesn¡¯t need your apologies. Your apologies will only soil the road to her reincarnation.¡±

 Chapter 373 - Going Back

    <h4>Chapter 373: Going Back</h4>

    After Jiang Shuxuan was done speaking, he stared in a particr corner of the room.

    ¡°Bro Jiang, what are you looking at?¡± Seeing Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s gaze fixed at a certain point, Yin Shaoyuan couldn¡¯t help but ask. He turned to look at where the other was looking, but all he could see was empty air. He touched his nose in slight confusion.

    Jiang Shuxuan turned away, his voice indifferent as he replied, ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Then he nced at Yin Shaoyuan.

    Yin Shaoyuan nodded, then turned to look at the judge. He snapped his fingers, and a figure in ck gave the judge a stack of documents. .¡±These are the evidence, apart from evidence of Gu Xijin¡¯s bribery, there is also evidence of her embezzlement of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s oil paintings. Ourwyer will be here soon, and we intend to announce this to the media.¡±

    ¡°As for you guys.¡± Yin Shaoyuan turned to the group of people from the art world, a sneer on his lips. ¡°You are all distinguished figures from the art world, and you have countless fans. You should know how influential a single remark from you is. No matter who¡¯s at fault, don¡¯t you feel ashamed, attacking a dead person like this?!¡±

    He left with Jiang Shuxuan and the others once he was done speaking.

    As soon as he left, every single person from the art world breathed a sigh of relief. An invisible hand seemed to be tugging at their hearts as they thought back to how vicious they had been in attacking Gu Xiqiao just a few minutes ago. They hung their head in shame, feeling guilt coursing through them.

    ¡°These evidences must be fake and fabricated by them! Ah Jin is not that kind of person!¡± The same young man eximed. ¡°How can someone like Gu Xiqiao paint such a painting?¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± The old man beside him shouted once he was done. ¡°Do you know who those people were? You dare to say these things about them?¡±

    ¡°Who cares? It¡¯s not right to fabricate evidence!¡± The young man was so angry that you could see the veins popping out. ¡± I want to sue them!¡±

    ¡°Sue them?¡± Another person chuckled when he heard that. ¡°Do you know of the Yin family? The top dog of N City? The one who brought in the evidence is the one and only young master of this generation of the Yin family. Wanting to sue him, do you dare?¡±

    As soon as the words were out, the young man had nothing to say. His face had frozen in shock, the words stuck in his throat. Of course he knew who the Yin family was, the most influential family in N City!

    That person just now was from the Yin family?

    ¡°Based on the Yin family¡¯s style, they have no reason to fabricate the evidence at all, because it isn¡¯t worth their time.¡± The old man beside the young man said, and he seemed to age another few years as he sighed. ¡°Those paintings really were painted by Gu Xiqiao.¡±

    The young man opened his mouth a few times, but no sound was forting. The disbelief was on his frozen face.

    But in his heart, he already knew the truth.

    The Yin family really had no reason to fabricate the evidence, after all.

    The judge watched these people who had sauntered in with their heads high in the air and their arrogant attitude now left with looks of despair on their faces, their tails tucked between their legs. He couldn¡¯t help but nce down at the documents in front of him, and felt his heartstrings being tugged. An illegitimate daughter who was not significant in anyone¡¯s eyes, could attract such support from the Yin family after her death. Really...

    He sighed, it really was an unfortunate matter.

    Everyone in the know of the truth felt that Gu Xiqiao was pitiful, especially the people from the Yin family. However, the person herself didn¡¯t feel that she was pitiful, but was staring at Jiang Shuxuan.

    Gu Xiqiao had been studying ways to return, and the reason she was here in the first ce. Wasn¡¯t she fighting heaven¡¯s will?

    But there was nothing to be found as a clue at all. She wanted to rub her temples very much in frustration, but her hand would pass through her own body.

    Beside her, Jiang Shuxuan was browsing the on hisptop for any follow-up development of the case.

    He was scrolling very slowly, and Gu Xiqiao knew that he was doing it so that she could also read, and so she sat next to him to look. She turned her head to see the other was pursing his lips without saying a word, the usual cold, indifferent look on his face.

    The corners of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°You must be bored to death right now!¡±

    Then she turned back to look at the webpage, seeing that the development of this matter was still continuously being updated. Just like the scene in the courtroom, the majority of the people were cursing Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°She¡¯s already dead, why is she still making so many problems!¡±

    ¡°So disgusting, she¡¯s dead but still pulling our Ah Jin down the grave with her!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a blessing to society for this kind of person to be dead!¡±

    Thements were all along the same lines, and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s face got colder by the second as he scrolled down. He closed the lid of theputer with a pop, and said under his breath, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll handle it.¡±

    Having said that, he took out his phone.

    Gu Xiqiao sat in the same spot, and if she could speak to him directly, she would have told him that she didn¡¯t care one wit about thosements about her, really. But it wasn¡¯t like she could.

    Jiang Shuxuan was on the line with Yin Shaoyuan outside, and when he heard Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words, he exined, ¡°Master Jiang, the bigger this incident bes, the shock thates from the truth will be even bigger. I¡¯ve sent someone to shadow and record the Gu family, don¡¯t worry. It¡¯ll be handled within the hour.¡±

    One hourter, Jiang Shuxuan sat in front of theptop once again, turning it on.

    ¡°What a disgusting person, it¡¯s great that she¡¯s dead!¡±

    ¡°Ah Jin is innocent, why bother her?¡±

    Suchments were still being made. Gu Xijin just had too many fans, and those passersby that didn¡¯t know the entire story was disgusted by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s vicious heart.

    There were some asionalments that were different.

    ¡°Where is your conscience? Talking about someone who is no longer alive in this world like this?¡±

    The Gu family was in a panic initially, but when they saw thements on the inte that were all supportive of Gu Xijin, they calmed down, thinking that she would be fine.

    However, at this moment, several influential users posted a Weibo at the same time.

    There were two video links on the Weibo post. One was the house where Gu Xiqiao had lived when she was alive, one that she had rented outside by herself. There were many oil paintings in the video, and even the unfinished ones were warm and familiar.

    The other was a video of Gu Xiqiao herself painting which clearly showed her face. It was probably taken by a random passerby.

    Finally, there were nine pictures which were evidence of Gu Xijin¡¯s bribery and smuggling...

    (verified) Li Yu: Although this is something that someone requested for me to repost, I would have done it without needing to be prompted anyway. I am very familiar with the painting ¡®Starlight¡¯, this was the painting that gave me hope in the darkest days of my life. The reason I reposted thiste was because I was reading the onlinements. I only wish to say, keyboard warriors, please, let her off? //@OP

    (verified) Xiao Yun: The truth may bete, but it will never be absent. I didn¡¯t know it was you before this, now that I know, Gu Xiqiao, thank you. //@OP

    (verified) Mu Yunfan: A painting will never lie. She has lived such a hard life, but she still managed to be a good person. Her painting has illuminated the life of countless people, but we¡¯ve only been giving her criticism and injustice. I think that¡¯s the reason she didn¡¯t have any attachment to this world. Gu Xiqiao, I owe you one word, I¡¯m sorry. //@OP

    Allments on the inte went silent in that instant, as theizens read the Weibo posts of all these influential figures. Then they thought back to what they had said, and they had no words to describe the feelings they felt.

    Especially after they read Mu Yunfan and Xiao Yun¡¯s words.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s paintings had illuminated the lives of countless people and garnered countless fans. But these fans, what did they do? Not only were they unfair to her, not helping her at all, and instead abusing her existence online.

    When they thought about what they had done, it felt like all their breath had been knocked out of them.

    A young girl dropped her favourite cup that she was holding, the ss shattering into pieces when it hit the ground, her hands trembling.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Gu Xiqiao! Please forgive me!¡±

    ¡°It turns out that the paintings were painted by you, I didn¡¯t even manage to express my gratitude to you ????¡±

    ¡°??? I¡¯m sorry¡±

    And then the matter of Gu XIqiao funding an orphanage came to light, and the currently most famous youth in the financial world, Luo Weng said, ¡°Everyone may not be aware of this, but I came from this orphanage. In my hardest time, it was Miss Gu who reached out to help me, but I never had the chance to meet her. When I had the power to finally repay her, she was no longer around.¡±

    When this incident was announced, it attracted the attention of the mass media. All the big screens on the side of the roads were ying what little videos they had of Gu Xiqiao while she was alive.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s poprity soared to its peak after her death. Because of this incident, the entire N City was thrown into an uproar. Numerous people from all over the world came to pay theirst respects, and the flowers ced on her grave were so many to the point it spread to the roads. However, the person was already dead, no matter how popr she was, what was the point?

    Jiang Shuxuan watched coldly the video that was being yed on the big screen, his nails digging into his palm as he lowered his head.

    ***

    At the same time in prison, Gu Xijin was still waiting for her master and senior brother to rescue her.

    She waited for a long time, before Mu Yunfan finally came to see her.

    The police officers who came to escort her pushed her to walk roughly, and Gu Xijin sneered at them. ¡°Just wait till I¡¯m out of here, I¡¯ll make sure you pay for this!¡± She would remember the few days that she was here, them giving her only rancid food to eat and giving her the dirtiest and most tiring work to do!

    ¡°Get out?¡± The police officer looked at her in disgust. ¡°Just wait your days out in prison!¡±

    Gu Xijin felt that the police officer¡¯s attitude was different from what she imagined it would be, since she was going to see Mu Yunfan to get out of here. Perhaps there had been some problems? She didn¡¯t know what had gone wrong until she saw Mu Yunfan.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be saving you, but I won¡¯t let you die either... you have to atone for your sins towards her.¡± Mu Yunfan said this all without any expression, just as he usually spoke, but Gu Xijin could feel the underlying hint of cold and steel in his voice.

    Gu Xijin staggered backwards, falling to the ground on her behind. She looked at Mu Yunfan with disbelief in her eyes... He knew... How was that possible?! Gu Xiqiao was obviously dead!

    Mu Yunfan didn¡¯t offer any further exnation, turning to walk straight out of the cell.

    Gu Xijin was pulled up roughly again, and she looked at the police officer¡¯s contemptuous face. It was like lightning had struck her suddenly, and she finally understood that something was wrong.

    Regret, Gu Xijin really felt the regret creeping up on her. However, she was already in jail, and it was far toote for regrets now.

    ***

    Having read the document on the updates on Gu Xijin¡¯s life imprisonment, Jiang Shuxuan closed the document. He then leaned backwards in his chair, narrowing his eyes.

    ¡°Bro Jiang, Yi Bing said that there was a problem in the desert. What¡¯s going on there?¡± Yin Shaoyuan sat in the driver¡¯s seat, a look of confusion on his face.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked out the window, not saying anything, before looking back to the ancient text on hisp. ¡°You can leave when you reach the edge, I have something I need to do.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao sat beside him, watching the scenery as the car drove past.

    The car reached the edge of the desert, and Yin Shaoyuan dropped Jiang Shuxuan off before turning around and driving away.

    At this time, Jiang Shuxuan was looking in Gu Xiqiao¡¯s direction.

    His eyes gradually softened when Gu Xiqiao stared back at him, and she naturally knew this was the Jiang Shuxuan that she hade to know after her rebirth. But, how was that possible? She eximed with some shock, ¡°Brother Jiang, what are you going to do?!¡±

 Chapter 374 - The Death of Two People

    <h4>Chapter 374: The Death of Two People</h4>

    In the ancient martial arts world, where there used to be only two guards outside the Elders¡¯ Pavilion, there was now an entire team of elites who stood guard ever since Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had left.

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had been gone for more than a month, and within this month, the strength of the ancient martial arts world had greatly improved. Even the peak era of the ancient martial arts world was not as great as the current strength that they had.

    Especially Peace Manor, though they had not gone to the Trial Tower for a month, thest person on the ranking tablet had already reached the 52nd floor. Peace Manor was already thergest powerhouse in the ancient martial arts world, and even the elders of the ancient martial arts world would be far behind them in terms of strength.

    Currently, Peace Manor was not bothered about anything, except training with all their might. They left everything else to Luo Weng to manage.

    When the great elder finished his training for the day, he walked past Peace Manor, and raised his head to look at it for a while. Then he turned to leave, but he didn¡¯t head home, instead going towards the Elders Pavilion.

    ¡°Great Elder.¡± The team of people standing guard outside bowed respectfully when he arrived.

    After receiving guidance from Gu Xiqiao, the great elder and the others improved their strength very quickly. Generally, for people their age, it was difficult for them to go any further in their martial arts, and this was a well-knownw of nature. But all these were broken by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands.

    It had only been a month, and the strength of the elders of the ancient martial arts world had already risen by one or two levels!

    There were only a few people who knew the strength of the elders, and the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world had no way of estimating it at all. As they saluted the great elder respectfully, they also sighed inwardly about how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was.

    ¡°Nothing unusual has happened here, right?¡± The great elder asked right before he went through the door.

    ¡°No, Great Elder.¡± The head of the team answered him.

    The great elder nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯m going in to take a look, don¡¯te in.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    After the great elder walked in, the people standing guard outside looked at each other in confusion. ¡°The Great Elder would alwayse to the Elders¡¯ Pavilion to have a look after training every day. What in the world is he looking at?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk so much.¡± The head of the team said coldly, and everyone fell silent.

    On the highest floor of the Elders¡¯ Pavilion, there was an isted room. The room was incredibly empty, and there was only a table, which held an intricate, vermillion red box on top of it. Inside the box were two pieces of snowy jade, the same two jades that Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao had given them when they had left.

    Their lifeforce had been infused in the jade, and as long as the jade was in one piece, it meant that they were still alive and well.

    Jiang Shuxuan used to have such a piece of jade before, and it had been returned to the Jiang family when it had shattered.

    The great elder and the others were well aware of Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s strength, and they guessed that they wouldn¡¯t have many problems. However, that didn¡¯t stop the great elder from stopping by here every day, just to assure himself that the two really were still fine.

    Today was no exception, and he had dropped by to check on the conditions of the jades.

    When he came into the room, his footsteps were light and rxed. He had managed to break through again today, and there was a smile on his face. He thought about how he needed to let Gu Xiqiao know once she returned.

    As he thought about it, he walked to the table and looked into the box.

    The smile vanished from his face the moment he did, a stiff expression crossing his face. His limbs felt cold, spreading through his body as he stared nkly into the box. Both hands were pressed on the table as he tried to support himself so that he wouldn¡¯t fall to the ground.

    As long as the jade was there, that meant they were fine. If the jade shattered, it meant they were dead!

    ¡°Go and call all the elders to gather.¡± The great elder seemed to have aged ten more years when he said this, holding the box to his chest as he instructed the people out the door.

    His voice was hoarse,pletely unlike the person that had first gone into the Elders¡¯ Pavilion just a while ago. The guards outside were shocked to see him in this state, and it took a few seconds before they gathered themselves and went to do as the great elder had instructed.

    From the second elder to the seventh elder, Peace Manor, everyone from the Jiang family, the Tang family, the Baili family, the Murong family, Wanqi Jue... basically all the important people in the power world had gathered here. They had been staying in the ancient martial arts world these days, and they were aware that the jade pieces that Gu Xiqao and Jiang Shuxuan had left behind were in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion.

    For the great elder to gather them all in such a rush, they were shocked and felt uneasiness in their hearts.

    ¡°Great Elder...¡± Shu Chen saw that the great elder was holding the box in his hands, and her voice trembled a little.

    The great elder didn¡¯t say anything, only holding out the intricate box towards her, closing his eyes and saying nothing.

    Shu Chen¡¯s hands were shaking so much as she took the box and tried to open it three times and failed. Jiang Han had stepped forward to help her, but Shu Chen stopped him. She took a deep breath, and finally opened the box.

    The jade pieces that had been perfectly fine were now powdered dust!

    Bang!

    Shu Chen fell to the ground, a nk look on her face, her mindpletely empty. She didn¡¯t know what to say. Every time Jiang Shuxuan went out on a mission, she would always send him off. Now there was also Gu Xiqiao, and she had sent both of them off, and had prayed with all her might that the two woulde back safely.

    But now, she felt like she was in a nightmare, her entire person in a dazed state. The blood rushed to her head, and she dropped into a faint.

    In her heart, Jiang Shuxuan had the capabilities to reach the skies, while Gu Xiqiao could do everything beyond that. Who wasn¡¯t a fan of either of them in the ancient martial arts world right now?

    You could say that the reason the ancient martial arts world could reach this state, the fact that the secr world could so easily ept the existence of the ancient martial arts world and the looming disasters were only because of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s existence!

    The turning point of the cmities, it was also Gu Xiqiao!

    Unexpectedly, everyone¡¯s hopes¡ªGu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan, were no longer around!

    Almost hundreds of people were now sitting and standing in the Elders¡¯ Pavilion, looking at the intricate, vermillion box. Disbelief and shock were on everyone¡¯s face, their bodies trembling. The jades that represented the lives of Miss Gu and Jiang Shuxuan were broken?

    ¡°The main problem right now is not the jade.¡± Luo Weng clenched his fist tightly, his mind working at full speed. He could already map out the possibilities that may happen in the future. ¡°But how to conceal this news, and deal with theing cmity that will hit the world. The matter of Miss Gu and Mr. Jiang will be known eventually, and I¡¯m guessing that those people will already know by now.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Luo is right.¡± The second elder picked himself up slowly, as though just waking up from a daze. ¡°We definitely will not be able to conceal the matter of Miss Gu and Young Master Jiang. The danger both our ancient martial arts world and the secr world are facing is also about to arrive. If we can¡¯t hold this out, we¡¯ll all really be wiped out.¡±

    As soon as he said those words, everyone pushed down their grief and straightened up, looking at the second elder.

    The second elder didn¡¯t continue to speak, turning to look at Luo Weng instead. He knew that in Peace Manor, apart from Gu Xiqiao, the real master of the ce was Luo Weng. Now that something had happened to Gu Xiqiao, Luo Weng was the only one who could control Peace Manor. ¡°Mr. Luo, what should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Now the most important thing to do is find Mr. Zhuge.¡± Luo Weng stood up. ¡°Elders and patriarchs, please follow me to Peace Manor to look for Mr. Zhuge.¡±

    The group left for Peace Manor, and they didn¡¯t leave until the next morning. When they came out, their faces were grave.

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan, the two most powerful people in the world had fallen, what hope did the power worlds still have at this point?

    At first, the elder held out a sliver of hope that the information on the jade pieces was wrong. Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan would send news eventually, but as the days turned into a week, and there was still no news, the elders and everyone else started to feel the hope die.

    As news of Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fall spread, many forces began to rise.

    ¡°Do you think Miss Gu has really... ¡± Yu Ning opened his mouth to say, but the rest of his sentence got stuck in his throat. He stood at the entrance of thework room of Nine Heavens, an unclear expression on his face.

    Luo Weng who was currently in the ancient martial arts world, had his fist clenched tightly. ¡°Miss Gu must still be alive. Yu Ning, you and Uncle Mu must stay strong. The Peacekeepers have gone out on missions, we won¡¯t have to fear once they return!¡±

    Yu Ning replied softly, his eyes lowered as he saw a group of peopleing from downstairs. He hung up the call, walking into the office.

    ¡°President Mu, Mr. Yu Ning. Have you considered it?¡± The office door was pushed open, and those people downstairs were already inside the room. All of them had triumphant smiles on their faces, it was people from Chu Enterprise.

    Veins were popping out on Mu Zong¡¯s head. He had always been one of the most mild tempered people in Nine Heavens, but now all he wanted to do was throw these bunch of people out of Nine Heavens!

    ¡°What?¡± The leader of Chu Enterprise sat in an empty chair, a strange smile on his lips. ¡°President Mu, you know that those who are stronger will prevail. I don¡¯t think you wish for a bloodbath to happen in Nine Heavens, right? If you agree to hand over all the research data on Star Net, then everything will be fine. If you don¡¯t...¡±

    The leader of Chu Enterprise snorted coldly, a ck me emerging from his body. ¡°Today is the deadline.¡±

    Mu Zong was aware now that these people were not ordinary people. Ever since news of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s death had spread, many families in the Imperial Capital suddenly popped up with a lot of mysterious people. Perhaps they had existed even when Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had been alive, but had been concealing themselves among the ordinary people.

    Now that Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had fallen, the Peacekeepers were also caught up with various people. Once news of their fall had spread, the power world seemed to be tightly oppressed by an invisible strength.

    While Nine Heavens in the secr world was the one to bear the brunt first!

    If they were fighting with their brains in business, ten of Chu Enterprises wouldn¡¯t be able topare to one Nine Heavens. But Chu Enterprise had countless master martial artists, and they were using brute force. They would just kill anyone who refused to obey them!

    They wanted the research data of Star Net, the one that had been fueled by the efforts of Yu Ning, Gu Xiqiao, Jiji, and the rest of the web development team. There were huge amounts of information within it, and it wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that it would be a rewrite of a new era. These people had done nothing to contribute to the research, and now they just waltzed in and demanded for it?

    How could Mu Zong agree to that?! But just as he opened his mouth to speak, Yu Ning pulled out a USB drive from his pocket, handing it to the people from Chu Enterprise. ¡°This is the data for Star Net, Keep it safe.¡±

    ¡°Yu Ning?!¡± Mu Zong was looking at Yu Ning, an incredulous look on his face. He knew that this project was Yu Ning¡¯s life work! And the life work of the entire web development team!

    He didn¡¯t expect Yu Ning to just hand it over!

    Yu Ning didn¡¯t say anything, his eyes fixed on the people from Chu Enterprise. The leader of the group handed the USB drive to the person beside him, and signaled with his eyes. The one who took the drive plugged it into theputer, confirming that it was genuine. The leader then turned his head to Yu Ning. ¡°So we finally met, young man. But you dragged this on for two days already, wasting so much of our precious time. We¡¯re not ones to be easily bullied. How about this, if you bow down with your head on the ground three times, I¡¯ll let you off. Otherwise...¡±

    He shed Yu Ning a triumphant smile.

 Chapter 375 A Familiar Face

    <h4>Chapter 375 A Familiar Face</h4>

    At the same time in Delxun Forest, a huge cloud was hovering in the sky. This scene had attracted the attention of countless people, and even the major international news channels were reporting on this matter.

    Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s jade pieces had shattered, but the people at Peace Manor didn¡¯t believe it. Luo Weng had already sent someone to keep a close eye on Delxun Forest, as long as there was any movement, the news would immediately be transmitted to the ancient martial arts world.

    After receiving thetest update from the people at Delxun Forest, Luo Weng squeezed the phone tightly. He looked out the window, muttering under his breath, "You guys have toe back..."

    Within Delxun Forest, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s body was still floating in mid-air. There were traces of blood on her body, and her brows were furrowed tightly, as though she was having a terrifying nightmare.

    Blood red thunder and purple lightning was surrounding her body.

    "How can you persist for so long?" A surprised voice came from the ck cloud. "It¡¯s just too weird!"

    An old face gradually appeared in the cloud, and he stared at Gu Xiqiao for a long while, before putting away the scarlet thunder.

    "Long time no see, old man." Just as he waved the red thunder away, a young face suddenly appeared. She was dressed in a red dress, covered in ayer of veil. She had ink ck hair that spilled down her back, and a pair of mysterious, ck eyes.

    As soon as the figure appeared, the old man shrank bank, terror in his eyes. "You... you... you got your memories back?"

    "Thanks to you." Gu Xiqiao stood in mid-air, narrowing her eyes as she looked at the old man, a smile on her lips. "Your thunder didn¡¯t kill me."

    "Y-Y-Y-You... " The old man couldn¡¯t form aplete sentence, just looking at Gu Xiqiao, then to her real body that was floating mid air, purple lightning crackling around her. He couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. "What¡¯s the situation with you right now?"

    "Nothing much." Gu XIqiao lowered her head, looking at the purple lightning that surrounded her body. She sighed. "It¡¯s just that, that guy has sent me back. I¡¯m still in spirit form."

    "Spirit?" The old man was taken aback. "Then, you can still return to your body?"

    "Nonsense." Gu Xiqiao raised her head, hooking her fingers at the old man, a smile curling at the edge of her lips. "I say, Old Man Heaven¡¯s Will, haven¡¯t we been old friends for so many years? He¡¯s still in the middle of epting his inheritance, watch over him, and don¡¯t let that old demon make trouble, alright?"

    "I came here today to get rid of him!" The old man shook his head immediately when he heard those words. "He¡¯s not better than that old demon!"

    "Then why don¡¯t you do it to that old demon first?" Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes dangerously.

    The old man looked at Gu Xiqiao, and couldn¡¯t help but shudder at the cold re in her eyes. What was going on, why was he shuddering when he looked at this girl now?

    "That old devil doesn¡¯t fall under my purview, he was born to be the cmity of this world. There¡¯s nothing I can do about it, but that guy inside there doesn¡¯t even belong in this world. If I don¡¯t get rid of him, who will I get rid off?" The old man shook his head.

    Gu Xiqiao scratched her ears. If Luo Weng or the others were here, they would know that this gesture of hers meant that she was bing impatient.

    But the old man in front of her was not aware of that at all, and he was still pushing at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s limits. She brushed her hair to the back, shing him a smile. Before the old man could react, she went for his neck directly.

    Boom!

    The old man wasn¡¯t even a physical manifestation, but after being struck by such a blow by Gu Xiqiao, he let out a strangled yell.

    He hadn¡¯t managed to see Gu Xiqiao¡¯s movement, and he just looked at her. "Y-Y-You... How did you do that?"

    D*mn, she hadn¡¯t trained for so many years, and yet she was still this good?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother responding to his question, loosening her hand instead. cing both hands on her chest, she gave him a condescending look. "Old Man Heaven¡¯s Will, tell me, yes or no?"

    "Are you going to go against me this time again?" The old man felt a headache building behind his eyes.

    "Not like it¡¯s the first time." Gu Xiqiao snorted. "Was it less than before?"

    As soon as she said that, Heaven¡¯s Will was silent for a while. Indeed, since she had met the guy who was inside there, she had be less like herself, even in the end...

    After a while, he finally continued talking. "Aren¡¯t you afraid that you¡¯ll once again be pushed into the cycle of reincarnation?"

    "It¡¯s not a big deal." Gu Xiqiao knelt down, looking at the old man. "Isn¡¯t it just reincarnation? It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve not been there before? I¡¯ve even been through hell, why would I be afraid? Enough, is it a yes or no?"

    "What if I don¡¯t agree?" The old man swallowed heavily, looking at her nervously.

    "No? It¡¯s fine too." Gu Xiqiao said flippantly. "At most I¡¯ll just seal you, I can at least do that much."

    The old man was speechless, and waved his hand reluctantly. "Fine, I¡¯ll agree. But you bettere back soon, otherwise this guy will probably stab me the moment he wakes up."

    "You want to kill him even though you¡¯re that afraid of him?" Gu Xiqiao shot him a re, then floated back down to her physical body.

    "It¡¯s a mission, I just need to take his head before he wakes up." The old man sighed. He didn¡¯t expect Gu Xiqiao to wake up at such a critical juncture. Seriously.

    Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes, then moved to stand up. After stretching her limbs, she stood by the Seven-Frosted de for a while before moving to leave.

    Before leaving, she suddenly recalled something, and pulled out a box from her pocket, handing it to the old man. "This is his power pearl. You just need to fuse it into him before he wakes up."

    The old man took the box, muttering some words under his breath. He then watched Gu Xiqiao leave, but then he couldn¡¯t resist opening his mouth.

    "Greedy Wolf, was it really worth it? Destroying tens of thousands of years of cultivation, and even losing the position of a star for him?" The old man asked the one question that he had been most concerned about. "The battle that year..."

    "Old man, stop it with the nonsense." Gu Xiqiao chucked. "Those people who have been killing off the people from the Jiang family, those people are your doing, isn¡¯t it? I say, why do you hate him so much? The Jiang family are the people of that guy."

    "Who asked him to be so..." The old man wanted to say something more, but stopped halfway, turning around immediately. "Hurry and leave."

    "Alright." Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow, looking at the old man. As she left, she said faintly, "When he wakes up and finds out about all the things that you¡¯ve done to the Jiang family, you¡¯ll probably have to pay a heavy price either way."

    Having said that, the air in front of her fluctuated, and she disappeared.

    The old man who had been left behind was jumping on his legs in anxiousness, staring at Jiang Shuxuan who was encased in the huge Seven-Frosted de. His voice was bitter as she said, "I can¡¯t believe she expects me to protect you! You... I say, aren¡¯t you just relying on her to defend you? Seriously, she¡¯s done so much for you even though you lost your memories!"

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world, Luo Weng had already gone to Zhuge Yan¡¯s ce. News of Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s fall had now spread, and all sorts of forces were emerging. Everyone in the ancient martial arts world was working hard, fighting bloody battles. Right now, there was already a team of people who had broken the outer defense of the ancient martial arts world.

    Zhuge Yan was calmly instructing all matters of the ancient martial arts world. Under his guidance, the casualties of the world were at its lowest, but there were constant attacks from mysterious masters. It was a steady stream of enemies one after another, as though there was no end in sight.

    Luo Weng and Zhuge Yan. These two were currently the strongest brains in the entire ancient martial arts world, and also the strongest generals. Both of them were surrounded by protection all the time.

    At this time, the two were in the study, nning their next step.

    Someone pushed open the door at the same moment, a horrified expression on his face. "Mr. Luo, a group of people has broken through the outskirts of the Jiang residence. Madam Jiang¡¯s life is in danger!"

    Bang!

    Luo Weng looked equally terrified at the news, getting up quickly and heading outside.

    Zhuge Yan also stood up quickly. The two were not far from the Jiang residence, it was only a few minutes¡¯ walk.

    When they reached the Jiang residence, a knife surrounded by a dense cloud of energy was heading for Shu Chen¡¯s abdomen. Once the knife reached her...

    Both Luo Weng and Zhuge Yan opened their mouths to shout, their eyes wide with terror!

    As though everything was happening in slow motion, their eyes continued to widen as they watched the knife cloaked in ck mist touch Shu Chen¡¯s clothes, corroding them to ashes!

    "No!"

    Jiang Han, who had just reached, yelled out in panic.

    "It is my duty to protect my master¡¯s rtives." A voice suddenly said.

    The ck knife stopped a centimeter before Shu Chen¡¯s body, not advancing a single inch after that.

    The man in ck who was gripping the knife in his hand looked at the young man d in gray robes that had suddenly appeared in front of him, as surprise shed across his face. "Who are you?"

    Tengen took matters into his own hands the moment he appeared, the nk expression on his face no changing as he lightly waved his hand, instantly killing the man dressed in ck. "Tell your master toe directly ask me that question."

    "Thank you, Mr. Tengen!" Jiang Han finally managed to react, hurriedly taking big strides towards Shu Chen, pulling her into his arms, holding her tightly. He looked at Tengen after that, looking as though he wanted to kneel down to show his gratitude.

    "No need for thanks." Tengen smiled. "It¡¯s my duty to protect my master¡¯s rtives."

    Jiang Han was taken aback when he heard that. "Your master is..."

    Before he couldplete his sentence, surprise and glee crossed Tengen¡¯s face, and he knelt down to the ground with a bang. He faced a direction, excitement clear in his voice as he said, "Master, wee back!"

    Master? Who was this master he was talking about?

    Everyone on the scene was surprised. Tengen was already powerful in his own right, and he could be ranked in the top ten of the people in the ancient martial arts world. Now, he was calling someone master, who could it be?

    Who was so great that they could be Tengen¡¯s master?

    This was something even Zhuge Yan couldn¡¯t divine.

    However, Jiang Han and Shu Chen were feeling emotional at the disy. They clearly remembered Tengen¡¯s visit to Gu Xiqiao previously.

    "Get up from the ground, Tengen." A clear, melodious voice came from the air.

    Everyone could feel the air distort and twist, and then a figure slowly appeared in front of them.

    The figure was slender and thin, a jade-like wless face, with a face as pretty as a picture. Her hair was ink ck, lightly fluttering in the wind, and her lips were slightly curled up. A familiar face, and a familiar smile.

 Chapter 376 You Want To Make Him Kneel Before You?

    <h4>Chapter 376 You Want To Make Him Kneel Before You?</h4>

    Within a fraction of a second, they recognized who the young woman, who appeared out of nowhere, was.

    Although they could sense that something had changed about her, there was no doubt as to her identity.

    She was the one and only! Miss Gu! The bastion of hope for the ancient martial arts world!

    They thought both Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had already fallen on the battlefield. But she was here alright! Gu Xiqiao! She¡¯s back!

    "Miss Gu!" The first person to call out to her was the great elder who was walking behind Jiang Han. His eyes were open so wide that they almost popped out of their sockets. He could not believe Gu Xiqiao had trulye back. Raising his hand, he rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren¡¯t fooling him. Underneath the sunlight, a being as radiant as a shining crystal appeared before him.

    Gu Xiqiao had reallye back. He called out her name softly with a trembling voice.

    "Qiao Qiao..." Shu Chen approached her. With shaky hands, she grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hands and caressed her face. She was relieved upon realizing that what she was feeling was warm and alive...

    Shu Chen could not hold back her tears, which flowed uncontrobly down her cheeks. As her mother-inw, this was the first time Shu Chen broke down into tears before Gu Xiqiao.

    It was as if her soul had withered away after she was informed by the Elders¡¯ Pavilion about Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s deaths. In the blink of an eye, not only had she lost her own son, but her beloved daughter-inw as well. This was the ultimate blow against her morale. Still, it was not the time to wallow in anguish. With an iron-will, she continued assisting the ancient martial arts world by maintaining peace and stability. After all, this was the best way she could make sure that their deaths would not have been in vain!

    However, the amount of stress she was facing was overwhelming. Seeing Gu Xiqiao return was the final spark that lit up the bonfire of emotions, which was channeled out of her body through her tear ducts. Gradually, she felt a heavy weight fall off her shoulders.

    She knew that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return meant that the problem they were facing was no longer a problem!

    "Mom, I¡¯m sorry for making you worry," Gu Xiqiao hugged Shu Chen and apologized. "It¡¯s alright, Brother Jiang¡¯s safe and sound. He¡¯ll be back in no time."

    "As long as you two can return, all is well..." Shu Chen knew that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sudden return meant that there must be quite a lot of things to do. Not wishing to hold her back, Shu Chen returned to Jiang Han¡¯s side.

    Gu Xiqiao looked over at Tengen. "Thank goodness we have you around, Tengen."

    Tengen was visibly excited when he received thatpliment from Gu Xiqiao. "Master, you¡¯vee back!"

    "That¡¯s right," answered Gu Xiqiao with a light smile. Although her smile was subtle, it was enough to calm down the chaotic atmosphere that was guing this ce.

    "Let¡¯s not dy things now," said the Great Elder. "Miss Gu, the morale of the ancient martial arts world is at an all-time low. Do hurry up and tell them about your return! They¡¯ll be overjoyed!"

    "Alright," replied Gu Xiqiao while nodding. She then looked up at the sky.

    This time, she did not float up into the air as she did previously.

    Instead, what they saw was the clouds parting way, revealing a colossal silhouette of a person up in the sky. Slowly, the silhouette solidified into an actual physical entity.

    Any oddities happening within the ancient martial arts world could be detected instantly by its inhabitants. All of a sudden, they felt a sudden drop in air pressure that came from the heavens. It was so overwhelming and came so suddenly that they struggled to breathe. In horror, they stared up at the sky.

    "What¡¯s that? What on earth is happening! Hurry up and contact Peace Manor!" yelled a young person who had just emerged from the trial tower.

    An old man, who was standing on the side of the road wore a petrified expression as dark clouds descended upon him. "A monster must being for us! Run! Everyone! Run while we can...before we¡¯re doomed!"

    "Stay calm! We must have faith in Peace Manor! We must have faith in Miss Gu and Young Master Jiang!"

    "She¡¯s dead! They¡¯re both dead! The ancient martial arts world is done for!"

    "I believe in Miss Gu! She must still be with us!" responded a little girl, who appeared to only be seven or eight years old. She was still loyally holding onto an autographed photo of Gu Xiqiao.

    "Monster! Run everybody!"

    ***

    News of Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s death had already spread like wildfire across the ancient martial arts world. These two individuals were the heart of their defensive structure. Now that their main force was down, how could these people ever feel secure and protected?

    The clouds were getting more and more packed together and at this point, it had be quite clear what it was morphing into.

    "Mom, look. That¡¯s Miss Gu," said the little girl as she tugged on the sleeve of her mother¡¯s clothes.

    "Oh stop it with the nonsense, Miss Gu is already... she¡¯s already..." Her mother stopped halfway through her sentence. She stared at the sky, dumbfounded by what she saw.

    High up in the sky, the silhouette had taken up a physical form. That being was wearing red clothes which contrasted well with her waist-length ink dark hair. Her beautifully arched brows, and that slender contour of her face. Everyone knew instantly who that person was! It was Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face they were looking at!

    "Miss Gu..." At that moment, the chaotic footsteps around the ancient martial arts world stopped. Everyone stared up at Gu Xiqiao with their breaths held.

    "You all disappoint me," said Gu Xiqiao with a smile. Although her voice was soft, it made their hearts quiver in fear. "The ancient martial arts world belongs to all of us. I have trained you all for so long, and together with the Peacekeepers as well. And why do you think I did that? Of course, it was so that you all can protect your homnd and your family during times of crisis. But... to think I would be greeted by such a scene the moment I return. Where is your vigor?! Where is your will to fight?! Where is the courage that seemed limitless in the past?! I¡¯ll let you see what the Peacekeepers and the teams from the ancient martial arts world are up to right now!"

    With a wave of her hand, an image suddenly appeared in the sky. It showed the scene of the Peacekeepers fighting against a horde of mutant beasts. Yao Jiamu appeared in front of them and it was quite clear that he had sustained a number of injuries on his body. The same held true for the rest of the Peacekeepers. Still, there were countless mutants before them. The Peacekeepers showed no signs that they were going to retreat despite their wounds. Valiantly, they fought on, with the hope that the battle would end in their favor.

    The young ones from the ancient martial arts world who had trained under Gu Xiqiao too, continued massacring their enemies. Like the Peacekeepers, they didn¡¯t seem like they were going to give up just yet.

    "The Peacekeepers are putting their lives on the line and for what?! Are they not doing this for the ancient martial arts world?! I should remind all of you that they are merely regr humans, who in theory, shouldn¡¯t be meddling with your affairs! However! For the sake of the ancient martial arts world, they are walking on the razor¡¯s edge! And you people are still thinking about retreat. I know that some of you have even packed up your items, about to leave this ce for good!" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tone started to sound a little harsh. "Great Elder, Second Elder, Mister Luo, and even Mister Zhuge... they have all been fighting to ensure the ancient martial arts world¡¯s survival. And you people... really disappoint me."

    Each word from Gu Xiqiao forced the people of the ancient martial arts world to lower their heads in shame.

    "I will not remain here forever. If you continue on like this, then I see no point in staying here any longer. What you all need desperately is growth, without which your eventual decay is inevitable." Gu Xiqiao ended the projection after saying that.

    The bright red figure disappeared from their view.

    This time, Gu Xiqiao did nothing to drum up their morale. She was let down by the ancient martial arts world. Or perhaps it was her old memories that hadpelled her to say such things to them.

    Hearing her words made the people of the ancient martial arts world panic.

    "I¡¯m sorry Miss Gu!"

    "We have wronged you, Miss Gu!"

    "Miss Gu, I will prove to you that I really have be stronger!"

    "I won¡¯t let you down this time..."

    "..."

    And yet, Gu Xiqiao chose to ignore them. She looked over at Luo Weng and sighed. "I appreciate your hard work this time around."

    It was highly likely that Luo Weng felt a bit disgruntled to be forced to do something for the ancient martial arts world despite being a regr human.

    "Oh, it¡¯s nothing," responded Luo Weng with a smile. "But still, Miss Gu, you have toe back to Nine Heavens for a visit."

    "Nine Heavens?" Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes when she heard that came out of nowhere.

    The incident here at the martial arts world shouldn¡¯t have spread to the secr world so quickly, right?

    "Yeah, Chu Enterprise has just rolled out a batch of talents. They¡¯re now in negotiations with Yu Ning. They say they want to conduct tests on Star Net," Luo Weng¡¯s brilliant mind had already worked out what Chu Enterprise had up their sleeves a long time ago. "Nine Heavens¡¯work creation department was too attractive for them to allow it to slip away. The Virtual Network itself is already a game-changing creation but with the addition of Yu Ning¡¯s Star Net, control of the world wide web now rests in our hands. This is why Chu Enterprise is so dead set on acquiring Star Net. Their intention can be seen in their move to purchase Yang An¡¯s software. But, I still think they¡¯re after Nine Heavens¡¯ technology in the grander scheme of things. With you here though, they are fairly reluctant to make the first move..."

    With news of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s death spreading around, the time has finallye for them to reveal their fangs!

    Who wouldn¡¯t want a piece of Nine Heavens¡¯ technology?

    "Understood," replied Gu Xiqiao, who more or less understood what was going on after hearing the brief report from Luo Weng. Squeezing her own fingers, she continued. "Luo Weng, you go ahead and inform the Peacekeepers about this. I will head over to Nine Heavens myself."

    She disappeared into thin air right after saying that.

    ***

    At Nine Heavens¡¯ Headquarters.

    The representative of Chu Enterprise red at Yu Ning arrogantly. "How about it Yu Ning? Will you kneel to us?"

    "Never!" Before Yu Ning could reply, Mu Zong, who was standing next to him, grabbed him and responded to that man with a look of contempt.

    After receiving Star Net, these bastards still have the audacity to demand for Yu Ning to kneel before them? How outrageous!

    Yu Ning slowly raised his head. His fists were so tight that his knuckles turned white. It was pretty evident from his eyes as to how conflicted he felt at the moment.

    Seeing him like this made the representative of Chu Enterpriseugh mockingly. "I heard that apart from your employees, outsiders and their children are allowed to stay in yourpany-owned dormitory? Would be a shame if a fire was to raze it all to the ground. I wonder how the public would react to such news?"

    "Don¡¯t you fear Miss Gu¡¯s retribution?" asked Mu Zong as he eyed Yu Ning.

    The representative froze up when he heard Mu Zong mention Gu Xiqiao, but he was able to regain hisposure fairly quickly. "Miss Gu? Do you mean Gu Xiqiao? You think I¡¯m afraid of her? If anything, tell her toe see me! Cut the crap, please. It only takes one phone call and that building gets reduced to ashes."

    The representative whipped out his phone right after issuing his threat.

    "A new phone, from a specific fruit-brandedpany. With an eight-core S8 processor, pretty impressive..." Without warning, someone grabbed the phone out of his hand and started speaking to herself. Her voice was crisp and clear as she listed out the phone¡¯s features in detail.

    How dare this person take his belonging without his permission! Was she suicidal?

    The representative of Chu Enterprise turned around, only to be greeted by the face of a young woman.

    An ominous ambiance suddenly engulfed the meeting room. With a sweet innocent smile still on her face, she threw the phone on the ground. Then, narrowing her eyes at the representative, she said, "I heard you. I heard you say that you wanted to meet me. That, and you threatening to burn down our employees¡¯ dormitory... Oh, right." Gu Xiqiao turned towards Yu Ning. "And you wanted to make him kneel before you?"

 Chapter 377 Finale 1

    <h4>Chapter 377 Finale 1</h4>

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s tone when she spoke sounded indifferent. And yet for some reason, the representative of Chu Corporation was shaking in fear!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s notoriety was not just limited to the ancient martial arts world. Even among his peers, her name carried a lot of weight. After all, there were already three great giants who had been toppled by her. The way she attacked was swift and relentless. Merely mentioning her name was enough to send chills up their spine.

    This was also why no one dared to mess with Nine Heavens when Gu Xiqiao was still around. Knowing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s ferocity, they knew that doing so was an act of futility. Lay a single finger on Nine Heavens and the corporate empire they painstakingly constructed in the secr world would be wiped offpletely and mercilessly from the face of the earth!

    Finally, when they caught wind about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s death, they resumed their unscrupulous ns. Nine Heavens in such a moment was a fatty piece of meat that was dangling before their eyes.

    To be able to reach such heights within such a short amount of time, how could they not wish to acquire this piece of treasure? However, for the most part, that was all there was to it. The people of the secr world were awed by Nine Heavens¡¯ achievements but to acquire them in such a bold manner? Only an insane person would dare tomit such a thing!

    Chu Enterprise stood out from the rest, for they were the first to make a move upon receiving news of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s death. Now that they had a group of exceptional people working under them, they had acquired a great deal of smaller businesses and had now set their sights on Nine Heavens.

    The course of history shifted once more for the secr world after Gu Xiqiao¡¯s sudden downfall was announced.

    It was incredibly important to apany¡¯s survival to have a strong person behind the wheel.

    Chu Enterprise had just received an additional batch of these strong people; their business expanded at an exponential rate as a result. Arge part of Nine Heavens¡¯ manpower was concentrated onpleting their respective tasks, leaving only a handful of above-average employees running the entirepany¡¯s operations. Naturally, they were no match for Chu Enterprise¡¯s full might.

    Chu Enterprise was initially skeptical about the news. They were worried that Gu Xiqiao would reappear out of nowhere but upon digging deeper into the incident, they realized that indeed, it had been a while since she hadst appeared. This emboldened them to make the first move.

    Finally, they were able to confirm that Gu Xiqiao¡¯s downfall was true!

    It was beyond their calctions that Gu Xiqiao would suddenly return after they had obtained Star Net!

    The representative of Chu Enterprise stared at Gu Xiqiao, dumbfounded. His hands and feet were shaking. He had previously heard how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was but he had never met her up close in person before. However, what he felt right now was far more horrific than what he had heard.

    Opening his mouth, he wanted to beg for mercy and forgiveness but not a single word could be produced by his vocal cords.

    "I assume you¡¯re working for Chu Enterprise?" Gu Xiqiao grabbed the phone at the precise moment when it came falling down. She then swiftly tucked it into the representative¡¯s pocket. "Answer my question," she said.

    Only a suicidal fool would refuse to answer her question.

    The representative of Chu Enterprise wished to answer her question but he struggled to produce anything coherent as a reply. He had not even the strength to raise his arm, how could she expect him to speak?! How could he possibly exin his way out of this predicament anyway?!

    Cold beads of sweat were rolling down his body. Thankfully, in the nick of time, his mind had cleared up. Recalling what Gu Xiqiao said and what he himself said, he suddenly felt the urge to break down and cry. Why did he even think it was a good idea to utter such nonsense?! To make Yu Ning kowtow to him? Demanding that Gu Xiqiaoe see him personally?! And threatening to burn her property down to the ground?!

    Thinking about this, realization finally set in, that all this while, he had been slowly marching towards his own death!

    Thud¨C Without saying a word more, he knelt down while facing Yu Ning¡¯s direction. His arms were still frozen solid but that did not stop him from doing what he intended to do.

    cing his head on the ground, he begged for Yu Ning¡¯s forgiveness. Finally, he passed the USB stick which contained the Star Net program which he hade under his possession for no more than a couple of minutes.

    "Go back and tell Chu Ziheng this," Gu Xiqiao pped her hands and a smirk appeared on her face. "Tell him that I want Chu Enterprise."

    After she said that, she waved him off. "Now get out of my face."

    The men sent by Chu Enterprise ran out of the door as soon as Gu Xiqiao issued her ultimatum. Still on all fours, the representative crawled hastily out of the door. He strode into Nine Heavens like a hero about to im his throne but ended up being booted out like a spirit that had been exorcised.

    Their faces were all as pale as sheets of paper. They looked at each other after they had left Nine Heavens, confirming that they weren¡¯t the only ones who were shaking in fear.

    If only they had known that she was still alive, they would never have chosen to mess with Nine Heavens! This entire incident felt like they had just willingly walked into a trapid by themselves!

    "Should we tell the young master what she said just now?" asked one of the men.

    "In any case, we absolutely must inform him of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return. And... I¡¯m afraid ourpany¡¯s sailing into dangerous waters," replied the representative of Chu Enterprise.

    No one dared to go against Gu Xiqiao¡¯s orders, even her enemies.

    When she dered that she wanted Chu Enterprise, there was nothing they could do to stop her from achieving her goals, regardless of how massive the number of resources Chu Enterprise had under their possession.

    Within Nine Heavens¡¯ headquarters.

    Mu Zong, Yu Ning, and a couple of other secretaries all stared in disbelief at the person standing before them. Mu Zong¡¯s voice sounded hoarse and his hands were shaking. "Miss Gu, y-you¡¯ve... you¡¯vee back?"

    Luo Weng had already told them of her demise. Like Luo Weng and the rest of the inhabitants of Peace Manor, none of them believed the news. And so, they patiently waited for her return.

    This was especially true for Mu Zong. Among these people, he was one of the first to meet Gu Xiqiao. Back then, she was just another child in his eyes. Whenever Mu Jiatong asked about her, he would tell the kid, "Your big sis has gone out on a mission."

    His mind simply could not ept her death!

    "Finally, you¡¯re back," said Yu Ning with a smile. His tense expression had loosened up quite a bit. "If you came back anyter, Star Net would have been given to them entirely."

    The anguish they felt over the past few days had been wiped out in an instant. The depressed look on their faces faded away immediately upon seeing Gu Xiqiao.

    "That¡¯s right, I¡¯m back," responded Gu Xiqiao. "I¡¯m sorry to have troubled you guys during this period."

    She too understood the implications of the news of her death upon the supernatural world. However, she was surprised by how much it affected Nine Heavens as well.

    "Say, Chu Enterprise¡¯s specialty is in the F\u0026B industry," said Yu Ning with a puzzled expression. "Why on earth would they want Star Net? If they want more cash flow, wouldn¡¯t it make more sense to just invest in ourpany?"

    Well, it is inevitable that Star Net will dominate the entire globe one day in the future. What they want isn¡¯t Star Net, but instead, control over the entire world," said Gu Xiqiao while shaking her head in disappointment. All that still depended on her. "Let¡¯s talk about this some other time. Where¡¯s Jiji?"

    "Speaking about Jiji!" An odd expression appeared on Yu Ning¡¯s face when he heard Gu Xiqiao mention Jiji. "It¡¯s still in theboratory, but half a month ago, it..." Yu Ning started stuttering halfway through his sentence, struggling to find the right word to describe Jiji¡¯s condition.

    "What? You¡¯re trying to say that it¡¯s busted?" Gu Xiqiao followed Yu Ning out to where Jiji was located.

    "It¡¯s not exactly busted but... you¡¯ll understand when you see it." Yu Ning pushed the door of theboratory open.

    In it was a little robot wearing a frilly little dress. It looked the same as before but Gu Xiqiao could sense that this was no longer Jiji. To be precise, the pile of data that made up Jiji¡¯s consciousness had already detached from its physical robotic body. This little robot was now in fact, just a regr robot.

    "I think I understand now." Half a month ago, it just happened that her soul had returned to a time where she lived her previous life. It was at that point that she lost connection with Jijipletely.

    But where was Jiji now?

    Gu Xiqiao could not detect its presence in any way. She massaged her temples as a minor headache started.

    "You go on and continue with your job. I¡¯m going to make a body for it. " Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes scanned across the material which was strewn around theb. She then started picking up random parts and collecting them into a pile.

    Yu Ning was about to leave but stopped in his tracks when he saw what Gu Xiqiao was holding. The corner of his mouth twitched. "Miss Gu, are you nning to build Jiji a new body?"

    "Do you have an issue with it?" asked Gu Xiqiao.

    Yu Ning looked at the pile of bright greenponents. Silently, he said a prayer for Jiji. "Nope, not at all. Do go on."

    Gu Xiqiao continued with her little project. Instead of heading straight back to the ancient martial arts world, she remained at Nine Heavens for the next two days.

    "Miss Gu? Miss Gu?" The secretary was in the middle of giving Gu Xiqiao a brief report on the recent developments but noticed how she was zoning out. This was the first time he had seen her like this, which piqued his curiosity.

    "I understand. You can leave now." Gu Xiqiao snapped back into reality and waved off the secretary.

    "..."

    ¡¯Right, maybe she was just multitasking! That¡¯s right! That sounds more like my boss!¡¯

    Gu Xiqiao picked up her phone. She discovered that she had a message from Shu Chen. [Qiao Qiao,e back and have dinner with us tonight. I have already invited our friends. You kids sure know how to make things lively after all!]

    It had been a while since shest had a proper meal. Without giving it too much thought, she immediately replied ¡¯alright¡¯.

    In the evening, Gu Xiqiao drove her little pink car back home.

    Shu Chen was right. She really did invite her friends over for dinner.

    There was Tang Yanling, Yin Jinian, Luo Weng, Zhuge Yan, Tang Qinghong, Baili Bin... the entire table was packed. Thankfully, the Jiang family was able to afford a massive dining table, else they would never have been able to fit so many people.

    "Miss Gu," The great elder rose from his seat and raised his ss to dedicate a toast to Gu Xiqiao.

    This was something he wanted to do for a long time now. Gu Xiqiao had made so many sacrifices for the ancient martial arts world. Without her, they would not have been here today.

    Gu Xiqiao too stood up and raised her ss. She paused for a moment when her lips made contact with the ss. She took no more than a sip. Afterward, she murmured something to the butler and the contents of her ss were switched out for in water.

    The table was rowdy from all the chatter. The cold, deste atmosphere that lingered in the Jiang family manor suddenly faded away. Finally, the air here became much warmer.

    Shu Chen smiled at the sight of this. However, this did notst long as halfway through their meal, she started frowning after the butler whispered something into her ear. Still, that frown was suppressed in less than a second.

    This was so that it did not attract the attention of the rest of her guests. She remained seated there for only a moment before she got up and left. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she pondered what had happened.

    It wasn¡¯t long before Shu Chen returned. Her expression did not change much but Gu Xiqiao noticed how her fists were now tightly clenched.

    "You acquired Chu Enterprise recently, I heard?" asked Luo Weng. He had been really busy, dealing with matters rted to the ancient martial arts world that he had only been informed of this after a conversation with Yu Ning.

    Gu Xiqiao leaned back into her chair. "Yup," she replied nonchntly.

    "You don¡¯t seem like you care about the mess you¡¯re making,"mented Luo Weng when he saw Gu Xiqiao¡¯s casual demeanor when speaking about this issue. He paused for a moment before asking: "Why do I feel like you¡¯ve be muchzier since thest time I met you?"

    "What do you mean the mess I¡¯m making? At thetest, news of Chu Enterprise¡¯s acquisition by us would be out by today." Gu Xiqiao yawnedzily. Seeing that everybody was almost done with their meal, she got up from her seat. "I¡¯m exhausted from all the work today. I¡¯m gonna hit the sack soon. If you¡¯ve got anything to tell me, tell it to me tomorrow."

    She turned and headed upstairs right after saying that.

    "Exhausted?" Yin Shaoyuan, who had just produced a pack of ying cards froze up awkwardly. "Little Luo, didn¡¯t you say that all she did over at Nine Heavens was y around?"

    "That is correct," replied Luo Weng, who was also baffled by Gu Xiqiao¡¯s statement. "But, whenever the boss says she¡¯s tired even though she isn¡¯t, there¡¯s nothing you can do or say to make her change her mind. You guys go ahead and y your cards. I¡¯m gonna go watch some news."

    "News?" Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s eyes narrowed. "Is there perhaps, something interesting that is going to appear in the news?"

    "You won¡¯t understand it anyway. It¡¯s about Chu Enterprise," replied Luo Weng. While waving his hand, he left the room.

    The senior elder watched as Bai Libin and the rest joined Yin Shaoyuan¡¯s game of poker. "It¡¯s the end of the world and you all are still in the mood for games?"

    "We¡¯re missing one yer, you in or not?" asked Yin Shaoyuan as he waved the card in his hand.

    "Oh alright alright!" said the senior elder as he finally gave in.

    It was around that time that news of Nine Heavens¡¯ acquisition of Chu Enterprise finally made its appearance on the TV screen. Business channels across the globe were all talking about this topic simultaneously!

    In the period leading up to this event, Chu Enterprise was faring well in their campaign of mass acquisitions of surrounding businesses through questionable methods. Although these businesses had been bought by them, many of their owners were still bitter about it till today!

    And as if what they were doing wasn¡¯t outrageous enough, Chu Enterprise finally made their move against Nine Heavens.

    Nine Heavens! Just what the hell did they think this mightypany was?! They massively underestimated how insanely powerful the figure running thepany was.

    There were quite a lot of people across the globe watching the battle between these two corporate giants. It was a battle that relied entirely on brains. Surprisingly, most of the spectators ced their bets on Chu Enterprise. This wasn¡¯t because they failed to recognize how capable Nine Heavens was, but the dirty tactics Chu Enterprise employed was way too low!

    It was apparent to them that Chu Enterprise had been preparing for this final showdown since a long time ago.

    The entire globe held their breaths, awaiting news of the most recent developments. As time passed, the more it seemed like things would y out ording to their expectations. Chu Enterprise had finally acquired Nine Heavens¡¯ newest toy, Star Net.

    And yet, only two days had passed before the person, who had announced Chu Enterprise¡¯s acquisition of Star Net, suddenly announced news of Chu Enterprise¡¯s abrupt bankruptcy!

    It was simply out-of-this-world! It had merely been moments ago that Chu Enterprise had reached the peak of their corporate empire, and now they¡¯re bankrupt? Not only that, they had been acquired by Nine Heavens? Even if they were indeed dreaming, things typically did not go South so quickly, right? Where were the genius strategists of Chu Enterprise?! Where did they go? How is this even possible?!

    "This is impossible!" muttered the man to himself as he paced around the room.

    "How so?" The old man who sat next to him shook his head. "Don¡¯t forget who the person running Nine Heavens is. It¡¯s Miss Gu we¡¯re talking about. Who else could possibly match Miss Gu when ites to strategic warfare?"

    "Miss Gu? No, this isn¡¯t right. Thest time I checked, the inte stated that Miss Gu was the director of Nine Heavens. But no matter how deep I dug, I could not find even a strand of evidence that linked her to thepany."

    The old man next to him picked up a book. "If she wants you to find her, you¡¯ll be able to. If she wishes otherwise, then, of course, you wille back empty-handed no matter how hard you search for her."

    In any case, news of Nine Heavens¡¯ new acquisition had spread around the corporate world overnight.

    Those who doubted Nine Heavens, in the beginning, were baffled. How was it possible that apany could be so potent? There was virtually no one that could stop Chu Enterprise in their march towards world domination. And yet, their forces were shattered overnight by Nine Heavens?

    It was at this moment that the final link was created between Miss Gu and Nine Heavens!

    A couple of world-famous entrepreneurs were going insane on social media. Some even created a Weibo ount themselves to ess the Chinese social media directly.

    It had been a while since Gu Xiqiaost posted something on her Weibo ount. Despite this, the number ofments and mentions of her ount had reached over seven million!

    "I just saw a British billionaire mention Beauty Gu, asking for permission to be her number one fan. Say, what on earth did our Beauty Gu do this time? What¡¯s up with these people?"

    "Nothing much, she has just acquired Chu Enterprise."

    "I went to bed after seeing how there wasn¡¯t anything going on with my goddess¡¯ social media ount. Why the hell is there over five hundred thousandments now?! What are y¡¯all doing?"

    "Who cares about that billionaire guy? Did you guys see the POTUS¡¯s tweet, saying how he wishes to be Beauty Gu¡¯s pet?! And then he got trolled by our Supreme General!"

    "Say what?! The Supreme General¡¯s got a Weibo ount now? Excuse me? I¡¯ve only been away from the inte for 2 days and even the Supreme General¡¯s a Weibo user now?"

    "Dear friends, I would advise you guys to go look at Beauty Gu¡¯s watchlist. After that, we¡¯ll sit down and have a little talk. :)"

    ***

    The most pitiful person at such a moment was the Chu family. They had only wished to obtain Nine Heavens¡¯ Star Net. Before this incident, theirpany had once worked together with Nine Heavens; never in a million years would they have expected this to happen. For a simple goal, they sacrificed something they had struggled to build over so many years.

    Gu Xiqiao did not particrly care about the changes that were happening in the outside world. She had just finished washing herself up and now in her bedroom, she booted up herputer.

    Shu Chen stood outside her room. Raising her arm, she wanted to knock on the door but decided against it at the final moment.

    "Madam, if I may ask, what are you doing here?" asked the butler who had just left the study. He was slightly puzzled by seeing Shu Chen standing there idly outside Gu Xiqiao¡¯s room.

    "I¡¯m here to talk to Qiao Qiao."

    The butler stared at her with a nk expression. "Then why don¡¯t you just go in?"

    Shu Chen raised her arm again. "Well, I was going to, until you came over."

    Before she rapped her knuckles on the door, it popped open automatically.

    Gu Xiqiao had just finished drying her hair with a towel. She smiled at Shu Chen. "Is there anything I can help you with Mom?"

    "Not really," Shu Chen was a little reluctant when she spoke. Still, she noticed how surprisingly calm Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expression was.

    In a way, her calmness rubbed off on Shu Chen. With her heart now beating calmly, she grabbed Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand. "Qiao Qiao, I just wanted to tell you that no matter what you hear from Mo Li, never take it as the truth. Shuxuan isn¡¯t the person that she¡¯s describing."

    After saying that, she looked at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face anxiously awaiting a response.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s facial expression remainedrgely the same. The look in her eyes was dead serious. "Mom, I have faith in him and him alone."

    "That¡¯s good," responded Shu Chen. She could sense that Gu Xiqiao was speaking from the bottom of her heart, which made her smile. "Qiao Qiao, I have no idea who that Mo Li person is. She says that she has known Shuxuan for a very long time but trust me, there is nothing going on between them in any sort of way. Thest time, I was very sure that she had left the ancient martial arts world. I have no idea why she chose to return so suddenly."

    Gu Xiqiao knew that it was Mo Li who came to visit Shu Chen during dinner. She wasn¡¯t surprised by what Shu Chen was telling her right now.

    The sun was already high up in the sky when Gu Xiqiao woke up the next day.

    Slipping into her shoes, she opened the curtains. There had only been a handful of times that she had slept till such an hour.

    Gu Xiqiao massaged her temples. After brushing her hair, she went downstairs.

    Today, she wanted to drop by the Peace Manor.

    "Qiao Qiao left?" Shu Chen went out early in the morning, only to see a servant tidying up the dining table when she returned.

    "Yes ma¡¯am, she left not long ago."

    Shu Chen saw a single egg left behind by Gu Xiqiao. She scratched her head. Gu Xiqiao was never a picky eater, so why did she choose to leave this egg behind? "Did Qiao Qiao say that she¡¯s feeling unwell today?"

    "No, not to my knowledge," replied the servant. Gu Xiqiao had even directed a smile at her before she left. At least to her, she didn¡¯t seem like she was a person who was down with an illness.

    Shu Chen¡¯s brows furrowed. Was it because of what she told Gu Xiqiao yesterday?

    She let out a sigh when she thought about this. She was practically helpless where this issue was concerned. All she could do was wait for Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s return.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao was slowly strolling towards Peace Manor. Halfway through her journey, she was stopped by someone.

    "Miss Gu, do you have a second to spare? I¡¯d like to have a word with you." said the woman.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes when she looked at the person who had stopped her. Nodding, she said: "Let¡¯s go, there¡¯s a teahouse up ahead."

    She then continued walking forwards.

    Mo Li followed behind her. It was up until she sat down on a bench at the teahouse that realization finally set in. Wait a minute. She should be the one taking the lead. At which point did she start allowing Gu Xiqiao to take the wheel?

    Feeling something off about this whole process, Mo Li continued sipping on her tea. She peered up at Gu Xiqiao. "He¡¯s at the Legacy Base. He¡¯ll understand as soon as he returns, the disparity between you and him I mean."

    "So?" asked Gu Xiqiao with a raised brow. Her fingers continued fiddling with her teacup as she entered into a semi-daydreaming state.

    "Nothing much really," Mo Li was silently smiling to herself. "I just hope that you¡¯re prepared..."

    Before she could finish her sentence, the phone in her pocket started ringing. Instead of walking away, she answered the call right there at the table with Gu Xiqiao sitting opposite to her. She then uttered an address. To be specific, it was the address of the teahouse they were at.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were glued to her phone.

    "Are you perhaps curious about who I am talking to?" Mo Li chuckled. She then looked over at Gu Xiqiao. "I was talking to the Ghost Legion, who once served under him a very long time ago. Each member of this legion possesses powers far beyond what you are capable ofprehending!"

    Seeing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s expressionless look, Mo Li realized it was much better to just keep silent. Her head turned towards the door.

    "Miss Mo Li." It had only been a couple of seconds at most before an entire troop formation appeared before them. In unison, they bowed at her.

    There were 81 of them, each wearing a silver suit of armor. The aura that they gave off felt exactly like that of an unsheathed de; they felt as sharp as a weapon!

    "My brother should being back soon! In the meantime, you guys should sit tight in the ancient martial arts world," said Mo Li as she rose from her seat.

    The men¡¯s stoic expressions turned into one of glee when they heard the announcement. The man, who was presumably their leader, spoke with a shaking voice. "Miss Mo Li, does that mean that we can finally see our master?"

    "Of course," she replied with a confident smile.

    They were fairly confident that Mo Li was speaking the truth. For now, no one was capable of topping their master, with the exception of Mo Li herself. This was also why they had so much respect for her.

    "Right, this person is your master¡¯s wife here," said Mo Li as she gestured towards Gu Xiqiao.

    Wife?

    "How is this possible?!" Not a single member of the 81-man team could believe what Mo Li had just said. Turning towards Gu Xiqiao, the leader continued, "She¡¯s just a regr human being!"

    "Miss Mo Li, are you pulling our leg or something?"

    "..."

    They did everything but greet Gu Xiqiao as the wife of their master.

    Mo Li¡¯s facial expression was neutral, but this was what she had originally intended. She turned towards Gu Xiqiao, only to see the same natural expression she herself was wearing. She didn¡¯t seem to be affected by their words. In fact, she was soid-back that she had just poured herself another cup of tea.

    Sensing that Mo Li wasn¡¯t very fond of this woman, a man walked out from the formation and bowed at her. "I wonder what this young missus has up her sleeve. Could you please teach me a lesson or two?"

    His words might sound respectful but there was nothing respectful about his overall demeanor. With an open palm, he was about to p Gu Xiqiao across the face.

    The boss of the teahouse and the other patrons smirked. They were challenging Miss Gu? Have they lost their mind?!

    Gu Xiqiao did not move. Calmly, she held onto her teacup.

    One meter away!

    She remained still.

    Half a meter away!

    She remained still.

    Ten centimeters away!

    She remained still!

    Just when they thought she had been so caught up in fear that she had frozen up, a man dressed in gray robes suddenly appeared next to her. Effortlessly, he grabbed onto the arm of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s assant.

    "Anyone who disrespects my master shall be in without mercy." Tengen looked at the man. With a slight of his hand, the man¡¯s neck was firmly between his fingers.

    The man was an ace within the Ghost Legion; his strength was through the roof. And yet, within a split second, he had been immobilized by this man?!

    "That¡¯s enough. Time for us to leave, Tengen." Gu Xiqiao finally put down her teacup.

    The ce was so quiet that the sound of her porcin teacup hitting the table was crisp and loud.

    Gu Xiqiao ced a banknote on the table before leaving the teahouse at a leisurely pace. Those who stood in front of her backed away unconsciously, forming a pathway made specifically for her.

    "Y-you¡¯re both demigods?" All 81 pairs of eyes were on Gu Xiqiao and Tengen.

    Demigods? Tengenughed. He looked back at the men. Fortunately, he was in a rtively good mood today. "No, we are not."

    However, his master did once turn the world of the demigods upside down.

    The owner of the teahouse quickly caught up with Gu Xiqiao, demanding that Gu Xiqiao keep her money. The 81 men felt as if they had each been given a p to the face. Seeing this, the owner felt a sudden urge to p their heads to check if their brains were still in there. "I can¡¯t believe you guys really thought you had a chance at beating her. Have you all lost your minds?!"

 Chapter 378 Finale 2

    <h4>Chapter 378 Finale 2</h4>

    The people at Peace Manor had just returned from their most recent mission. They were incredibly excited when they saw Gu Xiqiao return.

    "That¡¯s enough guys," said Gu Xiqiao upon seeing how close Wu Hongwen and the rest of his team were on the brink of breaking down into tears. "I¡¯m not dead, alright?"

    "What are you talking about!" Yao Jiamu was frowning. What an inauspicious word to say!

    "Where¡¯s Xiao Yun?" Gu Xiqiao asked while rubbing her nose. Her eyes scanned across the crowd in search of her friend. It was a convenient opportunity to change the topic anyway.

    Too bad, Xiao Yun was nowhere to be found.

    Wu Hongwen pursed his lips. "Her? She left with Tang Qingqiu right after our mission ended. But..." He was a little worried when thinking about this. "She did not seem particrly happy when she left. I wonder what happened to her."

    "It¡¯s nothing to worry about. It¡¯ll only be a minor hassle at most." Gu Xiqiao guessed that the problem Xiao Yun was facing was not really life-threatening, so she let it be.

    They continued chatting until Yao Jiamu raised a serious issue.

    "You¡¯re talking about the desert wastnd?" asked Gu Xiqiao with knitted brows when she heard what Yao Jiamu said.

    "That¡¯s right. The wave fluctuations over there are bizarre. If Weng didn¡¯t tell me that you wereing back, I would¡¯ve brought the Peacekeepers over there to do some investigation."

    Gu Xiqiao was about to say something when she suddenly looked up at the horizon. A momentter, she turned back towards Yao Jiamu. "I don¡¯t want you guys to meddle in this issue. Stand back until I issue orders."

    Right after she said that not a single second was wasted. She immediately left the Peace Manor for the edge of the ancient martial arts world.

    The 81 men who were under Mo Li¡¯smand was standing on the side of the main road of the ancient martial arts world. Their facial expressions could only be described as stunned.

    All 81 of them had ancient powers which surpassed that of the ancient martial arts world. This made them severely underestimate the people of this ce. That was at least until they met Gu Xiqiao, whom they had initially disrespected.

    After all, back in their world, power triumphs over everything else.

    What they did not expect was to see Gu Xiqiao and Tengen immobilize one of their aces so effortlessly. They were initially stupefied, unable to believe what had just happened.

    In fact, they even suspected that both Gu Xiqiao and Tengen were demigods!

    As if these two weren¡¯t surprising enough, they were shocked to see thebat squads of the ancient martial arts world.

    Although the individual members of the squad weren¡¯t particrly powerful, their strengthbined when creating formations was practically never seen before!

    How was this possible?

    Their collective strength was greater than the sum of its parts! How could a bunch of regr humans even be capable of wielding such great force!?

    "Miss Mo Li, are these people really just human beings who have cultivated their skill in ancient martial arts?" Even the great prodigies from his mother¡¯s generation paled inparison to their modern counterparts here in the ancient martial arts world. The young man wiped the cold sweat off his brows. Recalling how arrogant his demeanor was in the beginning, his face became flushed red.

    If regr humans in the martial arts world were already so strong, then how could their 81-man team evenpare to the bona fide martial artists?!

    Just when their morale was at an all-time low, they saw the woman from the teahouse walk in their direction.

    The Ghost Legion instinctively shrunk back out of fear.

    Before they could say anything, thebat squad who had marched past them suddenly stopped in their tracks. They moved to both sides of the road. The young people of the squad remained quiet. Slightly, they bowed forward and projected a respectful expression towards Gu Xiqiao!

    It wasn¡¯t just some superficial show of respect; the members of the Ghost Legion could sense that their respect came from the bottom of their hearts. It was the same sort of respect a weaker party would show to a dominant force.

    This baffled the Ghost Legion. These youngsters were already plenty strong. Who would¡¯ve thought that even they would bow to this woman?

    What did this imply?!

    The 81 men felt the same chill crawl up their spines. For the first time since they met, they took Gu Xiqiao seriously. They then turned towards Mo Li with skeptical expressions.

    Mo Li said that Gu Xiqiao was their master¡¯s wife. They dismissed this as a joke in the beginning.

    Although they were the subordinates of their ¡¯master¡¯, they had never seen him in person before. To be suddenly summoned out of nowhere definitely made them excited. They wished to perform and show how capable they had be, and the first one to whom this would be shown was Miss Mo Li.

    They knew that apart from Mo Li, their ¡¯master¡¯ had never had a person of the opposite sex by his side before. This was part of the reason why they sucked up to Mo Li, and also why they did not believe that Gu Xiqiao was their master¡¯s wife.

    But now, they had just gone through a rude awakening.

    Shocked as they may be, Gu Xiqiao did not stop before them. As if they were transparent, Gu Xiqiao walked past them and continued making her way towards the edge of the ancient martial arts world.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of people gathered at her destination, as most of the squads had already returned from their missions by mid-day.

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes darted around, until they finally came upon a slender figure whose back was facing her.

    A crisp-white shirt, ck cks, and a tall figure. Basking under the afternoon sun, the icy-coldness of his aura seemed to have diminished quite noticably.

    Perhaps he heard a slight rustling, which made him turn around, revealing his handsome chiseled face.

    It was the same old familiar face, and yet something about his aura had changed, turning it unpredictable.

    Gu Xiqiao slowed to a halt. Standing before him, she was about to say something when a silhouette darted in front of her.

    "You¡¯ve finally woken up," said Mo Li, who had marched right up to Jiang Shuxuan.

 Chapter 379 Finale 3

    <h4>Chapter 379 Finale 3</h4>

    Mo Li had been waiting for this moment for so many years. Finally, Jiang Shuxuan had woken up. She expected him to be as excited as herself at this point.

    To her horror, Jiang Shuxuan reacted as if he had not even seen her!

    "My brother has already woken up." Mo Li peered at Gu Xiqiao, whose expression was stone cold. She could sense hints of mockery with a dash of sympathy on her face.

    She was so fixated on Gu Xiqiao that she failed to notice how hostile Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s expression had transformed!

    Silently, he leapt past her. His attention was on a thin figure who stood behind her. Underneath his cold exterior, she could sense something warm flowing around.

    Mo Li stood there, frozen in her tracks as she continued being ignored by the very person whom she looked forward to meeting for the past couple of years.

    It wasn¡¯t Mo Li alone who was shocked beyond words. The 81-man formation who stood guard behind her were baffled by the turn of events.

    ording to popr hearsay, as high and mighty their master was, they did not expect him to outright ignore someone whom he knew, let alone a person like Mo Li.

    Gu Xiqiao did not walk forwards. She merely nced at Jiang Shuxuan with a light smile on her face.

    Her smile, although gentle, glowed underneath the sunlight. As a light breeze blew past them, her dark hair fluttered around, making the whole scene seem almost as if it had been taken from a painting.

    Mo Li red at Gu Xiqiao, then at Jiang Shuxuan. She was in a state of pure disbelief!

    "Brother..."

    Jiang Shuxuan got visibly annoyed when he heard her voice. His brows were furrowed instantly.

    Gu Xiqiao quickly took notice of this. With a cheeky grin on her face, she said to Jiang Shuxuan, "Brother Jiang, you deal with this whole situation here. I¡¯m going off to Zhuge Yan¡¯s ce."

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t seem like he particrly enjoyed staying around here. He was noticeably disgusted upon hearing Gu Xiqiao mention Zhuge Yan¡¯s name. Still, seeing her smile made him defenseless.

    "Fine, I¡¯lle over as soon as I can." He tried his best but in the end, he couldn¡¯t help but cave in to his desire to embrace her. He marched forwards and slowly bent down with his arms wide open, ready to wrap themselves around her.

    Standing there, he watched as she slowly walked off into the distance until she could no longer be seen. It was after he was sure that she left that he turned around to deal with Mo Li.

    Mo Li¡¯s facial expression was still the same¡ªdisbelief.

    No one knew Jiang Shuxuan better than her. Back then, it was him that pulled her back from the deepest pits of hell, shielding her from harm the entire way. Although he rarely spoke to her, he was the only source of warmth in her life.

    Mo Li did not doubt that she knew him better than anyone else here, even the parts of him which were so cold and unlikable!

    She thought he would start ignoring Gu Xiqiao once he recovered his memory. Never in a million years could she have foreseen him reacting with such a merciless attitude. Had he really regained his old memories?

    "Brother... you..." Mo Li¡¯s mouth opened and closed but she was interrupted by Jiang Shuxuan before she even started asking her question.

    "Do you want to know the reason why I took you under my wing back then?" asked Jiang Shuxuan. Now that Gu Xiqiao was no longer here, the wall of ice returned to his eyes. Judging by how the ground was starting to freeze underneath his feet, he was being dead serious.

    Mo Li was stunned. She had never thought about this matter seriously. The Dragon n was annihted, leaving her as the sole surviving member of their n. Back then, she had already epted her fate but at the final moment, she suddenly felt a wave of warmth wrap around her. When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes.

    Although she did not manage to see his face clearly, she was fairly certain that he was defending her.

    Jiang Shuxuan did not wait around to hear her reply. "That time, she was visiting the Dragon n, whose ancestors she was good friends with. That was when she decoded the secrets behind the elusive charmspeak ability you are so proud of. Upon hearing news of your n¡¯s demise, she set off for your n¡¯s base immediately. You were the only person left when she arrived, and I was given the task of protecting you. And do you know what she did after that? She went off on a one-man mission to destroy the n that destroyed yours."

    His expression was calm, but his words impacted Mo Li¡¯s heart like exploding bombs.

    Just who was this Jiang Shuxuan person? Back then, he was the most powerful person in China!

    Possessing the world¡¯s most mysterious magical powers, he engaged in a final battle with the devil. Halfway into the battle, he and his enemy had vanished into thin air. No one knew if he was alive or dead. The Almighty Ones of the ancient martial arts world assumed that he had fallen in battle. Leaving only a torn branch of himself behind, Mo Li had entered hibernation. A century had passed when she finally woke up, after which she had sessfully tracked down Jiang Shuxuan.

    And just when she had the chance to see him, she was informed that her actual savior was Gu Xiqiao?!

    Mo Li found this a little hard to believe. Still, memories of Gu Xiqiao using the charmspeak ability suddenly shed through her mind. All of a sudden, the truth was bing clearer to her by the moment.

    Jiang Shuxuan did not want to waste his time any further. He turned around, prepared to leave Mo Li behind for good.

    From the beginning till the end of their brief interaction, never once did he spare a nce at the Ghost Legion.

    A ck eagle flew over after he left.

    It¡¯s dark feathers reflected the cold sunlight as it slowlynded onto the ground. With a razor-sharp re, it peered at the 81 men. "The first thing you people do when youe back is offend the mistress. Prepare to be locked in the darkrooms."

    Mo Li turned around with a furious expression right after she heard the eagle speak. The Ghost Legion stood there frozen, as the dreadful feeling of regret slowly engulfed their heart!

    How would they know that things would turn out like this? They thought that this was just an opportunity for them to see Jiang Shuxuan in person. And so, they did what they had to do in order to curry favor with Mo Li, even if it meant offending Gu Xiqiao in the process!

    They then realized another thing. Miss Gu was their mistress?!

    They were shocked beyond words. Cold sweat started gushing from their pores.

    The leader of the Ghost Legion grabbed a random passerby from the street and asked, "I have a single question. Is there any way we can make up for identally offending Miss Gu?

    The person, who was a native dweller of the ancient martial arts world spared him a look of sympathy when he heard that these people had offended Gu Xiqiao. Still, in the next second, he hurriedly ran off into the distance, in an attempt to not be associated with these unfortunate souls.

    ***

    "Young Master, drink this medicine," said Wei Xi, who brought a bowl filled with a dark liquid to Zhuge Yan.

    Wanqi Jue, Baili Bin, Tang Qinghong and the rest were all gathered here. They were discussing their n to investigate the desert wastnds. The Peacekeepers had detected a bizarre fluctuation of energy in that location, and naturally, they too could sense this strange phenomenon.

    Zhuge Yan drank a mouthful of this medicinal brew before giving the girl an instruction. "Wei Xi, bring me the divining tool."

    In his current physical state, his body could not withstand the stress that making divination would bring. However, considering how dire the situation here has be, even Wei Xi had refrained from refusing his request. Obediently, she did as told, bringing the divining tool over to her master.

    Zhuge Yan ced the tool on his palm and shut his eyes. A momentter, he ced it within the hexagram pan, which moved for six separate times. He then looked at the imagery that was subsequently produced.

    "In the north, a white tiger has awoken. This is a bad omen," A pair of pale white hands picked the copper coin up from the hexagram te, which was followed by the familiar crystal-clear voice of Gu Xiqiao. "Looks like blood will be split in my next mission."

    Everyone¡¯s facial expression changed right after hearing her say that.

    Baili Bin stood up immediately. "Qiao Qiao, you can¡¯t go!"

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s lips were pursed. She did not respond to Baili Bin¡¯s protest.

    "So you really wish to go there?" asked Zhuge Yan, who peered up at Gu Xiqiao¡¯s face, then down at her belly. A frown appeared on his face. "You..."

    "I must go," replied Gu Xiqiao as she set the copper coin down.

    What followed was a tense silence, which felt so heavy that it made them suffocate.

    Zhuge Yan deliberated in silence before finally telling her, "The head of the Demon Tribe should be found in the desert wastnds. I have read about this in the records of the Zhuge family archives. In the past, there was a person who set out on a one-man crusade to wipe out their tribe."

    "A one-man crusade?" Wanqi Jue¡¯s eyes widened. "Are you sure who you are referring to is a human and not a god?"

    "That is correct. However, amidst the fighting, the leader of their tribe slipped away. He absorbed the evil aura of the entire Demon Tribe, making him unstoppable. However, the records stopped here." Zhuge Yan blinked. "What I¡¯m trying to say is, they are not undefeatable. Otherwise, this world would have ended a long time ago."

    "Then how are you sure that what you just told us is real? Wiped out the entire Demon Tribe? Preposterous!" said Tang Qinghong angrily.

    "If we take what you just said as the truth, considering how strong the leader of their tribe is, I don¡¯t think we can even offer any resistance against it, let alone taking it down," said Baili Bin while shaking his head.

    Zhuge Yan sighed. "If only that person was still around."

    "Well, judging from your story, what¡¯s left of that person should probably be only a pile of bones now."

    Varying opinions suddenly sprung up out of nowhere, like mushrooms after a rainstorm.

    Gu Xiqiao sipped on the tea Wei Xi brought her. Carefreely, she thought about her ns. The almighty person whom you guys are calling a ¡¯pile of bones¡¯ was thinking about ying poker.

    She set her teacup down onto the table and peered at Wanqi Jue and her friends who were caught up in a fiery debate. "Guys, I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s any better way to say this but, the almighty person who you¡¯re all talking about might be me."

    Bang! That was the sound of a stool falling over.

    Smash! That was the sound of a teacup shattering.

    Thud! That was the sound of a person falling onto the ground.

    "You¡¯re saying that you are that person?" Zhuge Yan looked at Gu Xiqiao with a sceptical look.

    But, as powerful as Gu Xiqiao was, annihting their entire tribe was simply hard to believe!

    That should only be the work of an Almighty One from ancient times!

    "So what Zhuge Yan said was true? It was you who wiped out the entire Demon Tribe?" asked Wanqi Jue who wore a stupefied expression.

    No one doubted her words. She was already plenty powerful herself. If what Zhuge Yan said was true, then Gu Xiqiao¡¯s rapid rise to power within the ancient martial arts world could finally be exined.

    "A one-man crusade? That¡¯s more of a spection than anything else," said Gu Xiqiao whileughing.

    As expected, that part of the story was just a myth. Wanqi Jue let out a sigh upon hearing her say that.

    Seeing them in such a rxed state created an odd smile which cracked across Tengen¡¯s face. "The only ones that my master had massacred were the senior figures within their tribe. The remaining fledgelings were all rounded up and handed over to the gods."

    Tengen himself started choking up out of awe for Gu Xiqiao when he reached this part of his sentence.

    How was that any different from wiping out their entire tribe?!

    They all looked at Gu Xiqiao the same way one looked at a monster right after that.

    Gu Xiqiao ignored their gazes. Instead, she picked up the divining tool. After deploying it, she looked at the imagery within the te. Sheughed. "Seems like three dayster would be our best chance to strike."

    "If we go by what you told us, the entire world would be encapsted by evil aura by then." Zhuge Yan massaged his temple. "The evil aura from the Demon Tribe that is."

    "Brother Jiang has 81 men and an eagle under hismand. That bird has always been keeping an eye on the Demon Tribe, so naturally, it knows where their weak points are. And as for his men, they know how to cast a type of formation that could block off any evil aura trying to invade our territory. You guys have exactly three days left to learn how to use this technique."

    ***

    Three dayster.

    At the Gu family in N City.

    Luo Wenlin had already been staying here for a couple of days after being sent here by Luo Weng himself. The Gu family home was a gift from Gu Xiqiao to the boy. He appeared to be interested in digits so Luo Weng immediately sent him back here.

    Gu Xijin stood nearby, watching Luo Wenlin and Gu Xiqiao around which people flocked, with his eyes filled with regret.

    She had been rejected by Jiang Shuxuan back in the States, which was also why she was sent back to the Gu family straightaway.

    She, however, refused to return home as her family members had decided to remove her from their family. And so, she lived like a bum around the exteriors of their family home. No one was willing to call her ¡¯Young Mistress¡¯ anymore. Her existence was pathetic, like that of a dog who had lost its owner.

    "That¡¯s my sister, it¡¯s her alright!" Gu Xijin struggled against the crowd, trying to slide in conveniently beside Gu Xiqiao.

    "Your sister? The audacity of this b*tch! How dare you call a person like her your sister?!" A homeless man threw away the thing he was holding and pped Gu Xijin across her face. "If she¡¯s your sister, then it shouldn¡¯t be too preposterous for me to im that I am God himself!"

    Another homeless man pointed in Luo Wenlin¡¯d direction. "See that? That¡¯s Miss Gu¡¯s little brother, Luo Wenlin. The entire Gu family belongs to him now. Even the big boss of our city listens to hismand. Take a look at yourself. How dare you say that she¡¯s your sister! Have you lost your marbles?!"

    Gu Xijin saw stars above her head after receiving the painful p from a bum. She red at Luo Wenlin, who was donning a set of fresh, clean clothes. Her nails dug into the flesh of her palm as the feeling of regret overwhelmed her.

    She would¡¯ve been envied by the world to have such a powerful person as her sister.

    If only she had treated Gu Xiqiao right back then, just like Luo Wenlin, she wondered where she would have been today. Perhaps there would not have been the need for her to be exiled by her family? In fact, there might be a chance thatmoners would start admiring her like a celebrity?

    Gu Xiqiao turned towards the noisy group of homeless bums.

    "Darling, are you hiding something from me?" asked Jiang Shuxuan who was standing next to her.

    In the past three days, Gu Xiqiao had visited Hua Youlin, who was at Mingzhou and she hade here to N City, for a purpose which felt unsettling to Jiang Shuxuan.

    There was a long pause before Gu Xiqiao responded to his question with a smile. "No."

    Jiang Shuxuan walked forwards and wrapped his fingers around Gu Xiqiao¡¯s hand. "Don¡¯t leave my sideter."

    "Alright," she replied.

    ***

    In an abyss located within the desert wastnds, a dark cloud of energy formed into a ck dragon which flew circles in the sky.

    "Congrattions, brother!"

    "Big brother, you¡¯ve seeded!"

    "..."

    There were three people who stood at the edge of the abyss. One had transformed into a massive fox, and the other, a white tiger. Thest transformed into a gargantuan skeleton.

    "Big boss, please avenge our seventh sister!" said the white fox with a murderous look in its eyes.

    "Our seventh sister¡¯s death shall not be in vain." announced the ck dragon which morphed back into its human form. The human had a beautiful face, which, if Gu Xiqiao was present, would¡¯ve recognized the person as Chu Ziheng!

    Chu Ziheng peered at the horizon as a ck-colored evil aura expanded from where he stood.

    Though his smile was gentle, every single living thing within a hundred-mile radius was killed with just the wave of his arm.

    nk¨C

    The evil aura which was emanating off of Chu Ziheng¡¯s body flickered. He took a step back as he raised his head to look at the horizon.

    Two human figures started materializing out of thin air!

    Gu Xiqiao plucked a handful of notes on the guitar she was holding. She watched as half of the total evil aura dissipate before she sang praise for the person who looked seemingly like Chu Ziheng. "The effect looks pretty convincing."

    "You two don¡¯t seem to fear death do you?" Chu Ziheng paused and took a good look at his opponents.

    The aura which he was emitting grew even stronger.

    "And aren¡¯t you the one who fears it more than anyone else?" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s attitude was the same old. She wagged her finger andughed in the face of Chu Ziheng.

    A smile broke across his face. He looked at Xixi and Dog Feed, who were perched on either side of her shoulders. An ominous red glow began appearing in his eyes. "Little Ba, Little Jiu, I¡¯ll spare you two if youe back to our side."

    Xixi¡¯s only response was a fireball. "Don¡¯t even think about that!"

    "Good! Very well!" Chu Ziheng no longer wished to negotiate any further. Raising his arms, he started brawling against his two opponents.

    Rumble¨C

    Darkness descended upon the desert wastnd, as a sandstorm was stirred up!

    After the two forces shed, each side retreated back. Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s facial expressions changed right after making the initial contact.

    "You stole the lifeblood of our?!" Gu Xiqiao took in a deep breath. A somber expression appeared on her face as realization started to set in.

    The evil aura continued to pour out from Chu Ziheng¡¯s palms. His dark eyes were now glowing bright red. "You two can never take me down. My life is now so closely connected with that of this world that killing me would ultimately mean killing this! There is nothing you people can do now! Nothing!"

    He started cackling maniacally upon saying that.

    Long before this, his true body had already been sent deep into the core of the earth, merging and acquiring the energy of the Earth!

    Finally, he had seeded. At this point, there was virtually no one who could kill him!

    Tweet¨C The sound of a bird echoed through the skies.

    Gu Xiqiao gradually calmed herself down. Her brain was processing the information in an effort to create a n to end this whole situation. A never-seen-before type of calmness could be seen in her eyes despite the intense fight that was urring in front of her between Jiang Shuxuan and Chu Ziheng.

    It was at this moment that a fiery red glow lit up the whole scene!

    Xixi had expanded into itsrgest form!

    Its entire body was covered in mes, highlighting the vermillion sheen of its feathers.

    "No! Xixi, don¡¯t¡ª" Gu Xiqiao¡¯s eyes were wide open in horror!

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s heart seized up upon hearing her scream. Turning around, he saw the mes on Xixi¡¯s body as it dove towards Chu Ziheng.

    "See youter, Beauty Qiao," was the final message said to Gu Xiqiao telepathically by Xixi.

    The mes gradually shrunk, until its body disappeared from view. What¡¯s left in the air was a single red feather.

    Dog Feed picked up the single feather and stood there, dumbfounded.

    Gu Xiqiao too had frozen up. She silently observed the scene. Although Xixi¡¯s time by her side was not very long, three times, it had willinglyid its life down for her. This time, however, was different. This time... it had truly disappeared.

    Ding! A familiar bell rang in her mind.

    Jiji! Jiji had finally woken up!

    "Beauty Qiao, see that dark crack next to Chu Ziheng? That¡¯s the portal that directly connects to the lifeblood of the earth! Xixi has used its life in exchange for giving us this opportunity! Hurry up and sever our connection, let me go in!" Jiji¡¯s blue body finally appeared before her.

    "I¡¯m guessing you can¡¯te back out once you go in?" asked Gu Xiqiao.

    Jiji paused for a moment before giving its answer. "I am naught but a string of zeros and ones. Beauty Qiao, I thank you for everything you have done for me."

    "Alright," Gu Xiqiao severed the link between herself and Jiji. She turned towards Jiang Shuxuan. "Brother Jiang, back then, you entered into a slumber for my sake, in order to bring me back to life. The time has finallye for me to repay the debt."

    "Beauty Qiao!" Jiji finally realized what was going to happen. Gu Xiqiao was nning to dive into the crack herself!

    "Master Jiang! Hurry up and hold her back!" yelled Jiji with a horrified voice.

    Jiang Shuxuan had been so distracted by Gu Xiqiao that he was not able to dodge a blow from Chu Ziheng. He was stumbling backward when he heard Jiji¡¯s voice. Instinctively, he turned back, only to find that it was all toote¨CGu Xiqiao had already been swallowed up by the dark orifice!

    The crack then disappeared from view immediately!

    Gu Xiqiao¡¯s aura was... gone.

    Jiang Shuxuan froze up. His mind had stopped functioning. His fingers were trembling and his face was pale white!

    Boom!

    A purple-colored pir of lightning shot down from the heavens, lighting up his panicked face. He seemed to be suffering a momentary loss of memory. His facial expressions were gone and the look in his eyes was hollow.

    Seeing Chu Ziheng who had gone mad, and Dog Feed, who was already on itsst limbs, Jiji hastily turned towards Jiang Shuxuan for help. "Master Jiang! Wake up! Beauty Qiao has departed in order to save our lives! Don¡¯t waste this opportunity she has bought for us!"

    Chu Ziheng¡¯s connection with the Earth¡¯s lifeblood started fluctuating. He too started panicking. A wave of evil aura poured out relentlessly from his body, rapidly enveloping the whole world!

    Jiang Shuxuan was unfazed by this. He merely stood still. A wave of energy swept towards him. After withstanding the blow, fresh red blood started dripping from the corner of his mouth.

    "Beauty Qiao is not dead yet! She will return!" Jiji¡¯s eyes were bloodshot at this point.

    Jiang Shuxuan finally came back to his senses when he heard that. Looking at Jiji, he murmured, "So you¡¯re saying she¡¯s still alive?"

    "That¡¯s right! I¡¯m her system! The fact that I¡¯m still here is a clear indication that she is very much alive!" Jiji nodded its head furiously. "She has now severed the connection that tethers Chu Ziheng and the Earth! Hurry up and finish him off!

    Jiang Shuxuan finally lifted his chin and stared in Chu Ziheng¡¯s direction. His eyes were stone-cold as he yelled out, "Time for you to die!"

 Chapter 380 Finale Final

    <h4>Chapter 380 Finale Final</h4>

    At the same time, the whole world was plunged into darkness.

    Every single person from the ancient martial arts world and the various power worlds were gathered together. They stood together with the eighty one men from the Ghost Legion, trying their best to maintain the barrier, and there were some of them who were also fighting against the mutated beasts!

    Fresh blood, torn limbs... the entire power world was shrouded in this atmosphere.

    Ordinary people couldn¡¯t feel it, they could only see that the sky had turned dark, darker than night, until a live broadcast wasunched by the official website of Nine Heavens.

    All of them could see that every single person from the ancient martial arts world and the power worlds fight for their sake!

    Li Yu directly posted the link to the video on his social media. "All of us know clearly, these people, they are the ones who have been silently protecting us."

    On this day, Nine Heaven¡¯s websitepletely exploded with traffic!

    Countless people were watching the live broadcast on this scene!

    They watched the video, which seemed like some fantasy blockbuster!

    The scene was even more shocking than thest time when Gu Xiqiao directly hacked into the live broadcast of the national website!

    But now they knew the truth, these people were fighting for them! For their sake!

    Thements on the bullet screen of the video was going nuts, and it wasn¡¯t any different on Weibo either.

    "I don¡¯t know what I can do for you all, all I can do now is pray. You guys can do it!"

    "You guys are everyone¡¯s heroes!"

    "I wish I could be there and fight alongside you guys!"

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world, everyone had gathered together. Shu Chen could feel her eyelid twitching, and she took Jiang Han¡¯s hand. "I have a bad feeling."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Qiao Qiao and Shuxuan will both be fine." Jiang Han shoved down the anxiety that he felt inside as heforted his wife.

    Baili Bin looked at Zhuge Yan. "Mr. Zhuge, what¡¯s the situation with the hexagramst time?"

    "Everything will turn from danger to safety." Zhuge Yan seemed to snap out of his daze, then panic shed across his face suddenly, his body trembling. "No!"

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Baili Bin and the others were agitated and worried when they saw him in this state.

    Zhuge Yan was their only way of determining how Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan were currently faring.

    "The cmity wille to an end, but, what she didn¡¯t tell us..." Zhuge Yan closed his eyes tightly, hiding the pain that was in them. "The price... the price is her life."

    Baili Bin pursed his lips tightly, not having any words to say. He immediately turned and left the ce.

    The Peacekeepers too left the ce, one by one.

    Nobody moved to stop any of them. Everyone knew where they were heading, the desert.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they needed to maintain the barrier, they would have also followed along!

    After going through everything today, the experience of receiving prayers, blessings and encouragements from countless people, they were not afraid of death, and would die with no regrets!

    Shu Chen¡¯s body shook uncontrobly when she heard Zhuge Yan¡¯s words, and her legs nearly gave way. She gripped Jiang Han¡¯s hands tightly, her knuckles turning white. Her voice also trembled when she spoke, "Qiao Qiao will be fine, they¡¯ll both be fine, right?"

    Regardless of who Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao were, in her eyes, one was her son, the son that had given up his freedom since he was a child for the sake of so-called destiny, for the Jiang family, for the ancient martial arts world... He never lived a day in his life for his own sake! Even she, his mother, had once been one of the people who persecuted him.

    The other was her daughter-inw, one that she hade to love as her own flesh and blood. The first half of her life had already been rough, and it wasn¡¯t easy for her to achieve happiness, but all that, only to end up like this?!

    Shu Chen could feel as though her heart was being cut to pieces by a knife at the thought! It hurt, the pain was excruciating!

    The two of them, one no less distressing than the other. Shu Chen clutched her chest, feeling as though she couldn¡¯t get enough air into her lungs.

    "The children will be fine!" Jiang Han looked her in the eyes as he said, his gaze steady.

    He didn¡¯t know then, that his eyes were already bleeding red.

    ***

    On the live broadcast online, the atmosphere was violent and heavy. Another video came in, and everyone was once again shocked! The slender figure on screen disappeared into the crack, and the man in the video had a heart-wrenching expression on his face. He swung the blue glowing sword in his hand, and all that was on the screen was the shadow of the de.

    The anguish in his cold eyes could clearly be felt by everyone who witnessed this scene!

    "Miss Gu, the one that disappeared was Miss Gu!" Aizen cried out, posting thement.

    "No, I don¡¯t believe it! It has to be fake! How could my Beauty Gu disappear?!" These were Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans.

    "There¡¯s even such a thing as the ancient martial arts world. If there really is a god, please, tell me it¡¯s not true!"

    "Young Master Jiang, you have to hold on and stay strong!"

    "I hope it¡¯s not real, if it is, I hope that the person who disappeared was me instead!"

    "It shouldn¡¯t be like this"

    "Mr. Jiang, Miss Gu is waiting for you!"

    "Come back, Beauty Gu!"

    Pure white snowkes suddenly fell from the sky, passing the barrier and falling to the ground.

    At this moment, it was as though everyone could feel the sky crying.

    ***

    Deep in the desert.

    Boom!

    All of Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s attacks were blocked by Chu Ziheng!

    Chu Ziheng arrogantly stood in the same spot, looking at Jiang Shuxuan, heughed loudly. "It¡¯s useless. Without her, you alone are not a match for me! Back then, you managed to sessfully seal me, but you won¡¯t be able to do it now! I am one with the world!"

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at Chu Ziheng, who had a frenzied expression on his face. He recalled every frown and every smile this man had made in his memories, from the first time he had met him, till the present.

    He closed his eyes tightly, finally understanding how Gu Xiqiao felt when he had chosen to go into a deep sleep before this.

    The bottom of his heart was empty. He couldn¡¯t let his heart be moved, no matter what the situation on the outside world was like.

    But now!

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes were still closed, Jiji was using its mental power to transmit everything on the inte to him.

    For a while, he could feel himself receiving the prayers and blessings of countless people.

    "Mr. Jiang, I don¡¯t know what the heck you¡¯re doing now, but you and Miss Gu have to be fine."

    "Miss Gu, Mr. Jiang, we¡¯re always going to be supporting you!"

    "Haha¡¯s still waiting for you toe home, Mr. Jiang!"

    "Beauty Gu, you haven¡¯t sent over the nine selfies that you promised you would!"

    Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes snapped open. He had always been cold and merciless, and if this was in the past, he would have chased after Gu Xiqiao without hesitation. But now, this was the world that Gu Xiqiao wanted to protect, even¡ªat the cost of her own life.

    There were also the people on the inte, they had never met before, but Gu Xiqiao had always loved her fans, and these fans also loved her.

    The people from the ancient martial arts world, Shu Chen, Jiang Han, Baili Bin, Luo Weng, Xiao Yun...

    Each and every one of them was still alive, and these were the people she was desperately trying her best to protect!

    And these people were also desperately praying and trying to protect her.

    "You miscalcted one thing." He raised his head, looking straight at Chu Ziheng. "The power of humans is limitless."

    Boom!

    The jade piece on Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s neck emitted a strong, ring light!

    Purple thunder crackled and struck downwards, a huge surge of power flowing into his body as it did. The long sword in his hand seemed to feel the surge of power in his body, letting out a wailing sound!

    This was the jade pendant that Gu Xiqiao had given him, and the familiar aura spread around him, as though she was still by his side.

    Chu Zhiheng stared at Jiang Shuxuan, whose power was rising as the second ticked by, and the expression on his face changed!

    He had always known that the biggest obstacle and opponent to him was Gu Xiqiao. As long as she was gone, no one would be able to stop him. As long as she was around, everything he nned for would note to fruition.

    This was a fact. From the beginning till now, she had been the biggest thorn in his side, the one to ruin most of his chances.

    The power that should have flowed into his body had also been destroyed by her, but fortunately, he had managed to steal the power of an entire lifeline. Though the process was different, he still achieved his goal in the end.

    The heavens were surely also on his side and helping him, because Gu Xiqiao had disappeared!

    The moment she vanished, Jiang Shuxuan would definitely follow her and leave. At that time, no one would be able to stop him!

    But what he didn¡¯t expect was that just before Gu Xiqiao left, she would still manage to y one more trick on him, taking him for a fool. She actually left her strongest power, the power of thunder, and gave it all to Jiang Shuxuan!

    "Impossible?! That¡¯s impossible! How could she do that?!" Chu Ziheng took a step back. Why, Why?! Gu Xiqiao was obviously gone, but the power that belonged to her still lingered? Not only that, but it merged together with Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s?!

    Jiang Shuxuan looked at the purple lightning crackling on his palm, merging with his Seven-Frosted de. "I will make you watch with your own eyes as you disappeared little by little, without being able to do a single thing about it!"

    Blue and purple mingled, the different color lights entangled together. The light shone across thend, and a spatial crack appeared in the air.

    At the same time, the entire world was engulfed in a blue light!

    The ck mist that surrounded Chu Ziheng to serve as his shield was shattered, and he could feel his strength being seeped away bit by bit. "Jiang Shuxuan, Gu Xiqiao is dead. She¡¯s dead, do you know that? She has dissipated into the world little by little, do you think there¡¯s a need for this world at this rate? Don¡¯t you want to destroy the world?"

    Jiang Shuxuan knew what Chu Ziheng was trying to do, but he ignored him, quietly watching the scene in front of him unfold.

    Seeing that, Chu Ziheng felt some relief. He used his mental powers to instruct White Tiger and the others to destroy the world. The powers in his body had been sealed by Jiang Shuxuan. It woulde back slowly only if White Tiger and the others killed more people.

    However, the smile on Chu Ziheng¡¯s face slid off quickly. He saw the hundred Peacekeepers going up against his big army.

    One hundred people, against an army of tens of thousands!

    The drone that Yu Ning was controlling transmitted this scene live, andizens on the inte fell into a new round of panic.

    "That¡¯s the Peacekeepers!"

    "What are they going up against? Ten thousand soldiers?"

    "Oh my god, hurry up and run!"

    "They don¡¯t intend to fight against these ten thousand people, right?!"

    Theizens weren¡¯t present on the scene, but even they could clearly feel the terrifying strength of these ten thousand people. They didn¡¯t dare to believe that the Peace Squad could beat these people. The oldest of the Peacekeepers were only in their 20s after all!

    The ancient martial arts world¡¯smunity could also feel the force behind the ten thousand troops, but they were well aware that no one could from theirmunity could possibly stand against them. If anyone could, it would be the Peacekeepers that had been trained by Gu Xiqiao.

    "Look, the Peace Squad made it!"

    "Wuwuwu they are all the same age as my brother, my heart hurts when I see them injured..."

    "Thank you, all of you!"

    The Peace Squad had made a perfect stand against this ten thousand man army!

    Seeing this, everyone in front of theputer watching it should be jumping up and down, cheering in victory, but no one did!

    They watched the video quietly, their eyes fixed on the screen. The hundred Peacekeepers stood in their spot, staring nkly in the air. The purple lightning was slowly dissipating in the sky, and after a while, they suddenly knelt down to the ground, tears falling from their eyes, their mouth opening to say a few words.

    The people watching the broadcast couldn¡¯t hear anything from their lips, but they could clearly see the way their mouth moved. They were clearly saying the words, ¡¯Miss Gu¡¯!

    "So Miss Gu really..."

    "I don¡¯t believe it!"

    "Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d agree to any request we make, Beauty Gu? Can you post a Weibo now?"

    ***

    In the desert, Chu Ziheng was looking at everything happening with a look of disbelief on his face. He had done all that he could, putting in so much effort, killing so many people in order to create his army of ten thousand, but they had been destroyed? Just like that?

    Why?!

    Gu Xiqiao was obviously dead, and she was no longer around, but there were traces of her everywhere! As though every single step had been calcted and ounted for!

    Everything he had nned and arranged for had been destroyed!

    It was her every single time, and even in her death she still controlled everything!

    The blow of shocks hit him one after another, and Chu Ziheng was going out of his mind at this point. "Impossible, it¡¯s impossible!"

    "Why is it impossible?" Jiang Shuxuan finally spoke. He hadn¡¯t moved since then, waiting for this moment to utterly crush Chu Ziheng¡¯s beliefs. He raised a finger, the purple and blue energies merging into a ball, flicking it towards Chu Ziheng which exploded upon impact.

    Everything happened as though in slow motion.

    Chu Ziheng¡¯s body disintegrated slowly, but his consciousness was still there. He tried to resist by keeping his eyes wide open, but he couldn¡¯t do anything!

    Boom!

    The ck mist that had shrouded the air finally scattered and the golden rays of sunlight once again shining down on the earth.

    The Peacekeepers had finally managed to reach the desert after their hard, bloodied fight at this moment. Baili Bin, Wanqi Jue, the great elder... all of them had rushed over.

    When they arrived, they only saw a thin figure standing in the empty ce.

    He raised his head slightly, not saying a word. A teardrop slid down from the corner of his eyes, down his face.

    His face held an indifferent expression, and his face was as handsome as ever, but everyone could feel the anguish in his heart!

    The great elder opened his mouth, the sentence ¡¯Where is Miss Gu¡¯ stuck in his throat. He couldn¡¯t even form any words at this moment.

    How was this possible? It was Gu Xiqiao, the one who was omnipotent, all-knowing and all-powerful Gu Xiqiao!

    The battle was over, and they were victorious. However, not a single person in the ancient martial arts or the secr world could muster up the energy to feel excited and happy over it. There was only sorrow in the air.

    ***

    Three dayster, Shu Chen was being held by Jiang Han as they made their way over to the ce. Haha was in her arms, and the snowy dog in the same depressed state as the woman who was holding it.

    "When are youing back, Qiao Qiao?" Shu Chen tried to smile, but no matter how hard she tried, she failed miserably.

    She raised her head, forcing back the tears in her eyes. "Haha hasn¡¯t eaten in the three days that it hasn¡¯t seen you."

    Haha struggled in Shu Chen¡¯s arms, and she put it down on the ground immediately when she saw that.

    Haha was in a bad state after not eating for three days.

    Those bright, beady eyes that used to sparkle in the past had also lost their light. It took a few steps, before sitting down in the spot it had reached.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked towards where Haha was, a sh of an unknown emotion crossing his face for a moment. He could see the ce that Haha was sitting at, it was the same spot where Gu Xiqiao had disappeared.

    "Mom, leave Haha to me." He opened his mouth to speak for the first time in three days.

    Shu Chen covered her mouth, the tears now flowing out uncontrobly as she choked out, "Alright."

    She knew then, that Jiang Shuxuan had no intention of ever leaving this ce.

    Dog Feed didn¡¯t move either. Seeing Haha here, it ced the feather that Xixi had left behind in front of the dog. "Haha, this is thest thing that Xixi left behind."

    Haha stared at the ming red feather for a long time, before finally letting out a soft bark.

    Jiang Shuxuan didn¡¯t say anything, but he leaned down to pick Haha up into his arms, hugging it to his chest. "You also believe that she¡¯s still alive, right?"

    ***

    On Weibo, thest Weibo that Gu Xiqiao had posted had broken tens of millions ofments already.

    "Please, I¡¯m begging you! Post something on Weibo to prove that you¡¯re still here!"

    "Beauty Gu, I know you¡¯re still here. You just went off to a quiet ce with Young Master Jiang to make some babies. I hope to see you post some pictures of the three of you next year."

    "Come out!"

    "The movie theaters are still showing your movies, Beauty Gu. I used to really love ¡¯Divergent Paths¡¯, but now I don¡¯t anymore. Every movie you act in has triggered my tear ducts, but now without you here, you¡¯re also activating my tear ducts."

    "When I went to watch ¡¯Divergent Paths¡¯ today, everyone in the theater left before the ending was yed. All of us were of the same mind, we didn¡¯t want to watch the ending."

    "Even though it¡¯s just a movie, I didn¡¯t want to see the scene where you disappear. That¡¯s why, please hurry ande back, Beauty Gu."

    ***

    Every day, Gu Xiqiao¡¯s Weibo would have millions ofments. The days passed into weeks, then into years. There was not a day where thements stopped.

    In a blink of an eye, three years had passed.

    The ce in the desert where Gu Xiqiao had disappeared became a tourist spot, but only a hundred people were allowed to visit it every day.

    They would never forget everything Gu Xiqiao, Jiang Shuxuan, and everyone else had done for them.

    Today was the third New Year¡¯s Eve since her disappearance, and everyone who visited wasn¡¯t leaving, wanting to spend the new years with Gu Xiqiao. After the management of the ce had gotten Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s opinion on it, they agreed to the request.

    "Mom, is Auntie Gu really here?" A bubbly little girl stood in the ce, her eyes wide. Her legs were trembling slightly, as though she had just recently learned to walk.

    The girl¡¯s mother bent down, her face slightly faraway as she quietly said, "That¡¯s right. Sisi, don¡¯t leave this ce. Mommy is just going up for a bit to see, then I¡¯ll be right back."

    The little girl nodded her head obediently.

    She watched her mother leave, then turned to look around the area. There was an abyss not far from her, surrounded by fences.

    She moved towards it slowly, step by step. Suddenly, her foot slipped. "Mom-" She eximed in surprised and slight fear.

    Her palm touched ayer of warmth, and her falling body was suddenly upright once again.

    She raised her head, looking up to find a boy that was around her age who had caught her.

    "Seriously, we¡¯re finally out." The boy muttered, then looked at the girl, a mature look on his face that you usually wouldn¡¯t see on a child¡¯s face. "Children shouldn¡¯t run around without adults here, it¡¯s dangerous. Where¡¯s your family?"

    "Mommy went up to see Auntie Gu," The girl said hesitantly.

    "Auntie Gu?" The boy asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

    The little girl nodded her head, taking out a photo as she did. "This is Auntie Gu, isn¡¯t she really pretty? But I¡¯ve never seen her in person before."

    The boy looked at the girl in the picture who was smiling, and his mouth turned downward. Wasn¡¯t this his beauty mom?

    His eyes furrowed tightly, then he took out the piece of jade that hung around his neck. "I see that you¡¯ll have a big problem in the future, this is for you."

    The girl took the jade, examining it with interest. When she looked up, the boy had disappeared, as though it was all a dream.

    "Oh, that¡¯s right. His eyes..." The girl looked at the photo in her hands again. "It looked a lot like Auntie Gu¡¯s..."

    ***

    There was a wooden house on the edge of the desert, and it was decorated with simple furnishings. Jiang Shuxuan poured a ss of water for Haha, before leaving the house, walking towards the ce where Gu Xiqiao hadst been.

    On the TV screen behind the closed door, the Spring Festival G was being shown on screen.

    "We will once again be ushering in a new year. In this prosperous world, we wish everyone a happy new year, and good fortune to you and your family!"

    "The Spring Festival G is now over, and it¡¯s time to say goodbye to everyone."

    "Let¡¯s usher in the new year with a song!"

    "Let¡¯s count down till thest second, and raise a ss for the new year!"

    Jiang Shuxuan stopped in his steps when he reached, looking out nkly. The ce was well lit, as he was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would be met with darkness when she returned, and had made sure to set up a lot of lights, making sure the area was well lit and bright all the time.

    It had been three years, and she had yet to return.

    Thinking about it, the phone in his hand slipped out and fell to the ground while he was lost in thought.

    He blinked, snapping out of his daze. He bent down to pick up his phone, intending to send good blessings to Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fans on her behalf.

    Just as his fingers were about to touch the phone, a smaller hand was there faster than him.

    When his fingers touched the smaller ones, he could feel shock course through him.

    He stood, looking in disbelief at the little boy who was holding his phone. The pair of eyes on the boy¡¯s face was so very familiar, resembling someone so very familiar in his memories.

    "What is your name?" His voice was trembling slightly even as he tried to maintain hisposure.

    The little boy tilted his head to the side, saying brightly, "Hello, mister! My name is Fatty Egg Jiang!"

    "Fatty Egg Jiang... " Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s hands were trembling as he slowly reached out to gently rub the little boy¡¯s head. Finally, he could only choke out, "You... Are you alone here?"

    The little boy smiled widely, his eyes lighting up as he did. "My beauty mom is right over there!"

    Jiang Shuxuan was startled, feeling the shock once again course through his entire body as he slowly raised his head, watching a figure that was slowly making her way to him.

    It was still the same delicate face, the beautiful arch of her eyebrows, and she was still wearing that white fox fur coat.

    His eyes were fixed on her, letting out a shaky breath as he remembered to breathe. The fear that it was just a dream was all too real. She was walking towards him, step by step, at an unhurried pace. Her wless, pale white was even more ethereal until the lights that lit up the area.

    Finally, after what seemed like forever, she stood in front of him with a smile on her pink lips. "Hello, Mr. Jiang."

    At the same time, the countdown to the new year on the TV was done!

    Boom!

    Fireworks burst in the sky around them, and you could hear the cheers of countless people in the desert.

    Jiang Shuxuan took her hands in his, holding it tightly. "You¡¯re finally back, Miss Gu."

 Chapter 381 Side Story 1: If Weâ€™ve Broken Up, Then We Should Act That Way

    <h4>Chapter 381 Side Story 1: If We¡¯ve Broken Up, Then We Should Act That Way</h4>

    The September weather in the Imperial Capital was like a steamer, hot and stuffy.

    A young girl was standing on the street, not even holding an umbre under the hot sun. Her face was snow-white, and her fingers were long and slender, her overall appearance beautiful. She was nibbling an ice cream cone.

    After eating thest of the crispy biscuit, she wiped her hands with a napkin, walking towards a trash can and throwing it away.

    Just as she was doing so, a royal blue sports car stopped beside her with a ¡¯woosh¡¯.

    Shoving both hands in her pockets, Tan Yongsi stood in the ce she was at, her eyes fixed on the vehicle quietly.

    The car of the sports car opened, and a tall woman dressed in red stepped down. She took off the sunsses on her face, her high heels clicking against the pavement as she walked. She came to a stop in front of Tan Yongsi, a condescending look on her face as her posture screamed arrogance. Her upturned eyes swept Tan Yongsi from head to toe, before contempt shed through them.

    "You¡¯re Tan Yongsi?" The woman¡¯s nails which were painted with nail polish reflected under the sunlight, a mocking smile curling on her lips. "This is an invitation to my and Yan Han¡¯s engagement. I hope that Miss Tan... you¡¯ll be able to attend."

    Tan Yongsi looked at the girl in front of her whose delicate features were painted on with makeup "Miss Wen, are you sure you want to invite me?"

    Wen Qing resisted the urge to smile wider. "Of course, how could the engagement between me and Yan Hanck your blessing?"

    "Oh, then, I give you my blessing." Tan Yongsi raised an eyebrow.

    "Tan Yongsi, you better understand the difference and gap between me and you. Don¡¯t chase after someone who you shouldn¡¯t chase after." Wen Qing took out the red envelope, giving Tan Yongsi a re. "Yan Han is the only heir to the Yan family. You should be well aware of the Yan family¡¯s status in the capital nowadays. Yan Han is just fooling around. With your position, Aunt Yan will not let you take even half a step towards the Yan family."

    Tan Yongsi snatched the envelope from Wen Qing¡¯s hand, impatience getting to her when she heard the other girl¡¯s words. "Fine, the venue for the engagement? I¡¯ll be there. Miss Wen, I¡¯d like to point out that driving in heels can easily cause an ident."

    Wen Qing paused in her steps, also losing her footing. She turned her head, giving her a vicious re. Initially she had been nning to see Tan Yongsi¡¯s dejected face when she handed over the invitation, but she didn¡¯t expect to be the one to get angry!

    Seriously!

    The sun shining in the sky was just too ring as Tan Yongsi looked at the red envelope in her hands with a cold look in her eyes.

    Her phone chose to ring at this moment, letting out a melodious tone.

    "Xuan Xuan, are you missing your queen?" Tan Yongsi¡¯s expression eased, her tone rxed as she picked up the call. Ye Xuan, the person on the other end, was her roommate and best friend. They had been friends since junior high school till the present.

    "Miss your freaking ghost head!" A roar came from the other side. "What the heck is happening? Why is the entire department making a fuss, asking you to break up with Master Yan the moment Ie back?!"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s right."

    "Mother f*cking! sh*t!" Ye Xuan roared again. "You both are basically the epitome of lovers, how is it possible for you two to break up?"

    Tan Yongsi watched the cars passing her on the road, her voice calmed as she said, "Xuan Xuan, Yan Han is getting engaged. If you just browse the, it¡¯s all news about his engagement."

    There was a moment of silence on the other end, before Ye Xuan¡¯s more cautious voice came through again. "So, my dear, are you alright?"

    "Extremely so." Tan Yongsi covered her eyes with one hand, feeling the warmth spreading in her heart. "It took me five years to see the reality of the world, that¡¯s my loss."

    "Silly girl," Ye Xuan said quietly. "Come on back to the dorms, then we¡¯ll talk."

    "Ah, you¡¯d have to wait a while more. I haven¡¯t found the right person for my daily fortune telling yet!" Tan Yongsi said suddenly.

    "You still want to do that at this time? You really have such a big heart..."

    Tan Yongsi hung up the phone and was just about to leave, when she caught sight of a young man. He had a tall build, and a handsome face. He was exactly what modern society would presently term as a ¡¯popr pretty boy¡¯ with that face and dressing of his.

    The young man was holding a phone in his hand, and he looked towards Tan Yongsi. "You also y the Nine Heavens online game?"

    Tan Yongsi was startled for a moment at being addressed suddenly, before recalling that her phone ringtone was from the Nine Heavens game. "Yeah, I yed with my mom since I was a kid."

    "I was dragged to y this game by my mother too." Tang An had been there since the beginning, when Wen Qing started talking to Tan Yongsi, and had watched the entire interesting drama that unfolded in front of him. "Do you think I¡¯m that ¡¯right person¡¯ that you¡¯ve been looking for?"

    "What?" Tan Yongsi was confused.

    "Weren¡¯t you talking about fortune telling?" Tang An brushed a hand through his hair, pushing back the few scattered strands of hair that had blown into his face.

    "Isn¡¯t it better to have things go your way, instead of forcing it? So, would you want to do a fortune-telling for me?"

    Tan Yongsi shoved her phone back in her pocket, then stretched out three fingers.

    Tang An understood her gesture, pulling out his wallet from his own pocket. He took out a wad of cash and handed it to Tan Yongsi.

    Tan Yongsi took it, taking out three pieces before returning the others to him.

    "What do you want read?" Tan Yongsi put away the money she received, raising her head to look at Tang An.

    "Up to you, just do whatever you want." Tang An didn¡¯t expect her to do any real fortune-telling, he just thought that she was an interesting person.

    Tan Yongsi knew that this person probably didn¡¯t believe her, as she was so much younger if you were topare her to those other masters who did fortune-telling. However, Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t take this to heart. She leveled a serious look at Tang An, and at the same moment, she saw a man who had a faint purple breath of aura above his head.

    She felt the shock at the bottom of her heart. This purple aura...

    "The fortunes in your life are smooth, and your birth was greatly celebrated. But from your face, there should have been a cmity in your life when you were eight years old. In general, no one would have been able to escape this." Tan Yongsi was more shocked and frightened, the more she saw. She had thought that this was just some ordinary rich young heir, she didn¡¯t expect to see such things from him. "Someone must have resolved that for you and released you from that fate, and this person is very very strong. So, the life you have after will be good. Though there¡¯ll be some bumps on the road, there won¡¯t be anything serious enough to hurt you."

    Tang An himself was taken aback as he heard her speak. He hadn¡¯t expected her to be able to divine anything urate, but everything she said was as he had experienced!

    Forget about everything else, since that information could easily be found, but the matter that happened when he was eight years old, only a few were privy to the knowledge. Even his grandparents didn¡¯t know about the incident, let alone any detective would be able to find out. This girl in front of him seemed like she really did have the ability to fortune tell.

    "If you believe my words, then don¡¯t touch any cars for the remainder of the day." Tan Yongsi checked the time, seeing that it was almost four in the evening. It would be almost five by the time she got back to the dorms. She had dinner with Ye Xuan and the others, and she hurriedly rushed off after imparting thatst sentence, gging down a taxi to leave.

    "Master, wait, leave me some contact information!" Tang An finally managed to react after she had left, and just as he was about to stop her, his phone rang.

    The taxi left quickly, and Tang An had no other choice but to stop in his pursuit and answer his phone. "Sister Yin... I know he¡¯s back today. Forget it,e and pick me up... No, the great master said I can¡¯t touch any cars today."

    ***

    In a pink sports car, Yin Aoxue nced to the side at Tang An. "When did you meet a great master?"

    "You don¡¯t know the person, it¡¯s a pretty girl." Tang An shot her a disgusted look, more towards the car. "I say, Aunt Yin, the car is beautiful when no one was driving it in the house, why does it feel weird to me when I see you driving it?"

    "Please call me Sister Yin, thank you." Yin Aoxue shot him a look. "I like to drive the same car as her, why do you care?"

    "Fine, fine, fine. I can¡¯t control what you do." Tang An leaned back in the chair with a smirk on his lips. "I heard that Uncle Youlin went on a blind date today..."

    Screech!

    The sharp sound of the breaks being mmed on, then Yin Aoxue¡¯s cold voice followed. "We¡¯re here, get down!"

    Tang An knew that it wasn¡¯t a good time to provoke this weirdly strong woman at this time, and so he got out of the car obediently. When he stepped out, he saw his group of childhood friends standing in front of him, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Qiming, what are you guys doing outside?"

    Wang Qiming put away his phone, a smile on his face as he looked at him. "We just saw the news that a major car ident had happened on the highway from Tang Enterprise to here. It so happened that we couldn¡¯t get through your phone at that time, but it seems that you¡¯re still alive."

    Tang An and Yin Aoxue exchanged looks with each other, both seeing the shock in the others¡¯ eyes as they did.

    "Tang An." Just when the two were still in their shock, a deep voice came from behind them.

    Some of them turned their head, seeing a young man walking from the direction where the sun was shining, He threw the car keys to the doorman, and slowly walked over to them. He was dressed in a white shirt and beige cks, the clothes fitting his body snugly and making him seem extremely slender. His eyebrows were a beautiful arch, his facial features exquisite and the most outstanding was his exquisite eyes. Though they were cold and hard, they were unable to hide the amorous feeling they gave out when you looked into them.

    Countless people walking pass on the street couldn¡¯t help but stop in their tracks. This young man was even hotter than the most popr actors by three times, no, ten times!

    "Yo, Fatty, you¡¯re back!" Tang An hadn¡¯t seen his brother for so many years, and he couldn¡¯t help the nickname that slipped out from his mouth in excitement.

    Jiang Yirui¡¯s face was indifferent, but he arched a delicate eyebrow, his words slow and punctuated, "Dog Sis, are you sure you want us to hurt each other?"

    Wang Qiming and the others didn¡¯t dare to be so flippant like Tang An and joke around like this, and greeted him respectfully, "Young Master Rui."

    As for the nicknames that they called each other, they actually really wanted to burst outughing, but they had to hold it in. Everyone knew how much Jiang Yirui could hold a grudge!

    ***

    Not far away, Wen Qing had gotten down from a taxi, seeing Madam Yan in a purple cheongsam. "Auntie, why are you standing outside?"

    "Look at that." Madam Yan gestured to a direction.

    "That¡¯s Prince Wang..." Wen Qing was shocked to see him. Both the Wen and Yan family were first ss families in the Imperial Capital. If they were to use the pyramid hierarchy to divide them, they would still be almost at the top, but, above them, there were still several mysterious people.

    This Prince Wang was the son of theirmander in chief. He had been talented in ancient martial arts since he was young, and there were rumors that he had been epted as a disciple by one of those mysterious and powerful people. Everyone on the inte knew about this pretty boy, a man who kept his word, and he was the real man who has reached the peak of the world and has touched the skies.

    Unexpectedly, they saw this prince, Master Wang, bowing over for someone?

    Who is that person? Wen Qing searched her memories, but she drew a nk as she looked at the handsome figure.

    "When did another prominent figure appear in the capital? Go back and ask your father." Madam Yan said, turning away from the scene.

    "I understand." Wen Qing touched her chest, trying to calm the raging beating of her heart. The Yan family were a merchant family, and had only emerged in the recent ten years. It had recently gotten a coboration with Nine Heavens, which allowed them to have a jump in their status in the Imperial Capital. The Wen family has been in the military for generations, and with an important prominent figure appearing, they needed to make sure to inquire clearly.

    "By the way, why did youe by taxi?" Madam Yan asked Wen Qing.

    Wen Qing frowned when the topic was mentioned. "It¡¯s all because of that woman, Tan Yongsi. She jinxed it, causing my car to get into an ident!"

    "Tan Yongsi? That b*tch is the one that made you angry?" Madam Yan¡¯s brows furrowed together, a look of disgust on her face. "That b*tch has been pestering my son, and now she¡¯s even pestering you?! Qing Qing, don¡¯t worry, I will teach her a lesson!"

    "Thank you, Auntie." Wen Qing looped her arms around the older woman¡¯s, giving her a sweet smile as she did so.

    ***

    On the other side, Tan Yongsi had returned to A University. Along the way, she received countless looks from the people around her. There were all kinds of looks, curious, spectating, mocking...

    Her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out to see it was a message in their WeChat group, ¡¯The House Of Green Delight[1]¡¯.

    Ye Xuan: Silly girl, where are you?

    Xiao Yichen: Wu Xuan, Sisi¡¯s intelligence is higher than yours, okay?

    Ye Xuan: My boobs are big, I¡¯m not scared!

    Xiao Yichen: ...

    Meng Yunzhao: Is Sisi back yet? I¡¯m still in thebs. Remember to give me a call when she¡¯s back.

    Tan Yongsi: I¡¯ve arrived safely at uni.

    Xiao Yichen: ??????

    Ye Xuan: Hold your horses! When the heck did youe back? Did anything happen on the way?

    Tan Yongsi: Well, I may have gotten quite famous?

    Ye Xuan: ... It¡¯s not even ¡¯may have¡¯...

    Ye Xuan: Tan Yongsi, get your a*s back here, your egg just moved! Moved!

    Egg? Seeing this word, Tan Yongsi picked up her pace, running towards the dorm room at a speed that ordinary people didn¡¯t have.

    When she was about to go downstairs, she saw a figure standing not far from the entrance of the female dorm.

    He was holding a jacket suit in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. Leaning against a luxurious Maserati, he took a slow drag of the cigarette. People who were able to get into A University to study were people that were basically outstanding in all aspects. There had been countless famous people that hade out from A University in its history, but for those who were still here studying, they were people who were rtively young and had yet to experience society.

    They couldn¡¯tpare to the person in front here, whose entire person screamed elite.

    There were many girls who were hiding at the sidelines, sneaking nces at him. There were also some who were brave enough toe forward to strike up a conversation with him, but were all politely turned down by the man.

    "Sir, why don¡¯t you leave your contact information?" A charming girl, with a face that was pretty as a picture smiled as she waved her phone in her hand. She was from A University¡¯s Faculty of Medicine, and she had a beautiful appearance. The people who chased after her were numerous, and could make a line from the dormitory to the school gates. Her tastes were high and picky, and this man in front of her screamed elite and rich, from the tips of his hair to the keychain he held, to his car. She was naturally moved, and thinking that he wouldn¡¯t be able to reject her if she were to make the first move.

    However, the man in front of herpletely ignored her. Instead, he extinguished the cigarette in his hand, turning his eyes to look behind her.

    His gaze had changed slightly, and Xi Hua couldn¡¯t help but look behind her, where the man was looking. At first nce, she saw a bright, clear face. It was the prettiest girl at the top of the list in school, the campus belle¡ªTan Yongsi!

    When Xi Hua saw the man walking towards Tan Yongsi, her expression darkened, and finally sneered. "I thought he was some noble, elite man. Turns out he¡¯s just a typical rich young heir?"

    "I apologize, Mr. Yan. I don¡¯t have time to talk to you right now." Tan Yongsi was anxious about her egg, and it wasn¡¯t like she wanted to talk to Yan Han in the first ce.

    Yan Han grabbed her arm, his eyes dark. "You haven¡¯t answered my call for the past two days. Sisi, you¡¯re avoiding me."

    "We¡¯ve already broken up, Mr. Yan." Tan Yongsi shook his arm off easily, freeing herself. She was extremely calm, and the people gathered around them were getting more. "You want to talk, fine. Let¡¯s go somewhere else."

    Yan Han was silent for a while, before following Tan Yongsi to a more deserted car park, one where there were seldom people who came by.

    "Sisi, breaking up was just something I said in my anger. Don¡¯t make a fuss over it, okay?" Yan Han looked at Tann Yong as he said that, feeling a headacheing on.

    Tan Yongsi was calm, and she pulled out the invitation that she had received, giving it to him. "I¡¯m not making a fuss, Yan Han. If we¡¯ve broken up, then we should act that way. I¡¯ll pay you back the money I owe you by this month."

    Yan Han looked at the bright, red invitation, clenching his fist. "If you¡¯re concerned about this matter, then I¡¯ll have someone call it off immediately."

    "You know it¡¯s not only because of this." Tan Yongsi shook her head.

    "Tan Yongsi!" Yan Han pursed his lips tightly, then lowered his eyes. "I only see Wen Qing as a sister..."

    The corner of Tan Yongsi¡¯s lips curled up, and this was the first time Yan Han was seeing a hint of mockery on her face. "Do people take their sisters to a love hotel?"

    As soon as she said that, Yan Han was stunned speechless. It was as though there was lightning striking in his mind, she... she knew about that?

    [1] (T/N: âùºìÔº ¡¯The House Of Green Delight¡¯, is a ce in the Chinese novel, ¡¯Dream of the Red Chamber)

 Chapter 382 Side Story 2: I Came Back Today

    <h4>Chapter 382 Side Story 2: I Came Back Today</h4>

    "Sisi, you know about that..." Yan Han frowned deeply. He wanted very badly to light a cigarette, but when he reached into his pocket, he found that he didn¡¯t have a lighter.

    Tan Yongsi pulled out her phone from her pocket, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the time. "Do you want to say that it¡¯s just a misunderstanding? Or maybe it¡¯s just acting on your part? Sorry, Mr. Yan, you know that although I¡¯m in the management faculty, I know a bit of everything else. If you want to see evidence, I can hack out the video anytime you want for you to watch it."

    Hearing her words, Yan Han snapped his head up, his mouth opening and closing without any sound, exactly like the first time he had met her. He let out a low growl, "Tan Yongsi!"

    "Why are you so bothered, in fact? Our rtionship was just a cover for each other from the beginning. I thought that my consent to break up would ease a burden off your shoulders." Tan Yongsi¡¯s voice lightened up. "This entire conversation is just pointless."

    Yan Han didn¡¯t have any more to say or do in those words.

    He looked at the girl in front of him. When he had first met her, it was at the scene of an ident. She had been helplessly begging the doctors and nurses to save her parents.

    It had been a major car ident, her family¡¯s car had been smashed to pieces, but miraculously, she had survived it with just minor injuries. The newspaper at that time had also published the incident, stating that it was a miracle she was alive.

    The driver who caused the ident had run off. Her mother had been admitted into intensive care, and urgently needed funds to carry out her treatment. He had been the one who funded her therge sum of money.

    But that little girl who had been helpless was now grown into a beautiful woman, attracting the attention of countless people by just standing in a ce.

    "You¡¯ve never liked me at all, even a little?" Yan Han stared at Tan Yongsi¡¯s face.

    Tan Yongsi indeed had a pair of really beautiful eyes, with a brilliant sparkle to them. It was what made many scouts on the streets want to scout her out.

    Apart from the time when her parents had passed away, he had never seen her cry. He had also never seen her let down her guard, even when she was facing him.

    Such a pair of tender eyes. It had never softened once in all the time she looked at him. In fact, it was even showing a hint of sarcasm as they were talking now. She let out a sigh. "Even without that, it¡¯s impossible for us to walk all the way to the end. Yan Han, you have to get something straight. Does your family really need a daughter-inw who has nothing but looks?"

    "I don¡¯t believe that you never once liked me!" Yan Han grabbed Tan Yongsi¡¯s hand again. "If you didn¡¯t like me, then why did you suddenly choose to get into A University in the final year of high school?"

    "You think I came to A University because of you?" Yan Yongsi raised her head, looking at him in surprise with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

    "Is that not the reason?" Yan Han paused, grasping at this point.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t speak, shaking off his hand with a sharp flick. "That¡¯s how it is, Yan Han. Dragging on and not letting go isn¡¯t like you at all."

    He had been together with Tan Yongsi for five years. In these five years, it had initially just been for fun, and he had agreed with her that this was just a farce to stop any other party from going after them. Tan Yongsi had always been grateful for his help that year, so she hadn¡¯t needed to think much before agreeing to it.

    At the beginning, he was worried that Tan Yongsi would refuse to let him go in the future, but it seemed that she didn¡¯t have any intentions of doing so in the first ce. He was the one who had fallen instead.

    He suddenly felt as though Tan Yongsi was poison.

    When he thought about it, he pulled out his phone to make a call. "Mom, the engagement is off."

    Having said that, he hung up the phone without waiting to see how his mother would react.

    ***

    Tan Yongsi returned to the dorm room, forgetting about what had just happened when her eyesnded on the egg on her table.

    "Hey, I wasn¡¯t lying when I said it really did move just now!" Ye Xuan was sitting on a stool, sprawled across the table. When she saw Tan Yongsie in, she put down her leg immediately. "Yichen can be my witness!"

    Xiao Yichen walked out from the bathroom, toweling her hair. She turned to Tan Yongsi, and nodded her head in agreement. "It really did move."

    Tan Yongsi and Ye Xuan had known each other for a really long time, and she naturally knew what kind of person Ye Xuan was. She was able to tell with a nce whether the other was lying or not. She reached out to touch the egg on the table, and the egg moved at this time, rolling off the table!

    "Egg!" Ye Xuan eximed in surprise.

    Tan Yongsi stretched out her hand slowly, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Ye Xuan. Her fingers opened, revealing the egg safely in her palm.

    "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" Ye Xuan was patting her chest, then nced up at Tan Yongsi. "What kind of freaking egg is this? That it¡¯s able to move?!"

    Ye Xuan had always been a tomboy, and was more rough in her speech, but this thing in front of her was just too extraordinary. A moving egg? What the f*ck?

    Tan Yongsi looked like she wanted to exin, but then she heard Xiao Yichen put down her towel, shing Ye Xuan a smile. "Xuan Xuan, the existence of the ancient martial arts world has been revealed for twenty years already. Compared to that, what¡¯s a moving egg?"

    Ye Xuan was just from an ordinary family, and she only had a surface understanding of the ancient martial arts world, so of course she wasn¡¯t used to seeing such things.

    Not only her, even normal people would be afraid when they saw an egg that was able to move and bounce by itself, right? But why did Xiao Yichen look like she wasn¡¯t surprised at all? Even Ye Xuan, who had been friends with Tan Yongsi for ten years, had not been able to easily ept this matter.

    How could Xiao Yichen be so calm about this?!

    Wasn¡¯t this abnormal?

    Xiao Yichen sat on her bed, turning on herputer. She gave Tan Yongsi a nce, before turning back to the screen. She opened the school¡¯s forum, and as expected, there were a lot of ndering topics that had appeared.

    The first newly published one was one with Tan Yongsi¡¯s photo.

    "Let¡¯s gossip about the next door department¡¯s campus belle."

    Xiao Yichen finished her browsing, then went online her QQ[1] and opened a list that she hadbeled ¡¯Idols¡¯.

    First Ray Of Dawn: Uncle Yu, can you do me a favor?

    Tan Yongsi stared at her egg for a while, before also turning on herputer, going on the Nine Heavens online game. She didn¡¯t use the virtual helmet today, since she was only nning to go online for a while to have a look around.

    Unexpectedly, when she got on, there was still someone in her friend¡¯s list that was online.

    She sat in front of the screen, staring hard at the name. It had been a month, she had thought that he wouldn¡¯te online anymore.

    Before she could think too much about it, the other had already sent her a private chat, and the window had popped up on her screen.

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: You¡¯re on? We¡¯re going on the demon quest, join the party.

    I¡¯m Not An Egg, the god of Nine Heavens in Server 3.

    Nine Heavens had three servers, Server 1, 2 and 3. Server 1 was the oldest server, which was full of godly yers. Server 2 and 3 were addedter on, due to therge number of yers and Server 1 was unable to take the load, hence the other two servers were added.

    However, thebat effectiveness of those yers in Server 3 couldn¡¯t bepared to those in Server 1, except for I¡¯m Not An Egg. He had top notch equipment, and it wasn¡¯t something that you could get just by ying the game normally. So although Tan Yongsi was good at general controls of her characters, without the same top-notch equipment, she was only able to upy the tenth ce.

    But that was already enough for people to worship her.

    Because have you seen the number of yers in Server 3? Over millions of yers, you were already worth showing off if you could be ranked in the top thousand, what more to be part of the top ten?

    More importantly, her equipment was not even any special kind!

    If she were to use the equipment of the Egg God, she would be able topare to him, and even those yers in Server 1!

    Soft Release Of Yearning: Coming.

    As soon as she replied, she moved her character over. In an instant, she was together with a group of people in front of the dungeon entrance. The most eye-catching of the group was a person in ck robes, standing with his back facing her.

    He was obviously wearing ck, but there was a golden glow surrounding his character. She knew that this was the light that came from the unique equipment that he wore.

    Soft Release Of Yearning: Egg God, thanks.

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: ?

    Soft Release Of Yearning: The video from the hotelst time.

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: No problem. Have you broken up with that scum?

    Soft Release Of Yearning: Even if it wasn¡¯t because of this matter, it was time to break up anyway.

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: It¡¯s better to break it off early.

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: That a*shole wasn¡¯t good enough for you.

    Soft Release Of Yearning: In short, thanks bro!

    Soft Release Of Yearning: By the way, why are you on now? Isn¡¯t it early morning for you?

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: I¡¯ve returned to China.

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s hand shook, startled to the point that she was almost killed by a monster, but she managed to avoid it at thest second.

    Soft Release Of Yearning: When did youe back?

    I¡¯m Not An Egg: Today.

    Tan Yongsi wanted to reply, but her eyes caught sight of the egg that she had ced beside theputer. It was cracking open...

    Then a very red head started to squeeze out of it...

    [1] instant messaging service in China, owned by Tencent

 Chapter 383 Side Story 3: Where Is She?

    <h4>Chapter 383 Side Story 3: Where Is She?</h4>

    Tan Yongsi stared at the egg intently, her eyes unblinking as she watched the little red head pecking its way out of the shell little by little.

    This egg had been by her side for more than ten years already, being with her since she was very young. Tan Yongsi had never expected that this egg would actually still be alive?!

    The ming little red bird pecked its way out its shell, then started to peck on the remaining shell, shoving it into its beak.

    Tan Yongsi had almost forgotten to breathe, until the little bird on the table turned its head to look at her. Its eyes were round and ck like ck beans, and she felt her heart melt at the sight of it.

    "Yi... Yichen?" Ye Xuan, who was already on her bed, getting ready to apply a mask to her face, suddenly caught sight of this miraculous scene. "Am I dreaming?"

    Xiao Yichen had just received an offline message, when she turned her head to look at what Ye Xuan was staring at. The ming bird at Tan Yongsi¡¯s side chose this moment to turn its head, staring straight at her.

    Bang!

    Xiao Yichen jumped in her seat, staring at the bird with shock and surprise on her face.

    "Yichen, Yichen?" Ye Xuan was even more surprised to see the usually calm Xiao Yichen having such a big reaction.

    Xiao Yichen finally snapped out of her daze, touching her bangs lightly. "It¡¯s nothing."

    Tan Yongsi carefully picked up the bird. It was an extremely beautiful bird, its red feathers like a bright, dazzling me.

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: Yearning? Yearning? Where are you?!

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: Sorry, something happened just now.

    [Party] I¡¯m Not An Egg: It¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s go.

    Tan Yongsi ced the bird back on the table, her fingers clicking away on the keyboard. The character on screen in an ordinary robe dodged a few traps deftly, and they finally arrived at the final boss room.

    Xiao Yichen was standing behind her now, and couldn¡¯t help but eximed in praise, "Sisi, your technique is just too beautiful!"

    [Party] I¡¯m Not An Egg: Last hit!

    [Party] Sakura Baby: Wah, Brother Egg God, are you referring to me?

    A loli character in pink clothes was dangling in front of a white-clothed character. This person was obviously messing around. A smooth mission was thrown into a mess by her, even if they were a patient person, their life would be shortened by one-tenth by her antics!

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: Sakura Baby, what are you doing? You¡¯re pulling the entire enmity towards us!

    At this moment, the screen emitted a strong white light!

    The girl d in green robes released an ultimate move!

    Thest bit of the health bar above the boss¡¯ head dropped to zero immediately!

    The game released an announcement that could be seen across the entire server!

    "Yearning¡¯s just a bitcking in her equipment. If she were to change to higher-tier gear, will we even still be second and third on the rankings?"

    "After going through so many teams, the safest in the end is still to be in the same team as Egg God and Goddess Yearning!"

    "The three servers are going to merge soon, better shine the shoes of these two while you still can. Don¡¯t forget those in Server 1, even a smurf ount is enough to wipe us all..."

    ***

    At the same time, on the top floor of the Nine Heavens building in the Imperial Capital.

    "Young Master Rui, you¡¯re ying games as soon as you get back, what¡¯s happening?" If you were to talk about which ce had the bestputer equipment, Nine Heavens¡¯ studio would be in second ce, with no one daring to take the first ce. Yu Ning raised an eyebrow and was looking at Jiang Yirui, who was sitting in front of theputer.

    "Huh, this person¡¯s operation of the character ain¡¯t half bad..." When Yu Ning saw that ultimate move on screen, he was surprised. "Even in our studio, there are only a few people who can reach this level of hand speed!"

    Seeing Jiang Yirui ncing at him, Yu Ning rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then he looked at Jiang Yirui, his eyes sparkling. "Is it a friend of yours? You can try recruiting them into Nine Heavens, we haven¡¯t got any fresh blood for a while in the web development department!"

    Jiang Yirui leaned back against the chair he was in, his entire posture screamingzy. He picked up his cup of tea, lifting the lid to ce it aside. If you were to put a robe on him, he would look no different than someone from ancient times. "An online friend who I talk to more than others, not to say I¡¯m very familiar with them. But if I have the chance, I¡¯ll pass on the message."

    Yu Ning understood the meaning behind his words. Those who were close to Jiang Yirui, which one of them weren¡¯t monsters from the ancient martial arts world?

    However, for someone outside the ancient martial arts world to be able to get along with Jiang Yirui, they must be extraordinary! He had to dig some information out!

    When he thought about it, Yu Ning touched his chin and looked at Jiang Yirui. He had watched the young man in front of him grow up, and apart from Gu Xiqiao, he had never seen such a genius like Jiang Yirui. When Jiang Yirui had first returned to the ancient martial arts world, the first thing he did was to dig out a bunch of unofficial history to study.

    He had only been three years old at that time!

    Forget about how he could already read fluently at the age of three, how could he even fluently read the ancient Chinese characters that only a handful of people knew how to?

    Those geniuses from the ancient martial arts world really were a different breed than the rest.

    Fortunately, the ancient martial arts world had already once seen the terrifying force that was Gu Xiqiao. Otherwise, they probably would have been shocked to death by a kid who barely reached their waist.

    "Oh, that¡¯s right." Yu Ning had initially nned to head out, but stopped suddenly in his tracks. "Uncle Mu has someone send a batch of antiques over yesterday. They¡¯re all from the Warring States Period, and it¡¯s all in Miss Gu¡¯s apartment..."

    Before he could even finish his sentence, the young man on the chair had disappeared.

    Yu Ning sweat dropped.

    ***

    On the other side, Tan Yongsi had turned off herputer once the loot had been distributed. She went to sit on her bed, looking at the red little bird in her palm.

    "Sisi!" The entrance to the dorm room was opened at this moment, and a beautiful woman in a whiteb coat walked in. "Are you okay?"

    "I¡¯m fine." It took Tan Yongsi a while to realize what Meng Yunzhao was talking about, and she smiled and replied to her.

    Meng Yunzhao was most likely talking about the matter with Yan Han. She and Yan Han had been dating for five years, and it was something everyone in the room knew.

    Seeing her in this state, the entire dorm room descended into silence, none of them actually believing her words.

    "I¡¯m really fine, it¡¯s just that I owe him money now," Tan Yongsi said, breaking the silence as she looked at her three friends who were silent. "I still owe Yan Han 100,000."

    "I¡¯ll lend you the money." Xiao Yichen said after some thought. "You can pay me backter."

    "No need." Tan Yongsi waved her hand dismissively.

    Xiao Yichen was well aware of Tan Yongsi¡¯s attitude, and she thought a bit more before a sparkle entered her eyes. "Sisi, you know how to read feng shui, right?"

    "A little." Tan Yongsi nodded. "Why, are you going to introduce me to some business?"

    "That¡¯s right." Xiao Yichen smiled. "Our family just moved to the capital recently, and an expert had once told us there¡¯s a small problem in the feng shui of our house. I¡¯ve been looking for a feng shui master to look at it for a while, how about it? Go back home with me tomorrow?"

    "Are you serious?" Tan Yongsi was startled.

    Xiao Yichen nodded her head. "Of course. Compared to those two face feng shui masters, I rather have more faith in you."

    When the four of them had first entered A University, almost none of them had talked in the room except for Ye Xuan. The others were all cold, and the most mysterious of them all was Tan Yongsi. She had arrived at the university alone, a box in her arm, no family member in sight.

    Tan Yongsi had pped apass on the table, looking at them. "It¡¯s fate that brought us all to live together here. So, do you both want to let me do a reading on your life?"

    To be honest, when Tan Yongsi had spoken about her family situation, Xiao Yichen had wondered if she had ulterior motives behind her words.

    But now, there was naturally no doubt after getting along for quite a while. Because of that, they were also well aware of each others¡¯ situation, and that was also the reason for them to gather back here so quickly after they had heard of what happened with Yan Han.

    "Alright, then I¡¯ll go with you tomorrow to take a look." Tan Yongsi had not wanted to agree initially, but after looking carefully at Xiao Yichen¡¯s face, she changed her mind.

    "Okay, I¡¯ll give my great-grandfather a call right now!" Xiao Yichen¡¯s eyes lit up at her friend¡¯s answer.

    Ye Xuan immediately gestured with her hand to pause. "Hey, wait, Xiao Yichen, great-grandfather? May I ask about your great-grandfather¡¯s longevity?"

    "Sure, he¡¯s 105 years old."

    Ye Xuan: "..."

    The next day, Tan Yongsi woke up early and meditated with the sun on her face for half an hour. No one else saw, but when she breathed in deeply, wisps of purple mist lingered around her.

    Half an hourter, she took her meal card and headed towards the cafeteria of A University.

    "Isn¡¯t that Young Master Yan¡¯s girlfriend?" A group of people suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her way. The girl who was in the lead wore a high ponytail, strands of her hair dyed purple.

    Standing next to this ponytail girl was the current year¡¯s medicine faculty¡¯s flower. Her hair was curly and maroon in color, and it was the same girl that had seen Tan Yongsi yesterday. "What girlfriend? Hasn¡¯t Young Master Yan gotten engaged with Miss Wen from the Wen family? The Wen family is one of the big families in the capital! It¡¯s not a family that any Tom Dick and Harry canpare to!"

    This remark turned a lot of eyes towards them.

    Yan Han, or Young Master Yan was a name that was quite famous in the Imperial Capital, especially in A University. That¡¯s because he had graduated from A University!

    Apart from the newer students, everyone else had heard Yan Han¡¯s name at least once in their student life here, especially because Yan Han had recently gotten into a cooperation deal with Nine Heavens, which brought their already prestigious family up another level. To the point that even the Wen family rushed in to offer their daughter as a marriage partner to them.

    No one expected that Tan Yongsi, who was usually so quiet would turn out to be Yan Han¡¯s girlfriend?!

    But when this matter had just gotten out, then news of them breaking up also followed almost immediately? Not only did they break up, but news of the engagement between the Yan and Wen family was also soon released!

    At this time, Tan Yongsi became the biggest joke under the sky.

    The Wen family was a family that lords over all supreme power in the Imperial Capital.

    Tan Yongsi was just an ordinary student with nothing to her name.

    Everyone knew how this would end.

    "That¡¯s right, I heard that you¡¯ve been dating Young Master Yan for five years. Yan Han has such deep love for you, he even drove all the way here for you." The girl with the ponytail smiled maliciously. "What, he didn¡¯t cancel the engagement for you?"

    There wasn¡¯t anyck of things happening that would make everyone hit you when you¡¯re down, and all these people were not any different, all gathering here just to make a dig at Tan Yongsi.

    Although Tan Yongsi had been given the title of campus belle, she had always been low-key. Except for attending the necessary sses, you wouldn¡¯t be able to find her shadow. Most of the time, you could only see her at her part-time jobs. She didn¡¯t seem to care about the ranking for the flowers in the school either. Something that many girls worked so hard and fought for, seemed like something she had gotten easily with just a wave of her hands. How could this not make others angry?

    A girl who was from god-knows-where, did she really think that she was that valuable?

    They also needed to let her know what her ce was!

    "Sis..." A short-haired girl that was standing next to the ponytail haired girl seemed to have read something, and her mouth was opened wide. She tugged on the other girl¡¯s clothes to get her attention.

    "What is it?" The ponytail hair girl was about to give Tan Yongsi the best tongueshing in all history of A University and a lesson on social rankings. To be interrupted at this same moment, she was obviously irritated.

    "Sis, this..." The short-haired girl shrank a little backward, but put out her phone, offering it to the ponytail girl. "The engagement, it¡¯s been canceled..."

    The engagement has been canceled?!

    Impossible!

    The ponytail girl snatched the phone from the other girl, scrolling it to read the news that had been recently updated. "Young Master Yan¡¯s high-profile cancetion of the engagement banquet!"

    Seeing this news, the ponytail girl looked up at the girl that was standing opposite her, her face turning red and green from anger!

    Tan Yongsi hadn¡¯t said a single word since this started, and it looked like the ponytail girl had basically dug her own grave and embarrassed herself!

    "We¡¯re leaving!" She waved her hand, and led the group of girls away with a dark expression.

    No matter what Yan Han had intended to do with his actions, Tan Yongsi was stunned and rooted to the spot once she heard that.

    The people who had gathered around in a hurry, left in the same manner that they hade.

    The engagement was canceled? What was Yan Han thinking? Tan Yongsi stood in the same spot for a while longer, but she couldn¡¯t think of anything that would exin Yan Han¡¯s actions. She didn¡¯t stay for long, leaving to head towards an antique shop beside A University.

    There were a lot of people on the antique street as usual, and Tan Yongsi found a store that no one really frequent. There were various exquisite gourds of various sizes. Although they looked exquisite, most of them were made of iron and not worth adding to your collection.

    She bought ten items for a hundred yuan, and the stall owner gave her a crooked smile.

    If the stall owner were to know that she had just bought tens of thousands worth of goods for only a hundred yuan, he would definitely beat himself up in anger!

    ***

    In the vi area of the Imperial Capital.

    "Chen Chen said that she would be inviting a feng shui master to visit our house today." Mama Xiao said, instructing the kitchen to cook some food. "After the expert said that something was wrong with the feng shui in our house, those few feng shui masters that we invited were mostly fake, and they just wanted to fool people for money..."

    Papa Xiao nced at her. "What, so you believe this one this time?"

    Hearing his words, Mama Xiao was even more dumbfounded. "If Chen Chen had invited someone who was more than a hundred years old, I might have believed her, but do you know who she¡¯s bringing?"

    "Who?" Papa Xiao was curious.

    "Her dorm mate!" Mama Xiao thought a bit, before not being able to hold back herughter. "I think that child is just going along with the fuss, so don¡¯t you be giving them any looks when theye."

    "Her dorm mate? It can¡¯t be just another fake?" Papa Xiao frowned. A girl only about twenty years of age, she couldn¡¯t be any master.

    Grandpa Xiao had just returned from his stroll outside, and he caught the end of their conversation.

    "Don¡¯t underestimate young people in their twenties." Gu Xiqiao would stille and treat Grandpa Xiao in recent years, and that¡¯s the reason why his body was still healthy and strong as ever. "Look at Qiao Qiao, wasn¡¯t she just twenty years old?"

    Papa Xiao and Mama Xiao looked at each other. Right now, in this house, there was probably only Grandpa Xiao, apart from Xiao Yun, who could call Gu Xiqiao in such a casual and familiar manner. "Grandfather, do you think a person like Miss Gu can be found just anywhere?"

    They didn¡¯t understand the entire story, but vaguely remembered and heard that Gu Xiqiao was a person who had broken through all three realms.

    The three continued to chat for a while more, before Xiao Yichen returned home, with another young girl trailing behind her.

    The girl looked to be the same age as Xiao Yichen, and herplexion was fair and bright. She had a healthy flush on her face, and her features were dazzling and delicate. Her skin was as white as snow, and there was an amazing brightness between her eyebrows. Her beauty was like a zing, and it would burn anyone who looked at her. Anyone who looked at her would definitely not be forgetting her beauty anytime soon! There was also a mysterious aura that surrounded her, suppressing the scorching heat that exuded from her body.

    Grandpa Xiao couldn¡¯t help but sigh a little when he saw the girl, a slightly faraway look in his eyes.

    "Chen Chen, how do we address this person?" Grandpa Xiao looked at Tan Yongsi, his mouth open to say something for a long while, but nothing came out, and turned to Xiao Yichen instead to ask.

    "Great-grandfather, it¡¯s fine to just call her Sisi." Xiao Yichen was able to tell that her parents clearly didn¡¯t believe her, so she took the lead in striking up the conversation. "She¡¯s here today to read the feng shui of our house."

    Tan Yongsi had already nced around to study the structure of the house during this exchange, and when Xiao Yichen said that, she nodded her head in agreement. She was well aware that she didn¡¯t look like any trustworthy feng shui master, but these kinds of things depended on the sincerity to show after all.

    It could be seen that the Xiao family was very rich, and thend that the house was on wasn¡¯t something that you could buy with money in the Imperial Capital.

    For the vi to be built here, there shouldn¡¯t be any problem with the feng shui itself. The constructors wouldn¡¯t joke around with such a sky-high price vi after all.

    When Papa Xiao and Mama Xiao heard their daughter¡¯s words, they couldn¡¯t help but give her a doubtful look. They had thought that their daughter had brought her friend back just to go along with their whims, but they didn¡¯t expect her to take the initiative to bring up the matter. No matter how they looked at her, Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t look like any feng shui master, she wasn¡¯t even holding apass board in her hand.

    They were afraid that Xiao Yichen¡¯s dorm mate would feel put on the spot, but they didn¡¯t expect the girl herself to speak up at this time.

    "Uncle, Auntie, you don¡¯t have to mind me. I came here today to look at the feng shui of your house." Tan Yongsi waved her hand, and her face had a gentle expression on it. At first nce, she had looked to be someone who was arrogant and ced herself above people. "Your family has very good fortune, especially Mr. Xiao¡¯s generation. People with exceptional talents appeared in this generation, and the Xiao family is thriving because of that. However, you have to keep in mind that the merits umted in one generation is not enough tost the entire line. If the Xiao family intends to prosper for a long time, then don¡¯t let the merits be wasted or stopped."

    Hearing these words, Grandpa Xiao turned to look at Tan Yongsi. Even Xiao Yichen¡¯s parents also turned to look at her.

    Of course they knew who the person of merit Tan Yongsi was talking about. Since young, they had told Xiao Yichen that she was not allowed to talk about matters of the ancient martial arts world, so these things that came from Tan Yongsi¡¯s mouth was definitely not something Xiao Yichen had told her!

    Thinking about this, Papa Xiao¡¯s face changed. He straightened up, bowing respectfully to her. "Great Master, please have a look. What is wrong with the feng shui of our house?"

    "Uncle, you can just call me Sisi."

    "Understood, Great Master!"

    Tan Yongsi: "..." You just acted like I didn¡¯t say anything, did you.

    Tan Yongsi walked the house from upstairs to downstairs while the whole family watched her closely.

    "There¡¯s nothing much to the other parts." She pointed to the fish tank by the door, smiling. "Water is disyed by the door. The mountain represents people, and water represents wealth*. The direction of the door is coincidentally facing the position of ¡¯wealth¡¯. It seems that your family must have someone who knows feng shui. To ce a fish tank here, it¡¯s to attract wealth into the family." (T/N: This is a saying from feng shui reading)

    The Xiao family looked at the fish tank, then those about the person who had given them the fish tank, and were now thoroughly impressed with Tan Yongsi.

    "To ce a fish tank here, the person who did so must have a deep understanding of feng shui." Tan Yongsi walked to the side of the sofa. "How could they make such a mistake?"

    "What?" Papa Xiao¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    Tan Yongsi stood by the sofa, then turned to look at the Xiao family with a grave expression on her face. "Mr. Xiao, I wonder what¡¯s the situation of your family¡¯s poption?"

    The number of people in the Xiao family had always been low, especially in Xiao Sheng¡¯s generation. They only had one daughter, that was Xiao Yichen. It wasn¡¯t that Mama Xiao had never gotten pregnant, but she had gone through several miscarriages. Xiao Yichen had been able to survive only because of Xiao Yun.

    They had thought that the reason for this was Mama Xiao¡¯s body and health, but they didn¡¯t expect to hear that this sofa was the root of their problems?

    Seeing the expression of the Xiao family, Tan Yongsi could guess it. "The position of the sofa and the door forms a line, forming an opposing aura. Its disadvantage is that it will cause the loss of family members, and wealth to scatter everywhere.

    "And also, Yichen¡¯s bedroom." Tan Yongsi pointed her finger upwards. "There¡¯s a beam directly above the bed. With the beam above it, there¡¯s an oppressing force when you sleep in the bed, which can cause psychological pressure, which will affect someone¡¯s studies and health."

    Great Master! She really was a Great Master!

    "Great Master, you might not know this, but this fish tank was given to us by an expert. They said that we needed to ce it by the door, but she has never seen the house."

    That was a usible exnation, Tan Yongsi nodded her head as she thought. She then pulled out a gourd and gave it to Papa Xiao. "Hang this on the head of the bed, and it will solve this matter. As for the sofa... you wouldn¡¯t mind changing the position a little, right?"

    As soon as she said that, Papa Xiao was already getting people to move it. "Great Master, where do you think is a good ce to put it?"

    "There¡¯s a taboo on cing the sofa without a ¡¯support¡¯ behind it. Put it there, but you have to ce a screen behind it," Tan Yongsi said as she pointed to a spot.

    "Great Master, I¡¯d like to ask some questions about my career." Papa Xiao had thought about this for a while, before finally asking.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t respond, but gave him a nce. "Write a word for me."

    Papa Xiao immediately got a pen and paper, writing the Chinese character ¡¯ÈË¡¯. The pressure as he wrote was vigorous and powerful, and it can be seen from the word he just wrote that he was skilled at writing.

    "There¡¯s a sense of loneliness in the word, " Tan Yongsi said, adding two strokes on the paper. "One stroke for ¡¯´ó¡¯, and the one more for ¡¯Ìì¡¯. It will get smoother in a couple of years."

    "Is there any way to resolve this?" Papa Xiao asked, looking at Tan Yongsi with piercing eyes.

    "There¡¯s water next to the door to urge wealth toe in, and the negative energy with the door has been resolved. I think your problems will resolve by themselves soon," Tan Yongsi put down the pen as she said.

    "Great Master, we¡¯ve really offended you just now."

    Papa Xiao was red with embarrassment, remembering how he had felt and looked at her like she was a liar when she first stepped in, and he felt ashamed.

    Tan Yongsi just smiled in response, not feeling offended at all as she sipped on her cup of tea.

    Papa Xiao suddenly felt the person in front of him had just gotten more mysterious and unpredictable than ever.

    "SIsi, you¡¯re really something." Xiao Yichen plopped herself down beside Tan Yongsi. "When will you divine something for me?"

    "Three hundred per hexagram a day, not any lower." Tan Yongsi said, stretching out her hand.

    Xiao Yichen didn¡¯t know if she should beughing or crying at that. "Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d do it for free for us?"

    "That was then, this is now," Tan Yongsi said, wagging her finger. "That was the discount for meeting you guys for the first time."

    "Forget it then, let¡¯s have dinner." Xiao Yichen flipped her phone open, and her eyes brightened. "That¡¯s right, my cousin ising over today!"

    "Your cousin?" Tan Yongsi thought for a while. "It just so happens that I have to go back too."

    "What¡¯s happened? Aren¡¯t you staying for dinner?" Xiao Yichen asked, looking at her.

    "Your family is too lively." Tan Yongsi said, shrugging helplessly.

    Thinking about how her family had been enthusiastically calling her ¡¯Great Master¡¯, Xiao Yichen was silent. She went upstairs,ing down with a cheque in her hands. "Sisi, take this."

    Tan Yongsi saw that it was a cheque for 100,000.

    "It¡¯s fine, friends don¡¯t have to talk about this." Tan Yongsi pushed the cheque back to Xiao Yichen. "You didn¡¯t really think that I came here to make money from your family, did you?"

    As she said that, her phone started to ring. She picked it up, and a male voice came from the other end. He sounded respectful and even a little cautious. "Great Master, have you reached yet?"

    After Tan Yongsi replied with a ¡¯soon¡¯, she hung up the call, then turned to Xiao Yichen. "The main point I came to was because of this customer."

    "Who was that?" Xiao Yichen tilted her head in surprise.

    "The Peng family." Tan Yongsi put her phone away.

    "That Peng family?" Seeing Tan Yongsi nodding her head without hesitation, Xiao Yichen¡¯s jaw dropped open. She never expected that Tan Yongsi would have any rtionship with the Peng family.

    The Peng family, the family that controlled the majority of China¡¯s military strength, wasn¡¯t a family that the Wen family could even begin topare to. The Peng family, they were the real people with actual authority in their hands!

    After exchanging a few more words with Xiao Yichen, Tan Yongsi left the vi. Xiao Yichen had wanted to send her off, but was rejected by Tan Yongsi.

    Just shortly after she left the house, she turned to see a familiar car approaching, rolling to a stop near her.

    The driver and its passenger got down from the car.

    Tan Yongsi had seen the driver before, he was the guy that she had done a fortune-telling for yesterday. As for the passenger, she couldn¡¯t really see his face.

    The young man was wearing sunsses and dressed in casual clothes. The sunlight reflected on his cold, hard face. Even if you couldn¡¯t see his eyes, you could practically feel the perfection that his face exuded. This young man¡¯s parents must have saved the world or something in theirst life, otherwise, how could they give birth to such a wless person?

    After he got down from the car, he took off his sunsses slowly, revealing a pair of onyx, dark eyes. It was clear and bright, and it was clear that the aura he exudes was chillingly cold. However, when the sunlight hit his eyes, it melted into an unmistakable gentleness.

    The two made eye contact briefly, then they both turned away quickly. There was no skip in either of their hearts, or any recognition.

    Except for Tang An, as he clearly saw Tan Yongsi¡¯s face clearly, and remember that she was the girl who had done a reading for him yesterday. He immediately eximed in surprise, "Hey..."

    Thinking for what seemed like half a day before he realized that she had never given him a name, he turned to his cousin. "Cousin, was that person just now your friend?"

    "Young Master Rui," Xiao Yichen greeted him, a serious expression sliding onto her face when she caught sight of him. Don¡¯t be deceived by the gentle look on his face, Xiao Yichen had personally seen the other¡¯s violent and bloody methods with her own eyes, and she didn¡¯t dare to presume anything in front of him.

    It was only after Jiang Yirui nodded his head in return to her greeting that she turned to her cousin. "She¡¯s my dorm mate."

    "What¡¯s her name? Do you have her number?" Tang An took out his phone, asking her insistently.

    He was thoroughly ignored by Xiao Yichen.

    She didn¡¯t expect her cousin to show up with Jiang Yirui in tow. Xiao Yichen sat down silently, browsing her phone, when she suddenly recalled the bird in Tan Yongsi¡¯s hand yesterday night.

    "Where did you see this?" A low, cold voice suddenly came from behind her.

    Xiao Yichen turned to see Jiang Yirui staring at the picture on her phone, his eyes fixed and unmoving.

    "This?" Xiao Yichen waved her phone. "This is a pet that hatched from Sisi¡¯s egg. Isn¡¯t it cute? But I feel like it¡¯s very familiar..."

    "Where is she now?" Jiang Yirui asked, turning his gaze to Xiao Yichen.

    There were only a handful of people who could meet his eyes without flinching, and Xiao Yichen was obviously not one of them. She lowered her head unconsciously. "My dorm mate? I don¡¯t know where she is now, but she shoulde back to the dorms by nightfall."

    "I see." Jiang Yirui stood up, regaining his former grace. "Send me a copy of the photo."

    ***

    At the Peng family house.

    "Miss Tan, thank you very much for the hexagram image a month ago." A man in military uniform brought his hands together in respect. "If it wasn¡¯t for your guidance, this time we would have..."

    "It¡¯s fine." Tan Yongsi looked at the cheque in her hands, a satisfied expression on her face. "But remember that when everything is too much, you will be at a loss instead. Don¡¯t be too greedy."

    Having said that, she walked out the door, not bothered to look at how the other would react to her words.

    The cheque was for 300,000. After deducting the 100,000 that she owed Yan Han, she would still have 200,000 left.

    Tan Yongsi returned to the dormitory. The red bird was nested on her pillow, and she fed it food that a bird could eat at this stage of growth.

    "Little one, why so cold?" Tan Yongsi looked at the bird, feeling that this was definitely not any ordinary bird.

    As she watched the bird eat, she turned on herputer.

    At this moment, her phone rang again. She picked it up without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

    "Do you have a red bird with you?" The voice on the other side was a bit cold, but there was also a hint ofziness that couldn¡¯t be concealed. If it was anyone else who was listening to this voice, they would definitely melt from how good it sounded in their ears.

    It was a pity that the person who was listening to this voice was Tan Yongsi. Her entire concern was on her bird, and she was obviously wary after hearing this. "Who are you? What do you want?"

    "I¡¯m downstairs. If you don¡¯t want the school to go up in mes, you better hurry up and bring the bird down with you." The other side didn¡¯t give her a chance to respond, hanging up the call as soon as he said that.

    Tan Yongsi felt that the call was a strange one, but there was something nagging in her heart that told her this person wasn¡¯t kidding when he said he would burn the school.

    The egg came from an abnormal origin anyway, and it wasn¡¯t normal at all for birthing an egg after more than ten years.

    Thinking of this, she couldn¡¯t sit still any longer. She stood up immediately, picking up the small creature carefully and ran downstairs.

    Downstairs, there was a figure that was particrly eye-catching.

    His head was hung low, his hands shoved in his pockets. You could only see the perfect, sharp jaw, and the back of his figure was enough to attract countless eyes. However, the pressure around him made everyone wary of approaching him.

    Countless girls were wandering close by, but none of them dared to go any nearer to him.

    "Face me straight up! Look at me straight!"

    "I¡¯m still obsessed with Young Master Yan till the day I die, but I never expected to be done in by the back of a figure. Even if he¡¯s an assassin, I would die willingly..."

    Countless simr words echoed through the dormitory.

    At this moment, the young man finally raised his head.

    There was a sudden intake of breath by everyone who was looking at him.

    This was the second time Tan Yongsi was seeing this person. Why did she remember him so clearly? Probably because with such a pair of eyes, you wouldn¡¯t forget it even if you only saw it once.

    As she thought about this, she pulled out her phone, intending to call the person to ask what the heck was happening. What was this bird?

    Just as she was about to make the call, a cold voice came from above her. "Show it to me."

    His eyes were fixed on the bird in her palm, focused and gentle.

    "This matter is a littleplicated." Having confirmed something after looking at the bird, Jiang Yirui rubbed his temples. "Can we find a ce where we can eat and talk?"

    Tan Yongsi hadn¡¯t had dinner yet, so she nodded when she heard his suggestion. She really wanted to know the origin of this bird.

    When he had mentioned finding a ce to eat, Tan Yongsi had thought they¡¯d find a simple ce to do so, so she didn¡¯t expect him to bring her to a ce where it was aplete membership only club!

    So high ss?

    Tan Yongsi stood at the entrance, looking at the magnificent gate of the clubhouse. Speaking of which, she had never been to such a high-ss ce to eat before.

    Thanks to this person¡¯s blessing, this was the first time she could.

    Jiang Yirui went to park the car in the parking lot, and she stood at the entrance, waiting for him.

    "Wait a minute, Young Master Yan, isn¡¯t this your ex-girlfriend?" A group of people entered the door of the club at this moment, and the one in the lead caught sight of Tan Yongsi, stopping in his tracks. "To bump into Miss Tan at this ce. Say, it can¡¯t be that she knew that you had a date with Miss Wen here today, and purposely came here to follow you?"

    Yan Han was also among the group, and naturally also saw Tan Yongsi, and was surprised.

    But when he heard the words the other had said, aplicated expression arose on his face as he turned to look at Tan Yongsi. "Sisi, I didn¡¯t expect you..." Before he could finish his sentence, they were interrupted by another voice.

    "Let¡¯s go." It was only two words, but the voice was mesmerizing and low, and it felt like a bomb had been set off in everyone¡¯s hearts who had heard it.

    Everyone turned around to follow where the voice hade from, to see a slender, handsome young man walking up to Tan Yongsi and speaking these words to her in a low voice.

 Chapter 384 Side Story 4: Did You Rob A Bank Today?

    <h4>Chapter 384 Side Story 4: Did You Rob A Bank Today?</h4>

    Jiang Yirui then led Tan Yongsi inside the ce. The demeanor that he exuded was just too imposing, and the group of people with Yan Han didn¡¯t dare to make any move to stop him.

    After they had walked away for a certain distance, the same guy beside Yan Han frowned and said, ¡¯Who was that? He left, just like that?"

    "He actually dared to take Miss Tan away from Young Master Yan like that?" Another person with a shaved head stepped forward, as though wanting to do something rash. The Yan family had been in the limelight recently in the Imperial Capital, and numerous forces, whether big or small, wanted to get into their good books and deals with them. His family was the only one that had seeded so far, so when Young Master Yan was given a p to the face like this, he obviously needed to do something about it. But just as he stepped forward, he was held back by another guy in the group.

    The shaved head looked up with a look of displeasure. He found that the person who had stopped him was from the Bai family, and he couldn¡¯t help the frown on his face. "What the heck?"

    If it had been twenty years earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have dared to speak in such a way to a member of the Bai family. But the Bai family was just a branch left behind from those years, and they were not evenparable to a third-rate family in the Imperial Capital now. Now they were just some followers behind the others, and that¡¯s the reason for the displeased expression on the shaved head¡¯s face.

    "Young Master Li, that¡¯s a person you can¡¯t touch." The member of the Bai family didn¡¯t seem bothered by the look of displeasure toward him. He nced around the ce, seeing that there was no one, he said it in a low voice.

    The shaved head frowned more. "Huh? Why can¡¯t we? Is he someone even Young Master Yan can¡¯t touch?"

    Even the mayor of the city didn¡¯t dare to make any careless moves against the Yan family.

    The Bai family member didn¡¯t offer any other exnation, but simply said, "I was fortunate enough to see him with someone from the Feng familyst night."

    What he didn¡¯t mention was how respectful the Feng family had treated that person, but with just the mention of the Feng family was enough to make these groups of people green with envy.

    The Feng family was the only family in the Imperial Capital to be able to have direct contact with the ancient martial arts world. Even themander-in-chief didn¡¯t dare to offend him.

    Once youpared the two, you would know which one was stronger and weaker.

    That¡¯s why, when they heard that this person had a rtionship with the Feng family, the group of people nced at each other and fell into silence, not daring to say anything else anymore.

    Finally, one of the young men standing at the side was the one to break the silence. "Sigh, if I can pass the ancient martial arts test, I won¡¯t even ask for an expert for a master. Even if it¡¯s just an ordinary person being my master, our family can shoot into the sky already."

    "That¡¯s right, just like Prince Wang. It was because he could get an expert to be his master, that¡¯s the reason the Wang family can reach this level. Otherwise, how could someone from the Wang family be chosen to be themander-in-chief?"

    The Wang family, really, it was just one person who had managed to obtain such a privilege, and now the entire family had practically risen up to the heavens with that single person.

    "At the beginning of October this year, a family from the ancient martial arts world will be openly epting disciples. I hope that someone from my family will be able to get in." The shaved head young man said in a low voice, sighing as he did so.

    No one held any doubts or grudge for him saying those words, but felt the same longing as he did. Who didn¡¯t have dreams of bing a hero? The threshold for entering the ancient martial arts world was very low, and the introductory techniques for the Beginner level of ancient martial arts were even posted on the inte. Anyone who managed to sessfully perform and cultivate the techniques would be epted into the ancient martial arts world.

    Because Wang Qiming had sessfully advanced to Beginner level at the age of seven, he was epted as a disciple by an expert, and that led the Wang family to develop ito this level, and Wang Qiming himself was regarded as someone who had ascended.

    Yan Han frowned when he heard these words, but said nothing. Speaking of which, the reason those people from the Yan family wanted him to take Wen Qing as his wife was only because the Wen family had some sort of connection with the Feng family.

    He raised his head, looking in the direction that Tan Yongsi had gone. He clenched his fist, and didn¡¯t have anything else to say.

    "You guys go on ahead. I have something to do, and I¡¯m leaving first." Yan Han¡¯s face was cold as he turned and left the group.

    The group suddenly realized that the main character of the party tonight was Yan Han, but because the Feng family and the ancient martial arts world were mentioned, everyone had basically forgotten the fact. But it was hard to me them for doing so.

    The Yan family and the Feng family werepletely iparable, after all.

    Since the main lead of the night was gone, everyone felt that it was pointless and boring to linger any longer, and they dispersed. However, their view of Tan Yongsi had changed from the bottom of their hearts.

    In the past, they had nothing to do with Tan Yongsi, nor were they concerned with her. Although they knew that Yan Han had sincere feelings towards Tan Yongsi, they knew in their hearts that Yan Han would not seed in this. The Yan family would not allow Yan Han to take a bride who had nothing to her name. But now that Tan Yongsi might have something to do with the Feng family, they naturally wouldn¡¯t be able to ignore her.

    ***

    Upstairs, Jiang Yirui entered a private box and passed the menu to Tan Yongsi.

    Tan Yongsi took the menu and opened it. Xiao Zhuan? She couldn¡¯t help but raised her head to look at Jiang Yirui. (T/N: Xiao Zhuan is the small or lesser seal, the form of Chinese character standardized by the Qin dynasty, i.e ancient Chinese characters)

    Jiang Yirui suddenly seemed to recall that something didn¡¯t seem right. This box was arranged especially for him by the club, and it was filled with things that he was used to. The menu was also specially written in Xiao Zhuan for that reason. Usually no one else would frequent this box, and his parents would be the only other people, and they naturally knew how to read Xiao Zhuan. When he brings people like Wang Qiming and Tang An, he would ask the manager to bring a menu written in modern Chinese for them.

    He had forgotten about that today. "Sorry, I¡¯ll get someone to bring you another copy."

    "It¡¯s fine, I can read it." Tan Yongsi said with a smile.

    She really wasn¡¯t bothered much, one was because she understood how to read the words, and second was because this person in front of her didn¡¯t seem like the kind who did things just because he wanted to put her in an embarrassing position, unlike those people with Yan Han previously.

    It was probably because this person gave her a feeling that he was very upright, and seemed to be in a high-ranking position for a long time. He was also slightly old fashioned, though he looked and dressed quite modern.

    "You can read this?" Jiang Yirui looked up in surprise. Forget about his parents, because he didn¡¯t even know if they could be considered human, those who could read the ancient Chinese characters were rare and few, and most of them were schrs who were over fifty years of age.

    For someone at Tan Yongsi¡¯s age to understand the words and read it, she was the only one in his memory that could do so.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t feel like it was something to be proud of or anything. "It¡¯s because I needed it, so I studied it specially." Most of the ancient texts for feng shui were written in this old script, and drawing symbols were also the same characters, so she had studied Xiao Zhuan specially.

    However, she didn¡¯t bother exining all of these, she wasn¡¯t familiar with the other party after all, so there was no need. Besides, saying that she was a feng shui master or anything of the sort would make her sound like some con person.

    She ordered two dishes, then ced them down the menu. Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t look at the menu, calling for the manager and ordering the two dishes she had said, before adding in a third one. The manager left after taking their orders.

    While waiting for their food, Jiang Yirui turned his gaze towards Tan Yongsi. To be precise, his eyes were on the bird in her hands.

    "Can you show it to me?" He asked, his voice light.

    Tan Yongsi reached out to hand the bird over. "He¡¯s a bit aloof." It wasn¡¯t even a lie, it wasn¡¯t even a ¡¯little¡¯ aloof. When she was feeding him previously, its neck was tilted up and backward. The person in front of her screamed majestic and nobility, and he could easily squeeze the bird to death if he wanted to. If he did do that, she wouldn¡¯t be able to find a good enough ce to cry.

    "It¡¯s fine." Jiang Yirui shook his head, reaching out to receive the bird.

    Tan Yongsi carefully ced the bird in his palms.

    A grain of bird food suddenly appeared in Jiang Yirui¡¯s other hand. At least, that¡¯s what she thought it was. It was a dark gray grain, and the lights in the room were a bit more dim than usual, so she couldn¡¯t really tell what was in his hands.

    The red bird had been ignoring Jiang Yirui in the beginning, but when he took out that grain, it suddenly snapped its head to where it was, eyeing the grain in his hand. It pped its wings, turning its body in a hurry toward it.

    It swallowed the grain, then raised its head to give a look to Jiang Yirui. It had just been a nce at first, but after meeting Jiang Yirui¡¯s eyes, it started to p its wings, flying up in mid-air in front of Jiang Yirui.

    Tan Yongsi, who was sitting opposite them, was stunned speechless. The bird was only two days old, and she hadn¡¯t seen it fly before, and now it suddenly could?

    Jiang Yirui was looking at the bird pping its wings in front of him, and he opened his mouth to say softly, "Xixi?"

    His voice was deep and low, a hint of coldness in it. But the two words he uttered were obviously gentle and warm. Tan Yongsi couldn¡¯t help her eyes looking at the bird, then to Jiang Yirui.

    Xixi? What the heck was that?

    However, the next scene made her feel even more out of her mind.

    The ming, small red bird opened its gorgeous beak, and replied, "Chirp chirp chip?"

    Jiang Yirui took out his phone, taking a picture of it.

    The food had arrived at this time, but he ignored the waiter who sent it in. He turned to look at Tan Yongsi again. "It doesn¡¯t have a name yet, right? How does Xixi sound?"

    Jiang Yirui already had a pair of beautiful eyes, and under the light that lit up the room, it felt like his eyes were sparkling with stars. Tan Yongsi had already thought of a name for the bird before this. The red of the feathers resembled the Vermillion Bird from the myths, and in the four symbols of the Chinese constetions, it represented the lesser sun. It was also generally known as the Vermillion Bird of the South, and its feathers were the color of mes. ording to her feng shui studies, she had wanted to name it ¡¯Li Huo¡¯. (T/N: Li Huo refers to ¡¯fire¡¯ in the five elements)

    But now, looking at Jiang Yirui, she felt that she couldn¡¯t refute him.

    Because after he had said ¡¯Xixi¡¯ to the bird, it had chirped back in reply, then turned its head to look at her.

    "Xixi is fine too." Tan Yongsi said, sipping on her tea. "Which ¡¯xi¡¯?"

    "¡¯Xi¡¯ from the idiomughter, jeering and all kinds of emotions." Jiang Yirui replied. (T/N: Îû from æÒÐ¦Å­Âî, which is a Chinese idiom which trantes toughing, jeering, anger, and invective )

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s chopsticks paused in the middle of taking her food, and she hummed after a long while.

    It was rare to hear an idiom being used to describe the name, but no matter how nice sounding the idiom was, it didn¡¯t change the fact that the bird that resembled the Vermillion Bird was being named ¡¯Xixi¡¯!

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t speak further. Although he couldn¡¯t speak highly of a certain person¡¯s capability of naming, he didn¡¯t have any intentions of changing the name he suggested. When he had called it ¡¯Xixi¡¯ just now, there had been a reaction in the bird¡¯s beady eyes. Also, this bird was definitely the Vermillion Bird, there was no mistake about it.

    The Vermillion Bird was one of the four creatures of heaven and earth, and there could only be one in the world. He was 80% sure that this was the same bird that had fallen that year. He had watched the video that was posted online after all.

    Xixi had always been a sore spot in their family that no one dared to touch. If she could see it again, it would probably lift the burden from her heart atst.

    Only, there was still that 20% of unsureness. And there was also the fact he needed to buy it from the person in front of him.

    Today, Xiao Yichen had also mentioned that Xixi had just been an egg before this, one that had been preciously preserved by the girl in front of him for nearly 20 years. This was their first time meeting today, he would not rush to buy it from her, otherwise the girl would probably turn around and leave.

    "My name is Jiang Yirui. This is my number, you can save it." Jiang Yirui finally recalled that he never introduced himself. He didn¡¯t give her his business card, but gave her the number to the phone that he always had on him. Apart from his family, only his close brothers had this number. "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve read fairy tales before, right?"

    Tan Yongsi was saving his number. She had thought that since the people here had called him ¡¯Young Master Rui¡¯, ¡¯Rui¡¯ would be his surname. She didn¡¯t expect that they weren¡¯t calling him by his family name but the end of his name instead. "More or less."

    Most of the books she read were feng shui books after all.

    "Then, you should know about the Vermillion Bird, right?" Jiang Yirui leaned forward.

    Tan Yongsi was picking up her chopsticks again, but she felt like something was wrong.

    "The bird in front of you should be the Vermillion Bird, and it might be a little abnormal. It¡¯s too young right now, and will often not be able to control the mes in its body. If you feel the surrounding temperature getting strange, take it and leave the people around you, and give me a call." Jiang Yirui was also taking a piece of meat, his tone was casual and normal as ever.

    Seriously, he was a little fearful that the girl in front of him would think that he was some kind of nutcase.

    If he hadn¡¯t been born in such a family, or if someone were to tell him a long time ago that there was a type of bird that could breathe fire, he would definitely shut the person up.

    But it wasn¡¯t like he was a normal person either. A long time ago, he felt that he had been the most abnormal one in his family, but when he was three and saw his mother tear open a hole in the sky, and his dad being able to teleport thousands of miles with just a wave of his hand, a robot housekeeper that not only knew how to walk and talk, and have the intelligence to eat like a normal person, the flower in the house that could talk and act cute... At that time, he realized that he was the most normal person in the family.

    That¡¯s why, as to a bird that could talk, it was like nothing to him.

    However, for an ordinary person, it would still be a rtively big shock.

    He didn¡¯t expect the girl in front of him to show no surprise, but also mutter, "So it really turned out to be the Vermillion Bird."

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s voice was very quiet, and ordinary people wouldn¡¯t have heard it. But was Jiang Yirui an ordinary person? Not only did he hear it, he heard every word loud and clear, but he didn¡¯t show any outward reaction to it. He picked up his phone and sent a text message, before helping himself to a bowl of soup.

    "It¡¯s the Vermillion Bird?" Tan Yongsi covered her mouth in surprise.

    Jiang Yirui nced at her, thinking to himself that this girl was really acting well, and it was evenparable to his Aunt Xiao. He calmly said, "If you¡¯re afraid of it, then you can transfer it over to me. You can set the price for it."

    Tan Yongsi put away her surprised expression immediately. "How can I trouble you like that, Mr. Jiang."

    Jiang Yirui: "..."

    The two left after eating, and Jiang Yirui sent her back. On the way back, Jiang Yirui stopped by somece for a while.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t know where he went to and what for, but she didn¡¯t ask about the privacy of others, and leaned back in the chair to wait.

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t leave for long, returning after three minutes, a big bag in his hand.

    When they arrived at the school, Jiang Yirui drove the car to the girl¡¯s dormitory. When Tan Yongsi got down, he handed her the bag that he had gotten. "These are daily necessities and food for Xixi inside. Xixi... it¡¯s simr to a bird that we used to raise in the house. Please treat it well. As for the food, giving it one small pill a day is enough, it¡¯s in a small bottle. If it gets greedy, just give it some bird food. There¡¯s some in the bigger bottle. If it finishes, give me a call."

    Having said that, he didn¡¯t wait for Tan Yongsi to react or refuse, driving away straight after.

    The bag had been sent over by someone he had called, and it contained all the supplies that Xixi had used to use back then. Some of them had been things that the beauty of their house had given it, including the bowl that apparently it had been jealous of that Haha had. Haha had not used it after the incident, and it had been ced together with Xixi¡¯s other belongings.

    While he was driving, his phone rang and he happened to stop at a red light. Pulling it out, he found that it was a text message.

    Master Jiji: Fatty Egg, I heard you took Xixi¡¯s things?

    Jiang Yirui: You hacked into my phone again and changed your name?

    He had been sure that he had recorded this number as ¡¯Jiji¡¯ only!

    Master Jiji: What about it? If you have the ability, then get back at me like Beauty Qiao~

    That wiggling symbol at the back of that sentence was practically mocking him.

    Jiang Yirui: "..." Waging war against a powerful artificial intelligence that was even more powerful than the entire intebined together, even Yu Ning couldn¡¯t do it, okay?!

    Master Jiji: Wait, you still haven¡¯t told me why you took Xixi¡¯s stuff.

    Jiang Yirui: I did n to tell you. I¡¯ve seen a bird that looks like Xixi, and I¡¯m about 80% sure it is. But, don¡¯t go telling our beauty yet.

    Master Jiji: Careful your dad¡¯s gonna smoke you if he hears you calling her beauty! Have you forgotten how he pulled you out from A University a few years ago and threw you into the international camp?!

    Master Jiji: Wait, what did you say?! Xixi?!

    When the incident was brought up, Jiang Yirui went silent. He had just wanted to study in the same school as their beauty, and hadmented about it at home. Then that big jealous cautious dad of his had chose the first day of his school to send him off into a special training camp.

    The thoughts were only a second long in his mind, and he replied calmly, "80% sure, but notpletely. So, don¡¯t go telling our beauty yet."

    Master Jiji: Such a careful person like you is already at 80% confirmed, then it must be correct! But we can¡¯t tell Beauty Qiao yet... That¡¯s right, where are you now?!

    Jiang Yirui wanted to reply, but the red light had turned green at this time, and he needed to drive. When he finally managed to make a stop at the side of the road, he took out his phone to reply, and found three messages on his screen.

    Master Jiji: Jiang Fatty Egg, you¡¯re so slow!

    Master Jiji: Forget it, I¡¯ll find your position by myself!

    Master Jiji: I¡¯m at the BBQ stall in front of you!

    Jiang Yirui was speechless when he read the messages, and left his car parked here. He then walked out to find a pedestrian street nearby, a BBQ stall at the intersection.

    A green robot dressed in flowery robes was extremely eye-catching, but then again, there were a lot of intelligent robots nowadays, and the people around didn¡¯t feel it strange that a robot was hanging around a BBQ stall. Instead, the only thing that was shocking to them was how traumatizing the clothes it was dressed in.

    Jiang Yirui watched as Jiji, who was holding a bunch of BBQ sticks walked toward him. He made a gesture, telling Jiji to hurry up and eat it.

    Jiji raised its head, looking at Jiang Yirui. "No way, this is what I bought for Xixi. It used to like eating barbecued meat with me."

    "We¡¯re not going to see it tonight." Jiang Yirui said, an indifferent expression on his face.

    "Why didn¡¯t you bring it back?" Jiji was anxious when it asked.

    Jiang Yirui thought about Tan Yongsi. "It¡¯s not with me at the moment, it¡¯s someone else¡¯s pet now. Xixi was an egg before this, and that person has kept the egg by her side for almost 20 years. Do you think she¡¯ll just easily give it up to us?"

    Moreover, Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t seem like someone who would sell Xixi just for money. Xixi might represent a different meaning to her.

    "Then, I just want to take a look?" Jiji wilted in an instant.

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t know what to say for a while. He hadn¡¯t been with them in the era when they had all been together. However, just by seeing the records of the ancient martial arts world back then, he could empathize with how they all felt, the group of people who had gone through thick and thin together.

    Especially the Peacekeepers, who had gone into so many battles at Xixi¡¯s side, all of them would have at least a few pictures of the ming red bird in their phones as keepsakes.

    "In another two days." Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t say anything further, but took out his phone and handed it to Jiji. "I took some pictures."

    Jiji eximed after looking through the pictures, "This is Xixi alright! Look at its eyes, it¡¯s clearly Xixi!"

    Jiji was excited for a while, before it calmed down. "But without seeing it myself, I can¡¯t be 100% sure. Beauty Qiao has gotten a lot of disappointment over the years, I can only be sure if I see it."

    "Yeah." Jiang Yirui had thought the same, and that was the reason he hadn¡¯t said anything in the beginning.

    "Who is raising it now?" Jiji asked suddenly.

    Jiang Yirui got into the car as he replied. "A student from the Department of Economics and Management, her name is Tan Yongsi."

    "Also A University?" Jiji eximed, then pulled out its handheldputer immediately, busying itself with it.

    Jiang Yirui started the car, shooting a nce at the robot. "What are you doing?"

    With a name and specific location, it wasn¡¯t hard for Jiji to find someone quickly. A photo appeared on the screen not long after. "Fatty Egg, look at this, is this her?"

    Jiang Yirui nced at the screen, seeing a familiar face on it. That wasn¡¯t anyone else but Tan Yongsi herself!

    He was startled, and his hand jerked, almost causing an ident!

    "That¡¯s right, it¡¯s her. What are you doing?" When Jiji disagreed with anything, it would immediately look for the person¡¯s information without dy. Seriously, it was exactly the same as their beauty back home.

    Jiji chuckled, and replied calmly. "I just want to see if it¡¯s really Xixi."

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t look at what Jiji was doing anymore, for fear that he would really cause an ident.

    "This girl, really..." When Tan Yongsi¡¯s information had been found, Jiji was stunned at what it had read.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jiang Shuxuan asked, his tone light.

    "It¡¯s nothing, I just got a little emotional after reading Tan Yongsi¡¯s past. Keep an eye on the Yan family in theing days, and the Wen family. I didn¡¯t expect her to have so many enemies. She¡¯s already so low-key, and yet trouble still finds her."

    "I¡¯ll take note of it." Jiang Yirui had already expected that, as he more or less understood it when they were at the hotel entrance previously.

    That group of people had been full of malice towards Tan Yongsi, but he had been toozy to bother about them at that time.

    "It¡¯s fine to just take note of it. That¡¯s strange..." Jiji flipped through another piece of news.

    Jiang Yirui was reluctant again. "What¡¯s wrong now? In their family, only their beauty could keep up with Jiji¡¯s thinking.

    "This Tan Yongsi, she¡¯s appeared in the news before." Jiji¡¯s face turned serious, but it didn¡¯t continue talking. In its heart, Jiji felt it to be very strange. The entire family in the car, and the vehicle had been wrecked to that extent, but she alone was safe and sound?

    That was just too strange.

    Jiang Yirui wasn¡¯t bothered anymore, but he saw Jiji opening a surveince video of the female dormitory, and he could only shrug helplessly.

    Jiji only watched the video for a bit, and after seeing it, he was 93% sure that the bird was in fact Xixi.

    ***

    In the dormitory of A University, Tan Yongsi was carrying a big bag of things. When she got back, no one else was in the room. It wasn¡¯t thatte yet, just after dinner, and the others were probably still eating. She then proceeded to open the bag.

    The first one was a luxurious bird¡¯s nest that was obviously used, but it was kept in pristine condition.

    The second was some toys for birds.

    The third was a small bottle of gray pills that looked simr to the one that Jiang Yirui had fed to Xixi during dinner.

    The fourth was a green bowl. Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t need any special sight to see that this bowl was not something ordinary. She felt her heart trembling, knowing that all these items were not as normal as it looked.

    Her hand was shaking slightly as she reached into the bag to pull out the fifth item.

    Just as she took the item out, the dorm room door opened.

    Ye Xuan looked at the item that she had in her hands, and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Holy sh*t, Tan Yongsi, did you go and rob a bank today or something?!"

 Chapter 385 Side Story 5: Who Is She?

    <h4>Chapter 385 Side Story 5: Who Is She?</h4>

    "I really did rob a bank." Tan Yongsi gave Ye Xuan a deadpanned look, then continued to look in the bag.

    There were still a few more items in the bag that hadn¡¯t been taken out, but even without taking them out, Tan Yongsi could practically see the gold that was shining in them.

    She was afraid that taking them out would rub Ye Xuan the wrong way, so she didn¡¯t.

    "This is fake, right?" Ye Xuan immediately pulled out her phone, searching on the inte for ways to distinguish between real and fake diamonds, before taking the diamond crown that Tan Yongsi held in her hands. After looking at it for a while, she finally said quietly, "Sisi, sleep further away from me tonight. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll reach out to snatch your stuff in my dreams."

    Ye Xuan and Sisi had known each other for so many years, and she naturally knew that Tan Yongsi was a bit more mysteriouspared to the rest of them. So, she didn¡¯t have any other thoughts other than being surprised at the sight of the diamond crown in her hand.

    Meng Yunzhao, who had gone out with Ye Xuan, also didn¡¯t have many thoughts after seeing the item. She was obsessed with the medicalboratories all year round, and didn¡¯t have much interest in expensive things like that.

    "Come to think of it, the report came in at such a time, catching up so unprepared. Otherwise, I could have gone to Yichen¡¯s house with you." Ye Xuan sighed after the three had chatted for a while. "I didn¡¯t expect that Yichen¡¯s family to turn out to secretly be some rich family. You really can¡¯t tell from the way she is, so low key."

    If it weren¡¯t for the photos that Tan Yongsi had posted in the WeChat group today, Ye Xuan and Meng Yunzhao wouldn¡¯t have known that Xiao Yichen came with such a big family backing.

    "I know that vi area." Meng Yunzhao said, lowering her sses. "I heard that the schr of ourbs has a house in that area too."

    "The schr?" Tan Yongsi thought about it for a while, before turning to Meng Yunzhao. "You can¡¯t be talking about that legendary medical genius schr from thebs, right?"

    "That¡¯s the one." Meng Yunzhao nodded.

    "A schr, huh? Even though I¡¯m not a medical student, I know how big that name is." Ye Xuan had switched over to Meng Yunzhao¡¯s side sometime during this conversation. "I heard that yourb has some connection to the ancient martial arts world, is that true?"

    As soon as she said that, even Tan Yongsi couldn¡¯t help but look over to Meng Yunzhao. For ordinary people, the ancient martial arts world was still an extremely mysterious ce. In the past two decades, countless ordinary people had soared to the skies because of the ancient martial arts world.

    "Thebs have too many capable and talented people, and we can never imagine how advanced thebs actually are." Meng Yunzhao was clearly excited when talking about this topic. After thinking about it for a while, she said in a lower voice, "I heard that the boss of thebs is someone from the ancient martial arts world, and it¡¯s someone very powerful."

    "Who is it? Have you seen the person before? What do they look like?" Ye Xuan¡¯s eyes were sparkling as she shot off question after question.

    Seeing the two continue on that line, Tan Yongsi lost interest in it. She looked towards the bag of precious items, and naturally thought of Jiang Yirui. She didn¡¯t know what that person was thinking. The items in the bag held wealth that an ordinary person couldn¡¯t dream of earning even if they worked several lifetimes, and he had just given them to her, just like that.

    Seriously, it was baffling just thinking about it!

    She picked up the green porcin bowl, going to fill it with some water. Using a bowl that was worth nearly ten million as a water bowl for Xixi, an ordinary person like her really couldn¡¯t understand the mind of the wealthy.

    Xixi seemed to take a liking to the bowl. It walked around the porcin a few times, before finally starting to drink.

    "Sigh, Sisi. Why is your bird so aloof?" Ye Xuan and Meng Yunzhao had finished chatting, and she had sat down to y with Xixi, but the birdpletely ignored her.

    Tan Yongsi had turned on theputer at this time. "I don¡¯t even expect it to bother about me, and you¡¯re expecting it to bother with you?"

    Ye Xuan walked around Xixi for a while, and seeing that the bird continued to ignore her, she sighed andmented that the people in the world were just like this bird in front of her.

    Tan Yongsi logged into the game as usual, and in the game, people in the guild were chatting about the offline meeting.

    [Guild] [Elder] Seven Seconds of Memory: Yearning, you¡¯re based in the capital, right? Will you being to the meet this time?

    Tan Yongsi thought about it for a while, before typing in her reply.

    [Guild] [Vice Leader] Soft Release Of Yearning: It depends on the time. If I¡¯m not busy, I¡¯ll definitely drop by to see you guys.

    [Guild] [Elder] Seven Seconds of Memory: As vice leader, if you don¡¯te, then what¡¯s the point of our offline meet?!

    [Guild] Passerby: Ahhh! Egg god! Egg god! Will you being to this time¡¯s offline meet?

    The eyes of countless people from the guild were glued to the screen the moment this question was posed. Egg God was the legend of their Server 3. The difference with the other yers was that he was extremely mysterious, never showing any picture of himself, nor revealing his voice in the game. Compared to all the other higher ranking yers, he was extremely low profile.

    Even Tan Yongsi was holding her breath in anticipation of his answer.

    One secondter, a sentence popped up in the guild chat.

    [Guild] I¡¯m Not An Egg: I¡¯m noting.

    [Guild] [Leader] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: Egg, you¡¯re really not giving me any face at all here!

    [Guild] [Leader] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: You have a month of break, why aren¡¯t youing!

    [Guild] I¡¯m Not An Egg: Yearning, quest.

    [Guild] [Vice Leader] Soft Release Of Yearning: Coming.

    ***

    Jiang Yirui was sitting in front of aputer in the apartment beside A University at this time, theputer screen lit up brightly.

    "You¡¯re really not going to the offline meeting? Aren¡¯t you curious about whether that Yearning is a girl or guy?" Tang An closed the lid of hisptop, turning to look at Jiang Yirui.

    Jiang Yirui pursed his lips. "No."

    "Tsk, you look for her the moment you go online. If it wasn¡¯t for that person being overseas right now, I¡¯d think that you¡¯re smitten with Yearning..." Jiang Yirui shot him a cold look as soon as he said that, and he fell silent immediately, sitting quietly in the chair.

    Jiang Yirui turned back to his screen, unleashing his ultimate killer move!

    Thest bit of life in the demon¡¯s health bar dropped to zero immediately!

    [Party] I¡¯m Not An Egg: Divide the equipment amongst yourselves, I don¡¯t need it. I have something to do, so I¡¯ll be going off first.

    Having said that, he quickly left the party.

    "Hey, if you leave the party, then what are we going to do about the next mission? There¡¯s still the hardest quest to clear. The servers are going to be merged soon, aren¡¯t you going to bring us to farm some equipment?" Tang An leaned back against the sofa, watching as Jiang Yirui left to go upstairs.

    Jiang Yirui paused in his steps for a moment, turning his head slightly. His eyes were dark and cold. "Handle it yourself."

    "What¡¯s wrong with Young Master Rui?" Wang Qiming, who was sitting beside Tang An couldn¡¯t help but feel curious. It was rare to see Jiang Yirui in this sort of mood in all the time he had known him.

    Tang An shook his head. "Who knows?"

    He stared at the screen, seeing the state of the team that was missing a member now.

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: What do we do? Egg¡¯s gone, are we still going on with the quest?

    [Party] Seven Seconds Of Memory: I¡¯d rather try the Divine Demon Dungeon.

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: Without Egg God, the leader and I can¡¯t tank the mobs.

    [Party] Passerby: If we don¡¯t have enough people, then let¡¯s try pulling someone in. I¡¯m not sure if anyone in Server 1 or 2 has passed the dungeon before. We¡¯ve followed behind Egg God several times, and we still remember the mechanics, right?

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: Alright then, I¡¯ll get another person.

    Soon, another yer joined the team.

    [Party] Seven Seconds Of Memory: Is it a newbie? Bridge On The River[1], are you someone who just started?

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: Bridge On The River?

    [Party] Passerby: Looks like a newbie. Beautiful, do you want a mentor? I will do for free for you.

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: Sis, ignore this group of people. Follow us into the dungeonter, and just follow the steps we take. You can follow behind the party leader and it¡¯ll be fine.

    [Party] Bridge On The River: The demon quest? Isn¡¯t that just a waste of time?

    [Party] Seven Seconds Of Memory: Beautiful, you just need to follow behind Yearning, and we¡¯ll be done in about an hour. It¡¯ll definitely not take the four to five hours that other teams would take!

    [Party] Bridge On The River: About an hour...

    [Party] Passerby: That¡¯s right, we¡¯re just that fast!

    Tang An, who was sitting in the chair, couldn¡¯t help but sweatdrop. The Divine Demon Dungeon heavily relied on yers¡¯ hand speed and y style to clear. Generally, a team needed to spend about four hours or more to clear the entire dungeon, but because the rewards for clearing it was extremely tempting, yers were willing to spend the time to do it. There were also many guides on how to tackle the particr dungeon online.

    With Yearning and Egg God on the same team, it could bepleted within an hour. This was one of the miracles of theirs in Server 3. But why did he somehow feel that this Bridge On The River was showing disdain about how slow they were at clearing it?

    Very soon, the quest began.

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: The first mob, its speed is fast. It has weak physical defense, but it¡¯s really tanky. Leader, you take Bridge On The River and clear out the smaller mobs. Passerby, you¡¯re with me on the bigger one."

    The party quickly divided ording to the task and went ahead with what they needed to do.

    ***

    In A University, Tan Yongsi was focused on fighting the mobs. But because there was no damage output from Egg God, their fight against the first boss was extremely difficult.

    In the past when Egg God was in their team, seven minutes was all it took for them to take down the first mob. But this time, it took nearly twenty minutes to take it down.

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: You can do it, Yearning! We can clear the dungeon without Egg God!

    [Party] Passerby: Yearning is all mighty!

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: The second mob has higher damage. It also has a lifesteal aoe, you guys have to be careful not to be within his attack range when he uses it.

    When everyone was ready, they started the next fight, and that¡¯s where they found a problem.

    In the past, Egg God was the one who was the main one tanking the mobs. The rest of them could just attack it from anywhere without much care, but Tang Yongsi¡¯s equipment couldn¡¯t match up to his this round. And because of that, several members died countless times to the mobs.

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to pass the second mob. I¡¯ll change my equipment, then we¡¯ll try again tomorrow.

    [Party] Passerby: There are only three more left ??

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: There¡¯s no helping it. It¡¯s gettingte anyway, let¡¯s rest for today and meet up at the same time tomorrow.

    All four of them were reluctant to go offline, as they were already here, no one wanted to give up so easily.

    Tan Yongsi sighed. Just as she was about to abandon the quest, the girl, Bridge On The River, who had been quiet the whole time, finally spoke.

    [Party] Bridge On The River: The second boss has five buffs. The first is an immunity buff, it will have the buff up when the fight starts. Any attack at this period of time will be negated, and it will increase its attack instead. So, don¡¯t attack it when the fight starts. The buff will be up for three seconds. Yearning, you¡¯re a mage, the channeling time for your ultimate move is coincidentally also three seconds. Start off with your ulti, it¡¯s just nice that the boss will also be weakened after the three seconds are up.

    [Party] Bridge On The River: Very good. The next boss will have really high enmity, and it will focus its attack on a single yer during this time. I¡¯ll pull aggro during this time, you guys don¡¯t have to bother about it, just focus on using your ulti. When the boss uses itsst ultimate move, don¡¯t dodge it. Passerby, use your Reflect ability at this time...

    Everyone in the team was stunned speechless, but they also couldn¡¯t help but follow the instructions that Bridge On The River was giving them.

    They pushed towards the second boss under five minutes.

    Tang An, who was sitting in the apartment, silently passed the party leader to Bridge On The River.

    Very soon, they made their way to the third boss, then the fourth boss.

    Boom!

    Countless equipment popped out!

    Quest,plete!

    [Congrattions to yer Bridge On The River¡¯s team, breaking through the Divine Demon Dungeon andpleting the quest in 43 minutes!]

    "Oh my god! Where did this dark horsee out from? 43 minutes! Even Egg God and Goddess Yearning take an hour in their shortest time!"

    "I can see theming out! That Bridge Under The River seems to be a newbie! Oh my god, she¡¯s actually a newbie! She used novice equipment to clear the Divine Demon Dungeon!"

    "You guys are definitely sh*tting me, I don¡¯t believe you! I can¡¯t believe it!"

    "Wait a sec, look at the video on the official site. Goddess Yearning seems to have been on the team, and she recorded a video!"

    Countless people rushed to open the official site to watch the mentioned video.

    One by one, they witnessed a newbie wielding novice equipment, tackling this quest. This was simply a godlike operation of the character!

    "Wait, did you realize that Bridge On The River only started speaking after the second mob? It took them 20 minutes to clear the first wave. If Bridge On The River had spoken up earlier, then how long would they have taken to clear this quest?"

    "Half an hour?"

    "Maybe they wouldn¡¯t have even needed that long?!"

    ***

    In the party, Tang An was still stunned speechless.

    [Party] I¡¯m A Goat, Not A Dog: G-G-Great God!

    [Party] Soft Release Of Yearning: The way you move is definitely not a newbie. Are you interested in forming a fixed party with us?

    [Party] Passerby: Great God, please take me as your disciple!

    While they were talking, they suddenly realized that the great god had somehow suddenly gone offline without them knowing.

    ***

    Tan Yongsi sat in the dorm room, staring at the grayed out name of Bridge On The River. She was silent for a moment as she did, and suddenly, her eyes were wide when she saw something!

    In the party, every single member had been killed by the boss at least once. This was something that was unavoidable in this particr dungeon. Every veteran yer knew this, even Egg God would inevitably be killed while running this dungeon.

    However, today, she saw a bug-like existence!

    Bridge On The River, her number of deaths was 0[2]!

    Tang An didn¡¯t have any mood to continue ying after that, but he was pacing around the living room of the apartment. "How is that possible? How can she have zero deaths?! Something¡¯s not right!"

    Wang Qiming knew that Tang An was ying games, and he was also actually in the middle of ying. However, he was not as obsessed with it as Tang An was. "You¡¯re talking about the demon quest?"

    "Yeah." Tang An looked at Wang Qiming. "You should also know that any yer who enters the Divine Demon Dungeon can¡¯t escape death. But look at this person, zero deaths! And she¡¯s even using novice equipment, it can¡¯t be an NPC, right?"

    Wang Qiming nced at Tang An¡¯sputer screen, then shook his head. "No, I¡¯ve seen it before."

    "What?" Tang An stopped in his tracks, looking at the other in confusion.

    "When I was ying the game with my master, he brought me into a party. In that party, there was someone with zero deaths at the end of the quest." Wang Qiming said in a low voice.

    "Who?" Tang An asked in surprise.

    Wang Qiming merely nced at Tang An at his question, not saying a word.

    For Wang Qiming to not speak clearly about it, Tang An dragged a hand down his face. He could already probably guess who it was. "No way, she¡¯s back?"

    Wang Qiming shook his head, indicating that he didn¡¯t know.

    ***

    Like Tang An, Tan Yongsi wasn¡¯t in the mood to continue ying the game anymore. Instead, she headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. Once she was done, her phone started to ring as she was drying her hair. She picked it up.

    "Miss Tan." It was ady¡¯s voice that came through, slightly sharp. "I¡¯m Yan Han¡¯s mother. I¡¯ve admired you for a long time now, and I wonder if Miss Tan has some time to drop by the Yan residence tomorrow."

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s hands stopped. She didn¡¯t want to go, but then as though she suddenly thought of something, she murmured, "Okay."

    Having said that, she hung up the call.

    The next morning, Tan Yongsi took the cheque she had received previously and headed out.

    When she was leaving the room, Xixi pped its wings and took flight,nding on her shoulder. Tan Yongsi nced at the red bird, thinking about whether or not to bring it along, and finally decided to.

    She was nning to have the cheque processed today and transfer the money to Yan Han. The rtionship between the two of them would bepletely severed after this.

    She didn¡¯t expect to run into the new student, Xi Hua from the medical faculty. Xi Hua took a look at Tan Yongsi, the corner of her lips curling upwards into a mocking smile. "Don¡¯t think that you can strut around proudly just because Young Master Yan canceled his engagement. Do you think the Wen family will let you go? Just you wait, Tan Yongsi. You¡¯ve provoked the Wen family, as well as the Yan family. It¡¯s useless even if Young Master Yan tries to protect you."

    [1] If you remember, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s ign was A Flowing River... could be Qiao Qiao¡¯s alternate ount

    [2] Yea, it has to be Qiao Qiao haha

 Chapter 386 Side Story 6: Im Back

    <h4>Chapter 386 Side Story 6: I¡°m Back</h4>

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t say anything in response to her words. But at this, she could feel the temperature rising from the area on her shoulder.

    She naturally thought of Jiang Yirui¡¯s words at this time, and her face changed. She immediately walked away, taking Xixi with her. If the man was right, this bird could possibly breathe fire!

    Tan Yongsi was dead meat, provoking the Wen family, as well as the Yan family.

    Xi Hua thought that as she turned, but she unexpectedly almost ran into someone.

    She looked up, and it was to a figure of a girl. The girl was standing outside the gate, her back facing her.

    She frowned, but didn¡¯t say anything. However, the girl beside her sneered. "Are you some guardian of the gates or something? Don¡¯t you see that people are walking here?!"

    "Yeah, I really didn¡¯t." The woman with her back to them turned around, a pair of sunsses on her face that covered half her face. Her voice was cold, and though the weather in September was humid and hot, you could feel a chill shoot through you when you heard her voice.

    As she spoke, she took off her sses, revealing a wless, clear face. Her eyes were narrowed slightly, giving off a casual,zy look.

    Her skin was as white as jade, and the sunlight reflected on it, making it look like it was sparkling and dazzling.

    At this time, there weren¡¯t many people at the gates of A University.

    There were some people dressed in colorful clothes, and some other beauties, including Xi Hua from the medicine faculty. She was also one of the top beauties in the school, but she couldn¡¯tpare to this woman dressed in white in front of her.

    Her dressing was simple, but everyone could tell from the aura she exuded that she wasn¡¯t any ordinary person.

    The people around were initially silent, then everything seemed to explode in the next minute!

    When had someone like this appeared in A University? The people who were watching from the sides were in a daze. With such an existence, who cares about the beauty or goddess listing of the school, they all paled inparison to her!

    Look at that face! Those eyshes! That nose! That skin!

    If such a person really existed, how could none of them have ever heard or seen her before?!

    Xi Hua listened to all the whispers and chatter around her, and she finally came back to herself. She stared at the girl¡¯s face, her eyes calctive. "Are you from our school?"

    Gu Xiqiao held her sunsses in one hand, while the other was in her pocket. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. "Yes."

    Though she had already graduated.

    "How is that possible!" Xi Hua sneered coldly. "I¡¯m from the Faculty of Medicine, but I¡¯ve never seen you before." The glint in her eyes changed after hearing her answer. "I heard that there are lots of people pretending to be students of prestigious universities, and it looks like it¡¯s a real thing."

    As soon as she said that, the surrounding noise started to get louder. They all looked at the cold girl standing outside the gate, doubt in all their eyes.

    Turning the sunsses in her hands a few times, Gu Xiqiao considered the girl in front of her, the indifferent expression on her face not changing. "Are you from the medicalbs?"

    The medicalboratory in A University is the world¡¯s topboratory. It was a ce that doctors from the entire world wanted to get into, and those who were in it were all the world¡¯s top doctors. The medical department of A University was the highest honor for all medical professionals!

    Xi Hua puffed out her chest proudly. "I¡¯ve passed the preliminary selections for it."

    After getting through the preliminary selections, there was a chance for them to enter theboratory. Once she said that, everyone¡¯s eyes turned to her again, full of admiration and worship.

    There was only one graduate student from A University medicine faculty that could enter theboratory every semester, after all.

    "You passed the prelims?" Gu Xiqiao pinned her sunsses to her chest. "Then, let me inform you now that you have no chance."

    Xi Hua¡¯s smile vanished the instant she heard this, and sneered again. "Who the heck are you? Informing me? What right do you have?! Let me be honest with you, I¡¯m acquainted with the Dean Zhu of thebs. I¡¯ll definitely be able to get into thebs!"

    While this was going on, anothermotion was happening at the gates. A white car hade to a stop outside.

    Xi Hua wanted to say some more, but when she caught sight of the car, she instantly ignored Gu Xiqiao, looking excitedly at the car beside them.

    Apart from her, there were some other people who recognized who the owner of the car was.

    "That¡¯s Dean Zhu¡¯s car! Oh my god! Why is he here today?"

    "Dean Zhu?! You mean the world¡¯s most talented doctor, Zhu Yuan, that Dean Zhu?!"

    "That¡¯s right, that¡¯s the one!"

    Zhu Yuan, the highest peak currently in the medicine faculty. He had used his own hands to solve countless dubious and almost impossible cases in the medical field!

    A medical genius!

    A medical monster!

    The one that older generations have endless praises for!

    The worship idol of all the younger generation!

    The moment the door opened, a slender man with a pair of long legs stepped out.

    His eyes swept across the crowd, and seemed tond on someone.

    Everyone watching him saw the excited glint enter his eyes, and he hurried towards... Xi Hua from the Faculty of Medicine!

    Could it be possible that he and Xi Hua really knew each other? That¡¯s why he was walking towards her?

    Xi Hua obviously also thought the same. She felt excited the closer he got, to the point that she almost forgot to breathe, and her heart was jumping up to her throat. Zhu Yuan was a legendary figure, the media had not been able to take a photograph of him for many years now. He was someone that even themanders from various countries would receive personally and treat courteously.

    She didn¡¯t dare to imagine that this person would actually know her!

    While she was busy thinking that, she btedly realized that the genius doctor had already passed her, and was now standing in front of Gu Xiqiao.

    Probably everyone around here didn¡¯t expect to see this situation ending up like this!

    The girl that they were suspecting whether or not she was a student from A University, was actually acquainted with a god like Zhu Yuan?

    Zhu Yuan wasn¡¯t bothered about the stares or thoughts of these people, standing in front of Gu Xiqiao, he felt that the sun today was dazzling, and he felt like he was in a dream. Ten years, and he finally was seeing this person in front of him again today. He had thought that she would never appear again.

    Finally, he chuckled. Giving her a bow, he said the words slowly, "Miss Gu, you¡¯re back."

    "Yeah." Gu Xiqiao smiled. She looked at the school gates, and gave a sigh. "It¡¯s still the same as ever."

    "It¡¯s been ten years, there¡¯s definitely some changes. I¡¯ll take you to see thebs, there¡¯s a portrait of you hanging in it." Zhu Yuan chuckled. He had wanted to give the people in theboratory a call, wanting to prepare them, but then after thinking a while, he put his phone away. Hm, it¡¯s better to give them a surprise.

    Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, and moved to follow Zhu Yuan. Before they left the area, she suddenly remembered something. She turned towards Xi Hua. "Zhu Yuan, do you know her?"

    "No." Zhu Yuan gave the girl a sparing nce, then turned away to look at Gu Xiqiao. "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "Nothing." Gu Xiqiao smiled.

    The two figures walked away slowly, disappearing into the distance.

    The people gathered at the school gates were still in shock, feeling like they had been hallucinating. What was that that they had just seen?! The genius doctor, one said to be able to rescue people from the hands of death, was actually being so respectful to a girl?!

    Who in the world was that girl?

    Zhu Yuan¡¯s attitude towards her was just mind blowing, so what was her real identity?!

    Oh my god, the people standing at the gates were just going out of their mind, thinking about all these questions!

    "Wait, I think I know..." A girl who was the nearest to them when they were there, suddenly spoke up. "I heard Dean Zhu calling her ¡¯Miss Gu¡¯. If I¡¯m not mistaken, the Miss Gu he¡¯s referring to, is that Miss Gu..."

    "Are you saying..." Some of the people around had already started to piece together the puzzle.

    Almost at the same moment, everyone pulled out their phone to find that there was an uproar in all their social media tforms. All of them were only reposting one single Weibo!

    (verified) For A Millenium: I¡¯m back.

    ***

    In a smallmunity area beside A University, Jiang Yirui had parked his car at the side of the road. Tang An was seated in the backseat. "Hey, isn¡¯t that little beauty, the one that Chen Chen knows... what¡¯s her name, Sisi?"

    "Yeah." Jiang Yirui nced up at the direction that Tang An was looking at, naturally also catching sight of Tan Yongsi, as well as Xixi, who was on her shoulder.

    His gaze turned towards Jiji, his eyes holding the question, ¡¯Is it really it?¡¯

    Jiji was sitting in the driver¡¯s seat, but its eyes were not on Jiang Yirui. Its eyes were fixed on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulder, unblinking andpletely focused!

    Seeing Jiji in this state, Jiang Yirui no longer needed to guess what it meant. He already knew what the answer was.

    "Why is she heading to the bank, you think?" Tang An looked at Tan Yongsi¡¯s retreating back. "Come to think of it, she even went to my ancestor¡¯s house to read the feng shui before this. I heard from Chen Chen that she¡¯s pretty good at it."

    "She¡¯s a feng shui master?" Jiang Yirui, who initially didn¡¯t have any interest in the topic, suddenly turned his heard towards Tang An.

    Tang An was startled at the sudden shift in attitude, jumping up slightly in his seat. "That¡¯s right, why the sudden big reaction?"

    "Nothing." Jiang Yirui turned away, narrowing his eyes slightly, thinking about something.

    Tang An wasn¡¯t bothered about him, and pulled out his phone to browse the. He froze suddenly, his fingers hovering above the screen.

    "F-F-Fatty Egg... Look... Look at this..." After a long time, he finally handed his phone over to Jiang Yirui, a nk look on his face.

    Jiang Yirui had been upset when Tang An had called him by his nickname, but he took the phone nevertheless, and also froze when he saw what was on the screen.

    Tang An had flipped to a post from The Forum.

    The first picture in the post was a picture taken at the edge of the ancient martial arts world. Though the photo was not clear, it was possible to see that exquisite face in it. The ancient martial arts world was full of portraits of this person, so forget about her side profile, even if it was only her back, anyone would recognize who this was.

    "I saw Miss Gu when I just got back from a mission! Oh my god! She still looks so young! It¡¯s been twenty years! She¡¯s not changed a single bit! I¡¯m already at Houtian level, but I feel like she can kill me with just a breath! How far do you guys think she¡¯s reached in terms of level?! I watched videos of what happened that year countless times, Miss Gu is my goddess, my idol, and I finally saw her in person! I really want to take a selfie with her, what do I do?! Miss Gu, aaahhhh! I¡¯m sorry, so sorry! I¡¯m so excited I don¡¯t even know what I¡¯m talking about!

    As expected, this post became the most popr post in The Forum in a short time.

    The ancient martial arts world was caught in waves of excitement at the news.

    At the same time, the secr world was also in a simr state, exploding over the news.

    Even the forces in the upper management of the Imperial Capital were moving.

    Tang An looked at Jiang Yirui, still with the same nk expression. "Oh Egg, I have a feeling that, the capital isn¡¯t going to be peaceful anymore."

 Chapter 387 - Side Story 7: The Medical Laboratory

    <h4>Chapter 387: Side Story 7: The Medical Laboratory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the Yan family, Madam Yan was waiting for Tan Yongsi toe, but before she did, Wen Qing came first.

    Madam Yan ced down her teacup in surprise. ¡°Madam Wen, Qing Qing, why have youe?¡±

    ¡°Aunty, didn¡¯t you ask me to ask my dad who that person was when I got home the other day?¡± Wen Qing sat down on the stool, taking the offered teacup from the Yan family servant. She looked a little out of sorts, and was obviously not really focused.

    Seeing her in this state, Madam Yan naturally recalled the young man that she had pointed out to Wen Qing that night. Her face changed. ¡°Did you find out already?¡±

    The water was just at the right temperature, and Wen Qing took a big gulp of the liquid. Hearing Madam Yan¡¯s question, she didn¡¯t respond. She clearly was still in a dazed state.

    Madam Yan was even more surprised at her reaction, and turned to Madam Wen instead. ¡°What on earth is going on?¡±

    Madam Wen looked much calmer than Wen Qing, but she was obviously nervous as she scrupulously nced at the servants around them.

    Madam Yan waved her hand, dismissing everyone else in the room, and they retreated immediately.

    ¡°Now can you talk about it?¡± Madam Yan turned back to Madam Wen once she saw that the room had been emptied.

    Madam Wen sat down next to Madam Yan, and said in a low voice, ¡°Qing Qing informed her father of what happened yesterday night, and at first he wasn¡¯t concerned at all. But after he attended a meeting that night, he heard from the bunch of people from the Feng family, apparently, it¡¯s some prominent figure from the ancient martial arts world that has returned.¡±

    ¡°A prominent figure from the ancient martial arts world?¡± Madam Yan covered her mouth in shock, hurriedly asking, ¡°How big are we talking about here?¡±

    Madam Wen shook her head. ¡°That I¡¯m not sure. But even the Feng family was cautious about it, so it can¡¯t be from any ordinary family in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s...¡± Madam Yan was stunned. ¡°No wonder I felt like a few of the families were acting weirdly today.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know much about it, but they¡¯re holding emergency meetings right now. We¡¯ll only know for sure once theye back from the meetings.¡± Having said that, Madam Wen smiled and continued on a lighter note, ¡°I¡¯m telling you now that Qing Qing¡¯s dad knows people from the Feng family. As long as we grasp the chance this time to get in touch with that person from the ancient martial arts world, we won¡¯t have to worry about being top in the capital.¡±

    Madam Yan was shocked once again, looking at Madam Wen without speaking for a long while. The Wen family had connections to the Feng family?

    But when Madam Yan thought about it, it wasn¡¯t that hard to believe. The Wen family was already involved in politics, and it wouldn¡¯t be strange for them to be acquainted with the Feng family. Maybe the Wen family really could take this opportunity to soar to the heavens at this rate!

    Thinking of that, Madam Yan couldn¡¯t help but look at Wen Qing again, the ns in her heart bing even firmer at the thoughts that ran through her mind.

    When Madam Wen saw Madam Yan¡¯s gaze, she instantly felt relieved before turning to look at her own daughter. She was the treasure of the Wen family, and their family might be going to rise ranks after this. Thinking about how it was possible for Wen Qing to marry even Wang Qiming was not a farfetched dream, but Wen Qing was stubborn, as her eyes were already on Yan Han from the beginning.

    Although the Yan family¡¯s status was not as good, Yan Han was not a bad person. He had gotten a cooperation deal with Nine Heavens with his own abilities, so Wen Qing wouldn¡¯t be losing out a lot by marrying him.

    When the time came, one of them would have a good rtionship with the world¡¯s strongest person in the ancient martial arts world, while the other has a great business rtionship with themercial world. Who else in the Imperial Capital would be able to measure up to the Wen and Yan family?

    ¡°Madam, Miss Tan has arrived.¡± Not long after the three started to chat about other things, a servant came to inform Madam Yan, standing at the door respectfully.

    The corner of Madam Yan¡¯s mouth curled up into a cold sneer. ¡°Go and invite her in.¡±

    ¡°This Miss Tan is the girl that Yan Han likes?¡± Madam Wen ced down her cup, her smile fading from her face. She dabbed her mouth with a tissue. ¡°Since you have guests, then Qing Qing and I will take our leave first.¡±

    ¡°Madam Wen, don¡¯t worry.¡± Madam Yan stood up to send the two off. ¡°I will take care of this matter, and I will have Yan Han personally go and make amends. As for the daughter-inw of the Yan family, I will ept no one else but Qing Qing!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good then.¡± Madam Wen smiled, feeling extremely satisfied when she heard the other¡¯s words. When Yan Han had announced the cancetion of the engagement banquet, their Wen family had naturally lost face in that incident. Naturally, they needed to bepensated. ¡°We¡¯ll head home first, and wait for your good news.¡±

    The three of them went out.

    Tan Yongsi was standing outside the door, and obviously saw Wen Qing and her mother. Wen Qing shot her a cold look, and Tan Yongsi turned away, reaching up to caress Xixi¡¯s head. However, Xixi avoided her touch, not allowing it.

    ¡°You¡¯re still so aloof...¡± Tan Yongsi grinned, looking at the bird.

    Xixi gave her a cold ¡®chirp¡¯ in reply.

    At this time, Madam Yan finally looked at Tan Yongsi. ¡°Miss Tan, pleasee in.¡±

    ¡°Butler, get Miss Tan some slippers.¡± Madam Yan looked at Tan Yongsi with a gentle smile on her face. ¡°This carper was shipped back here by air. Don¡¯t be deceived by the small size, it costs hundreds of thousands.¡±

    Although the smile on her face was extremely gentle, her eyes held a mocking glint. She was using her actions to show how far the gap was between Tan Yongsi and the Yan family.

    Tan Yongsi hadn¡¯t said anything, but Xixi, who was on her shoulder, pped its wings,nding on the ground and defecating on the carpet.

    Madam Yan¡¯s face changed immediately. ¡°This sh*tty thing!¡±

    As soon as she said that, Xixi gave Madam Yan a cold look. Its round eyes were alert and big, and it looked like ayer of frost over its eyes.

    Tan Yongsi was standing behind Xixi, and she didn¡¯t see Xixi¡¯s eyes.

    Madam Yan was the only one who could see its eyes, and she felt as though her soul had frozen when she looked into its eyes. A stab of pain shot through her head, and she lost consciousness at that moment!

    Xixi raised its head, chirping a few times when it saw her in that state, ¡°Chirp chirp chirp~¡±

    When it had been with Gu Xiqiao, Xixi had never been bullied or looked down on like this. Gu Xiqiao usually paid back double what she was dished, not to mention that itter joined the Peace Squad, and it had fought in countless battles!

    Forget about the Yan family, even those big families in the ancient martial arts world would show it the utmost respect when they saw it!

    Thinking of this, Xixi turned away, pping its wings and flying back to its spot on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulder.

    Madam Yan didn¡¯t know why the bird on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulder gave off an aura that made one¡¯s heart pound rapidly, and she didn¡¯t dare to look directly at it. She turned her gaze to Tan Yongsi instead. ¡°Miss Tan, you are well aware of our Yan family¡¯s position in the capital, and the Yan family only has one heir, Yan Han. He wants to marry the daughter of the Wen family. You should also know about the Wen family, right? They are the noblest family in the capital, and truth to be told, she is the daughter-inw that the Wen family needs. As for you... with the status of the Wen family, it¡¯s an easy thing for us to want to get rid of someone silently.¡±

    She had said thest part of her sentence with a light tone, but there was a cruel glint in her eyes. No one would doubt the truth behind Madam Yan¡¯s words.

    Tan Yongsi just took out a cheque from her pocket, pushing it to Madam Yan. She wasn¡¯t bothered about the older woman¡¯s words at all. ¡°This is the amount that Yan Han lent me at the beginning. I¡¯m returning the entire sum today. Any rtionship between us ends from today onwards.¡±

    ¡°He even lent you money?!¡± Madam Yan looked at the cheque, before looking at Tan Yongsi, the contempt clear in her eyes. ¡°You can take the money, just treat it aspensation from the Yan family. From now on, I hope that you¡¯ll leave the capital, and stop pestering Yan Han.¡±

    Tan Yongsi again was not bothered by Madam Yan¡¯s words. She knew that Yan Han would definitely not ept her cheque, and giving it to Madam Yan was a better choice. She ced both hands on the table, leaning slightly forwards as she spoke to Madam Yan, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I definitely won¡¯t want to meet with the people from the Yan family. As long as Yan Han doesn¡¯te and provoke me, out of respect for the fact that he once helped my family out, I won¡¯t do anything to your family. As for silently getting rid of me, I don¡¯t think your Yan family is qualified to do it.¡±

    Just as she finished speaking, the main door was suddenly pushed open. Yan Han hurriedly walked in, his face changing when he saw the cheque in Madam Yan¡¯s hands. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to react for a long while.

    Tan Yongsi straightened up, standing up and turning to leave. She didn¡¯t even spare a nce at Yan Han.

    After she left, Madam Yan finally came back to her senses, and she brought her hand down onto the table fiercely. ¡°Tch, how wild is her imagination? Daring to say that our Yan family is not qualified? What a joke! Yan Han, take a good look at what kind of person that you fell for!¡±

    Yan Han didn¡¯t respond, his eyes still on the cheque in his mother¡¯s hands. ¡°Mom, what she said was right. The Yan family really isn¡¯t qualified enough.¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about? What kind of thing is she? Compared to our family,pared to Qing Qing!¡± Madam Yan frowned deeply.

    ¡°You know she¡¯s from A University¡¯s economic and management faculty, right?¡± Yan Han continued to mutter to himself. ¡°The n that I had with Nine Heavens, arge part of it was her contribution. If she withdraws from the deal, then Nine Heavens will also withdraw from it.¡±

    The moment he said that, Madam Yan¡¯s eyes widened in shock. She knew that her son had obtained the deal with Nine Heavens, and that was the reason their Yan family had risen in status in the Imperial Capital. But she never expected that this incident would be rted to Tan Yongsi!

    Yan Han looked at the cheque for 100,000, and smiled bitterly. ¡°Why is that so hard to believe? All these years, I¡¯ve kept her tied down with the kindness I showed her in the past. This time, I probably let her downpletely.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, cease this conduct of yours, she¡¯s just another ordinary person.¡± Madam Yan frowned again. ¡°You should be getting along with Qing Qing now. The Wen family is the important thing here. Their rtionship with the ancient martial arts world isn¡¯t that simple, and you should be well aware of how unreliable the powers in the secr world are. The most important thing is to be strong. Look at the Feng family, which family dares to oppose them? I don¡¯t need to teach you all of this, right? You just need to focus on one thing now, which is to get the blessing of the ancient martial arts world through the Wen family. This is extremely important to our Yan family.¡±

    While the two were talking, Yan Han¡¯s father came back home. Without looking at Madam Yan, he hurried to Yan Han instead. His tone was urgent as he said, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why is Tan Yongsi so familiar with the Peng family?! When Peng Zijie saw her just now, he immediately greeted her as ¡®Great Master¡¯. He ignored us and even the people from the ancient martial arts world, leading her to dinner personally! His tone was also extremely respectful!¡±

    Madam Yan and Yan Han¡¯s face was shocked when they heard what the man was saying.

    Even the Peng family was treating her with such respect, Tan Yongsi, what on earth was she hiding from them?

    Just a while ago, Madam Yan was excited about being able to build a connection with the ancient martial arts world, and now, she couldn¡¯t help but feel uneasy. She recalled the words that Tan Yongsi had said to her, ¡°You¡¯re not qualified enough.¡±

    What¡¯s more, the ming red bird on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulder could chill someone¡¯s heart with just a nce of its beady eyes.

    ***

    At this time, the subject of the Yan family¡¯s topic, Tan Yongsi, was already seated in a cafe.

    After sipping on his coffee, Peng Zijie opened his mouth to speak. ¡°Great Master Tan, we really appreciate the matterst time. Otherwise, we don¡¯t¡¯ know how manyrades would have been sacrificed.¡±

    Tan Yongsi had met Peng Zijie before this, but his attitude was obviously not as friendly as it was now. She didn¡¯t understand it, but she wasn¡¯t that bothered about it either. ¡°It¡¯s my job to receive money and eliminate disasters.¡±

    Peng Zijie opened his mouth, wanting to say something else. But seeing Tan Yongsi speaking so bluntly, he didn¡¯t really know how to continue the conversation. For the moment, he turned his gaze towards Xixi.

    ¡°Great Master Tan, I wonder where this bird came from?¡± Peng Zijie looked at Xixi. He naturally remembered Gu Xiqiao¡¯s beloved pet, but he had not seen Xixi for the past twenty years. Not only that, he had also heard that Xixi had perished that year, and he didn¡¯t expect to see such a simr-looking bird today.

    When Xixi heard Peng Zijie¡¯s words, it raised its head to look at him. It quickly turned away, closing its eyes and continuing to ignore everyone.

    Peng Zijie had been shocked by the familiar gaze of those beady eyes, and he felt his heart skip a beat. That... that was so obviously Xixi!

    Seeing Peng Zijie¡¯s expression, Tan Yongsi pondered about it. She knew from the bottom of her heart that the bird was definitely not ordinary. ¡°It hatched from an egg.¡±

    Peng Zijie finished his drink, slightly absent minded. ¡°Great Master Tan, I still have some matters to attend to. I¡¯ll invite you for coffee again another day.¡±

    Tan Yongsi was also not in a mood to continue drinking. The rise in Xixi¡¯s temperature this morning had made her uneasy, and she was nning to ask Jiang Yirui what was going on.

    The two said their goodbyes at the entrance, and Peng Zijie watched Tan Yongsi¡¯s retreating back, his eyes still on Xixi as he was lost in thought.

    It seems that the rumors were urate. Even Xixi has appeared once again, so obviously, that person really had returned...

    If she had returned, even if it was for Xixi, Tan Yongsi was unlikely to be in trouble. Peng Zijie was well aware of how protective Gu Xiqiao could be, and he couldn¡¯t help the curl of his lips when he thought about it. Right now, the people in the capital have begun to choose their sides, and most of them were standing in the Wen and Yan family¡¯s corner.

    If it were in the past, it would have been fine. But now, for even her toe back, this was definitely not something good.

    Not far away from here, a few middle-aged women were holding their phones in their hands. They were looking at some news, and suddenly started jumping like children on the streets, excitedly shouting, ¡°My goddess! My goddess has posted a Weibo! Is this A University? Is it, is it?!¡±

    Peng Zijie stood in the same sport for a while longer, listening to the excited shouts. It seems like she really has returned, so he really needed to pick his sides soon.

    It has been a long time since the Imperial Capital had been so lively.

    ***

    In A University, there was arge medicalboratory.

    This was the highest honor and symbol in the entire world, but it was extremely lively every day in theboratory. People inside everywhere were putting their heads together, having heated discussions about the difficult medical problems that they had encountered.

    Meng Yunzhao was in front of a microscope, her eyes on some cell activities. ¡°Professor Li, there¡¯s not enough PEG, and the cells are not fusing. I¡¯ll try the electrolysis method again, the cell walls of nts are difficult to dissolve after all.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s difficult to prate through inactive viruses, and even if it did manage to prate, it would affect the activity of the cell itself. All of this information is in the database, why are you still experimenting?¡± Professor Li said, adjusting his sses.

    ¡°The advisor said that these things could only be truly understood if you were to do it step by step yourself,¡± Meng Yunzhao said with a smile, her hands moving to put in the electrolyte as she did.

    Professor Li nodded his head. ¡°Your advisor is right. Miss Gu also said the same thing to us all those years back.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t the first time she was hearing this name, and Meng Yunzhao looked at Professor Li curiously. ¡°Have you seen Miss Gu in person before? What kind of person is she?¡±

    ¡°When you¡¯ve reached the required rank, you¡¯ll be able to go into the central part of thebs. In there, there¡¯s a lot of videos of Miss Gu.¡± Professor Li spoke with a slight faraway tone, clearly lost in thought. ¡°I was also in the Faculty of Medicine in A University that year, and the first time I saw Miss Gu was in the lecture hall, which was also the press conference on cell fusion, the rewrite of the entire medical profession! She was multitasking the entire time, while she exined the topic, she was also experimenting and recording the report at the same time.¡±

    After hearing so much about Miss Gu over time, Meng Yunzhao nodded at the new story. She naturally knew who Miss Gu was, and also held admiration towards this person. But the fact that she was multitasking three things at once, wasn¡¯t it just a little exaggerated?

    ¡°Professor, please help me adjust the microscope.¡± Meng Yunzhao tilted her head to the side, before realizing that theboratory which had been lively and filled with chatter had suddenly descended into a pin drop silence.

 Chapter 388 - Side Story 8: This Is Her, Living And Breathing!

    <h4>Chapter 388: Side Story 8: This Is Her, Living And Breathing!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Meng Yunzhao hadn¡¯t been in the medicalboratory for a long time, the main reason being that the requirements for entering it were extremely high. It had taken her three years to reach this goal.

    She had been in theboratory only for a few months, but every day had been lively, and she didn¡¯t really understand it herself. She didn¡¯t understand why she wouldn¡¯t feel tired when she was in theboratory, and her mind was always clear and alert, even her mental state was also at its best every day.

    It seemed that everyone who entered theboratory was the same, and that was why it was lively every day.

    There was never a day like this, where it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop on the ground.

    Meng Yunzhao felt that something was wrong, and nced at Professor Li who was standing beside her. He was looking at the direction of the door, his eyesically wide, as though he had seen something unbelievable.

    Having never seen Professor Li like this, much less the entireboratory, Meng Yunzhao followed the direction of Professor Li¡¯s gaze.

    She soon found out why the entireboratory was in this state!

    The figure she was looking at had often appeared in TV news and major international speeches. He was tall with his back straight, wearing gold-rimmed spectacles. There was less arrogance than you would usually see when he was on screen, and he appeared to be more refined in person.

    That was undoubtedly Zhu Yuan.

    Meng Yunzhao¡¯s heart was pounding fiercely in her chest, obviously excited. It was no wonder everyone was reacting like this, it was because Dean Zhu was here!

    As Zhu Yuan was the goal of everyone in the medical field, she felt that she should be paying more attention to him. However, her eyes were attracted to another figure without reason. She could only feel that the person was special in some ways, which made anyone looking at her ignore everything else. It was a slender figure, and she was following a few steps behind Zhu Yuan. Her pace was unhurried, with one hand in her pocket, and the other pressing against her lips. Her gaze swept around the ce as she walked in.

    There were question marks above the heads of those graduate students who had recently entered theboratory.

    When the person finally walked in, her eyes were looking straight ahead. She had a pair of clear, sparkling eyes, like a sea of stars under the light. The fingers that pressed against her lips were lowered slowly, and a low voice finally came from her mouth after a long while. ¡°It has changed a lot.¡±

    Who was this person? Why did she suddenly appear in theboratory? And she even came with Dean Zhu?!

    These same questions were running through the neers¡¯ minds, before they came back to their senses and focused on Zhu Yuan instead. He was more important after all, and they were finally seeing him in person for the first time!

    The stunned and shocked professors finally moved at this time, and the graduate students felt things returning to normal.

    But they soon discovered they were wrong once again. At this moment, everyone¡¯s face, including Meng Yunzhao, shed with stunned surprise!

    Because those professors didn¡¯t move to surround Zhu Yuan, but the young woman instead!

    They surrounded her so tightly, even a raindrop wouldn¡¯t be able to squeeze in between them.

    ¡°Miss Gu, is that really you?¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, you¡¯re finally back!¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu, I thought that I¡¯d never see you again...¡±

    It only took a few seconds for this scene to unfold, and the graduate students had yet to have time to process and react to it.

    What the heck? Miss Gu? These famous, talented professors were actually respectfully greeting a girl that looked to be the same age as them, Miss Gu? In their mind, there was only one person that fit this image.

    But in terms of age, that person should be about forty years old, right? How the heck could she look so young?!

    The younger generation in the medicalboratory felt like they were going out of their minds with all these questions running through their heads!

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying, that¡¯s really Miss Gu? Meng Yunzhao was still holding the microscope in her hand, but she hadn¡¯t been working for the past half an hour. Her heart and mind was still in a jumbled mess and she still hadn¡¯t been able toe back to herself.

    Professor Li replied in a joyful mood. ¡°That¡¯s her alright. I didn¡¯t expect that Miss Gu woulde back.¡±

    Before Meng Yunzhao could say anything, a boy that stood beside them opened his mouth, a look of disbelief on his face. ¡°No way? She looks even younger than me!¡±

    ¡°Even if you think I¡¯m lying to you, Dean Zhu wouldn¡¯t lie to you, right?¡± Professor Li pointed at Zhu Yuan. ¡°Although she looks younger than you, she is undoubtedly Miss Gu, because she has looked the same as she did ten years ago.¡±

    ¡°Ten years ago, and none of her cells have aged a single bit? Don¡¯t you feel that¡¯s a bit strange?¡± Meng Yunzhao stared with wide eyes.

    Professor Li chuckled softly. ¡°Strange? All those who have experienced life in our generation wouldn¡¯t feel it to be weird in the slightest.¡±

    Meng Yunzhao didn¡¯t respond to that immediately. She naturally knew the era that Professor Li was talking about. Twenty years ago, the world went through a massive structural shift, and it seemed to be the entire human race¡¯s step forward, and everything that happened had been recorded in detail.

    All of these things were considered history in the past for her, and Meng Yunzhao didn¡¯t dare toment much on it.

    But even though it was said to be history, there had been a lot of details that were covered up. Even a legendary person like Gu Xiqiao had be overlooked in history, and only remained in the hearts of the older generations.

    ¡°You only know Miss Gu as the founder of thisboratory, but what you don¡¯t know is that Miss Gu is also the spiritual leader of the ancient martial arts world. Her ancient martial arts have been cultivated to the extreme, to the point that she¡¯s practically a demigod. No one knows how long her life is, but she has always appeared to be so young. The people in the ancient martial arts world are wondering if she¡¯s already entered the state of being a demigod a long time ago,¡± Professor Li¡¯s voice was lowered as he spoke. ¡°This part of history was never recorded down as no one dared to write it. So, all of you might think that we worship Miss Gu a little too much, but I can only tell you that none of the things I¡¯ve said are exaggerated. In the future, if any of you are able to enter the centralb, you¡¯ll be able to fully understand this part of history that has been covered up. Miss Gu is the ultimate goal that everyone intends to pursue after, and that includes your Academician Zhu.¡±

    These were all things that Meng Yunzhao and the other graduate students had never heard before. There were no mentions of these things in records, nor their textbooks.

    Practically a demigod, what kind of existence was she?!

    Meng Yunzhao didn¡¯t have any words to say, and could only continue to stare in the direction of Gu Xiqiao. Just looking at her like this, no one would imagine the glory that she held.

    ¡°Meng Yunzhao?¡± A low, melodious voice suddenly rang beside her ears, and Meng Yunzhao snapped out of her daze.

    Raising her head, she saw a white, wless face, as pretty as a painting, in front of her. Struggling to find the words, Meng Yunzhao stuttered, ¡°Miss Gu... y-y-you¡¯re... you¡¯re talking to me?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°No need to be so formal. Are you experimenting with cell fusion?¡±

    Maybe it was because of the gentle ambiance that Gu Xiqiao gave off, and the warm smile on her face, that made Meng Yunzhao rx subconsciously.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Miss Gu. This is the introduction topic in medicalbs.¡± Meng Yunzhao nced at the microscope in her hand, and realized that her first cell fusion had yet to beplete. She couldn¡¯t help but hang her head in shame. ¡°But it¡¯s notplete yet.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao nced at Meng Yunzhao¡¯s petri dish, pinpointing the crux of the problem almost immediately. ¡°nt cell fusion? Hmm... electrolysis can easily destroy the integrity of the cell wall. You can try it with creating a new virus instead.¡±

    ¡°A new virus?¡± Meng Yunzhao was startled at the suggestion.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at her phone, seeing that it was already afternoon. She thought for a while before continuing, ¡°I¡¯ll be here for a while during this period. If you¡¯re able to create it, you maye to the centralb to look for me. Of course, that¡¯s if you¡¯re willing.¡±

    Meng Yunzhao felt her mind go nk, she was already at a loss at what Gu Xiqiao was talking about, but she still reacted subconsciously. ¡°Yes! Of course, yes, I¡¯m willing!¡±

    What a joke, this was the person that everyone¡¯s ultimate goal was, including Dean Zhu!

    ¡°Very good.¡± Gu Xiqiao nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you then.¡±

    Having said that, she left.

    Meng Yunzhao gradually came back to herself, only just realizing the envy and jealousy in the gaze of everyone else around her, and Zhu Yuan was no exception.

    He took off his sses, studying Meng Yunzhao from head to toe and muttered to himself, ¡°Strange, which part of her had caught her fancy?¡±

    Zhu Yuan was in fact also Meng Yunzhao¡¯s idol, and being faced with such a look from him, Meng Yunzhao felt that the world was fantastic in this moment!

    ¡°Meng Yunzhao, right?¡± Zhu Yuan turned away. ¡°This is the first time she¡¯s had the mindset of teaching someone. No matter what, you have to research this new virus. Although I don¡¯t know what exactly it is she saw in you, I believe that her insight has never been wrong. Good luck.¡±

    After he finished speaking, he put on his sses once again, walking away as he made a call.

    He hade back temporarily after receiving news that Gu Xiqiao had returned, but there was an important surgery that he needed to perform, and he couldn¡¯t afford to drag it on any longer. As long as it was brought to the medicalbs, he estimated that he would still need a few days to study it.

    Meng Yunzhao nodded, still in a daze, then slowly realized Professor Li¡¯s eyes were looking at her like something wonderful beyond words had happened.

    ¡°Wait a minute, how did Miss Gu know my name?¡± Meng Yunzhao finally asked after a long time.

    Many yearster, when Meng Yunzhao was standing at the peak of the entire medical field, she would finally understand why everyone had looked at her with such envy and hatred in their eyes, including Zhu Yuan, on this day.

    ***

    Tan Yongsi returned to the dormitory that night, and found only Ye Xuan in the room.

    ¡°Why are you alone? Where¡¯s Yunzhao and Yichen?¡±

    Ye Xuan raised her head from where she was looking at theputer. ¡°Yichen said something came up in her family, and took one week off. As for Yunzhao, she said that she needed to study a new virus, and she¡¯s determined to not leave thebs if she doesn¡¯t seed!¡±

    ¡°So hardworking?¡± Tan Yongsi took out Xixi¡¯s bowl, filling it with water before taking out a brown grain for it to eat. As she held the pill in her hands, she thought about it for a while, before breaking it into two pieces.

    She had contacted Jiang Yirui in the afternoon, but he had seemed to be busy, and had said that Xixi would no longer cause any fuss, and assured her that she didn¡¯t need to worry about it.

    Tan Yongsi still felt worried after hearing Jiang Yirui¡¯s words, how could she not? This was the Vermillion Bird after all. If it identally spat fire in the school, it would definitely be a big thing.

    As she thought about it, she opened her cab and pulled out a cinnabar as well as some talisman, preparing to draw up a few fire prevention talisman.

    ¡°Sisi, have you seen the post today?¡± Ye Xuan suddenly raised her head, her chin on her palm as she looked at her friend. ¡°How are you so calm?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Tan Yongsi had drawn one talisman finished.

    Ye Xuan grinned brightly. ¡°Your goddess has returned.¡±

    She has known Tan Yongsi for so many years, and was well aware that Tan Yongsi¡¯s entire family worshipped this goddess, and that was also the reason that Tan Yongsi paid a lot of attention to this goddess.

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± Tan Yongsi¡¯s hand jerked and shook, ruining the symbol that she had been drawing on the talisman. However, she didn¡¯t feel distressed about it at all, but was looking at Ye Xuan with wide eyes, her voice trembling.

    Ye Xuan held her tongue, not expecting Tan Yongsi¡¯s reaction to be that big. ¡°I¡¯m saying that your goddess, your Goddess Gu, she¡¯s back. Weibo is going nuts about this, and I can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t see it.¡±

    Tan Yongsi really didn¡¯t know, and she quickly took out her phone. Because of her shaking hands, she nearly dropped her phone on the floor.

    On Weibo, news of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return was sshed everywhere.

    The person who had disappeared for ten years had returned unexpectedly. This was causing a huge wave to everyone everywhere.

    The two didn¡¯t realize the red bird who was drinking water suddenly stopped in its tracks, continuing to drink after a while, its movements stiff and mechanical.

    ***

    At the same time, in Jiang Yirui¡¯s apartment, he, Tang An, and Wang Qiming were all sitting at the edge of their seats. Tang An couldn¡¯t help but nce at the door from time to time, and look at Jiang Yirui. ¡°I say, did Beauty Gu reallye back? Why haven¡¯t you gone to see her yet? Didn¡¯t we hear that she¡¯s in A University? This ce is so close to A University, she shoulde back here, right?¡±

    ¡°How would I know what she¡¯s thinking? Anyway, if she didn¡¯t want me to see her, I wouldn¡¯t be able to find her no matter how hard I tried.¡± Jiang Yirui turned away, standing up. ¡°Go home, you guys. She won¡¯t being back here today.¡±

    The distance between the ces was so near, if she wanted toe back, she would havee back a long time ago.

    ¡°Then what about Xixi?¡± Tang An suddenly thought of Tan Yongsi, as well as the bird on her shoulder. ¡°Are you going to tell your mom?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Jiang Yirui shook his head.

    Tang An was surprised and confused. ¡°Why not? Are you intending to surprise her?¡±

    ¡°I initially wanted to surprise her.¡± Jiang Yirui lowered his head, thinking a bit more before continuing, ¡°She should only be able toe back in another two years, but for her to suddenlye back can only be one reason. She knows that Xixi has returned.¡±

    ¡°Then why doesn¡¯t she go and look for Xixi?¡± Tang An felt even more puzzled than before.

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t respond to his question.

    ¡°Naturally, it¡¯s because she hasn¡¯t adjusted her feelings yet, and she¡¯s afraid that she might just identally shove Xixi back into its mother¡¯s womb to be rebuild,¡± Jiji replied, walking down the stairs with a handheldputer held to its chest. There was a look of helplessness on its face as it said, ¡°Fatty Egg, I¡¯ve already cut off connection with Beauty Qiao, how could she still know about it?¡±

    Jiang Yirui looked at Jiji when he heard this. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because of how unusual you are?¡±

    Jiji¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°How unusual are we talking about?¡±

    Jiang Yirui replied calmly, ¡°Unusually stupid.¡±

    JIji: ¡°... You¡¯ve changed, you¡¯re no longer the cute, pure Fatty Egg that you used to be.¡±

    Jiang Yirui pursed his lips. ¡°Humans are fickle beings, and they change all the time.¡±

    Jiji: ¡°I would never.¡±

    Jiang Yirui: ¡°Humans.¡±

    Jiji¡¯s mechanical body shook, looking at Jiang Yirui in horror. ¡°... You... You... I shouldn¡¯t have doubted in the beginning whether or not you were Beauty Qiao¡¯s son! Everything you say is exactly the same as her! How could you possibly not be her son?!¡±

    Tang An watched as Jiji paced around the living room, and couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Yirui. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Jiji?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault, I shouldn¡¯t have let it out.¡± Jiang Yirui replied.

    Jiji: Ah, I¡¯m so angry.

    Tang An continued to look at Jiang Yirui, before shifting his gaze towards Jiji, then closing his mouth. He wouldn¡¯t be able to beat this guy and this robot, so it would be better to just stay quiet.

    At this moment, Jiang Yirui¡¯s phone rang in his pocket. Pulling it out, he found a string of unfamiliar numbers on the screen.

    For someone to know his number, even if it was unfamiliar, it should be someone he knew, and so he picked up the phone without much thought.

    A gentle, warm voice came from the other end. ¡°Yirui, I¡¯m back.¡±

    ***

    In the Jiang residence in the ancient martial arts world, Shu Chen was ying cards with a bunch of people.

    ¡°Nine pairs. You¡¯ve lost so badly yesterday already, and you still want to get it today?¡± Madam Tang threw down a triplet, and smiled at Shu Chen.

    Shu Chen recalled the previous day¡¯s worst loss, and even had a painted strip of paper pasted on her face, and the picture sent to their group chat. ¡°That¡¯s why I have to get it all back today.¡±

    ¡°You? Forget it.¡± Anotherdy in ck clothes smiles. ¡°You¡¯re terrible at this game, and you haven¡¯t improved even after so many years.¡±

    ¡°I have a secret weapon today.¡± Shu Chen said. ¡°King pair.¡±

    A slightly youngerdy in a pale blue dress threw out a pair of Aces. If Shu Chen couldn¡¯t pull out anything above this, then the other two wouldn¡¯t be the ndlords¡¯ either, and naturally, nobody wanted that. Thedy immediately threw out another trio of cards.

    Seeing that Shu Chen was about to lose once again, the butler¡¯s voice came from outside just at this moment. ¡°Young Madam, you¡¯ve returned!¡±

    At the same moment. Shu Chen stood up with a bang. ¡°Look, my secret weapon is here!¡±

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, hurry ande here, help me get revenge!¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled as she took Shu Chen¡¯s seat.

    The other three women who were sitting on the bench had their eyes on Gu Xiqiao in that instant. They had already heard earlier about Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return, but they had treated it as a joke, but they didn¡¯t expect that she really had returned!

    This was her, the living, breathing, Gu Xiqiao!

    Half an hourter, the other threedies at the table all had slips of papers pasted on their faces.

    As for Gu Xiqiao, there was nothing pasted on her face at all.

    After sending their embarrassing pictures to the group chat, they returned home toment to their family members. ¡°What do you all think about this? The three of us had even secretly traded cards, but how can we not win even once? This is too illogical! I¡¯ve been thoroughly trashed by Miss Gu.¡±

 Chapter 389 - Side Story 9: Homecoming

    <h4>Chapter 389: Side Story 9: Homing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The corner of Tang Qinghong¡¯s mouth twitched when he heard that. ¡°I have no idea how many card game software she has designed in the past at this point. Her brain can¡¯t be matched, not even by a supeputer. The three of you challenged her to a game of cards? You gotpletely wiped out haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Madam Tang, who was hoping to hear some words offort, was speechless when she heard Tang Qinghong¡¯s response.

    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna waste any more time here. I¡¯m heading over to the Peace Manor.¡± Tang Qinghong got up from his seat with a disappointed expression. He thought there was something bad that had urred. So she had spent the entire day ying cards?!

    Ugh!

    Listlessly, Madam Tang asked Tang Qinghong, ¡°Why are you going there? There aren¡¯t a whole lot of people there.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been ten years since Miss Gu has returned. There is a projection that something great will shake both the ancient martial arts world and the secr world. Perhaps something great will happen, and I¡¯ll definitely be there when that happens.¡± Tang Qinghong waved his hand in the air at Madam Tang. ¡°As for the people that left the Peace Vige. They¡¯re all pretty intelligent, and I¡¯m sure they¡¯lle back immediately.¡±

    There was a brief pause before Madam Tang cursed under her breath. ¡°Hmph! Can¡¯t stand living in peace can you?¡±

    ¡°Thank god she¡¯s back,¡± she murmured after letting out a sigh. It¡¯s been so many years since theyst met. And she thought that there¡¯d be no chance of them seeing each other again. She then made a phone call. ¡°Little Yun, are you tired?¡±

    ¡°No, not really.¡± Xiao Yun had just finished taking part in a film over in France. There was no denying it. Filming was far easier than what she had done back in the ancient martial arts world.

    Nothing much about Xiao Yun had changed over the years. She had a popr nickname within the entertainment industry; a lot of people called her the ¡°evergreen goddess¡±. The longer she remained in showbiz, the more popr she became. At this point, she had already reached the stage of being a world superstar.

    Madam Tang understood that filming was a fairly simple task for Xiao Yun, but she couldn¡¯t suppress her concerns as her doting mother-inw. ¡°Remember to take a rest whenever you¡¯re tired.¡±

    Xiao Yunughed. ¡°I know Mom, but why did you suddenly call me? Did something happen?¡±

    ¡°Um...I have something I want to tell you.¡± Madam Tang paused to recollect her thoughts. ¡°Right, did you browse the inte for the past couple of days?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been really busy with Director Cheng¡¯s film project. He¡¯s dissatisfied with the female lead no matter what, so I had to finish filming my parts first.¡± Xiao Yun took a napkin offered to her by her assistant and used it to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

    Being so busy, how could she even have the time to browse the inte for thetest gossip? She would rather spend her time memorizing her script than wasting her time on the inte. Director Cheng was still the same old picky fellow. He would never be satisfied unless she burned her lines into her brain.

    ¡°So I assume that you aren¡¯t aware that Qiao Qiao¡¯sing back?¡± asked Madam Tang. She then went silent, awaiting a response from Xiao Yun.

    It was as if she had already hung up the call. No response was audible from her side, not even the sound of her breathing.

    It felt like an eternity before Madam Tang heard Xiao Yun respond with a hoarse voice. ¡°I-Is that true?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you,¡± Madam Tang¡¯s voice sounded much more rxed now. ¡°Hurry up cane back home, Little Yun. I heard that it doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯ll be here very long.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯lle back immediately.¡± Xiao Yun hung up after saying that.

    ¡°Miss Xiao?¡± the young assistant was slightly puzzled by why the superstar¡¯s face was flushed red after answering that phone call. ¡°Director Cheng¡¯s calling for you. It sounds like he¡¯s not very happy.¡±

    The neer had to repeat her scene over ten times now. Director Cheng¡¯s patience had run out. ¡°Which investor sent this joke of an actress to me?! She can¡¯t even cry for god¡¯s sake! Quick! Switch her out! Switch! Her! Out! Xiao Yun? What are you standing there for?! It¡¯s your turn now!¡±

    For some unknown reason, Director Cheng¡¯s temper suddenly turned explosive ever since he started filming this movie.

    He was like a gunpowder keg. He even started yelling at Xiao Yun.

    The rest of the team were watching Xiao Yun and Director Cheng cautiously from the side. They feared that if things escte any further, the entire set would be flipped upside down!

    Surprisingly, Xiao Yun did not seem to mind being yelled at by Director Cheng. She raised her head and told him, ¡°I¡¯m going back to China now.¡±

    ¡°Say what?¡± Director Cheng was stunned. His expression darkened immediately. ¡°We¡¯ve already reached this point so can you cut me some ck?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to do anything extra. I really have to return home.¡± Xiao Yun¡¯s tone was calm, a stark contrast from how fiery Director Cheng was.

    Director Cheng¡¯s mood was already pretty sour but hearing what Xiao Yun said made it go into an all-time low.

    The people standing around the set looked down at the ground. They wanted to bury themselves in the soil to avoid the director¡¯s wrath, which was notorious for driving his victims insane. Once the match was lit, there was nothing one could do to control his anger.

    However, this was about to be proven wrong in the next few seconds.

    ¡°Director Cheng, she¡¯s back.¡± Xiao Yun¡¯s stone-cold face suddenly warmed up. ¡°I must return.¡±

    Without waiting for the director¡¯s response, she grabbed her phone and left. Even her assistant did not have enough time to process the entire interaction.

    It¡¯s all over now!

    Director Cheng¡¯s gonna explode!

    Seeing how bold Xiao Yun had acted, everyone on the set froze up. They weren¡¯t as fiery as Xiao Yun, nor were they as bold as to leave the set immediately. After all, this was Director Cheng¡¯s film. Being part of the cast was an affirmation of their skill in acting too.

    But. One second, two seconds, three seconds... a few minutes had passed and they still hadn¡¯t heard Director Cheng¡¯s deafening roar.

    What was happening?

    They raised their head, cautiously trying to get a look at Director Cheng. They were surprised to be greeted by Director Cheng¡¯s expression, which was one of pure shock and disbelief!

    ¡°Li Yu, what did Little Yun say just now?¡± asked Director Cheng.

    Li Yu took out his phone and logged onto the Chinese inte server through a VPN to show Director Cheng the hottest news on Chinese media.

    Director Cheng swiped his finger across the screen. ¡°I-Is it really her?¡±

    ¡°Director Cheng looks like I¡¯m gonna have to request for a leave for theing few days.¡± Li Yu tucked away his phone and got up from his seat. ¡°I need to return to China as soon as I can.¡±

    He contacted the French airlinepany he was using and scheduled a private flight back to China.

    Director Cheng only returned to his senses after Li Yu left. He quickly took out his phone to find that he had received messages from Ning Qing, Su Wen, Song Guanjing, Luo Weng and a couple of others. They all said the same thing...Miss Gu had returned!

    ¡°Oh god, she¡¯s really back,¡± murmured Director Cheng to himself. And yet, he was wearing a smile on his face. With a wave of his hand, he announced to everyone that they would be having a short vacation for the time being. He then dashed out of the set. ¡°Li Yu, wait up! Let me ride shotgun back to China!¡±

    The staff working on set looked at each others¡¯ puzzled expressions. What the hell was going on?

    Who did Miss Xiao refer to when she said ¡°she¡±? All the heavyweight individuals in the cast had left, no questions asked. That person had even calmed down Cheng Zhou, who was in the middle of a raging fit.

    Simultaneously, scenes simr to this were happening.

    At the penthouse of a building in N City.

    ¡°President,¡± said a young female secretary after cing a folder of documents on the desk. Next to the desk was a tall young man whose face seemed cold and calcting. As cold as his expression was, his eyes were shining bright.

    Scratch scratch¡ª He crafted his signature on the document beautifully, with smooth flowing lines.

    He was the young president of theirpany, a person who was at the top of the hierarchy within N City.

    The way his secretary looked at him indicated how much admiration she had for him. Despite how tough and stoic the newly-appointed mayor of their city was, even he hade to visit their president like a child seeking for advice!

    ¡°What¡¯s our next task?¡± asked Luo Wenlin after signing the document.

    The secretary snapped out of her little reverie. Although she was daydreaming, she was a professional nheless. She opened up her little memo pad. ¡°There will be a board of directors meeting in five minutes. It¡¯ll focus on the development on the southern side of the city. Then, at 8 at night, there¡¯ll be a charity banquet, followed by...¡±

    Before the secretary could finish speaking, she heard the phone of the president ring. The secretary was a little taken aback when she saw the president take the call. This was her first time seeing him answer a private call in theirpany!

    It was a phone call from Luo Weng.

    Seeing the caller ID, Luo Wenlin waved his hand back and forth, a gesture for the secretary to leave the room. The secretary nodded before leaving the room reluctantly.

    ¡°Dalin,¡± said the voice over the phone. It was clear from his tone that Luo Weng was actually incredibly excited.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Luo Wenlin was surprised. It¡¯s been so many years since hest heard his brother speak with such a tone.

    Luo Weng took in a deep breath before telling him, ¡°I need you toe back to the capital as soon as you can.¡±

    ¡°The capital?¡± Luo Wenlin did not expect his brother to say this. Why the urgency?

    ¡°Dalin, Miss Gu has returned,¡± replied Luo Weng.

    Luo Wenlin¡¯s phone slipped out of his hand, dropping onto the floor like a brick. He remained in the same position as if he had been frozen into ice.

    Such a long time had passed that the secretary knocked on the door of his office. It was time for his meeting. Luo Wenlin regained hisposure and hurriedly picked up his phone before putting on his jacket. While heading towards the meeting room, he issued an order to his secretary. ¡°I need you to book a flight ticket for me to the capital. Immediately.¡±

    ¡°Immediately?¡± The secretary was stunned. ¡°What about the meeting?¡±

    ¡°Cancel it! I want you to cancel all other scheduled events for today!¡± said Luo Wenlin as he entered the elevator. He swiftly pressed on the ¡®close¡¯ button and left his secretary standing outside the elevator.

    With a shocked expression, the secretary returned to the meeting room. The board of directors already had their respective documentsid out before them. Realizing that instead of the president of theirpany, it was his secretary that hade forth, they couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Where¡¯s Mister Luo?¡±

    ¡°Mister Luo has returned to the capital. He ordered for today¡¯s meeting to be canceled.¡± The secretary felt as if her body was floating upwards when she said this.

    ¡°Back to the capital?¡± One of the directors was wide-eyed. He could not believe his ears.

    Another director suddenly remembered something. He picked up his phone and swiped across the screen a few times. With a baffled expression, he told the rest of the directors, ¡°She hase back...¡±

    The directors currently present in the meeting room had all experienced what had happened in the past. Naturally, they knew straight away who he was referring to.

    ¡°So it seems, shall we go back and see her?¡± one of them suggested.

    Another director¡¯s eyes shed. ¡°That¡¯s right. I have a joint-project to tend to at the capital as well. I must return immediately.¡±

    ¡°Me too...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    In less than a minute, the entire meeting room was now empty. The only person remaining here was the secretary, whose sses had fallen off her nose. ¡°Who is that person? Who is ¡®she¡¯?¡±

    ***

    At Mingzhou.

    Hua Youlin had juste out of the operation theatre.

    Twenty years had passed and Hua Youlin had now grown into a dashing young man with a pair of long eyshes. Sporting a pair of sses, hisshes were so long that they brushed slightly against the lens of his sses every time he blinked.

    The Hua family had grown to be the most famous family of doctors and healers in Mingzhou. They had already surpassed the peak of their family¡¯s achievements during their supposed ¡®glory years¡¯!

    He took off his whiteb coat and handed it to his assistant. ¡°How¡¯s the nutrient researching along?¡±

    The assistant¡¯s facial expression seemed conflicted. ¡°We¡¯re almost there but...¡±

    Hua Youlin nced at the assistant. ¡°Spit it out.¡±

    ¡°But sir, why did you decide to pick this field of research? That thing, it¡¯s taste is just...¡± The assistant covered his mouth as he gagged. ¡°Although nutritional supplements are simple and convenient, they are simply iparable to actual human food. Why did you choose to study this topic?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re still in the starting phase. As we start making progress, the taste will definitely be improved.¡± Hua Youlin disinfected his hands with rubbing alcohol. ¡°As for why I decided to go into this field of research, this wasn¡¯t my idea in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Then whose idea was it?¡± asked the assistant. ¡°To be able to think of this topic, that person must be a real genius. There are so many fields in medicine and yet they¡¯re able to think this up?¡±

    ¡°Who, you ask?¡± Hua Youlin smiled as memories floated back into his mind. ¡°Well, the person who thought this up had no other reasons apart from the fact that she was toozy to put in the effort to chew her food. She felt that the time one used to eat could be better utilized to do other things, which was why she came up with this idea.¡±

    The assistant was at a loss for words. ¡°This person...sounds like fun.¡±

    He paused mid-sentence before he decided to settle with the word ¡®fun¡¯.

    Without responding to his words, Hua Youlin made his way towards the entrance of the hospital. That was his final operation of the day. It had been 18 hours since hest slept. As powerful as he was physically-speaking, eighteen straight hours ofplete focus and attention took its toll on his mind. What he needed most now was some rest.

    As soon as they left the hospital, his assistant froze up. ¡°S-Sir.¡±

    Oh no! That woman¡¯s here! His poor subordinates would definitely get bossed around again!

    Hua Youlin did not speak. He looked up at the blonde-haired mixed-race woman who was standing outside her pink roadster. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and her legs were long and slender. With a face as pretty as an angel¡¯s, she made countless heads turn as she stood there waiting for Hua Youlin.

    His brows furrowed at the sight of the woman. He turned around and started walking in the opposite direction.

    This was Mingzhou. Even if it was Yin Aoxue, he could easily stop her from stalking him.

    And still, Yin Aoxue¡¯s voice broke the silence as soon as he turned around. ¡°What are you running away for? I¡¯m not trying to do anything to you alright. I¡¯m just here to tell you that Big Sis Gu has finallye back.¡±

    She stood there, waiting for Hua Youlin to turn around after saying that.

    As expected, Hua Youlin turned around and with a pair of shining bright eyes as he asked her, ¡°Is it true?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Why would I lie to you about this?!¡± said Yin Aoxue as she rubbed her nose.

    Hua Youlin knew that Yin Aoxue would never resort to such dirty tactics. So, he immediately marched up to Yin Aoxue¡¯s car. Although he had his own car, he slipped into the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°Let¡¯s find Mister Zhuge first.¡±

    The assistant was left standing there alone. He then sent a message into the group chat of his family.

    ¡°O young maidens! Your prince has been snatched away by Yin Aoxue!¡±

    ***

    In the world¡¯srgest forest reserve.

    A tanned man wearing a ck vest was wrestling with a group of giant ants. He did not use any weapons or powers innate to him. It was a battle of brute force!

    No doubt, any outside who sees this will be shocked beyond words!

    Thud! Thud! Thud!

    One by one, the ants fell under his fist!

    And yet, instead of retreating, the ants were swarming around the man in an attempt to smother him to death.

    The man wiped the corner of his mouth before raising his iron fists. ¡°Come!¡±

    It was at this moment that he suddenly felt a familiar aura descend upon the world. The man¡¯s fist loosened up as he was caught off-guard by disbelief. ¡°This aura...it¡¯s Miss Gu!¡±

    Sensing that he had been distracted, the mutant ants intensified their offensive. They wanted to kill the delicious morsel of food standing before them!

    Just as the razor-sharp pair of incisors were about to close in on the man¡¯s neck, a powerful wave of energy burst forth from his body. ¡°Miss Gu has returned! Little ant friends, I¡¯m sorry but I have to go now!¡±

    With a wave of his hand, he tore a hole in space and the ants around him were reduced into ash before being swept away!

    The ants¡¯st words, if they were sentient, would¡¯ve been: You¡¯re already so powerful and yet you treat us like your personal punching bag. Is this fun for you?! What sick joke is this?!

    The people who were conducting their missions across the world felt this presence at the same time.

    That included people in the supernatural worlds of both America and Japan.

    The president of the Federation of Supernatural Forces sprung up from his seat immediately. ¡°It¡¯s her! She¡¯s back!¡±

    Standing before him was a junior. Looking up at the president, he wore a puzzled look. What¡¯s the matter with him? And who was he talking about? Who¡¯s back?

 Chapter 390 - Side Story 10: Naive and Arrogant Youths!

    <h4>Chapter 390: Side Story 10: Naive and Arrogant Youths!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    For the past two days, there was a strange atmosphere that encapsted the entire capital. All of a sudden, high and mighty figures started appearing in public.

    It seemed that nearly everyone who held significant power in this world had gathered here within this city.

    Apart from a handful of people, the majority were unaware of the fact that these figures were here to meet one single individual only!

    The Wen family finally found an opportunity to entertain these distinguished guests but throughout their entire interaction, there was little to no verbal exchange. In fact, they could only see the back of the elusive yet legendary leader of the supernatural world.

    Still, that was more than enough to satisfy them.

    ¡°Father, do you know who these people are?¡± Wen Qing asked her father quietly.

    Madam Wen sat next to Wen Qing; she overheard her daughter¡¯s question and she nced at her husband, curiously awaiting his reply.

    Wen Qing¡¯s father looked around him and gestured for his servants to back off before whispering to his daughter and wife, ¡°I don¡¯t know the rest of them but I do know that today, we¡¯ll be expecting the leader of the American supernatural world to drop by.¡±

    Madam Wen¡¯s hands trembled upon hearing that. Her teacup slipped out from her fingers, sshing steaming hot liquid all over her legs but she was too shocked to feel the pain.

    ¡°The American supernatural world?¡± Wen Qing was puzzled. ¡°And who is that?¡±

    Her father raised his teacup to his lips and sipped from a cup that he held with his trembling hand. He smiled upon hearing his daughter¡¯s question but that smile of his was as stiff as it could get. ¡°Qing Qing, I won¡¯t me you if you don¡¯t know who that person is. After all, history had been deliberately re-written twenty years ago. Your generation obviously doesn¡¯t know about this. Back then, the earth almost got wiped out.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Wen Qing¡¯s face seemed drained of color. ¡°How is that even possible?!¡±

    This sounds like something ripped out of an apocalyptic sci-fi novel!

    However, the look on her father¡¯s face didn¡¯t seem to indicate that he was joking around. Slowly, she straightened her back and she asked, ¡°What happened then?¡±

    ¡°Herees the almost-mythical part. The people of the world united...the ancient martial arts world, the Peacekeepers, and the people whom humanity looked up to as their final bastion of hope came into the picture. You should at least know about the existence of the ancient martial arts world. They have merged with simr groups abroad into what we know today as the supernatural world. And the person I was referring to, is the spiritual leader of the entire supernatural world! You probably don¡¯t know this but back then, her name was all the rage! However, she vanished from the face of the Earth after one final battle. Some say that she has died.¡±

    ¡°Died?¡± Wen Qing was visibly surprised to hear this.

    ¡°The scenic spot in the desert wastnd that only epts a hundred visitors daily,¡± A glow appeared in her father¡¯s eyes. ¡°That location is where she had allegedly fallen.¡±

    ¡°What happened after her death?¡± asked Wen Qing excitedly.

    Her father shook her head. ¡°Well, she resurfaced three yearster and updated her status on Weibo, causing a huge uproar on the inte but that was the final time we ever heard of her again.¡±

    ¡°So what does this have to do with what you were talking about?¡± Wen Qing sounded confused.

    ¡°Of course it has something to do with what I was originally talking about. Today, we¡¯ll be weing the leader of the American supernatural world. And I do not doubt my own eyes.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s father sounded excited. ¡°Back then, their leader came here quite often and I had seen him from afar a couple of times.¡±

    Wen Qing and Madam Wen were taken aback by what he said.

    ¡°Come on you two! Snap out of it!¡± The father gulped down his tea, perhaps to drown away the excitement that was swelling up within him. ¡°Several arrangements have been made for him to stay in our country. This clearly indicates that he intends to stay a little longer. And I can bet that he¡¯s not just here to do some sight-seeing! In fact, I can only imagine one reason for him being here!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re trying to say...¡± Madam Wen suddenly realized where their conversation was heading towards.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! He¡¯s waiting for that person!¡± replied her husband with a hoarse voice. ¡°Have you not noticed how much busier the capital has be for the past few days? Especially those individuals from Nine Heavens who have all gathered around this city. And that crazy-talented doctor as well! The link between these people point towards a single conclusion. She has returned!¡±

    ¡°And so, our opportunity hase forth!¡± announced Wen Qing¡¯s father. ¡°As long as we seize it, there is no problem for us to enter the ancient martial arts world! And as long as we can get into that ce, and get hold of their countless cultivation techniques, immortality will cease to be an impossibility!¡±

    What he said did not impress his wife, nor his daughter but the word ¡°immortality¡± definitely captured their attention.

    Immortality!

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this opportunity is as simple as you¡¯re making it out to be.¡± At least Madam Wen seemed to have a bit of rationality left. ¡°If you know this, I bet countless others know about this as well.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not just rted to the Feng family. Remember how the Yan family once worked alongside Nine Heavens?¡± Her husband wore a triumphant smile on his face. ¡°That person is the creator of Nine Heavens. As long as the Feng family strengthens their ties with Nine Heavens, I am confident that an opening willy before us. Qing Qing, how¡¯s your rtionship with Yan Han as ofte?¡±

    Wen Qing was a little surprised at the mention of his name so suddenly. ¡°Yan Han seems to care a lot about that woman named Tan Yongsi. Not only that, the Peng family is pretty protective of her as well.¡±

    ¡°The Peng family?¡± Her father snorted. ¡°They¡¯re just a congregation of losers. You need not care too much about them, nor that girl. The most important thing now is for you to make the right decision at a critical moment.¡±

    Wen Qing obviously understood what her father was trying to say. ¡°I get it now father.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± he said. ¡°Take advantage of this opportunity that is presented to you. You guys should get closer.¡±

    Of course, the Yan family needed to be informed of their alliance.

    And so, Madam Yan tracked down Yan Han. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to mess this up this time, alright? Girls like Yan Yongsie and go. The most important thing now is for you and Wen Qing to deepen your rtionship. It¡¯s the ancient martial arts world we¡¯re talking about! You have already seen it with your own eyes, how flirtatious Tan Yongsi is around other men. I don¡¯t understand why you are so obsessed with such a loose woman!¡±

    Yan Han nodded after a long pause. ¡°I understand.¡±

    However, his fists were tightly balled up inside his pants pocket.

    Wen Qing, who was sitting next to her, naturally noticed Yan Han¡¯s expression and overall demeanor. The corner of her mouth was curled up in a sinister smile.

    Around this time, Tan Yongsi had just finished her ss at University A. She looked at Xixi, who was daydreaming while perched on her shoulder. She frowned. For some reason, it had been dozing off pretty frequently as ofte. This was a cause for concern. Birds do not usually suffer from depression do they?¡±

    ¡°Miss Tan.¡± Not far away, a man¡¯s voice called out to her.

    Tan Yongsi peered in the direction where the voice wasing from. He was a young man with a buzz cut. Instantly, she recognized him as the guard of the Peng family. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something I need to tell you.¡± The guard walked up to her and cautiously whispered into her ear. ¡°The Wen family might be up to something recently. You must take care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°Understood, thank you.¡± Tan Yongsi did not know why the Peng family was getting increasingly obsessed with her. They had helped her deal with her personal matters, regardless of how insignificant they seemed. She knew that she had nothing, in reality, to offer to their family...apart from this little bird.

    Tan Yongsi looked at the feather ball that was perching on her shoulder.

    The guard returned to his duties after delivering the message.

    At the Peng family, Peng Zijie sat on a stool and wrote a single word on a piece of parchment using his calligraphy brush. ¡°Conspiracy!¡±

    ¡°The Wen family believes that they have already won the game. The Yan family, the Feng family, and even the Americans have already made their calctions. What they don¡¯t know is that they have already lost before this game even started. As long as that bird exists, there won¡¯t be a day that the Wen family will make aeback.¡± said Peng Zijie solemnly.

    ¡°But I still don¡¯t understand,¡± the guard said. ¡°General, why do you focus so much attention on Miss Tan?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, it¡¯s for my own entertainment.¡± Peng Zijie put down his brush and wiped the parchment dry. ¡°Going by her personality, to gather so many key individuals within one city, apart from disrupting the natural order, I¡¯m guessing there is something important to do? What a shame that I can¡¯t pinpoint what¡¯s going to happen.¡±

    ***

    In a guesthouse within the capital, Feng Jiu sat in his chair scratching his head as to what step he should take next.

    ¡°Mister Feng, Mister Nozawa from Japan has arrived!¡± said a man who bowed to him.

    For the past two days, he had been receiving countless simr news.

    In the beginning, Feng Jiu merely felt a slight headache which had by now, developed into a major migraine!

    ¡°Bring him straight to the ancient martial arts world,¡± replied Feng Jiu.

    The young man was stunned. ¡°Straight to the ancient martial arts world? Won¡¯t there be a problem?¡± The people of the ancient martial arts world were pretty erratic. Would Nozawa be fine if he were brought over there?

    ¡°You need not worry about this. Nozawa and those people go way back. He should be fine over there.¡± Feng Jiu leaned back and took a sip of his tea.

    ¡°Really? But Nozawa is the leader of Japan¡¯s supernatural world...¡± The young man still had his doubts.

    Feng Jiu didn¡¯t really care about this. He thought to himself, ¡®If only you knew who installed Nozawa as the leader of Japan¡¯s supernatural world, you would not be so worried today. And this doesn¡¯t apply exclusively to Nozawa. You could give the Japanese the force of the supernatural world and they¡¯d still not dare to cross the line.¡¯

    With a wave of his hand, he gestured for the young man to proceed.

    The members of the supernatural world were all gathered around here, where they chatted away. Naturally, the topic of their conversation revolved around Miss Gu. ¡°Hey, you said that Miss Gu has finally returned? Although I can sense her presence, why am I still so skeptical?¡±

    As skeptical as he might be, he made the effort toe here to wait for her return.

    Although it¡¯s been twenty years, the power left to them by Gu Xiqiao remained.

    ¡°I too, feel it is incredibly hard to believe. I heard that back then, Young Master Jiang directly tore a hole in space and escaped with her into the void. In other words, she is no longer with us in this realm, so how is it possible that she can return now?¡± asked another person.

    ¡°Tearing a hole in space, and remaining unscathed within a shattered void. I wonder what level they are on in order to achieve this.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t they say that demigods are immortal?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The leader of the American supernatural world picked up his teacup and walked away from these people, trying hard not to be influenced.

    It was at this time that a blonde-hair blue-eyed woman walked in. Her figure was perfect and her face was shining bright in a mature sort of way.

    ¡°What¡¯s the current situation? Have you located her yet, Cecily?¡± asked the leader.

    Cecily yed with her hair while replying to his question. ¡°No, we still haven¡¯t located her yet. However, the chances of this being a false rm are near zero. I bumped into ng, who has just returned from the primaeval forest reserve just now. Xiao Yun and the entire Peace Manor have alreadye over as well. No doubt, this phenomenon is as real as it gets. What¡¯s more, to be able to gather so many powerful figures in a single hotspot, who else but her, can do such a thing?¡±

    No way this was the work of any other person.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re right.¡± The leader of the American supernatural world sighed. ¡°It¡¯s been so many years. She has finally returned. And here I was thinking that I¡¯d never get to see her again in my lifetime.¡±

    ¡°No, that won¡¯t happen,¡± replied Cecily while shaking her head. ¡°Qiao Qiao¡¯s the type of person who would never forget her friends. I have faith that she would return, just for her friends like you and me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± said the leader while nodding his head.

    ¡°By the way, what were those people talking about? Immortality? A demigod?¡± Cecily¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°Where and how did theye up with such bullcrap?!¡±

    The leader nced back at those people. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m trying to stay away from them. Maybe they should get their heads checked out. I¡¯m guessing that Miss Gu is trying to address this issue by gathering these people here today.¡±

    ¡°You pay attention to yourself as well,¡± responded Cecily. She wanted to go directly to the ancient martial arts world to meet up with Yao Jiamu and the rest but suddenly remembered something. ¡°Oh right, what¡¯s up with those people who are standing outside the door?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about the Wen family?¡± The leader of the American supernatural world waved his hand. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about this. I think this is also a product of Miss Gu¡¯s doing. Wonder where they came from. I bet they have no idea what mess they¡¯re getting themselves into.¡±

    If it was something that Miss Gu created, Cecily didn¡¯t really mind them. She reminded the leader of the American supernatural world to behave himself before heading off into the ancient martial arts world.

    It¡¯s been years since the ancient martial arts world was so lively. Ever since Gu Xiqiao¡¯s disappearance, the people of Peace Manor scurried away as quickly as they could. And yet here they were today!

    Yao Jiamu!

    Luo Weng!

    Wu Hongwen!

    Xiao Yun!

    ...

    All of them headed to the Trial Tower immediately upon returning to the ancient martial arts world.

    It¡¯s been two full decades since theyst stepped foot in this ce!

    twenty years ago, the top 100 list of the Trial Tower was practically dominated by the members of the Peace Manor!

    They were gradually overtaken by the people of the ancient martial arts world in the twenty years that they had not visited this pce!

    Despite this, nearly half of the people on the top 100 list were still members of their beloved Peace Manor!

    twenty yearster, upon hearing news of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s return, they all visited the Trial Tower without any prior discussion among themselves!

    News of their return to the Trial Tower spread like wildfire throughout the ancient martial arts world and by extension, the entire supernatural world!

    There was virtually no one living in Peace Manor for the past twenty years as they had all left toplete their missions, or had gone elsewhere to develop their skills...

    And today was the day when they showcased the fruits of theirbor!

    ¡°Who just went in just now?¡± as per the usual custom, there was arge crowd that had gathered outside the Trial Tower. Each one of them craned their necks to look up at the ranking list which kept changing.

    ¡°It¡¯s Miss Xiao and ng! They have already reached level 76 and 45 respectively twenty years ago!¡±

    ¡°Where do you reckon she¡¯s at right now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that there¡¯ll be quite a lot of people at level 90 by now.¡±

    The levels capped out at 90, which was at the very top of Houtian. After all, not a single person in the entire history of the ancient martial arts world had ever reached such a level before, let alone breach level 91, which they suspected that Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had already done.

    Like the secr world, a new generation had already been born in the ancient martial arts world. The 17, 18-year-olds simply could notprehend the existence of the members of Peace Manor. To them, these people were merely mythical beings that existed exclusively on the inte forum.

    The provided descriptions of these people were way too dramatic. How could mere humans possess so much power?

    ¡°Dad, I think you got infected with some unknown virus from Peace Manor. Why are you so excited upon hearing their names being mentioned?¡± asked one of the young ones.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Why did you bring me here? I¡¯ve already reached level 56, is that not good enough for you? I bet you haven¡¯t even reached level 10 when you were my age.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Simr words were being thrown around by the new generation.

    Most of the people gathered here today were the younger generation of the ancient martial arts world. Day-in and day-out, they would have to listen to their parents ramble on and one about the legendary Peace Manor, a story which now made them react in a repulsive way upon hearing mention of the name.

    The kid¡¯s father was surprisingly calm when faced with such words. Silently, he thought to himself, ¡®Yeah, at age 18, I was below level 10. But I bet you don¡¯t know that by the age of twenty, I was already at level 50.¡±

    How naive and ignorant, these young people are! It¡¯s time to let the members of Peace Manor teach you a lesson or two on humility!

    The self-conceited teenagers werepletely unaware of the rude awakening they were in for!

    ¡°How evil of you toe up with such a cruel prank,¡± said the great elder as he smiled at the parents of the teenagers. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re worried that they might be scared senseless afterward.¡±

    ¡°What is there to be scared of? What we went through was far scarier than what these kids today are going to experience,¡± responded one of the parents. ¡°These kids are overly eager after achieving mere small feats. They still have a lot to learn and it¡¯s high time that someone came in and took up that educational role. If not for Miss Gu, do you think they would have progressed at such a rate?¡±

    ¡°Look! They¡¯re starting already!¡±

 Chapter 391 - Side Story 11: Waiting Online!

    <h4>Chapter 391: Side Story 11: Waiting Online!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    For the past two decades, the Peace Manor was virtually left deserted. And now, nearly all of its previous inhabitants were not at the Trial Tower!

    The rankings on the trial tower underwent a slow change in the beginning.

    The youngsters smiled. ¡°For a bunch of people who haven¡¯t been here in twenty years, they¡¯re pretty fast to level up, I¡¯ll give them that. But still, going by the rate that they¡¯re advancing, I bet they can¡¯t keep this up for another three levels, right?¡±

    ¡°I thought they¡¯d be far stronger though....¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll leave at the next level.¡±

    The teenagers were pretty interested in seeing how the veterans would perform in the Trial Tower. Some had even ced their bets on which levels they would start dropping out.

    These kids wereughing away and yet their parents weren¡¯t. They were too busy keeping their eyes glued to the ranking list. Their expressions weren¡¯t anxious but they were serious alright. That was because they knew that these kids were in for the greatest shock of their lives! After all, the people of Peace Manor had never let them down in the past!

    The teenagers felt that their parents were taking this thing too seriously when they finally noticed the look on their faces. Maybe a screw had decided toe loose in their heads simultaneously. And so, they whipped out their phones to entertain themselves in the meantime.

    However, their phones almost slipped out from their grip the next time they looked up from their phones.

    That was because, to their surprise, not a single person from the hundred-odd team had been kicked out from the Trial Tower yet!

    In fact, the one at the very top of the list had already breached level 90 a long time ago! They were already at level 93!

    The next one had just climbed up to level 90!

    ***

    The teenagers¡¯ first reaction was to check if there was something wrong with the ranking board.

    How could one possibly go past level 90, the final hurdle?!

    But the truth was right before their eyes! They really did breach level 90, the legendary number! And they were still going up!

    Maybe the entire Trial Tower itself had broken down? But how was that possible?! That ce was the most important treasure the ancient martial arts world had ever possessed! It simply wasn¡¯t possible that something of such great importance could fail!

    But!

    If there was nothing wrong with the system, then it must mean that all they were seeing...was true.

    Someone really did go past level 91!

    The teenagers felt their knees buckle under the weight of their bodies. One by one, the veterans from Peace Manor went past level 91. It was only a matter of time before the entire scoreboard was dominated by these new challengers.

    ¡°Wait a second, I must be in a dream...¡± murmured one of the teenagers.

    Not a single individual had ever ventured past level 90 throughout the entirety of the ancient martial arts world¡¯s history! Only a handful had ever breached level 80, nevermind go past level 90!

    Even in the ancient martial arts world of today, there were only a handful of people who had climbed up to level 80 who had also inherited special abilities unique to their family. These individuals possessed the ability to understand the truth of space and were pretty much on par with an Almighty One.

    And yet, not only had these people breached level 80. They had breezed past level 90 and were quickly approaching level 100!

    The teenagers who were skeptical in the beginning felt their legs turn into jelly.

    ¡°Hey, say, I¡¯m not dreaming am I?¡± asked one of the teenagers with a trembling voice. All of a sudden, the world before him seemed increasingly like a fever dream or an illusion.

    The person next to him muttered in response, ¡°My dad was right. The Peace Manor really was a mythical existence. They were and still are the peak of what the ancient martial arts world was capable of! No wonder! No wonder the people here have so much respect for them! It¡¯s true! That they¡¯re so powerful! God! Why did I say what I said just now!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    On that day, the teenagers were shocked beyond words by the entire Peace Manor.

    It wasn¡¯t just one or two individuals who were now above level 90! It¡¯s an entire group that¡¯s above level 90 for crying out loud!

    In fact! A group was already starting to take form for those who were above level 100!

    Level 100! One had to be at the peak of one¡¯s physique to be able to reach such heights!

    At this point, their strength was simply iprehensible for these onlooking teenagers!

    It wasn¡¯t just these snot-nosed kids who were shocked beyond words by their performance. Even the great elders stared at the scoreboard with their jaws wide open.

    ¡°Darn, as expected of the Peacekeepers! We meet once more and once again, they have taken my breath away!¡±

    ¡°Level 100? Looks like I have to step up my game now!¡±

    ¡°How the hell did these people manage to reach such a level!?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s understandable for Mister Yao to be capable of this, but Miss Xiao too?! Isn¡¯t she a movie star? How on earth is she so strong as well!?¡±

    ¡°Those who followed Miss Gu¡¯s direction have all reached level 100 now!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Dad, how did these guys do it? Weren¡¯t they really slow in the beginning? As if they were on the brink of failure? How the heck did they manage to climb over level 100 again?!¡± asked one of the teenagers.

    His father shook his head. ¡°We will never know what the Peacekeepers are actually up to. Look, Mister Yao has left the Trial Tower already. I¡¯m gonna go ask him.¡±

    Xiao Yun trailed behind Yao Jiamu who had emerged from the Trial Tower. ¡°Thank god I still have my game,¡± he turned towards her and said with a cheeky smile.

    Xiao Yun responded with a simr smile. ¡°The same goes for me too.¡±

    Yao Jiamu overheard the questions being thrown around about their initial progress in the Trial Tower. He smiled at them. ¡°You¡¯re referring to the beginning? That was when we were using our brute strength to force our way up the levels. We only switched to using our chi when our bodies could take it no longer.¡±

    Thud!

    Thud!

    It was the dull sound of the kids falling over from shock. Although they were already told beforehand of how terrifyingly powerful the Peacekeepers were, this level of power was simply uneptable!

    It would be weird if the Peacekeepers did not create such feelings of inferiority and pure, unfiltered shock among these people!

    At this point, there were only a handful of people left who had yet to breach level 100.

    ¡°ng, I have made a mistake. I should not have followed you guys here! You¡¯re all weirdo monsters I swear!¡± Cecily had once worked alongside the Peacekeepers but this sort of disparity was far bigger than she had anticipated. It was practically a stab to her own ego!

    It¡¯s been twenty years since theyst met and they weren¡¯t under Gu Xiqiao¡¯s leadership anymore! How on earth were they able to progress so quickly?!

    ng scratched his head. ¡°Stop brooding, it¡¯s time for us to pay Miss Gu a visit at the Jiang family.¡±

    ¡°Hey, wait up, I wanna go too!¡± Cecily hade here primarily to see Gu Xiqiao, not to witness the Peacekeepers demolish the Trial Tower.

    These people left as quickly as they came. What¡¯s left was a crowd of onlookers who slowly returned to their senses.

    The older ones patted the youngsters on the shoulder and shed them a warm, gentle smile. ¡°See that? They are the Peacekeepers we keep talking about. Didn¡¯t you kids say that you could surge ahead of them? Why don¡¯t you go ahead and try your luck up there?¡±

    Some offered words of reassurance. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s alright dear. Keep calm.¡±

    ¡®Yeah it¡¯s easy for you to say that. But how the hell are we supposed to stay calm? How?!¡¯

    The reactions of these teenagers did not really matter in the grander scheme of things. The Peacekeepers¡¯ achievements in the Trial Tower however, spread across the supernatural world at lightning speed. Of course, most of the people reacted in surprise to this news.

    The Peacekeepers were surprisingly unfazed by the fact that they had just made history. Cautiously, they made their way towards the Jiang family from every direction.

    At the Jiang family.

    Shu Chen was busy memorizing the form for winning a game of cards that Gu Xiqiao had taught her. She emerged from her room upon hearing the butler¡¯s call. ¡°Qiao Qiao has gone out.¡±

    ¡°Out? Where?¡± asked Xiao Yun.

    ¡°To a small ce. But still, she told me to ry this message to you guys. ¡®Stay calm and think¡¯, she said. You¡¯ll get your answer once she returns.¡± Despite the fact that Shu Chen was still holding onto a card when she spoke, her face was dead serious.

    The Peacekeepers quelled their excitement and gradually started thinking. They left the Jiang family after bidding Shu Chen farewell.

    ¡°Grandma.¡± A clear voice called out.

    A 15 or 16-year-old girl slowly descended the stairs. In her hand was a phone from a particr fruit-based brand. She let out azy yawn.

    Shu Chen¡¯s gaze became much more gentle when she saw the youngdy. ¡°Yan Yan, you¡¯ve woken up? Are you hungry?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not Grandma.¡± Jiang Yiyan shook her head. Suddenly remembering something, she asked her grandmother, ¡°Where did you say Mom is staying for vacation?¡±

    ¡°N City,¡± replied Shu Chen with a smile. ¡°If you want to go, just give your mom a call in advance. Or you¡¯ll risk being grounded by your daddy.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve never met such a horrid father before!¡± Jiang Yiyan plopped down on the sofa. ¡°I just want to spend the night with Mommy! Why¡¯d he have to lock me away on the other side of the continent?!¡±

    ¡°Forgive your father, he craves affection,¡± responded Shu Chen with a smirk.

    Jiang Yiyan smiled back at her grandma. Suddenly she jumped onto her feet as quickly as a coiled-up spring. ¡°Ah, right Grandma! I still have a game to y with you!¡±

    ¡°Nine Heavens?¡± Shu Chen eyed her granddaughter. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡±

    Jiang Yiyan raised her brow confidently. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate me. Two days ago, I led a party that cleared out an entire dungeon!¡±

    Shu Chen squinted her eyes at her granddaughter skeptically. ¡°I don¡¯t buy it.¡±

    ¡°...Grandma, aren¡¯t you afraid that you¡¯d lose to me if things go on like this?¡± Jiang Yiyan was a little let down by her grandma¡¯s reaction. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll admit it. I actually yed on the ount in Mom¡¯s bedroom. I bumped into a group that was clearing out a dungeon in Zone 3. Mom saw how hard we were grinding for 30 straight minutes just to take down the first monster. She couldn¡¯t help but carry our team to sess, and in a really cool manner might I add! You might not know this but there were two legendary yers in our party and even they couldn¡¯t help but kowtow to mom¡¯s prowess at the game!¡±

    Shu Chen¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing that. ¡°Yeah, I guessed so. But you know, your mom isn¡¯t just really good at games. I know you aren¡¯t told about this but here¡¯s a little story...¡±

    The two of them leaned towards each other and started speaking in whispers. From time to time, one could hear the sound of Jiang Yiyan inhale loudly out of shock.

    Jiang Yiyan was not born in maind China. She knew from a very young age that her parents were not regr humans. Still, she did not expect that her parents possessed such great capability back then! It was straight up iprehensible!

    Actually, Jiang Yirui would asionally bring this up in their conversations but very rarely would they delve into it in detail.

    Jiang Yiyan totally did not expect her mother to leave behind such a legacy!

    Twenty years had passed and she is still frequently-mentioned in the entertainment industry. There were so many award-winning directors who were waiting for her return to showbiz!

    Behind the scenes, she had altered the course of history for the medical industry of China, earning her the unconditional loyalty of countless talented prodigies!

    Gu Xiqiao had so many followers that before they even finished speaking, Jiang Yiyan had already lost grasp of how popr her mother actually was.

    Seeing her granddaughter¡¯s expression, she thought to herself, ¡®If I were toy everything your mother achieved before you, there might be a chance that you¡¯d be shocked to death!¡¯

    One of them was a noble madame who was well-respected by many and the other was a cold, unattainable second young mistress of the Jiang family. However, unbeknownst to the public, these two were so sloppy andid-back at home.

    Jiang Han grabbed his things and he stood at the door before leaving. ¡°I¡¯m going out.¡±

    No one responded.

    Jiang Han waited for a moment before raising his voice. ¡°I¡¯M GOING OUT!¡±

    Still, no response.

    ¡°I SAID, I¡¯M LEAVING!¡± Jiang Han shuffled closer to the whispering duo.

    Finally, the butler couldn¡¯t stand the awkwardness and approached him with a sympathetic smile. ¡°Have a safe journey master.¡±

    Jiang Han: ¡°...I don¡¯t need your sympathy.¡±

    The butler remained silent. He picked up his shears and went off to tend to the garden nts.

    ¡°...¡±

    Baixing Vige in N City could be considered a slum twenty years ago. Now, it had already developed into a tourist destination receiving millions of tourists annually.

    After having undergone countless rounds of renovation, one could hardly make out that this ce was once a dpidated part of N City. Well, apart from two essentialndmarks. The first being the house where Gu Xiqiao once lived, and the grave of the woman who took her in as her own daughter.

    The people here guarded these two locations for the past twenty years. There was virtually no change to these specific spots.

    Wang Qi was abandoned by his family here when she was very young. Like Gu Xiqiao, she was adopted by a family here in Baixing Vige. This year, she was 18 years old, and was in her third year of high school.

    Today was her first vacation since she got into her third year of senior high. Early in the morning, she grabbed the things her parents had packed before she headed uphill. She knew there was a grave up on that hill, and further beyond that grave, there was a little cottage where a blonde-hair blue-eyed foreigner lived.

    The inhabitants of their vige treated this foreigner with respect. This person was wise and extremely knowledgeable, especially in the realm of medicine. Every time she came to deliver the goods to him, he¡¯d teach her a lesson or two in self-defense.

    Like many mornings in the past, she would stop by the grave to say a quick prayer before proceeding to the little cottage.

    But, today was different. She was approaching the grave when she noticed two figures lingering around it. One of them was significantly taller than the other. From afar, she couldn¡¯t make out urately who they were, so she hastened her footsteps to get close in on them. Suddenly, a woman in a in dress stood up with the aid of the man next to her.

    Wang Qi called out to them, ¡°This ce is off-limits. Outsiders aren¡¯t allowed here, you...¡±

    She went silent halfway through her sentence.

    The man standing before the grave peered over in her direction. His gaze was so cold that it felt almost like that of a corpse¡¯s. His demeanor was so overpowering that it forced her to avert her gaze. Still, Wang Qi could not deny how attractive this man was. He was at least multiple times more attractive than the idols she saw on TV. Still, she did not dare to drool over him for too long.

    Wang Qi stumbled backward. Then, the woman standing next to the man turned towards her as well.

    Like her partner, the woman was equally as attractive. Her eyes were shining bright and the soft features on her face were so pretty that she seemed almost like a work of art.

    ¡°Wang Qi, you go back first.¡± A heavy, low voice said to her from behind.

    ¡°Mister Emery, ¡± Wang Qi passed the basket of goods over to Emery.

    He smiled at her. ¡°You head downhill for now. I¡¯ll teach you a lesson on acupuncture in the afternoon.¡±

    Wang Qi kept peering back at them as she made her way back home. The two were still standing there on the hill. She remembered that the vige elder once told her to report to him whenever someone suddenly appeared on the hill.

    Wang Qi marched all the way to the vige elder¡¯s home to do just that.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that there were two people on the hilltop? What did they look like?¡± The vige elder¡¯s voice was tense. He was so taken aback that his shoes weren¡¯t even on the right side of his feet!

    ¡°The man¡¯s face was stone-cold but the woman was really really beautiful. Mister Emery seems to know them but he ordered me toe downhill.¡± Wang Qi did not need to work too hard to recall their faces. They were so incredibly beautiful that the sight had already burned itself into her memory.

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s her! It¡¯s her!¡± The vige elder¡¯s eyes started to redden. ¡°Shi Tou! Shi Tou! Come out! Quick! Your Sister Gu has returned!¡±

    A tall masculine man emerged from the house shortly after the vige elder¡¯s shouts. ¡°Dad, what are you saying?¡±

    ¡°Your Sister Gu, should now...cough cough...should be on the hilltop...¡± The vige elder vanished into thin air right after saying that.

    Wang Qi looked at the vige chief who was always cool-headed in the past. The corners of his eyes were now red. His wife hastily grabbed something before rushing up the hill. She was puzzled. Just who was the vige chief referring to?

    Sister Gu...her surname¡¯s probably Gu...could it be? That woman¡¯s face seemed vaguely familiar too.

    Wang Qi¡¯s eyes were wide open when she was hit by the sudden realization!

    With trembling hands, she whipped out her phone and started a new thread.

    ¡°I am seeking advice! I just found out that my idol actually hails from the same vige as me! How should I approach her?! I¡¯m waiting for your answers online! Hurry up!¡±

 Chapter 392 - Side Story 12: Your Chance Has Come

    <h4>Chapter 392: Side Story 12: Your Chance Has Come</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Gu Xiqiao looked at Emery, then reached her hands into her pocket where her inventory was, digging around for a bit before finally pulling out a tattered, ancient book. She held the book with both hands, presenting it to Emery. ¡°This is what you gave me in the beginning, and it solved a lot of doubts for me. I¡¯d like to return it to its rightful owner now.¡±

    Emery looked at the book, then shook his head faintly. ¡°Man Man left me because of this thing. I don¡¯t want this book anymore, keep it.¡±

    Yu Man and Rong Feishuang had gotten into a big disagreement because of this book, and it was also the cause of her leaving the house in anger. She had disappeared without a trace for twenty years, and no one knew where she had gone. Emery had scoured the entire Delxun Forest for her for twenty years, and he still hadn¡¯t found her. He swore that he wouldn¡¯t ever use his medical skills if he couldn¡¯t find her.

    For these twenty years, he resembled a walking corpse, until he received a call from Rong Feishuang.

    At that time, the first reaction he had was disbelief. He couldn¡¯t believe that she was gone just like that.

    After he fell into depression for a long time, he slowly picked himself up. That person had been afraid to be alone since she was young, and being alone in the ground, he couldn¡¯t imagine how fearful she would feel, and so he expanded all his efforts and finally managed to locate her home in N City.

    At that time, if he hadn¡¯t thought that she disappeared into Delxun Forest, but searched the entire world instead, it probably wouldn¡¯t have ended like this, right?

    Twenty years have passed, and Emery has changed drastically. There were more wrinkles on his face, and his hair had turned white.

    But his face was as peaceful as ever, and just looking at him, who would have thought that he used to be a Western doctor with extremely good medical skills?

    Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t press nor stay any longer after that. She held the book in her hand as she made her way slowly down the mountain.

    ¡°Sister Gu!¡± When she was halfway down, a white figure suddenly rushed towards her.

    The voice sounded familiar, and that mass of white was stopped abruptly in mid-air when it was a few centimeters away from him.

    A slender, white hand had lifted the figure directly up in the air.

    The person who had been picked up was feeling light-headed from the sudden movement, and when he turned, he was met with a pair of chillingly cold eyes. He couldn¡¯t help but shiver at the intense gaze, and shrank into himself.

    ¡°Shi Tou?¡± Gu Xiqiao looked at the figure that Jiang Shuxuan held in his hands, and instantly recognized him.

    Jiang Shuxuan also narrowed his eyes and studied the person he held, and with his mental power, he naturally knew that this was Shi Tou. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have just used his hands to lift him up.

    He studied Shi Tou for a little while more before loosening his hold, dropping him on the ground. Shi Tou still ended up staggering, and also falling on his butt!

    ¡°Y-Y-You... why do you still look the same?!¡± He stared at Jiang Shuxuan for a long time, clearly startled.

    Twenty years had passed, why did he not look any different at all?

    Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, ncing at Shi Tou. ¡°In another sixty years, I¡¯ll still look like this. And you, you¡¯ll look like that.¡±

    His long, white fingers pointed at where Emery was standing.

    ¡°You won¡¯t have any friends if you¡¯re like this.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan smiled lightly at him, activating the taunting skill on Shi Tou. ¡°I have a wife, Shi Tou.¡±

    Shi Tou: ¡°You really want us to hurt each other, huh?¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan casually replied, ¡°No, I just want to hurt you. Shi. Tou.¡±

    ¡°You can call me Li Kongqing, thanks.¡± Shi Tou deadpanned.

    Jiang Shuxuan just gave him a nce, without another word.

    How infuriating for Shi Tou!

    However, because of this exchange, the tension in Shi Tou¡¯s heart hadpletely vanished, and his face was very calm.

    No matter how calm he looked, it wasn¡¯t able to conceal the excitement that he was feeling inside. His nails were digging into his palms, his eyes unblinking, staring at Gu Xiqiao. After reassuring himself that the other waspletely fine, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Sister Gu, when did youe back?¡± Shi Tou tried to hold it back in, but ultimately couldn¡¯t and finally looked at Gu Xiqiao.

    It¡¯s been twenty years, and he had also grown so tall. And yet she looked the same as before, without the slightest change.

    ¡°It¡¯s just been a couple of days.¡± Gu Xiqiao gave him a nce, then continued her trek down the mountains. She chuckled lightly, her voice melodious as ever. ¡°How are the vige chief and everyone else?¡±

    Shi Tou walked down with her with a spring in his step. It felt like back when he was still a child.

    As they were talking, the vige chief and a bunch of people had already gathered and had rushed over to the mountain.

    ¡°Qiao Qiao, you¡¯re back.¡± The vige chief looked at Gu Xiqiao, and confirmed that it was her. When he found out that she was fine, his heart came back down from his throat back to his stomach. ¡°You don¡¯t know this, but when news of your ident reached us that year, this Shi Tou stayed alone in your yard for seven days, and only finally came home after Mr. Emery persuaded him to.¡±

    Shi Tou had clung to Gu Xiqiao since he had been born, and had only listened to her as a child. When Gu Xiqiao¡¯s fall reached them, they tried their best to hide it from him, but was found out by him in the end.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault.¡± She hadn¡¯t thought about it that time, but now that she did, she nced at Shi Tou silently. ¡°How is it going with the thing that I had Wu Hongwen pass to you?¡±

    Shi Tou replied dully, ¡°It can pierce the skies... somewhat.¡±

    When he said this, Jiang Shuxuan nced at him, contempt clear in his dark eyes for just a moment before vanishing. Shi Tou instantly recalled the moment he had been held up with a hand, and immediately shut his mouth, not saying another word.

    ¡°Practise properly, and it¡¯ll be a great weapon in the future.¡± Gu Xiqiao patted his shoulder.

    Shi Tou nodded his head as he vowed to do so. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sister Gu!¡±

    ¡°Where is Sister Mei now?¡± Gu Xiqiao had walked around the vige and found that majority of the people were still here, but Li Yanmei¡¯s family was not.

    ¡°Sister Mei married into the capital, it¡¯s a family named Ying. His cousin came here with you oncest time.¡± Shi Tou stopped in front of Li Yanmei¡¯s house. ¡°Their family woulde back every few months to clear the grave in the mountain, and also yours and Aunt Yu¡¯s house.¡±

    When they spoke about this topic, Shi Tou couldn¡¯t help but nce at Gu Xiqiao. What he didn¡¯t mention was that every time Li Yanmei came back, she would sit and cry in front of that house.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Gu Xiqiao sighed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking much at that time.¡±

    ¡°Then, where did you go after that?¡± Shi Tou asked, looking at Gu Xiqiao.

    ¡°I went to recuperate. My wounds were deep, and I wasn¡¯t able to return.¡± Gu Xiqiao said lightly. If she could, she would have also liked toe back earlier.

    Shi Tou straightened up at this moment. ¡°Then, I forgive you.¡±

    He had already obviously grown, but how could he still be the same as when he was a kid? Gu Xiqiao couldn¡¯t help but rub her temples. Did something go wrong when he was growing up?

    ***

    In the Imperial Capital, A University.

    Tan Yongsi had just finished a ss, and was heading back to the dormitory when she felt Xixi on her shoulder suddenly heat up. Her steps were hurried, but the expression on her face remained unchanged.

    She turned towards the school gates, seemingly like she was going on a stroll, but her speed was far beyond any ordinary person.

    At this time, Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t head towards the bus station, but directly gged down a taxi, giving him an address.

    The taxi driver gave her a strange look, and seeing it was a pure, beautiful girl that didn¡¯t look like anything dirty, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Miss, why are you going there? I¡¯m telling you, an ident once took ce there, and many people died. I heard it¡¯s haunted there, so you better not go there alone.¡±

    Hearing the driver¡¯s words, Tan Yongsi lowered her eyes. ¡°My parents used to work there.¡±

    At her exnation, the taxi driver¡¯s face changed immediately, muttering an apology under his breath. He then drove to the destination without another word, leaving Tan Yongsi not far from the factory.

    Tan Yongsi hadn¡¯t lied, her parents did use to work in this area, but they had died in a car ident before the mentioned ident had happened here.

    She stood not far from the factory, and after watching it for a long time, she let out a sigh, walking slowly inside it.

    Overgrown weeds were everywhere inside. As soon as she entered the door, she felt a chill blow pass her. The ce was really gloomy, and if it were other people, they would have been scared away already, but this was Tan Yongsi. She knew that the malicious aura here was just a bit more heavier than other ces, and if others were to stay too long here, they would have hallucinations. However, that didn¡¯t affect her. If Xixi really was about to breathe fire, then this was the safest ce for it.

    ¡°The ancient books said that mythical beasts are able to talk.¡± Tan Yongsi ced Xixi on top of a stone b, then bent down, waggling her finger. ¡°Can you tell me, where do you feel ufortable now?¡±

    Xixi stood on the b, covering its head with its wings. Its entire body was trembling, and it looked extremely pitiful.

    It didn¡¯t speak, and Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t urge it to, waiting patiently instead.

    The surrounding air was getting hotter as time passed, dispelling the chill of the factory itself. Tan Yongsi looked at Xixi¡¯s feathers that looked like they were about to catch fire, and couldn¡¯t help but take a few steps back, several fireproof talismans in her hands!

    The fire of the Vermillion Bird was powerful, and it could not be extinguished by water. Tan Yongsi just hoped that the talisman she held was enough and useful!

    Xixi¡¯s body went up in mes suddenly without any warning in that same moment. There were red mes as well as ck mes, and everything it touched instantly turned into ash!

    Tan Yongsi was stunned when she saw the ck mes, but she reacted quickly, throwing out her fireproof talisman!

    Although the talisman in her hand was full of energy, it was just a useless paper in the end. Xixi¡¯s mes were of heaven and earth after all, and some ordinary fireproof talisman was no match for it!

    ¡°Get out of here!¡± Xixi finally talked for the first time.

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s head chose this time to have a blinding headache, feeling as though her head would explode in the next second!

    Bright, yellow objects shed in her mind over and over, and then a familiar profound energy spread throughout her body.

    At the same moment, a vivid, red me appeared in front of her!

    Tan Yongsi squinted her eyes, a fireproof talisman flying out from her hands! The power that had suddenly emerged controlled the talisman, and the ordinary charm suddenly burst out in a golden light, shielding her from the mes!

    ***

    At the same time, a ck car was rounding the area nearby.

    Inside the car, Jiang Yirui¡¯s lips were pursed tightly, his face dark to the point that it looked like water could fall from it at any moment.

    Jiji sat in the driver¡¯s seat, its green head nearly touching its knees, clearly ashamed.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you could urately pinpoint Xixi¡¯s location?¡± Jiang Yirui rubbed his temples, his frown deep.

    ¡°I could!¡± Jiji cried with a sad face. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, it¡¯s as though I couldn¡¯t sense Xixi all of a sudden. Believe me, Egg, I¡¯ve never been wrong before, you can¡¯t me me for this!¡±

    Jiang Yirui nced at Jiji, not saying a word, turning his eyes back on the road ahead. He had been in the apartment just now, with Jiji was ying games with Tang An. Then the robot had suddenly jumped up, saying that something had happened to Xixi, and that¡¯s why he had rushed out in a hurry!

    Unexpectedly, when they reached here, Jiji said that it suddenly couldn¡¯t sense Xixi¡¯s specific location!

    Jiang Yirui wound down the window, lighting a cigarette and taking a puff. As he blew out the smoke, he nced around the area. It was very crowded. If something really had happened to Xixi, why didn¡¯t he feel any fluctuation of energy at all?

    Jiji had felt it at first, but now it didn¡¯t feel anything. What had happened?

    Jiang Yirui put out the cigarette as Jiji nced at him. ¡°Beauty Qiao said that you can¡¯t smoke.¡±

    ¡°Do you believe that when we get back, I¡¯ll get her to take you apart?¡± Jiang Yirui¡¯s eyes could practically freeze someone with just a look.

    Jiji realized at this moment, though Fatty Egg¡¯s eyes were so very simr to Beauty Qiao¡¯s, it was no different than Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s!

    Freaking scary!

    Jiang Yirui waited for the smoke in the car to clear out, then wound up the window, turning the car around and heading back into the city.

    Just when the car had turned around, he suddenly felt the fluctuation of a familiar mental power!

    That is¡ª

    Jiang Yirui¡¯s eyes lit up, brighter than ever before! The sharp, handsome face looked startled for a moment, before turning into surprise, and then in the next second, he looked like a man who had been trapped in a drought, and something had suddenly appeared when he had lost hope it would ever!

    To be honest, Jiji had been with Jiang Yirui for many years, and this was the first time it was seeing such a joyous look on his face.

    Jiji opened its mouth, just about to ask something when Jiang Yirui mmed on the elerator of the car, shooting straight off like an arrow from a bow!

    Less than two minutester, he mmed on the brakes.

    Jiji mmed into the windshield at the sudden stop. Fortunately, the ss of this car was tough, and the impact was not enough to break it. Jiang Yirui stared at the fork in the road, the brightness in his eyes gone. His awareness was torn again, there were two paths in front of him, which one should he take?

    ¡°Fatty Egg! There!¡± Jiji jumped up suddenly. ¡°I can feel Xixi¡¯s aura, Xixi¡¯s in an extremely bad state right now!¡±

    Jiang Yirui smiled bitterly. Just now, that was just a mistake, right?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± Getting down from the car and following Jiji¡¯s direction, he found that it was an abandoned factory.

    Not a few stepster, he saw Tan Yongsi leaning against the concrete wall. Her head was hung low and he couldn¡¯t see her face, but there was a burn on her arm. Xixi was on a stone b at her feet, looking as though it was on its dying breath.

    Jiji immediately picked Xixi up, then looked at Tan Yongsi. Seeing the burn on her arm, he couldn¡¯t help but gasp.

    It looked like she had ripped off her own sleeves, and there were several transparent blisters on her arms. Some of the areas were brown, and it looked like she had third-degree burns!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Jiji felt a cold chill stab its heart. Had Xixi done this?

    If the fire of the Vermillion Bird had touched an ordinary person, they would have instantly turned to ash. Even if they had any form of protection on their body, no matter what, it wouldn¡¯t look like what Jiji was looking at right now!

    Tan Yongsi raised her head when she heard Jiji¡¯s voice, and she pulled out a fireproof talisman from her pocket, cing it in front of Jiji.

    Although Jiji couldn¡¯t recognize the talisman, it was able to find information on it in its powerful system database in seconds. ¡°A fireproof talisman? To be able to shield youself from Xixi¡¯s mes with it, Miss Tan, you really have great potential.¡±

    When she heard Jiji¡¯s words, Tan Yongsi could only smile faintly at it.

    This made Jiji grin. She could still be so indifferent after being injured like this! This endurance, there really wasn¡¯t anyone like this!

    Jiang Yirui looked at Tan Yongsi¡¯s clenched fist, the veins popping out. He knew that it wasn¡¯t she didn¡¯t feel pain, but she was just holding it in. ¡°Wait for a moment, I¡¯ll bring the car over.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Tan Yongsi thanked him politely.

    He brought the car over quickly, and opened the backseat to let her on. Before she got in, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Miss Tan, did you see anyone here before I came?¡±

    Tan Yongsi frowned slightly, thinking. She shook her head after a while, her voice a little more hoarse when she replied, ¡°Only Xixi and I were here.¡±

    Hearing her answer, Jiang Yirui let go of his doubts, and drove the car towards the city.

    There was no first aid kit in the car, so Jiang Yirui wasn¡¯t able to give her any treatment for her wounds, and he could only speed up towards the hospital.

    After they had gotten in the car, Jiji, who was now sitting in the passenger seat, looked at Tan Yongsi through the rearview mirror. What was going on, why did it suddenly feel like the girl was different?

    Where was the problem?

    Jiang Yirui wasn¡¯t aware of Jiji¡¯s troubled mind, and he brought Tan Yongsi to the First Hospital in the Imperial Capital.

    However, the hospital was extremely crowded at this time, and Jiang Yirui was toozy to stand in line. He pulled out his phone and made a call, which rang for a few minutes before it was picked up.

    ¡°Brother Youlin, where are you now?¡± The line for registration in the hospital was too noisy, and Jiang Yirui couldn¡¯t help but massage his temples.

    The voice from the other side was low. ¡°I told you to call me uncle. I call your mother, sister, and you¡¯re calling me brother, what kind of a messy situation is this?!¡±

    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll talk about it some other time. Just tell me, where are you now?¡± Jiang Yirui knew that Hua Youlin had returned to the Imperial Capital a few days ago, and he knew that based on Hua Youlin¡¯s attitude, he wouldn¡¯t be able to help himself, and would definitelye to the hospital to help the wounded.

    Sure enough, the reply was, ¡°In the city¡¯s hospital, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I recall that the hospital reserved a specialized outpatient seat for you?¡± Jiang Yirui seemed to remember that all the major hospitals across the country had done the same for Hua Youlin.

    Hua Youlin hummed in affirmation, his tone unchanging, ¡°Are you injured?¡±

    ¡°Not me, a friend.¡± Once Hua Youlin gave him the directions, he hung up the phone, leading Tan Yongsi inside. As they walked, he made sure the crowd avoided touching her arm.

    The further they walked in, the fewer people were there. He no longer needed to protect her, but led in front instead. Jiji was holding Xixi in its hands, following silently behind the two.

    Hua Youlin¡¯s office was quiet, probably because the people in the hospital knew that he didn¡¯t like noisy ces.

    When Jiang Yirui knocked on the door, Hua Youlin was looking through a microscope.

    Seeing theme in, Hua Youlin put down the microscope. As soon as he looked up and saw Tan Yongsi, he couldn¡¯t help and did a double take. He never expected that Jiang Yirui would bring a female friend here?

    Hua Youlin¡¯s surprise disappeared instantly when his eyes fell to the ming red bird in Jiji¡¯s hands. He was stunned as he stuttered out, ¡°Xixi?¡±

    After he said that, he found that something wasn¡¯t right. Although the bird looked like Xixi, it was obviously a younger bird, and even its feathers had yet to fully grow.

    Jiang Yirui knew that Hua Youlin would definitely be surprised, but he didn¡¯t offer any exnation at this time, only signaling with his eyes that they would talk about thister.

    ¡°Second and third-degree burns, and it¡¯s already passed the time to receive emergency treatment.¡± Hua Youlin brought out a disinfection needle. ¡°Your blisters are too big, and it will affect your daily activities. I¡¯ll help you pick them out right now.¡±

    Although the burn was serious, the injury itself was minor. Hua Youlin used a few disinfected needles and cotton swabs, and he was more or less done.

    Finally, he pulled out a bottle of ointment from the cab and applied it on Tan Yongsi¡¯s arm.

    Tan Yongsi looked at the creamy white ointment on her arm. After it was applied to the wounded area, a refreshing feeling seemed to prate through her skin, sinking into the bottom of her heart. The pain in her arm was almostpletely gone after that. She knew that the box of medicine was not as simple as it looked.

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t only this bottle of medicine, she also knew that Hua Youlin was no ordinary person. Come to think of it, the only reason she was able to recognize Hua Youlin was because of Meng Yunzhao.

    Meng Yunzhao was not only from the Faculty of Medicine, she was also from the medicalboratory. Naturally, she would talk about the people she admired, and when it came to the doctors she admired, not only Tan Yongsi, but the entire dorm room knew them all like the back of their hands.

    That¡¯s right, Hua Youlin was among one of the doctors that Meng Yunzhao had once mentioned in the room.

    Apart from Zhu Yuan, Hua Youlin was one of the most skillful people in the Chinese medicine field. He was good in not only surgeries, but also in inventing various medical appliances. Over the years, he has contributed countless treasures to the medical field.

    Tan Yongsi watched as Hua Youlin wrapped her arm with gauze, and while there wasn¡¯t any obvious expression on his face, he didn¡¯t give off the feeling of being arrogant either. On the contrary, it made people feel that he was humble, not looking like someone with such a great reputation no matter how you look at him.

    Hua Youlin gave her some instructions once he was done wrapping her arm. ¡°Don¡¯t let your arm touch water when you get back, and don¡¯t move it too much either. There were some blisters that were bigger than the others, and I punctured them with a needle to let the liquid out. Don¡¯t worry about leaving scars.¡±

    The most prominent doctor in the world himself had treated her wounds, so how could Tan Yongsi feel uneasy?

    One he was done treating the wound, Hua Youlin¡¯s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, answering it quickly once he saw who it was. ¡°Brother Zhu... Alright, I¡¯ming right now.¡±

    He replied in a hurry and hung up after, walking out the door as he grabbed his white coat. ¡°Yirui, Miss Tan¡¯s burns will be healed in a week. I¡¯ve taken a quick look at Xixi, and it has just overused its powers. After a day¡¯s rest, it should be fine. Brother Zhu has asked me to head to thebs, so I have to leave now.¡±

    By the time he said that, he was already out the door.

    After a second, the door opened again. ¡°Oh right, I won¡¯t have my phone while I¡¯m in theb, so if Sister Gues back,e and find me directly!¡±

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t expect to see a message in the group chat on his phone once Hua Youlin left.

    [Gossip Chat]

    Little Hua: Egg brought a girl to the hospital today!

    Wu Hongwen: What department?

    Yao Jiamu: It¡¯s the maternity ward, isn¡¯t it!

    Luo Weng: Egg went to the maternity department? ??

    Wang Qiming: I¡¯m in the coffee shop nearby, wait four minutes for me ??

    Wang Qiming: Master! You¡¯re back?!

    Yao Jiamu: Good disciple, go and help your master see what on earth has happened to Egg~ What¡¯s happened to Egg~

    Wang Qiming: I guarantee I¡¯llplete this mission

    Dalin: Sorry, I just feel the need tough now. Oh Egg, I¡¯m notughing at you on purpose ??

    Jiang Yiyan: It¡¯s the city hospital, right? Wait for me bro, I¡¯ll be right there!

    Yin Shaoyuan: Nephew, you really are taking after your uncle and me!

    ¡°... Sure.¡± Jiang Yirui shot off a reply, before ncing at the white ointment that Hua Youlin didn¡¯t put back into the cab. He found a small bag and put it inside, handing it to Tan Yongsi. ¡°There is gauze and medicine in here. It doesn¡¯t have any side effects, and it can be used for removing older scars and beautifying the face. Take it back with you and use it wisely.¡±

    Tan Yongsi watched as Jiang Yirui took out bottles of the same white ointment from the drawer, and couldn¡¯t help but feel her heart ache for Hua Youlin. Those bottles of medicine looked very expensive.

    He carried the bag in hand, taking Tan Yongsi downstairs. Speaking of which, he was mainly the reason she was injured. If he hadn¡¯t given Xixi so many elixir pills, it wouldn¡¯t have broken through and advanced so quickly, to the point that it couldn¡¯t control its own power.

    ¡°Miss Tan, it won¡¯t be easy for you to take care of Xixi in this state. Would you like to leave Xixi with me for the time being?¡± Jiang Yirui made a serious suggestion.

    Tan Yongsi was about to reject his offer, but Jiang Yirui was right, she couldn¡¯t take care of Xixi in this state. Secondly, Xixi had been unstable recently, and she was really afraid that Xixi would identally burn the dormitory up if it went out of control!

    Considering the circumstances, it seemed that the suggestion was a logical one. It also looked like the man in front of her would be able to control Xixi.

    ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll have to trouble you.¡± Tan Yongsi said, conveying her gratitude to him.

    ¡°Jiang Yirui, you actually have a girlfriend! Then what about Beini?¡± Just as the two were discussing the details, a curly-haired girl suddenly came down from the inpatient department, rushing at the two and eximing loudly.

    Jiang Yirui nced at the girl, narrowing his eyes, his voice as cold as ice. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I am Yang Beini¡¯s agent, don¡¯t you remember?¡± The curly-haired woman looked at Jiang Yirui as she huffed, reaching out her hands, intending to pull Jiang Yirui over. ¡°Don¡¯t you know that Beini has fallen ill?¡±

    However, before her fingertips could even touch Jiang Yirui¡¯s clothes, she was blocked by two men in ck.

    ¡°Young Master Rui, Yang Master Wang is waiting outside for you.¡± The two men shoved the curly-haired women aside, bowing respectfully to Jiang Yirui.

    Jiang Yirui looked towards the entrance, and sure enough, he saw Wang Qiming there. He tossed the bag and his keys to one of the men, and said, ¡°Send Miss Tan back to school, and send my car back at the same time too.¡±

    Having said that, he walked towards Wang Qiming, his brows furrowed deeply.

    Jiji followed him closely behind, shooting a thoughtful nce at the curly-haired woman on the ground. It checked thework of information in its mind on the woman in just a few seconds.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Jiang Yirui said to Wang Qiming once he reached him.

    Wang Qiming waved his hand. ¡°I was just afraid that you¡¯d removed her arm. It¡¯s not like you¡¯ve never done it before anyway.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get a drink.¡± Jiang Yirui sat in Wang Qiming¡¯s car, nothing on his face betraying how he felt. Wang Qiming was right, he had wanted to remove that curly-haired woman¡¯s arm if she had touched him.

    Wang Qiming snapped his fingers. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll find a few others to apany you to drink.¡±

    Wait a minute! Wang Qiming suddenly stepped on the brake after just starting to drive.

    That curly-haired woman, why the heck did she look so familiar?

    ***

    The curly-haired woman stared at the familiarity in which Jiang Yirui interacted with Wang Qiming, and was shocked speechless. She hurried to the inpatient department, pushing open the door to a single ward as she said, ¡°Beini, let me tell you, that secret crush you had during high school, he¡¯s actually a rich young heir! And he¡¯s very familiar with the national sweetheart!¡±

    The curly-haired woman didn¡¯t know who Jiang Yirui was, but she clearly knew who Wang Qiming was. He was the son of themander-in-chief!

    How could someone who was familiar with Wang Qiming be any ordinary person?!

    Lying on the hospital bed was a very serious-looking girl, with thin eyebrows and a pair of apricot eyes which glowed softly under the light. Just by looking at her face, the aura she exuded was one that obviously said she ced herself above everyone else.

    A glint shed through the curly-haired woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°I said, do you remember the guy you had a crush on, Jiang Yirui? I heard someone called him ¡®Young Master Rui¡¯ today! And he¡¯s also very familiar with the national sweetheart, Wang Qiming! Beini, your chance hase!¡±

 Chapter 393 - Side Story 13: Why Are You Looking For Me Instead Of Her?

    <h4>Chapter 393: Side Story 13: Why Are You Looking For Me Instead Of Her?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the bar, Jiang Yirui was sitting at the counter. He drank ss after ss, all of them colorful cocktails made by the bartender.

    The dim light reflected on his pale skin, making his fingers look longer than more slender. His head was lowered slightly, and his side profile was as elegant as jade with a cold aura exuding from his body.

    ¡°How many girls have already gone up to him to strike up a conversation?¡± Wang Qiming and the group of them had not gone into the box, but decided to sit down at a table near a corner where they could see Jiang Yirui from.

    Tang An took a sip from his corn juice, and couldn¡¯t help but think about it when Wang Qiming mentioned it. ¡°Probably about ten, I can¡¯t remember, there¡¯s just too many.¡±

    ¡°Thirteen.¡± Jiji nced at Jiang Yirui, taking a sip of its own wine. ¡°If you add this one, then it¡¯s a total of fourteen.¡±

    ¡°Tch, it¡¯s only been half an hour since we sat down, and so many people have gone up to him. They really dare to go even with the pressure that he¡¯s exuding.¡± Tang An took another sip of corn juice. ¡°But our Egg only has eyes for one person.¡±

    ¡°But, why did he suddenly want to drink?¡± Tang An slid his finger around the top of his ss. ¡°Doesn¡¯t his own house have a bar counter?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. You were with him the entire day, Jiji, what happened to him?¡± Wang Qiming turned his piercing gaze to Jiji.

    Jiji ate a piece of watermelon as it replied, ¡°Heartbreak.¡±

    ¡°Heartbreak? He had such a thing? Tang An almost choked on his drink.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone whoes to the bar and drinks corn juice,¡± Jiji replied instead, looking at Tang An with contempt clear in its eyes.

    Tang An shot him a deadpan look. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a robot that can eat and drink. Just wait, I¡¯ll be sure to send you into a researchb one day!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t help but ask for that too, it¡¯s sad that I can¡¯t change my body.¡± Jiji¡¯s eyes lit up when it heard this, its eyes sparkling like stars in the sky!

    Tang An: ¡°...¡± It was his loss.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Wang Qiming suddenly made a pause gesture with his hands. ¡°It can¡¯t be that the person our Young Master Rui likes, is that girl, Beini, right?!¡±

    He pulled out his phone, sending the files in it to Tang An to see. ¡°Look at this girl, although she looks pure and beautiful, her reputation is seriously bad. This is something one of my good friends specifically told me in confidence. Has Young Master Rui¡¯s taste gotten so bad?¡±

    ¡°No, no.¡± Tang An waved his hand. ¡°I had the same thought as you before this, but then I realized today and it wasn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Wang Qiming asked as he poured himself a ss of wine.

    ¡°I guessed it.¡± Tang An smiled. ¡°I think the person that Egg likes looks like Yang Beini.¡±

    ¡°Pft!¡± Wang Qiming spat out the wine that he had just taken a sip from. ¡°Do you think this is a haunted movie?!¡±

    Tang An merely smiled in response, not saying anything else. His eyes were narrowed slightly, as though seriously pondering the possibility of what was just said.

    Jiji took a big gulp of wine, before looking at Tang An silently.

    ¡°Speaking of which.¡± Tang An said, a bright smile on his face. ¡°Egg seems to be getting along really well with Yearning in the online game?¡±

    ¡°Enough, let¡¯s not guess anymore.¡± Wang Qiming put away his phone. ¡°I always thought that Young Master Rui has a story behind him.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Jiji.¡± Jiang Yirui stood up. He had drunk countless sses of wine tonight, but his eyes remained as clear as ever.

    The bartender had watched and was well aware how many sses this young man had drunk, but seeing him able to stand without staggering, and how clear his eyes were, he started to doubt whether or not the drinks he made were not strong enough, and were just water!

    ***

    In the girls¡¯ dormitory in A University, Xiao Yichen had just returned today after she had taken leave. She saw Tan Yongsi with her hand bandaged up the moment she stepped into the room. ¡°Sisi, what happened? Who beat you?¡±

    ¡°Pui!¡± Ye Xuan almost spat out the water that she had been drinking. ¡°You need to read more books, big sis. Do you know what this is? These are burn marks! Burn! Marks!¡±

    ¡°Okay, burns. I get it.¡± Xiao Yichen nodded her head. ¡°What did you do to get such serious burns!¡±

    ¡°I just got careless, I¡¯m fine.¡± Tan Yongsi waved her hand at them, assuring them that she was indeed fine.

    ¡°Come to think of it, Sisi.¡± Xiao Yichen took a bite of an apple as they continued to chat. ¡°Who did you learn feng shui from?¡±

    Tang Yongsi squinted at the question. ¡°You may not believe me, but I learned it myself.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have a master? I just wanted to ask who it was!¡± Xiao Yichen took a vicious bite of her apple as she said that.

    ¡°You learned it yourself, that¡¯s amazing! Amazing!¡± Ye Xuan finally understood why Tan Yongsi would go on this path of being someone who engages in superstitious activities.

    Tang Yongsi merely smiled. Xiao Yichen and Ye Xuan probably thought that she meant that she had brought back books and studied them on her own. However, she hadn¡¯t meant it that way. From the time she was young, her mind automatically broadcasted memories and knowledge of a feng shui master, and she learned from it especially well. It was as though she had learned it once, a long time ago.

    She obviously didn¡¯t borate on this, instead climbing onto her bed to think on what had happened today. Why did her head suddenly hurt? And there was that surge of unknown energy.

    Tan Yongsi fell asleep thinking about these matters.

    Come the next morning, Tan Yongsi found that she could already move her hand freely.

    This was some godly effect, right?!

    Even though she had seen many strange things in her life, she still felt surprised at this. She turned the bottle of ointment upside down to see the bottom. It wasn¡¯t a bottle that was avable on general markets, and the surface of it waspletely white. Only a small word ¡®Gu¡¯ was written at the bottom of it

    ¡°Gu?¡± Tan Yongsi muttered the word under her breath.

    Today was a Sunday, and there were no sses for the three to attend. Ye Xuan wanted to head to the store to buy a hard disk for herputer, while Xiao Yichen wanted to go shopping for clothes. Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t really have anything to buy, but she was dragged out forcefully by the other two.

    It was drizzling outside, and due to the coldness that was setting in, Tan Yongsi grabbed a jacket.

    Ye Xuan was wearing a skirt, and she was looking at Tan Yongsi in disgust when she saw her wearing a jacket.

    But when she walked on the streets, she understood and regretted her decision. She rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself up. ¡°It¡¯s so cold!¡±

    Tan Yongsi nced at her, then silently took off her jacket and threw it at Ye Xuan. She had worn a long sleeve top with jeans, and it was still warmerpared to Ye Xuan, who was wearing a skirt. Taking off the jacket didn¡¯t make much of a difference to Tan Yongsi.

    Ye Xuan put on the jacket excitedly. ¡°Sisi, I love you so much!¡±

    ¡°Of course, who would love you if the great me didn¡¯t?¡± Tan Yongsi said, her voice calm and t.

    Ye Xuan: ¡°Just pretend I never said that then.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a milk tea shop opposite here, what vor do you want, Sisi?¡± Ye Xuan looked around, catching sight of the said shop.

    ¡°The same as yours.¡± Tan Yongsi pressed her temples, her head aching suddenly. What was going on?

    Ye Xuan didn¡¯t notice Tan Yongsi¡¯s dilemma, and left towards the shop.

    Tan Yongsi felt like her head was going to explode at any moment. It was the same as yesterday, and she slowly knelt down to the ground, pressing hard against her temple, but it wasn¡¯t helping at all!

    There was a constant roar ringing in her ears!

    At the same moment, the harsh, shrieking sound of brakes echoed out!

    Tan Yongsi tried her best to open her eyes. It felt like something had broken through her memory into her brain, and the blurry image of the world gradually cleared up.

    Jiang Yirui was also around the area, not far away from the street that she was on. He was driving leisurely, and suddenly snapped his head up. ¡°This aura...¡±

    There was a traffic jam in front of him, and Jiang Yirui opened the door, getting down from the car. He rushed forward in the rain, looking for the location of that familiar energy!

    The aura didn¡¯t disappear suddenly as it didst time, and when he finally looked in the direction of it, he could only see Tan Yongsi, who was standing in a daze in the middle of the road.

    Jiang Yirui stood in the rain, ignoring how the water was pouring down. The people around the area were walking in a hurried pace, screams and depressing cries around. He stood in the middle in the road like this, looking up towards the skies, ignoring the horns of the drivers.

    ¡°That... Isn¡¯t that Tan Yongsi? And Chen Chen!¡± Jiji had followed Jiang Yirui down the car and chased after him. As soon as it reached the middle of the road, it saw a pool of blood on the side of the road.

    A girl wearing a ck coat was lying in the pool of blood, on her side. Only half her face could be seen, the other parts of her drenched in the red liquid.

    Tan Yongsi was kneeling beside the girl, her facepletely nk, as though she wasn¡¯t really looking at the person on the ground in front of her. There were no tears on her face.

    Jiang Yirui snapped out of his own daze immediately. He looked at Tan Yongsi, who was still in a stunned state, and he pulled out his phone and called the hospital directly.

    A few minutester, an ambnce arrived in a rush. Jiang Yirui directed Ye Xuan to be carried away, taking control of the situation the entire time.

    Tan Yongsi followed the stretcher into the ambnce listlessly, still in the same dazed state.

    Ye Xuan was wheeled into the emergency room, while Tan Yongsi leaned against the wall outside, the same eerily nk look on her face.

    Xiao Yichen was worried and fretting about Ye Xuan¡¯s condition, almost in tears. When she saw Tan Yongsi in this state, she was shocked. ¡°Sisi, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Why did she have such an expression on her face?

    Tan Yongsi looked at Xiao Yichen when she heard her voice, her eyes hollow. ¡°Yichen, it¡¯s because of me. Ye Xuan got into an ident because of me.¡±

    ¡°Sisi! What are you talking about?! What has this got to do with you?!¡± Xiao Yichen held Tan Yongsi by the shoulder, looking straight into her haunted eyes.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t say anything further, her gaze on the door of the emergency room. The door opened right at this moment, and a group of doctors in white coats walking out. The one who was in the lead took off his mask and shook his head. ¡°The patient has a row of broken ribs, and three of them have pierced her lungs. It¡¯s impossible to save that particr lung now. Her skull has also cracked, and not only has it injured the nerves of the brain, there¡¯s also a lot of blood that has seeped into it. Even if we force a surgery now, it will just drag out the patient¡¯s misery.¡±

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s body shook violently, her hands reaching out to the cor of the doctor¡¯s coat. ¡°Save her! No matter what it takes, you have to save her! I¡¯ll give you whatever it is that she¡¯scking now! As long as you just save her!¡±

    ¡°Miss, please calm down. If we¡¯re able to save her, then we won¡¯t give up even for a moment! However, are you sure you want the patient to die in pain?¡± The doctor ced both hands on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulders, saying each word slowly so that she was able to process it.

    ¡°If we can get Dean Zhu toe, how much higher would the sess rate of this operation be?¡± Jiang Yirui pried the doctor¡¯s hand off the girl, his dark eyes piercing.

    ¡°The patient¡¯s lifeforce is almost gone, even if the gods themselves came down, there isn¡¯t anything we can do,¡± The doctor replied, giving Jiang Yirui a surprised look. ¡°Even if Dean Zhu were toe, it¡¯s impossible to get rid of the blood in her head, forget about the punctured lungs.¡±

    Zhu Yuan had already been acknowledged as the top doctor in the entire world, the one who could snatch someone back from the jaws of death. If he couldn¡¯t do it, then there really was nothing anyone could do.

    Tan Yongsi and Xiao Yichen were both stunned speechless. How were they to ept this sudden news?!

    ¡°Actually, that may not be true.¡± An elderly doctor took off his sses, a thoughtful look in his eyes. ¡°There was an example of a pair of legs being saved back then in N City, one that was far beyond saving. If we can find the main surgeon who performed that operation, we could possibly save this girl.¡±

    ¡°Old Yang, we¡¯re not living in some science fiction universe right now. Even the adhesive cells that the medicalboratory has developed can¡¯t repair her punctured lungs, you know that.¡± The other doctor said, ncing at the elderly doctor. ¡°It¡¯s a cruel thing to give the patient¡¯s family hope, just for it to be crushed!¡±

    ¡°Do you have information about the surgeon?¡± Tan Yongsi looked at the old doctor with pleading eyes.

    Old Yang thought for a moment, then turned to Jiang Yirui. ¡°Dean Zhu was also present during the operation that year, you can try asking him.¡±

    Jiang Yirui nced at Tan Yongsi, then pulled out his phone, giving Zhu Yuan a call.

    ¡°And here I thought something had happened. Ruptured lungs and intracranial hemorrhage? Fatty Egg Jiang, although I don¡¯t have any ways to repair damaged organs, those are not a problem in Beauty Gu¡¯s hands. Why are you looking for me instead of her?¡± Zhu Yuan sighed. ¡°You better hurry up and find your Beauty Gu.¡±

 Chapter 394 - Side Story 14: It Was A Success!

    <h4>Chapter 394: Side Story 14: It Was A Sess!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Repair damaged organs? Even the adhesive cell wouldn¡¯t be able to do that, how was it possible for her to be saved?

    Even though Zhu Yuan was the one who said this, Ye Xuan¡¯s attending doctor still didn¡¯t believe it. He turned to look at Xiao Yichen and Tan Yongsi, his voice grave and serious as he repeated his words, ¡°Are you sure you want the patient to die in pain?¡±

    Outside the emergency room, there were also family members of other patients waiting.

    ¡°It¡¯s better to let her pass in peace, why would you want to drag out her suffering right before her death?¡± Someone looked at Tan Yongsi, chiding her.

    Tan Yongsi looked back at the doctor¡¯s face, calm and collectedpared to before. ¡°As long as there¡¯s a slight chance, I won¡¯t give up. The only regret I will have is never taking the chance I had to save her!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± At the end of this corridor, it was an elevator. The door opened just as she said that, and a cold, clear voice rang out from it, catching everyone¡¯s attention.

    Two figures stood in the elevator, a man and a woman. The man was wearing a crisp, white shirt and gray cks, and he had sharp, distinct facial features. He was tall and extremely good looking, and you could feel the majestic and noble aura that he exuded with one nce. The woman was also wearing snow-white clothes, and against her pale-white skin, it was hard to tell which one was fairer. Her delicate facial features were as pretty as a picture.

    Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes at the attending doctor. ¡°No matter what the time is, as a doctor who wields a scalpel, you shouldn¡¯t give up on a patient on the operating table.¡±

    Her eyes were indifferent as it gazed at all the doctors who were present.

    Her gaze was obviously not piercing, and it could even be said to be peaceful, yet the doctors all didn¡¯t dare to look directly into those clear, bright eyes.

    What people were worried about were the many diseases out there, while doctors worried about how few treatments to those mentioned diseases.

    Her eyes were too clear and bright, and perhaps the doctors felt the guilt stabbing at their hearts at her words, and didn¡¯t dare to look at Gu Xiqiao.

    Tan Yongsi had been stunned to the spot the moment Gu Xiqiao had made an appearance.

    She probably never expected to see Gu Xiqiao appear at this time.

    ¡°Do you believe me?¡± Gu Xiqiao finally turned her attention towards Tan Yongsi.

    Tan Yongsi had not shed a single tear since this matter had started, and she didn¡¯t know why, she suddenly started crying. She sniffed, and cried through her tears as she looked at Gu Xiqiao, ¡°Yes, I believe, I do!¡±

    Tan Yongsi first knew about Gu Xiqiao because her mother liked her very much. Until now, she could still clearly remember that her mom had said in the darkest moment of her life, it was because of Gu Xiqiao¡¯s interview that had shed light in her life and she survived because of that, going on to having Tan Yongsi after that.

    Perhaps Gu Xiqiao wasn¡¯t aware just how many people had been affected by the phrase that she had said that day, ¡®You¡¯re not living right if you¡¯re not crazy¡¯, and how many people she had pulled out of the darkness with it, saving their lives. (T/N: Referring back to Chapter 354, the author says, ²»·èÄ§,²»³É»î, which can basically mean ¡®nothing short of obsession will bring you sess¡¯.)

    If she couldn¡¯t even believe in Gu Xiqiao, then Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t know who else she could possibly believe in.

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers.

    Seeing that she looked like she was about to enter the operating theatre, the attending doctor moved to block the door immediately. ¡°What nonsense are you talking about? You¡¯re just a silly little girl, and you dare to boast shamelessly about entering the operating room? Do you know what state the patient is in there?¡±

    ¡°Pft.¡± Before Gu Xiqiao could say anything, a chuckle came from the end of the corridor.

    Zhu Yuan and Hua Youlin were leading a medical team over, and the older man¡¯s lips were curled up in a smile. He looked at the attending doctor who just spoke. ¡°A silly little girl? You¡¯re the founder of the world¡¯s top medicalboratory that she¡¯s shamelessly boasting about saving someone? This is the biggest joke I¡¯ve heard this year.¡±

    Zhu Yuan wasn¡¯t the only oneughing, Hua Youlin and the medical team behind them were also snickering. Zhu Yuan was right, that was the best joke any one of them had heard in the entire year!

    The attending doctor never imagined that Zhu Yuan would turn up in person, but what shocked him even more were the words that he had just uttered. What did he just say? The founder of the world¡¯s top medicalboratory? This silly little girl in front of him?! How was that possible?!

    The medicalboratory had been in existence for at least twenty years, and the girl in front of him looked to be around twenty.

    Hua Youlin didn¡¯t speak to him any further, handing a set of sterile clothing to Gu Xiqiao instead, greeting her quietly under his breath, ¡°Sister Gu.¡±

    ¡°How can all of you mess around in the city hospital like this... ugh...¡± The attending doctor was pulled aside by Jiang Yirui before he couldplete his sentence.

    Gu Xiqiao led the group of people into the operating theatre.

    ¡°Beauty Gu, this is the first time I¡¯ll be working with you on the same stage, I¡¯m so excited,¡± Zhu Yuan said, the tone of his voice clearly conveying how excited he felt. Then, he turned to the person beside him. ¡°Did you bring the recording device?¡±

    ¡°The audio recorder?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been prepared.¡±

    ¡°Is there a live broadcast?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    It went on for a short while, and when Zhu Yuan was done with his questions, he was thest one to enter the theatre. Before he did, his eyes fell on Tan Yongsi, who was standing at the side and watching them. He chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this team of people will save her even if she¡¯s already dead.¡±

    Having said that, Zhu Yuan entered the room, and the ss door was closed behind him.

    Tan Yongsi stood next to the ss door. Her heart that had been dull and anxious slowly calming down. She turned around, looking at Xiao Yichen, seeing that the other seemed to have already let go of all her worries early on.

    ¡°Sisi, don¡¯t worry. With Beauty Gu here, Xuan Xuan won¡¯t suffer a single bit.¡± Xiao Yichen patted her on the shoulder. ¡°Believe me.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan stood beside Jiang Yirui. The two figures looked alike, standing next to each other, however, Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s figure was obviously more distinct than the younger man¡¯s.

    ¡°You can¡¯t even protect your own people properly, and you have to have your mother to clean up the mess for you in the end.¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised an eyebrow slightly. His eyes were as cold as snow, deep like an abyss, and there was also a hint of contempt in them.

    ¡°My Beauty Gu is the one who¡¯s cleaning up the mess, not you...¡± Jiang Yirui¡¯s heart that was practically hanging on a thread could finally be at peace. He couldn¡¯t help but touch his nose at Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s words.

    Jiang Shuxuan looked in the direction of the emergency room, a sliver of mental power already stretched out into the room, paying attention to everything that was happening in it. On the outside, he still remained indifferent as he replied, ¡°If you really intend to continue to develop, then you should clean up that shadow in the entertainment industry.¡±

    ¡°The entertainment industry?¡± Jiang Yirui furrowed his brows. ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°That Yang Beini. She was waiting for you in front of the hospital entrance today to see you. I had the bodyguards throw her into the bureau.¡± Jiang Shuxuan wanted to light up a cigarette, but remembered that they were in the hospital, he shoved it back in his pockets. ¡°With such EQ, how are you supposed to be an emperor?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I died after just taking the position for not even three years.¡± Jiang Yirui couldn¡¯t help but smile, not bothered about the insult at all. ¡°Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to touch my beauty at all.¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan leaned against the wall, his voice dropping to below freezing. ¡°Say it again, and I¡¯ll throw you into confinement.¡±

    If it were in the past, Jiang Yirui would definitely not feel threatened by the threat. It wasn¡¯t a big deal to be detained for a few days, but now, as he nced at Tan Yongsi¡¯s direction, he backed down. ¡°Fine.¡±

    If he couldn¡¯t call her ¡®my beauty¡¯, then he¡¯d just call her ¡®Beauty Gu¡¯.

    ¡°Wait a second, what¡¯s with Yang Beini? Do I know her?¡± Jiang Yirui scratched his head, not recalling anyone with the name.

    Jiang Shuxuan shot him a t look, not replying.

    While the surgery was ongoing inside the operating theatre, Ye Xuan¡¯s attending doctor was standing outside the door. He still didn¡¯t believe that torn and broken organs could be repaired!

    At this moment, the elevator door slid open with a ¡®ding¡¯ again, and a group of people in white coats came rushing out from it. Seeing the dean of the hospital at the head of these people, Ye Xuan¡¯s attending doctor immediately stepped forward. ¡°Dean, you absolutely can¡¯t tolerate this. Inside, she¡¯s...¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, the dean walked past him, stopping in front of Jiang Shuxuan. ¡°Young Master Jiang.¡±

    The man raised his head, looking at the dean who was already old and gray, standing in front of him. He straightened up, his previously furrowed brows smoothing out and melting into a more gentle expression. ¡°You¡¯re here for her?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Miss Gu and the others have been researching a medicine that allows cells to perform self recovery.¡± The dean¡¯s face lit up when he spoke about this matter, even his eyes were sparkling. ¡°If this seeds, the lifespan of people will be extended.¡±

    There was a sh of surprise in Jiang Shuxuan¡¯s eyes as he turned in the direction of the ss door.

    At the same time, the door opened up, revealing Hua Youlin¡¯s excited expression. ¡°Dean, you¡¯re here? Hurry ande in!¡±

    The dean¡¯s face lit up even more if possible, and hurriedly entered the emergency room, ignoring Jiang Shuxuan. He asked anxiously as he walked, ¡°Has there been a breakthrough? Has the medicine for self-recovery been discovered?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s almost done. Miss Gu is doing the final fusion...¡± Hua Youlin¡¯s voice trailed off as the door closed behind them.

    Watching so many people enter the room again, Tan Yongsi and Xiao Yichen became anxious.

    Ten minutester, the elevator opened once again, revealing Meng Yunzhao this time.

    She was obviously out of breath and looked harried, panting for breath as she came to a stop in front of them. Her eyes were red and her voice was trembling as she asked, ¡°What happened? What¡¯s happened to Xuan Xuan?¡±

    ¡°Xuan Xuan is inside, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s the situation now...¡± Tan Yongsi was just about to finish her words, when the ss door to the emergency room opened. A female nurse walked out, and her eyesnded on Meng Yunzhao. ¡°Student Meng, Miss Gu has requested for you toe in.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± Meng Yunzhao was taken aback. ¡°Miss Gu is inside?¡±

    The female nurse seemed to be looking at Meng Yunzhao with envy and admiration in her eyes, and she held out a set of sterile clothing towards the other. ¡°That¡¯s right, Miss Gu is inside.¡±

    Not long after Meng Yunzhao entered, Gu Xiqiao came out.

    Jiang Shuxuan walked to her side, taking the head covering that she took off, as well as the sterile clothing.

    ¡°Everyone, her condition has stabilized. However, because we had to perform craniotomy, it will be a few days before she wakes up. Someone will be along to exin everything to youter.¡± Gu Xiqiao smiled faintly at them, then went out with Jiang Shuxuan.

    The attending doctor who was still standing at the side of the door was muttering to himself after hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s word, his tone clearly one of disbelief, ¡°How is that possible? How can damaged organs fuse themselves? This is definitely not real!¡±

    Just as he said that, the door to the emergency room opened once again. Ye Xuan was rolled out first, and a group of extremely excited doctors followed.

    The attending doctor grabbed one of the nurses and asked, ¡°Was the operation sessful?¡±

    ¡°It was a sess!¡± The nurse¡¯s face was flushed red in excitement. .¡±As soon as the result of this researches out, our lifespan can be extended by at least ten years! If we continue to work hard in this direction, we¡¯ll definitely achieve even more sess after this!¡±

 Chapter 395 - Reply ASAP

    <h4>Chapter 395: Side Story 15: Reply ASAP</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    ¡°How is Xuan Xuan?¡± As soon as Ye Xuan was wheeled out, Tan Yongsi followed the group of people who were gathered.

    Meng Yunzhao took off her mask, her voice low as she spoke, ¡°Her life is no longer in danger, but because of the craniotomy, she¡¯ll need to be in intensive care overnight for observation.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Tan Yongsi finally felt the weight in her heart lift, her tense body finally rxing as she let out a sigh.

    Once she started to rx, she began to think about the car ident.

    After Ye Xuan had been transferred to the intensive care unit, the three of them stood outside. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? How did Xuan Xuan be like this?¡±

    Xiao Yichen shook her head before sighing. ¡°I only saw the after when I came out of the shop.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to check this thoroughly.¡± Tan Yongsi lowered her eyes.

    At this moment, a group of police came into the ward. ¡°Who is the victim¡¯s family?¡±

    Xiao Yichen and Meng Yunzhao came forward, walking to the side of the police. The police proceeded to inform them of the investigation results, and that it had been ruled as an ident, and for them to settle the matter out of court.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t follow them over, standing at the entrance of the ward. She watched the police officers talking to her friends, with her eyes lowered.

    An ident? Meng Yunzhao and the others couldn¡¯t see the cold sneer on her face.

    ¡°This was not an ident.¡± A deep, low voice suddenly spoke near her ears. Tan Yongsi raised her head, seeing a cold face when she did.

    Jiang Yirui wasn¡¯t looking at her, but he continued to speak in a low tone casually, ¡°But the matter was done quite discreetly, and it¡¯s hard to find evidence.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Tan Yongsi looked at Jiang Yirui, questions in her eyes.

    ¡°I saw the scene of the incident. From the extent of damage of the railings, the car had elerated when they were about to hit her. The purpose is topletely kill the person they were ramming into.¡± Jiang Yirui thought about it a little more. ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with these police officers, and the person behind this must be in a ce of high power. Ordinary people would not dare to go against them. Who did your dorm mate offend?¡±

    ¡°Those people were going to hit me.¡± Tan Yongsi replied faintly. ¡°But Xuan Xuan was wearing my coat, so it was a mistake on their part.¡±

    She uttered those words so softly that neither Xiao Yichen nor Meng Yunzhao heard it, but Jiang Yirui heard it loud and clear. His head snapped up, looking at the unchanging expression on the other¡¯s face.

    Jiang Yirui¡¯s face was the one that darkened instead, and the two continued standing in silence.

    ¡°Young Master Rui?¡± XIao Yichen and Meng Yunzhao had finished their talk with the police officers, and when they came back, Xiao Yichen caught sight of Jiang Yirui. She stuttered, ¡°W-Why... Why are you still here, might I ask?¡±

    ¡°Is there a reason I can¡¯t be here?¡± Jiang Yirui nced at her, the air pressure around him dropping a few degrees, making Xiao Yichen tremble involuntarily.

    ¡°No, of course not.¡± Xiao Yichen replied quickly.

    Jiang Yirui nodded his head, then turned to Tan Yongsi. ¡°We¡¯ll have to talk about this matter more.¡±

    Tan Yongsi looked at Jiang Yirui, and she knew that with her limited power, there was no way she would be able to find any evidence in a short amount of time. The longer time passed, the easier it was to destroy any evidence that remained. She didn¡¯t know Jiang Yirui¡¯s true identity, but she knew that he definitely wasn¡¯t someone of low status. ¡°Wait till Xuan Xuan wakes up.¡±

    Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t say anything in response, and another voice came from somewhere near them. ¡°Young Master Rui.¡±

    Looking up, they found that it was Wang Qiming. Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t linger any longer at that. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave first. Contact me if anything happens.¡±

    Wang Qiming stood at the elevator door without moving any closer, and Jiang Yirui walked towards him.

    As the both of them left, Meng Yunzhao stared at Jiang Yirui¡¯s retreating back. She didn¡¯t know who he was, but she definitely recognized Wang Qiming, who was the nation¡¯s sweetheart. Her tone was thoughtful when she next spoke, ¡°Yichen, who in the world is this Young Master Rui?¡±

    Xiao Yichen took a deep breath, and seeing that there were no other people in the corridor, she said in a low voice, ¡°He¡¯s the hottest rookie in the ancient martial arts world right now. To be honest, this person¡¯s whereabouts is always uncertain. I¡¯ve only seen him myself a handful of times. That¡¯s right, Sisi, how did you get to know Young Master Rui? And you both seem quite familiar with each other too.¡± Xiao Yichen turned to look at Tan Yongsi at this, her eyes lighting up.

    ¡°The ancient martial arts world?¡± Meng Yunzhao was surprised as she turned around, ncing at the spot where Jiang Yirui had disappeared from. ¡°No wonder even the nation¡¯s sweetheart, Wang Qiming showed him such respect.¡±

    ¡°Wang Qiming?¡± Xiao Yichen shook her head. ¡°In the ancient martial arts world, Wang Qiming is basically unranked, while Young Master Rui¡¯s position in the ancient martial arts world is just exactly like Wang Qiming¡¯s position in the secr world. Saying it like this, do you guys get it?¡±

    The moment she said that, not only Meng Yunzhao, even Tan Yongsi was in a state of disbelief.

    Wang Qiming¡¯s position in the secr world was like an ancient crown prince. Not only the secr world, but even most of the people in the ancient martial arts world also didn¡¯t dare to mess with him. If Jiang Yirui was in the same position as Wang Qiming in the secr world in the ancient martial arts world, what kind of existence was that?

    ***

    Outside the hospital, Wang Qiming was looking at Jiang Yirui, handing him a pile of documents. ¡°Isn¡¯t it faster if you asked Jiji to search for this information?¡±

    ¡°Jiji isn¡¯t with me.¡± Jiang Yirui flipped through the documents, then said, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a small matter.¡± Wang Qiming waved his hand dismissively. ¡°Hasn¡¯t Jiji been at your side recently?¡±

    ¡°It turned tailcoats today.¡± Jiang Yirui was done reading through the information in just a few seconds.

    Wang Qiming was about to ask where Jiji had gone, but then he recalled the news from the ancient martial arts world recently, and he froze. ¡°Young Master Rui, tell me honestly, has she really returned?¡±

    Jiang Yirui naturally knew who Wang Qiming was talking about, and he could only reply kindly, ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve already seen her. If you had arrived just a bit earlier, you might have also seen her.¡±

    It took Wang Qiming three minutes to react, and his shouts could be heard in the heavens.

    Everyone passing by the area saw the scene happen in front of them. The nation¡¯s sweetheart, who many yearned for and respected on usual days, was hitting himself on the nearby streetlight pole over and over.

    ¡°Oh right, that person you asked me to check.¡± After beating himself up satisfactorily, Wang Qiming seems to remember something. ¡°There are hints of the Wen family¡¯s involvement in this incident, but they were too discreet and cautious, and I couldn¡¯t get my hands on any solid evidence. The Wen family also seemed to have gotten some connections in the power world, so it¡¯s not really a good time to make any moves against them at this time.¡±

    Jiang Yirui frowned at the news. ¡°Keep a close eye on the Wen family.¡±

    Wang Qiming shot him a surprised look at the instruction, but nodded all the same.

    ***

    At the same time, in the Wen family residence, Wen Qing had broken a cup in anger, throwing it down on the ground after she hung up the phone. ¡°Trash! All of them are useless trash!¡±

    ¡°Why are you so angry?¡± Madam Wen put down the cup in her hands, smiling as she asked.

    Wen Qing slowly calmed herself, taking deep breaths before shaking her head.

    Papa Wen came down at this time, followed by Papa Yan and Yan Han.

    Wen Qing immediately stood up, greeting them.

    Papa Wen and Yan nodded their heads in response, then they sat down on the sofa. Papa Yan¡¯s phone rang just as they sat down, and he pulled it out, surprise shing on his face when he saw what was on the screen.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Papa Wen asked, looking at him.

    Papa Yan¡¯s fingers were trembling as he handed his phone over. His voice was tight when he spoke, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why have these big shots started moving suddenly? Also, why has the general selection in the ancient martial arts world been brought forward?¡±

    To put it bluntly, the general selections of the ancient martial arts world was purely just to select talents. If anyone was lucky enough to catch the eyes of the big families in the ancient martial arts world, then this person, including their family, would basically rocket into the sky.

    There were at least a dozen days left before this year¡¯s general selection, but it had been brought forward by ten days.

    It was something that was unprecedented.

    Papa Wen took the phone and saw the news. Everyone in the Imperial Capital that had status and power had all gathered outside the door of the meeting room, and as soon as the news was announced, there was a shocking wave that crashed through, and even the ordinary people could feel the sharp change in the atmosphere.

    ¡°We¡¯re all a family here, so I won¡¯t hide it from any of you.¡± Papa Wen nced at his wife, his voice low as he continued, ¡°I¡¯m guessing <i>that</i> person has returned.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Papa Yan was startled when the other man said that. ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    Papa Wen nodded his head. ¡°Majority of the people don¡¯t know it yet, but all those foreigners from various countries¡¯ power worlds are currently in the capital. They¡¯ve been staying in amodations that we¡¯ve provided, and they¡¯ve been here for quite a few days. Who do you think would make them wait like this, and without anyints from them? There was also a statement issued by the medical field that has sent shockwaves through the entire field. The younger generation may not know it, but how can the older generation not? You should be well aware of <i>that</i> person¡¯s position in the secr world back then, and to be able to make such a bigmotion in the entire medical world, I don¡¯t know anyone else other than <i>that</i> person who can do it.¡±

    Those people from the power world were all those who stood at the peak of the world. To have them so well behaved, there really was only one person who could do it.

    And there was also the statement in the medical world. All of these had been covered up, and there were only a handful of people who were able to do so.

    ¡°Now, the general selections in the ancient martial arts world is going to begin. There will be several big families from themunity present. Yan Han, Qing Qing, you both have to work hard and participate in the election. Even if you don¡¯t get chosen, you have to leave a good impression. This is very important to the future development of our family!¡± Papa Wen instructed.

    Yan Han and Wen Qing knew just how serious this matter was, and they nodded with a solemn look on their faces.

    ¡°The general selection of the ancient martial arts world has remained the same over the years, but there will definitely be changes this year. It must have something to do with <i>that</i> person, or it¡¯s possible that <i>that</i> person is intending to ept disciples.¡± Papa Wen¡¯s voice went even lower, and everyone had to strain to listen to his words. ¡°Look at the Wang family, they used to be of some small, unknown origin, and now they¡¯ve be a first-tier family because Wang Qiming had been epted as a disciple by someone in the ancient martial arts world. If anyone is lucky enough to catch the eye of <i>that</i> person, then... then...¡±

    He couldn¡¯t finish his sentence, but everyone could piece together what he was trying to say.

    Everyone present had a thoughtful look on their faces, while Yan Han and Wen Qing¡¯s faces were full of excitement, clearly anticipating the event in three days. This would be their once in a lifetime chance to rewrite their destiny.

    ***

    In the ancient martial arts world, Gu Xiqiao stood in front of the door to Peace Manor with various emotions running across her face.

    It had been twenty years.

    A middle-aged man was passing by Peace Manor during this time, and he looked towards the manor with admiration on his face, as was his daily routine. Peace Manor was the guardian of their ancient martial arts world, and no one would ever forget the hundred Peacekeepers in the Peace Squad. Every one of the Peacekeepers had now surpassed the 100th floor in the Trial Tower. Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, Baili Wen... and of course, the person they had all strived to reach¡ªMiss Gu.

    All of these people were like legends in their eyes.

    It had been silent for twenty years, and when they reappeared, they were stronger than ever, making people look up at them still in admiration and worship.

    This man was no exception to that. He had a mission tomorrow, and hade to Peace Manor to calm his mind. But today, he found that there were two figures standing in front of Peace Manor, and his entire person froze when he clearly saw who it was!

    The recordings of these two people were still kept in the Trial Tower of the ancient martial arts world. Even though he couldn¡¯t see their front, he was still able to recognize who it was. It was Miss Gu! And Young Master Jiang!

    While he was rooted to the spot, the two had entered Peace Manor.

    The man stood outside the gates of Peace Manor for a long time, before finally snapping out of his daze. He quickly went onto The Forum, writing a post, ¡®I saw Miss Gu when I passed Peace Manor!¡¯

    ***

    Yao Jiamu had been invited by the great elder today to give a lesson to the neers of the ancient martial arts academy.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple to be strong. Give yourself pressure, and push yourself beyond the limits.¡± Yao Jiamu looked at the mutated beast that was in the cage. ¡°Is this what they prepared for you? How weak.¡±

    As he said that, he opened the cage that was made of cold iron.

    The younger generation of the ancient martial arts world stared at Yao Jiamu, their mouth downturned. Wasn¡¯t this difficult enough?

    The mutated beast in front of them was a king, it had already exceeded Xiantian level. It was a beast that the elders of the ancient martial arts world had caught in order to hone the skills of the younger generation. Thest task before their graduation was to defeat it with a team of ten people.

    If a single person could defeat it, then that person would be immediately epted as a disciple by one of the elders. However, there were only a few who had managed the feat in so many years, and the numbers could be counted with one hand.

    Regardless, now the only thing in their minds was how could this crazy a*s Yao Jiamu say this beast was weak?

    Was he messed up in his head?

    Also, did he just open the iron cage? The youngsters in the area took a step back involuntarily.

    F*ck! This mutated beasts had needed the joint effort of the seven elders to catch!

    But in the next second, their eyes widened, nearly popping out of their sockets. Such a big, powerful beast had actually been picked up by Yao Jiamu¡ªwith just one hand?

    ¡°That¡¯s so...¡± One of the young men dragged a hand down his face, trying to form words.

    Yao Jiamu carried the mutated beast in his hand, his tone t. ¡°When we were training back then, we were tossed into the middle of mutated beasts just like this. You guys...¡±

    His phone chose to ring at this moment, and he picked it up while he continued to talk. The moment his eyesnded on the screen, he stopped abruptly. He looked at the device for a long time, before finally raising his head. ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s all for today. I need to head back to do something.¡±

    Having said that, he disappeared instantly.

    The youngsters who had been left behind didn¡¯t even have time to react, and the great elder looked towards the mutated beast that had been killed and tossed to the ground. He couldn¡¯t help the sigh that escaped his lips as the Peace Squad was still no less terrifying than before.

    ¡°Great Elder, was what Mr. Yao said true?¡± The bunch of youngsters looked at beast that had so easily been disposed of by Yao Jiamu, and felt a wave of dread shoot through them.

    The great elder nced at the youngsters, thinking to himself, they¡¯re afraid just because of such a small thing? If Miss Gu was here, she wouldn¡¯t even need to lift a finger before the mutated beast would have been begging for mercy at her feet, and you guys are still shocked to death by that small disy? He looked at the youngsters, letting out another sigh. ¡°What Mr. Yao said was true, and it was far more terrifying than you can imagine.¡±

    ***

    In a teahouse in the ancient martial arts world, ng was talking to some of the people from America when he suddenly caught sight of something on his phone that made him shocked. He immediately stood up and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk more next time.¡±

    Before the others could reply, he left like a gust of wind.

    Cecil and Nozawa looked at each other. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with ng?¡±

    Why was he in such a hurry?

    Cecily watched ng¡¯s retreating back, her voice hoarse all of a sudden, ¡°I think, it¡¯s because she¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°She? You¡¯re talking about... Miss Gu?¡± Nozawa was stunned, and it took him a while to react.

    ¡°Other than her, I can¡¯t imagine anything else that would make the Peace Manor like this.¡± Cecily took out her phone, showing it to Nozawa. ¡°Look at this.¡±

    Nozawa looked at the post in The Forum, then also stood up with a ¡®bang¡¯, leaving the ce in the same hurried pace.

    ***

    In Nine Heavens, Yu Ning was protecting the presentation from his phone onto the screen, and he was talking to a group of people about the development of a new software. Halfway through the presentation, a message suddenly shed on the big screen.

    Luo Weng: Miss Gu is at Peace Manor, reply ASAP.

    The voice that was speaking stopped abruptly. Yu Ning was staring at the message with his mind nk. He hadpletely forgotten what it was that he was talking about, and after a few moments, he said in a low voice, ¡°We¡¯ll continue this meeting next time.¡±

    He picked up his coat and shot out of Nine Heavens the moment he finished speaking!

    The young people who were sitting in the meeting room all scratched their heads, not understanding what had happened, while the older people from thework department were looking at each other in excitement. ¡°Miss Gu... It¡¯s Miss Gu!¡±

    The younger people all stared at their seniors in surprise, their curiosity about this ¡®Miss Gu¡¯ already peaking at their reactions.

    ***

    At Peace Manor.

    Xiao Yun and the others rushed over, pushing open the door the moment they reached without waiting. The figure standing in the training ground turned their head at the same time, their body standing against the light, and their face was unclear due to the shadows cast on their front. Their silhouette was slender and there was a smile on their face when they could finally see it. She chuckled softly. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡±

 Chapter 396 - Side Story 16: You Have Such Big Guts

    <h4>Chapter 396: Side Story 16: You Have Such Big Guts</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The fact that Gu Xiqiao was in the ancient martial arts world spread instantly, and those youngsters of the ancient martial arts world were all gathered around Peace Manor, wanting to catch a glimpse of the legendary Miss Gu. They were curious about what kind of person she was for all the masters to strive towards her as their goal.

    The ancient martial arts world was shaking from this news, and all the big shots from the power world who had been lying in wait also finally made their move.

    ¡°Father, although the ancient martial arts world is powerful, they¡¯re so rude. How could they leave us waiting for so many days?¡± A young man with devilish blue eyes said, looking at his father with a vicious expression.

    He was the grandson of France¡¯s leader, and he was extremely talented. In France, everyone looked up to him, and he was the object of everyone¡¯s admiration. He had never been berated by anyone since he was young.

    He had never been wronged or given any slow service, so he was irritated by the attitude shown by the ancient martial arts world at the moment.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± The leader of France quickly yelled. He lowered his voice when he caught sight of America¡¯s leader¡¯s unsmiling eyes on him, and he turned pale. ¡°If you say any more nonsense, I¡¯ll expel you from the family!¡±

    This was the first time the leader was scolding him, and the blue-eyed youth was surprised. However, he didn¡¯t dare to say anything further.

    Seeing him disy the attitude that he did, one of France¡¯s elders, who was standing at the side, sighed. ¡°Young Master, do you think Japan and America are strong?¡±

    America? Japan? These two countries were basically the representatives of the entire power world across the globe. France couldn¡¯t even stand at their side, of course they were strong! The blue-eyed youth nodded his head.

    ¡°Look at how they¡¯re waiting quietly here.¡± The elder patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t say things like that in the future. If you¡¯re overheard by anyone else, your status as heir will be lost forever.¡±

    Having said that, the elder left, and the blue-eyed youth was once again surprised, rooted to the spot in stunned silence.

    Not far away from them, America¡¯s leader sighed. ¡°Miss Gu hasn¡¯t been out for twenty years, and these people seem to have forgotten how terrifying her methods are.¡±

    ¡°Who said it wasn¡¯t?¡± The person standing beside him smiled. ¡°After this, they¡¯ll all know what it means to be a kingly master. In the eyes of the ancient martial arts world and Miss Gu, they are nothing.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening with the Wen family recently?¡± America¡¯s leader suddenly remembered and asked.

    The person next to him furrowed his brows. ¡°You asked me to keep an eye on the Wen family, and I found a few things on them.¡±

    He quickly briefed the leader on what he had found out about the incident between Tan Yongsi and Jiang Yirui, and finally said in a low voice, ¡°Master Xixi is in Miss Tan¡¯s hands, I¡¯m sure my eyes didn¡¯t deceive me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no wonder Miss Gu woulde back so suddenly.¡± The leader of America said a smile on his face. ¡°The Wen family. Miss Gu has always been able to predict a hundred moves beyond the first step, and if I¡¯m not mistaken, it¡¯s also the reason the general selection of the ancient martial arts world has been brought forward. I don¡¯t know what she intends to do again.¡±

    ¡°How can we even begin to guess Miss Gu¡¯s intentions? But that Wen family really is something, they¡¯ve managed to cultivate a little connection to France.¡±

    The leader of America suddenly said, ¡°Invite that Miss Tan over tomorrow, and make sure it¡¯s obvious and seen. Miss Gu loves to watch the drama unfold, so we¡¯ll make a big deal of this matter. By the way, also check on what kind of person Miss Tan is.¡±

    ¡°...¡± The person beside him looked at the leader in speechlessness, then nodded silently.

    At this time, another person hade over, his voice low as he said, ¡°Leader, news hase from Miss Cecily. She said that Miss Gu is in the ancient martial arts world at the moment.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± America¡¯s leader was stunned for a few seconds before he could bring himself to react. After collecting himself, he said, ¡°Hurry and prepare everything, take all the things I¡¯ve brought. We¡¯re heading to the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    The others naturally knew what he had brought. It was a box filled with antiques, and even in the power world, it was a great deal of money¡¯s worth.

    Not only America¡¯s leader, every other leader from various countries had also brought their own offerings of antiques to the ancient martial arts world.

    The ones who followed and moved with America¡¯s leader were the Wang family and the Feng family from the secr world.

    ***

    Tan Yongsi had been taking care of Ye Xuan in the hospital for two days. She had woken up on the night of the operation and had been recovering very well. Today, she could get started back on liquid food.

    ¡°Sisi, you go back and rest. It¡¯s okay for Yichen to look after me,¡± Ye Xuan said, looking at Tan Yongsi. ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard these past two days.¡±

    Xiao Yichen was on the other side, and she said the same, ¡°That¡¯s right, Sisi. Go on back and rest.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow is the general selection in the ancient martial arts world and you¡¯ll be participating, it¡¯s better to leave it to me instead.¡± Tan Yongsi shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big thing for me, the general selection.¡± Xiao Yichen didn¡¯t mind telling them. ¡°My aunt has already epted me as a disciple, so don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    Hearing Xiao Yichen¡¯s words, Tan Yongsi pondered about it for a while before not arguing anymore. She needed time to investigate the Wen family anyway, and things might change if she continued waiting too long.

    She walked out of the hospital into the sun. It had not rained for the two days, and the sky was clear. She raised her hand, covering her eyes as she looked up into the sky.

    Her phone rang while she was looking up, and she pulled it out of her pocket to find that it was Jiang Yirui.

    ¡°Come over for a bit, and take Xixi. Its condition has stabilized now.¡± Jiang Yirui said the moment she picked up the call, and he paused before continuing, as though just thinking of it. ¡°I¡¯ll send you the address.¡±

    Tan Yongsi had intended to look for Jiang Yirui regarding the matter with Ye Xuan, so she didn¡¯t hesitate nor need time to think about it. ¡°Okay.¡±

    When she hung up the call, Jiang Yirui had already sent the message.

    ¡°Miss Tan.¡± Just as she was about to g down a taxi, a ck Lincoln car rolled up, stopping at her side. A middle-aged foreigner with blond hair and blue eyes stepped out. He was wearing a ck suit, and his tone was friendly. ¡°Our boss would like to extend an invite to you.¡±

    The moment the man stepped down, Tan Yongsi knew that this wasn¡¯t some randommoner. As a feng shui master who had past knowledge, her mental power was very strong. Even so, she felt like a newborn chick in front of this man.

    Tan Yongsi didn¡¯t know why such a big shot would have their eyes on her, but she knew that the other party didn¡¯t have any malicious intentions. Even if they did, she didn¡¯t have any way to avoid them now.

    And it looked like she didn¡¯t have any choice in this matter.

    Since there wasn¡¯t anything she could do to prevent it, she might as well make the most of it. Thinking along those lines, Tan Yongsi got into the car.

    The car stopped at the national guest house, and she was led into a luxurious office where a gray-haired man was sitting on the sofa.

    ¡°You¡¯re Tan Yongsi?¡± Hearing sounds, the man on the sofa turned around.

    Tan Yongsi was met with a bright pair of eyes, which looked out of ce on a man his age. Her heart thumped in her chest. ¡°You¡¯re...¡±

    ¡°No need to be so cautious.¡± America¡¯s leader took a look at Tan Yongsi, and knew that this person would have good luck in her future. It was a person that had caught Miss Gu¡¯s eyes, after all. Thinking of which, he continued, ¡°Something seems to have happened to your dorm mate, and I happen to have some information here.¡±

    As he said that, he handed the document in his hands over to Tan Yongsi.

    When she heard the first part of his sentence, she felt her guarding up, but then the second part came and she fell silent for a while, epting the offered document. The content of the document was blunt and straight to the point. It was details of all of the negligence caused by the Wen family over the years. It would be enough for the Wen family to sink to the bottom of the sea if the contents of the document were to get out.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Tan Yongsi clutched the document in her hands tightly. She hadn¡¯t met this person before, and these things shouldn¡¯t have been epted so easily. However, it concerned Ye Xuan, and she wasn¡¯t about to look a gift in the horse¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°You can take the information with peace of mind, these are just simple matters to me.¡± The leader of America waved his hand dismissively. It wasn¡¯t him who had done the legwork to obtain the information anyway.

    ¡°Might I ask,¡± Tan Yongsi looked at America¡¯s leader, her voice serious, ¡°Why have you helped me?¡±

    Of course, it was for entertainment!

    He couldn¡¯t say that so bluntly, for obvious reasons. America¡¯s leader coughed, clearing his throat. ¡°You¡¯ll understand soon enough.¡±

    Tan Yongsi nodded her head, turning to leave. There was no reason to linger any longer.

    After she left, the person beside America¡¯s leader looked at him with admiration in his eyes. ¡°Leader, where did you get that information? I couldn¡¯t even find anything after two days of searching!¡±

    Although they were from the power world, they were ultimately from the United States. The power hierarchy in the Imperial Capital wasplicated, and it was extremely difficult for people from other countries to investigate a big family here.

    ¡°How could I have that sort of ability?¡± The leader shook his head. ¡°Miss Gu was the one who passed all of it to mest night.¡±

    ¡°Miss Gu?¡± The person eximed in surprise. ¡°How did she know what we were doing?!¡±

    America¡¯s leader nced at him withughter in his eyes, but did not say anything in response.

    The leader of America had personally sent her off, and this scene had been seen by all sorts of people.

    The other people from America were all looking at their leader, feeling disdain in their hearts. He wasn¡¯t afraid of making a big hoo-ha!

    It was to the extent that the Feng family sent him a text¡ª[Wasn¡¯t it a fact that the power world wouldn¡¯t mess with the secr world? Oh, Leader, do you think things aren¡¯t messy enough here, and you had to add something to the mix?]

    The leader of America calmly replied¡ª[I didn¡¯t want to be so popr either, but you see, your Miss Gu likes to watch the excitement. I¡¯ll be honest with you, those were things that Miss Gu instructed me to do.]

    Fengjiu didn¡¯t reply to his message after that, but not long after, someone came over to bring a message to him.

    ¡°Leader, the patriarch of the Feng family has also met with Miss Tan. They heard that Miss Tan no longer has any parents, and wants to take her in as their adopted daughter.¡±

    America¡¯s leader: ¡°...¡± Who¡¯s the one stirring the pot and making trouble now?

    Then he lowered his head, shooting off a text¡ª[Didn¡¯t you just tell me off for adding things into the mix? What the heck are you up to now?]

    The reply came swiftly¡ª[If Miss Gu wants to watch, then the people under her obviously should prepare something more exciting for her.]

    The fact that Tan Yongsi had been personally sent out by the leader of America¡¯s power circle was soon known to all the parties in the Imperial Capital, and when she waster met by the Feng family patriarch, rumored to have been offered an adoption, the Yan and Wen family naturally also heard of it.

    In the Yan family, Yan Han was trying to call Tan Yongsi, but was not able to get through.

    ¡°Son, just who is this Tan Yongsi? Forget about the Peng family, but why is even the Feng family like this?¡± The Peng family wasn¡¯tparable to the Feng family. The Feng family had a direct rtion to the people in the ancient martial arts world, and their position in the Imperial Capital was even higher than that of the Wang family.

    The fact that the Feng family wanted to ept her in as their goddaughter was naturally known by the Yan family. They didn¡¯t expect that an orphan would catch the eyes of the Feng family. Tan Yongsi¡¯s status was obviously different than before now. Thinking of this, Papa Yan turned to his son. ¡°Didn¡¯t Tan Yongsi like you before? Go and tell her now, our Yan family will be able to ept her!¡±

    The engagement between the Yan and Wen family had already been carried out, but how could the Wen family even begin topare to the Feng family?

    At this time, Papa Yan wasn¡¯t even afraid of the embarrassment or fall out.

    Yan Han shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s not picking up.¡±

    As soon as he said that, Papa Yan¡¯s face changed. He snorted coldly after a while. ¡°Not picking up? She¡¯s just being arrogant after getting a little status and power! The Feng family hasn¡¯t even officially recognized her as their daughter! Forget it, don¡¯t call her anymore. Contact the Wen family, they have some connections to the power world right now. This Tan Yongsi is not on the same wavelength as us, and if she really gains the power, our two families will not be in a good position. It¡¯s better... to just kill her. Tomorrow is the general selection, go on up and rest first, Yan Han. We¡¯ll take care of this matter.¡±

    Yan Han looked at his father in shock, his lips moving but no sound wasing out. In the end, he said nothing as he dragged his feet heavily upstairs.

    ***

    The address that Jiang Yirui sent her was a ce beside A University. Tan Yongsi knew the ce as a gathering area for the rich, and when she had first got off the taxi, she was actually still feeling a little flustered. She didn¡¯t dare to even imagine, but why had those big shots all looked for her?

    While thinking, she found the ce that Jiang Yirui had sent her, and rang the doorbell.

    The door was pulled open quickly, and a shrill voice rang out, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    Tan Yongsi was surprised, wasn¡¯t Jiang Yirui staying alone? The door was opened, but she didn¡¯t see anybody. She could only see a pink... flower.

    ¡°Hello.¡± The pink flower didn¡¯t seem to expect to see a girl standing there, and it said the two words stiffly. Then, it turned around and shouted. ¡°Fatty Egg Jiang, your guest is here!¡±

    Wait! Wait a minute!

    Tan Yongsi had yet to pull herself back together. There must be something wrong with the world, otherwise, how could a flower be talking?!

    It couldn¡¯t have developed its own intelligence, right?!

    Tan Yongsi felt her brain having a meltdown. Having lived for so many years, she had never seen anything like this.

    Jiang Yirui walked out from the kitchen, catching sight of Tan Yongsi, who was still in shock. He pursed his lips and red at Dog Feed. Seeing her in this state, he could already feel a headache starting. In the end, she didn¡¯t linger long, and left after taking Xixi.

    After the door closed behind her, he started lecturing Dog Feed. ¡°Can you not simply speak in front of ordinary people?¡±

    Dog Feed shot him a look. ¡°She won¡¯t be an ordinary person for long.¡±

    ¡°... Fine, carry on.¡± Although Dog Feed was only a flower, its powers and levels had been rising fast in the past few years. This was especially true in the past two days, Gu Xiqiao had sent him a pile of jade stones, so Jiang Yirui didn¡¯t know just how far along this flower was anymore.

    ¡°Fatty Egg Jiang, are you really Beauty Qiao¡¯s son?¡± Dog Geed nced at what Jiang Yirui was doing, disdain in its eyes. ¡°You¡¯re expanding so much effort, just for a single family like the Wen family? If it was Beauty Qiao, they would already be questioning their own existence by now.¡±

    ¡°This Wen family has some connections to France, and there are too many things involved. You wouldn¡¯t understand even if I tried to exin.¡± Jiang Yirui nced at Dog Feed. ¡°Also, I know that I can¡¯tpare to my beauty, can you stop rubbing salt into my wounds?¡±

    Dog Feed shook its leaves, suddenly not wanting to talk to Jiang Yirui, but then its entire body shook suddenly in surprise. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about this matter anymore.¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about?¡± Jiang Yirui asked as he fiddled with theputer in front of him.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao has taken over this matter.¡± Dog Feed shook its leaves again, the disdain for the young man in front of him obvious. ¡°Fatty Egg Jiang, perk up your spirits and watch properly how your mother does it.¡±

    Jiang Yirui dragged a hand down his face. ¡°She¡¯s actually intervening, it¡¯s over. I initially even promised Uncle Wang that I would settle it gently. At this rate... I just hope that Uncle Wang won¡¯t cry.¡±

    ***

    Tan Yongsi had bought herself a cup of milk tea to calm herself down, and drank as she made her way to the hospital.

    Xixi was on her shoulder, and started chirping suddenly.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xixi really seldom spoke, and Tan Yongsi felt it was strange the moment it started chirping.

    Xixi didn¡¯t make any sound again, but its eyes were on the intersection ahead.

    Seeing it like this, Tan Yongsi also followed its line of sight. Several figures appeared at the intersection, with Wen Qing at the lead.

    Tan Yongsi threw the milk-tea cup that was in her hands into the trash can not far away, looking at Wen Qing nkly.

    The corners of Wen Qing¡¯s lips curled up, looking gentle but chilling. ¡°Tan Yongsi, you really have a long life, to avoid such a big ident from touching you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll find the evidence.¡± Tan Yongsi knew that this had something to do with the Wen family, and she stared at the rest coldly.

    That¡¯s right, I was the one who did it. Such a pity.¡± Wen Qing smiled brightly. ¡°That even if you were to take the evidence to the police, they wouldn¡¯t dare to pay any attention to you. Forget about how you have some connections with the Feng family now, even having any connections to the ancient martial arts world won¡¯t help you. The people in France¡¯s power world have said that my mental power is strong, and I¡¯ll definitely be able to be epted as a disciple by someone in the ancient martial arts world.¡±

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s face sank after hearing that the girl in front of her had made connections with the ancient martial arts world. She squeezed the document that America¡¯s leader had given her.

    ¡°Are you angry? Do you feel wronged? Do you want to kill me? How unfortunate for you.¡± Wen Qing shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re no longer on the same level, and I can easily pick you off with just a finger. I wanted to do that, initially, I wanted you to die today, but I changed my mind. I want you to see me reach the top of the world with your own eyes, watch me from afar, and be powerless to do anything!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too early to say these things.¡± In the quiet air, a voice suddenly rang out, but no one was seen.

    ¡°Who is it?!¡± Wen Qing¡¯s face twisted, looking around warily.

    The air in front of her fluctuated suddenly, and a figure appeared from thin air. The person¡¯s face couldn¡¯t be seen under the dim light, and only her delicate jawline was visible. She raised her head slowly, revealing a pair of clear, bright eyes.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t certain who will make who desperate yet, right?¡± Gu Xiqiao shoved her hands into her pockets, looking at Wen Qing, who had a vicious look in her eyes. She smiled faintly. ¡°My little friend, you have such big guts, wanting to kill my own in front of me. For so many years that I¡¯ve been around, you¡¯re really the only one who has the guts to do so.¡±

 Chapter 397 - Side Story 17: Swift And Deadly!

    <h4>Chapter 397: Side Story 17: Swift And Deadly!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    ¡°W-Who are you?¡± Wen Qing looked at the person who had appeared suddenly, and took an involuntary step back.

    That¡¯s right, the Wen family had currently already managed to form an alliance with the mysterious power world, and Wen Qing herself had been said to be talented in ancient martial arts. Because of that, she had be even more arrogant, and when she heard that Tan Yongsi had caught the eyes of America¡¯s power world as well as the Feng family, she could no longer stay calm.

    She wanted to teach Tan Yongsi a lesson, but she didn¡¯t expect that a strange woman would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

    This person had appeared in the strangest way possible, and if she wasn¡¯t in front of her, Wen Qing would have even suspected that she had been hallucinating.

    Gu Xiqiao calmly nced at Wen Qing, and snapped her fingers. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about who I am at the moment. Getting back to what you just said, you wanted Miss Tan to see you reach the peak of the world?¡±

    Wen Qing¡¯s heart thumped hard in her chest, and she clenched her fist tightly, taking a deep breath to steady herself. Everyone in France had said that she was extremely talented, and even in the ancient martial arts standard, she was considered to be of the higher tiers. It was only a matter of time before she would be standing at the top of the world.

    Wen Qing truly believed in their words. If it weren¡¯t for that, why would France send these masters in order for her to use as she pleased?

    She pushed down the anxiety that she was feeling at this moment when she thought about it, raising her head to look at Gu Xiqiao. ¡°That¡¯s right, my spiritual power has been acknowledged by the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    The ancient martial arts world!

    That was the most powerful force in the entire world in this current time!

    Getting acknowledgment from the ancient martial arts world had ced Wen Qing and the Wen family at the top of the secr world in China.

    Because of that, Wen Qing¡¯s behavior wasn¡¯t without reason.

    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled out her phone, checking the time. ¡°You can go home now, and cherish thest night of your happy days.¡±

    With a wave of her hands, Wen Qing and the men with her disappeared from the spot.

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s eyes widened when she saw the people in front of her disappeared, and she almost forgot to breathe.

    ¡°Tan Yongsi?¡± A clear, melodious voice spoke near her ear, and Tan Yongsi pulled herself back from her stunned stupor. She stared at the girl in front of her with a dazed look in her eyes. ¡°G-G-Goddess?¡±

    ¡°...¡± Gu Xiqiao rubbed her temples. ¡°What Wen Qing said was right just now.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Tan Yongsi finally returned to her normal self, and thought back to what the other girl had said in their confrontation just now. Her brows furrowed. ¡°You mean, she really does have the talent?¡±

    If that was really the case...

    Tan Yongsi pursed her lips, clenching her fist tightly as her nails dug into her palms.

    ¡°Yes, her spiritual power and talents are indeed very strong. In the general selection tomorrow, I expect there will be many bigger families who will be fighting over her, with the talents that she has.¡± Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t bother sugarcoating her words. In a family, the most important thing was talent, and that¡¯s why they wouldn¡¯t spare any effort to win over those with real talents in the annual general selection.

    ¡°The ancient martial arts world...¡± If she had doubted Wen Qing¡¯s words, there was no longer any after she heard it from Gu Xiqiao. Because of this, she could feel the despair slowly eating into her.

    The ancient martial arts world was a power that was beyond the top of the world, its existence was the envy of all the power worlds across the globe.

    Though Tan Yongsi was not from the ancient martial arts world, she also knew this as a fact. If Wen Qing really became a member of the ancient martial arts world, then her so-called revenge would be the biggest joke of all.

    ¡°So... Do you want to be stronger than Wen Qing?¡± Gu Xiqiao touched her chin, shing her a light smile. Her long eyshes swayed softly with the wind, her ck eyes clear and unhindered, calm and attractive.

    Be stronger than Wen Qing?

    Tan Yongsi stared at Gu Xiqiao in disbelief. Was she joking, or what the heck was she doing?!

    If this was before she had found out that Wen Qing had the talents to enter the ancient martial arts world, she probably would have struggled a little more. But after tomorrow, Wen Qing would be part of the ancient martial arts world. It wasn¡¯t like she was looking down on herself, but the words ¡®ancient martial arts world¡¯ was enough to crush all her hopes and leave her breathless.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not pulling my leg?¡± Tan Yongsi smiled bitterly.

    Gu Xiqiao shook her head. ¡°Of course not. If you¡¯re willing, then you¡¯ll be attending the general selection tomorrow.¡±

    The general selection of the ancient martial arts world? Tan Yongsi was taken aback. ¡°But... I never signed up.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem.¡± Gu Xiqiao pulled out a golden token from her pocket. ¡°You¡¯ll be able to participate with this.¡±

    Tan Yongsi took the token with a stumped look on her face. She had heard of the two ways to participate in the general selection. One was to register a year in advance, but the selections for the registration itself were very demanding, and those who got through the screening were few; and then there was the second way, which was through epting invitations from families in the ancient martial arts world. The way of invitation was to give a special token to the person who had caught the eye of the person from the ancient martial arts world.

    The image of those tokens had been leaked before, and the shape was simr to the one she was holding in her hands. However, the difference was this was made of gold, while the one she had seen before was made of wood.

    On the golden token, a powerful, bold word was written on it¡ªGu!

    At this time, the red bird on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulder couldn¡¯t take it anymore!

    It pped its wings furiously, shooting off like an arrow from a bow, with a ¡®twang¡¯, heading straight towards Gu Xiqiao!

    ¡°Xixi!¡± Tan Yongsi eximed in horror as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. ¡°Goddess, look out!¡±

    She had once experienced Xixi¡¯s mes, and even her upgraded talismans hadn¡¯t been able to stop its fire, which proved just how powerful Xixi¡¯s fire was. So when she saw Xixi shooting straight towards Gu Xiqiao, how could she not panic?!

    However, Tan Yongsi¡¯s eyes widened for the second time in the next moment.

    Because she saw Gu Xiqiao merely reach out a slender, white hand, and patted Xixi on the head, and it fell to the ground, just like that.

    Tan Yongsi¡¯s mouth was agape.

    When did such a powerful, mythical beast be so easy to beat in one hit?

    Also, this was a sacred beast, how could the goddess casually p it to the ground like that?!

    Tan Yongsi looked at Xixi on the ground, and was afraid for a second that it would really raze the entire Imperial Capital to the ground with its mes.

    While she was still in shock, Xixi didn¡¯t seem to look the least angry that it had been pped to the ground. It got off the ground easily, as though it hadn¡¯t been just pped a moment ago, looking up at Gu Xiqiao.

    Tan Yongsi dared to swear to themp, a series of emotions that she couldn¡¯t understand shed through the eyes of the mythical, sacred beast that usually only held cold arrogance in its eyes.

    ¡°Beauty Qiao! Waaah!¡± Xixi¡¯s body suddenly expanded several times bigger than its usual size, grabbing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s leg with its ws. ¡°Do you not want me anymore?¡±

    Gu Xiqiao shifted her leg slightly, and Xixi went bouncing backward. She lowered her head, looking at Xixi with her dark, coal eyes. Her face was indifferent as she said, ¡°Be good and follow behind Miss Tan properly.¡±

    Having said that, she disappeared from the spot, and from Xixi¡¯s sight.

    Xixi wailed even more depressingly at this.

    ¡°When you first died...¡± A green robot suddenly appeared, holding a pink flower in its mechanical arms. ¡°Did you know, Haha didn¡¯t eat anything for half a month.¡±

    Xixi looked at the robot and flower that had appeared, choking. ¡°Then, where¡¯s Haha? I haven¡¯t seen it since I came back.¡±

    It knew that Haha wasn¡¯t the same as them, and it was just a normal dog. Not eating for fifteen days... Xixi sniffed, unable to imagine what would happen.

    ¡°It passed away,¡± Jiji said, looking at Xixi calmly. ¡°Haha was just a regr dog. On the fifteenth day of your death, it also died.¡±

    After Jiji finished talking, it didn¡¯t wait for Xixi¡¯s reaction before turning to Tan Yongsi. ¡°Good luck for tomorrow¡¯s selection, Miss Tan.¡±

    Xixi was stunned.

    Actually, it knew that something was wrong from the moment Tan Yongsi pulled out that dog bowl for Xixi to use.

    But hearing it from Jiji¡¯s own mouth, it couldn¡¯t react. Haha... was dead? Why?

    Xixi tried to think of happier thoughts, but it couldn¡¯t. How could it? Haha really had just been a normal dog, it wasn¡¯t like Xixi, a mythical beast. It wasn¡¯t like Jiji either, a super-powered existence. It even more wasn¡¯t like Dog Feed, who had gained spiritual wisdom...

    Tan Yongsi brought Xixi back to the dormitory, but she found that the mythical beast wouldn¡¯t eat or drink the entire night, sitting in the beautiful, priceless bowl, staring nkly at the space in front of it.

    ***

    The night before the general selection, everyone in the Imperial Capital was feeling uneasy.

    In the Wen family residence, Wen Qing was clenching her fist tightly. The people from France had given her a call again, and she forgot all about the terrifying run in with Gu Xiqiao, and was anticipating the grand show she would be giving everyone tomorrow!

    In the national guest house, America¡¯s leader was drinking a cup of tea, and he let out a sigh. ¡°Miss Gu has really found Tan Yongsi already?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Cecily also let out a sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t know what this Tan Yongsi has done to catch Qiao Qiao¡¯s eye.¡±

    ¡°The main reason is probably because of Master Xixi.¡± The leader put down his cup. ¡°Miss Gu has never epted a disciple in the many years she¡¯s been here. This time, she actually gave Tan Yongsi a token, and it seems like she wants to ept her as a disciple. Thinking about how another monster is about to appear in the world...¡±

    Hearing these two go back and forth on this topic, the young man beside them couldn¡¯t help but interrupt, ¡°Leader, that Tan Yongsi¡¯s talent is very ordinary from what I saw. ording to the investigation from France, the most talented dark horse this time should be Wen Qing, why are you guys so fixated on the one named Tan Yongsi?¡±

    ¡°If I say you¡¯re not old enough to understand, you won¡¯t believe me, right? Just wait for tomorrow, you¡¯ll understand.¡± Cecily was toozy to exin, and she waved her hand as she spoke. ¡°I¡¯ll be heading back first. There¡¯s a hot pot party happening in Peace Manor tonight, and I won¡¯t have anything to eat if I¡¯mte to it.¡±

    After she left, the young man scratched the back of his head, wondering why he couldn¡¯t really understand what Cecily was trying to say.

    However, he was also slightly shocked by Cecily¡¯s casual attitude towards the leader.

    The leader didn¡¯t mind it at all, since America¡¯s power world was where it was todayrgely due to the rtionship between Cecily and Gu Xiqiao. From the bottom of his heart, he felt extremely grateful towards Cecily. It was to the point that he had once wanted to hand over the position of leader to her, but she had turned it down.

    The leader of America looked at the young man who still had a look of doubt on his face, and chuckled lightly. ¡°Do you think that the strength of the ancient martial arts world is measured based on their strength?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± The young man¡¯s eyes widened. It wasn¡¯t only the ancient martial arts world, wasn¡¯t it the same for the power worlds? The stronger the talent, the stronger they would be in terms of strength.

    ¡°Of course.¡± America¡¯s leader sighed. ¡°In the ancient martial arts world, there is someone who never follows the path paved by the heavens for her. There are only things that she never thought of, but there is nothing she cannot do. Do you know what is the most frightening force in the ancient martial arts world currently?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about the Peace Squad?¡± The Peace Squad, who had recently emerged was the talk of all the power worlds, so the young man had obviously heard of them.

    What he didn¡¯t understand was why was the leader bringing this up right now?

    ¡°Nowadays, the majority of the people only know that the Peace Squad is extremely powerful.¡± The leader said softly. ¡°But how many know that, before joining the Peace Squad, they were all ordinary people with ordinary talents, and some of them were even gangsters?¡±

    The young man was stunned speechless at the words, and he could only stare at the leader with wide eyes.

    ***

    The next day, it was time for the general selection in the ancient martial arts world.

    Based on China¡¯s scale of poption, there were many who came to participate in it. They all stood at the junction between the secr world and the ancient martial arts world, waiting for the people from various families to select talents from the gathered people.

    Wen Qing and Yan Han were among these people.

    In addition to being selected as participants in the general selection, they also needed to have the power and be well informed. Naturally, they knew that Wen Qing¡¯s talent was great by default, and was certain to be epted into the ancient martial arts world, which made them show more respect for her.

    While Wen Qing was listening to the pleasing words of the people around her, her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure. ¡°Tan Yongsi, why is she here?¡±

    When he heard the name, Yan Han was also surprised. He followed Wen Qing¡¯s gaze, and instantly saw the familiar figure, and was stunned.

    Seeing him in this state, Wen Qing couldn¡¯t help the mocking curl of her lips. ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s see if she really has the talent or not.¡±

    Yan Han could only follow Wen Qing over silently.

    Tan Yongsi was already testing her talent. The test was simple and straightforward, there was a ck stone at the center of the square. As long as you touch the stone while standing under it, it would show the level of your spiritual power.

    Majority of the ordinary people would be at a low level, and the qualified ones were generally at an intermediate level, and there were only a handful of high-level ones. As for the unique level, there had never been anyone who was on that level. There were rumors that there was an even higher level, but no one had ever seen anybody reaching that height.

    Wen Qing had already been tested, and she had fallen into the high level, and was one of the people with the highest spiritual power in recent years.

    That was the reason why countless people had started to follow her once she had appeared, and also the reason why France¡¯s power world would ce so much value on her.

    When Tan Yongsi ced her hand on the stone, a light shed before revealing her level¡ªlow level.

    ¡°Pft, how dare a low-level persone to enter the general selections, aren¡¯t you aware of the minimum requirement to enter the ancient martial arts world?¡± Wen Qing sneered, leaning in closer to Tan Yongsi¡¯s ears as she said mockingly, ¡°Were you envious because I¡¯ll be entering the ancient martial arts world? What a pity, you¡¯re destined to only chase after my footsteps forever!¡±

    Yan Han breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Tan Yongsi¡¯s results. He had been frightened yesterday when he heard that Tan Yongsi had met with two big shots one after another. Now that he saw she had practically no talent, he felt a relief course through him.

    ¡°But I heard that you never signed up, so how did youe here?¡± Wen Qing looked at Tan Yongsi, her voice raised as she spoke. ¡°A low-level ordinary person, daring to participate in the general selection, did you get here through opening a backdoor with connections? I can¡¯t believe this sort of thing would happen in the ancient martial arts world!¡±

    As soon as she said that, those brainless people who clung to her also began to mutter amongst themselves, agreeing with Wen Qing¡¯s words.

    They didn¡¯t see the old man who was in charge of the ck stone staring at the red bird on Tan Yongsi¡¯s shoulder, the shock clear on his face. It took a long while before he finally came back to his senses, and he hurried to Tan Yongsi¡¯s side, his eyes looking intently at her. ¡°Miss, may I ask, how did youe across this bird?¡±

    ¡°Second Elder, who are you calling a bird? Don¡¯t you recognize your Master Xixi anymore?¡± Xixi nced at the old man, puffing its chest pompously, with its head raised high.

    The second elder froze for a while at that, and he leaned over towards Xixi when he managed to collect himself. ¡°You¡¯re back, Master Xixi?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Let her pass the general selection, Beauty Qiao intends to take her in as her disciple.¡± Xixi pped its wings as it spoke.

    The second elder felt the shock course through him, and studied Tan Yongsi for a while, before giving her a more respectful look. He handed her a wooden token to enter the ancient martial arts world. ¡°Please wait a moment, Miss Tan. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±

    He knew that although Tan Yongsi was just an ordinary person now, she would soon be like those people in Peace Manor, one more crazy than the other!

    He never expected that Miss Gu would actually want to ept a disciple?

    Once news of this got out, the entire ancient martial arts world would be shocked, right?

    The second elder¡¯s disy caused the words of Wen Qing and everyone else¡¯s to be stuck in their throats. Before they came here, they had been clearly warned that the person who was in charge of the test and ck stone was clearly someone of high status in the ancient martial arts world. You could mess with anyone else, but not this person!

    But now they were clearly seeing that this person of high status in the ancient martial arts world was actually being so polite and courteous towards Tan Yongsi?!

    Wasn¡¯t Tan Yongsi just an ordinary person? What in the world had happened that they didn¡¯t know about?

    ¡°My lord, Tan Yongsi obviously came in through underhanded means, I don¡¯t understand why you would choose her?!¡± Wen Qing¡¯s face changed drastically once she saw this scene. When she had taken the test just now, the second elder¡¯s face had not twitched at all. Why was he reacting so much when Tan Yongsi had low spiritual power?

    ¡°Underhanded means?¡± The second elder shot Wen Qing a cold look, then turned kindly to Tan Yongsi. ¡°That one should have given you a keepsake, right?¡±

    Tan Yongsi was taken aback. A keepsake?

    She quickly understood what the second elder was talking about, and solemnly pulled out the golden token from her pocket.

    The structure of the token was simple, and the edge an intricate design pattern, and the word in the center of it was very conspicuous. The big ¡®Gu¡¯ sent a chill up all the spines of the people looking at it!

    Forget about the ordinary people, even the second elder who was looking at the word felt his mental power being affected. An illusion appeared involuntarily in everyone¡¯s minds, as if seeing a person shattering the mountains and rivers with a single swipe of a sword!

    ¡°Oh my god, who wrote this word? It¡¯s just one word, but the impact on everyone is huge?!¡±

    ¡°A master, it¡¯s definitely a master!¡±

    ¡°I wonder if there will be a day when I¡¯ll be able to reach that level!¡±

    The chatter went on for a while, until the second elder snorted coldly, bringing everyone¡¯s attention to him and snapping them out from their daydream. ¡°Do you know now?¡±

    The moment he said that, no one else dared to say anything.

    Wen Qing, as well as everyone else present were obviously still dissatisfied, but they didn¡¯t dare to argue with the second elder. They still felt the resentment in their hearts. ¡°What the heck? Isn¡¯t the ancient martial arts world the fairest existence in the world? How could a person like Tan Yongsi be recruited into it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s just an ordinary person with low-level spiritual powers! How can she even have the legendary gold token!¡±

    While Wen Qing and the rest of them were talking, they didn¡¯t notice that the others around them had moved to stand far away from them. They looked at Wen Qing and the rest with a look like they were looking at dead people.

    Didn¡¯t they see what Tan Yongsi had on her shoulder?!

    Master Xixi!

    The hottest pet that¡¯s right in front of you!

    For Master Xixi to actually be following Tan Yongsi, no more exnation was needed!

    ¡°Tan Yongsi just got a bit more lucky than others, but everything in the ancient martial arts world depends on your own strength. I¡¯ll definitely let them see that they made the wrong choice!¡± Wen Qing lowered her head, clenching her fist tightly.

    As for the people around her, some of them were already yelling out ¡®unfairness¡¯.

    ¡°Stop yelling. If you continue yelling, not just yourself, even your entire family will be wiped by the ancient martial arts world.¡± At this time, a middle-aged man with a hip sk walked over slowly. He looked at Wen Qing, giving her a cold sneer. ¡°How can any of youpare to the person that Miss Gu intends to take in as her disciple?¡±

    ¡°Miss... Miss Gu?¡± Wen Qing and Yan Han were not familiar with the name, but everyone else around them was. It was a name that thundered in their ears, a name that came with a well-known reputation.

    Coupled with the magnificent feat performed by the Peace Squad a few days ago, this name was deeply etched into the majority of the people¡¯s minds.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know who Miss Gu is? Then I will tell you this, Miss Gu, the Gu family, Gu Enterprise, Nine Heavens, they hold the control of the global economic lifeline. Not only that, the entire ancient martial arts world respects them. As for Miss Gu, if you don¡¯t know who she is, then you¡¯d better go back and ask your parents. Ah, but it¡¯s useless anyway.¡± The man gave them onest nce, then left with his hands sped behind his back. When he looked at Tan Yongsi, it was a gaze full of admiration.

    ***

    Gu Xiqiao had been gone for twenty years, and it seemed that none of the youngsters these days remembered such a person, nor did they remember that she had once lit up an entire era, making it glorious.

    Only the older generation never forgot!

    The era when the secr world and the ancient martial arts world were both at their peak, was the time when Gu Xiqiao had once led them all!

    Today, those top forces that remained in the power worlds were basically all the people that she had once trained!

    The Peace Squad!

    The ten-man team of America!

    The younger generation of the ancient martial arts world!

    These were all the pinnacle forces currently!

    Any one of these forces on their own was enough to wipe out the entire existence of the power worlds.

    There were also those people from the various power worlds who had gathered in the Imperial Capital, all of these people were from the upper management levels.

    All of these mysterious, powerful forces had appeared one after another just before this general election, all for the sake of one person¡ªGu Xiqiao!

    This person who had practically been hidden from existence had finally appeared in public once again.

    At the same time, countless people wondered what was so special about this person. Gu Xiqiao, what was special about her that she deserved such admiration from these people, even to the point of blind worshiping?

    It wasn¡¯t until some of the previously banned videos were finally able to be broadcasted.

    The ordinary folk finally saw an unbelievable scene. There were just so many videos, and most of them were of a figure of a slender woman, with countless mutated beasts that they didn¡¯t even dare to dream about. The way she walked among the mutated beasts seemed like she was just taking a casual stroll in the park.

    More importantly was the methods that she had used to teach the younger generation of the ancient martial arts world back then...

    After seeing this, Yan Han and Wen Qing finally understood the horror that was Gu Xiqiao, and also the horror that was Tan Yongsi.

    A person like Gu Xiqiao was a godlike existence in the eyes of the ancient martial arts world, as well as all the power worlds across the globe. The Peace Squad was just an ordinary team of people, and she had trained them to be the most terrifying force on earth.

    After Wen Qing watched the videos, she couldn¡¯t help but fall back onto the sofa, her legs unable to support her. It was no wonder the people from France had stopped all contact with her abruptly, it seems like they already knew about this.

    Thinking back to how she had looked down and insulted Gu Xiqiao just a few days ago, Wen Qing felt that she was an embarrassment. She probably wasn¡¯t even significant in the eyes of the other party at that time, right?

    ¡°Qing Qing? What¡¯s going on? Why did the disciplinary inspectione to our home?¡± Papa Wen walked in the house, asking when he reached her. The Wen family had been frightened by a bunch of notices recently, especially Papa Wen, who was now the subject of a key investigation.

    Wen Qing gave her father a nk look. ¡°Wrong, we were all wrong.¡±

    Why had they picked a fight against Gu Xiqiao?

    At the same moment, a knock on the door was heard, and a group of police officers walked in. The leading officer pulled out his ID, holding it in front of Wen Qing. ¡°Wen Qing, pleasee with us.¡±

    As he said that, he waved his hand, and another officer came forward to ce a handcuff on Wen Qing¡¯s hands.

    Generally when the police arrested a person, they wouldn¡¯t handcuff said person unless they had enough evidence.

    Seeing the only hope of their Wen family being taken away by the police, Papa Wen couldn¡¯t help but exim loudly, ¡°What are you all doing?! Why the h*ll are you taking my daughter away?!¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wen, please stay calm.¡± The leading police officer said, looking at Papa Wen. ¡°Someone sent us a document today, which was evidence of your Wen family colluding with France to sell out our country¡¯s secrets. If it¡¯s true, then you won¡¯t be able to escape either.¡±

    Having said that, the group of police officers left.

    Papa Wen stood rooted to the spot, looking as though he had forgotten his daughter had just been taken away by the police. He was stunned for a very long time.

    However, he didn¡¯t have much time to have the luxury of being safe. The next day, he was caught by police who suddenly appeared when he was at the airport.

    At the same time, the forces in the Imperial Capital were being shuffled once again.

    There were many countries that had been affected, and this included France. There were a lot of diplomatic guests in the Imperial Capital during this period, and when this incident broke out, whether you were an ordinary person or someone in high position, everyone was flustered.

    Amongst them, the most disturbed was the Yan family.

    ¡°Son, hurry and go, go and beg Miss Tan for forgiveness!¡± Madam Yan was already seated on the sofa, unable to stand and going out of her mind. The Wen family had gone down the drain in just three days, and they were practically rubbish at this stage. Madam Yan couldn¡¯t help but feel dumbfounded when she thought about it.

    ¡°Your mother is right.¡± Papa Yan stood up, giving Yan Han an anxious look.

    Everyone knew by now that Miss Gu had taken in a disciple, and that person was Tan Yongsi.

    In an instant, Tan Yongsi became the object of envy and resentment of all the people around the world.

    After all those videos had appeared and been broadcasted, no one could deny the terror and power of Gu Xiqiao. There was no doubt that she was the most powerful person on earth!

    Such a person like her had actually taken Tan Yongsi as her disciple?

    Even though the Yan family didn¡¯t understand why Tan Yongsi had caught the eyes of all these big shots, they knew that times had changed, and Tan Yongsi was no longer the same as before. What stood out more than the shock they felt was fear, they naturally remembered all the things that they had once done to Tan Yongsi!

    Especially that they once had the intention of getting rid of her!

    Now, as long as they recalled those matters, the Yan family members all had trouble eating and sleeping, especially after they watched the Wen family¡¯s demise.

    The all-powerful Wen family, and their connections to France¡¯s power world!

    But even so, their demise was swift and deadly!

    The Yan family didn¡¯t even know the reason for their demise, they just knew that it was all over!

    In the end, they could only ce their hopes on Yan Han.

    Papa Yan was sitting on the sofa, looking like he had aged several decades in a short span of time. He watched the video on the marriage announcement between Tan Yongsi and that Mr. Jiang Yirui, and muttered under his breath, ¡± If I knew early on that Tan Yongsi was that person¡¯s disciple, I wouldn¡¯t have forced my son to break up with her!¡±

    Unfortunately for them, there was no more ¡®what ifs¡¯.

    ***

    In the big apartment beside A University, Gu Xiqiao was sitting by the window, in front of her drawing board, listening and chuckling softly at Jiji¡¯s chatter. ¡°Now he wants to marry Sisi? Seriously, what happened to his previous persistence? Has it been eaten by Dog Feed? That Yan Han... If he had stuck to his decision, I may still view him with a better impression. What a pity.¡±

    She ced down her paintbrush, and there was only an outline on the picture on the drawing board.

    Jiji took a quick look, guessing instantly who she was drawing. It couldn¡¯t help the curl of its lips as it said, ¡°Beauty Qiao, you¡¯re too biased, painting them again.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao smiled. ¡°Xixi and Haha have not seen each other for so many years, let¡¯s give this to them as a gift... Huh, where¡¯s Brother Jiang?¡±

    ¡°Have you forgotten? You rushed Master Jiang to go and pick Haha up!¡± Jiji¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Huh, wait a second, Director Cheng is here, I¡¯ll go and open the door first!¡±

 Chapter 398 (END) - Side Story: Finale

    <h4>Chapter 398: Side Story: Finale</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Cheng Zhou came in, he saw Gu Xiqiao standing by the window, clearing up her painting tools. Her eyes were lowered, and the sunlight was shining down on her. It was like so many years ago when he first saw her, the scene in front of him was almost no different than that time.

    If you insist on saying there was a difference, the only thing would be her temperament, now exuding a sense of peace that shecked back then. She was dressed in a light-colored dress, and her eyebrows were a delicate arch, and her face was as beautiful as a painting. Besides being exquisite and stunning, she also carried a magical aura.

    Even after so many years, Cheng Zhou had yet to see anyone with a better temperament and appearance than her.

    There were many rumors in the outside world about how Cheng Zhou was an extremely talented but picky director. Whether it was a movie or TV series, he was critical to the extent that many were apprehensive of him.

    Only a few people knew that it was because of Gu Xiqiao and Li Yu¡¯s acting skills that made him so dissatisfied with the acting skills of everyone else.

    ¡°Little Gu, are you still in a hurry to leave aftering back this time?¡± Cheng Zhou looked at Gu Xiqiao, giving her a light smile.

    Gu Xiqiao put away thest of her tools, and turned around when she heard him speak. ¡°I was supposed to be in a rush, but I suddenly feel that it¡¯s more fun to be here.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Cheng Zhou¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Then, are you willing to take on a role?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Gu Xiqiao poured a cup of tea for Cheng Zhou, and also for herself. ¡°I hear from Xiao Yun that you¡¯re shooting a movie about the prosperity of the country and society?¡±

    Hearing Gu Xiqiao¡¯s reply, Cheng Zhou knew he had gotten the agreement from her that he needed, and his eyes sparkled even brighter than ever. ¡°That¡¯s right! And we¡¯recking a female lead!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I deserve the privilege...¡± Gu Xiqiao had heard from Xiao Yun that Cheng Zhou had always beenmenting about not being able to cooperate with her in the previous years, and so she pointed it out.

    But before she could finish her sentence, Cheng Zhou interrupted her hastily. ¡°Of course you do! You must! In fact, let¡¯s go now!¡±

    Outside the door, Jiang Yiyan was holding Tan Yongsi¡¯s hand in her own. ¡°Sister Sisi, so you¡¯re Yearning! The goddess of Server 3! You¡¯re very well known!¡±

    ¡°Yan Yan, your godlike movements are the ones that gave me a shock.¡± Today was the offline meeting of Server 3, and this was when Tan Yongsi finally knew that the yer, Bridge On The River was Jiang Yiyan. She was shocked, but there was a feeling of it being inevitable. The daughter of the goddess was naturally also as great as she was!

    Hearing this, Jiang Yiyan touched her nose. She smiled, not saying anything in response. She couldn¡¯t say that that ount, Bridge On The River was actually her mother¡¯s smurf ount, and although Jiang Yiyan had started off ying, her mother could only watch so long before she got impatient, and decided to clear the dungeon in one sweep by herself!

    Could she ever say this?

    Of course not!

    She pushed open the door and saw that her mother and Cheng Zhou who were about to leave the house.

    ¡°Beauty Mama, Director Cheng, where are you both going?¡± Jiang Yiyan¡¯s eyes lit up, throwing herself into Gu Xiqiao¡¯s arms.

    Gu Xiqiao had a serious look on her face as she said, ¡°Don¡¯t let your dad see you in this state. Didn¡¯t he teach you to be more dignified?¡±

    ¡°My dad loves me so much, he wouldn¡¯t.¡± Jiang Yiyan muttered, but she straightened up obediently. Although she was just a little luckier than Fatty Egg Jiang, her father loved her just a little more, but when it came to Beauty Gu, you¡¯d have to discount that little bit once more.

    Jiji, who was standing at the side: ¡°...¡± Did it want to tell this idiot girl that Master Jiang wasn¡¯t around at all?

    ¡®But Beauty Gu, is it really good for you to cheat your daughter like this?¡¯

    ¡°Yan Yan, I¡¯m bringing Little Gu to the audition site for a bit. We¡¯ll be back soon!¡± Cheng Zhou couldn¡¯t wait for a single minute, he was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would suddenly decide not to take on the role, and so he quickly pulled her away!

    After Gu Xiqiao and Cheng Zhou had left, Jiang Yiyan and Tan Yongsi were still standing in the same spot.

    Tan Yongsi suddenly recalled why the man had looked so familiar!

    Wasn¡¯t that the most prestigious, talented movie director, Cheng Zhou?!

    Why had hee looking for her goddess?!

    Was Beauty Gu going to star in a new movie?!

    Tan Yongsi sat down on the soda, drinking a ss of cold water. She couldn¡¯t contain all the emotions that she had in her body! It seemed like it was happening ahhhh!

    ***

    ¡®The Flourishing Golden Age¡¯ was a film that the Tang Enterprise had invested in, and was directed by Cheng Zhou. All the big superstars like Li Yu, Xiao Yun, Ning Qing, and many others were in it. However, they were all only holding supporting roles, and the female lead had yet to be fixed. Regarding the selection of the female lead, Cheng Zhou had already held auditions three to four times, but he had yet to find anyone suitable.

    Today was the fourth audition of The Prosperous Golden Age.

    Knowing that the possibility of being selected was small, countless superstars, first and second rate, and even inferior actresses had chosen to attend the audition. Everyone knew that being part of Cheng Zhou¡¯s work was the best way to make a name for yourself. Forget about being a lead, even if you got a small role in his movie, it was enough to multiply a person¡¯s worth by a hundredfold.

    ¡°I wonder if I will catch Director Cheng¡¯s eye this time.¡± A demure-looking girl was standing outside the audition room, looking very nervous. ¡°I won¡¯t ask for the lead role, giving me a costume to wear in the background would also be enough.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡± The girl standing next to her was holding her hands up to her chest. ¡°We just graduated, it¡¯s good to even catch on to that little bit of poprity.¡±

    The two girls soon got along and chatted happily. One of the girls said mysteriously, ¡°I heard that ¡®The Prosperous Golden Age¡¯ is actually based on true stories!¡±

    ¡°Did I hear that correctly, true stories?¡± The other girl repeated, the disbelief clear in her voice. But when she thought back to the dialogue script that she had been given in her phone yesterday, she couldn¡¯t help but snap her head up. ¡°Is it possible that you¡¯re talking about <i>that</i> person?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The girl nodded, then looked behind to see a group of people walking in the back. ¡°Do you see that? That¡¯s the movie queen that¡¯s been making a name for herself for a long time now, even she¡¯s here!¡±

    Tensions started to run high with the appearance of the movie queen, and the change in atmosphere was obvious.

    The girl had wanted to continue saying something, but the words were suddenly stuck in her throat.

    The entire audition site descended into a pin drop silence at the same moment, and everyone¡¯s eyes were unconsciously drawn to the entrance.

    There were two figures slowly approaching. Everyone knew who the man was, it was the famous, super talented director, Cheng Zhou.

    However, their attention was not on the man, but the woman beside him. She was wearing a light blue dress with a coat of a matching color, and her eyes were clear and bright like water. The sunlight shining down behind her, and her face was a little unclear due to the shadows casted by it.

    Cheng Zhou nced around, looking at the staff who were around the ce. ¡°I¡¯d like to announce that I¡¯ve found the person for my leading role, the audition ends here.¡±

    Having said that, he hurriedly brought Gu Xiqiao into the set up of ¡®The Prosperous Golden Age¡¯, which carried a mysterious, fantasy novel-like feel. Cheng Zhou had especially traveled overseas just to find the perfect scenery, which exined why the investment into this movie wasrge. Now that he had managed to convince Gu Xiqiao, he needed to hurry and finish filming the show without any dy!

    ***

    In the apartment beside A University, Jiang Shuxuan threw Haha to the ground with a ¡®thump¡¯, his cold eyes looking around the area.

    ¡°Master Jiang, Beauty Qiao is upstairs.¡± Jiji was ying games with a bunch of people, and it spoke up to remind Jiang Shuxuan.

    Jiang Shuxuan nced at Jiji, then headed upstairs with a straight face.

    Jiji quickly executed a killer move in the game. ¡°F*ck, sh*t, crap! Fatty Egg, what the heck are you doing! Do you want to wipe out the entire team?¡±

    ¡°Silly girl, do you know how to y or not?¡± Jiang Yirui pursed his lips, avoiding an ulti from the enemies, looking at Jiang Yiyan as he said that.

    Tan Yongsi raised an eyebrow. ¡°Yan Yan, didn¡¯t you take us through the dungeon thest time?¡±

    Jiang Yiyan coughed awkwardly. ¡°Haha, well, that¡¯s... It was actually my beauty that was helping mest time!¡±

    ¡°How could you guys go on a quest without me?!¡± Shu Chen saw her character lying dead on the ground, and she couldn¡¯t help but bang her hand on the table in a huff. ¡°Daughter-inw, hurry and save me!¡±

    ¡°Come on, Grandma.¡± Jiang Yirui pursed his lips again, ncing at Shu Chen. ¡°You¡¯ve been ying for twenty years now, and you still call for my mom every time this happens...¡±

    ¡°You may not be able to understand, but the keyboard did it by itself.¡± Shu Chen said, calm and straight faced.

    Jiang Yirui: ¡°... Sure, that reason is so logical.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that I don¡¯t know how to repay favors,¡± said Jiji as it casted a resurrection skill on Shu Chen¡¯s character. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to bring me along when you go y cards with the others next time.¡±

    Tan Yongsi looked at how Shu Chen was practically keyboard mashing, and she couldn¡¯t help but take a step back with herptop clutched to her chest. ¡°...¡± You¡¯re so desperate, I don¡¯t even dare toe any closer.

    Come to think of it, why was that the entire family apart from Beauty Qiao, were all so freaking weird?

    But after being surprised for a short moment, Tan Yongsi turned her attention back to the game.

    After the three servers had merged into one, there was a new feature that was released. Each team now could have up to twenty people.

    Now this team was filled with all the great godlike yers from all three servers, including Tan Yongsi, Jiang Yirui, Jiji, and many others. Even so, they hadn¡¯t managed to pass this level, and someone in the team started crying out.

    ¡°Egg God, we won¡¯t be done by next year at this rate! How about I head down and eat first?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Master Jiji, it seems like it won¡¯t work this time, even with you in the team. My mom¡¯s calling for me toe down and have a drink already.¡±

    The chat went on with morements of the same lines, with everyone in the team seemingly losing hope for this level, and started chatting instead. Just when this was happening, a request to join the team was sent to the party.

    Seeing that the party wasn¡¯t full anyway, the leader happily epted the request!

    The group of people was still chatting away, but after a while longer, they found that something didn¡¯t feel right.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not right. Why did the boss suddenly disappear?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not only this one, even the bosses after have been cleared.¡±

    While they were talking in that short few seconds, another boss¡¯ health bar disappeared!

    The party leader saw this happening, and his heart started thumping wildly in his chest!

    Everyone¡¯s eyes fell on the party list first, scanning down to thest glowing name in it¡ªFor A Millenium!

    An announcement was issued by the game throughout the server just a few seconds after, ¡°The party led by Looping Vegetable haspleted the first-ever run of the Divine Dungeon with the help of For A Millenium!¡±

    As soon as the announcement was made, everyone on the server seemed to freeze on the spot.

    The three servers had only been merged yesterday, and a new dungeon was released with it. Everyone had said that it was impossible to clear the Divine Dungeon, and it was just a pit trap. Unexpectedly, there was actually someone who managed to clear it today?!

    Also, who was this ¡®For A Millenium¡¯?!

    The people from Server 2 and 3 were unaware of who ¡®For A Millenium¡¯ was.

    However, those great godlike veteran yers in Server 1 who were usually cold and silent were all using their microphones to yell out and celebrate the news on the World Chat.

    ¡°We celebrate the return of the goddess!¡±

    Who was this goddess? The people who used to be in Server 2 and 3 were all shocked and extremely curious. She had appeared just in time to clear the impossible dungeon, and if that wasn¡¯t enough, she had also moved so many godlike yers?!

    D*mn, even Egg God had joined in in sharing the news over and over?!

    ***

    Upstairs, Jiang Shuxuan pushed open the door to the recording studio, where he found Gu Xiqiao in front of theputer.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The deep, low voice came from behind her, and Gu Xiqiao gave a soft grunt as she closed the game¡¯s interface. She turned around, pointing to the screen. ¡°I¡¯ve just finished recording the theme song for ¡®The Prosperous Golden Age¡¯, and I¡¯ll be sending it to Director Cheng after some editing.¡±

    ¡°The Prosperous Golden Age?¡± Jiang Shuxuan chuckled lightly. ¡°Sounds like it suits the season right now, let me hear it.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao cut thest part of the soundtrack, mixing it and roughly having the shape she wanted. She then put on her headphones and said, ¡°Let me hear it first.¡±

    After a while, she took off her headphones, and let it y on the speakers.

    The first sound that entered their ears was the clear sound of the guzheng, like the jingling sounds of clear water, followed by the sound of the Chinese lute as well as the piano. There was also a mix of modern jazz at the end, but the entire piece didn¡¯t sound out of ce at all. On the contrary, it made the mood feel like it was flying and dancing along to the music!

    Just when the music reached its highest point, it stopped abruptly. A clear, ethereal voice was inserted at this part.

    After listening to the song, Gu Xiqiao rendered the track, giving Jiang Shuxuan a smile. ¡°Was it okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s exactly the same as back then.¡± Jiang Shuxuan said, his voice solemn.

    Feeling that there was something wrong with the expression on his face, Gu Xiqiao could probably guess the reason behind it, and immediately changed the subject. ¡°Are Sisi and the others still ying games downstairs?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Jiang Shuxuan raised his head. ¡°The three servers in Nine Heavens were merged yesterday, and there was also a new, impossible dungeon that was released. The few of them are caught up in it.¡±

    ¡°Huh, they didn¡¯t even think to bring me along to y?¡± Gu Xiqiao didn¡¯t want to do the editing and mixing anymore, and sent the one in her hand to Cheng Zhou, intending to head downstairs.

    However, Jiang Shuxuan reached out to grab her at the same time. ¡°Don¡¯t think of avoiding this.¡±

    ¡°Was I?¡± Gu Xiqiao asked, staring at him with wide eyes. She didn¡¯t dare to look directly into his eyes though, due to the guilt that she felt in her heart!

    Jiang Shuxuanughed softly, and this was a realugh. His eyebrows were raised with a tender expression in his eyes. Finally, he sighed. ¡°Do you know how much you frightened me at that time? If you didn¡¯te out at the end, I can¡¯t even imagine what I would have done. Do you know your wrongs now?¡±

    ¡°I knew that I would be fine.¡± Gu Xiqiao held his hand, looking a little helpless. ¡°You¡¯ve been talking about this for more than ten years already, fine, I¡¯m sorry, okay? What else is there?!¡±

    Jiang Shuxuan cleared his throat. ¡°Yan Yan and Mom said that they wanted to y games with you all night.¡±

    Gu Xiqiao: ¡°... OK, I won¡¯t y tonight. Happy?¡±

    ¡°Barely.¡±

    ¡°Horrible man!¡±

    ***

    The next day, the official Weibo of ¡®The Prosperous Golden Age¡¯ released a promotional video.

    Although it was titled as a promotional video, it was actually the theme song of the movie.

    There were bullet screens on Weibo now, and Li Yu, Xiao Yun, Ning Qing, and many others were reposting it over and over in it.

    Countless fans of For A Millenium finally discovered that their Beauty Qiao had returned.

    The melodious sound of the piano yed, and an exquisite, delicate face slowly emerged on the screen. Those eyes were slightly narrowed, but it did nothing to hide the intense gaze in them, as if they were about to burn your heart when you looked into them!

    ¡°Ahhh! My Beauty Gu! Beauty Gu!¡±

    ¡°We wee the return of my beauty!¡±

    As the music progressed on, a clear, sweet-sounding voice rang out.

    The fans of For A Millenium on the inte had basically erupted!

    ¡°Life is so long! So what if I waited twenty years for you!¡±

    ¡°The reincarnation circle is very long! So what if I love you for a hundred lifetimes!¡±

    ¡°In the twentieth year, I¡¯m still here.¡±

    ¡°This is the first year Beauty Gu is here.¡±

    ¡°My Goddess Gu, she is eternal and will never be forgotten!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t regret being unable to enter the Gu family, in the next ten years, I¡¯ll still be here!¡±

    The soft, pleasing voice gradually entered the chorus¡ª[Submerged into the corner of the horizon in the next moment, I¡¯ll leave onest sentence to everyone, please take care of yourself, goodbye].

    When it reached this part, there was only one sentence on the screen!

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    ¡°Waiting for the rain that seems to fall for a thousand years to stop, hoping for the person to arrive as nned!¡±

    (T/N: This line is from a Chinese novel, which basically means this rain has fallen for what feels like a thousand years, and I¡¯ve been waiting for someone for so long, I hope that they wille back as nned when the rain stops.)

    The dense subtitles were overwhelming and filled the entire screen, and no one could begin to count how many times this sentence was on the screen, and everyone felt shock coursed through them, even thoseizens who were just passing by! They had never felt such shock in their lives before!

    The melodious song slowly came to an end.

    There was no apaniment, no promotional pictures. All there was, was just an exquisite face and a soft, sweet voiceing from the screen. There was no other music mixed in it. ¡°Thank you for still being here. I¡¯m back.¡±

    After this sentence, countless men and women who were watching this video so intently couldn¡¯t help the tears that flowed uncontrobly from their eyes.

    ¡ªTwenty years have passed in a sh, thank you for giving us such a wonderful, prosperous golden age.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!